Atlantic Monthly Contributors's Blog, page 141

Who Was Jo Cox?

Jo Cox, the 41-year-old Labour Party member of Parliament for Batley and Spen who was killed Thursday, was a rising star in British politics.

The activist was elected to Parliament for the first time last year and quickly made a name for herself on matters such as immigration, Syrian refugees, and Britain’s membership in the European Union. Prior to that, she spent a decade working at Oxfam, the British aid agency, in various senior capacities in the U.K., U.S. and Brussels. Immediately before she was elected to Parliament in May 2015, she worked at the Freedom Fund, an anti-slavery organization, and at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, according to a biography on her website.

Cox represented an area in which she was born and raised—and of which she was proud—in Yorkshire, as can be seen in her maiden speech to Parliament.

But that speech is notable not just for her touting of her constituency’s “typically independent, no-nonsense and proud Yorkshire towns and villages,” but also for her reference to how diverse the area is.

Our communities have been deeply enhanced by immigration, be it of Irish Catholics across the constituency or of Muslims from Gujarat in India or from Pakistan, principally from Kashmir. While we celebrate our diversity, what surprises me time and time again as I travel around the constituency is that we are far more united and have far more in common with each other than things that divide us.

Cox also lauded her constituency’s “spirit of nonconformity”—a spirit she herself exhibited on several occasions as an MP. She was one of 36 lawmakers who nominated Jeremy Corbyn to be the Labour Party leader, but she voted instead for Liz Kendal, his rival, in the leadership election. She later said she regretted nominating Corbyn, who is now the party’s leader. Last month, after the party’s disappointing election results, she said: “I don’t think it’s time for a leadership challenge against Jeremy, but I do think Jeremy needs to personally recognize that this isn’t good enough.”

Nor was Corbyn the only target of her criticism. She called David Cameron, the British prime minister, and President Obama a “huge disappointment” on Syria, where she favored “ethical” military action to end the civil war and bring President Bashar al-Assad to the negotiating table. She also supported the U.K. admitting 3,000 child refugees from Syria—a controversial stand in a country where the issue of immigration is contentious. You can watch the full speech here. Here’s an excerpt:

I recognize that this is not easy, but tonight we are being asked to make a decision that transcends party politics. Any member who has seen the desperation and fear on the faces of children trapped in inhospitable camps across Europe must surely feel compelled to act. I urge them tonight to be brave and bold, and I applaud the honorable and learned member for Sleaford and North Hykeham [Stephen Phillips] for an incredibly principled, personal speech.

In the shanty towns of Calais and Dunkirk, the aid workers I spent a decade with on the frontline as an aid worker myself, tell me that the children there face some of the most horrific circumstances in the world. Surely we have to do the right thing tonight and support the Dubs amendment.

Cox was also a passionate supporter of Britain’s continued membership in the EU, and her Twitter feed over the last few days urged Britons to vote to remain in the referendum on June 23. She acknowledged that immigration—which supporters of the so-called Brexit cite as a major reason for wanting to leave—was a “legitimate concern” that didn’t make someone a “racist or xenophobic,” but said it wasn’t a good reason to leave the EU.

“Over half of all migrants to Britain come from outside the EU,” she wrote, “and the result of this referendum will do nothing to bring these numbers down.”

Cox was born in Batley, England, on June 22, 1974. The BBC reports she attended Heckmondwike Grammar School and became the first person in her family to go to college. She studied social and political studies at Pembroke College, Cambridge, from which she graduated in 1995. Here’s more:

After graduating, she worked as an adviser for the Labour MP Joan Walley and then Glenys (now Baroness) Kinnock. By the end of the 1990s she was head of campaigns for the pro-European pressure group Britain in Europe.

She is survived by her husband, Brendan Cox, and their two children,  Cuillin and Lejla.

Obama in Orlando

President Obama traveled to Orlando Thursday to meet with families of the victims of this weekend’s shooting rampage and reprise his role of national comforter in chief after the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history.

Obama and Vice President Joe Biden met with survivors and families of the victims of Sunday’s attack at a gay nightclub in Orlando. They also met with members of law enforcement and the owners and staff of the nightclub, Pulse, who were working when the attack occurred. Obama and Biden visited a makeshift memorial for the shooting near city hall, and laid bouquets of white roses among the candles, pictures, and other tokens in remembrance of the victims.

Obama said Orlando was “shaken by an evil, hateful act,” but today, “most of all, there is love,” according to White House press pool reports. He said the grieving parents he met “don’t care about politics,” and repeated his call for Congress to enact stricter gun regulations that would make it harder for people to buy assault-style weapons.

On Sunday, at about 2 a.m., 29-year-old Omar Mateen entered Pulse and opened fire, unleashing round after round of bullets from an assault-style rifle, at the helpless crowds. During the siege, which lasted three hours, Mateen pledged his allegiance to the Islamic State and other terrorists in a phone call to a 911 dispatcher. When it was all over, 49 people were dead and more than 50 were wounded, and Mateen was shot and killed by the Orlando police’s SWAT team.

In the days since, the public and politicians have debated multiple aspects of the shooting and its repercussions. Religious extremism, because Mateen said he supported ISIS, Hezbollah, and the Boston Marathon bombers. Muslim immigration, because Mateen, a devout Muslim, was born to Afghan parents in the U.S. Discrimination against LGBT individuals, because he attacked a space they consider a sanctuary, and may have battled with his own sexuality. Discrimination against Latinos, because he attacked on the club’s Latin Night. And gun violence, because Orlando now joins the list of U.S. cities, Newtown, Columbine, and Aurora, whose names have become synonymous with the deadly shootings that occurred there.

Obama, as he has done before, refused to use the term “radical Islam” to describe the violence in Orlando, saying that doing so would provide legitimacy to terrorist groups and alienate Muslims in the U.S. and abroad. Obama’s critics have pointed to the omission as a sign the president is not committed to or misunderstands the fight against Islamist terrorism. The loudest this week has been Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, who called on Obama to say the words or resign, and even suggested the president may sympathize with Islamic extremists. Obama on Tuesday gave a fiery speech aimed at these critics, particularly “politicians who tweet and appear on cable-news shows,” and called the focus on his choice of language a “distraction.”

Most of the Orlando shooting victims were men in their 20s and 30s, enjoying a night out. Survivors have described scenes of chaos and terror from that night as club-goers tried to flee the building, hide in bathroom stalls or under the bodies of their friends and strangers, and play dead as the shooter picked over the carnage.

Federal investigators so far have found no evidence to indicate the attack was organized with help from terrorist organizations abroad, or that Mateen was part of a larger terrorist network in the U.S. Investigators say Mateen was “radicalized,” in part, by material he read on the internet. The FBI investigated Mateen for connections to terrorism in 2013, after Mateen told coworkers at a courthouse where he was a security guard that he was involved in terrorist organizations, and in 2014, when agents learned Mateen and an American suicide bomber who died in Syria attended the same mosque in Florida.

Back in Washington, Senate Democrats, led by Chris Murphy of Connecticut, wrapped up 15 hours of speeches early Thursday morning that demanded stricter gun regulation. Murphy told NBC News Thursday he ended the filibuster after Republican Party leaders agreed to allow votes on gun legislation that would prevent people on the government’s terror-watch list from purchasing firearms and expand background checks for buyers at gun shows and internet sales.

Texas Loses Its Syrian Refugee Lawsuit

A federal district court rejected Texas’s attempt to bar the federal government from resettling Syrian refugees in the state and dismissed the lawsuit on Wednesday.

The Texas Health and Human Services Commission failed to “state a plausible claim for relief” or prove it could challenge the government’s actions under existing law, federal district judge David Godbey ruled.

Texas officials originally filed the lawsuit last December against the federal government and the International Rescue Committee, a nonprofit agency that assists with refugee resettlement. The legal fight came amid a broader backlash by some states, largely led by Republican officials, to resettling Syrian refugees after the terrorist attacks in Paris last November. Texas Governor Greg Abbott ordered the commission to suspend its cooperation with federal officials three days after the attacks. At the time, the agency also asked the court to halt the imminent arrival in Texas of a Syrian refugee family, but Godbey declined to intervene.

In the lawsuit, Texas accused the federal government of violating the Refugee Act of 1980, which requires resettlement agencies to “consult regularly” with state governments before placing refugees in a state. While both agencies provided Texas with advance notice of resettlements, state officials asked their federal counterparts and the IRC for more specific information about individual refugees in the weeks leading up to the lawsuit.

Godbey declined to address whether the federal government had actually violated the Refugee Act’s consultation requirements. Instead, he ruled that Congress hadn’t provided Texas or other states with the necessary legal means to challenge federal actions under the Act. Texas acknowledged Congress had provided no explicit mechanism, but argued the law implicitly included one. But this argument failed to convince Godbey, who cited the statute’s history and structure to disprove it.

His order also dismissed the commission’s allegation that the IRC violated its contract with Texas by resettling refugees without proper communication. Texas argued the Refugee Act required the IRC to provide “close cooperation and advance consultation.” But that language is best read as advisory, Godbey wrote, contrasting its vague urgings with more explicit commands elsewhere in the Act.

Texas’s defeat comes as other states continue to fight refugee resettlements in the courts. In March, the Obama administration asked a federal court to dismiss a similar lawsuit by Alabama. Tennessee Governor Bill Haslam declined to veto legislation last month that would allow a lawsuit to go forward in that state.

Hiddleswift: Celebrity Romance as Fan Fiction

Here are the facts: Taylor Swift, the famous pop singer, and Tom Hiddleston, the famous actor, recently spent some time together upon some oceanside rocks in Rhode Island. The pair (it is as yet unclear whether they are, indeed, a couple) climbed those rocks—she in a chunky sweater, a short skirt, and oxfords; he in black jeans, a button-down, and a quilted jacket. At one point, he gave her the jacket to wear, perhaps because of the sea-chilled air or perhaps for another reason. Together, the two also: sat on the rocks, kissed on the rocks, cuddled on the rocks, held hands on the rocks, and took at least one selfie on the rocks.

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We—the small but significant slice of humanity who follow the comings and goings of celebrity’s artificial aristocracy—know all of these things because the seaside frolic was captured by another camera besides the smartphone’s: A paparazzo, or perhaps multiple paparazzi, documented the beach-rock frolic. And they did so so thoroughly that the U.K.’s Sun tabloid was able to include, in a story headlined “TINKER TAYLOR SNOGS A SPY,” 15 separate images of Tay and Tom, captioned with dreamy descriptions like “Tom Hiddleston looks reflects [sic] on the special moment leaning his head on new girlfriend Taylor Swift’s shoulder” and “Taylor Swift can’t let go of her new man Tom Hiddleston who has been strongly tipped to be the new Bond.”

WORLD EXCLUSIVE: Taylor Swift and Tom Hiddleston's romance sensationally revealed https://t.co/xc2yGvUPFj pic.twitter.com/gTCfDZsjfV

— The Sun (@TheSun) June 15, 2016

But what, actually, was “revealed” with all this? Assertions of “romance” and “girlfriend” aside, all that is known for sure is that Tay and Tom once made out on some rocks. (And even that might be in doubt.) The paps might have captured an intimate moment shared between a new couple, as they learn about each other and delight in each other; they might have participated, on the other hand, in one of Hollywood’s oldest institutions: the staged romance. That discrepancy, coupled with the fact that pretty much all consumers of celebrity journalism understand the cynical mechanics of celebrity journalism, is perhaps why so many people’s initial reactions to the Sun’s new-couple news (Hiddleswift! The latest celebrity centaur!) was not surprise, or joy, or even horror, but rather ... skepticism. “‘Can we talk about those staged photos?’” the Daily Mail asked, simultaneously acknowledging and dismissing its rival’s scoop.

And so, almost immediately, the conversation about Hiddleswift came to concern not just the new maybe-couple, but also the photo shoot, staged or not, that announced their new maybe-coupledom.

These looks like stills from a film about a man who takes his weak nana to see the water one last time. pic.twitter.com/zz0VMpiPLR

— Sarah Kурчак (@fodderfigure) June 15, 2016

**Looks at first staged photo op for Taylor Swift/Tom Hiddleston relationship roll-out**

Well this is going to be a nightmare of PR blitzs.

— Donna Dickens (@MildlyAmused) June 15, 2016

Those staged photos of Tom Hiddleston and Taylor swift are reminding me how bad an actor Hiddleston is.

— Hattiewelsh (@hattiewelsh) June 16, 2016

Hiddleswift photos are so painfully, painfully staged. Expected better for T.Swift's team.

— Daniel Bentley (@DJBentley) June 15, 2016

Media outlets got in on the action, too. “​Is Taylor Swift and Tom Hiddleston’s ‘relationship’ real or a great big FAKE?” Digital Spy asked, adding: “What’s the deal, and is it the real deal?” One Country, the country music site, published a post titled “Why We Think the Taylor Swift and Tom Hiddleston Photo Was Staged,” offering a detailed explanation pegged to the notion that Taylor could be so victimized by paparazzi when she has historically been so firmly control of her own image. The Daily Beast’s Kevin Fallon noted that “at best Tom Hiddleston and Taylor Swift are in love and craggy rock enthusiasts ... At worst, this is a stunt and a terrible career move for both.”

In a culture that treats “reality” as a genre of entertainment, it’s no wonder that Hiddleswift has inspired not just speculation, but literature.

What that amounts to is a celebrity-journalism spin on the old saying that “comment is free, but facts are sacred.” It was the naked (or, in this case, the chunky-sweater-wearing) facts—Taylor and Tom, together, on some rocks—that mattered more than the ancillary truths about their real relationship or how it may or may not have come about. The Sun’s photos claimed to “reveal a secret romance”; their real purpose, however, was to titillate people with the mere idea that Taylor and Tom might be a couple. It was to give people an excuse to do what they will do any time a new celebrity couple, whether Brangelina or Gigi-and-Zayn or Bennifers I or II, emerges: create nicknames (Hiddleswift! Or maybe Tomlor?​ ​Or Hiddley Swiddley Swiffleton?); generate memes; fantasize about the mergings and clashings of fandoms; ask questions about what the new union might mean for Taylor’s song-writing and for Tom’s Bond prospects and for their respective exes and, in general, for the status of the space-time continuum.  

The point of the images was, in other words, to inspire fan fiction. The pictures served not as a story unto themselves, as the Sun claimed, but rather as a prompt for participation in the new form of literature that has emerged on the internet: a genre that invites fans to fill in the blanks with their own ideas and hatreds and hopes and truths. The images of two people frolicking on some rocks may be very slightly about the two humans named Taylor Swift and Tom Hiddleston; what they are more about, though, are the universal conceits of early romance—the uncertainty, the fragility, the potential. They are an extension, and also the logical conclusion, of a culture that celebrates The Bachelor and The Bachelorette and their unapologetically performative approaches to love. And that finds Cosmo referring to the Kardashians, only partially ironically, as “America’s First Family.” And that finds Jenna Maroney, one of 30 Rock’s resident celebrities, orchestrating a fake romance with James Franco—all to get attention from the paparazzi’s hungry CAH-ma-ras.

The real Tay and Tom, through interviews given to outlets like E! and People by publicists and “sources close to” the pair, have downplayed the romance. (“Taylor is hanging out with her friends and keeping busy,” an “insider” told E!. “She wants to be single for a while and have a relaxing summer.”) None of that, however, has mattered. Hiddleswift is, for the moment, a union that operates almost purely, and thus almost unassailably, in the conditional tense. What might their long-term coupledom look like? What might it mean? For Taylor and for Tom and indeed for us all? In a culture that treats “reality” as both a truth and a genre of entertainment, it’s no wonder that our first impulse would be to question the reality of Hiddleswift. But it’s also no wonder that our second impulse would be to dismiss that “reality” as thoroughly beside the point.

The Latest Clue in the EgyptAir Mystery

The cockpit voice recorder of the EgyptAir plane that crashed last month has been pulled from the waters of the Mediterranean, a day after the wreckage of the aircraft was found.

The voice recorder was damaged but its memory unit, considered to be its most important component, was successfully retrieved, CNN reported Thursday, citing an Egyptian committee that is investigating the plane crash. The Airbus A320, operating as EgyptAir Flight 804, crashed in the Mediterranean on May 19 on a flight from Paris to Cairo, killing all 66 people on board.

Egyptian investigators said Thursday a search vessel discovered the wreckage of EgyptAir. The plane’s flight-data recorder, which together with the voice recorder are called the “black boxes” of an aircraft, has not been found. Earlier this month, French vessels participating in the search for the downed plane detected the signals of one the flight recorders in the eastern Mediterranean.

The voice recorder could provide some answers about the mysterious crash, the cause of which remains unknown. According to a description of black boxes from the Australian Transport Safety Bureau, the cockpit voice recorder (CVR) “would be better named the ‘cockpit audio recorder’ as it provides far more than just the voices of the pilots.” More:

In fact, it creates a record of the total audio environment in the cockpit area. This includes crew conversation, radio transmissions, aural alarms, control movements, switch activations, engine noise and airflow noise.

Older CVRs retain the last 30 minutes of an aircraft’s flight. A modern CVR retains the last 2 hours of information.

Investigators are considering technical or human error and terrorism—although no terrorist organization has claimed responsibility for the crash—as potential causes for crash.

The Senate Will Vote on Guns

Updated June 16 at 4:45 p.m.

After 15 hours of standing on the Senate floor and lamenting congressional inaction on guns, this is what Senator Chris Murphy of Connecticut had won: the chance to vote, again, on measures to expand background checks and keep suspected terrorists from buying firearms.

There’s no guarantee those amendments will pass when they come up early next week—and indeed, it is far more probable that they will fail. Like other senators who have exhausted their voices, their feet, and their bladders with lengthy protest speeches in recent years—Ted Cruz and Rand Paul the most well-known among them—Murphy is unlikely to win an immediate change of policy with his demonstration of verbal endurance. But for him and the dozens of other Democrats who joined his filibuster, the opportunity to force senators to again take a recorded vote on guns in the wake of Sunday’s massacre in Orlando is at least a token victory.

Shortly after 2 a.m. Eastern, Murphy finally walked off the floor after reporting that Republicans had agreed to hold votes on Democratic gun proposals as amendments to an appropriations bill funding the Commerce and Justice Departments that the Senate had been debating. On Thursday morning, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell suggested that he would have allowed those votes anyway, and perhaps earlier, if Murphy and his colleagues had not taken over the floor for the entire afternoon and evening. He dismissed the filibuster as a “campaign talk-a-thon” and pointed out that Democrats missed a classified briefing with the FBI director on the Orlando investigation to stage it. “It’s hard to think of a clearer contrast between serious work for solutions on the one hand and endless partisan campaigning on the other,” McConnell said.

The bills the Senate will vote on are Senator Dianne Feinstein’s proposal to block individuals on the terrorist watch list from buying guns and an amendment written by Murphy, Feinstein, and Cory Booker to enact universal background checks. Both have failed on party-line votes in the past. In response, Republicans will offer up an alternative from Senator John Cornyn of Texas, which would not automatically stop gun purchases from people on the watch list but would give the Justice Department 72 hours to seek a court order to block the sale if a judge finds probably cause that the person “has committed or will commit an act of terrorism.” Most Democrats opposed that proposal in December, arguing that the burden of proof is so high that it would stop few if any suspected terrorists from buying guns. The NRA also endorsed the Cornyn measure, making it more unlikely that it will win Democratic backing. (The statement Wednesday from the gun lobby came shortly after it agreed to a meeting with Donald Trump on the matter.

The senators to watch will be vulnerable Republicans like Rob Portman of Ohio, Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire, and Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania, who are facing difficult reelection bids and who have all voiced support, in theory, for proposals to restrict terrorists from buying guns. They all supported the Cornyn measure last December after the shooting rampage in San Bernadino, but will they feel pressure to side with Democrats now?

“It’s not enough for Republicans to simply let us vote. Democrats cannot pass these gun-safety measures by ourselves.”

Feinstein won the support of the Justice Department on Thursday, which released a statement backing her amendment to close the so-called “terror loophole.” “The amendment gives the Justice Department an important additional tool to prevent the sale of guns to suspected terrorists by licensed firearms dealers while ensuring protection of the department’s operational and investigative sensitivities,” the department’s spokeswoman Dena Iverson said. “We also continue to support universal background checks as a necessary tool to prevent suspected terrorists from lawfully obtaining firearms.” The statement served as something of a rebuttal to Republicans who were circulating comments from FBI Director James Comey, who during congressional testimony in 2015 voiced concerns that a law flagging gun purchases by suspected terrorists could “blow up” the ongoing investigations into their activities.

Democrats will need at least another election to pass tighter gun laws through Congress, and as Minority Leader Harry Reid pointed out, they’ll probably need one just to get them through the Senate. “It’s not enough for Republicans to simply let us vote. Democrats cannot pass these gun-safety measures by ourselves,” he said in a floor speech Thursday. Later in the afternoon, McConnell’s office announced that votes on four gun-related amendments would begin on Monday: the two from Democrats and two Republican alternatives. The competing proposals and the fact that each of them need 60 votes to advance make it exceedingly unlikely that any of them will. Murphy and his colleagues are seeking incremental progress and a perhaps a bit of momentum. When they come, the votes he won with his filibuster will show whether in the wake of Orlando, the status quo has changed at all.

O.J.: Made in America Is Vital Storytelling

Buried in the fourth part of O.J.: Made in America, ESPN Films’s masterful eight-hour documentary about the O.J. Simpson murder case, is a telling little Freudian slip from the then-CNN host Larry King, whose network had turned news coverage of the trial into an unprecedented 24/7 marathon. He had just met with Lance Ito, the presiding judge in the trial, and King was asked by a news crew if he wanted Ito to appear on Larry King Live. “Sure, we’d love to have him after the show is over. After the trial is over,” he said, catching himself. “It is like a show.”

Twenty-one years after the jury’s not-guilty verdicts in the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman, the O.J. show has never quite left the airwaves. Most recently, February brought FX’s American Crime Story: The People v. O.J. Simpson, a stunning dramatization of the case starring Cuba Gooding Jr., Courtney B. Vance, John Travolta, and Sarah Paulson. So it’s reasonable to wonder what further depths could be plumbed from the whole affair—the collapse of a seeming slam-dunk of a conviction that unfolded on TV like the first major reality show? Quite a lot, as it turns out. O.J.: Made in America can be an heartbreaking viewing experience, but it explores its subject with incredible length, breadth, intelligence, and sensitivity.

The eight-hour running time might seem daunting, especially coming only a few months after The People v. O.J.’s 10-episode run. But O.J.: Made in America is somehow even more engrossing than its fictionalized counterpart, meticulously fleshing out not only the details of the trial, but also the larger stories of race, celebrity, and misogyny that intersected around Simpson. This is a film that takes four hours before it even gets to the Brown/Goldman killings while still feeling relatively brisk—it’s a sports documentary, a true-crime work, and a searing history of America’s institutional racism wrapped up in one.

O.J.: Made in America was directed and produced by Ezra Edelman, an African American documentarian who’s made other fine films for HBO, including 2007’s Brooklyn Dodgers: The Ghosts of Flatbush and 2010’s Magic & Bird: A Courtship of Rivals. Both dug into deeper issues around their subjects, but O.J.: Made in America is a much grander undertaking. Parts one, two, and three have already aired on ABC and ESPN; parts four and five arrive Friday and Saturday, and all five are available on ESPN’s website for cable subscribers. Together, they make for some of the most compelling television of the year.

O.J. Simpson stands with his mother Eunice and father Jimmy Lee on the field at Rich Stadium for his induction into the Buffalo Bills Wall of Fame in 1980. (Mickey Osterreicher / ESPN Films)

Though it’s about much more than just Simpson’s life, Made in America never lets go of its protagonist, juxtaposing his specific road to fame with the country’s strained racial politics. Edelman hits on the strangeness of Simpson’s particular place in society: As a college football phenomenon for USC in the late 1960s, Simpson was courted to join black athletes in fighting for civil rights and supporting Muhammad Ali’s opposition to the Vietnam War and its draft. Instead he steered clear of controversy, taking pains to present a squeaky-clean image, one that consistently avoided the political activism of his black peers and consciously erased his racial identity—until he was put on trial for murder.

Edelman follows these dual paths throughout the story. There were Los Angeles’s ongoing civil-rights battles, including the Watts Riots of 1965, the violent police raids of Operation Hammer, the death of Latasha Harlins, and the 1992 Rodney King riots. The cycle of systemic racism, police abuse, and repeated mistakes contributed to a charged atmosphere and distrust of the LAPD, which Simpson’s legal defense team would later play upon. Then there was O.J. Simpson, the star running back for USC and the Buffalo Bills, who quickly parlayed his talent for charming the camera into a broadcasting and acting career.

Simpson was one of the first black faces of a national ad campaign (for Hertz), the star of movies like Capricorn One, The Towering Inferno, and The Naked Gun, and an occasional analyst and commentator for Monday Night Football. Piecing together stories from his youth, interviews with his directors, his business partners, his teammates, and his family friends, Edelman weaves a powerful and convincing narrative of Simpson’s efforts to craft a Teflon image that could appeal to the widest possible American audience—all the while reminding viewers of the wounds of racism that were still open.

O.J. Simpson signs autographs after practice outside Rich Stadium circa 1975. (Mickey Osterreicher / ESPN Films)

Edelman devotes ample time to Simpson’s second wife, Nicole Brown, to the systematic and horrifying pattern of abuse that developed during their marriage, and to her eventual brutal death. The talking heads who cut in to annotate every part of the story are often directly or indirectly related to the trial that dominated the news in 1994 and 1995. They include people who were once Simpson’s friends but then turned on him, others who were complicit in his defense case and now carry the burden of guilt, and others who still believe he’s innocent despite the mountain of evidence to the contrary.

By sifting through every fine detail of the case and presenting it in the context of history, Edelman has created a fascinating testament to the historical and cultural complexities that led to Simpson’s acquittal. Decisions and mistakes seem to ripple through decades, and even though the audience knows the outcome, it’s hard not to be gripped through all eight hours. O.J.: Made in America should seem superfluous so many years after the fact, but instead it’s a vital living document, one that lays bare a country’s deepest flaws while recounting events that you can only hope will never happen again.

The Attack on a British MP

Here’s what we know:

—British MP Jo Cox has died after being attacked in Bristall, near Leeds, on Thursday, according to news reports. She had been airlifted to the Leeds General Infirmary shortly after the attack. News reports say she was shot and stabbed.

—A 52-year-old man was arrested in connection with the attack, police say.

—Follow the developing story below. All updates are in Eastern Standard Time.

4:26 p.m.

Tributes are being paid in Bristall and London to Cox.

Floral tributes as Birstall remembers Jo Cox pic.twitter.com/tzHk1V7cgH

— Katie Spencer (@SkyKatieSpencer) June 16, 2016

Jo Cox's houseboat neighbours pay moving nautical tribute to MP hours after she was killed: https://t.co/pZK7pL7DVw pic.twitter.com/eV9BjKs7LY

— delcrookes (@hairydel) June 16, 2016

Jeremy Corbyn lead a moving vigil for #JoCox outside the parliament she joined a year ago https://t.co/TDPNQ7Ewrt pic.twitter.com/cVF4eQjGnQ

— LBC (@LBC) June 16, 2016

3:07 p.m.

British news reports have identified Cox’s attacker as Thomas Mair. Here’s the start’s of The Telegraph’s story on him:

The man arrested in connection with the death of MP Jo Cox was named as "loner" Thomas Mair, 52, who lived in a small semi detached house on the Field Head council estate in Birstall.

The neat semi in Lowood Lane was cordoned off and under police guard as neighbours spoke of the "very quiet but very helpful" suspect.

Neighbours said that Mair had lived in the house for 40 years and was living with his grandmother until she died about 20 years ago. Since then he has lived on his own and has never had any full time employment.

Neighbors said they had never heard him “express any views about Europe or anything like that.”

3:01 p.m.

British publications are reacting to the fatal attack on Cox, and we’re including a few editorials and op-eds:

A day of infamy (Alex Massie in The Spectator). The piece appears no longer appears to be on the magazine’s website, but here’s an archived version.

An attack on humanity, idealism, and democracy (The Guardian)

We’ll update this list as more editorials emerge.

2:32 p.m.

Watch Jo Cox’s maiden speech to Parliament in 2015:

2:07 p.m.

Oxfam and Save the Children said:

All @oxfamgb are devastated at the loss of our much loved and admired former @Oxfam colleague Jo Cox MP. Deep condolences to Jo's family

— Oxfam (@oxfamgb) June 16, 2016

Our heartfelt thoughts are with the family of Jo Cox. We're shocked and saddened by this horrific news. https://t.co/7o7RsIoe4F

— Save the Children UK (@savechildrenuk) June 16, 2016

1:47 p.m.

Gabrielle Giffords, the former Democratic congresswoman, who was shot and wounded in 2011, tweeted her condolences, as well:

Absolutely sickened to hear of the assassination of Jo Cox. She was young, courageous, and hardworking. A rising star, mother, and wife.

— Gabrielle Giffords (@GabbyGiffords) June 16, 2016

1:21 p.m.

Gordon Brown, the former British prime minister, and his wife, Sarah Brown, with whom Cox worked closely, have both responded to her death. The former prime minister said: “Our memories will be for ever scarred by this moment. Our hearts will always be hurt at our country’s loss.” Sarah Brown added:

I am heartbroken. Jo had a truly remarkable spirit and passion that shone through in her work with Oxfam and with me on our countless campaigns for women and children.

Jo cared about everybody but she reserved a special place in her heart for the most vulnerable and the poorest citizens of the world.

She was fearless, she was endlessly upbeat and she reached out to so many to join her cause. Her mission was to make the world a better place.

But above all else Jo had utter devotion to her husband Brendan and their two children Cuillin and Lejla.

1 2:57 p.m.

Brendan Cox, the husband of the late MP, said in a statement he will “fight against the hatred that killed her.” He added:

She would have wanted two things above all else to happen now, one that our precious children are bathed in love and two, that we all unite to fight against the hatred that killed her. Hate doesn’t have a creed, race or religion, it is poisonous.

Jo would have no regrets about her life, she lived every day of it to the full.

1 2:47 p.m.

As our colleague Matt Ford notes, Cox is the first MP to be assassinated in office since Ian Gow, a Conservative lawmaker who was killed in a car bombing by the Irish Republican Army in 1990. Irish republicans targeted members of Parliament from time to time during the Troubles, the spasmodic violence that wracked Northern Ireland for a half-century, but British legislators rarely faced security threats from elsewhere.

1 2:43 p.m.

Prime Minister David Cameron reacted to the death of Cox on Twitter:

The death of Jo Cox is a tragedy. She was a committed and caring MP. My thoughts are with her husband Brendan and her two young children.

— David Cameron (@David_Cameron) June 16, 2016

1 2:36 p.m.

Jeremy Corbyn, the leader of the Labour Party, said he was “in shock” following the announcement that Cox died from the attack. He said in a statement:

Jo died doing her public duty at the heart of our democracy, listening to and representing the people she was elected to serve. It is a profoundly important cause for us all...

In the coming days, there will be questions to answer about how and why she died. But for now all our thoughts are with Jo’s husband Brendan and their two young children. They will grow up without their mum, but can be immensely proud of what she did, what she achieved and what she stood for.

1 2:25 p.m.

Cox has died from her injuries, multiple news sources . Dee Collins, the chief constable of West Yorkshire police, said the MP was declared dead at 1:48 p.m. GMT by a doctor working with paramedics.

In a press conference Thursday afternoon, Collins also said a 77-year-old man was also attacked during the incident. However, details about the victim are still unknown.

Collins says police believe this was a lone incident and not part of a broader plot.

1 1:25 a.m.

Here’s more background on Cox: She was born in Batley, part of the area she represents in Parliament, and graduated from Cambridge University in 1995. Before becoming an MP, she worked as a policy analyst for Oxfam, the aid agency, and also was an adviser to Sarah Brown, the wife of former Prime Minister Gordon Brown. After her election in 2015, she was one of three-dozen Labour MPs who nominated Jeremy Corbyn for the party’s leadership. In the end, though, she voted for Liz Kendal, Corbyn’s rival for the position, and later said she regretted nominating Corbyn, who now heads the party. She also strongly supported accepting 3,000 child refugees from Syria.

11:07 a.m.

Brendan Cox, Cox’s husband who previously worked with Save the Children, tweeted this image of his wife:

pic.twitter.com/mPOaytowxN

— Brendan Cox (@MrBrendanCox) June 16, 2016

10:54 a.m.

Initial eyewitness accounts of such incidents often vary from the final version, however multiple British news organizations are reporting that a witness at the scene heard Cox’s attacker shout: “Britain first.”  The Guardian is reporting that local police are talking to at least one witness who heard those words being shouted. Britain First is the name of a far-right U.K. nationalist party. The party’s response:

Media desperately try to incriminate Britain First in shooting of Labour MP Jo Cox ... - https://t.co/1rENtmI7he pic.twitter.com/lGhohrf0RL

— Britain First (@BritainFirst) June 16, 2016

That image on the left, which was first tweeted by the BBC, reportedly shows Cox’s attacker being apprehended.

10:33 a.m.

David Cameron, the British prime minister, says he’s canceling his visit to Gibraltar where he was scheduled to campaign for Britain to remain in the EU.

It's right that all campaigning has been stopped after the terrible attack on Jo Cox. I won't go ahead with tonight's rally in Gibraltar.

— David Cameron (@David_Cameron) June 16, 2016

10:16 a.m.

Both of the main groups in the “Brexit” debate have suspended their campaigns in response to the attack on Cox.

We are suspending all campaigning for the day. Our thoughts are with Jo Cox and her family.

— Stronger In (@StrongerIn) June 16, 2016

Vote Leave also said it is suspending its campaign.

In a recent monthly column, Cox had explained why she would vote to remain. An excerpt:

I know for many people that this is a tough decision, that the debate has been highly charged and the facts difficult to pin down. But I believe that the patriotic choice is to vote for Britain to remain inside the EU where we are stronger, safer and better off than we would be on our own.

What’s more a vote to remain is a vote for certainty. The EU may be imperfect and definitely needs reform but risking all the current advantages of being inside Europe to take a leap in the dark doesn’t feel very patriotic to me.

And in a recent article she wrote that while immigration to the U.K—a reason often cited by backers of Brexit—was a “legitimate concern,” it wasn’t a good enough to reason to leave the EU.

10:09 a.m.

We’d earlier said it was unclear whether Cox had been attacked during or after her meeting with constituents at the Birstall Library. Her website says she was scheduled to meet with constituents from 1 p.m. to 2 p.m. GMT (9 a.m. to 10 a.m. ET). Police says they were called at 12:53 p.m. GMT, which suggests she was attacked prior to her meetings.

10:05 a.m.

Cox, in an op-ed last month in The Times, criticized the U.S. and U.K.’s approach to Syria, but noted:

I am a huge President Obama fan. I worked on his first campaign in North Carolina in 2008, I admire the leadership he has shown on everything from the financial crisis to climate change and the good advice he gave us recently on Europe. But on Syria both President Obama and the prime minister have been a huge disappointment.

10:01 a.m.

The BBC adds: “An eyewitness said the 41-year-old mother of two was left lying and bleeding on the pavement [sidewalk] after the incident.”

9:54 a.m.

Politicians from across the political spectrum are reacting in horror to the attack on Cox. Here’s a sampling:

Very concerned about reports Jo Cox has been injured. Our thoughts and prayers are with Jo and her family.

— UK Prime Minister (@Number10gov) June 16, 2016

Utterly shocked by the news of the attack on Jo Cox. The thoughts of the whole Labour Party are with her and her family at this time.

— Jeremy Corbyn MP (@jeremycorbyn) June 16, 2016

@BorisJohnson Early reports suggesting she was attacked by a Leave voter. Great company you keep.

— mchawk (@mchawk) June 16, 2016

Shocked to hear terrible news about brilliant MP and friend Jo Cox. Thinking of her and praying for her and family.

— Sadiq Khan (@SadiqKhan) June 16, 2016

9:39 a.m.

Cox broke with her Labour’s party leadership and supported military action to end the Syrian civil war. She is also a campaigner for Britain’s continued membership in the European Union. (Britons vote in a June 23 referendum on whether to remain in the bloc.)

She isn’t the first British MP to be attacked. In 2010 Stephen Timms, also a Labour MP, was stabbed twice by a woman for his vote to support the Iraq war.

9:36 a.m.

The West Yorkshire Police have issued a statement on the attack and the arrest. Here it is in full:

At 12.53 today, police were called to a report of an incident on Market Street, Birstall, where a woman in her 40s had suffered serious injuries and is in a critical condition.

A man in his late 40s to early 50s nearby also suffered slight injuries.

Armed officers attended and a 52-year-old man was arrested in the area. There are no further details at present.

Police presence in the area has been increased as a reassurance to the community.

9:33 a.m.

Here’s more on Cox from her website:

Jo … spent a decade working in a variety of roles with aid agency Oxfam, including head of policy, head of humanitarian campaigning based in New York and head of their European office in Brussels. Jo then went on to work closely with Sarah Brown to galvanise international action to stop mums and babies dying needlessly in pregnancy and childbirth. ...

Immediately prior to standing for Parliament Jo was working with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and The Freedom Fund, a charity working to end the scourge of modern slavery. She was also in the process of launching UK Women, a new research institute dedicated to better understanding the views and needs of women in the UK. …

Jo is married and has two young children. She divides her time between her home on a boat on the River Thames and her home in Batley & Spen.

9:30 a.m.

The BBC is now reporting that a 52-year-old man has been arrested in connection with the attack.

9:28 a.m.

The latest from Sky News:

Here's what we know so far about the shooting of Labour MP Jo Cox in Birstall https://t.co/A5zwPZtsol pic.twitter.com/NpastUBFH1

— Sky News (@SkyNews) June 16, 2016

9:24 a.m.

Cox was reportedly stabbed either during or after—this is still unclear—meetings with constituents—which in the U.K. are called “advice surgeries”—The Telegraph reported. Cox, 41, is an MP for Batley and Spen. She was elected for the first time in 2015.

9:20 a.m.

The Yorkshire Post is reporting that Cox was attacked on the steps of Birstall Library.

9:16 a.m.

Jo Cox, a Labour Party member of Parliament, was reportedly shot and stabbed in Birstall, near Leeds, British news reports say.

Jo Cox, Labour MP for Batley and Spen, injured & taken by air ambulance to Leeds General Infirmary pic.twitter.com/8ZrcGnohyu

— BBC Breaking News (@BBCBreaking) June 16, 2016

Her condition is said to be serious and authorities have launched a manhunt for her attacker.

This is a developing story and we’ll update it as we learn more.

'O Canada' Goes Gender-Neutral

Canada’s national anthem no longer excludes half the country's population.

The Canadian House of Commons overwhelmingly passed Bill C-210 by a vote of 225 to 74 on Wednesday, tweaking the third line of “O Canada” to incorporate gender-neutral phrasing.

Quebecois judge Robert Stanley Weir wrote the most famous English version of the anthem’s lyrics in 1908, which read:

O Canada

Our home and native land!

True patriot’s love in all thy sons command…

The new version replaces the third line with a less gendered phrasing:

O Canada

Our home and native land!

True patriot’s love in all of us command…

The French-language version of the anthem, which uses different lyrics than its Anglophonic counterpart, is already gender-neutral.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his government supported the change, as did members of the left-leaning New Democratic Party. The Guardian has more:

The status of women minister, Patty Hajdu, speaking before the vote, said the change was an important step toward ensuring inclusivity in Canada’s cultural symbols.

“I think it’s really important as a very strong symbol of our commitment to gender equality in this country,” she told reporters.

Some Conservative lawmakers opposed the change, which they said was being made without adequate consultation with Canadians. The former Conservative government suggested changes to the anthem’s lyrics in 2010, but backed off after a public outcry.

Final passage of the bill came after an emotionally powerful appearance on Friday by Mauril Belanger, a longtime Liberal member of parliament who drafted the legislation. Belanger was diagnosed with Lou Gehrig’s disease last November shortly after his re-election and his condition rapidly deteriorated in recent months.

Parliamentary rules require a bill’s author to be present ahead of its final vote, so Belanger made a difficult trek to the chamber to see it completed. Once there, he received a standing ovation from his fellow MPs.

The bill now heads to the Canadian Senate where senators are expected to approve it, according to CBC News.

The Wreckage of the Downed EgyptAir Plane

Egyptian government officials on Wednesday said they have found the wreckage of EgyptAir Flight 804, nearly a month after it vanished over the Mediterranean Sea.

While details are limited right now, officials told CBS News that a vessel contracted by the Egyptian government found the wreckage of the plane, which disappeared from radar screens May 19 as it traveled from Paris to Cairo with 66 people on board. The vessel then relayed the wreckage location to the Egyptian committee leading the investigation into what brought down the plane. Then, according to a statement from the committee:

Immediately a meeting was held between the investigation committee members to study thoroughly the progressive actions taken during the past period and in order to plan how to best handle the wreckage in the coming period.

Officials will soon release a map from the committee that shows where the plane was found, reports the BBC.

Earlier this month, French and Egyptian investigators said they had detected a signal from the Airbus A320’s data recorder. This may have led investigators to the wreckage location. Days after the plane went missing, the Egyptian military released images of only a few items of wreckage and debris from the flight in the Mediterranean. The search has gone on since then.

The cause of the crash remains unknown. While terrorism is a possibility, no group has claimed responsibility for taking down the plane. Officials have said technical or human error are potential causes.