Atlantic Monthly Contributors's Blog, page 1085

Tom Cruise Blows the Box Office Into 'Oblivion'

Welcome to the Box Office Report, where it's been a while. Let's get reacquainted, shall we?

1. Oblivion (Universal): $38.2 million in 3,783 theaters

Hello again, The Box Office Report is back after a brief hiatus last week. With everything else going on in the news, we could use a little break to riff about movies for a minute. Tom Cruise's heavily promoted, pretty post-apocalyptic mess finally opened this week. And it opened on top. The trailers have been in heavy rotation on any and every television broadcast over the last three weeks, and it felt like it played in front of every movie your intrepid blogger saw in the theater since December, at least. Some prognosticators think Oblivion could be Cruise's first non-Mission Impossible sequel $100 million earner since 2006. We'll have to see if it can hold up after Pain & Gain's opening next weekend, and the looming juggernaut Iron Man 3 that's two weeks away. 

2. 42 (Warner): $18 million in 3,250 theaters [Week 2]

Jackie Robinson was one of the coolest people ever. This movie should probably be seen by, like, everyone. It should be required viewing in schools. That is, if it's any good. 

3. The Croods (Fox): $9.5 million in 3,435 theaters [Week 5]

This movie has earned a bonkers $158 million so far and has already been picked up for a sequel. Hopefully the family can learn some proper which fork to use when by the time the second movie come out. It would be a real shame for them to put all that money to waste. 

4. Scary Movie 5 (Dimension): $6.3 million in 3,402 theaters [Week 2]

Isn't the fact that this is only the fifth sequel the most surprising thing about this movie? If you asked someone a month ago how many Scary Movies there were the answer would have been something along the lines of, "seven," or "ten," or "too many, go away, stop talking to me." Although technically that third answer is still right. 

5. G.I. Joe: Retaliation (Paramount): $5.8 million in 3,175 theaters [Week 4]

If the Rock is in two movies in the top five next week by some chance, we're taking that as a sign of the apocalypse. That's God saying, "Yup, we're done here. It's time to move to Mars." Someone build a space ship, please? 

       

Menino Says the Brothers Acted Alone

Boston Mayor Thomas Menino revealed he thinks the Tsarnaev brothers acted alone when they terrorized Boston over the last five days during an appearance on ABC's This Week. "All the information I have is they acted alone," he said. He also called on the U.S. attorney's office to "throw the book" at the surviving brother. "I hope that the U.S. attorney, Carmen Ortiz, takes them on the federal side and throws the book at them," Menino said. "These two individuals held the city hostage for five days." Menino also defended shutting down the city on Friday while authorities searched for Dzhokhar Tsarnaev. "I had information that there was other things going on," he said. "I agreed with that decision at the time."

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Boston Police Commissioner Ed Davis offered an update on the condition of 19-year-old suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev during his appearance on Fox News Sunday. "He’s in no condition to be interrogated at this time," Davis said. "He’s progressing, though, and we're monitoring the situation at this time." Dzhokhar is in stable but serious condition at a Boston hospital right now. Investigators are waiting to question him until his wounds have healed enough to speak with a special interrogator. Davis said the imminent threat is over, but cautioned that new developments may arise once the suspect is questioned. "There may be other components of this investigation that will lead to charges down the road," he said. Davis couldn't say definitively whether the older brother, Tamerlan, was the leader in the plot. He did theorize that the brother went on another crime spree Thursday -- killing an MIT police officer and carjacking an SUV -- because the FBI released their photos. "I think they decided to go active after their pictures were disclosed publicly," he said. "I think that’s what started the rampage."

Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick told CBS's Face the Nation host Bob Schieffer that he doesn't expect any political backlash for shutting down the city for a whole day while authorities tried to track the bombing suspect. "I think people understood that we were making decisions in the face of a rapidly developing investigation and that we were making them in the best interests of people's public safety,” Patrick said. Schieffer asked if Patrick feared people ignoring the order and venturing into the great outdoors, to which the Gov. said he was "fully aware that there are knuckleheads out there." He did thank the public for cooperating with the order, for the most part, and for cooperating and helping with the investigation. 

Sen. Dianne Feinstein took an interesting position on Fox News Sunday. The influential Democrat said she agreed with the decision to invoke the "public safety exception" so Dzhokhar Tsarnaev could be interrogated before being read his Miranda rights. But she does not agree that Tsarnaev should be tried in a military court. He should eventually be read his rights and tried as a civilian, she argued. "It would be unconstitutional to," try him as an enemy combatant in military court, she said. Feinstein argued law enforcement have more than enough evidence to convict him in civilian court and could even potentially secure a death penalty conviction. "It should likely be a death penalty case under federal law," she said. 

Sen. Chuck Schumer thinks the death penalty would be "appropriate" and still apply in Dzhokar Tsarnaev's case. The New York Senator told CNN's State of the Union host Candy Crowley that he still supported the use of the death penalty here despite it being illegal in Massachusetts. If he's tried federally then it could still apply, Schumer argued. "The federal law allows the death penalty," Schumer said. "I wrote the law in 1994 when I was head of the crime subcommittee in the House. This is just the kind of case that it should be applied to." He did leave some room for the chance that he might be wrong, though. "Given the facts that I’ve seen, it would be appropriate to use the death penalty in this case," he said.

Sen. Lindsey Graham sees holes. He sees holes in the F.B.I. He sees holes in U.S. law. He potentially sees holes everywhere. But these are the ones he's focusing on right now, he told Candy Crowley on State of the Union. "The ball was dropped in one of two ways," the South Carolina Republican explained. "The FBI missed a lot of things, is one potential answer, or our laws do not allow the FBI to follow up in a sound solid way." Graham argued that Tamerlan Tsarnaev should have been on the FBI's radar because of his trip to Russia and his online activity relating to 9/11 conspiracy theories. "It’s people like this that you don’t want to let out of your sight, and this was a mistake," he said. "Either our laws are insufficient or the FBI failed, but we’re at war with radical Islamists and we need to up our game."

Former White House counter-terrorism adviser Richard Clarke wondered aloud if there may be copycat terrorists in the wake of the Boston bombings on ABC's This Week. "Now that people have seen what two men can do with easily obtainable materials -- close down a city, get the president of the United States to show up," Clarke said. "Other people around the country who have been radicalized have watched this, and they're going to wonder, is there a way now that I can do this?" Clarke worked under Bush and Clinton but never under Obama. He also wondered what Russia did once Tamerlan Tsarnaev travelled to the country. They had suspicions that he was a potential threat and asked the FBI for information. When the FBI investigation didn't turn up any clues, Tsarnaev travelled to Russia. "What I want to know is what did the Russians do when he went back to Russia?" Clarke said. "What did they do, did they follow him around?"

       

See How the Cops Knew Dzhokhar Tsarnaev Was Inside That Boat

When the police received a tip that Dzhokhar Tsarnaev might be hiding out in a Watertown boat, there was obviously some worry: how do you safely check to see if he's there when he's been carrying explosives this whole time? You use a police helicopter's thermal camera, of course. 

On Saturday, the Massachusetts State Police released these pictures of a Dzhokhar Tsarnaev holed up in David Henneberry's boat Friday evening before the firefight with police and subsequent arrest. They were taken using the state police's Forward Looking Infrared (FLIR) cameras on their Air Wing helicopters, and they really are something:

Photos taken from State Police Air Wing on Watertown manhunt.Please credit MSP for pics. twitter.com/MassStatePolic…

— MASS STATE POLICE (@MassStatePolice) April 20, 2013

Photos taken from State Police Air Wing on Watertown manhunt.Media, please credit MSP for pics. twitter.com/MassStatePolic…

— MASS STATE POLICE (@MassStatePolice) April 20, 2013

Photos from State Police Air Wing on Watertown manhunt.Please credit MSP for pics.Unk which police agency in picture twitter.com/MassStatePolic…

— MASS STATE POLICE (@MassStatePolice) April 20, 2013

From State Police Air Wing Watertown manhunt.Please credit MSP for pics.Unk which police agency shown.4of 5 pics twitter.com/MassStatePolic…

— MASS STATE POLICE (@MassStatePolice) April 20, 2013

Air Wing views from Watertown manhunt. 5 total pics released.No further info available tonight on pictures twitter.com/MassStatePolic…

— MASS STATE POLICE (@MassStatePolice) April 20, 2013

Basically, the cameras on the state helicopters allow state police to read thermal energy. So if someone is hiding behind, say, a boat tarp then they're able to read his body energy and verify a target's location. "FLIR cameras allow the TFO to see in total darkness by producing viewable images of invisible infrared energy," explains AOPA Hover Power writer Tim McAdams. "Infrared energy is part of the electromagnetic spectrum, which we perceive as heat, so it is invisible to the naked eye. Some level of thermal energy is emitted from all people, objects, and material." The police can see your warmth, criminals. They're hot on your trail. 

       

Would the Real Sarah Hanson Please Stand Up?

What happens when a 19-year-old programmer extensively covered by media outlets this week probably doesn't exist? 

Here's what we think we know about Sarah Hanson: she's a 19-year-old who dropped out of an unnamed college after her first year to start Senior Living Map, a start-up that helps people find senior living centers without the help of a care adviser. She allegedly lives in Seattle, Washington. She also allegedly sold 10 percent of her income over the next ten years to an anonymous San Francisco angel investor in exchange for an $125,000 investment in her company, via an auction website. Other than that, there's no trace of her existence on the internet. Anywhere. 

Which seems weird. For a 19-year-old who has allegedly been coding since she was 12-years-old, you would think there would be a Facebook account, a Twitter account, even a LinkedIn, maybe. There might be something, but there's not. And it wasn't until after VentureBeat's John Koetsier published an interview with the alleged Hanson that the evidence tipped him off that this person he's emailing with -- not speaking with in person or on the phone -- may not exist. 

After a television reporter contacted Koetsier this week wondering about Hanson's existence, he started to wonder. His piece was well received and picked up by more than a few media outlets. If Hanson ended up being a fake, well, that would be problematic. Was he catfished?

He couldn't find any information backing up her claims on the social networks. He reviewed her answers from his interview and started to wonder. Nothing was very specific. Hanson's website, Senior Living Map, which is developed and has some functionality already, was scant on details. There was only one contact address and very little information about the developer. That's unusual, especially for a site from a young person trying to sell herself to angel investors. He noticed that, despite claims in the site's terms of service, Senior Living Map was not registered as a company in the state of Washington, or Nevada, or Delaware. Adding to the intrigue, Hanson's auction closed after only three bids. The winner, whose identity Hanson previously declined to reveal to Koetsier, won with a $125,000 bid. That means, essentially, that someone believed that Hanson would personally make at least $1.25 million over the next ten years to recoup the investment. The very real possibility that Sarah Hanson does not exist started to creep into Koetsier's skull, so he offered this mea culpa Saturday: 

So here we are. I can’t guarantee that the woman I wrote a story about exists. And I can’t disprove it at the moment, either. All I can do is lay out what I have learned so far, and keep digging to learn more. If I have written about a fake, constructed persona, and have been the victim of an elaborate hoax, either for publicity or kicks or some as-yet-unknown reason, I apologize to VentureBeat readers.

Doing some basic Internet sleuthing, here's what the Atlantic Wire was able to come up with. The picture Hanson attached to her auction doesn't show up anywhere except on stories about her auction when plugged into a Google image search. Which means, that seems to be its original source on the Internet, lending some veracity to her existence. Unless it's totally doctored through Photoshop, which is a possibility. Hanson's site was also registered through a proxy domain registry site, according to a WHOIS search. DomainsByProxy lets users register domains and keep their identity hidden from administrative searches like WHOIS. 

Why would a 19-year-old trying to sell herself to investors cover up her identity when registering her website's domain name? Your guess is as good as ours. For now, until Hanson starts responding to emails, it certainly doesn't seem like she's a real person. 

       

"This Is Our F------- City": Boston Sports Rallies the City

As the Massachusetts city slowly returns to normal life after Friday night's events, Boston's three most important sports teams played Saturday and helped breath a semblance of normal life back into the exhausted citizens. 

The Bruins kicked off their home game against the Pittsburgh Penguins shortly after lunchtime Friday. The crowd was sparse, but passionate, and the pre-game ceremonies honored the victims and first responders who went through so much over the last five days. The team wore ribbons on their helmets and jerseys, and these hats on ice during warmups:

There was levity in the TD Garden on Saturday, too. The Sporting News' Jesse Spector reports the organist played the Hall and Oates song, "Private Eyes," before the game started. Nice touch, whoever sits behind the keys. 

But it was over at Fenway Park where Boston really rallied. The Red Sox flow through the city's blood more than any other team, and they have been absent all week, either on the road in other cities. Or games have been postponed because of the week's events. So when the Sox took the field Saturday afternoon, it was an understandably emotional moment for everyone. First responders were present, and so was Mayor Thomas Menino and Governor Deval Patrick. A Red Sox legend, David "Big Papi" Ortiz, addressed the crowd before the game in what has become an already legendary moment in Boston sports. 

"Alright, Boston. This jersey that we're wearing today -- it doesn't say Red Sox. It says Boston," Ortiz told the cheering crowds. "We want to thank Mayor Menino, Governor Patrick, and the whole police department for the great job they did this past week. This is our fucking city, and nobody is going to dictate our freedom. Stay strong." The crowd went bonkers. 

Now that relief was washing over, fans tweeted beautiful pictures from Fenway as the game got going. It really was a great day for Boston baseball: 

Boston strong/proud/loyal! #ThisIsOurFuckingCity #RedSox #BostonStrong #redsox twitpic.com/ckqb1a

— Jenney Griffin (@IrishRedSox77) April 20, 2013

#BostonStrong #RedSox#USA twitter.com/KevnEgan/statu…

— Kevin Egan (@KevnEgan) April 20, 2013

#redsox ushers going around with yellow marathon bags raising money for victims. @ Fenway Park instagram.com/p/YVhp_FpGiJ/

— Garrett Quinn (@GarrettQuinn) April 20, 2013

Photo: Fans held up supportive signs as the #RedSox returned to Fenway Saturday. See more: bostonglobe.com twitter.com/BostonGlobe/st…

— The Boston Globe (@BostonGlobe) April 20, 2013

Young Bostonians instagram.com/p/YViMmPCdGM/

— Rosie Gray (@RosieGray) April 20, 2013

There was even a note of support from Arizona Sen. John McCain:

There's nothing that brings people together quite like sports - cheering on the #RedSox, #Bruins and #Celtics today! #BostonStrong

— John McCain (@SenJohnMcCain) April 20, 2013

The Celtics play the New York Knicks in playoff basketball at 3 p.m. The east coast rivalry, temporarily on hold this week, won't take long to heat up once again. And things will be as they should be. Boston will be as it should be. 

       

Meet David Henneberry, the Tipster Who Caught Dzhokhar Tsarnaev

David Henneberry is the most beloved boat owner in America. For it was his boat -- a 20-footer resting in his driveway, under a tarp, waiting for the harbor to thaw enough for sailing season to begin -- that led to the capture of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, the 19-year-old accused of bombing the Boston marathon.

Henneberry had spent his Friday like the rest of his Watertown community: cooped up in his house with his wife, on a "shelter in place" order from Governor Deval Patrick while authorities tried to track Dzhokhar. The younger of the two suspects had evaded capture after a firefight with police in Watertown the night before -- his older brother had been killed -- and the community was understandably shaken up. It's not often that explosions and SWAT teams can be found in a sleepy Boston suburb. 

So once the ban was lifted by Patrick around 6 p.m. -- with Dzhokhar still missing -- Henneberry and his wife stepped into their backyard to get some fresh air. David had a smoke and took the dog for a walk around the yard while his wife relaxed in a chair in the sun. It was a beautiful day in Watertown yesterday, and a shame that it had to be spent inside. But the wind picked up, and the tarp that covered the boat flapped in the wind. This wasn't normal. Henneberry approached the boat and noticed the cord tying it down was cut. Using a stepladder, he looked into the boat and noticed a pool of blood. Without saying anything, he retreated to call the police. The rest, as they say, is history. It'll make for a heckuva book some day. 

That's the story, according to Henneberry's stepson, Robert Duffy, the family's spokesperson so far. He's told that story to The Today Show, to CNN's Piers Morgan, and just about every reporter on the scene in Massachusetts Friday night and Saturday morning. His stepparent's address, 67 Franklin Street, was where it all went down. The authorities showed up within minutes of Henneberry's 911 call, and the older couple were whisked into a neighbor's house to safety. "He didn't try to be a hero. He didn't yell," Duffy told Today. "His mind instantly did the right thing."

Duffy was watching this all unfold from his own house, completely unaware that his parents were so close to the action until a friend called him and told them the helicopters were focusing on Franklin Street. He looked at the TV again, put it together and got in his car. The phone at the house had been cut so he had no idea they were safe. "It was absolutely horrifying for approximately 40 minutes," Duffy told Morgan.

We don't know much about Henneberry beyond the details Duffy, and his neighbor George Pizzuto, have provided. We know he's a fiercely proud boat owner who, once the media attention has died down, has a boat that's not exactly fit for sail right now. It was in the middle of last night's fire fight. Which is to say, it's got some holes that need filling. "I heard they put a couple rounds through his boat," Duffy told The New York Daily News. "He’s not going to like that." Boat owners tend to spend most of their time and pennies in the spring prepping for a summer full of sun and wind on the open air. "That boat's his baby. He takes care of it like you wouldn't believe. And they told him it's all shot up," Pizzuto told ABC affiliate WHAM-13. "He's going to be heartbroken."

Hopefully, after the important things shake out, Henneberry will be compensated for his boat's repair. We highly doubt the Boston community won't be thanking him for the months to come. 

Correction: This post originally identified Duffy as both Henneberry's stepson and a son-in-law. He is, in fact, a stepson. We regret the error. 

       

Earthquake Kills Over 100 in China, Death Toll Expected to Rise

A powerful earthquake devastated China's southwestern region on Saturday leaving more at least 156 people dead and more than 5,500 injured, with expectations that those numbers will surely arise as the recovery efforts continue. 

The U.S.G.S. measured the quake that struck China's Sichuan province at magnitude 6.6 on Saturday, three years after another powerful quake in the region where roughly 86,000 people were either killed or reported missing. The Lushan county was hit the worst, and the government is reportedly directing most of the recovery efforts there. The quake reportedly lasted for a full minute's worth of terrifying shaking, and shook buildings, collapsed homes, triggered landslides, and cut power and phone access in the region. State TV showed an emergency center made up of tents set up outside of Lushan's hospital for victims to get treatment. The hospital seems to have only sustained limited damage. 

There have been a number of aftershocks, 712 according to China's earthquake administration, with the most powerful one registering at 5.1 magnitude, according to the U.S.G.S. There are fears the continuing aftershocks, and the damage caused by the initial quake, could hamper the rescue efforts and lead to dramatic increase in the death toll. "There was concern that casualties in neighboring Baoxing county might have been under-reported because of inaccessibility after roads were blocked and power and phone services cut off," the Associated Press reports. 

       

What the Newspapers in Massachusetts Look Like The Morning After

The last Boston Marathon bombings suspect sought by authorities was captured Friday evening in a dramatic two hour stand off with police in Watertown, a community just outside of Boston. The day after, Saturday morning's newspapers offers a look at a state that was brought to its knees, now standing tall once again. 

The two main papers in the state's capital city were understandably relieved Saturday morning. The     

Behind the Scenes of Boston's Manhunt: What Happened Last Night? What Now?

A week of uneasy, unanswered questions came to an end Friday evening as Boston authorities were finally able to capture the only surviving suspect allegedly behind the Boston Marathon bombings, but only after another intense firefight with police. Now the nation looks for answers.

The 19-year-old Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was taken into custody Friday evening just before 9 p.m. The whole city of Boston, along with the surrounding communities of Watertown, Waltham, ­Newton, Belmont, and Cambridge were ordered to "shelter in place" -- to lock the door and stay inside -- for most of Friday. That order was lifted around 6 p.m. About an hour later, around 7 p.m., a Watertown homeowner noticed something strange about his boat. The tarp covering it had been removed in one place, the cords keeping it down were cut, and there was blood. He called the police immediately, the man's son, Robert Duffy, told the Boston Globe. The man's name, who will surely be lauded as a hero, is currently unknown. 

"A man had gone out of his house after being inside the house all day, abiding by our request to stay inside," Edward Davis, Boston police commissioner, explained after Dzhokhar's capture. "He walked outside and saw blood on a boat in the backyard. He then opened the tarp on the top of the boat, and he looked in and saw a man covered with blood. He retreated and called us."

Police responded within minutes. Gunfire was exchanged with the younger brother who had evaded police capture the night before. Tamerlan Tsarnaev, the 26-year-old alleged accomplice, died during Thursday evening's standoff with police. Dzhokhar engaged in a roughly two hour firefight with police Friday evening before a hostage team entered the boat and capture him alive. He's now in serious condition at the Beth Israel ­Deaconess Medical Center, the same hospital where his older brother was pronounced dead, under heavy security detail. Gov. Deval Patrick is "hoping very deeply he survives those wounds, because I’ve got a lot of questions and I know investigators have a lot of questions for him," he said late Friday evening. 

The questions now move from who, to why. The motive for the attacks still remain unclear, though an image is beginning to emerge where the elder Tamerlan may have been the influencer. The New York Times reports the older brother was interviewed by the F.B.I. in 2011, at the request of an unnamed foreign country Tamerlan allegedly planned to travel to, to see if he had extremist ties. The foreign government "had something on him," a source told the Times, but requests from the F.B.I. to retrieve that evidence went unanswered. Their investigation didn't turn up any leads, the F.B.I. confirmed in a statement Friday.Tamerlan spent six months in Russia in 2012.

The investigation into what terrorist ties the two brothers may have will begin as soon as Dzhokhar Tsarnaev is healthy enough to answer any questions. He was arrested last night under the "public safety" exception, U.S. Attorney for Massachusetts Carmen Ortiz confirmed, so he was not read his Miranda warning. That means he is technically "an enemy combatant" of the state for now. The Obama administration has expressed their desire, though, that he be tried as an American citizen. 

For now, the city of Boston celebrates the end of its long nightmare. People poured into the streets late Friday, starting impromptu celebrations of Dzhokhar's capture, chanting "Boston strong" long into the night. Things will start to go back to normal again Saturday. The Bruins host the Pittsburgh Penguins at 12:30 p.m., and finally, after a long wait, the beloved Red Sox will return to Fenway Saturday against the Kansas City Royals at 1:10 p.m. City of Boston, no one is going to begrudge you if you take the day off to catch a hockey or a baseball game and have a drink or two on a Saturday afternoon after the week you've had. Enjoy it. Things are somewhat normal again. 

[Inset #1 via @PRGail; #2 via @Bruce_Arthur and @GarrettGough; #3 via AP]

       

Does Dzhokhar Tsarnaev Deserve His Miranda Rights?

Now that suspected marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev is in custody, it's time to turn our attention onto the next steps. Should he survive his wounds -- right now he's in serious condition -- he will most likely face charges and prosecution. But from a civilian or a military court?

Republican Senator Lindsey Graham has tweeted -- several times -- to express his desire that Tsarnaev, an American citizen, be treated as "an enemy combatant" and pumped for information that could "protect our nation which is under threat from radical Islam." Graham is very much against Tsarnaev being read the Miranda warning: 

The Law of War allows us to hold individual in this scenario as potential enemy combatant w/o Miranda warnings or appointment of counsel.

— Lindsey Graham (@GrahamBlog) April 20, 2013

He's now taken to several forms of social media to say so, issuing a joint statement with John McCain on his Facebook page that basically repeats what he's been saying on Twitter. There is a "public safety" exception to the Miranda warning, as the FBI's website explains:

The public safety exception is triggered when police officers have an objectively reasonable need to protect the police or the public from immediate danger. Because the standard is objective, the availability of the exception does not depend on subjective motivation of the officers. Legitimate concerns for officer safety or public safety prompting unwarned custodial questioning arise in a variety of contexts. A common factor that can be gleaned from the courts addressing this issue is the prior knowledge or awareness of specific facts or circumstances that give rise to the imminent safety concern that prompted the questioning.

The public safety exception comes up from time to time, usually when there's some kind of terrorist threat. At the press conference following Tsarnaev's capture, U.S. Attorney for Massachusetts Carmen Ortiz confirmed that the public safety exception was being invoked. That said ...

Obama admin is emphatic about putting the #BostonMarathon bombing suspect on civilian trial, per @petewilliamsnbc

— Asawin Suebsaeng (@swin24) April 20, 2013