Atlantic Monthly Contributors's Blog, page 869

Your Black Friday Mayhem Round-Up

Insta: @kimbhasin

Black Friday is upon us, which means trouble's afoot across the nation. Overzealous shoppers will do anything for a deal, including lying, fighting, and dragging a police officer with a car. 

We know Black Friday deals are a sham. We feel terrible for the souls forced to work retail on the holidays, cutting short their own Thanksgiving dinners so the masses may shop at earlier hours every year in pursuit of that one budget-busting deal. And yet, every year, we're greeted with more violence and chaos the morning after we come together as family. Aren't the holidays wonderful?

Two separate Walmart fight videos have emerged. The first, per Business Insider, takes place inside a Walmart in Elkin, North Carolina. A mob of people jostle for flat-screen TVs, when all of a sudden tensions rise and a small fight breaks out. One man puts down his TV to pick up and slam another man, who might have been attacking someone else. A woman screams "oh my God!" as this goes on. Security does little to nothing to stop the violence.

The uploader says he was thrown out for recording the video while the violent offenders he documented weren't approached by security. Pick your battles, indeed.

The other Walmart video's origin is unknown, but it's had some wide pick-up Friday morning. Again, the fight seemingly broke out over the same flat-screen TV deal. This time Walmart security worked to calm the throbbing mass around them, but did not succeed. Two girls start fighting over a television before police can break them up. One girl gets roughed up by security.

But the mayhem was hardly limited to Walmarts nationwide. In Chicago, a shoplifting scheme ended when a police officer was dragged by the getaway car the driver was shot in his shoulder.

Here's what happened, as reported by the Chicago Tribune: cops chased two people sprinting from a Kohl's with arm loads of stolen merchandise to a Pontiac Sunfire waiting nearby. In the ensuing scuffle one officer was somehow caught in the car and dragged as the criminals drove away. Another officer shot the driver in the shoulder, foiling their plan. Three people were arrested and no one was seriously injured. Everyone else went about their day: 

Despite the shooting, shoppers were still browsing the aisles of the store where police had marked off a crime scene with orange cones out front. An unmarked police car was parked inside that boundary, behind a black Pontiac sedan with bullet holes visible in its rear driver’s-side window. Shoppers used their cell phones to snap pictures of the scene.

But back to Walmart for now! In Rialto, California, two people were taken into custody following a three-person brawl outside a Walmart over alleged line-cutting. People fighting on the grass behind this police officer in the video: 

The photo above shows an absurdly huge crowd gathered at the Macy's in New York's Herald Square, the flagship store, early Friday morning. Black Friday truly is here to stay. If you see any other mayhem that should be included, feel free to put it in the comments or, better yet, email us. 

If you need a palette cleanser, here, enjoy: 

Sir Patrick Stewart and Sir Ian McKellen -- like your two favorite crazy old uncles: pic.twitter.com/zwazOqGEf6

— Mathew Ingram (@mathewi) November 29, 2013

The holidays aren't all bad.

       

The President's Thanksgiving Menu Hit Peak Pie

Thanksgiving at the White House sounds nice because apparently it includes nine different kinds of pie.

After serving the same dessert menu for four years, White House chefs added three new pies this year. Those new additions: chocolate cream, coconut cream and pecan pies. In 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2012, the White House only served six pies for Thanksgiving dinner

Obama spent his pre-holiday Wednesday pardoning turkeys and embarrassing his youngest daughter. Sasha, 12, clearly did not enjoy public family time. But the First Family retreated indoors Thursday for a private family dinner like most households, away from the press and the foreign policy wonks. According to the White House pool report from Scripps News' Isaac Wolf, a number of Thanksgiving classics were on the menu, like turkey, honey-baked ham and macaroni and cheese. (Though the President served green bean casserole which goes against official Atlantic Wire recommendations.)

But, we must say, the President's dessert game is on point. When you're the President, you get all the pie. The pool report revealed this year's robust menu: 

Desert:
Huckleberry Pie
Pecan Pie
Chocolate Cream Pie
Sweet Potato Pie
Peach Pie
Apple Pie
Pumpkin Pie
Banana Cream Pie
Coconut Cream Pie

We are, to put it plainly, only jealous in this scenario. We want to dig into a slice of nearly every pie imaginable. In the same position, everyone orders nine pies prepared for Thanksgiving dinner. Heck, if you're lucky enough, nine pies are a regular occurrence in your family. The more family members, the more pie. It's a nice life. But you also know better: the more pies you come about, the more cousins to share pie with, the more problems you see.

Or you have that one dedicated uncle or aunt who goes overboard on dessert, who is somewhat-secretly your favorite. In that case, bless them.

       

The President's Thanksgiving Menu Hits Peak Pie

Thanksgiving at the White House sounds kind of nice. The President's team of cooks prepared a meal fit for, well, fit for a President, and apparently that included nine different kinds of pie. 

Obama spent his Wednesday pardoning turkeys and displeasing his daughter. Sasha, 12, the President's youngest daughter, clearly did not enjoy public family time. But the First Family retreated indoors Thursday for a private family dinner, like most households. On the menu, according to the White House pool report from Scripps News' Isaac Wolf, were a number of Thanksgiving classics, like turkey, honey-baked ham and macaroni and cheese. (Though the President served green bean casserole which goes against official Atlantic Wire recommendations.)

But, we must say, the President's dessert game is on point. Why choose your pie when you could just have all of them. When you're the President, you get all the pie: 

Desert:
Huckleberry Pie
Pecan Pie
Chocolate Cream Pie
Sweet Potato Pie
Peach Pie
Apple Pie
Pumpkin Pie
Banana Cream Pie
Coconut Cream Pie

Choice is not something the President need concern himself with on this holiday. In 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2012 the White House served six pies for Thanksgiving dinner. The new additions this year: Chocolate Cream, Coconut Cream and Pecan. 

       

SpaceX's Thankgiving Launch Didn't Go Well

After some technical difficulties delayed its initial plans on Monday, Elon Musk's SpaceX program wanted to launch a Falcon 9 rocket Thursday evening, from Cape Canaveral in Florida, marking the first Thanksgiving space launch since 1956. It didn't go as planned.

Wired has a good recap of the problems suffered Monday's launch. Once Musk and co. realized Monday was no longer an option, they agreed with the FAA's suggestion to push the launch to Thursday to avoid complicating Thanksgiving travel plans further. The skies were already plenty full without a spaceship launch.

This is the first time SpaceX will attempt to launch a geostationary satellite. The Verge explains why this is hugely important for SpaceX: 

Should today's launch go smoothly, it'll mark a significant milestone both for SpaceX and for the commercial space transportation industry more broadly. The company's Falcon 9 will blast the SES-8 communications satellite — owned by Luxembourg-based SES World Skies — into geostationary orbit. It's the first time SpaceX has launched a commercial communications satellite, and will set the stage for the company to perform subsequent launches that currently take place overseas.

Update, 5:42 p.m. ET   Except things didn't go smoothly at all. The spaceship started the ignition process and was two seconds away from liftoff. But the ground computers realized something was amiss and the project was delayed, and possibly aborted, at the last minute.

There's still a chance the takeoff happens today. All is not lost. 

Musk discloses the problem: 

Launch aborted by autosequence due to slower than expected thrust ramp. Seems ok on closer inspection. Cycling countdown.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 28, 2013

The launch could still happen later Thursday night. 

       

Comet ISON Died During Its Trip Around the Sun

Everyone on NASA's special Thanksgiving Google hangout announced the death of Comet ISON after it traveled around the sun. Much to our dismay, of course. The comet's remnants can now be seen breaking through to the other side. 

"It's not looking good for ISON in my opinion," Slate's Phil Plait said during NASA's Google hangout on Thursday. Some of NASA's top star-gazers — like, the ones who have telescope measuring contests — gathered to watch the Comet ISON make its first and possibly only trip around the sun. "That's kind of my assessment too," added astrophysicist Karl Battams, the head of NASA’s Comet ISON Observing Campaign. ISON travelled dangerously close to the star, and many didn't expect it to survive. If ISON came out the other side unscathed, the comet would travel travel close enough to earth to dazzle and dance for us puny humans in December. 

Per Gizmodo, this GIF shows ISON's trajectory before disappearing. But the comet had averted death once before. Just this week, all signs said ISON broke up during its approach towards the sun. Scientists lost sight of the comet, which was unfortunate. At that point ISON wasn't close enough to generate real interest. But ISON miraculously survived and NASA didn't have to cancel its holiday party. So, hope could spring eternal once more!

Just a few hours after the Google hangout ended, new evidence emerged suggesting the scientists were premature to pronounce ISON dead: 

@CometISONnews @PeoplesAstro @VirtualAstro Just enhanced this. pic.twitter.com/5yW4qqdqNB

— John Maclean FRAS (@AstroExeter) November 28, 2013

ISON: There *was* a kilometer or 2 of rock & ice there beforehand; maybe the Sun didn't get all of it. We'll see. pic.twitter.com/6av6md6681

— Amy Mainzer (@AmyMainzer) November 28, 2013

Now that is definitely moving! @CometISONnews @NickAstronomer @VirtualAstro pic.twitter.com/0QwZmgA6SK

— John Maclean FRAS (@AstroExeter) November 28, 2013

What these astronomers are likely seeing is ISON's remains as they travel through the other side of the sun's orbit. A comet is just a collection of iron, rock and gravel held together by ice (and magic too, right?) hurtling through space. Like two humans ending a relationship, when a comet breaks up the result isn't necessarily neat and tidy.

NASA does hedge a bit and leave some wiggle room hoping for the comet's survival in its official statement. "While the fate of the comet is not yet established, it is likely that it did not survive the trip," NASA said.

The science types wanted to remind everyone how, despite the comet's untimely demise, today was still one for the history books. So NASA retweeted this guy:

A mountain-sized lump of ice and rock was just entirely evaporated by our Sun. And we got to sit back & watch the view. Isn't space awesome?

— Hugh Osborn (@HughO2) November 28, 2013

It worked. 

A quick holiday lesson: the sun always wins. Eat your vitamins, drink water and wear sunscreen, kids.

       

Comet ISON Did Not Survive Its Vacation Around the Sun

Everyone on NASA's special Thanksgiving Google hangout announced the death of Comet ISON after it traveled around the sun, much to our dismay. The comet's remnants can now be seen breaking on through to the other side. 

"It's not looking good for ISON in my opinion," Slate's Phil Plait said during NASA's Google hangout on Thursday, where a bunch of space-cases gathered to watch the Comet ISON, make its first and possibly only trip around the sun. "That's kind of my assessment too," added astrophysicist Karl Battams, the head of NASA’s Comet ISON Observing Campaign. ISON travelled dangerously close to the star, and many didn't expect it to survive. If it came out the other side, the comet was going to travel close enough to earth to give puny humans quite the show this December. 

Only a few hours later, new evidence emerged suggesting the scientists were premature to pronounce ISON dead: 

@CometISONnews @PeoplesAstro @VirtualAstro Just enhanced this. pic.twitter.com/5yW4qqdqNB

— John Maclean FRAS (@AstroExeter) November 28, 2013

ISON: There *was* a kilometer or 2 of rock & ice there beforehand; maybe the Sun didn't get all of it. We'll see. pic.twitter.com/6av6md6681

— Amy Mainzer (@AmyMainzer) November 28, 2013

Now that is definitely moving! @CometISONnews @NickAstronomer @VirtualAstro pic.twitter.com/0QwZmgA6SK

— John Maclean FRAS (@AstroExeter) November 28, 2013

This wasn't the first time scientists thought ISON died. Just this week, there were signs the comet broke up during its approach towards the sun. Miraculously, it survived and NASA didn't cancel its holiday party. 

But what these astrologists are seeing is merely what remains of ISON as it travels through the sun's orbit. A comet is just a collection of rock and gravel held together by ice (and magic, too, right?) hurtling through space. Like humans, when a comet breaks up the result isn't necessarily neat and tidy. 

Breaking up is hard to do. Like Icarus, #comet #ISON may have flown too close to the sun. We will continue to learn. http://t.co/caP9J4lqmy

— NASA (@NASA) November 28, 2013

But still, spaaaace, maaaaan: 

 

A mountain-sized lump of ice and rock was just entirely evaporated by our Sun. And we got to sit back & watch the view. Isn't space awesome?

— Hugh Osborn (@HughO2) November 28, 2013

A holiday lesson: the sun always wins. 

       

Canadian Mountie Fights for his Right to Smoke Weed in Uniform

AP

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police ruled officers may not smoke the marijuana while wearing their full uniform, or in public, despite the wishes of one officer with a medical marijuana license for PTSD issues. 

There's some debate over whether Cpl. Ronald Francis, who suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder and is currently assigned to desk duty, should be allowed to smoke at work, or whether he can do so in his RCMP uniform. Francis contends there's no policy stopping him from smoking while at work, and that it should be OK so long as it doesn't impair his police duties. But the RCMP thinks it's inappropriate, and that any medical prescription they find inappropriate can be challenged. Canada's Justice Minister Peter MacKay agrees. Canada's marijuana advocates have already taken up Francis's cause. 

Francis began seeing PTSD symptoms years ago after serving in First Nations communities. He received a medical marijuana license this month, and smoking is now part of his daily schedule. “I get up in the morning, have my coffee and the marijuana. I go at lunchtime, have a marijuana joint, and then again in the evening. That would be my medical regime," he tells the CBC. He cautions marijuana could become an even bigger part of his day as his tolerance develops. "It may take two joints in the morning, I don't know," said Francis.

But he contends there should be no issue with his smoking on the job. “There’s no policy in the RCMP that prevents me from smoking marijuana. There’s no policy in the RCMP that says I cannot smoke in public. I have the right to smoke it in my red serge," he says. (His "red serge" is his RCMP uniform.) 

The RCMP argues that, no, he cannot smoke weed at work. “Definitely a member that has been prescribed medicinal marijuana should not be in red serge taking his medication,” RCMP Deputy Commissioner Gilles Moreau told the CBC. “It would not be advisable for that member, it would not portray the right message to the general public, it’s definitely not something we would support or condone.”

The RCMP falls under Justice Minister Peter MacKay's jurisdiction, and unfortunately for Francis he agrees with Moreau's ruling. “My observation is the same as for politicians, police: They fall in a similar category in the sense that it sets a very poor example to flout the law,” MacKay told reporters Thursday. “It sets a very poor example for Canadians.”

Moreau explained the RCMP are examining the policies governing how officers with medical marijuana licenses should operate at work. "If it takes place outside, it has to respect the individual but also their co-workers, and it has to respect the Canadian population at large by taking it in a respectful way," he said. But, for now, Francis must seek alternatives. 

But Adam Greenblatt, president of the Canadian Association of Medical Cannabis Dispensaries, argues Francis doesn't necessarily need to smoke the weed, per se. "Greenblatt says Francis could always take his marijuana in more discreet ways, such as baking it into a cookie or using a vaporizer," the Canadian Press reports. 

       

Match-Fixing Scandal Finally Hits British Soccer

Delroy Facey playing for Granada's national team in CONCACAF competition. (AP)

The global crime syndicate allegedly responsible for fixing soccer matches worldwide, has finally landed on British shores. Six people in Britain were arrested Thursday for their part in allegedly fixing soccer matches. 

The National Crime Agency announced six arrests — including three players and one agent — in relation to an international match-fixing conspiracy. The arrests came after an investigation by British-newspaper The Telegraph that spoke with a suspected match-fixer from Singapore who promised he could influence a soccer match, down to the number of goals scored, for $81,380. English matches "cost... very high," he told the Telegraph.  

One of the people arrested is believed to be a journeyman professional soccer player with ties to the Premier League, Britain's top soccer league. The BBC has the details:

Sources have told the BBC that former Bolton Wanderers striker turned football agent, Delroy Facey, 33, was one of the six arrested.

He made 14 appearances for the then-Premier League Bolton between 2002-2004, before moving down the leagues, ending last season with Hereford United, who were relegated from the football league.

The Premier League remains untouched by the scandal, though. The group allegedly fixed matches in the Football League, a three-tiered league below the Premiership. "The threat of corruption is something that the Football League and the other football authorities treat with the utmost seriousness," Football League CEO Shaun Harvey, who has not been contacted by police, told the BBC. 

In a statement the Associated Press, Chris Eaton, the former head of security for FIFA, said the crime and methods were nothing new, but that the match-fixing scandal reached England should be significant enough to cause change:

"What is new is that it shocks England, the home of the game. That shock should be used to galvanize international efforts to regulate and supervise sport betting globally, which is the real motivation for modern match-fixing."

 

Authorities have slowly raised the fight against global match-fixing corruption over the last few months. Europol declared the influence of a mysterious global crime syndicate damaging to the game at the beginning of the year. The fight against corruption suffered a huge blow when Dan Tan, the man suspected to head the crime syndicate, was arrested in September. 

       

David Letterman's Ken Burns-Style Rob Ford Documentary Deserves an Emmy

Late Wednesday evening, under the cover of holiday cheer, Jennifer Lawrence admitted to the world, "Yes, I have smoked crack cocaine." Of course, she was only repeating the now infamous press conference where Toronto mayor Rob Ford finally admitted his proclivity for the rock after months and months of accusations. 

David Letterman rounded up an impressive lineup of famous people to read a selection of Ford's most quotable moments from the last few months, including the crack admission, and the wonderfully loaded lines about, well, snorting lines and hookers all the other unseemly things he's been accused of doing, in the style of a Ken Burns documentary. Jennifer Lawrence (!), Martha Stewart (!!), Vince Vaughn, Jesse Tyler Ferguson and Jonah Hill all share some of Ford's best moments, as if they were the surviving Presidents reading the Gettysburg address, complete with the green screened Presidential library backdrops. This is art, people, and it deserves your attention. 

       

Happy Holidays! Three Salinger Stories Leaked

While your family spins and twirls around the kitchen, or congregates around the television for football, maybe you can curl up on the couch and enjoy three new J.D. Salinger stories that leaked online late Wednesday evening. 

An odd tale that involves some dark Internet corners, but here we go. The commonly accepted lineage goes like this: the three unpublished stories were for sale in paperback on eBay here, then a scan was uploaded to the private-torrent site What.CD, and from there made its way to Imgur, 4Chan and, eventually, Reddit.

The three stories — “The Ocean Full of Bowling Balls,” “Paula,” and “Birthday Boy” — were only available to scholars and experts before. "Ocean," was only available at the Princeton library, under strict conditions. To access the story, two pieces of identification must be presented to the librarian, and the story can only be read under supervision in a special reading room. The other two stories were only available at the University of Texas's Harry Ransom Center. 

The scanned paperback alleges 25 copies were printed in London, in 1999, but none have never surfaced until now. Their existence has been heretofore completely unknown. The three stories have never appeared online or in print. 

Buzzfeed confirmed the stories' authenticity with a leading Salinger expert:

Salinger scholar Kenneth Slawenski, author of J.D. Salinger: A Life confirms that these are truly Salinger’s unpublished stories, having read the previously guarded manuscripts. In an email to BuzzFeed, he wrote “While I do quibble with the ethics (or lack of ethics) in posting the Salinger stories, they look to be true transcripts of the originals and match my own copies.”

For Salinger fans who thought they may never venture to Princeton, "Oceans" leaking is something of a treat. Thought to be one of his best works, the story traces the development of Kenneth Caulfield, who Salinger later developed into Allie, the younger brother to Catcher in the Rye's Holden Caulfield. As per the Salinger estate's wishes, the story was not to be published until January 27, 2060, 50 years after Salinger's death. How the manuscript leaked remains a mystery. 

It should be noted that What.CD wants no part of this controversy. The original torrent file was removed and administrators posted a note threatening to disable any account that re-uploads the stories, out of respect for the author's estate. 

The three works leaked today have no connection to the other unpublished Salinger stories uncovered by the Salinger documentary researchers. Those five books will not be released until 2015, at the earliest.