What the Pentagon leak says about online anonymity

Make Me Smart April 13, 2023 Transcript

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Kimberly Adams 

Hey, I’m Kimberly Adams. Welcome back to make me smart where we make today make sense.

Kai Ryssdal 

I’m Kai Ryssdal. Thanks for joining us. It is Thursday today the 13th day of April. News and a smile as usual on a Thursday. So let’s get a going.

Kimberly Adams 

Yours is way more newsy. You should go first because those were the ones I was going to pick. But then I saw you had them already.

Kai Ryssdal 

You know what’s funny? Is that I jumped on him really early this morning because I was like, you know what, Kimberly is gonna go straight for these so I might as well.

Kimberly Adams 

Well then you took the other one I picked for your final one on the show today.

Kai Ryssdal 

You gotta get up pretty early in the morning to beat Kai Ryssdal. So look we can we can we can share them if you want. So look, two stories, both of them actually really unbelievable important. The first one is, as I’m sure you’ve heard by now, the FBI has arrested and the Department of Justice is about to charge, if they have not yet charged, a 21 year old airman with Massachusetts Air National Guard for having put those documents that he stole. Those class, super classified and very relevant documents that he stole up on on Discord. The amazing thing about this story, and this is reporting for, I you know I put the New York Times link in here, but there’s reporting in the Washington Post and in the New York Times. The forensics of how journalists and the FBI found this person are amazing. I encourage you to read it, we’ll put it on the show page. But just if you think you can be anonymous on the internet, you cannot. You cannot. You cannot. It’s incredible.

Kimberly Adams 

Like what are some of the examples.

Kai Ryssdal 

So, okay. So this guy took pictures of the documents that he stole, allegedly stole right? And uploaded to the Discord. And in the pictures of the documents, there is a sliver of counter and there’s a sliver of the floor beneath the kitchen counter. The New York Times working with Bellingcat, which is a which is a forensic internet sort of investigative group, found social network pictures of this person’s house on the internet and matched the the sliver of kitchen counter and the sliver of floor in the document and went from there.

Kimberly Adams 

Wow. So who found him first? The journalists or the government?

Kai Ryssdal 

Great question. That’s a great question. I do not know the answer to that one. I don’t know. But but the amount of sheer legwork on both the government’s part and the New York Times and The Washington Post is extraordinary. It’s crazy. But if you think you can be anonymous on the internet, you are so sadly mistaken.

Kimberly Adams 

I was listening on CNN today. And they were saying that the you know, the military was really approaching his capture with great care because they don’t 100% know the motives. And if somebody knows that, you know, you’re you’re being closed in on, they could, and they didn’t know exactly to what extent this person had access, they could have done an even bigger dump, you know, in out of spite or something like that. Depending on like if they were legit doing espionage then you know, could have had all kinds of crazy stuff happening. But yeah, it is a wild story. I can’t help but um, pay attention to sort of the language around it. Because it’s always interesting how different people choose to characterize different people who are in these circumstances. And I’m just listening. That’s all, just listening. So we talked about this Clarence Thomas story while you are away and wow, t the latest development.

Kai Ryssdal 

But there’s more. There’s more. Just give all the Pulitzers to ProPublica. Well you go ahead. We’ll split these. We’ll split these.

Kimberly Adams 

Okay. So my goodness. So originally Clarence Thomas’s defense, he ignored ProPublica but once it started blowing up, you know, he finally had to say say something. And the saying something was effectively “Is it a crime I seem to have rich friends?” Well like, maybe not, but selling property and having real estate transactions with said rich friends who are also massive GOP donors and influencers and then not disclosing it, that that’s something a little different. That’s something a little different. And this is what happened. I’ll read the opening paragraph from ProPublica. “In 2014, one of Texas billionaire Harlan crows companies purchased a string of properties on a quiet residential street in Savannah, Georgia. It wasn’t a marquee acquisition, just an old single story home in two vacant lots down the road. What made it noteworthy were the people on the other side of the deal, Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, and his relatives.”

Kai Ryssdal 

And you ought to…. read the next two lines because those are the kicker.

Kimberly Adams 

“The transaction marks the first known instance of money flowing from the Republican megadonor to the Supreme Court justice. The Crow Company bought the properties for $133,363 from three co-owners.” Yes, and I’m wondering how much it was worth, though. Sketchily.

Kai Ryssdal 

Yeah. So you know, $130,000 is you know, it’s a lot of money for for these properties in Savannah, Georgia. But here’s the real bit about this, that that caught my eye. It’s actual cash changing hands, as opposed to the first reports last week, which were stays in properties and airplane rides, all of which Thomas could, however lacking credibility  was to say that they. Right sketchily. Thank you. To say there were hospitality. This is cash, it’s money. You know? Wild, wild, wild wild. And now what’s gonna happen? What’s gonna happen? Right, right.

Kimberly Adams 

Oh, gosh, “Crow said he purchased Thomas’s mother’s house where Thomas spent part of his childhood to preserve it for posterity. ‘My intention is to one day create a public museum at the Thomas home dedicated to telling the story of our nation’s second black Supreme Court justice.'” Okay. Okay. All right. Okay, so for my news fix. I couldn’t resist this one, just because it comes up so often in the various conversations I have with friends and others in my oh so exciting life. There is a new study out from Pew Research Center. “In a growing share of US marriages, husbands and wife earn about the same. However, even when earnings are similar, husbands spend more time on paid work and leisure, while wives devote more time to caregiving and housework.” And if you scroll through some of the findings of this study, there are just so many like interesting points. So a big part of the movement in these numbers is that far fewer husbands are the sole breadwinners in their marriages, at least among heterosexual marriages. So that is, where only the husband is working. In 1972 that was 49% of marriages. Today, it’s 23% of marriages. And then, even in these egalitarian marriages, husbands spent way more time on leisure specifically. And breadwinner wives are still in the minority. But even when they make more money, they still end up doing more housework. And it’s there’s oh my gosh, it’s just so many interesting details. And I couldn’t help but notice, of course, that black wives are significantly more likely than wives from other racial or ethnic groups to be the breadwinners in their marriage. Same as in 1972 actually. That’s the same. Yeah. Yeah, I mean, it’s there are a bunch of different findings in here. It’s really fascinating. I also thought this bit about dual earner marriages having the highest income, which makes sense. But according to this research, if you have a dual earner marriage, right? If you make more or less the same money, you’re probably averaging out at $136,000 a year. If the husband makes the most money $139,000 a year. But if the wife makes more money, jointly, you’re making around $145,000 a year. Which I thought was very fascinating. So all of this, especially that bit about husband’s not doing as much of the, you know, caregiving and labor, which this also shows, it reminded me of the oldie but goodie cartoon from 2017. And I had to dig this up. By a French cartoonist named Emma, who has this amazing comic called “the mental load” which explains, in kind of devastating comedy, how it ends up that when there are men married to women and both people are working in, you know, earning income, how it ends up that women usually end up caring most of the mental load in often phrased in the…. as most women on the side of those relationships will attest infuriating question: “Well, why didn’t you ask?” So I highly recommend everybody read that to save yourself from a fight in a relationship at some point in your life. Of any kind.

Kai Ryssdal 

Absolutely, absolutely. There we go.

Kimberly Adams 

All right. I’m already smiling. But let’s do it. Yay, science.

Kai Ryssdal 

Yay. So it’s science and AI, which is why I put this in here. We’ve been talking about AI a lot on the podcast, a lot about Chat GPT, and you know, all this stuff, what it’s gonna mean for society. And we’re all kind of going, Oh, my God, it’s terrible. We’re all gonna die because the robots are coming or whatever. Here’s an instance where science is super cool. And I think we talked about this on the podcast many years ago, four years ago, technically, when this first picture of this, the first picture of a black hole was released, right? It’s in a galaxy called M87, 555 million light years away in the constellation Virgo. Anyway, so there was a picture…

Kimberly Adams 

You should have just said in a galaxy far, far away Kai. Come on.

Kai Ryssdal 

I should… See I’m not as hip as you are.

Kimberly Adams 

Missed the opportunity. Go ahead.

Kai Ryssdal 

Yeah. Anyway, so this picture of this black hole came out. And honestly, at the time it came out, it was kind of an orange blob with a little bit of a dark ish thing in the center. But the scientist said it was a black hole. And I said, Hey, that’s super cool, it’s black hole. Now, that image has been reprocessed using AI algorithms. And here’s the layperson. It’s a slightly more defined sort of orangey doughnut but I guess scientists are going to be able to tell a lot from this. And it’s really cool and science and space are amazing and we’ll put it on the show page. But it’s, it’s a good part of AI is I guess, is what I’m saying. That’s why.

Kimberly Adams 

Yeah, I think it’s fascinating. I think it’s fun. I love the different ways that NASA and other researchers are finding to present information about these really kind of esoteric things about space that matter but we don’t quite, like your average layperson doesn’t quite know why it matters. Other than, hey, that’s cool. But the scientists are finding more and more ways to present the information to you know, get us excited, and I’m, we’re 100% being manipulated by science, and I’m here for it. So my first make me smile is for you because I know how much you love Succession. And this just made me chuckle. This is a story in the AV Club that said that Rupert Murdoch’s divorce settlement apparently had a whole clause saying don’t talk to the Succession writers.

Kai Ryssdal 

Yes. Yes. That was that was in a piece by Gabe Sherman. Yeah, Vanity Fair Gabe Sherman had this piece. Really actually sort of interesting about Rupert Murdoch and the agita and sort of angst within his empire as Trump went off the rails and all that jazz. But apparently, part of his divorce settlement with Jerry Hall said “you may not talk to the succession writers about possible plot points.” Which is great.

Kimberly Adams 

Well, so I pulled that one for you. But I stumbled on that story, because I was on the AV Club’s website anyway for my real make me smile, which is that yesterday, Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden announced the 25 new songs that are joining the National Recording Registry in 2023. And two of them are a bit history making. First of all, Queen Latifah is going in with her 1989 album “All Hail the Queen” making her the first female rapper included in the registry. And as the AV Club goes on to say, composer Koji Condo’s 1985 theme for Super Mario Brothers is going to be the first audio from a video game ever to earn inclusion, which I think is super fun especially since the movie is out. But then I was looking through this list and there’s so many other great things on here. I mean, I have to shut out St. Louis Blues, which is apparently a 1922 song from Handys Memphis Blues Band. But also, where is it? Sherry by the Four Seasons, 1962. Imagine, John Lennon 1971. Take me home country roads John Denver, 1971. Margaritaville by Jimmy Buffett, 1977.

Kai Ryssdal 

That was 1971?

Kimberly Adams 

No, no, no, that was 1977. Take me home country roads was 1971. Margaritavillewas 1977. 1983 Flashdance, What a feeling? You know? Like a virgin from Madonna is on there. All I Want For Christmas Is You is on there. And wonderful thing, Gasolina Daddy Yankee 2004. I love this list so much.

Kai Ryssdal 

That’s cool. That’s cool. We’ll put it on the show page. It’s a good list.

Kimberly Adams 

Yes. All right. Well, that is it for us today. We are going to be back tomorrow for economics on tap. We’re going to do the news, we’re going to have drinks and we’re going to play half full/half empty. But for those of you who join us on YouTube, we’re gonna be taking a little break from the live stream this month as we, you know, practice and work on some technical issues. And instead, what you could do if you feel so inclined in that normal window, when you might be joining us on the live stream is to come together with your fellow Smarties and vote for make me smart for our webbys, please.

Kai Ryssdal 

No, no, you got to explain how to do it. I’m not…. Well first of all, tell them what a webby is because I’m not sure I could do it.

Kimberly Adams 

Okay, so the Webby Awards are basically like a People’s Choice Awards for the internet. And we have been nominated in the business category for the make me smart podcast. And we would love to win. I think we’re like, teetering in the second and third place right now for the category. And so we would love it if you would take some time to vote for us. Ask your friends to vote for us. You can go to marketplace.org/votemms to cast your vote, and we would really appreciate it.

Kai Ryssdal 

Let’s go

Kimberly Adams 

Make Me Smart is produced by Courtney Bergsieker. Today’s episode was engineered by Charlton Thorp. Our intern is Antonio Barreras.

Kai Ryssdal 

Ellen Rolfes writes our newsletter. Marissa Cabrera is our acting senior producer. Bridget Bodnar is the director of podcasts. That is a check to see if anybody is listening by the way. Francesca Levy is the executive director of Digital and On Demand.

Kimberly Adams 

Everyone listens. They’re on pins and needles waiting for every episode to drop.

Kai Ryssdal 

That’s true. That’s true.