March for Life to close D.C. streets Friday

Police plan to close these streets: - F Street NW between Sixth and Seventh streets NW from 7 a.m. to 1 p.m. - Seventh Street NW from F Street to Jefferson Drive NW starting at about 11:30 a.m. and continuing to 12:30 p.m. - 15th Street between Independence Avenue and Constitution Avenue starting at about 6 a.m. - Constitution Avenue NW from 17th to 15th Street and Constitution Avenue eastbound at 14th Street about 9 a.m. - 15th Street from Pennsylvania to Constitution Avenue NW starting about 9 a.m. During the march, rolling closures will occur along Constitution Avenue from 17th Street to First Street from about 1:30 to 3:30 p.m. The effects on commuters go beyond the street closings. Streets on Capitol Hill will be very crowded with pedestrians as the marchers disperse, with many going on to visit congressional offices. The marchers should prepare for cold. The Capital Weather Gang says the high temperature will be in the low- to mid-40s, with gusty winds, but the day should be at least partly sunny. Metrorail plans to add midday service, and the transit authority suggests the marchers avoid using the crowded trains during the morning rush. The extra service between the morning and afternoon rush periods means the trains should reach downtown platforms every two to four minutes. There will be more eight-car trains than normal. Watch the message boards on the platforms. If the next train is scheduled to be eight cars long, it will cover the entire length of the platform, so spread out for that. A six-car train leaves a gap at the end of the platform. Metro has canceled midday track work and assigned more staffers to assist people in the stations. Regular fares and parking fees will be in effect. Every rider 5 years old and up needs his or her own SmarTrip card to enter and exit the Metrorail system. Tap the card on top of the faregate on entry and then tap it again when exiting. The cards are sold at vending machines in Metro stations, as well as at the D.C. area’s CVS pharmacies and Giant supermarkets. Load the card with enough fare value to cover all the day’s trips. Riders can buy a day pass at the vending machines. March participants are urged to purchase and load their SmarTrip cards in advance to avoid potentially long lines at Metro entrances.


‘We have a fire in the cockpit!’ The Apollo 1 disaster 50 years later.

sort of dress rehearsal for flight. The test simulates flight conditions, so the craft was running on its own power. In this Jan. 27, 1967 photo, astronauts Virgil Grissom, right, and Roger Chaffee walk across the ramp leading from the gantry elevator to the Apollo I spaceship in Cape Kennedy, Fla., before a launch test. Later in the day, they were killed with fellow astronaut Edward H. White II when a flash fire erupted in the craft. (NASA via AP) The crew entered the command module at around 1 p.m. There was a bad smell, which put the rehearsal countdown on hold but was later found to be unrelated to the fire. There were also communication problems. “How are we going to get to the moon if we can't talk between two or three buildings?” one of the three can be heard saying in a recording from the capsule. At 6:31 p.m., cries began: “We have a fire in the cockpit!” That's also captured on the recording, along with a scream. Those watching on a video feed saw White appear to reach for the handle of the hatch. The command module “ruptured,” according to a NASA summary, and flames and gas spilled out. “The burst of fire, together with the sounds of rupture, caused several pad personnel to believe that the command module had exploded or was about to explode,” it states. ABC's Jules Bergman reports about the deadly fire that claimed the lives of astronauts Gus Grissom, Edward H. White and Roger Chaffee on January 27, 1967. It took personnel about five minutes to open all the hatches into the capsule. And once they could get inside, they could barely see anything at all. A Washington Post story from Jan. 30, 1967, carried the observations from a writer who was allowed to look at the craft. It was headlined: “It Looks Like the Inside of a Furnace,” and described the interior of the spacecraft as a “darkened, dingy compartment … Its walls are covered with a slate-gray deposit of smoke and soot; its floor and couch frame are covered with ashes and debris.” The crew died by suffocation from the fire's toxic gases, according to a review board report. They also suffered thermal burns. The Associated Press, describing the deaths in a recent report, wrote: “It was over for them in seconds.” (An image from the Apollo 204 Review


Photos: The hectic beauty of China’s massive Chinese New Year migration

Chinese travelers line up to board trains home at Beijing Railway Station on January 26, 2017. (Kevin Frayer/Getty Images) China is on the move. Over the last two weeks, hundreds of millions of people set out, dragging stretched-tight suitcases, shopping bags full of gifts and hopes for the year ahead. The month-long lunar new year travel season, known as chunyun, is a feat of logistics and human drama on an epic scale. The numbers can be hard to fathom: China’s Ministry of Transport estimates that Chinese will make 2.98 billion trips between Jan. 13 and Feb 20. That includes more than 2 billion trips by road, 356 million train rides, and 58 million flights. But the impulse behind each hectic journey is easy to understand. Every person shuffling through the airport, standing in line for a ticket or eating noodles while awaiting the train, has but one thing on their mind: getting home. A Chinese couple bids farewell before spliting up to travel home from Beijing on January 26, 2017. (Kevin Frayer/Getty Images) A Chinese mother and her child they arrive at Beijing Railway Station on January 26, 2017. (Kevin Frayer/Getty Images) Getting home starts with getting a ticket — a challenge in itself. The lunar new year holiday, or spring festival, as it is also called, is the world’s largest human migration, with much of the most populous nation traveling at the same time. In years past, people stood in line for days to buy tickets and were sometimes stranded due to bad weather or big crowds. Massive investment in the country’s rail network and improved online ticketing has helped make the season a little smoother. The great migration sees people move in every direction, but especially from big, coastal cities like Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou, to smaller cities, towns and villages. Most office workers enjoy a week off work. Migrant laborers tend take two weeks for their long trip and rare bit of rest. Travelers wait to board a train for “standing room” passengers at Beijing Railway Station on January 26, 2017. (Kevin Frayer/Getty Images) A Chinese traveler sleeps as she rides on a crowded train between Beijing and Shijiazhuang, on January 25, 2017 in Hebei province, northern China. (Kevin Frayer/Getty Images) A family rides crowded train between Beijing and Shijiazhuang, on January 25, 2017 in Hebei province, northern China. (Kevin Frayer/Getty Images) Packed into trains, planes, cars


This D.C. home has a Rockefeller connection

(Photo by BTW Images) The spacious great room has two gas fireplaces and oversize windows on three sides. Perched on a leafy hilltop in the Foxhall neighborhood of Northwest Washington, the Georgian-style house was built in 2000 on land that once was part of the Nelson A. Rockefeller estate. Rockefeller purchased the 25-acre property during World War II while coordinating inter-American affairs for the Franklin D. Roosevelt administration. After the war ended, he returned to New York. When Gerald R. Ford asked Rockefeller to be his vice president, the former New York governor initially moved into the official residence on Massachusetts Avenue NW. He seldom spent the night there, however. He and his wife, Happy, preferred their 30-room mansion on Foxhall Road NW. After his term ended, Rockefeller sold the estate to a developer for $5.5 million in 1978. A year later, the developer, Rozansky and Kay, sold the mansion to Sargent Shriver. In 1986, the developer repurchased the mansion and tore it down the following year. The Washington Post’s picks of local distinguished homes on the market. The initial development of homes was held up by neighborhood opposition. The houses were eventually built and became part of the Foxhall Crescent homeowners association. This home is part of a later wave of houses constructed in the late 1990s and early 2000s and is in the Battery Kemble HOA. On the market for the first time, the 5,700-square-foot house was renovated within the past year. The grand entry foyer with marble floors leads to a spacious great room with two gas fireplaces and oversize windows on three sides. French doors open to a balcony. Another deck overlooking the pool can be accessed through the kitchen or the formal dining room. The second-floor master bedroom has a tray ceiling, crown molding and a gas fireplace. His-and-her walk-in closets lead to the master bathroom with marble floors, marble vanities and a marble shower. Three more bedrooms are on the second floor. (Photo by BTW Images) Unlike many swimming pools found in the city at private homes, this one is generously sized. The walk-out lower level features a large rec room with a fireplace, another bedroom and doors that lead to the two-car garage and the outdoor pool terrace. Unlike many swimming pools found in the city at private homes, this one is generously sized. It is 22 feet wide by 45 feet long,


Jobs, grandsons, good fortune: Five Chinese travelers on their hopes for the lunar new year

Tonight, at midnight, people around the world will celebrate the dawn of the lunar new year, saying farewell to the year of the monkey and hello to the year of the rooster. In China, the fireworks will cap weeks of hectic travel as hundreds of millions make their way home for the biggest holiday of the year, the spring festival. On Jan. 26, we visited Beijing Railway Station to ask travelers about their plans. The people we met are, in some ways, a cross-section of China. They hailed from all corners of the country. They were all migrants, people who came to the city to try their luck — the nurses, cooks, cleaners and entrepreneurs that make Beijing work. Having spent months, or even years, away from their families, they were eager to get home to see parents, partners and kids. Their plans for the holiday were simple: home cooking, familiar faces, rest. Curious what they were thinking, we asked them about their hopes for 2017. Here is what they said.


‘Scandal’ is back, but is it still relevant when truth is stranger than fiction?

on to run the campaign of her erstwhile lover’s ex-wife. Francisco, a Democrat, had chosen Cyrus Beene, a staunch Republican and Fitz’s former chief of staff, as his running mate. In last season’s finale, which aired in May, Mellie’s running mate was revealed to be Jake Ballard, Olivia’s other longtime lover, and a former agent of a top-secret spy agency run by Olivia’s father. When “Scandal” premiered in 2012, the show quickly established its heroine (based on famed crisis manager Judy Smith) as an unstoppable fixture in Washington. With her trademark catchphrase — “It’s handled” — Olivia Pope even sprang to mind during real-life political scandals. And now, in some ways, it feels like we need Olivia Pope more than ever. The fictional fixer even became a Twitter trending topic after Trump won the presidential election, with people calling on Olivia to “handle” the unexpected outcome. During an appearance last year on HBO’s “Real Time With Bill Maher,” Kerry Washington hinted at her character’s influence. “Kellyanne’s really good at what she does,” Washington said of Trump’s campaign-manager-turned-adviser Kellyanne Conway. “Playing Olivia Pope, I know spin when I see it.” But even die-hard fans can admit that “Scandal” has become harder to take seriously, with plot lines as meandering as the show’s breathless dialogue. In Season 4, Olivia was kidnapped and auctioned off on the black market, and the aftermath carried into the show’s uneven fifth season, which saw declining ratings. Fitz divorced the first lady and moved his mistress into the White House. Olivia found the first girlfriend role to be suffocating. (Shortly after their breakup, the show’s midseason finale stunned viewers when Olivia had an abortion.) When the show returned last spring, Fitz had gone full-on bachelor in the West Wing, cavorting with multiple women, including a reporter who had covered the White House. And in what turned out to be a somewhat related plot line, Olivia bludgeoned Fitz’s former vice president to death. Murder aside, recent political events have eclipsed some of “Scandal’s” over-the-top storylines. To its credit, the show parlayed the contentious election cycle into moments of brilliance. “Scandal” offered ongoing commentary about the double standards faced by women in politics. One episode, aptly titled “Trumped,” featured a candidate with contentious views on women and minorities. It’s a safe bet that the longstanding character, Hollis Doyle, took on an amalgam of traits from real-life Republican candidates —


A first look at the path NASA astronauts will walk when the U.S. launches humans into space again

space gear will be,” said Chris Ferguson, a former NASA astronaut and ex-Navy fighter pilot who is now Boeing’s director of crew and mission systems. Because it’s so lightweight and flexible, Ferguson said, “it feels a lot more like a flight suit than a spacesuit.” Elon Musk’s SpaceX is designing its own suit that it has not yet been unveiled. But just across the cape, SpaceX has made visible progress with its new launch site, the historic Pad 39A that was used during the Apollo and shuttle eras. A SpaceX processing building sits next to Launch Pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla., on Jan. 25. (Phelan M. Ebenhack for The Washington Post) That launch site, which years ago was rusting away in the salt air, has been completely renovated. Nearby, the company has built a massive rocket hangar that has the SpaceX logo emblazoned across it — a potent symbol of the private sector putting its stamp on the venerable government facility. SpaceX plans to christen the pad within days, launching the first rocket from 39A since the last shuttle mission, some six years ago. The work by SpaceX and Boeing is part of a broader effort to transform Cape Canaveral from an area once dominated by the government to what NASA calls a “multi-user spaceport,” one that is home to several commercial companies. Jeffrey P. Bezos’s Blue Origin is also leasing a launch site here. The company is building a massive 750,000-square-foot facility where it wants to build its New Glenn rocket, which it plans to fly from here by the end of the decade. (Bezos owns The Washington Post.) Moon Express, which is vying to land a spacecraft on the moon as part of the Google Lunar X Prize, has also had a partnership with NASA to test its lunar lander at the Kennedy Space Center. But nothing will represent the cape’s renaissance more than the return of human spaceflight from its shores. Boeing and SpaceX are competing to see which company will fly first. SpaceX says its first test flight with passengers is scheduled for May 2018. Boeing plans to make its first uncrewed flight in June 2018, with a two-person test flight in August of that year. Both companies, however, have faced delays that the NASA inspector general’s office last year warned could force NASA to buy more seats from the


Endangered animals are already cut off by a border wall. Trump wants it to be much bigger.

impact of the current barrier fence is limited because the 2006 act gave the Homeland Security secretary sweeping power to build quickly, without the need for environmental impact studies or other analysis that would show how the land would be disturbed and how flora and fauna could potentially be harmed. A Mexican jaguar dubbed “The Boss” seen in Tucson. (USFWS/European Pressphoto Agency) While at the University of Texas, Lasky led a study on the impact of barriers published in the journal Diversity and Distributions in 2011. The study’s main conclusion was that the “new barriers would increase the number of species at risk.” A big concern, Lasky said in an interview Friday, was that over time the populations of threatened and endangered species would decline. A wall cutting off isolated populations from those on the other side of the wall would exacerbate the problem because they couldn’t mate, at least not in a sustainable way. “There are concerns about small populations mating with each other and inbreeding, and getting genetic disorders from inbreeding,” Lasky said. Their problems wouldn’t end there. “We didn’t talk about it much in the paper, but with climate change, if an animal or any organism is going to stay in the temperatures it prefers, it has to move to track those conditions. That’s going to be important for the persistence of a lot of species.” The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said West Indian manatees (seen here in Citrus County, Fla.) would be affected by a border wall in Texas. (Matthew Beck/AP/Citrus County Chronicle) A 2008 study mentioned the decline of carnivores, such as the grizzly bear and gray wolf, at the U.S.-Mexico border and renewed interest in protecting Neotropical cat species there. “In the U.S.A., there are no known breeding populations of jaguars and only two…populations of ocelots,” according to the study by scientists at Pace University in New York and the Universidad Autónoma de Querétaro in Mexico. The cats “are threatened by land development and land conversion, predator control by cattle growers, an increase in disease exposure, construction of highways, international bridges and immigration-control infrastructure,” meaning border walls. More walls would greatly magnify the threat, the researchers said. Read more: Trump’s secret plan to make Mexico pay for a border wall revealed Trump signs directive to start border wall with Mexico, ramp up immigration enforcement Texas GOP congressman slams Trump’s plan for border wall


Watch four alien worlds orbit a distant star

One of the first confirmed images of exoplanets orbiting another star. (C. Marois et al., NRC Canada) Star HR 8799 was born about the same time as humanity's ancestors — 60 million years ago, after the dinosaurs went extinct and the age of animals that would lead to our evolution was just beginning here on Earth. It's 129 light years away from us, tucked toward the front legs of the constellation Pegasus. It's so close and so brilliant (five times brighter than our own sun) that on a clear night it can easily be spotted by the naked eye. In 2008, scientists discovered three planetary companions circling within a dusty disk that surrounds the star, just as the nine planets of our solar system are encircled by the Kuiper belt. And they took a picture. It tied for the first direct image ever taken of planets outside our celestial neighborhood. (Another image of the planet Fomalhaut b was released the same day.) Further observation uncovered another planet. And now, we can watch all four in motion. (NASA) This three-second animation is the result of seven years of work by Jason Wang, an astronomy graduate student at the University of California, who compiled dozens of images taken by the W.M. Keck observatory in Hawaii to create the digital equivalent of a flip book. The black circle at the middle is a result of the device used to block the light from the star so that scientists could detect the much fainter gleam of its nearby planets. The four glowing globes that orbit it are HR 8799's planets. This animation does not show their full orbits — the planets are so far from their star that it would take more than four centuries to create that video. But this is a snapshot of four alien worlds orbiting a distant sun. And that's pretty incredible.


‘I am heartbroken’: Malala criticizes Trump for ‘closing the door on children’ fleeing violence

turn his back on the world’s most defenseless children and families.” From as early as 11 years old, Malala began blogging for BBC Urdu about life under extremist Taliban control in northwest Pakistan, where many schools had been destroyed and girls were at times banned from getting an education. She was only 15 when, in 2012, Taliban gunman boarded her school bus in Swat, Pakistan, asked for her by name, then shot her in the head. Malala not only survived the gunshot, but went on to continue speaking out for children's rights and the importance of education for girls in developing countries. In 2013, she co-founded the Malala Fund, a nonprofit organization whose goal is “a world where all girls can learn for 12 years and lead without fear.” In 2014, Malala became the youngest person to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. The Nobel Committee praised Malala for her “heroic struggle” under “the most dangerous circumstances” in jointly awarding her the prize with Indian children's rights advocate Kailash Satyarthi. Malala's powerful acceptance speech — and many others around the world since — drew standing ovations and moved many to tears. “This award is not just for me,” Malala said at the 2014 Nobel Peace Prize ceremony in Oslo. “It is for those forgotten children who want education. It is for those frightened children who want peace. It is for those voiceless children who want change.” She continued by pleading for change and saying that her voice represented millions of girls around the world “deprived of education” because of war, poverty or simple injustice based on gender. “Dear sisters and brothers, the so-called world of adults may understand it, but we children don't. Why is it that countries which we call strong are so powerful in creating wars but are so weak in bringing peace?” Malala asked. “Why is it that giving guns is so easy but giving books is so hard? Why is it, why is it that making tanks is so easy, but building schools is so hard?” Malala has since continued speaking out against both Muslim extremists who are “misusing the name of Islam” and those who would discriminate against Muslims — including the newly inaugurated president. In December 2015, when Trump first called for a Muslim ban early in the presidential campaign, Malala decried his comments as “full of hatred.” “Well, that's really tragic that you


Among veterans, raw responses to Trump’s effort to block refugees and others from Muslim countries

Jaslow, who is nowchief of staff for the nonprofit Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America. “How many of our brothers and sisters who are currently deployed are counting on nationals to fight alongside them?” Jaslow asked. “And if they risk their life to save the lives of American soldiers, are we not then willing to save their life?” J.R. Salzman, an Army veteran who lost half of his right arm in Iraq in 2006, said that he likes neither Trump nor his presidential election opponent Hillary Clinton, but is “having a hard time” disagreeing with Trump’s effort. “Terrorist groups have made it known they’re using the flood of refugees to try and infiltrate other countries,” Salzman said. Salzman added that former president Barack Obama instituted a six-month ban on refugees from Iraq in 2011 — a fact that numerous conservative websites claimed Saturday was being overlooked. They cited a 2013 ABC News report that said flaws in the U.S. refugee screening program allowed some militants who had targeted U.S. troops in Iraq to resettle in the United States. But James LaPorta, a Marine infantry veteran who completed two deployments to Afghanistan, said that it is wrong to say the United States doesn’t already have a strict vetting process for refugees. LaPorta said that he once vetted Muslim interpreters while working in intelligence, and found the process painstaking. “As Americans, we promised to help give them asylum,” LaPorta said of interpreters. “We promised to leave no man behind. It just seems more like a cheap bumper sticker than a bond of trust.” One Army veteran, Dylan Park, recalled meeting his former interpreter in Iraq, Brahim, years later while traveling to Arizona to attend the funeral of Park’s brother. Brahim picked him up in a taxi, and the men hugged when Park realized who his cab driver was. He said Brahim saved his life twice — once abroad and once in the United States. I told this story about #refugees a couple years ago on Veterans Day with a humorous slant. I'm going to tell it again today, unfiltered. Lost one brother, and got another one back. #refugees https://t.co/FDF6jVNBZf His long thread of messages went viral and was shared by numerous celebrities, including actress Olivia Wilde, author and screenwriter David Simon and Andy Richter of the late-night TV show “Conan.” This story was updated to clarify what the court’s stay Saturday allows.


Teacher: Thank you, President Trump. You’ve inspired me to create a lesson on hyperbole.

is high, but the United States is also one of the wealthiest nations in the world — and it only spends approximately 5.5 percent of its GDP on education, ranking us at 56th in the world, according to the World Bank, right between the United Kingdom and Austria. It is also true that for all its wealth, the United States has the highest level of income inequality. In the past, education used to be the great equalizer, but now some economists are wondering if the “American Dream” might be dead. More than that, our schools are hardly representative of being “flush with cash.” While a nearby state senator decided to fly over my school in a helicopter and declare that schools were “not underfunded” because of what he saw as superfluous spending, we’ve also been growing our district at a roughly 5 percent increase in students each year. When we ask the school board for a 3 percent raise, they laugh at us because the money is not there. And while I face this problem in a relatively upper-middle-class school district, other school districts across the nation face a multitude of issues when it comes to staffing, buildings, technology, and more. The teachers and students are highlighting it for the president on Twitter #FlushWithCash (scroll through the photos to see what’s going on). ‘Deprived of all knowledge’ American students are “deprived of all knowledge” in America’s schools? All knowledge? Really? Thank you, President Trump, for allowing me to create a lesson on hyperbole. Look, I understand that there are legitimate concerns about how well some public schools are educating students. Yes, the United States doesn’t perform near the top on international tests, such as the Program of International Student Assessment, known as PISA. But demonizing the teaching profession isn’t going to help things — and, besides, there are large questions about the value of PISA scores as comparisons of the effectiveness of school systems. There’s a reason that hundreds of academics and school activists from around the world wrote in 2014 to PISA director Andreas Schleicher, asking him to come up with an improved assessment. Let’s not forget that the skills that American employers covet — chief among them creativity and problem-solving — are being fostered by American schools better than any other country in the world. Moving forward The American public education system certainly needs to improve and innovate.


I tried to fly home to the U.S. on Friday. President Trump’s ban meant I couldn’t.

citizen. In August, I adopted a rescue puppy who’d gone unwanted because of his gastrointestinal issues. I named him Dexter. He’s adorable. I became close friends with three women in my neighborhood, and we walk our dogs together every morning and evening. I love downtown Greenville, which was especially pretty when it was decorated for Christmas. (There’s even a Persian restaurant for when I want a little taste of Tehran.) My life in upstate South Carolina has been very peaceful. In the winter, I decided to take a three-week trip to visit my mom and sister. My visa was in order, but I hauled along a ton of paperwork to avoid trouble — I had my job offer letter, my employment authorization form, multiple pay stubs, even copies of my old student visas, just in case. I got to Tehran on Jan. 22. Within two days, the rumors about Trump’s executive orders were flying. It was shocking: How could the United States I know and love — a country based on the rule of law, where supporting human rights is foundational — ban people just because they come from Muslim nations? When I saw the news that Trump was really going to go through with the order, I realized I had to leave immediately, three days into my trip. The first available flight back to the United States would take me through Dubai on Friday and then to Dulles International Airport. Trump signed the order before I boarded in Tehran. When I got to Dubai, U.S. border agents based there asked me lots of questions, as they usually do. This time, they asked why I was going back on a student visa since I had graduated (even though my visa allows me to work after school). They let me through at first. But later, when passengers started to line up to board, airline employees and the U.S. officials started talking. They looked at me several times. I knew about the order, and I was getting more and more nervous. Finally, it happened: Someone walked over to me and said due to “security reasons,” I had been denied boarding, and I had to leave the line. I didn’t ask anything. I couldn’t talk. I was dizzy, and everything got blurry. I just walked away from the gate as early as I could. I didn’t see any other Iranians among the passengers.


‘It made me question my sanity every day’: Michael Wardian sets record in seven-marathon challenge

time of 2:54:54 in Antarctica, Wardian boarded a private charter flight with 32 other runners, trading the endless stretches of snow and 20-mph wind at Union Glacier for the scenic views and moderate temperature of Puntas Arenas, Chile. It was then that the challenge of running seven marathons on seven continents in seven days truly came into focus for the 42-year-old professional ultrarunner from Arlington. “I was excited that we had finished the marathon [in Antarctica]”, Wardian said Sunday in a Facebook Live interview with The Washington Post, “but until the plane actually took off and we were on our way to Chile, that’s when it became real.” On Sunday night in Sydney, Wardian completed the journey by running his seventh and final marathon in 2:45:31 on Manly Beach to average 2:45:56 per marathon, smashing the record set last year by better than 45 minutes. He won every leg of the race and ran each marathon in less than three hours. And after his final marathon, Wardian added another 16.6 miles to run exactly 200 miles over the course of the week. By the end, he was sleep-deprived, sported a few fresh scars and was craving a large salad. But he had a better understanding of what his body and mind can handle. “It’s a really special event,” Wardian said. “It really tests you. It made me question my sanity every day, which is always a good thing. It was something that scared me. … If I get the opportunity, I would definitely do it again.” This was the largest and most elite group of runners that has attempted the challenge, which is in its third year under race director Richard Donovan. America’s fastest marathoner, Ryan Hall, who retired from the pro ranks in early 2016, participated after minor training and finished fifth overall, with a 3:39:36 average. The top four runners all finished under the previous record average. The World Marathon Challenge was just the beginning for Wardian’s packed race schedule. He will be in the Washington area this week to work a few days at Potomac Maritime, where he is a full-time international shipbroker, before flying to New Zealand with his wife, Jennifer, and their two young sons in preparation for the Tarawera 100K ultramarathon race. “I’m glad I got some good training in this week,” Wardian said with a laugh. “I’m excited for what the future holds.”


The longest running streak ever ended Saturday at 19,032 days

claims of lengthy streaks. The end of Hill's streak gives Jon Sutherland, 66, of West Hills, Calif., the longest active streak in the world at 17,417 days, or a little more than 47½ years, according to the U.S. Running Streak Association. Three other Americans are not far behind and all are probably young enough to pass Hill's record if they continue. I talked to Sutherland a couple of years ago when he set the American streak record at 16,438 days — 45 years and two days, or 190,715 miles of putting one foot in front of another. He said then that he had run despite 10 broken bones and two knee surgeries, plus countless late-night heavy-metal concerts he attended as a journalist and record producer. He arranged to run right before his knee surgeries and then, without consulting his doctor, on the days right after them. He had averaged 11.2 miles a day over the 45-year period. Hill's streak is no less remarkable. When it reached 50 years, he told Runner's World that the most serious threat to his mark came in 1993 when he broke his sternum in a car accident. Fortunately, he had already run that day. The next day, he managed to put in a mile. He also had bunion surgery the same year. He said his son picked him up from the hospital and took him to a track, where he ran a mile, using two canes. A week later, he abandoned the canes and continued his daily streak in a special cast. Hill won the 1970 Boston Marathon in 2:10:30, a course record at the time. He competed in the 1964, 1968 and 1972 Olympics, placing seventh in the 10,000 meters in 1968 and sixth in the marathon in 1972, according to Runner's World. He has run 115 marathons — all but three at times under 2:50 — and has held world records in 10-mile, 15-mile and 25-kilometer road races, all of them during his streak. His final marathon was the 100th running of Boston in 1996, where he ran 3:12:46 at the age of 57, according to Washburne's statement. Hill's streak ended the same weekend as a group of marathoners completed seven marathons in seven days on seven continents. Michael Wardian, 42, of Arlington, Va., set a world record by averaging 2:45:57 for the competition, including the opening race in Antarctica in subzero temperatures.


Pentagon, caught by surprise by Trump’s travel ban, pushes for some Iraqis to get special consideration

A U.S. Marine, right, speaks with an officer from the Iraqi army and an interpreter at al-Asad Air Base in late 2014. (Lance Cpl. Skyler E. Treverrow/Marine Corps) The Pentagon, caught by surprise by President Trump’s executive order Friday to restrict travel from seven Muslim-majority countries, has launched a new effort to compile a list of Iraqi citizens who have assisted the American military abroad and get them special consideration to settle in the United States. Navy Capt. Jeff Davis, a Pentagon spokesman, said Monday that the effort was launched after Trump’s executive order was signed Friday during a ceremony at the Pentagon. Davis said that over the weekend the White House “provided the opportunity to submit names,” but would not say whether Defense Secretary James Mattis, a retired Marine general who served in Iraq, requested the move or if the idea originated at the White House. “There are a number of people in Iraq who have worked for us in a partnership role, whether fighting alongside us or working as translators, often doing so at great peril to themselves,” Davis said. “We are ensuring that those who have demonstrated their commitment tangibly to fight alongside us and support us, that those names are known in whatever process there is going forward.” Davis repeatedly declined during a meeting with reporters to say whether Mattis or Marine Gen. Joseph F. Dunford, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, supports the order or had seen the order before it was signed, calling those details part of internal deliberations. But as late as midday Friday, senior defense officials anticipated that Trump would sign two executive orders at the Pentagon: One calling for improved military readiness, which is popular in the Pentagon, and one calling for a 30-day review of U.S. policy in Iraq and Syria. The military readiness order was signed, but Trump’s second order instead suspended the admission of all refugees to the United States for 120 days and banned for 90 days the entry of any citizen from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen. Trump has defended the order by saying that President Barack Obama also temporarily suspended admitting Iraqi refugees for six months in 2011. But former Obama administration officials say there was no such ban. Following an incident in which two Iraqis were arrested in Kentucky on terrorism charges, the government added stricter screening procedures and


How British tabloids helped kill a women’s aid program in Ethiopia

Yegna Band - Abet ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia — The headline in Britain’s Daily Mail couldn’t have been more triumphant: “Aid: Now they’re listening,” it shouted in huge letters. The conservative paper was celebrating the withdrawal of British funding for an aid project in Ethiopia it has dubbed “the Ethiopian Spice Girls.” These “girls” are a five-member all-female band known as Yegna, or “Ours.” It was founded three years ago and produces a radio drama and music videos aimed at helping girls through the perils of adolescence in Ethiopia. The Daily Mail attacked the project for years with a string of vitriolic articles, calling Yegna “the most wasteful, ludicrous and patronizing” aid project in Africa. That coverage apparently convinced Britain’s Department for International Development to withdraw its funding on Jan. 6. Yet the aid agency had previously given the program high marks, presenting it as an innovative way to empower Ethiopia's young women. And while Ethiopia is the second largest recipient of British aid, getting $470 million a year, Yegna received only $6.4 million in total from the British government from 2015 to 2018. Aid workers and activists say the rush to scapegoat Britain’s aid policy not only hurt a program that is helping adolescent girls but unfairly attacks the idea of using media for social change, a method development workers say is getting good results around the world. Members of the Yegna band greet fans in the capital Addis Ababa. (Noni Rossini/Girl Effect) The show features the five members of Yegna, each from different backgrounds, confronting and overcoming many of the challenges specific to Ethiopia’s young women. Girls in this nation of 100 million suffer alarming secondary school dropout rates, domestic violence and a culture that in many places restricts them to doing chores at home. Many young women are also forced into early marriages. The program was an initiative of Girl Effect, an organization that advocates for more development programs focused on young women across Africa. In Ethiopia, it hit on the idea of using music and entertainment to convince its audience rather than typical public service announcements. “Music is deeply rooted in Ethiopian culture,” said Selome Tadesse, Yegna’s managing director, pointing out that both young woman and their parents responded to the tactic. “If there is anything that will bring the Ethiopian people together, it is music.” The band has put out more than 20 singles and produced


Falcons concerned about ‘excessive’ reliance on painkillers, emails from court case show

A series of emails dating from 2010 shows the Atlanta Falcons, from their head trainer to team management, were concerned about an “excessive” reliance on painkillers to treat players that could embarrass the team and league, according to evidence in a lawsuit by former players. The emails, obtained by The Washington Post and first reported Tuesday by the Associated Press, were entered into court last week as part of a proposed class-action lawsuit by more than 1,800 former NFL players who contend they were urged to consume painkillers without regard for the long-term consequences to their health. In May 2010, Marty Lauzon, the Falcons’ newly-hired team trainer, sent an email to Thomas Dimitroff, the team’s general manager, highlighting concerns about the team’s drug-dispensing procedures, much of which was discovered by an outside agency reviewing the team’s practices. “Within the first two days on the job, I was informed that we barely missed a [Drug Enforcement Administration] investigation because of improper billing issues,” he wrote. Among his chief worries: “high dispensation of narcotics and regular medication compared to other clubs; this creates culture of dependency and goes against healthy lifestyles and care, even for an NFL player. My concern is also with these players at the end of their careers going through medical issues, and also with the ease of access to media outlets that can provide them the opportunity to say they abused or are now addicted to a number of medications.” Lauzon said the average NFL team spends $30,000 annually on medications, but the Falcons spent $81,000 in 2009. The league has been sensitive to the drug practices of its 32 teams and has worked with the DEA in recent years to provide instruction on safe and legal practices. Lauzon told his bosses the league’s director of player benefits advised the team to “start clean,” which included hiring a new team doctor. Dimitroff immediately forwarded the note to Falcons owner Arthur Blank, saying, “I thought it quite important for you to be aware of a rather sensitive subject and one we need to discuss before we include others on this topic matter.” Blank agreed to meet one week later with Dimitroff and Rich McKay, the team president who also shared the exchange with Elliot Pellman, the league’s controversial longtime medical adviser who was forced into retirement last year. The court documents do not make clear what happened next or


‘He’s not waking up or anything’: A child’s tearful 911 call after his dad’s apparent overdose

criminal complaint. The officer administered narcan, a lifesaving medication used by law enforcement officers around the country to reverse the effects of an overdose. Koeberl told police that he picked up his children from an elementary school less than two miles away and drove to the parking lot, according to the complaint. He initially denied taking anything other than clonazepam, a prescription drug that treats anxiety and seizure disorders, but he later admitted to snorting three Xanax pills about three hours before police arrived, the complaint says. The boy said they were in the parking lot for about 10 to 15 minutes before he called 911, the complaint states. He also said he didn't see his father consume anything while in the car. The officer, after getting permission from Koeberl to look through his phone, found that he was talking to someone about looking for “blues,” a street name for Xanax, the complaint states. Benzodiazepines like Xanax and Valium are most commonly used to treat people with anxiety. In the 1950s and 1960s, benzodiazepines were prescribed for a variety of neurological disorders such as epilepsy and anxiety-related disorders like insomnia, according to the Citizens Commission on Human Rights. The group described clonazepam, the drug that Koeberl said he had a prescription for, as the country's most dangerous pill that has become a drug of choice for addicts “from Hollywood to Wall Street.” Xanax is the most frequently prescribed benzodiazepine drug in the country, with about 49 million prescriptions in 2011. Clonazepam is second with 27 million prescriptions that year. In September, health officials warned that mixing such benzodiazepines with opioid painkillers could cause a fatal overdose. About half of prescription painkiller deaths involve at least one other drug, including cocaine, heroin and benzodiazepines, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The problem of overdose deaths in Wisconsin is not as severe as those in other Midwestern states, such as Michigan, Indiana and Ohio. In 2015, 878 overdose-related deaths — or 15 per 100,000 people — were reported in the state, according to the CDC. In West Virginia, which had the worst case of overdose deaths in 2015, the rate is 41 per 100,000 people. Still, overdose deaths in Wisconsin have increased, according to the most recent data from the state's health services department. The numbers of deaths related to opioid and painkiller addiction jumped from less than 100


Guinness plans to brew in America again, for the first time in six decades

An architect’s rendering of the proposed Guinness Open Gate Brewery in Relay, Md. It would be the first Guinness brewery in America since 1954. (Courtesy of Diageo) This story has been updated. By the end of the year, Guinness lovers who want to sample beers fresh from the brewery’s taps won’t need to hop on a plane to Dublin — they’ll just have to get in their car and drive on Interstate 95. Diageo Beer Company USA, the parent company of Guinness, announced today that it plans to build an American version of Dublin’s Open Gate Brewery in Relay, Md., which lies between Ellicott City and BWI Thurgood Marshall Airport. The site, once home to the landmark Calvert Distillery, is now used for aging and storing Captain Morgan rum. (Captain Morgan is another brand in Diageo’s wide-ranging international portfolio.) Guinness Stout, the company’s flagship beer, will still be brewed at the famous St. James’s Gate Brewery in Dublin, while the new facility “will be a home for new Guinness beers created for the U.S. market, including Guinness Blonde American Lager, as well as creations by the brewers here,” says Alix Dunn, a Diageo spokeswoman. As stout sales have slumped in recent years, Guinness has been rapidly diversifying its product line in an attempt to appeal to drinkers’ changing tastes, adding historically inspired Dublin and West Indies porters and Antwerpen Stout, as well as more modern Nitro Pale Ale and Blonde American Lager. But the company, known for its traditional beers, has also given free rein to brewers at Open Gate, a smaller-scale pilot brewery in Dublin, to create recipes like the Rye Pale Ale, which made a leap from the Open Gate taproom to bottles last year. But the big news is that Guinness will be brewed in America for the first time since 1954, when the company closed its short-lived brewery in Long Island City, N.Y., and moved production back to Dublin. “Opening a Guinness brewery and visitor center in the U.S. will enable us to collaborate with fellow brewers and interact with the vibrant community of beer drinkers,” Tom Day, president of Diageo Beer, said in a statement. If you’ve been to St. James’s Gate, you know that it’s as much a Guinness museum as a brewery. Relay won’t have the same amenities — including the Gravity Bar’s views of the Dublin skyline — but Diageo has planned


PM Update: Clouds dominate through Wednesday

Leaf fight during a rally in front of the White House. (Shamila Chaudhary via Flickr) We ended the month much like we spent it, on the warm side. Final tallies still need to be made, but it looks like D.C. finishes right around six degrees above average for January. That might explain the lack of meaningful snow. And while we’ve got plenty of clouds in the forecast, there are also above-normal temperatures to kick off February, as well. Through Tonight: View the current weather conditions at The Washington Post. Tomorrow (Wednesday): 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. Cool pics of Earth: This imagery of von Karman vortices made CIRA's list of the Top 10 Himawari Loops of 2016! See the other nine at… https://t.co/nQeK71dL2J Want our 5 a.m. forecast delivered to your email inbox? Subscribe here.


Trump says that spoils belong to the victor. That’s an invitation to more war.

take Iraq’s oil using the phrase, “to the victor belong the spoils.” This may herald the return to predatory behavior and a more violent world. Conquest is no longer seen as a good thing Starting with the League of Nations in 1920, world opinion has, in fits and starts, moved away from the idea that conquerors have rights and toward the view that any disputes are best solved through diplomacy and peaceful change. Even when there has been a blatant attempt to take something by force, other states have usually looked to reaffirm the principle that plunder and grabbing other states’ territory are wrong. Condemning the spoils of war makes it possible to form coalitions around violations of the norm against conquest and thus helps to mobilize resistance. Famously, the U.N. rejected Iraq’s conquest of Kuwait in 1990 and authorized a U.S.-led coalition to overturn the occupation by force. The most recent example is the widespread international condemnation of Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014. When Russia vetoed a widely-supported U.N. Security Council resolution which reaffirmed the territorial integrity of Ukraine, it was greeted with economic sanctions. Even when states try to bend the rules – as when Russia annexed Crimea, or invaded Georgia in 2008 and established the de facto state of South Ossetia, they usually justify what they are doing as providing local populations with self-determination. Russian President Vladimir Putin appealed to the democratic will of the people of Crimea as expressed in a referendum (despite numerous irregularities) when he approved the annexation. That may be changing, thanks to Trump Trump very clearly has a different point of view. Will his attitude change the perspective of other states? One example from history hints at the potential damage that could be done by powerful actors who reject the norm against conquest. In 1935, Italy’s Benito Mussolini invaded Ethiopia, also called Abyssinia. The international community condemned the invasion, swore to uphold the peace and to defend the territorial integrity of Ethiopia, a member of the League of Nations, and coordinated economic sanctions on Italy. However, a group of policy makers in the U.K. and France entered into negotiations with Rome to try to end the violence through concessions to Mussolini. Instead of preserving Ethiopia against aggression, the U.K. and France offered vast amounts of territory and a trade monopoly in exchange for a halt to the war. When this agreement


Tokyo hopes to makes its 2020 Olympic medals out of recycled cellphones

Will the grand tradition of Olympic medal biting (done by Simone Biles in this photo) continue in Tokyo? (Dmitri Lovetsky/AP) The 5,000 medals awarded at the 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games in Tokyo will deliver a message beyond athletic achievement, one of sustainability and sensible decisions. The plan is for the medals to be made from recycled cellphones and small appliances donated by Japanese citizens. “A project that allows the people of Japan to take part in creating the medals is really good,” Koji Murofushi, the Tokyo 2020 sports director, said in a news conference Wednesday. “There’s a limit on the resources of our earth, so recycling these things will make us think about the environment.” There’s also a limit to what a host is willing to spent to host the Games, with Tokyo organizers reducing the budget from $35 billion to a more manageable $21 billion last year. “I think there’s an important message in this for future generations,” Kohei Uchimura, the country’s three-time gold medal-winning gymnast said (via The Japan Times). What’s especially significant is that the citizens of the host country will have a real role in the process. Olympic medals have been made of recycled materials before, as in 2010 when the Vancouver Olympic organizing committee said its medals were made of recycled circuit boards, but this will be a collective effort — literally. Tokyo organizers hope to gather as many as eight tons of metal to yield the three tons needed for the gold, silver and bronze medals. Collection boxes sponsored by NTT DoCoMo, Japan’s leading mobile carrier, will be set up around the country starting in April. “The weight of a medal around your neck is always a good weight,” Ashton Eaton, the U.S. two-time Olympic decathlon gold medalist, said. “And when an athlete at Tokyo wins a medal, the weight of it will not be from the gold, silver or bronze; it will be the weight of a nation.”


What should travelers expect following Trump’s travel ban? Even experts say it’s hard to know.

Demonstrators protest President Trump’s executive order which imposes a freeze on admitting refugees into the United States and a ban on travel from seven Muslim-majority countries at the international terminal at O’Hare Airport on Jan. 29, 2017. Similar protests have been staged at airports nationwide. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images) President Trump’s executive order banning people from seven Muslim-majority nations from entering the country has created political turmoil, protest, and confusion for air travelers around the globe. Amid all the tumult, even some travel experts and travelers’ advocates have been struggling to provide insight and guidance in a quickly changing situation. The original order – which has been the subject of legal challenges — has undergone changes in the way it’s been enforced. Meanwhile, airlines have been working to comply with the directive and some, such as United, American Airlines, and others, have taken steps to accommodate affected travelers by refunding and rebooking flights. So what will the impact be on tourism and travel? What rights do travelers have? And what should you expect now if you’re traveling overseas? “To be honest with you, I don’t know,” Charles Leocha, president of Travelers United, a Washington nonprofit organization that advocates for airline passengers. “And that’s part of the problem. The way it was crafted, we have a presidential directive that didn’t take into account a lot of unintended consequences, and now they’re dealing with a lot of unintended consequences piece by piece.” Leocha said such chaos should have been predictable given the nature of sudden policy shifts on a complex subject. Even travel-related legislation and policies that undergo years of debate and development often contain unforeseen problems once they go into effect. Initially, the president’s order caused U.S. permanent residents who hold green cards to be halted from entry, but that’s since been lifted, and the military has put together lists of people from the affected countries who have been working with the services and have been vetted for entry, he said. Airlines for America, an industry trade organization, says through a spokesman Tuesday that the industry remains committed to the well-being of all its customers and has been working diligently to accommodate travelers affected by the ban. Airlines have also been in touch with the Department of Homeland Security and U.S. Customs and Border Protection in seeking to comply with the executive order. “At this point, we are not seeing


A firefighter helped save a Boston Marathon bombing victim. Now they’re getting married.

Boston Marathon bombing survivor Roseann Sdoia leaves Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital in Boston in 2013. (Charles Krupa/AP) On April 15, 2013, Roseann Sdoia was near the Boston Marathon finish line, watching the runners. She heard the first bomb go off, Runner’s World reported. She would later tell Fox Sports that as the plume of smoke drifted up, she thought that it was all pretty weird, since the best runners had finished the marathon long go. “There was a guy to the right of me who started yelling, ‘Everybody, get in the streets, get in the streets,'” Sdoia told Fox Sports. “But the barricade they had between the street and the runners was too high, and I was not going to be able to get over it. So I turned to my right to run away, and I basically ran into the bag that had the second bomb in it. And I just recall the pop-pop at my feet and then it going black and thinking to myself, ‘This is not a good situation. This is bad.’” Sdoia is among the victims of the Boston Marathon bombing, which killed three and left more than 200 injured. She was rushed to a hospital that April day. Her right leg would eventually be amputated above the knee, but she would survive — in part thanks to a group of people who helped in the chaotic aftermath of the bombing. Runner’s World profiled that group in 2014. There was Shores Salter, a college student who rushed to Sdoia at the scene. Shana Cottone, a police officer, helped too. And there was Mike Materia, a Boston firefighter. Materia held Sdoia’s hand on the way to the hospital, Runner’s World reported. He was there for her during her recovery, too. And this past December, the New York Post reported, he proposed to her. “In the hospital, my mom tried to set me up with him,” Sdoia told the newspaper. “She was like, ‘Oh, did you see that firefighter? He’s so cute.’ And I was like, ‘Mom, I just got blown up.’” Congrats to these 2. Finding some positivity on such a tragic day. U the real hero Mike. God bless. #BostonStrong https://t.co/woaesh4MWJ The New York Post reports that Sdoia and Materia began dating in June 2013, months after the bombing. According to the newspaper, he proposed in December. WCVB-TV, a station in Boston, also reported on the


When troops worry about their kids’ schools, our military suffers

force. A recent survey of current and former military personnel conducted by my organization, the Collaborative for Student Success, along with the Military Times, a leading publication widely read by active duty and former U.S. military personnel, puts a finer point on the connection between the quality of K-12 education of military-connected children and readiness. More than one-third of respondents, 35 percent, said dissatisfaction with a child’s education was or is “a significant factor” in deciding whether to continue military service; 40 percent said they either have declined or would decline a career-advancing job at a different military installation to remain at their current military facility “because of high performing schools.” When asked, “Did moving between states as part of your military service add challenges to your children’s education,” 70 percent answered yes. The vast majority of survey respondents — 90 percent — reported having spent more than five years in the military. They have years of experience and expertise that our armed forces can ill-afford to lose. Their core concern is one that all American parents contend with: schools with standards that are inconsistent from district to district or state to state and that, in many instances, don’t adequately prepare children for career or college. But what sets military families apart is that, by design, they are highly nomadic. Our armed forces function more effectively when officers and enlisted personnel, with their varied roles and tenure, are rotated among the many U.S. military installations. Children in military families attend as many as nine schools during their K-12 years. The result: Over a million military-connected children, most of whom attend public schools, are exposed to the vagaries of our educational system far more than their peers in civilian families. As the Military Child Education Coalition reports, there is no “consistent school-based data on the academic health of these students” and without such data, “decisions about children, time, money, and initiatives are at risk of being based on supposition rather than reality.” Military parents are often left to make career-related decisions based on keeping kids in schools they are comfortable with or moving their families and placing kids in unfamiliar schools where they might wind up either ahead of or behind their new classmates. A new assessment of several states with large military populations found that military families face a number of education obstacles, with the performance of students varying dramatically


The Daily 202: In Mike Pence, conservatives trust

companies to bring talented workers into this country. -- A leaked copy of a draft religious freedom executive order reveals sweeping plans to "legalize discrimination," according to an unconfirmed report in WHILE YOU WERE SLEEPING: Groundhog Club co-handler Ron Ploucha holds Punsxutawney Phil, the weather prognosticating groundhog, this morning. (David Maxwell/EPA) -- It’s Groundhog Day! The University of California at Berkeley canceled a talk by inflammatory Breitbart writer Milo Yiannopoulos and put the campus on lockdown after intense protests broke out on Feb. 1. -- The University of California at Berkeley canceled a speech from Breitbart writer Milo Yiannopoulos following a violent student protest that erupted in response to his planned appearance. -- The president himself weighed in this morning: If U.C. Berkeley does not allow free speech and practices violence on innocent people with a different point of view - NO FEDERAL FUNDS? Ollie is home safe. (Barbara Statas/Smithsonian’s National Zoo) GET SMART FAST: - After fleeing her enclosure and spending three days in the wild, Ollie the bobcat has returned home! Zookeepers found the feline wandering near the Bird House exhibit, not far from where she disappeared, and confirmed she is now “100 percent safe and sound.” (Michael E. Ruane and Dana Hedgpeth) - Wildlife officials are mourning the death of a baby manatee, Emoji, who was killed after eating too many plastic bags. Vets say the young calf was just two weeks old when he was found wandering the seas with a stomach full of trash. Left orphaned and alone, he was likely unable to fend for himself. Manatees are some of Florida’s most beloved, gentle creatures, but also among the most vulnerable – the so-called “sea cows” often fall victim to speedboat accidents, and in 2015, 19 were rescued from a Florida drainpipe. (Kristine Guerra) - A day-long hostage standoff inside Delaware’s largest state prison ended this morning after state police stormed the building, finding one corrections official dead and rescuing another who was being held hostage. (Katie Mettler and Mark Berman) - The Fed voted unanimously to keep interest rates unchanged, a widely expected move that comes amid enduring uncertainty about fiscal policies under a President Trump. (Ana Swanson) - The mayor of a tiny Texas town, located in one of the most staunchly conservative counties in the state, has come out as a transgender. She was both heartfelt and direct in an open letter


Chill, America. Not every Trump outrage is outrageous.

an unprecedented moment in history. And when the Trump administration tweaked Obama’s order on Russia sanctions — in a move to correct an obstacle even Obama did not intend to place in the way of U.S. exports to Russia — several members of Congress charged the White House with rewarding Russia’s interference in the U.S. election. Trump, Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.) said, was easing sanctions against Russian hackers and the Russian security services, and allowing Russia “to sharpen its knives and import tools from the United States to hack us again.” On the other hand, even Russia hawk Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) said the change seemed to be a “technical fix.” But the accusation of lifting sanctions has now been made; should the day arrive when the White House actually does want to alleviate the sanctions against Moscow, such complaints might have less force with a public who has heard it all already. This continual panic is short-circuiting any reasonable debate about the president’s policies by indulging Trump’s fiercest opponents in the belief that something could destroy his presidency before it has a chance to govern. Still furious over the outcome of the election, Trump’s critics seize on every move as if there is a Watergate moment to be found if only they look hard enough. But even Nixon didn’t fall to a sudden scandal: He was a deeply consequential president who governed his way to a reelection landslide before his eventual resignation. With that said, there’s plenty of cause for worry. I wrote at length for more than a year about why I thought Trump should not be president, and nothing since has eased my concerns about his temperament or policies. I am grieved at the needless insults to our allies in NATO; I believe his phone call with Taiwan was reckless; I am appalled at the closeness between an American administration and the Russian enemy regime led by Vladimir Putin. I could go on. As a scholar of international security affairs, I wish we were talking about these issues on their merits. Unfortunately, our national debate is instead consumed with overreaction and hysteria, which not only cloud important questions but in the short term paradoxically play to the president’s advantage, no matter how much his opponents wish otherwise. For example, Trump promised a Muslim ban during the campaign. But the executive order now running into multiple challenges is


Trump’s travel order could make it difficult for Americans who travel abroad, survey finds

Traffic backs up at Los Angeles International Airport on Jan. 29, 2017, due to a demonstration against the immigration ban that was imposed by President Trump. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images) As airlines adjust to new rules governing who can and can’t enter the U.S., travel industry professionals are concerned the ban could make it more difficult for Americans who travel abroad, according to results of an online survey released Thursday. Nearly two-thirds of the corporate travel managers and travel service professionals surveyed by the Global Business Travel Association said they were worried that travel might become more difficult for Americans traveling outside the U.S. Roughly 56 percent said they were concerned the new restrictions would make travel to the U.S. more difficult, while 54 percent said they were worried the new policy could increase threats to U.S. citizens traveling abroad. The online survey was conducted shortly after President Trump signed the executive order barring refugees and people from seven Muslim-majority counties from entering the United States. And while the sample size was relatively small, the results illuminate some of the challenges that travel professional are anticipating. It’s too soon to tell what economic impact the ban might have on the travel industry. Airlines for America, a trade group that represents many of the largest U.S. carriers said is has not seen any major disruptions as a result of the new rules. But GBTA’s survey found that many members expect to see a pull back in the amount of travel by their companies. Nearly three in 10 travel managers and professionals surveyed, said they expected to see a reduction in business travel at their company over the next 90 days. Roughly the same percentage said the ban could affect travel for the next six to 12 months and beyond. “With 30 percent of companies expected to reduce travel, the economy will most certainly take a hit,” said Michael W. McCormick, GBTA’s executive director. “While we understand the need for security, GBTA is a strong proponent of risk-based security programs like the Visa Waiver Program.” The survey found mixed views of the travel ban. Half of those surveyed said they “strongly” or “somewhat oppose” the president’s action, while 38 percent said they “strongly” or “somewhat supported” the new policy.


PM Update: Temperatures turn more wintry through Friday

The Potomac Phil celebration in Dupont Circle this morning. Potomac Phil saw his shadow. (Joe Flood via Flickr) Thursday was a pleasant day as we again saw temperatures a little above normal, or right around 50 degrees for a high. We are seeing the beginning of a cooler air mass coming back to the area, though, which has mostly shown itself in lowering dew points (a measure of the moisture in the air) so far. Tonight is seasonably chilly, and the same goes for Friday. Through Tonight: View the current weather at The Washington Post. Tomorrow (Friday): See David Streit’s forecast through the beginning of next week. 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. Want our 5 a.m. forecast delivered to your email inbox? Subscribe here.


A special warfare unit was spotted flying a Trump flag in public. Now the Navy is investigating.

make a disposition decision as to the appropriate administrative and/or disciplinary action, if any.” The videos were widely circulated by Indivisible Kentucky, a newly formed political organization that is opposed to the Trump agenda. The Louisville-based organization was among the first to post the footage online. “This is a fascist tactic,” a statement on the group’s website said. “This is not acceptable. RESIST!!!” Chris Rowzee, a 28-year Air Force veteran who serves as the group’s spokeswoman, said the display should be disturbing to members of the military and the public and raises “all kinds of red flags.” Members of the military take an oath to the Constitution, not political figures, she said. “The military is absolutely prohibited from demonstrating any sort of partisan political activity or support towards a party, political campaign or a candidate,” Rowzee said. “The bottom line is the public has to trust that the military is non-political and that it’s not going to back someone who might try to become some sort of a dictator.” “Our military has a long history of that sort of security with the public and this sort of activity undermines that trust,” she added. It is dangerous for liberty when the military becomes political. These servicemembers should be counseled/reprimand… https://t.co/9p9qy5upEu What's funny is same people angry about my having a problem with Trump flag on SEAL truck would have lost their minds if it was Obama one. U.S. Rep. Scott Taylor, a Trump-supporting Republican and former Navy SEAL from Virginia Beach, told the Virginian Pilot that the decision to fly the flag was clearly inappropriate and was quickly corrected by the individual’s senior officer. “Obviously, it’s inappropriate,” Taylor told the paper. “It’s very clear that you should not be doing that, that they shouldn’t be involved in politics, overtly in their military capacity.” It’s common for military convoys of the likes captured on camera in Kentucky to display boutique flags on deployment, though it’s rare for it to happen in the United States. Gadsden and pirate flags are common, as are flags with the logos of various sports teams. Dan Lamothe and Thomas Gibbons-Neff contributed to this report. Read more: Pentagon and White House defend planning in deadly SEAL team raid in Yemen ‘Inappropriate sexual acts’ prompt Air Force to retroactively demote retired general two ranks Pentagon watchdog finds ‘troubling’ perception that ISIS intelligence was distorted, but does not confirm it


The Trump administration wants Europe to pay more to defend itself. It’s not that easy.

U.S. soldiers attend the inauguration ceremony of bilateral military training between U.S. and Polish troops in Zagan, Poland, on Jan. 30, 2017. (Kacper Pempel/Reuters) President Trump’s reassurances last week to U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May that the North American Treaty Organization (NATO) was not, in fact, “obsolete” are unlikely to have Europe taking up more of the defense burden, at least in the short term. As discussed here in the Monkey Cage, national security adviser Michael T. Flynn wants to see other NATO members pay more of the cost of defending Europe. It’s not a new pitch, but such calls neglect the budgetary, financial and political barriers to enhanced military capabilities in Europe. And such barriers will remain in place even if European countries succeed in implementing ambitious defense plans that include active measures to strengthen defense cooperation, endow the E.U. with defense capabilities and launch a common research fund. The transatlantic gap in military capabilities — how much defense output the two sides of the Atlantic are able to generate, respectively — has three main causes that cannot easily be addressed: 1) European countries have limited defense budgets Maybe. But half of NATO’s members are small countries with small defense budgets, well below $2 billion per year. Thus, a substantial bump in their military spending won’t bring about a significant increase in Europe’s overall military investments. Estonia’s 2 percent GDP defense expenditure amounts to just $500 million, for instance. That might pay for the operational costs of a few of middle-sized U.S. warships, but wouldn’t push back a Russian invasion. With the exception of Germany and Poland, large E.U. countries face financial and political constraints to increasing military expenditure. The U.K. is going through Brexit, which will also affect several countries, in particular the Netherlands and Ireland. Italy’s bank problems loom large, and Spain and France have limited financial and political room for additional public spending. This points to a broader problem. In part, U.S. security assurances may have freed up state funds in Europe for other priorities, including a robust system of social services. However, cutting welfare state provisions in Europe to fund defense expenditures is going to be extremely difficult, if not counterproductive. On the one hand, those who receive these benefits are far more numerous, and thus politically more influential, than those receiving a direct benefit from military spending. On the other, cuts in welfare spending


‘Do or Decline’: An athlete’s age may be less important to performance than persistent practice

Yohnnie Shambourger, right, who trains Ernestine Shepherd, proudly hands her an award in a bodybuilding show in Washington in 2010. (Marvin Joseph/The Washington Post) For three decades, Joseph Baker has been swimming, cycling and running in triathlons some would call punishing. Baker, 47, is also a professor of exercise sciences. As he competed in races as a younger man, he would watch people of all ages alongside him, and he soon became fascinated with the parameters of human performance. Why could some 70-year-olds compete in triathlons and some got winded walking up a flight of stairs? He wanted to know whether age decline is a result of simply getting older or being sedentary. In other words: Are we racing against time, or are we racing against ourselves? [Older Americans are most happy in Hawaii, least happy in West Virginia, according to new Gallup ranking] Baker points to a seminal 1996 study from Stanford University analyzing age-related decline that looked at areas such as the number of muscle cells, DNA repair, fingernail growth and physical activity. The finding was that there is a 0.5 percent decline per year, a statistic he says has served as the biomarker of the aging process. Since that time, Baker and his colleagues at York University in Toronto have dedicated their research to determining how much of that decline is out of human hands, and how much we can control. Baker leans heavily toward the latter. He studies people in their 60s and 70s as they play handball, particularly the goalkeepers, reaching, grabbing and lunging into the air to stop the ball from going into the net. “Their motor skills may have declined a bit, and they might be a little slower,” Baker said. “But if they’ve kept up the practice, they can be as good as any elite athlete.” Toronto’s York University professor Joseph Baker, 47, left, runs with a friend, Jim Boyes. (Courtesy of Joseph Baker) Baker honed his interest in aging athletes as he received his PhD in applied exercise and then continued his studies in exercise epidemiology as a professor and head of the LifeSpan Health and Performance Laboratory in the School of Kinesiology and Health Science at York. He and colleagues from the departments of psychology and nursing founded the university’s Center for Aging Research and Education (YU-CARE) in 2008. The idea was to study athletic performance beyond the development of


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The soup business has grown cold. Inside Campbell’s plan to turn up the heat.

to make store-bought soup a mainstay of millennials’ shopping lists. And its success or failure will offer lessons that could reverberate through the wider packaged-food industry, as Kraft Heinz, ConAgra and Mondelez International face serious head winds as consumers embrace fresh food. *** If shoppers are often steering clear of the center aisles, Campbell reasons it needs to meet them in the parts of the store that they visit. That is why two of the new soups, Garden Fresh Gourmet and Souplicity, are refrigerated products that come in plastic containers, not cans, that can be sold on the cold shelves that line a supermarket’s perimeter. Souplicity is the highest-end line of the three, a single-serving organic product that costs $5.99 for a 17.6-ounce container and comes in such flavors as “Carrot Curry Ginger” and “Broccoli Parmesan Lemon.” This is designed for a health-conscious customer — picture, perhaps, a yoga devotee who already springs for items such as cold-pressed juices. Campbell made sure to market-test this one in Southern California, a hub of healthful eating. “We saw an opportunity there for a very culinary experience, very clean experience,” said Suzanne Ginestro, chief marketing officer and general manager of innovation at C-Fresh, the division of Campbell Soup that makes fresh food. Campbell made this line using a method called high-pressure processing, which is meant to help the product retain its color and flavor without preservatives. The company previously used this technique for organic juices and other Garden Fresh Gourmet items. In Souplicity products, “there are broccoli florets that, without this technology, would be absolutely destroyed,” said Lyons, senior chef in the C-Fresh division. “Now they’re much more intact.” Garden Fresh Gourmet soups, on the other hand, come in 24-ounce containers, cost $5.99, and are aimed more at feeding a family. Campbell spent $231 million in 2015 to acquire Garden Fresh Gourmet, a health-focused brand that had built a loyal following for its small-batch salsa and hummus. The soups add to that offering and aim for similar brand positioning — no artificial flavors and sweeteners, but not organic. Refrigerated soups also call for a different supply-chain execution than that used for canned soups: The shelf life of Souplicity, for example, is about 50 days, compared with two years for many canned soups. That means the new soups need speedier delivery to stores and must be transported in refrigerated trucks. And then there’s the


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Ollie the bobcat was found, but not Sunny the red panda

Sunny, a red panda, escaped from her enclosure at the Norfolk zoo almost two weeks ago. (Courtesy of the Virginia Zoo) She has been on the loose for almost two weeks now — a red panda named Sunny who escaped from a zoo in Virginia. Sunny’s tale started Jan. 23 at the Virginia Zoo in Norfolk, about 200 miles south of Washington. When zookeepers went to check on her she was not in her enclosure and they searched for her to no avail. Almost two weeks into the search, the zoo has gone through a variety of efforts, including using K-9 units, infrared cameras, a drone, and traps with grapes and bamboo in hopes of luring her back, according to its website, where it has been tracking the search. Red pandas are reddish-brown in color with thick fur and a long tail. They are about the size of a raccoon. They typically are found in trees. Zookeepers said it is red panda breeding season and the animals tend to be “more agitated and could display a little abnormal or hyperactive behavior.” One theory of how she may have escaped is that Sunny may have been on a tree branch that was slippery from rain the evening she escaped, as Thomas — a male red panda — was “pursuing her and caused her to slip and fall and possibly get out of the enclosure.” A dog helps in the search for Sunny, the missing red panda in Virginia. (Courtesy of Virginia Zoo) The continued search for Sunny comes as the National Zoo happily found its bobcat Ollie, which escaped for 2½ days from her enclosure. There have been calls to the Virginia Zoo of possible sightings, but the zoo said they have turned out to be raccoons or foxes. Officials at the zoo in Norfolk have asked for the public’s help in trying to find its red panda Sunny. (Courtesy of Virginia Zoo) On Friday afternoon, the zoo declared that its “search for Sunny is not over” and promised that its volunteers and staff would continue to search for her daily. Because of her “natural forest-like environment” at the zoo, officials said, they suspect that Sunny will be able to survive on the outside. She isn’t the only red panda to have escaped. Three years ago, Rusty — a red panda at the National Zoo in Northwest Washington — escaped from


A look at the Arab Spring, six years later

Thousands of anti-Mubarak protesters in Tahrir Square in February 2011. (Photo by Linda Davidson/The Washington Post) The Arab Spring may seem like a distant memory, but a new report by a team of Arab and American analysts argues that across the Middle East people still feel the same yearning for better governance and rule of law that motivated protesters in Tahrir Square. The persistence of this vision of more modern and just government is important to remember, especially at a time when the Trump administration is so focused on the threatening image of Islamist extremism. The study is a reminder that most residents of Muslim-majority countries in the Middle East want the same things that Americans do — justice, dignity, freedom and prosperity. It was six years ago this month that protesters toppled the regime of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, which marked the zenith of the Arab uprising. Since then, the trends have mostly been disastrous for the Arabs, with civil wars in Libya, Syria and Yemen and the rise of the hyper-violent Islamic State. Despite these reversals, Arabs still embrace an agenda of better governance, according to the report, titled “Arab Fractures: Citizens, States, and Social Contracts,” which was published last week by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. The lead author was Marwan Muasher, a former Jordanian foreign minister. He was joined by three other Arabs and three Americans. In a survey of 103 prominent Arabs conducted for the study “Six years into the Arab uprisings, most Arab states are still facing a crisis in governance,” the report argues. That includes most of the region’s monarchies, such as Jordan and Saudi Arabia, which have been more stable than their neighbors but whose subjects still hunger for more open and dynamic political life. The report draws on a survey called the “Arab Barometer,” conducted biennially since 2006 in 15 Arab countries by Princeton University, the University of Michigan and a group called the Arab Reform Initiative. The findings illustrate the desire among Arabs for better, freer political systems. In the latest installment, conducted last year, corruption and the economy were identified as the top two problems. Respondents were surprisingly frank. A question asking people if there was “some or a lot” of corruption in their governments got a positive response from 90 percent of Tunisians, 84 percent of Egyptians and Algerians, 83 percent of Palestinians, 76 percent of Moroccans


Press freedom in Burma is under attack again — and Aung San Suu Kyi isn’t doing anything about it

to 250 reporters, all of whom were busily taking advantage of the new freedom of expression. It still wasn’t easy. Than Htut Aung told me how his journalists were still coming under severe pressure from the still-powerful military. He himself had been attacked by an assailant during the election campaign, though he’d managed to escape without serious injury. Still, he was optimistic. He predicted that Aung San Suu Kyi, the Nobel Prize laureate and champion of the democratic opposition, was going to score a big win. “The Lady is our greatest hope,” he said, using the reverential term favored by many of her supporters. “She deserves our support.” He was right about one thing: She won in a landslide. But I don’t think he foresaw everything that happened next. Thanks to her electoral triumph, Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD) came to power at the end of January 2016 to the broad acclaim of the Burmese people. But even though the NLD chose the new president, with Aung San Suu Kyi herself assuming key powers in the government, things soon took a dark turn. Aung San Suu Kyi promised a far-reaching peace agreement to end the long-running civil war between the central government and restive ethnic minority groups. Since then, however, the conflict has only deepened. And the grim plight of the Rohingya, the beleaguered Muslim minority group whose very existence was long denied by the country’s overwhelmingly Buddhist elite, has only worsened. Some observers warn of potential genocide. Aung San Suu Kyi’s striking unwillingness to take a public stand on the issue has shocked many of her former supporters. Now, it’s true that the new government doesn’t have full control. Despite the NLD’s big election victory, Burma’s junta-era constitution still gives sweeping powers to the military, including virtually total control over all security-related matters. And it’s the military that has been at the forefront of the brutal treatment of the Rohingya, which has left some 120,000 of them languishing in internment camps and driven 65,000 more across the border into Bangladesh. None of that, though, ought to have prevented Aung San Suu Kyi from exercising her moral power as the country’s most revered leader. Yet she has been disturbingly reluctant to take a stand — even as members of her own government have taken up overtly nationalistic positions on the Rohingya and other issues. Her defenders


We’re having the wrong argument about GMOs

and lots of different kinds of food products. You have something like 230 million acres of GMO corn and soybeans in the Midwest, which is then processed into the food that we eat — fast food or those processed foods that just need to be popped into the microwave that you buy in the supermarket. The average supermarket has something like 46,000 different products in it, and a good percentage of those are built out of those couple of grains, which are mostly GMO. The GMO technology has simply allowed an already industrial system to become even bigger and more efficient. I remember the first time we spoke, you said that GMOs are at the heart of the obesity epidemic, that they’ve fueled this whole system that’s wreaked havoc on American health. How did you make that connection? If you back these conversations up and you ask what are people eating that is making them obese, the answer is lots of soft drinks, lots of fast food, lots of processed food. There’s no disputing that. Everyone agrees on that. And then you back that up and say, “What are those things made of?” And the answer is always, “Well, they’re mostly made out of corn or soybeans.” The corn is processed into high-fructose corn syrup, which goes into sodas; the corn and soybeans go into feeding the animals that become fast-food hamburgers or chicken nuggets. To say that GMOs cause obesity is disingenuous. But it’s also true that GMOs are a central technological component of the system that is providing this kind of food in that kind of quantity. // // It’s fascinating to look at these issues as part of an integrated system. That's typically not the perspective we hear. But when it comes to reform or regulation, I wonder if that view becomes counterproductive. W I have the same problem with this question that the climate people have with the climate change question. What would solve climate change? Driving a Prius might help you feel better, but it's not really going to do anything. Eating local, organic produce is going to help you feel better and help put some money in the pocket of your local farmer, but until that’s scaled up it’s not going to make a dent in the structural problem. So the question becomes, what kinds of changes do make dents? I believe it all


The Daily 202: Five books to understand Stephen K. Bannon

ON THE RIGHT: “Lena Dunham: 'Soul-crushing pain' of Trump's election made me lose weight,” from Entertainment Weekly: “Most people turn to diets and exercise to lose extra pounds, but Girls star Lena Dunham is sharing a new weight-loss trick you may not want to try at home. Dunham stopped by Howard Stern’s SiriusXM radio show Monday morning and revealed that she has none other than [Trump] to thank for her slim figure. ‘He became president and I stopped being able to eat food, 'she told Stern after he complimented her look. 'Everyone’s been asking like, ‘What have you been doing?’ And I’m like, ‘Try soul-crushing pain and devastation.' Dunham, who famously pledged a move to Canada if Trump won the election, also clarified those comments to Stern, saying that, at the time, a Trump win ‘seemed like an impossible joke that would never happen. I was like, ‘The most qualified candidate we’ve ever had is running against a steak salesman. We’re going to be fine.'” DAYBOOK: At the White House: On Capitol Hill: QUOTE OF THE DAY: “It’s a very strange phenomenon. We get along, I don’t know if he’ll admit this, but he likes me. I like him,” Donald Trump said of Barack Obama. Bill O’Reilly asked: “How do you know he does?” Trump replied: “Because I can feel it. That’s what I do in life, it’s called -- like, I understand.” (Fox News) Bao Bao sniffs her third birthday "cake" -- made of diluted juice, fruits and vegetables, and bamboo. (Smithsonian National Zoo) NEWS YOU CAN USE IF YOU LIVE IN D.C.: -- Washington’s disorienting warm weather continues today, forcing us to double check the calendar to remember what month it is. -- Smithsonian officials have announced Bao Bao's official moving date: -- Violent crime on the Metro has increased by “significant proportions” last year, according to new transit agency statistics. -- The Wizards lost to the Cavaliers 140-135, ending their win streak at home, courtesy of LeBron James. -- Ed Gillespie gave the convocation at Liberty University yesterday. VIDEOS OF THE DAY: Did you know Stephen Colbert is a Bowling Green massacre "truther?" Stephen Colbert Is A Bowling Green Massacre Truther Make your Valentine swoon with a Ron Charles book recommendation: Don't buy your Valentine just any book. Rely on one of the most romantic figures in the book world to lead you down the right path.


NASA facility with deep-space rocket takes direct hit from a tornado

Michoud Assembly Facility. NASA employees and contractors there are building the huge hydrogen and oxygen fuel tanks for the heavy-lift rocket known as the Space Launch System. A NASA statement said all personnel were accounted for. A damage assessment was underway late Tuesday afternoon. At least three tornados touched down in the New Orleans area, one of which did major damage to communities in the east section of the city. Stephen C. Doering, manager of the SLS Stages Element Office for NASA, told The Washington Post that he was watching the twister from the parking lot when it moved toward the assembly facility. He and his colleagues ran inside to shelter in the restrooms, he said. NASA official Stephen Doering with the SLS rocket's liquid hydrogen fuel tank at the Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans. (Joel Achenbach/The Washington Post) “You could see it come in the parking lot. It took about a half a dozen cars and picked them up and knocked them over like rag dolls,” Doering said. After the tornado passed, workers smelled gas and were ordered out of the building. But with other tornadoes reported in the area, everyone had to shelter in place again, he said. Doering said he had heard of one injury but didn't know the severity. While the hardware for the new rocket was undamaged, he said, workers were busy patching holes in the building's exterior, hoping to prevent water damage to the elaborate and expensive equipment used to weld the big fuel tanks. “We didn’t get to do a full damage assessment yet, because after the first [tornado] we had to shelter in place as two more of them came by,” he said. Workers at Michoud built military planes in World War II and later key stages of the Saturn V rocket that launched Apollo astronauts to the moon. More recently, NASA built the space shuttle's external fuel tanks there. With the SLS, NASA is planning the first uncrewed flight for late 2018. The first mission with astronauts is not expected until early in the next decade; that flight would put astronauts aboard the Orion capsule in orbit around the moon. NASA is not currently building a lunar lander. A version of the SLS could potentially be used for missions to Mars. A tornado that hit NASA’s Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans on Feb. 7 caused some damage to buildings.


A European’s appeal: Don’t surrender to Russia on Ukraine sanctions

A woman stands in the ruins of a building after shelling in Donetsk, Ukraine, on Friday, Feb. 3. (Alexander Ermochenko/Associated Press) Let me confess: I’m not a big fan of sanctions. Much too often in the past they have been as much a substitute for policy as an effective part of policy. They are easy to impose but difficult to implement, and it’s often hard to judge their effects. They often have unforeseen consequences that can linger long after they have been lifted. Criminal networks in the Balkans are just one example. The strengthening of Revolutionary Guard economic networks in Iran is another. So I’m a sanctions dove, not a sanctions hawk. But I believe that the case of Russia’s aggression against Ukraine is different. That’s not because it’s easier to judge the exact effects of Western sanctions, but because they happen to be tightly tied into a clearly defined policy framework. If they are unconditionally lifted, that entire policy framework will come crashing down. I should admit that it didn’t start so neatly. The critical sanctions decisions were taken in the spring and summer of 2014, as the Russian invasion of Crimea and eastern Ukraine rolled on. But the critical policy framework defining the conditions for lifting the measures came only with the Minsk agreement — first in September 2014 and then, spelling it out in more detail, in February 2015. That’s where we are now: The stronger sanctions are firmly linked to the full implementation of the Minsk deal, which requires Russia to withdraw from eastern Ukraine and return control of the border to the Kiev government. Some of the other measures are tied to a resolution of Crimea, whose annexation by Moscow is not recognized by the West. These are not just sanctions decided on by one or the other country or entity. They have been adopted, and time after time extended as Russia has failed to meet its obligations, in close coordination among all the key governments of the West. Signals from the Trump administration on the future of these sanctions have been less than crystal clear, to use a diplomatic understatement. U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley has made a clear statement on the Crimea issue and the associated sanctions. That’s welcome. But in the case of the stronger sanctions associated with the failed Russian efforts to unravel Ukraine by creating a breakaway


Congress must break up Trump-Putin lovefest

McCain recalled his efforts to promote civil liberties. ““In the United States, Vladimir was one of the most passionate and effective advocates for passage of the Magnitsky Act, legislation that gives the federal government powers to punish human rights violators in Russia,” he said. “Most recently, he has eloquently and persuasively campaigned to expand the Act to impose sanctions on those Russian journalists, who are so cowed and corrupted by the Kremlin, they have become indispensable to propagating the lies and atmosphere of hate, fear and violence the Putin regime relies on to maintain power.” Vice President Pence and senators of both political parties on Feb. 5 reacted to President Trump’s comments about Russia and the United States in a Fox News interview. McCain as usual pulled no punches in denouncing an attempt to blur the distinction between Russian authoritarianism and American democracy. After going through a long list of other murdered human rights activists and journalists, McCain blasted Trump without mentioning his name. “In short, Vladimir knew that Putin is a killer, and that he might very well be the next target. Vladimir knew there was no moral equivalence between the United States and Putin’s Russia. And anyone who would make such a suggestion maligns the character of our great nation and does a disservice to all those whose blood is on Putin’s hands.” McCain’s remarks were bracing, in part because they underscored Trump’s grotesque association with Putin, which implicitly excuses or even encourages Putin’s killings. Just as stunning, far too many Republican who during President Obama’s time in office decried inattention to human rights now find no reason to bring up Trump’s revolting rationalization for Putin’s repression. “Vladimir Putin is KGB. He always has been. He always will be,” Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) said on New Year’s Day. He excoriated the Obama administration: “They have actively opposed measures to toughen up on Russia. I proposed measures in our annual intelligence bill, for instance, that would enforce existing travel restrictions on Russian diplomats — by which I mean Russian spies in the United States — that would force the government to crack down on these Russian spies who are traveling all around America without the proper approvals,” he recalled, “I got a call just weeks ago from a senior administration official after the election, after the hacking, asking me to remove that from the bill because it would be