#dailybrief

Words mean more than what is set down on paper. It takes the human voice to infuse them with deeper meaning.

Those words belong to one of the most powerful and celebrated voices in human history. To this voice, this fountain of transcendent wisdom, no secret of the world was out of reach. No dark corner of the human consciousness could hide from this sweeping and all-seeing light, illuminating the truth for those trapped in the dark. This voice was so full of love that each word evoked the most intimate of emotions, and each paragraph was like a long-awaited love letter from a far-away soulmate. This voice lovingly and relentlessly besieged the heart and mind of a reader or listener, tugging at heartstrings and opening tear ducts with the gentlest of touches. This voice changed the world. It spread love in a time enveloped by hate, and gave bravery to those who had much to fear. Like words on a page, the life of Dr. Maya Angelou means more than what will be written in history books. A chronology of her accomplishments and tribulations would capture a mere fraction of the deeper meaning with which the world has been infused by her presence. My words, unfortunately, cannot do much better. It is beyond words that, because of one voice, millions of men, women, and children wake up everyday free, unafraid, and proud of who they are. It is breathtaking that one voice fundamentally altered the very soul of humanity. 

That voice has been taken from us, and we are left with the words. They may not mean much on paper, but they are flooded with power and beauty when spoken by the voice to which they belong. 

Or, rather, they came from that voice, but belong to us all.

Today is Patriots Day in Boston. 

In every other city in the world today is just another Monday, but in Boston today is special. Today, as it has on the third monday of each of the last 118 Aprils, Boston celebrates, Boston runs, and Boston wins. Boston hands out water to thirsty runners and sells balloons and kazoos; Boston packs into Fenway Park for the biggest day game of the season; Boston takes this day to show the world what it knows all year long: that this city is not just a collection of people, but one being. This city has one heart and one soul. It bleeds as one, cries as one, cheers as one. Today, it heals as one. 

Today, as the world watches, Boston picks itself back up and keeps running. On the heels of a year where we shared each other’s pain, felt each other’s loss, and dried each other’s tears, we can finally revel in each other’s triumph today. The city, as one, lines and traverses the fabled course, from Hopkinton to Heartbreak Hill to the finish line on Boylston, and as one proves that few cities have ever loved and persevered and prevailed quite like this one has. No city has ever been of one body, one mind, and one heart quite like this one is. Everyone feels it. From the furthest western suburbs, to the north and south shores, to the capes (Cod and Ann), to Back Bay itself, all are consumed and defined by the same unspoken bond. It is a subconscious understanding that the people running to your left and to your right are your family, and that your fate and health and happiness are invariably tied to theirs. It is the instinct to run into danger to protect and save an unfamiliar face with a familiar spirit, and the unwavering determination to go to the ends of the earth to protect more from harm. It is the strength of mind and body to keep running 7 more miles, with 26 already behind you, to donate blood. It is the bravery to learn to walk again. It is the very essence of being a Bostonian. 

Today is a special day in Boston. Today we continue to run, together as always, toward a collective finish line, closer to it than ever before. Today we can smile, we can laugh, we can cheer, and we can let our pride radiate through our every word and breath because we know that, with the combined strength of millions, all Boston Strong, we cannot be broken. Today is a special day, but truly special and transcendent are the foundations on which this great city is built: our bond, our identity, our one beating heart. What is truly special is the meaning behind the words to the song we all know, played after countless wins at Fenway, that you can’t help but shout. 

Boston, you’re my home.

The plot seems all too familiar now. Screams break out, ambulance and police sirens blare, and the collective heart of the nation drops as our worst fear is again made a reality. Another attack on a school. 

Early Wednesday, CNN reported that an unidentified attacker, a teenage boy, walked into Franklin Regional Senior High School in Murrysville, Pennsylvania, and started stabbing everyone he saw. The attacker, a sophomore student at Franklin High, wielded two knives and has put at least 20 in the hospital, some with life-threatening injuries. Among the injured is William Yakshe, one of three security guards contracted by the school. They guard Franklin High alongside one full-time police officer. Yakshe was stabbed while attempting to subdue the suspect and get him into police custody, which he was able to do despite his wounds. Other than Yakshe, there is no indication that any other non-students are among the injured. A fire alarm was pulled during the attack, which police sources say may have saved lives, getting people out of the building and out of the path of the attacker. Victims have been spread among several hospitals across the greater-Pittsburgh area, and range in age from 14 to 17. No guns were involved. 

So, again, the nightmare returns. The shock is the same. The disbelief is the same. The pain is the same. For all the hope that the possibility of gun reform has brought, we still have our hearts broken, and our fear for the safety of our children still increases. For all the comfort parents might feel knowing that there are security guards at their child’s school, they are all a little more terrified today. If there had been a gun, or if there had been no security, we could be mourning 50 instead of praying for 20, but that is no solace. The 30 that might have been saved will never weigh on our minds like the 20 we almost lost, and still might lose. Today we are reminded, brutally and painfully as ever, that monsters still exist that want to take our children from us. Our hearts, our heads, and our tears all fall together today.

Across the media landscape exist many pollsters and statisticians, left and right leaning alike, who are predicting a tough 2014 for Democrats in Congress. Many assume that a majority in the Senate will be regained by the Republicans, and that the already existing majority in the house will be further solidified. One of these math whizzes has, for the last six years, been hailed as being in a league of his own. This is the modestly legendary Nate Silver, who first jumped into the spotlight when he correctly predicted the outcomes in 49 of 50 states in the 2008 presidential election. Silver is founder and editor-in-chief of the website fivethirtyeight.com, which prides itself on a new brand of journalism, one that is statistically based and supported. The website has exploded since re-opening last month, and the great mind behind it has experienced a new wave of fame and acclaim. His NCAA tournament brackets are regarded by many college basketball fans as scripture, and his predictions for the upcoming midterm elections are being given much deserved respect and consideration. He has at least one doubter, however, and that man happens to be the Senate Majority Leader. 

Senator Harry Reid (D-NV) has decided that this newfangled approach to political journalism isn't all its cracked up to be. He told The Washington Post that Silver’s predictions, as well as those from all current pollsters and statisticians, are “good sometimes, bad most of the time.” This, interestingly, comes on the heels of Silver’s announcing his midterm election predictions, including an assertion of a 60% chance that Democrats will lose their majority in the Senate. Reid’s evidence for his deprecation of Silver’s craft was a record of three recently re-elected Democratic Senators whom Silver gave a low probability of winning those respective races. "He gave me a 16 percent chance of being reelected, he gave Heidi Heitkamp an 8 percent chance of being reelected, he gave Jon Tester a [34] percent chance of being reelected.” Looking at this quote, it is clear that Senator Reid has a misconception. The reason Nate Silver gave him a 16% chance of reelection was because there was a chance. Silver did not give Harry Reid a 0% chance, so Reid’s reelection does not indicate Nate Silver’s inadequacy; it simply shows that the Senate Majority Leader beat the odds, as did senators Heitkamp and Tester. 

It is certainly in Senator Reid’s interest to discredit all polls these days. Recent numbers released by Rasmussen Reports have the Nevada man with only a 26% approval rate, the lowest among members of the leaderships of both houses. This waffle-iron-molded tactic of accepting poll results you like, and rejecting those you don’t, has been in the utility belts of politicians in Washington for years. That fact, however, does not make it any less disingenuous, or any less indicative of the chaotic clamor for high ground that is dominating the capitol. Senator Reid, like many Washington politicians of both parties, might like to pretend in interviews and their minds that these pollsters and statisticians have it all wrong. There must be an intangible that the equations can’t account for, and surely they possess whatever it is. They cannot, however, hide from the truth forever. Nate Silver and those like him bear an important message. Numbers never lie.

*All quotes supplied by POLITICO

The long-awaited climax of the dramatic epic of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 may finally be in the offing. CNN reported today that Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak announced in a press conference Monday that the ill-fated flight crashed in the southern Indian Ocean. Government officials told the families of the 239 passengers that “All lives were lost.” What Prime Minister Razak lacks, however, is proof. Two large pieces of debris were sighted in the southern Indian Ocean that a British satellite company believes may be, not are, connected to the lost Boeing 777. This news comes on the heels of a false report of possible debris which sent ships and aircrafts from multiple countries rushing out into deep water off the coast of Australia to no avail. Razak claimed in his press conference that his level of confidence in the results of the satellite analysis is unprecedented. The analysis, done by the satellite company Inmarsat, showed that the last received satellite ping from the doomed plane came from a spot in the middle of the southern Indian Ocean, far from any possible landing sights. This analysis, coupled with the possibility of debris in that area, was apparently enough for the Malaysian government to declare the case closed. But it is far from closed.

Some Australian officials think that this conclusion may have been reached prematurely, asserting that the debris could easily be completely unrelated to Flight 370. It could very plausibly be, for instance, cargo containers fallen off of a passing merchant ship. This is all assuming that the debris is even there. A U.S. Air Force surveillance plane was sent to those coordinates to investigate, but was unable to find any signs of debris in the immediate vicinity. The two-week search has, since the beginning, yielded several false claims and subsequent wild goose chases for imaginary or unrelated debris. The satellite data in question showed the plane to have flown low, at about 12,000 feet, in the area in question, and small pieces of debris have been picked up by local ships that are indistinguishable from pieces from any number of possible common sources. That, and two large pieces of alleged debris that preliminary searches have been unable to find, is all they have. There seems to be relatively little, other than circumstantial satellite evidence and the confidence of Prime Minister Razak, distinguishing this claim of a breakthrough from the several others that have come forth and eventually been put to bed. 

There is one key difference. This time 239 families were stripped of all hope to once again see their loved ones. 239 people have been declared dead, with their bodies still unrecovered, and without any hard evidence proving that anybody actually knows where to find them. Prime Minister Razak’s government has been repeatedly criticized for its mishandling of many aspects of the search and investigation; they all must surely be anxious to “solve” this mystery as soon as possible. They must be desperate to remove their mistakes and inadequacies from the spotlight that they have deservingly been thrust into. This seems incomplete. The lost Boeing 777 may very well be down in the churning depths of the Indian Ocean, but it may not be. As of now, there seems to be an equal amount of arguments for both scenarios. It is still possible that Najib Razak, and by extension the Malaysian government, prematurely and unnecessarily sent 239 families into mourning just to keep an embarrassing episode from dragging on further. A devastating conclusion was reached and announced without proper proof. That proof may surface in the coming days and weeks of further investigation, but it may not. Either way, priorities need to be reevaluated.

New developments reported by the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal regarding the search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 contain the explanation that we all hoped would never come: the plane’s drastic changes of direction and altitude were executed manually and intentionally, and the Boeing 777’s communications systems were cut off, sabotaged, or destroyed by someone who had taken control of the plane during the flight. An anonymous source stated bluntly that the U.S. simply cannot write off the possibility that the disappearance of the plane and its 289 passengers is the result of a hijacking. According to an aviation expert who appeared Friday night on CNN’s “AC360,” the plane’s erratic flight patterns, which have only been ascertained in recent days from satellite data, may demonstrate someone without much experience flying a Boeing 777 who was possibly trying to play with the plane’s controls to get a feel for it. The other chilling possible explanation for the changes in altitude, according to a different expert who appeared on CNN’s “Piers Morgan Tonight” could also indicate a struggle for control in the cockpit. Similarly, the CNN expert expressed his belief that the manner in which the plane’s transponder was deactivated indicates someone who had done their research to understand how to operate and disable such complex electronics. Another frightening reality has come to the forefront along with this news. The short lapses in time between the plane’s changes in altitude and direction and the cutting off of communications systems suggests a strong possibility that this was the work of multiple hijackers in a premeditated and coordinated attempt. The electronics that were deactivated are accessed through a hatch that leads into a compartment beneath the cockpit. Thus, it would have been most prudent to have one person climb down into that hatch while another, or two others, man the controls.

U.S. officials are saying that, regardless of these new developments, satellite and radar data that they’ve analyzed considered with other facts indicates that the plane probably crashed either in the Indian Ocean or the Bay of Bengal. If the changes in altitude were as dramatic as the Malaysian radar data shows, the plane would have been on the very verge of either falling apart in the air or falling out of the air, which according to experts it may very well have done. Additionally, a Boeing 777 is an enormous plane. A potential pilot would need, in addition to the necessary advanced flying skills, between 6,500 and 7,000 feet of runway to land a “triple 7” safely. None of the islands that exist within the plane’s projected flight path offer that magnitude of open flat space, which would have made the plane nearly impossible to land. However, multiple experts, including the Wall Street Journal reporter who broke the story, refuse to rule out the possibility that the plane has not crashed at all, but has instead been miraculously flown, landed, and hidden somewhere in southeast Asia, the Indian subcontinent, or the Middle-East. 

The media coverage will only intensify from this point on, and in the next few days we may very well find out what horrible things happened to or aboard that plane. For now, however, the new answers we’ve received pose many more questions. Who took control of the plane, and why? How did they acquire the advanced skills necessary to disable the communications systems, as well as to fly and possibly land the Boeing 777? How do the two pilots, one with a record of questionable cockpit conduct and another who had a fully functional flight simulator in his home, fit into this blurry picture? Most importantly, where is Flight 370 and its passengers? 

This biggest shoe, it appears, is yet to drop.