Trump’s trans ban isn’t just anti-gay. It’s anti-military.

inclusion and exclusion in the military. In World War I, military leaders fretted about the large percentages of foreign-born — often Catholic and Jewish — immigrant soldiers. In World War II, the government initially excluded Japanese Americans from military conscription before reversing course and allowing them to enlist. The military also segregated African Americans and limited them to menial jobs until 1948. Women, too, have historically been excluded from many military spaces, facing significant discrimination and harassment as they gained access to more military occupational specialties including, now, combat positions. Gay and lesbian personnel served in the closet until five years ago, fearing discovery of their sexual orientation would produce courts-martial and dishonorable discharges. In all of these cases — race, religion, country of origin, gender, sexuality — political and military officials mobilized the language of “efficiency,” “effectiveness,” “readiness” and “disruption” to exclude people from service. But in each case, the military also eventually changed its policies and used the very same language to promote inclusion on the basis of creating an “efficient,” “effective” and “ready” fighting force. Since the turn to an all-volunteer force in 1973, the urgent need for manpower has promoted ever greater inclusion: of racial and religious minorities, of women, of gays and lesbians, of immigrants and of transgender people. The pragmatic need for people to fill and sustain the ranks undergirded these shifts, whether enacted by a commander in chief, the military hierarchy or civilian legislation. When the Obama administration dismantled “don’t ask, don’t tell” and then allowed for the inclusion of transgender people, it followed in the path of opening the military to new people to meet the needs of the force. Neither the inclusion of transgender people nor the changes in personnel before it constituted, as critics have charged, “social engineering” in a prospective, calculated sense. But inclusion has had consequences. The military has been a participant in and sometimes even an unintentional driver of social change. When forced to train, worship, sleep and eat together, Americans have learned about one another and often realized — as frequently memorialized in World War II-era novels and movies — that shared experiences can overcome divergent backgrounds. The military included Catholics and Jews as chaplains even as anti-Catholicism and anti-Semitism reigned in U.S. public life. The military desegregated prior to public schools. The military opened staff corps positions to women as the Equal Rights Amendment failed


D.C.-area forecast: Heavy downpours arrive today, and flash flooding is likely

* Flash flood watch this afternoon through tomorrow afternoon * 10:34 a.m. update: This is the first of many flash flood warnings that will come in the next 36 hours. Do not drive into flood water. Flash Flood Warning including Alexandria VA, McLean VA, Annandale VA until 2:30 PM EDT https://t.co/VXkLnsXZQk TODAY’S DAILY DIGIT 3/10: Within moments a flash flood can unleash waters into low roads, parking lots and basements. This is how a flash flood occurs and what you need to do to stay safe. EXPRESS FORECAST Today: View the current weather at The Washington Post headquarters. FORECAST IN DETAIL A long-lingering rain event looks probable this weekend, with 2-4 inches forecast rain possible throughout the course of the event. The heaviest of the rain could fall between late this afternoon and tomorrow morning. Rain will probably not be nonstop the whole time, but anyone with outdoor plans this afternoon through tomorrow evening, consider finalizing a “Plan B” soon. Today (Friday): Tonight: Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram for the latest updates. For related traffic news, check out Gridlock. Keep reading for the forecast into next week. Tomorrow (Saturday): Tomorrow night: Saturday’s storm over the Washington Monument, July 23. More rain’s ahead in this forecast! (Philip Dierking via Flickr.) A LOOK AHEAD Sunday: Sunday night: A sunnier, warming trend gets underway Monday into Tuesday. Around 80 to mid-80s appears possible on Monday, with mid-to-upper 80s possible on Tuesday — with a hint of mugginess returning as well. Both days’ shower and storm chances appear low, but something could pop briefly on Monday, along with some midday clouds moving through. We’ll tweak the forecast, as needed, once we get a bit closer! Confidence: Medium


Think you can only get salmonella from chicken? Think again.

Papayas from Mexico — not eggs or poultry — are the culprit in the latest salmonella outbreak. (Julia Ewan/The Washington Post) A multistate salmonella outbreak tied to Maradol papayas from Mexico is just the latest example of fresh produce — and not the usual suspects, eggs and poultry — contaminated with a potentially lethal strain of the bacteria. According to a review of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s list of selected salmonella-outbreak investigations, the majority of cases since 2006 have been tied to produce or products made from raw produce. During that period, investigators have looked into approximately 30 cases of salmonella outbreaks traced to fruits, vegetables, nuts and the like. Over the same time, there have been approximately 20 cases linked to meats, poultry, eggs and similar products. What’s more, according to a Food and Drug Administration review of CDC data from 1996 to 2010, “approximately 131 produce-related reported outbreaks occurred, resulting in 14,350 outbreak-related illnesses, 1,382 hospitalizations and 34 deaths. These outbreaks were associated with approximately 20 different fresh-produce commodities.” Some of these outbreaks have had lethal results, including a 2015 outbreak linked to Mexican cucumbers that killed six people. An outbreak traced to peanut butter in 2008 and 2009 led to the death of nine people. It also led to a 28-year sentence for the owner of the Georgia peanut plant. [Executive who shipped tainted peanuts gets 28 years; 9 died of salmonella] The papaya-related outbreak has, to date, killed one person, in New York City. But it has infected 47 people in 12 states, leading to a dozen hospitalizations, according to the CDC. (The agency is recommending that “consumers not eat, restaurants not serve, and retailers not sell Maradol papayas from Mexico” until the CDC learns more.) Raw chicken is usually associated with salmonella, but fresh produce has been the cause more frequently of late. (iStock) Food safety experts say the apparent uptick in salmonella outbreaks tied to produce reflects two opposing forces in American society: consumers’ desire to eat more healthful foods, and the agricultural community’s distaste for costly regulations. For years, Americans have been told that they need to eat more fruits and vegetables, and there is some evidence that they are heeding that advice. (There’s also evidence that they are blithely ignoring the advice.) Those who are consuming more fruits and vegetables frequently eat the produce raw, to take full advantage


Senators ask Pentagon: Don’t discharge transgender troops — at least not yet

to mitigate these challenges. Transgender Americans who serve in our military put their lives on the line to protect America. They make up a small percentage of the military population, but are reportedly twice as likely to serve in the military as other Americans. Transgender service members have been serving openly since the policy was changed in June 2016 and in that time no service has reported any issues associated with their service. Forcing these brave Americans out of our military would be cruel and discriminatory. It would harm our readiness by denying the military of these service members’ capabilities and requiring the military to replace them at a time when the recruiting pool for the services continues to shrink. It will harm morale in the military as service members see their brothers and sisters in arms — some of whom are currently forward deployed — thrown out simply because of their identity. And the uncertainty associated with making policy this way is already harming our military readiness and morale, as transgender service members and their superiors struggle to make sense of the policy and what it means for them today and tomorrow. Any American who wants to serve and meets the standards should be allowed to serve our country. Transgender service members are serving with honor and distinction today and we ask that you, as our Secretary of Defense, assure them that their service will not be ended simply because of who they are. Sincerely, Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.), Michael F. Bennet (D-Colo.), Richard Blumenthal (D- Conn.), Cory A. Booker (D-N.J.), Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), Ben Cardin (D-Md.), Tom Carper (D-Del.), Robert P. Casey, Jr. (D-Pa.), Susan M. Collins (R-Maine), Christopher A. Coons (D-Del.), Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.), Joe Donnelly (D-Ind.), Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), Richard Durbin (D-Ill.), Dianne Feinstein (D- Calif.), Al Franken (D-Minn.), Kamala D. Harris (D-Calif.), Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.), Martin T. Heinrich (D-N.M.), Heidi Heitkamp (D-N.D.), Mazie K. Hirono (D-Hawaii), Tim Kaine (D-Va.), Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.), Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.), Robert Menendez (D-N.J.), Jeffrey A. Merkley (D-Ore.), Christopher S. Murphy (D-Conn.), Patty Murray (D-Wash.), Gary C. Peters (D-Mich.), Jack Reed (D-R.I.), Bernard Sanders (I- Vt.), Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii), Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.), Jeanne Shaheen (D- N.H.), Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.), Jon Tester (D-Mont.), Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), Mark R. Warner (D-Va.), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.).


Immigrant from UAE held in fatal knife attack at German supermarket, authorities say

Police investigator work at the area around a supermarket in Hamburg, where a man killed one person and wounded several others in a knife attack, on July 28. Markus Scholz/AFP via Getty Images BERLIN — A 26-year-old man born in the United Arab Emirates used a large knife Friday afternoon to stab several people, one of them fatally, in and near a supermarket in Hamburg, a northern German port city, authorities said. Hamburg police said the man was acting alone. They said they could not confirm a motive; a commission has been set up to investigate. German media reported that the man had Islamist views and was known to authorities. Der Tagesspiegel, a daily based in Berlin, said the suspect was of Palestinian ethnicity and had come to Germany seeking asylum. Eyewitnesses told reporters that he shouted “God is great” in Arabic during the attack. Authorities said the suspect tried to flee but was overcome by eyewitnesses, who restrained him until police arrived on the scene. He had light injuries at the time of his arrest, they said. The person killed was 50-years-old, authorities said. Four men, ages 19 to 64, and one 50-year-old woman suffered stabbing wounds. A sixth person, 35, was injured while attempting to overcome the suspect. The mayor of Hamburg, Olaf Scholz, condemned the "malicious attack" saying he was "furious that the offender is obviously someone who claimed protection from us in Germany and then directed his hatred against us." Scholz said the suspect should have been deported, a move that was not taken, he said, because the man had no papers. Hamburg has been a focus of global attention this month as the site of the Group of 20 Economic Summit, which took place July 7-8. The city’s police force was tested by mass anti-capitalist demonstrations that turned violent in parts of the city. Numerous officers were injured. Friday’s attack unfolded in Barmbek, a hardscrabble area with many immigrants, about three miles from the city center. Germany has seen a sequence of attacks over the last year. The worst in decades unfolded shortly before Christmas in 2016, when Anis Amri, a Tunisian and failed asylum seeker, drove a truck into a Christmas market in Berlin. Twelve people died, and the Islamic State claimed responsibility. Alexandra Rojkov contributed to this report.


PM Update: Torrential rain continues on and off through the night, showers taper off on Saturday

** Flash Flood Watch for entire area until Saturday at 2 p.m. ** 11:10 p.m. update: 10:10 p.m. update: MRMS Estimate as of 8pm https://t.co/ZDz3AbAVMJ When it comes to the airports, totals have a big range. The leader through 10 p.m. is National, with 2.43 inches of rain. That’s closing in on the record for the date of 2.90 inches, and it’s the wettest day in over two years for the city. At Dulles, “only” 0.84 inches has fallen, which highlights a story of lower totals out west so far. Up at BWI, 1.46 inches has been recorded. We haven’t seen an update on other totals since early evening, but even at that point some spots were in the 3 to 5 inch range. From earlier… We’ve got a rare and potentially dangerous heavy rain event developing over the region tonight. While some spots in the northern D.C. suburbs were drenched with anywhere from two to four inches of rain this morning, the main storm and associated energy is just beginning to approach our area. For most of us, the bulk of the heavy rainfall will occur from now through Saturday morning. It is during this period when most of the flood-related hazards will occur. And as always, you can get the latest warning information on Twitter from DC Weather Alerts and from the NWS D.C. office. Through Tonight: As much as 6 inches of rain is expected to fall in D.C. through July 29. Tourists walk near the U.S. Capitol building during a heavy rain July 28, 2017, in Washington, D.C. (Photo by Oliver Contreras for The Washington Post) View the current weather conditions at The Washington Post. Tomorrow (Saturday): Sunday: See A Camden Walker’s forecast through the weekend. And if you haven’t already, join us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter and Instagram. For related traffic news, check out Dr. Gridlock. Lessons from Ellicott City: Want our 5 a.m. forecast delivered to your email in-box? Subscribe here. Ian Livingston contributed to this post.


What happened when I let my daughter cross the finish line alone

in her first few strides. I had to quicken my pace to keep up with her. Before the first mile marker, however, she was breathing hard and had to stop. “It’s okay,” I told her. “You can walk.” “I don’t want to walk!” After a few steps, she starting running again. Before the second mile marker, she was crying, telling me she could not go on. “Walk,” I begged her, as I slowed to a jog. This time she did, but only a few steps. The next mile continued in much the same way, her claiming exhaustion, me allowing her to give into it and her ignoring me, finding new bursts of energy that amazed us both. When I spotted the finish line, we were about a quarter mile away. I started sprinting like I always do at the end of a race. Habit, not what was best for my daughter, was behind that decision. When I saw the picture of Charlotte crossing the finish line alone, I first felt regret. All those other parents have their race photos to remind them and their children of the race they did together. But Charlotte and I have no photographic evidence, just our race bibs and memories. Was I selfish to choose a fleeting, finish-line high over being part of my daughter’s race finish? Perhaps, but I lucked into the right call. In many races, especially when I first started running, I felt frustrated with myself. I ran too slow or started too fast or competed with the balloon of self-doubt inflating in my chest. But I finished every race, and I always felt good about myself afterward. Running is a solitary sport, as are its pains and victories. Charlotte and I were together when I thought she needed me, but I couldn’t cross the finish line for her. After watching the slide show, I asked her how she felt when I left her on the course. She looked at me for a second before answering. “I thought, I have to get her!” By leaving my daughter, I made her run faster. Her favorite photograph in the slide show is not the one of her crossing the finish line by herself. It’s the one of her wearing a medal. Third place, Girls, Ages 9-10. Jacqueline Marino is a journalism professor at Kent State University, who also writes about parenting, medicine and culture.


How a WWI-era law set the stage for the Trump-Russia controversy

the wake of Richard M. Nixon’s 1970 secret invasion of Cambodia, Congress finally tried to claw back some of the extensive powers it had delegated to the president to wage both military and economic war. While the 1973 War Powers Act took on the former, a 1977 amendment to the Trading With the Enemy Act put new limits on the latter. Now the act could be invoked only during an actual war. A 1977 law, the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) permitted the president to impose sanctions during peacetime, but it also required him to issue a fresh declaration of emergency each time he wanted to impose sanctions, and to justify this declaration to Congress. And although he could freeze foreign property, he could not permanently confiscate it. These restrictions did not stick. The Supreme Court struck down many of the IEEPA’s limits on executive authority during the 1980s, and Congress has never again been so assertive about its own foreign affairs power. The result is that the president’s authority remains largely unchecked. Counting those levied against Russia, the United States currently maintains 26 separate sanctions programs. While congressional legislation underpins some of these, the vast majority are the result of presidential action under the IEEPA. Sanctions today have become a normalized and mostly uncontroversial part of foreign policy. But their effect can be dramatic. In the 1990s, a United Nations report became the basis of a widely-circulated claim that sanctions against Saddam Hussein’s Iraq resulted in the deaths of 500,000 children (the true figure, though still heartbreaking, was probably much lower). Less visible are the innumerable ways that sanctions interfere with the lived experience of daily commerce. For example, U.S. sanctions have punished an automobile manufacturer for leasing cars to Cuban diplomats in Canada, and have made it illegal for Iranian fitness teachers to become officially-licensed Zumba instructors. While restrictions on trade and exchange may be justifiable in many cases, the broad range and impact of American sanctions reveal a potential for executive misuse or manipulation. Analysis of Congress’s recent actions should not be confined to Russia and the 2016 elections. It should instead prompt a broader discussion about the vast powers that the president continues to hold, powers that are often exercised with little public discussion. Revisiting the tangled and surprising history of the statute passed a hundred years ago might be a good place to start.


The Daily 202: Trump’s warped view of loyalty and the conceit of ‘the Oct. 8th coalition’

consumers’ online behavior to purchases made in the real world has sparked a federal privacy complaint over concerns that the search giant is gaining access to troves of highly sensitive consumer information — without giving them the meaningful ways to opt out. (Elizabeth Dwoskin and Craig Timberg) - The divorce of a former Miami Dolphins cheerleader and the top prosecutor in Palm Beach has gained international attention after Trump was cited as one of the main issues that drove them apart. (Avi Selk) The Post's Andrew Roth explains a statement the Russian Foreign Ministry issued July 28, seizing U.S. diplomatic properties and demanding the State Department reduce its staff in Russia. THERE IS A BEAR IN THE WOODS: -- Vladimir Putin will expel 775 personnel at U.S. diplomatic missions in Russia, he said Sunday — a significant escalation that comes after Trump announced he would sign the sanctions bill passed by Congress last week. The Russian government is also seizing two diplomatic properties — a dacha, or country house, in a leafy neighborhood in Moscow and a warehouse — following the decision by the Obama administration in December to take possession of two Russian mansions in the United States. The move comes as it has become apparent that Russia has abandoned its hopes for better relations with the United States under the Trump administration. 'I think retaliation is long, long overdue,' Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said Sunday on ABC’s “This Week with George Stephanopoulos.” -- Mike Pence traveled to Estonia on Sunday, where he came “bearing a message” from Trump: “Russia’s destabilizing activities, its support for rogue regimes, its activities in Ukraine, are unacceptable.” “Pence’s long-planned, 3 ½-day trip to Estonia, Georgia and Montenegro was originally intended to reaffirm the United States’ commitment to [NATO], - All three countries have struggled for years with Russian aggression, so Pence’s tough-on-Russia message will be “welcome” in each of them, said Michael McFaul, the former U.S. ambassador to Russia. “It will be easy for him to have positive bilateral meetings when he goes there,” McFaul said. “But of course he has a very convoluted message on what they’re doing on Russia.” He added, “I follow it pretty closely, and I could not tell you what the strategy is.” -- Putin’s bet on a Trump presidency has “backfired spectacularly,” says the New York Times’s David Sanger: Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly.(Jabin Botsford/The Washington


What our Google searches reveal about the drug epidemic

searches are concentrated in the regions where we know, from mortality data, that the drug epidemic is raging most fiercely. In 2015, for instance, the states where people were most likely to search for drug withdrawal on Google included West Virginia, Kentucky, New Hampshire and Ohio — the four states with the greatest incidence of overdose death that year, according to the CDC. Other drug-related search topics, such as substance abuse, addiction or even opioids, don't correlate nearly as well with the mortality data. That suggests that drug withdrawal searches are more closely linked to people actually using drugs. Another piece of evidence suggesting the withdrawal searches track actual use patterns is their seasonal fluctuation. The chart below shows average weekly search interest in withdrawal over the five years from 2012 through 2016. Year after year, these searches follow a similar pattern. Interest in withdrawal is highest at the start of the year, perhaps due to drug-dependent individuals making resolutions to quit using. But interest drops off sharply, inching up again slowly until it hits a secondary mid-summer peak. Vacations, nice weather and a relative reprieve from the mental stressors that make life difficult may induce some users to try quitting when the days are long. Interest in withdrawal declines through the end of the year, particularly crashing during the weeks of Christmas and Thanksgiving. The holidays are a well-known trigger for substance use in many people, and the lack of interest in withdrawal at the end of the year suggests that many people aren't mentally in a place to quit using while dealing with the memories, emotions and stresses of the holiday season. If we accept that the Google withdrawal data track actual drug use, what are the implications? First, that the beginning of the year represents a crucial opportunity for friends and family members to offer support to loved ones trying to kick the habit. Treatment providers, support groups and public health agencies may want to consider upping their outreach efforts at this time of year, the better to help people struggling with quitting who may not have otherwise have support at home. Second, Google provides another potentially valuable tool for public health experts: real-time search data at the metropolitan area level. In the past week, for instance, that data showed a spike in withdrawal searches centered around the town of Alpena, Mich. Searches for "overdose" are spiking


Pence takes tough tone on Russia after Moscow retaliates against sanctions legislation

Vice President Pence reaffirmed the U.S. commitment to NATO and its Baltic allies and spoke out against Russia in a news conference with Baltic leaders on July 31. "Recent diplomatic action taken by Moscow will not deter the United States," he said. TALLINN, Estonia — Vice President Pence, on his first full day in Eastern Europe, twice offered a clear and direct message to Russia, warning the Kremlin that the United States will not tolerate Russian force or intimidation toward its neighbors and reassuring the Baltic States that the United States supports them in the face of “the specter of aggression from your unpredictable neighbor to the east.” “Under President Donald Trump, the United States of America rejects any attempt to use force, threats, intimidation, or malign influence in the Baltic States or against any of our treaty allies,” Pence said Monday morning, speaking alongside three Baltic leaders at the Estonian president’s office here. “To be clear, we hope for better days, for better relations with Russia, but recent diplomatic action taken by Moscow will not deter the commitment of the United States of America to our security, the security of our allies, and the security of freedom loving nations around the world.” Pence’s comments came in response to President Vladimir Putin’s announcement Sunday that U.S. diplomatic missions in Russia will have to reduce their staffs by 755 people — a retaliatory measure to the Russia sanctions legislation Trump plans to sign this week. The vice president’s remarks, at a joint news conference with the presidents of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, gave a preview of the roughly 20-minute speech Pence delivered just hours later outside the headquarters of the Estonian Defense Forces, in which he again offered a stern rebuke of Russia’s recent actions to undermine democratic nations, including the United States. The tableau of Pence and the three Baltic leaders also underscores one of the themes of his three-and-a-half-day trip to Estonia, Georgia and Montenegro: That the United States is standing — literally — with its Eastern European allies now feeling increased pressure from Russia. Touting Trump’s decision, in the face of mounting bipartisan political pressure, to sign the sanctions legislation, Pence criticized Russia for seeking “to redraw international borders by force, undermine the democracies of sovereign nations, and divide the free nations of Europe.” Though Pence said he was delivering a message directly from Trump, his stern remarks


Nine things to do in the D.C. area the week of July 31-Aug. 4

Watch "La La Land" on giant screens at Wolf Trap on Friday night while the National Symphony Orchestra performs the Oscar-winning score. (Lionsgate via AP) Monday, July 31 D.C. Distillers Cocktail Party at Free State: No matter what your favorite cocktail is, there's a good chance you can shake or stir it with spirits made in D.C. The city's spirits scene has exploded in recent years, and new distilleries continue to up their game. Get a taste at Free State's second D.C. Distillers Cocktail Party, where eight producers — Jos. A Magnus, Cotton Reed, New Columbia, Capitoline Vermouth, Republic Restoratives, District Distilling, Don Ciccio Figli and One Eight — will have one of their products featured in a special cocktail. Staff from each distillery will be at the bar to talk about their creations. 7 p.m. Free; cocktails $12-$15. [How to fill your bar cart with Washington’s best booze] Numbers Station, Bacchae and Makeup Girl at Fort Reno: Summer's not quite over yet, but it's starting to feel that way: This week marks the end of the 2017 Fort Reno concert series. Head up to Tenleytown for a solid three-band bill featuring the melodic, two-bass instrumentals of Numbers Station; poppy post-punk by Bacchae; and shimmering, throwback indie rock from Makeup Girl. As always, picnics and children are welcome, while glass bottles and alcohol are not. 7 p.m. Free. Tuesday, Aug. 1 Astronomy on Tap at DC Nine: Are you glued to the Curiosity Rover's Instagram feed? Looking forward to looking at the solar eclipse later this month? Do you like cheap beer? You sound like you'd be into Astronomy on Tap, a recurring bar event where local scientists and astronomers discuss their work for an appreciative audience of space geeks. This month, for example, Barbara Cohen, a planetary scientist working on the Mars Exploration Rover team at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, will talk about what NASA has learned from the Opportunity and Curiosity Rovers on Mars, and Stephanie LaMassa of the Space Telescope Science Institute will cut through "The Hype Behind the Solar Eclipse." After all the talks are over, a telescope will be set up on DC Nine's roof for anyone who'd like to gaze at the heavens. 7:30 p.m. Free. Twilight Tuesdays at Penthouse Pool Club [Our favorite pools in the D.C. area, from extravagant hotels to free neighborhood gems] Wednesday, Aug. 2 Drain this Daiquiri


post-punk by Bacchae; and shimmering, throwback indie rock from Makeup Girl. As always, picnics and children are welcome, while glass bottles and alcohol are not. 7 p.m. Free. Tuesday, Aug. 1 Astronomy on Tap at DC Nine: Are you glued to the Curiosity Rover's Instagram feed? Looking forward to looking at the solar eclipse later this month? Do you like cheap beer? You sound like you'd be into Astronomy on Tap, a recurring bar event where local scientists and astronomers discuss their work for an appreciative audience of space geeks. This month, for example, Barbara Cohen, a planetary scientist working on the Mars Exploration Rover team at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, will talk about what NASA has learned from the Opportunity and Curiosity Rovers on Mars, and Stephanie LaMassa of the Space Telescope Science Institute will cut through "The Hype Behind the Solar Eclipse." After all the talks are over, a telescope will be set up on DC Nine's roof for anyone who'd like to gaze at the heavens. 7:30 p.m. Free. Twilight Tuesdays at Penthouse Pool Club [Our favorite pools in the D.C. area, from extravagant hotels to free neighborhood gems] Wednesday, Aug. 2 Drain this Daiquiri at the Columbia Room Thursday, Aug. 3 Jazz on Jackson Place at Decatur House National IPA Day: Does every adult beverage need its own "National Fill-in-the-Blank Day"? No. But hey, if it's an excuse for a draft beer lineup as good as ChurchKey's National IPA Day celebration, we'll allow it. Try more than 20 IPAs, across the spectrum from bitter to juicy, brewed by the Veil, Burley Oak, SingleCut, Triple Crossing, Stillwater, RAR, Long Island City Beer Project and Kent Falls, among others. 4 p.m. Free admission; beers priced individually. Friday, Aug. 4 'La La Land' in Concert at Wolf Trap: "La La Land" might not have won Best Picture, but it did take home Academy Awards for Best Original Score and Best Original Song. The National Symphony Orchestra, under the direction of Emil de Cou, will perform the music from the film under the stars at Wolf Trap while the audience watches the movie on huge high-definition screens. Get to the park early: At 7 p.m., de Cou will talk about the film and the score at a free pre-performance discussion. 8:30 p.m. $40-$50. Jerry Garcia Birthday Bash at Gypsy Sally's: The Georgetown club's annual tribute to the Grateful


Your stoner friend really is a lot more relaxed than you, scientists confirm

Natalie DeLeon and other D.C. marijuana advocates gather at the Capitol in April to urge lawmakers to ease the restrictions on marijuana use in the District. (Melina Mara/The Washington Post) Recreational marijuana use is now legal in eight states plus the District of Columbia, giving public health researchers more leeway than ever to investigate some of the foundational underpinnings of cannabis culture: How much weed is in a joint? What happens to your brain when you get high? And now: Are chronic marijuana users really more relaxed than everyone else? You might be surprised to learn that the research to date on this question is mixed. One recent study found that while low doses of THC (the active chemical compound in pot) helped people cope with stressful situations, moderate to higher doses actually made people stress out even more. But that particular study simply measured the effects of a single dose of THC — what about the effects of repeated heavy cannabis use? Enter new research from Washington State University, recently published in the journal Psychopharmacology. The study recruited two groups of 40 people: One group had used marijuana nearly every day for at least a year, and the other comprised people who weren't marijuana users. Half of each group, users and nonusers, was subject to a particularly anxiety-inducing laboratory test commonly used to measure stress responses: They had to dunk their hands in a container of cold water for anywhere from 45 to 90 seconds, and then count backward from 2,043 by 17, getting reprimanded by lab workers whenever they got a number wrong. As if that weren't bad enough, they were also shown a live video feed of their faces as they attempted to count. The other half of each group was subject to a non-stressful “control” scenario: Dip a hand in warm water, count from 1 to 25, no reprimands, no video. The meat of this study comes from comparing the stress responses of the cannabis users and the nonusers. To assess this, the researchers measured the amounts of cortisol, the body's primary stress hormone, in the subjects' saliva immediately after they took the stress tests. “Despite abstaining from cannabis use on the day of testing,” the researchers found, “cannabis users exhibited no increase in salivary cortisol concentration in response to the stress manipulation compared to non-users” [emphasis added]. For a sanity check, the researchers also had


So the eclipse is coming and you suddenly want to be an astronomer. Here’s what they actually do.

a number of amazing citizen science projects that involve atmospheric physics and biological sciences that everyone can participate in on Aug. 21. A rundown of these projects is featured here. Mike Kentrianakis witnessed his first solar eclipse at 14. He's been chasing them ever since. Q: How is the astronomer pipeline? Are there as many students today as interested in entering the field as earlier during the space race and shuttle era? A: As our global need for technology grows every day, we need Americans who are well prepared to lead us into the future. Majoring in science fields like astronomy and physics can lead you down many career paths. Astronomers are taught how think outside of the box, to have healthy levels of skepticism because they become great critical thinkers, and to break big problems into solvable pieces. So not everyone who majors in astronomy may continue to answer questions about space, but they may also crunch numbers as data scientists, write code as computer programmers, or be innovative at tech companies. The small skills learned along the way to understanding our big universe can add up to success in a variety of careers. Q: And, finally, early in the interview you mentioned the three-dimensional shape of exploding stars in distant galaxies. Why is it important to study that? A: In order to determine the accelerated rate more precisely, we must carefully study the intrinsic brightness of the Type Ia supernovae. That’s where my work on measuring the three-dimensional shape of these explosion comes in. Our precise measurements of these explosions show that they are not perfectly round, and therefore the angle at which you view the explosion can change how bright you measure it to be. As an exaggerated example, imagine the ejecta of an exploded star takes on the shape of an egg rather than a baseball. The explosion will not appear as bright if you view the egg’s top as compared to the egg’s side. My quest is to measure the three-dimensional shape of Type Ia supernovae so that we can measure the distances to their galaxies more precisely. The total solar eclipse in August 2017 will travel across the United States from Oregon to South Carolina. But if the moon rises in the east and sets in the west, why does the eclipse shadow travel from west to east? Dear Science is on the case.


Most Americans opposed integrating the military in 1948. Most Americans support transgender military service today.

Three months before its release, Secretary of Defense James Forrestal and National Urban League leader Lester Granger organized a “National Defense Conference on Negro Affairs” in response to the pressure of Randolph and other activists. Army Secretary Kenneth Royall told those in attendance that the Army could not “experiment” nor could it be used to “promote or oppose any cause.” He went on to say that while he “fully recognize[d] not only the propriety but the necessity for the Negro race to insist on the abolition of segregation,” military integration was ultimately “a question of timing.” U.S. soldiers stand during a ceremony at the Storck barracks in Illesheim, Germany, on March 9. (Nicolas Armer/dpa/AP) When Royall later spoke before a hearing held by Truman’s Committee on Equality of Treatment and Opportunity in the Armed Services, he told them that the Army was not meant to be “an instrument for social evolution,” by which he meant it did not want racial integration. He justified segregation by raising concerns about the morale of white troops, especially Southern ones. Many Army volunteers are white Southerners, he said, and “it is a well-known fact that close personal association with Negroes is distasteful to a large percentage of Southern whites.” Similar arguments have been made for decades by opponents of LGBT rights in the military. “The U.S. armed forces aren’t some social experiment,” then-Sen. Chuck Hagel said in 1999 when asked about repealing the “don’t ask, don’t tell” (DADT) policy. Just before DADT repeal legislation was passed by Congress and signed by President Barack Obama in 2010, former Marine Corps Lt. Col. Oliver North argued that soldiers “deserve better than to be treated like lab rats in Mr. Obama’s radical social experiment.” Although DADT repeal was a major step for LGBT rights, the extent to which it would include transgender rights remained in question for several years. It was not until June 2016 that Defense Secretary Ashton B. Carter announced that transgender soldiers would be allowed to serve openly in the military. Last month, current Defense Secretary Jim Mattis delayed the Obama administration’s plan, arguing that the Pentagon needed more time to study the issue. Within a month, however, Trump seemingly overruled Mattis. Although Trump’s tweet stated that he had consulted with “[his] Generals and military experts,” reporting indicates that the president did not consult with Mattis, who was only informed of his decision after


Why Jeff Sessions is going to lose his war against cannabis

This tide is too strong to swim against. The first obstacle is that the medical community has largely resolved the question of whether cannabis is clinically useful. In January, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine (NAS) reported that there is “conclusive evidence” that cannabis (both whole plant and extracts) is clinically effective at treating some diseases, including chronic pain. Cannabis may prove to be a pain management strategy that could substitute for opioids for many desperate patients, and the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) acknowledges that cannabis may be an effective tool to combat the opioid crisis. Researchers studying the relationship between medical cannabis laws and opioid use have found that states with such laws have nearly a 25 percent reduction in opioid-related deaths. The contrast between opioids — which killed more than 33,000 Americans in 2015 — and cannabis could not be more striking. As NIDA states on its DrugFacts — Marijuana Web page: “There are no reports of teens or adults fatally overdosing (dying) on marijuana alone.” Further, medical cannabis may also save lives in unexpected ways. Data published in the American Journal of Public Health in February suggests that laws allowing it were associated with fewer traffic fatalities. While we always have to be careful about making claims that a policy caused an outcome, evidence from multiple studies, with careful statistical analyses, is building a case that medical cannabis has real, beneficial, spillover effects. State governments are a second major hurdle for Sessions. States are sharply opposed to his moves to crack down on their cannabis policies. Eight states (with nearly one-fifth of the U.S. population) have legalized recreational cannabis use by adults. Even more striking, 29 states and the District of Columbia have approved the medical use of botanical cannabis, with 17 more having cannabis extract laws in place. This doesn’t just save lives; it also saves money. In two studies, we find substantial reductions in a broad array of prescription spending for both Medicare and Medicaid in states that have medical cannabis laws in effect. Medicare and Medicaid don’t cover cannabis, but it nevertheless appears to substitute for many prescription drugs that the programs do cover. Nationally, the savings could be in the billions of dollars across the two programs if all states would adopt medical cannabis laws. States benefit directly. Our work on Medicaid spending shows that they saved money —


An omen of doom and source of awe: A glimpse into the history of solar eclipses

of the Tigris River near the Iranian Plateau. This description appears commensurate with an eclipse NASA calculated to have occurred in 763 B.C. across the Middle East. Clearly, solar eclipses play a relatively jarring role in religious tradition. Moving to more modern times, journalists throughout the 18th and 19th centuries revered the opportunity to chronicle an eclipse. Sidney Perley, a lawyer in Salem, Mass., wrote of a “total eclipse of the sun” on June 16, 1806. According to Perley, the temperature dropped with “a diminution of seven and one-half degrees” during the eclipse. Perley was devoutly religious, and oftentimes interpreted natural occurrences as negative omens; he even claims that “several died from [the eclipse’s] effects.” Venus and Mercury both were visible during totality, as well as a number of stars. Perley writes that “a feeling of awe came over the people,” while cattle “ceased feeding” and birds “retired to their roosts.” Despite the panic and alarm that at one time was synonymous with the word “eclipse,” researches have benefited immensely from their visitations in the modern era. In 1919, an eclipse proved vital to Albert Einstein as he worked to confirm his theory of general relativity. Having posited his idea four years earlier, his theory suggested that, while Isaac Newton’s laws would hold true, space and time could behave differently in the pretense of large gravitational fields. In other words, Einstein’s theory dictated that light beams could actually be bent by the gravitational fields around massive objects. Unfortunately, the only way to test this theory was to encounter an enormous object, and the only one that proved large enough was the sun. Capital Weather Gang's Angela Fritz breaks down what will happen when a total solar eclipse crosses the U.S. on Aug. 21. Unfortunately for Einstein, the sun also happens to be a brilliantly luminescent source of light — as such, it would be impossible to detect light bending around it, as it would be outshone by the gaseous giant itself. But Arthur Stanley Eddington, a top physicist in the United Kingdom, had a solution: during a solar eclipse, sunlight is blocked out for several minutes, allowing for a cluster of stars to appear around the concealed solar disk. Using this knowledge, Eddington headed to the island of Principe along the West African Coast to photograph the May 29, 1919, eclipse. During the instant of totality, his team shot a


four years earlier, his theory suggested that, while Isaac Newton’s laws would hold true, space and time could behave differently in the pretense of large gravitational fields. In other words, Einstein’s theory dictated that light beams could actually be bent by the gravitational fields around massive objects. Unfortunately, the only way to test this theory was to encounter an enormous object, and the only one that proved large enough was the sun. Capital Weather Gang's Angela Fritz breaks down what will happen when a total solar eclipse crosses the U.S. on Aug. 21. Unfortunately for Einstein, the sun also happens to be a brilliantly luminescent source of light — as such, it would be impossible to detect light bending around it, as it would be outshone by the gaseous giant itself. But Arthur Stanley Eddington, a top physicist in the United Kingdom, had a solution: during a solar eclipse, sunlight is blocked out for several minutes, allowing for a cluster of stars to appear around the concealed solar disk. Using this knowledge, Eddington headed to the island of Principe along the West African Coast to photograph the May 29, 1919, eclipse. During the instant of totality, his team shot a number of close-range photographs of the combined moon/sun pair, and in the coming weeks quickly processed their data and calculations; it was soon revealed that Eddington was able to view stars that should have been hidden behind the sun, but given the bending of light commensurate with Einstein’s theory of general relativity, they were in fact perceptible. Thus, Einstein’s theory became an overnight success story, marking the first occasion on which qualitative scientific evidence could be used to confirm such an earth-shattering theory. Nowadays, scientists are actually forced to compensate for this effect when making measurements of distant galaxies — it’s been dubbed “gravitational lensing.” The upcoming eclipse will also present a myriad of opportunities for scientists. Across the country, both amateur and professional scientists are gearing up for what is sure to be the celestial spectacle of the decade. The last “coast-to-coast” solar eclipse in the United States occurred on June 8, 1918, making this month’s the most widely-viewable eclipse on U.S. soil in nearly a century. FiveThirtyEight’s Rebecca Boyle details some of the “cool science” in the works for the big day. Looking to get in on the action yourself? Fortunately, you can! NASA is encouraging citizen scientists


Would transgender troops harm military effectiveness? Here’s what the research says

President Trump announced that transgender troops won't be allowed to serve in the military on July 26, reversing the Pentagon's 2016 decision to lift the ban. President Trump’s tweets announcing his new policy to ban transgender people from service in the U.S. military came with a justification that will sound familiar to several other groups: that allowing transgender people to serve would disrupt unit cohesion, a fundamental building block of combat effectiveness. Trump claimed that allowing transgender people to serve would be “disruptive” to a military that “must be focused on decisive and overwhelming victory.” It was left to press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders to translate the meaning of disruptive: the presence of transgender people in the military “erodes military readiness and unit cohesion.” But these statements rely on two myths: that diversity reduces unit cohesion, and that unit cohesion enhances military effectiveness. In fact, there is little evidence for either. Excluding groups from serving has a long history Trump’s transgender ban is another installment in a long American tradition of excluding various groups from military service because putting them in uniform supposedly undermined unit cohesion. Before World War II, the U.S. military maintained racially segregated units and opposed integration of African Americans into white combat outfits. Army Chief of Staff Gen. George Marshall defended this policy in 1940 by claiming that “to intermingle white and colored personnel in the same regimental organization . . . would inevitably have a highly destructive effect on morale — meaning military efficiency.” Threats to unit cohesion were also cited as a major reason for maintaining the ban on permitting gays and lesbians to serve openly in the military. And cohesion fears continue to appear in the debate about allowing women to serve in combat units. Myth No. 1: Diversity harms unit cohesion. Experience and research debunk the claim that uniformity among members is required for cohesive groups to form. For example, despite widespread hostility to the idea beforehand, a post-World War II Army survey about the experience of units that received black infantry replacements after D-Day found 80 percent of white officers and 96 percent of white NCOs stated that black and white soldiers had gotten along very well or fairly well. Other studies have shown that the integration of women, gays and transgender people into the U.S. military — or other militaries around the world — has not adversely affected cohesion, either.


The Hotlist: The best things to see, eat, drink and do in August

before the performance you wish to attend, or wait in line outside the Penn Quarter theater for the roughly 200 seats given away two hours before showtime. (The line usually begins about two hours before the box office opens.) Tuesday and Wednesday at 7:30 p.m., Thursday and Friday at 8 p.m., Saturday at 2 and 8 p.m., Sunday at 2 and 7:30 p.m. Free. Arlington County Fair, Aug. 16-20 We're in the midst of County Fair season, which is great news for fans of midway rides, demolition derbies and heavily caloric foods. But if you don't have a car, as is the case for a growing number of Washingtonians, it can be tough to get out to fairgrounds in Manassas or Gaithersburg. That's the advantage of the Arlington County Fair: It's completely Metro-accessible, thanks to shuttle buses running from the Ballston and Pentagon City Metro stations, making it easier to catch the racing piglets, bands and competitive vegetable exhibits. Wednesday and Thursday from 5 to 10 p.m. Friday from 2 to 11 p.m. Saturday from 10 a.m. to 11 p.m. Sunday from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Free. DC Beer Week, Aug. 20-27 After moving to September in 2016, DC Beer Week has returned to its traditional late August place on the calendar. Most of the "marquee" events are back, including Brewers on the Block, a festival with more than 20 brewers outside Union Market on Aug. 20; DC Brau's all-you-can-eat crab feast at the Quarterdeck on Aug. 23; and the BrewHaHa at Old Ebbitt, which finds 10 breweries paired with 10 local chefs, on Aug. 26. Look for Solidarity: Brett IPA, a collaboration between D.C., Maryland and Virginia breweries, on tap throughout the week. Dates and times vary. See the DC Beer Week website for more details. Solar Eclipse Viewing at the National Archives A solar eclipse is coming to America for the first time since 2012, and The National Archives is hosting a special viewing experience just for the occasion. In addition to viewing the eclipse safely through solar telescopes provided by the Air and Space Museum, visitors can explore the archives themselves and learn more about the history and facts surrounding past solar eclipses. There won’t be another eclipse viewable from the United States until 2024. 1 to 4 p.m. Free. Comcast Xfinity Outdoor Film Festival at Strathmore Summer isn’t complete without an outdoor movie. Round up


A way-too-early look at the cloud forecast for the total solar eclipse

Capital Weather Gang's Angela Fritz breaks down what will happen when a total solar eclipse crosses the U.S. on Aug. 21. Forecast confidence is extremely low at this point, but we plan to publish a cloud forecast every other day leading up to the total solar eclipse on Aug. 21. Whether it’s clear or cloudy will make or break the eclipse-viewing experience. “Average cloudiness” for a particular location is great to know The timing of the eclipse is ideal, at least for the West. It begins just before 11 a.m. local time on the West Coast, which is usually enough time to burn off the fog that can often occur out there. The intermountain areas typically see thunderstorms bubble up in the afternoons during this time of year. These are associated with the Southwest Monsoon, a period of increased thunderstorms and rain during the late summer and early fall. But the eclipse passes through this region around noon, so it should beat the worst of that threat. Link: Clouds often pop up along the rest of the path throughout the day simply due to warmth and moisture. Those two things combined lead to rising air, which creates clouds. So the cloud risk gets greater the farther east you go. On top of that, South Carolina will see totality the latest in the day — after 2:30 p.m. Obviously the eclipse is too far away to get a good forecast. But some of the forecast models we use to predict the weather go out several weeks and at this point, they cover the day of the eclipse. We can begin to assemble some likelihoods from very generalized upper-air and precipitation patterns. We will do a daily update on the national outlook as we count down the days. We will endeavor to give our best take on the situation, but please note our confidence levels are low at this point. They will get higher as we approach the big event. Forecast notes: - Low pressure systems possible in the Upper Midwest and Plains - Typical afternoon clouds and scattered showers could limit visibility east of the Appalachians - Southwest Monsoon thunderstorms may be a problem for the Four Corners area - Morning clouds might eclipse the eclipse in Northern California and the Pacific Northwest (NASA) Note: We originally said we were going to publish a forecast ever day. We decided that would


Rangers rescue a bald eagle that was hit by a car in western Maryland

Authorities have rescued a bald eagle that was struck by a car on an interstate in western Maryland. The Maryland Natural Resources Police, along with a ranger from the Rocky Gap State Park in Allegany County, helped rescue the bird along Interstate 68 near the Washington and Allegany counties’ line on Monday night. The bald eagle is now with a rehabilitation specialist. Officers and a @RockyGapSP ranger last night rescued a bald eagle struck by a car on I-68 near Washington/Allegany… https://t.co/pF3yly8Oiy It is not uncommon for bald eagles to be struck by vehicles. In fact, experts said it is becoming one of the biggest killers of the bids. As development has encroached on their habitat, bald eagles are eating less fish and scavenging more. They often are hit by vehicles as they eat carcasses on roads or are sickened from eating out of dumps or landfills, according to experts.


The path of the solar eclipse is already altering real-world behavior

The upcoming solar eclipse is poised to become the “most photographed, most shared, most tweeted event in human history,” in the words of one astronomer. Millions of people will watch it, potentially overwhelming the cities and towns along the eclipse's path of totality. According to Google, interest in the eclipse has exploded nationwide in the past few months, mirroring national media attention. The county-level search data above, provided by Google, paints a striking picture: Interest in the eclipse is concentrated in the path of totality that cuts through the middle of the country, receding sharply the farther you go from that path. Denise Lu/The Washington Post The searches are an uncanny virtual reflection of the eclipse itself. Experts say the difference between a total eclipse (viewable only in the path of totality) and a partial one (everywhere else) is quite literally the difference between night and day. Web users in counties within the path of the totality are looking up information on the eclipse five to 10 times more often than those well outside, according to Google's data. In the past week, interest was highest in rural Clark County, Idaho, which lies directly in the eclipse's path. Nearby Idaho Falls plans to hold a four-day outdoor country music festival it's calling Moonfest. Nebraska's Pawnee and Banner counties, situated at opposite ends of the state, show the next-highest amount of interest. Banner county lies just outside the path of totality, while Pawnee is directly within it. Rounding out the top five counties are Rabun and Towns counties in northeast Georgia, both squarely within the eclipse's path. In the past week, people searching the Web for the event are mostly looking up basic facts — a map of the eclipse's path, its exact time and information on the special glasses you'll need to avoid burning your eyeballs while looking at it. The physical world asserts itself in our virtual lives in myriad ways. Searches for seasonal affective disorder follow a north-south gradient, for instance, and you can use Google searches to track everything from flu season to mosquito hatchings. The eclipse searches are perhaps the most striking example of this phenomenon yet, as millions of Americans along an invisible celestial path tap their keyboards together, unknown to one another. Capital Weather Gang's Angela Fritz breaks down what will happen when a total solar eclipse crosses the U.S. on Aug. 21.


Sen. Cory Booker puts marijuana legalization at the center of his new racial justice bill

time to rectify that.” According to the Drug Policy Alliance's estimates, black Americans represent 14 percent of regular drug users but 37 percent of people arrested for drug offenses. Nationwide police arrest more people for marijuana offenses than for violent crime. Those arrests fall disproportionately on minorities, according to the ACLU and Human Rights Watch. Booker's bill “is the single most far-reaching marijuana bill that’s ever been filed in either chamber of Congress,” said Tom Angell, of the pro-legalization group Marijuana Majority, in a statement. “More than just getting the federal government out of the way so that states can legalize without DEA harassment, this new proposal goes even further by actually punishing states that have bad marijuana laws.” Legalization skeptics, on the other hand, were unimpressed. “Given the opioid epidemic, [Booker's] legislative energy would be much better spent implementing solutions to that crisis,” said Kevin Sabet of Smart Approaches to Marijuana, a group that opposes legalization. “But the Big Marijuana lobbyists are probably very happy.” The bill stands little chance of passing in a Republican-controlled Congress. But Booker is frequently mentioned as a leading contender for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2020. His full-throated embrace of legalization is a signal that the party continues to evolve on an issue that's overwhelmingly popular with Democratic voters. In the last election cycle, party presidential nominee Hillary Clinton never endorsed legalization, despite convincing evidence that doing so could have shored up support among younger voters. And public support for legalization has solidified since then. Voters in four states opted to legalize marijuana in 2016, and national support for legalization in Gallup polling reached 60 percent for the first time. While a longtime opponent of the drug war and an advocate for criminal justice reform, Booker has evolved rapidly on marijuana issues in recent years. As recently as 2015 he declined to support legalization in an interview with Vox, preferring instead to focus on medical marijuana issues and loosening some federal restrictions to make research and medical use easier. But today Booker struck a much different tone. “Descheduling marijuana and applying that change retroactively to people currently serving time for marijuana offenses is a necessary step in correcting this unjust system,” he said in a statement. “States have so far led the way in reforming our criminal justice system, and it’s about time the federal government catches up and begins to assert leadership.”


Some feared hackers and the devil. Others got microchipped.

privacy concerns: Could they be tracked? By 2008, the company stopped making the device, citing low sales. However, VeriChip motivated states to consider the legal quandaries a future with microchips could present. After the device hit the market, Wisconsin outlawed mandatory implants. Marlin Schneider, the former state representative who introduced the measure, said in 2005 that he wanted to get ahead of employers requiring workers to get chipped, or prisons forcing inmates to do the same. “Eventually, people will find reasons why everyone should have these chips implanted,” Schneider told reporters at the time. California, Missouri, North Dakota and Oklahoma also banned tagging without consent, with lawmakers asserting the chips could lead to serious privacy breaches, such as covert monitoring. Michael Zimmer, a professor of information studies at the University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee, said it’s hard to predict how hackers could evolve to exploit seemingly impenetrable devices. “Often what appears to be simple technologies,” he said, “shift into becoming infrastructures of surveillance used for purposes far beyond what was originally intended.” Workers have resisted similar technology because of their religious beliefs. Two years ago, a coal miner in West Virginia, backed by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, won a discrimination case in federal court after his employer mandated a hand scanner to clock in. The coal miner said he was forced to retire after declining to use the scanner, which he believed was the “mark of the beast” — a sign of evil and the “end times,” discussed in the Bible, that is said to appear on the right hand. He was awarded $150,000 in damages. A Three Market Square employee demonstrates how her microchip allows her to buy a drink. (Tim Gruber for The Washington Post) Cordarrel Lyrek, 28, feels the same way about Three Market Square’s microchips. The Minneapolis resident, who makes T-shirts for a living, said he made the 45-minute drive Monday to River Falls to hang protest posters on trees and business windows. A Christian, he put his phone number on the flier, hoping people would call to talk about God. “It says in the Bible that’s a sign of the beast,” Lyrek said. “But it’s not only about that. It’s about invading people's privacy.” McMullan, the Three Square Market executive, wondered if protesters would storm the company’s property during the chip party. Dozens of people had commented “boycott” on their Facebook page. But none


PM Update: Heavy rain in the District and east wanes this evening; More storms a risk Wednesday

7:15 p.m. update: Flash Flood Warning including Silver Spring MD, Bowie MD, Chillum MD until 10:15 PM EDT https://t.co/yw9JNn9GBH This is the last update on this (frankly unexpected) storm outburst. Scroll down for the outlook through tomorrow. 7:00 p.m. update: 6:25 p.m. update: Attn: @capitalweather @drgridlock Muddy floodwaters rapidly spilling across Broadbranch Rd. https://t.co/GXH7pGh59T 6:20 p.m. update: Severe Thunderstorm Warning including Silver Spring MD, Chillum MD, College Park MD until 7:00 PM EDT https://t.co/T3BDRZ6yuJ 6:00 p.m. update: From 4: 45 p.m… Typical conditions for early August greeted the month around here. Certainly nothing too remarkable about the day, but it was also toasty and fairly muggy. A few lucky locations saw some raindrops offering respite, while most other spots spent the afternoon near 90. Our weather remains largely quiet through tonight and into Wednesday. Through tonight: View the current weather conditions at The Washington Post. Tomorrow (Wednesday): A lone paddler is seen on the Potomac as clouds block the sunlight Monday in Washington. (Ricky Carioti/The Washington Post) See Matt Rogers’s forecast through the weekend. And if you haven’t already, join us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter and Instagram. For related traffic news, check out Dr. Gridlock. Summer doldrums: With the one-minute meso sector parked over the D.C. area today and the clear skies overhead through the morning into the lunch hour, it was possible to spot heat islands on satellite. This heat is good for something! Mid-Atlantic heat islands emerge and grow, via #GOES16 infrared imagery: https://t.co/yjxJjZ7LEk (College of DuPage) https://t.co/VPpChAZ4H5 Typically from here through the end of the season, the city piles on about two more weeks of 90-degree days. We’ll hope that’s not the case this time, although the forecast for August and fall seems warm. Surprise, surprise. Want our 5 a.m. forecast delivered to your email inbox? Subscribe here.


Legalizing recreational marijuana could boost crash rates, safety group warns

that studies by the Highway Loss Data Institute and researchers at the University of Texas at Austin point to an increase in crash risk in states that legalized the recreational use of pot. The Highway Loss Data Institute — which, like the IIHS, is a nonprofit organization backed by insurance companies — reported in June that insurance companies received higher-than-expected collision claims in Colorado, Washington and Oregon after those states allowed people to buy marijuana for recreational purposes. The frequency of claims rose about 3 percent, compared with surrounding western states that continued to have laws on the books prohibiting recreational use of marijuana, the institute found. Meanwhile, the University of Texas study also found an increase in fatal crashes in two states that fully legalized pot. Yet the authors of the UT study — which was published in the online edition of the American Journal of Public Health in June — also said that the increase was too small to be statistically significant. The IIHS, in its upcoming Status Report newsletter, takes a slightly different view of the Texas study than the Texas researchers did. The IIHS argues that the Texas study may have been structured in such a way as to have underestimated the effect of recreational marijuana use. For example, UT researchers focused on a period that coincided with voters’ legalization of recreational marijuana in one of the targeted states — but before weed became widely available for purchase. The IIHS said it makes sense that a larger effect might have been seen when looking at crash rates after retail sales began. The upshot, according to the IIHS, is that the early evidence suggests that making it easier for people to get high is also likely to make it easier for people to wreck their vehicles. But the question is far from settled, and probably the aspect all the studies agree on is the need for more research. In December, for example, Columbia University researchers reported a reduction in traffic fatalities in states that enacted medical marijuana laws, possibly because fewer people were driving drunk. The analysis of the two studies is included in the IIHS Status Report due for release Thursday. READ MORE OF TRIPPING: Getting someone’s goat: state officials love their work ethic when it comes to mowing highways Bicyclists fear Oregon bike tax could spread Yet another child has died in a hot car


August total solar eclipse gives scientists rare chance to study sun’s corona

mysteriously hotter, corona. But days with total solar eclipses are far from typical. “The moon is a perfect occulter for the sun,” Samra said. The moon will blot out all of the sun's photosphere and little else, leaving room to view the corona at the solar edge. “Eclipses are really ideal times to do this science.” The astrophysicists will image the corona using a device called a spectrometer. “We’re looking to identify emission lines in the corona in the near infrared region,” said Edward E. DeLuca, a solar physicist at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory in Massachusetts and Samra's adviser. Emission lines form when electrons in the plasma smash into charged atoms. The collision might knock another electron free, like a tooth from a sucker-punched jaw. Using the light emitted from this knock, the researchers can identify the atomic element involved. During a solar eclipse in 1868, French astronomer Pierre Janssen discovered the element helium when he detected a yellow emission line. DeLuca said lines in the infrared spectrum are able to reveal heavier elements: silicon, sulfur, iron and magnesium. From there, the experts will check whether it's possible to use these lines to probe the sun's magnetic field. The corona can be a turbulent place, belching solar flares and coronal mass ejections into space. The corona gets its energy for violence from a magnetic field, which Samra likened to a twisted rubber band. Except that, once released, the snap comes with huge explosions of plasma. These plasma explosions drive space weather. But they “can’t be fully explained or predicted yet,” Samra said. The most intense space squalls have been felt on Earth. During the Carrington Event of 1859, a giant curl of plasma caused telegraph lines to go haywire, sputtering out messages in gibberish. Others caught on fire. If such an event were to happen today, a sudden coronal mass ejection could disrupt electric grids and cause trillions of dollars in damage. “It's important to understand the magnetic field, if we want to understand how the corona really works,” Samra said. “It's intimately linked to everything that goes on.” Capital Weather Gang's Angela Fritz breaks down what will happen when a total solar eclipse crosses the U.S. on Aug. 21. Yet taking pictures of the corona in the infrared spectrum won't be easy. The Gulfstream jet's true advantage is altitude, not speed. The plane cannot fly fast enough to keep


can be a turbulent place, belching solar flares and coronal mass ejections into space. The corona gets its energy for violence from a magnetic field, which Samra likened to a twisted rubber band. Except that, once released, the snap comes with huge explosions of plasma. These plasma explosions drive space weather. But they “can’t be fully explained or predicted yet,” Samra said. The most intense space squalls have been felt on Earth. During the Carrington Event of 1859, a giant curl of plasma caused telegraph lines to go haywire, sputtering out messages in gibberish. Others caught on fire. If such an event were to happen today, a sudden coronal mass ejection could disrupt electric grids and cause trillions of dollars in damage. “It's important to understand the magnetic field, if we want to understand how the corona really works,” Samra said. “It's intimately linked to everything that goes on.” Capital Weather Gang's Angela Fritz breaks down what will happen when a total solar eclipse crosses the U.S. on Aug. 21. Yet taking pictures of the corona in the infrared spectrum won't be easy. The Gulfstream jet's true advantage is altitude, not speed. The plane cannot fly fast enough to keep up with the eclipse, which, as Samra put it, will be “screaming across the country.” The problem is water, which interferes with infrared light. “We need to be above the atmosphere,” she said. “Water vapor in the atmosphere absorbs infrared radiation.” As the plane flies over Kentucky, the sun will be about 65 degrees above the horizon. At that angle, even a neck craned out one of the Gulfstream's windows would be of little help to see the eclipse. What would help is the porthole in the top of the plane. But none of the scientists aboard will have time nor space to lie down, look up and take in the astronomical event. Instead, they'll be tending to the spectrometer. The device must be chilled with liquid nitrogen. This, in turn, means the whole thing must be sealed inside a vacuum chamber to avoid clogging ice. What's more, the porthole is in the top right of the plane; the spectrometer had to be set up on the left hand side. A mirror will reflect the sun into the spectrometer. Complicating matters further, the scientists might be in for a bumpy ride. Planes usually fly paths that take into account the


Here’s what you need to know when your mortgage gets reassigned

home is an assignment of the mortgage from the mortgage broker to the big box lender. That assignment might be a simple, one-page document indicating that the loan was assigned from the mortgage broker to the big box lender, including the name of the old lender and the name of the new lender along with certain other identifying information about the recorded mortgage. Here’s where it gets a bit more complicated: Over the last 15 years or so, lenders have tried to automate the system of assigning mortgages and a group of lenders created the Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems (MERS). The goal was to have MERS act as the agent on the recording side and have lenders transfer loans among and between them without having to record the assignment of the mortgage with each individual property. So if one property’s mortgage was packaged with 500 other loans in a portfolio for sale, the buying entity of that portfolio wouldn’t have to worry about recording 500 assignments of mortgages — one for each property. MERS would streamline the system from the lender’s side, but the public would not actually know who the owner of the loan was without the assignment. The Great Recession and the resulting loan defaults showed some of the limitations of the MERS system, as courts required that lenders record the assignment of a mortgage on each property. Not all courts in all states required the recording, but many did. With that in mind, lenders will use MERS, but when they need to file suit against the homeowner for a loan default, they will now file the assignment of the mortgage against the property. As for you, if you know who your lender is, you’ll make payments to that lender. If you need proof that the new lender is your lender, and you didn’t receive a letter from your original lender — the mortgage broker — telling you that your loan had been sold and giving you the information on the new lender, then you can call the old lender and have them research the transaction. In turn, the new lender should contact you with the information you would need to make your future mortgage payments. We can’t tell you whether your jurisdiction would require the assignment of mortgage or not, but know that you shouldn’t expect to see a release of the original mortgage. Hope this information


10 free things to do this month in D.C., Maryland and Virginia

free. D.C.’s self-described “gypsy punk brass band” headlines this month’s edition of Hyattsville, Md.’s outdoor Summer Jam concert series. Lately, the group has been releasing a series of EPs that feature remixes of songs from 2015’s “I Love You Madly.” At this show, you can expect a dance-friendly mix of New Orleans funk, Balkan brass and maybe a little D.C. punk. Aug. 20 ‘Beyond What the Eye Can See: Using the Technology of NASA’s Rovers to Explore Paintings’ National Gallery of Art, East Building, Fourth Street and Constitution Ave. NW; Aug. 20, 2 p.m., free. Plenty of things can help you unlock the secrets of classic paintings: an art history degree, that book on impressionists in the gallery gift shop, or the imaging equipment used on Mars. In this lecture, National Gallery of Art imaging scientists John Delaney and Kathryn Dooley will demonstrate what you can learn when you use NASA technology on priceless pieces of art — for example, you can see what work Pablo Picasso started on the canvas that he later used for “Le Gourmet.” Aug. 21 Watch the solar eclipse at the Air and Space Museum National Air and Space Museum, Independence Avenue and Sixth Street SW; Aug. 21, 1:17-4:01 p.m. with maximum eclipse at 2:42 p.m., free. For the first time in a century, the moon will block our view of the sun and cast a shadow across the entire continental U.S. Here in D.C., the sun will only be about 82 percent blocked, so you’ll need special eclipse-viewing glasses to safely watch the rare phenomenon. Pick up yours for free at the National Air and Space Museum’s eclipse viewing party. You can also peek at the moon and the sun through the museum’s observatory telescopes, and watch a livestream of the total eclipse as viewed by scientists in Liberty, Mo. Aug. 23 ‘Live From the Lawn: Uke Fest’ Strathmore, 5301 Tuckerman Lane, North Bethesda, Md.; Aug. 23, 7 p.m., free. If one ukulele can conjure up trade winds and mai tais, imagine what a few dozen can do. Pack a picnic and bring your blanket to see the students of the Strathmore Uke Orchestra strum songs together at Strathmore’s Gudelsky Gazebo for “Uke Fest,” the grand finale of Strathmore’s five-day Uke & Guitar Summit. Also performing: summit instructors Benny Chong, Craig Chee and Sarah Maisel. More from Express: I visited all 59 bathrooms on


The Finance 202: Trump's 'era of prosperity' belies big debt limit problem

and Office of Management and Budget Director Mick Mulvaney as the "most dangerous man in Washington" Here's our fact checkers' guide to raising the debt ceiling: With a deadline of Sept. 29 looming and Congress nearing their summer recess, the debt ceiling is primed to be a big issue when they return. Here's what you need to know. You are reading The Finance 202, our must-read tipsheet on where Wall Street meets Washington. Not a regular subscriber? SIGN UP NOW TRUMP TRACKER President Trump. (AFP /Jim Watson) — The Trump administration is preparing a trade offensive to crack down on Chinese intellectual property theft — and make it easier for American companies to get Chinese market access without sharing advanced technology. The moves could lead to U.S. sanctions on Chinese exporters. The Wall Street Journal's Jacob Schlesinger and Bob Davis report: "One big question hanging over the White House review is whether the administration pursues any complaint through the World Trade Organization, or whether it chooses to impose penalties on its own without first seeking permission from the international body, which some Trump advisers have argued is incapable of dealing with China’s trade practices. Trump aides have regularly vowed to pursue a more unilateral approach to trade but have so far done little along those lines. It is unclear how long the administration’s internal review will take before an announcement is made. Officials at one point had signaled that an announcement could come as soon as this week." Then- Rep. Scott Garrett (R-N.J.) attends a hearing about the international financial system on Capitol Hill in Washington. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta, File) — Trump's pick to head the Export-Import Bank, former Rep Scott Garrett (R-N.J.), is facing new calls to step aside after a disastrous meeting with eight Senate Democrats yesterday. Garrett, who opposed the bank's existence while he was in Congress, has faced mounting criticism from industry groups; and South Carolina Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.) has called on the administration to pull his nomination. The Democrats who met with Garrett on Tuesday — a group that includes Schumer — released a joint statement afterward that needs to be read in full. It is brutal: “Today’s meeting was bizarre. Scott Garrett – one of the most vocal opponents of the Export-Import Bank while he was in Congress – agreed to speak with us about his nomination, but during the meeting,


Bowing to pressure, a Berkeley butcher shop makes a deal with vegan protesters

a rapid loss of blood pressure and render the animal unconscious to minimize suffering. Similar rules in Islamic law govern the way animals are killed for Muslims’ halal meat. In the United States, Upton Sinclair’s “The Jungle” brought attention to food safety issues in meatpacking and slaughterhouses, and compelled new federal food laws regarding consumer safety, including the Meat Inspection Act of 1906. But it wasn’t until 1958 that Congress passed the Humane Slaughter Act, which required abattoirs to stun their animals into unconsciousness before they were slaughtered. Humane slaughter took another step forward with the advocacy of Temple Grandin, who invented two devices that keep cattle calm as they are being led to slaughter. (Also an autism advocate, Grandin was the subject of a 2010 biopic starring Claire Danes.) DXE frequently targets businesses that advertise humanely-slaughtered meat, because, as their FAQ page says, “the idea of ‘humane meat’ is the wobbly linchpin holding together all of animal agriculture. If we can topple that, then the whole system will come crashing down.” Because they are headquartered in Berkeley — which one might call the epicenter of ethical eating — local businesses like the famed restaurant Chez Panisse are frequent targets. Johnson says that after weeks of protests, the Rocchinos approached them to talk. After some back-and-forth negotiation, they agreed to post the sign, which was created by DXE. “If it was up to us, it would be very front, very center,” Johnson said. “As it is now, it’s on one of the windows that is off to the side.” They’ve reached an unsteady detente. “We haven’t committed to never protesting there again,” Johnson said, though they are drastically scaling back the number of protests they hold at the shop. “We don’t want that sign to be there forever, because we want that business to eventually not be killing animals.” But because DXE was so successful, it plans to use the tactic at other butcher shops, grocery stores and businesses that serve meat. “Our ultimate ask is a nonviolent world where we’re not hurting animals for any purpose,” Johnson said. More from Food: Want to get more people to eat their veggies? Make them sound like they’re bad for you. Alice Waters wants Amazon’s Jeff Bezos to ‘make a difference’ with Whole Foods Correction: A previous version of this story stated that Jewish guidelines for humane slaughter come from the Torah.


This strange spot in the Atlantic is resisting global warming. Scientists think they know why.

influxes of fresh water from melting sea ice and retreating Greenland glaciers, could further disrupt the AMOC’s flow. The conveyor system relies on a delicate physical process in which warm water travels north to the Arctic, cools down, sinks to the bottom of the ocean and flows back south. Large influxes of less dense fresh water can disrupt the current’s ability to properly “turn over” and ultimately cause it to slow down. Additionally, as sea ice melts and leaves a greater area of liquid ocean exposed to the sun’s radiation, the water may start to absorb more heat — and this can also disrupt the current’s overturning process. The new study provides further support for this idea, pointing to melting sea ice as a potential major driver of both a weakening AMOC and the North Atlantic warming hole. Using an ocean circulation model, the researchers explored the way changes to the temperature and fresh water fluxes in different parts of the ocean — the Arctic, the Atlantic, and so on — would affect the AMOC. There are a variety of real-life factors that can cause these changes, according to Fedorov. In the Arctic, melting sea ice can produce an influx of fresh water, while the same is true of the melting Greenland ice sheet in the North Atlantic. And in either case, the more ocean that’s exposed to the sun’s rays, the more heat the water can absorb. “When we started the study, we didn’t really focus on the Arctic,” he added. But the study’s results suggested that its influence might be more powerful than previously thought. The researchers, who included Fedorov and colleagues Wei Liu of Yale and lead author Florian Sevellec of the University of Southampton, found that over short time spans of a decade or less, changes in the North Atlantic had the greatest potential to disrupt the AMOC. But over longer periods of 20 years or more — a more relevant time scale for scientists considering the long-term effects of climate change — cold, fresh water influxes in the Arctic had the biggest influence. Fedorov cautioned that over much longer time scales — say, a century or more — the North Atlantic may again gain the greater influence as the Greenland ice sheet further destabilizes and begins to dump greater quantities of fresh water into the ocean. But throughout the rest of the century, the study


Do sanctions work? The evidence isn’t compelling.

President Trump has signed a bill imposing sanctions on Russia a week after the measure was passed by the Senate with a veto-proof majority. (Michael Klimentyev/Sputnik/European Pressphoto Agency) Sanctions are again the talk of Washington. At the time of writing, the United States is considering or is in the process of extending economic sanctions on several countries, including some major geopolitical foes: Russia, North Korea, Iran and Venezuela. The use of sanctions in such contexts is far from unusual. You could probably argue that sanctions are among the most popular tools for responding to major foreign crises. The problem, however, is that nobody is quite sure whether they actually work. This is not a new quandary. WorldViews considered it before, in April 2014, when the Obama administration announced sanctions on Russians close to Vladimir Putin in response to Moscow's aggression in Ukraine. Below is a long excerpt from that post, which pointed to an academic study of sanctions and their usefulness: One of the best-known investigations of that question is “ Economic Sanctions Reconsidered,” first published in 1985, by Gary Clyde Hufbauer, Jeffrey J. Schott, Kimberly Ann Elliott. That book, now on its third edition (from 2009), attempts to access the aims and success of every economic sanction for which it can find data. According to the latest edition, the sanctions listed below are the only instances from 1914 to 2008 in which not only was the stated goal of the measures reached, but the sanctions themselves were instrumental in achieving that goal — thus receiving a full rating of 16 out of 16. It isn't a long list, and many of the entries are a little obscure. Where possible, the cost to the nation targeted has been included: 1921: the League of Nations vs. Yugoslavia In 1921, the League of Nations threatened economic sanctions against Yugoslavia if it attempted to seize land from Albania. Yugoslavia backed down. 1925: the League of Nations vs. Greece Four years later, the League of Nations threatened sanctions against Greece unless it withdrew from Bulgaria's border territory. Greece withdrew. 1948-1949: the United States vs. Netherlands As the Dutch East Indies struggled to become an independent Indonesia after World War II, the United States suspended the Marshall Plan aid to authorities in the region after the Dutch arrested Indonesian leaders. After threats of sanctions, the Dutch agreed to Indonesian independence in 1949. The sanctions cost


In the battle over how tough to be on Russia, it’s Congress 1, Trump 0

from rolling some of these sanctions back on his own. “Since this bill was first introduced, I have expressed my concerns to Congress about the many ways it improperly encroaches on Executive power, disadvantages American companies, and hurts the interests of our European allies,” Trump wrote in his signing statement for the bill. Here's an aide for House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.) cheering just how broad this new law is: The bipartisan sanctions bill President Trump just signed is one of the most expansive in history. Targets Iran, North Korea, and Russia. The Russia sanctions are retaliation for Russia's alleged meddling in the U.S. presidential election. These will be in addition to sanctions President Barack Obama issued on his way out the door, kicking Russian “diplomats” out of Washington and seizing Russia-owned compounds in the United States. As I wrote recently, if Congress thinks Russia needs more punishment, it's pretty obvious why they aren't confident Trump will do it. The White House has said it's not opposed to sanctions, but it's been wishy-washy on what those would be. Trump has refused to acknowledge the overwhelming conclusion of U.S. intelligence officials that Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered Russia to try to influence the U.S. election to hurt Hillary Clinton and help Trump win. He appears to be considering firing his attorney general after complaining about the Justice Department investigation into Russia's actions and any possible help from the Trump campaign. He's considered giving the diplomatic compounds back to Russia. And, most recently, he's been conspicuously silent on Putin announcing that he's closing 755 U.S. diplomatic positions in the country — the biggest forced diplomatic exodus in a century. Trump's silence on a major slight to the United States is especially loud, said The Fix's Aaron Blake, given Trump's tendency to counter punch anyone who pricks him, even foreign nations. Trump, in other words, is not doing much to assuage his own party's concerns that he's willing to get tough on Russia. And this sanctions law is a remarkable demonstration of unity from a Congress that has shown exactly none of it lately. Tying Trump's hands on Russia is one of the only things Congress can agree on right now. “There's a lot of stuff they'd rather be doing,” Oliker said, “and that they're much better equipped to deal with. But in the face of an administration that seems to be


Streetlights may interfere with a bug’s most important job

day did not make up for the deficit at night caused by the lamps. It could also mean that the lights influence the physiology of the plants directly. Even plants at the periphery of the glow, 15 to 20 yards from the lamps, produced fewer fruits. Longcore predicts that plants outside of the direct beam of streetlights could also be affected by the “sky glow” that occurs in urban areas. Streetlights could reduce fruit production in at least two ways, Longcore said: indirectly, by misdirecting pollinators, and directly, by influencing the plants’ sense of time. Like humans (and birds and insects), plants have circadian rhythms. Plants use shifting light spectra as signals for where to grow and when to flower. He shared a story about a soybean field on the outskirts of Lincoln, Neb., where the plants surrounding streetlights failed to set seeds. These soybeans were waiting for shorter days to signal “winter is coming,” but under the artificial glow, that signal never came. Soybeans, which are self-pollinated, do not rely on insect pollinators, so the effect must have occurred from the lights directly. Plants and insects also differ in how they respond to certain wavelengths of light. The ratio of red to far-red light tells a plant that it’s in the shade and needs to grow its way toward the sun. Blue light signals to plants that they are in the sun and should open their pores, take up carbon dioxide and start photosynthesizing. “Insects are very sensitive to blue light and even more sensitive to ultraviolet light,” Longcore said. One potential solution would be to light streets with LEDs in the yellow or green spectrum, although Warrant cautioned that these lights might still draw insects. More research is needed to determine the effect that certain wavelengths of lights may have on insects and plants. There’s evidence to suggest that dimming lights in the late hours and then switching them off after a certain time may help, Davies said. Lights activated by motion sensors are also a better option than constant illumination. Pollinators and pollinator decline have gotten a lot of attention lately, but mostly in terms of how farming practices disrupt the environment during the day. “If we don’t look at nocturnal ecological communities,” Longcore said, “we’re only getting half of the environmental story.” Read More: Controversial pesticides may threaten queen bees. Alternatives could be worse. What a


These beer festivals and events will quench your thirst in August

Heurich's Lager returns to D.C. bars after a launch party at Pizzeria Paradiso on Aug. 3. (Courtesy of DC Brau) August is traditionally a slow time for the restaurant and bar scene. Beer, on the other hand, takes center stage this month, thanks to the ninth-annual DC Beer Week, which runs from Aug. 20-27. (It moved to September last year, but that was apparently a one-time experiment.) DC Beer Week isn't the only thing on the calendar this month, so here's a guide to other events, anniversary parties and tap takeovers in the first three weeks of August. (We'll have a separate rundown of DC Beer Week closer to its kickoff.) Admission is free to all events, with beers priced individually, unless otherwise noted. Aug. 3: Heurich's Lager release party at Pizzeria Paradiso Dupont Aug. 3: Atlas Brew Works Summer Sendoff at Boundary Stone Aug. 3: National IPA Day Aug 5: Craft Beer Cellar Anniversary Aug 9: Union Craft Brewing anniversary at Roofers Union Aug 12: 3 Stars Brewing Five Year Monster Anniversary Bash Aug 17-20: Mad Fox Taproom Anniversary Aug 19: Capital Chili Cookoff and DMV Beer Festival at the Bullpen Read more: The Hotlist: The best things to see, eat, drink and do in August This beer/soda combo you’re seeing everywhere is the perfect summer refresher These patios offer cold happy hour drinks without the crowds


Trump signs what he calls ‘seriously flawed’ bill imposing new sanctions on Russia

U.S. diplomatic properties. Moving trucks have begun transporting furniture and equipment from a U.S. diplomatic property in Moscow, in the first sign of compliance with a Kremlin order to slash the American presence in Russia as retaliation for new sanctions. Trump noted that he supported tough measures to punish the three regimes, and said that he will honor the review period prescribed in the bill. But in a potential warning to lawmakers that he might not observe those parts of the law, Trump added that he would “give careful and respectful consideration” to other provisions that direct the administration to undertake diplomatic initiatives and require the administration to deny entry to the United States of certain foreign individuals, without exceptions for diplomats. “My Administration will give careful and respectful consideration to the preferences expressed by the Congress in these various provisions and will implement them in a manner consistent with the President's constitutional authority to conduct foreign relations,” Trump said. For now, Trump's desire to reset relations with Russia has hit a major speed bump at around the same time that Americans are expressing growing support for an adversarial approach toward the country, according to a survey released Wednesday by the Chicago Council on Global Affairs. The poll finds 53 percent support actively working to limit Russia’s power compared with 43 percent who favor friendly cooperation and engagement, a sharp reversal from last year when 58 percent favor cooperative efforts. Over 4 in 10 say Russian influence in U.S. elections represents a “critical threat” to the country. The poll finds mixed support for imposing additional sanctions, with 38 percent saying they should be increased and 41 percent saying they should be kept about the same. Far fewer, 17 percent, say the U.S. should decrease or eliminate sanctions on Russia, according to the survey of a random sample of 2,020 adults conducted June 27-July 19. In addition to concerns about the review component of the bill, the administration also said it was worried about the impact of the bill on U.S. businesses in Russia. In a statement late last week, the White House signaled that Trump would eventually sign the measure, and a White House official added that the administration had worked to renegotiate critical elements of it. Yet even as Putin moved quickly to retaliate against the United States, Trump has not issued any statement — written or otherwise —


Nearly half of America doesn’t benefit from Dow 22,000

families with incomes over $100,000 have at least some money in the stock market, compared with just 21 percent of households earning $30,000 or less, a recent Gallup survey found. “Lot of people in America tragically aren’t participating in the stock market,” says Brad McMillan, chief investment officer at Commonwealth Financial Network, a financial advisory firm that works mainly with “Main Street” America. The Dow is a popular index that tracks the performance of 30 major American companies. It has gone from about 18,000 on Election Day to 22,000 now. That's about double the gains of a typical year. Many on Wall Street give Trump credit for starting the rally, although they say the surge this summer is more about soaring corporate earnings than anything political. While money has flooded into U.S. stocks in recent months, McMillan says most of that is people who already have money in the market adding more to their accounts. Too many people are still sitting in the sidelines, missing out on one of the longest-running bull markets in American history because they are still scared from the financial crisis. Data from Gallup's April 2017 poll. Olga Aguilar, of Miami, is one of the people who’s still skeptical of the market after she and her husband lost about $15,000 in 2008. That was money they had saved up and invested in stocks. They still have their retirement funds in the market, but they have never put their extra savings back in. “With this wave, I’m thinking about getting in,” says Aguilar, frustration still evident in her voice. "But I’m very cautious. The stock market always corrects." Aguilar is a Trump supporter who believes the Dow’s record is a “positive sign that people are confident in the economy under President Trump.” But she tells all of her friends thinking of investing to be careful. Stock ownership before 2008 was 62 percent, Gallup found. Even after recent inflows, only 54 percent of Americans are invested now. More adults in the United States own homes than stocks. “There’s been an enormous push to have people own their own homes. We need a similar push for families to own stocks,” says McMillan. Trump's celebration of the stock market gains might actually help encourage Main Street to save more and invest, although there's heavy debate about whether the market is nearing a peak. Herlt is a big fan of the