Giving thanks for science

of rigorous inquiry. Just look at the Hubble image of the “pillars of creation,” or watch the motor protein kinesin walk along a microtubule inside a cell, or build a circuit at your kitchen table and witness a light turn on. What could be more profound? A new shot of the “pillars of creation." (NASA, ESA/Hubble and the Hubble Heritage Team) Our world is a rare and precious place, and our ability to comprehend it is equally extraordinary. It’s true that science can be as dogmatic and fractional as any other human endeavor. But at its best, it is a model of what can be achieved through discipline, collaboration and a tremendous desire to know the truth. We need that model now more than ever. I’m sure I’ll be talking politics at dinner tonight (knowing my family, it will be impossible not to). But I'll also make sure to bring up some of my favorite science stories from this year. Some are funny, some are profound, all are thought-provoking in some way. So here they are — 10 great science stories to talk about at Thanksgiving in addition to arguing about politics. If you enjoy these pieces as much as I did, I hope you’ll talk about them, too. Cosmic breakthrough: Physicists detect gravitational waves from violent black-hole merger. For an easy-to-understand guide to what this discovery means, here is everything you need to know about gravitational waves (in GIFs). And to understand how long it took for this discovery to come to fruition, read about gravitational waves' 100-year history. A ghost story with a scientific solution: These “impossible” albino redwoods might actually be martyrs for the good of the forest. The U.S. government is conducting peanut butter drone strikes to save endangered ferrets — and you can watch. Legends say China began in a great flood. Scientists just found evidence that the flood was real. There might be a ninth planet lurking at the edge of our solar system. (Spoiler alert: It's not Pluto.) This Smithsonian scientist’s death was a mystery. 150 years later, his skeleton helped solve it. These 3.7-billion-year-old fossils may be the oldest signs of life on Earth. Scientists are still learning Lucy, our hominid cousin, may have died in a tragic fall from a tree. Scientists say they've found a planet orbiting Proxima Centauri, our closest neighbor. Here's why you don't want to move there.


Holiday Happenings: Celebrate the best of the season in food, drink, movies, music and more

Christmas Carol,” of course, with variations all over town. You can take in the big production at Ford’s Theatre, with Craig Wallace newly installed as Scrooge. You might choose Paul Morella’s solo version, which has become a staple at Olney Theatre Center. The Irish-inflected Keegan Theatre is bringing back “An Irish Carol,” and if you want to turn in a different direction while sticking with 19th-century British literature, Round House Theatre is offering “Miss Bennet: Christmas at Pemberley,” Laura Gunderson and Margot Melcon’s riff on “Pride and Prejudice.” Swelling the menu, here are four best bets — and only one springs from the perpetually refreshed “A Christmas Carol.” — Nelson Pressley ‘The Second Shepherd’s Play’ The Second City’s ‘Twist Your Dickens’ ‘Silver Belles’ Megan Hilty Dance If you’re not “Nutcracker” inclined, or you want to supplement the holiday ballet with dance in a decidedly different vein, these venues have your seat ready. — Sarah L. Kaufman Northwest Coast Dance Estampas Porteñas Tango Company DC Contemporary Dance Theatre/El Teatro de Danza Contemporanea Agora Dance Step Afrika! step show Food and Drink Food and drink are arguably among the best reasons to get in the holiday spirit. Whether you have a long-standing tradition or are looking to acquire a new one, here are some suggestions for how to indulge festively. — Becky Krystal and Fritz Hahn BrewLights Cookie exchange Miracle on Seventh Street Holiday Total Tap Takeover Holiday cocktail seminar Classics Soon the Washington area will be dressed in lights, laughs and mistletoe. Be sure to check at least one holiday classic off your list with your family and friends. After all, traditions are half the fun of the season. — Savannah Stephens Season’s Greenings: National Parks and Historic Sites Cincinnati Ballet’s ‘The Nutcracker’ National Christmas Tree Lighting National Menorah Lighting Anacostia Community Museum Kwanzaa Waterskiing Santa Offbeat The holidays are synonymous with family time, and that time is always more enjoyable when you’re part of the action. These events add a festive dose of DIY to holiday staples, and they invite families to be part of the fun. — Peggy McGlone Gingerbread crafting Russian Winter Festival Handmade Holidays Christmas in 1945 Movies A blizzard of new films is blowing into town. But for many moviegoers at this time of year, it’s a tradition to catch something a little . . . warmed over. Here a sampling of some of the classic


After Brexit and Trump’s victory, Europeans are beginning to like the E.U. again

European flags are waved as thousands of protesters gather in Parliament Square as they take part in a March for Europe, through the center of London on July 2, 2016, to protest Britain's vote to leave the E.U. (Chris J Ratcliffe/AFP/Getty Images) LONDON Surprisingly, two very different events that are being perceived as catastrophic in Europe could now help glue the political union back together. First, Britain voted to leave the European Union in a decision that was seen as a watershed moment in Europe's history and triggered a series of emergency summits. Then, Donald Trump was elected U.S. president. Trump has extremely low approval ratings in Europe, and some leading politicians publicly opposed his candidacy. Again, the European Union called for a "crisis meeting." But it turns out that both Brexit and Trump's election could actually help save the European Union. In five of the union's six most populous countries, E.U. approval is on the rise. The only country where support has fallen is Spain. In Britain, a majority of the population would now vote to stay in the European Union, new data by the Bertelsmann Foundation suggests. So, why is that? There are two likely explanations: the perception that Britain is failing to make its exit from the E.U. a success and fears over President-elect Trump's reliability as a core economic and military ally. The Bertelsmann poll was conducted before the November U.S. elections, but the outcome might strengthen E.U. approval in Europe further, particularly in the continent's east. Britain slashes growth forecast On Wednesday, the British government said it would have to borrow about $72 billion more over the next four years because of the economic fallout of the Brexit vote. Ahead of the referendum, leading politicians and experts had warned that leaving the E.U. would leave British households worse off. Despite such warnings, support for Brexit was highest in some of the areas that could now be hardest-hit by the country's economic woes. The first signs that Brexit could weaken the appetite in other E.U. member states to follow Britain emerged days after the referendum at the end of June. As the British pound dropped to all-time lows, other nations took note. While more than 40 percent of Danes wanted an E.U. referendum before Britain decided to leave the union, support for such a vote has now declined by nearly 10 percentage points. Could the British


Fearing yet another witch hunt, Reddit bans ‘Pizzagate’

sleuths found instead were lots of references to pizza, which then led to speculation that the emails about pizza must be code for something bad. The theory made its way onto r/The_Donald, the huge, Trump-supporting subreddit, until the hunt spawned its own subreddit, r/Pizzagate, which quickly attracted a dedicated team of Internet investigators. “Pizzagate” has yet to produce any actual evidence for its extremely weighty and life-ruining accusations, but every debunking of its claims — including the one in the Times — has only convinced its believers that they must be right, and that the circle of pedophiles and sympathizers trying to cover up their findings must be even bigger and more powerful than they imagined. The only reason Kanye was hospitalized is because he spoke up about #pizzagate The same goes for Reddit’s ban. In a post on r/The_Donald after the Reddit ban, one former moderator of the board dedicated to unraveling Pizzagate said that the “entire mod team and everyone else is tightening up our opsec and putting on our battle-armor.” “We have all made life insurance videos. We have all vowed to continue this fight. You have only increased our number. This morning we were numerous, tonight we are legion,” they wrote, promising that the hunt would soon return to the Web with a vengeance. For now, they’ve relocated to Voat, a popular Reddit alternative created in protest of Reddit’s enforcement of its rules. Reddit does not generally ban conspiracy theories, or the boards dedicated to them, from their site just for existing. What crossed the line with Pizzagate was the repeated posting of private information on the boards from sleuths who believed they were identifying pedophiles or those working to help them. An r/The_Donald post from a moderator asked the board to immediately report any doxxing or personal information posted there in the wake of Pizzagate’s demise, to help spare their community from the same fate. Although Pizzagate began in a frenzy of wild accusations against Clinton in the days before the election, the conspiracy has only gained interest after Trump’s victory. As it does, it’s drawing more and more public and private citizens into the fray. This post, originally published at 1:26 pm on Wednesday, has been updated to include Reddit CEO Steve Huffman’s statement about editing user comments. (EDITOR’S NOTE: An earlier version of this story misidentified the persons whose photos were used to


The race to build the fastest supercomputer just sped up

Japan has not been home to the world’s fastest supercomputer in five years and now its government wants to reclaim the crown. The country’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry has allocated the equivalent of $173 million to a project aimed at building a supercomputer capable of processing 130 petaflops, or 130 quadrillion calculations per second, according to Reuters. That kind of processing speed could allow Japan to make strides in emerging areas of technology, such as artificial intelligence and robotics. Companies have until Dec. 8 to bid on the project, which is being called AI Bridging Cloud Infrastructure, or ABCI. It could be completed as early as next year, Reuters reported. Once a global technology powerhouse, Japan has gradually slipped behind other countries in the innovation game. The country’s leading supercomputer has not ranked first in the world since November 2011 and currently finishes outside the top five, according to Top500.org, which standardizes and ranks global superpowers. China now owns and operates the world’s two fastest supercomputers, including the No. 1-ranked Sunway Taihulight, which can handle 93 petaflops. The United States has the third, fourth and fifth fastest supercomputers, according to Top500.org. Read more from The Washington Post’s Innovations section.


Russia’s establishment bids farewell to Fidel Castro, a thorn in America’s side

can be an object of pressure and economic war from the United States and endure,” tweeted Alexey Pushkov, the head of the Foreign Affairs Committee in Russia's lower house of parliament, after news of Castro's death broke. “And now the head of the USA goes to Havana, and not the other way around.” Castro “showed that political will oriented toward the national interests of one's own country are stronger than any internal or external factors,” said Konstantin Kosachev, the chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee in Russia's upper house of parliament. Fidel Castro wears a chapka, or a hat, during a visit to the Soviet Union on Jan. 1, 1964. (TASS/AFP/Getty Images) When Russia was slapped with U.S. sanctions after the annexation of Crimea, politicians here compared themselves to Cuba. When the United States decided to lift the embargo against Cuba just months later, it was treated as proof that Cuba (and hence Russia) was on the right side of history. “It is characteristic that the president of the United States admitted the lack of results of many years of attempts to ‘isolate’ Cuba,” Russia's Foreign Ministry wrote in December 2014, after President Obama announced that the United States would normalize relations with Cuba. “It remains to hope that Washington will soon recognize the fruitlessness of the similar pressure of sanctions on other countries.” Castro's ability to endure is a running joke here. Dmitry Smirnov, a reporter for the Russian daily Komsomolskaya Pravda who is assigned to Russian President Vladimir Putin's press pool, last week tweeted a photo summing up that relationship. “Trump?” the caption shows Castro saying. “He's already my twelfth.” "Трамп? Двенадцатый у меня уже" https://t.co/7mamZCbaAA There were concrete benefits to Moscow's relationship with Havana during the Cold War. Cuba provided the Soviet Union a warm water port, a staging area for Marxist revolutions in Latin America and Africa, as well as a source of cane sugar and a tourist destination as a perk for citizens who had earned it. When the Soviet Union came crashing down, Russia no longer needed much of that. But Russia’s Defense Ministry recently floated the idea of restoring the Soviet naval base on Cuba, and Putin canceled $35 billion in Cuba's debt to Russia as Moscow searched for friends following the annexation of Crimea. “Fidel Castro was a true and reliable friend of Russia,” Putin said Saturday. “He made an enormous personal


NFL player using marijuana for Crohn’s disease may press league over its drug policy

that Henderson may take the matter to court. (Gary Wiepert/Associated Press, File) “Merciful or not, there is no medical exception that the NFL will accept. It doesn’t matter that Seantrel is battling Crohn’s disease, and has had his intestines outside his body,” his agent, Brian Fettner, told ESPN’s Adam Schefter in September after the first suspension. “It doesn’t matter how you take it, if you digest the cannabis, that’s it. And they don’t care.” Fettner went on to explain their reasoning for not appealing the first time around, saying, “So you can appeal and lose, and push it back, or you can get it over with. Per the negotiated letter of law, it seems like a futile appeal. We don’t want to waste anyone’s time. We want Seantrel back as soon as possible.” That apparently will not be his attitude this time. Many NFL players are finding that marijuana offers a safer alternative to pain management than anti-inflammatory medication and are beginning to push for the NFL and the NFL Players Association to reconsider the substance abuse rules that the two sides negotiated. For the 24-year-old Henderson, who missed the last five games in the 2015 season as he dealt with Crohn’s complications that led to surgeries, the problems are debilitating. And almost everything, from opioids to nonsteroidal anti-inflammatories, carries serious side effects. “I was weak,” he told the Palm Beach Post. “At first I couldn’t stand up on my own. I felt so weak. It was terrible. I didn’t like it at all. I kept walking and walking around the hospital.” An unnamed source told NFL.com, “He needs cannabis. You can’t take painkillers with the way his intestines are.” Attitudes are changing, but change may not come swiftly enough for Henderson. After more states legalized marijuana use in the November elections, the NFL Players Association said it is actively studying the possibility of allowing players to use it for pain management. “Marijuana is still governed by our collective bargaining agreement,” George Atallah, the NFLPA’s assistant executive director of external affairs, said earlier this month. “And while some states have moved in a more progressive direction, that fact still remains. “We are actively looking at the issue of pain management of our players. And studying marijuana as a substance under that context is the direction we are focused on.” Eugene Monroe, the former NFL player who is a leading advocate


Japan shows why the world needs fracking — and nuclear power

with strict new regulatory standards. Something must fill the void. The Post's Joel Achenbach tells you what you need to know. Renewables will not be able do so for a long time. A mountainous, land-poor country, Japan does not have much space for large wind or solar projects. When I asked him about these challenges, Koichi Yamamoto, the Japanese environment minister, played up his country’s investment in hydrogen fuel-cell technology. But scaling it up and making it truly carbon-neutral will still take a lot of time and money. Existing nuclear power plants, by contrast, simply need to be flipped back on, and they could provide years of emissions-free energy. But environmentalist and public opposition is pronounced. The United States is something of a mirror image to Japan on this. The debate over nuclear power smolders on, but public acceptance of the technology is relatively high, and killing the energy source is not a priority for major U.S. environmental groups. That’s good: Nuclear plants provide the United States with about a fifth of its electricity, and the country’s emissions profile is much better for it. But U.S. environmentalists and many other Americans hate fracking. Though decent regulations can handle the most concerning side-effects, several states and localities have banned fracking entirely. Green groups and manufacturers who want to keep their fuel prices extra low also strongly oppose natural gas exports — the kind that Harata wants to help move her country off coal. The divergent debates in the United States and Japan show that people tend to worry about energy projects that feel physically near to them. Or, perhaps, that distance brings perspective. Moving to a green economy — that is, to a radically different way of producing and consuming energy — will require more than just the application of political will. It will require a big investment in technology and deployment enabling a transition that appears seamless to most people. There are only so many cost-attractive options available to manage this transition. So countries should keep their options open. Invest in renewable technology, but also embrace natural gas if it helps them get off coal, then transition off gas as renewables become progressively cheaper. Keep an open mind on nuclear power, and certainly use existing reactors as long as feasible. First eliminate coal, by far the dirtiest fossil fuel. Then phase out energy technologies that are a lot less dangerous.


Rare deer fawn born at National Zoo facility

One of the Eld’s deer fawns born in October at the National Zoo’s facilities. (Courtesy of the Smithson’s National Zoo & Conservation Biology Institute) A rare deer fawn was born over the weekend at the National Zoo’s Conservation Biology Institute. Zoo officials said in a Twitter message that a third endangered Eld’s deer fawn was born and the mother — Ampika and her fawn are “doing well.” A 3rd endangered Eld’s deer fawn was born at Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute! Ampika & her fawn are doi… https://t.co/WGgzVIN1CH Eld’s deer look a lot like Bambi. But they are brown-antlered and indigenous to Southeast Asia. The zoo said the Eld’s deer population has dropped by more than 50 percent in the last 15 years. Another Eld’s deer fawn was born in October at the zoo’s facilities. This comes along with other animal news at the zoo — Bei Bei, the giant panda cub had lifesaving surgery Friday after a blockage of bamboo was found in his intestines. Bei Bei, the giant panda cub, at the National Zoo. (Courtesy of the National Zoo)


Fidel Castro, African hero

and has been in power since independence, said that Castro was his country's Mandela. Fidel Castro, the Cuban dictator who led the country's communist revolution in the late 1950s, died on Nov. 25. In the ’60s and ’70s, Cuban troops — or African fighters trained by Cubans — also prevailed against the Portuguese in their former colonies of Guinea-Bissau and Cape Verde. They fought against Mobutu Sese Seko, who led the Congo (later Zaire, then the Democratic Republic of Congo) after the killing of the country's first prime minister, Patrice Lumumba, who was perceived in the West as leaning toward the Soviets. And in 1977, Castro sent 17,000 troops to help Ethiopia's Communist leader, Mengistu Haile Mariam, wrest control of the contested Ogaden region from neighboring Somalia. Castro would later claim that almost 400,000 Cuban troops served in Africa, “side-by-side with their African brothers for national independence or against foreign aggression.” Fidel Castro rides with Lt. Col. Mengistu Haile Mariam in Ethiopia on Sept. 12, 1978. Castro had arrived to attend celebrations for Ethiopia's fourth anniversary of toppling the emperor. (AP) Piero Gleijeses, author of “Visions of Freedom: Havana, Washington, Pretoria, and the Struggle for Southern Africa, 1976-1991,” said that Mandela, upon hearing of the arrival of Cuban troops in Angola in 1975, wrote from his jail cell that “it was the first time that a country had come from another continent not to take something away, but to help Africans to achieve their freedom.” And of their Angola victory in 1988 against the regime that had imprisoned him, Mandela said it “destroyed the myth of the invincibility of the white oppressor and inspired the fighting masses of South Africa.” And, to a lesser degree, Cuba's outsized influence continues — though not on the battlefield. Rather, as it does elsewhere in the Caribbean and Latin America, Cuba continues to send doctors from its nationalized health system to Africa. At one point during the beginning of the Ebola outbreak in West Africa two years ago, Cuba had the largest contingent of foreign doctors in the region. As of two years ago, more than 50,000 Cuban doctors work around the world, including in 32 African countries. Today, the many failures of Castro's revolution at home have left it resembling many of the African countries where it intervened. Like in Cuba, one-party-rule is common across many so-called democracies, and the revolutionary ideals that


The Trump International Hotel’s next restaurant will be sushi spot Nakazawa

will take over an unoccupied area at the back of the hotel and will have its own entrance. With regard to the restaurant's second location, Nakazawa owner Alessandro Borgognone said the current political climate has "nothing to do on how we conduct business." Of Trump, he added, "his political views are not our political views." Several years ago, Borgognone probably would never have imagined he'd be opening a sushi restaurant, let alone one in Washington. It was only after watching "Jiro Dreams of Sushi," in which Daisuke Nakazawa appears as a senior apprentice, that Borgognone cold-contacted the chef, who was living in Seattle at the time, via Facebook and sent him a note with some help from Google Translate. The pair opened Sushi Nakazawa in the West Village in 2013. Borgognone said the D.C. restaurant will be extremely similar to the New York concept. Almost immediately out of the gate, Pete Wells of the New York Times gave the Manhattan restaurant a four-star review, his highest rating. The Post's Tom Sietsema said Sushi Nakazawa "serves the finest omakase in the land." Sushi Nakazawa's excellent reputation, combined with a limited number of seats — not unlike Jiro Ono's eponymous Tokyo spot — have made getting a reservation for the $150 sushi bar experience (it's $120 in the dining room) notoriously difficult. Unlike Jiro, however, Sushi Nakazawa has yet to receive any Michelin stars, much to the consternation of its fans. The omakase experience, a tasting menu of 21 nigiri courses, will carry over to Washington, Borgognone said. So will the chef, at least for a while: Borgognone expects him to be in Washington a "good majority" of the time. Borgognone, who runs several other restaurants in New York, including his family's Italian spot, Patricia's, and recently revived speak-easy Chumley's, said he was drawn to Washington because "it's growing by the minute," especially the dining scene. Plus, the setting in the Old Post Office Pavilion is, he said, "one of the most beautiful properties in D.C." Correction: An earlier version of this post incorrectly referred to the Washington restaurant as Sushi Nakazawa. The correct name is Nakazawa. This version has been updated. Read more: - The search for America's best food cities: New York - Watch Donald Trump answer questions about his campaign and hotel in a video deposition - Donald Trump, José Andrés and the death of a grand Washington restaurant


New evidence finds anomalies in Wisconsin vote, but no conclusive evidence of fraud

no problems. C05s being too large may mean that someone was sloppy and simply wrote down approximate numbers. C05s too small might mean that someone is faking the numbers (It has been found that 2 and 7 are favorite numbers for people trying to produce random numbers out of their heads.) In the small Opscan wards C05s for Clinton is too small, showing that vote counts for Clinton too rarely have a last digit of zero or five. Notably this statistic is significantly too large if ward vote counts of zero are included. The P05s statistic, which is the mean of a variable indicating whether the last digit of the rounded percentage of a candidate’s votes is zero or five, has a specific motivation from the idea that people who commit frauds want to allow their efforts to be detected to claim credit. Such “signaling” frequently occurs in Russian elections. Like C05s, P05s should be 0.2 if no signaling is occurring, but larger values of P05s are concerning. Votes in the small Opscan wards exhibit a “signaling” pattern (P05s). Having vote percentages concentrated around more than one distinct value, which would mean the distribution of percentages is multimodal, is also a potential problem. For instance, there might be a set of wards where a candidate received 30 percent of the votes and another cluster where the candidate received 60 percent. In an elaborate model for election frauds, multimodality is an important indicator that one candidate is gaining fraudulent votes. We would have to know how many voters registered in each ward to be able to estimate that model. DipT is the p-value from a test that there is no multimodality, a test we can do without having the data needed for the fancier model. Vote percentages in the small Opscan wards are significantly multimodal. In contrast to the array of anomalies in the small wards with Opscan technology, none of the statistics in small wards without Opscan technology have values to worry about. None of the statistics in “big” wards have values to worry about, although additional analysis shows that the big wards set is diverse: Some Opscan machines, particularly the Dominion (Sequoia)/Command Central- Sequoia Insight (in 209 big wards) and the Dominion ImageCast Evolution (in 272 big wards), exhibit anomalies. Why do small wards with Opscan technology (and several other kinds of wards) have anomalies, and do the anomalies


Giant panda Bei Bei is ‘bright, alert’ after surgery, eating softened biscuits

Bei Bei, the giant panda cub, at the National Zoo. (Courtesy of the National Zoo) Bei Bei, the giant panda cub at the National Zoo, is said to be “bright, alert and responsive” after surgery to remove a large piece of bamboo stuck in his intestine. The 1-year-old cub is getting his antibiotics and antacids via sweet potatoes, zoo staff said on Monday. And bamboo is not in his diet for now as it is “still too hard for him to digest.” He is “successfully nursing” and eating apples and softened biscuits. Bei Bei underwent emergency surgery Friday after a life-endangering blockage was found in his intestine. In a statement, the zoo said, “during this period of recovery, nursing provides some extra comfort.” But they said Bei Bei depends on “very little milk” from his mother, Mei Xiang. He gets most of his nutrition from solid foods. Visitors won’t be able to see him as the panda house is closed to give him and his mother “quiet during treatment and recovery,” officials at the zoo said. Bei Bei, the giant panda cub. (Courtesy of Skip Brown) Zoo officials had noticed on Thursday that Bei Bei was behaving oddly, sleeping more than usual and showing little interest in food. He also seemed nauseous and threw up twice. The cub was taken to the zoo’s on-site veterinary hospital Friday morning and underwent an ultrasound screening. An endoscopic exam found a dense mass of bamboo the size of a lemon atop his small intestine. The bamboo had been only partially digested. Such a blockage is a rare ailment for giant pandas, officials said. Quick-thinking and expert care, they said, is what likely saved Bei Bei’s life. While Bei Bei recovers, other pandas Bao Bao and Tian Tian can be seen in their outdoor yard areas on the zoo’s panda cameras. Staff writer T. Rees Shapiro contributed to this report.


Zika surfaces in Texas, likely to be first local transmission

Rio Grande Valley to be on the lookout for Zika infections in patients showing fever, rash, joint pain and eye redness and to order the appropriate tests, regardless of the individual's travel history or other risk factors. State health authorities recommend testing for anyone with at least three of those symptoms and for all pregnant women, even those without symptoms, who have traveled to an area with active Zika transmission. Texas had confirmed 257 cases of Zika through last week. Until now, all cases had been associated with travel, including two infants born to women who had traveled during their pregnancy and two people who had sexual contact with infected travelers. Since Zika was found to be actively spreading through locally infected mosquitoes in Florida in the summer, researchers have learned much more about the way the virus works and the grave consequences of Zika infection in babies. In September, researchers reported in the New England Journal of Medicine that in rare cases when patients have severe Zika infections, the levels of virus may be so high that they could pose increased risk for transmission through bodily fluids. That finding stemmed from a mysterious case in Utah where a son caring for his sick father became infected with the virus. The father's death in June was the first related to Zika in the continental United States, and his son's infection was unusual because he had not traveled to a Zika-infected region or had sex with a partner who had done so. Last week, the CDC reported disturbing news about the broader risk for Zika-infected babies. U.S. and Brazilian researchers looked at a small group of Zika-infected babies in Brazil, who were born with normal-size heads but developed microcephaly, a condition often accompanied by severe brain damage, five months to a year after birth. The Brazilian infants developed severe neurological damage, such as decreased brain volume and decreased brain tissue with a specific pattern of calcium deposits indicating damage. In a few cases, the mothers had ultrasounds during pregnancy that showed the infants' brain abnormalities. But in other babies, these problems only showed up during CT scans or MRIs conducted after birth. Read more: Zika causes a unique syndrome of devastating birth defects WHO no longer considers Zika a global health emergency, but says disease requires long-term and urgent attention Will a Trump administration put a priority on fighting infectious disease?


Why a black swan statue in a Beijing mall triggered a wave of anxiety

a large decorative object has been removed from Beijing's financial district because of superstitions, according to the BBC. Statue of Boonie Bears in Beijing is replaced - Metro https://t.co/4EYbAvQl72 In honor of Children's Day on June 1, two statues of characters from the Chinese children's cartoon “Boonie Bears” were put up in front of the same shopping center. However, both statues were removed after someone from the CSRC complained that one bear appeared to be holding up its middle finger to the government building, according to the BBC. Zhu Lei, who oversaw the bear statues, told Beijing Youth Daily then that it was not the statues' intent to give investors the bird, as it were, since “a bear only has four fingers, it would not give a middle finger.” Still, there was the additional problem of the bears' potential symbolism in the financial world. A “bear market” refers to one in which stock prices are falling, so the “Boonie Bears” were hardly welcomed by Beijing investors like the “Charging Bull” statue on Wall Street — or, for that matter, the cold black “Bankers Heart” statue that graces the San Francisco plaza named for the Bank of America founder. The bear statues were replaced with cartoon monkeys and relegated to a storage room, the Beijing Youth Daily reported. It is unclear what happened to the black swan statue on Monday. Chinese superstitions have long influenced business and cultural practices, whether directly or indirectly. In China, the number eight is considered lucky because it sounds like the word for “prosperity.” Similarly, the number four is considered unlucky because it sounds like the word for “death.” Many high-rise buildings in China skip labeling the fourth floor, in the same way that some elevators in the United States omit labels for the “unlucky” 13th floor. In early 2014, Chinese couples rushed to get pregnant so they could avoid giving birth to a baby in 2015, the Year of the Sheep. Those born in that zodiac year were thought to take on the characteristics of a sheep: meek and prone to become followers, rather than leaders. Read more: A Japanese theme park thought it was a good idea to freeze 5,000 dead fish in a skating rink Daniel the emotional support duck takes his first plane ride, soars in popularity Stray dog wins hearts — and new home — after following man through 155-mile ultramarathon


Too much space travel is hazardous for your eyeballs

provides, for the first time, quantitative evidence obtained from short- and long-duration astronauts pointing to the primary and direct role of the CSF in the globe deformations seen in astronauts with visual impairment syndrome,” Alperin said in a statement. Though it has been more than half a century since a human first orbited the Earth, there's still a lot we don't know about the effects of extended space travel. NASA, the Russian and European space agencies, and several private space companies all say they want to send humans on a two- to three-year mission to Mars in the next several decades. No person has spent more than 438 consecutive days off Earth. Studying VIIP and other effects of life in space is hard. Few people even make it to low Earth orbit, so there are not a lot of subjects to study. External influences are challenging to rule out, and competing demands on astronauts' time are many. It's important to note that Alperin's study examined only nine long-duration astronauts — a fairly small sample size. NASA astronaut Michael Barratt, Expedition 20 flight engineer, works in the hatch between the space shuttle Endeavour and the International Space Station in 2009. (NASA) But this research could be crucial to future missions. Astronauts on the ISS have seen their vision deteriorate from 20/20 to 20/100 in a matter of months. Michael Barratt, an astronaut and the former head of NASA’s human research program who experienced VIIP during a six-month ISS stint, told The Washington Post this summer that the vision problem could be the second greatest risk to human space travelers. (The top risk remains exposure to dangerous radiation.) Barratt and a crew mate, both trained physicians, performed ophthalmoscopic exams on each other during space flight and discovered the flattening of the eyeball that's characteristic of VIIP. He thinks that confirming the fluid theory will require a more invasive procedure, like surgically implanting a monitor in astronauts' brains before they launch. “This is one of those times I think aggressive science is extremely warranted,” Barratt said. Read more: Watch astronauts touch down on Earth after 115 days on the International Space Station How do astronauts vote from space? How filthy is the International Space Station? An astrobiologist weighs in. Mysterious space junk is hurtling toward Earth (and scientists are super excited) Someone once smuggled a sandwich into space, which is a horrible idea


Giant panda cub takes medicine hidden in a sweet potato, is recovering from surgery

Bei Bei, the giant panda cub, shown Tuesday morning following emergency surgery on his intestines Friday. (Courtesy of the National Zoo) Bei Bei, a giant panda cub at the National Zoo, appeared to almost smile Tuesday morning after gobbling down medicine cleverly hidden in a sweet potato to help him recover after a surgery to remove bamboo lodged in an intestine. In a photo put out by the zoo, the 1-year-old Bei Bei looks well. He has a bare belly because the area was shaved for the emergency lifesaving surgery he had Friday after zoo keepers noticed he was not his usual self. But his black and white coat is already growing back, authorities said. Bei Bei’s mother — Mei Xiang — is with him. Zoo keepers said she “spends large blocks of time in the yard eating bamboo,” while he “rests and sleeps inside.” Zoo officials described this recovery as “very important for the healing process.” Bei Bei is eating biscuits and cooked sweet potatoes with medications as he recovers from surgery. (Courtesy of the National Zoo) The zoo’s panda house is closed to help Bei Bei recover. On Monday afternoon, Bei Bei was climbing around his den so zoo keepers reintroduced his mother Mei Xiang to “help him settle down.” In a statement, the zoo said that “after an initial period of high activity during the introduction, Bei Bei nursed for 20 minutes and they both fell asleep.” Post surgery, zoo officials said, Bei Bei has successfully nursed three times. Zoo keepers are keeping Bei Bei off bamboo for now, figuring it is “too much for his digestive system.” His mother leaves him to eat, and then they are reunited. Bei Bei’s diet, for now, consists of biscuits and sweet potatoes. Zoo keepers said they put antibiotics, antacid and pain medication inside the sweet potatoes. He is reported to be bright and alert. On Thursday, zoo keepers had noticed that Bei Bei was behaving oddly, sleeping more than usual and showing little interest in food. He also seemed nauseated and threw up twice. Bei Bei, a giant panda at the National Zoo, underwent surgery Friday to removed a blockage of chewed-up bamboo. (Courtesy of the National Zoo) The cub was taken to the zoo’s on-site veterinary hospital Friday morning and underwent an ultrasound screening. An endoscopic exam found a dense mass of bamboo the size of a lemon


After more than two decades in Washington, Vidalia is closing

Chef Jeff Buben has decided to close Vidalia, his longtime Southern restaurant. (Joseph Victor Stefanchik for The Washington Post) After more than two decades of serving Southern fare to Washington, Vidalia is closing its doors. Chef Jeff Buben, who owns the restaurant with his wife, Sallie, decided he would end the restaurant's run when its lease expired. Vidalia's last day of service for lunch and dinner will be Dec. 15. Buben opened the restaurant in the subterranean space south of Dupont Circle in 1993. "You know one day it's going to end," he said. Hamilton Johnson, foreground, seen with David Guas at the 2012 FreshFarm Markets Farmland Feast, is taking over Vidalia's space to open Honeysuckle. (Rebecca D'Angelo for The Washington Post) Buben called the closure "bittersweet." When Vidalia closes, he'll be turning over the keys to Hamilton Johnson, his former chef de cuisine. Johnson will turn the space into Honeysuckle, his first restaurant and a concept he's been tweaking since it initially debuted as a pop-up at Prequel last year. Johnson said Honeysuckle will be an "American regional" spot, with some Southern accents. "This was a great situation where he's looking to do a restaurant, and the timing just worked out perfectly," Buben said of Johnson, who spent about seven years at Vidalia. "We need more chef-owners in the city. It's very tough for an independent restaurateur to get a hold in the city." "What's happening couldn't be a better, a more fit ending to the whole thing," Buben said. "I wouldn't do it with anyone else other than Hamilton." For years, Vidalia maintained a reputation as one of Washington's top restaurants. As recently as 2014, Post food critic Tom Sietsema gave it three out of four stars. In the 2016 Spring Dining Guide, however, Sietsema awarded it only one and a half stars, noting "no meal made me sadder this year than my last visit to Vidalia" and speculating that Johnson's departure was partially to blame. Johnson will oversee a complete renovation of his old digs, with Honeysuckle expected to open in mid-January. "I think it works beautifully for both parties," Johnson said, calling the transition something of a "homecoming." Buben's other two restaurants, Bistro Bis and Woodward Table (which includes the adjacent WTF quick-serve spot), will remain open. Read more: - The month of October in restaurant openings and closings - Vidalia review: A Southern dream no


Analysis: Atlantic hurricane season is growing longer

support for lengthier seasons, scientists began investigating whether the typical start and end dates of the Atlantic tropical cyclone season could be changing in the mid-1990s after a spate of very active hurricane seasons. In 2008, James Kossin published evidence that the dates of the earliest and latest Atlantic tropical cyclone formation dates were pushing outward at a rate of about one day per year, and suggested this trend could be linked to warming ocean temperatures. However, more recently Juliana Karloski and Clark Evans found no trend in Atlantic tropical cyclone formation dates when the time frame was extended to 2014, and a 2015 study of season length in climate models led by John Dwyer yielded mixed results. These varying conclusions suggest taking a broader approach, especially in light of the elevated early- and late-season activity in 2015 and 2016. So I decided to conduct an analysis to see if any real change in the length of the hurricane season had manifested itself. (Ryan Truchelut) The figure above shows the number of days between the first and last Best Track* six-hourly historical positions at tropical storm, hurricane and major hurricane intensity within each calendar year since 1979. Length of season has trended higher by about 1-2 days per year for each of these intensity thresholds, which is significant at a 95 percent confidence level for named storms and a 90 percent confidence level for major hurricanes. (The trend is not significant for hurricanes.) There are several possible explanations for this apparent tendency, including an overall increase in Atlantic tropical cyclone activity. The Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation, a cycle of warmer and cooler Atlantic Ocean temperatures that has been shown to modulate seasonal tropical cyclone activity, flipped from an unfavorable negative phase to a favorable positive phase around 1995. This phase change is likely responsible for at least some of the observed increase in season length since 1979. A problem with using storm formation dates as a measure of season length is that in more active hurricane seasons, we would expect more early and late season storms, even without any change in the preferred distribution of storms across the calendar. To address this issue, I looked at the season-relative progress of total Best Track accumulated cyclone energy (ACE) produced by all storms over each hurricane season. (Ryan Truchelut) The plot above shows how quickly each hurricane season since 1979 advanced from 100


Donald Trump adds another marijuana opponent to his Cabinet

Rep. Tom Price (R-Ga.), chairman of the House Budget Committee, at a news conference about the House Republicans' fiscal 2016 budget proposal. (Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg News) President-elect Donald Trump on Tuesday named Rep. Tom Price (R-Ga.) as his pick for Health and Human Services secretary, a position that could offer the anti-marijuana legislator more control over medical access to the drug. Although federal regulation of illicit drugs rests primarily with the Justice Department, the HHS secretary holds some powers that could restrict how available marijuana is in states that have legalized it for recreational or medicinal use. For instance, drug policy observers say that the agency could penalize doctors or sue sellers who work with medical marijuana in those states, since the substance remains illegal under federal law. Price is one of the most consistently anti-marijuana members of Congress, voting against a number of marijuana proposals before the House in recent years. “Price has a long voting record of opposing the [modest] marijuana policy reforms that have come to a vote in the House of Representatives,” said John Hudak of the Brookings Institution in an email. “Price is a physician and the medical community broadly has been conservative about the use of medical marijuana and nearly universally opposes it for recreational use.” Price's record includes: - Going against a measure that would prevent the Justice Department from interfering with state recreational marijuana laws. - Voting six times against amendments preventing the Justice Department from interfering with state medical marijuana laws. - Voting three times against a measure that would allow Veterans Affairs doctors to recommend medical marijuana to veterans who might benefit from it. But Price has supported a limited measure preventing the Justice Department from interfering with states that allow the medical use of cannabidiol, a non-psychoactive chemical component of marijuana that shows promise in treating some forms of epilepsy. He has also voted to ensure that federal funds aren't used to stymie research into industrial uses of hemp. While not particularly vocal on the subject of marijuana law, Price's votes have earned him a “D” grade on marijuana policy from the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws and Drug Policy Action, two drug policy reform groups. HHS chiefs have not been major presences in marijuana policy discussions during the Obama administration. But Ethan Nadelmann, executive director of the Drug Policy Alliance, still called the pick a “terrible


D.C.-area’s most expensive homes for sale

The newest listings range from $3.99 million to $10.6 million. This month, the most expensive new listings include Jacqueline Kennedy’s house in Georgetown, two lavish Potomac estates, a Bethesda penthouse and two houses with dance floors. The six-bedroom, six-bathroom, five-level house at 3017 N St. NW in Washington, known as the Jacqueline Kennedy House, is listing for $8,995,000. (HomeVisit) • 3017 N St. NW, Washington $8,995,000 Agents: Nancy Taylor Bubes and Jamie Peva of Washington Fine Properties Built in 1794, this five-level house is on the National Register of Historic Homes and is known as the Jacqueline Kennedy House for one of its many noteworthy owners. Kennedy purchased the house after President Kennedy’s assassination. The property, which was privately listed earlier this summer at $9.75 million, has formal entertaining spaces, three fireplaces, six bedrooms, six bathrooms and 6,350 square feet of living space. The six-bedroom, eight-bathroom, 7,600-square-foot Bauhaus-inspired house at 5216 Abingdon Rd. in Bethesda is listing for $6.4 million. (HomeVisit) • $6.4 million Agents: Heidi Hatfield, Anne Hatfield Weir, Andrea Hatfield and Tammy Gale of Washington Fine Properties This Bauhaus-inspired house, built in 1933, sits on 2.6 acres in Bethesda adjacent to the District line with views of the Georgetown Reservoir. The grounds include a swimming pool, tennis courts, terraces and a three-car garage. Inside the 7,600-square-foot house are six bedrooms, eight bathrooms, four fireplaces and rooms with floor-to-ceiling windows. The master bedroom has a private deck. The seven-bedroom, nine-bathroom home at 2170 Dunmore Lane NW in Washington’s Berkley neighborhood is listing for $4.595 million. (HomeVisit) • 2170 Dunmore Lane NW, Washington $4,595,000 Agent: Eileen McGrath of Washington Fine Properties This house, custom-built in 2009, has four levels with seven bedrooms and nine bathrooms. Located in the Berkley neighborhood of the District, the house has a shaft to add a future elevator, two fireplaces, and formal and casual living spaces. The grounds include a saltwater swimming pool, terraces and a veranda. The seven-bedroom, 10-bathroom home at 10800 Lockland Rd. in Potomac is listing for $4.3 million. (HomeVisit) • $4.3 million Agent: Hamid Samiy of W.C. & A.N. Miller, a Long & Foster Company This gated Potomac estate, built in 2005, sits on a two-acre lot with an indoor swimming pool, an outdoor swimming pool, a tennis court and a five-car garage. The pool house includes a sauna, a music room and a private apartment. Inside, the four-level house has


Get ready for tree lighting that plugs up traffic

File photo shows the big crowd that gathers for the tree lighting ceremony on the Ellipse. (Bill O’Leary/The Washington Post) D.C. commuters, let’s get ready to grumble. On Thursday, we renew that annual holiday tradition: The downtown traffic jam that ripples out from the streets around the Ellipse when the president lights the National Christmas Tree. These commuters have nothing against lighting a Christmas tree. What they object to is making a big deal out of it at the height of a Thursday afternoon rush hour each year. And the resulting congestion is something they don’t forget. Around July, they start asking me for the exact date, so they can prepare themselves. Only people who got tickets in advance are admitted to the afternoon’s festivities, but there will be tens of thousands of people walking to the event. (It will be televised at 7 p.m. Monday on the Hallmark Channel.) D.C. police say these streets will be closed from 2:30 to 7 p.m. Thursday: - Constitution Avenue NW between 14th and 18th streets - 15th Street NW between New York and Constitution avenues - 17th Street NW between New York and Constitution avenues It’s not just the street closings. All those pedestrians on their way to and from the Ellipse will slow traffic. (Watch out for them. Many won’t be familiar with the local streets.) And the traffic congestion ripples out from the Ellipse area for many blocks. I’m telling you this now in case you want to plan an alternative route home for Thursday, something that would keep you north of the White House and south of the Mall. Metrorail is an option, of course, but the latest SafeTrack maintenance project puts 20 minutes between trains on the Silver and Orange lines at rush hours. Still, you might consider Metrorail if you’re heading into the District from Virginia for the 7 p.m. Capitals game at Verizon Center on Thursday. There may be some extra crowding at the McPherson Square, Federal Triangle and Metro Center stations, which are closest to the Ellipse. Many Metrobus routes through downtown face the same detours and traffic congestion as the cars. The tree-lighting tradition goes back to President Calvin Coolidge, in 1923. Coolidge lit the tree on Christmas Eve.


Chef Marjorie Meek-Bradley is leaving Ripple and Roofers Union. (Marvin Joseph/The Washington Post) Two Washington restaurants will soon be without their "top chef." Marjorie Meek-Bradley, a finalist on Season 13 of Bravo's "Top Chef," is leaving her position as executive chef at Ripple and Roofers Union. Her last day is Dec. 11. "I want to focus on Smoked and Stacked," Meek-Bradley said. She opened the sandwich shop at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in September and wants to spend time developing additional items for the menu. Meek-Bradley said she also felt it was time "for me to move on" and think about what her goals and potential next steps are. Meek-Bradley joined Ripple in 2013 and added Roofers Union to her workload when it opened in 2014. "We're obviously 100 percent behind her and her future, which I think will be very strong," said Roger Marmet, who owns both restaurants. "She's got a world of opportunity ahead." Marmet said Roofers Union's current chef de cuisine, Jenn Flynn, will take over the kitchen there. The menu likely will not change much, he said. Marmet is currently in the process of searching for an executive chef for Ripple, where he expects the menu will be driven by the new hire. Read more: - Marjorie Meek-Bradley's big night in the 'Top Chef' finale - Marjorie Meek-Bradley's Smoked and Stacked sandwich shop opens - Roofers Union review: 'Top Chef' puts the spotlight on Marjorie Meek-Bradley - Marjorie Meek-Bradley: The Ripple chef finds her groove and makes a splash


Obama says marijuana should be treated like ‘cigarettes or alcohol’

classifications are changed are not done by presidential edict,” he said, “but are done either legislatively or through the DEA. As you might imagine, the DEA, whose job it is historically to enforce drug laws, is not always going to be on the cutting edge about these issues.” The Drug Enforcement Administration recently turned down a petition to lessen federal restrictions on marijuana, citing the drug's lack of “accepted medical use” and its “high potential for abuse.” Congress could resolve the conflict between state and federal marijuana laws by amending the federal Controlled Substances Act, but it has declined to do so. Marijuana legalization advocates have been frustrated at what they see as Obama's unwillingness to use his bully pulpit to advocate for their cause. “It would have been very helpful if he had taken more concrete positive action on this issue before it was almost time to vacate the Oval Office,” Tom Angell of the pro-legalization group Marijuana Majority said in a statement. “That this president didn’t apply pressure on the DEA to reschedule marijuana this year will likely go down as one of the biggest disappointments of the Obama era.” There is little disagreement on either side of the legalization debate that personal marijuana use should be treated primarily as a public-health issue. Smart Approaches to Marijuana (SAM), the nation's leading anti-legalization group, says that it “seeks to establish a rational policy” for marijuana use and possession that “no longer relies only on the criminal justice system to address people whose only crime is smoking or possessing a small amount of marijuana.” But there is vehement disagreement over what such a “rational policy” would look like. SAM advocates for a policy of decriminalization of marijuana use, but not full-scale commercial legalization. Groups like the Marijuana Policy Project, on the other hand, are pushing for the creation of Colorado-style commercial marketplaces where it is completely legal to buy, sell and consume marijuana. Obama has been hesitant throughout his second term to push for one approach or the other. His Justice Department has created a policy explicitly allowing states to legalize marijuana as they see fit, but he has made no effort to alter the strict federal prohibition on marijuana that complicates any effort to create a legal nationwide marijuana industry. Pro-legalization advocates are worried that the current Justice Department policy of noninterference on marijuana legalization could be reversed by


Bob Dylan won’t attend White House event for Nobel winners

Bob Dylan performs in Los Angeles. (Chris Pizzello/AP) Bob Dylan hasn’t exactly embraced this whole Nobel laureate thing. The folk music legend and recipient of the 2016 Nobel Prize in literature won’t attend a Wednesday meeting with President Obama, a White House spokesman said Wednesday. The president is slated to meet with the other less-elusive winners of the exclusive honor in a closed-to-press confab. Snubbing the Oval Office is true to form for Dylan: He famously didn’t initially return the Nobel committee’s calls after the award was announced — a pick that was considered stunning, since Dylan is primarily known as a songwriter — though he later proclaimed himself to be honored. He still won’t be attending the actual award ceremony. A representative for Dylan did not immediately respond to a request for comment. He won’t get to hear Obama’s praise in person, but Dylan did get a remote shout-out from POTUS (a Nobel Peace Prize winner). “Congratulations to one of my favorite poets, Bob Dylan, on a well-deserved Nobel,” Obama tweeted last month. Congratulations to one of my favorite poets, Bob Dylan, on a well-deserved Nobel. https://t.co/c9cnANWPCS


Japanese homebuilder, Sidwell Friends buying Fannie Mae headquarters

has housed Fannie Mae operations since 1958, and about 10 acres of land that surrounds it. Sekisui has built more than 2 million homes, and its North American unit has already made major investments in the Washington area, including when it bought a majority stake in One Loudoun, the mixed-use community in Ashburn. Sekisui also has U.S. propeties in Texas, Washington, Colorado, North Carolina and elsewhere. Richard Lake, a founding partner of Roadside, said in an interview Wednesday that his company planned to preserve the main building as part of its plans. He said the companies not plan to seek zoning changes. “Our vision is very similar to what we did at CityMarket at O. … We know it’s going to be mixed-use. We like to do projects that have multiple dimensions to them,” Lake said. “We want to preserve [the buildings] and we are interested in working with the community and city in preserving that experience all the way through. Our vision is not to gut them and just keep the facades. It’s really to use them, to incorporate these buildings,” he said. “Beyond that we have not really begun our conversations with the community.” The three properties were assessed for a total of $204 million by the District in 2016 — well above the $122 million that Fannie Mae is getting for them. Experts say neighborhood opposition to new development in the area potentially affected their value. Fannie spokesman Pete Bakel defended the deals, saying they constituted a strong return for taxpayers and that the properties would be in good hands once Fannie Mae moves out. The housing agency plans to remain in its current space until construction on the new location is complete. Bakel said the final move date has not been decided. “This was a very competitive sales and bidding negotiations processs, but we found all three of these separate buyers to be very strong corporate citizens with the best interests of D.C. in mind,” Bakel said. “We feel very strongly that the price was in the best interests of the taxpayers by a long shot and we’re pleased to move forward and move into our leased space, which will increase our efficiency,” he added. More: Fannie Mae puts headquarters up for sale, could fetch more than $200 million Fannie Mae to move to 15th St., replacing Washington Post headquarters Follow Jonathan O’Connell on Twitter: @oconnellpostbiz


House overwhelmingly passes ‘Cures’ legislation to streamline drug approval

research funding includes $1.8 billion in financial support for Vice President Biden's cancer moonshot, $1.4 billion for President Obama's Precision Medicine Initiative and $1.6 billion for the BRAIN initiative, an effort to map and understand diseases that affect the brain. It also provides $500 million to the Food and Drug Administration. Some consumer groups and health policy experts support the funding that the bill provides, but have sharply criticized the bill's regulatory changes, arguing those will allow drugmakers to furnish less rigorous kinds of evidence to get their products approved. They say the bill could erode standards that protect patients from drugs that aren't safe or effective. "We’re profoundly worried that this is a deregulatory bill masked under a deceptive title, and that we’re going to see more unsafe and dangerous products on the market if the bill comes law," said Robert Weissman, president of Public Citizen, a nonprofit consumer advocacy group. Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) was one of the few who spoke against the bill on the House floor Wednesday. "It reduces the already weak regulations on medical devices, allows drugs to be approved with only limited evidence of the drug’s safety and efficacy, and rushes the use of new and unproven antibiotics," DeLauro said. Several senators have shared their opposition, including Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.). But the White House issued a statement of strong support Wednesday night. "Like all comprehensive legislation, the bill is not perfect, and there are provisions the Administration would prefer were improved, but the legislation offers advances in health that far outweigh these concerns. The Senate should promptly pass this bill so that the President can sign it," the statement said. The bill also addresses some of the most pressing, and longstanding, needs in the mental health care field. It provides financial incentives for increasing the number of mental health professionals and integrating mental health services into primary care settings; it will allow waivers to use Medicare funds for short-term hospitalization of seriously mentally ill patients; and it strengthens enforcement of mental health parity with increased oversight of insurance coverage. "At a time of heightened acrimony in Washington, and in the wake of one of the most rancorous elections we’ve ever had, isn’t it wonderful that we can come together to find cures that affect millions of Americans?" DeGette said. Staff writer Amy Ellis Nutt contributed to this report. This story has been updated.


A rancher licensed to kill a ‘beloved’ L.A. cougar now says she wants to save him

the populations of wolves, bears and cougars have dropped over the centuries. But the dozen or so mountain lions of the Santa Monica Mountains inhabit an environment where navigating the ways of the human world can be particularly challenging. The big cats are penned in by the freeways that crisscross L.A.’s metropolitan area, which make finding mates and breeding difficult and, even worse, can be fatal to cats that try to cross them. They are regularly sickened by poison that people use to control rats and other pests. And they roam an area packed with tasty-looking prey — not just alpacas, but dogs and even zoo koalas — that humans have decided they are not supposed to eat. Fortunately, cougars’ main dietary staple, deer, are not off-limits. So great are the obstacles to a thriving life that biologists fear the area’s mountain lions could be extinct within 50 years. In an editorial Wednesday headlined “Save P-45,” the Los Angeles Times noted that the state is considering building a multimillion-dollar wildlife bridge over the 101 Freeway to help the big cats migrate and mate with brethren that live beyond the region. “It makes no sense to spend millions of dollars building a wildlife overpass for the survival of the mountain lions and yet issue depredation permits to residents so they can kill a lion for behaving like a mountain lion,” the editorial argued. Biologists found these mountain lion kittens, P-48 and P-49, earlier this year. They said P-45 might be their father. (National Park Service) The National Park Service, which says it has documented six different mountain lions that have killed livestock in the area since 2002, is co-hosting a workshop Wednesday night on peaceful coexistence with the big cats. Andrew Hughan, a spokesman for the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, told the Los Angeles Times that the 10 alpacas that were killed were kept in a locked area of a ranch outfitted with barbed wire and motion-sensing security cameras. The owner has “hired an agent” to seek out P-45, he told LAist. “The homeowner did everything she could to protect her wildlife,” Hughan said, adding that the owner had lost income as well as pets. “This lion was very determined to get in there.” Park service officials emphasize that the mountain lions haven’t threatened humans, but they’ve acknowledged an increase in reports of attacks on livestock and other domestic


Trump may put 5 military officers in top posts. That’s unprecedented.

extremely rare in democracies. What are the implications of an increased reliance on generals? The answer, of course, depends on the disposition and political leanings of the general in question. Gen. Flynn has advocated a much more bellicose approach to foreign policy than the Obama administration. However, the research suggests that U.S. military officers generally are more reluctant to use military force than civilian officials — but more likely to favor escalation to higher levels of force once hostilities have begun. Research also shows, however, that when high-level positions in the government are shared by civilian and military elites, strategic decision-making suffers and the likelihood of mistakes increases. That comes in part because of unclear roles for civilian and military institutions in the chain of command, and could increase the potential for war. Here’s what’s more important. In other democracies, when the military is invited into traditionally civilian roles, it’s historically been followed by broader democratic failure. In fact, the military has often been brought into politics during periods of polarized civilian politics, like the one the U.S. is facing now. For instance, in Brazil, the long period of military rule (1964-1985) began when a substantial number of right-wing civilian politicians brought the military in, seeing it as an ally against the socialist policies of the left. On the other hand, the U.S. military’s institutional culture is not organized around seeking political power. The principle of civilian control is well-established and widely respected. In its more than 240 years, the U.S. military has never attempted a coup. As recent research has shown, institutional norms of civilian control strengthen over time. What’s more, most scholars agree that militaries that are involved in conflicts abroad — as is the U.S. military — are less likely to be interested in or able to accumulate political power at home. However, even long-standing norms can change — and the incoming administration has pledged to throw out many. Whatever the good intentions of the former officers who’ve been nominated, having a host of former generals in traditionally civilian positions would begin to erode principles of civil-military relations central to democracy, including civilian control and the political neutrality of the armed forces. Many failed democracies can testify that these are vital principles to hold on to. Peter White The views expressed here are his own and do not reflect those of the NSF or the U.S. government.


‘Vectors! Vectors!’: Pilot in soccer team tragedy reported fuel emergency in moments before crash

The air traffic controller on the recording is heard telling the pilot the runway is ready, warning him to expect rain on the surface. He pleads for “vectors,” or landing directions, and she tries to guide him. “You’re at zero-point-one miles to the Rio Negro border,” the air traffic controller says. “I don’t have your altitude.” “9,000 feet, miss,” he cries out. “Vectors! Vectors!” The woman tells him he is about 8 miles from the runway. “What’s your altitude now?” she asks. The other end of the call goes silent. “Jesus,” an unidentified voice is heard saying. The air traffic controller continues to ask for the pilot’s position, but receives no response. In a news conference Wednesday night, Colombian aviation authorities confirmed that at about 9:40 p.m. on the night of the crash, the pilot reported a fuel emergency and, about ten minutes later, a total electrical failure. After inspecting the site, investigators found that the plane had no fuel when it slammed into the mountain. Planes are required to account for an additional 30 to 45 minutes of fuel beyond the amount needed to get to the destination airport, authorities said. The voice data recorders recovered in the investigation are expected to help authorities find out why or how the crew had insufficient fuel. Data from Flightradar24 showed the aircraft flying in a circular pattern before it crashed. The plane’s tail collided with the top of a mountain in the Cerro Gordo range in Colombia, fracturing its rear as the rest of the plane slid down the other side of the slope. Just before it collapsed, the plane was traveling at a speed of 135 knots (about 155 mph), which authorities said was a slow speed for a plane of this type. The slower speed — along with the fact that the plane did not explode on impact — might explain how six people were able to survive, authorities said. Rescue teams have recovered 71 bodies from the wreckage and continue to collect forensic evidence, authorities said. The remainder of the investigation could take months. The U.S. National Transportation Safety Board is taking part in the investigation because the plane’s engines were made by an American manufacturer. The six survivors were recovering in hospitals, with three in critical but stable condition, the Associated Press reported. In a video obtained by Reuters via RCN, members of the Brazilian soccer team


Russian spacecraft headed to resupply International Space Station suffers mishap

with the rocket. A Russian spacecraft that launched from Kazakhstan Thursday morning suffered a problem and was lost as it flew to the International Space Station, NASA and Roscosmos, the Russian space agency, said. In a statement, Roscosmos said that it lost communications with the Progress spacecraft and that radar stations did not detect it. "Most of [the] cargo spacecraft fragments burned in the dense atmosphere," Roscosmos said. The failure marks the fourth time spacecrafts launched on resupply missions to the station have failed in two years. "The loss of the cargo ship will not affect the normal operations of the ISS, and the life of the station crew," Roscosmos said. No one was on board the Progress vehicle, officials said, which was to deliver 2.6 tons of food, fuel, and supplies to the astronauts on the orbiting station. The rocket blasted off at 9:51 a.m. East Coast time. But then "an anomaly occurred sometime during the third stage operation," NASA said. It was unclear what caused the problem. "Our astronauts and the Russian cosmonauts are safe aboard the station," NASA said. "Consumables aboard the station are at good levels." In a recording that NASA posted to its website, a space agency official in Houston can be informing the astronauts aboard the station, which includes two Americans, Robert Shane Kimbrough and Peggy Whitson. "Unfortunately, I have some not so great news to pass along to you guys," the NASA official said. There were indications that the third stage separated a few minutes before it was supposed to, she said. The incident is the second time a Russian spacecraft has been lost in recent months. Last year, another Progress vehicle tumbled uncontrollably through space and failed to reach the station. In 2014, a rocket operated by a Dulles-based company now known as Orbital ATK blew up shortly after lifting from the launchpad at Wallops, Va. One of SpaceX's Falcon 9 rockets exploded a couple minutes into flight while headed to the station in 2015. SpaceX, one of the companies NASA relies on to to supply the station, is grounded after another of its rockets blew up earlier this year. It expects to return to flight in December, pending the outcome of an investigation into the explosion. SpaceX and Boeing are developing spacecraft designed to fly astronauts to the station. In the meantime, the Russians fly America's astronauts on its Soyuz rocket.


11 things to do in the D.C. area on the weekend of Dec. 2-4

Here are this weekend's best bets in nightlife, holiday festivals, museums and much more around the Washington area. - Holiday Happenings: Celebrate the best of the season - Stock your bar: Sample and shop for D.C.'s best booze - Get a Christmas tree: Also, get a beer LETTERS FROM WAR by Ivo M. Ferreira (official international Trailer) Through Sunday: Friday-Saturday: “On the Wings of Freedom,” by Aether Hemera, will be part of the Georgetown Glow light installation this month. (Aether Hemera) Friday-Sunday: Friday-Sunday: Christkindlmarkt at Heurich House Museum Set up on either side of the Potomac River to watch the Holiday Parade of Lights. (Nell King) Saturday: Saturday: Saturday-Sunday: Saturday-Sunday: Saturday-Sunday: Saturday-Sunday: Sunday:


Trump hotel restaurateur didn’t mean to insult ‘meat and potatoes’ D.C., he says

embrace his restaurant: “I can’t expect them to fall in love with it. I have to work for that love.” Insulting our city is a pretty counterintuitive way of working for our love — kind of like a pickup artist “negging” a girl at a bar. Soon after the article was published, D.C. restaurant-goers had feelings to share about Borgognone and the reporter, Richard Morgan, who offered up some pretty outdated stereotypes as well. This dude is a moron. Says there isn't a great sushi restaurant in DC. Sushi Taro would beg to differ. https://t.co/jxobVqHO4N Everything about this interview is https://t.co/4SF57HmL5t https://t.co/WmwC1cto13 "Alpha people, checklist people, gossipy elbow-rubbers"? That's not my experience of DC. https://t.co/xI2EsyVlw2 https://t.co/Jx1QGByets Borgognone would like to set the record straight. He began with a classic politician’s apology — which means he’s going to fit in here just fine! “If people took my words the wrong way, especially the people in D.C., I want them to understand that I have the utmost respect for D.C. and the food scene in D.C.,” he said. His words, he said, “get twisted and turned.” When he was talking about the District being a meat-and-potatoes town, he was referring to 15 years ago. “But D.C. has evolved to being a great food city,” he said. As for there being no competition, “As a restaurateur, I want no competition. I try to do things that set our restaurant apart,” he said. “When people ask, ‘Do you have competition?’ I say ‘No.’ ” Now is the time to humbly point out that while Nakazawa, the Today Show reported, was a “surprise omission” from the list of Michelin-starred restaurants in New York, Washington’s Sushi Taro has one Michelin star. “And congratulations to them,” said Borgognone. Sushi Taro is among the restaurants Borgognone said he has patronized over his 2½ years of visiting the city. For his first trip, he had dinner at Minibar. He loves Fiola Mare — “I can even tell you my dinner that I had at Fiola Mare, that’s how much I liked it. I had the Dover sole” — and he’s waited in the Georgetown Cupcake line. He even mentioned going to another D.C. outpost of a New York brand: Carmine’s. He says he has lost track of how many times he’s been here. “I was Acela’s best customer.” But in all of the research he’s done, he neglected to


Drug policy experts and advocates implore DEA to keep opiate-like plant legal

The DEA just walked back its decision to temporarily label 'kratom' as a schedule 1 drug alongside heroin and other highly addictive opioids. Does it deserve that label? The comments -- more than 22,000 -- rolled in fast and furious on the federal proposal to temporarily ban the natural drug kratom. The plant is at the center of a fierce battle between the Drug Enforcement Administration and advocates who say kratom is a safer alternative to the powerful opiates that have fueled a nationwide addiction crisis. While little known in the United States, the plant has been used in Southeast Asia for centuries as a stimulant and pain reliever. The DEA delayed its plan to temporarily ban the drug this fall after receiving a wave of backlash. It opened up a public comment period that ended at midnight, calling on citizens and experts to publish their thoughts on a federal website. "I am [a] 62 yrs old veteran and have suffered from Depression, anxiety & PTSD all my life," wrote one commenter, identifying himself as Tom Uhas. "If Kratom is banned by the DEA my quality of life will decrease tremendously." "Please don't ban kratom," Saundra Geer pleaded. "It's the one natural alternative to opioids that I can take for my severely chronic fibromyalgia, RSD, and several other chronic pain diseases or illnesses." "Kratom saved my life," Matthew Roe wrote bluntly. "Before finding kratom I was a functioning alcoholic and I barely made it to work because of the daily hangovers which plagued my waking life." After trying kratom, "I felt normal, I felt functional," Roe added. A relative of the coffee plant, kratom at higher doses has effects similar to opiates. Advocates say the plant — typically crushed and mixed or brewed with water — relieves severe pain and helps them overcome addictions to powerful prescription painkillers. Researchers just recently wised up to the drug, which appears to come with fewer harmful side effects than opioids and a diminished risk of dependency. In the DEA's view, the drug posed "an imminent hazard to the public safety." The agency cited a spike in poison control center calls involving kratom use, as well as 15 fatalities over three years that may have been linked to use of the drug. The DEA announced its intent to temporarily place the drug into Schedule 1 of the Controlled Substances Act last summer, effectively banning


Prof. Michael McConnell on Brexit and British constitutional law

domestic law because European laws and regulations would cease to apply when the United Kingdom was no longer part of the Union. With due trepidation as an outsider to British constitutional law, this strikes me as logically incorrect. What happens if the Crown gives notice under Article 50, and Britain ceases to be a member of the European Union? This depends on an interpretation of the ECA. The key language comes from section 2(1) of the Act: “All such rights, powers, liabilities, obligations and restrictions from time to time created or arising by or under the Treaties, and all such remedies and procedures from time to time provided for by or under the Treaties, as in accordance with the Treaties are without further enactment to be given legal effect or used in the United Kingdom shall be recognised and available in law, and be enforced, allowed and followed accordingly.” One possible reading (the more plausible, in my view) is that the rights, obligations, etc. arising “under” the Treaties are applicable in Britain only insofar as Britain is subject to the Treaties. If that is correct, there is no need for the Crown to go to Parliament in order to effectuate Brexit. The ECA already anticipates Brexit, and in the event of withdrawal from the Treaty, European law ceases to apply — not because the Crown has changed the law, but because the provisions of the law are triggered by membership in the EU. A second possible reading is that the ECA has brought European law into force in Britain, and that it will require an Act of Parliament to repeal it. But this does not mean the Crown lacks power to give notice under Article 50. It merely means that the unmaking of the Treaty will not have full effect without passage of legislation. This is no different from any case in which a treaty calls for a change in law or the expenditure of money. Most treaties are not “self-executing,” but require implementing legislation. Merely because implementing legislation is needed does not mean the Crown cannot enter a treaty. Moreover, the ECA expressly empowers “Her Majesty” to issue Orders in Council “for the purpose of dealing with matters arising out of or related to any such obligations or rights” under the Treaty. The exercise of exit rights under Article 50 would appear to fall within the rubric of “matters


House passes compromise defense bill, but White House action still uncertain

language in the bill requiring women to begin registering for the Selective Service for a potential draft, a fight that began when lawmakers opposed to the Pentagon’s recent announcement to open up all combat roles to women launched it as a test measure. A majority of lawmakers on both the House and Senate Armed Services committees supported it, but House leaders yanked the change out of their version of the defense policy bill before it hit the floor. After the bill was released, the White House said in a statement that the Obama administration supported the idea of extending draft registration to women. “Universal registration both furthers our commitment to equity and serves to sustain our legacy of public service,” said National Security Council spokesman Ned Price. “As old barriers for military service are being removed, the Administration supports — as a logical next step — women registering for the Selective Service.” But the White House never included the provision on women in the draft in its list of items that might trigger a veto of the defense policy bill. The White House did consider veto-worthy another provision that fell out of the bill at the 11th hour of negotiations, which would have exempted religious organizations with federal contractors from observing civil rights law and the Americans With Disabilities Act. The proposed change, sponsored by Rep. Steve Russell (R-Okla.), was effectively directed at overriding a 2014 executive order making it illegal for federal contractors to discriminate against workers on the basis of sexual orientation or gender. LGBT advocates strongly protested, but Republican negotiators agreed to drop the language only after the successful election of President-elect Donald Trump, who had promised during the campaign to rip up Obama’s executive orders — potentially including the 2014 order about workplace discrimination directed at federal contractors. The defense bill is not completely devoid of controversial changes, however. Negotiators decided to shrink the size of the National Security Council from 400 to 200 members, a move aimed at limiting how much influence the White House has over policy operations of the State and Defense departments after former defense secretaries complained of “micromanagement.” The bill also gives the administration expanded authority to ramp up national missile defense, and moderately expands a program to provide visas to certain Afghan translators and interpreters who worked for the U.S. government mission in Afghanistan. Juliet Eilperin contributed to this report.


12 beer parties and tastings to check out in December

including Old Ox, Tin Cannon, Belly Love, Old 690 and the Veil — to create a beer called HOPE, which will raise money for the NCMEC. Stop by the breweries on Saturday for a taste, though Ocelot is the epicenter. 1 p.m. 23600 Overland Dr., Sterling. ocelotbrewing.com. Free. Dec. 4-5: Right Proper's Anniversary in Brookland and Shaw Talk about timing: Right Proper's two D.C. outposts have birthdays within days of each other. On Sunday, the production brewery in Brookland turns one year old, and the birthday party, which runs from 6 to 8 p.m., includes cake and a bluegrass performance by the Capitol Hillbillies. The following night, the Shaw brewpub marks its third anniversary with the release of vintage beers, including Le Flâneur, Gnosis aged in Green Hat Ginavit barrels and Häxan aged in rum barrels. (There will also be an “art show” of early logo concepts that didn't make the cut.) Doors open at 5 p.m. Brookland: 920 Girard St. NE; Shaw: 624 T St. NW. rightproperbrewing.com. Free. Dec. 5: Monday Night Beer Club at Pizzeria Paradiso Georgetown Pizzeria Paradiso's first-Monday-of-the-month beer club is one of the monthly highlights of the local beer calendar. In December, taste a dozen seasonal beers on tap, including offerings from Corsendonk, the Bruery, Scaldis and Ninkasi; staff tips go to DC Greens, a local charity that works to improve food access and education. 6 p.m. 3282 M St. NW. eatyourpizza.com. Free. Dec. 6: Holiday Beer Tasting at Mad Fox Brewing Try seasonal beers from a dozen Old Dominion breweries, including Champion, Hardywood, Adroit Theory and Lickinghole Creek, at Mad Fox's annual celebration. The evening is hosted by local beer legend Bob Tupper, who once hosted similar events at the Brickskeller. Tickets are required in advance. 7 p.m. 444 W. Broad St., Falls Church. madfoxbrewing.com. $55, includes samples of all beers. Dec. 7: Give a Can, Get a Can begins at Pizzeria Paradiso Since 2011, Pizzeria Paradiso has held a fundraiser called Give a Can, Get a Can, which is one of the most straightforward fundraisers around: Bring a can of food to Pizzeria Paradiso to donate to local charity Martha's Table, and you'll get a free can of beer, whether you want DC Brau, 3 Stars or New Belgium. (Bring two cans of food, and you'll receive two beers, and so on.) The fine print: Check the Martha's Table website to make sure


Warriors’ Steve Kerr takes up torch for marijuana to help manage pain

Steve Kerr. (Marcio Jose Sanchez/AP) Somewhat lost in the Golden State Warriors’ run to a league-record 73 wins last season was the fact that Coach Steve Kerr missed the first 39 of them. Kerr sat out roughly five months recovering from multiple back surgeries after the Warriors won the NBA championship in 2015. On Friday, while discussing his recovery, Kerr became the latest high-profile sports figure to advocate for the use of marijuana as a way to deal with chronic pain. “I guess maybe I can even get in some trouble for this, but I’ve actually tried it twice during the last year and a half, when I’ve been going through this chronic pain that I’ve been dealing with,” Kerr told The Warriors Insider Podcast on Friday. “[After] a lot of research, a lot of advice from people and I have no idea if maybe I would have failed a drug test. I don’t even know if I’m subject to a drug test or any laws from the NBA.” Kerr’s stance comes after trying several different types of painkillers to manage not lingering pain in his back and frequent headaches. He believes that Vicodin, a common painkiller that “athletes everywhere are prescribed . . . like it’s vitamin C, like it’s no big deal,” is not an answer. “I know enough, especially over the last couple years, having gone through my own bout with chronic pain, I know enough about this stuff — Vicodin is not good for you,” Kerr said.“It’s way worse for you than pot, especially if you’re looking for a painkiller and you’re talking about medicinal marijuana, the different strains what they’re able to do with it as a pain reliever. I think it’s only a matter of time before the NBA and NFL and Major League Baseball realize that.” The NFL continues to outlaw marijuana, as it remains listed as a trigger that would cause a violation of the league’s substance abuse policy. But with 26 states, in addition to the District of Columbia, now classifying marijuana as legal either recreationally or for medical purposes, the NFLPA has begun to look into the possibility of its use for pain management. As for the NBA, Commissioner Adam Silver told GQ magazine in 2014 that his league is far more concerned with human growth hormone and designer performance-enhancing drug use than pot, but that “it’s our strong preference


Silicon Valley’s ‘Nobels’: Mega-prizes awarded for work in brains, the origins of life and gravitational waves

people to choose it as a career. “Everything you see around you and me in the world was conceived by scientists some time ago — everything that was built by us as a civilization,” Milner said in an interview before the event. And yet, he said, “in our society, science is not appreciated enough.” “Intellectual achievement is recognized to a much smaller extent to physical achievement,” he added. “I think, and my co-founders agree, this is really very much out of balance and we need to bring it more into balance.” This year's awards, selected by a committee of previous winners, include five in the life sciences, one in fundamental physics and one in mathematics. There's also a special prize that will be shared among the three leaders and 1,012 team members of the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory in Louisiana and Washington state who discovered the existence of gravitational waves — described as ripples in space-time produced by colliding black holes. Baseball player Alex Rodriguez, Breakthrough Prize winner and Nobel Laureate Yoshinori Ohsumi and CEO of Rakuten Hiroshi Mikitani. (Photo by Kelly Sullivan/Getty Images for Breakthrough Prize) As in previous years, there's a lot of hope that the life sciences projects will have applications for medical treatments in the future. One award winner, Japanese biologist Yoshinori Ohsumi, won a Nobel Prize this year for elucidating a key mechanism in the human body’s defense system called autophagy that involves degrading and recycling parts of cells. It plays an important role in cancer, Type 2 diabetes and even birth defects from the Zika virus. Another award recipient this year is Harry Noller, 77, a molecular biology professor at the University of California at Santa Cruz, whose name has come up several years in a row as someone who might be on the shortlist for the Nobel Prize for his work on the critical importance of RNA, which carries out commands in all living cells. Many believe his discoveries will be critical to our fight against “super bugs” resistant to antibiotics. But it's the grander implications of his research for how life came to be on our planet that has brought a lot of excitement about his work. “You can never prove how life originated but what we can now wonder is, 'Is there a plausible way that life arose from nonliving inorganic chemistry?' And it’s starting to look like you can connect


My concern with Trump’s team of generals

Mattis." Now these appointments or rumored appointments have caused some person–specific concerns, but mostly it’s about the larger question of drawing so much from the military. In The Washington Post last week, Phil Carter and Loren DeJonge Shulman warned: “Great generals don’t always make great Cabinet officials. And if appointed in significant numbers, they could undermine another strong American tradition: civilian control of an apolitical military.” Brooks and Schake have separate Foreign Policy columns pushing back on that concern. They’re both worth reading. Schake — who has co-written with Mattis — acknowledges some concerns, but notes the high prestige held by the military in public opinion. She asks: Why shouldn’t the country’s most informed defense experts transition to civilian roles, provided they perform civilian functions and are rigorously vetted in congressional confirmation? Forty-five years into an all-volunteer force, and with small numbers relative to our population, few Americans are directly affected by decisions about our military forces. It is not particularly surprising they look to this widely admired institution for understanding, and have confidence the institution will act with integrity. Nor is it surprising that veterans feel a strong obligation to contribute to better defense policies because they care deeply about the United States and about the young men and women putting their lives on the line to defend it. Brooks In today’s world, does a formalistic commitment to civilian control of the military still do the work it did in 1789? Is it still crucial to preventing the powerful from trumping the will of the people? (No pun intended.) I’m not at all sure. For one thing, today’s U.S. military has elaborate internal checks and balances and a deeply ingrained respect for democracy and the rule of law. It’s difficult to imagine any active-duty general or group of officers, no matter how popular, persuading the troops to ignore or overturn the results of an election or a properly passed law. (That’s even truer for retired military officers. Technically, they are civilians. They can still give orders if they want to, but even the lowliest private is free to tell a retired general to take a hike, subject only to the constraints of courtesy.) So this is the point in the post where I moronically disagree with Brooks and Schake. This really is pretty dumb of me: Brooks and Schake have both served in the Defense Department and I haven’t.


The Dakota Access Pipeline isn’t just about the environment. It’s about religion.

a diverse range of groups together, including representatives from religious communities such as the United Methodist Church and the Nation of Islam, who have visited the camps or spoken out against the pipeline project. Many activists have framed the issue as an environmental issue, but some observers highlight the importance of Native Americans and how they understand their religion and the land. Religion to many Native tribes is very land-based, said Stephen Pevar, an attorney for the ACLU who has specialized in Indian and tribal rights cases. Many Americans move several times throughout their lifetimes, making it difficult for some to understand how crucial land is to Native spirituality, he said. Native Americans have a bond to the land and nearly every tribe has its own sacred lands. “To the Indians, this is both water and it’s religion, whereas many white people seem to be pretty dismissive about the religious aspect and view it as more environmental,” Pevar said. Protesters form a circle for the morning prayer. (David Goldman/AP) Imagine, he said, if the pipeline was being built in Bethlehem, underneath Jerusalem or a similar holy site. “That’s how this is viewed by the people there,” Pevar said. “White people, unfortunately, don’t share those views. They don’t realize the religious significance of these locations.” Protesters contend that the pipeline violates the National Historic Preservation Act, which requires agencies to “consult with any Indian tribe … that attaches religious and cultural significance to properties with the area of potential effects.” Native groups also rely on the American Indian Religious Freedom Act of 1978, which requires the federal government to “protect and preserve for American Indians their inherent right of freedom to believe, express, and exercise [their] traditional religions … including but not limited to access to sites, use and possession of sacred objects, and the freedom to worship through ceremonials and traditional rites.” Some people can fall into the trap of overgeneralizing American Indian spirituality, according to UCLA professor Peter Nabokov, who maps different beliefs about “sacred places” in his book “Where the Lightning Strikes.” The North Dakota pipeline project has drawn a large number of environmental activists toward the Native American cause, Nabokov noted. “It’s in position to galvanize a range of support from a variety of interests, many of whom don’t know that much about American Indian spirituality and religion, but maybe this is a way they’ll start to


The Daily 202: Trump’s pollster says he ran a ‘post-ideological’ campaign

daughter is nearing a licensing deal with the Japanese apparel giant Sanei International -- Meanwhile, Charlene Chen, claiming to be a representative of Trump's businesses, arrived Sept. 8 in Taiwan to explore investing in a redevelopment project south of Taiwan's biggest airport. Jon Huntsman drops out of the 2012 presidential race at the Myrtle Beach Convention Center in January 2012. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images) THE APPRENTICE, FOGGY BOTTOM EDITION: -- In a huge slap at Mitt Romney, Trump has added longtime rival Jon Huntsman into the mix for secretary of state: -- David Petraeus, another finalist for Foggy Bottom, went on ABC’s “This Week” yesterday in an effort to show Trump that he could successfully respond to questions about his mishandling of classified material during a potential Senate confirmation hearing. -- Trump will also meet this week with two other new, long-shot contenders for State -- Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Calif.) -- who has said that he is talking with Trump transition officials about the secretary of state position, although it's unclear how far those discussions have gone -- was on Fox News this morning to defend the president-elect's call with the president of Taiwan. -- Speaking of Russia: Vladimir Putin delivered something of a backhanded compliment to Trump on Sunday. Terry Branstad sits in his office at the Iowa state capitol. (Patrick Semansky/AP) -- Bloomberg reports that Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad, a longtime friend of Chinese President Xi Jinping, is the frontrunner to be U.S. ambassador to China. -- New York Jets owner Woody Johnson is under consideration for ambassador to the U.K., -- Want a job in the Trump administration? The Plum Book, an official listing of the 9,000 political jobs that will be available in Trump's executive branch, just published. SOCIAL MEDIA SPEED READ: What Trump and Conway did this weekend, in part: Honoring the ultimate hero at the Mercer "Heroes and Villians" party on Long Island. Crowd thrilled w/ surprise! https://t.co/VQAyaKvs6i Without any explanation, 29 weeks after posting it, Trump deleted this tweet at 3:30 a.m. yesterday: “'Duck Dynasty' star Phil Robertson says he'll back Trump for president.” (Via Politwoops) Trump's vow to levy a 35 percent tax on companies that ship jobs overseas drew a swift rebuke from Republicans Justin Amash and Ben Sasse: This would be a 35% tax on all Americans—a tax that especially hurts low-income families. Maybe the slogan should b… https://t.co/P8Bg81zlYj Pres-Elect Trump