Atlantic Monthly Contributors's Blog, page 856

U.S. Suspends Non-Military Aid to Rebels in Syria

Reuters

After last week, when Islamists wrested control of critical locations such as bases and storage warehouses from Syrian rebels, the United States has halted the delivery of all nonlethal aid to the region. According to BuzzFeed, the northern Syrian region has long been a rebel stronghold and its heightened instability is a big concern for the State Department. While the U.S. has suspended its own nonlethal aid, humanitarian aid from the United Nations and other NGOs will continue.

The Free Syrian Army, the main Western-backed coalition, has slowly been losing control of the region to more extreme rebel groups, including parts of al-Qaeda and the Islamic Front, a rival faction. American officials are concerned that supplies given to one group might be used by another and are working to catalog what is currently available. The warehouses contained food, medical kits, communications equipment, and transport vehicles.

According to The Washington Post,

A growing number of rebel factions, disillusioned by the low level of Western support, have been aligning themselves with Islamist groups that receive more generous funding from Persian Gulf Arab states.

The loss of a group of warehouses belonging to the FSA's Supreme Military Council has less to do with the loss of physical supplies than with the loss of legitimacy conferred upon the rebel group by virtue of having received Western aid.

A spokesperson for the State Department said that they were "obviously concerned," but were not ready to render a judgement on what this meant in the long-term. Officials said that the halt was temporary.

       

Make Your Own $15 Cronuts Cereal

Dominque Ansel Bakery

Dominique Ansel, inventor of the Cronut, has now created a cereal, and it costs $15. That's insane. Why would you buy that? It doesn't even have edible gold in it. Better to spend an extra 50 cents and buy the Peppermint Brittle. It comes with a hammer, so it's useful.

What's in a $15 breakfast cereal that you can't find in a $4 breakfast cereal or a $2 knock-off of that $4 cereal? Not much, by the looks of this "Christmas Morning" (yes, that's what it's called). In fact, I'm pretty sure I can make my own version for much less money. And so can you!

Dominique Ansel describes its cereal thusly:

Our own gourmet cereal has been described as 'legendary' (by Urbandaddy), and we like to think it's because of the balance of flavors. Between the Valrhona Caramelia (caramelized milk) chocolate Rice Krispies, caramelized hazelnuts, and smoked cinnamon Mini-Me's (miniature meringues), it is delicious with cold milk but can also top ice cream or just be eaten as is.

And here's how Niko Triantafillou, who actually ate some, describes it:

The base consists of crunchy clusters of puffed rice covered in Valrhona Caramelia chocolate. If you're not familiar with Caramelia, it's a caramelized milk chocolate with a distinct dulce de leche flavor. There's also a plentiful amount of smoked cinnamon flavored Mini-Me meringue kisses (Though now overshadowed by the Cronut, Mini-Me's were one of Dominique Ansel's first signature products). Spiced hazelnuts, in a sugar brittle, complete the mix.

It's clear that a fair amount of cereal-research went into this product. For one thing, the chocolate rice clusters stay crunchy in milk for quite some time. And the Mini-Mes are like marshmallows in Lucky Charms—their edges get slippery but they keep their crunch. Their smoked cinnamon flavor is noticeable when in milk but is much more pronounced when eaten plain. The hazelnuts have a subtle spiciness and also stay crunchy in milk.

Okay, basically, it's Cocoa Krispies (it looks like Dominique Ansel didn't even make its own puffed rice -- just bought Rice Krispies off the shelf!) with nuts and marshmallows and cinnamon.

So:

- Buy some Cocoa Krispies (if you really want some of that fancy caramelized milk chocolate, buy a bar and melt it over Rice Krispie clusters).

- Caramelize some hazelnuts (here's a recipe. All you need are hazelnuts and sugar and a little bit of salt).

- Buy some meringues. Small ones. I think Trader Joe's sells them. Alternately, pick all the marshmallows out of Lucky Charms.

-I haven't found any cinnamon-flavored meringues so just throw some cinnamon in there. Maybe a few Cinnamon Toast Crunches? That could work.

Mix all that together and there is your homemade $15 cereal. You're welcome.

 

       

Madagascar Has the Plague

A plague bacterium (SHUTTERSTOCK)

The bubonic plague, that flea-borne bacterial disease that wiped out a good portion of Europe in the Middle Ages, is back.

Actually, it never left. Outbreaks still happen, though they are rare and usually treatable (thanks, antibiotics!). There have even been some cases of the plague in America, both in our squirrels and our humans.

The majority of plague outbreaks are in Africa these days. With an average of 500 cases every year, the country of Madagascar is the worst. In October, the Red Cross began working with Madagascar's prisons to control the rat population and make conditions more hygienic to try to stop the spread, but now comes word of an outbreak in the village of Mandritsara. At least 20 have died so far, and two cases of the pneumonic plague (the most deadly form of the disease) have been confirmed.

The fact that this is one of the worst outbreaks the world has seen in quite some time and that it happened outside of "plague season," is cause for additional concern.

In 2012, Madagascar recorded 60 plague deaths, the highest number in the world.

 

 

       

George Zimmerman Will Not Be Charged in Domestic Dispute Arrest

AP

Florida prosecutors have decided not to pursue the state's case against George Zimmerman, who was arrested after a November domestic dispute with his girlfriend and charged with aggravated assault, domestic violence battery and criminal mischief.

Zimmerman's girlfriend, Samantha Scheibe, recanted her accusations against him two days ago, saying she wants "to be with George." She now claims that he never pointed a gun at her and that she "misspoke" in her statements to the police and 911 operators that suggested otherwise.

In a statement, state attorney Phil Archer blamed the lack of cooperation from Scheibe for the decision, saying: "taking into account the conflicting statements about what occurred, the failure to cooperate with the ongoing investigation, and a lack of any other corroborating evidence or witnesses, there is no reasonable likelihood of successful prosecution."

Zimmerman's estranged wife, Shellie, called 911 in September to report that he and her father were engaged in a physical confrontation and that Zimmerman had a gun. She later denied that Zimmerman had a gun, and she and her father ultimately decided not to press charges.

Zimmerman's lawyer (and anti-gun tweeter), Jayne Weintraub, told the AP: "I am pleased that I was able to present credible evidence to reasonable prosecutors who took the time to listen and that justice prevailed ... This demonstrates how great our system is."

To the Orlando Sentinel, Weintraub said of her client: "He's young, he's smart and he's got his whole life ahead of him."

 

       

New Orleans Cop, Once Convicted of Katrina Killing, Has Been Acquitted

The family of Henry Glover, who was shot and killed by New Orleans police officer David Warren, after Warren's sentencing in 2011. Warren retried and acquitted in Glover's death. From left to right: Glover's mother, Edna; sister Patrice; and cousin Corey. (AP)

On September 2, 2005, a few days after the devastating Hurricane Katrina hit, New Orleans police officer David Warren shot and killed Henry Glover. On December 9, 2010, Warren was found guilty of the crime and sentenced to 25 years and nine months in jail. Today, Warren is a free man.

As ProPublica's A.C. Thompson recounts, Warren was guarding a police substation set up in a strip mall in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Glover and his friend approached the strip mall. Warren shot Glover in the chest. Warren claimed he thought Glover was an armed looter and shot in self-defense. Glover was not armed. Warren shot him from the second floor of the strip mall, 66 feet away. According to the New York Times, Glover was shot while he was running away.

After the shooting, Glover's friend ran to get his brother. The two, with a still-alive but heavily bleeding Glover, flagged down a passing car to drive Glover to a hospital. The driver instead went to a temporary police station, set up in an elementary school. It was closer, and the driver figured the police would be able to treat or call an ambulance for Glover. When they arrived, the driver told Thompson, police officers handcuffed the three men, beat them, and then drove the car away with Glover in the back seat, saying it was evidence.

Another group of police officers later found the burnt-out shell of the car with Glover's charred remains still in the back seat. The coroner found no evidence of a homicide, and there was no investigation into Glover's death until after Thompson's report came out.

Warren's 2010 conviction was overturned in 2012; the judge said it was prejudicial that Warren was tried with four officers accused of covering up Glover's death and burning his body (two of those officers were acquitted), as Warren was not present at and said he had no knowledge of the cover-up.

At Warren's new trial, neither Glover's burned body nor the cover-up were mentioned. Though the jury was deadlocked at one point in its two days' of deliberations, Warren was ultimately found not guilty.

One of Warren's lawyers, Rick Simmons, said after the trial: "There's no winners, only survivors" and that Glover was "a victim of Katrina. He's not a victim of an unreasonable shooting by Warren."

Warren is one of several police officers accused of post-Katrina shootings whose convictions were later overturned. Five police officers who were accused of firing on a crowd of unarmed people, wounding four and killing two, had their convictions overturned in September.

At a press conference following his acquittal, Warren gave his first public comments about the shooting. He said he still believed what he did on September 2, 2005, was right and that he had no regrets.

Via WDSU's Travers Mackel, here is Warren today:

Former officer David Warren @wdsu pic.twitter.com/7OJhAm1FAD

— Travers Mackel (@TraversMackel) December 12, 2013

 

       

The Beastie Boys Sue the Toy Company They Said They Weren't Suing

AP

We thought the legal feud between the Beastie Boys and feminist toy company GoldieBlox had been all but settled last month, but it's pushing steadily forward. The Beasties are now suing GoldieBlox for copyright infringement—less than a month after reassuring the news media they were doing no such thing. 

The feud concerns a GoldieBlox commercial that went viral on the strength of a parody of the Beastie Boys' "Girls," a regrettably misogynistic anthem that the rappers (including the late Adam Yauch) have since apologized for. GoldieBlox filed a preemptive lawsuit after the Beastie Boys objected to the use, pointing out that Yauch's will forbid the use of his music in commercials. Then GoldieBlox withdrew the parody, and everything seemed peachy. "We are ready to stop the lawsuit as long as this means we will no longer be under threat from your legal team," the company wrote on November 27. Not so.

The new lawsuit, which The New York Times reports the Beastie Boys filed yesterday, suggests that evident truce wasn't enough. In the lawsuit (which is available here), the rappers claim that they suffered "injury to their business, good will and property" and are seeking to recover the "actual damages and lost profits" caused by the viral video. They also dispute GoldieBlox's claim that the parody is covered by fair use, which the company's lawyer continues to insist.

Licensed to Ill, the album "Girls" appeared on, has sold nine million copies to date, and it seems unlikely a fleetingly viral toy commercial has done much to slow it down. But the Beastie Boys' bold stance may well be out of respect for Adam Yauch, whose will asked that the group's songs not be used in advertisements. And, as Pantene has shown us, commercials disguised as viral videos are, nonetheless, still commercials.

       

Leon Panetta's Speech to the Bin Laden Raid SEALs Sounded Like a Motivational Poster

Raccoon photo from Jay Ondreicka on Shutterstock. (SHUTTERSTOCK / THE WIRE)

In June 2011, shortly after Osama bin Laden was killed in Pakistan, then-CIA chief Leon Panetta gave a speech to the SEALs that took part in the raid — proceeding to then drop some serious Microsoft Visio Sales Conference '08 motivation on them.

Panetta's speech became famous when it was revealed that it included confidential information, and that the audience for the speech included the filmmakers behind Zero Dark Thirty. The conservative organization Judicial Watch filed a Freedom of Information Act request for the speech, getting a response earlier this month. The group notes that "the entire transcript of the Panetta speech provided to Judicial Watch by the CIA is classified 'Top Secret,'" and that "more than 90 lines are redacted for security reasons," reinforcing that it should not have been given to an audience that included people without clearance.

That aside, however: It's a weird speech. The head of the CIA, talking to an audience that apparently included members of one of the nation's mostly highly-trained military outfits, reminded them of the importance of teamwork. Literally. Panetta walked through a number of similar bromides, the sort of thing that you'd expect to find written in elegant type on a black background under a photo of a waterfall.

Panetta's advice to the Navy SEALs Note: These are all verbatim. We always have to be willing to question. Never take anything for granted. Never give up. [Ed. - Seriously.] … You can never surrender to frustration or anger or impatience. Always trust dedicated people who work in the intel community. The fact is, we're all on the same team. You have to be flexible and you always have to develop a backup plan. Be willing to take risks. … It's also the spirit very frankly that made this country great. This success … depended on close teamwork and it depended on secrecy. This was a seamless team effort from the beginning.

That last one may in part stem from the fact that many of the people to whom he was talking were trained for years to function as a team? If you gave a middle manager at Cisco the opportunity to subject his sales team to intense training for two years in horribly challenging conditions, they would probably have a lot of seamless team efforts, too.

As a lesser offense, Panetta also mangled a quote from The Godfather, as Jon Schwarz noted on Twitter:

Panetta couldn't even get his Godfather reference right, saying bin Laden now "swims" with the fishes: pic.twitter.com/TrQYhR8rsi

— Jon Schwarz (@tinyrevolution) December 11, 2013

Panetta's full speech is below, via Judicial Watch. Print it out and memorize it for your next corporate gathering. Wear a tie.

       

The Best Fights in Parliaments, Ranked, in GIFs

YouTube

On Wednesday, a fight broke out in Georgia's parliament over the dispute in Ukraine, where a heavyweight boxing champion is leading a revolution. Fights happen in governments all the time, and they are all weirdly great.

Old men in suits are not supposed to engage in fisticuffs, kickticuffs, or choketicuffs. And yet sometimes governing is so difficult, so heated, so divisive that these elected officials, these leaders of men, devolve into monkeys slinging poop and punches at one another. It's our job, as the world's electorate, to watch and critique their form.

5. Georgia

Unfortunately today's outburst was one of the worst parliamentary fights in recent memory. The BBC explains what precipitated the disagreement: 

Giorgi Baramidze, a member of Georgia's opposition National Movement party, urged members to back the motion, supporting anti-government protesters who are angry at President Viktor Yanukovych's refusal to sign a political and trade deal with the European Union.

Soso Jachviani of the ruling Georgian Dream Party reacted angrily to the plan and a fight ensued.

Without a doubt, the highlight happened at the very beginning when Jachviani walks over to Baramidze and kicks him square in the nuts. The fight, if you want to call it that, went all downhill from there. Lots of old men doing the "hold me back, bro" move while retreating backwards and sideways. Something that resembles a punch gets thrown every once in a while, but nothing solid connects. 

4. Ukraine I

Those Ukranians seem to like their parliamentary brawls. They appear on this short list three times, because there has consistently been one decent physical altercation a year for the last three years. According to BoingBoing, here is Adam Martynyuk, the vice speaker of the Ukrainian parliament, putting his deputy Oleg Lyashko into a "vulcan nerve pinch and ninja movie pressure point manueover" after the lesser official said something offensive to his boss. Lyashko had asked to make a speech and was rebuffed. The ninja move comes first, and then you'll notice Martynyuk goes for Vulcan nerve punch after his victim starts to lose some of his faculties. His ability to swiftly finish his opponent is admired, but this is a disappointingly one-sided affair. 

3. Ukraine II

This is Ukraine's contribution from 2012, best explained by The New York Times, and, admittedly, it's slightly disappointing. Punches land later, softly. This fight gets points for the violent face-washing, and how it takes five people to restrain the one Hulk-like politician who wants to go on a violent rampage. 

2. Ukraine III

Now this is Ukraine's best contribution to this list, from this year, before the revolution began. The highlight is when, in a scrum, lawmakers jostle to bonk the one guy over the head. One eager beaver seems to take out a month's worth of pent up aggression on the poor chap with a flurry of hammerfists. The offense: a speech delivered in Russian.

1. Venezuela

The Venezuelans know how to throw hands, though. Shortly after former President Hugo Chavez died and his hand-picked successor Nicholas Maduro was elected, in 2013, members of the opposition refused to acknowledge Maduro as their leader. Chaos ensued. The thugs in colorful warm-up suits are allegedly security guards who entered the fray. The whole video deserves to be seen, because these are real politicians throwing real punches. Apparently one person was hit over the head with a chair, like on professional wrestling. 

BONUS     Remember when Rob Ford barrelled over that one lady? That was great. Let's never for get that. His violent moment wasn't a fight, per se, but it was violent enough to warrant mention because he attacked a defenseless old woman. Just the kind of guy Ford is. 

       

ICE's Homophobic Black Supremacist Employee Is No Longer with the Agency

Ayo Kimathi, a.k.a. “the Irritated Genie," a.k.a. the black supremacist employee of the Department of Homeland Security's U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency is "no longer an ICE employee," according to a statement from ICE's Deputy Press Secretary Gillian Christensen. "His last day with the agency was December 6," she added. 

Christensen, citing privacy policies, declined to comment on whether Kimathi left voluntarily or not. Kimathi was placed on administrative leave after the Southern Poverty Law Center spotted the ICE employee's extracurricular advocacy in August. His personal website calls for the mass murder of white people.

Kimathi's site, "War is on the Horizon," apparently escaped the notice of his supervisors for years, although the agency reportedly started receiving complaints about him about two years ago. His old job required approval for extracurricular activities, but Kimathi only described his site by its acronym, "WoH," characterizing it as an entertainment site that sells videos of concerts and lectures. He did, however, sometimes use his real name in association with his activism, which among other things calls President Obama "a treasonous mulatto scum dweller" and lists him among his movement's other enemies. Kimathi also promotes a conspiracy theory arguing that white people are trying to "homosexualize" black men, and advocates for black male supremacy over that of black women. 

The SPLC spoke to Kimathi's former supervisor in August, who said that "everybody in the office is afraid of him...people are afraid he will come in with a gun someday and go postal. I am astounded, he’s employed by the federal government, let alone Homeland Security.” The former supervisor discovered Kimathi's site over the summer. 

In an email to the Wire, SPLC Campaign Director Josh Glasstetter called the development "welcome but long overdue news," noting that the "DHS had known for months about Kimathi’s promotion of violence." He added: "Regrettably, DHS only took action after we publicized his activities." 

Kimathi began working for the agency in 2009. His 2012 salary was $115,731. In an email to the Associated Press the now-former ICE employee said he was proud of his work during his employment at DHS.

This post has been updated with new information. 

       

Taran Killam and Everyone Else Left Off of SAG's Best Ensemble Lists

Fox Searchlight

Just because you were part of the ensemble cast of a movie that got a SAG nomination for Best Ensemble, that doesn't mean you got a nomination. Remember Saturday Night Live's Taran Killam in 12 Years a Slave? He and Scoot McNairy played ostensible performers who lured main character Solomon Northup into their clutches and sold him into slavery. They shared every scene together. This morning, when SAG honored 12 Years a Slave with a Best Ensemble nomination, McNairy was nominated and Killam was not.

Due to their rather arbitrary rules, SAG determines who is and isn't included in Best Ensemble recognition by virtue of how (and where) they're credited:

“The Cast of a Motion Picture” includes all actors whose names appear in the cast credits of the final release print. Motion Picture casts shall be represented by those actors billed on separate cards in the main titles, wherever those titles appear. In cases of special, unusual or non-billing or credit, eligibility shall be at the sole discretion of the Screen Actors Guild Awards Committee. Members of the cast who are not single billed but are credited in the cast crawl of the motion picture announced as the recipient of the Outstanding Performance by the Cast of a Theatrical Motion Picture shall each receive a certificate.

The Screen Actors Guild Awards are the highest-profile awards-giving organization to recognize the work of ensemble casts. This is a very good thing, and something other awards should emulate. It just gets frustrating when the parceling out of nominations doesn't seem to make a whole ton of sense. 

Here's a look at the Best Ensemble category, who was recognized with nominations, and who was left out.

12 Years a Slave

Nominated: Benedict Cumberbatch, Paul Dano, Garret Dillahunt, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Michael Fassbender, Paul Giamatti, Scoot McNairy, Lupita Nyong'o, Adepero Oduye, Sarah Paulson, Brad Pitt, Michael Kenneth Williams, Alfre Woodard.

Not Nominated: Taran Killam, Kelsey Scott (as Solomon Northup's wife), Quvenzhane Wallis (who is only a cameo, so that's actually fine), former Mad Men star Bryan Batt.

American Hustle

Nominated: Amy Adams, Christian Bale, Louis CK, Bradley Cooper, Paul Herman, Jack Huston, Jennifer Lawrence, Alessandro Nivola, Michael Peña, Jeremy Renner, Elisabeth Rohm, Shea Whigham.

Not Nominated: Robert DeNiro, whose cameo is uncredited. Colleen Camp, who played Brenda the cat lady and essential part of the ABSCAM stings.

August: Osage County

Nominated: Abigail Breslin, Chris Cooper, Benedict Cumberbatch, Juliette Lewis, Margo Martindale, Ewan McGregor, Dermot Mulroney, Julianne Nicholson, Julia Roberts, Sam Shepard, Meryl Streep, Misty Upham.

Not nominated: No, that's pretty much everyone.

Dallas Buyers Club

Nominated:  Jennifer Garner, Matthew McConaughey, Jared Leto, Denis O'Hare, Dallas Roberts, Steve Zahn.

Not nominated: Kevin Rankin, who plays Ron Woodrooff's fair-weather rodeo friend. Griffin Dunne, who has a fairly significant role as a doctor working off the grid in Mexico.

Lee Daniels' The Butler

Nominated: Mariah Carey, John Cusack, Jane Fonda, Cuba Gooding Jr., Terrence Howard, Lenny Kravitz, James Marsden, David Oyelowo, Alex Pettyfer, Vanessa Redgrave, Alan Rickman, Liev Schieber, Forest Whitaker, Robin Williams, Oprah Winfrey.

Not nominated: True Blood's Nelsan Ellis, who played Martin Luther King, Jr. Yaya Alafia, who played Oyelowo's "trifling, low-class bitch" (per Oprah's character) of a girlfriend. Minka Kelly, who played Jacqueline Kennedy, despite a nod for Marsden as JFK. Elijah Kelly, who played Cecil Gaines' other, much gayer(-seeming) son.