Morley Safer (November 8, 1931 – May 19, 2016)

Morley Safer retired from 60 Minutes last week and today he passed away. More than his many years on CBS's popular Sunday-night magazine show, he will be remembered for this, one of the most honest and important reports from Vietnam in 1965 when the US war there was still relatively young. LBJ wanted CBS to fire Safer for this unvarnished look at American troops calmly burning the village of Cam Ne. You wonder how many young antiwar activists were created watching this episode of CBS News with their parents in living rooms around America that evening.

They moved into the village and they systematically began torching every house — every house as far as I could see, getting people out in some cases, using flame throwers in others. No Vietnamese speakers, by the way, were among the group with the flame thrower. The trooper with the flame thrower was ordered to zap a particular house, and our cameraman, who's Vietnamese — Ha Thuc Can, this wonderful man — put his camera down and said, "Don't do it! Don't do it!" And he walked to the house and then I went with him, and a sergeant came on up. We heard people crying.

--Morley Safer from Reporting America at War: An Oral History (compiled by Michelle Ferrari)

Reporters were freer to travel and report in 1965, long before the concept of "embedding" in our 21st-century desert wars made television news readers into more predictable flag wavers.

Rest in Peace Morley.

#MittsMissingReturns (Part Ten) -- In which Paul Ryan makes Mitt Romney throw up in his mouth a little.

Please just watch Mitt Romney's face in this very short clip from last night's installment of 60 Minutes on CBS. This early joint appearance with Bob Schieffer was mostly fluff, but there was this one priceless moment when a flicker of terror crossed Mitt's face.
Before the next non-Fox appearance, Paul Ryan will receive more than a fashion memo concerning the uniform of the evening.

Paul Ryan's Mouth: "What we're saying is take away the tax shelters that are uniquely enjoyed by people in the top tax brackets, so they can't shelter as much money from taxation, so you can lower tax rates for everybody to make America more competitive."

Mitt Romney's Eyes: "Who's this 'we' you're referencing, Sonny?"

This is the reason that seeing #MittsMissingReturns for more than 2010 and 2011 is important. Which tax loopholes available only to the ultrarich has Mitt Romney been taking advantage of?  Which would he close, if any?  Which would Paul Ryan close?  We can't even start this conversation until we know what the questions are.
Ten to twelve years of Mitt Romney's 1040s should be enough to start, but I'm starting to doubt that we'll even see 2009.  Is it possible that in '09 he realized and reflected losses from the stock market declines of '08?  And if so, is it possible that he paid close to zero taxes in that year?

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Catch up with previous installments in the #MittsMissingReturns saga by clicking below:

• #MittsMissingReturns [part one], July 3 
• #MittsMissingReturns (Part Two), July 6 
• #MittsMissingReturns (Part Three),  July 10
• #MittsMissingReturns (Part Four) -- In a Nutshell, July 14 
• #MittsMissingReturns (Part Five) -- In Which Mitt Romney Gives a Typically Squirrelly Response, July 16
• #MittsMissingReturns (Part Six) -- Herman Cain Weighs In, July 25
• #MittsMissingReturns (Part Seven) -- Romney Finds One Issue on Which He's 100% Consistent, July 26
• #MittsMissingReturns (Part Eight) -- Another Lesson in Mitt's Lying Laugh, July 31
• #MittsMissingReturns (Part Nine) -- Mitt Romney vs. Harry Reid, August 4

And keep tweeting with #MittsMissingReturns on Twitter.