Denmark scraps world’s first fat tax

Danish butter cookies, less divine post-tax? About a year ago, the Danish government tested out a policy never before seen in the world. It implemented an across-the-board tax on all foods with a saturated fat content above 2.3 percent, with the hopes of reducing consumption of unhealthy foods. But it didn't quite work that way. Some Danes did indeed switch to lower fat cheeses and dairy products, The Wall Street Journal's Clemens Bomsdorf reports. But a lot of them simply began to do their grocery shopping internationally, heading to countries that didn't levy a fine on fat: There is little evidence the tax impacted consumers financially, but it did spark a shift in consumer habits. Many Danes have bought lower-cost alternatives, or in some cases hopped the border to Germany, where prices are roughly 20% lower, or to Sweden. The Sky supermarket located in northern Germany was one company benefiting from the trend. Last week, more than half the cars in the crowded parking lot had Danish license plates. "We did not use to buy cheese here, but the price difference for our favorite type is now more than 30%," Anitha Nissen said, while helping her husband load groceries into their silver Suzuki. The Danish couple now crosses the border three or four times a year to stock up on goods. The Danish government announced Saturday it would abolish the fat tax as part of budget negotiations there. Denmark's experience suggests one of the big challenges with regulating unhealthy foods: People can always switch to an alternative, that's a bit less expensive. We've seen something pretty similar happen with nicotine use. As taxes on cigarettes have steadily increased, smokers have moved away from those products toward cigars and cigarellos, which tend to have a lower tax burden. At the same time, these types of taxes don't seem to be losing any traction: Just last week, French legislators began calling for a tax on palm oil, a key ingredient in the popular hazelnut spread, Nutella.


Analysts fear wide-reaching fallout from Israeli strikes on Gaza

in the region including Egypt won't allow for putting Palestinians under the brunt of Israeli aggression like in the past." A number of Egypt watchers in the United States have in the past expressed strong opinions on how the new Egyptian government would handle an Israeli-Gaza crisis. Some argue that the post-revolution Cairo government is so fundamentally different from Hosni Mubarak's that it would be either unwilling or unable to avoid responding somehow; some analysts even worry Egypt may be looking for a pretext to downgrade relations with Israel. Others argue that the fundamentals of the Egypt-Israel relationship secured in the 1979 Camp David Accord are solid, and that cooler heads and rational statesmanship will largely maintain the status quo. So, if and when President Mohamed Morsi does respond (or doesn't), it could tell us much about the foreign policy of the new Egypt. Middle East watchers are also expressing some concern about Israel's once-solid relationship with Turkey, which has looked a bit more tenuous since a 2010 Gaza-bound aid flotilla ended with an Israeli raid that killed nine Turkish passengers, still a source of consternation in Turkey. Just two days ago, Turkey analyst Michael Koplow worried about what an Israeli strike on Gaza would "do to Turkish-Israeli relations in light of [Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip] Erdoğan’s embrace of Hamas and imminent trip to Gaza." In a speech earlier Wednesday, Israeli politician Tzipi Livni warned that Israeli-Turkish "relations are affected by what happens to Palestinians, whether we like it or not," according to Israeli analyst Meir Javedanfar, who was present at the speech. Turkey and Israel have long maintained an important military relationship, which could become more important as violence in Syria escalates. Even the much-discussed potential opening for direct U.S.-Iran nuclear negotiations could potentially be affected, The New York Times's Tehran-based Thomas Erdbrink warned on Twitter. "While #Iran and #Hamas have been estranged over Syria, Iran's leaders will be highly upset over Jabari's assassination today in Gaza," he wrote. "Forget ANY #Iran-US talks if conflict in Gaza escalates. ... #Iran leaders can never be seen as talking to US, while its 'eternal' ally Israel assassinates Iran's ideological allies." The Washington Post recently reported that Tehran is "locked in internal debate" over the possible U.S. talks, so anything that weakens Iranian advocates for negotiations and exposes them to greater political risk would seem likely to reduce the odds of


Shorthand

*Put Planned Parenthood in the winners column. *You'll never guess where 1,000 ballots were found in a warehouse? *#ObamaGifts: Because it's been a whole week since Mitt Romney inspired a hashtag. *Obama defends Susan Rice, and things escalate from there


Reconciliation

—Swedish school does away with gender-specific pronouns. —Washington state just decriminalized pot, so the Seattle Police Department put out this handy guide to legal marijuana use. —Journalist adopts all the trends described in the New York Times Style section. Hilarity ensues. —Is climate change on Obama's back burner? —Why we're so obsessed with the Petraeus scandal.


Wonkbook: The tax policies which could solve the austerity crisis

Welcome to Wonkbook, Ezra Klein and Evan Soltas's morning policy news primer. To subscribe by e-mail, click here. Send comments, criticism, or ideas to Wonkbook at Gmail dot com. To read more by Ezra and his team, go to Wonkblog. Wonkbook's Number of the Day: "37 or 38 percent." Top story: The tax policies which could solve the austerity crisis What's a 'nonrefundable credit,' and why it matters to the tax policy debate. @petersuderman Obama says no ‘red lines’ on top tax rate, signaling some flexibility in debt talks. @jonathanweisman Simpson-Bowles style tax reform begins by ending the Bush tax cuts for the rich. @rortybomb Wonkblog explains: Read: The full transcript of President Obama’s news conference Watch: Highlights of the conference (3 mins.) The president also met with business leaders to discuss austerity options. @jonathanweisman KLEIN: The big question is how, not whether, to raise taxes. @ezraklein KLEIN: But tax reform won't save the world. @ezraklein YGLESIAS: Save the payroll tax holiday. PORTER: The limits to charity, and why its deduction shouldn't be off-limits. Top op-eds BARRO: Why the GOP lacks a compelling economic agenda. LEVINE: The education gap matters. DIONNE: 2012's inconvenient truths. WILL: Will the Supreme Court answer monks' prayers? Top long reads Ramesh Ponnuru explains why the Republican Party is weak: Fashion disaster interlude: Got tips, additions, or comments? Economy What's holding back the recovery? New Fed minutes show monetary policymakers are planning recovery targets. Wonkblog explains: The Fed also assessed its bond buys. Read: Fed minutes from its October meeting Federal Housing Administration to run out of funds. Alternative measure sees higher poverty. Read: The Census Bureau's "Income, Poverty and Health Insurance Coverage in the United States: 2011" Is the economy stronger than it was in 2010? Calculations interlude: Health Care Romney says Obama's 'gifts' of free health care helped him win. 5, 4, 3, 2, 1...health exchange? Time is ticking away for the states. Wonkblog explains: Medicaid personal-care programs are targets for fraud, investigators say. Music recommendations interlude: Immigration Obama promises swift action on immigration reform in second term. Energy California begins cap-and-trade auction. Arguments from both sides about California emissions program. Coal is going into retirement. Global carbon dioxide emissions rose 2.5 percent in 2011. The new boom: Shale gas fueling an American industrial revival. What a terrorist attack on the energy grid would do. Wonkbook is produced with help from Michelle Williams.


Less money, mo’ problems: What China, the U.S., and Europe have in common

from a pattern of loading up on American assets to keep the value of the currency down and, in effect, subsidize exports. 1.61 percent is the current yield on a 10 year Treasury bond, reflecting the U.S. government’s ultra-low borrowing cost even at a time that discussion in Washington is centered on reducing deficits. And 5.9 percent is the current yield on 10 year Spanish debt; it had spiked above 7.5 percent earlier in the summer, which would have been unsustainable. If pressure isn’t coming from the marketplace for these big-picture reforms, where is it coming from? Each country has its own unique story, a long series of events that led to the current moment. (If George W. Bush had enacted tax cuts that didn’t automatically phase out back in 2001, for example, or House Republicans had demanded less in exchange for raising the debt ceiling in 2011, the fiscal cliff either wouldn’t exist or the negotiations would have a vastly different power dynamic). But the results are a contrast with how nations have commonly dealt with such deep-seated economic problems in the past. In the United States, it took 12 percent inflation in the late 1970s to bring the kind of deep reforms—and deep recession—needed to conquer it. In Japan in the 1990s, it took a decade-long economic downturn to bring about reforms to a sclerotic banking sector (reforms still underway). In many ways, the jobs that Chinese, American, and European leaders are doing now is about fixing the deep-seated global imbalances in saving and spending patterns around the world that were a root cause of the 2008 panic. Interventions by the global central banks were crucial to keeping that wave of crisis from spiraling out of control, and now the world is in a place where financial markets aren’t putting acute pressure on the world’s great economies. The question now is whether they can proceed with these longer-term fixes without that pressure. Will Xi, the new Chinese leader, be able to guide his nation through a few years of weaker growth in order end up with a more consumer-driven economy? Will the fiscal cliff be enough to make American leaders chart a path toward more sustainable public finances? Will Europe continue its long road of integration even as the ECB protects its nation from bond market pressures? The answers add up to the economic future of the world.


The story behind the photo: Journalist’s 11-month-old son killed in Gaza strikes

BBC journalist Jihad Masharawi carries his son's body at a Gaza hospital. (Associated Press) The front page photo on Thursday's Washington Post tells, in a single frame, a very personal story from Wednesday's Israeli airstrikes on the Gaza Strip. Jihad Misharawi, a BBC Arabic journalist who lives in Gaza, carries the body of his 11-month old son, Omar, through al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City. Omar Misharawi (Jihad Misharawi, via Paul Danahar) An Israeli round hit Misharawi's four-room home in Gaza Wednesday, killing his son, according to BBC Middle East bureau chief Paul Danahar, who arrived in Gaza earlier Thursday. (Update: A United Nations draft report finds that Omar Mishrawi may actually have been killed by a Hamas rocket.) Misharawi's sister-in-law was also killed, and his brother wounded. Misharawi told Danahar that, when the round landed, there was no fighting in his residential neighborhood. "We're all one team in Gaza," Danahar told me, saying that Misharawi is a BBC video and photo editor. After spending a "few hours" with his grieving colleague, he wrote on Twitter, "Questioned asked here is: if Israel can kill a man riding on a moving motorbike (as they did last month) how did Jihad's son get killed." Danahar also shared the following photos of Misharawi's small Gaza home, which appears to have been heavily damaged. The place where the round punctured his ceiling is clearly visible. Jihad Misharawi's home. (Paul Danahar/BBC) Jihad Misharawi's home. (Paul Danahar/BBC) BBC World editor Jon Williams sent a memo about the young child's death to colleagues, according to The Telegraph: Our thoughts are with Jihad and the rest of the team in Gaza. This is a particularly difficult moment for the whole bureau in Gaza. We're fortunate to have such a committed and courageous team there. It's a sobering reminder of the challenges facing many of our colleagues. Reuters also had a photographer at the Gaza City hospital where Misharawi took his son. The story that these photos tell, of loss and confusion, may help inform the Palestinian reactions – and, as the photos continue to spread widely on social media, perhaps the reactions from beyond the Palestinian territories – to the violence between Israel and Gaza. Jihad Masharawi mourns his son's death in Gaza. (Mohammed Salem -- Reuters)


Water: The next challenge for China’s new leaders?

Now that the 18th Communist Party Congress is over, China’s new leadership team turns its attention to tackling the problem of the country's slowing economy. China faces a number of challenges, including dependence on exports and weak domestic consumption, but one of the most pressing issues is a risk of severe water shortages. Screenshot: CNN A map from research firm Maplecroft shows that four Chinese provinces are at "extreme risk" of lacking enough water. China contains only 7 percent of the world's potable water but must feed almost 20 percent of the world's population, according to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization. Meanwhile, its people are living longer and eating more, especially more water-intensive food, such as meat and dairy. Writing at CNN, Geoff Hiscock points out that the country's precarious water situation makes it less able to withstand shocks like inflation, droughts or other natural disasters: The speed of the middle class consumption boom is so swift that unless China takes decisive steps soon to re-engineer its food and water usage patterns and supply chains, and commits to a massive greening of its industrial landscape, it risks social dislocation that could undo much of its progress. The situation so serious that it has the potential to further limit economic growth by constraining business and hampering agricultural outputs, Maplecroft writes. Resulting reductions in crop harvests in these countries will also negatively impact local food supplies and global food prices, while the socio-economic impacts of water shortages, especially in India and China, have the potential to create unrest and affect stability, as populations and business compete for dwindling supplies. In north and eastern China, home to Beijing, Tianjin and Shanghai, water use has outpaced supply, prompting the construction of the South-to-North Water Diversion Project, which aims to transfer water from the wet south to the dry north. However, others have said the water along the project's path is so contaminated by pollution that it's barely usable, even after treatment. Earlier this year, the environmental organization Greenpeace released a study implicating China's reliance on coal power for its water problems. The group has an obvious agenda, but as Beijing plans to build 16 coal-fired power stations in four provinces by 2015, they could end up consuming billions more cubic meters of water. Shale gas also uses up copious amounts of water, and academics have warned that water shortages could hamper China’s


The Israeli-Palestinian politics of a bloodied child’s photo

Left, a journalist for BBC Arabic holds his son's body. Center, an emergency worker carries an Israeli infant from the site of a rocket strike. Right, Egypt's prime minister and a Hamas official bend over a young boy's body. (AP, Reuters, Reuters) Wars are often defined by their images, and the renewed fighting between Israel and Gaza-based Hamas has already produced three such photographs in as many days. In the first, displayed on the front page of Thursday's Washington Post, BBC journalist Jihad Misharawi carries the body of his 11-month-old son, killed when a munition landed on his Gaza home. An almost parallel image shows an emergency worker carrying an Israeli infant, bloody but alive, from the scene of a rocket attack that had killed three adults. The third, from Friday, captures Egyptian Prime Minister Hisham Kandil, in his visit to a Gazan hospital, resting his hand on the head of a boy killed in an airstrike. Each tells a similar story: a child's body, struck by a heartless enemy, held by those who must go on. It's a narrative that speaks to the pain of a grieving people, to the anger at those responsible, and to a determination for the world to bear witness. But the conversations around these photos, and around the stories that they tell, are themselves a microcosm of the distrust and feelings of victimhood that have long plagued the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The old arguments of the Middle East are so entrenched that the photos, for all their emotional power, were almost immediately pressed into the service of one side or another. The photo of Misharawi wailing as he carried his son was attached to tweets accusing the Israel Defense Forces of "infanticide" or worse, feeding into dark stereotypes about Israelis' intentions. Other critics marshaled Misharawi's photo as evidence of senselessly irresponsible airstrikes. Supporters of Israel's airstrikes countered by suggesting that Misharawi's home was bombed by an errant Hamas strike. And they insisted that the photo of the wounded Israeli infant was more relevant, and proof that Hamas's rockets are ultimately to blame for the conflict. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's official Twitter feed posted the photo with the message, "I saw today a picture of a bleeding Israeli baby. #Hamas deliberately targets our children." It's hard to find fault with the not-subtle argument in support of Israel's campaign against the Gaza-based group, which does fire


ACC’s $50 million exit fee went info effect ‘immediately’

present a substantial financial roadblock should the University of Maryland move from the ACC to the Big Ten. The school has had serious talks with the Big Ten about such a move. Previously, the ACC’s exit fee was around $20 million. Maryland will also need to give the ACC 10 months’ notice before leaving the conference. How Maryland plans to pay that exit fee figures to elicit concern from the University System of Maryland’s Board of Regents, who will be briefed on the situation late Sunday afternoon on a conference call with Maryland President Wallace Loh before voting at a closed-door meeting Monday morning, according to multiple sources. One ACC athletics director, who like others contacted for this story requested anonymity because of the situation’s sensitivity, speculated that Maryland could receive financial help from the Big Ten to help alleviate the exit-fee burden. Another potential scenario brought up by the individual involves Maryland and the ACC settling out of court for less than $50 million. In September, Maryland University President Wallace Loh told The Post “The law says that when you have liquidated damages, and in advance you anticipate a breaching of the contract, we will decide what the damages will be,” Loh said then. “You talk about damages, not penalties, and it has to be a reasonable estimate. That’s the law. We live in a free economy. We want people to move freely in and out of relationships. That’s the philosophical principle. What constitutes reasonable? That’s for a court to decide. “But if the damages are so huge that it prevents the mobility, the free movement of people, then I think it’s not good for society. Others may not be looking at it from this principle, and that’s their prerogative.” Multiple ACC athletic directors contacted by The Post were unsure about the timing of the new exit fee’s implementation, citing only a widespread impression that it was immediate, given that only university presidents were present for the vote. One athletic director said the rest of ACC was blindsided by the news, and talks between Maryland and the rest of the conference have been minimal. “It’s a surprise,” the individual said. “No one anticipated this. I think it’s fair to assume that everyone is very surprised by it. The fact that there’s been minimal communication at this point with Maryland is an indication, probably, of the direction that it’s going.”


Israel, Gaza, and the patterns of the past

challenges. The Middle East of 2012 is not what it was in late 2008. Middle Eastern politics could even be inching closer to Hamas, The Post's Abigail Hauslohner writes. "Arab governments are throwing their weight behind the territory’s long-isolated Islamist leaders in a reflection of the region’s shifting political dynamics after nearly two years of upheaval." Turkey's leaders, after recent years of deeply chilling what were once productive ties with Israel, could also show greater sympathy to Hamas and to Gaza. At this particular moment, the region's shifting politics could actually lead Middle Eastern leaders to (perhaps inadvertently) aid Israel's "grass-cutting" approach. As Daniel Levy writes at the Daily Beast, Arab and Turkish leaders "will themselves be keen for this crisis to be over ASAP. Their priority right now is Syria," from which the Gaza crisis is a major distraction. So they, Levy suggests, may pressure Hamas to move rapidly toward peace, which increases the odds that Israel will be able to look back on these strikes as a successful short-term solution. In some ways, though, the larger question facing what the Israeli Defense Forces have termed Operation Pillar of Defense is not so much their level of success in cutting the grass this time around, but whether or not that remains a viable, long-term strategy for Israel, if it ever was. And Hamas, though perhaps emboldened by the changing regional dynamics, faces a similar version of the same question: Its stringently anti-Israeli ideology and mission clearly does not square with its obvious inability to come anywhere near achieving that goal. The last Israel ground invasion of Gaza cost over 1,400 Palestinian lives and perhaps $2 billion in damages; another is not likely to serve Gazan interests. Finding a way out of the patterns of the past would not be easy for Israel or for Gaza, and the cynicism that often follows Israeli-Palestinian diplomacy such as the unofficial peace proposal draft of last week is informed by a long history of disappointments. The foreseeable exits from this cycle would require historic efforts to reach: Gazans rejecting the leadership of Hamas, for example, or Israelis moving West Bank Palestinians toward a political independence that could offer Gaza a better example, as the Atlantic's Jeffrey Goldberg has suggested. At some point, though, the costs of the status quo may begin to exceed the costs of breaking it, if they have not already.


The headache of Mo Yan, China’s Nobel prize winner in Literature

BEIJING -- Barely surviving a debate over whether or not he deserved to win China’s first Nobel Prize in Literature, Mo Yan, a Chinese novelist is encountering more trouble: What to wear to the Nobel awards ceremony, which will be held in Stockholm, Sweden, on Dec. 10. Chinese writer Mo Yan smiles during an interview at his house in Beijing Dec. 24, 2009. (Reuters/China Daily) Mo Yan is the first Nobel laureate to be recognized by the Chinese government. Previous winners of the Nobel Peace Prize are the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, who China officially considers a separatist criminal, and Liu Xiaobo, a dissident writer languishing in a prison cell. Earlier this month, Guan Moxian, the older brother of Mo Yan, said Mo Yan had a tuxedo made at a tailor shop and would dress in a tuxedo for the awards ceremony. He spoke at an event hosted by a local university of Shandong Province, Mo Yan’s hometown. According to the brother, Mo Yan was also studying the waltz, in case he would be invited to dance at the awards after-party. It all sounded quite lovely. But China’s hyper-active community of Internet users, known as Netizens, didn’t agree on Mo Yan’s outfit. Many thought China's image should not be represented by a tuxedo. Traditional Chinese clothes, or Sun Yat-sen’s uniform -- an outfit similar to the Mao suit, once popular in China -- would be better in their eyes. And some Netizens even suggested he wear a farmer’s outfit. An online survey showed that about 55.7 percent of respondents hoped to see him wear clothes with Chinese elements, while about 13.4 percent thought a suit or tuxedo was good. About 30 percent thought it didn’t matter at all. “Wear traditional Chinese clothes, which represent the traditional culture and moderate thoughts of China," said one user, “Shangxi Berglau," on Weibo, the Chinese equivalence of Twitter. But another user, called “Dragon in the Yellow River,” said, “Mo Yan only represents himself. It’s none of the business of the country. What to wear is his own choice.” Mo Yan is the author of, among other books, “Red Sorghum," which was made into a successful film by Zhang Yimou, China’s most influential film director. When the movie received a Golden Bear Award at the Berlin International Film Festival in 1988, it was criticized heavily in China for “pleasing Westerners with elements


Yan is the first Nobel laureate to be recognized by the Chinese government. Previous winners of the Nobel Peace Prize are the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, who China officially considers a separatist criminal, and Liu Xiaobo, a dissident writer languishing in a prison cell. Earlier this month, Guan Moxian, the older brother of Mo Yan, said Mo Yan had a tuxedo made at a tailor shop and would dress in a tuxedo for the awards ceremony. He spoke at an event hosted by a local university of Shandong Province, Mo Yan’s hometown. According to the brother, Mo Yan was also studying the waltz, in case he would be invited to dance at the awards after-party. It all sounded quite lovely. But China’s hyper-active community of Internet users, known as Netizens, didn’t agree on Mo Yan’s outfit. Many thought China's image should not be represented by a tuxedo. Traditional Chinese clothes, or Sun Yat-sen’s uniform -- an outfit similar to the Mao suit, once popular in China -- would be better in their eyes. And some Netizens even suggested he wear a farmer’s outfit. An online survey showed that about 55.7 percent of respondents hoped to see him wear clothes with Chinese elements, while about 13.4 percent thought a suit or tuxedo was good. About 30 percent thought it didn’t matter at all. “Wear traditional Chinese clothes, which represent the traditional culture and moderate thoughts of China," said one user, “Shangxi Berglau," on Weibo, the Chinese equivalence of Twitter. But another user, called “Dragon in the Yellow River,” said, “Mo Yan only represents himself. It’s none of the business of the country. What to wear is his own choice.” Mo Yan is the author of, among other books, “Red Sorghum," which was made into a successful film by Zhang Yimou, China’s most influential film director. When the movie received a Golden Bear Award at the Berlin International Film Festival in 1988, it was criticized heavily in China for “pleasing Westerners with elements and cultural logos of the old China.” Ironically, two decades later, when Mo Yan is ready to wear his tailor-made tuxedo, some people think he is not being Chinese enough. Mo Yan didn’t respond to the controversy. Let’s wait and see what he wears at the awards ceremony. Click here to see photographs of Mo Yan in different types of costumes, posted by Chinese Web users.


Shorthand

* President Obama sounded hopeful in Burma. * Americans have more faith in Democratic leaders to be bipartisan. * More than a few House Republicans don't want U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice nominated to be secretary of state. * And Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) says the Earth’s age is "one of the great mysteries."


Army launches campaign to dispel myths about vets with PTSD and TBI

the Army in the campaign, has shown some employers are concerned about the impact of PTSD and TBI on a veteran’s job performance, as well as the cost of accommodating these veterans in the workplace. About 42 percent of employers in a SHRM membership survey believe their companies would face challenges in hiring veterans suffering from PTSD or other mental health issues. “The myth is they’re not going to be successful,” said Tim Isacco, chief operating officer for Orion International, a firm specializing in placing veterans in the private sector, said at a news conference Monday at the National Press Club. “They will be.” The campaign includes a video and online employer toolkit that can be downloaded at www.wtc.army.mil/employers. “The first step is to help employers to understand that not all veterans need accommodations,” said Jeff Pons, chief human resources and strategy officer for the society. “And when they do — for PTSD or other disabilities — many of those accommodations can easily be made.” Only 13 percent of employers were very familiar with resources on where to find veteran job candidates, according to Pon. “That’s not acceptable,” he said. “Reasonable accommodations for our wounded warriors entering into the workplace are not difficult, expensive or a burden, especially when compared to the value these outstanding individuals bring,” said Brig. Gen. David J. Bishop, commander of the Army’s Warrior Transition Command. The campaign is aimed at removing the stigma associated with PTSD and TBI, Bishop said. “People think it’s some kind of tremendous burden, to the point they can’t even mention the words, like it’s a dirty name,” Isacco said. Former Army staff sergeant Paul “Rob” Roberts, who suffered serious burns and a traumatic brain injury when his squad was hit by a roadside bomb while on patrol in Chamkani, Afghanistan, in 2009, wanted to continue working for the federal government after retiring from the Army. With the help of the Army’s Wounded Warrior Program, Roberts was able to land an internship with the Drug Enforcement Agency. “The internship with the DEA taught me that even though I am a little bit slower, I am still a value part of the team,” he said at Monday’s press conference. “I’m too young to be retired,” added Roberts, 30, who now works for the Federal Bureau of Investigation. “People need a sense of purpose, or they start to shut down and wither away.”


What’s holding back the economy, in 10 charts

Lately, there has been quite a bit of excitement that the big overhang of debt left over from the financial crisis may be starting to ease. Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner has noted that there’s been a “significant reduction” of debt, and a number of indicators point to American households getting their finances in better shape. But there’s still big debate between the world’s top economists and President Obama about whether more should have been done to address the debt overhang. Here’s the story of that overhang – in 10 charts. When the housing market collapsed, Americans were left with all the debt they had taken on during the housing bubble. But their homes were worth much less, leaving families buried in debt. The following chart shows how home values (the red line) declined greatly, while mortgage debt (the blue line) has only come down a tad. While all economists agree that this has been a problem, some have argued the problem has been largely offset the Federal Reserve’s policies, which have dramatically reduced interest rates. Homeowners may have huge debts, the thinking goes, but they have been able to refinance at historically low interest rates. In this chart, the blue line shows the Fed’s benchmark interest rate, while the red line is the 30-year mortgage rate. This is all certainly true, and it’s a good thing. In general, even if people have large total obligations, they are paying a much lower proportion of their income to service that debt. But this doesn’t capture the whole story. The overhang of debt – and who’s burdened by it – isn’t evenly distributed among the population. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke hinted at this in a speech during the summer: “Exclusive attention to aggregate numbers is likely to paint an incomplete picture of what many individuals are experiencing.” While many have been freed of onerous debt burdens, a significant part of the population still has a big debt problem. These are underwater homeowners – people who owe more on their homes than the properties are worth. Corelogic reports there are approximately 10.8 million of these homeowners, or 22.3 percent of all homeowners. Karen Dynan of the Brookings Institution has calculated that about 24 percent of borrowers carry too much debt, up from 22 percent three years ago. These people – often in the middle class -- were hardest hit by the


Wonkbook: Some Republicans move toward immigration reform

Welcome to Wonkbook, Ezra Klein and Evan Soltas's morning policy news primer. To subscribe by e-mail, click here. Send comments, criticism, or ideas to Wonkbook at Gmail dot com. To read more by Ezra and his team, go to Wonkblog. Wonkbook's Number of the Day: $25 billion. Today in Wonkbook: Top story: Some Republicans move toward immigration reform Some Republican senators just put forth a DREAM Act alternative. Read: Summary of the Kyl-Hutchinson immigration bill Read: The actual legislation More information on their proposal. @sahilkapur Will immigration reform rock the House, too? @ModeledBehavior Top op-eds NORQUIST: Debt ceiling gives GOP leverage. WYDEN AND RASIEJ: Why we need a voluntary tech corps. SUNSTEIN: Santa shrugged. ORSZAG: Discard vague tax plans. Let's get fiscal. SOLTAS: College costs aren't soaring. Top long reads Neil Lake explains why the frequency of C-sections is rising, and why it matters to health care: Mistakes you've made before happening on the international stage interlude: Got tips, additions, or comments? The austerity crisis In case you wonder why Bowles and Simpson bother: they're getting paid $80k a speech. Democrats balk at entitlement push in cliff talks. The Obama PR effort to avoid the austerity crisis. Wonkblog explains: Plumbing the depths of austerity crisis doesn't appeal to the White House. Why the dangerous deadline isn't Dec. 31, but rather Feb. 2013. Tax policy 73 percent: Does that sound like the right tax rate to you? Want to tax capital and labor income equally? Try the Buffett rule. Artsy interlude: The filibuster How the GOP could shut down the Senate. It's a fight between minority protection and majoritarian action. ...Or not. Is it just partisan? What Mitch McConnell fears. House cleaning Republicans pick new committee chiefs. (Yes, they're all guys.) Fin reg FDIC program extension gains support, but it's not there yet. How the SEC moved from lapdog to watchdog. Economy White House calls for new economic stimulus. Americans continue to pay down debt. ...And consumer confidence continues to improve. Durable goods orders also kept their pace. And home prices rose. Wonkblog explains: ...And why we should hope that one of those things is the austerity crisis It's time for the latest update from the euro zone. Does advertising help or harm the economy? Music recommendations interlude: Health Care How hospitals are trying to reduce readmission rates. Benefits expansion for domestic partners would have small impact on costs, CBO says.


FDA uses new authority to shut down peanut butter plant linked to outbreak

The Food and Drug Administration flexed a new muscle Monday by halting operations at a plant run by the nation’s largest organic peanut butter processor, according to the AP. Sunland Inc. had planned to reopen its Portales, N.M., plant this week after closing the facility due to a September salmonella outbreak that sickened 41 people in 20 states. The illnesses were linked to peanut butter the company manufactured and sold at Trader Joe’s grocery outlets. The FDA on Monday used its authority under a 2011 law to prevent Sunland from moving forward with its plans to reopen the New Mexico plant. The agency previously had to build a case and take companies to court before suspending their processing registration, but producers now bear the burden of proof to show that their products and operations are safe when the FDA decides to take action. FDA inspectors found salmonella in 28 locations in Sunland’s New Mexico plant, as well as in 13 nut butter samples and in one sample of peanuts. Since 2007, they had also discovered multiple violations relating to the handling of products and equipment cleanliness, as well as uncovered trailers of peanuts exposed to rain and birds. The FDA said Sunland shipped products despite positive internal tests for salmonella. Chief Executive Officer Jimmie Shearer said in a statement earlier this month that the company never knowingly shipped contaminated products. The September salmonella outbreak was linked to Trader Joe’s Valencia Creamy Salted Peanut Butter. Sunland produces that product, as well as hundreds of other organic and non-organic nut products that sell at Target, Safeway, Whole Foods, and a host of other grocery chains. The FDA has posted a list of Sunland’s recalled products on the agency’s Web site. For more Federal Eye, visit PostPolitics and The Fed Page. Follow The Federal Eye on Twitter or subscribe on Facebook.


Reconciliation

--Cambridge scholars are studying the possibility that robots might kill us all. --Rajiv Sethi has much more on the CFTC's crackdown of Intrade. Why do government regulators think that prediction markets have no value to the public? --The creators of "Lost" reveal they were pretty much just making things up as they went along. --A scientist claims to have sequenced Bigfoot's DNA. Eric Berger gives this the coverage it deserves. --What would realistic space battles look like? Sadly, launch windows will make future starship shootouts extremely boring. --An appreciation of prison slang... --...and an in-depth look at the horrors of solitary confinement in American prisons.


Chefs' Specials

“Washington, DC Chef’s Table” shares a recipe for the coleslaw at Ben’s Chili Bowl. Behind every great Washington-area chef is a great tale: a childhood memory, a professional U-turn, a reality-TV competition, an unswerving love for the community. That’s evident in Beth Kanter’s “Washington, DC Chef’s Table” ($25, Lyons Press), a new, photo-rich cookbook that shares histories, personal stories and recipes from more than 50 local chefs. It’s no tourist guidebook; Kanter is a longtime Washingtonian, so she focused on locally beloved dishes such as Good Stuff Eatery’s Prez Obama burger and the CapMac food truck’s Cheez-It-topped mac and cheese. With photographer Emily Pearl Goodstein (another local), Kanter shares the secrets behind some of the city’s most iconic dishes and dining destinations. What was your goal with this book? One nontraditional food source in the book is Miriam’s Kitchen [a nonprofit that provides meals and services for the homeless]. Beth Kanter’s book shares stories and recipes from more than 50 local chefs. In terms of bakeries, you decided to feature Baked and Wired … but not Georgetown Cupcake, huh? What were some of the chefs’ personal stories that resonated with you? I also loved speaking to Kaz [chef Kazuhiro Okochi] at Kaz Sushi Bistro. When he was in third grade, there were recipes on the back of the menu he brought home from his school cafeteria. He decided to make a flan from it for his mother for her birthday. When friends or family ask you for dining recommendations, what’s your go-to? The Source is also a great place to celebrate something. Estadio is always wonderful and fun. And H Street NE is a fantastic place to explore now. Beau Thai’s yum beef salad incorporates flavors from chef Aschara Vigsittaboot’s native Thailand. Recipe: Yum Beef Salad From Beau Thai, 1700 New Jersey Ave. NW; 202-536-5636. Ingredients 1 pound flank steak 2 cups soy sauce 2 cups vegetable oil 6 cherry tomatoes sliced in half 1 cucumber, peeled, sliced in half, lengthwise, and then sliced into 1⁄4-inch slivers 2 medium shallots, sliced 1⁄2 medium white onion, sliced into 1⁄4-inch pieces 1 small carrot, peeled and julienned 2 tablespoons nam prik pao (Thai chili paste in oil — sometimes called Thai chili jam — available at Asian markets and online) 2 tablespoons fish sauce 4 tablespoons lime juice 1⁄2 tablespoon sugar Garnish of green onion, sliced, and cilantro Makes six servings. Marinate


Shorthand

* Joe Biden enjoyed some free samples at Costco. * Tim Johnson plans to win in 2014. * The White House sparred with Boehner over the debt ceiling. * Obama and Romney ate chili. * And a Romney heckler was arrested.


Reconciliation

--With Keystone XL blocked, oil companies are finding ways to move the crude by rail. --Every single sentence in Time's description of the Higgs boson is wrong. --A neat interactive chart showing how different energy sources are used around the world. --The autism advantage. --New Hampshire politics can get incredibly weird sometimes. --New York City just went a day without a single violent crime.


Climate change science gets more compelling as politicians fiddle

James Balog/Extreme Ice Survey The politics and the science of global warming remain far apart. International climate negotiators in Doha, Qatar this week began talking about a climate treaty to be agreed by 2015 and implemented by 2020, when all that was supposed to be finished in Copenhagen three years ago. Inspiring. Meanwhile, the evidence supporting the broad international scientific consensus on climate change is only becoming more compelling, with three big, peer-reviewed studies out this week alone. In the early online edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences on Thursday, scientists from the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and elsewhere further solidified the link between human activity and rising global temperatures. The researchers compared the findings of complex climate models against three decades of direct satellite observations. In response to human-related emissions, the models show a particular pattern of temperature change — cooling in the upper atmosphere, warming in the lower atmosphere. That pattern, the scientists found, is also present in the satellite record. Using similar methods, they also found that natural climate variability is extremely unlikely to explain the modeled and observed results. What about the effects of this warming? In the journal Science on Thursday, an international group of 47 glaciologists concluded that the world’s massive ice sheets are currently losing 344 billion tons of ice a year, three times the rate of two decades ago. Greenland’s ice sheet is worst off — shrinking at five times the 1990s rate, it accounts for most of the ice loss. Together, melting ice sheets account for about 20 percent of current sea-level rise, the glaciologists found. “Some ice sheets,” a summary of the study warns, “are disconcertingly sensitive to warming.” Better understanding how the planet’s great glaciers react to climate change will also produce better estimates of how much higher the oceans will rise, and how quickly. In Environmental Research Letters on Wednesday, a third set of researchers demonstrated that work is badly needed. Three climate scientists calculated that the sea-levels are rising 60 percent faster than the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change predicted in 2007, when the panel issued its last comprehensive climate report. The AFP notes that previous uncertainty about land-ice melting — Greenland — might explain the UN’s low predictions five years ago. As scientists continue to articulate the risks of global warming, the best policy response is obvious — put a common


Is there still time left to avoid 2°C of global warming? Yes, but barely.

nuclear power. These efforts would cost about 1 percent of global GDP, assuming that the investments are spread out evenly over time. Speed turns out to be critical. If the world starts making big cuts today, the reports conclude, there's still some margin for error. Even if some clean-energy technologies are simply unworkable — such as, say, carbon capture and sequestration for coal plants — there's still a chance to meet that 2°C target. (And if engineers could figure out how to suck carbon out of the air through biomass sequestration, 1.5°C might even be attainable.) But with each passing year, that task gets harder and harder. Here's the key chart: a recent World Bank report detailed Now, some observers might reasonably argue that the United Nations and other agencies are being way too optimistic about the prospects for staying below 2°C, even if the world did get started tomorrow. For instance, as Roger Pielke Jr. recently pointed out, the International Energy Agency's ambitious vision for curbing emissions would still leave 1.3 billion people with scant access to electricity. The idea that the world could just stop there isn't particularly realistic. What's more, there's little indication that countries are ready to start making ambitious cuts today. The Climate Action Tracker includes an appendix with an assessment of pledges made by various countries. And progress is slow. Japan, for instance, has an ambitious promise to cut emissions 25 percent by 2020, but the country is unlikely to meet the target now that it's shuttering its nuclear plants. China, meanwhile, will likely succeed in slowing down its rate of emissions growth, as promised — but China's pledge is still fairly weak. That's a consistent theme in the report. The nations that have made big promises haven't yet fulfilled them. And the nations that have lived up to their pledges never promised that much in the first place. Unless that changes, the chances that the world stays below 2°C will soon vanish. Further reading: -- A World Bank report explains why the world should definitely avoid 4°C of global warming. Things get ugly fast. -- The ongoing Doha climate talks, explained in three charts. -- A new U.N. report looks at how the world can close the emissions gap and meet its climate targets. --And if all else fails we can always try geoengineering to cool the Earth. Trouble is, it's awfully risky.


Refugee: Palestinians in Arab countries have it bad, too

as many Palestinians say it is in the West Bank, he writes. Here are some of the Arab countries the user throwaway874832749 highlights: Lebanon: At least 300,000 Palestinian refugees live in Lebanon in what Human Rights Watch calls "appalling social and economic conditions." They're blocked from working in a variety of professions, and the Lebanese government has largely resisted granting them broader property rights. The Redditor quotes British member of Parliament Gerald Kaufman on his 2011 visit to the refugee camps in Lebanon: When I went to Gaza in 2010 I thought I had seen the worst that could be seen of the appalling predicament of Palestinians living in conditions which no human being should be expected to endure. But what I saw in the camps in Lebanon is far worse and far more hopeless. The conditions are unspeakable, but for over 400,000 of our fellow human beings this is their life: today, tomorrow and for a future that cannot even be foreseen. At least in Gaza, frightful though the situation is, the people are free within the confines of their blockaded prison. In the camps of Lebanon they are not free. Egypt Egypt recently helped broker the most recent cease-fire between Gazans and Israeli troops, and in July, Egypt eased travel restrictions on Palestinians. In addition, some 50,000 Palestinians, most of them from the Gaza Strip, have been granted Egyptian citizenship over the past few months. Before this summer, however, a years-long, restrictive travel policy meant that most Palestinians attempting to cross the border into or out of Gaza had to be escorted by Egyptian security guards, and they were sometimes detained at the border or airport for days as a result. "It's time to end this and forever. It makes no sense to travel all over the world, then Egypt, an Arab country, treats you like an animal," Youssef Ramadan, a 36-year old merchant from Gaza traveling to China through Egypt, told Al-Jazeera. The measures instituted in July ended the procedure, allowing Palestinians to cross through Egypt according to their own arrangements and stay in the country for up to 72 hours to do so, al-Jazeera reported. Iraq Life for Iraq's Palestinians deteriorated after the fall of Saddam Hussein, who had encouraged the migration of thousands of Palestinians to Iraq in the early 1990s. After he was deposed, Shiite militias began attacking Palestinians, angered by their association with


The week ahead: Monday night football, Thursday night tree lighting

Beginning at about 4:15 p.m. on Thursday till the ceremonies are done around 7 p.m. there will be no northbound or southbound traffic allowed on 15th Street NW between E Street/ Pennsylvania Avenue and Constitution Avenue, or on 17th Street NW between Constitution Avenue and New York Avenue. Arlington Memorial Bridge From 9:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. weekdays, watch for temporary lane closings on the Arlington Memorial Bridge in both directions. The maintenance project is scheduled to be done this month. George Washington Parkway The left lane on the northbound George Washington Parkway remains closed between Key Bridge and Spout Run. Additional lane closings may reduce the number of travel lanes to one between 10 a.m. and 2:30 p.m. weekdays. Beltway/Telegraph Road The Woodrow Wilson Bridge Project has scheduled a lot of night work for the Capital Beltway’s Telegraph Road interchange. From 9 p.m. to 5 a.m. Monday through Wednesday nights: - Telegraph Road South will be narrowed to one lane between the bridge over the railroad tracks and the Cameron Run bridge at 9 p.m., then it will be completely closed at 11 p.m. - Telegraph Road North will be narrowed to one lane between Huntington Avenue and the bridge over the tracks at 9 p.m, then completely closed at 11 p.m. - The ramps from Telegraph Road South and Telegraph Road North to the Beltway will be closed. - The ramps from the Beltway to Telegraph Road will be closed. - The ramps from Duke Street East and West to Telegraph Road South will be closed. - Mill Road access to Telegraph Road South will be closed. - Pershing Avenue West access to Telegraph Road North will be closed. From 9 p.m. Monday to 5 a.m. Tuesday: The outer loop will be narrowed between Van Dorn Street and Telegraph Road. One lane will be closed at 9 p.m. and a second at 11 p.m. From 9 p.m. Tuesday to 9 p.m. Wednesday: North Kings Highway will be closed in both directions between Kathryn Street and Telegraph Road. Use Route 1. The outer loop exit to North Kings Highway also will be closed. Speed limits rising D.C. Mayor Vincent C. Gray announced Friday that he will allow the District Department of Transportation to raise speed limits on two roadways well-known to commuters: Benning Road between Oklahoma and Kenilworth avenues, and D.C. 295. That could happen as early as this


Iran without irony: Official says Palestinians ‘played key role’ in Gaza war

Iran News printed this odd headline today. (Thomas Erdbrink) Iran loves to play up its self-designated status as leader of the Middle East's anti-Israeli militant groups. But a headline in today's Iran News, a Tehran-based and state-associated English-language newspapers, takes it a few steps beyond propaganda into something of self-parody. "Palestinians Played Key Role in 8-Day War in Gaza," announces the headline, citing Iran's foreign minister. That might strike you as an odd statement given that Palestinians played just about every role on Gaza's side of the 2008 and 2012 fights with Israel. The implication is apparently that Iran's leadership of Gaza is so profound that the fight was really theirs, and the anti-Israel plaudits are for Tehran to disperse. Iran's support for Gaza-based Hamas has included providing some of the longer-range rockets that led Israel to intervene there in November. The conflict left at least 140 Palestinians and five Israelis dead. The Iran News headline is not quite the same up-is-downism of Iran's insistence that the Arab Spring, which has weakened Iran's reach in the Middle East, is actually a pro-Iranian Islamic Awakening, but it's still pretty significant propaganda overreach.


Christmas tree lighting ceremony will snarl downtown D.C. traffic

(Bill O’Leary/The Post) The National Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony is scheduled for 4:30 p.m. Thursday on the Ellipse. If you got tickets in the lottery, you’re probably very excited! If your commute home takes you anywhere near the White House, you’re probably less thrilled. The ceremony will occur right as many people are heading home from work, creating major problems throughout downtown Washington. Here’s what Dr. Gridlock wrote about the ceremony earlier this week: Ninety years of tradition says that the large gathering has to occur as the evening rush hour goes into full swing. Drivers and bus riders will leave work and head smack into detours around the White House and Ellipse. The effects on traffic will ripple out from there and slow travel through much of downtown. Beginning at about 4:15 p.m. on Thursday till the ceremonies are done around 7 p.m. there will be no northbound or southbound traffic allowed on 15th Street NW between E Street/ Pennsylvania Avenue and Constitution Avenue, or on 17th Street NW between Constitution Avenue and New York Avenue. These street closures will force traffic that would normally take 15th or 17th streets onto neighboring routes. As more and more drivers are funneled onto side roads and alternate arteries, the delays will begin to build on areas that aren’t even that close to the ceremony. Metro warns that delays are expected on the following Metrobus routes: 3Y, 11Y, 16Y, 32, 36, 37, 38B, 39, 42, 43, 52, 53, 80, D1, D2, D3, D5, D6, G8, L2, N2, N3, N4, P6, P17, P19, S1, S2, S4, S9, W13, X1, X2 and X9. Be prepared for a slow commute home if you’re going to be hitting the road during this window. Try to avoid traveling through downtown until after the ceremony, if that’s possible. But if you have no choice and will be heading out during that timeframe, just be ready and try to be patient.


Natural gas exports could boost U.S. economy — but will anyone buy the stuff?

members of Congress think. That was one interesting takeaway from a big new report by the Department of Energy, released on Wednesday. The report found that natural gas exports could, in theory, boost the U.S. economy by up to $47 billion in 2020. Those gains would likely outweigh the costs from higher domestic energy prices. Yet the report also suggested that large-scale exports might not materialize at all. One reason is cost. Natural gas is relatively easy to transport by pipeline across land. But it's not quite as simple to ship overseas. The methane has to be liquefied first, chilled to -260°F so that its volume shrinks and it can be transported in giant ocean tankers. This technology is already widespread. But it can be quite pricey. Natural gas that sells for $3.70 per million BTU in the United States can cost $10 or $11 per million BTU once it's liquefied and transported abroad. Now, exports might still be worthwhile even at that higher cost — after all, natural gas prices in Japan are currently around $17 per million BTU. That looks like an obvious trade opportunity. But a lot depends on how the global market develops in the coming years. If America's natural gas ends up being less plentiful than assumed, or if, say, countries in Eastern Europe start exploiting their own shale gas supplies, then U.S. exports will look less appealing. Indeed, as Michael Levi points out, the Energy Department's baseline projection right now is that U.S. gas exports won't grow at all, given the current outlook for global demand. For truly large-scale exports to emerge, a number of things would have to fall into place — U.S. prices would have to stay low, while Japan would need to shut down its nuclear program entirely and bolster its appetite for natural gas. (If, for some reason, South Korea shut down its nuclear program, that could boost demand further.) It's still unclear how all these factors will play out. Charles Ebinger of the Brookings Institution recently took a look (pdf) at different ways the global market for natural gas could unfold in the future. China and India might want to import more U.S. natural gas in the coming decades — or they might start developing their own shale-gas resources. Europe might seek out alternatives to Russian natural gas — or they might not. Canada and Australia could crowd the


U.S. Senate stands up for human rights

forgotten and gives hope to him and all imprisoned human rights victims; it also may stop in the tracks any deal by which Gross would be released in exchange for release of five convicted Cuban spies. The Post editorial board put it this way: “There is no equivalence between Mr. Gross and the five prisoners, as Havana itself acknowledges. It agrees the Florida prisoners were its spies, but it has never charged Mr. Gross with espionage.” So bravo to the Senate for its demand for Gross’s unconditional release. Even better, the U.S. Senate, by a vote of 92 to 4 passed a trade bill with Russia that normalizes trade relations and includes human rights sanctions for the first time that would deny visas to those Russian officials involved in human rights abuses, including the death of lawyer Sergei Magnitsky who was beaten to death in prison,. The Hill explains: The Magnitsky language — largely supported by Democrats — would require the administration to identify officials involved in Russian tax lawyer Sergei Magnitsky’s death, make those names public, and freeze the U.S. assets related to those officials. Magnitsky was investigating corruption and theft of the Russian government when he was jailed. Senate Finance Committee ranking member Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) said that portion of the bill was “a powerful new tool to battle corruption” in Russia. “If the [Obama] administration uses these tool effectively we will see ourselves in the future working side-by-side with a Russia free of corruption,” Hatch said. The bill now goes to President Obama’s desk for his signature. The administration said it supports the measure. The administration opposed the bill for a very long time, fearing it would damage the “reset” with Russia. Only when the bill was broadened to include human rights abusers in every country did the administration come out in favor of the Russia-only human rights bill. Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.) deserves special praise for championing the legislation. Hatch is right that this may revolutionize human rights protection. By depriving Russians of the luxuries of the West, the bill provides a powerful disincentive for them to carry out Vladimir Putin’s dirty work. In subsequent legislation, it should be expanded to other countries. Both these actions show the powerful role that Congress can play even when the president is inert on human rights. President Obama is not inclined to lead on this issue, so Congress must.


Education and American competitiveness, U.S.-Japan relations and more [Daybook]

9:00 The Decisive Vote? 9:00 What Roles for Foreign Direct Investment in the New Cuban Economy? 10:00 Investing in the Future: Higher Education, Innovation, and American Competitiveness 12:00 Forced Labor in Modern Russia: Questions about Legal Responsibility and the Protection of Worker’s Rights 12:00 Shadow Financial Regulatory Committee 12:00 Clemency: Old Problems and New Solutions 1:00 A Wide-Angle View of U.S.-Japan Relations: Religion, Energy, and Domestic Politics 2:00 Skin in the Game: How Consumer-Directed Health Plans Can Affect the Cost and Use of Health Care 2:00 Assessing the South Korean and Japanese Elections 3:00 Economic Statecraft: Developing Partnerships 4:00 Was the Mexican Revolution of 1910 a Success? 5:30 The fourth great political revolution: 1789, 1858, 1928, and today


CFR’s Cook takes top prize, $30,000 for book on Egypt

The Washington Institute for Near East Policy has announced the winners for its annual book prize. Steven A. Cook, the Hasib J. Sabbagh Senior Fellow for Middle Eastern Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations, has been awarded the gold medal and $30,000 in the competition for his book, “The Struggle for Egypt.” Hirsh Goodman was awarded the silver medal and $15,000 for “The Anatomy of Israel’s Survival” and Christopher de Bellaiguet’s “Patriot of Persia” won third place and $5,000. The award, given annually to three new books that have illuminated the Middle East for American readers, is supported by Washington Institute Trustees Shelly and Michael Kassen. The 2012 jury committee included Michele Dunne, director of the Rafik Hariri Center for the Middle East at the Atlantic Council; Robert J. Lieber, professor of government and International Affairs at Georgetown University; and David E. Sanger, chief Washington correspondent of the New York Times.


The White House can decriminalize medical marijuana in one easy step

As of Monday, marijuana is legal in the state of Colorado. Governor John Hickenlooper That sets up a confrontation between the state and the federal government, given that marijuana possession is still a federal crime. In theory, the Drug Enforcement Agency could try to arrest everyone buying and selling pot in Colorado and Washington, which also legalized the substance last month. But in practice, there just aren't enough DEA agents to staff an operation of that scale. It would be, in the words of UCLA drug policy expert Mark Kleiman, "an exercise in shoveling sand against the tide." So a likelier outcome, as Sarah Kliff has reported, is that the federal government will take a lighter touch. Some dispensaries might get busted up, but the drug would be left alone. But what these discussions often miss is that there's a way for the Obama administration to decriminalize medical marijuana without even involving Congress. The Controlled Substances Act, the 1970 law that governs federal drug policy, is based on a system known as "scheduling," in which drugs are sorted into categories based on their potential for abuse and usefulness in medicine. Marijuana, along with the likes of heroin and DMT, is a schedule I drug, meaning it is judged to have a high potential for abuse and little medical value. By contrast, cocaine, oxycontin and PCP are all schedule II drugs, and can be prescribed. Rulings on scheduling, however, are not permanent. Upon petition from private citizens, the DEA can initiate a process that results in a drug being rescheduled. In effect, that means that the attorney general can direct the DEA to act on a petition for marijuana rescheduling. In effect, Eric Holder could direct the agency to remove marijuana from the list of scheduled drugs, decriminalizing it for medical use federally. That doesn't help recreational users, but it would let medicinal users and suppliers breathe a lot easier. While states could still ban it for medicinal use, those that opt not to would no longer run afoul of federal law. But rescheduling is easier proposed than done, of course. Americans for Safe Access, an advocacy group for medical marijuana patients and providers, filed a petition in 2002 to classify marijuana as a schedule III, IV or V drug. That didn't even get a response until 2011, when ASA sued for "unreasonable delay." The DEA finally ruled against, causing ASA


Russians say they’ll name their Magnitsky-retaliation law after baby who died in a hot car in Va.

The leaders of Russia’s lower house of parliament have been working on a bill in retaliation for the Magnitsky Act, passed last week by the U.S. Senate, and on Tuesday they said they planned to name their bill after an adopted Russian baby who died in an overheated car in Herndon, Va., in 2008. Sergei Magnitsky was a Russian lawyer and whistleblower who died in detention in Moscow, and the American legislation places visa and financial sanctions on officials deemed to have been connected with his case. Russian politicians have vehemently denounced the bill, which is awaiting President Obama’s signature, and are planning to impose similar restrictions on Americans who are thought to have violated Russians’ human rights. Misha Japaridze/AP - A tombstone on the grave of lawyer Sergei Magnitsky who died in jail, at a cemetery in Moscow Members of the State Duma said they'll call their bill the Dima Yakovlev Act, after a Russian orphan who was adopted by an American couple and renamed Chase Harrison. In July 2008, when Chase was 21 months old, his father left him in a car for nine hours while at work, and Chase died of a heat stroke. The father, Miles Harrison of Purcellville, Va., was acquitted of involuntary manslaughter later that year. Reports of mistreatment of Russian children by their American adoptive parents have been a constant sore point in Russia, but backers of the bill are casting their net wider than that one issue. They also have mentioned their interest in targeting Americans whom they hold responsible for the arrest in Thailand and conviction in New York of the international arms dealer Viktor Bout. The proposed bill drew a considerable amount of derision from Russian activists Tuesday. They pointed out that far more Russian children die of abuse and neglect in Russia than in the United States. Irina Vorobyova, a member of a voluntary group called Liza Alert that searches for missing children, wrote on her blog about the bill: “Maybe you’d better name it after Liza Fomkina, who died in the forest because the cops could not look for her since they had to be on duty in the city for the Day of the City…Or maybe after 6-year-old Artyom Novikov, who fell into the sewage well because it was not closed and died there…Or name it after 2-year-old Anna-Alyona Lomanova, who drowned in a very small and


Silvio Berlusconi’s return: Why policymakers across Europe fear it

direct political opponents in Italy. Policymakers and commentators across Europe seem concerned that Berlusconi would undo whatever good Monti has orchestrated, or at the very least serve as a distraction in the meantime. A wide-ranging cast of characters has come forward with reactions to Berlusconi's comeback bid. Here's the short list of the best Berlusconi-related burns over the past few days: *** When asked by Berlusconi if he would like to join his party, Matteo Renzi, the mayor of Florence, told Berlusconi he had no interest in switching sides, the Wall Street Journal reported. "You can buy things, not people, at least not me," Renzi said on his Twitter account, following it up with, "Close the door, it's cold outside." *** An headline in the French newspaper Liberation read, "Le Retour de la momie," or,"The return of the mummy," over a picture of Berlusconi. "Like a zombie from one of those Italian erotic-horror movies of the ‘70s, the unspeakable Silvio Berlusconi, has returned from the dead," the editorial read. ** "What Italy and Europe need is stability and Mr. Berlusconi is the opposite of stability," said European Parliament president Martin Schulz, who was in Oslo for the Nobel Peace prize ceremony. "So many of Italy's problems are the results of the 10 years in which Berlusconi was prime minister." *** "Italy needs a comeback from Berlusconi like it needs a hole in the head," said Nicholas Spiro, of the risk consultancy Spiro Sovereign Strategy. *** "The direction that Italy has been going in for the last year and a half is a solid direction, there is no reason to worry," said France's Finance Minister Pierre Moscovici. "Berlusconi is returning to politics but I'm convinced that he will not return to power.” *** "I thought we had got beyond all that; it is so unpleasant to return to the 'You are either for me or against me' version of politics," wrote Gian Antonio Stella, a commentator with Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera, after the leader of Berlusconi's party, Angelino Alfano, accused another party of being communists. And in a nod to a political rift in 13th-century Italy, Stella added: "Italians are sick of the Guelph and Ghibelline mentality, which cuts off the oxygen from political debate." *** Berlusconi has so far shrugged off the negativity. "When I enter a race, it's not to do well. It's to win," he said Sunday.


Reconciliation

- Ezra is hosting the Rachel Maddow show tonight. Tune in! - "Japan also boasts, in Ms. Christy's opinion, the smoothest, best-riding elevators." - Some cities are seeing signs of a new childhood obesity decline. - The Atlantic has a real-time map of births and deaths in the United States. - Meet the prehistoric lizard, the Obamadon gracilis, that was recently named after the president. - Scientific studies you can use: New, comprehensive paper finds paper towels more hygienic than air-powered hand dryers.


Wonkbook: Fiscal cliff offers and counteroffers

to Wonkbook, Ezra Klein and Evan Soltas's morning policy news primer. To subscribe by e-mail, click here. Send comments, criticism, or ideas to Wonkbook at Gmail dot com. To read more by Ezra and his team, go to Wonkblog. Wonkbook's Number of the Day: 6.1, 12.9, 21, 59. Wonkblog's Graph of the Day: Unemployment benefits set to disappear Today in Wonkbook: Top story: Offers and counterofffers, but few details GOP poses second counter-offer. Obama willing to do 'tough things' in exchange for taxes. Note: But we're no closer to any deal. Question is: Can Boehner get the votes? The sides are hundreds of billions of dollars apart. Wonkblog explains: On the table: corporate taxes. ...And so is the muni bond tax preference. Small businesses are freaking out about the fiscal cliff. Why that matters. KLEIN: The GOP's dangerous debt-ceiling gamble. SESSIONS: We can't fix the budget in secret. ORSZAG: How the fiscal cliff may unbuild America. GLAESER: What the GOP ought to demand in exchange for higher taxes. Music recommendations interlude: Top op-eds PRESCOTT AND OHANIAN: Taxes are much higher than you think. BARTLETT: The real long-term budget challenge. MEYERSON: A place for the Michigan union. Music recommendations interlude: Medicare and Medicaid Liberals: Leave Medicaid out of talks. Study: Chronic illness on the rise in Medicare. PELOSI: No Medicare age changes, no how. CALSYN AND ROSENTHAL: Why raising the Medicare eligibility age is an awful idea. Political fashion interlude: The trade agenda A U.S.-E.U. trade deal? Meanwhile, how talks are going on an Asia-Pacific FTA. The U.S. trade deficit expanded in October. The American export machine took a blow. DUY: A disappointing trade report. Babies everywhere interlude: Money and the banks Economists disagree with Fed policy, in poll. The Fed has been discouraging bank mergers and acquisitions. FDIC program extension in the works. Fly me to the moon, let me play among those stars interlude: Political climate change Sen. Boxer announces plans to form ‘climate change caucus’. Exxon: We're just kidding about that whole 'we support a carbon tax' thing. Money-saving interlude: Et Cetera The Atlantic Interior delays ‘fracking’ rules Michigan enacts right-to-work law, dealing blow to unions Why plans to split up votes by congressional district advantage Republicans The White House can decriminalize medical marijuana in one easy step Childhood obesity rates falling in some cities Got tips, additions, or comments? Wonkbook is produced with help from Michelle Williams.


How did North Korea fix its rocket program so quickly?

South Koreans watch TV news reporting North Korea's rocket launch. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon) The Democratic People's Republic of Korea successfully fired a long-range rocket into orbit for the first time ever late Tuesday, Eastern time. The Post's Chico Harlan, from Tokyo, explains why this is such a big deal: Though the Unha-3 rocket did not carry a warhead, it relied on technology similar to that of a long-range missile. ... [This] would mark a significant breakthrough in its decades-long attempt to develop an intercontinental ballistic missile capable of hitting the United States and would present a new threat for the Obama administration. We'll have more throughout the day on the larger implications of the launch; Harlan already has a must-read up on the dilemma that North Korean provocation poses for the Obama administration. But, for now, it's worth considering the rocket itself, a somewhat surprising success after such a long string of failures. Here is what Harvard astrophysicist Jonathan McDowell writes today on his "space report" e-mail service about the rocket's apparent trajectory. McDowell compares this North Korean launch to the previous three, all failures, highlighting the significance of this sudden success: The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (Choson Minjujuui Inmin Konghwaguk) carried out its fourth satellite launch attempt at around 0049-0051 UTC on Dec. 12. The Unha-3 rocket carried the second flight model of the Kwangmyongsong-3 satellite. Initial reports indicated that the first and second stages of the rocket fired successfully with second stage impact near the Philippines. US tracking then cataloged object 39026 as 2012-072A in a 494 x 588 km x 97.4 deg sun-synchronous orbit with a 0900 local time descending node; two further objects were cataloged in similar 497 x 582 and 498 x 570 km orbits. 'Kwangmyongsong' means 'lodestar' or 'star of hope' and is believed to be a reference to former leader Kim Jong Il. I believe the launch is consistent with flight on an 88 deg trajectory from Sohae launch site followed by a yawed third stage burn to put the satellite in a 97 deg orbit. North Korean satellite attempts: -------------------------------- Date Rocket Payload Planned orbit Result 1998 Aug 31 Paektusan-1 Kwangmyongsong-1 219 x 6978 km x 41 deg Stage 3 failed, fell in ocean 2009 Apr 5 Unha-2 Kwangmyongsong-2 490 x 1426 km x 41 deg Stage 3 failed, fell in ocean 2012 Apr 12 Unha-3 Kwangmyongsong-3 500 x 500 x


From Rice, a crisp retreat — translated

Nations, and advance U.S. interests and values. I am proud of the many U.S. successes at the United Nations, including the protection of civilians from Libya to Cote D’Ivoire, strengthening the nuclear non-proliferation regime and increasing international pressure on Iran and North Korea through the toughest sanctions ever, our unwavering support for Israel, our contribution to the birth of the world’s newest state, South Sudan, accelerating U.N. reform, and our bold defense of the equal rights of all human beings regardless of their race, religion, economic status or whom they love. I look forward to building on this major progress in your second term. Dear Mr. President, Notice, I am doing a very important job right now. Here are just a few of the impressive things I have accomplished while doing it. Nuclear non-proliferation? Repair our relationship with the U.N.? Heck, contribute to the birth of a country? Those look like good qualifications, don’t you think? That’s certainly how they seem to me. I contributed to the birth of a new COUNTRY, for crying out loud. You know who else did that? George Washington. He would totally have waltzed through the nomination process for any office he chose, with a qualification like that. But it’s okay. Really. I am highly honored to be considered by you for appointment as secretary of state. I am fully confident that I could serve our country ably and effectively in that role. However, if nominated, I am now convinced that the confirmation process would be lengthy disruptive and costly— to you and to our most pressing national and international priorities. That trade-off is simply not worth it to our country. It is far more important that we devote precious legislative hours and energy to enacting your core goals, including comprehensive immigration reform, balanced deficit reduction, job creation, and maintaining a robust national defense and effective U.S. global leadership. Therefore, I respectfully request that you no longer consider my candidacy at this time. You know what, I would be a great secretary of state. But these twerps in the Senate are being HUGE JERKS about it, and I don’t want to sit in front of the country undergoing a proctological examination when we could be, I don’t know, DOING IMPORTANT THINGS. Look, in my spare time just now I made a list of things less enjoyable than being yelled at by senators for several months


Understanding the ‘Best Places to Work’ scores

the worst. But how does the partnership come up with its numbers? The broadest measurement of employee satisfaction in the report is the index score, which reflects worker sentiments in three areas: 1.) Willingness to recommend their organization as a place to work 2.) Overall satisfaction with their jobs 3.) Overall satisfaction with their organization The scores range from 0 to 100, based on the percentage of positive responses in those areas. Beyond index numbers, the partnership ranks each agency in more specific categories that measure workplace environment. Those scores are calculated by averaging the percentage of positive responses in 10 areas that include leadership, pay, advancement potential, employee-support programs, work mission. The data for all these scores comes largely from the Office of Personnel Management’s Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey, a questionnaire that executive-branch agencies have to offer their employees as a matter of law. The law does not require legislative agencies to issue employee-satisfaction surveys, but some, such as the Government Accountability Office and the Congressional Budget Office, do so anyway. Those that participate must conduct surveys that follow the partnership’s criteria: A response rate of more than 50 percent, a certain sample size, and inclusion of the three index questions. Lara Shane, vice president for research and communications for the partnership, said a growing number of organizations volunteer to take part in the ranking program in order to use the scores as a management tool. “I think those agencies are really committed to improving their employees’ satisfaction,” Shane said. “They understand that being included in the rankings is a powerful way to demonstrate their commitment and track their progress.” All told, about 700,000 workers from 362 agencies responded to the surveys, creating a sample size that represents 97 percent of the federal workforce. The partnership has produced its rankings report since 2003. This year, the group added a new category for mid-sized organizations. Previous reports divided the agencies into large and small. Large agencies are those with more than 15,000 full-time, permanent employees; small agencies are those with 1,000 to 14,900 workers of the same type; and small agencies are those with at least 100 but fewer than 1,000. The partnership this year also created an online tool that allows users to compare agencies across categories and demographics. For more Federal Eye, visit PostPolitics and The Fed Page. Follow Josh Hicks on Twitter or subscribe his Facebook page


Newtown, D.C.

may pale in comparison with the horror of mass murder, those ‘non-life-threatening’ gunshot wounds shouldn’t be dismissed.” In other news: Nearly three decades after entering prison for a murder he didn’t commit, Santae Tribble is declared innocent (Post) Gray administration, D.C. Water oppose plan to reimburse Bloomingdale flood victims (Post) Eric Foreman gets 42-year sentence for murdering Neil Godleski in Petworth (Post) Thirty-three years for Charles Coates, who murdered his own cousin (Post) With new revelations in newly unsealed lottery contract depositions, “[l]ittle wonder that D.C. officials tried so long to keep this … from public view” (Post editorial) Colby King: Time to get serious about enforcing campaign finance laws (Post column) Gray spokesman on Mary Cheh, red-top meter bill: “The woman is obviously confused. Today has been my day dealing with the ridiculousness pouring from her office.” (Examiner) Task force: Only limited neighborhood preference for charter schools (Post) Ethics board should step in and help fix city contracting system (Post op-ed) Anita Bonds is reading a lot of committee reports (Examiner) Clergy and civil rights lawyers lead charge against new D.C. jail visitation policy (InTowner) Tim Day bolts D.C. GOP, endorses Bonds (Examiner) First developer to actually deliver affordable “inclusionary zoning” units sues the city over it (Housing Complex) Apartment project two decades in the making raises hackles in Chevy Chase (Capital Business) Gray administration finds $7 million for West End affordable housing (WBJ) Three D.C. agency heads still have personal drivers (Examiner) Is it a drug store or a grocery? For booze purposes, it matters (DCist) City moves forward with Ivy City bus yard appeal (WJLA-TV, Housing Complex) Can Ivy City bend toward “environmental justice”? (Post op-ed) D.C. gets federal okay for health insurance exchange (AP) Robert Bobb discussed as potential Oakland police overseer (Chronicle) Ellsworth Colbert, suspected in Penn Branch murder, wants his son to represent him (Homicide Watch) Summer jobs supervisor who had child fathered by young participant is officially a sex offender (Examiner) Ways to improve the Howard Town Center tax break without killing it (DCFPI) Ward 7’s Yes! Organic “needs more than a name change,” Clinton Yates says (The Root DC) Work begins on Fort Totten’s Wal-Mart development (WBJ) D.C. coffee maven to D.C. chefs: Your coffee sucks (All We Can Eat) Hundreds pack Adams Morgan church to remember Lawrence Guyot (Post) Be a hermit in the city (Post) The Big East, 1979-2012 (Post)


The week ahead: New bridge ramp, late-night Metro work

The District has opened several ramps that make use of the three new spans over the Anacostia River. (Courtesy of the 11th Street Bridge project) The week before Christmas will be mild, though a bit rainy later Monday and on Thursday, the Capital Weather Gang says. For those planning a holiday getaway — or last minute shopping — the weekend travel outlook is good for the D.C. area. While work continues on many road and transit projects, the biggest change this week is a good one for commuters. 11th Street Bridge Commuters One of the links opened over the summer, allowing drivers to move easily from southbound D.C. 295 onto the 11th Street Bridge and across to the Southeast-Southwest Freeway. The outbound route, from the bridge to northbound D.C. 295, could open in the middle of this week, according to the District Department of Transportation. The target is Wednesday. Commuters will find this a far better option than using Pennsylvania Avenue and the Sousa Bridge to make a left turn onto D.C. 295. Metro late-night maintenance Monday through Thursday nights, Metrorail plans maintenance on the Red and Blue lines. Red Line: Blue Line: Beltway/Telegraph Road From 9:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Thursday, watch for road work at the Capital Beltway’s Telegraph Road interchange, part of the final construction on the Wilson Bridge project. The right lane of the outer loop will be closed from the Eisenhower Connector to the Telegraph Road interchange. The right lane of the inner loop’s LOCAL lanes will be closed between Route 1 and Telegraph Road. The ramp from the inner loop to Telegraph Road South will be closed. Drivers should continue on the inner loop to the Eisenhower Connector to Eisenhower Avenue East to Mill Road to Telegraph Road South. 95 Express Lanes work This will be an active week for midday construction along I-95 south of D.C., where the HOV lanes are being converted into high-occupancy toll lanes. Here’s what’s scheduled for 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Monday through Thursday, and 9:30 a.m. to noon Friday. - I-95/395 reversible HOV lanes from I-495 to Cardinal Dr. overpass: Single lane closed for groundwork, erosion and sediment control. - I-95 north and south between Russell Road underpass to Exit 158, Prince William County Parkway: Single lane closed for ground work and barrier movement. - I-395 North between the Beltway and Exit 4 for Seminary


Benefits.gov debuts on YouTube

The main portal for information about government-provided benefits has launched a channel on YouTube, with the initial video being a tutorial on how to use the site, Benefits.gov. The tutorial recommends that site visitors investigating benefits for which they may qualify have information on hand regarding their family, education, career, income and current benefits received. It also recommends answering as many questions as possible, even those for which responses are optional, to best determine eligibility. It notes that some benefits may be available through a family member, such as one who is a military veteran. Other features include a sign-up for e-mailed updates when programs change. More self-help tutorials on other site features are planned. Benefits.gov previously had established a presence on Facebook and Twitter.


Study: Monkey bites are the latest challenge in the Afghan war

A rhesus macaque monkey. (AP Photo/Brennan Linsley) Just when you thought the 11-year, U.S.-led war effort in Afghanistan couldn't go any worse, the Center for Disease Control drops this bombshell on us (via journalist Brendan Koerner): Bites from Macaca mulatta monkeys, native to Afghanistan, can cause serious infections. To determine risk for U.S. military members in Afghanistan, we reviewed records for September–December 2011. Among 126 animal bites and exposures, 10 were monkey bites. Command emphasis is vital for preventing monkey bites; provider training and bite reporting promote postexposure treatment. That's right: U.S. servicemembers have suffered 10 rhesus macaque monkey bites during the Afghan war, a problem bad enough that the CDC says it requires "command emphasis" to address. And the problem is expected to get worse: As the mission in Afghanistan shifts from combat to ANSF mentoring and reconstruction, US and coalition troops will come into increasingly close contact with ANSF and Afghan civilians. Accordingly, the likelihood of deployed US military members being exposed to monkeys in Afghanistan will probably increase. The report actually includes this chart with impressive data on all 10 incidents. See if you can find the one really surprising detail. Hint: it's in the right-most column. owned by the United States military Since the war began in 2001, 2,148 U.S. service members have died in Afghanistan. Though monkey bites have not been responsible for any of those, one does have to admire the CDC for trying to protect Americans in Afghanistan however it can.


The bridge we’ve been waiting for

Your new 11th Street Bridge traffic pattern (D.C. Department of Transportation) If you hear commuters breaking into the “Hallelujah” chorus today, it might not be due solely to the holiday season. Today, the most anticipated aspect of the $300 million 11th Street Bridge project opens to drivers: A direct, no-stop connection between the eastbound Southeast Freeway and the northbound Anacostia Freeway (aka 295). In other words: No more waiting at Barney Circle to turn right over the Sousa Bridge, then waiting to turn left across Pennsylvania Avenue SE traffic to get to 295. Writes Dr. Gridlock: “When the work is done Wednesday morning, the District will have reached a very significant milestone in the reconstruction of the bridge. Commuters will have direct links between the freeways on either side of the Anacostia River, something they’ve dreamed of for decades.” In other news: Council says no to Vincent Gray’s request for more cops (Post, Examiner) During ex-offender bill debate, Marion Barry kept it classy (WJLA-TV, Examiner, WBJ, WAMU-FM) Campaign finance reform will wait (WaTimes, Examiner) And Bloomingdale gets its flood relief fund (WJLA-TV, Examiner) MPD offers citywide crime data for the first time in months: Violent incidents up by 3 percent; property crime up by 4 percent (WaTimes, PoP) The D.C. Council quietly removed a key corporate transparency measure (Loose Lips) Five-year plans are all the latest rage; now the State Superintendent of Education has one (Examiner) Harry Jaffe compares Vincent Gray to Frank Rizzo (Examiner) Today: A federal judge is likely to return special-ed busing to city control (AP) City lawyer describes in court how deleting a file isn’t really deleting a file (Legal Times) Why doesn’t DCPS require principals to conduct lockdown drills? (D.C. Schools Insider) David Catania wants to better protect your e-mails from Big Brother (DCist) D.C. Public Library’s Ginnie Cooper wins major architecture award (DCist) Airports Authority handed out decent raises this year (Post) Want a Ward 8 grocery to succeed? Put it by the Anacostia Metro station (RU Seriousing Me, Housing Complex) D.C. schools wonk Mary Levy: School closings will hasten advent of “rump” DCPS (Post letter) PoPville doesn’t want to pay for their new Supercans (PoP) Tonight’s Stein Club meeting should be quite an event (Blade, DCist) Jim Graham likes Havana and Ben’s Chili Bowl, hates gum chewing and “ballpoint pen clicking” (DCmud)


Why the Mayan apocalypse date is such a big deal in China

Chinese man Lu Zhenghai spent his life savings building this 70-foot-by-50-foot vessel powered by three diesel engines, an "ark" in preparation for the Mayan-predicted apocalypse. (AP Photo/ANPF-Chen Jiansheng) According to some contemporary interpretations of the ancient Mayan calendar, the world is supposed to end on Dec. 21, 2012. Here in the U.S., it's still the 20th, but with time zones and all, big parts of humanity have already crossed into the potential last day. And, good news: they're doing fine. Here is New York Times reporter Edward Wong reporting from the scene: It is almost 12:30 am on Dec. 21 in Beijing and we're all still alive. New Zealand actually crossed into the day-of-days several hours ago; as of this writing, it's 5:30 a.m. there on Dec. 21. A Forbes writer based in the Pacific island nation checked in an hour ago to report no natural disasters, alien invasions, or other signs of end-times. Even if the world doesn't end up exploding, today still has some darker meaning for China, and not just because some people seem to be taking the prediction surprisingly seriously. Wong also wrote on Twitter, "Many Chinese have been buying candles because of rumors of a 3-day power outage to start on Dec. 21." Chinese authorities recently arrested 500 members of a doomsday cult that was noisily predicting Dec. 21 as the day. The New Yorker's Evan Osnos writes that "China is more taken with doomsday talk than you might expect," something the government takes very seriously. "China has a long history of religion-infused political rebellions," he writes. A new, award-winning book by historian Stephen Platt documents the Taiping Rebellion, a 19th-century religious insurrection that ended in tens of millions of deaths. Osnos writes, "But these days the Party is especially uncomfortable with obscure religious beliefs because, in the post-Socialist era, many in China have begun to hunt for something to believe." The government's fear of religious groups, both extremist and non-extremist, still develops into action at times, some of it quite severe. The Post's William Wan today reports on an astounding official campaign "quietly directing universities to root out foreigners suspected of plotting against the Communist Party by converting students to Christianity." Here's Wan: The document suggests that despite small signs of religious tolerance in recent decades, China’s ruling officials retain strong suspicion of religion as a tool of the West and a threat to


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Suzy Favor Hamilton: Olympian’s secret life as Las Vegas escort

Suzy Favor Hamilton at the 2001 World Championships. (Laura Rauch / AP) Suzy Favor Hamilton, a three-time Olympian and middle-distance runner, has admitted that she led a secret life as a $600-an-hour escort in Las Vegas. In an interview that first appeared on thesmokinggun.com, Favor Hamilton apologized and called working as an escort a “huge mistake.” “I take full responsibility for my mistakes. I’m not the victim and I’m not going that route,” Favor Hamilton said. “I’m owning up to what I did. I would not blame anybody except myself. … Everybody in this world makes mistakes. I made a huge mistake. Huge.” Favor Hamilton, 44, used the alias Kelly Lundy as she booked dates in Vegas, Los Angeles, Chicago and Houston while she worked for Haley Heston’s Private Collection service. However, her true identity was revealed when she confided in several male clients and she acknowledged that she was Kelly when approached by a Smoking Gun reporter. Favor Hamilton, who lives in the Madison, Wis., area, is married to her college sweetheart and is the mother of a 7-year-old girl. “He tried, he tried to get me to stop,” Favor Hamilton said of her husband. “He wasn’t supportive at all.” In a series of tweets this afternoon, she said: “I realize I have made highly irrational choices and I take full responsibility for them. I am not a victim here and knew what I was doing. I was drawn to escorting in large part because it provided many coping mechanisms for me when I was going through a very challenging time with my marriage and my life. It provided an escape from a life that I was struggling in. It was a double life. I do not expect people to understand, but the reasons for doing this made sense to me at the time and were very much related to depression. As crazy as I know it seems, I never thought I would be exposed, therefore never hurting anybody.” Nike Running Commercial - Scary Favor Hamilton, who was featured in an edgy Nike ad in 2000, is also a motivational speaker and real-estate agent who told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinal last summer that she had struggled to overcome anxiety, self-doubt, an eating disorder and postpartum depression. The Smoking Gun story indicates that she began her secret life a year ago. She on her profile on the Haley Heston site:


Wonkbook: The death of ‘Plan B’

morning policy news primer. To subscribe by e-mail, click here. Send comments, criticism, or ideas to Wonkbook at Gmail dot com. To read more by Ezra and his team, go to Wonkblog. Wonkbook's Number of the Day: $1 billion. Wonkblog's Graph of the Day: Today in Wonkbook: Top story: The breakdown of 'Plan B' Boehner abandons his 'Plan B.' @ezraklein How it crumbled. @sahilkapur Obama hopeful of finding ‘bipartisan solution quickly’. @RonBrownstein Is Boehner's speakership in jeopardy? Wonkblog explains: What progressives are pushing for now in a fiscal cliff deal. @DouthatNYT The CEOs are panicking now. @TPCarney Gauging the tax impact on small business. @RonBrownstein Administration says furloughs are possible, but not immediately. @ezraklein Mortgage relief is also on the line. @jbarro CILLIZZA: The importance of a swing and a miss. @ezraklein BERNSTEIN: Don't overthink the 'Plan B' failure. @moorehn KLEIN: Is Obama’s plan better than going off the fiscal cliff? @justinwolfers KRUGMAN: Taxes hold 'em. @JohnJHarwood BROOKS: Strangers in the night. DEMUTH: The real cliff. CARLSON: How 'bout $550k for a magic number? Music recommendations interlude: The gun-control process begins Biden kicks off guns commission. Boehner: I’ll consider gun violence task force’s recommendations. They want input from police. Mental-health records missing from gun-dealer database. To get gun control policy, we need data. ALTER: Gun control, but please, by any other name. NASA interlude: Economy Third-quarter growth was revised to 3.1 percent. …But things look pretty rotten for the fourth quarter. More home buyers, slimmer pickings. The fed's tough forecasting job. Here come the risky corporate loans? Read: The report from the U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency Should we force banks to take write-downs early? IRWIN: Macroeconomics is not a morality play. 2012 interlude: Implementing the Affordable Care Act Medicare discloses details of carrot-and-stick hospital program. How the bonuses and penalties are calculated. Chart: Hospital bonuses and penalties HHS approves healthcare exchanges in 3 states. 1960s interlude: Green policy Court won't revisit greenhouse gas ruling. Air pollution now kills more people than high cholesterol. Census: Oil-and-gas heavy North Dakota is fastest-growing state. Wonkbookmarks interlude: Et Cetera The death of the death sentence Interview: Barak Orbach, professor of law and director of the Business Law Program at the University of Arizona, and Robert Bork expert Why is maple syrup controlled by a Quebec cartel anyway? Got tips, additions, or comments? Wonkbook is produced with help from Michelle Williams.


Shorthand

* Obama responded to gun control advocates. * The National Rifle Association had its own response. * John Kerry got nominated. * Hagel was forgiven. * Boehner doesn't know how we'll get a deal; Obama suggests eggnog and heads to Hawaii.