Friday, July 20, 2018

Four For Friday - There Goes The Neighborhood - A Birdie Blind Item

You might say that this one movie - made during a stand-out decade for the medium - was inspired by real life events. It's ironic though because the now/long time permanent A list actor who starred in it had been literally, and on foot, pursued by radicals of a different kind.

It all took place roughly a half-decade earlier when he was living in New York. There were flattering overtures by members of this one group - a cell within a cell - who lived in the neighborhood. They wanted him to be for them what the famous composer had been for another group, just a few years earlier. But they misunderstood his initial politeness as interest. He in fact wanted nothing to do with them.

That's when things took a turn for the worse.

When he began changing his daily routine to avoid them, they took notice, and staked out his apartment, following him to and from lunch dates, rehearsals, openings. The soft sell became a hard sell, with kidnapping threats, and intimations of violence.

Even after he hired a full time security detail, and reported them to law enforcement, he had no idea what would happen next.

You see: they had planned to kill him. Okay, not just him, but everyone on the entire block - a wealthy and fashionable enclave in Manhattan.

If their plan had been successful, scores of people would have been murdered, including not just the families - men, women, and children - but also the help, as in disproportionately the very sort of people they claimed to represent. ("There goes the neighborhood," they'd planned to joke, in reference to the bombing.)

What happened though may have altered the course of history, in a small but vital way, saving the lives of several hundred people, at least, at a nearby military installation.

You see: some of the volatile explosives being stored in their residence ignited prematurely, killing the three rogue plotters (who had planned to abscond for an island nation, where they expected a hero's welcome), and leaving two other members (of the cell rather than cell-within-cell) injured, and stunned.

Miraculously, a majority of the ordinance went unexploded, and only this one residence, rather than the whole neighborhood, was destroyed. The actor, of course, was unharmed.

The national organization was chastened by the loss, and canceled further actions which would result in injury or loss of life. This, itself, is important to know. Their image, carefully cultivated for decades now, has been one of misguided, but not even itinerantly murderous, radicals. But if the very famous person who made a big return to the news cycle in recent days - an appearance in a foreign country (on a continent where, you'll note, he was not born) - had bothered to check with the then-current president (when he became acquainted with a certain group alum, I mean), he'd have known that federal law enforcement understood otherwise. Yes, there was talk of killing babies (of a certain race - their own), but it didn't stop there. The group was behind the bombing of police in a west coast town known for its university. One officer was permanently maimed, nearly losing his arm. Only the death of an informant helped them escape prosecution.

What's more, or rather who else does this story involve?

One of the heroes of the decade, known for his chats in the literal underground. It's funny the way that history classifies and reclassifies, because his primary reason for doing what he did was revenge. There had been efforts by all three branches of government to curtail the unlawful practices of he and his men (including threats of prosecution) - all of which were aimed at bringing down this group, and others like them. The irony, of course, is that he/they were engaging in some of the very conduct that would bring down his boss, and his men. It was either him or them, he thought, and he expected a change in leadership that would be more favorable to the work he was doing.

His instincts were vindicated - just not in the way he imagined. The change in leadership was not in fact favorable to him and his men - he was indicted, after all - but by the time the more favorable leadership came, and his record was wiped clean (with, and could you even make this up, the support of his former boss), the whole movement was a pathetic husk of its former self, a relic from a different, more chaotic time. What else did he have in common with his former boss? A mixed preference, at least. Why do you suppose he originally struck up a conversation with the young man who along with his colleague would really alter the course of history?

And, bringing this story back to the beginning, lets talk about the part the actor played in the other movie that same year...

81 comments:

gauloise said...

The Weather Underground. They were making a bomb in NYC and it blew up killing them .

gauloise said...

Obama in Africa , making news these days.

Unknown said...

The very famous person who appeared in a foreign country is Barack Obama. The rest would be guesses that would seem crazy wild. But, who knows?

MDAnderson said...

Didn’t Dustin Hoffman live near the explosion??

gauloise said...

Weather Underground founded by Bill Ayers, adviser to Obama

LJ said...

The WU was heavily infiltrated and a CIA beard. Was the smaller explosion meant to just scare a lot of people into trusting the IC? Kinda like now: Russia. Russia. Russia.

gauloise said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
MrsAmiss said...

I’m confused. So the group made up of Caucasians wanted to kill white babies? Am I reading this wrong?

T. W. said...

I feel like I should know this.

Don't you hate it when something is on the tip of your tongue?

gauloise said...

@MrsAmiss yes,its kind of similar to sentiments going on today. WU was basically upper middle class white kids wanting to liberate and help the disadvantaged, they saw whites as colonialist oppressors.

Sara, Making It Work said...

Is the WU the cell, or the cell within a cell?
That is, are we trying to figure out another group?

gauloise said...

Hoffman for the actor, the movie about real events is All the Presidents Men about Watergate

MrsAmiss said...

Thank you. :)
To me, people who say “the world would be a better place without such and such race/religion/gender” are all the same no matter the hate group they hide under. Then they are just as bad as the KKK who think the world would be better without anyone that’s not them.
So this group is still active then?
And is she saying Obama is a part of it?

gauloise said...

Or the movie could be Lenny, about Lenny Bruce the radical comedian

gauloise said...

@MrsAmiss The founder of the WU, Bill Ayers, was close to Obama when he was a community organizer in Chicago. It was a mini scandal during his first election

Sara, Making It Work said...

The bombing was 1970, and Dustin Hoffman's movies in 1976 were "Marathon Man" (links to literally running from the radicals) and "All the President's Men" (he played Carl Bernstein).

sintaxi said...

I'm assuming the West Coast city is San Francisco/Berkeley. WU bombing of police station there in Feb. 1970.

Krab said...

This again makes no fricking sense. I get the Obama, Ayres, Dustin Hoffman, Weathermen/SDS references, but what is the point of it all?

Zzyzx6986 said...

Weather Underground name inspired by "famous composer" Bob Dylan...'you don't need a weatherman...'. Dustin Hoffman lived next door to the explosion in Greenwich Village. WU plan was to blow up Fort Dix. Wikipedia it.
As for Obama, well, beats me...

Jim O'Sullivan said...

Filling in a few more blanks: the nearby military installation is Fort Dix, the famous composer was Lenny Bernstein, and the group he helped was the Black Panthers.

Jim O'Sullivan said...

Sorry. Didn't see yours before posting Zzzz

Zzyzx6986 said...

^ Agree about Leonard Bernstein

Krab said...

OK, I think "one of the heroes" of the decade is Mark Felt, aka Deep Throat, who also investigated the Weather Underground. I STILL DON'T GET THE POINT.

totaji said...

+1

cheesegrater15 said...

Oooooooooooh, I think Obama is just a clue to the guy's identity.

J said...

Yeah, I'm guessing the composer is Bernstein.

If you haven't read Tom Wolfe's essay on "Radical Chic," (which is titled something like "What Happened that Night at Lenny's" and is available on New York Magazine's website), do yourself a favor and read it. Really illuminating and pretty crazy.

Unknown said...

It's impressive how the thousands of bombings and other revolutionary efforts of that era have been forgotten. Certainly didn't hear anything about it in school, since the radicals went into academia and wrote the history books.

Krab said...

Yeah, I think the last person is Felt, and the group being the FBI.

However, I don't get this.
"What else did he have in common with his former boss? A mixed preference, at least. "

His former boss being J. Edgar Hoover? Or Nixon? "Mixed preference" sounds more like Hoover.

A dumb idiot said...

Mark Felt, Deep Throat, was at odds with Hoover. Convicted of Civil Rights violations in pursuit of Weather Underground. Later pardoned by Reagan. He led COINTELPRO under Hoover.

Krab said...

"It's impressive how the thousands of bombings and other revolutionary efforts of that era have been forgotten. Certainly didn't hear anything about it in school, since the radicals went into academia and wrote the history books."

I think people just don't know much about the 1970s. After 9/11, I couldn't believe how many people had never heard of the Weather Underground or the FALN (speaking of NYC terror attacks).

May I just say I've enjoyed today's blinds so far? They're about actual interesting things (poetry and history), are not obviously made up, and don't involve devil worship/pedophilia/etc. Nor are the crazies speculating on anything or quoting wikipedia. It's almost like old times on CDaN!

J said...

For what it's worth, I'm a liberal; big on labor rights, etc.

But it's sad and stupid to see "liberals" today talk about our wonderful "intelligence community" as though it were some sort of innocent, well-meaning, neighborhood cleanup group. Is Putin more of a danger to average Americans than the CIA? I'd say probably not.

Unknown said...

This is probably the explosion. Surprisingly good article, for The Nation, though they had to work in a feeble jab at the end. That book Days of Rage is on my to-read-someday list. I read a long piece online about it once, but can't find it back now. Hate when that happens.

@Krab, yeah, it's like we jumped straight from Woodstock to Reagan; you don't hear much about what happened in between. Movies make it look like everyone was very hairy and probably sweaty in that polyester; maybe we don't want to remember.

c dan run said...

+1 Krab on Mark Felt. Great catch.

Nixon (his former boss) supported his pardon by Reagan.

Weather Underground was a subset of Students for Democratic (sic) Society - 'cell within a cell'

This part though ...

"What else did he have in common with his former boss? A mixed preference, at least. Why do you suppose he originally struck up a conversation with the young man who along with his colleague would really alter the course of history?"

The last line refers to Woodward/Bernstein, but 'mixed preference" (held by Nixon and Felt and perhaps Woodward/Bernstein) is puzzling. An odd turn of phrase.

roundeye said...

Felt wanted to be FBI director after his mentor, Hoover, died. Nixon appointed someone else (to curb fbi abuses) and Felt took Nixon down as revenge.

T. W. said...

@Crab

Hi!

Yeah, I wasn't born yet and I have never heard if Weather Underground.

The good thing about CDAN is there are people willing to share their knowledge in a positive way.

Thank you to all the CDANers who contributed to the comments here and the Dancing Boy blind from today.

School doesn't educate anymore, it indoctrinates.

Unknown said...

Yay, I found it. If anyone's interested, here's a long piece on the domestic terrorism of the 1970s and how close we came to revolution.

Amartel said...

The celeb in question is Dustin Hoffman (Obama was far too young at the time of this particular radical hypocritical bumblestorm). Didn't Hoffman's girlfriend at the time get blown up by these clowns? Not sold on the blind's intent to redirect blame from Hoffman.

Anonymous said...

"Famous composer" - John Lennon and the Yippies (Abbie Hoffman)?

sysadmn said...

one movie - made during a stand-out decade for the medium - was inspired by real life events. It's ironic though because the now/long time permanent A list actor who starred in it had been literally, and on foot,

Dustin Hoffman, Marathon Man - chased by the spy. Villain Szell was a composite of several, including Mengele. Could also be Dustin Hoffman, All the President's Men, although there's no chase scene?

famous composer had been for another group - Leonard Bernstein and the Black Panthers.


very famous person ?
President- Obama
group alum William Ayers

bombing of police in a west coast town known for its university. - Berkeley, CA.

Heros of the decade Woodward or Bernstein, although they were not indicted.

Unknown said...

The "one of the heroes of the decade" is Felt (Deepthroat), as Krab said. The bit about the mixed preferences must mean he was gay/bi, and it says that's actually why he chatted up either Woodward or Bernstein in the first place. And we've had at least one blind that suggested Nixon may have had some tendencies in that direction as well.

Aimless Spectator said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
gauloise said...

@Krab good call on Felt for the last part!

There was a really good documentary on this from the mid 2000s called The Weather Underground. That is how I knew about this stuff.

Countervail said...

Oh my goodness, call Fox News! Deep State! Deep State!

Jesus, pathetic.

hhstarr said...

And that is how a blind should be written.

Ophelia said...

Wow - yeah I wasn't alive during any of this and didn't learn about it in school. Thank you CDAN for the great education today!

#TEAMGEELJIRE CLASSIC said...

No, none of it is true. This is a fake blind. You people are sheep who will believe any tin foil conspiracy.

Me Again said...

@Krab.... shocked that there is not a blind about the Daily Mail story about celebrities with black eyes, which could be part of an Illuminati ritual. The Pope, Robert Downey Jr, and Boy George were just three they mentioned.

Ophelia said...

@Me Again refresh your main page :)

Krab said...

"@Krab.... shocked that there is not a blind about the Daily Mail story about celebrities with black eyes, which could be part of an Illuminati ritual. The Pope, Robert Downey Jr, and Boy George were just three they mentioned."

I saw that and laughed. Because when I think about powerful internation secret societies, I think BOY GEORGE.

OB said...

@Krab I'm pleasantly surprised at how many commenters here know anything about the WU. Back in the day when radicals were the real deal instead of posers for their Twitter and Insta feeds!

Brayson87 said...

Yes there are wackos on both sides. I always liked the horseshoe theory where it's shown that the far left and far right aren't actually all that different from each other.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horseshoe_theory

shakey said...

Oooo - espionage blind items. Juicy.

Jeff Weimer said...

W. Mark Felt and Nixon - the shared tendencies were illegal wiretaps. Nixon's 'plumbers' wiretapped Daniel Ellsberg as part of their 'dirty-tricks' to try to get him discredited. It was one of the things he set Woodward and Bernstein on in their (literally underground) meetings, and was (IIRC) part of the proposed charges for Impeachment.

W. Mark felt illegally wiretapped Bill Ayers, it was discovered, and Ayers was set free on that technicality. "Guilty as sin, free as a bird!"

Guesser said...

Since Hoffman was mentioned,what happened to the accusations against him from the young girls? If completely disappeared.

Unknown said...

Thanks to all who explained this one, I was totally lost. The only Weather Underground I'd ever heard of is the one on the Weather channel, I was too young when they were around to know about them, and they weren't far enough back in history to cover in class. This was a fascinating one!

Cheetah said...

Who says they are from a country they were supposedly not born in? My spouse is an American born of Mexican decent, never says "from Mexico".

Obama said he is the first sitting president from Kenya in this video of his recent speech starting at 6:30. He didn't grow up there and only visited as an adult.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SfqtpsNJZJk

GentleBreeze said...

Weather Underground and SDS. That is when sh!te started getting real. I was 15 yrs old in 1970 and it was very confusing - with a WWII vet dad and pop culture saying 'kill the pigs, war is not healthy...' Love and peace was giving way to these domestic terrorists. Do you think we didn't have a revolution?

Bumtitty said...

I actually enjoyed reading that even though I had not a clue what it was about

Weekittylass said...

I was at the May Day protest in 1971. I was 14 and there with my brother and his friends. I stole one of the SDS flags. I gave it to my daughter to keep. It is silkscreened on a cheap royal blue taffeta with yellow paint. This same brother was investigated by the FBI for possible links to the SLA, which we found quite amusing at the time. My dad was used as a sometime bag man for the CIA in SA on and off in the late 60’s, early 70’s.

plot said...

@Cail

"Certainly didn't hear anything about it in school, since the radicals went into academia and wrote the history books."

That's for the same reason no one knows about Union history in this country, though it was historical and changed this country greatly. The Reich doesn't want history repeating itself and diverting the power of the corporations and the wealthy promised since 1872.

These radicals you speak of had nothing to do with it. The public school curricula is set by governments, not the teachers or professors.

plot said...

@J

"For what it's worth, I'm a liberal; big on labor rights, etc."

Yeah...uh-huh...

"But it's sad and stupid to see "liberals" today talk about our wonderful "intelligence community" as though it were some sort of innocent, well-meaning, neighborhood cleanup group."

When our intelligence community is the only thing standing in the way of complete tyranny, yeah, that's how it goes.

Maybe in 4 years, things will be different. Nothing is set in concrete you know.

You don't understand the particulars of how this administration is trying to dismantle our laws and justice department and the only one standing in the way of that is Ron Rosenstein, a Republican btw, and a defender of the FBI and the DoJ. That's how things stand TODAY.

John said...

Shut up. You sound like an uneducated asshole.

Why are you here?

#TEAMGEELJIRE CLASSIC said...

You're a fucking idiot if you believe Bush's CIA and all their skull and Bones faggot lackeys and Mossad pedo friends have done anything but egregiously harm this country plot.

Looks like it's you who knows nothing of IC

#TEAMGEELJIRE CLASSIC said...

But we knew this

Unknown said...

Yet muslim Obama did great things for this country. Let's not forget how he gave billions to a country that openly calls for the destruction of the US with 'Death to America' rallies. A real patriot right there.

#TEAMGEELJIRE CLASSIC said...

Obama isn't a Muslim
He's a Satanist
Like the Pope
And Queen Elizabeth
And Arnon Milchan
Truly a uniting faith

#TEAMGEELJIRE CLASSIC said...

A heart doctor who treated former President George H.W. Bush was biking to work when he was gunned down by another cyclist on Friday, authorities said.

The former president released a statement about Dr. Mark Hausknecht, 65, after he was shot dead near Texas Medical Center in Houston.

“Mark was a fantastic cardiologist and a good man,” Bush said. “I will always be grateful for his exceptional, compassionate care.”

The gunman remained at large on Friday night.

#TEAMGEELJIRE CLASSIC said...

Giving your victim's eulogy is a time honored IC tradition dating back centuries if not millenia

Unknown said...

For not being a muslim, Obama sure did a hell of a lot of muslim ass kissing, apologising, grovelling and money-giving to muslims.

You know who else was a muslim? The most famous pedophile who ever lived.

longtimereader said...

plot - 'When our intelligence community is the only thing standing in the way of complete tyranny, yeah, that's how it goes...'

That's kinda the dictionary definition of fascism dude.

#TEAMGEELJIRE CLASSIC said...

David Geffen isn't Muslim

plot said...

@longtimereader

"That's kinda the dictionary definition of fascism dude."

No, it really isn't.

The FBI and CIA could be as detestable as ever in no time, but AT THIS TIME, they are holding the judicial process in this country together and holding onto the vestiges of democracy for the rest of us.

Times change. We can't be innocent any longer to the destruction the GOP wishes to reap upon us, every last one of us.

#TEAMGEELJIRE CLASSIC said...

Literally the opposite of reality in this post and really makes one think

Gylly said...

Comeback monarch

Paul Saint John said...

The Black Panthers.

nikkistardust said...

There is an excellent documentary on the Weather Underground made in 2002. William Ayers and his wife Bernadine Dohrn are featured prominently in it as well as lesser known members of the Weather crew. How do I feel that all this occurred in my lifetime--very, very old. It was well known at the time that Dustin Hoffman lived near the building that blew up but I had not heard about members of the group stalking him. Diana Oughton was one of the people who died. She was the child of very wealthy parents and I think there was a book written about her.

a beautiful virago named hope said...

I read a good book, called Witness to the Revolution by Clara Bingham. It was about the summer of 1969 through the summer of 1970. Very enlightening.

BlimpBabyPrez said...

Hoffman will confirm all of this at any moment.

BlimpBabyPrez said...

galoise and depeche model are stupid fucking liars. How do some of you not know that?

Unknown said...

Gramercy Park

codyave said...

1. movie made during a stand-out decade: Marathon Man (1976)
2. permanent A list actor who starred in Marathon Man: Dustin Hoffman
3. cell: Students for a Democratic Society
4: cell within a cell: Weather Underground
5. famous composer: Lenny Bernstein
6. another group: Black Panths
7. fashionable enclave: Greenwich Village
8. military installation: Fort Dix Army base in New Jersey
9. island nation: Cuba
10. residence that blew up: 18 West 11th St. in NYC
11. very famous person: Barack Obama
12. foreign country: Kenya
13. then-current president: Richard Nixon
14. certain group alum: Bill Ayers
15. west coast town known for its university: Berkeley (Park Station)
16. informant who died: ?
17. unintentional hero: Mark Felt aka Deep Throat
18. group engaged in unlawful practices: Nixon's White House Plumbers
19. Felt's boss: FBI Director Edgar J. Hoover
20. more favorable leadership: President Ronald Reagan
21. former boss: President Richard Nixon
22. Felt's commonality with Nixon: unlawful surveillance
23. young man: Bob Woodward
24. colleague: Carl Bernstein
25. other movie that year: All the President's Men (1976)

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