Atlantic Monthly Contributors's Blog, page 972

The 'Duck Dynasty' Clan Gets a Big Raise

The stars of A&E's crazy popular reality series Duck Dynasty, about a Louisiana family that's made something of a fortune with their duck hunting supply company, are going to get a little bit richer. According to Deadline, they're getting a 400-500 percent raise for the fourth season: "under the new agreement, the clan will earn more than $200,000 an episode, divvied up among the nine adults and 11 kids on the show." So, if they split that evenly they'll potentially take home $150,000 each, just for being themselves. Or some version of themselves. Quick, I need a wacky profession so I too can have a successful reality series and then maybe make enough to quit that wacky profession. Ditch digging? Would you people like to watch a show about ditch digging? It could be called Ditches 'n' Dollars or something. OK. It's settled. I'm pitching this. [Deadline]

Potentially exciting news: filming has begun on Christopher Nolan's next film, the mysterious Interstellar, which many think is about time travel. And possibly other dimensions. The first shooting location is Alberta, so maybe some of it takes place in the mountains? Or on the prairie? Who knows. Nolan's movies are always so secretive. But they're also usually lots of fun, right? I know the Batman movies got a little turgid and even nonsensical there at the end, and Inception doesn't exactly hold up to closer inspection, but his movies are always exciting the first time around. Plus, what a cast! Jessica Chastain, Matthew McConaughey, Michael Caine, Wes Bentley, John Lithgow, Casey Affleck, Ellen Burstyn and David Oyelowo are all in the movie. Quite a lineup. Oh, hm, and Anne Hathaway and Topher Grace, but whatevs. Happy filming, guys! [The Hollywood Reporter]

Julie Delpy has been hired to write the script for the HBO movie Cancer Vixen, set to star Cate Blanchett. What a duo! Imagine them doing press for the movie in some foreign city and then going to a cafe and having intelligent, graceful, witty conversation and everyone around them feeling jealous and maybe even a little sad. I hope I'm at that cafe. [Deadline]

Meaty Australian Joel Edgerton has been cast as Ramses in Ridley Scott's upcoming Exodus. Y'know, as in the Exodus story from The Bible? So he'll be Moses's brother (but not by blood) who's all sad and then mad when Moses, played by Christian Bale, figures out he's a Jew and that it's time to get his people the hell outta Egypt. So it's not exactly as dynamic a pairing as Ralph Fiennes and Val Kilmer, who played Ramses and Moses in the criminally underrated animated movie Prince of Egypt, but it'll do. Hopefully this is more Gladiator and less Kingdom of Heaven. [The Hollywood Reporter]

Here's a look at Frank Darabont's new TNT show Mob City, about Mickey Cohen and all those L.A. gangsters from the '40s. Y'know, the Gangster Squad folks. This show looks a little darker and more serious than that movie, though. And by darker I mean actually dark. Can you see anything in this trailer? Because I cannot. Someone tell TNT that it's great to go for prestige drama and all, but they can still keep a light or two on. Because sheesh. Anyway, the show premieres in December.

       

We Answer the 30 Petitions President Obama Won't

There are 30 petitions at the White House website which have both met the signature requirement and which have not yet been responded to. We know this because of WHPetitions.info, a site that tracks these political orphans. While this might look like a blatant disregard for democracy and the marketplace of ideas — in a format that the White House itself promoted! — upon closer examination, it's more clear why some of these petitions are being ignored. If you were one of the signatories waiting patiently for a response to your demand that Obama "oppose the petition created by 'Hisa A' on Japan’s proposal to take Japan’s claim over Dokdo," we're here to explain why you're likely to keep waiting.

Many neglected petitions fall into general categories. So we've grouped them.

[image error]Petitions related to: Food-content Paranoia Finalize Standards for GLUTEN-FREE Labeling (waiting 283 days)

We can do the easy one first. Earlier this month, the FDA finalized the "gluten free" labeling rule. So there's your answer on that.

Require all Genetically Modified Foods to be labeled as such (waiting 660 days) Support mandatory labeling of genetically engineered foods (GMOs) (waiting 458 days)

As for the GMO labels, it's trickier. The short version is that the president clearly wants Congress to act on this, if anyone is going to. (It has been proposed as an amendment to the Farm Bill, and rejected.)

But the important point is this: While gluten has been linked to celiac disease, there's no known link between genetically-modified organisms and any health effect. (Any physical health effect, anyway.) So the FDA isn't mandating anything, though it does support voluntary labels.

The 130,000 people (probably mostly food scientists) who signed this petition almost certainly overlap heavily with the president's base. Saying "no" to them before last year's election didn't make much sense. Saying "no" now is clearly not much of a priority.

[image error]Petitions related to: How the White / Gold House Ought to Weigh in on Medicine Include Licensed Naturopathic Physicians as primary care providers in the Federal Healthcare Law (Obamacare) (waiting 249 days) Recognize Acupuncturist as Healthcare providers (waiting 184 days) Recognize pharmacists as health care providers! (waiting 199 days)

Being identified as a health care provider affords members of a profession more flexibility in the services they can provide — and the programs in which they can participate. These assignations aren't really up to the president, they're the domain of bureaucrats tasked with implementing government standards, including in the Affordable Care Act.

Also, "naturopathy" isn't real, come on.

Light the White House gold for the month of September to honor pediatric cancer fighters and bring light to the cause. (waiting 187 days)

The White House hasn't answered this petition because the answer would be rude. Fighting pediatric cancer is a worthy cause, but making the White House look gold will do nothing to advance that cause.

[image error]Petitions related to: Incredibly Specific Domestic Issues in Foreign Countries Over Which Obama Has Limited Influence — Part I: Things Japan Is Mad at Korea About Remove the monument and not to support any international harassment related to this issue against the people of Japan. (waiting 430 days) Persuade South Korea (the ROK) to accept Japan's proposal on territorial dispute over islets. (waiting 315 days) Repeal the House of Representatives Resolution 121 to stop aggravating int'l harassment by Korean propaganda & lies! (waiting 385 days)

The president has an entire wing of his administration that handles issues like these. It is called the "State Department." And it is possible that some of these issues are currently under review in the State Department for public or private response.

The level of specificity on these issues (which are by no means monolithic) suggests that they fall into the same category as the Jasmine Sun case above: issues that offer little gain for the president. The First Amendment is great, but the right to petition the government was mostly meant as a benefit for the governed.

[image error]Petitions related to: Incredibly Specific Domestic Issues in Foreign Countries Over Which Obama Has Limited Influence — Part II: Things Korea Is Mad at Japan About oppose the petition created by “Hisa A”on Japan’s proposal to take Japan’s claim over Dokdo (or Takeshima) to the ICJ. (waiting 214 days)

See above.

Petitions related to: Incredibly Specific Domestic Issues in Foreign Countries Over Which Obama Has Limited Influence — Part III: Korean Elections There are election rigging made by Progressive Program that have been used in the 18th Presidential Election of S. KOREA (waiting 197 days)

See above.

[image error]Petitions related to: Incredibly Specific Domestic Issues in Foreign Countries Over Which Obama Has Limited Influence — Part IV: China Invest and deport Jasmine Sun who was the main suspect of a famous Thallium poison murder case (victim:Zhu Lin) in China (waiting 72 days)

We covered this case earlier this year. It's one of a series of recent petitions (more of which are below) that appear to be initiated and largely supported by non-Americans. In the case of Jasmine Sun, Chinese internet users are hoping to force the United States government into action on the case. 

Answering this petition offers almost no political benefit and is likely to serve only as a liability. Which is certainly part of why it hasn't yet been responded to.

Investigate and publicly condemn organ harvesting from Falun Gong believers in China (waiting 224 days) Provide necessary assistance to prevent Taiwanese people from being murdered by Philippines and rebuild friendship. (waiting 59 days)

Also: See "Incredibly Specific Domestic Issues in Foreign Countries Over Which Obama Has Limited Influence — Part I."

Petitions related to: Incredibly Specific Domestic Issues in Foreign Countries Over Which Obama Has Limited Influence — Part IV: Misc Democracy crisis in Malaysia: foreign workers were employed for fraud voting in Malaysian General Election. (waiting 71 days) Grant Temporary Protected Status to Guatemalans (waiting 234 days) vigorously enforce US laws to seek the return of US citizens' properties expropriated by the Vietnamese government. (waiting 328 days) We ask American Congress to make The Act of Alexander Dolmatov to punish all Dutch officials responsible for his death (waiting 171 days)

Petitions related to: Incredibly Complex Foreign Policy Issues Obama Over Which Much Influence

Declare Muslim Brotherhood organization as a terrorist group (waiting 7 days)

[image error]This petition has drawn a lot of signatures from Egyptian liberals since military coup this summer. This a difficult diplomatic problem for the U.S., given that until the coup, the Muslim Brotherhood was the democratically-elected government of Egypt. Given that the U.S. sends Egypt $1.5 billion in aide a year, calling the government a terror organization would have meant the U.S. government funded terrorists. (The U.S. also cannot call Egypt's coup a coup for foreign aide reasons.)

[image error]Petitions related to: The Death of Aaron Swartz Fire Assistant U.S. Attorney Steve Heymann. (waiting 182 days) Remove United States District Attorney Carmen Ortiz from office for overreach in the case of Aaron Swartz. (waiting 183 days)

Unlike many of these petitions, this is entirely within the power of the administration. So it is impossible ​to believe, given the contentiousness surrounding the Aaron Swartz case (background here) that the administration isn't working on a response. (Which is worth noting: Within minutes of our publishing this story, any and all of these petitions could finally get their responses.)

The problem is that the Obama administration is busy fending off critique of how it itself accesses electronic data, perhaps stretching the limit of the law. Firing people for cracking down on a guy who did that might seem a bit hypocritical.

[image error]Petitions related to: Making it Easier to Purchase Unexpectedly Expensive Nicotine Vehicles Not Allow The FDA To Regulate Premium Cigars (waiting 459 days) Prevent the FDA from regulating or banning the sale and use of electronic cigarettes, accessories and associated liquids (waiting 181 days)

If you have nothing better to do with your time than bother the president to let you smoke more, you should go see a naturopathist for an adjustment.

[image error]Petitions related to: Military Stuff End the Military’s Discrimination against Non-Religious Service Members (waiting 652 days)

It is not easy to be an atheist in the military. Not because of that old saw about how "there are no atheists in foxholes," but because religion, and particularly evangelical Protestantism, plays a big role in the armed services. Evangelicals are overrepresented among military chaplains. Suicide prevention efforts sometimes involve talks of "god's plan." Sometimes there are group prayers during official ceremonies. Official unit newsletters to spouses back home sometimes assume the existence of God. Last year, there was a fight between a group of military atheists and 35 members of Congress because the atheists objected to Air Force Rapid Capabilities Office having a patch that said "Doing God's Work with Other People's Money." But atheists are unpopular. A 2012 poll found that 54 percent of Americans would vote against a well-qualified candidate who was an atheist. The White House has worked hard to make sure Obama looks like he's friendly to religious people. (Photo by darwin.wins via Flickr.)

Save the Johnson Valley OHV Area. Be fiscally responsible. Stop 29 Palms Marine base expansion. Keep public lands open. (waiting 180 days)

[image error]The Marine Corps wants to expand the base at Twentynine Palms for combat training, because it says it needs a training area that "must at a minimum provide three maneuver corridors for a ground combat element comprised of three battalions that are simultaneously maneuvering for 48-72 hours with combined-arms live fire and the accompanying special-use airspace." It says the Johnson Valley near Twentynine Palms is the best place to do that. The problem is that off-roaders really love the Johnson Valley, the site of the off-roading "Daytona 500," called the King of Hammers race. Despite that compelling argument, in February, the Marine Corps "cleared a final hurdle" for the expansion, the Marine Corps Times reported. The next step was for Congress — not Obama — to approve the plan. (GIF via King of Hammers highlight video.)

[image error]Petitions related to: A Talk Radio Host's Tax Proposals Invite Neal Boortz, the author of The FairTax Book, to spend one hour talking with the President about tax reform. (waiting 186 days)

The White House has not responded to this petition for three reasons. One, because Neal Boortz is an Atlanta-based talk radio blowhard. Two, because the Fair Tax — which would get rid of the income tax in favor of a national sales tax — is a tax cut for rich people and a tax hike for poor people, and even most Republicans don't support it. Three, because denying Neal Boortz his chance to do his talk radio thing in the White House would serve to increase Neal Boortz's celebrity. (Photo via WSBradio.com.)

Petitions related to: Other Things allow Tesla Motors to sell directly to consumers in all 50 states. (waiting 68 days)

This is unnecessary because pretty soon Tesla owner Elon Musk will just Hyperloop new cars to customers.

To award the Medal of Freedom to the 4 Firefighters who were ambushed in West Webster New York on Christmas Eve 2012 (waiting 197 days)

This story was horrible. Last December 24, a man set a fire at a home with the apparent intent of murdering the firefighters that came to put it out. The firefighters who were killed died in service to the community, in a way that could not have been predicted.

That said, the contribution the victims made to society is qualitatively different than that from past Medal of Freedom recipients. Here's the full list. It includes two dozen members of the military — most of whom you've heard of. It does not include local public safety officers. Obama, in other words, is probably not eager to explain why these men don't make the cut. 

[image error]Petitions related to: Edward Snowden Pardon Edward Snowden (waiting 35 days)

Yeah, nice try.

(All photos by the Associated Press unless otherwise noted.)

       

California Will Now Let Transgender Students Use Any Bathroom They Prefer

In a bill signed into law by Gov. Jerry Brown law on Monday, California has become the first state to require schools to allow transgender students to choose which bathrooms, locker rooms, and athletic teams align with their gender identity.

The law was approved by the California Senate in a 21-9 vote last week, CNN reports, and it will go into effect January 1. Among the nine holdouts was Republican senator Jim Nielsen, who suggested "youthful sex offenders" would take advantage of the new law. He's not the only Californian voicing opposition:

"Just because they're confused doesn't mean they have to confuse everybody else," Maria Garcia told 
    

'Choose Your Own Adventure' Is Moving Into the Digital Age

Choose Your Own Adventure, the beloved 1980s book series with over 180 titles, might be getting a tech makeover for a new generation. The company behind the books, Chooseco, is launching a Kickstarter campaign to turn the bestsellers into cartoon iPad apps for the 21st century's grade schoolers. 

[image error]The first animated Choose 'Toon, as they're being called, is based on Your Very Own Robot, a story that follows the adventures the reader has with a robot built in his parent's garage. (For what it's worth, we would have gone with something a little flashier, like an adaptation of Space Vampire, for our first project, but no one asked.) If the project is funded, the app will have 20 story branches, 11 possible endings and 32 minutes of animation. 

This isn't the first choose-your-own-adventures style app out there, but the project will probably gain traction amongst fans of the original series, which was popular with members of Generations X and Y. The Kickstarter has been running for one day; as of this writing, some 100 backers have donated over $22,000 of the $130,000 goal. And there have been some big spenders — two backers donated $5,000 each to lend their voice to the characters, and someone donated $10,000 to win a trip for two to a destination chosen by backers. 

On the one hand, turning books into animated apps is a sad development for fans of the written word, but this is a natural step in the digital age. At the very least, this is more interactive than the Choose-Your-Own-Adventure movie. 

       

Dude Mansplains His New Website for Dames

Bryan Goldberg, pictured above, created the website Bleacher Report which he then sold to TBS. It is a website about sports. But Goldberg had an idea for a site that would serve a market just as important as sports fans: women. So he made one.

The site is called Bustle, named after either the turn-of-the-century undergarment that gave women the appearance of having large posteriors making them attractive to the men that were going off to work and to vote and such, or maybe for the verb used to describe urgent domestic activity. Or maybe the site's about page says it best: "Bustle is the Busier, Better Half of Hustle." There you go. (Hustle.com, we'll note, doesn't direct to anything.)

Even though Goldberg basically announced the site today, it isn't new. Back in April, Goldberg gave an interview to AOL.com's The Street blog about the site. The Street posted both a video — title: "Can Bleacher Report Co-Founder Get To Third Base With Women?" — and an article — title: "Bleacher Report Co-Founder Aggressively Chasing Women." (LOL!)

The video is at right. In it, Goldberg explains his idea.

I'm starting this new company because I think there's a huge market opportunity. I think that women, especially when they're in their 20s, there's not a lot of stuff out there to read, not a lot of websites they love reading. …

I think that some of the great magazine we think of when we think of the classic women's magazines — your Cosmos, your Vogues, your In Styles, your Elles — they did a great job in the publication world, but I don't think any of them have made a great jump into digital.

You hear that, Wintour? You just got served, or whatever young women in their twenties say, which we assume Goldberg knows. Or does he? Goldberg says that he's not writing for the site, which the male interviewer is glad to hear because women got mad when Congress held hearings on abortion without including women. Rest assured, Goldberg says, "I won't be the face and voice of the site."

He said the same thing in his next big media splash — a post at the tech-business-friendly PandoDaily. "The good news is that I am neither the face nor the voice of Bustle," he writes there. Then he explains why not.

My job, as CEO, is to hire the right people. … Knowing the difference between mascara, concealer, and eye-liner is not my job.

Because, damn it, this is a feminist publication. (Goldberg: "You’re damn right this is a feminist publication." See?)

We’re different, because we recognize how many diverse interests are shared amongst the next generation of women. … Creating an amazing blend of content — one that puts news and politics right beside fashion tips is what will set us apart.

Or, as he also puts it:

Isn’t it time for a women’s publication that puts world news and politics alongside beauty tips? What about a site that takes an introspective look at the celebrity world, while also having a lot of fun covering it? How about a site that offers career advice and book reviews, while also reporting on fashion trends and popular memes?

Yes! Right, ladies? It is time for that! Unlike sites like Jezebel and The Toast and The Hairpin and The Mary Sue and Rookie and so on that only focus on one little thing, Bustle will give you news and also lipstick advice, but not lipstick advice from Goldberg because he is a dude. A dude who recognizes the "'old media' stagnancy" of women's sites.

Also, Bryan Goldberg wants to sell ads that target women which the Bleacher Report was never able to do and that leaves a lot of money on the table, so he'd really like it if you check out Bustle.com but you won't hear that from him because he is not the face or voice of the site. See the video above for more info.

       

What Your Small Talk Says About You

There's no reason small talk should exist. Humans have created ways to order food without calling restaurants, tools to talk to one another without speaking, and images to express emotion through emojis. Despite those advances, small talk continues to exist and haunt the human race, and it's still used to foster some friendships, spark some romances, clinch deals, and land jobs. 

In the face of this universal, man-made evil, humans remain undaunted and will continue to cheat the system (partly because they want jobs) and give other humans rubrics and guides on how to deal with the awfulness of small talk. The latest guide comes from The Wall Street Journal's Elizabeth Bernstein who examines the five-step process of a chit-chat: 

Getting Started Personal Introduction Pre-Topical Exploration Post-Topical Elaboration OMG MAKE THIS STOP Wrap Up

It's all pretty self explanatory and perhaps transactional—be nice, find a topic, make sure someone knows your name, and say goodbye. But following that script is a lot easier said than done. If it were easy, then we wouldn't need endless news articles and tip sheets about it. Sometimes a conversation goes on a bad tangent, or someone won't stop talking, or someone is talking about that one time they did this one thing that you've heard them say a billion times. It's these hangups that got me thinking of the different types of conversation styles and small-talk traps humans tend to fall into: 

[image error]The Dominator: Remember: it's a conversation, not a monologue. One way to tell you're a dominator is that when you stop talking, people have left your conversation circle and you didn't even notice. Just kidding, sorta. Bernstein says that if you pause, or take a breath, and someone changes the subject it means that you killed that conversation.

The Doormat: While dominators tend to run conversations into the ground, there are conversations that never get off the ground. This might be the work of a doormat who offers little to information about themselves or the observations they have. What doormats have to remember is that people are genuinely interested in talking to you or what you have to say. A smart observation here or a little bit of insight into your job could brighten the conversation and keep a dominator in check (which they should thank you for later). 

The Junkie: From politics, to fashion, to Orange Is the New Black, to umami burgers,  to whatever Pitchfork just wrote—you are on top of it, and you love talking about it. There's one problem though, not everyone is an expert and you run the risk of dropping a reference that your fellow small talker won't pick up. The bigger problem, as The Wall Street Journal points out, is that you tend to dominate the conversation and run the risk of creating a monologue no one wants to take part in. That said, picking a more neutral topic is probably better and allows a two-way discussion. Don't worry though, there are plenty of Internet forums and, well, Twitter too, to satisfy your junkie cravings. 

The Downwardly Mobile: Stop looking at your phone. Right now. We mean it. 

The Amnesiac: "Oh my god I don't know this person's name," the Amnesiac is thinking. Don't worry, this happens to everyone.
    

How Campaigns Can Use Twitter to Predict Elections

Who needs polls? A study published Monday reports that campaigns could use Twitter to successfully predict the winner of most races, findings that might bolster the social media service's already robust political presence.

[image error]
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The key measure, researchers from Indiana University found, was a candidate's "tweet share," the percentage of total tweets about a race that mention them. The more often a candidate is mentioned on Twitter relative to their opponent, the study reported, the greater their chance for victory.

The findings were comprehensive: An analysis of tweets from the 2010 midterm elections found the data correctly predicted the winner in 404 of the 406 House races.

"We plotted it and thought, 'Holy moly, it was a very strong correlation,' " said Fabio Rojas, a sociology professor at Indiana and one of the study's coauthors. He added that preliminary analysis of last year's congressional elections show similar results.

The findings rest on two important points: The raw number of tweets about a candidate doesn't matter, and neither does whether the tweets are positive or negative. Rojas and his colleagues, who collected hundreds of thousands of tweets from the 2010 race, initially measured the total number of times the candidate was mentioned, but the findings failed to correlate with which candidate won. Well-known candidates, like Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., or candidates from bigger and wealthier districts would inherently receive more attention.

It was then, Rojas said, they realized that what mattered was the Twitter "horse race," or the number of tweets a candidate earns vis-à-vis his or her opponent. Just as the candidates would compete for a limited percentage of the vote, they would also compete for a limited percentage of the total Twitter traffic.

Perhaps most interesting, whether the tweet praised or criticized the recipient was irrelevant. When it comes to Twitter and politicians, apparently all publicity really is good publicity.

"Are you going to talk about the guy who loses or the guy who wins?" Rojas asked. "You're going to talk about the winner, even if you hate the winner."

He added that although campaigns could seemingly skew the results by paying social media directors to tweet or by asking volunteers to pitch in, such a problem has not yet arisen. Such efforts are usually canceled out by similar action taken by their rival, he said.

In Rojas's view, the findings should revolutionize how campaigns conduct themselves. Rather than spending hundreds of thousands, or even millions, of dollars on surveys, campaigns could simply gauge their status on Twitter. That should help campaigns with fewer resources compete with well-heeled incumbents, he said.

"The point is, it's cheap," he said. "Once you start up software for collecting tweets, it's very cheap. It took one of my Ph.D. students a couple of weeks to set it up."

Of course, professional polling isn't likely to disappear from politics any time soon. For one, it's used for more than just the horse race—campaigns test a variety of things with polls, including their message. Twitter doesn't offer help that way. And few politicians would be willing to switch off from a battle-tested pollster in favor of a technology unproven in the heat of a critical race.

But Twitter is also often derided as a hangout for political and media elites, producing a debate that bears little resemblance to the thoughts and opinions of most voters. This study suggests that the social media outlet does provide an accurate reflection of the electorate.

Guy Harrison, a former executive director of the National Republican Congressional Committee, said he'd have to see a Twitter analysis produce accurate results in a competitive race before putting his faith in it. But the service's importance to the political debate, he said, is beyond question at this point.

"Social media and digital media across the board is here to stay, and it's going to be here a long time," he said.

       

Five Best Tuesday Columns

Kevin Cullen in The Boston Globe on the disappearance of Whitey Bulger's Boston The South Boston neighborhood that mobster Whitey Bulger terrorized for so many years is now a nice, upscale area, and even if Bulger had somehow managed to avoid jail, he wouldn't fit in anymore. "Southie moved on. Boston moved on. Whitey only moved away," Cullen writes, detailing the stark transformation of areas that once were witness to Bulger's murders into the modern peaceful waterfronts and their young, hip denizens. "And they don’t care. He is not part of their Boston. He's a ghost, not even dead yet, but a ghost." Boston WBZ News anchor Paula Ebben tweets, "A watershed moment. The "Old" #Boston has faded away. Brilliant piece." "The @BostonGlobe gets an A+ for its #Bulger coverage with @GlobeCullen leading the way with a tip-top column," tweets Jon Tapper, co-founder of communications firm Melwood Global, and Forbes contributor Micheline Maynard suggests a more specific award: "Can we just declare @GlobeCullen the Pulitzer winner for Commentary?"

Jeffrey Goldberg in Bloomberg View on Israeli legitimacy Despite U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry's efforts, Israel doesn't appear very close to forming a two-state Israeli-Palestinian solution, and this continued failure threatens to delegitimize Israel in the eyes of Europe. "Israel will find it increasingly difficult to one day act against the Iranian nuclear program if it is hobbled by the hostility of the international community," Goldberg writes. "Partly because of the actions of the EU, Netanyahu is listening to Kerry's warnings with newly open ears." The piece illuminates Kerry's motivations, and Christa Case Bryant, the Jerusalem bureau chief for The Christian Science Monitor, writes, "Kerry thinks the 1 thing Netanyahu fears as much as Iran ... is growing [power] of int'l [movement] to isolate, demonize Israel." Joel Braunold, columnist for Israel's Haaretz, tweets, "don't count out the Kerry effort just yet."

Vauhini Vara in The New Yorker on BlackBerry's demise The twin rise of Apple's expensive iPhones and cheap Android-powered smartphones has completely dismantled BlackBerry, as the stock value of its maker Research in Motion has dropped to just over $10 a share from its peak of $236 in 2007. Now, the company announced a special committee to sell itself for cash and its technological patents. "In other words, one of the companies that pioneered the smartphone market may soon end up selling itself as scrap," Vara explains. Sarah Weinman, news editor for Publishers Marketplace, calls the story an "elegy for a pioneering smartphone." Jim Rosenberg, head of online strategy at the World Bank, continues the headline "How Blackberry Fell" with this simple answer: "Slowly, and then all at once?" And Pete Sweigard, a digital editor at The Baltimore Sun, encouraged his followers to "Read about the fall of Blackberry ... on your iPhone."

Shane Harris in Foreign Policy on the irony of the NSA's fear of public information After the Defense Department commissioned a study to examine whether freely-available online information could cause national security threats, Harris writes, "The irony is delicious." He explains: "At the time government officials are assuring Americans they have nothing to fear from the National Security Agency poring through their personal records, the military is worried that Russia or al Qaeda is going to wreak nationwide havoc after combing through people's personal records." Like Harris, Remi Brulin, a Salon and Foreign Policy contributor, notes the conflicting stances within Defense: "Big Data poses no threat (NSA) / If U can think of ways Big Data could pose a threat, we'd like to hire U (DARPA)." 

Elise Viebeck in The Hill on the possibility of OprahCare The Obama Administration has been seeking celebrity endorsers of Obamacare, and nothing would help as much as positive sentiment from Oprah and her talk show empire. "There are signs that Oprah might be willing to step back into politics after a noticeable absence," she writes. "But promoting one of the most controversial laws in decades would be a big risk for Winfrey to take," and could threaten parts of her large, bipartisan audience. "I personally love the idea of Oprah promoting Obamacare," writes Annie-Rose Strasser, the deputy managing editor of ThinkProgress, and, as health care reporter Ankita Rao notes, "Never doubt the power of @Oprah — even when it comes to the health law." Rob Schmidt, project director of a conservative polling group, tweets his speculation on Oprah's potential future: "#Oprah knows that supporting #Obamacare would tarnish her brand, so would this hint at elected office?"

       

For Netflix and AMC, 'Breaking Bad' Is More Than Just a Good Show

Plenty has been written about what Breaking Bad and the machinations of Walter White say about running a business, but outside of its fictional world of the meth trade, one of the show's lasting legacies will be its impact on the business of how we watch and consume television. 

It's fair to say that the return of Breaking Bad for its midseason premiere was a success. The show had record ratings with 5.9 million viewers, nearly double its previous high. For perspective, that means that over 2 million more people watched Walt and Hank's confrontation than tuned in to see who Don Draper would sleep with in Mad Men's most recent season premiere. 

Both Breaking Bad and Mad Men are credited with helping AMC shape itself as a supplier of more than just movie reruns, but Breaking Bad was the show that really pushed the network over the edge. In a Q&A with BuzzFeed's Kate Aurthur, the channel's president Charlie Collier said that when Bryan Cranston won an Emmy for his work in the show's first season he said: "Now we’re a network. We have two shows." 

Becoming "a network," with the help of Breaking Bad and other shows like ratings boon The Walking Dead, helped AMC devise what Quartz's Zachary Seward describes as an ingenious strategy. The network has produced a core group of shows so beloved by viewers that AMC can charge cable companies high rates to broadcast them. Having shows like this "provided enough leverage for AMC to demand that cable companies pay higher affiliate fees, which rose from 22 cents per customer per month in 2007 to 33 cents in 2013—a 50% jump in five years, according to estimates by SNL Kagan," Seward wrote, noting that those figures don't include AMC Networks' other channels. "When Dish Network balked at paying higher fees last year, AMC ultimately won the dispute." 

Breaking Bad's availability on Netflix is also helping both the network and the streaming service. Seward noted that AMC is "more progressive than nearly any other cable network" in sharing its shows on the Internet. In fact, the network is allowing UK Netflix users to watch new episodes on the site nearly immediately after they air. Andrew Wallenstein at Variety credited the ratings boost that Breaking Bad saw Sunday night to the binge watchers who caught up on the entire show on Netflix. That raises both the show's and Netflix's profile, especially if other series see a similar Netflix boost. "Maybe the studio should be paying Netflix instead of the other way around, given you could argue that the studio gets more marketing muscle than the streaming service gets from the content addition," Wallenstein suggested. If, say, Fox's New Girl also gets a boost after turning to Netflix streaming, the company could be in a better spot than ever before to leverage studios. 

Sometimes their Internet savvy maybe goes a bit too far. Fans on iTunes were angered when they realized they would have to purchase the last eight episodes, which began Sunday, separately from the first part of season five.

The show has had an impact on a smaller scale as well. Aside from making Albuquerque a tourist destination, Breaking Bad's presence in the city has made it more of a destination for Hollywood folks, the AP's Russell Contreras reported. NBC's hospital drama The Night Shift will call Albuquerque its home, despite taking place in San Antonio. 

Of course, now the test is whether Breaking Bad's influence on the industry is lasting. AMC certainly has other shows in its arsenal—The Walking Dead is a huge hit—and the Netflix effect is still new. But for now Walter White's is the real kingpin. 

       

The Real Timeline of the Daft Punk 'Colbert' Appearance That Never Was

Despite some popular speculation to the contrary, Stephen Colbert did not engineer Daft Punk's dramatic, MTV-ordered no-show on The Colbert Report as a promotional stunt.

In a podcast interview with lawyer-turned-Daily-Show-writer Paul Mercurio, the host laid out an extensive timeline of what went down when and confirmed that everything he claimed on the show was truthful (albeit with exaggerated anguish for comedic effect). Responding to Pitchfork's smoking gun of sorts—that the stunt must have been planned, because how could he have gotten all those celebrity guests to join in the "Get Lucky" dance sequence at the last minute—Colbert explains that, yes, the sequence had been planned because Daft Punk had not been willing to perform on the show. This was meant to spice things up.

But they really were supposed to appear, logistics aside. Here's a timeline of events, according to Colbert:

Six weeks before the show: Colbert is approached by producers saying Daft Punk is available: "They said they're fans and they'd like to come on." He enthusiastically consents: "They don't even talk, right? That'd be fun!" Five weeks before: Colbert learns Daft Punk didn't want to be interviewed, either. He plans a rambling, six-minute monologue of a question where the band members would simply nod along. Four weeks before: He learns Daft Punk doesn't want to play their song: "I said, 'Well, we're dropping some coin on these guys! We're flying these guys in from Paris, and not on coach!'" But he regards what other hosts would see as a logistical headache as an intriguing challenge: "I want to figure out how to have Daft Punk on and not have Daft Punk on. Like, not perform, and yet we still get the joy [of them]." So he plans the celebrity dance number. Two or three weeks before: Robin Thicke agrees to go on. But then Thicke has to cancel, because he is also slated to appear on the VMAs. So Colbert has people at his network call up MTV's network president, Van Toffler, to work it out: "And they worked it out. And that was cool." The weekend before the show: Daft Punk's camp reads the script and is unhappy with it. ("They didn't want the robots doing nothing, they wanted the robots to be doing some fun stuff.") So Colbert spends hours on Sunday rewriting it and making sure Daft Punk is pleased. The Monday before the show, 2 p.m.: Colbert's co-exec approaches him. Colbert learns that Daft Punk is also slated to go on the VMAs; MTV is claiming an exclusivity deal. Meanwhile, Daft Punk is in Paris, trying to figure out whether or not to fly to New York. Colbert urges them to come: "It's gonna work out! Guys, trust me." Since it worked out with Thicke, he assumes it won't pose a problem. Late Monday night.: Still no word from MTV. The show is on Tuesday. But Colbert hasn't rewritten anything, "because I was confident it would work out." Tuesday morning, 11:30 a.m.: Colbert finds out MTV won't budge: "I really was kind of gobsmacked. [. . .] I understand, the VMAs got their own rules. But as I said to people on both sides, 'I'm the guy who's completely screwed here! I don't have a show tonight!'" Tuesday afternoon, hours before the show: Colbert and his team rewrite the show, channeling frustration into scathing comedy. This is what results.

Despite all this, Colbert isn't as peeved as he seemed on air: he got a great show out of the whole debacle. "There's an emotional state from the guy who's completely fucked, the guy who never ever wants to lose," he told Mercurio. "I found the whole thing joyful. We all said, 'Yippee! Look at what we get to do.' This gives us an emotional state. We always want to approach the show from an emotional state."

He also confirmed that Comedy Central read the full script and never asked him to tone down the attack—even though MTV is part of the same family of networks. Nor does he hold a grudge against Van Toffler: "I don't know Mr. Toffler. [But] I have friends who know him and they say he's a great guy, and I believe them." He just thinks the exclusivity policy is ridiculous. "I never want you do to the 'If you're on them, you can't be on us' [deal]," he told his staff.

Listen to the podcast interview here, or below. The Daft Punk discussion begins at around 24:18.