Atlantic Monthly Contributors's Blog, page 822

Madonna Apologizes for Calling Her White Son the N-Word on Instagram

Madonna in Berlin, Germany, in October 2013.  (INSTAGRAM) A few weeks after posting a picture of her son and his friends posing with bottles of booze, Madonna has Instagrammed herself into more controversy. By all accounts, last night seemed like a typical Friday night at the Material Girl's compound. The Shabbat candles were probably lit and her son Rocco, whom she loving calls "Dish Soap," was duking out with his boxing instructor.   In the midst of it all, Madonna snapped an Instagram picture of Rocco with his fists up and then slapped a caption on it that launched a thousand outrages: "No one messes with Dirty Soap! Mama said knock you out! #disni**a."
  The picture inspired 2,000 comments and garnered nearly 18,000 likes among her one million Instagram followers. However, as the criticism grew more heated, Madonna semi-defiantly revised the caption.   

This morning, however, she took a measured approach to the situation and Instagrammed an apology.

As we've noted before, Instagram has become something of a digital beer summit. It's led to conversations about everything from anorexia, income inequality, and the plight of endangered animals to the glory of Cheerlebrities and the agony of Belfies.

It's unclear what lesson we might learn from Madonna's decision to call her white son a racial epithet, but if any force can suss it out, it's the internet. 

       

A Suspiciously High Percentage of Egyptians Voted 'Yes' on a New Constitution

Egypt's High Election Commission announces the voting results of a referendum on Egypt's military-backed constitution on Saturday. (AP PHOTO)

The results are in. Over 98 percent of Egyptians reportedly voted in favor of a new constitution. The lopsided result of the first vote since the ouster of Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi formalizes the military-backed government control of the country. It has also already caused no small amount of eye-rolling.

Numbers aside, this result wasn't entirely unexpected. "The outcome was never really in doubt: No major political faction was pushing a 'no' vote, and many Egyptians saw approving the constitution as a key first step towards restoring stability after the army overthrew President Mohamed Morsi in July." 

However, last month the military-backed government led by General Abdel Fattah Sisi, who is possibly planning a run for president, outlawed the Muslim Brotherhood, the party of deposed leader Mohamed Morsi and the main political opposition in the country.

Others yet were dismayed by the relative low turnout--some 38.6 percent of 53 million eligible voters--which belied the statistical enthusiasm of the results. 

Highlighting the division, members of Islamist groups in Egypt have continued to protest daily throughout parts of the country. It's expected that the protests will continue; four people died in street clashes yesterday.

       

Rio's Famous Christ the Redeemer Statue Keeps Losing Its Fingers

Lightning bolts strike through the sky near Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil on Thursday night. (AP PHOTO)

The only problem with being a 100-foot-tall statue on a mountaintop is the lightning. The iconic Christ the Redeemer statue, which overlooks Rio de Janeiro, has suffered two fingers chipped over the past few weeks after being struck by lightning.

Last month, the world's largest Art Deco statue lost part of its right middle finger in a storm. Yesterday, Father Omar Raposo, who serves as rector at the shrine, announced that one of Jesus' thumbs had been damaged on Thursday.

“They say lightning does not strike the same spot twice. But with the Christ it does,” he said.

Completed in 1931, Christ the Redeemer is the youngest member on the list of the "New Seven Wonders of the World," a voter-driven tourism initiative in 2007 that was deemed "the largest poll on record." Over the years, the statue has undergone its share of renovations to repair the facade, fix cracks, and remove political graffiti. In addition to making cameos in countless movies, Christ the Redeemer was used extensively in the publicity materials for Brazil's 2016 Olympic bid. When the bid was secured, the Olympic flag was ceremonially flown beside the statue.  

       

Hoboken Mayor Accuses Chris Christie Team of Holding Hurricane Sandy Relief Money Hostage

Earlier this week, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie sits with a small group of home owners who lost their homes in last year's Hurricane Sandy. (AP PHOTO/MEL EVANS)

Hardly a week has passed since Bridgeghazi and New Jersey Governor Chris Christie is under fire again. This time, Hoboken Mayor Dawn Zimmer is alleging that Christie's staff threatened to withhold Hurricane Sandy relief money from Hoboken unless she approved a redevelopment plan favored by the governor.  

Just moments ago on Up with Steve Kornacki, Zimmer outlined a chain of events in which she claims that two Christie officials, Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno and Richard Constable, approached her on behalf of the governor last year to urge her to move ahead with a lucrative development plan for a 19-block stretch of Hoboken. According to Zimmer, she was told that hurricane relief money for Hoboken would be contingent on her approval of the project. 

In this account – supported by email, public records and Zimmer’s own diary entries – Christie’s inner circle was willing to cut off devastated constituents, muscle a friendly mayor and arrange public funds to finance a study for a project the governor supported. In a news conference last week, Christie rejected the notion that his administration engages in retribution or seeks political payback. Zimmer’s account paints a different portrait.

Christie's staff have denied Zimmer's allegations.

Curiously enough, earlier this week, during an interview with WNYC, Zimmer also alleged that her decision to remain neutral in New Jersey's gubernatorial race last year may have also played a role in her city's inability to secure federal relief for Hoboken. “With 20/20 hindsight, in the context we’re in right now, we can always look back and say, ‘Okay, was it retribution?’” Zimmer said. “I think probably all mayors are reflecting right now and thinking about it, but I really hope that that’s not the case.”

Zimmer sought $127 million for Hoboken in the aftermath of the storm, but only received about $350,000 in recovery grants and money for a back-up generator. Hoboken was among the hardest hit parts of New Jersey during Hurricane Sandy with as much as 80 percent of the city underwater. 

Meanwhile, yesterday it was reported that 18 people were served with subpoenas as the New Jersey Assembly's investigation into Bridgeghazi continues. The list includes Port Authority Chairman David Samson, Governor Christie’s incoming chief of staff Regina Egea, and a number of top Christie aides. 

       

Read the ODNI's Latest NSA Document Dump

AP

Approximately ten minutes before 6 p.m. on a Friday, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence released a trove of declassified documents relating to the National Security Agency's collection of telephone metadata. 

Here's how the ODNI describes what's in the documents: 

The documents being released today comprise orders from the FISC approving the National Security Agency’s (NSA) collection and use of telephony metadata under Section 501. These orders provide additional information regarding the controls imposed by the FISC on the processing, dissemination, security and oversight of telephony metadata acquired under Section 501. This includes the Court’s imposition of additional controls in response to compliance incidents that were discovered by NSA and then reported to the FISC.

So, basically: the documents that authorized, refined and renewed the metadata collection program as time went on. Today the President vowed to scale back the telephone data collection program from three-hops to two-hops from a desired target, and changed the restrictions on accessing the bulk data collection database to require judicial approval. It's interesting to note that, in one 2006 court document, the NSA argued to the FISC they would provide three phone numbers to the FBI every day. Now, the NSA collects hundreds of thousands of text messages a day. 

This perfectly timed Friday evening news dump didn't exactly set the NSA document wonks off on Twitter. "Happy Friday, jerks," one said.

You can make your way through the documents here at your leisure. 

ODNI release Jan 17 14

 

       

One of These Fridges Might Be Spamming You Right Now

The smart one (not pictured).  (REUTERS/JIM YOUNG)

A security firm has discovered that non-phone or non-computer smart devices that are Internet-capable are also susceptible to hacks. Not only that, about 100,000 household devices — including at least one fridge — sent out tons of spam messages around Christmas-time last year. Thanks a lot, evil refrigerator. 

According to ProofPoint, more than 750,000 sketchy messages were sent out from a number of smart appliances: 

Home-networking routers, connected multi-media centers, televisions and at least one refrigerator... had been compromised and used as a platform to launch attacks. As the number of such connected devices is expected to grow to more than four times the number of connected computers in the next few years according to media reports, proof of an IoT-based attack has significant security implications for device owners and Enterprise targets.

Proofpoint explains that the "Internet of Things" (which is exactly what it sounds like: web-linked things) is an easy target for hackers, as the devices are poorly guarded compared to phones, tablets, and computers. (When was the last-time you updated your smart fridge password?). According to Proofpoint, a smart thing easily becomes a thingbot if it's infected by malware. The thingbot can then function as a normal, virus spreading computer would.

The company predicts that more malicious software will end up on smart devices as hackers make use of their poorly guarded software: 

"Many of these devices are poorly protected at best and consumers have virtually no way to detect or fix infections when they do occur. Enterprises may find distributed attacks increasing as more and more of these devices come on-line and attackers find additional ways to exploit them."

According to Proofpoint, this is the first example of malware transmitted via the Internet of Things, which it defines as potentially including smart thermostats, microwaves, security cameras, TVs, gaming consoles, industrial machinery and more. 

Thanks to Ray Bradbury, though, we all know that smart houses are a terrible, terrible idea, and will prepare ourselves for the humans vs. appliances battle accordingly. In his 1950 story "There Will Come Soft Rains," Bradbury tells of an evil automatic house that outlives its family. 

So enjoy these last days of your good old, dumb, refrigerator, that only knows how to make ice and sometimes isn't even very good at that. Soon we will have to fight the refrigerators as they try to rule us all. 

       

Lena Dunham: Vogue Is a 'Fantasy'

Associated Press

After half a week of hubbub over her Vogue cover—and really who didn't see that coming—Dunham spoke out about the kerfuffle while on press tour in France, telling Slate: "A fashion magazine is like a beautiful fantasy." 

Jezebel took special issue with the magazine's photoshoot, offering $10,000 for unretouched images, in a play for clicks that ended up seeming more bullying than anything Vogue would do. When they got those they were, well, boring. (In response to Jezebel, a project on IndieGogo seeks to raise $10,000 for Step Up Women's Network so money can go to "the promotion of women rather than the sensationalizing of their bodies.") Dunham had responded to the site's stunt in a veiled way on her Twitter, but the statements to Slate tackle posing for Vogue more broadly. On the subject of photoshop she said: "I understand that for people there is a contradiction between what I do and being on the cover of Vogue; but frankly I really don’t know what the photoshopping situation is, I can’t look at myself really objectively in that way." She added that she felt Vogue "supported" her and she didn't feel "bullied." 

What the Jezebel post took specific issue with was the distance between Dunham's "body positive" image and Vogue's standard of beauty. Responding to those contradictions Dunham said: 

Vogue isn’t the place that we go to look at realistic women, Vogue is the place that we go to look at beautiful clothes and fancy places and escapism and so I feel like if the story reflects me and I happen to be wearing a beautiful Prada dress and surrounded by beautiful men and dogs, what’s the problem? If they want to see what I really look like go watch the show that I make every single week.

Dunham, obviously, knew Vogue's M.O. going in, and who is to say it's a crime for a woman to want to look beautiful and exist in a fashion fantasy? 

       

Beck's New Album Is the Spiritual Follow-Up to 'Sea Change'

Beck, pictured in 2012. (AP)

Beck's forthcoming album Morning Phase, featured in our 2014 music preview, will be his first studio album since Modern Guilt way back in 2008. But judging from an album trailer that popped up today, it'll be much more of a spiritual follow-up to the artist's sad-bastard masterpiece, 2002's Sea Change. 

Here, give it a watch:

The track featured there is the lovely, country-flavored "Blue Moon," which Pitchfork notes also appears on this season's Girls soundtrack. (No. You can't escape Girls this week. Sorry.) The accompanying visuals consist of some very sexy footage of the album being pressed on vinyl.

Morning Phase is expected to be one of two Beck records in 2014, and a press release notes that it "harkens back to the stunning harmonies, song craft and staggering emotional impact" of Sea Change. It's also got a handful of the same instrumentalists on board.

But Sea Change, a miserable breakup record if ever there was one, was written just after Beck ended things with his girlfriend of nearly a decade, Leigh Limon. Morning Phase seems to have come from a happier and healthier 43-year-old Beck (which is a good thing! Sort of), so it'll be curious to see if he's able to channel the gorgeous, gut-clenching despair that made Sea Change such a remarkable listen. (Or if he's even going for that. Maybe 1998's Mutations is the better benchmark.)

Anyway, long live Sea Change. What an enduring album. But remember: friends don't let friends listen to Sea Change more than once a month. That's a cry for help.

       

This Warped World Map Shows Global Warming's Biggest Offenders

Concordia University

Here's an item to help governments point fingers at the next climate-change conference: a map of the world's countries, scaled to highlight those disproportionately responsible for generating greenhouse gases.

The research team that made it at Montreal's Concordia University deem it a map of "global warming’s biggest offenders." The bulgy-looking cartography is showing the ratio of each nation's geographic area to its historic climate-warming contribution. Countries with large amounts of emissions relative to size are bloated and colored orange or (worse) red, and those with less of an impact on the feverish atmosphere are shrunken and green.

As to what to take away from this distorted view of the planet, Concordia explains:

Western Europe, the U.S., Japan and India are hugely expanded, reflecting emissions much greater than would be expected based on their geographic area. Russia, China and Brazil stay the same. Taken in this light, the climate contributions of Brazil and China don’t seem so out of line – they are perfectly proportionate to the countries’ land masses. Canada and Australia become stick thin as their land mass is much larger than their share of the global-warming pie.

The researchers' biggest claim is that a mere seven nations are behind 60 percent of the world's warming up to 2005. The United States tops their ranking in a big way, a finding that's sure to bring joy to the heart of Americans who insist on being first. The country is to blame for a global temperature uptick of about 0.15 Celsius – or to put it as a piece of the pie, a fifth of all warming since the mid-1700s. 

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The U.S. is followed by China, Russia, Brazil, India, Germany, and the U.K.. Brazil makes the list not so much for its industry, but for rampant deforestation before its government got serious about regulating loggers. Runner-ups include France, Indonesia, and in tenth place, Canada. All 10 countries earned their "offender" distinctions due to the bulk of all emissions they generated, whether it be CO2 from burning fossil-fuels and land-use changes or less-prevalent gases like methane and nitrous oxide.

The scientists did a second ranking that assesses a country's population size against its contribution to warming. This list is rather different: The U.S. is still the prime emitter, but it's followed by the U.K. and then nobody-lives-here Canada. Due to their swollen, billion-plus populations, India and China fall to the bottom of this ranking.

There are a couple more interesting visualizations of international emissions available in the full study. Among them is this simpler map reflecting national contributions to global warming:

[image error]

And this breakdown of each country's unique fingerprint on climate warming, displaying temperature categories for fossil-fuel emissions of CO2, land-use-related CO2, other types of greenhouse gases, and sulfate aerosols:

Maps courtesy of Concordia and Environmental Research Letters

       

Company Involved in West Virginia Chemical Spill Files for Bankruptcy

AP

Freedom Industries, the unfortunately named company whose chemical leak contaminated the water supply for parts of West Virginia, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Friday. 

The company voted to pursue bankruptcy protection during a voluntary board meeting on Friday, according to WVNS-TV. The Wall Street Journal reports official company papers from the meeting estimate their debt at roughly $10 million, which does not include the impending clean-up costs and lawsuits, which will no doubt be immense. 

Roughly 300,000 people across nine counties near Charleston, the state capital, had to live with a "do not use" tap water ban for five days, give or take —  meaning they could not drink, cook, wash or bathe that whole time, even after boiling the water — after thousands of gallons of a chemical used to clean coal leaked into the Elk River. At times, the water coming out of the taps was flammable. The ban was eventually lifted for most of the state, but the water that flowed was a suspicious yellow. Not exactly fit for consumption, even with a Brita filter. 

Much of the initial blame was heaped on Freedom Industries Inc. for the chemical leak. The site where the spill happened not been inspected by state authorities since 1991. Of course, the company now faces federal and state investigations, new oversight from federal regulators, and a mile-high stack of lawsuits. The Journal guesses why the company chose the Chapter 11 route: 

Bankruptcy offers Freedom a break from having to answer the suits, some of which demand punitive damages. It also opens the door to court-supervised probes into what led to the disaster, and what resources are available to pay any damages.

Well, that move makes enough sense then. As a legal and business decision, it's pretty much a no-brainer. But it will not be so easy for Freedom Industries to get off the hook with federal authorities. "U.S. Attorney Booth Goodwin said the filing does not change anything from his perspective, in terms of a federal investigation," WVNS reports.