The Internets were briefly a-flurry today over initial reports that the Army had decided to charge SGT Bowe Bergdahl with Desertion. I posted a Reuters link on Twitter about that, and others posted similar links. Apparently Fox News and NBC ran stories on it. It appears now that story is not true.
Although they have not been forthcoming as to what, if anything has happened recently, both the Pentagon’s spokesman, Admiral John Kirby, and the Army Chief of Public Affairs, MG Ronald Lewis announced that no charging decision had been made, with MG Lewis taking a rather aggressive tack:
The reporting from Fox News and NBC on SGT Bergdahl is patently false. To be clear, there have been no actions or decisions on the SGT Bergdahl investigation. The investigation is still with Commanding General, US Forces Command, who will determine appropriate action-which ranges from no further action to convening a Court-Martial. We understand the public interest in the case and once a decision has been made, the Army will be open and transparent in this matter.
Well, OK, then.
Basically it comes to this: whatever Bergdahl might have been thought to have done, he’s one of ours, and we don’t leave our people behind. I’ll note that nobody on the right was saying shit about leaving him there while he was in Taliban captivity. They used his plight to beat the President over the head about him not caring about the military, and when Bergdahl was recovered, they immediately pivoted and attacked the President for giving up five “high value” detainees for a traitor. Well, fuck ’em. Fuck every single Goddamned one of them with chainsaw on fire.
The Army had a pretty good idea what Bergdahl had done shortly after he had done it. In fact, it was reported in Rolling Stone what was alleged and what the Army had found from members of Bergdahl’s unit. Nothing I’ve seen so far has changed what I wrote here and I agree with John from earlier today. If I had to bet today, 5 gets you 10 that Bergdahl will plead guilty to AWOL, which is a different offense from Desertion (the primary difference is that Desertion has a specific intent to permanently abscond as an element of the crime) and the sentence will be capped at a reduction in rank and a fine, with no punitive discharge. Bergdahl will then be quietly administratively discharged from the Army with a General Under Honorable Conditions at some point six months hence. And he’ll get VA benefits because of that. And I’m cool with that. It serves no purpose that I can think of to aggressively prosecute him for Desertion with all that entails, but at the same time, the Army can’t simply ignore this, as much as they probably want to do.
Also too, open thread.
Elizabelle
Hello Sooner. Humane and sane take on the Bergdahl case. As expected.
raven
Will he get back pay?
jl
Thanks for your info, and Soonergruntsplaining on this issue. And Soonergruntsplaining is almost invariably good ‘splaining, iMHO.
Mnemosyne (iPhone)
If I remember the “Rolling Stone” article correctly, Bergdahl did have a previous history of AWOL (wandering off and then returning) so it would probably be pretty hard to prove that he left with the intent to never return. Plus, to me, it’s pretty problematic to punish a guy for actions that already led to him being held as a prisoner in horrible conditions.
JPL
Great post. Thank you sooner.
Soonergrunt
@raven: My understanding is that he has gotten all his accrued pay and leave. IF he’s convicted of anything, he would forfeit some or all pay going forward if that’s part of the sentence. I think the best thing for him and for the Army is to dispense with this with as little fanfare as possible.
raven
@Soonergrunt: Got it.
Mary G
Do they have plea bargains in the Army justice system? This would seem ripe for something like that – he admits he was bad, they ding him a bit (not dishonorable discharge and forfeiting all benefits, that seems too stringent) and he exits stage left.
raven
The google say
“Referral of Charges: The act of “referral” of the charges creates the court, and in the case of special or general courts-martial, leads to the appointment of an independent military judge who will preside over the case. Once the case is referred, it is under the control of the military judge unless the convening authority withdraws and dismisses the charges. The convening authority also retains the ability, through his trial counsel, to negotiate a “pretrial agreementor plea bargain to dispose of the case. This ability to plea bargain continues all the way up until the case ends.”
http://www.militarylawyers.com/Court-Martial-Overview.html
Just Some Fuckhead
Dipped in sulfuric acid.
Yo.
kindness
I appreciate hearing your point of view Soonergrunt. It sucks that so many like to use actual people and their lives as pawns. Especially when the point is simply to slime someone else. Let us hope the best for the poor guy and his family.
Now those that would use a soldier’s being to further their own cause…..not cool. Not cool at all. Karma happens. They’d better pay attention ’cause it’ll happen to them too.
Ben Cisco (onboard the Defiant)
Thanks for injecting some facts and sanity into the discussion.
Mnemosyne (iPad Mini)
Totally OT, Soonergrunt, but have any of the Soonerdaughter’s gastro doctors mentioned the possibility of avoiding FODMAPs in her diet to help with her Crohn’s? Not everyone needs to do it, but it can help avoid day-to-day tummy troubles that could mask the recurrence of a bigger problem. Here’s the Monash University website — they have the most scientific and up-to-date information:
http://www.med.monash.edu/cecs/gastro/fodmap/
a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)
Thanks for a reasoned post based on experience. I hope that your prediction is correct in its entirety.
Shana
Totally off topic, but just got back from my birthday dinner at a lovely restaurant. While waiting for Hubby to come in after parking the car, who should walk in with a lady friend to have dinner at the same place but Callista Gingrich. Yikes. Still enjoyed the dinner though. Going to bed now. Talk to you all tomorrow.
JPL
@Shana: whoa.. did she wear the helmet on her head?
elftx
So just where did these leaders of the 4th estate get their info from..Daily Caller??? Who was peddling it far and wide.
Saw a twitter argument from Buzzfeed I think stating they would not print until confirmation from someone not insane.
trollhattan
O/T I’m liking this De Blasio fellow more and more.
trollhattan
@JPL:
They probably needed it in the kitchen to whip the eggwhites.
divF
Charles Townes , inventor of the laser, just died at the age of 99.
One of the great scientists of the 20th century.
Anne Laurie
Always good to see your name again, Soonergrunt!
I posted a Gawker tweet under Cole’s thread, on the source of this rumor. (Such instant updates are why I read twitter even though I don’t subscribe.) Here’s a chunk from the eventual story, amplifying that tweet:
TRUTHINESS Uber alles!!!
currants
@jl: Agreed; well said, JL and Sooner, both.
Steeplejack (tablet)
@Shana
What restaurant? I’m not sorry we canceled going to the Old Angler’s Inn last night, but I told bro’ man I definitely want a rain check.
Belafon
@trollhattan: I wish I could rec this one.
BubbaDave
@trollhattan:
Audio can be found here.
srv
I’m still confused and need you to sandbox all of this.
Violet
Since this is an open thread, how is it that we’ve had no pupdates for days? No Ginger. No Lily or Rosie. Steve was nice to see yesterday, but where are those puppies? Need moar puppies!
PurpleGirl
@Violet: I agree with you — we need puppeh pictures,
Omnes Omnibus
Nice post, SG.
debit
Sooner, good to see you again. And I always enjoy your perspective.
@Violet: See, I was going to post something along the lines of: Who does a person need to sleep with in order to get some damn pet updates? But your way is nicer.
lamh36
Open Thread…okay.
Two stories today, both causing much butthurt for white males…and usual bigots and racists?
1) All female Ghostbusters have been cast and I say, why the hell not. I like the director, I love 2 of the 4 ladies, and the other 2 ladies particularly McKinnon are good on SNL. So I say again, why the hell not. Now if they bring along Sigourney Weaver and Annie Potts…I’ll be happy. From my understanding they could never get Bill Murray to sign on for an original cast reboot, and also RIP Harold Ramis. Original cast Ghostbuster with NO Igon…aint’ gonna work!
Dudebro butthurt level…5 out of 10?
New All-Female ‘Ghostbusters’ Cast Chosen
2)The new Fantastic Four reboot released a trailer for the summer. In the reboot, the Human Torch will be played by Micheal P Jordan. Sue Storm and Johnny are supposed to be brother an sister. The new reboot Sue is White, Johnny is Black, so… Other than that, people seemed to love the first two FF so much, but um the Torch is now Cap’n America, and he was the best thing in the first. Jessica Alba nice to look at, but a HORRIBLE actress. At lease the new cast consist of some really good young talent. I mean Micheal P Jordan is a damn good actor. As for Human Torch being Black…so fuckin’ what? Marvel comics has SOOOOO many different universes with the same characters, that you could literally find a universe to darn near fit any number of reboots. Besides…once the Torch is “flame on” it’s the attitude and a good actor brings something good to an otherwise generic character…HELLO…Idris Elba as Heimdall in Thor!!!
Comic dudebro butthurt: 5 for “original” FF comic fans, a big ole…meh from those who’ve read the other universes.
Racist, “what if Shaft was played by a White actor” butthut: 11….and I LMBAO as they cry and kick their feet…bah.
Fantastic Four Trailer
Omnes Omnibus
I am watching All the President’s Men on TCM and feeling nostalgic for a type of journalism that never really existed.
@lamh36: I am not a Kristin Wiig fan.
lamh36
@Omnes Omnibus: I liked Kristen Wig in Bridesmaids, particularly her scenes with Melissa McCarthy. If the director can get the same type of acting from Kristen in this movie, I think it’d be cool
trollhattan
@lamh36:
“Willard Romney IS Shaaaaaft.”
[/Don LaFontaine voice]
“Might you perhaps excavate it?”
lamh36
My video of the night courtesy of a teacher in DFW school and the students.
I love seeing teachers who seemingly love interacting with their students.
Plus, I love “Uptown Funk”
A. Maceo Smith New Tech High School – Uptown Funk Dance
Omnes Omnibus
@lamh36:She was the flat point in Paul. Everyone else was great. I don’t have any problem with an all female remake of Ghostbusters; she just bugs me.
lamh36
@trollhattan: it never fails whenever this type of colorblind casting occurs the usual suspects always seem to go with “well what if Shaft was played by a white guy”..
first of all, who the hell even goes to Shaft as an example first. Secondly, what talking points maker when asked to find an example of bad colorblind casting OF FICTIONAL CHARACTERS, went…ooh…SHAFT! Cause I kid you not, go to any blog or entertainment site that mentions colorblind casting where a Black person is playing a “white character”, and you will find the Shaft comparison…I mean really, really?
lamh36
@Omnes Omnibus: gotcha. I saw Paul and your right, she wasn’t needed.
Suzanne
@lamh36: Uptown Funk is FAAAABULOUS. I cannot stop bootyshaking to that song,
Spawn is still sick, but fortunately no longer barfing up all the Tamiflu. Sigh.
I need a personal assistant.
trollhattan
@lamh36:
Your post just smack planted the image in my head–now my life will remain incomplete unless John Waters (or Tarantino in a pinch) does “White Shaft–featuring Mitt Romney.”
“He’s a complex fellow, but no-one understands like his partner-for-eternal-life-on-Kolob, Princess Ann. And, oh, Tugg and Rafalca.”
Is that too much to ask for?
Omnes Omnibus
@Suzanne: Ronson is really good. He is brilliant at picking the the singer to do his songs. Of course, Mars nails it. Perfect 80s Minneapolis funk.
@trollhattan:
Yes.
Belafon
@lamh36: I’m assuming second marriage made them brother and sister. Johnny’s dad is being played by Reg E. Cathey, who has been acting for a while.
ETA: What’s funny to me is the picture they have for Cathey looks like the picture for Ioan Gruffudd, who played Reed Richards, with a goatee.
fuckwit
@lamh36: Fucking hell. “Shaft” grossed how much? Barely made its cheap production cost back? I see. Anyone ever seen it? Uh-huh. Any sequels, any franchise? Hmmm.. And… James Bond films gross how much? Mmmm-hmm.. How many have been made and how many more to come? I thought so.
This ALWAYS must be kept in mind when these stupid false equivalences come up. The “but if you put a WHITE guy in there…” would mean putting a white guy into a low-status, low-budget, nobody-has-ever-seen-it, throwaway kind of situation. And in these cases we’re talking about putting black people into HIGH-status, huge-budget, big-promotion situations.
In the great words of another film “Ain’t no ballpark neither. It ain’t the same league. It ain’t even the same fucking sport. “
lamh36
@Belafon: Oooh…is he playing Johnny’s dad? I assume it’d be something like adoptive or foster sibling type plotline. Either way, I don’t mind either way…like I said, other than Chris Evans who were great for their parts. Elba and the other guy was meh, and the movies themselves were meh.
Funny enough the same people who take umbrage at Micheal P playing Johnny, never took same umbrage of Alba who is a Latina, dying her hair blond and wearing contacts to get blue eyes fo play white girl Sue Storm?
I mean…come on…
trollhattan
@Omnes Omnibus:
Damn you, dream-crusher! [shakes shakey fist at monitor]
If we had Osmond concept albums, we can have Mormon White Shaft.
jl
@lamh36:
” Racist, “what if Shaft was played by a White actor” butthut: 11….and I LMBAO as they cry and kick their feet…bah.”
IMHO, Sean Connery would have made an awesome Shaft, Scots accent and all.
I never heard nobody complain when white actors played Othello, or the Mikado, or Ming the Merciless, or Zorro, or…
OTOH, was Connery really all that ‘white’ until Ian Fleming’s girlfriend told him that Connery was totally hot and pack audiences into theatres like sardines? Fleming seemed not to think so. But with success, Fleming decided to make Connery half Scots and half Swiss (too colorful folkloric ethnic types until recently) rather than a pure upper-crust Anglo twit..
Complaining about it with a comic book hero is true Limbaugh territory.
Edit: I first typed ‘Scottish’. That was un-PC. I am sorry.
Citizen_X
@lamh36:
One’s adopted? They’re step-siblings? They’re not siblings?
As you point out, there’s lotsa ways to skin that cat. Marvel’s house contains multitudes…
Villago Delenda Est
@Soonergrunt:
Yes, but the wingtards will not let this happen. They will scream and jump up and down like Homer Simpson missing a Chili cookoff. They’re convinced that Bergdahl is some sort of traitor, almost as much of a traitor if his skin were darker.
That idiot responding to your tweet all but said “blame Obama” for this.
jl
@trollhattan:
“White Shaft–featuring Mitt Romney.”
I looked for a link in lamh36’s comment to the Mitt Romney White Shaft trailer, but no dice. Dammit. That would be great.
Villago Delenda Est
@Citizen_X: The Johnny Storm of the first two films had a personality that was repellent, unlike the personality of the Johnny Storm from the comics.
They got Reed, Sue, and Ben down pretty well, but Johnny sucked. I blame the needs of Hollywood for this.
jl
@Citizen_X:
” One’s adopted? They’re step-siblings? They’re not siblings? ”
Just ignore it, or change the back-story (purists be damned). If it works with the actors it works and no one will care (edit: except neurotic purists, who should be ignored).
Omnes Omnibus
@jl: FWIW Fleming saw Bond as resembling Hoagy Carmichael.
Violet
@lamh36:
Do you mean Michael B. Jordan? The one who was in “Fruitvale Station”? He is a good actor. Personally I don’t care about the gender or race of actors in comic book type movies. There are probably roles where the gender or racial background of a character is enough of a plot point that it can’t be changed easily, but doing something like a female “Ghostbusters” is just fun.
That being said, I completely agree with Omnes Omnibus. I am not a Kristen Wiig fan at all. She ruins everything.
@Omnes Omnibus:
Yes, this. Why do people like her? She’s so meh. Even during her endless run on SNL, all her characters were the same. And not-funny the same. I don’t get her appeal at all.
srv
Mnemosyne (iPhone)
@Citizen_X:
Half-siblings who share one (white) parent. Problem solved. You could even get a nice traumatic parental death into the backstory for the older one that way.
Omnes Omnibus
@srv: Your point? Other that justice appears to have been served?
jl
@Omnes Omnibus: I think Hoagy Carmichael could pass for an upper crust English twit, far more than Connery.Those Scots are a mongrel folk, composed of Celts, various English/Scot border people of very obscure origin and post-invasion Normans that were ejected or injected into Scotland and given land for various purposes, or to cast them out of the respectable realm.
I’ve concluded from what I have read that Fleming originally envisioned Bond as a sexed up version of himself, who looked liked a slightly dorky upper crust English twit before he ravaged his face with booze and chain smoking. He probably decided that he had more than a little Connery about him, after his girlfriend raved about sexy Sean as the one and only natural Bond.
Edit: hey, did I ever mention I am Irish-Scots-Swiss. And some people say that I am , in a remote way, almost as sexy and handsome as Connery, if they close their eyes long enough and think about Connery. People have said that.
lamh36
@Violet: Damn, yeah, I meant Micheal B.
Mnemosyne (iPhone)
@Citizen_X:
Wait, hang on, I have an even better idea: they’re full siblings, with Jimmy Smits as the father and Ming-Na Wen as the mother.
Sort out THAT DNA, whiners!
scav
People are worried about rationally explaining sibling variations in skin tone for mutants. Mutants with superpowers.
jl
@scav: Comic book reality is more real than real reality. That is basic for this kind of movie.
Omnes Omnibus
@jl: If you read the Bond novels, you will see that Bond wasn’t quite of the Establishment. He was on the edges of it. He could come to dinner but not the ball. If you know what I mean….
Mnemosyne (iPhone)
@scav:
Well, they’re not born mutants, like the X-Men. They’re created mutants, like Spider-Man or The Hulk.
But that’s why I like my second solution best. Make every member of the family a totally different race/ethnicity and just go with it.
scav
If that reality can swallow green, even in created mutants . . .
jl
@Omnes Omnibus:
” Bond wasn’t quite of the Establishment ”
I don’t think it took all that much back then to meet those qualifications. Plenty of pure bred upper crust English twits fell into that category.
Hey, you can’t fool me. I’ve had to endure whole 15 or 20 minutes at a time of Dumpy Abby, or whatever it’s called, at my folks’ house.
Citizen_X
@Mnemosyne (iPhone): Wait, even better: they are siblings…from parallel universes.
Dun-dun-dunnnnn!
jl
@Citizen_X:
Wow. You need to write up a treatment and make a pitch. You have promise.
Omnes Omnibus
@jl: It was a subtext of the novels. But I’ll defer to you. You are clearly an expert.
coin operated
@Villago Delenda Est:
You got that right. I pointed out that much of what has been revealed so far was highly speculative. Too bad…some squad mates with an axe to grind made their opinions public and that’s it…the wingers want Bergdahl swinging from a rope.
The man will never know peace.
jl
@Omnes Omnibus: No, I’m not an expert at all. I just know what I read about what Fleming wanted in the movie casting and how he changed his mind after his girlfriend got all hot and bothered over seeing Connery in the role. By then Fleming might have been a might confused by his vanity in imagining himself in the role on the big screen.
Maybe when he was writing the novels, he wanted some ambiguity. But, I figured we were talking about movie casting here.
lamh36
I’m off to bed, but speaking of movie franchise reboots…i don’t know how to feel about this one. I like Chris Pratt. Loved him in Parks and Rec, loved him in Guardians, and I’ll admit, Jurassic Park’s reboot trailer didn’t suck…but Chris Pratt as Indiana Jones?
IDK about this one…
Omnes Omnibus
@jl: I just don’t think that in the 50s/60s there was much fluidity in who was in and who was out of the true upper class. You were in or you weren’t. It seemed that you disagreed. If I was wrong, I apologize. We may have be talking at cross-purposes.
srv
@Omnes Omnibus: rapist goes to jail, deserter gets off so Obama isn’t embarrassed.
Omnes Omnibus
@srv: Ah, just trolling then. Thanks.
jl
@Omnes Omnibus: Seriously, I really don’t have much to back up my disagreement with you about the nature of Bond in the novels, other than the fact that a pure bred upper crust British twit could be ostracized for being a bounder. I got that social insight from being exposed Downton Abbey. And I was a very young child in the 50s/60s interface, not old enough to travel in Bond or upper crust English circles. Edit: technically, I was not anything at all in the 50s.
I can easily see how Fleming’s idea of Bond in the novels and Bond on the screen could have been very different.
Mnemosyne (iPhone)
@lamh36:
I saw (most of) the original again recently and I’d forgotten that Indy is actually kind of bumbling (though of course looking cool as hell while doing it). He’s constantly hurting himself or screwing up. So it might work. Maybe.
lamh36
@Mnemosyne (iPhone): the Indy franchise really did have alot more humor than we always remember, bu first and foremost Indiana Jones was supposed to be an Archaeology professor and I believe a very smart and good one. I just can’t see Pratt as a college professor at all, let alone a brilliant archaeologist!
ETA: for some reason, they always seem to be airing one of the Indy Films on SyFy seems every week?
jl
@lamh36: I think he’s a little too pretty for the role.
It's Not The Fall, It's The Landing
The problem with Michael B. Jordan and Kate Mara as Johnny and Sue Storm is the same basic problem as with Chris Evans and Jessica Alba: They don’t look like brother and sister! Johnny and Sue’s physical resemblance and contrasting personalities are an important part of the FF dynamic.
Since the director apparently wanted to cast Jordan as Johnny no matter what, the obvious solution would have been to cast a black actress as Sue Storm, rather than change the characters’ back story. Surely there’s someone out there comparable in talent, cost, etc to Kate Mara, and who more closely resembles Jordan.
Woodrow/Asim
@It’s Not The Fall, It’s The Landing: Resemblance isn’t an issue if this is an adoption-based story.
Woodrow/Asim
@Mnemosyne (iPhone): There’s a great line of thought around the impact Indy actually has to the plot of RAIDERS — namely, that it would have gone down the same way if he’d never involved himself. Arguably, you’re watching the guy stubbornly fail at every key task — in a very heroic way! — in the movie.
TerryC
@jl:
I was mistaken for Sean Connery twice in one day in the San Francisco Bay area (late 1990s); was even asked by a dad for for my autograph for his son at a diner in Sausalito. My reply: He’s taller, older, and a lot better-looking than me.
Lurking Canadian
@Woodrow/Asim: Actually, the outcome is arguably better if Indy stays home. Belloq finds the Ark, they open it in Berlin in front if the Moustache…lots of people don’t die.
D58826
@Elizabelle: I agree. Of course the wingnuts and Faux News will want a public execution because …. because….. Oh yea Obama and BENGHAZI!!!!!! .
Chris
@lamh36:
That’s one of those franchises that I would seriously love to see them leave in peace. Harrison Ford was Indy, that made a few good movies in the eighties. Let it be and save the money for, I don’t know, a Nathan Drake or Dirk Pitt movie. It’s not like there’s a shortage of “globe trotting adventurer digging up the past” stories to adapt.
Shana
@JPL: Yep, that was largely how I recognized her.
Shana
@Steeplejack (tablet): L’Auberge chez Francoise. We ate in the regular restaurant and she went to the bistro section. It was lovely, but the service was a little snarky, which was odd.
JR in WV
@Just Some Fuckhead:
Now, I’d pay to see that show. Fumes and acid flying, smoke and fire spewing… wow.
JR in WV
@Citizen_X:
Maybe in this particular Marvel universe, skin color is determined by zodiacal sign? or random shooting stars? or… non-deterministic genetic switches… or something I’m too stupid to think of besides direct genetic inheritance.
It is a comic book people! Anything can happen, and does. You don’t need to be looking for logic where logic isn’t not that universe operates!
JR in WV
And Bergdahl should be allowed to putz around a couple of Army bases for a few months until someday someone asks and is told, “Oh, him? We discharged him a while ago.., why do you ask?
No, sorry, I don’t know where he’s living now.”
End of sad story.
John M. Burt
“[A]dministratively discharged … with a General Under Honorable Conditions.”
Speaking as one who received the same (for failure to learn assigned duties, not for any bad behavior), it seems like a reasonable way to handle someone who (my impression) had decided he didn’t need to follow all his orders and was taken prisoner as a result.
He’ll get VA health benefits and at his funeral his family will be given a flag, as is entirely appropriate for anyone who raised his/her right hand and solemnly pledged to defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies foreign and domestic.
Dave
@John M. Burt: I would be perfectly happy with that outcome. And one where he doesn’t lose the bulk of his back pay. Yeah he f’ed (I know I’m being delicate on Balloon Juice) but I’m glad we got him back and I think he already paid more than enough for that. Afghanistan was a fucked up place and it doesn’t shock me that some will react as he did to it. Too many forget that responsibility runs in both directions.