![Photobucket](http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y6/internetz/TopComments_withText.jpg)
The next in a series of follow-ups to some prior Top Comments diaries of mine, after the jump ....
But first: Top Comments appears nightly, as a round-up of the best comments on Daily Kos. Surely you come across comments daily that are perceptive, apropos and .. well, perhaps even humorous. But they are more meaningful if they're well-known ... which is where you come in (especially in diaries/stories receiving little attention).
Send your nominations to TopComments at gmail dot com by 9:30 PM Eastern Time nightly, or by our KosMail message board. Please indicate (a) why you liked the comment, and (b) your Dkos user name (to properly credit you) as well as a link to the comment itself.
Three years ago, I wrote a
Top Comments diary about the hero of the My Lai massacre in Vietnam.
Hugh Thompson interceded to stop further atrocities there, and reported this to his superiors. In return, he was treated poorly by those who supported Lt. William Calley and had a tough time after leaving the service ... until years later, when he and his two crew mates received the
Soldier's Medal (however belatedly) for their heroism ... before the death of Hugh Thompson in 2006.
You can read the original posting at this link.
Now .......... an update.
This coming January will see the premiere of an
operatic work on the My Lai massacre in Chicago. And the work (composed in part by the Kronos Quartet) will:
... approach the story from U.S. Army helicopter pilot Hugh Thompson’s perspective. In lieu of a linear narrative, the story emerges in fragments as the aging and infirm Thompson reflects on the war and on decades of being maligned as unpatriotic and traitorous for attempting to stop the slaughter.
(Photo right: Hugh Thompson shaking the hand of his surviving crew member Lawrence Colburn).
Even if you do not follow soccer (not even the World Cup) ... very likely, you heard about the national shame and grief that Brazil - the host nation of last year's men's World Cup - felt when their team was completely humiliated by Germany 7-1 in the semi-final match - surrendering four goals in a six-minute stretch - with newspaper headlines reading SHAME and numerous photos of fans crying while watching on large-screen TV's in the street.
I wrote a previous Top Comments diary about the previous time that Brazil hosted the World Cup: in 1950, where they were also heavily favored to win on their home field, the Maracanã Stadium in Rio de Janeiro. Yet in the championship match against neighboring Uruguay (where all they needed was a draw, tie score to become champions) they were defeated 2-1 on a goal by Uruguay's Alcides Ghiggia with only 10 minutes left to play.
And it caused grief (some comparing it to Hiroshima) on a scale rivaling last year's debacle. Ghiggia went through Brazilian customs some fifty years later, and was amazed when the young customs agent asked if he was that Ghiggia? His protest that it was fifty years ago was met with "In Brazil, we feel it in our hearts every day."
You can read the original posting at this link.
Now .......... an update.
Alcides Ghiggia
died last month - the last surviving member of his team - at the age of eighty-eight. In what must have seemed like a knife to Brazilian hearts: he died exactly sixty-five years
to the day when he scored that championship goal.
Looking back at his career, he summed-up that day by saying that only three people ever silenced the crowd in Rio's legendary Maracanã Stadium: "The Pope, Frank Sinatra ... and me."
Four years ago, I wrote a Top Comments diary about a campaign to earn a (posthumous) Presidential Medal of Freedom for a Voice of America broadcaster who died in 1996. This individual did not read news, nor offer any political commentary - instead, Willis Conover brought listeners around the world a one-hour broadcast (from the mid-1950's to his death) of .... jazz.
It was an example of America's "soft power" - where he probably changed more hearts-and-minds than any aircraft carrier, stem-winder commentary or speech-maker. When his broadcast was heard in Communist or military dictatorship nations, listeners often came to wonder, "Our leaders say this America is a bad place, with imperialist running dogs ... but how can they be so bad if they have this wonderful Ella Fitzgerald and Count Basie?!?"
Even though I am a jazz listener: until four years ago, I had never heard of Willis Conover, for a specific reason. As an arm of the U.S. Government, the Voice of America is not allowed to be broadcast in the U.S. (unless one picks-it-up on a short-wave radio). Hence, the campaign to win that Presidential Medal of Freedom, with support even from former Nixon aide Leonard Garment ... which seemed to fade over time.
You can read my original Top Comments story of his life at this link .... and its publication led to an opportunity for me to conduct a phone interview with a musician who had an interesting story about Willis Conover (which I published as a separate, follow-up diary). Grammy Award-winner Jan Hammer grew-up in the Czech Republic, and recounted what it was like to hear Willis Conover's voice during the Soviet era.
Now .......... an update.
While the campaign for a medal seems to have stalled, a new campaign to honor Willis Conover - today, nineteen years after his death - seems to have taken off. This time, calls for the issuance of a
postage stamp have gotten some traction.
And the campaign has been mentioned by Scott Simon of NPR, by Doug Ramsey of the Wall Street Journal, by Charles Freund of Newsweek and Public Radio International among others.
Let's hope that some belated recognition comes to an individual (shown with Sarah Vaughn in the second photo below) that the New York Times declared in their obituary of him: "In the long struggle between the forces of Communism and democracy, Mr. Conover, who went on the air in 1955 ... proved more effective than a fleet of B-29's."
![](http://i58.photobucket.com/albums/g274/EdTracey/Willis1.jpg)
And lastly .... I have often written about my favorite TV show that aired before I became a teenager, and the efforts to finally bring it to the big screen. The Man from U.N.C.L.E. was a spy thriller that debuted in the autumn of 1964, enjoyed two solid seasons with high ratings ... before its disastrous third season (of 1966-1967) where it attempted to be more campy than the Batman television show .... and while it came back with a stronger fourth season: it was too late to save it, and was cancelled mid-season.
I wrote first about the show five years ago - when film plans were rather hazy. Then I had a follow-up in 2011 - when the director Steven Soderbergh was hired to direct it. Finally, after Soderbergh left the project (following disputes with the producers), last year I noted that Guy Ritchie (Madonna's ex-husband) was brought-in ... and got the film made.
Now .......... an update.
The film opened
late last week - and is playing at a theater near you. Of all of the MfU groups I read, the overall reviews are quite favorable, with original co-star
David McCallum giving the film his blessing .... adding,
"I've completely fallen in love with Alicia Vikander!" - the Swedish co-star who plays the "innocent" role used in every TV episode of UNCLE (although in time we learned that her character Gaby ... wasn't so innocent).
I also add my thumbs-up: with Henry Cavill and Armie Hammer (as Napoleon Solo and Illya Kuryakin, photo right below) doing justice to the roles that Robert Vaughn and David McCallum (photo left below) began.
This film is a prequel to the foundation of the spy agency in the 1960's (with Hugh Grant turning-in a first-rate portrayal of agency head Alexander Waverly). If you are an old fan of the show: not all who watched the original TV show approve, per the online postings ..... but a strong majority do, and are hoping for a follow-up film.
And even if you were too young to see the original series, but want to attend a summertime escapist thriller .... and perhaps to seek an air-conditioned theater ... you'll very likely have a good time.
Now, on to Top Comments:
-------------------------------------
From 2thanks:
In the front-page story about white privilege - I nominate this comment by gardnerhill.
And from
Ed Tracey, your faithful correspondent this evening ........
In the diary by Dartagnan about the latest column by Paul Krugman about the GOP candidates who want to begin privatizing Social Security - ahumbleopinion suggests that a different term be used in the future.
And in the front-page story about Jeb Bush being grilled at the Iowa State Fair about the Iraq War .... StillAmused wonders why Jeb! is not asked about his participation in a neo-con project at the end of the 20th Century .... and we are reminded by annieli of the downside of Jeb! receiving counsel from one of his brother's more infamous advisers.
TOP PHOTOS
August 16, 2015
Next - enjoy jotter's wonderful PictureQuilt™ below. Just click on the picture and it will magically take you to the comment that features that photo.
(NOTE: Any missing images in the Quilt were removed because (a) they were from an unapproved source that somehow snuck through in the comments, or (b) it was an image from the DailyKos Image Library which didn't have permissions set to allow others to use it.)
|
And finally: yesterday's Top Mojo - mega-mojo to the intrepid mik ...... who rescued this feature from oblivion:
1) Sanders is educating people on what is possible - by accumbens +205
2) He's also sounding a note by psnyder +190
3) Wow, hard to see many safe harbors here by Dallasdoc +179
4) You mean crude oil prices. by Publius2008 +161
5) That is the best part. They come; they hear; by TomP +149
6) When does Netanyahu's beligerence by CwV +143
7) More important, they tune in in much larger by accumbens +136
8) deficit spending is bad, donchaknow by gjohnsit +135
9) This has been an uncomfortable diary by occupystephanie +131
10) RIP Julian Bond by JekyllnHyde +114
11) You can never go wrong with a fighter by okiedem +113
11) How did we get this old... by bluemoonfever +113
13) a win is looking more possible every day n/t by VL Baker +107
14) This will happen... by Buzzer +106
15) I know what you mean; he was only by BMScott +102
16) Dr. Robin DiAngelo by Denise Oliver Velez +100
17) It is by Ga6thDem +98
18) MBNYC - That sound you hear? It's the sound of by Dave in AZ +96
19) Happy Sunday Everyone! by LieparDestin +92
20) So now Krugman has the for-profit press starting by duckpin236 +88
21) I wouldn't know. by MBNYC +87
22) Learn the difference by MBNYC +85
23) Bernie and the disaster of neo liberal economics by Don midwest +83
24) Yes. Would rec this a hundred times if I could. by accumbens +80
25) A must read: Sociologist Dr. Joe Feagin by Denise Oliver Velez +79
26) I swear time is just flying by by Puddytat +78
27) Yeah, I fail to understand why a serious infra- by oblomov +76
28) Still handsome but like you I recall from my youth by dmhlt 66 +75
29) Lloyd Blankfein approves by The Dead Man +74
29) R.I.P. Julian by Shockwave +74