Atlantic Monthly Contributors's Blog, page 901

Ben Affleck Just Can't Stop Directing Movies

Today in show business news: Ben Affleck is directing yet another movie, Rachel McAdams replaces Reese Witherspoon in a movie, and more 50 Shades casting news.

Though he's currently working on directing the big period crime epic Live By Night, not to mention filming a starring role in the hotly anticipated Gone Girl adaptation, Ben Affleck is setting up another directing project for himself. That he'll also star in. I guess he's really striking while the iron, meaning him, is hot. The new movie is an Africa-set thriller with dramatic and political overtones. Deadline describes it thusly:

The film is both an action movie and an examination of the moral ambiguities of how philanthropy and foreign assistance veers into modern day neocolonialism. It also tracks how involvement in the affairs of foreign countries is always a good deal more complicated than anticipated in the planning stages.

Ha. It's both an action movie and a searing study of how Western interests have completely f--ked up an entire continent. But there's action! Definitely action. Don't worry. Anyway, this sounds like a good project for him. He likes to tread that drama/thriller line. Though, someday it'd be interesting to see him do a movie where no one's life is at risk. That'd be something. But until then, we'll enjoy the many, many things he's doing. [Deadline]

Huh. CBS is planning a reboot of the long-running WB show Charmed. You know, the hilariously low-budget, horrendously costumed Aaron Spelling show about three witch sisters living in San Francisco? With Shannen Doherty, Holly Marie Combs, and Alyssa Milano? And then not with Shannen Doherty but Rose McGowan instead? You remember. Anyway, the show only ended in 2006, so a reboot so soon seems strange, but whatever. Worked for Spider-Man. Basically they're just making a show about three witch sisters (THR says four witch sisters. The fourth sister was Rose McGowan, after Shannen Doherty's character died. But then there's a picture of Kaley Cuoco with the cast, which was only in the last season, and she wasn't a sister. I blame Kaley Cuoco for this confusion) and Aaron Spelling's production company was like "Ummm, that's Charmed," so CBS was like, "Eh, f--k it, let's just call it a Charmed reboot." So they are. That's what's happening. And we all need to deal with it. [The Hollywood Reporter]

Rachel McAdams is replacing Reese Witherspoon in the sci-fi romance Passengers. Witherspoon had to drop out because the movie is filming in Germany and she is wanted for questioning in several horrifying crimes committed in that country couldn't fit that travel into her schedule. So Witherspoon out, McAdams in. Costar Keanu Reeves is still there. He's always been there. This is the movie that should be called Space Jerk, because it's about the biggest jerk ever, in space. He wakes up from cryo-sleep on a spaceship 90 years before he's supposed to, and rather than wait for death by himself, he WAKES UP ANOTHER PASSENGER. What a prick! What kind of selfish monster do you have to be to do that? And then she's supposed to fall in love with him? "Oh I forgive you for completely ruining my life and consigning me to the terrible fate of dying on a spaceship with only the world's biggest asshole to keep my company. Gimme a kiss." Nope. I don't see that happening. I think you stay mad at that person until you're old and wrinkled and dying on that spaceship. That's what happens. Oh well. Congrats, Rachel! [Deadline]

Obviously the Jamie Dornan thing was the big 50 Shades of Grey casting news this week, but here's another tidbit: Luke Grimes has been cast as Christian Grey's adopted brother Elliot. I have never read these books so I have no idea what kind of character Elliot is, but there you have it. Luke Grimes will be Elliot. The wonderful Elliot. The horrible Elliot? I don't know! He's just Elliot to me. That's all I know. The only thing I know about Elliot is that his name is Elliot. And that he's being played by Luke Grimes. That's it. [The Hollywood Reporter]

Kelly Oxford, the writer who used Twitter to get famous and tweets a lot but now hates being called a "Twitter writer," has sold a comedy pilot to Fox. The show is about a 30-year-old mom who works at a retirement home. So it's kid humor AND old person humor. The circle of life. The alpha and omega of our short spin on this lonely blue marble. Next fall on Fox. Sounds great. [Deadline]

Here is the first trailer for James Gray's The Immigrant, a period drama starring Marion Cotillard, Jeremy Renner, and frequent Gray player Joaquin Phoenix. It looks stately and pretty and sad and designed to win awards. Will it? I dunno. We'll find out next year.

       

Rush Limbaugh Thinks He Discovered an Obamacare Loophole

Last night on his radio show, conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh told listeners that there's a surefire way to get out of paying the Affordable Care Act's individual mandate fine: don't get a tax refund. "If you do not owe a tax refund, they [the IRS] cannot go into your bank account or anywhere else and get that money," he said. 

This isn't anything new. The Washington Post noted way back in May that the IRS doesn't have its usual arsenal of ways to get you to pay up. "In the case of any failure by a taxpayer to timely pay any penalty imposed by this section. Such taxpayer shall not be subject to any criminal prosecution or penalty with respect to such failure," according to Section 1501 of the healthcare law. Also, you'd have to worry about the penalty assessed to people who underestimate their taxes (usually by more than $1000). But, yes Rush, if you meticulously calculate the your taxes for the rest of your life, don't mind that the penalty will accrue interest, and also don't need health insurance, then go for it. "Industry sources" also told Politico that the IRS plans to collect interest on unpaid penalties, though they haven't issued guidelines for that yet. 

That same source added that the administration also isn't focusing on enforcement. "The administration in general is really de-prioritizing the penalty collection. They’re not going to be doing a lot of enforcement there," the source told Politico.

Of course none of the really affects Limbaugh, who makes a pretty decent living. For low-income Americans who depend on government assistance through benefits like the Earned Income Tax Credit, however, there's no such thing as adjusting your taxes to not get a refund. But then, the Affordable Care Act and its subsidies are designed to help that same subset of America just get insurance. 

       

McDonalds Needs a New Ketchup Maker

McDonalds will end its 40-year, ketchup-based relationship with Heinz, the company announced on Friday, because Heinz's new CEO, Bernardo Hees, is the former CEO of Burger King. He's also still on Burger King's board of directors. Now McDonalds is currently looking for a new ketchup maker to partner with once it phases Heinz out of its stores. Heinz supplies ketchup to both McDonalds (for now!) and Burger King, and to Wendy’s and Chick-fil-A. For McDonalds, at least, it seems that the new Burger King connection at Heinz was one step too far. McDonalds has taken a stand on ketchup. 

Except most Americans will not be able to appreciate McDonalds's bravery: the company only uses branded Heinz ketchup packets in two U.S. markets. Those are Pittsburgh, where Heinz is based, and Minneapolis. Most other Americans squeeze generic packets of "Fancy Ketchup" onto their fries. That's because McDonalds split with the company once before, in the 1970s, as the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette explains: 

The Pittsburgh company had 90 percent of the business supplying ketchup and pickles to the fast-growing chain, according to author John F. Love's 1986 book, "McDonald's: Behind the Arches."

After Heinz couldn't meet McDonald's need for ketchup as a result of a tomato shortage, the restaurant chain took most of its business elsewhere.

The change will, however, be noticed internationally, where McDonalds uses Heinz more often. Of course, McDonalds could take an even bolder stance and use this opportunity to do away with ketchup, the least of the condiments, altogether. 

       

What the Next Budget Deal Will Look Like

Official House-Senate budget talks don't start until next week, but already we're seeing some clues as to what a bipartisan deal will look like. House budget committee chairman Paul Ryan says he's focusing on "achievable goals" and eschewing the much-talked about idea of a "grand bargain" between the two parties. Republicans won't allow higher tax rates, but according to Ryan and Rep. Tom Cole, they want to close some loopholes and replace most of the sequester with smarter spending cuts. 

Ryan told Politico on Thursday, "We already have spending cuts coming. We’ll take those. If we can have smarter spending cuts, that’s better." Similarly, Cole said on Bloomberg TV Friday that he would replace most of the sequester. Second-round cuts kick in in January and will hit defense spending the hardest, so Republicans should be motivated to negotiate a deal.

Cole told Bloomberg TV, "Again, we're $90 billion apart.  I doubt we'll end up in the Republican number or the Democratic number if we have a deal, but if we can't come to a deal, the law specifies sequester numbers. And I don't think that's where the president wants to be. That's not where we want to be.”

Whether the rest of the House GOP will fall in line with this plan remains to be seen. Ryan was almost the hero of the shutdown negotiations — he championed a budget plan that didn't address Obamacare. But then the GOP ignored him and continued to push for an Obamacare delay. 

And some in the GOP have said they'll allow no new revenue in a budget deal. Cole insisted that the parties could agree to add "pro-growth revenue." He admitted, "you know, the reality is, you're going to have to have a deal here. And a deal means everybody gives something up. Now, again, we're much more into what I'd call pro-growth revenue."

Ryan especially wants entitlement reforms, and he's willing to trade that for replacing sequester cuts. Even the President has proposed a chained CPI formula for social security benefits, though House Dems rejected that proposal in April. 

Ryan told Politico, "We should keep our focus on that and do something that is achievable .... I want to get things done. I don’t want to waste a term in Congress doing nothing. I was sent here to do something to solve problems. My colleagues asked me to chair the budget committee again, and I do want to get something done.”

       

Brooklyn's Millennials Are Turning Into Witches

Just a few days after its exclusive interview with Glenn Greenwald, the newly relaunched Newsweek has scored yet another earth-shattering scoop: millennials are turning to witchcraft. And not of the Harry Potter variety — these are older, hipper Brooklynites, juggling magic workshops and Williamsburg séances in between their frenzied day jobs as editors and archivists.

So reports writer Katie J.M. Baker, who chatted with a colorful bevy of tarot readers and magical practice guides and plain-Jane, witchcraft-addled millennials in an attempt to crack the code of what one expert terms an occult revival. And New York's most populous borough has plenty to offer them; a recent New York guide listed the gatherings and businesses and amenities that span north Brooklyn, bearing names like "Moon Church" and "Gnostic Tattoo" and others you'd be forgiven for confusing with a black metal act. These are just some of the reasons they've hopped on the magic bus.

Because the Internet. Really! Much as the web has become synonymous with the future or whatever, it can also accidentally resurge seemingly archaic cultural trends (like, say, paying money for vinyl records). As one Occult Humanities Conference staffer shares, the Internet has placed "ancient practices that were once hard to access at [people's] fingertips." Then there are the séances and "alchemical imagery" that flood Pinterest boards. Hence, women like one freelance editor who "often Googles random ritual instructions" because they "make her feel 'grounded.'" Well! And here we thought those kids were just juicing and having intercourse!

Because it's feminist- and LGBTQ-friendly. Unmoored from the patriarchy ingrained in much mainstream religious life, the occult has become a luring alternative for twenty-somethings like Rebecca Gowns, who tells Baker queer women desire transcendental experiences but "don’t want to be talked down to by priests and pastors." And, unlike in the 1690s, it's a tenable option for women who need not fear being burned at the stake by the state. 

Because religion is super "embarrassing." It's hardly news that millennials are way less religious than their elders. But, as one 27-year-old Brooklynite tries to convince Baker, that's not so much due to lack of faith as it is to the fact that religion is "embarrassing" and nihilism is so last year (or 1998, rather):

“It’s embarrassing to admit you’re religious,” says Hilary Pollack, a 27-year-old who recently moved to Brooklyn. “But I think a lot of people my age are sick of being nihilistic. Spirituality is a lot cooler.”

Plus, spirituality, as she calls it, is also far less of a commitment than the whole conventional, non-witchcrafty religious shebang, as Pollack openly admits: "It's hard to say if anyone is actually invested in any of this occult stuff they meddle in." Which—hey!—sounds like another familial millennial stereotype. So basically, the occult is the Snapchat of world religions.

Because "Bushwick" rhymes with "Eastwick." It's really just too damn easy. (Yes, finally, there is a "concept hub," or coven, with this name. We're shocked it took nearly 30 years since John Updike's novel for someone to think of it.)

Because... Hocus Pocus?? Ok, maybe not. But with the Buzzfeedification of '90s nostalgia at an feverish high and 2013 inviting plenty of GIF-filled 20-year retrospectives of 1993 culture—including a trip to the movie's filming locations—can't the Bette Midler classic inspire a little bit of occult meddling? Your parents won't recognize the film, but as an AV Club feature today notes, "it was panned by critics but later became a cult favorite among Millennials." Just remove "favorite" from that sentence and see what happens. 

       

North Dakota Keeps its Oil Spills Nice and Quiet

North Dakota isn't required by state law to disclose oil spills to the public. As it turns out, the state has opted to keep hundreds of pipeline spills quiet over the past two years, according to documents obtained by the Associated Press. The state produces nearly a million barrels of oil daily, second in oil production in the U.S. behind only Texas. 

There were 300 pipeline spills in North Dakota from January 2012 to the present, none of which were made public by officials, according to the AP. Most of those spills were small in size. There's one spill in particular that seems to have grabbed the AP's attention: a massive — 865,000 gallon — oil spill from a Tesoro Logistics pipeline in the state last month, which covered several acres of a nearby farm. That spill raised some substantial questions about the ability of private oil companies to detect and correct infrastructure problems before something bad happens. It turns out that it also took the state 11 days to say anything about the spill, only doing so in response to questions from the press. The spills are just one portion of 750 undisclosed oil field "incidents" since 2012. Of all these incidents, only a road accident involving an oil truck was reported publicly. 

Recent estimates suggest that North Dakota has as much as 7.4 billion barrels of recoverable oil and 6.7 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, indicating that the current oil industry boom in the state has some staying power there. The state's Health Department is currently reviewing its public reporting policies, including the threshold used to determine whether a spill is severe enough to warrant public notification. 

       

How to Create a Meritocracy: Ban Talking About Your Ivy League School

When President Obama arrived at the Pathways in Technology Early College High School in Brooklyn on Friday afternoon, he pushed Congress for more investment in education to spur job growth. That could help. But if we really want to stimulate the economy, we should create an education and employment system that rewards skill, not the school you Ivy Leaguers legacied into.

There is a huge higher education economy that facilitates the use of university names as shorthand for quality. It's tiered: the Ivies are the most ostentatious form of that hierarchy, but people make assumptions about other schools, too. Asked to rank three schools — Georgetown, Ohio State, and De Anza Community College — most Americans would rank them in the same order, absent any other knowledge. The name on your college degree after graduation becomes, for a few years at least, the shorthand for your ability. Eventually, your work experience is more significant, but not entirely. Do you know where people you work with went to school? If some went to Ivy League schools or schools with good sports teams — probably.

Employers use the same shorthand. They get résumés, check out degrees and college names, start making piles. If you went to De Anza (a small college in northern California with a lovely campus), you probably won't go in the same pile as the person from Yale (an East Coast school somewhere).

Our proposal suggests breaking the bond between college and job. It creates a system that will allow employers to know that a person has received an education — even the most pertinent education — but otherwise forces them to use more specific tests to evaluate a job applicant's quality. It would simultaneously make colleges more competitive, by removing the ingrained incentive offered by Ivy League schools.

[image error]Here's how it will work, once passed into law by our Congress (who heavily went to Ivies) and signed by our president (who did, too).

A public or public-private body will be created that will act as a clearinghouse for verification of job applicants' education experience. Colleges, universities, and trade schools will submit records of degree completion and grades achieved to the clearinghouse. Employers can then query the verification agency to validate that an applicant has received the education they claim.

An example. Joe attends New York University and gets a degree in History. Each year as he progresses, his grades and any degrees are submitted to the verification body — say, for the sake of argument, an expanded College Board. When Joe graduates, or when he seeks employment at any other point, he tells his employer that he went to college and graduated (or didn't). The employer contacts the College Board, verifies Joe's claims, and then moves him on to the next stage of the process if desired.

Notice that Joe doesn't say what his degree is in. The information that colleges submit to the agency wouldn't include the degree received or the areas of study — except for specialized fields. The number of types of educational institutions will drop to two: specialized or not. Non-specialized institutions can teach what they want, create degree paths in whatever fields they choose. But when reported to the College Board, the only information provided will be that the person graduated. Institutions offering specialized degrees will need another level of accreditation, but one that's acquired, can report specialized education to the College Board. What counts as a specialized field will need to be determined independently, but will include things like law and medical degrees and highly specialized engineering or technical skills. If an employer needs to hire a heart surgeon, it can verify with the agency that this person received such a degree — but not the institution from which the degree was obtained.

Enforcement, particularly at the outset, will be tricky. Asking a person's place of education during the hiring process will become a question that is illegal to ask, akin to asking a job applicant's age. But once in place, imagine the benefits!

Employers will need to test for skills specific to the positions for which they're hiring, not simply use degree types and college names as shorthand. Colleges and universities will compete based on their ability to provide the sorts of skills that job applicants need. If Murray State turns out to be a better school for training people in advertising, more students will go to Murray State. More professors will go to Murray State to teach. By increasing competition among colleges, more lower-cost schools will be seen as destinations for students. More higher-cost schools will look to reduce their tuitions. Over time, competition will mean a constant recalculation of tuition prices, that will likely serve to help bring costs down. Those who choose schools closer to their homes for financial or personal reasons will not necessarily be penalized for doing so. Those who seek educations later in life or — more importantly — who gain additional skills outside of college won't be penalized by having a certain or the wrong type of degree.

Then there's the other big benefit: Legacy will become much less important. The social structures and class status that helps people from certain families or income brackets going to "better" schools will evaporate. Smart rich kids will want to go to Sam Houston State, not Harvard.

There will be loopholes, of course. People will talk; friends of friends will happen to mention that So-and-so went to Princeton. But perhaps, with this system, "Princeton" won't necessarily be associated with the top-tier. Or, even if it is, a student from a little school in rural North Carolina may still do better at the employer's filtering tests. They could now, of course, but they may not be given the chance.

Obama's call for smarter investment in education is important. But over the long term, a better idea may be to make education less about institutions. Increase competition among schools, increase competition among employers, and build a reward into educating and training yourself. Paying six figures for a degree with a particular word on it is stupid. Education can be smarter.

       

Emails Show Steubenville Staffers Outraged at Treatment of Indicted IT Director

Earlier this month, a 14-person grand jury indicted William Rhinaman, the director of technology at Steubenville High School for tampering with evidence and perjury, among other things related to the Steubenville rape case last year. According to an e-mail by Steubenville High's Staff, "they shouldn't sit back anymore while our community is being attacked."

The e-mail was picked up by a staffer and sent to novelist James Renner. It was message was between a guidance counselor and a coach, and shared to the entire staff, concerning sending a show of support to William Rhinaman. Rhinaman, 53, was indicted on charges of tampering with evidence, obstructing justice, obstructing official business, and perjury — part of an ongoing investigation in the rape of a teen girl. Rhinaman pled not guilty on Wednesday, and could face up to four years in jail.

In the email, the two discuss ways to send cards or support to the incarcerated Rhinaman and how Mark Masloski, a coach at Steubenville, feels like this grand jury is "attacking" the Big Red community: 

[image error]

Despite the possibility that their colleague and friend may have committed a crime in regards to the rape of an underage girl, Masloski seems pretty adamant that Rhinaman didn't deserve to be held in jail without bond and seems convinced that the grand jury investigation is an outright attack on the Steubenville High athletic community. And it's possibly indicative that there are people who still believe that this investigation is personal, despite assurances from Attorney General Mike DeWine that it's not. "What I hope people will believe when we're done is that we did everything we could to find the truth and that justice was done. What you're seeing today is just part of that effort," DeWine said in April, when the grand jury was first announced.

Rhinaman will appear in court on December 6. His daughter, Hannah, was indicted by the same grand jury for charges of theft, but the jury said the case was unrelated.

We sent an e-mail to Daugherty to verify the e-mail and asked for a comment but it was not returned. 

       

What Can You Get Out of NBC's 'Dracula'? Blood, Sex, and Business

NBC hopes to capitalize on your Halloween spirit by launching their new miniseries Dracula tonight, featuring Jonathan Rhys Meyers as the literary bloodsucker. Will you get all the blood, sex, and romance you've come to expect from vampire tales of late? Let us explain. 

Featuring a convoluted plot involving the energy industry (oil, alternative sources, etc.) of all things, the show is getting mixed reception from critics. Some love it; some hate it. We're ambivalent. It's Dracula by way of Downton Abbey mixed with Guy Ritchie's Sherlock Holmes. And while that weird blend can be fun at times, at others the convoluted plot drags the show down. The show also doesn't wink at itself, like the successful, but equally silly Sleepy Hollow on Fox does. So—in the first three episodes, at least—what elements does it deliver on and what elements does it skimp on? 

[image error]Sexy Vampires

Well, there's one vampire here, really, and it depends on how you feel about Jonathan Rhys Meyers. Meyers, since his breakout role in Velvet Goldmine, has mastered the art of the smolder. So if you like his trademark snarl and his high cheekbones, you're in for a swell time. But let's talk about his voice for a second. In this Dracula, Dracula is posing as Alexander Grayson, an American entrepreneur. When Dracula speaks with an American accent he sounds sort of like James Franco. (Or maybe we're just fixated on James Franco—Daniel Fienberg at HitFix likens it more to Christian Slater.) In private, however, Dracula has a low, almost Christian Bale-as-Batman growl, with a slight accent. The voices are both pretty funny. 

  Actual Sex

Okay, okay. So it's network television, so this isn't True Blood-level vampiric copulation, but there are a lot of heaving bosoms—turn of the century London loves cleavage, apparently—and at one point during the first episode Dracula slips his hand up the dress of Lady Jayne. For now, Lady Jayne is his principal sex partner—though obviously everything is mostly just alluded to—but there's implied sex/bloodsucking with some lower class gals. Jayne and Dracula are, alas, not meant to be. (She, you know, hunts vampires.) Who is meant to be with Dracula? Well, that brings us to...

[image error]Romance 

Dracula is obsessed with one Mina Murray, a lovely young medical student, who may just be his wife reincarnated. (This string of plot bares resemblance to Francis Ford Coppola's 1992 movie.) Ol' Drac longs after her, hence he dotes on her with creepy, passionate glances. But, she's in love with Jonathan Harker, whom Dracula decides to employ to keep close. So they are all lovey-dovey as well, but it's fairly chaste. Outside of that there's also a gay romance that Grayson/Dracula uses for blackmail purposes, but it's, disappointingly, fairly unexplored. (At least in the first three episodes.)

Blood and Guts

If you wanted a Drac that spends all his time hunting and feeding, this show is not for you. Yes, there is blood sucking—complete with some fairly disgusting noises—but the frights (or at least gross-out moments) aren't consistent. That's probably because the show is spending a lot of time on...

Business Ventures

Yes, this is what will either make you hate this show or appreciate it. We're torn. Dracula's Grayson is an entrepreneur who has teamed up with—yes—Professor Van Helsing to take down The Order of the Dragon, which enacted cruelties upon both of their families. One of Dracula's strategies for infiltrating their organization involves ruining their oil business. So there's a lot of talk of British Imperial Coolant. It's not all bad, though. In a way, it casts Dracula as less of a ruthless villain fueled by libido and hunger, and more of a shrewd, calculating anti-hero with a drive for revenge. That said, you may also find this all fairly boring and ridiculous. Bloodless, even.

       

Germany and Brazil Will Take NSA Spying Frustrations to the UN

Germany and Brazil have decided to work together to push a UN resolution aimed at restraining the U.S.'s international surveillance of, among other things, world leaders. While the draft resolution, first reported by Foreign Policy, doesn't directly address the NSA revelations, it's clearly aimed at U.S. intelligence's recently revealed spying efforts. 

The resolution wouldn't actually be able to curb the NSA's surveillance. Instead, it would call for an expansion of international privacy rights under the International Covenant Civil and Political Rights. That agreement was drafted well before the internet, and Germany and Brazil would like to apply its protections specifically to online communication. The two countries met with other European and Latin American officials on Thursday to discuss a draft, which they hope the UN human rights committee will consider later this year. While the draft resolution idea highlights international displeasure with the U.S's broad data collection, it seems to worry some U.S. officials less than another potential fallout from inconvenient disclosures of the US's bulk data collection in foreign, including friendly, countries. Foreign Policy explains: 

Although the U.N.'s ability to fundamentally constrain the NSA is nil, the mounting international uproar over U.S. surveillance has security experts fearful for the ramifications. "The worst case scenario I think would be having our European allies saying they will no longer share signals intelligence because of a concern that our SigInt is being derived from mechanisms that violate their privacy rules," said Ray Kimball, an army strategist with policy experience on European issues. He stressed that he was not speaking for the military.

Earlier on Thursday, the Washington Post reported that the U.S. was in the middle of warning some of its international friends that the documents obtained by Edward Snowden could reveal details of secret agreement and collaborations with the U.S. But despite that effort, the international community isn't exactly happy with the NSA after documents revealed that the U.S. was spying on 35 world leaders. Brazil and Germany have been particularly vocal with their complaints: German Chancellor Angela Merkel called Obama on Wednesday over allegations that the NSA may have listened in on her mobile phone calls. Brazil's President Dilma Rousseff cancelled a planned visit to the U.S. over reports of widespread data collection on Brazilian citizens, including Rousseff herself.