Atlantic Monthly Contributors's Blog, page 953

Charlie Hunnam and Dakota Johnson Are Your 'Fifty Shades' Stars

Universal Studios and author E.L. James know you desperately want to know which beautiful famous people will be bending and breaking and whipping and whooping each other in Fifty Shades of Grey movie, so they finally relented and made the casting official Monday morning. 

James announced the casting news in a series of tweets: 

Good moaning all. Hold on to your hats...

— E L James (@E_L_James) September 2, 2013

(Ed. note: ew.)

I am delighted to let you know that the lovely Dakota Johnson has agreed to be our Anastasia in the film adaptation of Fifty Shades of Grey.

— E L James (@E_L_James) September 2, 2013

So... Christian...

— E L James (@E_L_James) September 2, 2013

The gorgeous and talented Charlie Hunnam will be Christian Grey in the film adaptation of Fifty Shades of Grey.

— E L James (@E_L_James) September 2, 2013

So, there you go! Dakota Johnson and Charlie Hunnam will be your Anastasia and your Christian, spending the whole movie writhing and rubbing and wrestling with each other. Naked. Very, very, very naked. 

This marks another step in a serious star turn for Hunnam, who most recently led the summer's sleeper success story Pacific Rim. He's perhaps best known for his role on the FX series Sons of Anarchy, though. Playing Anastasia is a real get for Johnson, who is best known for smaller roles in The Social Network and 21 Jump Street. 

       

Vladimir Putin Shows Off His Artistic Side

Who knew Russian president Vladimir Putin was the modern day Pablo Picasso of our time? Putin showed his sensitive side to some school children during a recent visit. Truth be told, his artistic ability is more in line with Calvin, from Calvin and Hobbes, than a luminary like Picasso or Rembrandt. But, never the less, Putin showed a classroom full of children and reporters what he could do on Sunday when he graced them with a lovely portrait of... a cat's butt. 

The Russian leader, at odds with the U.S. right now over plans to attack longtime-Russian ally Syria over that country's use of chemical weapons, was making a routine visit to Middle School No. 7 in the Siberian Kurgan Region on Monday to celebrate the first day of the new school year. The school that recently received federal money to upgrade their equipment and repair their facilities. This English report from RIA Novosti fills in the rest: 

Putin took an interest in an interactive whiteboard in the school’s IT department, and after learning it could be written on simply using a finger, he sketched an image that was not immediately recognizeable to everyone. “This is for you to remember,” he told the students.

When one asked what the doodle was, Putin answered with a smile, “It’s a cat - from the back.”

Here's video of Putin's work, per RT:

The RIA Novosti report connects Putin's feline portraiture to similar paintings from former U.S. president George W. Bush. Bush may or may not have entered a cat period in his latest leaked masterpieces. 

Not to leave out any Putin-related news, he also went on a field trip to an aquarium on Sunday where he high-fived a walrus. "Vladimir Putin is basically the Newt Gingrich of Russia," Talking Points Memo's Hunter Walker said on Twitter. Newt Gingrich, like Putin, also enjoys animals. 

       

The DEA Pays AT&T for Access to 26 Years of Phone Records

The Drug Enforcement Agency can comb through roughly 26 years of phone records in their pursuit of big time drug dealers through a newly revealed partnership with AT&T to provide the law enforcement agency with real time access to an unprecedented amount of user information.

According to reports from The New York Times and ABC News, the DEA has been paying AT&T since 2007 to work directly with the High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas program to offer access to every call that goes through the communications company's switchboard. The Hemisphere Project, an unclassified but "law enforcement sensitive" program, places an AT&T employee in four DEA offices across the country -- two in Los Angeles, one in Houston, one in Atlanta -- to assist federal and local officials working together to track down suspects. It gives the DEA access to records including phone numbers, time and duration of calls and the location where the call was made dating back 26 years -- all the way back to 1987. "Some four billion call records are added to the database every day," the Times explains, per training slides for AT&T employees that were released through FOIA requests. 

The program is primarily used to track drug trafficking suspects who routinely switch phones or phone numbers to avoid detection from law enforcement. Drug dealers will use "burner phones" to make a small batch of calls to lieutenants in their operation before discarding the phone before police can track their behavior. The Hemisphere Project tries to work around that. ABC News does the best job explaining how law enforcement officials use the records to track major suspects: 

Essentially, the program uses a suspect’s past phone calls to identify associates, and then uses those associates’ recent call patterns to identify the suspect’s new number. Subpoenas are obtained to proceed with each step.

The DEA's project gives them access to more user information than the phone records collected by the National Security Agency's surveillance programs. Their archives only go back five years because of restrictions imposed by the Patriot Act. But the Hemisphere Project doesn't collect and store data at DEA offices. The AT&T rep works to retrieve and deliver data "in real time," law enforcement sources told ABC News, from archives stored by the communications company.  "Hemisphere results can be returned via email within an hour of the subpoenaed request," Hemisphere training materials say. "Hemisphere data contains roaming information that can identify the city and state at the time of the call."

The Justice Department issued this statement to The New York Times: 

Brian Fallon, a Justice Department spokesman, said in a statement that “subpoenaing drug dealers’ phone records is a bread-and-butter tactic in the course of criminal investigations.”

Mr. Fallon said that “the records are maintained at all times by the phone company, not the government,” and that Hemisphere “simply streamlines the process of serving the subpoena to the phone company so law enforcement can quickly keep up with drug dealers when they switch phone numbers to try to avoid detection.”

Two legal experts contacted by the Times had differing opinions on the programs legality. "Is this a massive change in the way the government operates? No," said Columbia law professor Daniel C. Richman. Richman acknowledged there are questions to be asked about the ease with which law enforcement can access the data. "I’d speculate that one reason for the secrecy of the program is that it would be very hard to justify it to the public or the courts," deputy legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union Jameel Jaffer said. 

The craziest part about this story -- besides the massive, questionable partnership between a major law enforcement program and a telecommunications company -- is how the program came to light. Andrew Hendricks, a Washington peace activist, obtained a Powerpoint presentation explaining the program through a Freedom of Information Act request to West Coast police departments while he was investigating something completely unrelated. He gave them to the Times, and also uploaded them to the Internet for the rest of the world to see. You can read through the slides below:

Seattle Hemisphere Info by Andrew Charles Hendricks

 

       

No One's Sure What Will Happen With Syria

We're at least nine days away from Congress and Senate voting on a potential U.S. strike against Syria, a retaliatory action after the Assad regime allegedly killed over 1,400 citizens with chemical weapons last week. So far, there's almost no indication which way this vote will go.

Secretary of State John Kerry is certain the House will follow the President's wishes and authorize an attack. But Politico says the President faces an "uphill battle" in the days ahead because lawmakers on both sides of the aisle remain "highly skeptical," according to Buzzfeed, of the President's authorization bill sent to Congress on Saturday evening. 

Democratic Sen. Patrick Leahy called the authorization draft, written by Obama's core team of advisors, "too open-ended" after the classified briefings held on Capitol Hill on Sunday. Roughly 60-70 House members and a handful of Senators showed up on their long weekend to attend the meetings where the President's top advisers presented their case for an attack. 

"I know it’s going to be amended in the Senate," Leahy told reporters after the meeting. Indeed, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Sen. Robert Menendez are already working on revisions to to "narrow the scope for any U.S. military mission in Syria," Politico reports. 

While members of both parties agree the President made the right move allowing Congress to vote, there's little to no consensus on whether or not we should attack. Or how. There's no party line to tow this time. Instead, lawmakers are listening and developing reasoned decisions about what the best possible next step should be. "I’m still very skeptical about the President’s proposal. It is not clear to me that we know what the result of this attack would be, or whether it will be effective," Democratic House intelligence committee member Jim Himes told Buzzfeed. Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, the head of the House GOP Conference, said lawmakers were "becoming more informed and they’re asking questions and that’s all part of the decision," after the meeting. She still doesn't know how she'll vote, though. "It’s a difficult decision," she told the Washington Post. "I have a lot of concerns. I’m skeptical, but I’m going to listen and continue to learn."

Even some lobby groups on the left are split over what to do next. Germany won't have any part in an attack. But
    

Wild Sex Party Busted at a Michigan Masonic Temple

Do you get all hot and bothered when you're sitting inside a temple? Because, if so, you might want to connect with the group that allegedly had a "drug fuelled sex party" inside a Masonic temple in Michigan recently. They might be your spirit guides. 

Don't let anyone tell you they don't party hard in Michigan. This story, alerted to us by Raw Story, is almost too hard to believe. The Battle Creek Enquirer reports police officers in Battle Creek, Michigan responded to calls about a fight at the Masonic temple around 2:19 a.m. last Sunday. But when the police arrived the physical altercations taking place were not violent. Take it away, News Channel 3: 

Sources told us the first officer to walk inside, was shocked to find a couple performing a lewd sex act, along with drugs, multiple nude women and men videotaping it all behind these closed doors. 

The Enquirer says five women were dancing onstage. All were ordered to get dressed and leave. 

Maybe there's a reasonable explanation, though. Charlie, a representative for the Masonic Temple who refused to be identified further, told News Channel 3 that a group paid $900 to rent the building for a "dance party" that night. He also denied accusations that this was not the first time a sex party had occurred behind the organizations doors. The Masonic temple where the alleged drug fuelled sex party took place is next door to the Battle Creek police department and across the street from the county courthouse. 

No other reports exist about the story, and what drugs were present is never made clear. But, still: a group of people were allegedly busted videotaping a swinging, stoned orgy inside a Masonic temple in Battle Creek, Michigan. 

       

One Direction Conquers the World

Welcome to the Box Office Report, where we bow to our new pants-less boy king, Harry Styles. 

1. One Direction: This Is Us (Sony): $17 million in 2,735 theaters

The biggest band in the world unsurprisingly got the teens out in full force to take the box office crown home before school starts again. As Buzzfeed's Adam Vary explains, the One Directioners came out stronger than whatever Katy Perry's fans call themselves for her concert movie. Unfortunately, they couldn't compete with Biebs, Miley, or Michael Jackson's concert movies. There are plenty of caveats: the long weekend and how that affected teens' ability to see the movie chief among them. 

2. Lee Daniels's The Butler (Weinstein Company): $14.7 million in 3,330 theaters [Week 3]

At one point it seemed The Butler might make a clean sweep of the last three weeks of summer, topping the box office for three straight weeks heading into September. Oprah's star is faded, though. Be honest: she never had a chance against Louis, Zayn, Harry, Liam, and Niall.

3. We're the Millers (Warner): $12.6 million in 3,445 theaters [Week 4]

Jason Sudeikis has pretty ears.

4. Planes (Universal): $7.8 million in 3,259 theaters [Week 4]

Planes are a mode of transportation that were turned into talking modes of transportation for an animated movie released by Disney. 

5. Instructions Not Included (Lionsgate): $7.5 million in 347 theaters

Those numbers aren't a mistake. This spanish family comedy averaged over $21,000 a theater over its opening weekend. We don't know much else about the movie, except that its star looks exactly like Billy Bob Thornton. 

       

Kerry: Sarin Gas Was Used in Syria

Secretary of State John Kerry announced that evidence shows Sarin gas was used during the chemical weapons attack that killed over 1,400 people in Syria last week and compared Bashar al-Assad to Saddam Hussein and Adolf Hitler during his tour of all five Sunday morning talk shows. Kerry sat down with the hosts of CNN's State of the Union, NBC's Meet the Press, CBS's Face the Nation, ABC's This Week and Fox News Sunday to discuss the Syrian chemical weapons attacks and to make the case for American intervention, again, ahead of the debates and votes facing Congress on September 9. We've broken the most important quotes down for you below. 

New Evidence

"Let me just add that this morning, a very important recent development, that in the last 24 hours, we have learned through samples that were provided to the United States that have now been tested from first responders in east Damascus and hair samples and blood samples have tested positive for signatures of sarin," Kerry first told Meet the Press, and State of the Union, too. "So, this case is building, and this case will build," he said.

Assad's Place Among History's Biggest Villains

"Bashar al-Assad now joins the list of Adolf Hitler and Saddam Hussein who have used these weapons in time of war," Kerry said on Meet the Press. "There's a front against the decency and sensibilities of the world," he said.

On Congress Voting No

"We don't contemplate that Congress is going to vote no," Kerry said on State of the Union. "We believe this case is powerful and continues to grow by the day." Kerry explained that Obama has "the right" to strike if Congress votes against striking Syria, but that the country would be stronger with congressional support. "I think the stakes are too high here," he said on This Week, before launching into a greater explanation of why the U.S. must act in this scenario: 

"And I believe that as we go forward in the next days, the congress will recognize that we can not allow Assad to be able to gas people with impunity. If the United States is unwilling to lead a coalition of people who are prepared to stand up for the international norm with respect to chemical weapons that's been in place since 1925, if we are unwilling to do that, we will be granting a blanket license to Assad to continue to gas and we will send a terrible message to the North Koreans, Iranians and others who might be trying to read how serious is America about enforcing its nonproliferation, counternuclear weapons initiatives."

On More Countries Possibly Joining the U.S. in a Coalition to Strike Syria

"I've talked with a number of nations who have offered to be helpful," Kerry said on Meet the Press. "No decisions have been made about what shape that will take.  But I believe that there are many -- the Arab League has already spoken out. Voices as far away as Japan, New Zealand, Australia, other places have spoken out."

On the Possibility Assad Carries Out Another Chemical Weapons Attack Ahead of a Congressional Vote

"I am amazed that you would argue against the Congress of the United States weighing in, when in fact, already Assad is on the defensive, he's moving assets around, he's hunkering down, he's taking a response to the potential of a strike.  And the fact is that this strike can have impact when it needs to, with the support of the Congress of the United States," Kerry said on Fox News Sunday. "So if the Assad regime - let me just finish.  If the Assad regime were to be foolish enough to attack yet again and to do something in the meantime, of course the president of the United States knows he has the power to do this, and I assume the president would move very, very rapidly.  But he feels we are stronger in getting the United States as a whole to gel around this policy, to understand it better, and to know what the strategy is, and why the United States needs to do this."

On Whether or Not the U.S. Has a "Slam Dunk" Case Against Assad

"The word 'slam dunk' should be retired from the American national security issues," Kerry said on Meet the Press. "We are saying that the high confidence that the intelligence community has expressed and the case that I laid out the other day is growing stronger by the day. We know where this attack came from.  We know exactly where it went. We know what happened exactly afterwards."

On the Extent of the Operation and the Chance Assad Could Continue to Govern

"The president has drawn a clear line," Kerry said on Face the Nation. "He does not intend to put boots on the ground. He is not going to envelope the United States inside Syria's civil struggle. But he has committed to help the opposition. And he has stated unequivocally that [President Bashar] Assad has lost all legitimacy and cannot conceivably continue to govern, ultimately, Syria."

Here are all of Kerry's interviews, from NBC:

ABC:

Unfortunately your browser does not support IFrames.

CBS:

And, finally, CNN:

       

Remembering Sir David Frost

Renowned interviewer and journalist Sir David Frost, 74, known primarily for his amazing interview with Richard Nixon after the former President's resignation, died Saturday night while aboard a cruise ship. 

Frost had a long career in broadcasting, with his own shows broadcast on BBC and Al Jazeera during his long and illustrious career in journalism. He passed away Saturday on the Queen Elizabeth cruise ship, where he was scheduled to give a speech. Frost's family released this statement to the BBC Sunday morning: 

"His family are devastated and ask for privacy at this difficult time. A family funeral will be held in the near future and details of a memorial service will be announced in due course."

Since the mid-1960s, Frost interviewed every British and U.S. leader: 

Frost interviewed all six British prime ministers serving between 1964 and 2007 and the seven US. presidents in office between 1969 and 2008

— Stein Hernes (@SteinHernes) September 1, 2013

So, fittingly, current British prime minister David Cameron shared his condolences on Twitter: 

My heart goes out to David Frost's family. He could be - and certainly was with me - both a friend and a fearsome interviewer.

— David Cameron (@David_Cameron) September 1, 2013

Frost will always first be remembered for his serious work with world leaders like Nixon, or celebrities like the Beatles, as displayed in this gallery compiled by the Guardian. But, as The New York Times' Brian Stelter explains, he also had a huge influence on the modern American satirical side of the news on television: 

In 1962, Mr. Frost became the host of “That Was the Week That Was,” a satirical look at the news on Saturday nights. While it lasted for only two seasons in Britain, “TW3,” as it was known, was reborn briefly as a program on NBC in the United States, and it is remembered as a forerunner to “The Daily Show” and the “Weekend Update” segment on NBC’s “Saturday Night Live.” After “TW3,” Mr. Frost hosted a succession of programs in Britain, from game shows to intellectually rigorous talk shows.

After the news of his death spread across social media, people began sharing some their favorite moments from Frost's interviewing career. The only place to start, of course, is with his blockbuster post-resignation interview with Nixon that was eventually turned into a 2008 Oscar contender: 

Others preferred this bonkers 1969 interview with John Lennon and Yoko Ono from The David Frost Show that begins with the two men throwing acorns to the crowd: 

Many people shared this 1985 clip of Frost butting heads with Margaret Thatcher.

But let's close with this Rolling Stones performance of "You Can't Always Get What You Want," on The David Frost Show, because the best ones never get to live forever: 

       

Electric Zoo's Final Day Cancelled After Two People Died from 'Molly'

The final day of the Electric Zoo music festival in New York City was cancelled Sunday after two attendees died and four more were in critical condition, all thought to be connected to the popular club drug MDMA. 

The exact cause of death is unknown, but "both appear to have involved the drug MDMA (ecstasy, or molly),"
    

Nelson Mandela Has Left the Hospital, Is Still Alive

Nelson Mandela, the first black president of South Africa and Nobel Prize winner, was finally released from the hospital after a three month stay, the longest since he was released from prison in 1990. A report from former President George W. Bush said that Mandela had died, but South african officials worked quickly to dispel that rumor Sunday morning. 

Mandela was admitted to the hospital with a lung infection at the beginning of June, a health concern that had been bothering him for the past few months and dating back to his notorious 27 years in jail. But the 95-year-old former leader was finally released to his home, where he will still receive intensive care, South African President Jacob Zuma announced on Saturday. Zuma said his condition is "at times unstable," but explained the same team who cared for Mandela at the Pretoria hospital would be working with him from home. "If there are health conditions that warrant another admission to hospital in future, this will be done," Zuma said in his statement

Mandela was hospitalized for the fourth time in eight months early on June 8 after he came down with pneumonia for the second time in four months. His condition worsened, going from "serious but stable" to "critical," while receiving care at the hospital. Mandela was put on life support at the end of June and the outlook was poor. South African President Jacob Zuma canceled some travel plans after visiting with Mandela, and the former president's eldest daughter didn't pull any punches with her assessment of the situation: "I won't lie, it doesn't look good," Makaziwe told South African radio at the end of June. 

Mandela's lungs were first damaged when he contracted tuberculosis working in a quarry as perhaps the most famous political prisoner of modern times, but Mandela's health took a turn in January, when he spent 18 days in a South African hospital, then his longest hospital stay since his release in 1990. He returned twice in March; one stay was brief, the other was for ten days. 

There was a moment Sunday morning when the office of former U.S. President George H.W. Bush confused some on social media after releasing a statement announcing that Mandela had died. Bush's touching statement, though sent prematurely, per Politico: 

“Barbara and I mourn the passing of one of the greatest believers in freedom we have had the privilege to know,” the statement said. “As President, I watched in wonder as Nelson Mandela had the remarkable capacity to forgive his jailers following 26 years of wrongful imprisonment — setting a powerful example of redemption and grace for us all. He was a man of tremendous moral courage, who changed the course of history in his country. Barbara and I had great respect for President Mandela, and send our condolences to his family and countrymen.”

Bush's spokesperson Jim McGrath quickly walked back the statement on Twitter, blaming a Washington Post newsflash for the confusion.