News for Degenerates, Vol. 4: Va. may never have casinos, doesn’t want jobs, revenue

(a Hampton Roads study said 85 percent of adults approve of casino gaming). No one is forced to go to a casino, and the perceived negatives of casinos (increased crime and bankruptcies) are proven false. The perhaps millions of Virginians who might enjoy a night at the tables, or the slots, are denied by religious groups ever vigilant to battle those whose morals differ from theirs, and conservative legislators uninterested in the views of the majority. Virginia’s General Assembly has gone so far as to pass a resolution in 2003 calling on another state, Maryland, to turn down gambling so as not to tempt us poor ignorant Virginians, duLac reports. Del. Bob Marshall (R-NoVa) told duLac he actually hand-delivered the resolution to the Maryland speaker. It is indisputable that casinos create many jobs and also pay hundreds of millions in taxes annually which can be used for education. And Virginia’s legislature has drastically reduced funding of public education at all levels. At the college level, Virginia reduced spending by 18 percent at four-year institutions between 1992 and 2010, and the state ranks 40th nationwide in higher education funding, the State Council for Higher Education for Virginia reports. The average per student appropriation in Virginia is $1,254 lower than the national average. In grades K-12, Virginia has reduced spending by 11 percent since 2008. NBC Washington reports that the average school teacher in Virginia makes $15,000 less than their counterpart in Maryland. Do casinos create an army of gambling addicts? The 40 states currently offering casinos have not found this. The most definitive studies done on gambling’s impact have found that a little more than one percent of the population with access to casinos can be classified as “pathological gamblers.” I would guess the percentage of the population who can be classified as alcoholics, or drug addicts, or cigarette smokers is much higher. Numerous well-researched studies have found no connection between casinos and bankruptcy rates. Casinos themselves are not dangerous because they are rigorously self-policed, and organized crime hasn’t made a dent in the ownership of casinos because of the intense state regulation. The two most definitive studies done on the impact of legalized gambling were done more than a decade ago. Congress formed the National Gambling Impact Study Commission, which issued a lengthy report in 1999. The following year, in response to a request from our own Rep. Frank Wolf


The real danger of loose nuclear materials is accidents, not dirty bombs

A piece of the cargo stolen from a truck hauling dangerous radioactive materials. (CNSNS via AP) Lethal radioactive material spent two days on the loose in Mexico, when hijackers stole a truckload of the highly dangerous metal cobalt-60 as it was in transit from a hospital to a secure storage facility. The incident certainly sounds scary – radioactive materials seized by criminals in a country struggling with violent drug cartels, not to mention the implicit threat of terrorism. It turns out that such incidents are alarmingly common, with more than 20 thefts or losses of nuclear materials in 2012 alone. Should we be panicked? Or is this no big deal? I put those questions to Mark Hibbs, a senior associate at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace's nuclear policy program and a coolheaded analyst of all things nuclear risk. There is some cause for alarm, he told me, but not for the reasons we might immediately expect. It turns out that the greatest risk may be that unwitting locals in poorer communities could be poisoned or burned, rather than criminals or terrorists using the materials to make a bomb. Dirty bombs are probably not a big risk. We probably do not need to be worried about cobalt-60 or something like it being used to make a dirty bomb. "Theoretically it would be possible," Hibbs explained, "but there is one drawback. The stuff is incredibly hot. You could get a fatal dose in something like minutes if you hold it in your hand." And cobalt is a metal. Anyone who wanted to use it for a bomb would have to somehow crush or process it; doing that without immediately suffering fatal radiation poisoning would require sophisticated lab equipment and expertise. "Could someone do that? If they were well prepared and organized, the answer is probably yes," Hibbs acknowledged. "But the point is that you don’t make a 'dirty bomb' with cobalt-60 by simply grabbing a chunk of the metal and wrapping some plastic explosives around it. If you do that, you'll most likely poison or kill yourself and you won't likely effectively disperse the cobalt." The real danger: Simple accidents. The scenario Hibbs seems most worried about isn't a TV-ready plot about a dirty bomb or other large-scale attack. It's an accident borne of poor safety practices and too-scant public awareness of the dangers of nuclear materials. It may not sound


Read the most important speech Nelson Mandela ever gave

necessary to build up a nucleus of men trained in civil administration and other professions, so that Africans would be equipped to participate in the government of this country as soon as they were allowed to do so. At this stage it was decided that I should attend the Conference of the Pan-African Freedom Movement for Central, East, and Southern Africa, which was to be held early in 1962 in Addis Ababa, and, because of our need for preparation, it was also decided that, after the conference, I would undertake a tour of the African States with a view to obtaining facilities for the training of soldiers, and that I would also solicit scholarships for the higher education of matriculated Africans. Training in both fields would be necessary, even if changes came about by peaceful means. Administrators would be necessary who would be willing and able to administer a non-racial State and so would men be necessary to control the army and police force of such a State. It was on this note that I left South Africa to proceed to Addis Ababa as a delegate of the ANC. My tour was a success. Wherever I went I met sympathy for our cause and promises of help. All Africa was united against the stand of White South Africa, and even in London I was received with great sympathy by political leaders, such as Mr. Gaitskell and Mr. Grimond. In Africa I was promised support by such men as Julius Nyerere, now President of Tanganyika; Mr. Kawawa, then Prime Minister of Tanganyika; Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia; General Abboud, President of the Sudan; Habib Bourguiba, President of Tunisia; Ben Bella, now President of Algeria; Modibo Keita, President of Mali; Leopold Senghor, President of Senegal; Sekou Toure, President of Guinea; President Tubman of Liberia; and Milton Obote, Prime Minister of Uganda. It was Ben Bella who invited me to visit Oujda, the Headquarters of the Algerian Army of National Liberation, the visit which is described in my diary, one of the Exhibits. I started to make a study of the art of war and revolution and, whilst abroad, underwent a course in military training. If there was to be guerrilla warfare, I wanted to be able to stand and fight with my people and to share the hazards of war with them. Notes of lectures which I received in Algeria are contained


Right Proper Brewing Company will open Dec. 10 in Shaw

a play on the Latin term for hops, "humulus lupus." Zeender says it's like an IPA, but with five percent alcohol content. "You can have a few and not get too loopy." • Ornette is named after jazz musician Ornette Coleman, which rhymes with this style of beer, grisette. It's the first beer to come out of the brewery's open fermenter. In a few months, barrel brewed beers will be available as well. They're part of what Right Proper is calling its baroque beer program, and they're made with a custom-blended bacteria. They have to be kept in a separate, sealed room from the rest of Right Proper's operations to prevent contamination. The barrel room at Right Proper. (Maura Judkis/for The Post) The front portion of the brewpub shares a wall with what was formerly Frank Holiday's Pool Room, a former hangout of Duke Ellington. On that wall, Nico Amortegui, Cheston's brother-in-law, has painted a mural in tribute. Another mural by Patrick Owens features some of D.C.'s most beloved animals, like the giant pandas, engaging in a giant battle royale against the capital. The back of the brewpub is all new construction, and behind the bar, you can see rooms that contain the casks and brewing systems. "I wanted to avoid that paned glass that makes it look like a museum," Cheston said. "It's like you're outside looking into a building." Matt Richardson of 1905 is at the helm in the kitchen, where the entire menu has been developed to pair well with beer. Expect hearty, Southern-inspired fare, like chicken and dumplings, pimento grilled cheese and a take on a Chik-fil-A sandwich. Bar snacks include blueberry and jalapeno corn muffins, and fried chicken parts with a house-made mumbo sauce (for those following the gentrification of mumbo sauce: it's $7). Richardson is especially proud of the side dishes, which include whipped potatoes, squash fry and black-eyed pea succotash. "Instead of having an app, I encourage people to sit down with a cup of potato salad," Richardson said. Initially, the brewpub will only be open for dinner. All of the food on the menu, as well as growlers, will be available to go. Right Proper Brewing Company, 624 T St. NW. Artist Patrick Owens completes a mural of Washington D.C. under attack by animals at Right Proper. (Maura Judkis/for The Post) A mural at Right Proper Brewing Company. (Maura Judkis/for The Post)


The best sentences we read today

"Sequestration is the frozen body of Han Solo hanging on the Republicans’ palace wall." "The problem with the PlayStation 3 is that it never really made money." "At that point, discussion of 834s entered full freak-out mode." "Nobody’s counting the bodies.” "No cash, no gift cards are ever okay, as gifts from a donor, they're always 'No Way!'" "Why anyone would bring that much marijuana into the Pentagon is anyone's guess." "It’s pretty hard to spot porkers from that height, unless the pigs can fly, too." "In an attempt to explain foreigners' fixation with China's national symbol, the article observed that pandas are objectively 'adorable,' and also that the online broadcast of Tai Shan's birth may have led its many U.S. viewers to feel a connection to the cub."


The four physicists who upped D.C.’s Nobel game

THE REGION’S NOBEL MEN Masters of the Universe The Nobel Prize awards ceremony is set to take place in Stockholm on Dec. 10. While no locals will receive a medal this year, the region has been home to many past winners, including several presidents and Cabinet members who’ve scooped up the coveted Nobel Peace Prize. Yet among victors who were born or grew up here, physics reigns. Four of the region’s natives have snared the Nobel Prize in physics for their contributions to shared discoveries or inventions. So, sure, politicians might rule the world, but it’s our physicists who rule the universe. NOW TRENDING What’s In, What’s Out THIS SHOULD BE A THING Joinerd (noun) The Washington area is a haven for people who love joining stuff — book clubs, amateur sports leagues, you name it. Enlisting in a handful of groups to share interests and make friends is cool and all, but being a grown-up version of that kid who got on every page of the yearbook by singing up for all the clubs in school? That’s a joinerd (join + nerd): one who spends his or her free time furiously juggling a schedule over-packed with group activities. Are you one? Quick, join Joinerds Anonymous! Oh, wait … — This article appeared in Express Sunday, a new weekend publication from Washington Post Express. To get Express Sunday delivered to your home for free, sign up here.


Distinguished pols of the week

Magnitsky Act was inspired, in part, by the 1974 Jackson-Vanik Amendment, which tied U.S. trade relations to the right of free emigration, especially for Jews residing in the then-Soviet Union. Because of its success, Congress repealed Jackson-Vanik in 2012 and adopted instead the Magnitsky Act, updating the human rights agenda with regard to Russia. The Magnitsky Act builds upon the vaunted tradition of Jackson-Vanik, linking apparently disparate issues such as trade and human rights. The text of the Magnitsky Act stipulates that it applies to any Russian citizen “responsible for extrajudicial killings, torture, or other gross violations of internationally recognized human rights committed against individuals seeking…to obtain, exercise, defend, or promote internationally recognized human rights and freedoms, such as the freedoms of religion, expression, association, and assembly.” The law can clearly be used [to freeze foreign bank accounts and bar travel], then, against those vigilantes who have committed acts of violence against gay people or people perceived to be gay. While many of these vigilantes likely have no assets in foreign bank accounts, nor the intention of traveling to the West, they often act with either the explicit or implicit support of Russian officials, and so naming-and-shaming them could have a bottom-up effect in pressuring the Russian government. It could also increase tension in the system when Russian government officials feel compelled to either publicly denounce or defend such targets of Magnitsky list sanctions. This may help reveal and erode some of the plausible deniability that is built into Russia’s abuse of LGBT individuals. They raise the possibility the act could be used “against municipal government officials, such as city administrators in Moscow and St. Petersburg who have systematically denied gay rights activists the ability to hold peaceful demonstrations, as well as those police officials and officers who have routinely beaten demonstrators.” They then go on to name names. The vow: “The mistreatment of the LGBT community is rightly viewed as a canary in the coalmine: a warning that democracy has gone off the tracks. America and Europe will be watching before, during, and after the Olympics. Unlike the athletes, this issue will not go away when the lights in Sochi are out.” I’ve suggested world leaders (not athletes) say they won’t go to Sochi in solidarity with persecuted Russian gays. So for creative use of the law to further the cause of human rights, we say, well done, gentlemen.


Microsoft’s designation of U.S. government as a threat is ‘spot on,’ reader says

-- YOUR data. All with minimal oversight by a secretive court that acts outside the reach or view of the Americans that are supposedly being protected. The 4th Amendment is pretty clear: "The right of the people to be secure in their... papers, and effects... shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause..." There is (I believe!) no probable cause for the government to believe that my "papers and effects" are worthy of being violated. The people around me who use the services of Microsoft (or Apple, or Google, or Yahoo, or...) may fail the same test. And the government has the right (and even the duty) to go after that data. But it is not reasonable that in gathering the data of the "evil-doers" that the government should scoop up literally billions of records of Americans simply going about their daily lives. But reader OscarMayer2 believes there might be some ulterior motives to Microsoft's designation, saying: Microsoft, like Yahoo, Google and others have understood the real threat to their overseas businesses and loss of overseas markets from the recent Snowden revelations" and that the tech sector's The Tech Sector's recent indignation and criticism of Washington are primarily to reassure foreign customers that the tech sector is not an extension of US surveillance sector. Time will tell how well the tech sector succeeds in walking away from current perceptions of collusion, real or imagined. When Timothy B. Lee wrote about the possibility of the Supreme Court ruling on software patents, reader WCC123 responded by bringing up a little patent history, writing: When the Manhattan Project concluded, Richard Feynman sat down and made a list of all the things you could do with atomic power - which was really just a list of things that needed power plants, plus the statement "you could use an atomic power plant for that." He wound up the holder of a patent on atomic airplanes. Many software patents are like that - they take a known "something" and do it with a computer instead. That may once have been novel, but surely it no longer is. Note though that distinction is about novelty, not about the nature of software as math or not. There are things that can only be done with computers, which are being thought of for the first time, and which create genuinely useful outcomes and breakthroughs.


You are where you shop: What your grocery store says about you

Where did you go shopping this weekend? If you tend to vote Democrat, odds are you stocked up at Trader Joe’s or Whole Foods. If you call yourself a Republican, you were more likely to stock up at Wal-Mart or Costco. Independent voters are more likely to get their groceries at traditional grocery stores, like Food Lion, Publix or Albertson’s. That’s according to data compiled by Scarborough, the New York-based consumer research firm. The cross-referenced data show voters who always vote in local and statewide elections are more likely to shop at warehouse grocery stores, like Costco and Sam’s Club, and specialty grocery stores, like Trader Joe’s and Whole Foods. Those who don’t vote in local and statewide elections are more likely to get groceries from big box stores like Target and Wal-Mart. Of course, where you buy groceries is also a function of what grocery stores exist in your neighborhood. Iowans are going to shop at Hy-Vee, while Floridians are bound to stop off at Publix or Winn-Dixie on their way home. Northeasterners can choose from Giant, Stop & Shop or ShopRite; Californians and Westerners will be more familiar with Fresh & Easy, Safeway and Albertsons. Here’s where the country’s major grocery chains are located, according to Flowing Data, a map-making wizard who uses AggData numbers: Source: Flowing Data A few more facts from our friends at Scarborough: — The wealthier a household, the more likely its residents shop at a specialty grocery store. Households with incomes above $250,000 a year were more than twice as likely to shop at the more expensive specialty stores than the average consumer. — Teenagers must get expensive. Households with one or more teenagers were much more likely to shop at big box or warehouse stores than they were at specialty stores — all the better, presumably, to buy those mammoth boxes of cereal. — Younger shoppers like bigger stores. Millenials represent a larger share of big box customers than any other kind of shopping center. Generation X consumers, who are between 30 and 49, make up a larger portion of shoppers overall — meaning they’re more likely to be doing the shopping for a household. Baby Boomers, between 50-69, shop more at warehouse stores than at big boxes, while the Silent Generation, those over age 70, are most likely just to head to the traditional grocery store. Older shoppers are far less


Good news! Americans may be done deleveraging

American households rose in a quarter. The increase in mortgage debt in the third quarter of 2013, revealed in new data out from the Federal Reserve on Monday, isn't anything epic. The $10.3 billion increase is only about one-tenth of 1 percent. Personal income rose more than that in the quarter, which means the ratio of mortgage debt to incomes continued its long, gradual decline. This is actually one of the areas of progress in the economy over the last few years: A reduction in the burden of consumer debts: Source: Federal Reserve and BEA The decline in debt levels has a number of causes. Households have straight-up paid down mortgages and credit card balances during and since the recession. There have also been foreclosures and write-downs, as lenders accept that some credit extended in the pre-recession period will never be paid back. And, importantly, with credit standards tighter than they were in 2007 and before, plenty of people who in an earlier era would have taken out additional debts haven't been able to. So on the debt side of Americans' household balance sheets, things are looking good. Debt burdens continue to drift downward as a percentage of income even as more mortgage and other lending starts to take place. But the major deleveraging that has held back consumer spending for the last five years seems to have largely run its course. That's the liabilities side of Americans' household balance sheet. But what about their assets? Here the story is even better. Total assets for households and nonprofits are up more than $2 trillion in the third quarter, a 2.3 percent rise. About one fifth of that ($429 billion) is due to higher real estate values, which are broadly held by middle and upper income Americans. Another $917 billion, a 5.3 percent increase, was attributable to holdings of stocks and mutual funds, reflecting the runup in global stock markets over the last few months. Add it all up, and the net worth of American households and nonprofits rose to $77.3 trillion in the third quarter, from $69.6 trillion a year earlier and $59 trillion in 2009. Those are huge moves, driven by both falling debt burdens and a rising value of assets. Nobody would argue that the U.S. economy is in great shape. But Americans' household finances look a great deal better than they did just a few years ago.


PTSD rates similar among defense contractors and veterans, report says

Federal contractors who worked in war zones reported post-traumatic stress disorder and depression at rates similar to military personnel in a recent survey by the RAND Corporation. A U.S. Marine watches as a construction crew works on a a new base at Camp Letherneck in Afghanistan. (Photo by John Moore/Getty Images). Twenty-five percent of private contractors in the study met the criteria for PTSD, while 18 percent screened positive for depression. About half reported alcohol abuse. By comparison, the rates among service members who served in Iraq and Afghanistan are as high as 20 percent for PTSD, 37 percent for depression, and 39 percent for alcohol abuse, according to a 2013 analysis from the Institute of Medicine. The RAND survey covers a segment of the population rarely examined by experts. Only two studies have looked at the issue of health and well-being for contractors who worked in war zones, the study said. The report also highlights a need for post-service assistance for the contractor workforce, which lacks the type of support network provided to veterans. “The military has programs before, during and after deployment to help service members address deployment-related mental health problems,” said RAND health-policy researcher Carrie Farmer, who co-authored the study. “The majority of contractors we surveyed reported that they did not have access to similar resources.” Despite those findings, the report also noted that 84 percent of the private-sector workers responding to the survey were former military personnel, meaning they may qualify for certain benefits from the Department of Veterans Affairs. RAND, a nonprofit research group, said it conducted an anonymous online survey of 660 people who served in conflict zones for private-sector employers between early 2011 and early 2013. Defense Department contractors outnumbered U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan during the height of the conflicts in those two countries, the report said. Nearly 156,000 private-sector employees worked in Iraq alongside 152,000 service members in 2008, while about 94,000 contractors were deployed in Afghanistan with roughly 92,000 troops in 2010, according to the study. Follow Josh Hicks on Twitter, Facebook or Google+. Connect by e-mail at josh.hicks@washpost.com. Visit The Federal Eye, The Fed Page and Post Politics for more federal news.


It was illegal for Amazon to shoot that drone video in the U.S., so it went abroad

(Amazon.com) When Jeffrey P. Bezos revealed to CBS's Charlie Rose that Amazon.com was planning for a fleet of whirring octocopters to deliver everyone's next iPhone case, the video that went along with it showed a prototype drone rising lazily off the ground and floating across green, open fields to reach its destination. It could've been anywhere — sunny California, maybe, or somewhere near Seattle. But it was actually neither of those places. Turns out it wasn't even in the United States. Spokespeople for Amazon and the Federal Aviation Administration have confirmed that the company chose an international location for its concept video after FAA restrictions prevented them from shooting here. Exactly which lucky country got a cameo is still a mystery; neither official would talk specifics. Drone policy watchers say Canada would have been an attractive option — it's not far from Amazon's home base, Seattle, and the rules governing unmanned aircraft are a little more relaxed there. "I can also imagine maybe a small eastern European country being a good candidate," says Timothy Reuter, who heads the DC Area Drone User Group. The fact that Amazon had to leave the country to make the video underscores how slowly U.S. officials have embraced the policy challenge. It also offers a concrete example of what the country stands to lose, as the market for civil drone use picks up globally. They've been criticized before for lagging on their new set of drone guidelines; it won't be until 2015 that the FAA finally integrates small drones into the national airspace, with full-on commercial drones getting addressed sometime later, according to a governmental plan released last month. The current regime makes exceptions for hobbyists and those who receive a special certificate from the FAA. Sometime before the end of the month, the agency is expected to announce a number of test sites it'll use to assess the impact of unmanned vehicles on safety and security. Disclosure: Jeffrey P. Bezos, founder and chief executive of Amazon.com, owns The Washington Post.


The best innovations of 2013

Francisco in 30 minutes or less. The whole multi-billion-dollar transportation system would be solar-powered, earthquake-resistant and pod-based, giving travelers a welcome alternative to traditional forms of transportation. That is, if the Hyperloop ever gets built. And Elon Musk wasn’t done with the Hyperloop. His Tesla Motors electric-powered cars continued to make headlines throughout the year, earning him rave reviews around the world. Buoyed by Musk’s success in championing futuristic new forms of transportation, a group of auto manufacturers led by Toyota recently unveiled the latest form of carbon-free transportation — hydrogen-powered cars — at auto shows in Los Angeles and Tokyo. These hydrogen-powered cars that could make their way to market as soon as 2015. A X47-B lands on an aircraft carrier. (Steve Helber/Associated Press) 3. The military outsourced war to the machines. As part of a long-term military strategy to extend its war-fighting capabilities to anywhere on the globe without the need for the involvement of its soldiers, the Pentagon showcased two big projects in 2013: the X47B stealth fighter drone and the new DARPA Atlas robots. The military already had its drones, of course, but the X47B moved the bar even higher when it became the first-ever fighter jet capable of taking off and landing from aircraft carriers on its own. Oh, and the X47B is also capable of carrying lethal payloads and dropping them on enemy positions, all without the need for a human operator even to manipulate a joystick. The Atlas robots Maastricht University professor Mark Post holds the world’s first lab-grown beef burger. (David ParryAFP photo/Press Association) 4. Scientists got serious about solving the world’s future food problems. A team of scientists, backed by $330,000 in funding from Google’s Sergey Brin, successfully grew a five-ounce burger patty solely from cow stem cells, hinting at a future where all of our food could be grown inside a laboratory. According to a panel of taste tasters assembled in London, the burger may have been a bit on the dry and chewy side, but that’s nothing that a little mustard and ketchup couldn’t solve. Especially considering the beneficial effect that these lab-grown burgers might have on our ability to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and water use in the future. And, if lab-grown beef isn’t your thing, what about 3D-printed beef? Billionaire Peter Thiel is backing a venture, Modern Meadow, to 3D-print beef using narrow sheets of cells. One


Opening of David M. Rubenstein Gallery at National Archives delayed — again

Workers put finishing touches on the David M. Rubenstein Gallery at the National Archives. The gallery’s permanent “Records of Rights” exhibition includes a copy of the Magna Carta. (Bonnie Jo Mount/The Washington Post) First the shutdown — now the snow. Tuesday’s grand opening of the David M. Rubenstein Gallery at the National Archives was postponed on account of the weather, adding yet another delay to the Archives’ long-anticipated museum-expansion project. In October, the Foundation for the National Archives announced that construction of the 3,500-square-foot gallery was on hiatus due to the government shutdown. The opening — originally scheduled for Nov. 8 — was pushed back by a month and two days. Then, the weather happened. “They’ve been having bad luck,” said Chelsea Beroza, a spokeswoman for the foundation. The public opening is now scheduled for 2 p.m. Wednesday, following a media preview. The National Archives’s research rooms and museum are closed today. The David M. Rubenstein Gallery was built to house the new “Records of Rights” exhibition, which will focus on human rights and the ideals of freedom. The exhibition’s centerpiece is a copy of the 1297 Magna Carta that’s on long-term loan from Rubenstein, the Washington financier-philanthropist. Rubenstein donated $13.5 for the project, which received matching federal funds. “People began to say, ‘Why don’t we have a separate gallery where we talk about the struggle for freedom and equality this country has gone through?’ ” Rubenstein said in a recent interview with The Post. “The Magna Carta inspired people to feel that they had certain rights that were a part of their inalienable rights.” David S. Ferriero, archivist of the United States, told my colleague Lonnae O’Neal Parker that the gallery will allow the National Archives to “show not only the impact of that document on our own rights but also to display three areas of rights that we’ve never had the space to display before. We hold these records so people can use them to hold their government accountable and track how decisions were made. There isn’t any other place in the city that has that repository.” Thomas Heath contributed to this report.


Snow day specials and happy hours (and a few things you can’t do)

It's a snow day across the region, with schools, universities and local and federal governments closed. We'll update this post throughout the day with weather-related closings and, of course, food and drink specials for those enjoying a day of leisure. Want to add to this list? E-mail goingoutguide@washpost.com. School and government storm closings MYERSVILLE, MD - DECEMBER 10: A snow covered fence and gate left open are seen at a farm on December 10, 2013 in Myersville, Md. (Photo by Ricky Carioti/The Washington Post) [Last update: 3:45 p.m.] Food and drink: • Weekday brunches for the not-entirely-snowed-in Washingtonian. (Which is all of you.) • Want to get the kids out of the house? Argonaut offers a kids-eat-free deal from noon to 3 p.m. today -- plus $2 beers for adults -- while Ireland's Four Courts lets the kids eat free until 7 p.m. with the purchase of adult entrees. • Places that have opened early for lunch and day-drinking include the Black Squirrel, the Blaguard, Cobalt, Kangaroo Boxing Club, the Pug and the Queen Vic. • It's line-cleaning day at Meridian Pint, which means the bar will not be open before 5 p.m. Happy hours Bearnaise BLT Steak Bullfeathers Eat the Rich Ceiba Fuego Cocina Hill Country Jack Rose Dining Saloon Lou's City Bar Mason Inn Piola Trummer's on Main Vinoteca Things you can't do Tuesday: • The National Geographic Museum is closed, and tonight's "Risk, Fail, Explore" event is canceled. • The National Gallery of Art is closed. • The National Zoo is closed. All other Smithsonian properties are open. • The National Building Museum is closed. • Mount Vernon is closed. • The museum at the National Archives is closed. • The matinee performance of "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner" at Arena Stage has been moved to Friday. • Kid-friendly Imagination Stage in Bethesda is closed. • The National Museum of Women in the Arts is closed. • Dumbarton Oaks Museum is closed. • Capitol Hill Arts Workshop is closed.


NSA uses Google cookies to pinpoint targets for hacking

A slide from an internal NSA presentation indicating that the agency uses at least one Google cookie as a way to identify targets for exploitation. (Washington Post) The National Security Agency is secretly piggybacking on the tools that enable Internet advertisers to track consumers, using "cookies" and location data to pinpoint targets for government hacking and to bolster surveillance. The agency's internal presentation slides, provided by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden, show that when companies follow consumers on the Internet to better serve them advertising, the technique opens the door for similar tracking by the government. The slides also suggest that the agency is using these tracking techniques to help identify targets for offensive hacking operations. For years, privacy advocates have raised concerns about the use of commercial tracking tools to identify and target consumers with advertisements. The online ad industry has said its practices are innocuous and benefit consumers by serving them ads that are more likely to be of interest to them. The revelation that the NSA is piggybacking on these commercial technologies could shift that debate, handing privacy advocates a new argument for reining in commercial surveillance. According to the documents, the NSA and its British counterpart, GCHQ, are using the small tracking files or "cookies" that advertising networks place on computers to identify people browsing the Internet. The intelligence agencies have found particular use for a part of a Google-specific tracking mechanism known as the “PREF” cookie. These cookies typically don't contain personal information, such as someone's name or e-mail address, but they do contain numeric codes that enable Web sites to uniquely identify a person's browser. In addition to tracking Web visits, this cookie allows NSA to single out an individual's communications among the sea of Internet data in order to send out software that can hack that person's computer. The slides say the cookies are used to "enable remote exploitation," although the specific attacks used by the NSA against targets are not addressed in these documents. The NSA's use of cookies isn't a technique for sifting through vast amounts of information to find suspicious behavior; rather, it lets NSA home in on someone already under suspicion - akin to when soldiers shine laser pointers on a target to identify it for laser-guided bombs. Separately, the NSA is also using commercially gathered information to help it locate mobile devices around the world, the documents show.


A galactic-size photobook for the aspiring space traveler

Courtesy of Quercus. If you’ve got an aspiring space traveler in the family, this could be the ultimate gift (short of a $250,000 seat on Virgin Galactic). “Cosmos,” by Giles Sparrow (Quercus, $99), is a spectacular tour of our galaxy — and beyond. Thoroughly updated with over 450 new color photographs and illustrations, it’s a Jupiter-size book that weighs in at 10 pounds. Everything about “Cosmos” seems designed to inspire galactic awe — from its black satin covers and star-sparkly slipcase to its archival paper. But its the rich 13” x 17” photographs inside that will hypnotize you. Here’s the hellish surface of Venus created from data from the Magellan mission. Here’s a photo of Saturn’s little moon Enceladus in such close detail that it looks like an old aspirin tablet. (Sparrow notes that some astronomers believe it “may be the most likely haven for life elsewhere in the solar system.”) Soon the book moves light years away from Earth, offering up pages that explode with Hubble photos of stars, nebula and galaxies — some reproduced on double-spreads that are almost 30” wide. One gee-whiz innovation in this new edition of “Cosmos” is the inclusion of related videos. Once you’ve downloaded the free QuercusEye app, you can hold your smartphone over 14 of the pages and immediately see short video clips of the stars and galaxies in action. (My iPhone 5 crashed frequently when using this app, but, in any case, I didn’t find the videos as compelling as the book itself.) I don’t know where I’ll ever be able to shelve it; for now it’s taking up most of the dining room table, and that’s just fine. COSMOS: Aurasma


News sites could protect your privacy with encryption. Here’s why they probably won’t.

The Washington Post home page, which does not use encryption. (WashingtonPost.com) "I've basically been trying to bribe media organizations at this point to turn on SSL," jokes Christopher Soghoian, the principal technologist and a senior policy analyst at the ACLU's Speech, Privacy and Technology Project. "I have an open offer right now to the technical teams of news organizations: Two bottles of whiskey to anyone who will turn on SSL for their viewers." When you browse the Web, you leave a trail of digital bread crumbs. But if you visit a Web address that starts with "https," your browser shows a lock icon, indicating that you are being protected with SSL encryption. That stops governments, corporations and hackers from learning which pages you're reading on the site. With allegations of NSA snooping making headlines on a nearly weekly basis -- and reports highlighting the NSA's use of commercial tracking mechanisms -- privacy advocates argue it's past time for major media organizations to protect their customers' privacy using SSL encryption by default. Web giants such as Google and Facebook have already made the switch to automatic SSL for many of their services. But so far, no major media organizations have done so. That's perhaps largely due to concerns about the added expense and effort of getting third-party advertising and content delivery systems to implement the security protocol. Still, only one of the five media organizations I reached out to on the issue, technology news site Ars Technica, provided an on-the-record comment by press time. What news reading habits can reveal "This is as basic as it gets in privacy," Soghoian argues. "I think many of us would think the government has no business knowing which books you are checking out from the library, and this is the same thing -- they have no business knowing which articles you are reading online." Kevin Bankston, policy director at the New America Foundation's Open Technology Institute, agrees with Soghoian. "Encrypting Web traffic regardless of the type of service you offer should be the norm going forward," he says, but it's particularly important for news organizations, given the sensitive nature of reading habits. A recent report indicated that the National Security Agency had monitored the pornography consumption habits of individuals they considered "radicalizers." "If the NSA is monitoring which porn sites people are going to, they're certainly monitoring which news sites people are going to


Why Vladimir Putin is WorldViews’ Person of the Year

and other heads of state declared their support for the fugitive, Putin played them all, teasing them with hints and half-statements about Snowden's fate. It eventually became clear that Snowden would stay in Russia indefinitely – probably the inevitable outcome – but not until Putin had forced a dozen different nations to treat Russia like the great power it once was. This Russian habit of what has been termed both "geopolitical racketeering" and "foreign policy photobombing" appears likely to continue into the foreseeable future. Russia is already trying to extract something for itself from the ongoing Iranian nuclear negotiations, as I noted in an article highlighting Lavrov's perhaps unique ability for geopolitical trolling. Of course, Putin's most important role in 2013 has been within the domestic Russian political sphere, where he's further curtailed political freedoms, civil rights and political competition -- all of it to significant, if negative, consequence for Russia and its 144 million citizens. He's done this in part by infusing his increasingly authoritarian rule with a particular flavor of right-leaning nationalism, with elements of xenophobia and social conservatism. Americans will be most familiar with the January law banning U.S. families from adopting Russian orphans, which played up Russian fears that Americans want to steal and abuse their children, as well as the infamous law banning "gay propaganda." Members of the politically dissident performance art group Pussy Riot were sentenced to years in prison after protesting Putin inside a church. In September, after opposition activist Alexei Navalny ran for Moscow's mayoral office, he found himself sentenced to five years' labor on suspicious-looking corruption charges. The sentence was quickly suspended, but the point was made. At every turn, Putin has seemed eager to show his defiance of critics internal and external – fights he often wins. This was captured well by his refusal to reconsider the country's controversial anti-gay laws, despite widespread international backlash. That included a campaign to use the forthcoming winter Olympics, to be held in the Russian city of Sochi, as a way to shame or pressure the Kremlin into changing the law. Putin didn't bend and, with the Olympics months away, the campaign for the law's repeal already seems to have lost momentum. He seems to relish the opportunity to defy his opponents, as if every controversy were an opportunity to prove to us all that Russia is his, whether we like it or not.


China crafts a pro-Beijing image for Nelson Mandela

A man walks past an image of former South African president Nelson Mandela at the Embassy of South Africa in Beijing. (ChinaFotoPress/Getty Images) BEIJING – The instructions from China’s propaganda ministry to local journalists spelled it out in detail: when reporting on the funeral of Nelson Mandela, no mention should be made about his views on human rights and democracy. No mention should be made, of course, of Mandela’s relationship with the Dalai Lama, or of his links with Taiwan, and no reports on his personal, married life, according to a copy of the notice seen by The Washington Post. The ministry frequently issues instructions to local journalists about topics not to be reported on. Mandela, the Chinese foreign ministry proudly proclaimed last week, was an “old friend” of China. But the former South African president, the nationalist Global Times newspaper argued on Wednesday, was definitely not to be compared to China’s jailed Nobel Peace Prize laureate Liu Xiaobo, the fifth anniversary of whose imprisonment fell in the same week as Mandela’s funeral. Western media were wrong to cast Liu as China’s Mandela, it argued. “Mandela was a Nobel Peace Prize laureate for leading African people to anti-apartheid victory through struggles, tolerance and efforts to bridge differences,” it wrote in an editorial. “However, awarding a Chinese prisoner who confronted authorities and was rejected by mainstream Chinese society derides China’s judiciary system.” Liu was detained in December 2008, convicted of subversion the following year and sentenced to 11 years in prison for writing an appeal for democracy. He won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2010. Although Liu’s name is banned on the weibo microblogging service by censors, there was considerable skepticism online about the government’s selective reading of Mandela’s legacy. “Chinese Mandelas are now in prison,” said one weibo user named CuiXXwawa. “Old friend?” another user called Akay Tongxue mocked. “He pursued justice, fairness and freedom. Does he have anything to do with you? Don’t blow your own trumpet.” South Africa’s government appears to have heard the message from its Chinese counterpart. Its ambassador to China this week compared Mandela to Chinese Communism’s founding father Mao Zedong. “They were both very strong leaders who fought for the liberation of their people, and who also contributed to laying the foundation for further development in society,” Ambassador Bheki Langa was quoted as saying by China’s official news agency Xinhua. China is South Africa’s


Hoyer waits on Iran resolution, Senate will move

United States of America toward the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran. RESOLUTION Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives concerning the policy of the United States of America toward the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran. Whereas the United Nations Security Council has adopted multiple resolutions, including Resolutions 1696, 1737, 1747, 1803, 1835, and 1929, which demand that the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran (hereinafter ‘‘Iran’’) ‘‘suspend all enrichment-related and reprocessing activities, including research and development’’, condemn Iran for failing to comply with the Council’s demands, and impose sanctions on Iran; Whereas the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) reported as recently as November 2013 that Iran has continued to enrich uranium, in violation of United Nations Security Council Resolutions, and that Iran has installed approximately 19,000 centrifuges, which have the capacity to enrich uranium in a matter of weeks to levels that would provide sufficient fissile material for a nuclear explosive device; Whereas Iran is constructing a heavy water reactor at Arak, which, once operational, would have the capability to produce plutonium that could be used in a nuclear weapon; Whereas the IAEA, concerned about the possibility of a covert nuclear weapons program in Iran, has since 2005 found Iran to be in non-compliance with its Safeguards Agreement and has repeatedly but unsuccessfully sought access to several sites at which it suspects clandestine nuclear- related activities have taken place, as well as explanations regarding information the IAEA has uncovered that Iran has conducted research on a nuclear explosive device and delivery vehicles; Whereas President Barack Obama has repeatedly stated his commitment to preventing Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon; Whereas it is the policy of the United States that no nation, including Iran, has an inherent right to enrich uranium; Whereas the Congress has long recognized the threat Iran poses to the United States, our interests, and allies, and has provided the President with the authorization to impose sanctions designed to counter Iran’s aggressive actions, including its pursuit of a nuclear weapons capability, its support for terrorism, and its repression of its own citizens; Whereas the United States–led sanctions effort, including those imposed by the United Nations, the European Union, and other countries, has been instrumental in compelling Iran to re-enter negotiations aimed at ending its nuclear weapons program; Whereas the Congress supports the pursuit of a peaceful, diplomatic solution to ending Iran’s efforts


Holiday beers take center stage

It's not only the most wonderful time of the year – it's also the busiest. Between office gatherings, friends' house parties and ugly sweater happy hours, most social calendars are bursting at the seams. But if you love holiday beers, or you just enjoy having a drink for a good cause, you'll want to carve out some time in your schedule for a busy week of tappings and tastings. St. Bernardus Belgian Christmas Ale. (Photo by Evy Mages for The Washington Post) Monday, December 1617 Monday-Tuesday, December 16-17 Monday-Wednesday, December 16-18 Wednesday, December 18 Thursday, December 19


The affluenza defense

suggestion that the boy’s parents were ultimately responsible for his actions, and told him at his sentencing that he was at fault, according to WFAA. Yet Boyd agreed that the defendant needs therapy and said that she feared he would not receive it from Texas’s juvenile system. All this about affluenza leaves me with one question: How do you catch it? It sounds like the best disease ever. Symptoms include: having money, having lots of money, having so much money you are actively unhappy about it, having lots of things, having lots of things and money, having so much money that none of your actions have consequences. Sign me up! With a name like affluenza, it sounds relatively contagious. I think I remember reading about the Spanish affluenza epidemic that followed World War I? Suddenly everyone was confined to bed with more money than they knew what to do with, and it was only cured by the sharp stock market shock of October 1929. But clearly the virus is still out there. How to catch it? I pondered this for some time. The trick, I reasoned, would be to find a place where wealthy people congregate and try to expose myself. So I stood on a country club lawn for several hours, hoping someone would sneeze. Nothing. I got hit in the head with a golf ball, though, and someone shouted something disparaging that I couldn’t quite make out that sounded like “99 percenter something something this wouldn’t happen in Romney’s America!” And then a butler came by and removed me, and I am right back where I started. “Perhaps, however,” writers John de Graaf, David Wann and Thomas H. Naylor say in their bestseller “Affluenza: The All-Consuming Epidemic,” “affluenza is more like a sexually transmitted disease.” Ah. Clearly I had been going about this wrong. I’m going to slip into something more comfortable and trek back out to that golf course. “Hey,” I will murmur, gazing at my bow-tie-clad interlocutor and fingering the rim of my cocktail glass, “do you have affluenza? Because if so, I’d like to catch it!” That’s sexy, right? Soon I look forward to calling into work “affluent.” “Sorry,” I will say, rattling a sack of gold coins into the receiver, “can’t come in to work today. My affluenza is acting up again. I have to stay in the house buying expensive shoes but feeling


NASA still searching for the right asteroid; scratch 2009 BD off the list

the Spitzer Space Telescope, an infrared telescope that is in an Earth-trailing orbit of the sun and that would be in position in October to examine 2009 BD as it passed nearby. While at the AGU meeting in San Francisco I learned what happened. A team of scientists headed by Michael Mommert of Northern Arizona University (Flagstaff) aimed the Spitzer telescope at 2009 BD over the course of 25 hours of observation time. But saw nothing. The Spitzer never detected 2009 BD. The asteroid exists (it didn’t suddenly evaporate, presumably), but it is must be quite small. The scientists [who have submitted to The Astrophysical Journal a paper titled “Constraining the Physical Properties of Near-Earth Object 2009 BD"] think it’s less than five meters in diameter, and perhaps only half that size. That would seem to suggest that it’s too small for the ARM. Nor would you want to build a mission around capturing an object that’s not carefully characterized (it could be a rubble-pile asteroid, or a smaller, more compact object). There are other candidate rocks out there, and in February the Spitzer will take a look at one named 2011 MD. Maybe that one would work. Or maybe NASA will go to its Plan B. But the NASA 2015 budget is currently being put together by OMB, and it’s possible that the ARM could become a casualty of the mission’s uncertainties. Here’s the official statement provided to me by NASA: NASA continues ARM concept studies along two major approaches – return of an entire small asteroid or a boulder picked off a larger asteroid. The studies are exploring the advantages and challenges involved in these two approaches to arrive at a decision on which approach to pursue by Fall 2014. The viable asteroid targets for the mission will then of course depend on which approach is chosen, but there have already been several potential candidates identified for each approach as proof of existence of a viable target once the decision is made. One of those potential candidates, a small asteroid designated 2009 BD, was the subject of Spitzer observations last October but not detected, which implies that it is smaller than expected. Meanwhile the NEO Program will continue to search for even better potential targets for the ARM as part of its effort to find asteroids hazardous to the Earth and destinations for future robotic and human exploration.


All holdout states now compliant with military’s same-sex benefits policy

now processing military benefits for same-sex couples after several holdout states found ways to implement the policy without violating their constitutional bans on recognizing gay marriage. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said in an announcement Friday that same-sex spouses in every state can now obtain the military ID cards they need to receive benefits provided to wives and husbands of service members. (Dibyangshu Sarkar/AFP-Getty) “All of DoD is committed to pursuing equal opportunities for all who serve this nation, and I will continue to work to ensure our men and women in uniform as well as their families have full and equal access to the benefits they deserve,” Hagel said. A handful of states, including Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Georgia, refused to process ID applications for gay spouses after the Pentagon issued a directive requiring the military to treat all legally married couples equally for purposes of federal benefits. The states told same-sex couples to apply at federal installations instead. MORE: National Guard is new gay rights battleground Hagel directed the chief of the National Guard Bureau in late October to work with state officials to reach full compliance with the Defense Department’s new policy, which came in response to a landmark Supreme Court decision in June overturning a key provision in the Defense of Marriage Act. Slowly, the holdout states and the National Guard Bureau found workarounds to ensure equal treatment of service members without allowing their employees to process same-sex benefits. South Carolina required all National Guard spouses to apply at federal installations regardless of their sexual orientation, eliminating the possibility of unequal treatment at state facilities. And in Texas, the bureau agreed to switch some service members to federal status so they could process the benefits without violating state law. Other states with gay-marriage prohibitions complied with the Defense Department policy right away, saying they could process ID applications for gay spouses without violating their constitutions. Those states included Alabama, Kentucky, Michigan, North Carolina and Virginia. The American Military Partners Association, a gay-rights advocate, commended the Pentagon in a statement Friday for following through with its policy. But the group said same-sex couples still face other forms of “discrimination and exclusion by state governments,” particularly those that don’t recognize gay marriage. Follow Josh Hicks on Twitter, Facebook or Google+. Connect by e-mail at josh.hicks@washpost.com. Visit The Federal Eye, The Fed Page and Post Politics for more federal news.


The endangered animals among us: meet the Delmarva fox squirrel and the Shenandoah salamander

WILDLIFE Going, Going, But Not Gone When most of us think of endangered species, we think of Bao Bao and her giant panda kin. But a little known — and much littler — species recently made news. The endangered Hay’s Spring amphipod, a colorless, shrimplike creature, may reside in a Maryland section of Rock Creek Park where the planned light-rail Purple Line is slated to cross, activists say. The rare amphipods aren’t the sole endangered species found only around here. Have you seen ’em? MUSEUMS As Strange As Science Fiction A group dressed as “Star Wars” Storm Troopers descended on the Capitol earlier this month “Independence Day”: “Mars Attacks”: “The Day the Earth Stood Still”: “Minority Report”: FORECASTS “Sorry kids: The folklore of sleeping with your pajama pants inside out the night before to increase the odds of snow hasn’t been proven scientifically.” — Chris Vaccaro SCAVENGER HUNT! The Malls Are Too Crowded… … And re-gifting your 2013 Dilbert calendar isn’t an option. That’s where your local holiday market comes in. The crowds are thinner, and the stock of simultaneously hipster-worthy and grandma-appropriate items is high. How many of these items can you spot? - Soap-on-a-rope shaped like a cat - Vintage Christmas tree topper - Hat complete with fake mustache face warmer - Jewelry crafted from fine “found” materials - Onesie with an ironic saying on the front — This article appeared in Express Sunday, a new weekend publication from Washington Post Express. To get Express Sunday delivered to your home for free, sign up here.


The Middle Eastern snowstorm, viewed from space

A rare snowstorm has swept through the Middle East this week, starting in Turkey and moving south across Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Israel, the Palestinian territories and now even Egypt. It's the most snow that Jerusalem has seen in 50 years (over a foot!) and the first to hit Cairo in so long that no one is sure the last time it snowed there. There are some great photos of the storm here. NASA's Earth Observatory has posted a photo of the storm taken from space. It was taken Dec. 15, after the storm had passed and the skies had cleared; the white areas on the land are snow, not clouds. It's quite something to see the snow across Lebanon, Syria and Israel: A Dec. 15 satellite photo of the Middle East shows snow across the region. Click to enlarge. (NASA Earth Observatory) Here's a wider view of the region, showing Egypt on the bottom-left (the green patch is the Nile river flood plains, just north of Cairo). That's Saudi Arabia in the bottom right; I haven't seen photos of snow there but there certainly appears to be from this satellite image: A Dec. 15 satellite photo of the Middle East shows snow across the region. Click to enlarge. (NASA Earth Observatory) The NASA Earth Observatory says that if you look closely you can see "plumes of sediment" created by flooding along the Mediterranean coast, especially around Gaza: Lower elevations near the coast received torrential rain during the storm, resulting in flooding. Some 40,000 people were forced to evacuate flooded areas in Gaza, reported the Associated Press. The floods are not visible at this scale, but tan and green plumes of sediment are visible in the Mediterranean Sea along the coast. Such plumes can be caused by floods and run off, though stormy, turbid waters may also bring sediment to the surface.


Tonight’s “Cold” full moon is 2013’s last and smallest

The almost full moon from December 15, 2013 in Arlington, Va. (Kevin Wolf via Flickr) In between breaks in the clouds this evening, if you can, sneak a quick peak at tonight’s full moon, the last of 2013. It will rise at 4:35 p.m., reaches fullness at 4:28 a.m. (although by then it may be too cloudy to see), and sets at 7:16 a.m. EST. The ultimate full moon of 2013 has been named the Cold Moon, the Long Night Moon, and the Moon Before Yule – for reasons that are obvious given the calendar. The waxing gibbous (almost full) moon December 15 (Jim Knapp via Flickr) It is not only the last full moon of 2013, but also the smallest. It’s the full moon that most closely coincides with the most distant point in the moon’s orbit known as the apogee, which will make it appear smaller and duller than the typical full moon. These are the opposite circumstances of the supermoon. “[It’s within] 500 kilometres of the most distant apogee that can occur, as the Moon’s apogee can vary between ~404,000 and 406,700 kilometres distant,” notes Universe Today. Despite the moon’s distance away, it will be easy to spot, if clouds give it a chance. “She seems to draw more attention than usual at this time of the year due to her persistence in the sky on the year’s longest nights as well as her high declination in the northern sky,” notes Geoff Chester of the U.S. Naval Observatory.


Is New Yorker film critic Richard Brody trolling the Internet?

Is “Gravity” one of the worst movie of the year? One New Yorker critic things so. (Warner Bros. Pictures / AP) In today’s iteration Blog Log, we find what might be the most side-eye deserving end-of-year film list ever, as well as items on hot dudes with Bao Bao (can that please be a meme?), meat-handling mishaps, dogs vs. babies and, finally, massive bottles of booze. Because, well, Tuesday. “Richard Brody must watch movies through his butt.” — commenter Dan Cooper at facebook.com “That’s the perfect photo — one of the handsomest men alive alongside one of the cutest baby animals ever.” — commenter mensan98th at dcist.com “Nearly two-thirds of restaurant workers who handle raw beef aren’t washing their hands afterward.” — Dana Liebelson at motherjones.com “I want a puppy. Well, really I want a baby, but a dog will do for now.” — Blogger Kat at unemployedkat.com contemplates whether to add a pet to her household. The blogger, who’s in her mid-20s and from the D.C. area, asked several people in her life for advice, including her roommate, boyfriend, sister and dad, most of whom said go for it. She concludes, “I’m probably gonna get this puppy.” “Its dimensions are similar to that of a small human’s: the bottle weighs about 100 pounds and is over four feet tall.” — Hillary Dixler at eater.com


Town Square | Four-acre city retreat lists for $8.9M

A mansion at 2950 University Terrace NW in D.C.’s Kent neighborhood is listed at $8.9 million. (Homevisit) A four-acre retreat with a 10,000-square-foot mansion in the middle of the city is among the priciest listings in the region, according to Rockville-based multiple-listing service MRIS. The estate, which real estate agent Heidi Hatfield of Washington Fine Properties calls “ambassadorial,” is located at 2950 University Terrace NW in the Kent neighborhood and listed at $8.9 million. The property was created from four parcels that totaled six acres; now the sellers are keeping four acres that surround the house and subdividing the property along a natural divide. The remaining two acres are available in two parcels. Hatfield says the property is an ideal setting for art and entertaining. The grounds have fully established landscaping and the house features multiple terraces. Inside, the house has 12-foot high ceilings, a garden room facing the grounds, a living room with a fireplace and bay window, a dramatic red dining room and a breakfast room with a fireplace. The family room and library area has another fireplace. The master suite includes his-and-her bathrooms. The house has a total of five bedrooms, five full bathrooms and two powder rooms in the main house, along with two bedrooms and one full bathroom in the guest house. For more information, visit www.WFP.com or contact Hatfield at (202) 243-1634 or heidi.hatfield@wfp.com. The Design House will move into this building at 1099 14th St. NW in D.C. (Courtesy of Franklin Court) Washington Design Center headed to 14th Street Fourteenth Street in Northwest Washington has become a hub for trendy restaurants and interior design and home decorating shops. It’s now set to become the new home of the Washington Design Center. By June, the center will move from its temporary location in Southwest to Franklin Court, a 440,874-square-foot building at 1099 14th St. NW. The Design Center houses residential, wholesale, commercial and building product showrooms open to professionals in the design industry, including architects and interior designers. It will lease 120,000 square feet within the building on the second, third and fourth floors and will have access to the plaza level to display products to the public. Events can be held in the building’s atrium, lobby and roof terrace. So far, 21 showrooms have been leased. For more information, go to http://designcenterdc.com. (Frank Polley) Lowenbrau Beer baron selling Virginia vineyard Baron Gerhart Von


The Morning Plum: The consequences of GOP opposition to Obamacare

This man’s numbers are in the toilet. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster, File) As of now, over two dozen states are not opting in to Obamacare’s Medicaid expansion, thanks largely to hostility to the law among GOP governors who are turning down huge sums of federal money that could otherwise go towards expanding coverage to their own constituents. Result: untold numbers risk falling into a “Medicaid gap,” making too much to qualify for traditional Medicaid, yet too little to qualify for subsidies on the exchanges. We now have a new look at the consequences of this: Millions will likely remain uninsured, and racial and geographic disparities in access to coverage will worsen. Two new studies released by the Kaiser Family Foundation today illustrate this in new detail. You can read them here and here, and they take a close look at who makes up the population of those who fall into the Medicaid gap. The key findings: * Some 4.8 million uninsured non-elderly American adults nationwide are likely to fall into the Medicaid gap. * Some 79 percent of those who fall into the Medicaid gap are from the south (where Republican governors have disproportionately decided not to opt in). * Those falling into the Medicaid gap are disproportionately non-white. Some 53 percent of them are black, Hispanic or “other.” * Some 47 percent of those falling into the Medicaid gap — over 2.2 million people — are white. If attacks on beneficiaries of the Medicaid expansion as freeloaders and takers have “racial undertones,” as National Journal argued the other day, this is a reminder that huge numbers of poor whites will also be impacted by the refusal of GOP governors to opt into the expansion. This last finding is relevant to a broader political discussion. As Paul Krugman has noted, if attacks on the safety net are meant to rally downscale whites against Dems, the problem is that many whites benefit from safety net programs such as food stamps and unemployment insurance. The new Kaiser studies are a reminder that this also applies to the Medicaid expansion. Failure to opt in could mean over two million white Americans fall into the gap. This comes as Republicans are resisting an extension of unemployment benefits and are pushing for far deeper cuts to food stamps than Dems are willing to accept (though they are certainly culpable here, too). Beyond this, the big story


A lesson on climate change at the Hard Bargain Farm in Prince George’s County

change some things.” Here are a few recent reports that show the urgency of the instructor’s lesson: NASA recently released a report on the Earth’s vital signs NASA reported that A recent report The report released in September found changes in different climate systems, “including warming of the atmosphere and ocean, sea level rise, ocean acidification, and changes in the water cycle, the cryosphere and climate extremes points to a large-scale warming resulting primarily from anthropogenic increases in greenhouse gas concentrations.” Each decade since 1850 has been warmer than the preceding decade, the report found. “In the Northern Hemisphere, 1983–2012 was likely the warmest 30-year period of the last 1,400 years,” the report stated. “Warming of the climate system is unequivocal, and since the 1950s, many of the observed changes are unprecedented over decades to millennia. The atmosphere and ocean have warmed, the amounts of snow and ice have diminished, sea level has risen, and the concentrations of greenhouse gases have increased… Human influence on the climate system is clear.” The report also found that ice sheets in Greenland and in the Antarctic are melting and glaciers are shrinking, and that the Arctic sea ice continues to shrink, an occurrence that I wrote about in a series of stories while working in the Canadian Arctic. Back on the farm, the Alice Ferguson Foundation is on an urgent mission to save the environment. The foundation is building a “Potomac Watershed Study Center,” designed to meet the “Living Building Challenge,” a conservation code requiring a building to produce “zero-net water, zero-net energy and to be carbon neutral.” The $15.7 million “Living” building, which was funded by the county, state and private donations, will be built to have “no negative impact on the surrounding environment.” The new buildings will “embrace the most energy-efficient, stringent set of green building requirements on the planet today called the ‘Living Building Challenge,’” Lori Arguelles, the foundation’s executive director, said during an interview. “The requirements of this building are net-zero energy, which means we don’t use any more than we gather, net-zero water, based on the same principle — we don’t use any more than we gather.” The building is carbon neutral, non-toxic. “There are currently only four ‘Living-Building’ certified buildings in the world today. So here at the Southern tip of Prince George’s County will be one of the next buildings to come on line,” Arguelles said.


Your neighborhood pawn shop is propped up by big banks

We usually think of payday lenders, pawn shops, rent-to-own stores and other high-cost loan operations as alternative forms of financing for people who are short of cash. But that's merely a facade: They couldn't operate without billions of dollars in cheap capital from the nation's biggest banks. Reinvestment Partners, a North Carolina-based non-profit that advocates for the underbanked, put out a report Monday laying out how the system works, and just how much money flows through it -- $5.5 billion, to be precise. What's available to high-cost lenders in the form of lines of credit, term loans, and other financing vehicles, according to the most recent publicly disclosed agreements. (Reinvestment Partners) It starts with some history: Back in the 1980s, the Main Street emergency lenders were fairly small and largely independent businesses. But then they started consolidating, looking for access to capital markets in order to deepen their liquidity and finance expansion. Cash America went public in 1987, and others followed; banks took notice and started investing in what was becoming a lucrative, highly replicable franchise. The result is that while pawn shops and payday lenders charge high interest rates to borrowers, banks lend them money at standard business rates. The big high-cost lenders are up front about their dependence on Wall Street credit. “We depend on loans and cash management services from banks to operate our business," said Kansas-based QC Holdings in a 2012 filing. "If banks decide to stop making loans or providing cash management services to us, it could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition.” But the banks themselves don't talk much about it -- even though many of their executives sit on the boards of the companies they keep rolling in cash. The irony is that some customers are driven to the high-cost loan industry precisely because they can't get credit through traditional channels. So the big banks benefit on both ends: They avoid taking on risky borrowers themselves, which preserves their reputations, while indirectly profiting off the exorbitant interest the Main Street lenders charge. Reinvestment Partners isn't a neutral observer here: They think the high-cost lenders are so malevolent that banks ought to divest entirely, like they might from an abusive dictatorship, an arms trafficker or a child porn operation. "This is the beginning of a campaign," says research director Adam Rust. "This paper is the kickoff


PM Update: Rain and snow showers possible tonight; cool and dry Wednesday

Radar lightning: This morning’s clipper dusted parts of northern Maryland, but left much of the D.C. metro region with merely overcast skies. A second clipper zips through the region tonight and may produce some rain and snow showers, mostly in on our southern suburbs. By the early morning hours, the entire region begins to clear out. The balance of Wednesday is sunny, but chilly. Through Tonight: The precipitation type is another challenge. Right now, it looks like it probably begins as rain showers or a rain/snow mix, but may change to mostly snow after 10 p.m. or so in the immediate D.C. area (it probably remains mostly rain in southern Maryland) – assuming the precipitation gets here. Temperatures remain above freezing through around midnight, so little sticking on roads is expected. Somebody could see a coating, but mostly on grassy areas. Any precipitations tapers off between midnight and 2 a.m. from west to east. Then skies gradually clear. Lows range from the upper 20s in the colder suburbs to 32 or 33 in the District and southern Maryland. Winds are light. Tomorrow (Wednesday): See Matt Rogers’ forecast through the weekend. And if you haven’t already, join us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter Miracle on 34th St. Monday night (Erin Kelly via Flickr) Links of the day: The global temperature jigsaw


Fairfax City to try a new approach to deer: surgical sterilization of does

to Anthony J. DeNicola, a wildlife ecologist who has been involved in deer population research for 25 years. In the past four years, DeNicola and his nonprofit group, White Buffalo, have launched surgical sterilization programs in Baltimore County; Cayuga Heights, N.Y.; Town and Country, Mo.; and San Jose, Calif. With Fairfax City prepared to join the project, the research database will grow in examining the effectiveness of humanely reducing the herds, which destroy vegetation, carry diseased ticks and leap in front of moving vehicles. DeNicola said that he studied the possibility of sterilizing deer by vaccine but that vaccines aren’t strong enough to last. Anthony J. DeNicola, president of White Buffalo Inc., has been picked by Fairfax City to lead its doe sterilization program. (White Buffalo Inc.) “We’ve tried to refine a method,” said DeNicola, which “is humane and can afford a level of practicality to go into a community and intervene, preferably before it becomes a problem.” In three of the towns where surgical sterilization has begun, deer are dying at a rate of about 10 percent of the herd per year without being replaced, DeNicola and local officials said. “Within a few years,” said Enid Feinberg of Wildlife Rescue, which is overseeing the project in Baltimore County, “there’s going to be about 50 percent fewer deer” without any hunting involved. In Fairfax City, the sterilization process will not cost the taxpayers money. A group of private donors agreed to fund a two-year grant to White Buffalo specifically to cover the cost of the city’s project, and Feinberg said Wildlife Rescue will cover any cost overruns. The cost is about $1,000 per doe. Silverthorne said he wasn’t convinced that managed deer hunts such as those in Fairfax County, which surrounds his city, had been having any impact on the deer population. Feinberg likened the managed deer hunts to cutting grass, saying that the deer population just keeps coming back. DeNicola toured Fairfax City with Police Chief Rick Rappoport over several nights recently and estimated that the city has only 50 to 75 deer. He told Silverthorne and the Fairfax City Council last week that the city didn’t have problematic deer density yet but was taking a smart step by acting before the deer population grew out of control. The council voted 5 to 1 last week to approve the sterilization program. The process begins with shooting female deer, or


Visit panda cub Bao Bao at the National Zoo beginning Jan. 18

The National Zoo announced today that the Panda Cam-obsessed will finally be able to see giant panda cub Bao Bao in person beginning Jan. 18. Members of Friends of the National Zoo will be able to visit earlier, with exclusive access to the panda habitat Jan. 11-Jan. 17. Read: The cub's hours in the habitat could vary in the early weeks, says National Zoo spokeswoman Devin Murphy. Bao Bao will go on public display Jan. 18. (REUTERS/Abby Wood, Smithsonian's National Zoo) You may remember the ticketed process for the unveiling of the zoo's previous panda cub, Tai Shan, in 2005. The zoo initially released 13,000 tickets to the general public through its Web site, all of which were snapped up in two hours. (Larger batches of tickets were released thereafter.) Murphy says that the zoo will not use the timed-entry tickets this time around and will instead welcome visitors on a first-come, first-served basis. Visitors will be asked to line up outside the panda habitat. Bao Bao will be just under five months old in January. “We’re confident that she’ll be big enough and mobile enough, and she’ll be ready for lots of people to see her," says Murphy.


How Patty Murray sold Democrats on the budget deal

The difficulties Rep. Paul Ryan has had selling the Murray-Ryan budget deal to congressional Republicans has gotten a lot of attention. There's been, perhaps predictably, less coverage of the ease with which Sen. Patty Murray persuaded her fellow Democrats to vote for the deal. But Wonkblog obtained the document Murray has been circulating among Senate Democrats, and it's an interesting read. In short, the case she makes is that Democrats got a bit and gave up very little. In particular, she argues that Democrats preserved their fundamental negotiating positions: no changes to entitlements absent tax increases, no changes to sequestration without revenues, no restoration of defense spending without unwinding an equal restoration of domestic spending. The full document follows: 131125 Budget Conference Why This is a Good Deal Doc


The 13 best local dishes of 2013

A quick survey of D.C.’s food scene suggests that 2013 was the year of the doughnut. Or was it the taco? And what was up with all those smoke-themed restaurants? One thing’s for sure: The past 352 days have ushered in some of the most inventive dishes the District has ever tasted from a crop of eager-to-impress newcomers. (More than 30 restaurants opened this year in the 14th Street corridor alone.) Below, we present a day planner filled with the best dishes introduced in 2013, chosen for their creativity, deliciousness and “What IS this?!” factor. Check them off before 2014 hits and we’ll play favorites all over again next year. Thursday, Dec. 19 Maple Custard with Hazelnut Crumble at The Red Hen Friday, Dec. 20 Spiced Baby Goat Sandwich at G Saturday, Dec. 21 Trout Salad at Mockingbird Hill Sunday, Dec. 22 Spezzatino at Ghibellina Monday, Dec. 23 Pork Sausage, Habanero and Lychee Salad at Rose’s Luxury Tuesday, Dec. 24 Grilled Octopus Causa at Del Campo Later that evening … Black Pearl Taco at Taco Bamba 2190 Pimmit Drive, Falls Church; 703-639-0505, tacobambarestaurant.com Wednesday, Dec. 25 Take a much-needed day off. Call your mother to wish her a merry Christmas or to tell her that nobody cooks better than her. Thursday, Dec. 26 Roasted Cauliflower Pizza at Etto Friday, Dec. 27 Gemelli with Rabbit at Iron Gate Saturday, Dec. 28 Brussels Sprouts at DCity Smokehouse Sunday, Dec. 29 Gaeng Par Hed at Doi Moi Monday, Dec. 30 Grilled Avocado at Daikaya Tuesday, Dec. 31 Doissant at Chocolate Crust


The way Congress funds clean energy is a mess. Max Baucus thinks there’s a better idea.

The big Max Baucus news this week is that the Montana senator will — for whatever reason — get tapped to be the next U.S. ambassador to China. How to fund clean energy? (AES) The more intriguing Max Baucus news, though, might have been the energy tax reforms he unveiled on Wednesday. (You read that sentence correctly.) Baucus, who chairs the Senate Finance Committee, put out a plan (pdf) to dump all 42 existing tax incentives for specific energy sources. Instead, he would create two broad tax credits that would boost clean energy without picking specific technologies or explicitly taking sides between, say, nuclear energy and wind power. Baucus's proposals aren't likely to become law anytime soon. But they could shape the debate over how Congress funds clean energy in the years ahead. So let's take a look: How Congress currently funds clean energy At the moment, Congress offers 42 different tax breaks to aid certain energy technologies. There's a production tax credit for electricity from wind turbines. An investment tax credit for solar farms. Credits for drivers who buy electric plug-in vehicles. Credits for energy-efficient appliances. Credits for enhanced oil recovery. You get the idea. Who gets a tax credit? (Reuters) Here's one downside to this approach: If a company has an idea for reducing pollution that's not on Congress's list of favored technologies, it's at a disadvantage. Consider the notion of producing electricity by capturing excess waste heat from a factory or power plant. This technique has plenty of potential for cutting greenhouse-gas emissions. But there's no tax credit for it. Yes, Congress could add a credit, but there will always be new and unforeseen technologies like this. The market can innovate faster than lawmakers can keep up. Another problem: 25 of these tax credits regularly expire, every year or so, and lawmakers often dither over whether to renew them. The production credit for wind power is set to lapse in January. Will it get renewed? Possibly, but no one knows for sure. That creates uncertainty for energy industries — leading to what analysts call "boom-and-bust" cycles. There are plenty of ways to change this. Lawmakers could just abolish all tax carve-outs for energy, which would arguably most benefit the dominant existing power sources like coal, natural, gas and oil. Or, if Congress were concerned about climate change and greenhouse-gas emissions, it could enact a flat carbon tax


Why did Whole Foods drop Chobani?

percent of the market since Fage introduced it to the United States in 1998. Chobani now has 12.5 percent of the overall yogurt pie, which brought in $4.2 billion in revenue in 2013. But the best way for Whole Foods to cash in on that fashionable, high-margin product? Make the stuff itself. The grocer has been gradually expanding its private label products, which seem to take up half its aisles these days. That way, it can offer all the custom new options it wants, without asking a global company to tailor its offerings (Whole Foods may be growing, but it still has nowhere near the market-bending buying power of a Wal-Mart or even a Kroger). It's also easier to control pricing on private label stuff, which Whole Foods is finding increasingly important as it enters more urban areas, and is more profitable to begin with. It's the Trader Joe's model: Mostly store brand items that can't be found anywhere else. Sure, Whole Foods might also want to make room for the boutique, local brands. But it's a good bet that it's also trying to make room for more of itself. * Corrected to reflect the fact that Stonyfield Greek Yogurt -- as distinct from its parent company Dannon's Oikos brand -- is GMO-free. Whole Foods added this statement in response to a question about why it's keeping Oikos and dropping Chobani: This is exactly the reason why we are frustrated with the original Wall Street Journal story. While we will be phasing Chobani Greek yogurt out of our stores, it is not because of the line’s possible GMO content. The story was inaccurate. [ UPDATE: Whole Foods clarifies that only the headline was inaccurate, and has since been corrected] Whole Foods Market strives to offer the widest variety of products possible, including items shoppers simply can’t find anywhere else. As the national demand for Greek yogurt has grown, so has the number of conventional Greek yogurt options. As is the case with any saturated product category, Whole Foods Market challenged our Greek yogurt suppliers to create unique options for shoppers to enjoy – whether it be exclusive flavors, organic choices or non-GMO options. At this time, Chobani has chosen a different business model, so we will be phasing Chobani Greek Yogurt out of our stores in early 2014 to make room for choices that aren’t readily available on the market.


The Top 10 local stories of the year

Melina Mara / The Washington Post It’s that time of year, when we take a look at the year that’s gone by. 2013 was an eventful one in the city– with quite a few changes that could affect our lives for many years to come. Let’s take a look at my Top 10 for the District. This list became surprisingly difficult to cut down to only ten. So here are the rest: Panda gives birth to Bao Bao; NPR opens in NoMa, 14th Street NW’s boom; Government Shutdown; 50th Anniversary of March on Washington; D.C. United stadium plan. Now to my picks. The hardware store is engulfed in flames.
– Tim Curran / The Washington Post 10. Frager’s Hardware burns down. June 5th was an awful afternoon for an establishment that had become part of Capitol Hill’s fabric. That place was one of the few locations in which federal and local Washington came together in the same place in the name of household items. They’re rebuilding now, with a decent amount of success. To think, when it was established, a couple guys names Calvin Coolidge and Franklin Roosevelt were running against each other on the presidential election ticket. Tracy A. Woodward/THE WASHINGTON POST – Evening view of The Old Post Office Pavilion (L) showing the corner of Pennsylvania Ave NW and 12th St NW, Washington, D.C. 9. Trump buys Old Post Office Pavilion To many, this might feel like just another building trading hands. Technically, Trump International is leasing it from the GSA, but after he turns it into a luxury hotel, that building will never be the same quirky piece of history with a glorious clock tower view. Now, it’s a kitsch food court that used to actually be a venue for people to entertain. But after the Trump treatment, I doubt I’ll ever walk through the doors, again. The U.S. Marine Band confirmed that Beyonce recorded a performance of “The Star-Spangled Banner” the night before the inauguration. –
Marvin Joseph / The Washington Post 8. Inauguration Day Of course, they happen every four years, but this one was different. Why? One word: Beyonce. She graced the country with her rendition of the national anthem, which left everyone at the bar I watched it from completely speechless. It later set off debate about whether or not a lip-synched song is really a song, to which I say: ‘stop it’.


Four rotten excuses to oppose Iran sanctions

during the next six months of existing sanctions, as we saw with the Treasury Department’s recent designation. Arguably, as existing sanctions would require designation of firms in the P5 +1 countries (we’ve already gone after the small fish), enforcement of existing sanctions during the interim period becomes more controversial than the threat of new sanctions. Moreover, the threat that more sanctions will soon drop if Iran doesn’t make a final deal is critical, says Mark Dubowitz of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, “to change investor psychology.” He says with the sanctions relief, “Market psychology is shifting from fear of U.S. sanctions to greed.” In order to keep foreign investors at bay (and minimize the economic relief afforded Iran), Treasury officials will need to be able to tell companies that they are still at risk of U.S. sanctions. Dubowitz calls the sanctions ” a gift to David Cohen,” the administration’s sanctions chief, to wield against companies otherwise inclined to pump money into the Iranian economy. The next excuse is that the deal sets parameters for an end state that would eliminate Iran’s enrichment. But that’s not going to happen because Iran says it won’t stop enrichment. The point of sanctions and the threat of military action is namely to force Iran to do something it does not want to do. Moreover, this reads too much into the Senate sanctions language, which talks about eliminating enrichment part of Iran’s “illicit” weapons program and removing a potential Iranian breakout. American negotiators have been hinting that there is some limited enrichment they might allow and this actually suggests there is. Putting aside whether a single centrifuge should be left in Iran, the sanctions legislation can be read as saying precisely what administration officials have said. Now, if the administration is thinking it needs to give Iran more than a token amount of enrichment, that’s a problem. And this brings us to the most important issue underlying the administration’s panic attack over sanctions legislation. The administration, I have long suspected, is not as concerned about the sanctions language as it is about Congress describing the contours of an acceptable final deal. On this Dubowitz agrees, saying, “I’m not sure the administration is that concerned about the sanctions bill. What is giving them heartburn is the end state.” In short, the administration wants total control over an end deal, giving it unlimited flexibility to bring


Face Time: Michael Mina

Fresh off of opening his 19th restaurant, Michael Mina is no stranger to milestones. Earlier this week, the Michelin-rated chef celebrated the fifth anniversary of Bourbon Steak, his swanky steak house in Georgetown’s Four Seasons (2800 Pennsylvania Ave. NW) that concentrates on meat done well. We talked to the San Franciscan while he was in town to celebrate the occasion. You can’t physically be in the kitchen at all of your restaurants. How do you communicate your vision to all the chefs? Is there a dish that stands out to you on the current Bourbon Steak menu? What void do you believe Bourbon Steak is filling in D.C.’s dining scene? On your website Cook Taste Eat (cooktasteeat.com), you give away a lot of your recipes and techniques. Why’s that? Why do you think some people are afraid to cook meat? What kind of things do you cook for yourself at home? Do you have any holiday cooking traditions?


The Federal Reserve was created 100 years ago. This is how it happened.

solve an economic problem — they were trying to solve a political problem as old as their republic. Banking's rough beginning The U.S. financial system needed remaking. The United States had a long but less than illustrious history with central banking. Alexander Hamilton, the first Treasury secretary, believed a national bank would stabilize the new government’s shaky credit and support a stronger economy — and was an absolute necessity to exercise the new republic’s constitutional powers. But Hamilton’s proposal faced opposition, particularly in the agricultural South, where lawmakers believed a central bank would primarily benefit the mercantile North, with its large commercial centers of Boston, New York and Philadelphia. “What was it drove our forefathers to this country?” said James “Left Eye” Jackson, a fiery little congressman from Georgia. “Was it not the ecclesiastical corporations and perpetual monopolies of England and Scotland? Shall we suffer the same evils to exist in this country?” Some founding fathers, including Thomas Jefferson and James Madison, believed that the bank was unconstitutional. By 1811, Madison was in the White House. The Bank of the United States closed down. Until, at least, Madison realized how hard it was to fight the War of 1812 without a national bank to fund the government. The Second Bank of the United States was founded in 1816. It lasted a little longer — until it crashed against the same distrust of centralized financial authority that undermined the first. The populist Andrew Jackson managed its demise in 1836. Running an economy without a central bank empowered to issue paper money caused more than a few problems in late 19th-century America. For example, the supply of dollars was tied to private banks’ holdings of government bonds. That would have been fine if the need for dollars was fixed over time. But one overarching lesson of financial history is that that’s not the case. In times of financial panic, for example, everybody wants cash at the same time (that’s what happened in fall 2008). Without a central, government-backed bank able to create money on demand, the American banking system wasn’t able to provide it. The system wasn’t elastic, meaning there was no way for its supply of money to adjust with demand. People would try to withdraw more money from one bank than it had available, the bank would fail, and then people from other banks would withdraw their funds, creating a


The D.C. area’s weirdest news, rounded up

A gumdrop ski lift operates on the frosting-covered slopes of “Gingertown,” a 5-foot-by-14-foot gingerbread city created Dec. 4 by local architects, engineers, construction companies and real estate firms to raise money for charity. The eighth annual event was hosted by David M. Schwarz Architects. (Mike Silva / For Express) AMATEURS MacGyver Feels Threatened Karen Perrin of Clinton, Md., spent eight hours locked in a D.C. office bathroom without a cellphone on a Friday night earlier this month, Fox5 reported. She shoved paper towels under the door hoping to get security’s attention and tried to set herself free by battering the lock with a chair, to no avail. The door handle eventually broke off, and she used it to chisel a hole in the wall. Perrin reached through and unlocked the door from the outside. It was not known how the door got locked. STORM NECESSITIES Milk, Bread, Toilet Paper, Batteries, Not Ravens Tickets Although the Ravens have had a better season than their D.C. counterparts, fans still had trouble unloading their unwanted tickets to the Dec. 8 game, which coincided with the region’s first sizeable winter storm. Baltimore Business Journal reported tickets on StubHub selling for as low as $4. SCOTS ‘Luke, Ah Am Yer Faither’ Old Town Alexandria hosted the 43rd annual Scottish Christmas Walk this month. While most participants showed up in kilts to listen to the bagpipers, one marcher went in an unexpected direction — he came dressed up like Darth Vader, Old Town Alexandria Patch reported. He did not specify which side of King Street is the dark one.


D.C.’s top Google search trends are most surprising because of what wasn’t searched for

GOOGLES OF THE YEAR D.C.’s Surprising Searches When it comes to getting around online, many of us rely on Google. But if you thought that time you Googled “what is twerking?” would fade into the ether, never to return — think again. Google knows all! The company released its highest-trending searches of 2013 this week, broken down by region, and some of the items the D.C. area Googled — and didn’t — are a bit surprising. FACT CHECK Homing In On Home Rule The District’s mayoral race kicked into high gear this month, with almost a quarter of the D.C. Council and a prominent restaurateur among the candidates. Mayor Vincent Gray, long in the shadow of a federal investigation into his 2010 race, is also in the running. It feels like D.C.’s had a scandal-entangled mayor FOREVER. Doesn’t it? THE MYTH: REALITY: EAT IT UP 69% : The amount of dinner reservations made in D.C. through an online service, such as OpenTable, according to a recent Zagat survey. The District beat out both San Francisco and Boston, where 68 percent and 66 percent, respectively, of dinner rezzies were made online. DYE HARD Painting the Town Radiant Orchid Each December, Pantone announces the color of the coming year. After hearing that 2014’s official color was Radiant Orchid, “an enchanting harmony of fuchsia, purple and pink,” our noggins filled with ideas for D.C. icons that would look great in the hue. Supreme Court justice robes: Yes, the law is a serious matter, but court proceedings shouldn’t seem like a funeral. Let’s brighten ’em up. Joe Biden’s hair: The vice president certainly has the personality to pull off a wild look. Plus, Radiant Orchid’s cool undertones would bring out Joe’s pearly whites even more. Bao Bao: We’d never advocate a full dip-dye for the area’s most famous zooborn, but the little lady could add a tad technicolor with some hair bows. Capitol dome: Since it’s going to be under repair for the next two years anyway, why not make the iconic building a bit more … radiant? — This article appeared in Express Sunday, a new weekend publication from Washington Post Express. To get Express Sunday delivered to your home for free, sign up here.