Ron Artest — we mean Metta World Peace — has changed his name again

Metta World Peace/The Panda’s Friend arrives at the Imagine Ball in West Hollywood, Calif. (Photo by Araya Diaz/Getty Images) The NBA small forward formerly known as Metta World Peace has changed his name again. He’s moving to China to play for the Sichuan Blue Whales, a team with the Chinese Basketball Association, and he’s changed his name to The Panda’s Friend. World Peace/Panda’s Friend (Ugh. WHAT DO WE CALL YOU, RON?) signed a one-year contract worth $1.43 million, making him the league’s highest-compensated player, according to China Daily. The Chinese media, primed for his arrival, had already coined a literal translation of Metta World Peace: Ci Shiping. But that won’t be necessary, because well, he’s shed that already. Initially, there seemed to be some confusion with the translation, as outlets were reporting that World Peace had changed his name to Panda Friend. Not so, he tweeted. Oh. Well. Now that we’ve got that cleared up. The basketball star’s fans quickly took to Photoshop to celebrate the name change: @MettaWorldPeace Made this for you. Originally, you were hugging Delonte West. This is better: #ThePandasFriend http://t.co/DLUhK1gcdb @MettaWorldPeace @MettaWorldPeace http://t.co/6zwKNTeFrr Should we say something about the Michael Jackson hands, or nah?


The Switchboard: IBM says it’s made a chip that can mimic the human brain

IBM announced that it's created a chip that it says can simulate functions of the human brain. REUTERS/Nir Elias/Files Published every weekday, the Switchboard is your morning helping of hand-picked stories from the Switch team. Join us today for our weekly livechat, Switchback. We'll kick things off at 11 a.m. Eastern by talking about the ripple effects from Europe's "right to be forgotten" law, and how it's affecting sites like Wikipedia. The comment box is open, so submit them now. IBM unveils chip simulating brain functions. Yahoo to roll out end-to-end encryption option for all Yahoo Mail users in 2015. U.S. Patent Office rejects Apple autocomplete patent used against Samsung. Hey, Uber! Republicans have your back. " Netflix passes HBO in subscriber revenue.


Wonkbook: Five years later, Americans are still dealing with the effects of the recession

Welcome to Wonkbook, Wonkblog’s morning policy news primer by Puneet Kollipara (Bigstock) Wonkbook’s Number of the Day: Wonkbook’s Chart of the Day: Wonkbook's Top 4 Stories: 1. Top story: Just how many Americans are still dealing with the effects of the financial crisis? Fed survey: 40% of households show signs of financial stress. Explainer: Almost 20 percent of people near retirement age have no retirement savings. How the oil boom and the housing bust changed consumer spending. ICYMI: Fed: Consumer-borrowing growth slows down. Your credit score could rise with FICO's new model. Foreclosure starts near pre-recession low. Housing recovery more dependent on job, wage growth. Charts: Concern that housing relief avoids hardest-hit. US banks told to steer billions to hard-hit areas. A rise in HELOC defaults on the horizon? CFPB warns colleges about how banks market financial products to students. Does student loan debt make people less healthy and happy? Other economic/financial reads: How low can jobless claims go? Claims fall to 289,000. Josh Zumbrun in The Wall Street Journal. Is it too early after the recession to roll back food-stamp programs? Kaveh Waddell in National Journal. Long read: Paul Singer will make Argentina pay. Max Abelson and Katia Porzecanski in Bloomberg Businessweek. LITAN: How millennials are poised to help the housing recovery. Top opinion KRUGMAN: Inequality is a drag. STIGLITZ AND GUZMAN: Argentina's default will ultimately harm America. STRAIN: Why we should consider doing more for Central America. KLEIN: High-speed train wreck for Obama. GOBRY: How conservatives can fight inequality. REIS: Will the US inflate away its public debt? Slinky interlude: 2. How unprecedented is the Ebola crisis? Unprecedented enough for WHO to declare a global emergency — though we don't know yet what that means in practice. Technology aside: It could take half a year, if not longer, to stem the outbreak, CDC's Frieden says. Why Frieden views the crisis as unprecedented. Why you still shouldn't panic. Also, why we may not be able to count on the experimental drugs. Administration setting up working group on experimental Ebola drugs. Before it can even meet, the FDA OKs emergency use of a second experimental drug. Yet another drug remains unused. Other health care reads: West Africans in the U.S. help Ebola-stricken homelands. Caelainn Hogan in The Washington Post. AIDS patients fear discrimination in Obamacare exchanges. Kelli Kennedy in the Associated Press. In ambitious bid, Walmart seeks foothold in primary


This girl was swept away in a tsunami 10 years ago. Now, she is reunited with her family.

Jamaliah Jannah, left, gives a hug to daughter Raudhatul Jannah on Thursday after being reunited in Meulaboh, Aceh, northern Sumatra, Indonesia. (EPA/Achwa Nussa) Raudhatul Jannah was just 4 years old when the catastrophic tsunami swept into her Indonesian town and swept out with her in tow. She had been holding onto her parents as they floated on a plank of wood when the tsunami hit her home, according to Deutsche Presse-Agentur International. But Raudhatul and her then 7-year-old brother, Arif Pratama Rangkuti, slipped from their father’s grasp. The family never saw the two children again until Wednesday when Raudhatul, now 14, was reunited with her family. “My heart beat so fast when I saw her. I hugged her, and she hugged me back and felt so comfortable in my arms,” said Jamaliah Jannah, Raudhatul’s mother, in an interview with Agence France-Presse. Young Raudhatul had been swept onto a remote island, when she was found by a fisherman who returned her to the mainland. For the next 10 years, that fisherman’s mother raised her by the name of Wenni, according to AFP. Then one day in June, Raudhatul’s uncle saw a young girl who looked like his missing niece. He asked around and learned that she had been found on Banyak Island after the tsunami. “My husband and I are very happy we have found her,” her mother told DPA. “This is a miracle from God.” The couple’s other missing child would be about 17 years old now, and they believe that, like his sister, he may still be alive. “We will look for him on Banyak Island because we believe he is still alive,” Jamaliah Jannah said according to DPA. If he did live, Raudhatul’s older brother would be among the luckiest. The 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami killed more than 275,000 people according to the U.S. Geological Survey, making it the deadliest tsunami since the Renaissance Age. Raudhatul, now 14, speaks on the phone after being reunited with her family in Indonesia. (EPA/Achwa Nussa) Jamaliah Jannah displays a picture taken before the 2004 tsunami of her two missing children, daughter Raudhatul Jannah and son Arif Pratama Rangkuti. (Chaideer Mahyuddin/AFP/Getty Images) Raudhatul, her mother, Jamaliah Jannah, left, and her father, Septi Rangkut. (EPA/Hotli Simanjuntak)


How to best view Sunday’s supermoon, the biggest and brightest of 2014

The biggest moon of the calendar year is expected in night skies August 9 and 10, according to NASA. On Sunday, Aug. 10, we'll be treated to a special cosmological treat. The year's biggest and brightest full moon will rise. Technically there's only one supermoon a year, and this is it. The term refers to the time when the moon, which orbits Earth in a slightly elliptical trajectory, is at the absolute closest it can get while also being full. Other full moons have come very close (one already this year, with another coming on Sept. 9) and unofficially been granted the supermoon title, but Sunday's will be ever so slightly more magnificent. 2013's supermoon rising over the Jefferson Memorial. (Sarah L. Voisin/The Washington Post) "The size difference between even the dimmest and brightest full moon is only a bit more than 10 percent," Shawn Domagal-Goldman, research space scientist at NASA Goddard, said, "So the difference between other "supermoons" and this one isn't huge." But for him, Domagal-Goldman said, the event is a great excuse to take a moment to enjoy the beauty of the moon, something so often ignored in hectic day-to-day life. Lunar events should be especially exciting to urbanites. "Normally, when cool stuff is happening in the night sky, we miss it because of the light pollution," Domagal-Goldman said. "But there's no such thing as too much light pollution to see the moon. All you need is nighttime and a clear sky. If you live in a city and want to share in the awe of the cosmos, this is the astronomical event for you." To get those clear skies, Domagal-Goldman recommends going out right at moonrise (which you can find the time of here) when there's less likely to be cloud cover. And some optical tricks will help your viewing experience at that time, too. "It's going to look biggest and brightest to us when it's right next to the horizon," Domagal-Goldman said. When the moon is right next to things that we're familiar with, like trees and buildings, it looks much bigger than when surrounded by other astronomical bodies like stars. It's true that most of us see Mars as the next frontier, but let's not forget that there's still lots to learn about our own moon. The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter continues to study and map the moon, tracking the footprints and rover trails left


The real supermoon stands up this weekend

Supermoon at National Harbor, July 12 (Cynthia James via Flickr) So technically, there are three supermoons in 2014. We had one on July 12, and have yet another on September 9. But the supermoon on August 8 is, in fact, the most “super” of the bunch. National Geographic is calling it an “extra-supermoon”. It is the full moon closest to the Earth of the supermoon trio, some 863 miles closer to Earth than July’s “Buck” or “Thunder” moon. A moon achieves “supermoon” status when it’s both full and within 90 percent of its closet approach to Earth in a given orbit, or near perigee (which means closest point), according to astrologer Richard Nolle, who coined the term. Supermoon view from National Airport, July 12 (Joe Gruber via Flickr) The moon will appear 16 percent bigger and 30 percent brighter than in January, when it was furthest away from Earth in its orbit, or at apogee. Known as the Sturgeon Moon (because of the abundance of the sturgeon in the Great Lakes and Lake Champlain at this time of year), it becomes full this Sunday, August 10, at 2:09 p.m. EDT, just 26 minutes after coming closest to Earth. It’s a nearly perfect coincidence. “Such tight timing won’t occur again until 2034,” says National Geographic. While the moon officially reaches full phase and cozies closet to Earth Sunday afternoon, it will appear more or less full Friday, Saturday, and Sunday evening for night skywatchers (at 96-99 percent illumination). Supermoon adjacent to the Washington Monument, July 12 (Jim Knapp via Flickr) Don’t necessarily expect to notice much of a difference between this full moon and others. “A 30% difference in brightness can easily be masked by clouds and haze,” says NASA. “Also, there are no rulers floating in the sky to measure lunar diameters. Hanging high overhead with no reference points to provide a sense of scale, one full Moon looks about the same size as any other.” Geoff Chester, an astronomer at U.S. Naval Observatory, is completely underwhelmed by the so-called “supermoon” phenomenon. “This is being touted as yet another “Super-Moon” by popular and social media for reasons that I still can’t fathom, but for the most part it is a “non-event” that is almost purely hype,” he writes on his “The Sky This Week” blog. Chester tells NASA it’s difficult to tell one moon apart from another.


When Obama talks about Iraq, his use of the word ‘genocide’ is vital

of the Ottoman Empire progressed. Earlier this year, current Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan expressed condolence for the first time -- at least partially -- for the killings that happened almost a century ago. The Armenian killings are generally considered to be the first genocide in recent history. A troubled history Genocides may be planned long in advance, but they often move very fast once they begin. When the international community takes notice the killings are already underway. For example, between 1992 and 1995, some 100,000 people were killed in Bosnia-Herzegovina. It took NATO two years to intervene. Close to a million people are on their way back from Zaire to Rwanda, 1996. They had taken refuge in Zaire following the genocide of 1994. REUTERS/Peter Andrews Around that time, an even larger genocide emerged in Africa which was initially dismissed as a civil war. After just 100 days about 800,000 Rwandans (most of them belonging to the Tutsi minority) had lost their lives while the international community was unsure of how to respond. U.N. peacekeepers in the country when the fighting began were actually forced to withdraw as violence spread. The United States was one nation that avoided military intervention in the genocide, in part due to the recent "Black Hawk Down" incident in Somalia, in which a U.S. helicopter was brought down by militants. The Rwanda killings were only recognized as genocide after the fact. These two tragedies were key in pushing the international community to take genocide prevention seriously. However, even after learning the lessons from these two infamous events, the word "genocide" can still be fraught. It took months of investigation and discussion within the State Department before Secretary of State Colin Powell would say in 2004 the killings in the Darfur region of Sudan amounted to genocide. Even then, the Sudanese government and others argued that the United States should not have labeled it so before an inquiry. A balancing act Last year, Alex de Waal, the executive director of the World Peace Foundation, warned that the mislabeling of genocide to any situation of ethnic tensions and governmental breakdown will make it "lose its analytic power and its special moral force." In other words: It needs to be used with caution. The current catastrophe on the peaks of Mount Sinjar where 40,000 mostly Kurdish-speaking Yazidis are certainly trapped has characteristics of genocide. According to the


Hold the Merlot — beer is still tops among Americans

Despite a brief flirtation with wine, Americans choose beer as their favorite drink of choice, according to a recent Gallup poll. Wine began making inroads in the 1990s and briefly beat out beer in 2005, but has fallen back into second place. Wine is preferred by just under half of women, but more than half of men prefer beer. Wine is also a winner among highly educated drinkers and those age 65 and older. But beer is the favorite among those with a high school education or less and is the clear choice for those under 50. Average drinkers don’t seem to be imbibing too heavily. When asked how many drinks were consumed in the previous week, the average drinker said 4.1. This has remained relatively steady in recent years. Here are four charts illustrating some of the drinking preferences of Americans: Results from the survey are based on telephone interviews conducted July 7 to July 10 among a random sample of 1,013 adults aged 18 and older. The margin of sampling error for most of the data is plus or minus 4 percentage points.


Town Square | Kent Island estate goes up for auction

(Courtesy of DeCaro Auctions) Conquest Manor goes up for auction Saturday. Kent Island estate will go to highest bidder Conquest Manor Previously listed for sale at $6.9 million, Conquest Manor will be sold without reserve to the highest bidder. The Stevensville, Md., estate includes an eight-bedroom, 11-bath main house, a 6,200-square-foot guest house with a car showroom, and a 1,000-square-foot pool house. On the grounds are a pond and fountain, a swimming pool and hot tub, two fire pits, a patio, a sandy shoreline with a private beach and a 150-foot pier with boat and Jet Ski lifts. The home has porcelain flooring in the foyer, Brazilian walnut floors, an elevator, a kitchen with a cherry wood island and multiple entertaining areas, including a two-level home theatre with balcony seating, a 1,500-square-foot club with a full bar, flat screen TVs, a dance floor and a performance stage with professional lighting. The home also has an observatory with wrap-around windows facing the bay, a home office with mahogany shelving, a fully-equipped gym and a game room with a pool table. Conquest Manor is open for prospective buyers to view Friday from 1 to 4 p.m. The absolute auction will be held onsite at 7402 Kent Point Rd., Stevensville, Md., Saturday at 11 a.m. For more information or to set up an appointment to tour the home, call 800-332-3767 or visit www.DeCaroAuctions.com. Condos coming to Navy Yard The Navy Yard Chiller Plant site, on the corner of Half and L Streets in Southeast Washington, is just one block from the Navy Yard Metro station and is in the midst of the Capitol Riverfront neighborhood. The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) recently awarded the development rights for the site to MRP Residential, a division of MRP Realty, and CAS Riegler Companies. Plans call for the transit-oriented, mixed-use development to include approximately 130,000 gross square feet of residential space with approximately 6,000 gross square feet of double-height retail space. Hickok Cole Architects For more information, go to www.mrprealty.com. (Courtesy of Torn Screen) Own the entire city for $4.99 Ever thought about being a real estate mogul who can buy and sell an entire city’s worth of apartments, businesses and houses? Try your hand at “Capital City: Escape from Supercorp,” a new game available for Apple and Android products that teaches you about personal finance while you play. Torn Screen Entertainment, the makers of


Your 20s are supposed to be glorious. In reality, they’re the worst.

at their weddings and have tearful fights with your significant other. You drink too much at holidays and family parties, too. You have your last, greatest fights with your parents, digging up grievances from childhood. Eventually, you get a hobby like training for triathlons or knitting. Maybe you volunteer. Maybe you fall in love. Or you learn to put yourself first. Things start looking up. Everything You Were Most Afraid of Has Come True/Death Just in time for it all to come crashing down. This is the time when your grandparents die. This is the time you have three miscarriages in one year. This is the time you have a pulmonary embolism. This is the time your mom gets cancer. This is the time you find out that your boyfriend has been cheating on you. This is the time your thyroid has a nodule. This is the time you get divorced. This is the time your ex gets the dog. It sounds insane, but this is my favorite phase. I find it preferable to the blank nothingness of the previous phase. There is a container for your despair. These nightmare events are absolute proof of your existence. You become part of the human experience. Suffering is something that everybody goes through, so you can take this opportunity to stake your claim as a citizen of the universe. You have felt pain and that means you are alive. You’re no longer floating through life, searching for a foothold. You have a foothold and that foothold is misery. You are walking on dry land and being burned by the sun but you know where you are. The thing is, these horrible things that happen don’t kill you. You live through them and you come out a different, hopefully better, person. Your triathlons and knitting and volunteering mean more now. Your relationships, the ones that are left, are stronger. Your most trusted person or your own body has betrayed you, but now you know better than to trust that anything lasts. There is a certain freedom in this. The reason I share this theory with you, strangers, is to suggest that people in their 20s are not self-obsessed, entitled millennials. People in their 20s now, and forever before and forever after, just want proof that they are alive, that they are not alone–that their pain means something. So give the kids a break.


Wonkbook: What you need to know about America’s latest military involvement in Iraq

is different. Yes, Ebola is scary... Ebola's growing economic toll. Mark your calendars: Key WHO meeting today about experimental Ebola drugs. Ebola still poses little threat to U.S., but spreads rapidly on Twitter. 25 years ago, a different Ebola outbreak hit the U.S. Nobody got sick. Long read: Could the Ebola outbreak strain an already thinly stretched HHS budget? Look to the migrant crisis. Interview: Other health care reads: 29 states seek tighter e-cigarette regulations. Elizabeth A. Harris in The New York Times. CDC cited for security failures in audits. Alison Young in USA Today. BEYER: Who are Ebola's guinea pigs? Musical performance interlude: 3. The great debate over labor market slack How much slack is there in the labor market? The Fed ponders the question. The Fed has an eye on rising productivity, which has kept wage pressures tame. About that weak wage growth... But the job market is slowly starting to favor workers. IMF: Economic-growth policies could help fix America's labor-force decline. Tips don't add up for most waiters and waitresses. In other labor-related news, more workers file family-leave suits. Finally, judge kills settlement in Silicon Valley hiring case. Other economic/financial reads: U.S. firms put teens to work to prevent them from dropping out of school. Jonathan House in The Wall Street Journal. Strange bedfellows: Unions team up with fast-food owners on fair-franchising legislation in California. Patrick Clark in Bloomberg Businessweek. Argentina threatened with contempt by U.S. judge. Joseph Ax and Andrew Chung in Reuters. Ex-Im Bank reauthorization left off Republican to-do list. Mark Felsenthal in Reuters. Animals interlude: 4. Migrant children still facing challenges with legal process 'Rocket dockets' for recently arrived children bring new problems. House GOP again denies legal aid for child migrants. Trauma plagues many kids entering illegally as they await legal hearings. Other immigration reads: Can Obama legalize 5 million illegal immigrants by himself? SCOTUS may have offered a hint. Sahil Kapur in Talking Points Memo. Long read: In one of the poorest counties in Texas, at the center of the U.S. border crisis, one deputy must do the work of many. Eli Saslow and Ricky Carioti in The Washington Post. Why Lamar Alexander's immigration vote didn't sink him. Sean Sullivan and Robert Costa in The Washington Post. Magic interlude: Wonkblog roundup Your credit score could go up without you lifting a finger. Danielle Douglas. Why marijuana won’t become another Big Tobacco. Christopher


Photos: Sunday’s supermoon from D.C. and around the country

Supermoon over the capitol on Sunday night. (Ian Livingston) The largest supermoon of 2014 occurred this weekend, and sky watchers were out in force to capture it. This supermoon was the closest the moon will get to earth in all of 2014, and it appeared 30 percent brighter and 16 percent bigger than when the moon was farthest away in January. As we wrote on Friday, a moon achieves “supermoon” status when it’s both full and within 90 percent of its closet approach to Earth in a given orbit, or near perigee (which means closest point), according to astrologer Richard Nolle, who coined the term. On Sunday, the moon became full just 26 minutes after it’s closest pass to earth, at exactly 2:09 p.m. ET. First, the supermoon from the International Space Station! Полнолуние Закат Луны на #МКС ещё см. блог (Supermoon Moonset #ISS more in blog) #BlueDot http://t.co/Wg9098bHIF http://t.co/PIk5zZRRJR Around the D.C. region: The supermoon behind the Statue of Freedom on Sunday night. (Ian Livingston) A zoom in on the supermoon, taken over Washington D.C. (wolfpackWX via Flickr) My #supermoon pics. (cc: @capitalweather) http://t.co/WBaxgEEQN4 @capitalweather Super Sunset followed by Super @SonOfSamwich Moon, just waiting for meteors to round out the night. http://t.co/3RegUiwyG0 tonight's #supermoon peaking through the clouds in Chantilly, Va (cc: @capitalweather @DPAtweets) http://t.co/9UFJtcuVWM Post Supermoon from Brambleton. (Stephanie Lee via Facebook) Caught a glimpse of tonight's supermoon during a break in the clouds in Alexandria. @capitalweather http://t.co/w194PRJ3L5 @capitalweather @wusa9 @WTOP @SPACEdotcom @postlocal Super Moon rises in the Shenandoah Valley 10 August 2014 http://t.co/JT3IasMJhN The supermoon seen elsewhere: The supermoon setting near Washington Park in Anacortes, Wash. looking over Rosario Strait. (GeorgeRX via Weather Underground) A beautiful pink supermoon rises over the eastern horizon in Polvadera, N.M. (mcgino via Weather Underground) The supermoon rises over New York City skyscrapers. (teach50 via Weather Underground) Supermoon in Taos, N.M. (gilg72 via Weather Underground) Watching the supermoon rise from Bethany Beach, Del. (AJ Wojciak) @capitalweather super moon over Columbia, MO! http://t.co/85yg8zF8Dw


Streaking, peaking Perseids face a moonlight washout

NASA explains how the brightness of the supermoon will affect the annual Perseid meteor shower. For the peak of the annual Perseid meteor shower, our eyes will battle the moon’s waning brightness on Tuesday evening into Wednesday morning – two days after a full moon. (The moon rises at 9:15 p.m. on Tuesday night and sets at 9:44 a.m. the next day, according to the U.S. Naval Observatory.) During the usually intense peak of the Perseids, this year’s lunar glow creates so much light that the smaller shooting stars become invisible and the bright ones – at best – hard to see. The flow of the Perseid meteors runs from July 13 to August 26, according to the American Meteor Society (amsmeteors.org). (In practical terms, however, the Perseids slow to a drip several days after peak.) In a normal year, the Perseids usually peak at around 100 meteors an hour. For the 2014 shower, preliminary Perseid activity studied by the International Meteor Organization (imo.net) indicates between 5 and 10 shooting stars each hour between July 13 and July 30. For last year’s shower, activity reached 20 meteors each hour around Aug. 5 and shot up to near 40 meteors an hour at Aug. 10. It peaked on Aug. 12/13 with observers counting nearly 120 an hour. Sky gazers saw about 50 Perseid meteors an hour on Aug. 14 and about 20 an hour on Aug. 16. (Sky & Telescope magazine) Bill Cooke, NASA meteor expert, holds out hope that for backyard meteor hunters, the Perseids usually toss in a few more fireballs than other large showers, he says. To observe these Perseids, Alan MacRobert, a senior editor at Sky & Telescope magazine, suggests to relax, be patient and let your eyes adapt to the dark. Even with the moonlight, he says, gazers may see any of the brighter shooting stars at least every several minutes during peak. Meteors are space dust leftover from comets gone-by. In the case of the Perseids, it’s periodic Comet Swift-Tuttle (109/P.) Comets are huge space snowballs freckled with sand-size dirt, and as they swing by the sun in our solar neighborhood, the space debris leaves a trail of dust. On its own orbit around the sun, Earth slogs through these comet trails of trash and the dust strikes Earth’s atmosphere – where the dust incinerates. That’s when we see the shooting stars. The Perseid meteors


A child, a severed head, and a reminder of the awfulness of Syria’s civil war

Undated file image of Islamic State fighters in the Syrian city of Raqqah. (Militant Web site via Associated Press) Shocking images allegedly showing a child holding aloft the severed head of a Syrian soldier have created an uproar in Australia, the home country of the jihadist who first posted the picture on Twitter. Khaled Sharrouf, an Australian national now wanted on terrorism charges, posted the image of a child thought to be his son with the caption "That's my boy!" The photo, which WorldViews will not reproduce, shows the boy holding up what looks like a dried, blood-encrusted head, assumed to have belonged to a soldier loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Another image posted by Sharrouf, who left his home in Sydney with his family to join the extremist Islamic State, shows him standing with his son, this time holding the head himself. Sharrouf also appeared in tweets from another Australian jihadist, Mohamed Elomar, in which the pair are clutching more severed heads. Elomar tweeted: "few more heads how lovely bludy amazing stuff." The scenes are thought to be from the Syrian city of Raqqah, where the Islamic State has held sway for months. As Terrence McCoy writes in the Morning Mix, the pictures led to denunciations from Australian officials. The Islamic State, said Prime Minister Tony Abbott, is "a terrorist army and they’re seeking not just a terrorist enclave but effectively a terrorist state." The images of severed heads, Abbott said, were "more evidence of just how barbaric this particular entity is." Sharrouf is probably the most well-known jihadist from Australia to join the Islamic State, which has come to the fore in recent months, claiming a vast swath of territory comprising parts of eastern Syria and northern and western Iraq. The group has gained notoriety for documenting and distributing on social media images of its slaughters — be it the heads of Assad's fighters in Raqqah or mass executions of Iraqis captured during the Islamic State's recent advance. This is not the first time that Sharrouf, who is thought to be a schizophrenic, has participated in such grisly spectacle: In June, the newspaper Australian published images of Sharrouf posing among rows of dead Iraqis, who had been massacred by his comrades. Pointing to his example, the Australian government is seeking to implement more stringent counterterrorism laws that will make it harder for jihadist sympathizers in the country


White House launches ‘U.S. Digital Service,’ with HealthCare.gov fixer at the helm

more agile approach to federal contracting and procurement. Asked earlier this summer how you go about attracting skilled technologists to this sort of work -- the pilot phase, said VanRoekel, pulled in people from Facebook and Google -- the U.S. CIO pointed to a third text: "Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us," which argues that what pushes high-performing people is a desire for a sense of agency and mastery that can be put towards bettering the world. Dickerson, a former site reliability manager for Google for nearly eight years, was a core part of the team pulled in to remake HealthCare.gov last October. He'll serve as administrator of the U.S. Digital Service. ("This is literally my first day," he said on a press call Monday, "so I don't have an elaborate statement prepared or anything.") Fixing that site was, he said, "a life-changing experience," one that put into sharp focus a gap with the significance of the work he'd been doing in the private sector. When the White House said they were serious about applying the same model to the rest of the federal government, said Dickerson, "there was really not any way that I could say no to that." Part of that model includes figure out how bring more Mikey Dickersons into service before the worst happens. "Today, the average hiring cycle for IT specialist in the Federal Government is over 100 days," VanRoekel told Congress in May. "The norm for leading private sector companies is 7 to 14 days." It's not for lack of desire, he says. "Demand for serving your country by doing this work is pretty incredible." And so standing up the service will include, says VanRoekel, cracking the nut of making it faster and less painful for technologists to take government jobs. Housing this in the White House gives it a bit of cachet that serving in an agency might lack, but the USDS still is missing the advantage of serving a truly centralized government that its cousin office, Britain's Government Digital Service, enjoys. So how does something like USDS get traction? Success will breed success, says VanRoekel. When the Presidential Innovation Fellows launched two years ago, he said, agencies didn't seem to know quite what to do with those technologists. "Now we have agencies coming to us." VanRoekel said earlier this summer that "I truly believe that at the end of the


President Barack Obama participates in a live Twitter question and answer session in the Roosevelt Room of the White House, Dec. 3, 2012. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza) The White House announced Monday that they’re putting the same minds that rescued HealthCare.gov to work on other government technology headaches with the launch of a “U.S. Digital Service.” The team will be led by Mikey Dickerson, the former Google engineer widely credited with playing a central role in salvaging the HealthCare.gov after its disastrous launch. The idea behind the USDS: to institutionalize the approach that saved the health care site -- and apply it to the work of the government before disaster strikes. The launch comes after months of discussion. In testimony before the Senate's Homeland Security Committee in May, U.S. Chief Information Officer Steve Van Roekel said the new team would have "centralized, world-class capability” and be “made up of our country’s brightest digital talent." "Think of this as [a team of] management consultants that helps you understand your gaps," said Van Roekel. Read more over at The Switch


Restaurant Week, table for two, 8 p.m. Monday

It's D.C. Restaurant Week. If you're looking for a traditional 8 p.m. dinner reservation, here are three places to dine for $35.14 tonight. Thally: Thally offers plentiful options for Restaurant Week diners. (Astrid Riecken/For The Washington Post) The Oval Room: Casa Luca:


U.S. Special Forces killed pregnant women, tampered with evidence, report alleges

Hajji Sharfddin 67, holds photographs of relatives who went missing in November 2012 during U.S. military operations in Gardez province, Afghanistan, during a new conference in Kabul on Monday. The U.S. failed to properly investigate civilian killings, including possible war crimes, which occurred during its campaign in Afghanistan, the international rights group Amnesty International said. NATO said it investigates all credible reports of civilian casualties, without responding to the group’s specific claims. (AP Photo/Rahmat Gul) Did U.S. troops tamper with evidence to cover up civilian casualties in Afghanistan? That’s a central premise of the accusations outlined in a new report released Monday by Amnesty International. The human rights organization accuses the U.S. military of systematically covering up examples of civilian casualties, failing to investigate cases it knew about and participating in torture and brutality. The report, “Left in the Dark: Failures of Accountability for Civilian Casualties Caused by International Military Operations in Afghanistan,” details 10 cases and Amnesty International says it gathered information through interviews with witnesses and family members. “Judging from interviews with 125 Afghan victims, family members and eyewitnesses to attacks that resulted in civilian casualties, as well as from a thorough review of the documentary record, the U.S. military’s investigative and prosecutorial practices fall far short of what is needed to ensure accountability for alleged crimes against civilians,” the report said. “In numerous cases in which there is credible evidence of unlawful killings of civilians, the military has failed to conduct prompt, thorough and impartial investigations.” The U.S.-led International Security Assistance Force overseeing coalition operations in Afghanistan responded in a statement by saying it was reviewing the report and its findings. There has been a significant reduction in civilian casualties by coalition troops, a point that is noted in both Amnesty International’s latest report and a July 2014 report released by the United Nations, ISAF said. “ISAF thoroughly investigates all credible reports of civilian deaths and injuries when tactical circumstances allow, and conducts after-action reviews to determine the specific circumstances of each event,” the coalition said. “Coalition leadership also ensures that ISAF takes steps to minimize the risk to civilians during military operations and works with our Afghan partners to do the same.” The 10 cases probed in the new Amnesty International report include several that were high-profile at the time, but subsequently received little attention from investigators, the human rights organization said. One in particular occurred


A former drug czar weighs in on pot and traffic fatalities

that traffic fatalities have been falling in Colorado for some time. This is true. I would also point out here that Colorado legalized medical marijuana in 2001. So the drop in traffic fatalities has occurred over a period where, again, pot has become increasingly available to the state’s residents. Murray and Walters are correct that traffic fatalities have also fallen nationwide. But a 2012 study in the Journal of Law and Economics found that roadway fatalities have dropped more in states that have legalized medical marijuana than in those that have not. Again, this suggests that the roads are safer because of wider access to pot, although — again — it falls short of completely making the case. But it certainly deflates the argument that wider access to pot has made the roads more dangerous. Inevitably, just because of the way numbers work, the most recent years’ traffic fatalities will be lower than those from the beginning of the series. Because the phenomenon is declining over time, the fatalities for 2014 will be fewer than the fatalities for 2005, and even lower than those for 2001. If you took the average number of fatalities over time (the statistical mean), you would add all fatalities together for the years in question and divide by the number of years. It follows that the earliest years will likely have fatalities above the average and the later years will fall below the average; that result is contained in the meaning of the terms. For the three years I’ve provided, the average is 534. Sure enough, the earliest year (2005) is above average, while the most recent year (2011) is below average. In any such declining series, earlier years will likely be higher than subsequent years, and the latest year should be the lowest yet. I do appreciate this mini-treatise explaining how small numbers are smaller than large numbers. Although I’d like to think that I was pretty clear on the concept before reading it. Yes, it’s true that traffic fatalities have been falling. They have been falling over a period where both social and legal restrictions on pot have loosened. As I acknowledged in the original post, there are a number of reasons our roads are safer, and it’s possible that were it not for legalization, fatalities would be even lower. But I’ve yet to see a study attempt to back that proposition with


Video: A Kurdish reporter tries to interview Islamic State fighters

In the video below, a reporter with the Kurdish news network Rudaw tries to speak to fighters from the Islamic State militant group. It's a remarkable scene. The reporter, Halo Ahmad, walks to the halfway point of the bridge near Miriam Beg, a village southwest of Kirkuk. His side of the bridge is controlled by Iraqi Kurdish troops, known as the pesh merga. On the other side, you can see the black flag of the Islamic State held high, a number of armed men warning him to stay put, and a backhoe putting together a makeshift barrier. The Islamic State is hardly friendly to journalists. The New York Times was able to get a report from inside an Islamic State-held city in Syria but withheld the reporter's name when the story was published, apparently out of fear for that reporter's safety. Vice News was able to get open access for its reporter Medyan Dairieh in the Syrian city of Raqqah for an impressive video series, apparently with the consent of the extremist group. For Kurdish reporters, caught in the middle of a hard battle against the Islamic State in northern Iraq, it's exceptionally risky. This weekend, a Kurdish reporter, Deniz Firat, was killed by a mortar round fired by Islamic State fighters while she was embedded with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party.


50 ways schools ‘cheat’ on high-stakes standardized tests

from government and media reports by the National Center for Fair & Open Testing, known as FairTest, a nonprofit organization dedicated to ending the misuse and abuse of standardized tests. Here are 50-plus ways to “cheat”: PRE-TESTING Fail to store test materials securely Encourage teachers to view upcoming test forms before they are administered Teach to the test by ignoring subjects not on exam Drill students on actual test items Share test items on Internet before administration Practice on copies of previously administered “secure” tests Administer “practice” version(s) or the real test to prepare selected students Exclude likely low-scorers from enrolling in school Hold-back low scorers from tested grade “Leap-frog” promote some students over tested grade Transfer likely low-scoring students to charter schools with no required tests Push likely low scorers out of school or enroll them in GED programs Falsify student identification numbers so low scorers are not assigned to correct demographic group Urge low-scoring students to be absent on test day Leave test materials out so students can see them before exam Set up classroom desks and chairs to facilitate answer copying DURING TESTING Let high scorers take tests for others Overlook “cheat sheets” students bring into classroom Post hints (e.g. formulas, lists, etc) on walls or whiteboard Write answers on black/white board, then erase before supervisor arrives Allow students to look up information on Web with electronic devices Overlook calculator use where prohibited Encourage reliance on special calculator programs that can answer questions Ignore test-takers copying or sharing answers with each other Permit students to go to restroom in groups Shout-out correct answers Use thumbs-up/thumbs-down signals to indicate right and wrong responses Tell students to “double check” erroneous responses Pass out notes with correct answers Read questions aloud to students not allowed this accommodation Urge students who have completed sections to work on others Allow class extra time to complete test Reclassify native English speakers as English Language Learners to give them additional time Leave classroom unattended during test Warn staff if test security monitors are in school Refuse to allow test security personnel access to testing rooms Cover doors and windows of testing rooms to prevent monitoring Give unnecessary accommodations to students without disabilities AFTER TESTING Allow students to “make up” portions of the exam they failed to complete Invite staff to “clean up” answer sheets before transmittal to scoring company Permit teachers to score own


The one supermoon shot from Washington you have to see

(AP Photo/Alex Brandon) In case you spent the last 24 hours off of Twitter -- oh, the horror! -- you may have missed that the biggest and brightest moon of 2014 appeared in the sky on Sunday night. Wrote Rachel Feltman at the Post's "Speaking of Science" blog of the supermoon: Technically there’s only one supermoon a year, and this is it. The term refers to the time when the moon, which orbits Earth in a slightly elliptical trajectory, is at the absolute closest it can get while also being full. Other full moons have come very close (one already this year, with another coming on Sept. 9) and unofficially been granted the supermoon title, but Sunday’s will be ever so slightly more magnificent. In Washington, the supermoon was something of a disappointment because of the heavy cloud cover. But, the snap above, from the Associated Press' Alex Brandon, is a terrific one. That's the supermoon rising behind the Statue of Freedom that sits atop the U.S. Capitol. Beautiful. Also, slightly ominous. Stargazers across the globe were treated to a glowing supermoon over the weekend.


New details on Aug 5. insider attack that killed Maj. Gen. Harold Greene

American service members who were wounded in last week’s “insider attack” in Kabul have been brought back to the United States, including one who was shot six times shielding a British colonel who was not wearing body armor at the time. New details about the wounded are included in a casualty report about the Aug. 5 shooting that killed Maj. Gen. Harold J. Greene, the highest-ranking U.S. service member killed in the Afghan war. The wounded include at least one major and one captain, according to the report, a copy of which was obtained by The Washington Post. The report does not identify the wounded but provides details about their backgrounds and their injuries. Afghan officials have said the shooter, an Afghan army soldier, was within close range of his targets when he opened fire on members of the U.S.-led military coalition at a training base. Among his targets was an Army specialist, a reservist from Northern California who works as a customer service manager at Apple’s Cupertino, Calif., headquarters, according to the casualty report. The reservist recounted that when the Afghan soldier opened fire, he moved to shield the British colonel. The soldier then fired at the Afghan with his rifle and pistol, but not before being struck by six bullets fired from the Afghan’s weapon. Two bullets went into one of his legs, one tore into his shoulder and three rounds were stopped by his bulletproof vest. The soldier had deployed three times, including once to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. One of Greene’s aides, a 31-year-old captain who volunteered for the deployment, was shot multiple times and is paralyzed below the waist. An Army major who has performed 11 years of service and was serving as a public affairs officer was also wounded. Married with two daughters, the major had completed four combat tours, three of them with an infantry unit. An Army captain and a Navy non-commissioned officer were also injured. There have been dozens of insider attacks this year alone in Afghanistan. As of June, 87 such attacks had killed 142 troops with the U.S.-led coalition and wounded 165 others, according to the Long War Journal, an online publication focused on counterterrorism and Islamic radicalism. President Obama paid tribute to fallen soldier Maj. Gen. Harold J. Greene on Thursday during an appearance at Fort Belvoir military base in Virginia. Greene was killed by insider fire in Afghanistan.


The challenge of stopping Ebola when it keeps killing doctors

column, were many who appeared to be on that last gasp as he and the hospital’s director, fellow doctor Sheik Humarr Khan, got to work. “The floor was splashed with blood, vomitus, feces, and urine,” Bausch told the New Yorker, adding that floor was strewn with patients who had fallen out of bed. “You need a whole team to decontaminate the bed and lift the patient up off the floor and put him safely back in bed.” Days later, Khan got sick. On July 29, after treating dozens of the infected, he died. Among his last words, the New Yorker reported, were to another hospital worker. “James, I am going,” he said. “You have to carry on.” That has been difficult. “The ones who have passed are the only ones who would go into the Ebola ward,” a doctor named Joseph Fair told the magazine. “Now we have a huge void.” Though the reasons are many, ignorance and impatience are two of the leading factors behind why many healthcare workers are dying, experts told Reuters. Protecting oneself against Ebola in hot conditions is a complicated and arduous business. Masks can fog. Just taking off protective gear can take 45 minutes, Reuters reported. Another person needs to help. After the healthcare worker disrobes, they’re doused with chlorinated water. Though some workers worry, experts with the World Health Organization told Reuters the suits themselves are sound — but local doctors are misusing them. Indeed, Bausch said he saw some healthcare workers wearing only scrubs examining patients before the proper equipment arrived. And sometimes, even protective equipment doesn’t help. “Even with the full protective clothing you put on,” Khan told NPR not long before he died, “you are at risk.” Workers might stick themselves with needles accidentally or take off protective suits incorrectly. As the worst Ebola outbreak in history unfolds in West Africa, The Post's Joel Achenbach explains how the deadly virus wreaks havoc on the human body. Hospitals treating Ebola patients can, in short, be a terrifying place to work. “Don’t touch the walls!” a Western worker at a Kenema facility told the New York Times this week. “Totally infected.” “We’re very worried, now that our leader [Khan] has died from the same disease we’ve been fighting,” one worker told Reuters. “Two of my very close nursing friends have also been killed … I feel like quitting the profession this minute.”


Rare panda cub triplets have survived in a Chinese zoo: photos, video and gifs

Newborn giant panda triplets, which were born to giant panda Juxiao, rest inside an incubator at the Chimelong Safari Park in Guangzhou, Guangdong province on Saturday. (Reuters/China Daily) They’re calling it a “miracle.” A Chinese zoo says that giant panda triplets were born in July and are the first litter known to survive for more than 15 days. The trio were born to giant panda Juxiao and her mate, Linlin, in Guangzhou’s Chimelong Safari Park. According to reports, the pandas were naturally conceived, which could be the other miracle of this story. Giant pandas are notorious for being some of nature’s most finicky breeders. Females ovulate once a year in the spring and can only conceive in a two- to three-day window during ovulation. Previous panda triplets have been born in 1999 and 2013, but only one cub survived in both cases. Another set of triplets was born in 1967, though none survived. “It was a miracle for us, and [the births] exceeded our expectations,” the safari park’s general manager Dong Guixin, told AFP. “It’s been 15 days. They have lived longer than any other triplets so far.” Juxiao and Linlin’s courtship blossomed with some help, of course. Zookeepers “made them neighbors” so that they could smell each other, a prerequisite for taking the next step toward conception. Juxiao also had to do special panda exercises to get her strength up enough to carry cubs. No word on what exactly those exercises were. http://www.washingtonpost.com/posttv/world/asia_pacific/giant-panda-gives-birth-to-triplets-in-china-zoo/2014/08/12/33c528d1-46db-4052-860b-a991743dce9b_video.html The tiny creatures were smaller than the size of a human hand when they were born — 1/900th the size of their mother. Rosy pink, covered in peach fuzz and blind, they have a long road ahead: They can only be considered “surviving” if they’ve lived to see six months, a nature reserve official told AFP. According to Guixin, panda cubs have extremely high mortality rates. But after being watched round-the-clock in an incubator by zooeepers, they have been returned to the care of their mother. The World Wildlife Federation estimates that there are 1,600 wild pandas remaining. Their habitat, the wild mountainous ranges in south central China, have been threatened by human encroachment and habitat destruction. Whether these babies are the “new wonder of the world” as the Chimelong Safari Park claims, we don’t know. But they’re cute. Check it out: (AFP photo / Chimelong Group)


Taco Bell goes upscale with house-made fusion tacos (lobsters, too)

U.S. Taco Co. opened its first location in Huntington Beach, Calif., on Monday. (U.S. Taco Co.) Next to the pier in Huntington Beach, Calif., is a taco place where you can order lobster, brisket with tacos and milkshakes. Behind this new fast-casual venue is none other than Taco Bell, which launched U.S. Taco Co. on Monday to take tacos to a foodier edge. First, let’s take a look at the menu: - The 1%Er: Flatbread with lobster and garlic butter – slaw. The 1%Er (U.S. Taco Co.) - Friggen Fried Ice Cream: Vanilla ice cream with caramel and cinnamon toast crunch Friggen Fried Ice Cream (U.S. Taco Co.) - Not My First Rodeo: Tortilla with smoked brisket, molcajete salsa slaw, pickled onions and cilantro Not My First Rodeo (U.S. Taco Co.) - Roasted Chili Queso with Papa’s Fritas Roasted Chili Queso with Papa’s Fritas (U.S. Taco Co.) - Winner Winner Chicken Dinner: Tortilla with crispy chicken, jalapeño southern gravy and roasted corn pico de gallo. Winner Winner Chicken Dinner (U.S. Taco Co.) The idea behind the launch of the first U.S. Taco Co. came from Jeff Jenkins, who, after conducting a dining survey with Taco Bell, found that people from certain demographic simply don’t eat at fast-food restaurants, the Los Angeles Times reports. Jenkins and his team decided to open a fast-casual taco place that targets people who favor restaurants like Chipotle. Taco Bell funded an eating tour for Jenkins and Rene Pisciotti, executive chef of U.S. Taco Co. They then decided to take their favorite American meals and turn them into tacos, eventually creating a menu inspired by Philly cheese steaks, lobster rolls and Southern fried chicken. “It’s food truck food you don’t have to chase,” Jenkins told the Los Angeles Times. “It’s playful, it’s different, it’s not about creating the next chain concept.” All ingredients are either house-made, sourced from the same supplier used by Taco Bell, or come from where they were inspired, such as the brisket for the “Not My First Rodeo,” which comes from Texas, Pisciotti told the Food Beast. U.S. Taco Co. has 10 6-inch tacos on the menu, all priced between $3.25 and $3.75, except the taco with lobster — “The 1%Er” will cost you $9.90. All desserts are $4 each.


Retiring House Armed Services chairman back from one his final foreign jaunts

House Armed Services Committee Chairman Howard P. “Buck” McKeon (R-Calif.), right, listens to testimony. (J. Scott Applewhite/AP) Retiring House Armed Services Committee Chairman Howard “Buck” McKeon (R-Calif. ) may be a lame duck, but he hasn’t let that ground him. McKeon returned Tuesday morning from a 10-day — was going to be 12-day, but the House recessed later than expected — mission to find facts and meet with officials in Asia. The congressional delegation (codel), which included committee members Steve Palazzo (R-Miss.), Mike Rogers (R-Ala.), Mike McIntyre (D-N.C.) and Del. Madeleine Bordallo (D-Guam), plus some spouses, took a military jet and stopped in China, Taiwan, South Korea and Japan. We hear that McKeon had hoped to meet with senior ministers and visit a Chinese aircraft carrier, but the annoyingly bellicose commies were upset that his next stop was Taiwan, so they nixed those plans. The delegation instead had a meeting and working lunch with McKeon’s Chinese counterpart, Madame Fui Ling. So is this the chairman’s swan song tour? Not at all. We’re hearing he’s going to be making a few more trips. Better pack them in before Election Day, when House rules, as we noted in April, frown on further foreign jaunts.


Study: D.C.’s big minimum-wage hike may not be a game-changer

In 1993, the District raised its minimum wage, while suburban jurisdictions stood pat. Researchers found no appreciable subsequent change in joblessness. (Urban Institute) Last year, after vetoing a controversial “living wage” bill while also promising to act on an increase to the city’s overall minimum wage, Mayor Vincent C. Gray commissioned an academic study of the subject, hoping to influence lawmakers as they moved forward with discussion of a wage increase. In the end, the study would have virtually no impact on the minimum-wage debate: The D.C. Council swiftly passed a bill that will raise the city’s minimum wage to $11.50 an hour by 2016, and despite earlier misgivings, Gray signed it. The study, however, went on, and the Gray administration’s contractor, the Urban Institute, issued its findings Tuesday. In sum, the study found, the minimum-wage hike will help low-income families — adding a few hundred to a couple of thousand dollars to the incomes of those earning less than twice the poverty line. But there are some reasons the effects on low-income D.C. residents might not be particularly profound. Half of current low-wage workers in the city don’t actually live in D.C., and higher earnings could lead to offsetting cuts in public benefits for some workers — although most workers will keep more that half of their higher earnings, researchers concluded. On the flip side, researchers found that a minimum-wage hike, even one as large as the District’s, is unlikely to have any meaningful impact on employment levels in the city. That analysis is rooted not only in national data, but in a review of employment statistics from 1993, when the District hiked its minimum wage before any suburban jurisdictions followed suit. The study found “little evidence that even a substantial increase in minimum wages in DC would result in lower employment,” with the caveat that “imprecise” estimates could mean “modest negative impacts, of perhaps half-a-percent drop in affected industry employment for each ten percent increase in the minimum wage.” The big winner from the higher minimum wage, the study shows, could be the District and federal governments. Even marginally higher incomes for low-income working residents will mean fewer residents claiming public benefits such as the federal and D.C. earned income tax credits, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families payments, food stamps and utility subsidies — allowing either a cut in expenditures or the expansion of benefits to new residents.


Updates: Heavy rain causes flooding across D.C. region

counties. These echoes could eventually move across the southeast Beltway. The strongest rain in the region is falling south of Baltimore, where storms continue to build over the cities of Green Haven and Glen Burnie. Anyone wanna go for a swim before their flight? #BWI http://t.co/9uJXf6ImEb Update at 1:30 p.m.: 3 Rescued from flooded car on Beach Dr. near Conn. Ave. All OK Road closed. @wusa9 #flashflood http://t.co/RRvDNse8n8 Flooding along Bowie Road and other low lying areas in Laurel. Use caution and watch for sudden road closures. http://t.co/LgyBDANX9V Update at 12:45 p.m.: Flash flood warning in lime green, effective until 3:45 p.m. ET. (NWS advisories via Weather Underground) flood pic from @LaurelPD Reporting "large amounts of flooding" Bowie Rd between Elaine Ct. and Rt.1 is closed. http://t.co/nPz0IqNgeY Raining cats and dogs at @BWI_Airport @froylance @capitalweather http://t.co/ECnyZ8OsiQ @capitalweather rock creek rising ... flooding at candy cane park about 1140am http://t.co/MYZ2b86ozS Original post at 12:24 p.m.: A weather system uncharacteristic of mid-August is unfolding across our region today. Waves of moderate to heavy rainfall have already begun to pass through the region as a warm front approaches from the south, prompting flash flood watches and warnings. This evening, an occluded front moves through, increasing the risk of severe storms. Some locations could see serious flooding as heavy rain is likely to continue for the next few hours. A flash flood warning is in effect for far northern D.C., as well as southeast Montgomery, south central Howard, and north central Prince Georges counties until 2:45 p.m. In addition, a flash flood watch is in effect for the D.C. metro and counties to the north and south through late Tuesday night. A flash flood watch (dark green) is in effect for much of the D.C. region until late Tuesday night. A flash flood warning (lime green) is in effect until 2:45 p.m. ET for areas north of D.C. (NWS advisories via Weather Underground) While heavy rain and flooding will be the primary threat through the afternoon hours, severe storms are possible starting this evening. The Storm Prediction Center foresees a low chance of severe storms across the Mid Atlantic, with a 15 percent chance of damaging wind and 5 percent risk of tornadoes. However, the thick cloud cover and the cooling effect of rain should greatly limit atmospheric instability, and thus severe thunderstorms, across our region. Should severe storms erupt, the timing


A woman wins ‘Nobel Prize of math’ for the first time

Maryam Mirzakhani was awarded the Fields Medal, the most prestigious prize in mathematics. This video was shown at the International Congress of Mathematicians in Seoul. One was killed by a mob of Christian zealots. Another had to study under a false name. Although Albert Einstein praised another as “the most significant creative mathematical genius thus far produced since the higher education of women began” after her death in the ’30s, she couldn’t get a teaching job. When she finally did, the Nazis took it away because she was Jewish. The struggles of female mathematicians Hypatia (killed in the 5th century), Sophie Germain (1776–1831) and Emmy Noether (1882–1935) are now history. However, not until Tuesday did a woman win the Fields Medal — “the Nobel of math,” as Time magazine put it — first awarded in 1936. The achievement of Stanford University professor Maryam Mirzakhani is not just unprecedented, but unlikely in a field where women remain underrepresented. As few as 9 percent of tenure-track positions in math are held by women, according to a 2010 study. “This is a great honor. I will be happy if it encourages young female scientists and mathematicians,” Mirzakhani said in a Stanford University news release. “I am sure there will be many more women winning this kind of award in coming years.” Mirzakhani was born in Iran, dreaming of becoming a writer. It was a tumultuous time in Iran, she said in an interview with the Clay Mathematics Institute. The country was still embroiled in war with Iraq and “those were hard times,” she said. But she nonetheless remembers the first time she heard about mathematics. Her brother had a problem — and it would make her abandon her writing aspirations. “My older brother was the person who got me interested in science in general,” she told the Clay Mathematics Institute. “He used to tell me what he learned in school. My first memory of mathematics is probably the time that he told me about the problem of adding numbers from 1 to 100. I think he had read in a popular science journal how [German mathematician Johann Carl Friedrich] Gauss solved this problem. The solution was quite fascinating for me. That was the first time I enjoyed a beautiful solution.” There would be many more in her career. The war ended when she finished elementary school, and she and a friend spent time


Try not to get too excited about the rare birth of panda triplets

Giant panda triplets born in July at a China zoo are the first known to live for more than 15 days. The event is so rare that Guangzhou’s Chimelong Safari Park delayed the announcement of their birth to see if all three would survive the precarious first two weeks. The little cubs are cute — in a naked mole rat sort of way. The cubs were conceived naturally — a rare feat for the sexually frustrated bear — by Juxiao and Linlin. Zookeepers made the reluctant lovers neighbors so they could smell each other, a prerequisite for panda sex, Dong Guixin, the zoo’s general manager, told Agence France-Presse. Juxiao had to do special panda exercises so she would be strong enough to carry cubs. The high-maintenance mom labored four hours with her cubs, and she was too worn out to take care of them afterward. They were kept in incubators while Juxiao “regained her strength” but have been returned to her for nursing. A team of feeders is on hand around the clock. “It was a miracle for us,” the zoo said of the birth, describing it as a “new wonder of the world.” Previous panda triplets were born in 1999 and 2013, according to China Daily, but only one cub survived in both cases. Another set of triplets was born in 1967, though none survived. The birth of one panda is virtually a miracle, let alone three. The giant panda is a species that is practically begging to go extinct — or at least it seems that way. “First, their breeding habits don’t suggest a species brimming with vitality,” Bloomberg’s Timothy Lavin pointed out. He wrote: Pandas at a research center in Chengdu were so disinclined to mate that workers there subjected the poor things to Viagra and videos of other bears procreating, hoping they’d get the idea. Zoos, including in Washington, more often resort to artificial insemination. In the wild, where birthrates aren’t much better, pandas are prone to inbreeding. Another problem: Lady pandas are only able to conceive for two or three days out of the entire year. Those aren’t good odds, folks. It’s not uncommon for giant panda mothers to accidentally crush their babies, which are the size of a stick of butter when they are born. “When she rolled onto her cub, 16-year-old Ya Ya fatally damaged the newborn’s heart, liver, and other internal organs,”


Wonkbook: The troubling context of the Missouri shooting

SALAM: The threat of health care market consolidation. M. KLEIN: Government spending booms are not so great for economic growth. GONZALES: Obama's time for immigration action. LUBBEN: Do living wills for banks even make sense? CHAIT: Did Republicans extend the recovery to 2016? CAPRETTA: How should the GOP govern? SARTWELL: The downside of consensus. SPROSS: Why reform conservatives should embrace universal income. Animals interlude: 2. The barriers to finding — and distributing — new Ebola drugs WHO ethics panel approves use of experimental Ebola drugs. Audio: But who should get these drugs first? Many months before more doses become available. U.S. is helping firm scale up production of drug given to 2 Americans. Related: ZMapp's success could bolster approaches for other diseases like HIV. Related: Other health care reads: Administration warns some could lose health-care coverage on federal exchange. Amy Goldstein in The Washington Post. How far is too far for worker wellness programs to go? Jayne O'Donnell in USA Today. How governors could become America's health care czars. Sophie Novack in National Journal. Williams' death spurs policy discussion on how to reduce suicides. Liz Szabo in USA Today. States spent $31 billion on employee health insurance last year. Niraj Chokshi in The Washington Post. MARSH: Fast-tracking access to experimental Ebola drugs. GOTTLIEB: Stopping Ebola in U.S. could prompt use of controversial tools. ROSS: The real Ebola ethics dilemma. BOYD: Ebola and the 'right to try.' Science interlude: 3. Legal marijuana is facing some unexpected legal barriers Marijuana dispensaries need loans, too, and have to go to great lengths to get them. A sign of hope for lending to legal marijuana sellers. Utilities' dilemma: How to serve the energy-intensive pot industry without violating federal law? Colorado case puts workplace drug policies to the test. Well, this stinks: Marijuana sparks odor complaints in Colorado. Medical-marijuana research runs up against federal law. Oops: Colorado needs to make more legal marijuana. Chart: Bizarre interlude: 4. More evidence that wage are gradually rising? Fresh data shows U.S. jobs market tightening. ICYMI: Team Yellen has its eyes on that report. Background readings: Certain sectors have shown signs of pay hikes. Paul Davidson in USA Today. Hiring has picked up, but where are those long-awaited wage hikes? Ylan Q. Mui in The Washington Post. White House: State, local minimum-wage hikes to benefit 7 million workers. Chart: Income gap between metropolitan areas hits widest on record. ICYMI:


marijuana is facing some unexpected legal barriers Marijuana dispensaries need loans, too, and have to go to great lengths to get them. A sign of hope for lending to legal marijuana sellers. Utilities' dilemma: How to serve the energy-intensive pot industry without violating federal law? Colorado case puts workplace drug policies to the test. Well, this stinks: Marijuana sparks odor complaints in Colorado. Medical-marijuana research runs up against federal law. Oops: Colorado needs to make more legal marijuana. Chart: Bizarre interlude: 4. More evidence that wage are gradually rising? Fresh data shows U.S. jobs market tightening. ICYMI: Team Yellen has its eyes on that report. Background readings: Certain sectors have shown signs of pay hikes. Paul Davidson in USA Today. Hiring has picked up, but where are those long-awaited wage hikes? Ylan Q. Mui in The Washington Post. White House: State, local minimum-wage hikes to benefit 7 million workers. Chart: Income gap between metropolitan areas hits widest on record. ICYMI: Analysis: Other economic/financial reads: Home price gains slow in most cities. Prashant Gopal in Bloomberg. FHFA seeks input on single Fannie, Freddie security. Peter Schroeder in The Hill. Banks push to delay rule on investments. Andrew Ackerman and Ryan Tracy in The Wall Street Journal. Clever cat interlude: Wonkblog roundup How GOP victories in 2010 haunt Obama’s minimum wage agenda — nationally and locally. Zachary A. Goldfarb. A better understanding of mental illness hasn’t reduced the stigma around it. Jason Millman. When police departments don’t look like the cities they’re meant to protect. Emily Badger. 95% of Republican House districts are majority-white. Christopher Ingraham. Women are disappearing from the workforce. Here’s how to fix that. Zachary A. Goldfarb. Et Cetera U.S. cuts 2014 oil price forecast as production surges. Moming Zhou in Bloomberg. California could become the second state to require a cell phone "kill switch." Niraj Chokshi in The Washington Post. Big Brother is already watching your driving — and it's your fault. Jason Plautz in National Journal. After 23 million rides, no deaths in U.S. bike share programs. Barbara Goldberg in Reuters. Tech giants at odds over Obama privacy bill. Kate Tummarello in The Hill. China names U.S. as top destination for economic fugitives. Christina Larson in Bloomberg Businessweek. How campus sexual assaults came to command new attention. Tovia Smith in NPR. Got tips, additions, or comments? Wonkbook is produced with help from Michelle Williams and Ryan McCarthy


Manhunt for a cop-shooter

Streets were closed Wednesday morning as police investigate a shooting near Pennsylvania and Southern avenues SE in Washington. (Peter Hermann/The Washington Post) An off-duty D.C. police detective was shot multiple times early Wednesday morning near the intersection of Pennsylvania and Southern avenues SE, the Post’s Peter Hermann and Victoria St. Martin report. The unidentified detective, Police Chief Cathy L. Lanier said, is in stable condition following surgery; one arrest has been made, but police are searching the District and Prince George’s County seeking several additional suspects. The incident appeared to have been an attempted carjacking, Lanier said, but details remain sketchy. The detective is the first D.C. cop to be shot since last year’s Navy Yard shootout. In other news: Michelle (Rhee) Johnson is reportedly ready to step down as chief executive of StudentsFirst (HuffPo) Minimum-wage report ordered by Vince Gray finds big hike won’t be a game-changer (DofD, WAMU-FM, Housing Complex) Don’t expect the higher wage to make housing any more affordable (Housing Complex) More on the latest campaign finance reports (Loose Lips, Loose Lips, WAMU-FM, AP) Faith, now 90, talks about her latest mayoral run and her “arts around the clock” platform (Express) Tattoo artists still hate the city’s revised body art regulations (DofD) Despite stay of court ruling, Ron Machen is no longer charging gun carry offenses (AP) Feds pull grant from high-profile Head Start center near Logan Circle (Post) Why Virginia and Maryland should follow D.C.’s lead and ditch sales tax holidays (Post editorial) The libertarian case for tiny houses (Reason, Housing Complex) “Courtesy drivers” or illegal taxicabs? (WJLA-TV) Ron Linton: The big problem with Uber and Lyft is illegal street hails (Post letter) AFSCME gives Muriel Bowser its nod (DCist) More on Bowser’s promised stint as a hotel housekeeper (WRC-TV) Principal fired for fake credentials had worked in DCPS, charter schools (Post) New views of proposed McMillan development (UrbanTurf) “Intrastate” crowdfunding might not appeal to many D.C. startups (WBJ) Virginia dermatologist who had D.C. office is indicted for fraud (Post) D.C. Health Link debuts app for small businesses (WBJ) Capital Bikeshare finally has keys again (City Desk) Muriel Bowser’s brother Marvin competed in the Gay Games (@MurielBowser) New M Street NW strip club will feature “house-made small plates” (City Desk)


Our politicians are keeping us from finding alien life

of life that could best thrive on these moons would be microscopic. Sensing its presence might be accomplished in several ways, ranging from simple flyby missions that nab effluvia from natural geysers, to sending elaborate drilling rigs to penetrate the 10 miles of ice that separate the surface of Jupiter’s moon Europa from the mammoth seas that lie below. Sadly much of this reconnaissance hardware is still on the drawing boards, not in space. Progress is slow, mostly because funding is low. A second scheme for sniffing out evidence of biology is to assay the atmospheres of planets around other stars. This is done using a time-honored technique of astronomy, spectroscopy — an approach that would allow researchers to learn the composition of an atmosphere at many light years’ distance. While an experiment to find oxygen or methane in someone else’s air is straightforward to describe, it is hard to do. That is because planets are dim, and the stars they orbit are bright. Various solutions to this problem have been imagined, including multi-element, orbiting telescopes and giant light blockers, or occulters, in space. It is rocket science, but it is not as hard as curing the common cold. Engineers could build this stuff within a dozen years, but only if they had the money. The third approach to finding biology beyond Earth is looking beyond microbes for intelligent life by eavesdropping on radio signals or flashing laser lights. More antennae and better receivers could speed up this search, but once again, funding is the limiting factor. Creative Commons For perspective, consider that the proposed 2015 NASA budget has about $2.5 billion for planetary science, astrophysics and continued work on the new James Webb space telescope — categories that encompass all the planetary searches described above and more. That is considerably less than one-thousandth of the total U.S. federal budget. The budgets for SETI, or the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence, which takes the third approach, are 1,000 times less than that. So it boils down to this: We don’t know for certain that there is life in space, but the circumstances of the universe certainly suggest that the idea is plausible. Finding it would be extraordinarily exciting, but because the payoff is uncertain, the investments in searching have been modest. Of course, if you don’t ante up, you will never win the jackpot. And that is a question of will.


The share of arrests for marijuana possession has more than tripled since 1991

are for marijuana possession. Marijuana possession arrests by state, 2012 Both states decriminalized marijuana possession - New York in 1977, and Massachusetts in 2009. But in New York, a loophole in the decriminalization law allows arrests for marijuana that is in possession "in public view." If a police officer can trick an unsuspecting person into emptying their pockets - say, during a "stop and frisk" - any marijuana in those pockets is now in public view. Out come the cuffs. The overall picture is similar if you look at the number of marijuana arrests per 1,000 marijuana users in a given state. Those figures show that Nebraska and Louisiana are the riskiest states to smoke marijuana in, with roughly 50 arrests per 1,000 users. In contrast, a marijuana user is about 40 times less likely to get arrested in Massachusetts, where there are 1.3 possession arrests per 1,000 users. The state-level data underscore the inconsistency of prohibitionist marijuana policy. New York devotes considerable man-hours and dollars to marijuana possession enforcement compared to Massachusetts, but usage rates are roughly the same in both states: 8.2 percent of New Yorkers admitted using marijuana in the past month, compared to 9.4 percent of Massachusetts residents. So what return, exactly, is New York seeing on its investment in marijuana policing? The costs of this kind of overzealous drug policing are considerable. The ACLU estimates that in 2010, states spent a total of $3.6 billion on marijuana possession enforcement. But the costs born by the people arrested are even greater. FBI's crime data doesn't track whether arrests lead to convictions, but an arrest in an of itself can be a huge burden, financial or otherwise. It may cost thousands of dollars in legal fees to fight a marijuana arrest. Some offenders are given the option of attending a drug treatment program in exchange for leniency. But rehab makes little sense for a recreational marijuana user, and these programs can also be prohibitively expensive. Moreover the arrest itself, regardless of conviction, can show up in background checks for job applications. Fortunately, the trend toward full legalization appears to be a durable one, at least judging by the public opinion numbers. As more states move toward legalization, law enforcement agencies will be able to allocate that $3.6 billion elsewhere. A good place to start might be the 53 percent of violent crimes that went unsolved in 2012.


Does Rwanda’s economic prosperity justify president Kagame’s political repression?

Rwandan President Paul Kagame (R) and his daughter Ange Kagame (L) arrive at the North Portico of the White House, in Washington DC, USA, 05 August 2014. On the occasion of the U.S. Africa Leaders Summit, President Obama hosted about 50 African heads of state and government for a dinner at the White House. EPA/MICHAEL REYNOLDS Last week’s U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit brought some 50 African heads of state and government to Washington to strengthen ties with U.S. business and the American government and, as President Obama stressed, to work on expanding trade, strengthening governance, and deepening security cooperation. Invitations went to leaders “in good standing with the United States and the African Union,” meaning that nearly all heads of state and government in Africa were on the guest list. This also meant that leaders of four countries — Zimbabwe, Eritrea, Sudan and the Central African Republic — weren’t invited. (The leaders of two countries —- Liberia and Sierra Leone — skipped the summit to deal with the Ebola virus outbreak.) Being in “good standing,” however, doesn’t mean that any particular country’s leader is an exemplary leader. Some critics consider Paul Kagame, the president of the Republic of Rwanda, a less than exemplary leader. Others point to the economic gains under his leadership as goals that other African leaders should try to emulate. On the positive side, Kagame, who has led Rwanda for the last 14 years, has brought his homeland out of the depths of the 1994 genocide and made it one of the 10 most improved economies, according to the World Bank’s “Doing Business 2014” report. That same report ranks Rwanda as the second easiest place, after South Africa, to do business in Sub-Saharan Africa. In July, the Fitch Ratings agency boosted Rwanda’s credit ranking up to B+ on the strength of economic growth prospects and its “track record of prudent and coherent fiscal and monetary policy management.” Transparency International has also given its seal of approval to Rwanda, ranking it as one of the “cleanest” countries in Sub-Saharan Africa. Kagame’s Vision 2020 plan seeks to transform Rwanda from a low-income, agriculture based economy to a middle-income, service-based economy by the year 2020. Rwanda has taken many steps designed to stimulate this transformation. For example, in 2008, students started being taught in English, instead of in the French language that had dominated in the country’s pre-genocide past (students are


Sanctioned Russian gas company enlists D.C. lobbyists

Russian President Vladimir Putin attends a meeting with local officials in Voronezh, Russia, Tuesday, Aug. 5, 2014. (AP Photo/RIA-Novosti, Alexei Druzhinin, Presidential Press Service) A Russian gas company enlisted the help of a D.C.-based lobbying firm in dealing with the U.S. government days before the Obama administration hit it with those pesky sanctions. In a lobbying disclosure filing dated July 10, QorvisMSL, LLC reported it had a new client: OAO Novatek, a major gas producer in Russia. On July 17, that company was added to Obama’s sanctions list. The new business relationship was reported Wednesday by the National Journal. The disclosure form specifies that the firm will lobby on the sanctions as well as the Russian Aggression Prevention Act of 2014, a wide-ranging Republican Senate bill that directs harsher sanctions and more U.S. intervention in eastern Ukraine. When Novatek was added to the sanctions list, the company put out a statement that it “is a privately listed company not conducting any business activities in Ukraine, nor does it have any impact on the political and economic processes taking place on its territory. … Including the Company into the List is not justified.” The lobbying form lists Loretta Prencipe and Ayal Frank as the lobbyists assigned to the job. According to their bios on Qorvis’ Web site, Prencipe had worked for the Department of Energy in communications and Frank worked on the Hill for Rep. James Maloney (D-Conn.), helping with Armed Services Committee issues. The Center for Public Integrity notes that a “major shareholder” of the Novatek gas company is buddies with none other than Russian President Vladimir Putin: One of OAO Novatek’s largest shareholders is Gennady Timchenko, according to Reuters, whose longtime association with Putin goes back to their days as sparring partners in St. Petersburg’s Yawara-Neva judo club. The State Department has termed Timchenko a member of Putin’s “inner circle.” According to Forbes magazine, Timchenko is worth $14.5 billion. Qorvis’s other clients include the Kingdom of Bahrain, Republic of Sri Lanka, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and Kurdistan Regional Government of Iraq. We’re awaiting further comment from Qorvis.


Austin Tice, two years later

terrific athlete, and a caring friend and neighbor, we knew you were a special kid. When you put your Georgetown Law education on hold to follow your journalistic dreams, we knew you were extraordinary. When you did so to help people in one of the most dangerous regions in the world, we knew you were one in a million. Watch a short video on Tice, produced by McClatchy. You can watch the longer version at the end of this post. Award winning freelance journalist Austin Tice, who is believed to have been captured in Syria, has been missing for two years. In the face of uncertainty, his parents, Marc and Debra, continue to search for their lost son. You saw suffering and put your talents to work to stop it – risking life and limb to share the personal and political stories people need to hear to stand up against violence and atrocity. Few people would put so much on the line for the well being of strangers half a world away. To think that we raised a man like you fills us with pride. The second is that your compassion, loyalty, discipline, courage and commitment remain an example not only to your parents and your six younger brothers and sisters; but to people the world over. At a time when it’s so easy to focus on what’s wrong with the world, you are a constant reminder of what’s right with it – that there are still people out there who refuse to just throw up their hands and give up on problems that seem unsolvable. We see signs of your strength and inspiration each and every day. We see it up close in the calls, letters, and cards we’ve received offering every possible form of assistance and support. We see it from afar in the humanitarian acts of others seeking to end the misery and grief felt so vastly in so many corners of the globe. We even see it in ourselves – epitomized by our abiding faith and steadfast belief that we will see you again. Third, we want you to know that your family, friends, and people you have never known are working nonstop to bring you home safely. From hard tips about your possible whereabouts to simple prayers for your well being, we have received an overwhelming show of support from every continent on the planet.


Transit data for a time-pressed city

Welcome to CapBiz A.M., your morning primer on business news with a focus on Washington. Now arriving: Shopping slowdown: Portable payment: Blame us, not them: Potluck: The Wal-Mart effect: Underwhelmed: On Wall Street Markets showed modest gains Wednesday as investors digested mixed economic news. (Get the latest updates here) What’s on tap today Weekly jobless claims (8:30 a.m.) Import and export prices (8:30 a.m.) Help: Follow: Extra: Thoughts?


Tear gas is a chemical weapon banned in war. But Ferguson police shoot it at protesters.

from exploding tear gas bombs as well as lethal toxic injury have been documented.” Hu found that if exposed to “high levels of CS,” some victims experienced heart failure or even death. “An infant exposed to CS in a house into which police had fired CS canisters to subdue a mentally disturbed adult developed severe pneumonitis requiring therapy with steroids, oxygen, antibiotics, and 29 days of hospitalization.” The Mount Carmel compound where armed Branch Davidian cultists had been surrounded by federal agents near Waco for 51 days is engulfed by flames April 19, 1993. (Reed Schumann/Reuters) The levels of toxicity of the gas that most police departments deploy in the United States is lower than what’s found in places like the Middle East, according to Yale researcher Jordt, though some domestic uses have stirred controversy. On April 19, 1993, the FBI sprayed tear gas into a large compound in Waco, Tex., that housed a religious sect called the Branch Davidians. A fire eventually consumed the center and more than 75 people, including 28 children, died. Investigators wrote in a subsequent report that if the victims hadn’t been able to leave the compound, “there is a distinct possibility that this kind of CS exposure can significantly contribute to or even cause lethal effects.” An Israeli border policeman fires tear gas at Palestinian protesters during a demonstration against the expansion of the nearby Jewish settlement of Halamish in the West Bank village of Nabi Saleh, near Ramallah, Friday, Dec. 9, 2011. (AP Photo/Majdi Mohammed) More recently, in 2011, a Palestinian man named Mustafa Tamimi was killed when a tear gas canister hit him in the head at close range, according to Amnesty International. Later that year, another Palestinian died of inhaling tear gas. Earlier this year, in April, one Palestinian woman died of tear gas inhalation, Agence France-Presse reported. In Egypt, policemen shot tear gas into the back of a vehicle carrying supporters of ousted president Mohamed Morsi to prison, asphyxiating and killing 37 inside. “Of all the ways to die,” Foreign Policy reported, “this was one of the most horrible.” The men’s lawyer would later say that the men’s faces were so distorted and blue that most thought they had been burned. An Egyptian protester throws a tear gas canister back at riot police, not seen, during clashes near Tahrir Square, Cairo, Egypt, Sunday, Jan. 27, 2013. Clashes continued for the


DC Beer Week 2014: Drink it all in with these events

(Allie Ghaman/Express) DC Beer Week Beer geeks Sierra Nevada Beer Camp Tour Takeover ChurchKey, 1337 14th St. NW; Sun., 11:30 a.m., free. For Sierra Nevada’s Beer Camp festival, the California brewery pulled off an unprecedented feat by collaborating with 12 beer-makers on 12 very different brews. If you weren’t able to snag one of the 12-packs that flew off shelves, ChurchKey, above, will have all of them on tap, along with selections from some of the collaborators, including Cigar City, Firestone Walker and Allagash. Blind and Bitter Scion Restaurant, 2100 P St. NW and Crios Modern Mexican, 2120 P St. NW; Aug. 21, 4 p.m., free. Dcbeer.com Locals only Solidarity Session IPA Tasting Gordon Biersch, 900 F St. NW; Aug. 21, 5:30 p.m., $20-$25. For the third year in a row, some D.C.-area breweries have joined together to do what they do best: brew. This year’s solidarity beer is a hop-forward session IPA coming in at 4.5 percent ABV. Brewed at DC Brau with the help of 3 Stars, Capital City Brewing, Mad Fox, District Chophouse, Beltway Brewing and more, the hoppy beer will be served at participating venues all week. But the official tasting at Gordon Biersch offers unlimited pours (plus other offerings), passed appetizers and a commemorative glass. Battle of the Barrel Aged Brews Boundary Stone, 116 Rhode Island Ave. NW; Tue., 5 p.m., free. Two of the city’s top breweries — DC Brau and 3 Stars — face off, “Donkey Kong” style. Well, not exactly. Each brewery will showcase beers aged in oak barrels in a battle for supremacy (and a trophy behind the Boundary Stone bar, below). You’ll get to try beers like DC Brau’s ever-popular double IPA On the Wings of Armageddon out of a Caledonia gin barrel and 3 Stars’ flagship Pandemic Porter aged in a Woodford Reserve bourbon barrel. Beer 101 Homebrew Demo Smith Public Trust, 3514 12th St. NE; Sun., 3 p.m., free. DC Beer Week’s new educational component begins with the basics: homebrewing. Novice brewmasters will get the chance to see members of experienced local homebrew clubs HOPS and DC Homebrewers create a beer in this demo session. More experienced brewers will want to stop by for discounts on brewing kits from the 3 Stars Homebrew Shop. How Government Affects Your Beer Policy, 1904 14th St. NW; Wed., 6:30 p.m., free. This panel gathers industry experts — including Brewers Association COO


try beers like DC Brau’s ever-popular double IPA On the Wings of Armageddon out of a Caledonia gin barrel and 3 Stars’ flagship Pandemic Porter aged in a Woodford Reserve bourbon barrel. Beer 101 Homebrew Demo Smith Public Trust, 3514 12th St. NE; Sun., 3 p.m., free. DC Beer Week’s new educational component begins with the basics: homebrewing. Novice brewmasters will get the chance to see members of experienced local homebrew clubs HOPS and DC Homebrewers create a beer in this demo session. More experienced brewers will want to stop by for discounts on brewing kits from the 3 Stars Homebrew Shop. How Government Affects Your Beer Policy, 1904 14th St. NW; Wed., 6:30 p.m., free. This panel gathers industry experts — including Brewers Association COO Bob Pease, Right Proper co-founder Thor Cheston and Samuel Adams lobbyist Mick Nardelli — for a wonky talk about the ways government impacts beer, and what the industry needs to do for its advocacy efforts. As a bonus, your first beer is on DC Beer Week, while supplies last. Drunk and hungry BrewHaHa Old Ebbitt Grill, 675 15th St. NW; Aug. 22, 8 p.m., $65 Returning for a second year, Old Ebbitt Grill’s flagship event is a beer- and food-lover’s dream. Chefs from restaurants like The Pig, Fainting Goat and Lyon Hall will be paired with local breweries like Flying Dog, Atlas and Lost Rhino to create dishes that complement their respective brews. Richmond-based, Motown-inspired band The Hi-Steps will keep you dancing. Out-of-towners Mikkeller Sour Session The Partisan, 709 D St. NW; Mon., 6 p.m., free. Denmark’s Mikkeller takes over the Partisan with a selection of rare, sour Spontan ales — with names like Spontanpeach and Spontangooseberry — along with heavier selections, such as the delightfully decadent Beer Geek Breakfast Imperial Coffee Stout, below. Deschutes Brewery Beer Dinner City Tap House, 901 Ninth St. NW; Tue., 6 p.m., $75. Oregon’s Deschutes Brewery doesn’t distribute in the area, so while this beer dinner — featuring five courses paired with five sought-after Deschutes brews — may come with a steep price, it’s worth it for the rare chance to try beers you ordinarily couldn’t. More on local beer: Denizens Brewing Co. opens in Silver Spring with its Southside Rye IPA on tap What to expect from Flying Dog’s new beer, Dead Rise Old Bay Summer Ale A heady history lesson with ‘Capital Beer’ author Garrett Peck


“Consumer Credit and the American Economy”

examination of the logical offspring of technology, the ubiquitous credit card that permits consumers access to both payments and credit services worldwide virtually instantly. After a chapter on institutions that have arisen to supply credit to individuals for whom mainstream credit is often unavailable, including “payday loans” and other small dollar sources of loans, discussion turns to legal structure and the regulation of consumer credit. There are separate chapters on the theories behind the two main thrusts of federal regulation to this point, fairness for all and financial disclosure. Following these chapters, there is another on state regulation that has long focused on marketplace access and pricing. Before a final concluding chapter, another chapter focuses on two noncredit marketplace products that are closely related to credit. The first of them, debt protection including credit insurance and other forms of credit protection, is economically a complement. The second product, consumer leasing, is a substitute for credit use in many situations, especially involving acquisition of automobiles. This chapter is followed by a full review of consumer bankruptcy, what happens in the worst of cases when consumers find themselves unable to repay their loans. Because of the importance of consumer credit in consumers’ financial affairs, the intended audience includes anyone interested in these issues, not only specialists who spend much of their time focused on them. For this reason, the authors have carefully avoided academic jargon and the mathematics that is the modern language of economics. It also examines the psychological, sociological, historical, and especially legal traditions that go into fully understanding what has led to the demand for consumer credit and to what the markets and institutions that provide these products have become today. And here’s the cover blurbs (with special thanks to all these guys for their kind words!): “This is a book for both professional economists who do and do not specialize in this field and for informed laypersons who want to understand better this important facet of the economy. For the first time a single work brings together the history, economics, sociology, law, and regulation of consumer credit markets and institutions. It will become the standard source and reference for questions of public policy in this important area.” -Timothy J. Muris, George Mason University and Former Chairman, Federal Trade Commission “If you think the development, history, and behavioral aspects of consumer credit are not exciting, read this comprehensive treatise


7 ways Ferguson carries echoes of foreign conflicts

the past month, the Committee to Protect Journalists has called for the release of a local journalist arrested in Djibouti, two French journalists arrested in Indonesia, an Ethiopian journalist held without charge, three editors detained in Burma, and many more. Washington Post reporter Wesley Lowery was detained by police in August 2014 while reporting on the unrest in Ferguson, Mo., following the fatal shooting of Michael Brown by police. Wesley is not the only journalist working for The Post to be detained recently. Jason Rezaian, our Tehran correspondent, was arrested along with his wife and others on July 21. The State Department has condemned Jason's arrest. The presence of 'outside agitators' Ferguson's police chief, Thomas Jackson, ascribed much of the unrest in recent days to "outside agitators." This carries echoes of statements made during the struggles of the civil rights movement, as a Boston College historian pointed out: OMG. Police Chief in #Ferguson blamed "Outside Agitators." Historians of the South issue collective groan of recognition. But it also smacks, immediately, of some of the rhetoric we've heard from overseas autocrats and demagogues denouncing dissent at home. Raising the specter of "external forces" or a "foreign hand" is the oldest trick in the book for a government or despot keen to obscure the root causes of unrest. Every single president in Egypt in the past half a decade — from the long-entrenched Hosni Mubarak to the Islamist Mohamed Morsi, to Abdel Fatah al-Sissi (the man who ousted Morsi in a coup) — has played this card. So, too, have Turkey's Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Syria's Bashar al-Assad, Iraq's Nouri al-Maliki and myriad other embattled world leaders. The experience of tear gas Mariam Barghouti, a Palestinian journalist, watched clouds of tear gas encircle Ferguson's protesters and went to Twitter to offer advice and solidarity. Made in USA teargas canister was shot at us a few days ago in #Palestine by Israel, now they are used in #Ferguson. http://t.co/y3co6DMFM6 Solidarity with #Ferguson. Remember to not touch your face when teargassed or put water on it. Instead use milk or coke! Always make sure to run against the wind /to keep calm when you're teargassed, the pain will pass, don't rub your eyes! #Ferguson Solidarity It feels so weird using my experience from #Palestine and Israeli oppression to give advice to #Ferguson. Much love and solidarity! The militarization of the police Armoured vehicles and military