Atlantic Monthly Contributors's Blog, page 1000
July 15, 2013
Islamic Leader Gets 90-Year Sentence for War Crimes in Bangladesh
The 90-year-old head of Bangladesh's largest Islamist party has been sentenced to 90 years in prison for his role in war crimes dating to the country's 1971 war for independence. Ghulam Azam was convicted Monday by the International Crimes Tribunal on multiple counts of murder, torture, and incitement of violence during the decades-old conflict. He was the leader of the Jamaat-e-Islami party during the war that divided Bangladesh from Pakistan and remains their spiritual leader today.
Sadly, the verdict has lead to even more deaths as Jamaat-e-Islami supporters took to the streets in protest. Three people have been killed as they clashed with both police and opponents of Azam, who believe he should have been given the death penalty. A prosecutor who worked on the case said, "Some kind of justice is done but we are not happy," according to Al Jazeera.
Azam and his Islamist supporters were accused of collaborating with the Pakistani military to massacre intellectuals, artists, doctors, and journalists (mostly Hindus) during the war of independence, when East Pakistan broke away from West Pakistan to become Bangladesh. The army was alleged to have killed as many as 3 million people, mostly civilians, though the actual number is probably much lower. Azam is the fifth person convicted for their role in the crimes, three of whom have been given death sentences. Azam was spared due to his age, but will obviously spend the remainder of his life in jail, pending an appeal.
Supporters say the convictions are politically motivated and based on questionable evidence. Azam spoke out against the independence of East Pakistan at the time, and his speeches from the era were used against him at the trial.
George Zimmerman Can Have His Gun Back
Now that he has been cleared of criminal charges, George Zimmerman is free to claim any of his property that was being held as evidence in his murder case — including the gun that was used to kill Trayvon Martin. NBC News reports that it's unlikely that the gun has physically been returned to Zimmerman by now, but since he is no longer an accused criminal and he has no felony convictions on his record, there is nothing to prevent him from owning a gun again or reclaiming the one that already belongs to him.
When asked if he actually will reclaim the Kel Tec 9 pistol, Martin's lawyer, Mark O'Mara, rather ominously replied that there is "even more reason now, isn't there?" O'Mara has repeatedly suggested that Zimmerman's life might be in danger due to vigilante attacks.
Martin's status as a gun owner could change, however, if the federal government decides to press charges, which it still might. The Justice Department says it is considering filing criminal civil rights charges against Zimmerman. The NAACP has also said they will push for such a case, though it will be a difficult road for prosecutors. In order to file and win a federal civil rights claim, the government has to prove that Zimmerman acted against Martin because of his race, and did so while using a "public facility," in this case, a city street. (That last requirement alone could be tricky, since Martin was killed in a gated community, which the defense could argue is not a public facility.)
The return of Zimmerman's gun is merely another macabre detail to a story that continues to grip the nation even after the trial has ended. A day of nationwide protests on Sunday in likely to spill over into future demonstrations later this week, and with the DOJ investigation and a highly likely civil suit in the works, the story of Martin's death is not about to go away.
July 14, 2013
Asiana Isn't Ready to Forgive KTVU for Racist Pilot Name 'Joke'
Pretty much everyone involved in Friday's 
Snowden Wants to Keep the NSA 'Blueprint' Private
According to journalist Glenn Greenwald, NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden has the equivalent of "blueprints" for the NSA in his possession. But you won't be seeing them any time soon.
In an interview with the Associated Press, Greenwald said that Snowden has “basically the instruction manual for how the NSA is built" in the thousands of documents he snagged before fleeing his job at NSA contractor Booz Allen, and then, American soil. He's now holed up in a Moscow airport as journalists continue to chase down planes he's not on.
Apparently, Snowden doesn't want the information in those documents to become public. Here's Greenwald, speaking for Snowden, on why that is, and why he grabbed the information in the first place:
“In order to take documents with him that proved that what he was saying was true he had to take ones that included very sensitive, detailed blueprints of how the NSA does what they do...“I think it would be harmful to the U.S. government, as they perceive their own interests, if the details of those programs were revealed."
The depth of that information, which the U.S. government almost certainly already knew that he had, helps to explain the espionage charges he's facing.
Greenwald, and Snowden, have previously let on that there are more documents in the leaker's possession than we've seen this far. Greenwald told the AP today, for example, that he's planning more stories on domestic spying based on information from Snowden. Greenwald, speaking to The Altantic Wire in June, indicated that Snowden didn't want material from his trove disclosed unless it passed "a careful and judicious journalistic test weighing public interest versus harm." As of now, it looks like Snowden's "blueprint" does not pass that test.
So while we won't get a look at the inner strategies of the NSA from Snowden any time soon, there's a slow drip of information emerging on the culture of the NSA itself. A profile of NSA Director Keith Alexander in the Washington Post published on Sunday digs in to the agency's data collection strategy over the past several years:
"Rather than look for a single needle in the haystack, his approach was, ‘Let’s collect the whole haystack,’ ” said one former senior U.S. intelligence official who tracked the plan’s implementation. “Collect it all, tag it, store it. . . . And whatever it is you want, you go searching for it.”
In other words, basically the same strategy outlined in the Pokemon theme song.
The Second Day of Trayvon Martin Protests, in Photos
Protesters convened in city squares on Sunday, marching into the streets, for the second night following the "not guilty" verdict in the George Zimmerman trial.
Zimmerman, who shot and killed 17-year-old Trayvon Martin in what the jury decided was self defense under Florida law, apparently wants to go to law school to become a defender of the wrongfully accused. And while Zimmerman and his defense team may frame his (possibly ongoing) legal battle after the death of an unarmed teenager at his hands as an unwarranted witch hunt, the case has a deeper meaning for many of its watchers. In the images and sound bytes emerging from the protests, that deeper resonance couldn't be clearer.
President Obama's statement following the verdict focused on the tragedy of Trayvon Martin's death, and asked American citizens to "ask ourselves if we’re doing all we can to stem the tide of gun violence...we should ask ourselves, as individuals and as a society, how we can prevent future tragedies like this." While Obama, this time, declined to directly address the role of race in the story, many others noted the quotidian reality of American life as a minority illuminated by the conversations surrounding the trial. Zimmerman's brother (and Rick Perry!) might think that the case against his brother — and the reason he will not face punishment for killing another human being — has nothing to do with race. Here are, in pictures, some of the people who disagree:
Sanford, Florida:[image error]
Photo: Reuters
[image error]
Photo: Reuters
New York:At Sanford courthouse, where there's supposed to be a Justice For Trayvon rally happening. But deputies are blocking court grounds/parking
— jessica testa (@jtes) July 14, 2013
Hard not to have your heart broken by an image like this: pic.twitter.com/2JbYgkTMnl
— Danny Gold (@DGisSERIOUS) July 15, 2013
My phone is on the verge of death, so I'm out. The scene is peaceful but still high-energy. #TrayvonMartin pic.twitter.com/53qcKpLCCt
— Ryan Devereaux (@rdevro) July 15, 2013
Assistant NYPD Chief Purtell talks with one of #justice4trayvon march leaders, asks “Where do you guys want to go?” pic.twitter.com/3WF5cMWVTX
— Christopher Robbins (@ChristRobbins) July 15, 2013
union square rally #TrayvonMartin pic.twitter.com/NMtIWHD4UT
— Macey J. Foronda (@maceyjforonda) July 14, 2013
Protesters streamed out of union square and down south on Broadway @WNYC pic.twitter.com/LvhUu05188
— brigidbergin (@brigidbergin) July 14, 2013
[image error]
Photo: Reuters
Boston:RT @kristiehelms: Dudley Square protest of the Zimmerman verdict #boston #trayvon http://t.co/U73cQ7Hy5J
— Boston Diversity (@DiverseBoston) July 14, 2013
More signs around #JamaicaPlain for #Trayvon 6pm at Dudley Square #Boston pic.twitter.com/vHHRd8etYa
— Laura Everett (@RevEverett) July 14, 2013
Philadelphia: Miami:@jamiekilstein 300 strong rally in Detroit. #JusticeForTrayvon, indict the system! pic.twitter.com/Y4jzpVsIOW
— Nolegirl (@nolegirl) July 14, 2013
And Oakland, where last night some protesters committed acts of vandalism in response to the verdict:Youth led Justice for Trayvon Martin in Miami pic.twitter.com/S8SXiD3zfJ
— Jason Walker (@JasonWalker_) July 14, 2013
Protest at 14th and Broadway in #Oakland for yesterday's verdict in Florida on death of Trayvon Martin @NewsByNight pic.twitter.com/SwZxsGi80G
— Jose Carlos Fajardo (@jcfphotog) July 14, 2013
The crowd is lining up to march #Oakland streets "Trayvon did not have to die," one leader shouts! @insidebayarea pic.twitter.com/1vD2qCLxZG
— Natalie Neysa Alund (@nataliealund) July 15, 2013
"Welcome to #Oakland" a protestor said to motorist who had to stop as hundreds marched by @insidebayarea pic.twitter.com/18fn2rfdTk
— Natalie Neysa Alund (@nataliealund) July 15, 2013
So far, reports are that the protests across the country are, for the most part, peaceful ones.
Update 10:45 p.m.: Later Sunday evening, a planned march in Los Angeles turned tense as a splinter group of protesters walked onto the 10 freeway.
Avoid 10 freeway through Mid-city area. MT @NewsBreaker: NEW PHOTO: Protesters of Zimmerman verdict blocking 10 Fwy. pic.twitter.com/AuFpmx0XW5
— CHP Southern Div. (@CHPsouthern) July 15, 2013
We are literally walking on the 10 freeway for Trayvon Martin! #NoJustice pic.twitter.com/PZbrMJlp3l
— Jasmyne Cannick (@jasmyne) July 15, 2013
Police responded, reportedly with bean bags, and rubber bullets, i.e. so-called "less-than-lethal" rounds.
Usain Bolt Not Among the Top Sprinters Busted for Steroids
The best sprinter in the world was not among some of the sprinting world's big names busted today by the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency for taking performance enhancing drugs. But one of the best American sprinters alive and two of Usain Bolt's Jamaican teammates were.
The U.S.A.D.A announced two of the biggest names in sprinting, American Tyson Gay and Jamaican Asafa Powell, both tested positive for banned substance recently. The 30-year-old Gay was informed Friday that his A sample from an out-of-competition test in May came up positive for an unnamed banned substance. Gay's name can still be cleared if his B sample comes back clean, but he already pulled out of next month's World Championships in Moscow and admitted he may have taken a banned substance. "I don't have a sabotage story... I basically put my trust in someone and was let down," he told the BBC. "I know exactly what went on, but I can't discuss it right now." Powell's test from a June race came back positive for oxilofrine, but he is flat out denying any chance of taking banned substances. "I want to be clear in saying to my family, friends and most of all my fans worldwide that I have never knowingly or wilfully taken any supplements or substances that break any rules. I am not now - nor have I ever been - a cheat," Powell's statement read.
Other sprinters were implicated in the scandal, too. The most notable name being Sherone Simpson, another Jamaican sprinter who won a silver medal at the Olympics. Three other unnamed Jamaican sprinters tested positive for banned substances. Ricky Simms, Usain Bolt's agent, told the BBC that his clients name was not among the Jamaican athletes who tested positive, though. The fastest man in the world is still clean.
Of the four fastest 100 meter times in the world right now, Powell and Gay are in the top four with fellow countrymen Usian Bolt and Justin Gatlin, respectively. The positive test derails an unreal season for Gay, who has battled injuries over the last few years, that saw him post the three fastest times in 100 meter races this year. Many saw him as a legitimate potential threat to Usain Bolt's title in Moscow next month. But, alas, things won't work out that way. Gay said he'll "take his punishment like a man"
Way Too Many People Saw 'Grown Ups 2'
Welcome to the Box Office Report, where we'd like to start a petition to have David Spade stricken from the record books. Can't we have a do-over there?
1. Despicable Me 2 (Universal): $44.8 million in 4,003 theaters [Week 2]
The minions are unstoppable. Accept them as our new box office overlords for face the dire consequences. Did you see the last guy who crossed them? They giggled him to death. Do you want to go out like that guy? Do you want to be remembered as the giggler? Just accept that the minions are here to stay and there won't be any problems. All hail, for the rest of the summer.
2. Grown Ups 2 (Sony): $42.5 million in 3,491 theaters
Because if Adam Sandler and his merry band of remember-the-90s comedians couldn't knock the minions off the top spot, well, they might as well stay there. Somehow Sandler, David Spade, Kevin James and Chris Rock teaming up to rehash the same jokes from their lazy 2010 vehicle earned more money the original Pacific Rim. (It hurts so much to have to include Rock with those dummies.) This was called "perhaps the closest Hollywood has yet come to making “Ow! My Balls!” seem like a plausible future project," by Variety's Andrew Barker. What is wrong with people? Movie-goers are dumb. But we already proved that, with science.
(Side-note: is Idiocracy the most referenced but least seen movie of all time? We say yes.)
3. Pacific Rim (Warner): $38.3 million in 3,275 theaters
Behind the scenes, the Box Office Report was Pacific Rim's biggest supporter. We were the cheerleader. But the reviews have been mixed, with similar complaints about shallow characters and familiar plot tropes holding back an otherwise fun movie of big robots fighting bigger, badder monsters to save humanity. The line determining whether or not you will enjoy Pacific Rim lies somewhere between these two reviews. It's up to you to figure it out.
4. The Heat (Fox): $14 million in 3,128 theaters [Week 3]
And here's The Heat hanging out in the middle because Melissa McCarthy can hold buzz like no one else in Hollywood. See Johnny Depp and The Lone Ranger down there? Let's talk about how embarrassing that is.
5. The Lone Ranger (Disney): $11.1 million in 3,904 theaters [Week 2]
A summer tentpole that cost more than $200 million is making less than $15 million in its second week, while a comedy that cost considerably less is making more in its third week. Weee! Hollywood is just grand. And this $11 million is a gruesome 60 percent drop from week one, signalling a fast drop off and a quick exit.
July 13, 2013
A Verdict but No Answers to Why Trayvon Martin Is Dead
Trayvon Martin's death in February of last year became, as so many things do these days, a front in America's political wars. A young black man shot and killed by an armed, non-black man was distilled into a number of important questions — Was Martin killed because he was black? Should George Zimmerman have been armed? Would Zimmerman have gone to trial at all had it not been for the public outcry? — and then distilled again into Democrat versus Republican, seen as black versus white. The not guilty verdict, a personal victory for Zimmerman, will be seen by many as a victory for a political party, or as an answer to all of those questions. It's an answer to none. And people of every political persuasion should now push even harder to answer them.
The only answer the jury's verdict provides is this: the state of Florida did not prove beyond a reasonable doubt that George Zimmerman violated the statutory mandates of the state's murder and manslaughter laws. We won't know immediately how close to that level the jurors believed the prosecution got, but it doesn't really matter. Reasonable doubt is a tricky, hazy marker that is as much a product of the jury and its members as it is of any sort of legal standard. The prosecution didn't get there. The jurors may believe that "stand your ground" laws are important, that concealed carry of firearms bolsters public safety, that American jurisprudence is beyond race. But that's not what they said when they checked the box next to "not guilty." No matter how you hold the jury's verdict up to the light, no matter how you interpret that "X," that's not what the verdict said.
The loss of Trayvon Martin's life, everyone should and must agree, was horrible. But nearly as big a loss would be to consider the issues of racism and access to firearms and use of force now closed, resolved. They aren't. They remain painful gashes in America's complex and history-laden system of jurisprudence that the Trayvon Martin killing only broadened.
And they deserve immediate attention and contemplation and study. Perhaps with the verdict in, and, in a few hours or days, some cooling of off the frustration and elation felt by those hoping for one verdict or the other, perhaps then we can return to these issues. It's probable that the Martin killing forced these issues into the public conversation with an energy that prevented our considering them rationally and even-handedly. Once that furious energy dissipates, it is even a better time to figure out why Trayvon Martin is dead.
It is important for America to figure out if Trayvon Martin is dead because he was black and because he was young. It is important for America to figure out if we should outsource our safety to armed civilians. We should pour resources into resolving those questions once the spotlight has passed — examine the rates of homicide in communities of color and in Florida and the efficacy of "stand your ground." We should, of course, go further, looking at how and when and why America makes tacit and explicit distinctions between one group and another, or why some feel as though carrying a gun is important and vital and other find it frightening.
We are all mature and intelligent enough to understand, if pressed, the difference between being a Republican or a Democrat and insisting on the simplified party line on complex issues. We have to be. It's what our democracy depends upon. Outside of the crystallized tension of the verdict of George Zimmerman, we owe it to ourselves as a nation to figure out how this thing that should never, ever, ever have happened, did.
Trayvon Martin died before he lived his life. It's not a lot to ask that we try and figure out why he's dead. But: We won't. One side will claim victory. The other — the one that time and again has seen these questions remain unanswered — will be furious. And then those wounds and those questions will slip back into the background until some other horrible, stunning, preventable thing pushes them back into the spotlight.
George Zimmerman Verdict: Not Guilty
Update, 10:28 p.m.: George Zimmerman was found not guilty of second degree murder for killing Trayvon Martin, the six person jury ruled late Saturday night. The jury also acquitted Zimmerman of manslaughter, a lesser charge they were considering. It seemed that was the direction they were heading earlier in the evening, but the late night surprise sparked an intense reaction online. The New York Times has more details:
The jury, which has been sequestered since June 24, deliberated 16 hours and 20 minutes over two days. When the verdict was read, Mr. Zimmerman, 29, smiled slightly. His wife, Shellie, was in tears, and his whole family hugged.
[image error]While the supporters of Martin who gathered outside of the courthouse were devastated by the news of the not guilty verdict, Zimmerman's lawyers were quick to gloat in a press conference. "Obviously we are ecstatic with the result. Obviously George Zimmerman was never guilty," defense attorney Mark O'Mara told reporters. "I think the prosecution of George Zimmerman was disgraceful," said Don West, another member of the Zimmerman defense team. And then there's this:
Oh wow, Mark O'Mara: If "George Zimmerman was black, he never would've been charged with a crime."
— Brett LoGiurato (@BrettLoGiurato) July 14, 2013
It's going to be a long night in America.
Original: On Saturday, there were at least two altercations between the groups gathered outside the Florida courthouse who are waiting for the well-informed, careful jury to finish deliberating whether or not George Zimmerman is guilty of second degree murder for shooting and killing 17-year-old Trayvon Martin on February 26, 2012. But first, the jury had a question to ask.
Inside the Seminole county courthouse, the six women on the jury started deliberating around 9 a.m. local time Saturday morning and did not stop except to take a break for lunch until Saturday evening, when the lawyers and judge reassembled in the courtroom because the six women on the jury had a question to ask. "May we please have clarification on the instructions regarding manslaughter?" a note from the jury read. They promptly reassembled after the meeting. Those six women have now spent over 12 hours deliberating since Friday afternoon, going over every drop of evidence and every court argument presented to them in the Zimmerman case.
This could signal they have decided that Zimmerman is guilty of something and they are just trying to determine whether second degree murder or manslaughter is the more appropriate charge. "That should make defense nervous," said Dan Abrams, Good Morning America's legal expert.
Outside the courthouse, between 50 and 100 people of all sizes, shapes and color have gathered on the front lawn waiting to hear the jury's decision. There are blacks and whites on the courthouse lawn, some separated by the metal barricades put up by country sheriff officers, and some championing justice for the slain black teenager together. They're peacefully chanting things like "murder not manslaughter" under the rain that would have dispersed less dedicated crowds. They're all out there looking for one thing: an answer. It's not here yet and it seems it's going to take time, and that's causing tensions to flare up among the passionate crowds.
"It was peaceful in the beginning, but it seems like there are certain people out here trying to provoke a reaction," one witness told the L.A. Times. A white-haired man nearly caused things to boil over when he waded through the crowd of Martin supporters whispering, "George Zimmerman is an innocent man. This did not go over well:
As the white-haired man made his way through the crowd, a chorus of angry voices trailed him.
“Zimmerman’s a killer!”
“He’s a murderer!”
“You’re a racist!”
Eventually, half a dozen protesters surrounded the man with signs, chanting. One of the young women wore a T-shirt that said, “What if it were your son?” They talked about the O.J. Simpson case, one holding a sign that said, “The glove don’t fit.”
The other incident was much more volatile, much more of a racially motivated attack, and required deputies to step in and separate the participants before things got ugly. The Orlando Sentinel reports a man made his way through the pro-Trayvon Martin crowd on Sunday and started yelling "go get your welfare checks" and "go get your crack" among the assembled protestors. Unsurprisingly, some protestors started shouting back at him. "There was a verbal disagreement between two individuals in the assembly zone and deputies simply pulled them aside individually to ask them to be respectful of one another," Seminole County Sheriff's Office spokeswoman Heather Smith told the Sentinel.
But besides those bad apples, the crowds outside of the courthouse are something to behold. One Florida local, Ben Montgomery, took it upon himself to document the crowd gathered outside the Florida courthouse on Saturday awaiting a verdict.
More unskilled photography of the people gathered outside the courthouse in Sanford. pic.twitter.com/RFnm6ttE6Y
— Ben Montgomery (@gangrey) July 13, 2013
— Ben Montgomery (@gangrey) July 13, 2013
— Ben Montgomery (@gangrey) July 13, 2013
— Ben Montgomery (@gangrey) July 13, 2013
— Ben Montgomery (@gangrey) July 13, 2013
— Ben Montgomery (@gangrey) July 13, 2013
— Ben Montgomery (@gangrey) July 13, 2013
— Ben Montgomery (@gangrey) July 13, 2013
The only thing the crowds can do now is wait. If anything changes this evening, we'll update this post as soon as we can.
A Drunk, Racist Former Goldman Sachs Employee Got Knocked Out
There was an altercation between a drunk, racist, well-dressed white man and a black couple in New York's Greenwich Village on Friday. It did not end well for the white man, who is now in critical condition after he was knocked out and his head hit the pavement. There's some debate over how this incident started, based on the two primary reports from the New York Post and the New York Daily News.
Here's the Post's version of events:
A black couple was sitting outside the Mexican joint when an intoxicated white man stumbled into their table.
Douglas Reddish, 25, who was eating with his girlfriend, tried to help him regain his balance, cops said, and the wait staff came over to shoo the table crasher away.
Witnesses on Greenwich Ave. near W. 12th St. said the white man — who cops said is in his 30s — was belting back beers outside Benny’s Burritos about 5:30 p.m. when he began mouthing off to a black customer in the outdoor seating area.
What happened next isn't really up for debate, though. The drunken white man hurled racial slurs at the couple who were, up until this point, privately enjoying some Mexican food. "You n-----s are why I lost my job," the unidentified drunk said, witnesses told the Daily News. "This n----r wants to fight me!" he yelled, police told the Post.
What would you do if a well-dressed man, who is clearly drunk, interrupted your dinner and began hurling racial slurs at you and your significant other for no apparent reason other than you were there, in front of him, during his drunken rage? You'd probably knock the guy out, too, and that's exactly what Reddish did.
The drunk fell back and hit his head pretty hard on the pavement, though. "He was out cold. I thought he was dead," Benny’s worker Robert Garcia told the Post. "He mentioned the N-word, this guy hits him one time and he hits his head on the curb," another witness told the Daily News. Reddish fled the scene after the unidentified racist drunk started "bleeding profusely," but he was picked up by the New York Police Department a few blocks away, according to CBS New York, and charged with assault.
The drunk, who "could hardly walk," according to one witness, is now in critical condition at Beth Israel Hospital. That same witness said she spoke with the man before he got clocked and he was upset about his wife leaving him and his job at Goldman Sachs.
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