Atlantic Monthly Contributors's Blog, page 1007

Bush to GOP: Give Immigration a Chance

Former President George W. Bush wants Republicans to consider immigration on its own merits, not just as a party saving piece of legislation, he said during an interview on ABC's This Week. "Sometimes, it takes time for some of these complex issues to evolve. And it looks like immigration, you know, has a chance to pass," Bush said. "The reason to pass immigration reform is not to bolster a Republican Party -- it's to fix a system that's broken. Good policy yields good politics as far as I'm concerned." The bill's uncertain future in the House after the Senate passed it last week is causing some concern. But Bush argues the bill is too important not to pass. "It's very important to fix a broken system, to treat people with respect and have confidence in our capacity to assimilate people," Bush said. "It's a very difficult bill to pass because there's a lotta moving parts. And the legislative process is-- can be ugly. But it looks like they're making some progress."

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Meanwhile, a House representative from Texas said the immigration bill was just the Senate throwing "a bunch of candy" at the border to earn votes. Rep. Mike McCaul told CBS's Face the Nation how displeasing the Senate's immigration bill is. "What the Senate just passed was, again, a bunch of candy thrown down there -- a bunch of assets thrown down there to gain votes but without a methodical, smart border approach. We want a smart border and smart immigration plan, something that makes sense," McCaul said. The chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee accused the President of wanting the immigration bill to fail so the Democrats have political leverage heading into the 2014 midterm elections. "The White House would like to see this fail in the House so that [Obama] can blame the House of Representatives for that and then try to take back the House of Representatives and then all bets are off on his agenda," McCaul said.

Speaking of future elections, Gov. Rick Perry is not hinting he might run for President again despite his last campaign being an unmitigated disaster. On Sunday, Perry told Fox News Sunday that a presidential run in 2016 wasn't completely off the table. "Well, certainly, that's an option out there," Perry said, "but again, we got a lot of work to do in this building right behind me [the Texas capitol] over the course of the next couple of weeks that have my focus substantially more than even 2014 or 2016." Whether or not he'll run for another term as governor, setting up a potential blockbuster showdown against Wendy Davis, Perry said we'll learn the answer on Monday. But first he wants to pass that pesky abortion bill. "I'm going to have an announcement tomorrow," he said. "But we have a special session with some important issues in front of us. We're going to pass some restrictions on abortion inTexas so that Texas is a place where we defend life ...That's the powerful message here. And that's what we're focused on. Politics will take care of itself."

The chairwoman of the National Transportation Safety Board went on CNN's State of the Union the morning to update the nation after a Boeing 777 crash landed at San Francisco International Airport. "When we went out there last night and took a look at the aircraft, you can see the devastation from the outside of of the aircraft — the burn through, the damage to the external fuselage. What you can't see is the damage internally, and that is really striking," Deborah Hersman said. She explained what the long investigation into the crash will have to include. "We're going to have to corroborate a lot of information: the radar data, the ATC information and the flight data recorder parameters and also interview the pilots," she said. Hersman also defended the NTSB's due dilligence approach to make sure they come to correct answers. "It's really important to put all you have the pieces of the puzzle together, to not just understand what happened, but understand why it happened so we can prevent accidents like this occurring in the future."

Rep. Mike Rogers, the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, thinks the U.S. should suspend economic support to Egypt, at least temporarily, before ultimately renewing that support, he revealed on State of the Union. Rogers said the U.S. should "not try to circumvent the law by calling this something it is not," referring to the military takeover in Egypt. The U.S. cannot support any government seized in a coup d'etat. But the Muslim Bortherhood was "using the instruments of democracy to try to Islam-Islamize" Egypt, Rogers said. "The irony of us not following the law after the Egyptian crisis would be too much to handle," he continued. "I do believe the law is very clear on this." But Rogers thinks the President needs to pitch the House and Senate about funding Egypt in the future, coup d'etat or not. "The president should come to Congress and make the case — I think there's a great case to be made here...that we should continue to support the military, the one stabilizing force in Egypt, that I think can temper down the political feuding that you're seeing going on now, and then help a process that will allow for multiple factions of parties and beliefs to participate," Rogers said. 

Meanwhile, Sen. John McCain said President Mohammed Morsi's ouster was clearly a coup and that the U.S. must suspend funding immediately. Also, it was a failure of American leadership, he said on Face the Nation. "It was a coup, and it was the second time in two-and-a-half years that we have seen the military step in. It's a strong indicator of the lack of American leadership and influence since we've urged the military not to do that," McCain said. The Arizona Republican admitted it was a messy issue but that, ultimately, the U.S. should suspend aid until there's a free election and a new constitution in place. "Reluctantly, I believe that we have to suspend aid until such time as there is a new constitution and a free and fair election. We can't -- Morsi was a terrible president," McCain said. "Their economy is in terrible shape thanks to their policies but the fact is the United States should not be supporting this coup and it's a tough call." McCain then went ot explain how every problem plaguing the Middle East is the fault of a lack of American leadership. "The place is descending into chaos but so is the entire Middle East because of the total vacuum and lack of American leadership," McCain said. "Whether it be the massacres in Syria; Lebanon is beset by sectarian violence; Jordan is about to collapse under the weight of refugees; Iraq is unraveling; Afghanistan -- we're having grave problems organizing a follow on force in Afghanistan." See, America is the only country in the world who can make decisions about these things, he explained.  "America has not led and, America is not leading. And when America doesn't lead, bad things happen and other people do lead and Egypt is just one segment of a failure of American leadership over the last five years and we need to start being leaders rather than bystanders," McCain said.

       

Andy Murray Finally Won at Wimbledon

Andy Murray just beat the number one ranked player in the world, on his home court, to win the Wimbledon title over Novak Djokovic in straight sets: 4-6, 5-7, 4-6. On the difficult road to finally winning a title in Britain, the internet and an entire nation rallied behind him. Over a gruelling 3 hours and nine minutes, Murray and Djokovic sparred like swordsmen at Center Court. Do not let the straight sets fool you: this match was always close, teetering from one direction to the other when, after an amazing rally for the final championship point, Murray overcame every professional demon that has haunted his professional career to end a 77 year drought. 

"We've waited 77 years for this," the announcer teased. "Your 2013 Wimbledon champion, Andy Murray!" The crowd roared, a nation swayed, and a legacy was finally cemented. Andy Murray is the first British man to win a Wimbledon title since Fred Perry in 1936. It was a hard road, though, with a disappointment in last year's final and falling behind in the second and third set to the best player in the world today. But the screaming fans -- not your typical tennis crowd, by a long shot -- rallied around him and guided him towards a title.

The championship point is the highlight you'll be seeing for the rest of the week. It was rally that seemed to go forever with both players running from side to side and front to back. "I have no idea what happened," Murray said afterwards. "I don't even know how long that last game was. I'm sorry I don't remember it."

The viewers in Britain and at home in the U.S. were commentating on social media and supporting Murray anyway they could. Everyone was on the edge of their seats through the whole match: 

Come on #Murray - now's the time, turn the screw.

— Piers Morgan (@piersmorgan) July 7, 2013

This is so incredibly awesome.

— edsbs (@edsbs) July 7, 2013

no one tell Andy where he is right now

— Emma Carmichael (@emmacargo) July 7, 2013

hard to comprehend a world in which Murray doesn't let everyone down and Novak doesn't piss everyone off

— Emma Carmichael (@emmacargo) July 7, 2013

just sitting here in my living room yelling out "AND-AYYYYYYYYYY" every 30 seconds

— Emma Carmichael (@emmacargo) July 7, 2013

No other sport has this much painful drama. None.

— Luis Paez-Pumar (@paezpumarL) July 7, 2013

just stress ate three navel oranges

— edsbs (@edsbs) July 7, 2013

THIS ONE IS FOR ALL THE FISH AND CHIPS

— Luis Paez-Pumar (@paezpumarL) July 7, 2013

And, finally, he took the title home. Then, bedlam: 

Genuinely concerned about the crowd’s sanity now.

— netw3rk (@netw3rk) July 7, 2013

LEVITATING

— edsbs (@edsbs) July 7, 2013

Andy Murray, slayer of dragons

— Bruce Arthur (@bruce_arthur) July 7, 2013

Sir Andrew Barron Murray.

— Bryan Armen Graham (@BryanAGraham) July 7, 2013

How awesome is that...great for Andy Murray.

— Elliotte Friedman (@FriedgeHNIC) July 7, 2013

WHAT IS THE LONDON EQUIVALENT OF LIV? LET'S GO THERE TONIGHT, I BET IT WILL BE FUN.

— David Cho (@davidcho) July 7, 2013

There was always some debate over whether Andy Murray really counted as a "British" man. He's from Scotland, after all. But that was mostly a silly debate muddling his quest for greatness. The AndyMurrayOMeter settled it, finally: "AS OF TODAY, ANDY MURRAY IS OFFICIALLY 100% BRITISH." It's done.

After embracing his parents, saluting the crowd and shaking the appropriate hands backstage, the new champion showed his new trophy to the world: 

Everything the light touches is yours, Andy. 

[Inset GIF via @erikmal]

       

Billionaire Art Man Divorces Wife for Disappointing Lack of Strangling Defense

Billionaire art collecter Charles Saatchi has decided to leave his celebrity chef wife Nigella Lawson (above) for a spectacularly tactless reason fitting of someone who would choke his wife in public and pass it off as a playful "tiff": because she didn't publicly defend him after he choked her. 

Just a few weeks after photos surfaced showing Saatchi with his hand around Lawson's neck while the couple was having lunch, Saatchi announced the couple is splitting up because Lawson didn't defend him after the pictures surfaced. "I feel that I have clearly been a disappointment to Nigella during the last year or so, and I am disappointed that she was advised to make no public comment to explain that I abhor violence of any kind against women, and have never abused her physically in any way," he exclusively told the Mail on Sunday.

Yes, the jerkstore divorcing his wife after she didn't defend him against domestic abuse caught on camera announced said divorce to a British tabloid before telling his wife. That is an unprecedented amount of douchiness for a Sunday morning. Even the Mail is like, yeesh, this is going to be bad: 

Ms Lawson is not aware of the divorce ultimatum being issued by her husband today and will be devastated by his claim that she is somehow to blame for failing to speak out in his defence.

What happened that day at Scott's, a trendy London restaurant, is not up for much debate. A heated argument had broken out, that much was clear. But Saatchi claimed he only grabbed Lawson's neck to "emphasize" his point and not, as many eyewitnesses claimed, to hurt or scare her. "The pictures are horrific but give a far more drastic and violent impression of what took place. Nigella’s tears were because we both hate arguing, not because she had been hurt," he wrote in his official response in London Evening Standard. The pictures and witnesses paint a much differnet picture, one of Saatchi grabbing her by the neck multiple times, swearing at her and twisting her nose. Lawson took their kids and left the family home shortly after. Saatchi was given a "caution" by police for assault after an investigation. 

But, according to Saatchi, Lawson has choked him on occasion, too, but the difference is that he got busted with a camera nearby. "The row photographed at Scott's restaurant with could equally have been Nigella grasping my neck to hold my attention -- as indeed she has done in the past, although not in front of Scott's with a photographer snapping away," Saatchi told the Mail. He's the victim here, clearly. 

       

How the Secret FISA Court Justifies Spying

The top-secret Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court court at the center of the National Security Agency spying scandal is "almost a parallel Supreme Court," according to a new report in The New York Times, that has interpreted constitutional law to promote unprecedented levels of surveillance. 

The Times' Eric Lichtblau reports the 11-member court has become the only voice on questions of surveillance pertaining to our constitutional rights, despite an increase in judicial oversight. The cases that face FISA are rarely disputed or debated anywhere else, not even the Supreme Court. They are the first and only voice in the judicial surveillance debate. The FISA court is "regularly assessing broad constitutional questions and establishing important judicial precedents," all behind closed doors, with little to no forum for public or private challenges. There's an appeal process set up that's only been used a "handful" of times. The court granted a whopping 1,800 surveillance requests last year. No request was denied. 

The court's most important ruling was the expansion of the "special needs" doctrine to include terrorism cases. The special needs doctrine was established in a 1989 Supreme Court ruling allowing railway workers be drug tested on the job. It's the same law that allows police to carry out drunk driving checkpoints and for the TSA to search your bags and body at the airport. But the FISA court has ruled this same rule applies to the gathering of massive amounts of metadata from many forms of communication, too. It's a legally questionable practice, at best, Lichtblau explains: 

That legal interpretation is significant, several outside legal experts said, because it uses a relatively narrow area of the law — used to justify airport screenings, for instance, or drunken-driving checkpoints — and applies it much more broadly, in secret, to the wholesale collection of communications in pursuit of terrorism suspects. “It seems like a legal stretch,” William C. Banks, a national security law expert at Syracuse University, said in response to a description of the decision. “It’s another way of tilting the scales toward the government in its access to all this data.”

And the NSA hasn't used this broad ruling to only focus on your standard chaos and mayhem brand of terrorism, either. The intelligence service routinely uses their metadata collection, taken from the world's vast network of fibre optic cables as part of a deal made long ago, to monitor and investigate espionage cases, nuclear proliferation and cyber attacks. Even though the NSA collects these massive troves of metadata, like almost every communication by email of phone in Brazil, as the Guardian's Glenn Greenwald revealed today, agents still need court-approval to access the content of the collected messages. One source explained it with a fishing analogy that seems to work well: 

This concept is rooted partly in the “special needs” provision the court has embraced. “The basic idea is that it’s O.K. to create this huge pond of data,” a third official said, “but you have to establish a reason to stick your pole in the water and start fishing.”

That makes the spying seem so quaint, right? It's almost relaxing. 

       

The Battle for 'The Butler' Is Officially an Extortion Plot

The last-minute back-and-forth Hollywood legal tiff between The Weinstein Company and Warner Bros. over whether The Butler, Lee Daniels' flick, will hit theaters on August 16 under that name got a lot realer after super attorney David Boies accused the other side of extortion. 

Since we last checked in with these fighting film executives behaving, the two sides exchanged a series of long, arduous legal letters accusing the other side of various amounts of wrong doing over the holiday weekend. And, of course, it's all playing out in real time on Deadline. The Weinstein Company is appealing     

Is This the Fabled Cheap iPhone?

The cheap iPhone is maybe, potentially almost here. New pictures leaked by a website that builds knock-offs of high end cell phones claim to show the build of the new cheap iPhone that's supposed to come out this year at some point. But the site that claims to have a cheap iPhone build, Techdy, is also selling it. A company called Big Bear built a knock-off and are already selling it through Techdy, so perhaps this is just a big marketing campaign. Either way, they created a mock Apple commercial for the cheap phone: 

[image error]The leaked iPhone specs show a slightly rounded plastic back body case. The plastic form is one solid piece that covers the entire phone, instead of the standard iPhone's glass covers with a metal divide. Techcrunch says the design is "very much reminiscent of the current-generation iPod touch." In comparison shots with the current generation iPhone 5, you can see this cheaper option is slightly thicker and only features one speaker grill on the bottom of the phone. 

There's no indication that this is the cheap iPhone's final design and, as always, we should be cautious of the source of this rumor. Techdy is a site that builds knock-off devices to run on Android, so it's not exactly the ideal, but they do look almost identical to pictures leaked purporting to show the cheap iPhone in a french report last week. 

If this really is the cheap iPhone, it fits with what we've heard about the phone from the Wall Street Journal rumor mill. The cheap iPhone will have a slightly different-looking body with interchangeable color backgrounds. Gone will be the days of iPhones in only black and white. Your cheap iPhone could be red, pink, purple or blue. Whatever you want, it's up to you! 

       

Pats Fans Fight Hot Hot Heat to Hand Over Hernandez Jerseys

[image error]The jersey exchange organized by the New England Patriots after former tight end Aaron Hernandez turned from a hero into an accused killer kicked off Saturday morning with absurdly long lines and scorching heat, but otherwise the whole thing was a smashing success. 

Former Hernandez fans exchanged over 500 hundred jerseys within the first hour and a half, according to the Boston Globe. People lined up at obscenely early hours (7:30 a.m.!) on Saturday morning and waited for more than an hour in ridiculous lines that looped around parts of Gillette Stadium. The early birds got to be the first to trade in home, away, and even the bright red "Pat Patriot" jerseys with Hernandez's name on the back. And the staff at the fully stocked Gillette Stadium pro-shop were ready for the crowds and the 90 degree heat in Foxborough, Massachusets. They had water stations set up along the concourse to help cool people off. The pictures of the crowds need to be seen to be believed: 

@Marc_Bertrand Marc, I thought I would share this with you right now at Gillette for the Jersey Exchange. pic.twitter.com/eqp3ougn2a

— Russ Goldman (@Russ_Goldman) July 6, 2013

The line at the #hernandez jersey exchange. pic.twitter.com/irVma13TzF

— Nicole J Pearce (@nicolejpearce) July 6, 2013

Lines inside and outside Patriots' pro shop - fans here early say it took about 15 min total to do the exchange pic.twitter.com/5ILE1g4l5X

— Michele Steele (@ESPNMichele) July 6, 2013

An hour later, the #Hernandez jersey exchange line finally thins out #wbz pic.twitter.com/TFGH0N43YV

— Bree Sison (@BreeSison) July 6, 2013

Here's the line outside of the Pats pro shop. Fans receiving a voucher for exchange and then head in to shop pic.twitter.com/w0I2OoJRMx

— Austin Tedesco (@TedescoHeights) July 6, 2013

Amazingly enough, the replacement jersey of choice was not Giselle Bucheden's husband, professional beautiful man, and Patriots quarterback Tom Brady. It definitely wasn't Tim Tebow, either. It wasn't even Hernandez's partner in crime (on the field, at least), Rob Gronkowski. The most popular replacement jersey was longtime defensive tackle Vince Wilfork. 

       

A Boeing 777 Crash Landed in San Francisco

Update, 5:30 p.m.: KCBS's Doug Sovern confirms the injury numbers, straight from the San Francisco Fire Department: two people are dead and 61 are injured. San Francisco General Hospital reports 10 people are seeking treatment for critical injuries there. 

Update, 5:00 p.m.: Well, so much for those fuzzy "everyone is alright" feelings: KTVU is now reporting two people are dead and 61 injured after the crash. This eerily calm audio recording of the plane's interaction with the tower at San Francisco International also surfaced: 

Here's the moments before Asiana 214's crash landing from SFO Tower ATC tape. Begins with clear to land https://t.co/PKJsC4zlQ4

— Martyn Williams (@martyn_williams) July 6, 2013

Update, 4:19 p.m.: The flight was supposed to have some high level tech executives on board. along with Samsung executive David Eun, Lean In author Sheryl Sandberg and her team were going to fly on Asiana 214. They switched to United so they could use their miles. 

Update, 4:12 p.m.: According to two LA Times reporters and one Fox reporter, there were no fatalities among the 291 passengers and 12 crew. (That's an updated number, for the record.) One person was critically injured and airlifted to a local hospital but, for the most part, everyone seems OK. We'll have updated injury reports when the numbers are confirmed. 

All flights out of San Francisco International have been delayed for now. The airport is on lockdown until further notice. 

Update, 3:57 p.m.: CBS's San Francisco affiliate KPIX reports there were 291 people on board the flight, including passengers and crew. There are unconfirmed reports that at least one person has been airlifted to a local hospital because of the crash, but otherwise there's still no word on injuries yet. Emergency crews are reportedly working in the San Francisco bay, too. 

The circumstances surrounding the crash are already unusual. An official told The New York Times' Ravi Somaiya that the plane was not making an emergency landing. Passengers inside the flight have reported all was normal until they heard a loud bang. Suddenly there was a lot of smoke and debris coming from the back of the plane. And conditions in San Francisco were perfect today, potentially ruling out any sort of weather interference. 

Via The Atlantic Wire's Phillip Bump, this KTVU live shot shows the plane's tail in three pieces: 

[image error]

Update, 3:35 p.m.: This San Francisco resident uploaded this wide shot from his house: 

Plane crash at #SFO. View from my house. This looks bad! pic.twitter.com/toK6QatycE

— Marc Escuro (@mgescuro) July 6, 2013

And KTVU has this horrific looking aerial shot of the plane after the crash. The top of the plane is charred black as emergency crews are still fighting to put out fires. You can clearly see the tail of the plane is detached and that the plane landed on its belly (contradicting some other reports): 

Aerial shot from KTVU: pic.twitter.com/15B8nkJDtQ

— Erik Malinowski (@erikmal) July 6, 2013

Still no word on injuries yet. 

Original: According to multiple on-the-ground reports, a Boeing 777 operated by Asiana Airlines crashed during landing at San Francisco International airport Saturday afternoon. The FAA confirmed a crash occurred without naming the flight or the number of injuries, but Asiana flight 214 from Seoul is thought to be the plane that crashed. According to Emergency in San Francisco, 44 people have already been rescued. According to a KTVU witness report, the plane was just about to land when the tail of the plane fell off. One witness uploaded a picture of the plane immediately after being rescued: 

I just crash landed at SFO. Tail ripped off. Most everyone seems fine. I'm ok. Surreal... (at @flySFO) [pic] — https://t.co/E6Ur1XEfa4

— David Eun (@Eunner) July 6, 2013

Reports started coming in on social media almost immediately as bystanders waiting for other flights reported what they saw: 

we were walking back from breakfast, stopped to take a picture of the runway, and a landing plane came in at a bad angle, flipped, exploded

— stefanielaine (@stefanielaine) July 6, 2013

we saw the rescue slides come out, not sure whether that means there were survivors. the plane completely broke apart, smoke pouring out

— stefanielaine (@stefanielaine) July 6, 2013

This same witness actually got a picture of the crash while it was happening:

just realized I have a picture of the actual crash. holy fucking shit. pic.twitter.com/5TnOX96Gsi

— stefanielaine (@stefanielaine) July 6, 2013

There are no injuries reported yet but passengers are reportedly being evacuated: 

People being evacuated via the emergency slides at the plane #crash at #SFO pic.twitter.com/BK4qq1e3qN

— Krista Seiden (@kristaseiden) July 6, 2013

This video shows plumes of heavy black smoke coming from the plane after it crashed: 

This story is still developing and we'll be updating this post as we learn more. 

       

Explosive Train Crash in Quebec Evacuates a Border Town

Update, 4:14 p.m.: The Associated Press confirms at least one person was killed because of the train crash. 

Original: Fires raged well into Saturday afternoon in Quebec after a train carrying petroleum products derailed and decimated a small town, causing damage to over 30 buildings and forcing residents out of their homes. The Globe and Mail reports over 1,000 people were evacuated after the crash.  NBC News reports police have set up a half-mile perimeter around the site where several tankers went off the tracks and crashed in Lac Mégantic, Quebec, around 1 a.m. Saturday morning. The Montreal, Maine & Atlantic freight train travelling to Maine crashed in the small border town, and the ensuing explosions destroyed huge portions of downtown. There are no reported injuries, but some people are still missing as the town goes searching for answers.

The pictures and videos that surfaced showing the intensity of the blaze are terrifying. The photo above, showing a Jesus statue watching over the town as as the sun was rising over raging flames, circulated widely Saturday morning. The videos showing multiple explosions happening are straight out of a Hollywood effects nightmare  (via The New York Times): 

This aerial photo shows just how much of the city was damaged in the aftermath of the explosion: 

#BREAKING PHOTO @SureteduQuebec helicopter gets aerial view of damage caused by #LacMegantic explosion: pic.twitter.com/Y5dIa5Hm17

— Michael Forian (@Forian) July 6, 2013

For now, the town is focusing on containing and recovering from this horrific event. "When you see the center of your town almost destroyed, you'll understand that we're asking ourselves how we are going to get through this event," Mayor Colette Roy-Laroche told reporters on Saturday. "There are still wagons which we think are pressurized. We're not sure because we can't get close, so we're working on the assumption that all the cars were pressurized and could explode. That's why progress is slow and tough," fire chief Denis Lauzon told Reuters.

The cause of the crash is still being investigated, but regardless of the cause this latest tragedy should put significant pressure on the federal government to bolster train safety regulations. At the beginning of June, Transport Minister Denis Lebel decided to ignore most of the recommendations put forward by a Transportation Safety Board of Canada investigation into train derailments in Canada after an incident in 2012 killed three people and injured dozens of others. 

       

Professional Athletes Behave Like Teenagers After a Breakup

One of the biggest questions heading into the NBA off-season was, "where will Dwight Howard end up?" Fans got their answer late Friday night when Howard signed with the Houston Rockets, instead of the Los Angeles Lakers, and then things devolved into a a bunch of grown men behaving like dumb babies. 

After a lengthy campaign to land him, with the help of some local legends, Howard informed the LA front office he was taking his talents to Houston for the 2013-2014 season on Friday night. USA Today's Sam Amick was the first to report the Rockets will pay Howard upwards of $88 million over the next four years. It was a joyous time for Howard! Look at all that money! But, feeling spurned after a personal plea to stay in LA, Kobe Bryant and Pau Gasol quickly turned on their former teammate (who they never really liked anyway) and started passive aggressively kicking him out the door. 

Bryant was by far the worst offender. He uploaded a picture of himself embracing Gasol to Instagram within minutes of Howard announcing he was leaving LA. The captions accompanying the photo translate to "let's go," "together," and "Laker heart." Bryant also unfollowed Howard on Twitter. Gasol also unfollowed Howard on Twitter, though only briefly. After a few people started pointing out Gasol did the same thing as Kobe, he quickly re-followed his former teammate. 

Howard joined the LA Lakers last year. With the help of Kobe Bryant, Pau Gasol, and Steve Nash, the team was a pre-season favorite to win their division and challenge the Miami Heat for a title. Well, that's not how things played out on the court. Howard struggled in LA. He never meshed with Bryant or the city and, heading into the off-season as a free agent, his return to the yellow and gold was an uncertainty. 

Passive aggressively unfollowing someone on Twitter because you're mad at them? What is this, the school dance? Someone better tell Dwight that Becky's mad at him for talking to Veronica, even after Becky kissed Vance last week, before things get out of hand. It's amazing to know that these grown men who are payed millions of dollars to play professional sports are as mature as a group of sixteen-year-olds. And this isn't to say Howard behaved like an adult through this whole process, too. He quickly changed his Twitter profile picture to him wearing a Rockets jersey and his location to Houston while his background still had him in Laker colors. 

That said, that we can watch them behave this petulantly in real time, on the Internet, is a brilliant argument for social media's necessity. The future is great. It's totally fine that we don't have flying cars. This is even better.