On a wing and a prayer: Readers share tips on keeping aggressive birds at bay

male cardinal attacking a large bay window. “To defend the house I have placed pictures of my kids when they were babies to protect us,” Milt wrote. “In the large front window I have a picture of my daughter when she was 6 months old.” That daughter just graduated from medical school. Milt, maybe it’s time to get new photos. Kathy Jenkins’s Kathy has affixed sun catchers and decals of plastic leaves, but none of that has worked. Cardinals aren’t the only birds who seem to have it in for Kathy’s windows. A few years ago, a great horned owl flew into a set of French doors. “Although the door had blinds inserted between two panes of glass, it was not enough to deter the owl,” Kathy wrote. “I remember hearing what I thought was a gunshot, but rather, it was the owl slamming into the door. Feathers were scattered on the deck, but we never found an owl carcass so we hoped he was alive and well.” The door, not so much. The glass was shattered and the door had to be replaced. Sarah Forman Birds weren’t the only confused animals bedeviling humans there, however. The house was occasionally visited by “Uncle William,” a goat from down the road. “One day Uncle William climbed up on the front porch, looked through the glass pane in the door, and saw. . . another goat! Inside the house!” Sarah wrote. Uncle William bravely charged the trespassing goat, which turned out to be his reflection in a mirror in the base of an ornately decorated hatrack. Sarah wrote: “While this courageous deed did not improve the state of mirror, hat rack, door or goat, one assumes Uncle William was proud to have driven his rival from the field.” Balloons, family photos, wax paper strips — people are willing to try anything to keep aggressive, confused birds at bay. Another option is an invention called FeatherGuard, an array of brightly colored feathers attached to fishing line that can be suction-cupped to a window. The sight of loose feathers apparently freaks birds out, because feathers suggest that an attack may have taken place there. It would be like one of us coming across a grisly scene of severed limbs and scattered bones. You can believe that we’d stay away, unless, perhaps, we were in a Hitchcock movie. Twitter: @johnkelly For previous columns, visit washingtonpost.com/johnkelly.


The ‘Brexit’ referendum is the most important vote in Europe in a half-century

none of these, in spring 2008, foresaw the crisis of autumn 2008, they now predict, with remarkable precision, economic damage to Britain’s economy, the world’s fifth-largest, if it is detached from the stagnation of the E.U. For example, the British Treasury projects that Brexit would cost Britain 6.2 percent of gross domestic product by 2030. This confirms the axiom that economists prove their sense of humor by using decimal points. Passion is disproportionately on the Leave side, which is why a low turnout will favor Brexit: Leavers are most likely to vote. Current polls show Remain slightly ahead, but Leave has a majority among people over age 43, who also are most likely to vote. The most conspicuous campaigner for Brexit is Boris Johnson, the two-term Conservative former mayor of London. He is an acquired taste, and some thoughtful people oppose Brexit because if it happens, Prime Minister David Cameron, who leads the Remain campaign, might be replaced by Johnson. Johnson is frequently compared to Donald Trump. Johnson, however, is educated (Eton; an Oxford classics degree), intelligent, erudite (see his book on Roman Europe), articulate and witty. (Johnson says the E.U.’s latest compromise with Britain is “the biggest stitch-up since the Bayeux Tapestry.” The British locution “stitch-up” denotes something prearranged clandestinely.) So, Johnson’s only real resemblance to Trump, other than an odd mop of blond hair, is a penchant for flamboyant pronouncements, as when he said that Barack Obama opposes Brexit because Obama’s Kenyan background somehow disposes him against Britain. Actually, Obama likes the European Union’s approximation of American progressives’ aspirations. These include unaccountable administrators issuing diktats, and what one E.U. critic calls “trickle-down postmodernism” — the erasure of national traditions and other impediments to “harmonizing” homogenized nations for the convenience of administrators. Obama said that if Brexit occurred, Britain would go to “the back of the queue” regarding a U.S. trade agreement. Surely, however, reaching an agreement with one nation is easier than with 28. Perhaps Obama has forgotten U.S. diplomat George Kennan’s axiom: The unlikelihood of a negotiation reaching agreement grows by the square of the number of parties taking part. Brexit might spread a benign infection, prompting similar reassertions of national sovereignty by other E.U. members. Hence June 23 is the most important European vote since 1945. Read more from George F. Will’s archive or follow him on Facebook. Read more about this topic: Robert J. Samuelson:


At these breweries, the food is so much more than an afterthought

the presence of parm foam at a brewery, but that’s another column.) The beer provided a cool, acidic element, which cleansed the palate after every bite of the potato dumplings. Friends Arian Vojdam, right, and Lewis Laskin dine and drink at the back bar of Right Proper brewpub in Shaw. (Craig Hudson/For The Washington Post) Alhough I’m sure there are plenty of examples to the contrary, beer tends to prefer brawny fare — dishes with generous amounts of fat or spice, which can interact with ales, lagers and IPAs in mysterious ways. My first sip of the Funk, a saison at Mad Fox’s brewpub in Falls Church (444 W. Broad St.; 703-942-6840; madfoxbrewing.com ), revealed a beer filthy with barnyard aromas. Yet when paired with the Garlic Pig pizza — a pepperoni-and-garlic-heavy pie with all the subtlety of a moose in heat — the Funk began to edit itself: Its fetid barnyard qualities faded into the background, allowing its refreshing citrus notes to assume a leading role. In fact, I found myself seeking out beers with an acidic personality, without resorting to the kind of Old World lambics that can run roughshod over even the fattiest dishes. I loved the picklish nose on the Old Weird America at the Right Proper Brewing Company Shaw Brewpub and Kitchen (624 T St. NW; 202-607-2337; rightproperbrewing.com ) and the way the pale ale added a tiny tartness to the warmed slices of pretzel bread dipped in pungent honey-mustard sauce. The Scarecrow, a complex saison at Bluejacket (300 Tingey St. SE; 202-524-4862; bluejacketdc.com), tastes as if it were custom-made for the smoked Carolina trout dip, the citrus notes in the beer and the appetizer almost melting into each other, like young lovers. Sometimes, I discovered, the beer will make a dish, or at least improve it. There was much to admire about the warmed curry chicken sandwich at Denizens (1115 East-West Hwy., Silver Spring; 301-557-9818; denizensbrewingco.com ): The baguette crackled under tooth, revealing a sweet and mildly spiced mixture that reached its full potential when paired with a Southside Rye IPA, which gave the bite a bitter backbone without squashing its polite nature. More dramatically, the bracing sourness of Bluejacket’s A Little Golden Gem, a gose spiked with kumquats and sea salt, helped to reanimate a lifeless, mostly overcooked double-cut pork chop. The Arsenal restaurant and Bluejacket brewery in Southeast Washington. (Scott Suchman/For The


The best landscape designs don’t require hours of watering and maintenance

choose plants from other regions of the world that have similar rainfall patterns. In California, we can grow plants from similar climate regions like South Africa and Australia.” At Sterling Custom Homes in Austin, Customer Selection Manager Christine Mann said home buyers have the option to choose drought-resistant plants. The builder’s website lists several plants that thrive in the Texas Hill Country, including Jerusalem Sage, a bright-yellow hardy plant native to the Mediterranean region. “The landscaper reviews the design, what customers are looking for, and they will discuss what they want to put in the flower beds,” Mann said. “If they say, ‘I don’t want to water much,’ the landscaper will go for more drought-resistant plants.” Many civic landscapes showcase demonstration sites that are designed to encourage responsible landscaping. If you visit the Smithsonian’s National Zoo, find inspiration for a water-wise landscape at the Speedwell Foundation Conservation Carousel. Near the menagerie of colorful hand-carved animals is a rain garden strategically placed to intercept stormwater runoff and hold it until it can be fully absorbed into the ground. It’s one example of how the zoo, a conservation organization, demonstrates good stewardship at the 163-acre park through sustainable practices, said Jennifer Daniels, the zoo’s senior landscape architect. “The Smithsonian has an LEED [Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design] Gold directive for our large projects,” she said. “Animals have a relationship with the land. We are obligated to do the right thing.” The rain garden adds to the educational and sustainable components of the solar-powered carousel exhibit. The objective is to take pressure off the District’s storm sewers. “If one home puts in a rain garden, it’s a critical first step to encourage the entire community to work together on ways to contribute to the healthy function of the watershed,” Daniels said. At the Science Museum of Virginia in Richmond, stormwater-management technologies are used in an initiative that serves as a model for low-impact development. The Rainkeepers program aims to encourage behaviors that reduce the flow of stormwater and pollutants into the city’s stormwater-sewer system. Museum scientist Eugene Maurakis pointed out some of the facility’s eco-friendly features, including a garden filled with native plants, tree-well filter boxes, a rain garden, a pervious concrete parking area, and a rainwater harvesting, storage and irrigation system. A roof covered with vegetation was installed to minimize the amount of hard surfaces and to reduce heating and cooling


Brewery 101: What you need to know before visiting a tasting room

brewery you visit. Remember, however, that breweries are manufacturing facilities, with moving parts and occasional sharp edges. Some tasting rooms are well removed from the tanks and barrels; others are not. If the kids are mobile, we recommend breweries with space for them to play, such as the patio at Denizens or the grassy area at Vanish. Also, space limitations mean strollers aren’t always welcome inside. The D.C. Department of Health has told some breweries that dogs are not allowed in tasting rooms. Most Virginia and Maryland breweries with patios and beer gardens welcome dogs, including Denizens, Old Bust Head, Adroit Theory, Belly Love and Crooked Run. Is it better to order pints or flights? I rarely drink pints (or “full pours”) at a brewery, unless I’m there for the release of a specific beer. I want to try beers that I don’t see in bars, or to try them next to one another to get a sense of the brewery’s soul. That means a flight of four to eight small pours, especially if it’s a brewery I don’t visit often. When I visit Ocelot, I want to try all seven or eight IPAs on tap. But if you’re hanging out at a brewery you’re familiar with, there’s nothing wrong with grabbing a glass of your favorite beer — it should be a lot fresher than at your local bar. A flight of beers at Caboose Brewing in Vienna: From left, the Commonwealth Rye Pale Ale, Crossroads Vienna Lager, Sidetrack Saison and the Carhopper IPA. (Deborah Jaffe/For the Washington Post) Filling a reusable growler at Adroit Theory Brewing Company in Purcellville. (Deborah Jaffe/For the Washington Post) What’s the deal with growlers? Do we need to buy a new one at each brewery? Refillable half-gallon jugs, called growlers, are the easiest way to get beer home. You can buy a new growler at a brewery — maybe you like the logo — or you can take growlers from one brewery to another’s tap room. I tend to purchase growlers of only limited-release beers, not those readily found in stores. Growler beers are perishable: They should be opened within a week and consumed within a day or two after that. Also, growlers tend to be more expensive than the same beer in bottles and cans. At DC Brau, for example, a 64-ounce growler of the Corruption IPA is $10. A six-pack of


Home associations need to have their dog rules in order

District has the power to impound a dangerous animal, defined as an animal that because of specific training or demonstrated behavior threatens the health or safety of the public. The “one-bite” rule does not apply; if a dog injures a person while at large, lack of knowledge of the dog’s vicious propensity will not necessarily be a defense. The court will look at all of the facts to determine whether the owner was negligent. Maryland has an interesting dog-law history. In 2012, the highest court in the state ruled that pit bulls are “inherently dangerous”and that owners of those dogs could be held to strict liability in the event of a bite. According to the court, “it is not necessary that the [pit bull’s owner] have actual knowledge that the specific pit bull involved is dangerous.” Pit bull owners — and many other dog-lovers — rose up in arms, claiming this law unfairly singled out specific breeds. As a result, the Maryland legislature enacted a law that in essence repealed the high court’s ruling, thereby adopting a strict liability approach for any dangerous animal. According to the new law, a dangerous dog is one that without provocation has killed or inflicted severe injury on a person. The law does, however, allow the dog owner to claim the defense of contributory negligence; plaintiffs cannot win if they contributed in any way to a dog bite. Maryland is unique in that the state law governs the specific licensing and other regulations certain counties may adopt or enforce. And many of the local counties have, in fact, determined certain dogs as “dangerous.” What can your association do? It can adopt a rule that all dogs must be leashed when outside of the homeowner’s property and require that owners register dogs with the association and show proof that the dog has been properly vaccinated. Moreover, the rule should state that if anyone is bitten by a dog, regardless of whether it is on a leash, the owner will be subject to a hearing and a possible fine. Also, if any more incidents occur, unless the owner agrees to muzzle it when outside, the dog can be permanently removed from the area. In some cases, legal action may be necessary. And most importantly, the board should confirm that the association has the necessary insurance coverage. People sleep better knowing there is insurance. Benny L. Kass


In review of doping samples from London, IOC finds 23 more athletes test positive

bad test from Beijing also was announced Friday, which means 55 athletes in all could be banned from competing in Rio. They could be retroactively disqualified from past Olympics and stripped of their results and any medals as well. The IOC has not identified the athletes, their sports or their nationalities. Of the tainted tests from London, the IOC said the athletes come from five sports and six countries. The recent retesting has focused on athletes who would be possible entrants into this summer’s Olympics, which begin Aug. 5 in Rio de Janeiro. Doping samples are saved for 10 years, which allows the World Anti-Doping Agency to retest them using updated methods. A total of 265 samples from the London Games were reexamined, in addition to the 454 samples from the 2008 Olympics. “We want to keep the dopers away from the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro,” IOC President Thomas Bach said in a statement. “This is why we are acting swiftly now. I have already appointed a disciplinary commission, which has the full power to take all the decisions on behalf of the IOC.” The retesting of old samples will continue, the IOC said in a release, “with the possibility of more results in the coming weeks.” The IOC said the positive results came from the athletes’ “A” sample, and the “B” samples still need to be retested to confirm the results, which would then confirm and formalize the findings and trigger formal disciplinary proceedings. While the identities of the 55 athletes haven’t been formally released, the Russian Olympic Committee has said that 14 of the tainted 2008 tests belonged to Russian athletes. Russian media has reported that 11 of those were from track and field athletes, including high jumper Anna Chicherova, who won bronze in Beijing and gold in London, and Yulia Chermoshanskaya, a member of Russia’s gold medal-winning 4x100 relay team in 2008. Accused of “state-sponsored” doping, Russia’s track and field team was suspended by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) in November. A final ruling on whether the Russians can compete in track and field at the Rio Games is expected to come June 17 from the IAAF. WADA is conducting a separate investigation of widespread cheating by Russians — allegations laid out in documentaries and published reports over the past two years — and is expected to conclude that probe by July 15.


Leaving the NSO, a veteran clarinetist reflects on the orchestra’s ups and downs

The NSO’s principal clarinet, Loren Kitt, has retired after more than 45 years of service. (Courtesy of the Kennedy Center) Loren Kitt, 74, has been the principal clarinet of the National Symphony Orchestra since 1970. In the middle of this season, he quietly left the orchestra and retired to his home in Maine. He will be honored at the NSO performance on June 9. Earlier this year, he talked about his 45 years of service. (The interview was condensed and edited for clarity.) Anne Midgette: Loren Kitt: On the tour, [Christoph Eschenbach] seemed so much more relaxed and so much more connected to the orchestra. In Düsseldorf, he had a party for the orchestra, [which was] a first. My last rehearsal with him was in Berlin, and he took the time to say nice things about me, which I really appreciated, to the whole orchestra. AM: LK: When I was in school and Howard Mitchell was still music director, back in the ’50s, the NSO had a lot of good players and good performances. The problem was that it was a stepping-stone orchestra. They had a hard time keeping [musicians]. With [Antal] Dorati, we had a sense of being a real professional orchestra. He brought a dignity to the orchestra. He was really a genius. His Mahler was second to none, including [Sir Georg] Solti. He didn’t have a great stick technique, but he knew how to get what he wanted out of the orchestra. We were on tour once, in Greece, talking backstage, and he talked about some ancient painting he got in Israel. I said, “I didn’t know you were interested in that.” He said, “Young man, there is nothing I’m not interested in.” He was an artist. He could paint. He was quite a good composer. He wrote an oboe concerto that our first oboist played; it’s a wonderful work. When he left, he came back and guest-conducted. It was a great success. I was the first person he hired when he came here, and we had a nice reunion. He said, “I’m composing a clarinet concerto for you.” I said, “That’s wonderful.” I waited a while, then he died. Eventually, I wrote to his widow. She said, “Yes, he finished it, but he never wrote it down — he wrote it in his head.” Then we went flying into the [Mstislav] Rostropovich era — very exciting.


‘At first it was shocking’: Angler nabs an 18-pound snakehead fish in the Potomac

“Dutch” Baldwin III caught an 18.4 pound Northern Snakehead fish in the waters of the Potomac River off of Charles County. State wildlife officials confirmed the catch set a record in Maryland. Typically, fishing records are given for fish caught by traditional rod and reel. But in Maryland, there is an exception for some invasive fish species, including the snakehead. Some years ago there were no snakehead fish in the Washington region. But now there are estimated to be roughly 20,000 in the Potomac River, a population close to that of largemouth bass. Snakeheads are native to Asia and are believed to have been introduced to the Washington area in 2002 as live-fish markets imported them from overseas. Wildlife experts say some people also had snakehead fish as pets but let them go in waterways. Over the years, wildlife experts have grown concerned about their rapid rise in population. Last year, Maryland started a program to encourage fishermen to catch — and kill — more of them in an attempt to slow their growth. Unlike some other fish, snakeheads can be legally caught at any size and at any time of year. Snakeheads are a threat to local waterways, experts say, because they are voracious predators of crayfish and crustaceans — some of the same foods that largemouth bass consume. “Snakeheads crowd out our native fish population,” Schatz said. “It doesn’t have any natural predators, so we actively encourage fishermen to hunt and immediately dispatch them.” Baldwin took his record-setting snakehead to a taxidermy shop. He plans to mount it in the family’s living room above the TV, joining four deer mounts already there. “This will be my first fish,” he said of the mount. “It’s pretty cool.” Wildlife officials had mixed reactions to Baldwin catching such a large snakehead. “If the fish are getting that large, they’re feeding on native populations in the ecosystem,” Schatz said. “It’s great he caught it, but we always wish we didn’t have this record to begin with.” Baldwin said he became interested in catching snakeheads a few years ago. He sells them to local fish markets and restaurants. Last year, he and Shotwell caught over 5,000 pounds of snakehead fish from March to October. This year, they’ve caught more than 3,000 pounds, which they sell for about $5 a pound. His best recipe for cooking snakehead is to grill or fry it with


The last remaining Pentagon-trained rebel group in Syria is now in jeopardy

of Deir al-Zour, which borders Iraq and contains most of Syria’s oil. Most recruits are from the remnants of a Free Syrian Army unit called the Authenticity and Development Front, which already was known in the province before it was defeated by the Islamic State during its sweep through Syria and Iraq in 2014. “At the moment, the New Syrian Army is very small, but it would be very easy to empower it and create numbers,” Barabandi said. Recruitment has all along proved the program’s biggest challenge, however. A requirement that applicants sign a document pledging to fight only the Islamic State and not the government of President Bashar al-Assad deterred many from signing up at all. Others who showed up for the training in Jordan were put off by a lengthy wait that sometimes lasted months as U.S. officials delved into the background of every rebel who applied. Many gave up and went back to Syria before they had been approved, said a former U.S. official familiar with the train-and-equip effort, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to be frank. “We deserve a lot of criticism on this program,” he said. “One problem was that the vetting took way too long and the other was to force these people to commit themselves to fighting Daesh.” (Daesh is an Arabic acronym for the Islamic State.) Meanwhile, the New Syrian Army has been left feeling abandoned and vulnerable in its isolated base, in a remote and forbidding area of empty desert miles from any major towns. It has carried out a number of operations against the Islamic State, always with U.S. support, U.S. officials and rebels say. But it never received the weapons and equipment it had hoped for, the rebels assert. It was always assumed that more rebels would be joining it, but the suspension of the program meant that none did. The original group of 50 trained by the U.S. military did later increase their numbers by recruiting and training extra fighters themselves, but the force remained far smaller than had been anticipated. Antitank weapons, which have been used by Kurdish and Iraqi forces elsewhere with spectacular success to blow up Islamic State suicide bombs before they reach their target, also were not available when the bomber struck. The former U.S. official said the intent had always been to provide those trained under the program with antitank weapons,


Beer of the Week: Union Craft Brewing Old Pro Gose

(Courtesy of Union Craft Brewing) During those endless days of May rain, when I needed to remind myself that summer was coming and the sun would show its face again, I reached for a glass of Old Pro Gose. The hazy golden liquid, with sharp notes of citrus zest and salty ocean breeze in its aroma and a thirst-quenching salt and sour-lemon tang in the finish, is my favorite thing to drink on a hot summer day. In no time at all, I was sitting on the porch at a beach house — well, mentally, at least. Baltimore’s Union Craft Brewing won a silver medal for Old Pro at the 2014 Great American Beer Festival, which wasn’t really a surprise: Union brewer and co-founder Kevin Blodger had won a bronze medal in the same category in 2011 when he worked at Rockville’s Gordon Biersch brewpub. Tart, dry and refreshing: This is a beer to keep in your refrigerator through the dog days and beyond. Union Craft Brewing Old Pro Gose. unioncraftbrewing.com. $11 to $12 per six-pack. More from Food: Beer Column


Virginia making a strong play for new FBI headquarters

and crumbling J. Edgar Hoover Building in downtown Washington. The GSA wants to trade the Hoover Building site and as much as $1.8 billion in cash to a developer in exchange for a 2.1-million-square-foot secure campus at one of the three potential sites outside the city. Final costs will not be known until the GSA reaches an agreement. D.C. officials, meanwhile, are eager to see the hulking, concrete Hoover Building, which sits on prime real estate along Pennsylvania Avenue, transformed into more than a block of new offices, housing or retail once the agency moves on. In Springfield, relocating the CIA facility would be costly to developers. In a May 13 notice to eligible bidders, the GSA disclosed that relocation would cost $210 million and that other site preparation would total $18 million. That’s not to say the Maryland sites don’t have drawbacks. Unlike in Springfield, neither is owned by the federal government, and the GSA has agreed to pay an undisclosed amount of money to acquire them in the case that either is chosen. A partnership between Renard Development and the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority controls the Greenbelt site, while Lerner Enterprises and Tower Cos. own the Landover site, formerly home to the Landover Mall. Bids for the project are due June 22, and the government plans to select a winner by year’s end. The winning company and site will be chosen based on a combination of factors, including the cost of constructing the new headquarters and the amount developers are willing to pay for the Hoover Building in return. All three sites will also require more than $100 million in transportation upgrades to accommodate 11,000 FBI headquarters employees, and officials from both states are determining how much money to dedicate to those improvements. “Virginia and the localities will pick up the bulk of the mitigation costs of the site,” said McAuliffe spokesman Brian Coy, who declined to say what the price tag would be. A spokeswoman for the Maryland Department of Commerce declined to comment. Prince George’s County Executive Rushern L. Baker III (D) has committed to paying for a garage at Greenbelt needed to replace Metro’s current parking lots there, estimated at between $90 million and $100 million, or county road improvements at Landover, estimated at between $30 million and $40 million. In addition to the FBI headquarters, the Greenbelt development would include mixed-use private development


D.C.’s food scene gets a prestigious boost: Michelin inspection (and stars)

stars, Michelin sends multiple inspectors throughout the year to test a restaurant’s consistency and creativity. Ellis says that the inspectors are conservative in their approach and can be reluctant to give stars to new restaurants from untested chefs. He would not say whether any restaurants in Washington have achieved the coveted three-star rating. Fewer than 120 restaurants in the world have that designation, and most of them are expensive and exclusive. Michelin also rates “Bib Gourmands,” or affordable restaurants. “What we don’t want to do is have seesaw decisions where we give a star out and find out six months later that the wheels came off and it’s not up to quality,” Ellis said. Chef/owner Patrick O’Connell at the Inn at Little Washington, which won’t be eligible for a Michelin rating yet, because the company’s guide to Washington will include only restaurants in the District proper. (Dixie D. Vereen/For The Washington Post) Another group that won’t be getting any stars this fall: suburban and rural restaurants. The first edition of the Washington guide will include only restaurants within the District’s borders. That means that one of the region’s best fine-dining restaurants — the Inn at Little Washington in Washington, Va. — will be shut out for at least another year. Subsequent editions of the guide will expand to include the suburbs. “The closer we got a look at the D.C. metro area, we realized there was quite a bit to cover,” Ellis said. As for the Inn, Ellis called it “one of the great restaurants of the United States” and said that “we certainly look forward to incorporating” chef Patrick O’Connell in following years. D.C. chefs greeted the news with surprise and enthusiasm. “Are you serious? That is crazy,” said Silverman, the James Beard Award-winning chef of Rose’s Luxury. Chefs “always talk about it. People ask me [when Michelin will come], and I’m like, ‘Maybe one day.’ ” Earning Michelin stars is “something that a lot of people think about and dream about,” Silverman said. It was a Michelin-starred chef from France — Jean-Louis Palladin, who opened his eponymous restaurant at the Watergate Hotel in 1979 — who is credited with kick-starting the Washington food scene. But even after the city’s recent culinary renewal, there’s still some wariness about where it stands from a national perspective. The Washington Post’s food critic, Tom Sietsema, ended up including Washington in his ranking


New cloud formation discovery may lessen warming forecast

New research shows that some clouds are formed by a combination of cosmic rays from space and gases emitted by trees. (Weather Underground via AP ) A discovery about how clouds form may scale back some of the more dire predictions about temperature increases caused by man-made global warming. That’s because it implies that a key assumption for making such predictions is a bit off. “What this will do is slightly reduce and sharpen the projections for temperature during the 21st century,” said researcher Jasper Kirkby. Nonetheless, he added, “we are definitely warming the planet.” Kirkby works at the European Center for Nuclear Research, or CERN, near Geneva. He is the lead author of one of three studies on the topic newly published by the journals Nature and Science. Essentially, the work reveals a previously unknown natural process that creates atmospheric particles around which clouds form. The most common source of particles is air pollution, usually sulfuric acid from the burning of fossil fuels. There are also natural sources, but they have been considered far less important for cloud formation. The new work shows that a combination of cosmic rays from space and gases emitted by trees also creates particles, and then clouds, without man-made pollution. The scientists witnessed this in a cloud simulation chamber and from a Swiss mountaintop observatory more than two miles high. “This process is only effective in pristine environments, and there are very, very few pristine environments left on Earth,” Kirkby said. Nowadays, the process is overwhelmed by pollution particles. To a layman, the significance of this for predictions of global warming may appear a bit, um, cloudy. But here’s how it works: The computer models that are used to make those predictions require making assumptions about what conditions were like before industrialization, when the widespread burning of coal, oil and gas began pumping greenhouse gases into the air. Clouds are an important factor in this because they cool the Earth by reflecting sunlight back to space. Nobody knows just how cloudy skies were in the old days. Scientists have figured there were far fewer clouds than now, Kirkby said. But the discovery of a new natural route to cloud formation suggests that cloud cover was, in fact, greater than scientists had assumed. If so, greenhouse gases haven’t been quite as potent in producing warming as scientists thought. So, ton for ton, they also may


The United States doesn’t own Mars — yet

Mars covered in clouds as viewed by the Hubble Space Telescope on May 12. (Nasa/Hubble/Handout/European Pressphoto Agency) The May 20 Politics & the Nation page included the article “Billions of years ago, tsunamis may have drenched Mars.” Shouldn’t this properly have been in the news section about the solar system, not the nation? Ann Wass, Riverdale


Forget spraying for mosquitoes. Do this instead.

Chase Bernetich, a technician with Mosquito Joe, applies a mosquito treatment at a residential property in Rockville on May 10. (Bonnie Jo Mount/The Washington Post) The May 17 Metro article “Anxious buzz greets mosquitoes’ arrival” mentioned two mosquito-control companies by name and included two photos of technicians. Sprinkled throughout the article were anecdotes about children and pregnant women and descriptions of how the mosquito-control business is growing — booming, in fact. It makes you want to get on the bandwagon! Included with the article was a list of tips, “How to control mosquitoes and cut the risk of a dangerous virus,” sourced from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Washington-area health agencies, that made no mention of using chemical sprays outdoors. Just get rid of standing water, where mosquitoes breed. Donna Murphy, Herndon The writer is a Virginia master naturalist.


My college reunion made me think of my own mortality: Nine of us were dead.

to a physical therapist, who sent him back to the doctor. Tests revealed a growth. Adam had Ewing sarcoma. At Amgen, Adam engineered the manufacturing process for two of the company’s drugs for cancer patients, Epogen and Neupogen. He would need both. “He was helping other people’s lives and also his own,” his youngest brother, Peter, said. The cancer spread quickly and Adam lost the use of his left arm. On their last Christmas together, the brothers watched a marathon of “Lord of the Rings” movies, a memory Peter and Joe still cherish. And, they added, noting their big brother’s pride when his team made it to the Rose Bowl his senior year, “we both still have Northwestern T-shirts.” For young people in their 30s, suicide is the second-leading cause of death. And that is how my classmate Robyn Reinstein (later, Robyn Cohen) died at age 32. Josh Cohen met Robyn at a party one December. He remembered his late wife as a joyful and compassionate woman who loved silly movies such as “Waiting for Guffman.” But after the birth of their second child, he said, she became “very, very stressed” and sought help for postpartum depression. Within three months, she took her own life. “We have pictures of Robyn around the house,” Cohen said. “We talk about her as the children have questions.” He remarried and had a third child. “Our children have three sets of grandparents. All three of them have three sets.” John Irvine was next. I hoped he hadn’t died doing the hobby he loved. He was 35, had gotten married in the family house on Main Street in Marshalltown, Iowa, worked in the law practice started by his grandfather and loved birds, astronomy and flying kites with his three kids. “Clear cell sarcoma,” his mother, Madelyn Irvine, told me on the phone. It was a rare but aggressive form of cancer. Just months after diagnosis, it took the life of the son she called her “golden boy.” John accomplished a lot in his young life, his mother said. She is grateful he had time enough to have children and to travel the world, making it to Brazil, Alaska and his ancestral home of Scotland. I could not find much about the last three classmates. They lived past 35. One left a digital trail of heartbreaking tweets about a bipolar diagnosis and hearing voices in his


On Ukraine, the E.U. should not follow Russia’s script

Ukraine while fighting with a volunteer battalion in 2014. After illegally transporting her to Russia, the Putin regime blamed her for the deaths of two journalists who were killed by mortar fire inside Ukraine. Though the evidence showed she had nothing to do with what was, in any case, a legitimate military attack, she was sentenced to 22 years in prison in March. Ms. Savchenko gained renown by defying the Putin regime. She went on a hunger strike, refused to cooperate in her trial and offered the judge a raised middle finger. While in Moscow’s detention, she was elected to the Ukrainian parliament, making it virtually impossible for President Petro Poroshenko to implement Ukraine’s side of the peace deal before her release. The prisoner swap consequently raises hopes among the sponsors of that deal, Britain and France, as well as in the Obama administration, that it will finally move forward. That looks like a long shot. The deal calls for elections in Russian-occupied territories and a modification of the Ukrainian constitution to give local authorities more power. But Moscow has never complied with what should have been the first step of the process: a cease-fire and withdrawal of heavy weapons. On Tuesday, even as the prisoner swap was being arranged, Ukrainian authorities said seven of their soldiers had been killed and nine wounded by shelling and other attacks in the previous 24 hours. E.U. leaders have repeatedly resolved not to lift economic sanctions on Russia until the peace deal, known as Minsk 2, is fully implemented and Ukraine regains control of the border with Russia. The E.U.’s foreign policy chief, Federica Mogherini, told us this month that she expected a renewal of the sanctions before they expire in July because Russia had not met its Minsk obligations. Mr. Putin evidently has no intention of complying with the deal. Instead, he is hoping to use continued conflict in Ukraine to destabilize the shaky democratic government in Kiev while inducing the Europeans to lift or loosen sanctions anyway. Some in Europe will be tempted to follow Moscow’s script, which would lead to the destruction of a free and independent Ukraine. The Obama administration should work to ensure that they do not. Read more on this topic: The Post’s View: Is Mr. Putin serious about making peace in Ukraine? The Post’s View: Russia’s latest show trial Mark Feygin: Russia’s illegal prisoners of war


An independence day for Britain?

has changed. But most of binding law in Britain — estimates vary from 55 percent to 65 percent — arises not from the Parliament in Westminster but from the European Commission in Brussels. The E.U. has a flag no one salutes, an anthem no one sings, a president no one can name, a parliament that no one other than its members wants to have more power (which must be subtracted from national legislatures), a capital of coagulated bureaucracies that no one admires or controls, a currency that presupposes what neither does nor should exist (a European central government administering fiscal policy), and rules of fiscal behavior (limits on debt-to-gross domestic product ratios) that few if any members obey and none have been penalized for ignoring. Journalist and historian Max Hastings, who will vote Remain, says the bitterness between Leave and Remain Conservatives is reminiscent of the Suez crisis of 1956 and is “wildly unreasonable,” given that Britain’s gravest problems — an unsustainable National Health Service, a “failing” education system, low economic productivity — “have nothing to do with Brussels.” Besides, especially given the worsening migration crisis, “I cannot believe that the E.U., and even more the eurozone, will or should survive in their present form through another decade.” Supporters of Brexit agree that, such is the E.U.’s flux, there is no stable status quo to embrace, so leaving is no more risky than remaining. Mildly invoking 1776 for an American guest, Gove says “self-government works better than being part of an empire that doesn’t have our interests at heart.” So, the 23rd of June can become Britain’s Fourth of July — a Declaration of Independence. If Britain rejects continuing complicity in the E.U. project — constructing a bland leviathan from surrendered national sovereignties — it will have rejected the idea that its future greatness depends on submersion in something larger than itself. It will have taken an off-ramp from the road to serfdom. Read more from George F. Will’s archive or follow him on Facebook. Read more here: George F. Will: The ‘Brexit’ referendum is the most important vote in Europe in a half-century Ilya Somin: Some thoughts on the Brexit debate Jared Bernstein: The Brexit clash: Should they stay or should they go? A discussion with Duncan Weldon. Chris Grayling: Obama is wrong to tell Britain to stay in the E.U. Robert J. Samuelson: Britain flirts with economic insanity


Animal Watch: Hazardous tailing in traffic

DERWOOD, Among cases received by the Montgomery County Animal Services Division.


Along the new Silk Road, a city built on sand is a monument to China’s problems

studio and entertainment park. (Gilles Sabrié/For The Washington Post) Bao Cunkuan, an environmental science professor at Shanghai’s Fudan University, agreed, saying that the poorer northwestern provinces such as Gansu have typically survived by exporting people to richer parts of China, not by attracting people. “People will vote with their feet,” he said. “If the place is not good enough, nobody will come no matter how many houses you build. Where people go, the allocation of capital and resources should follow.” Gansu has a per capita annual income of just $4,000 and little trade with the outside world. Its growth was driven by metals and other minerals, as well as by real estate, but it is suffering the ill effects of China’s slowdown and a global slump in commodity prices. The province’s attempt to spend its way to prosperity has only aggravated its problems. Last year, total credit expanded by about $50 billion, in an economy worth just $100 billion, Wigram Capital calculates. Despite the huge injection of credit, the economy shrank 1 percent in nominal terms, while the ratio of loans to gross domestic product expanded to 200 percent, up from less than 90 percent in 2009. Andrew Polk at Medley Global Advisors in Beijing visited Lanzhou New Area recently and noted its “desolate” location. “You can just sense from being there it’s not a commercially viable place,” he said. Yet the eagerness to support Xi’s hallmark Silk Road initiative — an economic belt running through Central Asia to Europe and a “Maritime Silk Road” hugging Asia’s southern coastline — seems to trump economic sense. “It’s just another example of government priorities being at odds with each other,” Polk said. “There is a desire to do the belt and road program, and there is also a desire to de-leverage. You can’t do both at the same time, but we have seen time and time again in China which tends to win out.” An old idea Indeed, Gansu is far from an isolated case. The idea of building new cities around China caught on after the success of Pudong in the 1990s, as skyscrapers replaced farmland on the east bank of the Huangpu River facing old Shanghai. But Shanghai’s success remains an exception. “Everyone wanted to build new cities — they thought they could replicate Pudong all over China,” said Jones of Wigram Capital. “Provinces didn’t have a strategy built around


Purple Line’s foes add Metro safety, maintenance problems to legal argument

Maryland how much it and other Washington-area jurisdictions will be asked to contribute toward Metro’s rehabilitation. But Rahn said he expects that any amount beyond the $400 million to $500 million Maryland currently contributes annually to the transit system will be stretched out over several years — timing that he said the state’s nearly $5 billion annual transportation budget can accommodate. Fitzgerald, Chevy Chase resident Christine Real de Azua and the advocacy group Friends of the Capital Crescent Trail filed the federal lawsuit in 2014 against the Federal Transit Administration, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Transportation and Interior departments. The MTA became a co-defendant in 2015. Attorneys for both the state and federal agencies have responded that Metro’s problems “do not involve the Purple Line, and they have no relationship to the environmental impacts of the Purple Line,” according to legal briefs. Metro’s shortcomings, they say, necessitate no additional environmental review of the Purple Line. But Metro’s falling ridership has prompted hand-wringing among region leaders concerned about its fare revenue. After peaking at 225 million passenger trips in 2009, ridership began to fall and hasn’t stopped. In the fiscal year that ended last June, the system logged 206 million trips, and the downward trend has continued this fiscal year. State lawyers argue that Metro’s declining ridership has no bearing on Purple Line ridership forecasts that were made as part of the environmental analysis approved in 2013. The study compared the costs, benefits and impacts of a new light-rail line with other transit proposals, such as an express bus line. “A decrease in Metro passengers would affect all alternatives equally,” the state’s lawyers wrote. Maryland officials are concerned with ridership numbers on Metro and, eventually, the Purple Line because the state is counting on Purple Line fare revenue to pay the debt service on the private construction financing. Any financing costs that the Purple Line fares don’t cover will come from fare revenue collected on the state’s commuter rail system, Maryland officials have said. Advocates for the commuter line, MARC, say that system also needs money to expand. In recent court filings, Fitzgerald and the other plaintiffs also argue that the Purple Line warrants further review to consider the environmental impacts of recent cost-cutting changes. The lawsuit also alleges that the state didn’t adequately study the impact of the rail line on noise, migratory birds and a tiny,


Man killed, other victim injured in Northeast Washington shooting

One victim died at the scene, D.C. police spokeswoman Aquita Brown said, and the surviving victim was conscious when he was taken to nearby hospital. Police declined to say how many times each victim was shot and to give any details about their wounds. Police identified the man who died at the scene as William Arthur Wells Jr., 39, of Southeast. After receiving reports of gunfire at 1:30 a.m., police went to the 200 block of 55th Street NE, where they found the two men. The men were found close to an apartment complex and the Elizabeth Ministry facility, Brown said. There are no suspects, and the investigation is ongoing, she said. Police are offering a reward of up to $25,000 to anyone who provides information that leads to the arrest and conviction of the person or persons responsible for any homicide in Washington. — Michael Smith MARYLAND Goats killed, maimed at Queen Anne’s park A Caroline County man has been charged with three counts of aggravated animal abuse after authorities say he mutilated and killed two goats and maimed a third at a Maryland state park this spring. The goats are not wild; they live in an enclosure at the park but do not typically interact with visitors to the park, said Candy Thomson, a spokeswoman for the Maryland Department of Natural Resources police. Mervyn Jay Downes III, 21, allegedly killed two goats by slitting their throats at the Adkins Arboretum at the Tuckahoe State Park in Queen Anne’s County, police said. Less than a month later, Downes — who lives near the park — allegedly attacked another goat, but it survived, the authorities said. The first two goats were found dead on April 8, and the third goat was found injured on May 2. Downes was also charged with three counts of malicious destruction of property, two counts of destroying an animal in a state park, two counts of possessing a weapon in a state park and two trespassing counts. Downes was charged in December with several counts of illegally hunting deer and pleaded guilty to one charge in Queen Anne’s District Court. He was given probation and fined $1,500. His probation was scheduled to last until September. Downes, who is scheduled to appear in court on July 5, faces a maximum of three years imprisonment and a $5,000 fine for each count of abuse. — Michael Smith


Dear fellow veterans: Tell your war stories

Sgt. Bradley Larson and First Lt. Andrew Bundermann, kneeling, lead a patrol into the mountains surrounding Saw village in eastern Afghanistan in March 2010. The two soldiers played critical roles in holding off a massive Taliban attack on Combat Outpost Keating six months earlier. The attack killed eight U.S. soldiers. (Greg Jaffe/The Washington Post) Clinton Romesha is a former Army staff sergeant and author of “Red Platoon: A True Story of American Valor.” He was awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions during the defense of Combat Outpost Keating. In October 2009, my cavalry troop was preparing to shut down a remote outpost in Afghanistan when we were assaulted by more than 300 Taliban-led insurgents. In violation of the most basic principles of warfare, our base, Combat Outpost Keating, had been built in a valley surrounded by three mountains. It is almost impossible to hold and defend your ground when the enemy is free to shoot from above while observing every move you make. Within the first hour of the attack, the insurgents had breached our wire, driving most of Keating’s 50 U.S. guardians into our final defensive formation inside a cluster of three hard-shelled buildings, known as the Alamo position. It was then that five enlisted men volunteered to join me in a counterattack meant to drive the enemy back beyond the wire, rescue missing comrades and retrieve the bodies of our dead. During the next several hours, we achieved these goals. But by the time the battle was over, we’d lost eight men. Three days later, we were evacuated, and the outpost was leveled by a series of American Hellfire missiles. As far as the Army was concerned, that was the end of Keating’s story. But the men who fought saw things differently. How do you consecrate the memory of your fallen when the place where they lost their lives is off-limits, terrain to which you may never return? Generally, soldiers don’t like to talk about their most painful experiences. Most combat veterans have shorthand, watered-down versions of what happened to us that we recite, politely and dutifully, when asked. The real stories are almost never shared. For the most part, we prefer to keep those memories safely locked away. Why? For one, because language is such an imperfect tool. Anyone who has survived combat knows that words are entirely incapable of conveying the horrors of battle.


A British vote to leave the E.U. could shatter the United Kingdom

“We’re much more like America of 100 years ago than the England of today.” Scotland is not the only place in the United Kingdom where this month’s referendum threatens to bring politically destabilizing consequences. Welsh leaders, who tend to be pro-E.U., have said a British vote to abandon the union could spark a constitutional crisis. In Northern Ireland, where a tenuous peace has held for nearly two decades, a vote to leave would add a new line of partition to the Emerald Isle, with the Republic of Ireland inside the E.U. and the counties of Northern Ireland outside it. Analysts have warned that such division could hinder the economy, prompt renewed border controls and revive dangerous levels of sectarianism. In an echo of the nationalist push in Scotland, Catholic leaders in the generally pro-European north say that if Britain opts to leave the E.U., there should be a referendum on the reunification of Ireland. Surveys suggest that Protestant voters would block any such move and keep Northern Ireland inside the United Kingdom. The polls in Scotland are far less clear, but the determination of nationalists to hold another referendum is not. “The nationalists will use any justification to call another vote,” said Ross Thomson, a Conservative member of the Scottish Parliament who is among the few elected officials in Scotland campaigning for Brexit. “It doesn’t have to be the E.U. They’ll just do it when the polls look good.” Other Brexit advocates who favor keeping Scotland inside the U.K. say they do not think the E.U. matters enough to Scottish voters to make a difference in an independence vote. “It’s very soft support,” said Robert Malyn, a pro-Brexit campaigner who was handing out fliers one recent afternoon at the central train station in Glasgow, Scotland’s largest city. “The E.U. is not loved enough to be a red line.” The lack of enthusiasm is reflected in the difference between this campaign and the one in 2014. During the run-up to the independence vote, all of Scotland — from the Gothic back alleys of Edinburgh to the remote valleys of the Highlands — seemed bathed in the dueling paraphernalia of the “no” and “yes” camps. Signs hung from storefronts, buttons peeked out from jacket lapels, and fierce debates erupted nightly in pubs and across dinner tables. This time, there is virtually no visible evidence that in less than a month, Scotland —


Good urban planning can help the environment

Suzanne Winter tends to her roses on her rooftop Adams Morgan garden in 2006. (Robert A. Reeder/The Washington Post) Regarding the May 24 news article “Pace of damage to planet has quickened, U.N. study says”: Urbanization itself is not responsible for the environmental threats facing the world. Unplanned and poorly managed urbanization is. It is important to note the distinction between planned and well-managed urbanization that can benefit the environment and local residents and unplanned and poorly managed urbanization. Smart urban planning is climate-informed, strategic, integrated and supported across multiple sectors. It includes environmental management and disaster risk reduction. In fact, the United Nations’ report specifically highlights smart cities and city-level innovation as priorities. With their compact footprints, well-managed cities conserve natural landscapes. Green roofs, parks and urban forests can conserve water, provide habitat for plants and animals, cool temperatures and improve air quality for residents. Walkable and bikeable cities lower emissions and energy consumption. Cities with living shorelines and wetlands can improve their water quality and protect against storms and flooding. When done properly, good urban planning and management can be an environmental plus. Anita van Breda, Washington The writer is director of environment and disaster management at World Wildlife Fund.


A new campaign to hold Wall Street accountable emerges

comes after the primaries. It vows to take the platform into the conventions of both parties. Its members plan both direct action and political action, forcing candidates to reveal whose side they are on. “We are going to make this an issue in congressional races. No one will be able to run from this,” said Trumka. All this will set the stage for a big push on financial reform in 2017. Americans overwhelmingly favor stronger regulation of Wall Street. Even in New York, the home of Wall Street, exit polls showed a majority of voters (including 49 percent of Republicans) believe Wall Street hurts the economy more than it helps it. And 63 percent of Democrats — 6 in 10 — agree. But without a major push by citizens, Wall Street’s bankers are going to skate away from blowing up the economy with remarkably little accountability. The Justice Department and the Securities and Exchange Commission have failed miserably in holding bankers accountable for the frauds they peddled. The Wall Street Journal reviewed the cases brought against 10 of Wall Street’s biggest banks over the seven years after the crash. More than 8 out of 10 (81 percent) of the actions neither named nor identified an individual employee. The banks forked over billions of dollars in fines, but apparently only banks commit crimes, not bankers. Of the 47 employees charged, only one was a boardroom-level executive. Most cases settled out of court. Of the 11 cases that went to trial or a hearing to dismiss, the Justice Department and SEC succeeded against only five employees. The bankers not only have not gone to prison, they have walked away with the fortunes made from their frauds. Impunity for past crimes is an invitation for bad behavior in the future. That makes tougher regulation even more imperative. In Congress, an unrepentant bank lobby has mobilized to try to weaken Dodd-Frank and roll back financial reform. House Republicans have drafted a financial-services appropriations bill that would weaken the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and cripple the bureau’s recent rule on forced-arbitration contracts. It would also preemptively prohibit the SEC from requiring publicly traded corporations to disclose political donations. Phil Angelides, chair of the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission, summarized the sad reality of bank reform on the fifth anniversary of its report: “The nation’s biggest banks are bigger than ever, with a greater concentration of assets


Zika virus has infected 18 people in Virginia, state reports

Those who have the virus were infected while traveling outside the United States. But officials warn that that could change as the number of bugs increases in warmer weather. Everything you ever wanted to know about the Zika virus and its spread across North and South America. The Zika virus has also been found in the Aedes albopictus, a species of mosquito that is known as the “Asian tiger” and lives as far north as New England. The discovery means the number of states that are at risk for transmission of the Zika virus has expanded. Authorities have said the South is particularly susceptible to the spread of Zika, because of the warm, humid climate there. The White House has asked Congress for about $1.9 billion to help local and state officials prepare for an outbreak of Zika this summer. The money would go to mosquito-control efforts such as spraying and larvacide. Alison Ansher, health director for the state’s health department in the Prince William County district, said part of the challenge in tracking the Zika virus is that a large percentage of people who become infected don’t immediately display symptoms. If someone travels overseas and becomes infected, for example, the person may not know it is in their blood. If they go out and are bitten by a mosquito, then that mosquito is infected, and it may bite someone else. Symptoms of the Zika virus include rash, fever, joint pain and conjunctivitis. Typically, the symptoms are mild, and many people who have the virus may not realize they are infected, health experts said. Pregnant women face the biggest risk if they become infected. The virus can cause a birth defect called microcephaly, a condition that causes a baby’s head to be much smaller than normal. Infected babies also can have smaller brains that have not developed correctly. Several Latin American countries and Brazil, which has been considered the epicenter of the virus, have been hit hard by the Zika outbreak. Health officials warn that area residents should take precautions such as wearing long sleeves and pants to provide the best protection from mosquitoes. Others tips include making sure window screens are in place and work properly and following the instructions on labels for insect repellent. They also warn that items even as small as a cap filled with water can provide breeding grounds for mosquitoes and should be cleared.


Why running is the perfect time for podcasts

allow yourself to become distracted when you run, whether you’re on a treadmill or running outside. “After a couple of stumbles, I have stopped listening to books when I run early mornings, but I still do it when I run 15 to 20 miles on my own after the sun is up,” said Erik Storsve, a member of the Montgomery Country Road Runners Club. “A couple of close encounters with bikes and cars have definitely also reduced the time I run ‘plugged in.’ ” Some runners use only one earbud so they can still hear ambient noise on the trail. And some headphones are designed so that you can still hear what’s going on around you. According to USA Track & Field, the use of headphones during races is up to the discretion of race directors. But many events, including the Marine Corps Marathon, discourage headphones even if they’re not specifically prohibited, according to MCM spokeswoman Tami Faram. When registering for the MCM, each of the 30,000 runners signs a waiver that says, “The use of headphones is not advised.” So, if you get used to listening to audiobooks or music on training runs, be aware that race day may be a different story. MCM provides entertainment along the race route for runners who want a distraction, Faram noted. “But we want runners to be able to hear and see things they need to be aware of on the course,” she said. “Safety is paramount.” Podcasts for runners In addition to “Serial” and “This American Life,” the two most frequently recommended podcasts, here are other choices from runners, podcast creators and exercise pros. ●“Ben Greenfield Fitness: Diet, Fat Loss and Performance” Ben Greenfield offers ideas and advice about nutrition and hydration. He usually narrates episodes from his own knowledge and experience, and he does weekly Q&As. Sometimes he’ll interview an expert, but the key is to look at the episodes and find the one that calls out to you, because the information can get very detailed and specific. You will definitely learn something every time you tune in. ●“The Conscious Runner” Hosted by Lisah Hamilton, this podcast is full of specific running tips for everyday runners. Hamilton speaks quickly and loudly, so her interviews are enjoyable even if you’re running outside and there’s a lot of ambient noise. ●“Finding Mastery: Conversations With Michael Gervais” Michael Gervais is a clinical psychologist,


The late-spring trim can do wonders for summer perennials

Higgins/The Washington Post) And afterward: The chop will promote a bushier perennial with later flowering. (Adrian Higgins/The Washington Post) You could do the same to asters and other late-season composites such as chrysanthemums, perennial sunflowers and heliopsis. Although more of a shrub, the buddleia or butterfly bush benefits from an early-season chop, and when I grew it I used to prune the bushes back at least twice before July to encourage a bushier habit. Garden phlox is another candidate. A reader asked me in the midst of the wet weather what to do with his achillea, which was about to bloom but was beaten down. Often a flattened perennial will spring back once the weather dries. I said that if it didn’t pick itself up, he could cut it back — some varieties can rebloom with a vengeance later in the season if cut back, though not in every year. Caryopteris blooms all summer long, but the spring rains caused it — and other perennials — to get too big too soon. (Adrian Higgins/The Washington Post) The perennial looks beaten up after the treatment but will soon recover and flower profusely. (Adrian Higgins/The Washington Post) It would have been smart this year to trim back the new spring growth of catmint in late April or early May because unpruned plants are now looking pretty rangy in bloom. It’s pointless to attend to them now — the bees need the pollen and nectar — but as soon as the flowers fade, I would cut back the catmint hard. The result will be a tidy plant by late summer that may offer some fresh blooms. More importantly, it will look compact, clean and minty fresh in September. While trimming caryopteris to the size of a basketball, it occurred to me that this could satisfy the impulse of those folks who have to turn viburnums, azaleas and other foundation shrubs into gumballs. The caryopteris will soon revert to something looser, but for the first half of June, at least, you would feel like the master of the universe, or at least King Louis XIV. More from Home and Garden: If any place can get young minds to unplug, it’s a college sitting on an arboretum This gardener has the secret to tomatoes in May. (Hint: It’s not a greenhouse.) A common pesticide may be a menace to pollinators. Know how to protect them.


How the next astronauts (and tourists) will get to space

and Boeing For years, people have waited for the moment when the commercialization of space really happened, when there was a self-sustaining economy, and not just one propped up by the government. This may or may not be that moment. It’s still too early to tell for sure, analysts say. For all the historic achievements, there have been slow starts and setbacks. SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket blew up last year incinerating hundreds of pounds of cargo headed for the International Space Station. Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo came apart in the middle of a test flight in 2014, killing the co-pilot. And it wasn’t until just recently that Blue Origin had a successful flight that reached the edge of space. “It’s not the first time this has happened, and part of me is jaded. Efforts to create activity in commercial space has been around for a long time,” said Roger Launius, the associate director for collections and curatorial affairs at the National Air and Space Museum. “There’s been an incremental expansion of technology, which I think has made it more readily available to pursue than it might have been in the past.” Many in the industry are also heartened by the fact that it has pulled off some feats once thought impossible, and is thinking big. SpaceX has begun to make the landing of rockets seem routine. Blue Origin has also had a string of launches and landings of the same rocket, a key to ultimately lowering the cost of space flight, and opening it up to the masses. Musk has even vowed to land an unmanned spacecraft on Mars as early as 2018, and is developing a new Falcon Heavy rocket designed for the moon and Mars. Meanwhile, all the grandiose talk of democratizing space has been backed up by significant private investment, which for years stayed away from an industry long seen as exceedingly risky. The surge in new money been led by the billionaires. Musk has invested $100 million of his own money; Branson and Bezos have said they’ve put in about $500 million each. But Google and the investment giant Fidelity also pumped a $1 billion into SpaceX. The commercialization of space is “being taken more seriously because people have a business track record and are entering the space industry and making things happen and being disruptive,” said Phil Smith, a senior space analyst at the Tauri Group.


The Cincinnati Zoo’s problem wasn’t that it killed its gorilla. It’s that it’s a zoo.

Harambe an act of cowardice by incompetent zoo employees. But members of the zoo care staff, and those who raised Harambe from infancy at another zoo, are devastated by what happened. Some staff may have argued against the hasty decision. We don’t yet know. Others are arguing that the boy’s mother is to blame. How could she let her child fall into a wild-animal enclosure? Why didn’t she have control over her son? How long did she let her child wander unsupervised such that he had time to get through the barriers? In a post on social media, a woman who identified herself as the child’s mother didn’t express remorse for the death of Harambe, just praise to God and thanks to zoo authorities for saving her son. Some people are suggesting that she be deemed legally negligent and charged with causing the death of an endangered animal. But she is just one among millions of mothers who bring their children to zoos. This was a terrible accident, but she is not alone in teaching children to view wild animals as amusement. For me, the real question is not who to blame, but why anyone was in a situation in which they had to make a choice between the life of a human child and the life of an endangered teenage gorilla in the first place. Keeping wild animals in captivity is fraught with problems. This tragic choice arose only because we keep animals in zoos. Though killing is less common at U.S. zoos compared with the regular practice of “culling” at European ones, zoos are nonetheless places that cause death. Harambe’s life was cut short intentionally and directly, but for many zoo animals, simply being in captivity shortens their lives. We know this is true for whales in SeaWorld. Elephants, too, die prematurely in zoos. So why have zoos? One of the reasons often given is that zoos protect and conserve endangered wild animals. A few zoos do fund conservation efforts — the Cincinnati Zoo is one of them. These efforts are laudable, and I would hope that in light of the tragedy the Cincinnati Zoo will spend more to help protect lowland gorillas. Their habitat, as is true for so many wild animals, is under threat. But captive animals, especially large mammals born in captivity, like Harambe, cannot be “returned to the wild.” These sensitive, smart, long-lived gorillas


Three goats were found with their throats slit in a bucolic Maryland park. Police say they now have the culprit.

of Caroline County, Md., was charged with slitting the throats of three goats at a state park on Maryland's Eastern Shore. One of the animals survived. (Courtesy of Maryland Natural Resources Police) The discovery of three goats with their throats slit at an arboretum in Tuckahoe State Park, a quiet site along Maryland’s Eastern Shore, has rattled those who go there to camp and walk. “It made people uneasy,” said Candy Thomson, a spokeswoman for the Maryland Department of Natural Resources. “It’s in a nice, quiet part of the Eastern Shore. It is a bucolic and rural area, so this was just something so weird.” The department has arrested and charged a 21-year-old Caroline County man in the incident. Mervyn Jay Downes III turned himself in to authorities late Friday after officers searched his home and car in Ridgely, Md., and found a rifle and knives, officials said. Police said that evidence linking him to the crimes was also found, but they would not detail what those items included. The incidents with the goats began this spring. On April 8, officers were called to the arboretum after visitors found two dead goats. Then, on May 2, officers returned after another goat was found by police. That goat survived, officials said. The goats were part of a herd living at the park’s Adkins Arboretum. They are on display, and people often watch them and take pictures, Thomson said. She said that Downes lives not far from the arboretum, on a road next to the park. Police said they think that a knife or other sharp object was used to harm the goats but didn’t provide a possible motive. Downes was charged with three counts of aggravated animal cruelty in connection with the mutilation and death of two of the goats and in the maiming of the third, according to the state’s Natural Resources Police. He also faces charges of trespassing in a state park after-hours and of property destruction. He is scheduled for a hearing in July. If convicted, he could be fined a maximum of $5,000 and sentenced to as many as three years in prison. Police said that Downes was charged in December with multiple counts of illegal deer hunting. He pleaded guilty to one charge and was given probation before judgment and fined $1,500, all of it suspended. He was on probation until Sept. 3, according to police.


Montgomery County Animal Watch

This case was received by the Montgomery County Animal Services Division. For information, call 240-773-5900. This number provides recorded information on topics such as the new animal services and adoption center’s hours and location in Derwood, adoption and licensing procedures, and lost-and-found and field services. German shepherd attack: Reduced fees for cat adoption: Germantown Adoptable cats at no-kill shelter: Gaithersburg Adopt dogs and cats at MCHS no-kill rescue: Rockville — Compiled by Lisa M. Bolton


Founding Farmers review: Zero stars for the mega-popular D.C. eatery

WASHINGTON, DC - Lunchtime diners at Founding Farmers photographed in Washington, DC. (Photo by Deb Lindsey For The Washington Post). (Deb Lindsey /For The Washington Post) The Post's food critic Tom Sietsema granted Founding Farmers, a D.C.-favorite restaurant, zero stars in a recent review. Here's why. T here are lines I can fathom and lines I can’t. People waiting for a table outside Bad Saint, the tiny Filipino charmer in Columbia Heights, or Shake Shack, the downtown burger phenom from New York, know the rewards for getting through the door include food that leaves them smiling and eager to return. Other queues leave me scratching my head. Consider Ben’s Chili Bowl, the subject of a recent critique in these pages and best savored for its history, period. One of my jobs as food critic is to lead diners to diamonds and steer them from dross, which brings me to today’s topic, an eight-year-old restaurant I ranted about in 2012 but feel obliged to reexamine with fresh eyes. Since I last looked at it seriously, or tried to, the brand has grown to include three offshoots in the region (with more on the way) and a cookbook celebrating a farm-to-table philosophy, aided and abetted by big jars of preserved fruits and vegetables on the restaurant’s shelves. My cab driver recognizes my destination near the International Monetary Fund before I can finish its address: “Founding Farmers!” he says. Similar energy awaits me at the Foggy Bottom restaurant, where (for real!) huddled masses in the foyer act as if they’re about to board a flight to nirvana. This busy restaurant doesn’t need hosts so much as air traffic controllers. Attempting to access Founding Farmers for dinner on short notice tends to net you the dreaded time slots of 5:30 or 9:30. My strategy has been to go for an early lunch as a solo diner and head for the bar, a trek I made four times in recent months before I scored an actual table in the dining room with a group — albeit at 6 p.m. on a Monday with almost two weeks’ notice. Your waiter is likely to ask if you’ve been in before and, if you haven’t, to tick off reasons you should be pleased to make the acquaintance of the LEED gold-certified restaurant, where the tables are reclaimed wood and the menus use recycled paper. “We’re a fresh and


Ralph Ketner, who helped start Food Lion grocery chain, dies at 95

Food Lion co-founder Ralph Ketner in 2011 (Diedra Laird/Charlotte Observer) Ralph Ketner, who helped turned $50 investments in a North Carolina grocery store into the Food Lion chain with more than 1,100 stores across the Southeast, died May 29 in Salisbury, N.C. He was 95. The grocery store chain announced the death. News reports in North Carolina said the cause was complications from colon cancer. Mr. Ketner successfully gambled that bigger sales by lowering prices to where profit margins were razor-thin were the best path to success. In 1957, he opened the Food Town grocery store in Salisbury, N.C., with a brother and a friend, calling people listed in a phone book and asking for $50 or $100 investments. About 125 people gave him money, and growth was modest for the first decade. The Belgian grocery giant Delhaize began investing in the business in 1974 and is now the parent company of Food Lion. Food Lion was rocked by a 1992 hidden camera report by ABC News that showed employees selling meat that was spoiled. Two producers got jobs with the grocery chain without revealing they were reporters. Food Lion sued and was awarded more than $5 million after a jury found the network liable for fraud. An appeals court lowered the verdict to $2 but still found ABC was liable for trespassing because the employees taped other workers without their knowledge. Ralph Walter Ketner was born in Rimertown, N.C., on Sept. 20, 1920, and grew up in Salisbury, where his father opened a butcher shop. He attended Tri-State College (now Trine University) in Angola, Ind., but dropped out in his senior year for financial reasons during the Depression. After Army service in World War II, he worked as an auditor, an IRS agent and an agent for the North Carolina Department of Revenue. Mr. Ketner retired in the early 1990s and he was a philanthropist in North Carolina. Mr. Ketner is survived by two children and four grandchildren, according to Summersett Funeral Home in Salisbury. Read more Washington Post obituaries


Madam president? Ellen Johnson Sirleaf knows the job. Now she’d like some company.

Her place as one of the few women to attain the presidency has given her a reach far beyond her nation’s 4.5 million citizens. In Liberia she is known as “The Iron Lady” or “Ma Ellen,” but across the globe, Sirleaf has become symbolic of the burgeoning ascendancy of African women, a legacy for which she was awarded the Nobel Prize in 2011, along with two other female leaders. She drew an avid crowd Tuesday night to Politics & Prose bookstore, where she helped to promote a book by Riva Levinson, her longtime D.C. lobbyist, whose “Choosing the Hero” chronicles Sirleaf’s path to the presidency. At the reading, a man asked Sirleaf what she would tell the next U.S. president when “he takes office.” “She!” shouted the bookish audience, booing his use of the male pronoun. Naturally, Sirleaf is interested in the possibility of a woman taking the helm of the most powerful nation in the world. Sirleaf, at Politics & Prose bookstore Tuesday, has become a symbol of women’s rise to power far beyond her nation of 4.5 million people. (Nicholas Kamm/AFP/Getty Images) Sirleaf, at right, with fellow 2001 Nobel Peace Prize winners Leymah Gbowee, a Liberian peace activist, and Tawakkol Karman of Yemen. (Fredrik Varfjell/AP) “In Liberia — a country, by tradition, male-dominated over all the years of [its] existence — women have always played a lesser role, an unimportant role,” Sirleaf says flatly. “My coming into leadership gave women much more of their own power.” Sirleaf, who has a master’s degree in public administration from Harvard and served as a government minister in the 1970s before a coup forced her into exile for several years, ran for president with a reputation as an unflappable technocrat. In the final year of her second six-year term, one would expect her to feel free to express herself — but Sirleaf was initially reluctant to weigh in on the complicated mess of the 2016 U.S. presidential race. (“I didn’t want to get into politics,” she demurs when asked about it.) Still, her facial expressions do not mask her feelings very well. Allowing that the world expects the next U.S. president to “be presidential,” she frowns a little and raises her eyebrows, without actually uttering Donald Trump’s name. Later, she notes that Hillary Clinton is a friend, someone she has been able to personally call. Clinton, in turn, has pointed to the


The British will choose their own destiny

the EU. Cameron says leaving the E.U. is unnecessary because Britain has rejected membership in the euro-zone currency and is not bound by the E.U.’s open-borders policy. Advocates of “Brexit” reply that if the common currency and open borders, both crucial attributes of the E.U., are defects, why remain? Cameron says leaving the E.U. would be imprudent for security reasons. Wielding the fallacy of the false alternative, he says those who favor leaving the E.U. favor “going it alone” and “isolationism.” They respond that Britain out of the E.U. would remain Europe’s foremost military power. When Cameron recalls “war in the Balkans and genocide on our continent in Srebrenica,” Leave advocates note that the E.U. had nothing to do with suppressing this, which fell to NATO and especially the United States, neither of which would be diminished by Britain leaving the E.U. Cameron invokes The Remain camp correctly says that Britain is richer and more rationally governed than when European unification began. The Leave camp, however, correctly responds that this is largely in spite of the E.U. — it is because of decisions made by British governments, particularly Margaret Thatcher’s, in what is becoming a shrinking sphere of national autonomy. In 1988, Thatcher said Before the Roman came to Rye or out to Severn strode, The rolling English drunkard made the rolling English road. In politics, sensibility is prior to and inseparable from philosophy. The referendum will record, among other things, the strength of the revulsion many people here feel about a multiculturalism that celebrates every permutation of identity — except that of nationality. This is a transatlantic revulsion. What Daniel Patrick Moynihan, an Irish American and Anglophile, called “the liberal expectancy” is the belief that the rise of reason and science would mean the waning of pre-modern forces such as religion, ethnicity and even nationality, which would be regarded as an anachronistic tribalism. British voters, who may be as weary as many Americans are of constantly being told that they cannot “turn back the clock” and that history’s centralizing ratchet has clicked irreversibly too many times, might soon say otherwise. Read more from George F. Will’s archive or follow him on Facebook. Read more on this topic: George F. Will: An independence day for Britain? George F. Will: The ‘Brexit’ referendum is the most important vote in Europe in a half-century Robert J. Samuelson: Britain flirts with economic insanity


D.C. community events

Correction: Thursday, June 2 Reflecting Pool memorials Anansi Tales with Barefoot Puppets Washington Cathedral behind the scenes Spring garden tours Therapeutic Yoga Classes Cooking demonstration: Summer sweets Tidal Basin memorials Tour: Nature in motion Writing Your Truth “Amending America” exhibition talk Sculpture Gallery tours Manga madness Paris’s Bloody Week: May 21-28, 1871 Lego build day After-school workshops “Shear Madness” American roots music: Bob Margolin Game night at the library Cemetery twilight tour Yoga at Northwest One “District Merchants” Thomas Geoghegan’s “Monticello” “Hedda Gabler” “The Miser” “Ocean’s Eleven” Friday, June 3 AARP driver safety class U.S. Department of Agriculture’s farmers market Children’s music time Baby and toddler story time Preschool story time Bilingual Spanish story time Children’s safety seats and belts inspection U.S. Air Force Band concert Noon garden tour Hawaii: Botanical Paradise in the Middle of the Sea Pipe organ concert Move, Learn, Create Preschool and toddler story time Working from the figure, drop-in figure drawing Friday ARTnights: Knit and Sip Deanna Bogart The Evening Parade began in 1934 and features the Silent Drill Platoon, the U.S. Marine Band, the U.S. Marine Corps Drum and Bugle Corps, and two marching companies. (U.S.Marine Corps) U.S. Marines on Parade Saturday, June 4 “Monkey Tales” ESL Conversation circle Practice with love yoga gatherings Historic Congressional Cemetery tour Yoga at your library Trading card meetup Portrait Story Days “Tim’s Vermeer” Stress Reducing With the “Be Happy” Swami Ranger talk: France 1944 Dupont-Kalorama Museum Walk African Marketplace Culkin School of Traditional Irish Dance Washington Jewish Music Festival Sunday, June 5 Palisades farmers market Bombardier recalls D-Day New American Garden: Symbol of Freedom and Diversity Cathedral close-up tour: Copper flowers: an artistic and botanical journey Soothing Sunday yoga STEAM team Martin Luther King Jr. Library, 901 G St. NW. 202-727-1248. mlkjrlibrary@dc.gov. Free. Art talk: jeweler Don Friedlich Pipe organ concert U.S. Navy Band concert Monday, June 6 Baby and toddler story time Viniyoga with Robin Awareness through movement Youth chess club Let’s speak English Mondays and Wednesdays at 6 p.m. Mount Pleasant Library, 3160 16th St. NW. 202-671-3121. mtpleasantlibrary@dc.gov. Free. Yoga mortis Zumba at Southwest Library “Hair of the Dog” EuroAsia Shorts U.S. Navy Band jazz concert Tuesday, June 7 African American sailors before 1815 Rhythm and rhyme Toddler story time Tenley-Friendship Library, 4450 Wisconsin Ave. NW. 202-727-1488. tenleylibrary@dc.gov. Free tickets distributed 30 minutes before the story time start. Chair yoga classes Classical music concert Eclectic


Ireland’s fear of the Brexit

and Estonians, Hungarians and Romanians, or Irish for that matter, living and working in the republic being able to continue commuting to jobs in Northern Ireland. Theresa Villiers, Britain’s secretary for Northern Ireland who has joined the Brexit camp, had the nerve to say that in the event of a Brexit the border between Ireland and Northern Ireland would remain unchanged. “That’s simply not true,” said an Irish diplomat, who spoke in an interview on condition of anonymity. “Border controls of some sort will be introduced.” In fact, in strictly legal E.U. terms, Brexit would mean that the Northern Ireland-Irish border would represent an external border to the E.U. As an E.U. member, Ireland would be required to protect its border. As for trade, a Brexit would mean ending the E.U.’s free flow of capital and goods between Ireland and Britain and between Northern Ireland and the republic. Establishing border controls would also mean reintroducing customs controls — as well as smuggling and criminality. Even though Ireland has benefited enormously from joining the E.U. in 1973 (at the same time as Britain) and has diversified its export markets, in Europe Britain is still its biggest trading partner. Hence the economic fallout from Brexit. A joint report by Ireland’s Economic and Social Research Institute and the Department of Finance makes sober reading. “A Brexit would reduce bilateral trade flows between Ireland and the UK by 20 per cent or more,” it states. Bilateral trade at present amounts to 1 billion euros a week (about $1.1 billion). With the expected reduction in trade, economists reckon the negative impact on gross domestic product could be about 1.5 percent. The knock-on effect on an economy slowly emerging from its own euro crisis is easy to see. Then there’s the stability issue. Brexit would give pro-Europe Scotland the green light to hold another referendum about its future inside the United Kingdom. “It would be the unraveling of Britain,” a senior Irish diplomat said on condition of anonymity. “Scotland would want its say about its future in Europe.” In Northern Ireland, the unionists are split over Britain remaining in the E.U. while Sinn Fein, the political wing of the provisional Irish Republican Army, opposes Brexit. And not only that. Were Brexit to happen, Sinn Fein leader Martin McGuinness said there would be a “democratic imperative” to allow people on the island of Ireland to vote on


Cyclist Tejay van Garderen is first U.S. athlete to pull out of Rio because of Zika

want to take any chances. . . . If anything were to happen, I couldn’t live with myself.” Van Garderen, who represented the United States at the 2012 London Olympics and has twice finished fifth in the Tour de France, was considered a leading candidate for one of two spots on Team USA for the cycling road events. He is the first American athlete known to have withdrawn from consideration for Rio over concerns with Zika, a disease that has been linked to a severe birth defect called microcephaly, marked by unusually small heads and often underdeveloped brains. Golfers Marc Leishman of Australia and Vijay Singh of Fiji have said they also would pass on the Olympics because of Zika. Brazil is the epicenter of Zika, which is transmitted mainly by mosquitoes but also can be transmitted by sexual blood-to-blood contact. There is no vaccine or treatment for the virus, which has been associated with paralysis and blindness in addition to the severe birth defects. The van Garderens are expecting their second child in October. USA Cycling spokesman Kevin Loughery confirmed van Garderen’s decision in an email message Thursday. Loughery also provided a statement from van Garderen saying, “Although the risks [are] minimal and precautions can be taken . . . I don’t want to risk bringing anything back that could potentially have an effect.” Van Garderen’s announcement comes amid increasing worldwide anxiety over an Olympics being held in an active Zika zone, with upward of half a billion people expected to travel to Brazil for the Games. Last week, a group of 150 medical and health experts called for the Olympics to be postponed or moved out of Rio because of Zika. The World Health Organization later said there is “no public health justification” for such a decision but reiterated its warning that pregnant women should not travel to Zika-infested areas, including Rio, and that pregnant women’s sex partners should practice safe sex or abstain throughout the pregnancy. Also on Thursday, according to the Associated Press, representatives of the Rio Olympics addressed the executive board members of the International Olympic Committee in Lausanne, Switzerland, and argued the risk of Zika would be greatly reduced during the Games because August falls during Brazil’s winter. Carlos Nuzman, head of the Rio de Janeiro Olympics organizing committee, said Zika posed “no public health risk” that would warrant moving or postponing the Olympics.


Obama warns against isolationism and vows to defend the nation

President Obama delivers a commencement address at the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs on June 2. (Brennan Linsley/AP) COLORADO SPRINGS — During a commencement speech delivered at the U.S. Air Force Academy here, Obama singled out for criticism those who have suggested that the United States is in decline or that its military has grown weaker. “Here’s a fact: The United States of America remains the most powerful nation on Earth and a force for good,” he said. The president made clear that his concerns about American overreach and his caution when it comes to deploying U.S. ground troops does not signal a hesitation to defend the country. Beginning with al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, Obama read off a list of terrorist leaders who have been killed on his watch in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Syria, Somalia, Libya and Yemen. He concluded with the death of Akhtar Mohammad Mansour, the Taliban leader killed last month in a drone strike in Pakistan. “All gone,” he said of those he had ordered killed. “The list goes on. Because if you target America, we will find you and we will defend our nation.” Much of his speech described U.S. global obligations and the limits of American military power. The president described the large crowds during his visit last week to Vietnam, with people lining the streets in Hanoi and waving American flags to greet his motorcade. And he spoke of the never-ending demands on American leadership in a world where terrorism, disease and climate change pose real threats. He criticized Republicans who he said have come to view every treaty as a threat to American sovereignty, and he cautioned against calls from Donald Trump, the likely Republican presidential nominee, to renegotiate or withdraw from trade deals. “We can not turn inward. We cannot give in to isolationism,” Obama said. “That is a false comfort.” Obama came to office promising to end American involvement in wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, but as he nears the end of his second term, the United States is still fighting al-Qaeda and the metastasizing Islamic State in countries around the globe. But gone are the days of large numbers of U.S. troops patrolling villages in Afghanistan and Iraq or trying to rebuild those fractured countries. Today there are fewer than 15,000 American troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, down from 180,000 when Obama took office. The president has ordered


Hard-boiled cops of Afghan major crimes unit up against ‘ocean’ of lawbreaking

The Major Crimes Task Force investigates cases from inside a discreet government warehouse tucked in the outskirts of Kabul. The team is part of an effort by Afghan President Ashraf Ghani to deliver a better sense of security to Afghans in government-controlled areas. (Antonio Olivo/TWP) KABUL — There’s the sharply dressed detective, guzzling pomegranate energy drinks while working into the night to nail the crooked cop suspected of selling off $140,000 worth of fuel meant for Afghan troops on the Taliban front lines. There’s the team’s savvy but beleaguered boss, navigating a shark’s den of Kabul power brokers — some of whom the task force happens to be investigating for theft and bribery — in his efforts to get cases prosecuted and his 130 men more resources. And, on the sidelines, there are the international donors, who watch with guarded hope as the FBI-designed team — once nearly dismantled for being ineffective — has become a central part of President Ashraf Ghani’s vow to reform the nation’s criminal justice system and give Afghans a much-yearned-for sense of security. “We are like eagles; we’re waiting for our prey,” said Afghan National Police General Abdul Ghayor Andarabi, the task force boss. He was recently appointed to lead the team after it focused for years on what one NATO official disdainfully characterized as “stolen-license-plate cases.” With Ghani shifting resources to focus more on the corruption he called “our national shame” in a speech in May, Andarabi proclaimed that his team could take down much of Afghanistan’s criminal underworld if it could only get new wiretap kits, button cameras, machines for lifting evidence from a suspect’s phone and, mainly, more manpower. “We need resources,” the stocky general said inside a cavernous government warehouse on Kabul’s outskirts that serves as the task force’s headquarters. “We have been told we have full support from top officials. We’ll see if that happens in practice.” NATO officials, at least, want that. They plan to highlight the Major Crimes Task Force at an international summit on Afghanistan to be held in July in Warsaw, where they will seek commitments for $4 billion more in annual security funding through 2020. That summit, plus another one scheduled for October in Brussels that will address about $3 billion requested for Afghan reconstruction funds, may be Afghanistan’s last chance for significant aid from an international community frustrated by the lack of successes after


OPEC fails to reach deal on oil strategy amid simmering Saudi Arabia-Iran feud

is no reason to expect that Saudi Arabia is going to go on a flooding campaign.” — Reuters AUTOMOTIVE 1.9 million GM vehicles recalled over air bags General Motors announced its largest recall of Takata air-bag inflators yet, but the nation’s biggest automaker said the parts are unique to its trucks and SUVs and do not pose a safety risk. The government’s highway-safety agency disagrees. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said GM must proceed with two recalls adding up to 1.9 million trucks from the 2007 through 2011 model years. The recalls were unveiled Thursday along with those from six other automakers totaling 4.4 million vehicles. They are part of the first round of a massive Takata recall expansion announced in May. A total of 17 automakers are adding 35 million to 40 million inflators to what already was the largest auto recall in U.S. history. Takata inflators can malfunction and spew shrapnel into drivers and passengers when exposed to humidity and repeated hot-and-cold cycles. GM said it would begin the recall process in cooperation with the NHTSA even though it said it does not believe inflators in its trucks are unsafe. The company said no inflators in its trucks have ruptured during an estimated 44,000 crashes or in testing of returned inflators. It said the inflators were uniquely made for GM trucks and SUVs. — Associated Press Also in Business ● Walmart is testing drones that it says will help it manage its warehouse inventory more efficiently and could be rolled out within six to nine months across its distribution centers. The move is another sign of how the nation’s largest retailer is seeking to compete against online leader Amazon.com, which is testing drones to deliver packages. Walmart says using the drones enables it to check inventory in about a day or less, instead of the month that it takes manually. ● Authorities in the Netherlands raided several locations and seized cash and hundreds of thousands of fraudulent letters in an investigation into worldwide mail scams that U.S. law enforcement said defrauded “elderly and vulnerable” Americans out of tens of millions of dollars. The scams involved sending letters to people telling them they had won or could win lottery or other prizes and could get their winnings by sending a processing fee or by buying goods or services. Authorities made no arrests, but the investigation is ongoing. Prosecutors