What might be lost as China and the U.S. make it harder for scholars to travel back and forth?

evaluation. Scholars also serve an important feedback function for the Chinese government. Through publications, seminars and internal reports, China’s decision makers often invite leading Chinese scholars to bring their opinions into decision-making. My research tracks some important debates going on in China today. For example, Chinese scholars heatedly debate China’s status and role on the world stage. Rethinking China’s rise, some scholars also worry that China’s assertive foreign policies might be too much and too soon. 3. Academics can play a uniquely important role in promoting mutual understanding – and helping U.S. and Chinese officials understand the other side’s intentions. U.S. and Chinese diplomats have limited space to discuss sensitive topics like North Korea, Syria and Venezuela, for instance. Scholars may have more flexibility to discuss these issues than policy makers. There are a number of good examples of such academic exchanges. The Northeast Asia Cooperation Dialogue (NEACD), founded by University of California, San Diego professor Susan Shirk, has long been an important communications channel for officials and scholars from the United States, China, Russia, South Korea, North Korea and Japan. NEACD has held 28 “Cooperation Dialogues” since 1993, offering a valuable platform to reduce risk and promote cooperation in the region. From 2002 to 2008, China expert Peter Gries organized the Sino-American Security Dialogue (SASD) to bring together U.S. and Chinese security experts for informal discussions. The SASD platform deepened the discussions of foreign policy issues. If academic connections become more limited, similar opportunities for dialogue and cooperation might be lost. Why does this matter? Misunderstandings might increase if these academic ties become more restricted. For example, a South China Morning Post article explains that Beijing underestimated anti-China sentiment among U.S. political elites and the Trump administration’s resolve in the early stage of the current trade war. This misunderstanding might have contributed to the delay in resolving the U.S.-China trade war. Restricting academic ties may make for poor decision making in both countries — but there are two additional costs. There will likely be a negative impact on America’s image as a leader in higher education, if international scholars and students face more restrictions. And restrictions on academics’ access also hurts the social foundations of Sino-U.S. relations. As Harvard China expert Michael Szonyi suggests, Sino-U.S. relations could be better viewed as “multiple real relationships embodied in personal connections” instead of “a single, abstract relationship.” The recent escalating “visa war”


Unfounded report of suspicious package prompts D.C. federal office evacuation

A suspicious package was reported Wednesday morning near Union Station, prompting the evacuation of a federal office building in the District and closure of several streets in the area. The incident began around 10 a.m., and by 10:25 a.m., officials said, nothing had been found and the area was deemed safe. At one point, the Thurgood Marshall Federal Judiciary Building was evacuated as a precaution, according to U.S. Capitol Police. “We did our due diligence and it’s all clear,” said Eva Malecki, a Capitol Police spokeswoman. dana.hedgpeth@washpost.com


D.C. crime report

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Northern Ireland’s peace was already in trouble. Brexit is making things harder to fix.

The murder of Lyra McKee, the young journalist killed by the “New Irish Republican Army” in Northern Ireland last week, has focused attention on how Brexit might affect Northern Ireland’s fragile peace. Whatever happens with Brexit, it has already weakened the 1998 Good Friday Agreement’s institutional fixes that led to paramilitaries dropping their arms. That has complicated an already difficult political situation. The problems that Brexit poses for Northern Ireland are complicated by the fact that the Northern Ireland Executive and Assembly have been suspended since January 2017. That’s the locally elected government and legislature that were established as part of the Good Friday peace agreement. That agreement brought an end to the Troubles, the 30-year civil conflict between unionists, who are predominantly Protestant and want Northern Ireland to remain part of the United Kingdom, and nationalists, who are predominantly Catholic and want Northern Ireland to be part of the Republic of Ireland. One of the agreement’s main provisions required them to share power in the Executive and the Assembly. But in 2017, the main parties representing each side — the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) and Sinn Fein — ceased working together, as the agreement required, leaving the province without a regional government. These fights were unrelated to Brexit. But Brexit — or more particularly, the heated atmosphere in British Parliament and among the wider public — has distracted the British government and kept it from pressuring the political parties in Northern Ireland to resolve their disputes. As a result, politicians have stopped engaging across sectarian lines. With no one to make policy decisions, the head of the Northern Ireland Civil Service told the BBC, there’s been a “slow decay and stagnation” in public services. Ordinary citizens have lost faith in government. The Brexit process has also damaged the relationship between the governments of Britain and the Republic of Ireland — a relationship that once provided a framework to accommodate Northern Ireland’s warring sides. But the two governments’ shared understanding has degenerated as they fight over the status of the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. Although all sides want to prevent violence from resuming, they differ on how to deal post-Brexit with the border, which — because both nations have been European Union members — currently has no passport or customs checkpoints. That has to change if Britain leaves the E.U. At the Irish government’s insistence,


The grown-up era of gravitational waves

The era of gravitational wave astrophysics was born in 2015, when the twin LIGO facilities in Louisiana and Washington state picked up the very first ripples in space time caused by merging black holes. The detection confirmed Albert Einstein’s century-old theory that cosmic cataclysms would ruffle the fabric of the universe, and gave scientists a new way to observe some of the darkest and most mysterious objects in space. Two years later, LIGO and a partner observatory in Italy called Virgo spotted the gravitational wave signal of two neutron stars colliding, while astronomers at dozens of telescopes around the world and in space hustled to capture light bursts from the same event. That’s when this new era “came of age,” NASA astrophysicist Julie McInery told me. “We’re able to combine dramatically different ways of viewing the universe,” she said, "and I think our level of understanding is going to leap forward as a result.” And now the era of gravitational wave astrophysics has finally gotten a job, purchased a pant suit, and started bringing home the bacon. Since LIGO and Virgo resumed operations this April after undergoing upgrades to improve their sensitivity, they have recorded five candidate gravitational wave events — as many as were spotted in LIGO’s first two years of observing. https://twitter.com/LIGO/status/1123336957193523204\ Before this latest observing run, LIGO and Virgo detections were kept secret until the results could be analyzed, peer reviewed, and published in a journal. But now candidate events are posted online as they happen, and the world can watch in real time as astronomers scramble to pinpoint their sources. One of the April events appeared to come from a second neutron star collision -- a phenomenon called a kilonova. Unlike black hole mergers, these events produce light, making them especially interesting to researchers who want to study the universe using the two “messengers” of gravity and electromagnetism. The latest detection, on April 26, may even be from a never-before-seen event: the collision of a neutron star with a black hole. Provisionally labeled S190426c, the signal appears to come from 1.2 billion light-years away, in the northern hemisphere of the sky. That distance makes it difficult to pinpoint, and there is a relatively high chance of it being a false alarm, but astronomers have spent much of the past week trying to track this strange signal down. Some scientists created a channel on Slack, the instant


Slaying Tuesday leaves four-month D.C. total well ahead of same period in 2018

A man was fatally shot Tuesday in Southeast Washington, D.C. police said. They said Devante Moody, 22, of Southeast, was found in the 4400 block of G Street SE. He was discovered about 1:40 p.m. after a shooting was reported at the scene The site is a residential street in the Benning Ridge area. It includes a number of detached single family homes. It was not clear if the victim was found indoors or outdoors. Information was not available about a motive in the shooting. Based on police statistics, the homicide was the 55th in the first four months of 2019. That marks an increase of about 30 percent over the corresponding period of last year. This article has been updated and edited. Martin.Weil@washpost.com


Lab experiment goes wrong, starts fire at U-Md.

A lab experiment gone awry sparked a fire at the University of Maryland in College Park and forced the evacuation of a building, police said. The fire, which occurred at the Chemical and Nuclear Engineering Building before noon Wednesday, started after a chemical reaction from the experiment, University of Maryland police said. The fire was extinguished and the building was being ventilated, said Michael Yourishin, a Prince George’s County Fire/EMS spokesman. Seventeen people, including nine firefighters, were taken to a hospital for precautionary evaluations, the fire department said. The area around the building will remain closed as the department investigates, police said. lynh.bui@washpost.com


Trump wants Venezuela’s military to remove its president. But Maduro has made that difficult.

On Tuesday, Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaidó stood in front of the La Carlota Air Base in Caracas and called upon the military to join him in the effort to remove President Nicolás Maduro from power. Thus far, Maduro has largely retained the support of the armed forces. As a number of scholars have observed, military officers have a lot to lose if Venezuelans push Maduro out of power. But what happens now also depends on the actions of the other security forces under Maduro’s command. Both Maduro and his predecessor, Hugo Chávez, created new paramilitary and militia units to hedge against defection from the regular military. Scholars have a name for this coup-proofing strategy: “counterbalancing.” How does counterbalancing play out in crises like the one currently unfolding in Venezuela? Here are three important points to understand: 1. Counterbalancing is a widespread — and effective — coup-proofing strategy Counterbalancing involves the creation of presidential guards, militarized police, militia and other security forces outside military command. The leadership may task these forces with monitoring the military, or use them to suppress political opponents. These forces typically are deployed near symbolic centers of political power, such as the presidential palace, that are the targets of coup attempts. Many countries adopt counterbalancing strategies. In Iraq, for instance, Saddam Hussein created multiple, overlapping security forces, including the Republican Guard, Special Republican Guard and Fedayeen Saddam, as counterweights to the regular army. But counterbalancing is not solely a strategy of dictators. Early post-independence rulers in India also invested in internal security forces for regime protection. Rulers counterbalance because it’s an effective tool to keep them in power. My research suggests that counterbalancing does not necessarily deter soldiers from staging coup attempts, however. Military officers tend not to look favorably upon the creation of new institutions that compete for resources and recruits. As a result, counterbalancing can sometimes provoke the very coup attempt it was intended to prevent. Once in place, however, counterweights increase the risk that coup attempts will fail. Having multiple security forces in the vicinity of their targets makes it more difficult for coup plotters to recruit, and to control the flow of information once a coup attempt is underway, both of which are crucial to success. Soldiers in counterbalancing forces — often recruited and promoted for their loyalty — also have powerful incentives to resist coup attempts. Because counterweights are likely to


What do military service members think about diversity — especially gender diversity — in their ranks?

cohort disfavored applicants from traditionally underrepresented racial or ethnic groups or disadvantaged socioeconomic backgrounds. Midshipmen strongly disfavor gender-non-binary applicants and faculty candidates. Attitudes toward gender at the Naval Academy are much different than at other schools. Most college students slightly favor female and non-binary applicants over men. At the academy, a female applicant is just as likely as a man to be selected, all things being equal, and midshipmen weakly prefer women to men for faculty slots. But a gender-non-binary applicant was less likely to be selected than a male applicant — by 20 percentage points for admission and 13 percentage points for a faculty slot. That varied by demographic group. Whites more strongly disfavored female and gender-non-binary applicants than nonwhites did. And men were more likely to disfavor female and gender-non-binary applicants than women. Gender nonconformity challenges the military hierarchy. Midshipmen favor socioeconomic and racial or ethnic diversity in admissions and faculty hires. So why are their attitudes toward gender-non-binary individuals so different? Mixed signals from the top levels of leadership could play a role. Until recently, federal guidelines banned intersex and gender-nonconforming individuals in the military because of supposed medical risks. In June 2016, the Obama administration prohibited the armed forces from involuntarily separating people who came out as transgender. President Trump reversed course on July 26, 2017, through multiple tweets in which he announced he would ban transgender people from the military. Historically, when signals from the top are clear, attitudes in the officer ranks follow. Naval Academy attitudes toward women were initially skeptical but shifted quickly in favor after women first matriculated in the 1970s. Attitudes toward gay and lesbian service members shifted in favor after the “don’t ask, don’t tell” debates of the 1990s subsided. The debate over transgender people in the military is relatively new and unfamiliar, and institutional disagreements may foster reservations among midshipmen. If the courts and top civilian and military leaders were to line up, attitudes among officers in training would probably follow. However, recent events suggest that if signals from the top do line up, they most certainly will be against transgender acceptance. John M. Carey is the Wentworth Professor in the Social Sciences at Dartmouth College. Yusaku Horiuchi is professor of government and the Mitsui Professor of Japanese Studies at Dartmouth College. John Polga-Hecimovich is assistant professor of political science at the United States Naval Academy. The views expressed


For World Press Freedom Day, here’s our bipartisan call to protect journalists

the safety and rights of journalists around the world, to make clear that Congress stands with them and to hold the powerful to account. Regrettably, recent years have been some of the most dangerous and deadly in memory for journalists. Far too many have been taken prisoner or lost their lives in attempts to report news from such places as Syria and Afghanistan. And in a world where authoritarianism is on the rise, journalists are often caught in the crosshairs of regimes intent on restricting access to information to better control their populace. We see it in the brutal assassination of Post contributing columnist Jamal Khashoggi, who was murdered by agents of the Saudi government for his criticism of the crown prince and the kingdom. We see it in Myanmar, where two Reuters reporters, Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo, were sentenced to seven years imprisonment for their reporting on the genocide perpetrated against the Rohingya people. We see it in Venezuela, where the regime of Nicolás Maduro has employed violence, arrests and intimidation against independent media organizations. We see it in Russia, where the Kremlin has mastered the art of spreading disinformation as a geopolitical weapon, while simultaneously implementing draconian laws to stifle dissent and free expression within its borders. Violence and intimidation of journalists has also struck close to home. Last June, five staff members of the Capital Gazette were gunned down in their Annapolis newsroom. In its latest report on press freedom around the world, the group Reporters Without Borders downgraded the United States to a “problematic” country. Just as we decry violence against journalists in other countries, we must speak out against attempts to stifle and intimidate the free press within our borders. Threats to independent journalism are the canary in the coal mine — they signal a toxic environment for democracy writ large. As the leader of the free world, the United States has a duty to speak out on behalf of journalists who risk their lives to report the news. The truth must not, and cannot, be silenced by a censor, a prison cell or a bullet. In what would be his final column for The Post, Khashoggi made an impassioned plea for a reawakening of democracy and free expression in the Arab world. His words are applicable the world over, and we believe his death must serve as a call to arms for


Bubba Watson endorses CBD product despite the PGA Tour’s warning to golfers

CBD is raising its game, coming to the PGA Tour on the visor of a two-time Masters winner. Bubba Watson has become the highest-profile golfer to sign with a CBD company and will wear cbdMD’s logo on his visor at all Tour events, starting with the PGA Championship that begins May 16 on Long Island’s Bethpage Black course. Cannabidiol (CBD) is a chemical found in hemp and marijuana and can relieve pain, lessen anxiety and reduce inflammation. It is sold in lotions, serums and candies, among other products, and does not produce a high because it does not contain THC. Athletes are increasingly turning to CBD and to medical marijuana rather than taking nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory medication, which can cause kidney damage and other health problems with prolonged use. With golfers experiencing longer careers (Tiger Woods is 43, Phil Mickelson turns 49 in June), Watson, 40, believes CBD can extend his career and improve his quality of life. “I see Phil Mickelson winning at 48, so I’ve got at least eight more years of having a shot of winning some tournaments,” Watson told CNN. “So for me it was about how I create longevity in the game of golf and spending time with my kids running around. CBD was easily a fit for me.” Although the World Anti-Doping Agency removed CBD from its banned-substances list, the PGA Tour warned players last month that “there is no guarantee a supplement contains what is listed on the label, therefore there is a risk that a supplement may contain a prohibited substance.” “I’ve had doctors involved to do my research and see what companies out there make a product that’s safe for me and safe for my family. It was a no brainer,” Watson told CNN. “There’s no bad stuff in it, there are no chemicals in there that will mess you up or make you fail a drugs test. There are certain companies we trust.” The Tour reminded golfers in a memo that CBD is risky. “CBD products (like all supplements) pose a risk to athletes because they have limited government regulation and may contain THC, the psychoactive component of cannabis that is prohibited,” the Tour’s memo states (according to Golf.com). “The FDA, DEA, and private organizations including Major League Baseball (MLB), have conducted tests on CBD and ‘THC-free’ products only to find significant levels of psychoactive (and prohibited) THC or falsely labeled


Poisonings kill seven bald eagles, great horned owl on Maryland’s Eastern Shore

in the 1990s. The latest Maryland incidents come after a three-year-old, unsolved case in Federalsburg in which 13 dead bald eagles showed similar signs of having ingested the poison. Authorities still haven’t determined who was using the poison that led to the deaths of eagles found on a farm in 2016. “It’s the same method,” said Capt. Brian Albert, a spokesman for Maryland Natural Resources Police. “We feel that these are related events.” Wildlife authorities said they believe someone is using carbofuran to get rid of animals such as foxes and raccoons. But the eagles, which are known scavengers, eat the carcasses of the poisoned animals and become ill. The owl, experts said, likely ate the poison directly. Carbofuran was popular on farms decades ago in its granular form to control bugs on crops, but a “single grain” of the granular form can kill a bird, experts said. Birds often mistake the pesticide grains for seeds. The Environmental Protection Agency banned the granular form in 1991 after it caused millions of bird deaths annually. The EPA disallowed the use of liquid carbofuran on food crops in 2009, saying the residue posed an unacceptable safety risk. The latest cases are puzzling federal and state officials. In a statement released Wednesday, the Fish and Wildlife Service and state Department of Natural Resources Police said they were “disappointed and frustrated that this activity continues to occur in this area of Maryland.” In the latest incidents, experts said the birds were likely not the primary target of the poisoning, but the pesticide is “so toxic that the eagles are secondarily poisoned after feeding” on carcasses of animals that have ingested the toxin. In the Kent County incident, Fish and Wildlife Service officials said “whoever was placing the poisoned baits did it so recklessly that the poison was likely lying out in the open for any animal or person to find.” Officials said they’ve interviewed land owners, hunters and others in the area, but have not determined who is using the poison. Bald eagles and great horned owls are federally protected birds. Jay Pilgrim, a resident agent in charge for the Fish and Wildlife Service in the area, said the problem is unique to this part of Maryland. “It is hard to believe that not one person has information of persons placing a toxic poison out that has killed no fewer than 20 eagles in


The Technology 202: Ireland’s privacy watchdog reveals 18 investigations into American tech companies

yet brought any fines against U.S. tech firms under the new European regulatory regime — but any penalties it pursues could be as much as 4 percent of a company’s annual worldwide revenue. Ireland is charged with overseeing the enforcement of GDPR when it comes to most technology companies because many have their European headquarters in the country. Dixon testified that Internet platforms are among the top sources of complaints to the commission. Other sectors that receive the most complaints include banking and telecommunications. As the one-year mark of GDPR looms, the country’s role in enforcing the law has come under scrutiny as critics wonder why the commission has not yet brought fines against any companies. Dixon told yesterday’s panel it’s taking time because the “sanctions are significant” and the commission needs to give companies the opportunity to respond at various steps in the process. Still, their relative organization is striking since there has been little motion in Washington toward achieving a privacy bill. And Democrats want to ensure that a federal bill would not water down or pre-empt strong state privacy laws, such as the one in California slated to take effect next year. During yesterday’s panel, Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) said every American’s privacy rights should be just as strong as residents of California. The consumer advocates on the panel agreed that law should be viewed as a floor -- not a ceiling -- for any legislation Congress considers. Still, many in Big Tech say they are on board with some kind of rules -- signaling the pressure the companies are under to show they're taking consumer privacy seriously. Republicans have also raised concerns that a patchwork of different state privacy laws could be a compliance nightmare for the companies and hinder innovation. And the U.S. will also face a test for the enforcement of its own existing rules soon. You are reading The Technology 202 , our guide to the intersection of technology and politics. BITS: The rise of foreign money rushing into venture capital funds and startups has transformed Silicon Valley into a “geopolitical minefield,” “It’s the world of geopolitics coming to venture,” Robert Ackerman, a venture capitalist active in cybersecurity, told Theodore. “It’s got a lot more gray than black and white — and we’re all trying to figure that out.” As China and Saudi Arabia cash bolsters a recent gold rush in Silicon Valley,


16 things to do in the D.C. area this weekend

Friday, May 3 Old Town Cocktail Week Beyond the Julep: Mint and Historic Cocktails at the U.S. Botanic Garden JID at the Fillmore Silver Spring [4 concerts to catch in the D.C. area over the next several days.] Spring Bonsai Festival at the National Arboretum Flower Mart at Washington National Cathedral Saturday, May 4 Kingman Island Bluegrass and Folk Festival at Kingman and Heritage Islands Park [The best things to see, drink and do around the D.C. area in May] Around the World Embassy Tours [Want to visit an embassy for Passport D.C.? Here’s how to make the most of it.] Running of the Chihuahuas at the Wharf D.C. Chocolate Festival at La Maison Française Kentucky Derby viewing party at Jack Rose Dining Saloon More Kentucky Derby events Sans Bar DC at the Viva Center: The number of bars offering nonalcoholic cocktails has noticeably increased in recent years, driven by a variety of factors: People are worried about their health, drinking less, and looking for something to enjoy on a night out that won’t leave them feeling like death the next morning. The Sober Collective — an aptly named organization of creative individuals living their best lives without alcohol — is hosting Sans Bar DC, a pop-up offering tastes of nonalcoholic shrubs, tonics and other cocktail alternatives from the likes of Element Shrubs and the Mocktail Club. The event includes food and drink samples, a DJ and tarot readings. 7 to 10 p.m. $35. The Yawpers at Pearl Street Warehouse Sunday, May 5 Cinco de Mayo parties at various locations Out in the Mosaic District, B Side is converting into Anda’s Taqueria, where chef Nathan Anda is crafting a menu of street-food-inspired tacos, washed down with a selection of Mexcian-style craft beers. The newest addition to downtown Fairfax is the excellent craft beer bar, High Side, and it will host an outdoor beer garden that features surrounding eateries as well as games and live music. Rustico’s Alexandria branch will open up its outdoor patio for a special menu of Mexican dishes paired with local beers inspired by the country’s lagers, plus lawn games, live music and family activities. Sundress Fest at Wonderland Ballroom: What could bring hundreds of sundress-wearing women and men to Columbia Heights on a Sunday morning? No, it’s better than brunch — it’s the Wonderland Sundress Fest. For 15 years, the neighborhood bar has been asking everyone


The government move that threatens to keep Americans trapped in debt

next payday. Although the stores initially argued these transactions were not loans, their claims ran into legal challenges. So the industry launched a state-by-state campaign for new laws to legalize payday lending. This approach has led to a patchwork of regulations, under which some states allow payday lending with few restrictions, some regulate it closely and others ban it entirely. This is a throwback to the situation in the early 20th century. Then, as now, state-by-state variations created opportunities for lenders to evade restrictive state laws by lending across state lines. In the past, lenders congregated in states that either failed to regulate lending or that adopted rules which were easily evaded. In the early 20th century, for example, “salary” lenders based their operations in Maine and Rhode Island, two states without strong usury laws. The salary lenders then extended credit through the mail to borrowers in states with more protective laws, such as New York and Pennsylvania, in an attempt to evade state-level restrictions. More recently, payday lenders have partnered with Native American tribes to evade state lending laws, claiming sovereign immunity from enforcement of state consumer protection rules. Several states have challenged the validity of these arrangements in ongoing litigation. That’s why the CFPB regulations are so important. The CFPB was created in 2010 to enforce federal consumer financial laws and to protect consumers against unfair, deceptive or abusive acts and practices. Federal law already requires credit card issuers and mortgage lenders to assess a borrower’s ability to repay. The proposed CFPB rule extends this requirement to lenders offering high-cost loans that must be repaid in a short time period (45 days or less) or that require a final “balloon” payment, meaning a lump-sum payment that is more than twice the size of the other required installment payments. The proposed CFPB rule innovates in several ways: First, compared with state-level lending laws, the CFPB’s proposed rule adopts an entirely new regulatory approach for small-dollar loans. Rather than control the price of credit, the CFPB rule would require lenders to assess the borrower’s ability to repay the debt. Regardless of the cost of credit, the rule would require payments to be affordable so that the borrower would not end up in a long-term cycle of taking on new debt to pay off the old one. In explaining the agency’s rationale for attempting to rescind the 2017 rule, the CFPB


Sexual assaults in the military spiked last year, Pentagon says, amid renewed debate over how to handle cases

way of doing things. Passed by Congress in 1950, the Uniform Code of Military Justice, based in 18th-century command structure, is the foundation for the military’s parallel legal system. It applies to all U.S. military members worldwide and governs all offenses, from straggling to spying to mutiny and murder, whether or not the crimes are related to service. Service members can be recalled to active duty to face charges under the code, even after they retire. “If Senator McSally robbed a bank, she could be prosecuted in a court-martial,” said Eugene R. Fidell, a specialist in military law who is one of the attorneys challenging the constitutionality of court-martial jurisdiction over retirees in a current case in U.S. District Court, Larabee v. Spencer. Other countries, including Britain, Canada and New Zealand, have adopted independent prosecutors — a practice championed by Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), who has led the charge in Congress to get the United States to follow suit through the Military Justice Improvement Act, aimed at professionalizing the prosecution of serious crimes. “The status quo is not working,” Gillibrand said in a statement. “It’s time for Congress to step up and bring accountability where the Department of Defense has repeatedly failed.” Commanders may be motivated by concerns such as avoiding high court-martial numbers, which could reflect problems in their leadership, or perhaps protecting a phenomenal fighter pilot, said Christensen, who was a prosecutor, defense counsel and military judge during his career in the Air Force. “It’s easy to prosecute people you don’t like,” he said, “and hard to prosecute people you like.” 'Defendant friendly' During 20 years as a lawyer and judge in the Air Force, Joshua Kastenberg oversaw numerous cases involving sexual violence. But it was only after he had left the service and studied other countries’ military legal systems that he became convinced that Congress should take that model seriously. Kastenberg, now a law professor at the University of New Mexico, still looks back on a case involving an airman, Brandon Wright, who was accused of aggravated sexual assault. Wright was acquitted in 2015 after two investigations over three years, first in Europe, where the alleged assault took place, and then in Washington. Kastenberg believes the case was moved to Washington in part for political reasons. In a ruling at the time, he described commanders’ concerns that “the failure to have charges preferred against SrA Wright would


House passes bill to force U.S. to stay in Paris climate agreement

in those nations rise out of poverty and increase their energy use. The differing standards for the United States and its chief economic rival became a bone of contention for Republicans, who raised this issue again ahead of the passage of the bill. “Climate change is real,” Rep. Greg Walden (R-Ore.), the top Republican on the Energy and Commerce Committee, said on the House floor ahead of the vote. “But addressing climate change should not involve binding ourselves to international agreements that put United States workers and jobs at a disadvantage to our main competitors around the world.” Since losing the House in November, Republicans such as Walden have instead emphasized investment in new technologies, like advanced nuclear reactors, over regulation and international agreements to reduce the buildup of greenhouse gases. “We really don’t need a Paris climate agreement” to reduce emissions, Rep. John Shimkus (Ill.), the top Republican on the Energy and Commerce subcommittee on climate change and the environment, said during floor debate. While many Republicans described the Paris deal as a weight dragging down the U.S. economy, its supporters, including Florida Republican Vern Buchanan, argued “environmental protection and economic growth are not mutually exclusive.” “We should be doing everything possible to accomplish both,” Buchanan said in a statement after the vote. Castor, who is an ally of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and who chairs the House Select Committee on the Climate Crisis, introduced the measure as part of a Democratic effort to reset the climate debate in Congress after the defeat in the Senate of the Green New Deal. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) in March forced a vote on the Green New Deal in an effort to divide Democrats on the bill, which would rapidly reduce carbon emissions over the next decade, all while improving access to jobs and health care. The Climate Action Now Act is much narrower in its ambitions, but with more than 200 co-sponsors, it affords Democrats an opportunity to show a unified front on the issue of climate change. And unlike Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s Green New Deal, Pelosi and other House leaders backed it. “This clearly is one of the most, if not the most, important issue confronting our global community,” House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer (Md.) told reporters Wednesday. But Republicans have shown little sign of letting up on their focus on the Green New Deal specifically,


Court rules Olympic runner Caster Semenya must use hormone-suppressing drugs to compete

fairness in sport and human rights, dividing many in the track and field world. At stake was whether the rule was fair to Semenya, one of the world’s most dominant middle-distance runners, and whether allowing Semenya to race with a demonstrative biological advantage was fair to her competitors. “It is not possible to give effect to one set of rights without restricting the other set of rights,” the panel wrote. Semenya, 28, has become a lightning rod of sorts on the track. She won gold in the 800 at the past two Olympics and is a three-time world champion but has faced scrutiny, suspicion and skeptical whispers since she won her first world title at age 18. "I know that the IAAF’s regulations have always targeted me specifically,” Semenya said in a statement Wednesday. “For a decade the IAAF has tried to slow me down, but this has actually made me stronger. The decision of the CAS will not hold me back. I will once again rise above and continue to inspire young women and athletes in South Africa and around the world.” She did not say whether she intended to comply with the IAAF rule to defend her world title later this year and potentially compete at the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo. Her lawyers said in a statement they will consider appealing the panel’s decision. “Ms. Semenya believes that women like her should be respected and treated as any other athlete,” the statement read. “As is typically the case across sport, her unique genetic gift should be celebrated, not regulated.” Semenya still can appeal to the Swiss Federal Tribunal within the next 30 days. If she chooses to compete in the world championships, which begin in September in Doha, Semenya must submit a valid sample with acceptable testosterone levels within the next week. While the IAAF rule applies to the 400-, 800-, and 1,500-meter events — Semenya’s primary races — the CAS judges say the IAAF should not yet apply the rules to the 1,500 “until more evidence is available.” The much-anticipated decision drew a strong reaction from many corners with some celebrating balanced competition at the starting line and others condemning the ruling and saying Semenya’s rights have been violated. “Forcing athletes to undergo medically unnecessary interventions in order to participate in the sport they dedicate their lives to is cruel and a violation of their human rights,”


Barr testifies about the Mueller investigation

Barr responded, “I am looking into it, and I have looked into it.” He said he would seek to reveal publicly what he had found. “At the end of the day, when I form conclusions, I intend to share it,” Barr said. 1:50 p.m.: Barr says campaigns that receive offers of help from foreign intelligence services should report it Future political campaigns that receive offers of assistance or dirt on their opponents from foreign intelligence services should report such contacts immediately to the FBI, Barr told senators Wednesday. His statement came in response to questioning from Sen. Christopher A. Coons (D-Del.), who described how one of Trump’s sons was offered dirt that he was told was part of a Russian government effort to help elect his father, and how the son responded, “I love it.” If a future campaign received an offer of help from a foreign adversarial power — Coons proposed North Korea as a hypothetical — should they report it, Coons asked. Barr at first paused and appeared to be contemplating whether such an offer needs to be reported. Ultimately, he answered a more narrow question, regarding an offer of assistance specifically from a foreign intelligence service. 1:40 p.m.: Barr dodges defining legal standard to avoid potential campaign infiltration in the future Barr avoided getting into specifics under questioning from Sen. Ben Sasse (R-Neb.), who challenged him to define “what is legal and illegal about foreign intelligence services being involved in U.S. elections” — expressing the fear that a foreign adversary could try to influence future campaigns by infiltrating them. Sasse’s key example was Paul Manafort, who was “on the payroll” of Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska, whom Sasse defined as “a bad dude. He’s a bottom-feeding scum-sucker.” Barr stressed that if the employee of a foreign adversary were being paid “for the purpose of participating in the campaign,” that would be illegal. But he had no answer for a situation in which campaign chairmen on the payroll of a foreign operative might just choose to volunteer for a campaign, calling it “a slippery area.” Sasse’s line of questioning was aimed at establishing safeguards to deter foreign influence in future elections. But it highlighted the disconnect many lawmakers — mostly Democrats — have identified between the report’s finding of no criminal conspiracy and the questionable actions by Trump campaign operatives it details. “I think it would be helpful for


Estuary shows the Chesapeake some brotherly love

This review appears in The Washington Post’s 2019 Spring Dining Guide as No. 7 on a list of the year’s 10 best new restaurants. 7. Estuary (Not yet rated) Two years in the making, this room with a view on the third floor of the sleek Conrad hotel reunites brothers Bryan and Michael Voltaggio, sons of Maryland who became famous for competing against each other on the sixth season of “Top Chef.” (Michael won.) Their latest joint project is a mash note to the Chesapeake Bay and reveals the siblings’ playful nature. Expect crab, stuffed into a toasted brioche roll and garnished with crab-shaped plantain chips. But also cod, teetering on “ramen” fashioned from sliced cuttlefish and presented in a butter-kissed ginger broth. You’ll find lamb on the menu, but honestly, the heartier entree is a fist of steamed, dehydrated, roasted celery root with a length of heart of palm poking out. The whimsy looks like a veal shank but turns out to be vegan, right down to the intense-with-tomato reduction pooled around the centerpiece. The most original Key lime pie around features coconut sorbet in a thin chocolate shell resting on a soft saucer of roasted peanuts blended with coconut and, underneath it all, citrus curd. The drinks are top-flight, the kitchen shows off a red Molteni stove, and floor-to-ceiling windows give diners a bird’s-eye view of CityCenterDC. (Not yet rated) Estuary: Open: Prices: Sound check: The Top 10 new restaurants of 2019: 10. Gravitas 9. Little Havana 8. Sushi Nakazawa 7. Estuary 6. St. Anselm 5. El Sapo Cuban Social Club 4. Three Blacksmiths 3. Rooster & Owl 2. Punjab Grill 1. Mama Chang -- The following preview was originally published April 19, 2019. Estuary marks a return engagement for the Voltaggio brothers Chefs, brothers and sons of Maryland, Bryan and Michael Voltaggio are on familiar turf at Estuary, their recently launched seafood restaurant on the third floor of the sleek new Conrad hotel in the District. “The Chesapeake is our backyard,” says Bryan Voltaggio, 43, best known for his work at the high-end Volt and the casual Family Meal, both in Frederick. So there’s a new crab sandwich in town. The siblings’ version stands out for stuffing the creamy seafood inside split toasted brioche, brightening the top with purple ice plant flowers and garnishing the roll with adorable crab-shaped, crab-spiced plantain chips. There’s another plate of fried


The following review appears in The Washington Post’s 2019 Spring Dining Guide. American Son (Good/Excellent) Like the Eaton DC hotel in which the restaurant is set, chef Tim Ma’s latest menu is progressive. A diner can start with potato croquettes that look like funnel cake (but taste savory rather than sweet) and finish with an almost-all-white dessert (a bowl of tapioca set off with shards of meringue and passion fruit-mango ganache). In between are dishes designed to please a swath of customers, from beef cheeks on a puddle of grits to a “large format” shareable entree that displays the chef’s passion for Korean barbecue: a vegetarian delight of spaghetti squash tucked into lettuce leaves with racy condiments. The name? It’s a reference to Ma, a second-generation Chinese immigrant who spent part of his youth in rural Arkansas. The future chef adapted so well, his mother introduced him to fellow Chinese people as her American son. She should be proud of how well he’s feeding us now. 2 1/2 stars American Son: Open: Prices: Sound check: -- The following review was originally published March 27, 2019. American Son should make this chef’s parents proud (Good/Excellent) It’s no longer enough for a hotel to offer beds, bars and banquets. (Have you heard the one about the robot that makes room deliveries at Aloft? It’s called a Botlr, of course.) Consumers are interested in rooms and food with a point of view, preferably progressive. The game-changing in Washington began in earnest with the arrival in 2017 of the Line hotel in Adams Morgan — a church rethought as a place to sleep, perchance to eat and drink — and continues with Eaton DC on K Street NW, conceived by Katherine “Kat” Lo, the daughter of Hong Kong real estate mogul Ka Shui Lo. Unveiled in September, the 209-room attraction embraces the notion of five pillars — hotel, house, media, wellness and impact — that explain the presence of a meditation space, Radical Library, in-house radio station and poultry from a zero-waste farm where chickens feast on surplus vegetables and leftovers from farmers markets. The restrooms behind the lobby are gender-neutral, which I discovered when I walked in on a woman washing her hands. When I apologized and started to leave, she merely smiled and nodded for me to use one of the (enclosed) stalls. The venue’s featured restaurant is called American Son. It’s


The Pembroke shows a flair for the dramatic

The following review appears in The Washington Post’s 2019 Spring Dining Guide. The Pembroke (Good/Excellent) Give a leading interior designer $5 million and what you get, in the case of Swedish-born Martin Brudnizki at the Dupont Circle Hotel, is a space where coral couches and floor-to-ceiling windows help raise the bar for eating and drinking in the neighborhood. His equal in the kitchen is Trinidad native Marlon Rambaran, whose stint at Le Bec Fin in Philadelphia, among other impressive stops on his way to Washington, informs his work. The food is familiar but interesting; dinner hits include saffron risotto set off with a sheet of gold leaf, Dover sole best eaten with sauteed spinach, and a lamb tagine with preserved lemons and dried apricots that would taste at home in Morocco. Kudos to the chef for making his chicken soup, a lunch draw, with short noodles. Look, Ma, no stains from slurping! The enthusiasm of the staff rubs off on customers. “What would you like to drink?” asks a dapper man behind the handsome bar. “We have lovely cocktails, lovely wine, lovely bubbles.” Yes times three. 2.5 stars The Pembroke: Open: Prices: Sound check: --- The following review was originally published March 1, 2019. “There’s nothing good in Dupont Circle anymore,” an acquaintance who lives there told me earlier this year. He lamented the fact he could no longer walk out of his townhouse and into an interesting — as in different — place to eat, and I nodded as he relayed how the restaurant action in the city had shifted eastward and elsewhere in recent years. On Valentine’s Day, I found myself at the Pembroke in the reimagined Dupont Circle Hotel, scrolling through my phone to find my former colleague’s contact. The neighborhood’s unlucky streak had been broken, with the help of a chef named Marlon Rambaran and designer Martin Brudnizki. Not only was I devouring one of the best tagines in recent memory, I was enjoying the Moroccan classic in the embrace of a blue velvet banquette and attended by a server who introduced the dish as if he made it himself. Rambaran, 39, is a Trinidad native who grew up in New Jersey and went on to learn the kitchen ropes in, among other restaurants, Scarpetta by Scott Conant in Miami Beach and Le Bec Fin in Philadelphia. Along with Karine Bakhoum of “Iron Chef” fame, Rambaran


Pictures that may explain why George W. Bush is polling better than President Obama

Bush is more favorable than not. In fact, he’s now more popular than President Obama. Absence has made our hearts grow so fond that a stunning 52 percent of Americans view him favorably. We don’t even need to wait for the results from critical Florida counties! There must be some explanation. Possibly it is the effect of adding time. Add time to anything, and you can totally transform it. Tragedy plus time is comedy. The Bush era plus time is — a golden age to which we would willingly return? Or something? And possibly these pictures helped. this is probably what pushed george w bush over the top in the polls pic.twitter.com/BCcfeiAUbH Bush has mellowed a lot in retirement. He comes out of the garage in Bermuda shorts and offers you a beer. (You have always preferred having a beer with him to the alternative, so this feels right.) “You want to see what I’m working on?” he asks. “Sure,” you say. You follow him back to his art studio, where he’s working on this lovely picture of his dad. “I just think my father is terrific,” he tells you. “I relate to that feeling,” you say. “You know, George? You’re all right.” Bush smiles. “Thanks,” he says. “Here are some more pictures I made,” he tells you. And look, it’s a picture of a doggie! If America loves one thing, it is pictures of doggies. The best analogy I can think of is that Bush is that one uncle who really mellowed a lot since he quit his job. You visit. You shoot the breeze. You enjoy a terrific dinner, laugh and talk until the end of the night. But something feels off. You can’t put your finger on it, but you keep feeling as though you’re missing something. Here’s this great guy, and you’re having a terrific time. Something feels off. You drive home and call your sister. “Guess who I just had dinner with,” you say. “Uncle George! We had a great time! Why didn’t we hang out more when we were younger?” You hear what sounds like frost forming on the other end of the line. “Because Uncle George was terrible,” your sister says. “Also, didn’t he, like, invade Iraq?” Or possibly there is another, better theory for the sudden increase in popularity. We aren’t ranking him as a president. We’re ranking him as a painter.


Looking for D.C.'s hottest rooftop bar scene? Head to the Wharf.

the uncovered dining area is decorated with strings of white lights, giving it a distinct feeling of being on vacation. You’ll want to look for anything featuring the spiced rum made in the distillery downstairs. The rum’s refined allspice note comes though in the Grog, a mix of lemon verbena tea, soda water and more lemon, and the Rum in Coke, a frozen concoction with rum and actual Coca-Cola, served in a Coke can. (There are plenty of other boozy tiki drinks, including the high-test Jet Pilot and a classic Mai Tai.) The bar gets really crowded on weekend afternoons — Thrasher says he hired security to deal with customers shotgunning beers, among other transgressions — but it can be a refuge at the end of the night, when specials include $4 beer, $5 rum and half-price frozen drinks from 11 p.m. until last call. 1130 Maine Ave. SW. At Officina’s new day parties, which run from 1 to 11 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday through the end of the summer, you’ll find some of Washington’s better party-rockers, such as DJ Smudge, a regular at Marvin and Eighteenth Street Lounge, spinning on the shaded third-floor terrace while a well-dressed crowd lounges on cushy sofas and wicker chairs. Look for drinks with an Italian touch, such as the Ramona, a dry grapefruit wine spritzer, or Summer in Milan, a rum cocktail that gets a refreshing mint touch from Branca Menta and Fernet Branca. The vibe is light and easygoing, though getting in might be a challenge: When the roof hits capacity, as it sometimes does later in the afternoon, you’ll be asked to wait in the ground-floor bar until other people leave. 1120 Maine Ave. SE. Last summer, I came to think of the Anthem's outdoor Marquee Bar as the greatest secret at the Wharf. There were happy hours when friends and I would be among just a half-dozen people sitting at tables directly above the concert venue's landmark marquee, sipping beer or wine and watching boats drift by. The Anthem is, first and foremost, a place to hear Tame Impala or Lizzo or Maggie Rogers. Having a drink at the Marquee Bar before or after a concert is just a bonus. But on days when the stage is dark, the bar opens for business on its own. This year, the hours have been expanded: Doors open at 4:30 p.m. Wednesday


The owls have left, giving Fairfax County a sad, silent spring

Remember the foreboding tale of a “Silent Spring,” by Rachel Carson? Fairfax County citizens are experiencing their own silent spring this season, this time brought on by the cutting down of mature trees by noisy machinery along streams that are eroding from decades of poor urban planning. The April 30 Health & Science article “Giving wings to conservation” was an inspiring piece on how people have been able to support bird populations using eBird technology to track migration trends and design solutions to support bird populations. As a birder who uses eBird, I delight in identifying and recording neighborhood birds. Over the past decade, I’ve valued the local woods that support a variety of wildlife, including a family of barred owls. Observing owlets perched on a nearby beech tree, being fed by doting parents and listening to their call of “who cooks for you” echoing through the forest, has brought untold joy. Unfortunately, the county’s decision to “restore” stream corridors has come at a high cost for wildlife and humans. The ongoing destruction of the forest with no consideration for birds has resulted in silence. The owls have left. The destruction of their tree homes has resulted in an exodus that could have been prevented if we had considered how our actions might affect the wildlife. Will the owls return? We can only hope. Citizen science using technology such as eBird can provide an opportunity not only to fix what we’ve broken but also to plan with wildlife in mind and, ultimately, protect our own well-being. Laura Anderko


At Masseria, a young gun salutes his mentors with a fancy feast

was an early and forward-thinking leader in America’s organic movement, going so far as to use soy ink to print her menu and triple-filter the water at the onetime Restaurant Nora in Dupont Circle. Among the headliners at the late Gerard Place downtown — aside from Pangaud, the youngest-ever two-star Michelin chef from France — was poached lobster with ginger, lime and sauternes. The acclaimed French chef, who Stefanelli met as an instructor at the Maryland-based L’Academie de Cuisine, spent time with the chefs at Masseria so they could better replicate his signature. Unlike at Gerard’s Place, the lobster is served out of its shell, but on a familiar bed of sauteed spinach, with creamy balls of avocado. It is a pleasing dish, if not the sparkling combination I recall from Pangaud’s glory days in the city. Diners smell the next plate — sweetbreads treated to truffles, an homage to Palladin — before it’s set down. Black truffles appear in the form of matchsticks atop the crisp-custardy organ meat, and as part of a sauce circling the poached and roasted delicacy. For the duration of the dish, which is rooted in southwestern France, you’re smacking your lips at Jean-Louis at the Watergate, one of the best restaurants ever to grace Washington. Stefanelli spent two years cooking for Roberto Donna, first at Galileo, then at Laboratorio del Galileo, Donna’s intimate restaurant-within-a-restaurant. Both are long gone, but their finest moments are captured in a turban of tagliolini draped with an herbed quail ragu. The eating is made fun thanks to a groove in the plate where the pasta, topped with a quail egg, can be twirled around its fork. Stefanelli says “everyone loves the pasta dish,” the highlight in an evening stacked with them, including optional lubricants. Sated? Stay seated. There’s more, specifically textbook-perfect lamb: crisp shoulder and blushing loin wrapped in a mousse whipped up from leg meat. The lamb cuts huddle on their plate with carefully pared vegetables and a winy reduction, tributes to the founder of L’Academie de Cuisine, Francois Dionot. (Stefanelli is a graduate of the school, which closed two years ago.) The late Michel Richard of Citronelle in Georgetown started his career as a pastry chef. No surprise, the legend is recalled with one of his hallmark desserts, an elegant riff on a Kit Kat bar that went on to spawn copies around the country. Alas, those


The Technology 202: Drones in Aisle 5? Grocery stores are becoming unusual hotbeds of innovation

In a grocery store somewhere in North America, a small drone floats from aisle to aisle, hovering like a hummingbird that has traded its nimble wings for tiny propellers. Each time the autonomous robot drops down to scan a crowded shelf using an onboard camera, the machine collects valuable data about the store’s ever-changing inventory. What would take a person hours to accomplish — tediously checking shelves for missing or misplaced products — is accomplished in minutes by the tiny aircraft. Once finished, the drone uploads its findings to the cloud, setting a massive supply chain in motion and offering the store’s owners, and potentially brand manufacturers, the kind of precise data about shopping habits that has largely eluded brick-and-mortar stores. It may sound like a sequence from some high-tech vision of the future, but the drone and the artificial intelligence behind it — created by an Austin-based start-up and data subscription service called Pensa — already has been tested in multiple retail outlets and probably will begin appearing in grocery stores later this year. Not so long ago, stepping inside a grocery store, with its canned goods, harsh lighting and outdated Muzak playlists, felt like going back in time. The industry’s business model had changed little over the past century. Now, experts say, the industry finds itself in the midst of a technological upheaval, one that is providing the public with a glimpse of a future far beyond self-service kiosks and online shopping. Those changes are not without risk. As U.S. retail companies embrace automation, many experts believe that the impact on jobs will be significant, with some analysts predicting as many as 7.5 million retail workers could lose their jobs over the next decade. And yet, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics suggests the retail-sales labor force will grow over the decade between 2016 and 2026, although more slowly than average. In recent months, Kroger, the nation’s largest grocer, introduced a new fleet of autonomous delivery vehicles, and Giant Food Stores rolled out a series of robotic assistants named “Marty” that scan shelves and identify hazardous spills. Last year, Kroger introduced a system called “Scan, Bag, Go” that allows customers to scan and pay for grocery items as they shop — with their smartphone. Since last month, Walmart customers have been able to order groceries using a Google assistant, joining Amazon-owned Whole Foods, which partnered with Amazon’s Echo


The industry’s business model had changed little over the past century. Now, experts say, the industry finds itself in the midst of a technological upheaval, one that is providing the public with a glimpse of a future far beyond self-service kiosks and online shopping. Those changes are not without risk. As U.S. retail companies embrace automation, many experts believe that the impact on jobs will be significant, with some analysts predicting as many as 7.5 million retail workers could lose their jobs over the next decade. And yet, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics suggests the retail-sales labor force will grow over the decade between 2016 and 2026, although more slowly than average. In recent months, Kroger, the nation’s largest grocer, introduced a new fleet of autonomous delivery vehicles, and Giant Food Stores rolled out a series of robotic assistants named “Marty” that scan shelves and identify hazardous spills. Last year, Kroger introduced a system called “Scan, Bag, Go” that allows customers to scan and pay for grocery items as they shop — with their smartphone. Since last month, Walmart customers have been able to order groceries using a Google assistant, joining Amazon-owned Whole Foods, which partnered with Amazon’s Echo last year so that customers can shop using voice commands. By next year, Walmart — which also sells $200 billion worth of groceries each year and remains the world’s largest private employer with 1.5 million Americans on its payroll — plans to have autonomous floor-scrubbing robots at nearly half of its 4,700 U.S. stores, part of a major effort to upgrade its business by harnessing the convenience of intelligent machines. Pensa CEO Richard Schwartz says it’s developments such as these that make grocery stores “ground zero” for the blurring of the online and offline worlds. He identified several forces within the industry that have resulted in a swelling of innovation: “Amazon is right behind all of this, waking everybody up and basically challenging the industry to find an effective way to do that end-to-end delivery to the consumer with more combinations and more instant gratification,” Pensa said. (Amazon CEO and founder Jeff Bezos owns The Washington Post.) He added: “Somehow, the future of retail has to marry that convenience with tighter control over knowing what’s available for sale and how much product should be in each location, without completely redesigning every store, everywhere, for every product, in order to compete


On the eve of World Press Freedom Day, yet another journalist is killed in Mexico

government was “committed to finding those responsible for this attack against Mexican journalism.” The Associated Press reported that Enriquez was found dead with gunshot wounds in a vehicle. According to CPJ data, 48 journalists have been killed in Mexico since 1992, including 45 who were targeted for murder. Of those cases, 40 were murdered with impunity, the watchdog group says. A number of Mexican journalists have been killed this year, although CPJ has not confirmed that all of these killings were directly related to the victims’ work. In March, Mexican media reported that journalist Omar Iván Camacho was found dead in Sinaloa state. Just a few days earlier, radio journalist Santiago Barroso was shot dead in his home in northern Mexico. According to the CPJ, the state’s attorney general said at the time that he appeared to have been targeted because of his work as a journalist. In February, Samir Flores Soberanes, an activist who also worked in community radio, was fatally shot. And in January, another radio journalist, Rafael Murúa Manríquez, was also found dead in northwest Mexico. It is a cruel irony that another journalist was killed in Mexico on the eve of World Press Freedom Day — a day intended to acknowledge the difficult circumstances journalists face and to honor those who have been killed or jailed because of their work. “It’s absolutely horrifying that this is how we have to go through a day when we should be thinking about the importance of media for a free and democratic society,” Jan-Albert Hootsen, CPJ’s Mexico representative, told The Washington Post in a phone call Friday. Journalists in Mexico are in “a state of constant siege that is worsening,” he said. Hootsen said that in addition to his work as a journalist, Enríquez was also politically active but that it was not yet clear what motivated his killer. According to CPJ data, four journalists were killed “in direct reprisal for the work” in Mexico in 2018, and six were killed in 2017. Victims and their families often do not see justice done for the violence perpetrated against them. “Impunity in Mexico continues to be terribly high,” Hootsen said. Read more Why is Mexican migration slowing while Guatemalan and Honduran migration is surging? Their ancestors fled U.S. slavery for Mexico. Now they’re looking north again. Despite Trump’s tariff and border threats, Mexico is now the largest U.S. trading partner


Stop trying to make Caster Semenya fit a narrow idea of womanhood. It’s unscientific and unethical.

such as shot put and javelin but also directly targets Semenya, as these are her events. So why did the association revive this issue? At the 2016 Olympics, British runner Lynsey Sharp received extensive media coverage for a tearful interview in which she suggested that a number of athletes said it was unfair that they had to compete against Semenya. And the International Association of Athletics Federations went at it again. Sporting bodies have spent decades imposing regulations on intersex female athletes to appease perceptions that they’re not “real women,” and complaints from non-intersex female athletes, but the regulations keep getting overturned because the science just doesn’t support them. Sadly, efforts to make women more “feminine” are not unusual. As babies, intersex people have been subjected to cosmetic medical treatments aimed at making our bodies fit gender expectations for decades. In the case of intersex female babies, the treatments aim to make their bodies more feminine. The association would like you to believe that these regulations are about “fairness for women,” but the contrast between Chand’s and Semenya’s cases demonstrates otherwise. Both Chand and Semenya have naturally high testosterone, yet Chand is allowed to run in her events, which are not covered by the regulations that affect Semenya, without feminizing her body, while Caster is not being extended the same right. What distinguishes them? Chand is short, with a genteel, feminine smile and long hair. Semenya is tall, black, unapologetically butch and married to a woman. Forcing or coercing people to undergo these procedures has been condemned by human rights organizations, including the United Nations and Human Rights Watch, because it’s harmful. But the regulations say Semenya will have to undergo them if she wants to compete in her events. The International Association of Athletics Federations can argue that Semenya has a choice about whether to undergo risky treatments, but the other option is potentially losing her brilliant career and her financial means of supporting herself and her family. I know Semenya will find a way to triumph despite how much these regulations inhumanely aim to derail her. But rules such as these, and the attitudes they represent, will affect many other female runners, particularly those from the global south, many of whom lack the support and profile Semenya can command. And these rules are unethical. Period. Read more: Joanna Harper: Do transgender athletes have an edge? I sure don’t.


British voters with Brexit on their minds punish main parties in local elections

LONDON — British voters angry about Brexit punished the country’s two main political parties in local elections on Thursday. Prime Minister Theresa May’s Conservative Party lost more than 1,300 seats — more than a quarter of what it held before. The results were worse than the drubbing that had been predicted, and they prompted renewed calls for the embattled leader to step down. Speaking at a Welsh Conservative conference on Friday, May said the results were “very difficult for our party,” but bad for the opposition Labour Party, too, and showed that voters wanted both main parties to “just get on and deliver Brexit.” She was heckled by a Conservative activist who stood up and shouted, “Why don’t you resign? We don’t want you!” He was booed out of the hall, and May replied to the crowd in Welsh with “Good afternoon.” Local elections are usually contests over who can better organize the recycling bins and help out the shops on High Street. Sometimes they’re a protest vote against the governing party. But like all elections since the 2016 Brexit referendum, these seemed to be something of a proxy vote for attitudes toward how Brexit is playing out and whether Britain should leave the European Union. A bigger test looms with European Parliament elections on May 23, when Britain faces the awkward prospect of selecting politicians for an institution it’s trying to leave. Those results could be even more fragmented, as two new political parties will be fielding candidates: Nigel Farage’s Brexit Party and a pro-E.U. party called Change UK. Recent polling has shown the Brexit Party in first place. More than 8,000 seats were up for grabs in the elections held in many parts of England and Northern Ireland on Thursday, with results rolling in throughout the day on Friday. By Friday evening, when all of the votes were counted, the Conservatives had lost a net 1,334 seats, according to the BBC’s count. Labour, which had hoped to make significant gains and prove it could win a future general election, lost 82. The BBC projected that, if the local patterns held in a national election, Conservatives and Labour would tie with 28 percent of the total vote. The smaller, unabashedly pro-European parties and independents were the big winners locally. The Liberal Democrats, a centrist party that started from a low base, was jubilant after gaining more than 700 seats.


Md. governor delays vote on controversial toll lane plan for Beltway, I-270

support the decision to postpone the vote, and continue to welcome input and opinions on this proposal.” Hogan has said that adding up to four toll lanes each to I-270 and Maryland’s portion of the Beltway is the only way the state can afford to relieve severe traffic congestion. In what he has said would be the largest public-private partnership in the United States, companies would pay to design and build the lanes in exchange for keeping most of the toll revenue long-term. Hogan has said the lanes would cost the state nothing. Critics say that expanding highways only brings more traffic and that the state should complete a federally required study of the potential environmental impacts before soliciting any public-private partnerships. So far, the study has found that adding toll lanes could require destroying up to 34 homes along the Beltway and taking strips of backyards, parkland and other land from 1,500 property owners along both highways. Maryland Sierra Club Director Josh Tulkin, who met with Franchot on Friday, said the vote delay should result in more scrutiny. “The governor, comptroller and treasurer should use this extra time to demand more rigorous analysis from MDOT,” Tulkin said. In a letter to the Board of Public Works dated Friday, 40 state lawmakers representing areas along the Beltway and I-270 in Montgomery and Prince George’s counties asked for a completed environmental review, “detailed analysis of the costs and financial risks,” and a projection of the toll prices before the state is allowed to solicit private partners. “There is great uncertainty involved for the state, taxpayers, and individual motorists in acting without full information on the choices for traffic relief in Maryland,” the letter said. John Townsend, spokesman for AAA Mid-Atlantic, said it would have been “bad optics” to hold the vote without Kopp, but he’s concerned about any delays on a project that he believes would bring “desperately needed” traffic relief. He said Maryland needs to stay economically competitive with Northern Virginia, where motorists in both the tolled and free lanes have found congestion relief since the state added toll lanes to its portion of the Beltway and other highways. “We’re literally choking on traffic congestion,” Townsend said. Maryland is “losing its competitive edge to Northern Virginia and sending the wrong signal to the business community. My fear is that suburban Maryland is going to end up a bedroom community.” katherine.shaver@washpost.com


Appeals court finds Montgomery County pesticide ban doesn’t clash with state law

Montgomery County lawmakers and environmentalists celebrated a ruling by a Maryland appeals court this week that clears the way for the county to implement its prohibition on the use of cosmetic pesticides on lawns. The ban had been put on hold after opponents filed suit. While the plaintiffs still can appeal Thursday’s decision by the Maryland Court of Special Appeals, Montgomery officials are “reviewing how soon the county can implement its law,” County Attorney Marc Hansen said. The county council approved the pesticide ban in 2015 by a vote of 6 to 3, becoming the first major jurisdiction to pass such a ban. The measure targeted certain pesticides that are approved federally but contain substances linked to cancer. It did not apply to agricultural land and golf courses, and it would not have stopped the sale of lawn pesticides in the county. The ban was supposed to have taken effect last year, but it was halted after a group of six Montgomery County lawn-care companies, county residents and a District-based trade association, Responsible Industry for a Sound Environment (RISE), filed suit in 2016, arguing that the county overstepped its authority. While a Montgomery County Circuit Court judge agreed with the groups, ruling in 2017 that the county’s ban was preempted by state law, the state Court of Special Appeals on Thursday disagreed, overturning that ruling. Council member Tom Hucker (D-District 5), who was one of the lead sponsors of the ban, called the decision “a huge win for both public health and the environment.” “It’s unfortunate that the original law was delayed like this, but we had a very vigorous review of this, and I’m ecstatic that the law will be back in effect,” Hucker said. Josh Tulkin, director of the Maryland Sierra Club, which supported the measure, said other counties probably will follow Montgomery’s lead. Two smaller municipalities, Takoma Park, Md., and Ogunquit, Maine, have passed similar bans. “This decision reinforces the rights of counties to set strong environmental laws to protect the health of their residents,” Tulkin said. “Montgomery County developed a strong and well-thought-out policy, and we’re pleased the court upheld their right to implement it.” Karen Reardon, vice president of public affairs for RISE, said in a statement that her group was reviewing the decision and “considering all options.” “Montgomery County residents now have no realistic options to treat their own property or to have professionals


Democratic hopeful Jay Inslee rolls out plan to dramatically cut carbon pollution

country from the ravages of climate change,” Inslee said in an interview. “These are concrete actions. They’re not ephemeral. These are not unicorns and rainbows.” During Inslee’s campaign, he has toured flood damage in the Midwest and visited wildfire survivors in California, as well as made stops to highlight solar power and electric cars. He was expected to announce the climate policy in Los Angeles. The eight-page plan is aimed at raising Inslee’s profile and setting him apart from his rivals with a point-by-point plan that draws on his success passing climate legislation in his home state. In the past presidential election, climate change received little attention. This time, amid worsening wildfires and floods, the issue has gained more traction, energizing Democrats and young voters, such as those who call for the Green New Deal. Inslee’s team hopes that enthusiasm, as well as momentum from the climate bills, could help lift his polling numbers early in the campaign. So far, he has lagged behind at about 1 percent in national polls in a crowded Democratic field. In a sign of the difficulty he faces, Inslee was preempted by former congressman Beto O’Rourke, another Democratic presidential hopeful. On Monday, O’Rourke declared climate change “the greatest threat we face” and put out his own climate plan as he toured Yosemite National Park. O’Rourke proposed spending $5 trillion over the next decade and set a goal of reducing carbon emissions to net zero over the next 30 years. Inslee has described O’Rourke as a newcomer to the issue and someone who once allied with oil companies in his native Texas. “I welcome anybody following my leadership,” Inslee said. “Even if you discover climate change late, it’s better late than never.” His plan, he said, has “much more specificity. It is much more robust. It is much more comprehensive. And I’ll get it done.” O’Rourke said Wednesday that he will not accept campaign donations of more than $200 from executives of fossil fuel companies, joining a pledge signed by Inslee and other Democratic candidates. Inslee has spent much of his long political career — 15 years in Congress, starting in the early 1990s, before becoming governor six years ago — talking about the dangers of climate change and urging a transition of the U.S. economy to cleaner sources of energy. He co-wrote a book on the topic, “Apollo’s Fire,” more than a decade ago.


Beyond Meat, a plant-based food company, surges 163 percent after IPO

public before any other competitor. The Beyond Meat Burger debuted in October 2016 in the meat section at 51 Whole Foods Markets stretching from Pennsylvania to Ohio, south to Kentucky and east to Maryland and the District of Columbia. Founded by Washington-area native Ethan Brown, the company has such big name-investors as Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates and Seth Goldman, the creator of Honest Tea and the executive chairman of Beyond Meat. The products are targeted to both vegans and those trying to reduce their meat intake, giving the company a unique position within the $1.4 trillion meat industry. Pea protein is the main ingredient of Beyond Meat products, which are designed to replicate the taste and texture of animal-based foods. “We are focused on continually improving our products so that they are, to the human sensory system, indistinguishable from their animal-based counterparts,” the company said in a recent filing with the U. S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Its foods are sold at about 30,000 locations, mostly in the United States and Canada. The company says it is tapping into broader public awareness about personal health, animal welfare, climate change and environmental conservation. But its reliance on pea protein is seen as a risk factor. Beyond Meat depends on a limited number of raw material suppliers, according to the SEC filing, which could hurt the business if those partners’ operations are delayed or disrupted. Intense market competition, a failure to develop new products and to expand its list of customers are also included among Beyond Meat’s business risks. Later this year, the world’s largest meat producer, Tyson, is expected to release a line of animal-free products. Beyond Meat also faces competition from other plant-based companies like Impossible Foods, which is partnering with Burger King, and those developing meat products from animal cells, like Memphis Meats. Goldman, 53, the executive chairman of the Beyond Meat board of directors, owned a 2 percent stake in the company going into Thursday’s public offering. He is still involved in Honest Tea, which he sold to Coca Cola in 2011. “I bet on this really early,” he said, “when it was doing less than $1 million in annual sales.” Goldman, whose family has been vegetarian for years, invested in the company in 2012 after his wife read an article about Beyond Meat. “I sent an email to info@beyondmeat.com, and I said I loved the idea of


The 2019 Spring Dining Guide

clap your hands and beat the conga drum at the entrance. (2 1/2 stars.) 8455 Fenton St., Silver Spring. 301-326-1063. elsaporestaurant.com . Dinner daily . Dinner $22 to $28. Sound check: 85 decibels / Extremely loud. 6. ST. ANSELM (Excellent) The dream team behind one of Washington’s hottest restaurants stars Marjorie Meek-Bradley, whose local career includes Ripple (may it R.I.P.) and Zaytinya. Her new gig finds her in an exhibition kitchen in a lively Stephen Starr-Joe Carroll production, cooking food she says she likes to eat. Suffice it to say, I’ll have what she’s having: oysters sauced with smoked herb butter, a truly “monster” prawn with garlic butter, and salads that speak to the season. For a place that insists it isn’t a steakhouse, St. Anselm does a poor job of convincing us. The menu’s “bigs from the grill” are a meat eater’s fantasy; go for the juicy New York strip steak, best enjoyed in the company of garlicky creamed spinach and crisp, finger-long fries. Just be sure to start and finish a meal with, respectively, buttermilk biscuits and mint ice cream with shards of chocolate. The decor is quirky and fun. Near the busy bar hang portraits of past presidents deemed disasters, each face obscured by a lightbulb poking through the picture. (3 stars.) 1250 Fifth St. NE. 202-864-2199. stanselmdc.com . Dinner daily, brunch weekends. Dinner $23 to $48. Sound check: 80 decibels / Must speak with raised voice. 7. ESTUARY (Not yet rated) Two years in the making, this room with a view on the third floor of the sleek Conrad hotel reunites brothers Bryan and Michael Voltaggio, sons of Maryland who became famous for competing against each other on the sixth season of “Top Chef.” (Michael won.) Their latest joint project is a mash note to the Chesapeake Bay and reveals the siblings’ playful nature. Expect crab, stuffed into a toasted brioche roll and garnished with crab-shaped plantain chips. But also cod, teetering on “ramen” fashioned from sliced cuttlefish and presented in a butter-kissed ginger broth. You’ll find lamb on the menu, but honestly, the heartier entree is a fist of steamed, dehydrated, roasted celery root with a length of heart of palm poking out. The whimsy looks like a veal shank but turns out to be vegan, right down to the intense-with-tomato reduction pooled around the centerpiece. The most original Key lime pie around features coconut


D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser unveils bill to legalize recreational marijuana sales

D.C. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D) announced legislation Thursday to legalize and regulate recreational marijuana dispensaries in the nation’s capital, setting up a potential showdown with the federal government. The District’s marijuana laws are in limbo. Residents may grow and possess small amounts of the drug under a 2014 voter-approved law. But they cannot legally purchase pot, and the city cannot tax sales because of a provision in the federal budget that prohibits the District from enacting or enforcing marijuana legalization laws. Advocates have been hopeful that Congress would strip the anti-marijuana language — which originated with House Republicans — from the federal budget now that Democrats control the House. But it is unclear whether the next spending plan will pass before the 2020 elections. The mayor wants to get moving on legalization before then. “We want to be able to regulate, we want to be able to make sure we are collecting our fair share in taxes, we want to invest those taxes in ways that affect communities that have been disproportionately affected, and we want to train and hire D.C. residents,” Bowser said in an interview Wednesday with The Washington Post at a medical marijuana cultivation center. Rep. Andy Harris (R-Md.), who led the charge to stop the District from legalizing marijuana, suggested that the mayor’s office may be violating federal law by drafting legalization legislation while the budget restrictions are in effect. “Mayor Bowser should respect the Constitution, which gives Congress absolute authority over the District of Columbia, and discontinue her efforts to legalize marijuana in violation of the law,” Harris said in a statement. Bowser has accused Harris of abusing his congressional powers. The mayor’s 69-page “Safe Cannabis Sales Act” The city’s eight medical marijuana cultivation centers also would be authorized to grow the drug for recreational purposes if Bowser’s bill passes. Regulators would be able to issue additional licenses six months after the law takes effect, but marijuana businesses would not be concentrated in specific neighborhoods, and they would have to have discreet signs. “We are not going to be a marijuana destination,” Bowser said. “We will not be promoting it. We want D.C. residents to be able to have the choice to buy legally, and we also want to drive out the illegal market, which we know can promote violence in our communities.” The minimum age to purchase marijuana would be 21. The bill


These are the top 10 new restaurants in the D.C. area, according to Tom Sietsema’s Spring Dining Guide

and a crumble of pistachio and chile, purse-like manti stuffed with goat cheese … well, you get my drift. 20 Main St., Sperryville, Va. 540-987-5105. threeblacksmiths.com. 3: Chef Yuan Tang works nights, and his wife and business partner, Carey, keeps day hours. Throw in the couple’s passion for animals, and Rooster & Owl makes perfect sense as a name for their debut restaurant on 14th Street NW. The space isn’t much to look at, but the lack of scenery hardly matters when the food starts showing up. Baby carrots take on the flavor of good barbecue, aided and abetted by a scoop of velvety corn bread ice cream, a combination you might question until it hits your tongue. Meat takes a back seat here, deployed more as a garnish than a featured player, an exception being fried baby quail glazed with miso, honey and yuzu juice and splayed on creamy grits fired up with red pepper relish. 2436 14th St. NW. 202-813-3976. roosterowl.com. 2: The past few years have been encouraging ones for connoisseurs of Indian cuisine, whether they want fast (Rasa) or fancy (Karma Modern Indian). Now along comes a restaurant that wants you to think of it in the same league as the city’s starriest destinations. Early meals fuel high hopes for Punjab Grill, where chef Jaspratap Bindra is raising the bar for north Indian cooking with vivid chutney flights, chana masala rethought as silken hummus, and venison cooked with cracked wheat until it’s the texture of porridge. The last dish is presented with spoonfuls of enhancers — cilantro, ginger, lemon juice and clarified butter — that contribute to a one-of-a-kind haleem. The restaurant proves as sumptuous as it is luscious. 427 11th St. NW. 202-813-3004. punjabgrilldc.com. 1: The latest from serial restaurateur Peter Chang seats more customers (200) than any other dining room in his realm. Good thing, given that Mama Chang welcomed 1,000 diners a day the weekend it opened in Fairfax — and shows no signs of slowing down. As the name implies, the spring arrival is a celebration of the women in Chang’s family: his mother, Ronger Wang, a former longtime farmer in central China, and Lisa, his wife and one-time superior. (In an earlier life, she outranked him in the kitchen of the Chinese luxury liner on which they both cooked.) Mama Chang is more or less an edible scrapbook for Lydia Chang,


انعدام تسامح السعودية يضعف قيادتها الإسلامية

ترويجها للإصلاحات الاجتماعية-السياسية الحقيقية من خلال المبادئ الإسلامية مستهدفة حاليا باستمرار و مستبعدة من أيّ نقاش ديني. بصفتي ناشطة في مجتمع متديّن للغاية، كان عليّ في كثير من الأحيان الانخراط في النقاشات الدينية حول الحقوق والحرية. عزّز العديد من علماء الدين المستنيرين والمستقلين حججنا حول الإصلاحات الدستورية وحقوق المرأة والأقليات. عبد الله المالكي، الذي قُبِض عليه عام 2017 خلال الحملة الوطنية لإنهاء الحظر المفروض على قيادة المرأة للسيارة، تجاوز الحدود المفروضة على النقاش في مجموعة من القضايا، بما في ذلك المساواة بين الجنسين. خلال الحملة الداعية لقيادة المرأة، قدّم لي باحث مستقل آخر تفسيرًا دينيًا جيدًا يستند إلى نفس المبدأ الإسلامي – درء المفاسد مقدّم على جلب المصالح – والذي استخدمه كبير العلماء عام 1990 في ذلك الوقت لحظر النساء عن القيادة. وكان المفتي العام للمملكة الذي توفي عام 1999 الشيخ عبد العزيز بن باز منع النساء من القيادة في فتواه عام 1990، لأنه قال إنّ ذلك قد يدفع النساء إلى الاختلاط بحرية مع الرجال الذين ليست لهنّ صلة قرابة من دون اتخاذ الاحتياطات اللازمة. في تفسيره، قال الباحث المستقل إنّ منع النساء من قيادة السيارة من شأنه أنّ يضر بمصالحهن ومصالح أُسَرهن. عندما ألححتُ عليه، أبلغني أحد أعضاء لجنة كبار العلماء أنّهم لن يراجعوا قرار عام 1990، حتى لو كان مسموحًا به بموجب الإسلام، دون توجيه من الملك. خلال حملة إلغاء نظام الوصاية الذكورية لعام 2016، وصف مفتي المملكة الشيخ عبد العزيز آل الشيخ الدعوات لإنهاء نظام الوصاية الذكورية على أنّه جريمة ضد الإسلام وتهديد وجودي للمجتمع السعودي. مقاربة الدولة للإصلاحات الدينية تتمحور حول التحكم في الرواية. إنها تتبع ذات الاستراتيجية التي تتبعها حملات العلاقات العامة التي استُخدِمَت مؤخرًا للترويج إلى مؤشرات الحداثة من دون مواجهة الأنماط الإسلامية المقيِّدة. على سبيل المثال، من خلال تعيين تكنوقراط متخصص في الإدارة العامة بدلًا من متخصص في الدراسات الدينية لإدارة الجامعة الإسلامية الرائدة في الرياض، فإنه من الواضح أنّ التفسيرات التقييدية القائمة منذ عقود باقية، حيث لن يغيرها شخص متخصص في الإدارة. لذلك، سيحتاج الأمر إلى باحث ديني مستنير يمكنه تقديم تفسيرات دينية مستنيرة و مرجعية لوجهات نظر معتدلة عن الإسلام. إنّ الأمر يتبع ذات المنطق المستخدَم بتعيين النساء في المناصب القيادية من دون السماح لهن أو غيرهن من النساء عمومًا بالدعوة بحرية ضد فرض القيود الخطيرة على استقلالهن أو حقوقهن القانونية. إنّ السعودية تمر بمنعطف حرج – فهي بحاجة إلى تعزيز الإصلاحات الدينية حتى تتم عملية التحديث. لكن هذه المهمة ستكون مستحيلة من دون إشراك الإصلاحيين الإسلاميين الذين يتعرضون للاستهداف بشكل متزايد. يواجه سلمان العودة، وهو شخصية إسلامية بارزة دعا إلى


PM Update: Flash flood watch in place as heavy rain arrives tonight

* If you’ve got any outdoor plans tonight, bring an umbrella and maybe even a rain jacket. A stalled-out frontal boundary and an approaching piece of upper-level energy will create an ideal environment for some heavy rain tonight and into Sunday morning. One to 3-plus inches of rain could fall by Sunday morning, prompting a flash flood watch to be issued. Listen to our daily D.C. forecasts: Through tonight: View the Tomorrow (Sunday): See Ian Livingston’s Want our 5 a.m. forecast delivered to your email inbox?


D.C.’s Quarry Road once led to a quarry. It once was home to the zoo’s bears, too.

for buildings. (Gneiss? Nice.) The Lanier Heights quarry opened about 1872 and turned out bluestone. A 1984 report prepared for the Adams-Morgan Community Development Corp. by Dan Durett & Associates noted: “The Board of Public Works used enormous amounts of rock for the construction of macadam roads during the territorial period, 1871-1874. Blasting from the quarry would have been a common sound. A massive crushing machine was in operation near the bank of the Creek.” To get to the quarry The quarry was owned by a man named Thomas Morgan. Answer Man suspects this is Thomas P. Morgan, the District commissioner after whom an elementary school for African American children was later named. That school and another — the white Adams School — gave their names to the neighborhood. The bluestone quarry was active until about 1885. A few years later, it was part of the acreage that became the National Zoo, when that institution moved from its original home on the Mall. Today, the zoo is entirely on the west side of Rock Creek, and most people enter it from Connecticut Avenue NW. But in 1891, it straddled Rock Creek, and its main entrance was on the east side. A 2004 Smithsonian report prepared by Gavin Farrell notes: “The road from the Quarry Road entrance to the center loop was the first paved and graded access to the Zoo. A cheap, temporary timber and steel bridge on granite piers served to carry zoogoers over the unpredictable creek and into the Zoo proper.” In an 1891 story previewing the new zoo, the Evening Star noted how useful the old quarry was turning out to be: “It is an ideal place for bear pits and could not be better if it had been made to order. It is the site of an old quarry and the rocky face of the cliff rises so high and so steep that there will be no earthly chance for bruin to leave the home that has been chosen for him by the back way unless he puts up a very high ladder and then goes up that. The level ground in front of the cliff will soon be inclosed in a stout iron fence that will make a fine big yard.” Workers did a little more blasting to create three separate, fenced-in caves for the bears. It’s hard to say exactly where the bear pits


Don’t panic: Scientists are practicing for a killer asteroid impact

an automatic response from the United Nations’ Space Mission Planning Advisory Group — an international coalition of space agencies whose sole job is to coordinate the world’s response to impending asteroid disasters. Preventing an impact is possible — theoretically. Humans need only change the asteroid’s velocity by a few centimeters per second; over the course of several orbits around the sun, that change adds up to push the rock fully in front of or behind the Earth. But the proposed methods for deflection are expensive and untested. One, the “kinetic impactor” technique, involves crashing a spacecraft into the asteroid at high velocity to slow it down. (NASA last year gave the go-ahead to start design and assembly of a kinetic impactor test mission called DART, which will smash a spacecraft into a binary near-Earth asteroid called Didymos.) Alternatively, scientists could detonate a nuclear bomb beside the asteroid, vaporizing part of its surface and causing the rock to recoil. This method is equally effective at increasing or decreasing an asteroid’s speed. Both options raised red flags among the Planetary Defense Conference attendees. The kinetic impactor strategy carries the threat of imparting so much force to the asteroid that it “disrupts” it, causing the rock to break apart into potentially even more dangerous pieces. But few people were excited about the notion of putting a nuclear device on top of a rocket. Which country would provide the weapon? And who would get to control it? One man stood up to point out that there were no scientists at the conference from any of the African nations in the asteroid’s path. “In a real-life scenario, their interests would need to be represented,” he said. “Especially if we’re going to push the thing toward them.” Ultimately, the group decided to keep every option on the table. They would immediately launch a reconnaissance mission to fly past the rock and get a better understanding of its trajectory. A scientific spacecraft already in flight would be rerouted to 2019 PDC. Meanwhile, several space agencies would begin work on a fleet of kinetic impactors and an additional spacecraft capable of carrying a nuclear device. In a speech, NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine acknowledged that these exercises could seem a bit outlandish — fodder for a Bruce Willis sci-fi action flick, perhaps, but not serious scientific discussion. But real life has at times come perilously close to imitating these