Atlantic Monthly Contributors's Blog, page 1070

Dick Durbin Brings Boston into the Immigration Debate

Senate majority whip Dick Durbin is trying to frame the upcoming immigration debate in the context of the Boston bombings. They would be prevented if the attacks happened after the bill is adopted, he argued on CNN's State of the Union. Durbin said better information exchanging between federal agencies could have helped tip off authorities to the Tsarnaev brothers' activities before the attacks were carried out and that the Senate's immigration bill fixes that. "There’s not enough coordination between these different agencies so that we know someone should not have been readmitted to the United States," Durbin said. "Our bill addresses that directly." He also briefly touched on the failed gun background check bill. He called it "sound policy" and said he hopes it gets brought back to the Senate soon, but cautioned a "change in political sentiment" would be required before it could pass. "We need to pick up five more votes, and that’s quite a task I might add as whip in the Senate," Durbin said.

Sen. John McCain thinks the immigration bill should maybe address people who overstay their international visas after it was revealed one of the three friends of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev arrested this week stayed in the country after his visa expired. "Shouldn’t we have procedures to also track down those people and enforce the laws of, when visas expire people should leave?" McCain asked on Fox News Sunday. "On the immigration reform bill, we should be looking at some of these issues as well." McCain is a member of the bipartisan Gang of Eight senators who drafted the original bill. McCain also said he hasn't seen a "coherent plan" for closing Guantanamo Bay yet. "There has been no coherent plan presented to the Congress  of, what we do with these individuals? And one of them is not to send them back into the fight where they can kill more Americans," McCain said.

Sen. Patrick Leahy told NBC's Meet the Press he thinks the immigration bill has a good chance of passing. "I think it can," Leahy said. "I think the so-called Gang of Eight — four Democrats, four Republicans, across the political spectrum — deserve an enormous amount of credit. And I think we can get it passed." The Senate will hold a "markup" on the bill this week, and Leahy said he's going to propose a provision to include same-sex couples. Leahy doesn't think adding that would kill the bill. "We’ve had about 10 different things that people have said will kill it," he said. "The fact is a lot of people want to kill the immigration bill no matter what. We will have votes on this. People can vote for or against any one of these amendments."

Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani praised the Boston bombing investigation and said people shouldn't be surprised by homegrown terrorism during his appearance on Meet the Press. "I think the investigation since the time of the bombing has been excellent," Giuliani said. "I think that unfortunately there’s an awful lot of signals that were missed before then." Giuliani compared the Boston bombings to the London terror attacks to explain why we shouldn't be surprised the suspects didn't come from away. "We shouldn’t claim surprise. This has been going on since 2005, 2006. I mean, the attack in London in 2005 was homegrown terrorists in London," he said.

Sen. Peter King is hesitant to arm the Syrian rebels because he fears doing so could strengthen Al Qaeda, he said on State of the Union. "Al Qaeda elements have a lot of control within the rebel movement," King said. "Whatever arming we do – obviously [Syrian President Bashar] Assad is evil, and everyone’s interested he go. But if we are going to arm the rebels, we have to make sure that those arms are not going to end up in the position of Al Qaeda supporters, nor at the end game is Al Qaeda going to be in a position to take over this movement."

Former New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson thinks we could be heading towards a Joe Biden vs. Hillary Clinton grudge match for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2016. Yep, Richardson said on ABC's This Week that Biden won't just step aside if Clinton decides to run. He'll stick with it and lose honorably, instead. (Just kidding, Joe, you'll put up a fight.) "I think he would run," Richardson said. "Hillary Clinton would be formidable, no question about it. But I’ve known Biden over the years. He is somebody who's always wanted to be president. He’s got the eye of the tiger. He’s going to all of these events. You see it in the speeches. I was with him Friday morning. I think there could be a faceoff." But don't let his guessing about Biden make you think he doesn't know the uphill battle the Vice President would face should that fight happen. "Obviously, Secretary Clinton is a formidable candidate, who not only is appealing to the Democratic base, but is appealing to a Republican base that acknowledges the great work she did as secretary of State."

       

Howard Kurtz Read the Jason Collins Story 'Too Fast'

Howard Kurtz used his CNN show Reliable Sources to explain why and how that debacle of a Daily Beast article where he accused Jason Collins of being dishonest happened. He said he "carelessly" missed the most important detail he framed his story on during his apology. 

Before being grilled by Politico's media reporter Dylan Byers and NPR's David Folkenflik, Kurtz took a moment to address the issue of his Collins piece and subsequent firing from the Daily Beast. "I read [the Sports Illustrated essay by Jason Collins] too fast and carelessly missed that Jason Collins said he was engaged previously to a woman and then wrote and commented that he was wrong to keep that from readers, when I was in fact the one who was wrong," Kurtz said in his mea culpa. "My logic about what happened between Jason Collins and his former fiancee and what was and wasn't disclosed, in hindsight, well I was wrong to even raise that issue," he added.

Kurtz said he also regretted not contacting Collins to request a comment, and that he regretted not retracting the article immediately once it was pointed out that the whole premise was wrong. "I apologize to readers and viewers and most importantly to Jason Collins and to his ex-fiancee. I hope this very candid response will earn your trust back over time. It is something that I am committed to doing," he said. 

Later in the show, Kurtz faced tough questions from Byers and Folkenflik about whether or not he should continue as the host of CNN's media criticism show. For better or worse, regardless of what they think, he will. CNN's standing behind him through all of this. Kurtz said his "amicable divorce" with the Beast was simply "unfortunate timing," that had been in the works for some time. 

       

Zach Galifianakis' 'Game of Thrones' Fan Would Fit in at Comic Con

Zach Galifianakis hosted Saturday Night Live for the third time while promoting The Hangover III and turned in an absolutely brilliant performance as every over-excited Game of Thrones fan you've ever met. Also, the show destroyed Google Glass users. 

They led the show off with a pretty fantastic Jason Collins sketch. The typical hosts of Fox and Friends came out wishing everyone would shut up already about this basketball player revealing his close personal secrets. Why is that a big deal, they ask? "I prefer Asian ladies," Steve Doosey confesses. "I use prescription deodorant all over my body," Gretchen Carlson says. "I practice French kissing on my hand. Isn't that right, Jessica?" Brian Kilmeade asks. Eventually they debate what sports they thought would have a gay athlete before the NBA, and at the end Mayor Bloomberg shows up to fill out the sketch with some nice soda ban jokes they had laying around. 

The long line of Martha Stewart impressions extended to Kate MacKinnon on Saturday night, which is surely an honor considering the two women who held the torch before her are SNL hall-of-famers. The strong cast of women on the show help carry this brief but hilarious sketch home. If you don't laugh out loud when MacKinnon says "calloused hands and no debt," or "work my body," you might want to get your pulse checked. 

Zach Galifianakis put on perhaps his finest performance of the night as every Game of Thrones fan who has ever attended Comic Con. Except this time Galifianakis is on a Game of Thrones game show on E! that, as the announcer states, no one would watch unless they were home sick with teh flu. Hader hosts, again, because apparently he wrote in his contract that he had to have one game show sketch per episode this season. Galigianakis is dressed in a "children's large" dragon costume and excited to crush his competition, but Hader refuses to ask him questions directly about Game of Thrones. When Galifianakis picks geography, he gets asked for the capital of Wisconsin. (It's not "Alaska," as he guesses.) When he chooses "The Lannisters," he gets asked to explain a Roth IRA. "I wish I wasn't dressed as a dragon right now," Galifianakis says. We all do. A special someone shows up at the end of this sketch that Thrones fans will probably swoon over. And no, we're not talking about Jamie Lannister. 

The punchline in the Google Glass portion of Weekend Update is a little too accurate. When looking at most Google Glass users, how many would you bet are doing that exact thing? All of them? At least 50 percent of the them? Exactly. 

       

Israel's Second Attack in Syria Was a Big One

For the second time in as many days, Israel mounted a late night air raid on Syrian military facilities that were allegedly holding weapons destined for Hezbollah. This attack produced some of the biggest explosions seen in Damascus since the two year old conflict began. 

Explosions could be heard late Saturday night and into early Sunday morning as bombs rained down on the Jamraya research centre in Syria's capital city. An Israeli intelligence official took credit for the attack when speaking with the AFP, and western intelligence officials pointed to Israel when speaking with Reuters, too. According to Haaretz's Barak Ravid, the target of Saturday's attack was a "shipment of Iranian made Fatah-110 missiles" being delivered to Hezbollah through Syria. Israel's first attack of the weekend was directed towards similar missiles heading for Hezbollah. Considering Israel was targeting a shipment of powerful missiles, maybe it isn't surprising that the videos that supposedly show the explosions are this crazy: 

Residents described the attack as feeling like a "mild earthquake," according to the BBC, and journalist Alaa Ebrahim told them this was "the biggest explosion" he's seen since the conflict began. Now, after two days of attacks, the rhetoric between Syria, Israel, Iran and Hezbollah is escalating and things are getting feisty. 

An Iranian army commander told Iranian state television there was "no need for intervention by other countries," but promised to train the Syrian army if asked. Syria wrote a letter to the U.N. and to the U.N. Security Council accusing Israel of giving "direct military support to terrorist groups," fighting Bashar al-Assad's government and causing "widespread destruction." (Syria considers the opposition forces to be terrorist groups attacking their country.) Syria also hinted at retaliation, saying Israel's attacks "opens the door wide to all possibilities," their Information Minister said on state television. Meanwhile, Israel is downplaying the targeting of Syrian military bases and stressing that their target was weapons shipments to Hezbollah. 

       

Orb Completes Come from Behind Kentucky Derby Win

A horse named Orb just won the 139th running of the Kentucky Derby, becoming the latest horse to attempt to piece together the elusive Triple Crown. Palace Malice led for most of the race before falling behind Normandy Invasion. Just around the last turn, Orb made a late race surge to take the lead and secure the "Run for the Roses" victory. Orb and another horse, Revolutionary, were the favorites heading into the race. 

Known as "The Fastest Two Minutes in Sports," the Derby is the first leg of horse racing's annual triple crown races, and probably one of the best summer kick-off traditions there is. The pomp and pageantry off the aristocrats in the stands is only rivalled by the decadence and depravity, as Hunter S. Thompson put it in his famous essay, of the rest of the spectators gathered in the infield. This year was no different. The Derby is known almost as much for the huge hats women wear with their summer dresses and flats as the thoroughbred horses that run the race. Unfortunately, rainy conditions at Churchill Downs kept some hats under wraps this year: 

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But they didn't stop this guy from wearing his customized crown dedicated to the race -- with its horses and jockey uniforms and base of roses: 

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That hat is amazing and deserves to be in the smithsonian. The poor weather didn't stop the people partying in the infield from doing the stupid stuff they do every year. They just adapted and set up a slip'n'slide to party with: 

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Horse racing is the best sport. Where else do you get to slip'n'slide before an event begins? See you on May 18 for the Preakness.

       

Hamid Karzai Would Prefer If That Sweet CIA Money Kept Coming, Thanks

Afghan president Hamid Karzai isn't ready to give up his financially beneficial relationship with the CIA just yet. No, he wants those backpacks full from cash to keep coming. Karzai said he met with the CIA's Afghanistan station chief a few hours before while speaking with reporters Saturday. The conversation went fairly well, if Karzai is to be believed. 

Here's how Karzai described his conversation with the station chief. Karzai told him, "'Because of all these rumors in the media, please do not cut all this money because we really need it. We want to continue this sort of assistance,'" and then the CIA agreed. "And he promised that they are not going to cut this money," Karzai added.

Many former officials described the payments as wasteful in The New York Times' report that revealed the payments to the world. The CIA came dropped off cold, hard cash in backpacks or grocery bags over a ten year period to the presidential palace were wasteful. The payments were meant to help the CIA influence Karzai's thinking, but it's debatable whether or not they've succeeded. He's been increasingly defiant recently, prompting surprise trips from John Kerry to smooth things over. On top of that, Iran was funnelling money to Karzai at the same time. 

The Afghan leader said the payments were an "an easy source of petty cash," and said it's been used to pay off warlords, pay rent for government workers, and pay for medical supplies for the Presidential guard. "It has helped us a lot, it has solved lots of our problems," he said. Karzai also wouldn't mind if other branches of the federal government started paying him off. "If tomorrow the State Department decides to give us such cash, I’d welcome that, too," he said. 

       

Niall Ferguson's History with John Maynard Keynes' Gayness

Harvard professor and prominent Daily Beast columnist Niall Ferguson is now apologizing for saying economist John Maynard Keynes' theories about surplus and deficit spending were somehow shaped by that fact that he was gay and childless. Which is great, except that it may not be that sincere. He's made the argument before. 

Speaking in front of about 500 financial advisers at a conference in Carlsbad, California, Financial Adviser's Tom Kostigen reported Ferguson said Keynes was "effete" and liked reading "poetry" to his ballerina wife. He also didn't care about future members of society because he didn't have any children. And these facts, therefore, discredited his economic theories. Keynes once famously said "in the long run we are all dead," and his detractors usually point to that as evidence that he didn't care about what happens to future generations. But no one has ever tried to connect his economics to what he did socially.

We'll let Business Insider's Henry Blodget explain what, exactly, Ferguson may have been trying to argue Thursday evening before connecting Keynes' social life to his economic policies: 

Professor Ferguson and other economists have been loudly and consistently warning for years that the deficit spending and debts of most developed countries will eventually end in disaster. Professor Ferguson and other "austerians" suggest that governments should immediately cut spending and balance their budgets, even if this results in a brutal short-term recession and exploding unemployment.

This "austerian" philosophy has been countered by the "Keynesian" philosophy advocated by Paul Krugman and others in which governments enact stimulus and run big deficits during weak economic periods to offset weak private-sector spending and help shore up employment, consumer spending, and social well-being until the private sector recovers. High debts and deficits are a long-term concern that needs to be addressed, Krugman says, but they do not constitute a near-term crisis that requires immense, self-inflicted, short-term pain to alleviate.

So that's the economic debate at play here. One financial theory thinks the other will end in the ruin of civilization, and vice versa. But the question quickly became about what Keynes' being gay had to do with anything. "Not only is this intellectually void, it's mad," Kostigen writes. "It is one thing to take issue with a society fuelled by self interest and one fueled by a larger ethic. But it's entirely vulgar to make this argument about sexual preference -- and to do so glibly." Unsurprisingly, Kostigen correctly guessed that the world would be outraged by Ferguson's ridiculous analysis that Keynes somehow didn't care about future generations because he was gay: 

"Keynes? More like GAYnes!!" -- Laurence A. Tisch Professor of History Niall Ferguson

— Josh Barro (@jbarro) May 4, 2013

I'm genuinely shocked by Niall Ferguson, which is weird, since this is entirely in character. businessinsider.com/harvard-niall-…

— felix salmon (@felixsalmon) May 4, 2013

Via @netw3rk, I always thought Niall Ferguson was an asshole. bit.ly/10xM9h1

— Bruce Arthur (@bruce_arthur) May 4, 2013

Felix Salmon also correctly pointed out this is the second time this week a Daily Beast columnist made dumb comments about gays: 

This has been a great week for Daily Beast stars getting themselves into hot gay water. Maybe Howie can interview Niall tomorrow!

— felix salmon (@felixsalmon) May 4, 2013

Perhaps in an effort to save his job at Harvard, or his gig with the Daily Beast, or just his professional dignity, Ferguson apologized Saturday for his "tactless" and "off the cuff" remarks. "I should not have suggested... that Keynes was indifferent to the long run because he had no children, nor that he had no children because he was gay," Ferguson wrote on his website. He called his assertion "doubly stupid" because of course people without children care about future generations and "I had forgotten that Keynes’s wife Lydia miscarried." Right, yes. That's why his remarks were dumb. Because Keynes tried to have a baby and failed. Ferguson continued: 

My disagreements with Keynes’s economic philosophy have never had anything to do with his sexual orientation. It is simply false to suggest, as I did, that his approach to economic policy was inspired by any aspect of his personal life. As those who know me and my work are well aware, I detest all prejudice, sexual or otherwise.

So there you have it. Ferguson is really sorry for saying this effete little gay boy didn't know how to think about numbers and money because of all the poetry he read and the boys he kissed. Except, you know, this isn't the first time Ferguson has made this argument. It's just the first time he's made it in such a large crowd that got blogged about later. University of Cambridge economist Michael Kitson says Ferguson has made the same argument for decades now:

Niall Ferguson’s empty apology niallferguson.com/blog/an-unqual… These were not ‘off the cuff’ remarks. I heard him make the same over 20 years ago.

— Michael Kitson (@MichaelKitson) May 4, 2013

Lending credence to that theory, as pointed out on Twitter by Justin Wolfers, there's this passage in Ferguson's 1999 book, The Pity of War

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So it seems this is a theory Ferguson has held for a while, that Keynes' boy-kissing affected his policy somehow. It wasn't an "off the cuff" remark he made at a conference when Ferguson thought he was just speaking to his finance bros who wouldn't mind a little joking about the gays with their theory. It's an argument he made in print and published fourteen years ago. 

       

What It's Like Being Eaten by a Hippo

Paul Templer survived a trip few can claim they've returned from. Namely, he was inside a hippo's stomach and lived to tell the tale. Templer shared his strange and tragic story about meeting a nasty two ton hippo in the Guardian on Saturday.

When he was 27 years old, Templer worked as a kayak tour guide taking tourists down the Zambezi river near the border of Zimbabwe and Zambia. Templer met the hippo before and knew to avoid him. But for some reason the hippo attacked one of his aides, Evans, and took the party by surprise. As Templer was on his way to help Evans, the hippo went after him, too. That's when his whole upper body was engulfed. You'll never guess what the inside of a hippo's stomach smells like: 

I was aware that my legs were surrounded by water, but my top half was almost dry. I seemed to be trapped in something slimy. There was a terrible, sulphurous smell, like rotten eggs, and a tremendous pressure against my chest. My arms were trapped but I managed to free one hand and felt around – my palm passed through the wiry bristles of the hippo's snout. It was only then that I realised I was underwater, trapped up to my waist in his mouth.

Templer and his group weren't doing anything to antagonize the hippo when it attacked them. Hippos are very territorial, but Templer knew the river well. He knew what parts to avoid so they wouldn't encounter the beast. Also, the hippo wasn't looking at Templer as lunch: hippos are herbivores. 

Templer was eventually able to get away safely, though he lost an arm in the process. His aide Evans was found dead a few days later. They searched for the hippo in attempt to protect other river travellers from similar experiences but never found him. Please, read the entire thing because it's one of the strangest tales we've ever encountered. The craziest part? Templer continued giving tours on the river after his wounds healed. 

       

Warren Buffett Won't Reveal His Secret Successor Just Yet

At Saturday's annual Berkshire Hathaway shareholder meeting, the 82-year-old CEO Warren Buffett announced that he knows who his successor is, but he's not ready to share the secret with the rest of us just yet. The annual junket that draws around 35,000 people to Omaha, Nebraska every year to hear arguably the greatest investor in the world sit down and dole out wisdom with his partner-in-crime Charlie Munger. 

The Berkshire board is "solidly in agreement" on who his successor will be, according to Buffett. "The key is preserving a culture and having a successor, a CEO that will have more brains, more energy, more passion for it than even I have," he said. It's not all that surprising the board reached a harmonious consensus. It's hard to argue against the guy who led Berkshire Hathaway to become the fifth biggest publicly traded company in the world. Hathaway's operating income rose 32 percent last year, to about $3.78 billion. 

As to who that successor may be, well, we don't really know yet. The leading candidates among people who read these kind of tea leaves are investment insurance chief Ajit Jain, railway head Matthew Rose, MidAmerican CEO Greg Abel and investment managers Todd Combs and Ted Weschler.

Last year, Buffett and Munger made waves for revealing they would not invest in Facebook's IPO when it finally debuted the following summer. (In retrospect, that was a pretty genius decision.) Last year Buffett said he knew who his successor was, but this year's statement is one of the most solid promises the company has made about the potential succession plan. Buffett may be made of teflon financially, but his health is declining and he can't do this forever. (Unless he's invested in the fountain of youth, which, don't count that out.) 

Buffett and Munger are currently taking questions from the crowd as we speak. If you're so inclined, Reuters and The New York Times' Dealbook are both running very good liveblogs so you can follow along. Buffett and Munger were asked about the CEO's decision to join Twitter recently. Buffett seemed bemused, while Munger said he was avoiding it "like the plague." The two were also asked about Bitcoins, the online currency that's driving financial writers mad. "Of our $49 billion, we haven't moved any to bitcoin," Buffett said. "The truth is I don't know anything about it." 

       

How Much Did Tamerlan Tsarnaev's Widow Know?

In an investigation that seems to go in a new direction every other day, some incriminating evidence is causing officials to take a deeper look into Katherine Russell, the 24-year-old of Tamerlan Tsarnaev. 

The Washington Post reports investigators are trying to determine how issues of Inspire, the Al Qaeda magazine that taught the Tsarnaev brothers how to make the bombs used to carry out their attack, and other "radical Islamist material" found on their way onto her computer. They're trying to figure out whether Tamerlan downloaded the material without her knowing or if the suspect's widow knowingly had the magazine on her computer. Dzhokhar has reportedly told police the brothers made their pressure cooker bombs at the house where Tamerlan lived with Russell and their young child. The New York Times reports investigators are also looking at a text message Russell sent Tamerlan after pictures of the brothers, 26-year-old Tamerlan and the19-year-old surviving suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, were released by the FBI. Russell did not contact police. 

So far, those are the two biggest pieces of evidence hinting Russell might know more than she's letting on. She has said she had no idea what the brothers were planning and that she was "utterly shocked" when the brothers were identified as the suspects. DNA tests revealed the female DNA found on the Boston marathon bombs did not belong to Russell. Around the time the female DNA evidence was found and the fourth of July attack plans were revealed, Russell stopped cooperating with police. Officials are also trying to determine how much three of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev's college friends knew about the brothers' plans.  

On Friday, a Massachusetts funeral home announced Tamerlan Tsarnaev died of gunshot wounds and blunt trauma during the Thursday standoff with police. The funeral home is now struggling to find a cemetery that will accept the accused bomber's body. No one wants him.