Atlantic Monthly Contributors's Blog, page 849

Homophobic 'Duck Dynasty' Guy Also Has Some Weird Thoughts About Race

AP

So Phil Robertson, patriarch of the Duck Dynasty clan and self-proclaimed "Bible-thumper," said a whole bunch of homophobic things in GQ's new issue:

It seems like, to me, a vagina—as a man—would be more desirable than a man's anus. That's just me. I'm just thinking: There's more there! She's got more to offer. I mean, come on, dudes! You know what I'm saying? But hey, sin: It’s not logical, my man. It’s just not logical.

and:

Start with homosexual behavior and just morph out from there. Bestiality, sleeping around with this woman and that woman and that woman and those men ... Don't be deceived. Neither the adulterers, the idolaters, the male prostitutes, the homosexual offenders, the greedy, the drunkards, the slanderers, the swindlers—they won't inherit the kingdom of God. Don't deceive yourself. It’s not right.

Then he went off to a "private Bible study" with a female cocaine addict who needed to be shown "the right direction."

Well, GLAAD didn't appreciate Robertson's remarks ("some of the vilest and most extreme statements uttered against LGBT people in a mainstream publication"). Nor did the Human Right Campaign ("Phil Robertson has a responsibility to set a positive example for young Americans – not shame and ridicule them because of who they are"). They weren't alone. Robertson later released this non-apology statement through A&E, saying, in part:

My mission today is to go forth and tell people about why I follow Christ and also what the Bible teaches, and part of that teaching is that women and men are meant to be together. However, I would never treat anyone with disrespect just because they are different from me. We are all created by the Almighty and like Him, I love all of humanity. We would all be better off if we loved God and loved each other.

Also deserving of our attention are Robertson's comments about the lives of black people in pre-Civil-Rights-era Louisiana, which are ignorant, bordering on racist. His outrageous comments on homosexuality largely overshadowed this. They shouldn't:

I never, with my eyes, saw the mistreatment of any black person. Not once. Where we lived was all farmers. The blacks worked for the farmers. I hoed cotton with them. I'm with the blacks, because we're white trash. We're going across the field.... They're singing and happy. I never heard one of them, one black person, say, ‘I tell you what: These doggone white people’—not a word!... Pre-entitlement, pre-welfare, you say: Were they happy? They were godly; they were happy; no one was singing the blues.

Yes, I'm so sure black people were "singing and happy" and never had to deal with any kind of "mistreatment" whatsoever. Maybe he never heard them complain about "these doggone white people" because they were afraid to? Why am I even bothering to question this nonsense?

Anyway, A&E has decided to put the star of its highest-rated show on "indefinite hiatus" from filming. Mind you, it hasn't placed the entire show on indefinite hiatus -- just Robertson.

Forbes' Clare O'Connor worried that Robertson's comment could "put Walmart and A&E's $400 million empire at stake" (Walmart made about $200 million in revenue off of Duck Dynasty merchandise in 2013, O'Connor says), but I doubt the majority of Walmart shoppers who buy Duck Dynasty gear are all that concerned about what the show's star thinks about gay people.

Think Robertson will be off A&E's airwaves forever? It's doubtful. Remember Dog the Bounty Hunter, A&E's last breakout hit show? It went on an indefinite hiatus when its star was caught using racial slurs in October 2007. 

Almost four months later, after the fuss died down and Dog (who is also big into the born again Christian thing) made several tear-filled apologies, A&E announced it would resume production on his show. Let's see how long it'll take the network to reinstate Phil Robertson.

 

       

The Washington Post's Servers Were Hacked Again

AP

Servers at The Washington Post were hacked today, the newspaper announced, giving hackers access to employee user names and passwords. This is at least the third time in three years that this has happened to Jeff Bezos' latest purchase.

WaPo is not yet aware of the extent to which its data has been compromised, but says there's "no evidence" that subscriber information or employees' personal information (social security numbers, for instance) were accessed. Just the user names and passwords, which will soon be changed if they haven't already.

What there is evidence of, WaPo says, is that "Chinese hackers" were responsible, much like the attacks against the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg News.

The most recent hack, WaPo said, originated in a "server used by the Post's foreign staff." It is believed that hackers only had access for a "relatively short" time -- "a few days at most."

In February, WaPo announced that it was hacked by the Chinese in 2011. In August, the Syrian Electronic Army was able to redirect WaPo's website to an SEA site by hacking into Outbrain, a third party link referral service.

 

       

Don't Worry, Dennis Rodman Is Still Going Back to North Korea

One of these men is a ruthless dictator, the other was on Celebrity Apprentice. Can you tell which one is which? (AP)

Despite reports of a brutal purge in which Kim Jong Un ordered the execution of his own uncle (and now possibly his aunt as well), Dennis Rodman is still planning on making a return trip to the isolated North Korea.

The former Chicago Bull is currently on a trip sponsored by an Irish online betting company. Rodman landed in Beijing on Tuesday and is scheduled to head to the DPRK on Thursday alongside a film crew. This will be his third trip to the country, following a trip alongside Vice documentarians last winter and another sojourn in early September.

The former cast member of Celebrity Mole: Yucatán is supposedly a BFFaeae of the ruthless dictator—Kim is apparently a fan of Rodman's—and the two were spotted just havin' a good time, goofin' around at a basketball game. The slightly uninformed toned of Rodman's first visit drew criticism from many, and his bragging about Kim's "seven-star" lifestyle certainly lends credence to Rodman's willful ignorance of North Korean life outside Kim Jong Un's bubble.

Rodman will apparently be going to train the country's basketball team. Dennis Rodman: finger-rolling for peace.

       

U.S. and India Have a Falling Out Over Strip-Search

Indian police remove barricades that had been erected as a safety measure outside the main entrance of U.S Embassy. (AP)

Diplomatic relations between the United States and India have hit a snag after an Indian diplomat was strip-searched in New York last week. Devyani Khobragade, an Indian consulate general employee, was charged with visa fraud and making false statements after allegedly submitting a false visa application for her housekeeper. India's National Security Adviser Shivshankar Menon called the treatment "despicable and barbaric."

The U.S. Marshals Service admitted to the handling of Khobragade but maintained that they followed correct procedure in her arrest and detainment. Her lawyer, however, argues that she is protected from prosecution by diplomatic immunity. Khobragade has since been released on bail.

The dispute has since rippled across the globe to the U.S. embassy in New Delhi, where the Indian government began removing cement security barricades in front of the facility. While the embassy is also protected by a high wall, the barricades were a deterrent preventing vehicles from approaching at high speed.

India may also be reviewing the diplomatic immunity of American officials in the country. 

The State Department released a statement on the matter which reads, in part:

We understand that this is a sensitive issue for many in India. Accordingly, we are looking into the intake procedures surrounding this arrest to ensure that all appropriate procedures were followed and every opportunity for courtesy was extended.

While this is a law enforcement issue and will need to be worked through standard procedures and official law enforcement channels, we will continue to work this issue with India in the spirit of partnership and cooperation that marks our broad bilateral relationship.

       

A Russian Is Being Considered for a Military Trial in the U.S.

Afghan National Army soldiers surround the gate as an Afghan prisoner gets released from the Parwan Detention Facility after the U.S. military gave control of its last detention facility to Afghan authorities in Bagram, outside Kabul, Afghanistan, Monday, March 25, 2013. (AP)

A Russian national captured fighting with the Taliban is being considered for a military trial in the United States, The Washington Post reports, according to officials familiar with the situation. Not much is known about the man, whose pseudonym is Irek Hamidullan, except that he was a Soviet soldier in Afghanistan during the 1980, and that he fought against U.S. forces during their post-9/11 occupation. He is suspected of involvement in attacks that killed or injured American troops.

Bringing the detainee from Afghanistan to the U.S. would be the first time such a transfer has occurred since 9/11, and could encounter conflict from Congress, who has kept Guantanamo inmates in limbo by detaining them but barring them from being held in the United States.

Hamidullan is just one of a small number of third-party nationals that the administration is dealing with, who were not turned over to the Afghan government in March. The 53 detainees are considered to still be a threat, but neither the United States or Afghanistan is likely to accept responsibility for them. Only a handful of them are being considered for trial, and one official speaking to the Post hoped that repatriation for the others would be an amenable option.

       

Someone Stole An Entire Bronze Statue in Tucson

Before and after (SCREENSHOT / KVOA.COM)

It seems that Carmen Sandiego (or Bart Simpson) is alive and well in Tucson, Arizona: someone stole a life-size bronze bust of JFK from El Presidio Park yesterday.

The bust, which measures one foot and eight inches in height, was ripped off its granite base --"bolts and all" -- either Sunday night or Monday morning. The bust has been in the park for almost 50 years without getting stolen, so way to go, modern society. No word on how much the statue weighs, but I'm going to take a wild guess here and say "a lot." The determination of its captors is impressive. 

So far, there are no clues as to the identity of the thief. The park does have surveillance cameras but they don't actually record anything, which seems like a mistake.

Right now, city officials are just hoping thief "does the right thing" and returns JFK's head.

 

       

Um ... Where Is Kim Jong Un's Aunt?

Someone's missing ... (AP)

Avunculicidal Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un marked the second anniversary of his father's death (and his own ascension to power) today, along with his wife and North Korea's top officials (the ones who haven't been executed, anyway).

Missing from the service? His aunt, the newly widowed Kim Kyong Hui. Uh oh.

Though reports indicate that Kyong Hui did not befall the same fate of her purged and executed husband Jang Song Thaek -- and may have even gotten a promotion out of the whole deal -- she was expected to attend the memorial service today.

She didn't, and so far, North Korean state media has provided no explanation for her absence.

Nor does she appear in the official photograph of the event.

There has been speculation that Kyong Hui is in poor health, so maybe she just wasn't feeling up to it. And her name still appears in state media reports, which is a good sign, not-being-purged-wise.

On the other hand, a December 6 article in the Telegraph suggested that Kim Jong Un was "preparing to purge his aunt" and put his sister, Kim Yo Jong, in her place.

 

       

The 'Affluenza' Teen Might End Up in Jail After All

Screenshot / WFAA.com

Ethan Couch, the 16-year-old whose "affluenza" defense got him the amazingly light sentence of just 10 years probation for killing four people in a drunk driving accident, may go to jail yet.

The accident also severely injured two people. One is paralyzed and, five months after the crash, can only communicate by blinking his eyes. Couch, whose blood alcohol level was 0.24 (three times the legal limit for an adult of legal drinking age, which Couch is not), has been charged with their injuries as well, and prosecutors in that case will ask that he be given prison time, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reports:

'During his recent trial, the 16-year-old admitted his guilt in four cases of intoxication manslaughter and two cases of intoxication assault,' [Tarrant County District Attorney Joe] Shannon said in an email to the Star-Telegram. 'There has been no verdict formally entered in the two intoxication assault cases. Every case deserves a verdict.'

'The district attorney’s office is asking the court to incarcerate the teen on the two intoxication assault cases.'

The maximum sentence Couch could receive in those cases is three years in jail, far less than the 20 years prosecutors had asked him to serve for the four deaths.

Couch's lawyers argued that their client's parents' wealth meant they never had to instill any sense of morals or responsibility in him. A psychologist testifying for the defense referred to this as "affluenza." Prosecutors were asking for 20 years for the teen, who plead guilty to four counts of intoxication manslaughter. The judge went with 10 years. Of probation. And some time in a $450,000-a-year treatment center, paid for by Couch's parents.

It remains to be seen if they'll be able to afford it now. On Monday, Dallas-Fort Worth's NBC 5 reported that five civil suits were filed against Couch's parents (and the company Couch's father owns, which owned the truck he was driving in the crash) by the families of the victims. The family of Sergio Molina, who was left almost completely paralyzed after he was thrown from the bed of Couch's pick-up truck, is suing for $20 million.

 

       

Cantor Fitzgerald and American Airlines Finally Settle 9/11 Lawsuit

Howard Lutnick, chairman of Cantor Fitzgerald, at the 9/11 Memorial in 2011. Six hundred and fifty-eight Cantor employees were killed in the terrorist attacks, including Lutnick's brother. (AP)

Over twelve years since the 9/11 terrorist attacks, one of the last lawsuits against the airline industry has been settled: Cantor Fitzgerald, a prominent Wall Street firm, will get $135 million from American Airlines.

Cantor was one of the hardest-hit companies in the attacks; its offices were on the top floors of World Trade Center's North Tower, and 658 of the 2,735 people killed in New York were Cantor employees. Almost three out of four of Cantor's New York-based employees were killed that day.

Though Cantor was able to rebuild in the years following, it sued American Airlines for over $1.1 billion in 2004, the price the firm placed on property damages and the loss of business its employees would have done had they not been killed. Cantor maintained that American was negligent for allowing terrorists to hijack one of its planes.

American Airlines insisted that it could not have foreseen, nor prevented, the attack.

The settlement, which still has to be approved by a judge, is, of course, bittersweet. The New York Times described what Cantor lost that day, and that no amount of money will ever bring back:

Over half of Cantor’s 658 victims had children, most of whom were younger than 12 years old. More than three dozen Cantor widows were pregnant at the time of the attack. More than 750 Cantor children lost at least one parent. At least 20 families lost two members, including many pairs of brothers, a pair of sisters, a father and a daughter; and in some cases, three family members were lost.

 

       

Gunman Reportedly Commits Suicide After Opening Fire in a Reno Hospital

CBS channel 2 news

A gunman reportedly opened fire at a medical building on the campus of a Reno, Nevada hospital on Tuesday afternoon. According to a statement by Reno police Lt. Tom Robinson at a press conference following the shooting, at least one victim has died in addition to the shooter. Two other victims were injured, and are currently seeking medical treatment. 

The area surrounding the Renown Regional Medical Center in Reno is shut down to traffic, and police remain on the scene. According to the AP, the unidentified gunman entered the hospital at about 2:45 p.m. local time and started shooting, turning the gun on himself by 3 p.m.

Earlier, there was some confusion on the condition of the victims. Reno police corrected an earlier statement indicating that two had died in the shooting — one victim and the gunman, indicating that only the gunman had died. Police will hold another press update at 4:30, Reno time. 

source: KTVN Channel 2 News.

People inside hospital looking out at police gathering outside renown hospital after active shooter sit @krnv pic.twitter.com/CF68EHQTOH

— Van Tieu (@Van_Tieu) December 17, 2013