Web Commenters Claim They Use Pseudonyms for Privacy, Not Trolling

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If you post a comment to this article, you probably won’t give your real name. And that’s probably because you’re concerned with your personal privacy—not because you’re trying to mislead people with untruths or otherwise hide your personal agenda.

So says Disqus, the company that runs a web commenting service on some of the world’s most popular sites, including WIRED. The company recently surveyed 1,000 people who use its service—as well as 1,000 general internet users—about how they identify themselves when posting comments to the web, and it found that pseudonyms are still the norm in the world of online comments—and that most people say they use them, at least in part, so they can freely say what they feel.

According to Disqus VP of marketing and communication Steve Roy, commenters feel more comfortable airing their opinions about controversial topics such as politics and religion when they know their friends, families, and employers aren’t listening in. “It’s not about hiding,” he says. “It’s about privacy and choosing your identity when exercising your free speech.”

Roy’s stance should be taken with a grain of salt. People may say they use pseudonyms for reasons of privacy, but they’re really interested in trolling people without consequences. And they hide behind a pseudonym for both reasons. But the point is that the situation is more complicated than it might seem.

The Disqus study is the latest effort to weigh the benefits and the drawbacks of online pseudonyms, which have fueled more than a little controversy over the years. Facebook helped move much of the internet away from anonymity and pseudonymity by instituting a real-names policy on its social network, arguing that this makes people more accountable for what they do and say online. But recently, many new apps, including Whisper and Yik Yak, have sought to bring anonymity back to the net in a very big way, with varying degrees of success, and this fall, various LGBT groups and others criticized Facebook’s real name policy, pointing out that vulnerable people—such as domestic abuse victims—have very good reasons to avoid using real names online.

Facebook has since apologized for its hardline stance, and it’s even moving towards anonymous commenting with its new Facebook Rooms feature. Still, the debate rages on.

Part of the problem is that sites that foster anonymous or pseudonymous commenting, such as 4chan and Reddit, have can be breeding grounds for abuse and bad behavior. And controversies such as “Gamer Gate”—a lengthy harassment campaign targeted largely at women in the video game industry—have shown just how dangerous pseudonyms can be.

But according to Disqus, it’s not just trolls who use pseudonyms. Most blog commenters use them. According to the company, 63 percent of people on its service use some sort of pseudonym when commenting online. Men use pseudonyms more often than women, but 54 percent of women use pseudonyms at least some of the time. And Roy says that many trolls actually use their real names. “If you’re out there looking to troll or deflate people, that happens at similar volumes even if you’re using the same name,” he says.

What’s more, the company’s survey indicates, pseudonymous commenters aren’t necessarily sacrificing their trustworthiness by forgoing their real names. The general internet users polled by Disqus said they trust pseudonymous comments just as much as they trust comments posted by someone using their real name. Plus, readers can “vote up” and “vote down” Disqus comments, and according to Roy, pseudonymous comments fair just as well—if not better—than comments attached to real names. That doesn’t prove those comments are of a higher quality. But it does go to show that pseudonymous comments aren’t all bad.

An App That Improves Your Health by Quizzing You

Screenshot: Hi.Q, Inc.

The aim of many wearables is noble. They’re designed to help you get up, get moving, and get healthier. But there’s often a disconnect between users and their goal: While they want to get healthier, they actually don’t know the basic facts about health and fitness that will help them improve their lifestyle.

That’s where iOS quiz app Hi.Q (short for Health IQ) comes in. Hi.Q is comprises over 10,000 questions spanning 300 topics. When you start using the app, you take a 30 question preliminary test covering some broad nutrition, exercise, and lifestyle basics. From there, you can take quizzes on the topic of the day, or dive into more niche subjects like the Paleo diet, heart disease, or running.

With the country’s astronomical obesity epidemic, a growing number of Americans really do want to improve their habits, or are at least aware that they should. (Some evidence: The popularity of health and fitness apps is up 87 percent compared to other app categories.) But it can be hard if they don’t know, or have misconceptions about, how to go about such changes. Hi.Q attempts to give users this in a package that’s less dry than your typical Google Search.

And more accurate. Both the questions and their answers are backed up by health and fitness professionals like Harvard Med School physician Dr. James Colbert and U.S. Olympic Team orthopedic surgeon Dr. Scott Hacker. The answers often link back to specific scientific studies or the articles they are based on so you can easily learn more.

But a quiz app isn’t much fun unless you can show off what you know. When you complete a quiz, you’re given a score on each quiz based on how many questions were answered correctly. High scores earn you status and titles. After achieving “Elite status” on the preliminary quiz, I decided to test my cycling knowledge with a quiz titled “Bicycling: Maximizing Performance,” which earned me another Elite ranking, and an upgrade to “Level 4.” More prolific beta users of the app, listed in the high score tables for each quiz, earn titles like “Health Guru” or “Health Pioneer.” My Level 4 ranking looked pretty measly next to their Level 41’s and 126’s, and I scoped out other quizzes to test my knowledge.

You can also start discussions with other users around these various quiz topics. Combined with the scoring system, Hi.Q CEO and co-founder Munjal Shah has created a rudimentary way of validating user credentials: Yeah, this guy claims he’s an expert on this topic, but is he really? Well, based on his quiz scores, yeah, actually he is. Once you know that, you can engage in discussions with other users and (hopefully) know that the advice they’re sharing isn’t bogus.

While all this can be fun and helpful, the real gain is what you get out of your increased knowledge. By running these questions through a panel of 250,000 people, Shah found that those with a high health IQ score were hospitalized 50 percent less than lose with a low score. So potentially, the more you know (particularly in areas relating to healthy eating habits), the more likely you are to implement those ideas and lead a healthier lifestyle.

Hi.Q is free and currently available from the iOS App Store.

Tech Giants Rally Around Microsoft to Protect Your Data Overseas

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When it comes to protecting data privacy, Microsoft has allies.

More than 75 civil liberties groups, technology companies, trade associations and computer scientists filed legal briefs today in support of the software giant, who is fighting to protect the privacy of data stored overseas from the prying eyes of the U.S. government.

The uncommon support points to the level of concern these companies and groups have about the precedent the court battle could set should Microsoft lose.

“Seldom has a case below the Supreme Court attracted the breadth and depth of legal involvement we’re seeing today,” Microsoft General Counsel Brad Smith wrote in a blog post about the move. “This case involves not a narrow legal question, but a broad policy issue that is fundamental to the future of global technology.”

At issue is the government’s claim that a warrant obtained from a U.S. court under the authority of the Electronic Communications Privacy Act is sufficient to force Microsoft to hand over data stored on a server in Ireland. Microsoft insists the warrant is illegal and has no authority outside the U.S. After a district court rejected that argument in July, the company appealed.

Today multiple groups (.pdf), including 28 technology and media companies, 23 trade and civil liberties groups and 35 computer scientists put their names to 10 amicus briefs filed in support of Microsoft. The companies include Verizon, Apple, Amazon, Cisco, Salesforce, HP, eBay, Infor, AT&T, and Rackspace.

“[W]e have submitted this brief in order to turn back an unlawful overreach by the U.S. government,” Verizon wrote in its reason for filing the brief. “The U.S. Supreme Court has reiterated many times that U.S. statutes are presumed not to have extraterritorial application unless Congress ‘clearly expressed’ its ‘affirmative intention’ to the contrary.”

The U.S. government’s move is a strong-arm tactic to establish authority over data no matter where it’s located as long as the company collecting the data is based in the U.S.

The government should hew to the procedures it and other governments currently follow for obtaining data outside their jurisdiction, Microsoft and its supporters argue, by using well-established treaties and partnerships to file legal requests in the native jurisdictions where data is stored. If the U.S. government is allowed to bypass the laws of local jurisdictions and force Microsoft to turn over data held overseas, Verizon notes, it will “encourage foreign governments to claim that they can obtain data stored in the U.S.” in the same manner, “which would threaten the privacy of Americans.”

Microsoft’s Smith noted in his post today that tech companies store data locally for good reason. If data is stored near the customers who own it, “consumers and companies can retrieve their personal information more quickly and securely.”

In its appeal, filed last week in the U.S. Second Circuit Court of Appeals in New York, Microsoft likened the government’s move to the German Stadtpolizei serving a warrant on the Deutsche Bank headquarters in Germany to obtain records that a U.S. reporter in New York has stashed in a safety deposit box at a U.S. branch of the bank.

The Government Is Making a Power Grab

The case began last December when the government obtained a warrant for the content of emails and other data belonging to a customer. Microsoft found some of the data on servers in the U.S. but found that the email contents were stored on a server in Dublin. The government insisted the warrant was valid for that data as well.

The government’s move is a strong-arm tactic to establish authority over data no matter where it’s located as long as the company collecting the data is based in the U.S. The aggressive and novel grab for data overseas is likely a reaction to recent events following the Edward Snowden leaks in which some countries—such as Brazil and Germany—have discussed forcing U.S. companies to store data belonging to their citizens in servers in their countries.

The government has argued that unlike letters sent through regular mail, emails stored in the cloud don’t belong exclusively to the person who sends or receives them. Instead, they become the business records of the cloud provider that stores them. And since business records have a lower legal protection than personal records, the government insists it can use the warrant to obtain them.

Microsoft notes, however, that U.S. courts assume that federal statutes do not apply outside U.S. territory unless Congress explicitly states they do. “Congress expressed no such intention here,” Smith notes. “That fundamental point is at the heart of this case.”

The case raises important implications for the separation of powers, he notes, because the Justice Department would have to sidestep Congress’s authority in asserting that the Electronic Communications Privacy Act [ECPA] is intended to apply overseas when lawmakers themselves have not expressed this intent.

“On the contrary, ECPA’s text and history show Congress believed the law would only apply domestically,” he noted. “If the DOJ wants the unprecedented power it claims here, it therefore should plead its case to Congress.”

A Gchat Recap of The Newsroom Series Finale

HBO

When the sun rose this morning, it was over a different world. Yes, it’s finally happened: After 2.5 seasons (we don’t accept six episodes as a full run), our beloved Newsroom has finally blipped out. All we have now are our memories, and the comforting voice of Nat King Cole to give us solace:

“Light up your face with gladness

Hide every trace of sadness

Although a tear may be ever so near

That’s the time you must keep on trying

Smile, what’s the use of crying?

You’ll find that life is still worthwhile

If you just smile”

For the last time, we are Jordan Crucchiola and Jason Kehe. Good night.

Jason Kehe: Well. Should we breathe?

Jordan Crucchiola: Not for the next hour.

Kehe: Jordan, dearest, this is The End.

Crucchiola: It’s not right.

It’s not.

Last opening credits.

Dev Patel.

Sort of.

Kehe: Will he be in this episode?

Crucchiola: God. I’m going to just have to start the show right over again as soon as this ends.

Kehe: I have NO IDEA what will happen.

Neal … has to return?

Crucchiola: I suppose.

I don’t need him to.

Kehe: As a man? As a symbol?

Crucchiola: He’s been “in” every episode already.

Lingering.

Like an idealistic mist.

[At a funeral service.]

Kehe: We open in a church.

It’s Charlie’s (Sam Waterston) funeral.

Crucchiola: Our beloved Charlie.

Kehe: There’s a woman in glasses—who’s she?

Crucchiola: Everyone is singing hymnals but Sloan (Olivia Munn).

Of course.

Kehe: Leona (Jane Fonda) is wearing her sunnies indoors.

Because she’s stoned.

Crucchiola: I’m going to say glasses woman is Mrs. Skinner.

She’s front and center.

Yeah Leona wouldn’t go to this sober.

Kehe: Mac (Emily Mortimer) is outside on the phone.

Directing the news?

Kehe: She’s talking to a “Catherine”?

Do we know a Catherine?!

Crucchiola: She said “Yes, sir.”

Is she going back into the field in Afghanistan??

Kehe: Hm, I’m mishearing her.

Crucchiola: Anything is possible!

Kehe: Now she’s whispering with Will (Jeff Daniels).

About the good sex they had the night he left for prison.

Oh.

OH.

Crucchiola: BLOOD TEST!

THAT TESTS FOR PREGNANCY!

Kehe: The hymnals gloriously RISE!

[The newsroom, years ago.]

Kehe: … and now a flashback?

Crucchiola: We cut back three years.

Long-haired Maggie (Alison Pill).

Will is yelling for Ellen and Karen and anyone but Maggie.

We’re back to Major Dickhead Will.

Hahahaha Will to Maggie: “Is that what you’re wearing because you like it or because it’s all you can afford?”

Kehe: I miss smiley Maggie.

Her sorta empty, nervous smile.

Crucchiola: Oh, man. Majorly timid Maggie.

I miss her too.

Kehe: What’s the point of this sudden flashback, do we think?

Crucchiola: To end, we must go back to the beginning.

Kehe: Speaking of, Neal (Dev Patel) is back.

Crucchiola: I almost forgot how horrible Will was to everyone.

Like how he is berating Neal.

Kehe: Maybe Neal will stay in the past.

Crucchiola: Even though he barely knows who he is.

Neal: “I’m just trying to protect the integrity of the website.”

Kehe: Neal’s “just trying to protect the integrity of the website.”

Crucchiola: WE KNOW, NEAL.

Kehe: Yep.

Crucchiola: Will: “It doesn’t have integrity. It’s a website.”

Kehe: Charlie!

Crucchiola: Awwwwww CHARLIE!

Drinking!

Our Charlie!

Kehe: His gone-ness suddenly feels so real.

Crucchiola: … like the show.

Kehe: Charlie is/was The Newsroom.

Will catches Charlie listening to country.

Crucchiola: He asks since when does Charlie listen to country.

Of COURSE Charlie listens to country.

It’s THE storytellers medium!

Kehe: I … sometimes listen to country.

You know this.

Crucchiola: Charlie is the OLDEST soul.

Charlie: “Will. You did a 5 minute and 20 second block on the WEATHER tonight.”

Kehe: We’re learning he has a nephew who plays every instrument or something.

Grandson?

Crucchiola: Relation we don’t know at all.

[Inside a fancy bar.]

Kehe: Now they’re at drinks.

Crucchiola: Charlie just mentioned the Northwestern interview!

Kehe: Charlie is asking Will if he’s considered kids.

Crucchiola: We are on the doorstep of LANDMARK CHANGE at ACN!

Kehe: Annnnd the point of this flashback is feeling closer.

Crucchiola: Jason, we’re going back to the origin story.

And Charlie Skinner is surely to be the epicenter of it all.

Charlie is telling Will he’s doing BS “news” and that he should consider having kids.

So, he’s being a dad.

Kehe: I mean. Flashback to origins during the series finale? It’s not exactly … revolutionary.

Crucchiola: Sorkin is a revolutionary of tradition.

Will is all “ratings ratings ratings blah blah blah.”

And Charlie is all “What in the HELL are we doing?!”

Kehe: “What in the hell are we doing?”

Crucchiola: (actual Charlie quote)

Kehe: We keep quoting the same bits.

Crucchiola: We are in the soul of the show.

Kehe: And that soul is dying.

Tonight.

Crucchiola: These were the bad old days when Will’s posture constantly says “Like I give a shit.”

Kehe: Charlie: “Being a father lives up to the hype”?

Annnd cut back to present.

So that was the WHOLE POINT.

Of a very elaborate flashback. To establish Will’s potential fatherhood/Charlie’s masterminding.

[Back at church.]

Crucchiola: Right as we cut back to Will he’s stupid-grinning he’s so happy about being a new dad.

Kehe: He doesn’t even notice the congregation has been seated.

Crucchiola: He’s going to be a GREAT dad!

Kehe: Absolutely.

Now he’s confronting Mac.

Crucchiola: She’s seven weeks along.

Kehe: He asks for a moratorium on jokes for the next seven months.

Which is an impossible ask.

It’s Mac.

Crucchiola: Jason I feel like they are real and married.

Kehe: Oh I never had any doubt.

Will: “I’m going to be in charge of morale.”

Of course you are.

Crucchiola: Will puts himself in charge of pregnancy morale!

Awwwww!

Kehe: LEONA.

Crucchiola: Shades and all.

Kehe: She asks Mac to take a ride with her to the cemetery.

Crucchiola: Oh my God that parting shot.

They walked away from each other IN SYNC.

They are in each other’s DNA!

Kehe: Leona and Mac are riding with … PRUIT (BJ Novak)!

Crucchiola: Ugh.

Kehe: So many limos. I wonder which one contains Dan Rather.

Crucchiola: BJ Novak as Pruit is too effective.

I might never be able to not hate him again.

Kehe: I dunno…Leona could save the day.

Crucchiola: Like when I saw Troy.

I’ve never recovered from Orlando Bloom.

Kehe: Maggie and Jim (John Gallagher Jr.) are holding hands in the funeral limo.

Crucchiola: It doesn’t even look REAL!

Kehe: [I didn’t mind Orlando in Troy.]

Crucchiola: They’re like bickering twins!

Kehe: They don’t look real.

Which makes them SO REAL.

Crucchiola: Not IN A RELATIONSHIP.

Kehe: The snake eats its tail. It’s classic.

Ew.

Crucchiola: Jim put her up for a job in DC as a field producer!

Kehe: I don’t like that at all.

Crucchiola: She’s thrilled!

LEAVE, MAGGIE.

Kehe: Maggie has proven time and again she’s resourceful and independent.

Crucchiola: HE’S AN ANCHOR PULLING YOU DOWN!

Kehe: Yet she needs Jim for a job rec?

Crucchiola: … But I get that’s just me.

Kehe: We’re having separate conversations here.

[In the Leona/Mac/Pruit limo.]

Kehe: Leona to Pruitt: “You have a problem my friend.”

Crucchiola: Leona confronts him about his treating-women-worse-than-men problem.

Kehe: Mac: “I don’t know what I’m doing here.”

Pruit calls 77 cents per dollar a “specious statistic.”

Crucchiola: Pruit: “I’m supposed to volunteer money when I’m playing baseball and they’re playing tee-ball.”

Kehe: Which is Sorkin confronting the gender issue.

Crucchiola: Jesus.

Kehe: Is it possible Leona knows everything?

Crucchiola: His personalized soft drink experience company is called Qwench.

Between Becca (Marcia Gay Harden) and Leona, nothing is not known.

Now she’s confronting Pruit about hiring models to come to his bday party.

Kehe: He says they were hired to be “living art,” not for sex.

Crucchiola: SICK.

Kehe: Cut to another limo with Don, Sloan, and Will.

Crucchiola: They’re explaining how Charlie died.

Kehe: Which car would you rather be in?

Crucchiola: I can’t decide!

Kehe: Me neither.

Crucchiola: Leona and Mac vs. Don (Thomas Sadoksi) and Sloan?!

I CAN’T.

Kehe: I thiiiink I’d like to be in Leona’s presence.

Crucchiola: I can see that.

I have no counter argument.

Kehe: I feel like you belong with Don and Sloan.

That way we’d get both.

Crucchiola: I would be in that plural marriage, yes.

Kehe: But I don’t want to decide for you.

Like Jim did/does for Maggie.

Crucchiola: I know I do NOT want to be in that car.

Kehe: You are a strong independent woman who’s capable of choosing her own destiny.

Crucchiola: I am.

Me and Hallie (Grace Gummer).

We hang out.

[At a bowling alley.]

Kehe: Mac is…bowling?

It’s another flashback.

Crucchiola: Mac looks…less than glamorous.

Kehe: Maybe she’s never looked glamorous.

I can’t remember anymore.

(Speaking of, do we think Hallie will be back this episode?)

Crucchiola: I just want Hallie back for one frame to slap Jim in the face.

Because I can’t be there to do it myself.

Also that shirt she’s in is like an XXL.

She’s for sure been more glamorous than that.

Kehe: It says “ARMY.”

Crucchiola: The Army’s shirt.

Apparently.

Kehe: She “hooked” her bowl.

So it gutterballed.

Metaphor?

Crucchiola: Good call.

Her life IS gutterballing at the moment in this flashback.

Mac: “I may be down but I’m not out. I’m gonna qualify for the ladies professional bowling tour.”

Damn. She got stabbed when she was in Fallujah.

Kehe: I think we knew she was injured.

Kehe: Charlie is clearly going to pitch her the ACN exec producer job.

Mac actually speaks the words “HATERS GON HATE”?!

Crucchiola: She’s drinking at noon in sweats in a Lucky Strike.

Kehe: I hate when Sorkin does that. He doesn’t have an ear for webspeak.

Crucchiola: HATER!

Charlie wants Mac to take over News Night!

Kehe: As Sorkin would try to write: sorrynotsorry

Crucchiola: #

I love that this episode is watching Charlie weave together the fundamental relationships of the show.

It’s adorable.

[Still in flashback, cut to ACN newsroom.]

Kehe: Now it’s Sloan/Don.

Crucchiola: This is their first face-to-face!

Kehe: They’re already perfect for each other.

Crucchiola: She’s pissed that Will isn’t doing hard-hitting-enough stories on the sub-prime mortgages catastrophe.

So she’s giving it to Don.

So Don lines her out in return.

For not doing a good enough job on informing the public about what even happened.

The sexual tension is palpable already!

Kehe: So: the finale is reiterating every storyline the HATERS had problems with—in other words, FU to the haters, cause…haters gon hate?

Crucchiola: Which is EXACTLY what Taylor Swift would say!

Kehe: And Sorkin.

They’re kindred?!

Crucchiola: Taylor speaks more in the parlance of our times.

Kehe: What would THAT relationship look like??

Crucchiola: Hahahaha!

Kehe: Sorry—the series finale of The Newsroom is WAY more important.

(Is it?)

Crucchiola: I think we’re in denial.

Kehe: We are.

Crucchiola: “Like it’s every little girl’s dream to make a man better at his job” says Mac to Charlie.

Kehe: Help, I just missed Mac’s gendered dig.

Crucchiola: BOOM.

Kehe: There it is.

Crucchiola: Charlie is telling her she should take the job because she and Will make each other better.

Kehe: Mac is clearly tempted.

Crucchiola: It’s true!

It’s SO true!

Kehe: Charlie, like Leona, knows everything.

Crucchiola: The Architect and Oracle

Kehe: As we’ve always said: Oracle and Architect

Crucchiola: We’re synced up.

Kehe: I think we’re watching this on exactly the same wavelength.

Crucchiola: Charlie just said Mac’s approval is possibly the only thing Will is interested in.

And we know that’s correct.

Kehe: Which we know is true, yes.

Crucchiola: And he’s giving her bowling pointers as he leaves.

Kehe: “Keep your wrist straight.”

Well.

Man gives woman pointers.

He’s also giving Mac a job.

Sorkin: true to the end!

[Outside an auditorium.]

Crucchiola: Mac is at the Northwestern talk.

Intern Jenna (Riley Voelkel) is at the box office!

Kehe: This is the night of Will’s Northwestern BLOWUP.

Crucchiola: (Jenna, who’s future is LIMITLESS!)

Kehe: She and Mac met before the event!

Mac is asking Jenna if she’ll ask a question.

Jenna: “It’s a stupid question.”

Crucchiola: The American supremacy question!

Kehe: Her defense of the question is…really sweet.

Crucchiola: It really is a dumb question. Despite how Mac is encouraging her.

But yes, very sweet.

Kehe: It’s very Millenial.

Crucchiola: And Mac says she’ll show her how to be the first in line at a microphone!

She’s aiding and abetting.

Kehe: Wait, what IS the trick to being first to the microphone?!

IT CUT OUT TOO SOON.

Crucchiola: I’m worried we won’t find out.

[Back to present funeral timeline in a limo.]

Kehe: Pruit has a really ugly haircut or something?

Crucchiola: Leona to Pruit: “You have a PR problem because you have an actual problem.”

Kehe: It’s tamer and softer.

Maybe it’s supposed to symbolize something?

Crucchiola: Pruitt has more than one problem.

Kehe: Yes, his hair is another.

Crucchiola: Sloan and Don are back to exorcising their demons about Charlie to Will.

Will isn’t very sympathetic to them.

[At the cemetery.]

Kehe: Maggie and Sloan are talking!

Does this ever happen?

Crucchiola: Barely ever.

Kehe: Two women: talking!

Crucchiola: About a man.

Kehe: Annnd it’s about Jim.

Once again, Bechdel test: FAILED.

Crucchiola: Well in Maggie’s non-defense, when she’s with Jim she’s constantly made so insecure by him she can’t help but question her/his every move.

So that’s why they’re talking about him.

Because their relationship is unhealthy.

Kehe: So unhealthy it’s healthy.

Crucchiola: Oh that’s not a thing.

Kehe: No, you’re right, that makes no sense.

[Back in the past.]

Kehe: Charlie is clicking around Will’s speech.

Crucchiola: The Northwestern FREAKOUT speech.

Kehe: Who clicks like that?

Crucchiola: Yeah that was weird.

Kehe: Forward … backward.

Crucchiola: Back and forth and forward and back too far.

Kehe: He’s old.

And drunk.

What’s YouTube?!

[Outside at a bar.]

Crucchiola: Will is drinking in St. Barth’s.

Kehe: Leona calls Will.

Crucchiola: He’s cowering a little.

Kehe: … from the bar?

He doesn’t have a cellphone?

Crucchiola: Leona has that power.

Kehe: Who calls the restaurant these days?

Crucchiola: I mean he’s drinking the pain away from potentially murdering his job.

I bet he left his phone in the room.

You would leave your phone behind.

Kehe: He’s distraught, fine.

Crucchiola: And Will doesn’t think websites have integrity.

Kehe: TRUE.

Kehe: Mac calls Charlie.

SHE ACCEPTS.

“I’m in.”

Crucchiola: Oh YEAH she does.

Kehe: SURPRISE

[Back at ACN.]

Crucchiola: Sloan is back to harass Don about the toxic mortgage crisis.

I love her singular, obsessive focus.

Kehe: “Sloan is back to harass Don” could begin any of their interactions.

And he loves it/her.

Crucchiola: She’s like an intensely well-trained attack robot dog.

Kehe: So … Don was apparently reluctant to leave News Night?

Weren’t we made to believe it was his choice?

Crucchiola: Yeah remember he kind of hated Mac when she got there.

Sloan is now asking a member of the cleaning staff is she should ask out the guy she likes!

Kehe: Sloan is seeking relationship advice from the cleaning staff.

Crucchiola: Who is clearly Latina and not bilingual.

Kehe: Noo, Sloan sees Don with Maggie!

Crucchiola: I forgot about Don and Maggie a little.

[Jim in an empty apartment.]

Kehe: Jordan, this scene is for you.

Crucchiola: Douchey Jim teaching himself guitar in an empty room?

Kehe: Jim sadly playing guitar in his furniture-less apartment, yes.

Crucchiola: Don’t read me your poetry, Jim.

Kehe: Mac pays a visit.

Apparently he was in a long distance relationship with an Audrey.

Crucchiola: Jim is in an empty room because his GF just broke up with him and took everything.

Good girl.

Kehe: I thought he’d never found love pre-Maggie.

Crucchiola: Ex Audrey called him a “lost boy.”

Good thing Mac is offering him such a big boy job.

She wants him as her news director.

Kehe: Mac has a copy of Don Quixote.

Crucchiola: That Charlie sent her!

Our revolutionary!

[Cut to the wake.]

Kehe: Back in the PRESENT.

Crucchiola: Will is telling his staff not to ever let him smoke again.

And says Tess (Margaret Judson), Kendra (Adina Porter), et al. can smack him if he ever smokes again.

Kehe: Neal’s plane landed.

He’s … coming back.

Crucchiola: He IS back!

I mostly don’t care.

But I’m glad the rest of the staff is so happy he’s back.

Kehe: Will is basically telling everyone Mac’s pregnant

The girls are giddy. Really?!

Crucchiola: I mean, they would be.

Kehe: Sloan is standing in for us as Maggie and Jim argue

Crucchiola: Maggie is confronting Jim about him putting her up for a job that’s apart from him.

Kehe: They’re both so weasley.

Crucchiola: Sloan was moderating because she says everyone is tired of them missing such “easy shots.”

Kehe: And now—no no no—Maggie says they’ve slept together for the past three nights. I’m a rare Maggie-Jim supporter, but this has gone too far.

Crucchiola: Thank you Sloan for acknowledging that Maggie and Jim are the WORST communicators.

Kehe: Is that the right visual for a funeral?!

Crucchiola: I can’t think of them having sex.

It is NOT.

Kehe: Leona is getting through to Pruit.

Working her magic.

Crucchiola: She is magic.

Kehe: Leona: “You’re not fighting with your news director you’re not doing your job.”

Pruit looks … thoughtful!

YEAH RIGHT. This man killed Charlie Skinner.

Crucchiola: Leona: “The truth is, you don’t want the ACN you think you do.”

Kehe: There’s no way this asshole is about to change.

But whatever he needs to.

Crucchiola: Aaron Sorkin: “America, you don’t want the garbage 24-hour news cycle infotainment you think you do.”

Kehe: Yeah, and America is like: You’re RIGHT!

(not)

Crucchiola: Hahahaha!

If Pruit can change so can we!

Kehe: That is probably true.

[Back at ACN.]

Crucchiola: Bree (Jon Bass) and his douche friends in digital are being lame.

And HERE. COMES. NEAL.

Kehe: He shut down Bree’s/ACN’s website FROM HIS PHONE!

Neal is suddenly … self-actualized?

Crucchiola: Neal has a smug superiority like he’s the risen Jesus.

WHOA!

Kehe: Neal to Bree: “You embarrass me”

Wow.

It’s like he’s almost speaking in voiceover.

Crucchiola: He is!

Kehe: Again: “You embarrass me”

Crucchiola: I can’t even encapsulate Neal’s self-righteous face in a pulled quote.

Kehe: No he’s transcended.

Crucchiola: He’s shutting down the website for a week!

He has.

Kehe: To REBUILD.

Crucchiola: He’s Doctor Manhattan.

He is everywhere and everything.

[Back at the wake.]

Kehe: Now Will’s in some random small boy’s bedroom.

I hope they have a girl.

Crucchiola: Me too.

Will needs a mini Mac.

Kehe: Aww.

Crucchiola: And she would have one of those unplaceable international accents.

Kehe: Like Christiane Amanpour.

Kehe: This is the first time we’re meeting Mrs. Skinner/”Nancy” (Joanna Gleason)

I like her already.

Crucchiola: Me too.

She has such knowing eyes.

Kehe: SUCH.

Crucchiola: Don is apologizing to her.

Telling him Charlie was praying Don would fight him on the campus rape story!

Kehe: Like Mac, this woman was her man’s neck.

Crucchiola: Mrs. Skinner says: “He loved you, Don. And he was so proud of you.”

She just gifted Don Charlie’s bow tie! That is suddenly the sweetest gesture ever!

Kehe: Now Mac is actually TALKING to a small boy.

Stop it.

Crucchiola: You mean Will.

Kehe: Will*

Meh.

Parts of the same now.

Crucchiola: He sort of didn’t comfort him in an effective way.

Little boy says “my grandpa died” and he says “Sorry kid but I’ve got my own problems. My best friend died.”

Remember that no joke rule, Will. It’s good for funerals too.

Kehe: Now Will’s in a garage with presumably Charlie’s multi-instrumental grandson.

He’s on the standup bass, Will’s on the guitar.

Jim looks on.

Crucchiola: Will starts playing “That’s How I Got To Memphis” from Charlie’s office.

Which is YEARS ago at this point.

Kehe: It’s a garage jam sesh.

Crucchiola: But he remembered.

Kehe: Will doesn’t forget. Now Jim is singing.

Crucchiola: This is so saccharine. But I don’t even mind.

Kehe: Jim was on Broadway.

Crucchiola: Really? Jim?

Kehe: So I’m surprised it’s been three seasons.

Oh yeah.

Crucchiola: So he has a nice voice? That at least makes me like the actor again.

Kehe: Mr. Spring Awakening!

Crucchiola: Ohhhhhhh!!!! Wow!

Kehe: Which is why I loved him from the beginning!

Crucchiola: The entire B-level cast of The Newsroom is now watching this jam sesh.

Kehe: Weird—it was like a mini concert and now it’s over. Did that even really happen?

Crucchiola: Will is offering to be a support figure for Charlie’s grandson. That’s nice.

Kehe: We have to be convinced that a 50-year-old grump will make a good father.

I’m convinced.

Crucchiola: His heart has grown three sizes over the past three seasons.

Kehe: It has.

Crucchiola: Pruit just whispered something to Will.

Kehe: Now Will’s giving the speech he was clearly meant to give.

He jokes Sloan killed Charlie.

Crucchiola: LOL

Kehe: And says Charlie was crazy.

Crucchiola: Oh, WILL!

Kehe: “His religion was decency, and he spent a lifetime fighting its enemies.”

That’s nice.

Crucchiola: Like Don Quixote.

Kehe: Annnnnnnd…

Crucchiola: Will just announced Mac is Charlie’s successor!

MAC’S ON TOP.

Kehe: Which she wasn’t even made aware of.

And it was announced by a guy.

Crucchiola: Yeah that was weird.

Kehe: But WHATEVS. Mac deserved it of course.

Crucchiola: Elliot (David Harbour) has been mentioned so many times in this episode.

I miss him.

Kehe: She is Charlie’s true successor.

Crucchiola: She is.

Kehe: Yeah, where’d Elliot go? Couldn’t come back for the finale?

Crucchiola: I’m sure he picked her knowing she would eventually succeed him.

Charlie just pulled up Jim to be the exec producer of News Night.

Kehe: Yes.

You mean Mac? [Note: Yes, Mac.]

Crucchiola: And he’s telling Maggie to drop her other interview because she’s going to be his new senior producer.

“I want to be a field producer. In DC. It will put me in line for the White House.” Says Maggie to Jim TWICE.

WORK IT GIRL.

Kehe: They’re pretty cute—ADMIT IT.

Crucchiola: Like I said. Fighting siblings.

Kehe: They relate in a fundamentally codependent way.

Crucchiola: I appreciate that Jim is telling Maggie immediately he will fly to see her every weekend.

Kehe: Jim says he loves Maggie. Then walks out.

Maggie looks shocked.

Crucchiola: That’s the clear initiative he has NOT been displaying.

When like obviously he loves her and they love each other because they wouldn’t be doing this at all if that wasn’t the case.

Kehe: Right.

Crucchiola: And now this touching moment between Sloan and Don is making me emotional.

He’s giving her Charlie’s tie and she loves it!

Kehe: We’ll never see their wedding, which makes me emotional.

Crucchiola: It makes me angry.

I love the way Will looks at Mac. That head-down-eyes-up look he gives her.

Kehe: Will is saying it doesn’t matter how Mac got the job—which is Sorkin saying who cares I’m sexist I put women in charge!!!

Crucchiola: Hahahaha I think you’re onto something!

Kehe: “60 seconds.”

Crucchiola: Flashback Charlie to Will: “You know what kid? In the old days, about 10 minutes ago, we did the news well. You know how? We just decided to.”

Kehe: He lives on. His heart beats for the newsroom.

[In the newsroom, natch.]

Crucchiola: We are getting a final establishing shot of the whole newsroom.

Kehe: It’s…calm.

Comforting.

Content.

Crucchiola: It is calm.

Kehe: There’s no drama.

For once.

That won’t last.

Crucchiola: I’m feeling calm.

Kehe: Me too. Is it resignation?

Or acceptance?

Crucchiola: I honestly think acceptance now.

After a season of protest.

Kehe: Yes. I think we’re ready.

“Good show everybody.”

Yes Mac.

It was.

I’m…tearing.

Crucchiola: I can’t believe it.

I just can’t.

Kehe: It’s done.

Crucchiola: They couldn’t even give it a FULL SEASON?!? HBO is bleeding cash!

Kehe: Wow Jordan.

From acceptance and back to anger.

Crucchiola: And they couldn’t fund six more damn episodes!

The stages of grief are NOT linear!

Kehe: Fair.

Crucchiola: So Sorkin spent five episodes blasting the internet and digital media.

And then had Messiah Neal sweep in to say “We will rebuild” in the final moments.

Does he believe we can change?

Kehe: Who?

Crucchiola: America.

The news-hungry public.

We know he thinks we SHOULD change.

Kehe: Well the show’s over now. It’s up to us.

Crucchiola: So is he the martyr?

Kehe: Who?

That would fit his popular narrative.

Kehe: Charlie was the martyr.

Crucchiola: Sorkin.

Kehe: Same thing.

Crucchiola: Neal is the risen Jesus.

Kehe: Sorkin sacrificed himself.

Crucchiola: He did.

And has sworn off TV.

Kehe: Wow. So Charlie killed himself for our sins, and rose again as Neal.

YOU’RE RIGHT.

Crucchiola: I mean that’s it.

With Mac as his messenger.

Kehe: The news is our religion.

Crucchiola: Mac is an apostle.

Kehe: Leona is Mother Mary?

Crucchiola: And we already dealt with Judas, aka JERRY DANTANA (Hamish Linklater), last season.

Will is the completion of the Holy Trinity.

Kehe: I agree with all this, but I also think we’re overreaching—we’re so distraught we’re looking for ANSWERS, and of course answers can be found in the comfort of religious archetypes.

Crucchiola: Becca and Leona are… God, I’m going to say.

I totally agree.

Except about Becca and Leona being omniscient. That’s just true.

As opposed to us overreaching.

Kehe: Which we’ve been saying.

Jordan, we’ve said so much.

Crucchiola: And now, we’ve said all there is to say.

Because the lights are out on The Newsroom.

Kehe: As Will would say: “Good evening.”

Crucchiola: “Good evening.”

And there it is.

You Can Now Control Your Nest Thermostat With Voice Commands

Nest

Google gobbled up smart-thermostat maker Nest back in January, and now we’re seeing the promised fruits of that union: You can now use Google Now to control your Nest.

The feature was announced as part of an open API Nest announced this summer. It works pretty simply. Instead of having to tap to the Nest app to control your thermostat, you can dictate commands through Google Now. You can say things like “Change the temperature on my nest to 76″ or “Turn the thermostat down to 72.” You can also say “Raise up the temperature to 78″ or just “Change temperature.” You can also dictate temperature commands in Celsius, if you’re one of those people.

Google has a huge list of possible voice commands you can use.

Squid supplies blueprint for printable thermoplastics

Squid, what is it good for? You can eat it and you can make ink or dye from it, and now a Penn State team of researchers is using it to make a thermoplastic that can be used in 3-D printing.

"Most of the companies looking into this type of material have focused on synthetic plastics," said Melik C. Demirel, professor of engineering science and mechanics. "Synthetic plastics are not rapidly deployable for field applications, and more importantly, they are not eco-friendly."

Demirel and his team looked at the protein complex that exists in the squid ring teeth (SRT). The naturally made material is a thermoplastic, but obtaining it requires a large amount of effort and many squid.

"We have the genetic sequence for six squid collected around the world, but we started with the European common squid," said Demirel, who with his team collected the cephalopods.

The researchers looked at the genetic sequence for the protein complex molecule and tried synthesizing a variety of proteins from the complex. Some were not thermoplastics, but others show stable thermal response, for example, the smallest known molecular weight SRT protein was a thermoplastic. The results of their work were published in today's (Dec. 17) issue of Advanced Functional Materials and illustrates the cover.

Most plastics are currently manufactured from fossil fuel sources like crude oil. Some high-end plastics are made from synthetic oils. Thermoplastics are polymer materials that can melt, be formed and then solidify as the same material without degrading materials properties.

This particular thermoplastic can be fabricated either as a thermoplastic, heated and extruded or molded, or the plastic can be dissolved in a simple solvent like acetic acid and used in film casting. The material can also be used in 3D printing machines as the source material to create complicated geometric structures.

To manufacture this small, synthetic SRT molecule, the researchers used recombinant techniques. They inserted SRT protein genes into E. coli, so that this common, harmless bacteria could produce the plastic molecules as part of their normal activity and the thermoplastic was then removed from the media where the E. coli lived. Wayne Curtis, professor of chemical engineering and Demirel collaborating on this project together with their students worked on this aspect of the project.

"The next generation of materials will be governed by molecular composition -- sequence, structure and properties," said Demirel.

The thermoplastic the researchers created is semi-crystalline and can be rigid or soft. It has a very high tensile strength and is a wet adhesive; it will stick to things even if it is wet.

This thermoplastic protein has a variety of tunable properties, which can be adjusted to individual requirements of manufacturing. Because it is a protein, it can be used for medical or cosmetic applications.

"Direct extraction or recombinant expression of protein based thermoplastics opens up new avenues for materials fabrication and synthesis, which will eventually be competitive with the high-end synthetic oil based plastics," the researchers report.

Story Source:

The above story is based on materials provided by Penn State . Note: Materials may be edited for content and length.

Web Commenters Claim They Use Pseudonyms for Privacy, Not Trolling

Getty Images

If you post a comment to this article, you probably won’t give your real name. And that’s probably because you’re concerned with your personal privacy—not because you’re trying to mislead people with untruths or otherwise hide your personal agenda.

So says Disqus, the company that runs a web commenting service on some of the world’s most popular sites, including WIRED. The company recently surveyed 1,000 people who use its service—as well as 1,000 general internet users—about how they identify themselves when posting comments to the web, and it found that pseudonyms are still the norm in the world of online comments—and that most people say they use them, at least in part, so they can freely say what they feel.

According to Disqus VP of marketing and communication Steve Roy, commenters feel more comfortable airing their opinions about controversial topics such as politics and religion when they know their friends, families, and employers aren’t listening in. “It’s not about hiding,” he says. “It’s about privacy and choosing your identity when exercising your free speech.”

Roy’s stance should be taken with a grain of salt. People may say they use pseudonyms for reasons of privacy, but they’re really interested in trolling people without consequences. And they hide behind a pseudonym for both reasons. But the point is that the situation is more complicated than it might seem.

The Disqus study is the latest effort to weigh the benefits and the drawbacks of online pseudonyms, which have fueled more than a little controversy over the years. Facebook helped move much of the internet away from anonymity and pseudonymity by instituting a real-names policy on its social network, arguing that this makes people more accountable for what they do and say online. But recently, many new apps, including Whisper and Yik Yak, have sought to bring anonymity back to the net in a very big way, with varying degrees of success, and this fall, various LGBT groups and others criticized Facebook’s real name policy, pointing out that vulnerable people—such as domestic abuse victims—have very good reasons to avoid using real names online.

Facebook has since apologized for its hardline stance, and it’s even moving towards anonymous commenting with its new Facebook Rooms feature. Still, the debate rages on.

Part of the problem is that sites that foster anonymous or pseudonymous commenting, such as 4chan and Reddit, have can be breeding grounds for abuse and bad behavior. And controversies such as “Gamer Gate”—a lengthy harassment campaign targeted largely at women in the video game industry—have shown just how dangerous pseudonyms can be.

But according to Disqus, it’s not just trolls who use pseudonyms. Most blog commenters use them. According to the company, 63 percent of people on its service use some sort of pseudonym when commenting online. Men use pseudonyms more often than women, but 54 percent of women use pseudonyms at least some of the time. And Roy says that many trolls actually use their real names. “If you’re out there looking to troll or deflate people, that happens at similar volumes even if you’re using the same name,” he says.

What’s more, the company’s survey indicates, pseudonymous commenters aren’t necessarily sacrificing their trustworthiness by forgoing their real names. The general internet users polled by Disqus said they trust pseudonymous comments just as much as they trust comments posted by someone using their real name. Plus, readers can “vote up” and “vote down” Disqus comments, and according to Roy, pseudonymous comments fair just as well—if not better—than comments attached to real names. That doesn’t prove those comments are of a higher quality. But it does go to show that pseudonymous comments aren’t all bad.

An App That Improves Your Health by Quizzing You

Screenshot: Hi.Q, Inc.

The aim of many wearables is noble. They’re designed to help you get up, get moving, and get healthier. But there’s often a disconnect between users and their goal: While they want to get healthier, they actually don’t know the basic facts about health and fitness that will help them improve their lifestyle.

That’s where iOS quiz app Hi.Q (short for Health IQ) comes in. Hi.Q is comprises over 10,000 questions spanning 300 topics. When you start using the app, you take a 30 question preliminary test covering some broad nutrition, exercise, and lifestyle basics. From there, you can take quizzes on the topic of the day, or dive into more niche subjects like the Paleo diet, heart disease, or running.

With the country’s astronomical obesity epidemic, a growing number of Americans really do want to improve their habits, or are at least aware that they should. (Some evidence: The popularity of health and fitness apps is up 87 percent compared to other app categories.) But it can be hard if they don’t know, or have misconceptions about, how to go about such changes. Hi.Q attempts to give users this in a package that’s less dry than your typical Google Search.

And more accurate. Both the questions and their answers are backed up by health and fitness professionals like Harvard Med School physician Dr. James Colbert and U.S. Olympic Team orthopedic surgeon Dr. Scott Hacker. The answers often link back to specific scientific studies or the articles they are based on so you can easily learn more.

But a quiz app isn’t much fun unless you can show off what you know. When you complete a quiz, you’re given a score on each quiz based on how many questions were answered correctly. High scores earn you status and titles. After achieving “Elite status” on the preliminary quiz, I decided to test my cycling knowledge with a quiz titled “Bicycling: Maximizing Performance,” which earned me another Elite ranking, and an upgrade to “Level 4.” More prolific beta users of the app, listed in the high score tables for each quiz, earn titles like “Health Guru” or “Health Pioneer.” My Level 4 ranking looked pretty measly next to their Level 41’s and 126’s, and I scoped out other quizzes to test my knowledge.

You can also start discussions with other users around these various quiz topics. Combined with the scoring system, Hi.Q CEO and co-founder Munjal Shah has created a rudimentary way of validating user credentials: Yeah, this guy claims he’s an expert on this topic, but is he really? Well, based on his quiz scores, yeah, actually he is. Once you know that, you can engage in discussions with other users and (hopefully) know that the advice they’re sharing isn’t bogus.

While all this can be fun and helpful, the real gain is what you get out of your increased knowledge. By running these questions through a panel of 250,000 people, Shah found that those with a high health IQ score were hospitalized 50 percent less than lose with a low score. So potentially, the more you know (particularly in areas relating to healthy eating habits), the more likely you are to implement those ideas and lead a healthier lifestyle.

Hi.Q is free and currently available from the iOS App Store.

Tech Giants Rally Around Microsoft to Protect Your Data Overseas

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When it comes to protecting data privacy, Microsoft has allies.

More than 75 civil liberties groups, technology companies, trade associations and computer scientists filed legal briefs today in support of the software giant, who is fighting to protect the privacy of data stored overseas from the prying eyes of the U.S. government.

The uncommon support points to the level of concern these companies and groups have about the precedent the court battle could set should Microsoft lose.

“Seldom has a case below the Supreme Court attracted the breadth and depth of legal involvement we’re seeing today,” Microsoft General Counsel Brad Smith wrote in a blog post about the move. “This case involves not a narrow legal question, but a broad policy issue that is fundamental to the future of global technology.”

At issue is the government’s claim that a warrant obtained from a U.S. court under the authority of the Electronic Communications Privacy Act is sufficient to force Microsoft to hand over data stored on a server in Ireland. Microsoft insists the warrant is illegal and has no authority outside the U.S. After a district court rejected that argument in July, the company appealed.

Today multiple groups (.pdf), including 28 technology and media companies, 23 trade and civil liberties groups and 35 computer scientists put their names to 10 amicus briefs filed in support of Microsoft. The companies include Verizon, Apple, Amazon, Cisco, Salesforce, HP, eBay, Infor, AT&T, and Rackspace.

“[W]e have submitted this brief in order to turn back an unlawful overreach by the U.S. government,” Verizon wrote in its reason for filing the brief. “The U.S. Supreme Court has reiterated many times that U.S. statutes are presumed not to have extraterritorial application unless Congress ‘clearly expressed’ its ‘affirmative intention’ to the contrary.”

The U.S. government’s move is a strong-arm tactic to establish authority over data no matter where it’s located as long as the company collecting the data is based in the U.S.

The government should hew to the procedures it and other governments currently follow for obtaining data outside their jurisdiction, Microsoft and its supporters argue, by using well-established treaties and partnerships to file legal requests in the native jurisdictions where data is stored. If the U.S. government is allowed to bypass the laws of local jurisdictions and force Microsoft to turn over data held overseas, Verizon notes, it will “encourage foreign governments to claim that they can obtain data stored in the U.S.” in the same manner, “which would threaten the privacy of Americans.”

Microsoft’s Smith noted in his post today that tech companies store data locally for good reason. If data is stored near the customers who own it, “consumers and companies can retrieve their personal information more quickly and securely.”

In its appeal, filed last week in the U.S. Second Circuit Court of Appeals in New York, Microsoft likened the government’s move to the German Stadtpolizei serving a warrant on the Deutsche Bank headquarters in Germany to obtain records that a U.S. reporter in New York has stashed in a safety deposit box at a U.S. branch of the bank.

The Government Is Making a Power Grab

The case began last December when the government obtained a warrant for the content of emails and other data belonging to a customer. Microsoft found some of the data on servers in the U.S. but found that the email contents were stored on a server in Dublin. The government insisted the warrant was valid for that data as well.

The government’s move is a strong-arm tactic to establish authority over data no matter where it’s located as long as the company collecting the data is based in the U.S. The aggressive and novel grab for data overseas is likely a reaction to recent events following the Edward Snowden leaks in which some countries—such as Brazil and Germany—have discussed forcing U.S. companies to store data belonging to their citizens in servers in their countries.

The government has argued that unlike letters sent through regular mail, emails stored in the cloud don’t belong exclusively to the person who sends or receives them. Instead, they become the business records of the cloud provider that stores them. And since business records have a lower legal protection than personal records, the government insists it can use the warrant to obtain them.

Microsoft notes, however, that U.S. courts assume that federal statutes do not apply outside U.S. territory unless Congress explicitly states they do. “Congress expressed no such intention here,” Smith notes. “That fundamental point is at the heart of this case.”

The case raises important implications for the separation of powers, he notes, because the Justice Department would have to sidestep Congress’s authority in asserting that the Electronic Communications Privacy Act [ECPA] is intended to apply overseas when lawmakers themselves have not expressed this intent.

“On the contrary, ECPA’s text and history show Congress believed the law would only apply domestically,” he noted. “If the DOJ wants the unprecedented power it claims here, it therefore should plead its case to Congress.”

A Gchat Recap of The Newsroom Series Finale

HBO

When the sun rose this morning, it was over a different world. Yes, it’s finally happened: After 2.5 seasons (we don’t accept six episodes as a full run), our beloved Newsroom has finally blipped out. All we have now are our memories, and the comforting voice of Nat King Cole to give us solace:

“Light up your face with gladness

Hide every trace of sadness

Although a tear may be ever so near

That’s the time you must keep on trying

Smile, what’s the use of crying?

You’ll find that life is still worthwhile

If you just smile”

For the last time, we are Jordan Crucchiola and Jason Kehe. Good night.

Jason Kehe: Well. Should we breathe?

Jordan Crucchiola: Not for the next hour.

Kehe: Jordan, dearest, this is The End.

Crucchiola: It’s not right.

It’s not.

Last opening credits.

Dev Patel.

Sort of.

Kehe: Will he be in this episode?

Crucchiola: God. I’m going to just have to start the show right over again as soon as this ends.

Kehe: I have NO IDEA what will happen.

Neal … has to return?

Crucchiola: I suppose.

I don’t need him to.

Kehe: As a man? As a symbol?

Crucchiola: He’s been “in” every episode already.

Lingering.

Like an idealistic mist.

[At a funeral service.]

Kehe: We open in a church.

It’s Charlie’s (Sam Waterston) funeral.

Crucchiola: Our beloved Charlie.

Kehe: There’s a woman in glasses—who’s she?

Crucchiola: Everyone is singing hymnals but Sloan (Olivia Munn).

Of course.

Kehe: Leona (Jane Fonda) is wearing her sunnies indoors.

Because she’s stoned.

Crucchiola: I’m going to say glasses woman is Mrs. Skinner.

She’s front and center.

Yeah Leona wouldn’t go to this sober.

Kehe: Mac (Emily Mortimer) is outside on the phone.

Directing the news?

Kehe: She’s talking to a “Catherine”?

Do we know a Catherine?!

Crucchiola: She said “Yes, sir.”

Is she going back into the field in Afghanistan??

Kehe: Hm, I’m mishearing her.

Crucchiola: Anything is possible!

Kehe: Now she’s whispering with Will (Jeff Daniels).

About the good sex they had the night he left for prison.

Oh.

OH.

Crucchiola: BLOOD TEST!

THAT TESTS FOR PREGNANCY!

Kehe: The hymnals gloriously RISE!

[The newsroom, years ago.]

Kehe: … and now a flashback?

Crucchiola: We cut back three years.

Long-haired Maggie (Alison Pill).

Will is yelling for Ellen and Karen and anyone but Maggie.

We’re back to Major Dickhead Will.

Hahahaha Will to Maggie: “Is that what you’re wearing because you like it or because it’s all you can afford?”

Kehe: I miss smiley Maggie.

Her sorta empty, nervous smile.

Crucchiola: Oh, man. Majorly timid Maggie.

I miss her too.

Kehe: What’s the point of this sudden flashback, do we think?

Crucchiola: To end, we must go back to the beginning.

Kehe: Speaking of, Neal (Dev Patel) is back.

Crucchiola: I almost forgot how horrible Will was to everyone.

Like how he is berating Neal.

Kehe: Maybe Neal will stay in the past.

Crucchiola: Even though he barely knows who he is.

Neal: “I’m just trying to protect the integrity of the website.”

Kehe: Neal’s “just trying to protect the integrity of the website.”

Crucchiola: WE KNOW, NEAL.

Kehe: Yep.

Crucchiola: Will: “It doesn’t have integrity. It’s a website.”

Kehe: Charlie!

Crucchiola: Awwwwww CHARLIE!

Drinking!

Our Charlie!

Kehe: His gone-ness suddenly feels so real.

Crucchiola: … like the show.

Kehe: Charlie is/was The Newsroom.

Will catches Charlie listening to country.

Crucchiola: He asks since when does Charlie listen to country.

Of COURSE Charlie listens to country.

It’s THE storytellers medium!

Kehe: I … sometimes listen to country.

You know this.

Crucchiola: Charlie is the OLDEST soul.

Charlie: “Will. You did a 5 minute and 20 second block on the WEATHER tonight.”

Kehe: We’re learning he has a nephew who plays every instrument or something.

Grandson?

Crucchiola: Relation we don’t know at all.

[Inside a fancy bar.]

Kehe: Now they’re at drinks.

Crucchiola: Charlie just mentioned the Northwestern interview!

Kehe: Charlie is asking Will if he’s considered kids.

Crucchiola: We are on the doorstep of LANDMARK CHANGE at ACN!

Kehe: Annnnd the point of this flashback is feeling closer.

Crucchiola: Jason, we’re going back to the origin story.

And Charlie Skinner is surely to be the epicenter of it all.

Charlie is telling Will he’s doing BS “news” and that he should consider having kids.

So, he’s being a dad.

Kehe: I mean. Flashback to origins during the series finale? It’s not exactly … revolutionary.

Crucchiola: Sorkin is a revolutionary of tradition.

Will is all “ratings ratings ratings blah blah blah.”

And Charlie is all “What in the HELL are we doing?!”

Kehe: “What in the hell are we doing?”

Crucchiola: (actual Charlie quote)

Kehe: We keep quoting the same bits.

Crucchiola: We are in the soul of the show.

Kehe: And that soul is dying.

Tonight.

Crucchiola: These were the bad old days when Will’s posture constantly says “Like I give a shit.”

Kehe: Charlie: “Being a father lives up to the hype”?

Annnd cut back to present.

So that was the WHOLE POINT.

Of a very elaborate flashback. To establish Will’s potential fatherhood/Charlie’s masterminding.

[Back at church.]

Crucchiola: Right as we cut back to Will he’s stupid-grinning he’s so happy about being a new dad.

Kehe: He doesn’t even notice the congregation has been seated.

Crucchiola: He’s going to be a GREAT dad!

Kehe: Absolutely.

Now he’s confronting Mac.

Crucchiola: She’s seven weeks along.

Kehe: He asks for a moratorium on jokes for the next seven months.

Which is an impossible ask.

It’s Mac.

Crucchiola: Jason I feel like they are real and married.

Kehe: Oh I never had any doubt.

Will: “I’m going to be in charge of morale.”

Of course you are.

Crucchiola: Will puts himself in charge of pregnancy morale!

Awwwww!

Kehe: LEONA.

Crucchiola: Shades and all.

Kehe: She asks Mac to take a ride with her to the cemetery.

Crucchiola: Oh my God that parting shot.

They walked away from each other IN SYNC.

They are in each other’s DNA!

Kehe: Leona and Mac are riding with … PRUIT (BJ Novak)!

Crucchiola: Ugh.

Kehe: So many limos. I wonder which one contains Dan Rather.

Crucchiola: BJ Novak as Pruit is too effective.

I might never be able to not hate him again.

Kehe: I dunno…Leona could save the day.

Crucchiola: Like when I saw Troy.

I’ve never recovered from Orlando Bloom.

Kehe: Maggie and Jim (John Gallagher Jr.) are holding hands in the funeral limo.

Crucchiola: It doesn’t even look REAL!

Kehe: [I didn’t mind Orlando in Troy.]

Crucchiola: They’re like bickering twins!

Kehe: They don’t look real.

Which makes them SO REAL.

Crucchiola: Not IN A RELATIONSHIP.

Kehe: The snake eats its tail. It’s classic.

Ew.

Crucchiola: Jim put her up for a job in DC as a field producer!

Kehe: I don’t like that at all.

Crucchiola: She’s thrilled!

LEAVE, MAGGIE.

Kehe: Maggie has proven time and again she’s resourceful and independent.

Crucchiola: HE’S AN ANCHOR PULLING YOU DOWN!

Kehe: Yet she needs Jim for a job rec?

Crucchiola: … But I get that’s just me.

Kehe: We’re having separate conversations here.

[In the Leona/Mac/Pruit limo.]

Kehe: Leona to Pruitt: “You have a problem my friend.”

Crucchiola: Leona confronts him about his treating-women-worse-than-men problem.

Kehe: Mac: “I don’t know what I’m doing here.”

Pruit calls 77 cents per dollar a “specious statistic.”

Crucchiola: Pruit: “I’m supposed to volunteer money when I’m playing baseball and they’re playing tee-ball.”

Kehe: Which is Sorkin confronting the gender issue.

Crucchiola: Jesus.

Kehe: Is it possible Leona knows everything?

Crucchiola: His personalized soft drink experience company is called Qwench.

Between Becca (Marcia Gay Harden) and Leona, nothing is not known.

Now she’s confronting Pruit about hiring models to come to his bday party.

Kehe: He says they were hired to be “living art,” not for sex.

Crucchiola: SICK.

Kehe: Cut to another limo with Don, Sloan, and Will.

Crucchiola: They’re explaining how Charlie died.

Kehe: Which car would you rather be in?

Crucchiola: I can’t decide!

Kehe: Me neither.

Crucchiola: Leona and Mac vs. Don (Thomas Sadoksi) and Sloan?!

I CAN’T.

Kehe: I thiiiink I’d like to be in Leona’s presence.

Crucchiola: I can see that.

I have no counter argument.

Kehe: I feel like you belong with Don and Sloan.

That way we’d get both.

Crucchiola: I would be in that plural marriage, yes.

Kehe: But I don’t want to decide for you.

Like Jim did/does for Maggie.

Crucchiola: I know I do NOT want to be in that car.

Kehe: You are a strong independent woman who’s capable of choosing her own destiny.

Crucchiola: I am.

Me and Hallie (Grace Gummer).

We hang out.

[At a bowling alley.]

Kehe: Mac is…bowling?

It’s another flashback.

Crucchiola: Mac looks…less than glamorous.

Kehe: Maybe she’s never looked glamorous.

I can’t remember anymore.

(Speaking of, do we think Hallie will be back this episode?)

Crucchiola: I just want Hallie back for one frame to slap Jim in the face.

Because I can’t be there to do it myself.

Also that shirt she’s in is like an XXL.

She’s for sure been more glamorous than that.

Kehe: It says “ARMY.”

Crucchiola: The Army’s shirt.

Apparently.

Kehe: She “hooked” her bowl.

So it gutterballed.

Metaphor?

Crucchiola: Good call.

Her life IS gutterballing at the moment in this flashback.

Mac: “I may be down but I’m not out. I’m gonna qualify for the ladies professional bowling tour.”

Damn. She got stabbed when she was in Fallujah.

Kehe: I think we knew she was injured.

Kehe: Charlie is clearly going to pitch her the ACN exec producer job.

Mac actually speaks the words “HATERS GON HATE”?!

Crucchiola: She’s drinking at noon in sweats in a Lucky Strike.

Kehe: I hate when Sorkin does that. He doesn’t have an ear for webspeak.

Crucchiola: HATER!

Charlie wants Mac to take over News Night!

Kehe: As Sorkin would try to write: sorrynotsorry

Crucchiola: #

I love that this episode is watching Charlie weave together the fundamental relationships of the show.

It’s adorable.

[Still in flashback, cut to ACN newsroom.]

Kehe: Now it’s Sloan/Don.

Crucchiola: This is their first face-to-face!

Kehe: They’re already perfect for each other.

Crucchiola: She’s pissed that Will isn’t doing hard-hitting-enough stories on the sub-prime mortgages catastrophe.

So she’s giving it to Don.

So Don lines her out in return.

For not doing a good enough job on informing the public about what even happened.

The sexual tension is palpable already!

Kehe: So: the finale is reiterating every storyline the HATERS had problems with—in other words, FU to the haters, cause…haters gon hate?

Crucchiola: Which is EXACTLY what Taylor Swift would say!

Kehe: And Sorkin.

They’re kindred?!

Crucchiola: Taylor speaks more in the parlance of our times.

Kehe: What would THAT relationship look like??

Crucchiola: Hahahaha!

Kehe: Sorry—the series finale of The Newsroom is WAY more important.

(Is it?)

Crucchiola: I think we’re in denial.

Kehe: We are.

Crucchiola: “Like it’s every little girl’s dream to make a man better at his job” says Mac to Charlie.

Kehe: Help, I just missed Mac’s gendered dig.

Crucchiola: BOOM.

Kehe: There it is.

Crucchiola: Charlie is telling her she should take the job because she and Will make each other better.

Kehe: Mac is clearly tempted.

Crucchiola: It’s true!

It’s SO true!

Kehe: Charlie, like Leona, knows everything.

Crucchiola: The Architect and Oracle

Kehe: As we’ve always said: Oracle and Architect

Crucchiola: We’re synced up.

Kehe: I think we’re watching this on exactly the same wavelength.

Crucchiola: Charlie just said Mac’s approval is possibly the only thing Will is interested in.

And we know that’s correct.

Kehe: Which we know is true, yes.

Crucchiola: And he’s giving her bowling pointers as he leaves.

Kehe: “Keep your wrist straight.”

Well.

Man gives woman pointers.

He’s also giving Mac a job.

Sorkin: true to the end!

[Outside an auditorium.]

Crucchiola: Mac is at the Northwestern talk.

Intern Jenna (Riley Voelkel) is at the box office!

Kehe: This is the night of Will’s Northwestern BLOWUP.

Crucchiola: (Jenna, who’s future is LIMITLESS!)

Kehe: She and Mac met before the event!

Mac is asking Jenna if she’ll ask a question.

Jenna: “It’s a stupid question.”

Crucchiola: The American supremacy question!

Kehe: Her defense of the question is…really sweet.

Crucchiola: It really is a dumb question. Despite how Mac is encouraging her.

But yes, very sweet.

Kehe: It’s very Millenial.

Crucchiola: And Mac says she’ll show her how to be the first in line at a microphone!

She’s aiding and abetting.

Kehe: Wait, what IS the trick to being first to the microphone?!

IT CUT OUT TOO SOON.

Crucchiola: I’m worried we won’t find out.

[Back to present funeral timeline in a limo.]

Kehe: Pruit has a really ugly haircut or something?

Crucchiola: Leona to Pruit: “You have a PR problem because you have an actual problem.”

Kehe: It’s tamer and softer.

Maybe it’s supposed to symbolize something?

Crucchiola: Pruitt has more than one problem.

Kehe: Yes, his hair is another.

Crucchiola: Sloan and Don are back to exorcising their demons about Charlie to Will.

Will isn’t very sympathetic to them.

[At the cemetery.]

Kehe: Maggie and Sloan are talking!

Does this ever happen?

Crucchiola: Barely ever.

Kehe: Two women: talking!

Crucchiola: About a man.

Kehe: Annnd it’s about Jim.

Once again, Bechdel test: FAILED.

Crucchiola: Well in Maggie’s non-defense, when she’s with Jim she’s constantly made so insecure by him she can’t help but question her/his every move.

So that’s why they’re talking about him.

Because their relationship is unhealthy.

Kehe: So unhealthy it’s healthy.

Crucchiola: Oh that’s not a thing.

Kehe: No, you’re right, that makes no sense.

[Back in the past.]

Kehe: Charlie is clicking around Will’s speech.

Crucchiola: The Northwestern FREAKOUT speech.

Kehe: Who clicks like that?

Crucchiola: Yeah that was weird.

Kehe: Forward … backward.

Crucchiola: Back and forth and forward and back too far.

Kehe: He’s old.

And drunk.

What’s YouTube?!

[Outside at a bar.]

Crucchiola: Will is drinking in St. Barth’s.

Kehe: Leona calls Will.

Crucchiola: He’s cowering a little.

Kehe: … from the bar?

He doesn’t have a cellphone?

Crucchiola: Leona has that power.

Kehe: Who calls the restaurant these days?

Crucchiola: I mean he’s drinking the pain away from potentially murdering his job.

I bet he left his phone in the room.

You would leave your phone behind.

Kehe: He’s distraught, fine.

Crucchiola: And Will doesn’t think websites have integrity.

Kehe: TRUE.

Kehe: Mac calls Charlie.

SHE ACCEPTS.

“I’m in.”

Crucchiola: Oh YEAH she does.

Kehe: SURPRISE

[Back at ACN.]

Crucchiola: Sloan is back to harass Don about the toxic mortgage crisis.

I love her singular, obsessive focus.

Kehe: “Sloan is back to harass Don” could begin any of their interactions.

And he loves it/her.

Crucchiola: She’s like an intensely well-trained attack robot dog.

Kehe: So … Don was apparently reluctant to leave News Night?

Weren’t we made to believe it was his choice?

Crucchiola: Yeah remember he kind of hated Mac when she got there.

Sloan is now asking a member of the cleaning staff is she should ask out the guy she likes!

Kehe: Sloan is seeking relationship advice from the cleaning staff.

Crucchiola: Who is clearly Latina and not bilingual.

Kehe: Noo, Sloan sees Don with Maggie!

Crucchiola: I forgot about Don and Maggie a little.

[Jim in an empty apartment.]

Kehe: Jordan, this scene is for you.

Crucchiola: Douchey Jim teaching himself guitar in an empty room?

Kehe: Jim sadly playing guitar in his furniture-less apartment, yes.

Crucchiola: Don’t read me your poetry, Jim.

Kehe: Mac pays a visit.

Apparently he was in a long distance relationship with an Audrey.

Crucchiola: Jim is in an empty room because his GF just broke up with him and took everything.

Good girl.

Kehe: I thought he’d never found love pre-Maggie.

Crucchiola: Ex Audrey called him a “lost boy.”

Good thing Mac is offering him such a big boy job.

She wants him as her news director.

Kehe: Mac has a copy of Don Quixote.

Crucchiola: That Charlie sent her!

Our revolutionary!

[Cut to the wake.]

Kehe: Back in the PRESENT.

Crucchiola: Will is telling his staff not to ever let him smoke again.

And says Tess (Margaret Judson), Kendra (Adina Porter), et al. can smack him if he ever smokes again.

Kehe: Neal’s plane landed.

He’s … coming back.

Crucchiola: He IS back!

I mostly don’t care.

But I’m glad the rest of the staff is so happy he’s back.

Kehe: Will is basically telling everyone Mac’s pregnant

The girls are giddy. Really?!

Crucchiola: I mean, they would be.

Kehe: Sloan is standing in for us as Maggie and Jim argue

Crucchiola: Maggie is confronting Jim about him putting her up for a job that’s apart from him.

Kehe: They’re both so weasley.

Crucchiola: Sloan was moderating because she says everyone is tired of them missing such “easy shots.”

Kehe: And now—no no no—Maggie says they’ve slept together for the past three nights. I’m a rare Maggie-Jim supporter, but this has gone too far.

Crucchiola: Thank you Sloan for acknowledging that Maggie and Jim are the WORST communicators.

Kehe: Is that the right visual for a funeral?!

Crucchiola: I can’t think of them having sex.

It is NOT.

Kehe: Leona is getting through to Pruit.

Working her magic.

Crucchiola: She is magic.

Kehe: Leona: “You’re not fighting with your news director you’re not doing your job.”

Pruit looks … thoughtful!

YEAH RIGHT. This man killed Charlie Skinner.

Crucchiola: Leona: “The truth is, you don’t want the ACN you think you do.”

Kehe: There’s no way this asshole is about to change.

But whatever he needs to.

Crucchiola: Aaron Sorkin: “America, you don’t want the garbage 24-hour news cycle infotainment you think you do.”

Kehe: Yeah, and America is like: You’re RIGHT!

(not)

Crucchiola: Hahahaha!

If Pruit can change so can we!

Kehe: That is probably true.

[Back at ACN.]

Crucchiola: Bree (Jon Bass) and his douche friends in digital are being lame.

And HERE. COMES. NEAL.

Kehe: He shut down Bree’s/ACN’s website FROM HIS PHONE!

Neal is suddenly … self-actualized?

Crucchiola: Neal has a smug superiority like he’s the risen Jesus.

WHOA!

Kehe: Neal to Bree: “You embarrass me”

Wow.

It’s like he’s almost speaking in voiceover.

Crucchiola: He is!

Kehe: Again: “You embarrass me”

Crucchiola: I can’t even encapsulate Neal’s self-righteous face in a pulled quote.

Kehe: No he’s transcended.

Crucchiola: He’s shutting down the website for a week!

He has.

Kehe: To REBUILD.

Crucchiola: He’s Doctor Manhattan.

He is everywhere and everything.

[Back at the wake.]

Kehe: Now Will’s in some random small boy’s bedroom.

I hope they have a girl.

Crucchiola: Me too.

Will needs a mini Mac.

Kehe: Aww.

Crucchiola: And she would have one of those unplaceable international accents.

Kehe: Like Christiane Amanpour.

Kehe: This is the first time we’re meeting Mrs. Skinner/”Nancy” (Joanna Gleason)

I like her already.

Crucchiola: Me too.

She has such knowing eyes.

Kehe: SUCH.

Crucchiola: Don is apologizing to her.

Telling him Charlie was praying Don would fight him on the campus rape story!

Kehe: Like Mac, this woman was her man’s neck.

Crucchiola: Mrs. Skinner says: “He loved you, Don. And he was so proud of you.”

She just gifted Don Charlie’s bow tie! That is suddenly the sweetest gesture ever!

Kehe: Now Mac is actually TALKING to a small boy.

Stop it.

Crucchiola: You mean Will.

Kehe: Will*

Meh.

Parts of the same now.

Crucchiola: He sort of didn’t comfort him in an effective way.

Little boy says “my grandpa died” and he says “Sorry kid but I’ve got my own problems. My best friend died.”

Remember that no joke rule, Will. It’s good for funerals too.

Kehe: Now Will’s in a garage with presumably Charlie’s multi-instrumental grandson.

He’s on the standup bass, Will’s on the guitar.

Jim looks on.

Crucchiola: Will starts playing “That’s How I Got To Memphis” from Charlie’s office.

Which is YEARS ago at this point.

Kehe: It’s a garage jam sesh.

Crucchiola: But he remembered.

Kehe: Will doesn’t forget. Now Jim is singing.

Crucchiola: This is so saccharine. But I don’t even mind.

Kehe: Jim was on Broadway.

Crucchiola: Really? Jim?

Kehe: So I’m surprised it’s been three seasons.

Oh yeah.

Crucchiola: So he has a nice voice? That at least makes me like the actor again.

Kehe: Mr. Spring Awakening!

Crucchiola: Ohhhhhhh!!!! Wow!

Kehe: Which is why I loved him from the beginning!

Crucchiola: The entire B-level cast of The Newsroom is now watching this jam sesh.

Kehe: Weird—it was like a mini concert and now it’s over. Did that even really happen?

Crucchiola: Will is offering to be a support figure for Charlie’s grandson. That’s nice.

Kehe: We have to be convinced that a 50-year-old grump will make a good father.

I’m convinced.

Crucchiola: His heart has grown three sizes over the past three seasons.

Kehe: It has.

Crucchiola: Pruit just whispered something to Will.

Kehe: Now Will’s giving the speech he was clearly meant to give.

He jokes Sloan killed Charlie.

Crucchiola: LOL

Kehe: And says Charlie was crazy.

Crucchiola: Oh, WILL!

Kehe: “His religion was decency, and he spent a lifetime fighting its enemies.”

That’s nice.

Crucchiola: Like Don Quixote.

Kehe: Annnnnnnd…

Crucchiola: Will just announced Mac is Charlie’s successor!

MAC’S ON TOP.

Kehe: Which she wasn’t even made aware of.

And it was announced by a guy.

Crucchiola: Yeah that was weird.

Kehe: But WHATEVS. Mac deserved it of course.

Crucchiola: Elliot (David Harbour) has been mentioned so many times in this episode.

I miss him.

Kehe: She is Charlie’s true successor.

Crucchiola: She is.

Kehe: Yeah, where’d Elliot go? Couldn’t come back for the finale?

Crucchiola: I’m sure he picked her knowing she would eventually succeed him.

Charlie just pulled up Jim to be the exec producer of News Night.

Kehe: Yes.

You mean Mac? [Note: Yes, Mac.]

Crucchiola: And he’s telling Maggie to drop her other interview because she’s going to be his new senior producer.

“I want to be a field producer. In DC. It will put me in line for the White House.” Says Maggie to Jim TWICE.

WORK IT GIRL.

Kehe: They’re pretty cute—ADMIT IT.

Crucchiola: Like I said. Fighting siblings.

Kehe: They relate in a fundamentally codependent way.

Crucchiola: I appreciate that Jim is telling Maggie immediately he will fly to see her every weekend.

Kehe: Jim says he loves Maggie. Then walks out.

Maggie looks shocked.

Crucchiola: That’s the clear initiative he has NOT been displaying.

When like obviously he loves her and they love each other because they wouldn’t be doing this at all if that wasn’t the case.

Kehe: Right.

Crucchiola: And now this touching moment between Sloan and Don is making me emotional.

He’s giving her Charlie’s tie and she loves it!

Kehe: We’ll never see their wedding, which makes me emotional.

Crucchiola: It makes me angry.

I love the way Will looks at Mac. That head-down-eyes-up look he gives her.

Kehe: Will is saying it doesn’t matter how Mac got the job—which is Sorkin saying who cares I’m sexist I put women in charge!!!

Crucchiola: Hahahaha I think you’re onto something!

Kehe: “60 seconds.”

Crucchiola: Flashback Charlie to Will: “You know what kid? In the old days, about 10 minutes ago, we did the news well. You know how? We just decided to.”

Kehe: He lives on. His heart beats for the newsroom.

[In the newsroom, natch.]

Crucchiola: We are getting a final establishing shot of the whole newsroom.

Kehe: It’s…calm.

Comforting.

Content.

Crucchiola: It is calm.

Kehe: There’s no drama.

For once.

That won’t last.

Crucchiola: I’m feeling calm.

Kehe: Me too. Is it resignation?

Or acceptance?

Crucchiola: I honestly think acceptance now.

After a season of protest.

Kehe: Yes. I think we’re ready.

“Good show everybody.”

Yes Mac.

It was.

I’m…tearing.

Crucchiola: I can’t believe it.

I just can’t.

Kehe: It’s done.

Crucchiola: They couldn’t even give it a FULL SEASON?!? HBO is bleeding cash!

Kehe: Wow Jordan.

From acceptance and back to anger.

Crucchiola: And they couldn’t fund six more damn episodes!

The stages of grief are NOT linear!

Kehe: Fair.

Crucchiola: So Sorkin spent five episodes blasting the internet and digital media.

And then had Messiah Neal sweep in to say “We will rebuild” in the final moments.

Does he believe we can change?

Kehe: Who?

Crucchiola: America.

The news-hungry public.

We know he thinks we SHOULD change.

Kehe: Well the show’s over now. It’s up to us.

Crucchiola: So is he the martyr?

Kehe: Who?

That would fit his popular narrative.

Kehe: Charlie was the martyr.

Crucchiola: Sorkin.

Kehe: Same thing.

Crucchiola: Neal is the risen Jesus.

Kehe: Sorkin sacrificed himself.

Crucchiola: He did.

And has sworn off TV.

Kehe: Wow. So Charlie killed himself for our sins, and rose again as Neal.

YOU’RE RIGHT.

Crucchiola: I mean that’s it.

With Mac as his messenger.

Kehe: The news is our religion.

Crucchiola: Mac is an apostle.

Kehe: Leona is Mother Mary?

Crucchiola: And we already dealt with Judas, aka JERRY DANTANA (Hamish Linklater), last season.

Will is the completion of the Holy Trinity.

Kehe: I agree with all this, but I also think we’re overreaching—we’re so distraught we’re looking for ANSWERS, and of course answers can be found in the comfort of religious archetypes.

Crucchiola: Becca and Leona are… God, I’m going to say.

I totally agree.

Except about Becca and Leona being omniscient. That’s just true.

As opposed to us overreaching.

Kehe: Which we’ve been saying.

Jordan, we’ve said so much.

Crucchiola: And now, we’ve said all there is to say.

Because the lights are out on The Newsroom.

Kehe: As Will would say: “Good evening.”

Crucchiola: “Good evening.”

And there it is.