Word: bents
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...terrorist with one swing, then jumped to safety. In the aftermath of the horror of Flight 648, many questions remained unanswered. Were the terrorists, whose trip was indeed believed to have begun in Tripoli, directly linked to Gaddafi? Were they agents of Abu Nidal, the Palestinian renegade who is bent on undermining Mubarak and other Arab moderates? Had they somehow smuggled their weapons onto the plane in Athens, despite what Greek authorities insisted had been five security checks of passengers boarding Flight 648, or had the weapons been taken onto the plane clandestinely in Cairo earlier...
Similarly, in dealing with the outside world, Gorbachev seemed bent not on introducing new policies so much as trying to make more palatable the ones he inherited. At his Geneva summit meeting with Reagan, he proved himself an able spokesman for a depressingly familiar set of attitudes, objectives and one-sided demands. The U.S.S.R. might withdraw its troops from Afghanistan, but only if that country remained under Soviet control; the U.S. must ultimately remove all its intermediate-range missiles from Western Europe, even though the Soviets dominate that category; Washington must cancel Star Wars despite a huge Soviet buildup...
Newspapers, concerned about their credibility, are increasingly bent on parading as well as practicing their dedication to fairness. Let so-and-so be accused of defrauding a widow, and the New York Times will meticulously note that he "did not return telephone calls." A guilty person can no longer just hide out waiting for a story to blow over; he also stands convicted of not answering his phone. The late Edward R. Murrow used to complain against the kind of mentality that would give Judas equal space for his side of the story...
When it televised to fairness, what of the press conference and the televised interview? Too often, particularly when one of television's designated news personalities is doing the asking, the questioner seems bent on drawing attention across bad or hoping to provoke a quotable row. It comes across as badgering. But press conferences and interviews emerged historically as a means to check the unchallenged "Now hear this" of authority. The questioner exists to make that respond to aspects of the story, uncomfortable to them, that otherwise might not get heard. A one-sided presentation thus becomes more of a fair...
...side bet? Not really. Well surely then, when Eddie starts training to go back into competition again, he will get a chance to teach Vincent some lessons in respect for elders. No again. We are not on Rocky's side of the street, but in Martin Scorsese country, where bent character, not sentiment, shapes destiny, and the best the struggling human spirit can hope for is a split decision...