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A federal judge ruled the government must declassify secret evidence that is used to justify the continued imprisonment of more than 100 Guantanamo prisoners. The government provided the secret evidence against the detainees called factual returns, in response to prisoners who petitioned the court for their release. U.S. District Judge Thomas Hogan ruled authorities must release the information and must seek court approval to keep information secret. "Public interest in Guantanamo Bay generally and these proceedings specifically has been unwavering," Hogan wrote. "Publicly disclosing the factual returns would enlighten the citizenry and improve perceptions of the proceedings' fairness." President Obama has vowed to shut the prison down, but has run into some hefty roadblocks in the process.
After months of rumors, it's now official: North Korean leader Kim Jong Il has anointed his son as the next leader of the communist dynasty by asking his country’s overseas mission to pledge loyalty to young Jong-un, says a newspaper report from the country. The 67-year-old leader reportedly had a stroke in August, and the country’s recent rash of military actions, including a nuclear test in late May, are thought to be his attempt to solidify enough power to be able to name a successor. Jong-un, who is in his early twenties and is one of three sons, was educated in Switzerland, but very little else is known about him. Jong was groomed for decades before taking over the role from his father.
The man who is suspected of killing late-term abortion doctor George Tiller attended the physician’s trial in Kansas City two months earlier, where Tiller was acquitted of 19 charges of failing to comply with Kansas abortion laws. Two weeks ago Scott Roeder, who is a member of anti-government militia groups, spoke to a fellow anti-abortion activist about the trial. "He said he'd been down to Wichita for George Tiller's trial and he said it was an absolute sham," fellow activist Eugene Frye said. "He seemed agitated—but agitation for Scott, for a lot of people would be normal." While Frye said Roeder didn’t seem violent, his ex-wife said he was obsessed with stopping abortions, and Roeder also befriended Shelley Shannon, who shot Tiller in 1993. Roeder’s brother released a statement saying he is mentally ill.
My, that was fast. General Motors isn’t wasting any time in combating some of the worst PR in the history of corporate America. A 60-second commercial for the “new” GM takes a practical, even apologetic approach. “Let’s be completely honest,” the announcer says. “No company wants to go through this…General Motors needs to start over, in order to get stronger.” He adds: “There was a time when our cost structure could compete worldwide. Not any more.” But the ad isn’t free of grandiosity. “This is not about going out of business. This is about getting down to business,” the announcer intones. Inspirational images flash in the background: an American flag, a moon landing, a sports team. A for effort?
To counteract the Pakistani army offense in the Swat valley, the Taliban captured several hundred students and teachers in the mountains of western Pakistan on Monday. Nearly 30 minivans en route from a college were overtaken by an armed Taliban group after the convoy, which was told by the governor to leave early for summer vacation, reached a checkpoint. A member of another minivan convoy that made it to their destination said, “The people were heavily armed and their faces were quite open. They were armed to the teeth. They were local Taliban.”
Yesterday, after the murder of Dr. George Tiller, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder directed the United States Marshals Service to offer protection to abortion clinics and providers around the country. Also, Tiller’s assassin, Scott Roeder, was arrested once before in 1996 for having bomb-building materials. And at Salon, Gabriel Winant examines the role Bill O’Reilly played in the campaign against Tiller. Since 2005, O’Reilly mentioned Tiller on his program 29 times, calling him “Tiller the Baby Killer,” accusing him of “Nazi stuff,” and saying “This is the kind of stuff happened in Mao's China, Hitler's Germany, Stalin's Soviet Union.” Winant writes, “While he never advocated anything violent or illegal, the Fox bully repeatedly portrayed the doctor as a murderer on the loose, allowed to do whatever he wanted by corrupt and decadent authorities.”
The family members of the 228 people aboard the Air France jet that disappeared over the Atlantic Ocean are now beginning the long and painful process of coming to terms with the fact that there are likely no survivors. It appears that the plane crashed into the sea after encountering "a towering wall of thunderstorms" somewhere in between Brazil and the African coast, the Associated Press reports. French President Nicolas Sarkozy also advised grieving family members that the "prospects of finding survivors were very small." Experts speculate that the crash must have occurred very rapidly, as it appears the pilot of the plane—who had ample experience flying the aircraft—did not even have time to send out a distress signal. It is also unlikely that a lightning bolt was the sole cause of the crash, but rather, a convergence of several factors caused the tragedy. One expert told the Associated Press that it is possible the plane flew directly into the most violent and dangerous part of the tropical thunderstorm.
Defense Secretary Robert Gates said the U.S. is capable of blocking missiles from North Korea with its emerging missile-defense system. “If there were a launch from a rogue state such as North Korea, I have good confidence that we would be able to deal with it,” Gates said while touring a missile-defense complex in Alaska. North Korea tested a nuclear bomb and launched six short-range missiles last month. Gates said about 30 interceptor rockets—the amount in California—could handle an attack from North Korea. China may have cut off its relationship with North Korea, which would be the strongest response to its nuclear test so far.
J.D. Salinger never had much tolerance for phonies: the reclusive author filed a lawsuit in a federal court in Manhattan seeking unspecified damages against the writer of the copycat book 60 Years Later: Coming Through the Rye. In the new book, written by a man with the pen name JD California, Caulfield is 76 and an escapee from a retirement home. The book is dedicated to Salinger, but the lawsuit says the book is “a ripoff pure and simple,” that doesn’t parody or comment upon the original. The character Holden Caulfield belongs exclusively to Salinger, the suit continues. California said he didn’t mean to cause Salinger, who lives in rural New Hampshire and hasn’t published for decades, any trouble.
When Oprah features a product on her show—a wrinkle cream, book, or type of food—it immediately starts flying off the shelves. But what happens when her endorsements are bad for viewers’ health? Newsweek reports that Oprah had actress Suzanne Somers on her show to praise non-FDA-approved “bioidenticals,” hormone injections that keep the actress feeling younger but increase risk for heart disease, cancer, and other illness. "We have the right to demand a better quality of life for ourselves," Oprah said, after she allowed a few doctors to argue against the hormones. "And that's what doctors have got to learn to start respecting." Oprah also had anti-vaccine activist Jenny McCarthy launch her platform on her show, praised risky cosmetic surgery procedures, and featured medical experts spouting half-truths about weight loss and various medical conditions.
President Obama assured taxpayers today that the government’s $30 billion investment in General Motors will streamline the company and transform it into a “new GM.” In addition to dropping its Pontiac, Hummer, Saab, and Saturn brands and closing more than 2,000 dealerships by next year as part of its bankruptcy, GM will build more cars on U.S. soil and taxpayers will own about 60 percent of the company. GM shareholders are more or less behind the government agreement since, according to Obama, they will recover more than if GM had liquidated. The company, Obama said, has too much debt to be given another loan. “We are acting as reluctant shareholders,” he said, adding that the government will only step in to make decisions for the company when absolutely necessary. “What we are not doing—and what I have no interest in doing—is running GM.” Obama also said anyone looking to buy a GM car should keep in mind that the product will be backed by the government.
In a speech to the Heritage Foundation today, former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney made clear his feelings about President Obama’s recent actions, roundly condemning his “tour of apology” to the world. "This is the time for strength and confidence, not for apologizing to America's critics," said Romney. He added that "arrogant, delusional tyrants can not be stopped by earnest words and furrowed brows.” The prospective 2012 Republican presidential candidate detailed a plan for national security, including an increase in defense spending by $50 billion per year and “regime-crippling sanctions” against North Korea. Romney appears to be on his own tour of criticism. On Sunday, he said, "We don't want a president and a head of the [United Auto Workers] running General Motors. The American public ought to own that enterprise."
The White House press corps traveling with Barack Obama on his trip to Saudi Arabia face some serious restrictions in the notorious kingdom, and at least one reporter is none too happy about it. Time magazine's Michael Scherer posted the note he received from the State Department, which said that reporters are "expressly prohibited from leaving the hotel or engaging in any journalistic activities outside of coverage" of Obama's visit. Scherer uses the outrage to point out Saudi Arabia's previous censorship of the press and also criticize an administration that allows such concessions. But is he actually angry enough to refute the order and cover Saudi Arabia's long record of human rights abuses?
Ready your pipes, aging teenyboppers. The surviving members of The Beatles announced 10 of the 45 songs to be included in their much-anticipated ‘Rock Band’ game today at a conference in Los Angeles. “I Want To Hold Your Hand,” “I Am The Walrus,” and “Back In The USSR” can be fake-strummed when the game is released on September 9. Ringo Starr and Paul McCartney, joined at the conference by Yoko Ono and Olivia Harrison, said the entire Abbey Road album will be on the game, as well as a single of “All You Need Is Love,” with the proceeds donated to Doctors Without Borders. The Beatles' game will allow four singers rather than one and will feature recreations of famous venues the band graced with their presence, including the Cavern Club in Liverpool and the Ed Sullivan Show. Screaming fans not included.
This might make for an awkward family reunion: Nelson Mandela’s grandson is denying he sold the rights to his famous grandfather’s funeral to the South African Broadcasting Corporation for about $376,000. Mandela is now 90, and the revered former president of South Africa and Nobel laureate is in failing health. An anonymous family source told The Sunday World newspaper that the other family members were “shocked and disgusted” by Mandla Mandela’s decision to sell the TV rights to the funeral, which is sure to be a major political event. “There is no such thing. I know nothing about such a thing,” Mandla Mandela said. “We don’t know anything about this as a family. My name will not be rubbished like this.”
Susan Boyle may have survived the last few weeks in the spotlight, but fame has finally caught up to her. Boyle suffered an “emotional breakdown” after losing Britain’s Got Talent to a dance troupe and was rushed to a hospital to be treated for exhaustion. Judge Simon Cowell is picking up the tab, The Times of London reports, and Boyle will most likely cancel her U.S. and U.K. tour scheduled to start June 12. Boyle apparently became disoriented at her London hotel and was promptly escorted into an ambulance by paramedics. Sources speculate that her condition is simply the product of months of stress. A spokeswoman said the Scottish phenom was “exhausted and emotionally drained” after the final.
Five Minn. Supreme Court justices will weigh in today on whether problems with absentee ballots constitute a reversal of a lower-court ruling seven months ago that gave Democrat Al Franken a 312-vote lead over Republican Norm Coleman in Senate elections. If the ruling swings in favor of Coleman, he wouldn’t be put on the Senate immediately, but would stand a chance. Most Minnesotans say Coleman should concede, and nearly two-thirds believe that Franken will be declared the winner, but several former Minn. Supreme Court justices said the case would be examined carefully absent from pressure and publicity. “The impatience of the people just has to be put aside,” said one former justice. “You want a correct decision at this stage, not a fast decision.”
They may not have called them "diversity picks" back in the day, but Jeffrey Toobin points out that they're as old as the Supreme Court. In a smart New Yorker piece, Toobin points out that seats have always been reserved for minorities on the Supreme Court... just not racial or gendered minorities. When the U.S. was a young nation full of regional disputes, presidents honored an informal tradition of appointing justices from different regions of the country, while later, during the 19th century, religious difference became the conflict du jour, and so the court came to have a Catholic seat and later, a Jewish seat. As race and gender came to define U.S. politics, the court got its first African-American justice, Thurgood Marshall, and the first woman, Sandra Day O'Connor. Toobin argues that Sonia Sotomayor's nomination is a way of coming to terms with the changing face of America. Toobin also says that the main critiques of her abilities ("not that smart" and "domineering") carry the "pernicious implication" that "white males, who constitute a hundred and six of the hundred and ten individuals who have served on the court, made it on merit, and that Sotomayor is somehow less deserving."
To the casual observer, Arianna Huffington's career trajectory would be one of the more baffling success stories in politics and media. How could one woman manage to evolve from being a contrarian of the feminist movement of the 70s, to an intellectual with questionable credentials in the 80s, then to a strong advocate for the Republican party and Newt Gingrich in the 90s, and lastly an outraged liberal with a distaste for mainstream media? A new, highly critical review of the Huffington's new book, Right Is Wrong published in The New Republic, takes the new media maven to task, painting her as a cunning businesswoman with a penchant for sensing the zeitgeist, but lacking any legitimate credibility. The writer, Isaac Chotiner, unleashes a barrage of beefs with Huffington, but one of the most current—and common—criticisms is of her Web site, which he paints as a barnacle on the hull of journalism. Her new book, according to Chotiner, is "less genuine and more tiresome," and plagued by gaps in logic and Huffington's ego.
Twilight left its competitors in bloody shreds last night, when it stalked away from the MTV Movie Awards with five trophies, including Best Movie. Zac Efron and Ashley Tisdale won honors for High School Musical 3, while Miley Cyrus won best song for "The Climb" from the Hannah Montana movie. The weirdest moment of the night, however, belonged to Sacha Baron Cohen, who flew in on a wire in white wings and a mostly bare butt as his flamboyant fashion-icon character Bruno. As the Washington Post put it, "He crashed into an overhead obstacle and was lowered head-first into the lap of Eminem, his bare hindquarters in the rapper's face." Eminem's entourage roughly pulled Baron Cohen off the rapper, who stormed out of the ceremony.
Pixar has done it again. This weekend the new release Up became the studio's 10th straight No. 1 film, knocking Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian out of the top spot. USA Today reports that Up, an "animated comedy about a widower and young boy who travel in a flying house" made $68.2 million over the weekend, exceeding the already-generous expectations of industry analysts. Even more peculiarly, Up has combined critical and commercial success, earning passing grades from 98 percent of U.S. film critics, according to RottenTomatoes.com.
Sad news: The last survivor of the Titanic died Sunday at the age of 97. Millvina Dean was two months old when she escaped the sinking ship on a lifeboat—leaving behind her father, who went down with the boat. The Deans were third-class passengers, en route to America to look for work after the coal strike in England. Dean worked as a secretary until she retired and lived in a nursing home not far from where the ship set sail. But after she retired, Dean couldn’t afford the cost of living, and—though she never saw Titanic herself—only a month ago Leonardo DiCaprio, Kate Winslet, and director James Cameron donated £20,000 to the Millvina Fund to pay for her nursing home fees.
In 1965, the Dalmatian Pepper was stolen from her family's home. Today, Slate began its five-part weeklong series about the pet that ignited the animal-rights movement. Pepper was sold into animal testing and received nationwide attention when her owners sought the help of animal welfare activists, who worked to pass laws regulating inhumane animal testing. Though Pepper died in a testing facility soon after being stolen, her journey from one dog dealer to another pulled on the heartstrings of lawmakers everywhere. Dan Engber's part-reporting, part-storytelling, part-memoir of his own experiences testing animals (don't worry, not dogs) makes for a compelling read. "Dogs are like family members," Pepper's owner Julia Lakavage once said. "Children that don't grow up."
Layoffs aren't the only worry at Conde Nast. A memo sent company-wide reported that "an employee working on the 12th floor at 4 Times Square," the headquarters of Vogue magazine, has tested positive for Influenza A, of which the swine flu is a sub-type. Perhaps face masks will be a hot trend in the next issue.
Big changes over at media behemoth News Corp. Peter Chernin will step down as Rupert Murdoch's second in command after his contract ends in June, The Wrap reports. Chase Carey, the CEO of DirecTV, will replace Chernin, if DirecTV will let Carey out of his contract, which lasts until the end of the year. The personnel change reflects a shift in News Corp's management, which has rejiggered corporate power by handing more responsibility to current executives. This means that Carey won't simply take over Chernin's job. Carey will be a vice-chairman, not president as Chernin was. Carey's acceptance of the job comes as a surprise—apparently Murdoch didn't think he could persuade Carey to leave his CEO job for a lesser position at News Corp.
Okay, well now the Army is just inviting comparisons between Afghanistan and Vietnam: “In recent months,” reports The Wall Street Journal, “the U.S. command in Afghanistan has begun publicizing every single enemy fighter killed in combat, the most detailed body counts the military has released since the practice fell into disrepute during the Vietnam War.” Commanders have detailed nearly all of the 2,000 insurgent deaths over the past 14 months, saying the reports undermine insurgent propaganda and stiffen American resolve. But, “The practice has revealed deep divides in military circles over the value of keeping such a score in a war being waged not over turf, but over the allegiance of the Afghan people.”
Tonight, a jittery Conan O'Brien will replace Jay Leno to become the fifth host of The Tonight Show, while Leno's new gig, The Jay Leno Show at 10 pm, will revolutionize primetime. O'Brien's spacious new set hearkens back to the Johnny Carson era, and according to The New York Times, the first show will have Pearl Jam and Will Ferrell as guests. For his part, Jay Leno's new 10 pm talk show may be "among the most pivotal changes since the network evening newscasts were expanded to 30 minutes, from 15, in1963." Leno's new primetime show will save NBC millions of dollars, as it costs a fifth as much as its scripted drama competition. Depending on how Leno does in this time slot, other networks may follow suit.
North Korea seems bent on further freaking out world powers: In preparation for a test-firing that is only weeks away, North Korea has moved a sophisticated long-range ballistic missile to one of its launch pads, the Los Angeles Times reports. The new missile, which may be an updated version of the Taepodong-2 rocket Pyongyang fired in April, reportedly has a range of up to 4,000 miles and could reach Alaska. According to a researcher at Korea Institute for National Unification in Seoul, "North Korea could possibly launch its missile during the summit between South Korea and the United Staes." The summit is slated for June 16.
We may no longer be able to trust the banks with the economy, but the good news is they’re still working hard at what they’ve always done best: influencing the government. The New York Times reports that “The nine biggest participants in the derivatives market—including JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs, Citigroup and Bank of America—created a lobbying organization, the CDS Dealers Consortium, on Nov. 13, a month after five of its members accepted federal bailout money.” Now Washington and Wall Street are suiting up for battle over the regulation of the derivatives market, in a reprisal of the fight that Wall Street won ten years ago. Paul Krugman, meanwhile, returns to the financial crisis in the Times and goes for the Republican jugular: “the more one looks into the origins of the current disaster, the clearer it becomes that the key wrong turn—the turn that made crisis inevitable—took place in the early 1980s, during the Reagan years.”
An Air France jet with 228 people on board has gone missing over the Atlantic Ocean, reports Reuters. The flight left Rio De Janeiro at 7 p.m. local time last night and was expected in Paris at 11:15 EDT. A spokesman for the company acknowledged that Flight AF 447 had disappeared. The plane vanished from Brazilian radar about three hours after taking off, meaning that the flight was closer to Brazil than to its French destination when it vanished. The Brazilian Air Force is searching for the plane off the country's coast.
A brief spot of good news from Iraq: the Iraqi death toll reached an all-time low in May. The Los Angeles Times reports that 165 Iraqis died in May compared to 355 in April, and down from the all-time high of 3,462 in November 2006. However, the U.S. military toll reached an 8-month high of 24 deaths. The statistics suggest that the Iraqi insurgents are unable to sustain the mayhem they began in April. The low numbers have done little to quell the widespread fear that violence will return when U.S. forces finish withdrawing from Iraqi cities on June 30.
Marilyn Monroe was all of 24 years-old when Life magazine's Ed Clark photographed her in a Los Angeles park. The 15 pictures foreshadow the mega-stardom of the budding star who had not yet become one of the most famous sex symbols of the modern age. The photos depict a young, gregarious woman flush with the confidence of having landed a major role in the film noir classic, The Asphalt Jungle. The photos were released Monday, on what would have been Monroe's 83rd birthday.
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