Cheat Sheet
The Best In Brief
Please register to manage your email preferences and comment on the site.
Talk about staying beyond your welcome. Though the Iraqi government has demanded its departure, controversial military contractor Blackwater—under its new, but less commonly used name Xe—is sticking around. The U.S. State Department’s contract with the firm was set to end this month, but until a new deal with competitor Dyncorp International is finalized, Blackwater will stay for an indefinite period, “weeks or months,” according to the State Department. Blackwater will continue to provide helicopter transportation for U.S. diplomats through its oddly named subsidiary Presidential Airways.
Obama broke records with his early-term outreach to the Muslim world—and on Tuesday he reached inward to the Islam that “is part of America” during a Ramadan dinner in the White House. Hosted in the State Dining Room, the iftar—or fast-breaking—meal, highlighted “the contributions of Muslims to the United States” and to promote “engagement grounded in mutual interests and mutual respect.” The president acknowledged the religion’s role in American culture, noting that the tradition he partook in was also “carried out at tables and mosques in all 50 states,” and singling out an Iraq War veteran, a high-school athlete, and Muhammad Ali for praise. George W. Bush hosted eight Ramadan dinners during his two terms.
Wells Fargo is set to join the growing ranks of companies that have repaid TARP funds, and its CEO, John Stumpf, has said the banking giant will go about it in a "shareholder-friendly way." Many of the Wall Street giants that received a lifeline less than a year ago are now profiting quite handsomely, and judging by the comments of Stumpf in an interview with Bloomberg, Wells Fargo is among them. "We are now earning capital so quickly, organically, we don’t want to dilute our existing shareholders,” Stumpf said. Wells Fargo is ranked as the No. 1 U.S. home lender this year, and has reportedly "chafed" under the government oversight that came with $25 billion in taxpayer dollars. Other companies that have repaid TARP funds include J.P. Morgan, Goldman Sachs, and Morgan Stanley. Two major banks that have yet to repay the government are Bank of America and Citigroup.
In a harrowing op-ed for the Los Angeles Times, journalists Laura Ling and Euna Lee describe their arrest and imprisonment in North Korea—and the story they were pursuing when it happened. The Americans say they crossed from China into North Korea for less than one minute while pursuing a story on human trafficking. As they returned, however, a pair of armed North Korean soldiers chased them on foot. "We were firmly back inside China when the soldiers apprehended us,” they write. “We tried with all our might to cling to bushes, ground, anything that would keep us on Chinese soil, but we were no match for the determined soldiers. They violently dragged us back..." At the beginning of their confinement, the pair "furtively destroyed evidence" by swallowing their notes and damaging videotapes. They protected their sources during interrogations, but note that "the psychological wounds of imprisonment are slow to heal," and encourage the public to pay attention to the trafficking story instead of the journalists' own story.
Military contractors just can't seem to get good publicity. A letter sent to Hillary Clinton by the Project on Government Oversight alleges that ArmorGroup contractors guarding the U.S. embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan, are engaging in outrageous behavior that puts diplomats at risk while also wasting taxpayer dollars. The goings-on read like a script for the latest frat-boy shock-humor comedy featuring "drunken brawls, prostitutes, hazing and humiliation (and) taking vodka shots out of butt cracks," supposedly "with those who declined to participate often ridiculed, humiliated, demoted, or even fired." The letter also criticizes ArmorGroup North America of "chronic understaffing" in Kabul, leading to problems with morale and high turnover rates. Meanwhile, Gawker got a hold of photos depicting alleged contractors' lurid antics, including the infamous "butt shots" and alcohol-soaked hazing.
Buried in a lengthy interview about Heidi Montag's music career and the relative "oomph" of Venezuelan women, Miss Universe choreographer Michael Schwandt describes an "odd" Donald Trump ritual: "At all the shows, he pops in the day before the telecast and we line up all the girls in alphabetical order... he basically walks by and has an assistant that takes notes... And it's just kind of common knowledge that he picks six of the top 15 single-handedly." Interviewing blog Guanabee asks point-blank: "So, he's orchestrating at least a portion of the results?" Schwandt answered in the affirmative, explaining that Trump had "left it all up to preliminary judging in the past and some of the most beautiful women, in his opinion, were not in the top 15 and he was kind of upset by that." Gawker notes that Schwandt's account may reveal a direct violation of Miss Universe's rules.
With the glamour and style of the U.S. Open at the center of the sports world these days, fans should recognize how crucial both Serena and Venus Williams have been in revitalizing tennis. The Atlantic Wire notes that the Williams sisters’ power game changed women’s tennis completely while also roping in new viewers. Despite all the hype surrounding Roger Federer vs. Rafael Nadal, Serena Williams remains CBS’ highest ratings draw. The siblings also stand as the only two American women’s tennis players currently on the radar; no other Americans are even close to them in the rankings. However, the Williams sisters have consistently been dogged by criticism that they aren’t living up to their potential, and some still hold this view. “They should have been more than tennis stars,” one blogger writes.
As the show trials of Iranian protesters continue, a concern has arisen that a crackdown on universities may be on the horizon. Recent comments by both Ayatollah Khamenei and President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad have hinted that secular studies deemed "un-Islamic" by Iranian conservatives may be considered at the root of recent upheaval. The New York Times reports intellectual pursuits in the humanities have been mostly tolerated in Iran, but that in the wake of the recent protests of the election, conservatives may be looking for ways to crack down on the young people who in large part led the movement. "Many of the humanities and liberal arts are based on philosophies whose foundations are materialism and disbelief in godly and Islamic teachings. Instructing those sciences leads to the loss of belief in godly and Islamic knowledge," the ayatollah said last Sunday.
Google, the behemoth internet king, suffered a service outage today on its popular Google Mail server. More severe than Monday’s service disruption, the outage meant that the entire system was down for all users. Google’s IMAP and POP servers were also crippled, meaning that users who opt for mail clients to access their Gmail were affected along with those using the Web interface. Users who tried to log in to check their mail on the Web site were met with a “server error” page instructing them to “try again in 30 seconds.” Service was restored by 5:30 p.m. EST.
Stocks closed in the red for the third consecutive session Tuesday, down 2 percent—an indicator that investors remain skeptical of an economic rebound. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 185 points; the financial sector suffered the most, with national and regional banks and insurers leading the selloff. The news highlights how fundamental the financial sector is to investor confidence, as the downturn continued in spite of positive economic news from President Obama himself and the manufacturing industry. The New York Times notes that financial stocks were at the center of a summertime boom, though there has been consistent concern that the market has become "too expensive."
In a Wall Street Journal op-ed column Monday, James Taranto suggested that if national security becomes a focus in 2012, former Vice President Dick Cheney might actually be a superior candidate for president. While some politicos laughed off the notion, there are GOP pollsters and strategists who are "taking the idea deadly seriously," the Huffington Post reports. "If the agenda turns to security, Obama is mired in a no-win mess in Afghanistan... maybe Dick Cheney could run on a theme of 'Change,'" one strategist hypothesized. In a poll released last May, Cheney scored high favorability ratings—66 percent—among Republicans and his forthcoming book could also position him for a presidential run.
Maybe Alberto Gonzales has a mind of his own, after all: The former attorney general defended the decision by his successor, current Attorney General Eric Holder, to investigate alleged prisoner abuse by CIA interrogators. "As chief prosecutor of the United States, he should make the decision on his own, based on the facts, then inform the White House," Gonzales told The Washington Times. "We worked very hard to establish ground rules and parameters about how to deal with terrorists. And if people go beyond that, I think it is legitimate to question and examine that conduct to ensure people are held accountable for their actions, even if it's action in prosecuting the war on terror."
Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann has a new plan for fighting health care: “What we have to do today is make a covenant, to slit our wrists, be blood brothers on this thing,” she told the Independence Institute in Denver on Monday. “This will not pass. We will do whatever it takes to make sure this doesn’t pass.” When talking about Americans who she claimed pay half their income in taxes, Bachmann said, “This is slavery.”
Rod Blagojevich may not have been the only one plotting over vacated seats in Washington. The former Illinois governor claims in his new book that he had a conversation with Rahm Emanuel, in which Obama's chief of staff reportedly told him that he wanted a "placeholder" appointed to his Chicago congressional seat so that he could reclaim it in 2010 if he left the White House. "Rahm understandably wanted to keep his options open," Blago writes. "That's what all good politicians do." But because a vacated congressional seat is filled after a vote—rather than a senate seat, which is replaced by an appointment from the governor—Blago said there wasn't much he could do. "Rahm told me that his lawyers thought there was a way where the governor might be able to make an appointment," he writes, but says that he told Emanuel that it was his understanding that he only had the power to set the date of a special election.
The six-day-old fire that has so far destroyed more than 50 buildings and burned 122,000 acres near Los Angeles showed a few signs of slowing early Tuesday. With weather conditions improving and the rate of growth slowing, officials expressed guarded optimism. Though the huge fire stretches 25 miles from east to west—and 18 miles from north to south—no new structures were burned Monday night. The fire is now just 5 percent contained but officials expect to make significant progress Tuesday. Weather-wise, temperatures are projected to drop today to the low 90s with increased humidity, but officials are concerned about winds. Despite reasons for hope, an official for the U.S. Forest Service called the outlook “treacherous,” saying “This is a very angry fire.”
Gay marriage became legal in Vermont in April, but the law didn't go into effect until midnight on Monday night, the Associated Press reports. Couples, such as Bill Slimback and Bob Sullivan, raced to the altar. The pair, who have been together for 17 years, married one minute after the law went into effect, at 12:01 a.m. last night in Duxbury. "We've waited a long time to do this—basically our whole lives," Slimback said. But not everyone is rushing to the altar: according to Tim Shea, from the Burlington Chamber of Commerce, "Unlike nine years ago, it doesn't appear so far that there's been immediate demand. Meanwhile, the ice cream company Ben & Jerry's renamed its popular ice cream flavor "Chubby Hubby" to "Hubby Hubby" in honor of the freedom to marry for gay and lesbian couples in Vermont.
He's locked away in a jail cell, but for $8 million you can sleep on Bernie Madoff's pillow because U.S. Marshals have put Madoff's Montauk beach home on the market. It's a 3,000-square-foot property—described as "cottage-size by superrich standards,"—without a garage and walk-in closets. But there are considerable selling points: the house features sweeping views of the ocean and a columned porch. Madoff bought the house in 1979 and valued it at $3 million. But federal authorities said the seaside property could be valued at closer to $8 million. Bernie and Ruth hardly had time to pack: everything from furniture to personal belongings will be sold at auction. The pieces range from art to Ruth Madoff's shoes, towels, and accessories.
Vanity Fair released its list of the top 100 Information Age power players Tuesday and unsurprisingly, Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein is on top. "Blankfein's grip on power at his own firm has only gotten tighter," according to the magazine. Apple CEO Steve Jobs is the runner-up, followed by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, Warren Buffett, and Google founders Larry Page, Sergey Brin, and CEO Eric Schmidt. The highest ranking woman on the list of the "New Establishment" is Angelina Jolie, who is jointly listed with Brad Pitt at number eight. Vanity Fair has said that the ranking is based "wealth, influence, and philanthropy, as well as such intangibles as vision and the X factor."
It seems British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has some explaining to do: Documents released Tuesday show that, early this year, British Foreign Office Minister Bill Rammell told Libya that neither Brown nor Foreign Secretary David Miliband wanted Lockerbie bomber Abdel Basset Ali al-Megrahi "to pass away in prison," The Guardian reports. Brown, meanwhile, has only criticized the joyful scenes of al-Megrahi arriving at Tripoli airport, commenting that he was "repulsed" and "angry" at the terrorist's welcome. The documents also reveal that Libya reportedly warned Rammell of "catastrophic" consequences if the terrorist, who's battling cancer, was left to die. The new details seem to confirm suspicions that Brown hasn't commented on the terrorist's release because he agrees with the Scottish government's decision. Conservative Party leader David Cameron has called for an independent inquiry into the release, following these revelations.
Apple will unveil another version of iPods next week in an effort to boost sales for the product. The company will host a “special event” in San Francisco for the new product, though it is unclear whether Steve Jobs—who recently returned from medical leave—will appear on stage. Sales of iPods have dipped 11 percent this quarter, which Apple reportedly blames on “cannibalization” from the iPhone, their product that doubles as an iPod. Though Apple’s new line is very secretive, analysts guess that they’ll introduce a digital camera on iPods.
No longer a beauty queen, Carrie Prejean appears to want to be a drama queen instead: The former Miss California, who lost her title after missing several appearances, is suing pageant officials for slander, libel, and religious discrimination, saying she was told not to mention God even before her controversial remarks about gay marriage at April’s Miss USA pageant. The lawsuit targets pageant director Keith Lewis and his former co-director Shanna Moakler. The suit also says that Lewis and Moakler inappropriately revealed how Miss California USA paid for Prejean’s breast implants.
Jaycee Lee Dugard is not alone: Other victims of her kidnapper, Philip Garrido, are now speaking out. His ex-wife, Christine Murphy, told Inside Edition that Garrido tried to gouge her eyes with a safety pin when he saw her talking to another man. “I was always looking for a way to find out how to get away,” she said. “He always told me he’d find me wherever.” And Katherine Callaway Hall said she fell victim in a parking lot in Lake Tahoe in 1976, when she says Garrido knocked on her car window and asked for a ride. Once in the car, Garrido brutally bound and gagged her, and took her to a storage locker in Reno where he repeatedly raped her.
Noted conservative columnist George Will argues in his new column in The Washington Post that the U.S. should pull out ground troops from Afghanistan—even as the commander there is planning to ask for reinforcements. “[F]orces should be substantially reduced to serve a comprehensively revised policy,” he writes. “America should do only what can be done from offshore, using intelligence, drones, cruise missiles, air strikes and small, potent special forces units, concentrating on the porous 1,500-mile border with Pakistan, a nation that actually matters.” Will also recalls Otto von Bismarck's decision to halt German forces before reaching Paris in 1870, writing: “Genius is not required to recognize that in Afghanistan, when means now, before more American valor… is squandered."
Another area in which Attorney General Eric Holder is seeking to undo the influence of former president Bush. According to The New York Times, Holder’s Justice Department “is planning a major revival of high-impact civil rights enforcement against policies, in areas ranging from housing to hiring, where statistics show that minorities fare disproportionately poorly.” Holder hopes to reenergize a civil rights department that was marginalized and politicized by Bush by hiring 50 new lawyers. Issues that will be focused on include voting rights, housing, employment, bank lending practices, and redistricting after the 2010 census.
In Paris, you better watch where you pee: an “elite” 88-member force called the Brigade des Incivilités—or “Bad Behaviour Brigade”--is in charge of catching people who unzip in public. They are plainclothes officers in unmarked cars who scours the streets for misbehaving civilians, ticketing people for everything from not picking up after their dogs to littering. Fines for public urination can be as high as $644. According to The Wall Street Journal, Paris “is still struggling with the presence of pipi,” as urine sauvage--or “wild urine”—is the hardest offense to curtail. Though the city has opened 400 self-cleaning public restrooms, they’re simply not enough. One Parisian architect even designed an “anti-pipi” wall, which splashes urine back onto the offender.
Wall Street bankers have been warily guarding their bonuses from the Obama administration, but now they’ve got a new person to worry about—Gordon Brown. The British prime minister is making it his mission to crack down on banker bonuses, and he’s planning to ask for global support for the effort at the G-20 summit in Pittsburgh in late September. His plan includes a “clawback” system that confiscates bonus compensation if the deals for which it was awarded don’t pan out. “Remuneration has got to be based on long-term success, not short-term speculative deals," Brown says. "There's got to be a clawback system...if things are not working in year two." Brown says he is committed to reaching a joint agreement, a position he illustrated by rejecting a proposal introduced by France that would institute a mandatory global cap on banker bonuses.
Music to liberals’ ears: Montana Senator Max Baucus, the head of the Senate Finance Committee, said on Monday that health-care reform will pass this year, even if Republicans back out of bipartisan negotiations. This matters because Baucus is the head of the so-called Gang of Six—three Democratic and three Republican senators who have been negotiating over the bill. Already, the Gang of Six appears to have lost a member: White House press secretary Robert Gibbs slammed Senator Mike Enzi after he used the GOP’s weekly radio address to attack health care. Baucus said that, should bipartisanship fail, Democrats will use the “nuclear option”—turning to budget reconciliation to pass a bill with 51 votes.
Only 18 months ago, we knew him as Client 9, but soon, he may be a U.S. senator: Eliot Spitzer is gunning for statewide office, sources tell the New York Post. The disgraced governor has reportedly held informal talks about a possible bid for state comptroller or for the U.S. Senate seat currently held by Kirsten Gillibrand. Sources say that Spitzer is ready to mount a challenge against a fellow Democrat if it means returning to office. “He’s weighing it,” a source told the New York Post. Though three close associates deny Spitzer’s intentions, another source says: “There are people around him who want to see him [in office], and he sees himself there, too. He loves to be in the limelight. But he knows it can’t happen.”
