Trump administration considers banning another major Chinese firm

use of its technology in Xinjiang very seriously. The company had “engaged with the U.S. government” about these issues since October, said Vivian Zhou. Hikvision had hired American lawyer Pierre-Richard Prosper, who had served as ambassador at large for war crimes under President George W. Bush, to advise it on human rights compliance. “Separately, Hikvision takes cybersecurity very seriously as a company and follows all applicable laws and regulations in the markets we operate,” the spokeswoman said in an emailed statement. Last year, the company appointed a chief compliance officer to ensure human rights protection, data security and privacy protection, as well as social responsibility, she said. Asked about the reports, a spokesman for Foreign Ministry did not address Hikvision directly but said the U.S. was “abusing its national power” by targeting individual Chinese companies. “We are against the U.S. trying to smear and oppress companies from other countries, including China,” Lu Kang told a regular press briefing. The Trump administration’s intensifying campaign to limit China’s access to advanced U.S. technologies comes as a year-long trade conflict defies hopes of an early settlement. Despite the president’s continued pursuit of a trade deal, the administration has been cracking down on China in other realms. The Justice Department in December indicted two hackers who allegedly worked with the Chinese Ministry of State Security, targeting companies holding advanced technologies with military applications. The Commerce Department is drawing up new regulations to restrict U.S. exports of 14 advanced technologies, including robotics and quantum computing, in a move motivated by concern over China’s access to American innovations. Some Trump administration officials want to disconnect American investors and companies from Chinese companies that help beef up the Chinese military, “Big Brother” surveillance networks or those that benefit from China’s alleged theft of U.S. trade secrets. Last year, the Commerce Department banned state-backed ZTE from doing business with American suppliers after the company violated the terms of an earlier enforcement action. But the president reversed the ban, which would have crippled ZTE, after a personal plea from Chinese President Xi Jinping. The episode illustrates that any move to sever Chinese companies’ links to the United States might cause collateral damage to the U.S. economy. ZTE spends about $2.6 billion annually buying products from U.S. companies such as Qualcomm and Intel. Huawei also relies heavily on American suppliers. Administration officials recognize that the greater the number and significance


How the U.S.-China trade war became a conflict over the future of tech

the Muslim inhabitants of Xinjiang, known as Uighurs, also may be hit with a range of U.S. punishments, according to Triolo and other industry executives tracking the administration debate. Among the potential targets is Hangzhou’s Zhejiang Dahua Technology, the world’s second-largest video surveillance company, with revenue of $3.4 billion last year. An estimated 3 million Uighurs are detained in government camps, Randall Schriver, the assistant U.S. defense secretary for Asia, said earlier this month. Cui Tiankai, China’s ambassador to the United States, has denied reports of concentration camps and insisted that Xinjiang residents voluntarily attend vocational training centers. Xi is certain to bristle over any U.S. penalties tied to what Chinese officials traditionally describe as their internal affairs. The administration is moving on other fronts to limit commercial ties between the two countries. Earlier this month, the Federal Communications Commission voted unanimously to bar China Mobile from providing telecom services in the United States. FCC Chairman Ajit Pai said the commission was “looking at” licenses previously granted to two other Chinese carriers, China Unicom and China Telecom. A Treasury Department-led panel now scrutinizes more closely proposed Chinese investments in U.S. technology companies, and the Commerce Department is drafting new regulations to limit exports to China of 14 categories of advanced technologies, including quantum computing, robotics and artificial intelligence. Little more than two weeks ago, the United States and China were on the brink of what Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin billed as a “historic” trade deal. Eleventh-hour efforts by Chinese negotiators to water down core provisions prompted Trump instead to more than double tariffs on $200 billion in Chinese goods and begin the process of taxing all products from China. Over the past week, Trump also has unleashed his national security team, which has been eyeing tough measures against China for more than a year. On May 15, the president signed an executive order giving the commerce secretary power to bar U.S. companies from buying foreign telecom equipment that might open U.S. networks to “potentially catastrophic effects.” Huawei was not named in the presidential order, but analysts said the measure was clearly aimed at the Chinese telecom giant, which had $105 billion in sales last year. “The meltdown of the trade talks gave license to the national security hawks to really run with the ball. It seems like this is just the beginning,” said David Hanke, a partner at Arent Fox


The public-health risks of adenoviruses

The May 19 front-page article “A dangerous delay” told the tragic story about the death of a student from usually nonlethal infectious disease. Olivia Shea Paregol died of overwhelming adenovirus pneumonia and organ failure that was probably exacerbated by the mold-infested environment where she had been living. The article mentioned only once that she was taking Humira, which blocks the immune system. From the Humira website we can read, “Serious infections have happened in people taking Humira. These serious infections include tuberculosis (TB) and infections caused by viruses, fungi, or bacteria that have spread throughout the body. Some people have died from these infections.” Miracle medicines can sometimes be lethal; the best epidemiology and public-health system in the world can’t protect everyone from serious side effects of some powerful medications. My heart goes out to the family. Deborah Schumann The May 19 front-page article As a result of this reporting, the CDC should reexamine the public-health risks of adenoviruses to prevent a similar case from occurring at another college campus in the United States. And college administrators would be wise to review their student and parent communication protocols to foster additional transparency to help stem any emerging health concerns on their campuses. Tracy Wilson


Globalism is under siege. Here’s how to save it — and why.

in 1901 to ensure that industrial products and transportation networks within the United Kingdom and across its empire would be compatible with one another. Although some government representatives were included in its processes, the engineers leading the effort believed such standards should be voluntary, not government-mandated. As such, they needed to build buy-in from companies through persuasion, not coercion. They established technical committees of experts representing both producers and users of a particular product — such as steel companies and railroads on committees to discuss steel rails for railroad tracks — as well as engineers unaffiliated with either side to represent the common interest. This balance prevented any one set of stakeholders from dominating the process and, while time-consuming, assured that all positions were heard and considered so the resulting standards would be widely adopted. The British model was copied by other national bodies in subsequent decades, thanks in part to the evangelism of Charles le Maistre, the long-serving secretary of BSI. Le Maistre successfully encouraged engineers in France, the United States, the Soviet Union, Sweden and a half-dozen other countries to follow the British example. But national standard bodies weren’t enough for British electrical engineers and industrialists, including le Maistre. They also promoted the first private, sector-based international standards organization, the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC), created in 1906 and still active today. IEC’s standards expanded the market for electrical products and system components such as turbines and transformers by assuring compatibility and lowering prices (since standardized items can be made in larger, cost-saving batches). This made it possible to establish Europe’s high-voltage electrical grid. Le Maistre would serve as general secretary of this organization for close to a half-century. Late in his life, he also helped found the post-World War II global standard-setting body, the International Organization for Standardization (ISO). IEC and ISO have been the center of a global network ever since. In the aftermath of World War II, the vision of the activists in the international community of standard setters, and their belief that such standards were too important to be distorted by politics, allowed these organizations to navigate the minefield of the war's victors and vanquished, as well as the divisive politics of the nascent Cold War. Although standard setters from the victorious countries and some of the neutrals originally formed ISO, le Maistre and other leaders used personal diplomacy to bring the defeated countries into


Qualcomm violated antitrust law, judge rules

making 5G chips for mobile phones, the components necessary to connect smartphones to cellular networks. The new generation of cell networks might create another round of innovation and economic growth as start-ups figure out how to use it in new products and spur the development of self-driving cars, smart appliances and remote medicine, which rely on a stable Web connection. But while Qualcomm is accused of using its market dominance to gouge its customers, it has proved remarkably easy to knock down. When Apple sued in 2017, Qualcomm was forced to lay off 1,500 employees, slash its research and development budget, and it nearly ceased to exist after Broadcom launched a hostile takeover bid last year, aimed at chopping up Qualcomm and selling it for parts. That bid was only thwarted when the White House stepped in and blocked it on national security grounds. Adam Mossoff, a law professor at George Mason University, said the judge’s decision sends a bad message to innovators. He called the FTC’s case against Qualcomm the result of “self-serving arguments by some companies looking to benefit their bottom line.” The decision “has serious repercussions for the U.S. innovation economy, far beyond this situation,” he said. The Federal Trade Commission, which brought the suit in 2017, called Koh’s decision “an important win for competition in a key segment of the economy.” With the first wave of fifth-generation smartphones due later this year, wireless companies are jostling to bolster their 5G capabilities. By 2022, 5G cellular networks will power as much as 9 percent of mobile data connections across North America, according to a recent report from Cisco. U.S. officials have framed development of the technology as a race against China to dominate the next frontier of the commercial Internet. Whichever nation gains that advantage will largely shape — and benefit economically from — such add-ons as apps, services and other innovations, policy analysts say. When the United States took the lead on 4G mobile technology, for example, it gave rise to the app economy, which is still dominated by U.S. firms, according to Cisco. But the ruling could upend Qualcomm’s business model, which relies not just on chip sales, but on royalty payments from myriad Qualcomm inventions that are incorporated into global wireless standards. In her ruling Tuesday, Koh said Qualcomm earned more than it should have on those royalty payments by threatening to stop selling


The Technology 202: Nuns are leading the charge to pressure Amazon to get religion on facial recognition

recognition debate is also coming to Capitol Hill. ““There’s a growing consensus that this powerful surveillance technology needs to come under democratic control,” said Neema Singh Guliani, ACLU senior legislative counsel, who will be testifying before the committee today. “Members of Congress need to hit the pause button on law enforcement use of this dangerous surveillance technology.” You are reading The Technology 202 , our guide to the intersection of technology and politics. BITS: The Trump administration is considering banning another Chinese tech firm -- a move that would intensify an escalating trade conflict, No final decision has been made yet, but the administration is readying an action against Hikvision, a maker of video surveillance technology. The possible blacklist comes just a week after the administration moved to blacklist Huawei, preventing U.S. companies from supplying the telecommunications company without a license. The officials are considering the same penalty against Hikvision, which would add the company to the Commerce Department’s “entity list.” The U.S. has taken action against the company in the past on national security grounds. Last year, Congress banned federal agencies from purchasing equiptment from Hikvision, as well as Huawei, ZTE, Hytera and Dahua. Hikvision’s surveillance cameras are deployed by the Chinese government in the Muslim-majority region Xinjiang to combat what the government describes as separatist terrorism. NIBBLES: Hundreds of Amazon's warehouse employees are playing video games on the clock -- racing virtual dragons or sports cars. But they aren't loafing on the job and playing Fortnite, they're trying to fill customer orders, The video games reflect a larger effort at Amazon to gamify tedious warehouse work, tracking employees’ progress in a video game format. The video games are optional for thousands of workers, tasked with physically demanding jobs like plucking items from or stowing products on shelves for 10 hours per day or more. “Developed by Amazon, the games are displayed on small screens at employees’ workstations,” Greg writes. “As robots wheel giant shelves up to each workstation, lights or screens indicate which item the worker needs to pluck to put into a bin. The games simultaneously register the completion of the task, which is tracked by scanning devices, and can pit individuals, teams or entire floors against one another to be fastest, simply by picking or stowing real Lego sets, cellphone cases or dish soap.” Employees win virtual badges and other goodies for playing the games. “Think


Federal court presses Trump administration to release Khashoggi documents

thousands of relevant documents might not see public disclosure for decades. Singh told me the State Department’s proposal was insufficient. “The court has recognized how important it is for the public to know how the United States government is responding the Jamal Khashoggi murder, that it’s a matter of intense public debate, and having a timely response is critical for upholding the public’s right to know,” she said. “This lawsuit is necessary because [the] Trump administration has withheld from the public the full truth about who is ultimately responsible for the brutal murder of Jamal Khashoggi.” There are 11 bills in Congress meant to address the Khashoggi murder. The Trump administration missed a Feb. 8 deadline to report to Congress on whether the U.S. government believes Mohammed bin Salman is culpable in the murder. These documents could greatly inform the ongoing congressional debate. In November, the Trump administration sanctioned 17 Saudi officials under the Global Magnitsky Act — but not Mohammed bin Salman. President Trump essentially declared that he didn’t care whether the Saudi leader was involved, stating, “it could very well be that the Crown Prince had knowledge of this tragic event – maybe he did and maybe he didn’t!" In Riyadh in January, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo repeated his mantra that “every single person responsible” for Khashoggi’s brutal murder in October in the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul should be held accountable. His own department’s actions undermine the credibility of that claim. The next court conference is scheduled for June 4. In an environment in which the Trump administration seems to be intent on withholding the truth from the public about who is ultimately responsibly for the Khashoggi’s murder, this lawsuit represents a ray of hope. More broadly, if the Saudi government is allowed to kill a critical journalist in cold blood and escape justice, that spells danger for every Saudi dissident who looks to the United States for protection and moral leadership. The truth about Khashoggi’s murder must come out. Read more: The Post’s View: Congress can seek justice for Jamal Khashoggi’s murder. It’s clear Trump won’t. Fred Ryan: It’s been six months since Jamal Khashoggi’s murder, and Trump has done nothing Jamal Khashoggi: What the Arab world needs most is free expression David Ignatius: How the mysteries of Khashoggi’s murder have rocked the U.S.-Saudi partnership Josh Rogin: Demands grow to release CIA assessment of Khashoggi murder


Ex-D.C. police officer given 14 years in prison in child sex-trafficking case

of sex trafficking of a minor. Ekwonna admitted to corresponding with two girls — 14 and 15 — via text messages and social media in 2016 and 2017 to arrange meetings at which he would pay them to engage in sexual acts, according to court documents. In his user profile on the Tagged account that he used to correspond with the girls, Ekwonna included a picture of himself in a police car wearing his uniform with his name tag, according to his plea agreement. Tom Maronick Jr., who was an attorney for Ekwonna, said, “I represented Mr. Ekwonna for part of the case and know him as a sincere person and one who always acted in such a way with me during my representation and with the Court. I cannot comment on the specific sentence or what led to it as I did not represent him at that stage of the representation.” — Lynh Bui Man found dead in Prince George's A man was found slain on a sidewalk in Camp Springs early Tuesday, authorities said. Officers found the body of Rufus Clark, 28, of Temple Hills about 12:40 a.m. in the 5400 block of Morris Avenue near Allentown Road. He had upper-body trauma, police said. The Washington region has had more than 105 homicides this year, according to Washington Post tracking. Of those, 27 have been in Prince George’s County. — Dana Hedgpeth VIRGINIA Findings of blackface probe to be released Eastern Virginia Medical School is to release Wednesday the findings of an investigation into the origins of a racist photo that appeared on Gov. Ralph Northam’s profile page in the school’s 1984 yearbook. The school launched the independent investigation after the photo became public Feb. 1. It showed one person in blackface and another in Ku Klux Klan garb. Northam (D) at first apologized for the photo but then denied he was in it. But he could not explain how it ended up on his profile. — Laura Vozzella THE DISTRICT Woman stabbed in Columbia Heights A woman was stabbed Tuesday evening in the Columbia Heights area, near the sites of several recent violent incidents. Police said the woman was conscious and breathing after the attack near 14th Street and Park Road NW. The site is about one block north of the Columbia Heights Metro station. No link to the other incidents was known. — Martin Weil .


Creating a home on the prairie as it once was

Springtime on the prairie is loud. Streams splish and splash. Frogs peep and sing. Prairie dogs chirp. Greater sage-grouse and other birds such as short-eared owls and northern harriers return from their migrations, then claim their territories with bubbling, booming noises at dawn. “It’s amazingly immersive in terms of sound,” says conservation ecologist Andy Boyce. He would know. As a scientist working for the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute, he lives and works on the American Prairie Reserve, a massive nature reserve in Montana that, so far, spans nearly 500,000 acres. The American Prairie Reserve is a nonprofit organization. It’s goal is to preserve several million acres, including public land and private land purchased from willing owners. Conservationists are returning this land (much of it previously used for raising cattle) to its natural state. It’s like a science experiment on a massive scale — about the size of Connecticut. In 2005, conservationists reintroduced herds of bison to the now-wild land. This past winter, the bison population was more than 800 animals. The big species has an equally big impact on the land, says Boyce. His job is to study what’s happening to all the other prairie animals, such as long-billed curlews, since the return of the bison. These migratory shorebirds rely on three types of habitats on the prairie — areas with short grass, long grass and mud — for completing their breeding cycle each year. As bison go about their business, they create a “heterogeneous” or varied landscape, which helps the birds, Boyce says. “All of these animals co-evolved over [thousands] of years,” he says. “When the land was used entirely for ranching, cattle changed the land in a different way that doesn’t support what the birds need.” This spring, as the grass and the cottonwood trees “green up” and petite prairie flowers bloom in blue, white and yellow, Boyce has been busy. He counts birds early in the morning, doing surveys related to native and nonnative grass, and setting up motion-sensing camera traps to document mammals such as cougars, swift fox, pronghorn and black-footed ferrets. He also carefully traps nesting long-billed curlews, then fitting them with “GPS backpacks” so the scientists can track them on the prairie. Grasslands such as the one conservationists are cultivating at the American Prairie Reserve used to be one of Earth’s most rich environments, but now are one of the most threatened. Humans have


the land, says Boyce. His job is to study what’s happening to all the other prairie animals, such as long-billed curlews, since the return of the bison. These migratory shorebirds rely on three types of habitats on the prairie — areas with short grass, long grass and mud — for completing their breeding cycle each year. As bison go about their business, they create a “heterogeneous” or varied landscape, which helps the birds, Boyce says. “All of these animals co-evolved over [thousands] of years,” he says. “When the land was used entirely for ranching, cattle changed the land in a different way that doesn’t support what the birds need.” This spring, as the grass and the cottonwood trees “green up” and petite prairie flowers bloom in blue, white and yellow, Boyce has been busy. He counts birds early in the morning, doing surveys related to native and nonnative grass, and setting up motion-sensing camera traps to document mammals such as cougars, swift fox, pronghorn and black-footed ferrets. He also carefully traps nesting long-billed curlews, then fitting them with “GPS backpacks” so the scientists can track them on the prairie. Grasslands such as the one conservationists are cultivating at the American Prairie Reserve used to be one of Earth’s most rich environments, but now are one of the most threatened. Humans have taken over much of this type of environment for their own use because it works well for agriculture and development. In addition to serving as a home for many plants and animals, healthy prairies help sustain the planet. Prairie vegetation and their extensive root systems do a huge amount of what Boyce calls “carbon sequestration.” That means they take in large quantities of carbon dioxide, removing it from the atmosphere, and doing a “deep service” in terms of fighting climate change, he says. Another reason to preserve the prairie? So future generations can experience the land the way it was for thousands of years before human development took over, like with herds of wild bison roaming free. The American Prairie Reserve gives us “the opportunity to see the land the way Lewis and Clark saw it, and how Native Americans interacted with it for thousands of years,” Boyce says. “And we almost lost it forever.” Correction: In an earlier version of this story, the black-tailed prairie dog in the photo caption was misidentified. The story has been updated. kidspost@washpost.com


Nailing down the best and worst hardware stores

might get a contractor’s discount from an independent store of about 5 to 15 percent — but not from the big chains — merely by requesting it. And some stores offer 10 to 15 percent discounts to customers who use a store charge account or the store’s own credit card. Because our price comparison scores don’t take such discounts into consideration, these discounts would make those stores’ prices more competitive with the big chains. For many customers, price is just part of the deal: They also crave good advice and customer service. Running a top-notch hardware store starts with recruiting well-informed, helpful staff. Because the best hardware store salespeople must possess the knowledge of plumbers, painters, electricians, roofers, landscapers, carpenters, and a dozen other tradespeople, finding and retaining a cadre of these professional know-it-alls is not easy. In addition, top hardware stores somehow manage to stock just about everything their customers need, and organize this amazing jumble of products so shoppers and staff can find them. To evaluate stores for service quality, Checkbook surveyed local consumers (Checkbook and Consumer Reports subscribers plus other randomly selected individuals). Unfortunately, price leaders Home Depot and Lowe’s fall well short on key service fronts. In these surveys of area consumers, Home Depot received “superior” ratings for quality of advice from only 20 percent of its surveyed customers; Lowe’s from only 38 percent. In contrast, suburban Maryland chain Strosniders Hardware and a number of independent stores throughout the Washington area received “superior” ratings for advice from more than 80 percent of their surveyed customers. Among the area’s many Ace and True Value stores, Checkbook found no consistent pattern in ratings for advice or other aspects of service. That is not surprising since Ace and True Value are buying cooperatives for independent stores that impose no performance standards or specific operating procedures on affiliates. Before buying items at a hardware store, find out about its return policy. A liberal policy is important because it’s easy to miscalculate the volume of paint, number of nails, or type of hinges a job needs. If you buy materials for a project ahead of time, it may be months before you realize that you have too much, the wrong thing, or a defective product. It helps to buy from a store that willingly accepts returns. Fortunately, Checkbook found return practices at most hardware stores are remarkably liberal. Almost all retailers


They come to Washington in search of help fighting repression. They find a vacuum.

Against all odds, against evidence and logic, they keep coming to Washington: dissidents, human rights crusaders, relatives of the persecuted from around the world. They hope for just one moment of moral clarity from America’s leaders. Last week alone, petitioners included the grieving fiancee of a Saudi journalist, slaughtered last year by a hit squad dispatched by that nation’s crown prince; the forlorn daughter of a Uighur scholar who has not seen her father since he was torn from her in the Beijing airport six years ago; and a delegation from Hong Kong warning that their city-state is making a last stand as a free society while the United States stands by silently. The fiancee, Hatice Cengiz , spoke at a House hearing and visited The Post, where she began her story simply: “I am 36 years old. I am Turkish. I was Jamal’s fiancee.” Jamal is Jamal Khashoggi, The Post columnist lured into the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on Oct. 2 on the pretext of obtaining documents he needed to marry Cengiz. Cengiz waited outside the diplomatic compound when he entered shortly after noon. She was still waiting at midnight. In a sense, she is waiting still. After Turkish authorities said they had audio evidence that Khashoggi was killed inside the consulate, Cengiz, a PhD student with no political inclinations, tried at first to stay in the background. She declined invitations to Washington. “I wasn’t emotionally ready,” she says. After a few months, though, Cengiz decided that, to press for justice for the man she had loved, she would have to adopt a more public role. She moved to London to study English. Finally, she came to meet the officials of the one government that she believes could, if it chose, force the Saudis to reveal more about the crime. “I do believe it has been inadequate,” she says of the U.S. response to the murder. “I had hoped for better.” Jewher Ilham also has had to fortify herself to advocate for her imprisoned father, the respected economist Ilham Tohti . She last saw him in 2013. He was expecting to travel to Indiana for a sabbatical. She was expecting to keep him company in the United States for two weeks and then fly back to China, where she was a college freshman. When he was detained at the airport, he insisted she fly out without him. She arrived


The Health 202: Lawmakers push to extend funding for mental health clinics set to end in July

” Stabenow recalled. Then there’s the issue of stigma, a major reason people don’t seek out help before their illnesses make it hard to function. “Calen lost all his friends,” Close said. “Jessie felt that she was frightened to tell parents about her bipolar disorder because she was afraid they wouldn’t allow their children to come and play with her young daughter at the time.” There are signs that the stigma is starting to thin, as more public figures share their own experiences. “Down and down I went, until I could no longer see hope on the horizon,” Smith said. “Now, I was never suicidal, but I was struggling to function. I definitely wasn’t living my best life; I really wasn’t living at all. And that’s the reality for mental illness for millions of Americans.” But talking more about mental illness has raised another concern among advocates: that it’s possible to address the topic in unhelpful ways, ways that could even trigger people to act upon suicidal thoughts. Close called the series “irresponsible.” “My sister went through suicide ideation,” Close said. “She tried to end her life twice. And I think you have to take responsibility because there’s so much potential for impact with our social media. You really have to take responsibility for the stories that you tell.” AHH: It took 18 days last fall for the University of Maryland to inform its students about the presence on campus of adenovirus. It’s a virus that can appear with symptoms similar to a cold or flu but can be dangerous for people with weakened immune systems, making early detection critical. The outbreak left one student, 18-year-old Olivia Shea Paregol, dead. More than 40 students were sickened overall during the outbreak in November and December and 15 people were treated at hospitals, our Post colleagues Jenn Abelson, Amy Brittain and Sarah Larimer report in this investigation about the outbreak told through Olivia’s story. The reporters spoke with more than 100 people during the course of their reporting to explain how the university’s communication delay left the community in the dark. After learning of the virus’s presence on campus, university officials “discussed — but decided against — notifying students with compromised immune systems and residents living in Elkton Hall, according to records reviewed by The Washington Post,” “Many parents and students have denounced the administration’s handling of the viral outbreak and the


Pint by pint, Maryland’s sustainable breweries support local communities

Walk into any bar or bottle shop across America these days and the healthy selection of local craft beer is evidence that the artisanal food movement has reached the tap. Now, a new wave of sustainable microbreweries are showing that craft beer can be environmentally friendly as well. Some of those microbreweries are in Maryland, scattered throughout the rolling farmlands of the Piedmont plateau and the Eastern Shore. With fertile acreage for barley, oats and hops—plus a rich history of communitarian values—it’s easy to see why. “Sustainable brewing supports local jobs and local farmers,” said Lisa Challenger, director of Worcester County Tourism. “A large portion of every sale of local craft beer stays in the community, so it’s big business for small towns.” D.C.-area residents know rural Maryland well from summertime shore visits and autumnal hiking expeditions, but the burgeoning beer scene offers a reason to visit year round. FeBREWary—Maryland’s month-long celebration of local craft beer—provides an up-close opportunity to see how these sustainable local brewers are taking the importance of community to heart. The journey from farm to tap Less than 10 miles inland from the Ocean City boardwalk, the area around Berlin, Md., is replete with farms and steeped in old-school agricultural traditions. That made sustainability an easy call for Bryan Brushmiller, owner of Burley Oak Brewing Company in Worcester County. “Being a sustainable brewery in this town is just doing what we do here,” Brushmiller said. “We utilize local ingredients because the products are just better, and it helps your neighbor.” After Brushmiller was laid off from his job in 2009, he took up homebrewing and soon encountered an opportunity: What to do with the spent grain left over from the brewing process? Rather than see it go to waste, he decided to feed it to his chickens. “Even back then,” he said, “my thoughts were, ‘How do I utilize my byproducts? How do I not waste anything?’” Two years later, a local farmer and soil scientist named Brooks Clayville proposed working with Brushmiller to grow and harvest a barley that would be well-suited to the local climate and could be malted for brewing. After lots of trial and error, they found the perfect strain—a pale barley that forms the basis for Burley Oak’s Homegrown Session IPA, one of approximately 450 beers the brewery has produced since 2011. Burley Oak has no flagship beer, instead taking advantage


Can a vegan hot dog compete with the real thing? This company is banking on it.

“The reason why we’ve made it so identical [to a classic hot dog sausage] is to appeal to people that love hot dogs,” he says. “We want to create a product that everybody can eat without that label on there of ‘vegan,’ which can deter people from trying food. This is something that everyone can eat.” Having launched Britain’s first meatless “bleeding” burger, which oozes beet juice when cut into, in September 2018, Moving Mountains has had a busy few months. The burger is now on sale at more than 2,000 restaurants in Britain, including the Hard Rock Cafe and Unity Diner (home of the Moving Mountains hot dog launch). In a city where the world’s first “Vegeburger” was created in 1982 by entrepreneur Gregory Sams, it’s currently leading the way, but, globally, competition is heating up. California-based Beyond Meat saw its value rise by more than 200 percent after launching on the Nasdaq composite index last week, while Impossible Foods in January updated the recipe of its Impossible Burger, which is now sold at Burger King. The plan is to make it available in 7,200 restaurants by the end of 2019. Work on the hot dog began over a year ago and has been driven by Van Der Molen’s evident perfectionism. He says he is delighted with the result. “I took it around to a cousin’s barbecue, and they served it up as a pork hot dog, and nobody knew the difference until I said, ‘Oh, by the way, that hot dog you’ve just eaten and demolished was actually made from plants,’ ” he says. Americans will soon have the opportunity to try these hot dogs. The product will launch in Zurich later this month, with the U.S. debut penciled in for mid-June. And after that? Van Der Molen says he and his team are working on “all types of different meats,” including poultry, a plant-based cheese dog, and something he’s calling a brat-dog: “It’s got the nutmeg flavor you get with a bratwurst, but not the texture. I want to do something different this time.” If any of these upcoming projects are anywhere as good as his most recent creation, consider us intrigued. Hawkes is a UK-based food, drink and travel writer. More from Voraciously: How ‘plant-based’ rebranded vegan eating for the mainstream What’s in a name? The battle over alternative meat, milk and rice labeling rages on.


Buttigieg: ‘It’s disgusting’ that Trump is reportedly considering pardoning soldiers convicted of war crimes

Democratic presidential aspirant Pete Buttigieg said Thursday that he thinks it is “disgusting” that President Trump is reportedly considering pardons for several American military members accused or convicted of war crimes. Buttigieg, the mayor of South Bend, Ind., who served in Afghanistan as a Navy Reserve intelligence officer, said during an appearance at a Washington Post Live event that such pardons would hurt the standing of the U.S. military abroad and make troops less safe. “My view is it’s disgusting,” Buttigieg said, adding that it is important to maintain the credibility of the U.S. military justice system. “If the president blows a hole in that, he is blowing a hole in the military, and he is putting troops’ lives at risk.” Buttigieg said that during his military service, “the flag on my shoulder represented a country that kept its word. . . . If we lose that, nothing will keep us safe.” Several recent reports have said Trump is considering some pardons of military members on an expedited basis to exercise his power around Memorial Day. Buttigieg’s military service came up at several points during a wide-ranging interview with The Post’s Robert Costa. Buttigieg, 37, the youngest candidate in the Democratic presidential field, referred to his military service when seeking to make the case that he could take on Trump. “I don’t have a problem standing up to someone who was working on Season 7 of ‘Celebrity Apprentice’ when I was packing my bags for Afghanistan,” Buttigieg said, citing Trump’s previous NBC reality television series. Buttigieg also accused Trump of skirting military service in Vietnam for an illegitimate reason. “I have a pretty dim view of his decision to use his privilege to fake a disability in order to avoid serving in Vietnam,” Buttigieg said. Pressed by Costa, Buttigieg said, “That’s exactly what he did.” Trump has said he received a medical deferment in 1968 because he had bone spurs in his feet. The New York Times reported late last year that the daughters of a deceased podiatrist said it was “family lore” that their father provided the diagnosis as a favor to Trump’s father, who owned the building in which the podiatrist practiced. Buttigieg said the issue is one that “deserves to be talked about.” During the interview, Buttigieg disagreed with Trump on the issue of whether National Football League players should be allowed to kneel during the national


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

Memorial Day Weekend Events: Friday, May 24 John Waters at Politics and Prose The Seldom Scene at the Birchmere [The Seldom Scene still knows how to change direction at high speeds] Cyrus Chestnut Trio with Antonio Hart at Keystone Korner [From an old-time impresario comes a new jazz venue in Baltimore] Saturday, May 25 The Midnite BBQ at Gateway DC pavilion Memorial Day party and beer release Grand opening of Denizens Brewing Company: After almost five years of crafting beer in Silver Spring, Denizens Brewing is branching out and opening a second location in Riverdale Park. (This is the second production brewery in Prince George’s County, after Calvert Brewing in Upper Marlboro.) While the real goal for the space is amping up the availability of Denizens beers — Silver Spring “maxed out on our production capacity about three years ago,” co-founder Julie Verratti said in a news release — there’s also a 150-seat taproom with all the usual Denizens favorites and seasonal beers, plus wine and cocktails made with local spirits. Open at 11 a.m. [The Washington area’s hottest new beer destination is downtown Silver Spring] Passion Pit at the Anthem [4 concerts to catch around the D.C. area over the next several days] Daylight at City Winery: The team behind Daylight — D.C.'s 13-year-old day party catering to fans of old-school house, hip-hop and R&B — is taking over the rooftop wine garden at City Winery for its annual Memorial Day affair. DJ Divine and Big Tone are joined by three DJs from WPFW: Yzo, who specializes in modern soul, downtempo and jazzy house; Paul Howard, whose House After Dark show focuses on soulful and deep house; and Bobby Rox, who anchors the Fantastic Friday show with deep funk, house and hip-hop. WPFW broadcasts live from the club between 10 p.m. and midnight, and a portion of proceeds benefits the nonprofit station. 8 p.m. to 2 a.m. $15. Hometown Holidays at Rockville Town Center Sunday, May 26 Burna Boy at Echostage DNV Rooftop pool parties at the Kimpton Donovan Hotel: With outstanding rooftop views and a shallow pool that’s perfect for wading, the DNV bar atop the Kimpton Donovan Hotel is an easy summer getaway overlooking Logan Circle. The weekly Sunday summer party pumps up the atmosphere with a DJ and discounted brunch cocktails. Bring a bathing suit or just dip your feet in the water while sipping a


Chris Long admits to smoking marijuana, calls NFL drug-testing plan ‘kind of silly’

which players are tested only once a year at some point between late April and early August. Joining others, he said it isn’t hard to pass the test. “I think testing is arbitrary. The league, speaking plainly, knows damn well what they’re doing,” Long said. “Testing players once a year for ‘street drugs’, which is a terrible classification for marijuana, is kind of silly because, you know, players know when the test is. We can stop. And in that month or two that you stop, you’re going to reach for the sleeping pills, you’re going to reach for the pain killers, you’re going to reach for the bottle a little bit more. “On the weekend you’re going to have a few more drinks, and a few turns into a few too many. . . . It’s just not the same. If you’re serious about players not smoking, you’d be testing more often. I hope they go the opposite direction and kind of realize how arbitrary doing that one test a year is.” Marijuana remains on the NFL’s banned-substances list even though more than half the country — 33 states plus the District of Columbia — allows marijuana use in some form. Ten states have completely legalized it, and five of them are home to NFL franchises. When the Raiders move to Las Vegas next season, that number will grow to six. This week, the league and the players’ union announced the creation of a joint committee that will study alternative methods of pain management, and considering that a number of players have said marijuana is a safer and more effective way to curtail the chronic soreness that comes with being an NFL player, marijuana will be a topic of conversation, both on the committee and when the owners and the players try to work out a new collective bargaining agreement in the coming years. Allen Sills, the NFL’s chief medical officer, told USA Today this week that there hasn’t been enough scientific study on whether marijuana is a viable alternative to prescription painkillers. “I think many times there’s a narrative that says: ‘I have severe pain. I’m either going to take opioids or marijuana.’ Those are the only two choices,” Sills said. “And that is absolutely wrong. There are many other treatment strategies. “I think that the science, unfortunately, has lagged behind a lot of the popular opinion and press


Tech platforms must move against the anti-vaxxers now

two decades ago have made it clear: The outbreak of misinformation online is facilitating literal outbreaks of disease. Companies apparently agree — to a point. Platforms could remove all anti-vax material, but so far they won’t, citing either squeamishness about policing belief or a desire not to stop parents from having conversations about so personal a decision. They could remove people, pages or groups that systematically promote anti-vax material, but they won’t do that, either. That leaves seeking to limit the reach of false messages on their platforms without banning them altogether. Facebook has announced it is down-ranking anti-vaxxer groups and pages in users’ news feeds and in searches, as well as cutting them out entirely from recommendations and predictions and getting rid of their advertisements. Its sister company Instagram has blocked hashtags such as #vaccinescauseautism or #vaccineskill. YouTube The remedies that focus on searches seek to fill what’s known as a “data void” — a sort of digital black hole that sucks curious consumers into the realm of the factless. If you search “did the Holocaust happen,” for example, you may be more likely to find sources that say it did not, because they’re the ones bothering to weigh in on what everyone else feels is settled fact. Vaccines, similarly, are settled science. But these approaches can fall short. Search “#vaccines” on Instagram, leaving the whole “cause autism” or “kill” thing out, and the first accounts to show up are conspiratorial, with names such as “vaccines_uncovered” and “vaccines_revealed.” Believe it or not, they aren’t dedicated to touting the benefits of polio shots. Results on Facebook land users in similarly treacherous territory: “The Truth About Vaccines Docu-Series,” for example, is followed closely by “Tongue Ties, Autism, MTHFR, Vaccine, Leaky Gut — What’s the connection?” None, really, but these pages will tell you otherwise. You can’t fill a data void with more emptiness, so approaches that don’t also surface enough authoritative sources to replace the junk have a fatal flaw. Twitter’s pop-ups help solve that half of the problem by linking to a government site, but the platform leaves alone the anti-vax content that appears right below. YouTube’s model, which seems to prioritize mostly verified videos from channels such as the Mayo Clinic and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, does a better job. Even if platforms try to push down trustworthy sources and prop up reliable ones, algorithms miss


A better rail

Regarding the May 18 news article “Trump administration pulls $929 million from Calif. high-speed rail project”: I agree with the administration about holding back money, but for a different reason. We should be supporting and investing in a next-generation train system that upgrades and connects all cities across the United States. In several years, Japan will start running 500 mph trains. This is the technology the United States should embrace. It’s time to move to a more efficient transportation system that will give planes a run for their money. Our government needs to invest in and accommodate trains as much as it has with planes. Brian England


Transcript: The 2020 Candidates: Mayor Pete Buttigieg

reports that President Trump is considering pardons for former soldiers who committed war crimes, U.S. soldiers. What's your view on that? Do they deserve them? MAYOR BUTTIGIEG: My view is it's disgusting. Look, when you serve, when you take that oath, the oath is to the Constitution. And if you are convicted by a jury of your military peers of having committed a war crime, the idea that the President is going to overrule that is an affront to the basic idea of good order and discipline and to the idea of law, the very thing that we believe we're putting our lives on the line to defend. Remember, we're talking about people who would be convicted by an American military justice system. The whole idea of the Uniform Code of Military Justice is that it is applied to everyone in uniform--and by the way, to contractors, under certain circumstances. And you know, another thing that makes this so dangerous and so insulting to people who served is, you know, we finally live in a time when Americans have figured out how to separate the way they feel about a policy from the way they treat troops. This was not the case for everybody who came back from Vietnam. You talk--you know, even now, we do a welcome home day for Vietnam veterans in South Bend, and you talk to veterans, many of whom were just drafted. They did what they were legally required to do, and they've got tears in their eyes talking about the way it felt when they came home, because people couldn't distinguish between how they felt about the war and how they felt about the troops. In my generation, thankfully, as somebody who served in the Afghanistan War, would have served in the Iraq War, if called to do so--was also strongly against the Iraq War, from the beginning--I'm so thankful that we live in a moment that we can honor the troops separately from policy. Even then, there are some people, I see it every now and then in my social media feed, who think anybody who served is a war criminal, right? That's a radical fringe, but they--sometimes they talk about us that way, about veterans and troops that way. And our firewall against that is the fact that American law, American military law, is abundantly clear on what you do and do


a combat zone. I think those experiences are as good as any experience you can accumulate you here in Washington to get you ready for the presidency. MR. COSTA: But some voters may look at your experience compared to his and they say, "He also appeals to the industrial Midwest." He has national experience. You're talking about city experience in Indiana. What differentiates your appeal to voters who are looking for someone to win over those Trump voters, to win over those states? MAYOR BUTTIGIEG: Well, part of it is the willingness to talk about--not just nibbling around the edges, but really fixing our system. A presidency like the one we've got isn't even possible under ordinary circumstances. I know there is a lot of focus on the various things on the margins that tipped the election into this President's hands, but a person like the person in the White House today doesn't get within cheating distance of the Oval Office unless people, especially people in the industrial Midwest, where I'm from, are completely fed up with this system, to the point that they will vote for somebody they dislike just to send a message that they want to burn the house down. And if we are perceived as replicating a system that let people down, economically and politically, then we could very well lose again. And I'm not-- MR. COSTA: Do you think Vice President Biden is a replication of that system? MAYOR BUTTIGIEG: I'm not talking about any one of my competitors. MR. COSTA: It was a reference to a Biden question. MAYOR BUTTIGIEG: When it comes to the other 23 competitors, or however many it is this week, I'm not sure any of--I am sure that none of them have quite the same account I do of where the country is headed and how we're going to change it. So, the bottom line is we've got to demonstrate--look, the core falsehood of the Trump message is the word "again," right, the idea that we can fish greatness out of the American past, when actually the one thing we most want to emulate from those who came before us is the very fact that they were focused on the future. And if we want to respond to that, it can't be an equal and opposite response. It has to be something completely different. And more than anybody else


Here’s how to navigate Metro’s summer-long shutdown

Metro’s longest-ever line segment shutdown begins Saturday, affecting six Blue and Yellow line stations south of Reagan National Airport. For the next 15 weeks, trains will not serve the Braddock Road, King Street-Old Town, Eisenhower Avenue, Huntington, Van Dorn Street or Franconia-Springfield stations. That means thousands of commuters will have to find an alternative way to reach their destination. The shutdown is the first phase of a three-year platform reconstruction project and will continue through Sept. 8. Commuters in Northern Virginia who normally use the six stations have several options for getting around during the shutdown. Free shuttles available at each of the shuttered stations will connect riders to the Metro system; other transit alternatives include Bikeshare and buses. If your travels take you in or out of National Airport, add extra time and have a plan to avoid delays in the rail system. Yellow and Blue line trains will run between the airport and Washington. And Metro will run all Yellow Line trains to Greenbelt starting Saturday, to provide more reliable service between the airport, downtown D.C. and points north during the shutdown. “There’s still time to make a plan,” Alexandria Transportation Director Yon Lambert said. “It is going to take longer, and people need to be prepared to add 30 minutes to their normal commute. They also are going to have to have a little bit of patience this summer." You can click here to use a special Metro trip planner to explore available options, such as bus-only trips, to bypass the construction. More buses will be available to handle higher demand along the route of the closed stations. Alexandria is changing the HOV rules on Washington Street, which runs parallel to Route 1 and is one of the key north-south commuter routes, to accommodate more bus traffic during the shutdown. The city is also expanding HOV hours to 6 to 10 a.m. in the morning and to 3 to 7 p.m. for the evening rush and increasing the HOV-2 requirement to HOV-3. If your employer allows it, try telework and avoid the chaos altogether. Federal agencies have been urged to allow more telework and alternative work schedules for their employees during the shutdown. If you want to continue with your regular commute during the shutdown using the free shuttles, you should expect crowded buses. The Metro platforms at the airport and other Yellow and Blue line stations


National Geographic annual GeoBee crowns its winner

In a sudden-death round, a question about a plateau in northern Norway decided the winner of the National Geographic GeoBee on Wednesday in Washington. Texas eighth-grader Nihar Janga’s answer of “Finnmark plateau” earned him the win and a prize of $25,000 in scholarship money. The GeoBee is an annual competition that tests students’ knowledge of world geography and its changes throughout history. Winners representing 54 states and territories earned a spot in this week’s national contest. Students had to go through preliminary and semifinal rounds, in which they fielded questions about topics such as geographic landscapes, climate change and geopolitics. In second place was Atreya Mallana, a sixth-grader from Massachusetts. After a round focused on maps, Rishi Kumar, an eighth-grader from Ellicott City, Maryland, was declared the third-place winner. Second- and third-place winners received a $10,000 and $5,000 college scholarship, respectively. The competition is part of National Geographic’s goal to teach kids about the world and how it works. Students in grades four through eight from nearly 10,000 schools participate annually in the GeoBee tournament. According to National Geographic, about 120 million students have learned about the world by competing in the GeoBee since it began in 1988. National Geographic also hosted its annual GeoChallenge, a project-based tournament that challenges students to solve a real-world problem. This year’s theme was about tackling plastic pollution in our waterways. The GeoChallenge finalists are from New York, Missouri and Texas. The Navigators, a team of four fifth-graders from Flushing Christian School in New York, were the youngest winners in the competition. Their first-place project aims to clean the Hudson River to protect fish species from microplastics using a vacuum system. The fifth-graders received a prize of $25,000 and guidance on their project from the National Geographic team.


Big brands are cutting packaging waste, inspired by a boomer-era strategy

also will provide recycling services for items that have long been condemned to the trash, such as diapers, pens and razor blades. “There are some big firsts baked into Loop, and that’s really using a lot of TerraCycle’s original competency,” Szaky told Waste Dive. “If it’s reasonable to recover and reasonable to reuse, then it must be reused, is the rule.” As industries confront their role in climate change, the grocery world is coming to terms with its monumental waste. ReFEd, a nonprofit that fights food waste in the United States, estimates the retail food sector generates more than 8 million tons of food waste annually, worth about $18.2 billion a year. Then there’s packaging. From 1960 to 2015, the amount of packaging waste in the United States surged 185 percent, from 27 million tons to nearly 78 million tons. Containers and packaging make up 23 percent of landfill waste, according to a 2015 report from the Environmental Protection Agency. Finding a solution for plastic waste has become more urgent since 2018, when China announced it would no longer import and recycle other nations’ plastics. Loop is just one of many waste-reduction efforts underway in the grocery industry. California and Hawaii have statewide plastic bag bans, and many cities have plastic bag taxes. Recent years have seen the rise of zero-waste grocery stores, where customers bring their own containers and shop in bulk, allowing them to get the quantity they need, even if it’s just a single egg. Zero-waste grocery stores have taken off in Europe and Asia, but they have yet to see much success in the United States. “Customers are increasingly seeking out sustainable products and services that fit their lifestyle. As the exclusive grocery retail partner for Loop in the U.S., Kroger is taking another big step toward a world with zero waste,” Jessica Adelman, Kroger’s group vice president of corporate affairs, said in a news release. Kroger, the nation’s biggest supermarket chain, has been leading the charge for greener grocers. In 2017, the Cincinnati-based company pledged to stamp out food waste in its stores and across the company by 2025. Kroger also has promised to phase out plastic bags, which take anywhere from 300 to 500 years to degrade, by the same deadline. Down the line, New Jersey-based Loop plans to expand its product offerings and enter into other global markets, including Canada, Asia and Europe.


Five things to know about Europe’s surprisingly dramatic parliamentary elections

in April showed that the progressive Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe, backed by French President Emmanuel Macron, is projected to gain eight seats, bringing its number to 76, and that the Green party could win 57 seats, five more than it now holds. Ultimately, the new Parliament could reflect what is occurring in governments all around Europe: a weakening of the center that is forcing political realignment on the major issues shaping the world. Yep. This is an election few thought would occur in Britain, given that the country voted three years ago to leave the E.U. and was to have quit the bloc two months ago. The questions are understandable. Will Britain’s 73 new representatives to the E.U.’s legislative body serve for days, weeks or years? Who knows? The chaos is made more sensational by the forecast that this nascent, single-issue party is going to blow everyone else out of the water, with the potential to influence how Brexit turns out and how long Prime Minister Theresa May stays in office. The demands of the Brexit Party seem simple: Get us out of the E.U. Now. Honor the 2016 referendum result. A big win for the Brexit Party could push May and her Conservatives to hurriedly pass a deal before parliamentarians take up their seats in July, or, as Farage prefers, leave the E.U. with no deal. Writing in the Guardian, former Labour prime minister Tony Blair described the stakes: “This is not a vote to choose a prime minister or a government. It is a vote for the Farage Brexit — or against it.” Alternatively, a good showing from the anti-Brexit Liberal Democrats or Change UK might embolden those in the British Parliament who want a second referendum on Brexit. Since the last election in 2014, the E.U. has been hammered by a refugee crisis, multiple mass-casualty terrorist attacks, a vote by the British people to exit the bloc, a security scare fueled by the Kremlin and a fitful economic recovery after the global financial crisis. Such issues are pulling voters to the fringes, and far-right and other parties that are hostile to the E.U. appear poised to control more seats than ever before. From grand palazzi in Rome to Art Nouveau villas in Budapest, Europe’s anti-migration right-wingers have been prepping their battering rams to knock down the doors of the European Parliament. No one expects


Officials warn residents to prepare for 15-week Metro shutdown that starts Saturday

discourage people from switching to driving by offering as many connections to public transit during the disruption as possible. But they warn riders to add at least 30 minutes to their trips, test a few commuting options to find the best one, and to be prepared for problems — especially in the first several days. Metro’s experience during SafeTrack was that it takes a few days for commuters to adjust their travel patterns, and that those first days can bring operational challenges. “We are prepared, but that does not mean it will be an easy week, as our experience has shown,” Wiedefeld said. “Here is the good news: Awareness of the shutdown is very, very high,” Wiedefeld said. “But it is not enough to be aware. We need to make sure the customers understand their travel options and make plans now.” By shutting down the system for several months, rather just on weekends, for example, “the disruptions, while acute,” are for as short a time as possible, Metro said. The National Airport station will remain open, and travel north of the station should be normal. But officials are urging air travelers to add time to their trips to the airport. The shutdown, combined with major construction affecting the airport road network could create additional strains on National’s ground transportation. Airport officials are urging travelers to continue to use Metro. “The airport expects to see a noticeable increase in passengers over the summer so it is important for travelers to familiarize themselves with the free shuttle bus options,” said Paul Malandrino, airport manager at National. “We encourage passengers to continue to take public transport to get to and from the airport. Normal train service will be available heading to the north, and shuttle bus service will be available heading to the south.” The work is part of a three-year project to rebuild 20 of 45 outdoor platforms that Metro says are “structurally deficient” and pose safety risks to riders. Many of the platforms have been stabilized until the full reconstruction takes place, Metro said. But the reconstruction work is necessary, the agency said, to avoid an emergency shutdown. This first phase affecting six stations will address other large-scale projects too, including the demolition of the unused south parking garage at Huntington, repairs of a rail bridge near the Van Dorn station, the installation of a new crossover near King Street, and


An astronomer’s poetic soul meets Dante’s scientific mind

each set upon a crystalline sphere. Though this model was radically overturned, Mary (and others before her) were drawn to Dante’s outdated celestial descriptions for “his faithfulness to the teachings of astronomy as he had learned it,” as she put it in her book. Dante had his Aristotle, Ptolemy and Euclid down pat. “Mary understood,” writes Daugherty, “that Dante the poet possessed the impulses of a scientific researcher: a restless mind, a habit of close observation.” He took pains to get the exact annual period of the sun’s revolution around the Zodiac, somehow obtaining a value closer to modern estimates than his contemporaries. He mentioned the sun’s “flecked disc” three centuries before sunspots were recognized. And he never had a waxing crescent moon rising in the east at sunset (a mistake made so often in literature). Dante scholars came to appreciate her findings. Others followed up. Daugherty points to later arguments that suggest Dante was ahead of his time, picturing a non-Euclidean space in his “Comedy” where God sits at a single point within a series of ever-curving spaces and radiates a brilliant light, a seemingly prescient notion of the big bang. “Dante has invented a new topological space, the 3-sphere,” or hypersphere, mathematician Mark Peterson noted in an analysis. This is all fun, yet still problematic, as such a hypothesis is based on applying modern theories to what were poetic and allegorical imaginings in the 14th century. I remain skeptical. The book ends with the Eversheds returning to England in 1923, right after John failed to verify Einstein’s general theory of relativity because of equipment malfunctions during a solar eclipse expedition to Australia. He once again set up a private observatory and, despite his misgivings about his career accomplishments, was awarded the gold medal of the Royal Astronomical Society for his breakthroughs in the study of sunspots. Mary died of cancer in 1949 at the age of 82. The next year, John married a family friend, Margaret Randall, 40 years his junior. He continued his solar studies for six more years until his death. As for the observatory in Kodiakanal, the direct descendants of the Indian men who assisted John and Mary in the early years of the 20th century continue the solar observations to this day. Dante and the Early Astronomer Science, Adventure, and a Victorian Woman Who Opened the Heavens By Tracy Daugherty Yale. 214 pp. $26


The Health 202: Momentum is building in Congress to take on surprise medical bills

it “is seen as a government using its power over the people and the states, which is kind of toxic in America right now … There is nothing unethical or wrong about it. It’s just plain common sense that if you have an actively infectious individual, they should not get on an airplane.” New York's Rockland County Executive Ed Day wants a federal law requiring travelers to show proof of immunization. OOF: The family of the 18-year-old University of Maryland student who died of adenovirus last year has taken a step toward a lawsuit against the school. The notice of claim against the University of Maryland was filed after our Post colleagues Jenn Abelson, Amy Brittain and Sarah Larimer revealed in a lengthy investigation that school leaders waited 18 days to inform students about the presence of adenovirus on campus. The outbreak sickened 40 students, including 15 who were treated at hospitals, and left one student, 18-year-old Olivia Shea Paregol, dead. “Ian Paregol said the family hopes to have discussions with college officials and will decide in coming weeks whether to file a lawsuit against the state’s flagship institution,” Jenn writes. “In the meantime, Paregol is calling for an independent investigation of the university and asking for the resignation or termination of President Wallace D. Loh.” Meanwhile, Loh has defended the school’s response to the outbreak. “Our approach to reporting, testing, cleaning and communicating about the virus was coordinated with health officials, and exceeded” guidelines from the CDC, Loh said in a statement. OUCH: New documents allege the patient in a vegetative state who gave birth at a long-term care facility in Arizona was repeatedly raped and may have been pregnant before, CNN’s Faith Karimi and Chris Boyette report. The woman, who had been at the Hacienda HealthCare facility in Phoenix since 1992, has left the facility where she gave birth to a baby boy in December, though no one at the facility knew she was pregnant. “Her lawyers filed a $45 million notice of claim to Arizona on Wednesday with allegations against the state along with Hacienda HealthCare,” Faith and Chris report. “The Maricopa County Medical Center examined the woman after she gave birth and concluded she’d been ‘violated repeatedly,’ the documents allege. Her giving birth was likely a ‘repeat parous event,’ which means she may have been pregnant before, the documents say. From the claim, it’s unclear whether


What happens next with Brexit, now that Theresa May is resigning?

undergone. That, they say, could lead to yet more uncertainty and requests for extensions. There are some European leaders — notably French President Emmanuel Macron — who long to pull the ripcord and cast Britain away so they can move on with their own plans. But for now, European diplomats expect that an extension in October would be granted, following the same logic as an emergency meeting of E.U. leaders last month. It probably would be worse for the E.U. to have Britain depart in an uncontrolled fashion than to extend the uncertainty, they say. Gone by the wayside, for now, are European dreams of a second referendum in Britain that could reverse Brexit altogether. May’s willingness to consider the idea helped spark the final rebellion that ousted her from office. Although most European leaders would be happy to put the brakes on Brexit if they had the chance to avoid it, they don’t expect to do so. European leaders have offered no additional concessions to Britain, despite May’s struggle to pass the divorce deal, because they see the agreement less as a negotiation than as the only answer to a math problem. Add up Britain’s red lines and what results is the current divorce deal, as unpopular as it is, policymakers in Brussels say. The only way to change the deal is to take away some of the red lines, such as a desire not to have a customs barrier between Northern Ireland and the rest of Great Britain. That won’t change with May’s successor. Even a no-deal Brexit wouldn’t end the drama. The conversation the next day between London and Brussels would be the same. They still need to find a solution to keep open the border between Northern Ireland and Ireland to avoid sparking a new conflict. They have to agree on a way for British citizens to continue to live and work in the E.U., and vice versa. And the E.U. will still want Britain to live up to its financial commitments in the E.U. budget it agreed to before it decided to depart the bloc. “Citizens, peace on the island of Ireland and money,” one senior European diplomat warned last month, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive negotiations. If there is a no-deal departure, the diplomat said, “every term in the withdrawal agreement will still be discussed with the U.K.” griff.witte@washpost.com michael.birnbaum@washpost.com


Will U.S. war on Huawei help China end its dependency on Western tech?

and will continue even if the current trade dispute gets resolved in negotiations. “Either way, the Chinese government and Chinese companies will look at this and try to replace a U.S. supplier with a non-U.S. supplier,” said Stewart Randall, head of semiconductors for market consulting firm Intralink, who is based in Shanghai. “They won’t want to be in a position where the U.S. always wins.” MEMS accelerometers allow phones to sense movement. Without them, the phone’s screen would not automatically adjust when turned vertically and horizontally. They also tell users which direction to walk while following on-screen GPS directions, or sense different activities, like walking, running or cycling. They are key to newer “augmented reality” apps that can place virtual objects in the real world. These sensors, which are smaller than a grain of sand, sell for anywhere from 10 cents to as much as 50 cents each. But that low price doesn’t mean they’re easy to make, and the U.S., German, French and Japanese companies that manufacture the most advanced versions jealously guard the process, building them in in-house semiconductor fabrication labs known in the industry as “fabs” to make certain the technology does not leak to competitors. The components in the latest accelerometers are microscopic — the term MEMS means “microelectromechanical systems” — making them impossible to simply take apart and copy. To build one, a company needs to develop the technology from the ground up, or somehow acquire the detailed schematics showing how they are assembled. “If they’re not allowed to buy parts at all from American companies, eventually they’ll run into problems,” said Stacy Rasgon, a senior analyst on the U.S. semiconductor industry for Bernstein Research. Larger and less sophisticated chips can be developed through computer simulation, according to chip experts. But MEMS-based chips are too small for that. Developing one is a painstaking, trial-and-error process that takes years. Chip experts think in 18-month “development cycles,” and it usually takes about three of those cycles for a company to get up to par, they say. So far, China isn’t there. But Chinese semiconductor companies in the past haven’t had much of a business incentive to devote the research budgets to developing technologies like advanced accelerometers because they could buy them from the West. Now, with the new U.S.-imposed prohibitions, chip experts say Chinese companies like SMIC likely will go into overdrive to develop better chips for


On Japan’s Okinawa, U.S. military is accused of contaminating environment with hazardous chemical

TOKYO — The U.S. military on the Japanese island of Okinawa is facing accusations of environmental contamination after high levels of a carcinogenic chemical were found in the rivers around a U.S. air base and in the blood of local residents, according to a new study. The controversy is inflaming an already sensitive situation for the U.S. military in Okinawa. The island is home to half the 54,000 U.S. military personnel in Japan and has the largest U.S. air base in the Asia-Pacific. The military presence, however, is widely unpopular. The accusations have hit the front pages in Okinawa and been raised in a parliamentary environmental committee in Tokyo just before President Trump arrives for a state visit, although it is unlikely to be an issue either the U.S. leader or Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will want to address. It also mirrors wider concerns in the United States about contamination from a family of industrial chemicals known as perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). The chemicals have a wide array of consumer and industrial uses, including in nonstick cookware and firefighting foam, but do not break down in the environment. They are the target of congressional bills that would require stronger action to regulate their use and to decontaminate water supplies around the United States. In Okinawa, a study by two Kyoto University professors found high concentrations of a chemical called perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) in rivers passing through and around the Kadena Air Base and the Marine Corps Air Station Futenma. PFOS is a chemical in the PFAS family and was used by the U.S. military as an ingredient in firefighting foam for five decades until 2015, along with perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA). Air Force Col. John Hutcheson, director of public affairs for U.S. Forces Japan, said the chemicals had been used for fighting petroleum fires primarily at military and civilian airfields — and in a number of industrial processes — because they help rapidly extinguish combustion, protecting personnel and property. “U.S. military installations in Japan are transitioning to an alternative formula of aqueous film-forming foam that is PFOS free, only contains trace amounts of PFOA and meets military specifications for firefighting,” he said. Regarding the accusations of environment damage, however, the spokesman declined to comment. “We have seen press reports but have not had a chance to review the Kyoto University study, so it would be inappropriate to comment on


There’s no point in wishing luck to Theresa May’s successor

people will decide who runs the nation. Will it be a so-called hard Brexiteer who will break all of the United Kingdom’s trade relationships overnight, or perhaps a “Remainer” who will seek a way back in to the European Union? Or perhaps a compromise between the two? But although that seems like a big choice to give to a small number of people, the reality is rather more banal. In truth, whoever replaces May will face exactly the same choices and exactly the same dilemmas as she did. A British prime minister who decides to crash out of the E.U. with no treaty arrangements on a Monday will wake up on Tuesday to discover that his immediate priority is ... to write a new treaty with the E.U. A British prime minister who wants to forge a reasonable compromise will discover that there is no majority for any compromise, reasonable or unreasonable, in the current House of Commons. A British prime minister who wants to remain in the E.U. will immediately face a wave of outrage from the one-third of Britons who have just voted for the brand-new “Brexit party.” All of the constraints remain. All of the conundrums are unresolved. It is still the case that the U.K. cannot both exit the all-European customs union and keep open the border between Northern Ireland and the Irish republic. It is still the case that there is no Brexit “deal” that makes the U.K. richer, and certainly not 350 million pounds a week richer, as the Brexit referendum slogan in 2016 claimed. It’s not a coincidence that none of the Tory leadership contenders can present a concrete plan, because there can’t be one. The only conceivable game-changers are another referendum, which “Remain” might win, thus alienating a part of the Conservative Party forever — or another general election, one that the Conservative Party, on current performance, will lose. There’s not much point in wishing good luck to May’s successor, in other words, because it’s unlikely to help. Read more Anne Applebaum: Theresa May isn’t the adult in the room. She’s part of the problem. Dalibor Rohac: Why Theresa May is a great prime minister Nick Cohen: The quest for Brexit has killed Britain Fareed Zakaria: Brexit will mark the end of Britain’s role as a great power Anne Applebaum: Brexit has devastated Britain’s international reputation — and respect for its democracy


Trump says pardoning war criminals ‘a little bit controversial,’ suggests delay in deliberations

President Trump acknowledged Friday that his consideration of pardons for U.S. service members accused or convicted of war crimes is “a little bit controversial” and suggested he would not be making decisions before Memorial Day. The New York Times reported Speaking to reporters as he prepared to leave the White House en route to Japan, Trump said that he was “looking at a lot of different pardons for a lot of different people.” “Some of these soldiers are people that have fought hard, long,” Trump said. “You know, we teach them how to be great fighters, and then when they fight, sometimes they get treated very unfairly. “So we’re going to take a look at it,” he continued. “I haven’t done anything yet. I haven’t made any decisions. There’s two or three of them right now. It’s a little bit controversial.” He added that in cases of those members who’ve yet to stand trial, “it’s very possible that I’ll let the trials go on, and I’ll make my decision after the trial.” In a tweet last year, Trump said that he would review the case of Army Maj. Mathew L. Golsteyn, who faces a murder charge in the death of a suspected Taliban bomb maker. Trump also directed the Navy to remove Special Warfare Operator Chief Edward Gallagher from a military brig as he faces a murder charge in the death of an Islamic State detainee. Gallagher is now restricted to his base. The Times reported that other cases believed to be under review include that of a former Blackwater security contractor recently found guilty in the deadly 2007 shooting of dozens of unarmed Iraqis; and that of a group of Marine Corps snipers charged with urinating on the corpses of dead Taliban fighters. Reports that Trump was considering issuing the pardons on Memorial Day has prompted considerable criticism, including a USA Today editorial that said it would be “blasphemy” to do so on “a holiday honoring all that Americans cherish about the sacrifices of those in uniform.” Several of the Democrats seeking to displace Trump in next year’s elections have also spoken out about his reported deliberations, including South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg. Appearing at a Washington Post Live event on Thursday, Buttigieg, who served in Afghanistan as a Navy Reserve intelligence officer, said he thinks it is “disgusting” that Trump is considering using his executive power to


U.S. capital goods orders declined in April, another sign of slowing economy

ECONOMY Capital goods orders declined last month New orders for U.S.-made capital goods fell more than expected in April, further evidence that the economy was slowing after a growth spurt in the first quarter that was driven by exports and a buildup of inventories. The report from the Commerce Department on Friday also showed orders for these goods were not as strong as previously thought in March and shipments were weak over the past two months, indicating that manufacturing was quickly losing ground. The sector, which accounts for about 12 percent of the economy, is being squeezed by businesses placing fewer orders while working off stockpiles of unsold goods in warehouses. The inventory overhang is concentrated in the automotive sector, which is experiencing slow sales. Boeing’s move to cut production of its troubled 737 MAX planes is also hurting manufacturing. The loss of momentum came even before a recent escalation in the trade war between the United States and China, leading economists to expect demand for capital goods to remain soft. Orders for nondefense capital goods excluding aircraft, a closely watched proxy for business spending plans, dropped 0.9 percent last month as demand softened almost across the board. These orders of core capital goods rose 0.3 percent in March instead of 1 percent as previously reported. — Reuters AEROSPACE INDUSTRY Musk's SpaceX launches 60 sattelites SpaceX has launched 60 little satellites, the first of thousands that founder Elon Musk plans to put in orbit for global Internet coverage. The recycled Falcon rocket blasted off late Thursday night. The first-stage booster landed on an ocean platform following liftoff, as the tightly packed cluster of satellites continued upward. Musk said Friday that all 60 flat-panel satellites were deployed a few hundred miles above Earth and were online. Each weighs 500 pounds and has a single solar panel and a krypton-powered thruster for raising and maintaining altitude. The satellites are able to automatically dodge sizable pieces of space junk. The orbiting constellation — named Starlink — will grow in the next few years, Musk said. Twelve launches of 60 satellites each will provide reliable and affordable Internet coverage throughout the United States, he said. When the total hits 24 launches, the network will serve most of the populated world; at 30, it will cover the entire planet. Other companies have similar plans, including Project Kuiper from Jeff Bezos’s Amazon and OneWeb. (Bezos also


Trump visits a Japan buffeted by U.S. trade war with China

in December, but the private sector’s ties to the company are much harder to unravel. The Sankei newspaper reported this week that 100 Japanese companies supplied Huawei with parts worth $6.6 billion last year while some of the country’s cutting-edge tech firms also collaborate with the Chinese company on development projects. Shares in Japanese electronic component makers Taiyo Yuden and TDK have fallen more than 20 percent this month. In a news conference, the chairman of the Keidanren business federation said Japan would have to change its supply chain if the ban on trade with Huawei gets applied to firms here. “So as not to step on the tail of the U.S. tiger, we must take measures,” Hiroaki Nakanishi warned Monday, according to local news media. In Seoul, the Chosun Ilbo newspaper reported this week that the U.S. government is lobbying South Korea not to use Huawei products. While the U.S. blacklisting of Huawei has helped pushed up shares this week in its competitors in the smartphone market, such as Samsung and LG Electronics, it hit shares in the company’s suppliers and sparked wider concerns in a country that depends on China for nearly a quarter of its exports. “Lacking a governmental strategy, South Korea gets dragged into a war between China and the United States,” Chosun Ilbo wrote in an editorial Friday. “Strategizing on security with the United States and the economy with China will not work anymore, as the two have started an explicit fight for supremacy.” The broader trade war is also a concern in Japan. A survey of more than 1,000 companies by Mizuho Research Institute, found that more than half are concerned about its effect. Many are moving to dual-bases for the Asian operations — not pulling out of China but limiting investment there while expanding operations elsewhere in Southeast Asia, Mizuho found. The bigger question is whether Japan will be sucked into a trade war of its own with the United States. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has been carefully courting Trump to prevent that from happening, and on his April visit to Washington boasted that Japanese companies have invested $23 billion to create 43,000 jobs in the United States since Trump took office. Still, Japan finds its auto industry threatened with 25 percent tariffs, although Trump recently declared he would delay imposing them for 180 days to allow room for negotiations on restricting import


After a tumultuous year, U-Md. graduates celebrate new beginnings

There’s a legendary place on the University of Maryland campus, a large circle marking the site of a devastating fire a century ago. Students try to avoid its epicenter, known as the Point of Failure. Michael R. Bloomberg told the Class of 2019 that it’s really the place where people banded together and decided to rebuild the school. “When everything burns down around you, don’t walk away,” he said Friday, urging them to seize their own points of failure, when they come, and innovate. The former New York mayor’s commencement speech, which made graduates laugh as he told them about getting fired and other disasters that turned into unanticipated opportunities, came at the end of a year punctuated by losses at U-Md. “I won’t sugarcoat it,” said Jonathan Allen, the outgoing student body president. “It has definitely been a very difficult year.” On Friday, the school awarded thousands of diplomas: 6,062 bachelor’s degrees, 1,595 master’s degrees, 592 doctoral degrees. Graduates tossed long red metallic streamers overhead like fireworks that showered down slowly, sparkling in the bright lights of the Xfinity Center in College Park. They swayed to the school song. And they looked ahead: to new jobs, new cities, new beginnings. The difficult year began almost immediately after Allen started his term as student president, when 19-year-old football player Jordan McNair died in June. McNair’s death exposed troubling issues in the athletic department and touched off a leadership crisis at the school. In the fall, another student death was mourned on campus, after an outbreak of adenovirus sickened several students. Freshman Olivia Paregol’s death also angered many who said university officials should have warned students sooner about the illness, particularly those with weakened immune systems such as Paregol. “A lot of students right now are able to be proud of their own individual accomplishments,” said senior Olivia Delaplaine, but not proud of a university they feel has let its students down. She did not go to the universitywide commencement ceremony Friday, preferring lunch with her family to speeches by people such as Wallace D. Loh, the university president, whom she said she does not admire. “I don’t want to listen to it. It’s empty words.” But the school year had ended. It was time to look forward. “It’s bittersweet,” Delaplaine said Friday. Graduates were walking with their families in the sunshine, leaning in for hugs and photos. “Everyone’s really, really


It’s time to end U.S. complacency about Huawei and other Chinese tech firms

In his May 22 op-ed, “Beware a digital wall with China,” David Ignatius ignored the threat to the United States and other Western nations posed by access portals contained in Huawei and other Chinese telecom equipment. They cannot be wished away, and we cannot afford to ignore their potential to wreak havoc. Let past be prologue, and let’s set about stopping the use of these vectors to steal U.S. companies’ intellectual property and threaten the systems already deployed here upon which we depend for our defense, health and welfare. Moving away from tame engagement with such people is a rational response to their malfeasance. Enough with burying our head in the sand and ignoring reality. It’s time to engage in realpolitik — and end our complacency in this realm. Thomas R. Goldberg


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Dig into all the numbers in our polls, look at demographic groups and examine trends over time.


At least Theresa May tried to fix Britain’s mess. How many other politicians there can say the same?

Brussels; the election had the opposite effect. These mistakes qualify Ms. May for some share of blame for Britain’s current mess. History will judge how much; in that competition, there will be numerous contestants, including surely her immediate predecessor, David Cameron, who called, and lost, the ill-advised 2016 referendum on the bad idea of Brexit in the first place. Ms. May herself opposed Brexit, then, once the people voted for it, promised to make it happen with minimal disruption, a thankless and perhaps impossible task. The assumption of this responsibility, however competently or incompetently she managed it, redeems her somewhat in our eyes. Everyone criticizes the deal she struck with the European Union; Parliament has voted it down three times; and no doubt it is flawed, especially in its fudge of the all-important border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, which remains in the E.U. But no one has yet provided a better alternative. When, finally, she turned to her political arch-enemy, the leftist Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn, for help in forging a compromise that might pass with votes from both Tories and Labour MPs, his response was the same as it has always been regarding Brexit: to do nothing and hope to turn the situation to his party’s advantage. The scramble now begins to replace Ms. May and to salvage the situation before the new Brexit deadline of Oct. 31. It seems likely — especially if the Brexit Party does as well as expected in the E.U. elections — that the mantle of Conservative leadership, and with it the prime ministership, will pass to a more hard-line pro-Brexit figure such as former foreign secretary Boris Johnson. Whoever succeeds Ms. May, however, will confront the same unsquareable circles she did: There is no parliamentary majority for a compromise, but a new election might produce less clarity, not more. Britain cannot both leave the European customs union and maintain an open border on the Irish island. And if Britain does “crash out” of the E.U. without a deal, its very next task would be to negotiate a new economic relationship — with the E.U. The supposed bonanza of a sovereign, free-trading Britain, freshly aligned with the United States, is a myth. “ ‘Compromise’ is not a dirty word,” Ms. May implored her countrymen in her resignation speech. Alas, it still does not seem a terribly realistic prospect, either.


Maryland moves to meet key recommendation made in wake of Jordan McNair’s death

The University of Maryland on Thursday announced steps toward establishing an overhauled model for athlete health care that would be independent of the university’s athletic department. The changes, announced by Athletic Director Damon Evans on a conference call, will begin with a national search for a head physician, who will be tasked with overseeing athletic trainers and sports medicine staff. The selection process will be directed by the university rather than the athletic department. Under the new model, the head physician will report to the director of the University Health Center, whose chain of command continues through the vice president for student affairs and then the university president. Personnel decisions, including hiring and firing, will be made through the new reporting structure. Previously at Maryland, athletic trainers reported to administrators within the athletic department and were supervised by physicians from the school of medicine. The changes are in response to a pair of external investigations conducted in the wake of the death of football player Jordan McNair last June. One report, led by athletic training consultant Rod Walters, detailed how Maryland’s athletic staff failed to properly diagnose and treat heat stroke suffered by McNair during a team workout. A second report, conducted by an eight-person commission that investigated allegations of an abusive culture within the football program, included a recommendation for the university to establish an independent health care model for athletes. When asked for a timeline for the implementation of the new model, Evans did not give specific target dates but said it could take “some time” to hire physicians and that some physicians are required to give three months’ notice when leaving their jobs. Evans said the priority is to “provide the best possible solution.” The university will fund the position of the head team physician, while the athletic department will provide funds to be used by the independent health care unit. The Walters report, released in September, detailed 20 recommendations related to medical care issues, including one “to allow provision of appropriate medical care in a best practice model.” Maryland previously announced it had implemented the other recommendations. A separate committee of sports medicine experts, led by Walters, recommended the model the university will implement. “Every single [sports medicine expert] will tell you that the independent medical model is vital,” said Charles Scheeler, a Baltimore attorney who helped lead the eight-person commission that issued the report on


Want to understand the biodiversity crisis? Look at the trees in your backyard.

to eastern hemlock and all the ashes. A new and mysterious disease could make American beech the next major forest tree to succumb. Our pines face assorted beetles of varying voraciousness. Blessed by biodiversity unmatched in the temperate world, our eastern forests have withstood the losses so far. If you walk in the forest, it still feels like a forest. But scientists and forest managers increasingly express a fear that the system is being pushed to the brink. Perhaps most worrisome, our oaks and maples face diseases and insects that are already here and could explode without warning: oak wilt and sudden oak death for oaks; Asian long-horned beetle for maples. If either of those widespread and hugely important tree genuses go, we could find ourselves facing the ecological apocalypse that the U.N. authors warn of. Even as we’re losing trees, we’re learning more and more about the importance of forests to humans. The U.S. Forest Service estimates that American forests offset nearly 15 percent of our carbon emissions, making them one of the few sizable brakes on an increasingly out-of-control climate change process. Scientists keep finding new evidence that exposure to trees can benefit physical and mental health. Perhaps most strikingly, researchers are discovering that forests’ recycling of water can account for half or more of the precipitation in continental interiors and can influence weather halfway around the globe. In other words, if we lose our forests, we may lose much of our rainfall, which would represent an existential threat to the nation and the world. Yet our response as a society has been strangely muted. A century into this slow-motion disaster, we lack even the rudiments of a coherent plan. The main strategy that has sheltered nature from capitalism’s drive to exploit resources — creating parks or preserves — is useless against diseases and insects, which are oblivious to such designations. Federal inspections and regulations to keep tree pests out of the country have helped somewhat, but shipping companies still fail to systematically treat wood products and packing materials that could harbor dangerous insects or diseases. As you read this, the next tree killer could be steaming toward an American port. It’s often said that a society should be judged by how it treats its most vulnerable. A society could also be judged by how it cares for its trees. On both counts, we are falling far short.