What happens right before you die

The Afghan sinkhole reached a staggering low with the Gardez-Khost highway, a 60-mile stretch linking the Ring Road to the eastern borderlands. The contract was turned over to LBG, and construction started in 2003. In November 2010, the federal government slapped LBG with the highest ever fine in a wartime contracting case: $18.7 million in criminal penalties and $50.6 million in civil penalties for overbilling. The company’s former CEO had pleaded guilty in 2014 to defrauding U.S. taxpayers of tens of millions. But the project dragged on, unchecked. By the time the road opened, in 2015, costs had ballooned to nearly $5 million a mile, and it became a never-ending boondoggle. A whistleblower later revealed that LBG had, through dubious methods, paid insurgents not to attack the project. More than 200 gold-star families have since filed a lawsuit against LBG and other defense contractors, alleging these kinds of protection payments “aided and abetted terrorism by directly … [Read more...] about Highway to Hell: A Trip Down Afghanistan’s Deadliest Road

When the war began in 2001, U.S. military planners saw the Taliban as a ragtag movement that could be bombed into oblivion for harboring the Al Qaeda leaders behind the September 11th attacks. But with each passing year, civilian casualties from U.S. and NATO airstrikes climbed steadily. By 2008, the death toll from the airstrikes reached a then-high of 552, according to the U.N., with overall civilian deaths jumping nearly 40 percent from the previous year. Public outrage helped propel a Taliban resurgence in the backcountry and inflamed tensions with the Afghan government, compelling U.S. war planners to take civilian harm more seriously. The next summer, Gen. Stanley McChrystal, commander of U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan, introduced new counterinsurgency tactics that championed boots-on-the-ground engagement and protecting civilians at all costs — a “tactical directive” to limit airstrikes that were corroding public support. … [Read more...] about America’s Longest War Takes a Deadly New Turn

WandaVision this week blends the style of the Brady Bunch credits with action shots of Vision, Wanda, and the other characters now fully embracing the loud fashions and hairstyles of the transition from one decade to the next. It’s only the day after Wanda found herself pregnant, but already years seem to have passed, with the house now transformed into a mirror image of the Brady home’s interior. (Not every detail is the same, but the staircase by itself screams Brady Bunch.) Both our heroes seem understandably perplexed by how Wanda could suddenly be four months pregnant, but they’re otherwise oblivious to these rapid changes. And Wanda doesn’t really want to question things. Last week, she made the man in the beekeeper suit (possibly a nod to Marvel’s villainous AIM scientists, who dressed in modified beekeeper costumes) disappear because she didn’t want him disrupting her suburban fantasy. Here, Vision tries listing all the things that have … [Read more...] about ‘WandaVision’ Recap: Sibling Revelry

Related Story International Insider: BBC Studios' Stuttering CEO Search; BAFTA Voting; Netflix's UK Reality Show Binge But but but: The headline growth in subs masked something International Insider spotted in the detail of Netflix’s shareholder letter. Netflix’s subscriber growth actually slowed in EMEA, despite skyrocketing streaming during lockdown and record levels of investment in the UK, where it spent $1B on shows including The Crown and The Witcher. Europe, Middle East and Africa subs rose 29% to 66.7M in 2020, which was a contraction on the growth rate of 37% the year before, when Netflix first started breaking out territory-specific data. By contrast, the U.S., Canada, and Asia-Pacific all grew at a faster rate than in 2019. It begs the question: Have we hit peak Netflix in some international territories? … [Read more...] about International Insider: Netflix By Numbers; Cannes Question Marks; Epic Games’ Movie Push; Bye-Bye ‘Peaky Blinders’

The digital growth has had an impact on how Flanz and her team put together the linear show. She said that it sometimes informs how they would structure an act of the show or break up a segment to make sure that each clip works as a standalone bit. “We [no longer] expect that somebody is sitting in front of their TV for 45 minutes and watching the show as one whole thing. It’s nice if they have that 45 minute experience but for the most part we assume it’s all going to be seen in clips all over the place.” … [Read more...] about Late-Night Laughs: Inside ‘The Daily Show’s Hopes For A Slower News Cycle Under A Biden Presidency