Like a good neighbor, Evening Star is still there

(Good) Restaurateurs with multiple places to eat typically don’t declare a favorite. But Michael Babin doesn’t hesitate to tell people that his first venture is No. 1. “Evening Star Cafe is the reason the Neighborhood Restaurant Group exists,” says the founder of the Alexandria restaurant, which opened in 1997 and counts nearly 20 siblings, including Iron Gate in Dupont Circle and Hazel near the 9:30 Club. For Babin, Evening Star is “the ultimate neighborhood restaurant.” Sure, he’s biased, but I’d be hard-pressed to argue. Anyone who has followed the life of the Del Ray fixture can see how the restaurant has evolved over the years to address the needs and wishes of its community, starting with the acquisition of the convenience store next door that became Planet Wine. Diners can buy any bottle in the shop for $10 over the retail price and have it served to them at Evening Star — a fraction of the usual markup and no small deal considering the inventory of about 700 wines, half of them under $40. The 62-seat storefront restaurant comes with two bars: the street-level Majestic Lounge, which Babin aptly calls “your coolest uncle’s basement bar,” and No. 9 Lounge on the second floor. Six years ago, the Front Porch was added to the equation. Next to Planet Wine, the outdoor space is more or less an extended happy hour that everyone can enjoy, thanks to a snack-y menu and a play area for kids that includes a coloring wall. A new chef came aboard in October. The former corporate chef for Barteca Restaurant Group, the parent of Barcelona, Jonathan Till is the seventh chef to helm the kitchen since it opened. Like a lot of his peers, he says he’s committed to serving local and seasonal ingredients, but he goes the extra step of actually procuring a fair amount of them, too. Those chanterelles sprinkled throughout the menu? Till knows where to forage for the treasure so he doesn’t have to shell out the going rate of $30 a pound. Everybody’s happy. Garlic focaccia, sometimes flavored with herbs from the chef’s rooftop or side garden, launches dinner, and so too should one of Till’s diverting snacks. Strips of tempura-fried zucchini are accompanied by a pink “yum yum” sauce that delivers on the promise with the help of mayonnaise, tomato paste and “butter, the secret,” says Till. Cognac-spiked chicken liver mousse


Why mourning the El Paso shootings will undermine Trump’s immigration rhetoric

commercial center draws residents from West Texas, New Mexico, Chihuahua and other nearby Mexican states. Tax-free weekends and back-to-school supply lists incentivize visitors and shopping trips. Increased wait-times at international crossings, paired with the region’s scorching summers, lead shoppers to cross the border early or stay in El Paso for a weekend. The flourishing of commercial activity here is rooted in history. In 1851, only three years after the end of hostilities between Mexico and the United States, a pro-free trade movement in northern Mexico emerged, threatening to establish a separate, independent republic if the federal government didn’t loosen trade laws. Mexico City relented and encouraged greater trade across the border, fueling the region’s dynamic economic and strong transnational ties. Over the following decades and into the 20th century, questions over trade and tariffs loomed over the region, while merchants on both sides of the border vied for the pesos and dollars of residents. For example, the Popular Dry Goods Co. in downtown El Paso targeted Mexican people on both sides of the border by running ads in El Paso’s El Continental and Juárez’s El Fronterizo newspapers. Founded in 1902 by Adolph Schwartz, a Hungarian-Jewish immigrant whose retail career had begun in downtown Juárez, Popular became a border retail institution, drawing shoppers from both cities. During a presidential visit by Miguel Alemán to Juárez after World War II, the Popular displayed a picture of Mexico’s first civilian president, a welcome sign and the flags of the two nations. Ciudad Juárez attracted its fair share of El Pasoan consumers, too. The city was renowned for bootlegging and south-of-the-border adventures during Prohibition. Apocryphal stories placed Al Capone in the city’s famous Kentucky Bar, rumored to be the place of origin of the margarita. Alongside these famous border-crossings, a more mundane drum of regular exchange existed, creating a transnational tapestry of families, social clubs and businesses. During World War II, El Paso residents trekked south to purchase rationed items and foodstuffs in higher quantities and at lower prices. The U.S. Office of Price Administration even made rationing cards available to Juárez residents. After the war, African American residents and GIs stationed at Fort Bliss frequented Juárez’s central district, where they found respite from El Paso’s formal and de facto segregation. Despite the commercial and consumer exchange that enriched both places, El Paso eventually came to dominate the region economically. Hence, in the 1960s,


Changing climate imperils global food and water supplies, new U.N. study finds

The world cannot avoid the worst impacts of climate change without making serious changes to the ways humans grow food, raise livestock and manage forests, according to a landmark study Thursday from an international group of scientists. The sprawling report from the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) examines how land use around the world contributes to the warming of Earth’s atmosphere. But the report also details how climate change is already threatening food and water supplies for humans: turning arable land to desert; degrading soil; and increasing the threat of droughts, floods and other extreme weather that can wreak havoc on crops. It makes clear that although fossil fuel-burning power plants and automobile tailpipes are the largest drivers of climate change, activities such as agriculture and forestry account for an estimated 23 percent of total human-caused greenhouse gas emissions. “We already knew that humanity’s over-exploitation of the Earth’s lands is a key driver of climate change, and that we need to take urgent, ambitious action to address these issues,” Jennifer Tabola, director for global climate strategy at the Nature Conservancy, said in a statement. “We have a choice: do we balance the needs of human development and nature, or do we sleepwalk into a future of failing farmlands, eroding soil, collapsing ecosystems and dwindling food resources?” Four years ago in Paris, world leaders agreed to take aggressive action to keep global warming to “well below” 2 degree Celsius, compared with preindustrial levels. Their aspiration was to limit warming to no more than 1.5 degrees Celsius (the world has already warmed 1 degree). But Thursday’s report, which includes the work of 107 experts from 52 countries, underscores that meeting those goals will require fundamental changes not only to the transportation and energy sectors, but also by cutting emissions from agriculture and deforestation — all while feeding growing populations. Last fall, IPCC scientists found that nations will need to take “unprecedented” actions to cut their carbon emissions over the next decade to avoid devastating effects from rising seas, more intense storms and other impacts of climate change. They also detailed how such a radical transformation would require large swaths of land currently used to produce food to instead be converted to growing trees that store carbon and crops designated for energy use. “Such large transitions pose profound challenges for sustainable management of the various demands on land for human settlements,


Traders in China prepare for a rush into North Korea. But sanctions still stand in the way.

The Post reporters to two riverbanks that, he said, were smuggling points. “ There is also plenty of technically illegal trade in shipping industry goods, including GPS equipment, fish-detecting radars, and ship parts including pipes and electricity generators. The sanctions have driven up prices for these goods, the guide said. Something that used to cost $200 would now cost $230, he said. In Pyongyang, home to the coddled elite who keep Kim in power, there is no sense of any deprivation caused by sanctions. “You can get everything you need for a comfortable life, except electricity,” said one recent visitor, speaking on the condition of anonymity to avoid jeopardizing future access. “If you are well connected and if you have the money, you can live a fairly comfortable life in Pyongyang.” The main Unification Market, the hub for much of the private trading activity in the capital, is “packed with people and bursting with energy,” the visitor said, describing the “petit bourgeois” who shop there. “You can buy Johnnie Walker and Dyson vacuum cleaners and motherboards.” At one complex on the outskirts of Pyongyang, a Japanese woman runs a large furniture store stacked to the rafters with “huge amounts” of goods from Ikea and Nitori, a Japanese furniture chain. There are wardrobes, sofas, desks and tea towels — everything that can be bought at Ikea and Nitori, but at higher prices. “There is a large number of people who have the economic wherewithal to indulge in luxuries,” another recent visitor said. A state-run department store in the center of Pyongyang even has concessions with real Rolex and Chanel, decked out to look like genuine outlets of the luxury brands. Although the stores have limited stock and even fewer customers, the sense of aspiration and indignation is evident, the visitors said, describing the stores as a “middle finger” to the notion that sanctions have had any impact on the capital. One obvious, if puzzling, sign that trade continues apace: North Korea ran a $2 billion trade deficit with China last year, according to Chinese customs data. How North Korea is funding this deficit remains a mystery, leading analysts to suggest that China is either writing off the discrepancy or that North Korea is exporting goods that do not show up in the official statistics. “On the ground, the individual traders have found multiple loopholes, despite strict enforcement from the authorities,” said


Style Conversational Week 1344: Here’s a prize we can show a photo of

and the World’s Smallest Swimsuit.” But, but … it’s art! At least I didn’t run a picture of a guy modeling it! (Because I can’t seem to find one, though I’m sure I’ve seen such a photo in the past.) And in fact, if you win this item, I will, for once, not ask you to send me a photo of you wearing this colorful “garment.” *Non-inking headline by Chris Doyle that’s right on the line between Wow and Groan — or maybe it’s just wow — groan. For the Invitational, Week 1340 was as loosely bound as we get: The contest was just to “slightly alter” someone’s name and describe and/or “quote” from the resulting new person. Not “change by one letter,” “transpose two letters,” etc. The relative ease of coming up with something to fit this contest no doubt contributed to the more than 1,500 entries from about 200 people, about a dozen of them brand-new to the Invite. It’s always exciting for me to see new names in the list of entrants that I see each week (the entries themselves I see separately, without names attached). And there were a lot of altered names that made me laugh — but fewer whose description was also funny/clever. As I judged, I repeatedly marked entries “BD,” as in “needs a better definition,” a code I often use when judging neologism contests. My BD list turned out to run more than 30 entries, leading me to say this week, ever noncommittally, that I might use those names as the basis for a future contest: that if one or two people couldn’t come up with a joke for that name, perhaps someone in All of Loserdom would think of the perfect line. But holy moly, more than 50 entries did get ink; it was by no means a failed contest — the readers are going to laugh at these guys. It’s the first Lose Cannon for Jonathan Jensen, who came to the Invitational last year for a song parody contest — he got ink immediately with a song he played and sang himself — and stayed for the other Invites as well. Jonathan plays string bass for the Baltimore Symphony … or would be, had the orchestra not be locked out by management in a long-running labor dispute. I got more than one entry for “Marlon Blando” — a hilarious-sounding name


New USA Gymnastics president offers support for Simone Biles, others who have been ‘silenced’

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — With less than one year before the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, USA Gymnastics president and chief executive Li Li Leung vowed Thursday to do her best to minimize disruptions for the prospective Olympians preparing for the Games. But at the organization’s highest-profile event, the U.S. Gymnastics Championships, evidence of the lingering damage of its handling of the worst sexual abuse scandal in sports history abounds at Sprint Center, where reigning Olympic all-around champion Simone Biles wept Wednesday in discussing USA Gymnastics’ failure to protect her and others from former team physician Larry Nassar’s serial abuse. Leung, a former college gymnast who took the reins at USA Gymnastics in February, acknowledged Thursday that the organization had failed Biles, her Olympic teammates and hundreds of others. “I think historically our organization has silenced our gymnasts, and I am 100 percent supportive of giving our athletes a voice,” Leung told a small group of reporters. “Our athletes should be able to say what they feel and become whole doing so.” Leung is USA Gymnastics’ third CEO since Steve Penny, who faces felony charges in conjunction with the Nassar scandal, was forced to resign in March 2017. “I understand that we have let down many athletes, have let down Simone, and she needs time to heal from that,” Leung continued. “If voicing her concerns is a way to do that, I am completely supportive of that.” Biles, 22, who is in Kansas City to contend for a sixth U.S. all-around championship and hone her skills for October’s world championships, spoke frankly Wednesday about the difficulty of competing for USA Gymnastics, which she, as well as a bipartisan Congressional panel, feels was complicit in her abuse by prioritizing gold medals and its public image over athletes’ well-being. Nassar victims are hardly the only ones to lose faith in the organization. Deep-pocketed corporate sponsors such as Procter & Gamble, AT&T, Under Armour, Kellogg’s and Hershey’s severed ties in the wake of the scandal, as did Hilton before them. In their absence, the interior of Sprint Center resembles a relative blank canvas for the U.S. championships, with only the event name plastered on signage boards, along with USAG’s logo and small advertising notices for Xfinity and athletic equipment maker AAI. The U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee expressed its broken faith in November, when it took initial steps to decertify USA Gymnastics, deeming it unfit


World Digest: Aug. 8, 2019

will be up to the interior minister in his role as leader of the League to explain to the country . . . the reasons that lead him to interrupt things before it’s time.” — Chico Harlan and Stefano Pitrelli ISRAEL Israeli troops raided a Palestinian village on Thursday and the military said it was sending reinforcements to the West Bank, hours after the body of a 19-year-old soldier with stab wounds was found near a Jewish settlement. The killing threatened to inflame tensions between Israelis and Palestinians ahead of Israel’s September elections. The soldier was identified as 19-year-old Dvir Sorek, from the West Bank settlement of Ofra, north of Jerusalem. He was a student at a pre-military Jewish seminary in the Gush Etzion settlement bloc, south of Jerusalem. Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus, an army spokesman, said the soldier was neither armed nor in uniform when his body was found. He said the military was investigating the circumstances of his death and searching for suspects. As part of the searches, a column of Israeli jeeps entered the nearby Palestinian village of Beit Fajar. Soldiers blocked the road and searched homes. The military said it was calling up more troops to the West Bank. There was no claim of responsibility, but the Islamist militant group Hamas issued a statement praising the killing of the soldier. — Associated Press MEXICO Mexican police found nine bodies hanging from an overpass Thursday alongside a drug cartel banner threatening rivals, and seven corpses hacked up and dumped by the road nearby. Down the road were three more bodies. The killings in the western state of Michoacan marked a return to the grisly massacres carried out by drug cartels at the height of Mexico’s 2006-2012 drug war, when piles of bodies were dumped on roadways as a message to authorities and rival gangs. Two of the bodies hanging from the overpass in the city of Uruapan, half-naked, were those of women, as was one of the dismembered bodies, Michoacan Attorney General Adrián López Solís said at a news conference. Although the banner was not completely legible, it bore the initials of the notorious Jalisco cartel and mentioned the Viagras, a rival gang. “Be a patriot, kill a Viagra,” it read in part. — Associated Press Rocket blast kills 2, injures 4 in Russia: Paper publishes blank edition to protest crisis in Lebanon: — From news services


What does it take to be a ‘travel influencer’? Psssst: It’s more work than it looks.

[This story has been optimized for offline reading on our apps. For a richer experience, you can find the full version of this story here. An Internet connection is required.] A few years ago, several forces — the Internet, the global population’s increasing desire and ability to tour other parts of the world, and capitalism — came together to create a new kind of social media star: the travel influencer. These intrepid wayfarers started out posting gorgeous images from popular or remote destinations to the Internet, particularly Instagram, attracting legions of fans who wanted to follow in their jet streams. Tourism-related brands quickly recognized the advertising potential of such images and began offering top Instagrammers payment or comped visits in return for social media promotion, allowing some "content creators" to leverage their talent and followers into full-time gigs. Instagram and its influencers have helped make travel more accessible, more informed and more popular — international arrivals increased to 1.4 billion people in 2018, two years earlier than the World Travel Organization predicted in 2010. But the same feeds that sell the romance and desirability of travel are part of a larger social media landscape where the quest for the perfect (often, exact same) image has damaged fragile ecosystems, sites and landmarks and has led to deaths by stunt or selfie. While many influencers strive for transparancy and professionalism, the practices of some, such as neglecting to clearly disclose sponsorships according to Federal Trade Commission rules, artificially inflating follower counts, demanding freebies, staging dangerous-looking shots or glossing over negative experiences, have earned scorn and skepticism from their audiences. Still, travel influencing doesn’t seem to be an endangered vocation, though it takes money and nimbleness to keep up with Instagram’s evolution, whether it’s IGTV, Instagram Checkout or the possible removal of “Like” counts from posts. With the constantly churning business model, followers need to be smart consumers. Look for disclosures such as #ad, #sponsored or tags indicating business partnerships, which mean the influencer was paid to post or received a free trip, product or service. How much? The influencers we surveyed for this project declined to disclose their rates. But according to Evan Asano, founder and CEO of Mediakix, an influencer marketing agency, a rough rule of thumb is that influencers can make $10 to $80 per 1,000 Instagram followers per post — though much compensation is a mixture of payment (say,


They were devastated by pain pills. Now they demand justice.

lawsuit is a previously unreleased Drug Enforcement Administration database, called ARCOS, which became public through legal action by The Washington Post and HD Media, owner of the Charleston Gazette-Mail in West Virginia. The database shows America's largest drug companies distributed 76 billion oxycodone and hydrocodone pain pills across the country from 2006 through 2012. As the opioid epidemic surged, so did the number of pills. As district director of the Virginia Department of Health in this part of the state, Sue Cantrell has been on the front lines of the crisis from the beginning. After she sounded the alarm for years about the toll of opioids, the revelations confirmed what she had long suspected. Even for those who get sober, finding jobs and security is a constant struggle. They find comfort in each other. They want to rebuild their lives. They want to spread the message that there's a life beyond addiction. There's hope. Amber Wood is a chef at a diner in the town of Lebanon. She became so addicted to opioids that she would ask a dentist to pull a tooth just to get a prescription for painkillers. She has been in recovery for two years. "We're back here living paycheck to paycheck, barely making it, while they're sitting with it on a desk with their feet kicked up and they can sit there and laugh at the fact that we are addicted, and now we have to maintain our program or we go right back to that." "It's ruined people's lives. I got, I got sober for the same exact reason that I started using drugs: to feel better, more often, for longer periods of time. Today I truly believe that I went through all that to have this life. I wouldn't have a life of recovery if I never was a drug addict. But I don't know what else I would have been." The prescription opioids do not explain everything about the addiction crisis in America. But the addiction crisis can't be explained without discussing the pills. Since 1996, more than 200,000 Americans have died from overdoses of prescription painkillers. In statements to The Post on July 16 in response to the release of the DEA database, the drug companies issued broad defenses of their actions during the opioid epidemic. They have said previously that they were trying to sell legal painkillers to legitimate pain patients


Rosie Ruiz, the Boston Marathon winner who wasn’t, dies at 66

less a feminist trailblazer than a brazen course-cutter and an unrepentant cheat. Some wrote her off as a mischievous prankster; others suggested she was deluded, struggling with mental illness. According to one theory, she had only wanted to cross the finish lane with the rest of the women, and her real mistake was winning. “It was the last time we could have been fooled,” said marathon runner and race commentator Kathrine Switzer, who interviewed Ms. Ruiz on television after the race. “Women’s running was growing so fast and so excitingly, that there was still a chance that some unknown could emerge and win a race.” “People called me and said, ‘This is such a setback for women,’” Switzer recalled by phone. “I said, ‘People haven’t even been paying attention to women. The reason she was allowed to cheat is nobody was paying attention to anyone except for the first 10 men at the Boston Marathon. At least now people are paying attention to what we do.’ ” Ms. Ruiz was far from the first person to cheat at a marathon. Fred Lorz finished first at the 1904 Olympics in St. Louis, only to acknowledge that he was helped by hitchhiking roughly 10 miles after suffering from cramps. (It was all a “joke,” he said.) More recent contestants have been caught doping and biking across racecourses. Last month, the marathon world was rocked when Frank Meza, a 70-year-old runner, died by suicide, after his record time at the Los Angeles Marathon was disqualified amid accusations of cheating. Ms. Ruiz’s victory was suspect from the beginning. In a post-race interview with Switzer, Ms. Ruiz said she had run in high school, quit because of a knee operation and only recently taken it back up, running 65 to 70 miles each week. “Have you been doing a lot of heavy intervals?” asked Switzer, using a common term for a speed-training technique. “Someone else asked me that,” Ms. Ruiz replied, crowned with the winner’s wreath. “I’m not sure what intervals are. What are they?” In a separate interview, she explained: “I just got up this morning with a lot of energy.” Two Harvard students ultimately helped uncover the ruse, reporting that they saw Ms. Ruiz emerge from the crowd near Commonwealth Avenue, not far from the finish. Soon after, the phrase “pulling a Rosie” became “a euphemism for finagling with infamy or finding a


Toni Morrison, the Nobel Prize, a terrifying staircase and the king who rescued her

“It should be seen in the context of democratizing, not tyrannizing the standards and notions of literary quality,” he said. Three months later, Morrison was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in fiction for “Beloved.” The board chairman said that while judges were aware of the open letter, it didn’t affect their decision. Gates told The Post he had worried judges would punish Morrison over the controversy. “I’m ecstatic, I’m ecstatic,” he said. “I decided it was more important to deny the evil, and I figured justice would out, and justice did.” Morrison’s rise continued after the Pulitzer win. In 1992, she released “Jazz,” the second novel in a trilogy with “Beloved” and “Paradise." The next year, she received the highest honor of all: the Nobel Prize in literature. In a trailer for the recent documentary “Toni Morrison: The Pieces I Am,” Morrison described the moment she heard the news: “A friend of mine called me up early in the morning and said, ‘Toni, you won the Nobel Prize.’ And I remember holding the phone, thinking, ‘She must be drunk.’ ” Two months later, The Post’s Eugene Robinson reported from the awards ceremony in Stockholm, calling it “the perfect setting for a fairy tale. And Morrison, suddenly, is the princess.” Fittingly, once she made it down the harrowing staircase to a standing ovation, she began her electrifying Nobel lecture with, “Once upon a time ...” She told a story of a wise old woman, blind and black, visited by young people, one of whom challenges her to tell him if the bird he holds is alive or dead. The old woman responds that she doesn’t know, “but what I do know is that what you do with it is in your hands.” Morrison said she understood the bird to be language, and then she delivered a lyrical meditation on its power. She continued: “We die. That may be the meaning of our lives. But we do language. That may be the measure of our lives.” Her own measure is boundless. Read more Retropolis: I devoured James Baldwin’s ‘If Beale Street Could Talk’ when I was 13. It changed my life. Robert Frost wrote this masterpiece in about 20 minutes. It belongs to all of us now. For sale: William Safire’s book collection. The inscriptions from his enemies are delicious. How crucial are historically black colleges? Just look at who’s graduated from them.


Prosecutors drop charges in fatal shooting at D.C. barber shop

THE DISTRICT Prosecutors have dropped all charges against a 22-year-old man arrested in connection with a July fatal shooting in an Anacostia barbershop, according to court documents. A spokeswoman for the U.S. attorney’s office did not respond Friday to an inquiry about the case. Prosecutors did not explain their decision in a one-sentence filing in D.C. Superior Court dropping charges against Dalonta Jackson of Southeast. The shooting occurred during the afternoon of July 10 inside New Creations Hair Salon Plus in the 2100 block of Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue SE. Police identified the person killed as Andre Cortez Broadie, 22, of Northeast. Three weeks after the shooting, police said they arrested Jackson and charged him with second-degree murder while armed. Police said they charged Jackson with murder on July 27. But two days later at his initial appearance in D.C. Superior Court, prosecutors dropped the murder charge and added a count of felon in possession with a handgun. Prosecutors dropped the felon-in-possession case Friday. — Peter Hermann The road that runs through the Ellipse near the White House will be repaved this month, effectively closing the Ellipse to the public for 12 days, according to the National Park Service. The roadwork, which also will shut down public walkways within the Ellipse, will begin Saturday and last through Aug. 21. Cyclists and pedestrians are being asked to use Constitution Avenue NW or Pennsylvania Avenue NW as detours. A fence replacement project on the north side of the White House has partially obstructed visitors’ views from Pennsylvania Avenue NW. With the Ellipse shut down, the south grounds of the White House will only be visible from 16th Street NW and Constitution Avenue NW, Park Service officials said. — Marissa J. Lang MARYLAND U.S. marshals were searching Friday for a suspect wanted in an armed killing who fled a home without clothing. Duron Hudson, 18, ran away at about noon from a residence in the 1900 block of Belle Haven Drive in Landover in Prince George’s County, police and U.S. Marshals said. Prince George’s police asked residents to shelter in place at about 12:15 p.m. but lifted the request an hour later. Though Hudson fled the home naked, police said, he likely has found clothes to wear since then. Hudson is wanted in connection with the June 22 slaying of George Hendrix, 22, of Southeast Washington, according to D.C. police. Hendrix was


America is turning against guns

school shootings, and 16 percent talked about easy access to guns. American voters now broadly support efforts to reduce gun violence. A May Quinnipiac poll found that 94 percent of voters favored universal background checks. A strong majority also favor an assault weapon ban: In the GQR survey, a 65 percent majority backed a ban on assault weapons, including 52 percent of Republicans and a 55 percent in gun-owning households. Earlier in the decade, surveys tracked support in the low to mid 50s, but now most survey show support above 60 percent. Importantly, a 65 percent majority also believed that mass shootings are often caused by easy access to assault weapons. An even more impressive 72 percent supported a buyback program for assault weapons, like the one instituted in Australia after a 1996 mass shooting there. Gun control has real political traction. Gallup shows that the share of voters who count the issue as a major factor in their electoral decision-making is increasing. In the GQR survey, 19 percent listed “reducing gun violence” as one of the most important issues facing the country, below health care (33 percent) and immigration (28 percent), but essentially tied with the economy and jobs (21 percent) and keeping taxes and spending down (20 percent). Among African Americans, this is the second most important issue, behind only reducing the cost of health care. It’s even more intense among younger people, whose turnout increased dramatically in the 2018 mid-term elections. A Harvard Institute of Politics study showed that concerns about school shootings, health care and gun violence were the first, second and third issues most correlated with the likelihood of voting. (Conversely, a 2014 Quinnipiac survey showed just 3 percent identifying gun policy as one of their most important issues.) Despite these changes, there is still a real and visceral attachment to gun ownership. Not surprisingly, since more people own guns for “protection,” nearly 60 percent in the GQR survey said having a gun makes you safer. Gallup research suggests this is a reversal from the past, when a majority of people thought having a gun in the house made it a more dangerous place. People also have doubts about the effectiveness of restrictions on guns. In the GQR survey, for example, 83 percent believed that criminals will get guns regardless of what the law says. Still, people seem comfortable with these tensions, as 84 percent


Olympics construction worker among dead as heat wave batters Japan

relief to spectators lining up outside venues. In the past, spectators have been banned from taking umbrellas and water bottles into venues, but experts warn that this could cause problems for crowds lining up on treeless streets to enter them. Organizers say they are negotiating with the International Olympic Committee to allow spectators to bring in water bottles. Organizers have scheduled earlier start times for some events and pushed others to later in the afternoon to alleviate concerns about the heat. The men’s and women’s marathons are due to start at 6 a.m. This year is not proving much better than last summer, when a heat wave killed more than 1,000 people in Japan and prompted authorities to declare a national emergency. A study by a senior researcher at the Japan Meteorological Agency concluded that the heat wave could not have happened without global warming, according to the Carbon Brief website. The intense heat has also raised concerns about conditions for workers toiling away to complete Olympic venues. Kazuko Ito, a human rights lawyer and director general of Human Rights Now, sent a monitoring team to several construction sites, finding many workers exposed to the scorching sun. Some wore helmets that only increase the effective temperature. Some, but not all, wore uniforms with small fans attached. Before worrying about next year, “shouldn’t we worry about what’s going on right now?” she asked in a blog post written before the worker’s death. She expressed “serious concern” about working conditions. Critics When Tokyo last hosted the Olympics in 1964, the Games were shifted to October, but these days international broadcasting and sports schedules make such a shift much more difficult — or less profitable — with broadcasters eager to avoid clashes with the American football season and European soccer. More recent games in Atlanta in 1996, Athens in 2004 and Beijing in 2008 have gone ahead in the summer despite hot and humid conditions. But critics say Tokyo and the IOC effectively colluded in that pretending heat was not an issue when awarding the 2020 Summer Games to Japan. In its bid, Tokyo promised “many days of mild and sunny weather,” providing “an ideal climate for athletes to perform at their best.” The IOC’s Evaluation Commission acquiesced, noting in its 2013 report that Tokyo’s dates were selected “for climatic reasons.” The Games run from July 24 to Aug. 9 next year. simon.denyer@washpost.com


World Digest: Aug. 9, 2019

YEMEN Fighting between Yemeni government forces and southern separatists entered its third day Friday, leaving more than 20 people killed, including five civilians, officials said. The clashes could further complicate Yemen’s bloody civil war and fracture the government side in the conflict. Government forces, backed by a Saudi-led coalition, have been battling the Houthi rebels since 2015. Also Friday, the Houthis said the brother of their leader was killed by the Saudi-led coalition. The announcement, posted on the rebel Almasirah website, offered no details on the killing of Ibrahim al-Houthi, brother of Abdel-Malek al-Houthi. The rebels control Yemen’s north and the capital, Sanaa, while government forces of President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi hold mainly the south. That region is also a stronghold of separatists who have clashed with Hadi’s forces since Wednesday in the city of Aden. Paradoxically, the separatists are supported by the United Arab Emirates, a key member of the Saudi-led alliance and, as such, a Hadi ally. — Associated Press RUSSIA Russia’s state nuclear agency Rosatom said early Saturday that five of its staff members had been killed in an accident during tests at a military site in northern Russia, the RIA news agency reported. The accident occurred during tests on a liquid propellant rocket engine, the news agency said, citing Rosatom. Russian authorities had previously said that two people were killed and that a nearby city had reported a rise in radiation levels when a rocket engine blew up at a testing site in the Arkhangelsk region Thursday. Local residents have been stocking up on iodine — used to reduce the effects of radiation exposure — since the accident, regional media reported. — Reuters JAPAN An Olympics construction worker has died of suspected heatstroke after falling unconscious as an intense heat wave batters Japan, causing scores of deaths and fueling worries over Tokyo’s plans to host the Games next summer. Police told public broadcaster NHK that heatstroke may have been the cause of the man’s death Thursday, intensifying concerns for the health of athletes and spectators at the Olympics, due to take place in the last week of July and first week of August next year. The 50-year-old was laying cable outside Tokyo Big Sight, an exhibition center being renovated to serve as the media center for the Games, Reuters reported, as temperatures in the capital topped 95 degrees and humidity exceeded 80 percent. Tokyo 2020


Which country is better equipped to win a U.S.-China trade war?

But this would probably generate more bad loans in an already fragile banking system. A protracted trade war would also halt even modest momentum toward market-oriented reforms, a putative objective of the Chinese government. This would hurt the economy’s long-term growth prospects. And China’s plan to shift the focus of its economy from staid and inefficient state enterprises to high-productivity and high-value industries will fall short if it loses access to technology from the United States and other Western nations. In some ways, Trump seems more constrained than Xi because of America’s democratic political system, its more laissez-faire economy and the limits on his executive power. But he, too, has some elements in his favor as he does battle with China. Trump has the advantage of managing an economy that is enormously flexible and resilient. And getting tough on China resonates not just with his political base but even with Democrats, many of whom have long called for aggressive U.S. action against Chinese trade and currency practices, even if they disagree with Trump on tactics. Yet in exercising his power, he could end up making America’s economy a bit more like the state-dominated one operated by Beijing — and, in so doing, permanently damage the U.S. free market. To rescue the agricultural sector from the consequences of the trade war, Trump has already dispatched $28 billion in government subsidies. He has also jawboned American companies to move their production bases back to U.S. shores, rather than letting them make their own commercial decisions. Trump has even pressured the Federal Reserve, whose independence is seen as sacrosanct, to lower interest rates and suggested that the Fed should help drive down the value of the dollar. With such moves, he risks undermining the true strengths of the United States: the institutions that make the U.S. dollar and the American financial system so dominant. What’s worse, Trump suggests that the rule of law is up for negotiation. After imposing sanctions on Chinese technology companies such as ZTE and Huawei for running afoul of U.S. rules, he hinted that those sanctions could be negotiated away as part of a trade deal. He is fighting a Pentagon process that could award a defense contract to Amazon, whose CEO (who owns The Washington Post) has criticized him. China has made its lack of independent institutions a source of strength in dealing with external economic aggression. In


Why Australians are worried about Chinese influence — in universities and beyond

is considered one of Australia’s prime “export” industries — in third place after iron ore and coal. Add to the list Chinese investment in Australia, which has produced its own headlines — in particular over the control of large rural properties and of what some say are strategic assets, such as the port of Darwin. China’s influence on higher education in Australia has also received scrutiny. Of particular concern are contracts between leading Australian universities and Beijing’s Confucius Institute that, according to critics, effectively allow China to dictate what is being taught. Concerned academics have already sounded a warning bell. They believe the Chinese government is actively intimidating visiting students, threatening “consequences” if they do not show loyalty to their homeland. Some — including writer Clive Hamilton in his book “Silent Invasion” — claim that China is actively threatening Australian sovereignty, and not just in its universities. This week, a prominent member of the government appeared to agree. Andrew Hastie, the head of Parliament’s intelligence committee, warned that Australia was facing an unprecedented national security test, calling the world’s approach to China a "catastrophic failure.” Beijing’s increasingly aggressive actions worry Australians, as they should. In a two-part documentary currently screening on Australian television, Stephen FitzGerald — who, in 1973, became Australia’s first ambassador to China and is one of the country’s leading Sinologists — labels China’s attitude toward its diaspora a “provocation.” FitzGerald believes that Beijing should back off — but also that Australia needs to do more to embrace its Chinese students, welcoming them into the freethinking world of Western universities and countering the isolation that many experience. FitzGerald’s advice offers a clue to the measured response we need right now. Australians, in the end, must steer a difficult course: trying to avoid the dangers of naiveté without falling back into the anti-Asian sentiment of our early history. At the same time, Chinese ambitions are real, and often explicitly stated. Australia, and the world, will need more than luck to manage them. Read more: Hana Meihan Davis: In Hong Kong, calls for democracy are written on the walls. Literally. David Moscrop: How Canada can reset its fractured relationship with China — for the better The Post’s View: China doesn’t understand Hong Kong’s protests. That’s a big mistake. David Ignatius: China’s rise presents a dilemma for Australia Yaqiu Wang: How China’s censorship machine crosses borders — and into Western politics


Five myths about corn

commonly found in grocery stores.” As it happens, though, almost all genetically modified corn is field corn, not sold in the neighborhood market. Roughly 40 percent of this is processed into ethanol for engine fuel, about as much is used for livestock feed, and the rest is used in processed foods. Only about 1 percent of the corn grown in the United States is sweet corn — the stuff we eat as canned or frozen niblets and butter-slathered fresh ears — and of that, most is not genetically modified. Bayer-Monsanto and Syngenta both make a GMO sweet corn, but farmers have been reluctant to grow it. According to Bill Tracy, an agronomy professor at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, none of the canned or frozen corn at the grocery store is GMO. (Because labeling standards established by the National Bioengineered Food Disclosure Law aren’t compulsory until January 2022, stores don’t have to indicate which corn on the cob is GMO.) As of 2018, only about 10 percent of the sweet-corn acreage planted in the United States and Canada was genetically modified. Myth No. 2 Many low-carb diets, from keto to paleo, strongly discourage the consumption of grains such as corn. An Atkins diet guide suggests cutting it out — as if that’s simple to do — since it “can hurt your keto progress,” and even mainstream health gurus like Dr. Oz have flip-flopped on whether corn has a place in the human diet. You can eschew ears of corn and bowls of cornflakes, but corn is in an astounding range of products, from explosives to embalming fluid, according to Betty Fussell’s 2004 book, “The Story of Corn.” And its ubiquity has only grown. “There are more consumer packaged goods than ever, thousands more, and these are mostly made from corn and corn derivatives, wheat, soy, and some source of oil and some source of sugar (often corn),” says David Katz, founding director of the Yale-Griffin Prevention Research Center. In “The Omnivore’s Dilemma,” Michael Pollan holds up the chicken nugget as Exhibit A of the grain’s omnipresence, arguing that “what chicken it contains consists of corn” (because of the chickens’ corn-based diet), as does “the modified corn starch that glues the thing together, the corn flour in the batter that coats it, and the corn oil in which it gets fried.” Consumers have to make a tremendous, studious effort to


ISIS is not defeated. Neither Trump nor Democrats should pretend it is.

AMONG PRESIDENT TRUMP’s many fanciful thoughts, consider his declaration last month of victory over the Islamic State. “We did a great job,” he said. “We have 100 percent of the caliphate, and we’re rapidly pulling out of Syria. We’ll be out of there pretty soon. And let them handle their own problems. Syria can handle their own problems — along with Iran, along with Russia, along with Iraq, along with Turkey. We’re 7,000 miles away.” Consider, too, the chaos caused by Mr. Trump’s abrupt announcement in December of a pullout of troops from Syria, which led to the resignation of Defense Secretary Jim Mattis. “We have won against ISIS,” Mr. Trump said in a video on Twitter, adding, “Our boys, our young women, our men — they’re all coming back, and they’re coming back now.” He added, “We won, and that’s the way we want it, and that’s the way they want it,” he said, pointing a finger upward, referring to U.S. troops who had been killed in battle. Now consider the conclusions of the recently released inspector general’s report to Congress on Operation Inherent Resolve, the U.S. military campaign against the Islamic State. The lead inspector general, Glenn A. Fine of the Defense Department, reports that although the group lost territory, from April through June it was “resurging in Syria,” and “solidified its insurgent capabilities in Iraq.” The report draws on information from U.S. military commanders who say the Islamic State is coming back in part because “the Iraqi Security Forces (ISF) and U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) remain unable to sustain long-term operations against ISIS militants.” The report says the Islamic State has moved underground; retains 14,000 to 18,000 members; “is likely reestablishing financial networks” in both Iraq and Syria; “maintains an extensive worldwide social media effort to recruit fighters”; and has carried out asymmetric attacks using a “more stable” network for command-and-control and logistics. The report quotes military leaders as saying that the United States has been drawing down just when allies needed more help with training, equipment and developing better intelligence. The drawdown hurt the United States’ ability to secure and monitor the sprawling al-Hol displacement camp in northeastern Syria, where thousands of Islamic State families reside, military leaders told the inspector general. The camp is a major source of recruits for the group, which, U.S. commanders said, is taking advantage of the drawdown to recruit


A tool meant to help minorities buy homes is instead speeding up gentrification in D.C.

CRA appears to be accelerating the displacement of minority renters in gentrifying communities, without increasing the proportion of minority residents who can buy homes. That is quite a disappointment to those who see the CRA as an instrument for financial inclusion. It would be a mistake to blame banks for this failure. Banks have a mandate to lend in the communities where they have branches without incurring risks that might cause them to fail. They seek to make viable loans throughout the communities where they operate, in compliance with regulation and their own underwriting standards. That their CRA-eligible loans mostly go to gentrifiers is likely the result of attempting to reconcile many different objectives at once. Although mandating banks to lend to low-income borrowers may seem the obvious solution to address the CRA’s shortcomings, history suggests this approach is fraught with risks. In the run-up to the 2007 financial crisis, government steadily raised the share of mortgages going to low-income borrowers, some of whom could not afford to repay. This cost taxpayers hundreds of billions of dollars and forced millions of vulnerable people from their homes. Instead of using the CRA’s perverse consequences as reason to give politicians more power to dictate who gets loans, we should ask what effective financial inclusion policy looks like in 2019. For example, many of the 8.4 million U.S. households that lack a bank account — disproportionately black, Latino and low-income — say they do so not because they live far from branches but because they deem fees too high and banks untrustworthy. Why not let other businesses — such as retailers and tech firms — provide basic banking services? In Africa, nonbanks offering mobile money accounts have brought tens of millions of people into the financial system. The same solution could help resolve America’s “unbanked” problem. Policymakers are also right to examine ways that “credit-invisible” consumers, typically young and minority, can make relevant credit information more easily available to lenders. These people are often creditworthy, but they lack the history and assets to qualify using traditional credit scores only. The legacy of redlining continues to have an impact on the economic opportunities available to different communities across the country. And while there has been progress thanks to growing competition and innovation, decades-old policies such as the CRA no longer work well in many low-income urban areas. It is time to try something different.


Maryland open houses Aug. 10-11

2380 Sand Hill Rd #1 21043 8614 Honeysuckle Ct 6032 Talbot Dr 8002 Hillsborough Rd 2929 Chestnut Hill Dr 8908 Chantel Ct 8233 Glenmar Rd 8233 Glenmar Road 8930 Carls Ct #4f 8614 Honeysuckle Court SAVAGE 20763 8772 Lincoln St #j WEST FRIENDSHIP 21794 2915 New Rover Rd WOODSTOCK 21163 2811 Offutt Rd MONTGOMERY COUNTY BEALLSVILLE 20839 20315 W Hunter Rd BETHESDA 20814 159 Winsome Cir #marshall Lot 113 4511 Traymore St 7710 Woodmont Ave #811 10106 Dickens Ave 10106 Dickens Avenue 20817 6706 Persimmon Tree Rd 6319 Tone Ct BOYDS 20841 14410 Foolish Pleasure Rd CHEVY CHASE 20815 4515 Willard Ave #2104s 3502 Bradley Lane 4929 Chevy Chase Blvd 3927 Oliver St 8803 Walnut Hill Rd CLARKSBURG 20871 188 Green Poplar Loop 23039 Spicebush Dr 12121 Grey Squirrel St 23133 Newcut Rd 23111 Meadow Mist Rd 23123 Robin Song Dr 21882 Woodcock Way 12121 Grey Squirrel Street 14156 Jaeger Rd 21887 Woodcock Way 21912 Woodcock Way 21921 Clarksburg Rd 21889 Woodcock Way 21911 Fulmer Ave 23524 Overlook Park Dr #1010 23524 Overlook Park Dr #2010 13001 Martz St #0 13013 Martz St #29 23411 Harnes Point Dr 23516 Overlook Park Dr #00704 23520 Overlook Park #01204 13003 Martz St #34 26208 Rudale Dr DERWOOD 20855 6801 Needwood Rd GAITHERSBURG 20877 202 E Deer Park Dr 20878 12101 Suffolk Ter 428 Salk Cir 20879 1522 Tanyard Hill Rd 7424 Kilcreggan Ter 7331 Brenish Dr 20882 9224 Clematis Ct 24517 Hanson Rd GERMANTOWN 20874 18660 Sage Way 20256 Shipley Ter #6-D-101 20256 Shipley Terrace 14014 Briarwick St 12810 Cloverleaf Center Dr 12812 Cloverleaf Center Dr 3352 Provider Way #76 20309 Century Blvd #0 20307 Century Blvd #0 20305 Century Blvd #0 20361 Century Blvd #173 20361 Century Blvd #174 20876 11407 Flowerton Pl 21929 Boneset Way 21933 Boneset Way #0 21937 Boneset Way #0 HYATTSVILLE 20781 4334 Farragut St #f 4509 Longfellow St 5609 44th Ave 20782 4919 Crest View Dr 20783 1912 Merrimac Dr 1810 Jasmine Ter 20784 6912 Decatur Pl 6713 Stanton Rd KENSINGTON 20895 3320 W University Blvd MONTGOMERY VILLAGE 20886 8421 Marketree Cir NORTH BETHESDA 20852 6815 Tilden Lane NORTH POTOMAC 20878 5 Joshua Tree Ct POOLESVILLE 20837 19603 Lewis Orchard Lane POTOMAC 20854 11201 Angus Pl 8513 Wilkesboro Lane ROCKVILLE 20850 205 Garden View Way 1511 Gerard St 20851 803 Baltimore Rd 20852 5427 Nibud Ct #14 4802 Wyaconda Rd 20853 5404 Parkvale Ter SILVER SPRING


Takis, Greek artist who harnessed the power of magnetism, dies at 93

of Takis, although better known in Europe than in the United States, were displayed at institutions including the Museum of Modern Art in New York and the Menil Collection in Houston, as well as at the Centre Pompidou and Jeu de Paume in Paris. They fetched more than $100,000 at auction, according to the Wall Street Journal. “I felt like I was in the presence of a kind of shaman, somebody who had a much more finely tuned awareness of the soup of signals in which we all swim now,” Toby Kamps, the curator of a 2015 exhibition at the Menil Collection, told the Houston Chronicle. “Takis knows who he is, and I believe him.” Panayiotis Vassilakis was born in Athens on Oct. 29, 1925. His family did not support his artistic ambitions, according to a biography on his foundation’s website, and yet he forged ahead, moving to Paris in the mid-1950s and joining an artistic circle that included Jean Tinguely, another pioneer of kinetic art. In 1960, he captured the attention of the Paris art world by using a large magnet to suspend South African writer Sinclair Beiles in midair in a dramatic performance at the city’s Iris Clert Gallery. “Our collaboration was to show that, after all, you don’t have to go to space as we are already in space ourselves,” Takis told the Journal. “By thinking that way, we got to space quicker than Yuri Gagarin,” the Soviet cosmonaut. In the late 1960s, Takis was recruited to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where during a fellowship he developed the scientific foundation of his artistic work. The next year, he attracted notice when he and friends forcibly removed one of his installations from MoMA in protest of museum policies that he regarded as unfair to artists. He became an outspoken advocate for artists’ rights. He had two children — a son, Thanos Vassilakis, from a marriage to artist Liliane Lijn that ended in divorce, and a daughter, Anna Fell, from a relationship with artist Sheila Fell. Complete information on his marriages and survivors was not immediately available. “The magnet and the attraction of love are one and the same thing,” Takis once said, according to Forbes magazine. “A magnet is not just an idea; it’s something very concrete and alive: this bond, this attraction established between two forms or two objects, constitutes a fantastic force of communication.” emily.langer@washpost.com


Troubled National Philharmonic walks itself back from the precipice of closure

The National Philharmonic, the regional orchestra based in Maryland’s Montgomery County, has successfully walked itself back from the precipice of closure. On Saturday afternoon, the orchestra’s board voted unanimously for a transition plan that will allow it to complete its 2019-20 season and stay open for the coming years, the organization said in a news release. The plan, which calls for the exit of the orchestra’s top leadership, also brings a temporary close to weeks of tension between the orchestra’s musicians and senior administration. Jim Kelly, a violinist with the orchestra who is also the co-owner of Potter Violins in Silver Spring, will work unpaid for a year as president of the orchestra, replacing outgoing president Leanne Ferfolia, who will serve as a senior consultant to Kelly through the end of the calendar year. Former board member Harris Miller will ascend to board chair, replacing Todd Eskelsen. “I am grateful for the opportunity and honor of serving National Philharmonic as a Director, Vice Chair, Chair Emeritus and Chair over the last 16 years,” Eskelsen said in a statement Sunday. “I wish National Philharmonic and its new leadership well.” Established 36 years ago, the National Philharmonic announced in July that it had run out of money, prompting an outcry from both musicians and audience members. Ferfolia undertook an emergency fundraising campaign, successfully crowdsourcing $210,000 — enough to cover the shortfall needed for the new season. By the time the campaign was completed, however, the orchestra’s musicians, many of whom said they were blindsided by the news of its impending bankruptcy, no longer wanted to play under existing leadership. “They didn’t give us any advance notice whatsoever,” said Leslie Silverfine, a violinist and the chairwoman of the orchestra’s union, the National Philharmonic Players’ Committee. “They should have been more transparent. . . . We became very unified in not going forward with the old management.” After discussions with other musicians, Kelly launched an independent fundraising campaign, garnering more than $300,000 in donations that would go to the National Philharmonic on the condition that the orchestra’s top leadership was changed. He received backing from the union as well as the National Philharmonic’s founder and music director, Piotr Gajewski; the artistic director of the National Philharmonic Chorale, Stanley Engebretson; and several board members. Two weeks ago, Kelly presented this plan to Ferfolia and Eskelsen, who later recommended it to the board, Ferfolia said. “We


How Japan’s failure to atone for past sins threatens the global economy

The price of your Samsung phone and tablet could soon go up. The reason? Disputes that stretch back to Japanese atrocities during World War II have pushed Japan and South Korea to the brink of economic war. Japan has recently implemented several measures that can hurt the South Korean economy. It has removed South Korea from its list of preferred trading nations and imposed controls on the export of semiconductor materials. South Korean President Moon Jae-in has vowed not to surrender to Japan and is planning reciprocal measures. Although Japan permitted a shipment of some semiconductor materials to South Korea on Wednesday, the situation is far from resolved. Japan’s moves have already caused a spike in the price of memory chips and are having a chilling effect on the global tech market. While Tokyo cites national security concerns as the reason for the sanctions, most experts believe it is retaliating against South Korea for recent court rulings that require Japanese companies to pay restitution to Koreans forced into labor in their factories during World War II. For decades, the two countries have disagreed about how Japan should atone for its colonial past. Now, this failure to reckon with past atrocities may have an economic effect that will extend far beyond East Asia. For a more peaceful and prosperous future, countries must contend with history — no matter how ugly. From the time Japan relinquished its empire at the end of World War II, deep-seated resentments against it lingered in former colonies like Korea. First as an imperial power and then during World War II, Japan committed atrocities that were among the most horrific in recorded history. This included the sexual enslavement of hundreds of thousands of “comfort women” and efforts to eradicate Korean culture by forcing Korean schoolchildren to learn Japanese. When U.S. forces occupied Japan and South Korea in 1945, reconciliation between Japan and its former victims was not a high priority. Instead, the United States sought to brush aside resentments over the recent past and to reestablish the economic linkages that had existed during the colonial era. Focused on stopping communism, the United States believed Japan and South Korea needed to be united in their resistance to this threat, and so U.S. diplomats pressured the Japanese and South Korean governments to cooperate and quickly settle their historical disputes. South Korea finally normalized relations with Japan in 1965 with


Olympic gymnastics squads are shrinking for 2020. That’s good and bad for Team USA.

attempted to counter that line of criticism by creating up to two additional Olympic spots per nation for individual athletes to represent their country, just not in the team competition. That allowance represents a pathway — albeit a complicated one — for individual gymnasts to earn a spot with their performance at the previous year’s world championships and various World Cup and continental competitions. As the 2020 Tokyo Games approached, gymnastics federations studied the new format more closely — in particular the caveat that allowed nations to earn those two additional spots for individual competitors (who will wear different-colored leotards to indicate that they’re not part of the four-person team). Grandi had since retired, and the entire idea was scuttled as overly confusing. But the reversal came too late — in May, roughly 15 months before Opening Ceremonies in Tokyo — to abandon the complex qualification process that had been set in motion for 2020. So Tokyo will be an Olympic gymnastics “one-off,” before five-person teams are restored for the 2024 Paris Games. So far, the machinations of the four-team format have been of interest mainly to national gymnastics federations, coaches, gymnasts and the sport’s most ardent fans. But as the countries start the process of choosing their 2020 Olympic teams in earnest, the consequences are coming to the fore. Here at the U.S. gymnastics championships, which serve as one step in an Olympic team selection process that won’t conclude until June, the four-person dynamic looms in the background. Explained Tom Forster, high-performance coordinator for the U.S. women’s national team: “When you shrink the team, it becomes a little more difficult to — as an example — use a pinch hitter. If something happens to one athlete, and another athlete you brought in is really helpful on one event but can’t help on another, you’re in trouble. So we tend to look more at all-arounders.” In qualifying — the stage at which the 12 competing nations are pared to eight for the prestigious team competition at the Tokyo Olympics — all four athletes must take part in all four events (in the women’s competition). The top three scores will count. Then, during the team competition itself, three gymnasts will compete in all four events, and all three scores will count. That means the U.S. team won’t have the luxury of naming an event specialist to the squad because she might


In a once-quiet Hong Kong neighborhood, lives upended as protests find new ground

promises to heal the sick was gripped by street battles. He did not expect tear gas to be shot off in daylight Monday, and he struggled to close the windows of his apartment where he lives alone. “I couldn’t react fast enough,” he said. “It was very sudden.” Yiu, who similarly wanted to be identified only by his last name, said he was cooking in his kitchen that same day when tear gas seeped in for a third day in a row, engulfing his chicken wings. “I had to put lots of honey on [the wings], to make sure the taste went away. But it was still there,” he said. Even the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals has been drawn in. It published guidelines on what to do if household pets are exposed to tear gas. Amid the upheavals, political views are hardening, pitting communities against one another and against the police. It all came barging into Wong Tai Sin this month. Riot police entered the district Aug. 3 in pursuit of protesters. Residents, in T-shirts and shorts, emerged from apartments to face off with officers, demanding they leave. Police responded with arrests and a haze of tear gas. Clashes continued over the next two days, coinciding Monday with a Hong Kong-wide strike. Hong Kong’s protests were sparked in early June by a now-shelved bill that would have allowed extraditions to mainland China, but demands have since grown to include an independent investigation into police use of force against demonstrators and more autonomy for the former British colony. Beijing and Hong Kong leaders have shown no sign of compromise, while police have dialed up their use of force and arrests. In a news conference Tuesday, Yang Guang, a spokesman for Beijing’s Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office, warned protesters “not to take restraint as a sign of weakness.” Chinese officials — meeting with Hong Kong leaders across the border in Shenzhen on Wednesday — rejected all protester demands, according to Michael Tien, a pro-Beijing lawmaker and delegate at the talks. “The central government has made its decision; there is no more room to move,” he said. “We just have to unite and face this long struggle.” Protests flared anew Saturday. A sit-in at Hong Kong’s airport entered its second day. Meanwhile, marchers took to the streets of Wong Tai Sin and other areas in defiance of a


‘It’s not a time to stay silent’: American fencer explains his protest on medal stand

have a cost for Imboden, with the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee looking into possible discipline. Athletes must sign an agreement saying they will comply with Rule 50 of the Olympic Charter, which states, “No kind of demonstration or political, religious or racial propaganda is permitted in any Olympic sites, venues or other areas.” The committee has said there could be consequences for him and Gwen Berry, the hammer throw champion who raised a fist during the anthem at the Pan American Games. “I met with the organizers. I met with the USOC right after I did the protest,” Imboden said. “They told me that this was something they had to consider. They were very cordial. They were not harsh. There were no bad terms from either USA Fencing or the USOC.” Imboden informed teammates Gerek Meinhardt and Nick Itkin of his decision to kneel after they won gold in team foil. Both of them remained standing. “I asked them if it was something they felt uncomfortable with or wouldn’t like me to do, and they were fine,” Imboden said. “They were supportive. If they had said they didn’t want me to do that, then I would not have done it.” Since that moment, his accomplishment has been overtaken by headlines and images, and Imboden is “totally fine with that." “I love to fence and I compete because I want to win and it’s important to me, but I would much rather that people know [about] these [societal] problems than know me as champion in fencing,” he said. The Tokyo Olympics are less than a year away and Imboden can’t rule out a protest there, a sobering prospect for the Games’ organizers with a demonstration sure to draw Trump’s attention. The decision would be a daunting one for Imboden. “Obviously, I chose to break that rule at the Pan Am Games and it’s something that caused a huge amount of attention and I would never take that lightly,” Imboden said. “I would never say right now I’m prepared to do that again. But it is something that I think is going to be a question on everyone’s minds. “I think that athletes have that power, and that power should never be taken away from them because it’s their right. I’m not going to say that it’s something I’m planning now. Right now, I’m just focused on trying to spread my


As overdoses soared, nearly 35 billion opioids — half of distributed pills — handled by 15 percent of pharmacies

opioid prescriptions had fallen in recent years. They attributed the decline to more stringent prescribing habits by doctors and increased scrutiny by their pharmacists. The opioid epidemic has also morphed: It started with prescription pills, which led to increased heroin use, and has now spawned the fentanyl crisis. “There just weren’t any brakes put on the supply and the volume of opiates that went through our pharmacies until the last four or five years,” said Kurtney Stirland, the former owner of Zion Pharmacy in Kanab, Utah. From 2006 through 2012, Stirland’s pharmacy purchased nearly 2.5 million pills that contained hydrocodone and oxycodone, or about 80 percent of the pills distributed to the three retail pharmacies in the county. In 2009, state records show that he was fined by the DEA and disciplined by the Utah Board of Pharmacy for various problems at his pharmacy, including failing to conduct an annual inventory and maintain required controlled substance forms. Stirland said he was “negligent” with the record keeping but never dispensed opioids without prescriptions. He said he also blames the drug manufacturers and distributors for the opioid epidemic. “We all got caught off guard as the years went by,” said Stirland, who sold the business in 2016 and still works there part-time. “I think there’s a huge profit motive by the manufacturers and the wholesalers. I think they kind of hung the independent pharmacies out to dry.” Karsten Josie, a pharmacist who started two years ago at Zion Pharmacy under the new owner, said the pharmacy takes a very strict approach to pain pills. Josie, whose grandmother died of opioid-related problems several years ago, said he counsels every customer on addiction risks and symptoms of dependence, and informs them about the anti-overdose medication naloxone. At the same time, he encourages people to consider other pain therapies. “Taking an opioid shouldn’t be a norm. It should be an exception,” Josie said. “I try not to alienate patients. … However, it’s my job to scrutinize that. There has to be more education on alternative options and more realistic expectations of pain and how much you’ve got to bear. I give it my best shot.” The pharmacy’s current owner, Scott Robinson, said wholesalers put a ceiling on opioid purchases and he has never hit it. Some of the stores with the top pill counts have shuttered entirely, including Tug Valley Pharmacy in Williamson, W.Va., which


Protests present a difficult issue as Tokyo Olympics, presidential election loom

Control, mistreatment of immigrants, and a president who spreads hate are at the top of a long list. I chose to sacrifice my moment today at the top of the podium to call attention to issues that I believe need to be addressed. I encourage others to please use your platforms for empowerment and change.” The solution to protests, as far as the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee is concerned, is to remind athletes that they signed an agreement to comply with Rule 50 of the Olympic Charter, which states: “No kind of demonstration or political, religious or racial propaganda is permitted in any Olympic sites, venues or other areas.” “In this case, Race didn’t adhere to the commitment he made to the organizing committee and the USOPC,” USOPC spokesperson Mark Jones said. “We respect his rights to express his viewpoints, but we are disappointed that he chose not to honor his commitment.” The organization echoed that when Berry raised her fist and is reviewing whether to take action. The question organizers face is whether that will be enough, given that athletes — whether retired or active, professional or amateur, male or female — have been refusing to stick to sports. When they compete for the United States, criticism for an action can be more polarizing and it can bring presidential attacks, as Colin Kaepernick found out when he began taking a knee to raise awareness of social injustice and police brutality, and Megan Rapinoe learned when she said she wouldn’t visit Trump’s White House. Further complicating the matter for athletes and Olympic officials is that the Games run from July 24-Aug. 9 next year, just when the presidential campaigns are heating up. Athletes such as Rapinoe, Kaepernick (who hasn’t played in the NFL since the 2016 season) and others say there is no choice but to speak up without regard to the consequences. For Olympic athletes such as LeBron James and Serena Williams, who have a professional outlet for their talents, a demonstration carries little damage to their livelihood. For Berry, Imboden and others, including Olympic organizers, the stakes are high. Read more from The Post: American fencer kneels on medal stand during anthem to protest gun violence, racism and Trump Race Imboden: Fencer who protested Trump is also a hip-hop fan, DJ and model Olympic gymnastics squads are shrinking for 2020. That’s good and bad for Team USA.


Perseid meteor shower will peak before dawn on Monday and Tuesday

benefit to looking there, however. In fact, many skywatchers look away from the radiant to see shooting stars that have the longest, most spectacular-looking tails. The Perseids are the most popular meteor shower of the year, in large part because they occur during the summer. “They’re convenient,” Cooke says. “The Geminids produce more meteors, but they’re in mid-December. With the Perseids, the nights are comfortable, and you can watch them without freezing your carcass off.” Watching a meteor shower is a bit like real estate; it’s all about location, location, location. The Perseids will be visible across the United States and elsewhere, and the best viewing will be found away from light pollution. For example, if you live in D.C. and are looking for the best show, try the Shenandoah National Park in Virginia, or farther east along the shores of the Rappahannock River. Bring a blanket or towel to sit on, and some snacks and bug spray. (And maybe a flashlight to inspect for potential spider-related hazards before settling down.) The Perseids will be limited this year, however, by moonlight, which will effectively block viewing of many of the fainter meteors. Moonrise Monday night will be at 6:33 p.m., and it won’t set until 4:20 a.m., meaning it will be up for most of the shower. However, the Perseids are known for their fireballs, or extremely bright meteors, which will still shine through the moonlight. If you see one, you’ll certainly know it! Sometimes fireballs are caused by the object that hits Earth’s atmosphere being greater in size; other times it’s a result of the meteor penetrating deeper into the atmosphere. Most of the time it’s both. The colors you see depend on the composition of the meteor. “Perseids show a strong sodium signal,” Cooke says. “That’s why they often appear yellow.” Although it’s tough to determine their elemental composition, some meteors have been known to contain magnesium, iron, carbon and silicon. Colors can also come from ionization of the surrounding air. The Perseid meteor shower has a peak that lasts a few days, so if you miss the peak Monday or Tuesday, don’t fret. You’ll still be able to catch some more shooting stars over the next few nights. Showing up to work a bit drowsy is a small price to pay for such a stunning celestial spectacle. Weather permitting, it should be a decent, albeit more-muted-than-average, show.


American fencer kneels on medal stand during anthem, tweets about Trump and gun control

A member of the U.S. fencing team knelt on the podium during the national anthem and medal ceremony Friday at the Pan American Games in Lima, Peru, saying on Twitter: "We must call for change.” Race Imboden, an Olympic medalist and part of the men’s foil team that won gold at the Pan American Games, wrote on Twitter that he was honored to represent Team USA at the event, but his pride was “cut short” by “shortcomings” of his country. “Racism, Gun Control, mistreatment of immigrants, and a president who spreads hate are at the top of a long list," he wrote in a series of tweets. "I chose to [sacrifice] my moment today at the top of the podium to call attention to issues that I believe need to be addressed. I encourage others to please use your platforms for empowerment and change.” At the Pan American Games, Imboden, 26, shared bronze in men’s foil with Canadian Maximilien van Haaster. He was part of the American team that won gold in team foil with Gerek Meinhardt and Nick Itkin. His two teammates stood as the national anthem played. “Every athlete competing at the 2019 Pan American Games commits to terms of eligibility, including to refrain from demonstrations that are political in nature. In this case, Race didn’t adhere to the commitment he made to the organizing committee and the USOPC,” Mark Jones, vice president of communications for the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee, said in a statement Saturday, according to the Associated Press. The statement continued: “We respect his rights to express his viewpoints, but we are disappointed that he chose not to honor his commitment. Our leadership are reviewing what consequences may result.” Another American athlete, hammer thrower Gwen Berry, raised her fist during the national anthem Saturday, according to reports. NBC Sports reported that the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee issued the same statement after Berry demonstrated. “Somebody has to talk about the things that are too uncomfortable to talk about. Somebody has to stand for all of the injustices that are going on in America and a president who’s making it worse,” Berry told USA Today. The demonstrations happened amid a larger national discussion on issues that include gun control, which came in the wake of recent shooting rampages in El Paso and Dayton, Ohio. Amid that discussion, some have noted President Trump’s tweets and remarks


Why is there an extra length of track at the airport Metro station?

the platform islands. The others are just beyond the stations, near Stadium-Armory, Mount Vernon Square, Farragut North, Grosvenor-Strathmore and Silver Spring. Most pocket tracks are near stations that were once at the end of the line. The pocket track at National is functioning that way right now. It’s the end of the Blue and Yellow lines while platform maintenance is underway. Trains can be staged in pocket tracks, waiting to take up slack during rush hour. And they’re used for special events. During Nationals games, Green Line trains unload riders at Mount Vernon Square, go into the pocket track, then reverse direction and head back to Navy Yard-Ballpark. The system will soon gain another pocket track, at Wiehle-Reston East on the Silver Line. I have wondered why the recorded announcements on the newer Metrorail cars endlessly (and repetitively) tell us, stop after stop, that “this is a 7000 series train.” Could someone tell Metro that we don’t need to be reminded multiple times per trip that we are on some model train? — Grant P. Thompson, Washington By the time you read this, you probably won’t hear that. The issue that demanded the seemingly obvious auditory reminder should have been rectified. The short story is that the recorded message was just for riders who are blind or visually impaired, a way of warning them not to step into the gap between cars. The longer story is this: All the previous series of Metro train cars work in pairs. An eight-car train is four sets of twins. There are chains between all of the cars. The chains can be detected by the wave of a cane and, hopefully, will catch a falling person and prevent him or her from reaching the tracks below. The 7000-series trains, however, work in what are called four-packs: two sets of quadruplets. Originally, where the two four-packs were united — between cars four and five — was what’s called an intercar barrier. This barrier comprised rubber “wings” without chains. A blind person waving a cane might mistake the empty space for a door and step forward. The original design was compliant with the Americans With Disabilities Act, Stessel said, but Metro agreed when the Federal Transit Administration asked for changes. Knowing it would take manufacturer Kawasaki some time to retrofit more than 600 cars, the announcements were rolled out. The idea was that people with visual


What we know about the 5 companies targeted in the ICE raids in Mississippi

families attempting to cross the U.S.-Mexico border. In Mississippi, a nightmare for immigrant families turned into reality. Children of detained employees came home from their first week of school to empty homes and missing parents. As of Thursday night, a little more than half of the 680 detained workers were still in ICE custody. Elizabeth Iraheta, 49, a U.S. citizen from El Salvador who works at the Koch Foods plant in Morton, took home the 12-year-old daughter of one of her co-workers who was arrested. “We came here to work, and [the agents] are not looking for criminals,” Iraheta said in Spanish. “They’re looking at work sites for people who came to this country to work, who came to fight for their family.” Privately held Koch Foods makes chicken products under its own brand and through private labels for buyers such as Walmart. The company is headquartered near Chicago and has no relation to the multinational Koch Industries. It employs nearly 13,000 people in Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee, Illinois and Ohio. Its Morton, Miss., plant produces more than 700,000 tons of poultry feed each year. Its owner, Joseph Grendys, is worth $3.3 billion, Forbes estimates. Koch Foods did not respond to requests for comment, but the company said in a release posted to its website Thursday that it uses E-Verify. “Koch’s Morton facility, which employs more than 1,000 people, did not operate during the first shift today and is trying to determine how many employees were detained by federal authorities,” the statement read. “The company intends to continue to operate all shifts at the facility and minimize customer impact.” This isn’t the first time the company has come under federal scrutiny because of its Morton plant. Last year, the company agreed to pay a $3.75 million settlement to Hispanic workers who alleged that they were discriminated against based on race, sex and national origin. The federal lawsuit was picked up by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and filed in 2011. “EEOC alleges that supervisors touched and/or made sexually suggestive comments to female Hispanic employees, hit Hispanic employees and charged many of them money for normal everyday work activities,” an EEOC release reads. “Further, a class of Hispanic employees was subject to retaliation in the form of discharge and other adverse actions after complaining.” Under the terms of the settlement, the company was required to create a 24-hour bilingual hotline to


Athlete activism is growing and diversifying, just in time for the 2020 Olympics

shouldn’t have the privilege of watching her compete. The U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee is likely to take extra measures to keep athletes from protesting in Tokyo. It already has responded to Imboden and Barry by emphasizing the athletes’ terms of eligibility, in which they commit to “refrain from demonstrations that are political in nature.” In a statement, USOPC vice president of communications Mark Jones said of Imboden, according to the Associated Press: “We respect his rights to express his viewpoints but we are disappointed that he chose not to honor his commitment. Our leadership are reviewing what consequences may result.” While public pressure could help minimize the punishment, this is also what comes with protest. Freedom of speech doesn’t guarantee freedom from all repercussions. Kaepernick lost his NFL career because he took a knee. The power of a protest lies in the disobedience, which is supposed to shock people into caring. The price you’re willing to pay, no matter how unfair, also confirms the conviction behind your beliefs. The hope is that, over time, people will comprehend the whys of such a sacrifice on a deeper level. A year ago, during the 50th anniversary of the Smith-Carlos protest, I asked Carlos about how he weighed the risks and rewards of their protest. In 1968, athletes were warned not to make any displays. The USOC and IOC knew about the potential impact of the Olympic Project for Human Rights. They wanted an uncomplicated Olympics, same as all the committees will want next year. Almost all of the athletes chose to obey. Smith and Carlos couldn’t. “Yeah, I could have went and kissed ass, cheesed, grinned,” Carlos said. “They said: ‘Play nice, and we can get you a job. You will make $100,000 a year.’ But am I giving up my soul for $100,000 a year? Am I forgetting about my kids? Am I forgetting about my grandkids by selling my soul for a job instead of taking a stand for human rights?” Their protest was unique. No shoes, black socks. Black fists. It penetrated the country’s wall of dispassion. They were vilified. They lived difficult lives because of their decision. And more than a half-century later, history understands them. They are still polarizing, sure. They also have statues at their alma mater, San Jose State. Realistically, I don’t think the past three years of athlete activism will add up to


I’m proud to be an American fencing champion. Here’s why I knelt for our anthem.

Four days ago in Lima, Peru, I stood at the top of an awards podium with my teammates and received a gold medal for fencing in the 2019 Pan American Games. The room wasn’t crowded, there weren’t all that many cameras flashing, and there certainly weren’t millions of fans tuned in to watch us from back home — I love my sport, but we fencers know we don’t draw the same audience as football, soccer, boxing or track and field. But at the podium, my palms wet from nerves, when the “Star-Spangled Banner” began to play, I took a knee — following in the footsteps of Colin Kaepernick, Megan Rapinoe, Muhammad Ali, John Carlos and Tommie Smith: black, LGBT, female and Muslim athletes who chose to take a stand. I’m not a household name like those heroes, but as an athlete representing my country and, yes, as a privileged white man, I believe it is time to speak up for American values that my country seems to be losing sight of. I’ve been honored to represent my country in international competition, and each time I hear our national anthem played, it’s a moment of personal pride. I love my country, full stop. When I look around, though, I see racial injustice, sexism, hate-inspired violence and scapegoating of immigrants. This isn’t new, but it feels like it’s getting worse, and after the mass killings in El Paso and Dayton, Ohio, I wanted to use that moment on the podium to send a message that things have to change. And I believe that speaking up and demanding this change isn’t just the responsibility of women and minorities. It’s time that those of us privileged enough not to be personally targeted by this kind of hate, whether we’re athletes or not, start speaking out. Carlos and Smith were suspended from competition; Ali was stripped of his titles and almost sent to prison; Kaepernick was blacklisted from the NFL; Rapinoe was singled out for criticism by the president. They used their platforms to demand that their country do better, sometimes at great personal sacrifice. So, before I took a knee, I asked myself the same question that a lot of people have tweeted and emailed me in the past few days: Who is this white guy and why does he think he’s earned the right to talk about sacrifice? Good question. I’m a privileged,


Suspect charged with murder in fatal shooting of Baltimore man in Northeast D.C.

D.C. police have arrested a suspect in a fatal shooting of a Maryland man that occurred earlier this month near the Eckington neighborhood of Northeast Washington, according to a statement from the department. Police said they charged Meisha Hines, 23, of Northeast, with first-degree murder while armed. Hines could make an initial appearance Tuesday in D.C. Superior Court. The shooting occurred about 10:20 p.m. on Aug. 3 in the 1500 block of North Capitol Street, near O Street and just north of New York Avenue. Police identified the victim as Wendell Youngblood, 46, of Baltimore. Police said Youngblood had been shot several times and died at a hospital. No possible motive has been provided. Authorities said Hines also has been charged with assault with a dangerous weapon after allegedly striking another person with a baseball bat on Sunday in the first block of Florida Avenue NW. That is three blocks north of where the Aug. 3 shooting occurred. peter.hermann@washpost.com


The sultry plant that will break your heart

need an open sunny site to keep the flowers coming, but they are thirsty and may need watering every day in high summer — perhaps twice a day if confined to a container. Producing such enormous flowers takes a lot out of them, and they need regular but not excessive fertilizing. They draw spider mites and aphids, both dealt with by hosing off the plant regularly, especially the undersides of the leaves. The more tenacious pest is whitefly, and the options for dealing with this range from biological controls that include ordering parasitic wasps to heavy-duty systemic pesticides, with the risk of harm to beneficial insects. A middle ground might be to spray with insecticidal soap or neem oil. The key with whitefly — whether on your hibiscus or Brussels sprouts — is to eradicate it early before the numbers build. If you are overwintering indoors, it is important to get hibiscus plants as clean of pests as possible before bringing them in. Mealy bugs can be a real problem, not just for the afflicted plant but for neighboring, healthy houseplants. A badly infested hibiscus should be thrown out. If you have an airy, humid, climate-controlled greenhouse conservatory, you can keep the hibiscus in flowering vigor all winter, but most of us don’t. In dark rooms, often way too dry, they go into a sort of leaf-dropping torpor. Hancock recommends cutting back the plant by a third or so before bringing it indoors. There will be immediate leaf drop, but winter leaves will grow to be better adapted to the darker conditions. You can then cut back on watering and feeding. The objective “is survival rather than a show-worthy plant,” he said. Put it out in the spring once nighttime temperatures reach the mid-50s or higher. It might need root pruning and re-potting. At this time of year, the challenge is to prevent it from drying out. If you’re going on vacation, “get somebody to water it for you,” said Nate Roehrich, greenhouse production manager at Brookside Gardens in Wheaton, Md. He prefers another species of tender hibiscus, the fragrant white hibiscus (Hibiscus arnottianus). The flowers are large but more delicate in their architecture, though the stamen is a confection of pollen-bearing needles. Finding it might be difficult, but at least you won’t have to drape it if your garden visitors are of a delicate disposition. adrian.higgins@washpost.com @adrian_higgins on Twitter


Marines should retain officer who sent classified warning to colleagues ahead of an insider attack, new panel finds

Gillibrand (N.Y.), a Democratic presidential candidate. It also has drawn attention to the use of teen boys as “sex slaves” by some senior Afghan leaders. Brezler was deployed to Afghanistan from 2009 to early 2010 as Marines successfully lobbied the Afghan government to remove an Afghan police chief, Sarwar Jan, from control in Helmand province’s Now Zad district because of his suspected ties to the Taliban, according to Marine Corps documents. He resurfaced as the police chief in another district, Garmsir, prompting Marines there to ask Brezler for information about him. From the United States, Brezler sent the Marines a classified warning about the police chief using his Yahoo email account, and then told military authorities that he had done so. That triggered an investigation in which Brezler first received a negative job evaluation then was ordered to appear before a board of inquiry. Marine officials said they also found classified information on his personal computer that he planned to use to write a book. Meanwhile, the police chief’s servant, Ainuddin Khudairaham, opened fire at Forward Operating Base Delhi on Aug. 10, 2012, killing Lance Cpl. Gregory Buckley, 21; Staff Sgt. Scott Dickinson, 29; and Cpl. Richard Rivera Jr., 20, and wounding a fourth Marine. The shooter was convicted as a juvenile in July 2014 and sentenced to 7½ years in confinement, the maximum under Afghan law for a minor, Marine officials said. A Navy Department legal analysis of the case said that a new board of inquiry for Brezler would increase attention on the case “in the aftermath of significant media attention to the allegations regarding the practice of keeping personal sex slaves in Afghanistan.” The police chief in the insider attack was accused of using the shooter in such a manner. The Marine Corps ordered Brezler to appear before another board of inquiry last week in Louisiana at the headquarters of Marine Corps Forces Reserve. Among those testifying were Kelly and retired Lt. Gen. Lawrence Nicholson, who served as Brezler’s commanding general in Afghanistan, Bowe said. It’s not clear how the decision could effect Brezler’s benefits or rank in the Marine Corps. He potentially could petition for corrections to his service record. Bowe and Brezler’s military attorney, Maj. Jason Wareham, said in a statement that the latest board of inquiry “reached the right decision.” The three officers involved in it, all colonels, were “extremely diligent,” the lawyers said.


New Trump rules weaken wildlife protections

The Trump administration took its final step Monday to weaken the Endangered Species Act, a bedrock law that brought the bald eagle, the American alligator, the California condor, the humpback whale and the grizzly bear back from the brink of extinction. New rules will allow the administration to reduce the amount of habitat set aside for wildlife and remove tools that officials use to predict future harm to species as a result of climate change. It would also reveal for the first time in the law’s 45-year history the financial costs of protecting them. The long-anticipated changes, jointly announced by the Interior and Commerce departments, were undertaken as part of President Trump’s mandate to scale back government regulations on corporations, including the oil and gas industry, that want to drill on protected land. “The revisions finalized with this rulemaking fit squarely within the president’s mandate of easing the regulatory burden on the American public, without sacrificing our species’ protection and recovery goals,” Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said in a statement. “These changes were subject to a robust, transparent public process, during which we received significant public input that helped us finalize these rules.” The rules would affect listing decisions in the future, officials said, and are not retroactive. They will go into effect 30 days after being published in the Federal Register. Within hours of Monday’s announcement, the state attorneys general of California and Massachusetts joined a conservation group, Defenders of Wildlife, in declaring the changes illegal and vowing to challenge them in court. “You can anticipate that we will see many states join this action,” said Maura Healey, attorney general of Massachusetts. “The way this was done was illegal under federal laws and this is an administration that needs to be held accountable.” Jamie Rappaport Clark, who led the Fish and Wildlife Service during the Clinton administration, said the people who have spent careers trying to recover and protect the nation’s endangered species find the Trump administration’s move “devastating.” “There is nothing biologically positive about the rules,” she said. “We will argue that they are illegal.” In May, a U.N. report on world biodiversity found that 1 million plant and animal species are on the verge of extinction, with alarming implications for human survival. The report, written by seven experts from universities around the world, directly linked the loss of species to human activity and showed how those losses


are undermining food and water security, along with human health. More plants and animals are threatened with extinction now than at any other period in human history, the report said. Only Congress can change an act, but rule revisions reflect an administration’s interpretation of a law and how it should be applied. The 1973 Endangered Species Act passed unanimously in the Senate and by an overwhelming margin in the House. Under the administration’s new rules, it would have been nearly impossible to designate the polar bear as threatened in 2010 because of the loss of sea ice in the Arctic, one of the fastest-warming areas in the world. Nearly 200,000 square miles of barrier islands in Alaska were listed as critical habitat. Officials relied on climate models to predict how warming would impact polar bear habitat more than 80 years into the future. The new rules called such predictions into doubt and said officials can now only determine impacts in what it described, vaguely, as the “foreseeable future.” “When you start reaching out to 70 or 80 years” to project climate impacts on the planet and wildlife, the amount of certainty about what could happen “starts to degrade significantly,” said Gary Frazer, assistant director for endangered species at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, a division of Interior. In responses to comments submitted to the proposed rule changes, administration officials argued that they were not discounting climate science, only asserting that climate projections were uncertain. “Our regulatory framework for the foreseeable future does not undermine these requirements,” officials said. The new rules would also limit the area of land that can be protected to help species recover and survive. Currently, land that plants and animals occupy is set aside for their protection, in addition to areas that they once occupied or might need in the future. Now, critical habitat that is not occupied might not be protected, opening it up for oil and gas exploration or other forms of development. Another rule change stripped away language that said a secretary “shall make a [listing] determination solely on the basis of the best scientific and commercial information regarding a species’ status,” regardless of its costs. By removing that sentence, the administration allowed the interior and commerce secretaries to consider the economic impact of a listing. Potential threats to business opportunities and other costs can now be factored by the government and