U.S. Army mass murderer: ‘The hate grows not only for insurgents, but towards everyone who isn’t American.’

Staff Sgt. Robert Bales, left, takes part in an exercise at the National Training Center at Fort Irwin, Calif. (Spec. Ryan Hallock/DVIDS via AP) Robert Bales did unspeakable things. As a staff sergeant in the U.S. Army serving his fourth combat tour, Bales suddenly went berserk on March 11, 2012. He crept out of his base in the Kandahar province of Afghanistan, stole through two villages at night and systematically slaughtered 16 civilians, including women and children. Then he turned himself in, but not before setting his victims’ bodies ablaze. [Afghan rampage suspect Robert Bales was a soldier strained by deployments] Bales’s murderous meltdown remains arguably the worst atrocity of the Afghanistan war. In 2013, he admitted to the killings and was sentenced to life in prison. But it also remains one of the most mysterious moments in a conflict approaching its 14th anniversary. When asked by a military judge in 2012 why he killed children the same age as his own kids back in the United States, Bales replied: “I’ve asked that question a million times, and there is not a good reason in the world for the horrible things I did.” In the absence of an explanation, various theories emerged: Bales suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder; he was pumping steroids; he was strained from excessive deployments; he was under extreme financial stress with two homes underwater back in the United States; he had snapped after witnessing another soldier lose his leg the day before. According to one article, the problem wasn’t Bales but the anti-malarial pills he was popping. “Mefloquine can mess with the mind in more serious ways, causing confusion, hallucinations, and paranoia,” Wired reported. “I like to say this drug is like a horror show in a pill,” Remington Nevin, a doctor, told the magazine. But in a letter written by Bales disclosed recently, he suggests that the source of his horrors was simpler still: war itself. “My mind was consumed by war,” Bales wrote to a senior Army officer late last year as he made a plea for clemency. “I planted war and hate for the better part of 10 years and harvested violence.” Thousands of other Americans have served in combat without snapping and slaughtering innocent civilians, of course. But in his letters, Bales portrays himself as a regular guy who lost his way in the fog of war. “After being in prison two


The conflict equilibrium of Russian-American relations

sanctions are kept in place, so that they’re not just seen as one-time punishments that are then able to be waited out by countries that continue to violate international law and international norms, but rather, we need to maintain the pressure, show that there cannot be cracks in the transatlantic unity, and show that the costs are just going to continue to grow for Russia. And that is what ultimately we hope will affect Russian calculus and allow for a return to peace and stability in Ukraine and the broader region. So, again, sanctions are a tool that can have an immediate impact in deterring actions by governments like Russia. But over the longer term, they need to be sustained to steadily inform the calculus of countries like Russia that are acting outside of international norms. And the key part from senior director for Europe Charles Kupchan: [O]ne other effective tool that we’ve seen quite recently is making clear that there are Russians operating in Ukraine and that some of those Russians are being killed. And the presence of Russian troops in eastern Ukraine is something that the Russian government has tried to deny, but the more evidence and the more public evidence there is of that presence, the more pressure there is on Vladimir Putin. And now the American position becomes clear. For the U.S., the key isn’t just to maintain the sanctions, but to maintain the state of geopolitical uncertainty in the region. That’s the only way to deter private investors from inching back into the Russian market. If the current sanctions stay stable, then private investors are likely to do that very thing. So it appears that both Russia and the United States have a vested interest in continued conflict. Russia wants to weaken Ukraine, not be seen as knuckling under to sanctions, and wait for fissures to appear in the Western alliance. But the United States sees the calculus of conflict a bit differently. U.S. officials think that continued conflict will help to perpetuate the sanctions and the number of dead Russian soldiers in Ukraine. This elevates geopolitical risk and makes it harder for Putin to suppress the domestic costs of his Ukraine adventure. International relations scholars are not keen about talking about cases in which the stable equilibrium appears to be continued conflict and crisis. But this relationship appears to be one of those cases.


Wegmans coming to Tysons as part of Capital One headquarters

The Wegmans supermarket in Lanham, Md. (Photo by Mark Gail/The Washington Post) Wegmans plans to open an urban-style store in Tysons Corner as part of a massive expansion of Capital One’s corporate headquarters the two companies announced Monday. The store will be part of a mixed-use building with either apartments or offices upstairs on Capital One’s property at the intersection of the Capital Beltway and Route 123 near the McLean stop on the Silver Line. Final details and approvals of the planned store are still being finalized but Capital One plans to have Wegmans open there in 2019, the company said in a statement. It could be the third smaller, urban-style store for the chain, following locations near its own headquarters in Rochester, N.Y. and in suburban Boston. “We do real well in proximity to office buildings not only because of the lunchtime business but because people pick up things on the way home,” said Ralph Uttaro, senior vice president of real estate for Wegmans. Uttaro said he expects the urban-style Tysons store to be about 80,000 square feet, while most of the company’s stores in rural or suburban areas of the commonwealth are at least 120,000 square feet. He said the company decided to move forward after seeing strong sales at its second smaller, urban store, in Chestnut Hill, Mass. “That store is kind of a vertical-style building. It opened last June and it’s done pretty successfully. It pretty much has all of our offerings but scaled down a little bit,” Uttaro said. With the Silver Line running, high-rise apartments open for rent and developers planning millions of square feet of new projects, grocery stores and other retailers have begun to take to Tysons. [Related: For high-end apartments in the Washington area, signs of a renters market] Wegmans’ announcement that it finally has a deal to open comes a month after Whole Foods landed its own Tysons location, which will be part of a development called the Boro near the Greensboro Metro stop. Wegmans has popular stores in Fairfax and Lanham and has been scouring Tysons and D.C. for more locations. A previously proposed deal to open in Tysons fell through. The planned store will be part of a massive headquarters expansion for Capital One, including a headquarters tower that will be the second tallest building in the area after the Washington Monument. [Related: Fairfax approves Capital One headquarters]


Main Street Morning: Kansas to limit ATM withdrawals for welfare recipients

A customer uses an ATM (automated teller machine) at a Toronto-Dominion (TD) Bank branch in downtown Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, on Thursday, May 28, 2015. Toronto-Dominion Bank said fiscal second-quarter profit fell 6.5 percent as the lender took a C$228 million ($183 million) restructuring charge. Photographer: Ben Nelms/Bloomberg Welcome to Main Street Morning, The Washington Post’s daily collection of news affecting entrepreneurs, start-ups and small businesses with a special focus on policy and government. Here’s what’s affecting my small business my clients and other entrepreneurs today. Washington - Inside the fight to take a $90 billion ship program off the Navy’s books. The Elections - Hillary Clinton sounds a populist note at a fast food workers’ convention and appears to be dispensing with her husband’s electoral strategy. The Economy - How GDP metrics distort our view of the economy. - The ugly truth behind the Fed’s quantitative easing. - Here’s what may be saving the economy, according to Larry Kudlow. - Good news for the economy: The prime working age group has started to grow again Management - How to build a world-class team without funding. - Eight things to think about before giving employees a raise. - Among large U.S.-based companies not currently paying a dividend, Google stands out as having a disproportionately high percentage of its assets in cold, hard cash. Restaurants - Egg rationing has officially begun. Entrepreneurs - How this 28-year-old turned a website he built when he was 12 into a media empire. - Why entrepreneurs who improve society make more profit. - What it’s like to make your living as a clown. - This young entrepreneur is primed to take on Silicon Valley. - An e-cigs entrepreneur says his industry needs regulation. Finance - The downside of having a strong IPO valuation. Start-ups - A doctor explains how he started a family medicine practice for $11,000. - This start-up helps companies trawl the dark web to catch data leaks sooner. Technology - Twenty productivity apps to keep you on task. Retail - How this grocery store has survived for 60 years. Online - Amazon is hiring a dream team to build its first PC game. Social Media - Facebook wades into a trademark dispute with a start-up called Designbook. Ideas - The first-ever drug to treat a low sex drive in women is crashing into the complex and little-understood reality of female sexuality. -


Who won at last night’s Rammy Awards, D.C.’s annual restaurant prom

On Sunday night, the Washington area's restaurant glitterati -- plus schlubs like us stumbling around in high heels -- gathered at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center for the annual Rammy Awards. Every year, the Restaurant Association Metropolitan Washington gathers to honor its member restaurants and chefs (non-members are ineligible for the awards) with the winners chosen by an anonymous volunteer panel. The public, to the tune of about 6,000 people, also cast its vote in four categories. [Rammy Awards change judging process, but is this the right recipe for legitimacy?] Victor Albisu of Del Campo and Taco Bamba took home chef of the year at the Rammys -- and stayed on stage as long as he darn well pleased. (Amanda Voisard for The Washington Post) The black-tie event brought out its share of dresses long and short, tuxes and, oh, yeah, that tie-dyed suit we spotted behind the Atlas Brew Works table. And kilts! We spied multiple examples of this traditional Scottish apparel, including the one worn by Scott Harris, whose Catoctin Creek distillery, run with his wife, Becky, collected the award for regional food and beverage producer of the year. The evening also included a moving tribute to late restaurateur Mark Kuller, who died of cancer last fall, by his brother and son. And developer Herb Miller, who received the Duke Zeibert Capital Achievement Award, shared details about a new regional food hub set to come to Ward 8: The Greenhouse will feature a market run by FreshFarm Markets, a "center for healthy living" and more. Award winners were mostly on their best behavior. We appreciated the brevity of Cedric Maupillier's acceptance speech for Mintwood Place's win for upscale casual restaurant of the year, as well as pastry chef of the year Aggie Chin's cute on-stage selfie she took for her mom. Ruth Gresser, owner of best beer program winner Pizzeria Paradiso, and chef of the year Victor Albisu of Del Campo and Taco Bamba, both good-naturedly but confidently fought off efforts to get them to stop talking and move off the stage. After the ceremony, things really loosened up, especially on the dance floor. But if you assumed that everyone would be feasting on top-shelf bites at a celebration of the local dining scene, sorry to disappoint: The food ranged from smoked salmon to lunch-meat sliced turkey sandwiches. A recap of last night's winners: And the Restaurant


Mom who uses medical marijuana faces up to 30 years in prison

Rica Madrid poses for a photograph as she smokes pot in her home on the first day of legal possession of marijuana for recreational purposes, Thursday, Feb. 26, 2015, in Washington. Democratic Mayor Muriel Bowser defied threats from Congress by implementing a voter-approved initiative on Thursday, making the city the only place east of the Mississippi River where people can legally grow and share marijuana in private. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon) Correction: Medical marijuana or medical CBD oil is legal in all but 12 states: Idaho, North and South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Louisiana, Arkansas, Florida, Indiana, Ohio, West Virginia and Pennsylvania. An earlier version incorrectly included Michigan on that list. Michigan voters approved a measure to legalize medical marijuana in 2008. The story has been corrected. With a wave of legalization measures in recent years, marijuana in some form is now legal in 38 states. But in the 12 where it is not — a swath of the west and Midwest, including Kansas, Nebraska and the Dakotas, and in the rust belt states of Ohio, Indiana and Pennsylvania — parents whose use of the drug would be legal elsewhere are losing their children and often seen as irresponsible parenting pariahs. In March, Child Protective Service workers took Shona Banda’s 11-year-old son from her home in Garden City, Kansas, saying her use of marijuana to control debilitating Crohn’s Disease put the child in danger. Last Friday, the state of Kansas charged Banda with five felony counts of possession of marijuana with the intent to distribute, manufacturing Tetrahydrocannabinol, an oil extracted from marijuana, two counts of possession of drug paraphernalia and one count of child endangerment. Banda, who will turn herself in to authorities June 15, according to her attorney, could face a maximum of 30 years in prison. On the day she was charged, June 5, the Louisiana state legislature sent a bill to legalize medical marijuana to Republican Gov. Bobby Jindal, who’d indicated he’d sign it, and the Detroit Free Press reported that establishment Republicans are backing a recreational marijuana bill for 2016. It was also the day Amber Thurmond, of Arizona, appeared in family court in Hays, Kansas and was told by a judge that if she ever wanted to be reunited with her nine-year-old daughter, Thurmond would have to move to Kansas. Thurmond lives in Arizona, where medical marijuana is legal, uses medical marijuana to control seizures and works


Updates: Strong to severe thunderstorms affecting parts of D.C. area this evening

2-hour radar loop. Refresh page to update. 10:15 p.m. update: 8:40 p.m. update: Could see more storms late eve, but for now quiet behind back edge now reaching W MoCo & NW Fairfax co http://t.co/z8GiZisgf3 8:10 p.m. update: Radar at 8 p.m. (Weather Underground) 7:45 p.m. update: 7:40 p.m. update: 7:18 p.m. update: New Severe T'storm Warning now covers NW quadrant of immediate DC area til 8pm http://t.co/Y6rsccchUB 6:50 p.m. update: Severe T'storm Warning due west of Beltway incl much of Fairfax co til 7:15pm. Hail & 60mph+ winds http://t.co/M2FLcPkzEt 6:30 p.m. update: 4 Severe T'storm Warnings currently in effect NW and W of DC (see yellow boxes) http://t.co/X3cEWLKGaE 6:10 p.m. update: They do note, however, that any flash flooding will likely be scattered as opposed to widespread, and with every passing hour, and the loss of our daytime heating, we also lose the potential for extreme rainfall rates. (National Weather Service) 5:59 p.m. update: There’s a long line of storms that has set up from Winchester to Hagerstown that will reach Frederick first and then our other far northwest suburbs after that. Another severe thunderstorm is moving east-northeast just south of Front Royal, and should be in our far western suburbs (northern Fauquier, southern Loudoun) between 6:30 and 6:50 p.m. In general we’re thinking the next round of storms will be moving through the immediate metro starting around 7 p.m., from west to east, with an emphasis on the northern suburbs. 5:39 p.m. update: Kettering, Woodmore, Westphalia are next, along with the Six Flags area. This storm will probably reach Bowie in the next 15 minutes or so. 5:30 p.m. update: Shelf cloud arrives at Freedom Plaza. #DC #thunderstorm @capitalweather @jimcantore http://t.co/92SiE3T3c3 5:26 p.m. update: (RadarScope) 5:20 p.m. update: The District is next — time to get indoors! (RadarScope) @capitalweather Courthouse 5:17, here she comes! http://t.co/I1bdHnLNcI 5:12 p.m. update: (RadarScope) 5:00 p.m. update: (RadarScope) Skies are getting dark at DCA! #DCA tower ahead of svr TS @capitalweather @NWS_BaltWash attm http://t.co/kCn1p5uesi 4:45 p.m. update: (RadarScope) 4:15 p.m. update: The Storm Prediction Center notes that we are not in a particularly large risk of tornadoes, but “a couple” are possible, and thus the watch. The more likely threats this evening are strong winds with gusts up to 70 mph, and isolated large hail around an inch or 1.5 inches in diameter. Area in tornado watch through 8 p.m. (National Weather Service)


Going Nowhere at Conventional Speeds

The new Republican governor of Maryland said something unexpected last week. He wants a world-class Maglev Train zipping between DC and Baltimore. He saw one in Japan, and the sales dazzle captivated him, as it was designed to do. Here is a governor who hasn’t even backed the more modest light-rail Purple Line, which would connect Metro stations in his state. He leapfrogged all the way up to levitation. It got a story in the paper, but his idea was greeted mostly with scoffing. I’d like to scoff a little less. First, though, I want to say I hope the governor also takes an acute interest in getting the management of Metro cleaned up, which even a big-government liberal type like me can see is a dysfunctional mess. But that aside, here’s why things like Maglev may be the best future possibility for us. We’re looking for (or ought to be) ways to spread the wealth this country generates. Robots are going to be taking ever more traditional jobs, and we are going to face some choices. We can leave people unemployed and impoverished, unemployed and on the dole and slightly less impoverished, underemployed at bad wages and still impoverished, or find something interesting for people to do at decent wages. And because I have thoroughly telegraphed my punch, you guessed it! PUBLIC WORKS! Why not build awesome technological infrastructure, to spread the wealth, and, um, have some awesome technological infrastructure when we’re done? (We could do the same with internet speed, btw). Is Maglev “too expensive” or “impractical”? Depends on what scale you are measuring. Trains always come out as impractical if you conveniently don’t count certain costs from the alternatives. Like airplanes, for example. They have a huge hidden cost in climate that we are going to have to face eventually.


Ripped from the pages of a George Pelecanos novel

Did anyone else notice that this DC multiple-murder case seems just like a Pelecanos story? Check out the latest headline, “D.C. Mansion Murder Suspect Is Innocent Because He Hates Pizza, Lawyer Says”: Robin Flicker, a lawyer who has represented suspect Wint in the past but has not been officially hired as his defense attorney, says police are zeroing in on Wint because his DNA was found on pizza at the crime scene. The only problem, Flicker said is that Wint doesn’t like pizza. “He doesn’t eat pizza,” Flicker told ABC News. “If he were hungry, he wouldn’t order pizza.” When I saw the DC setting, the local businessman, the manhunt, and the horror/comic story of a pizza-ordering killer, I thought about Pelecanos immediately. And then I noticed that the victim’s family was Greek. Can’t get more Pelecanos than that. I googled *pizza murder dc pelecanos* but I didn’t see any hits at all. I can’t figure that one out: surely someone would interview him for his thoughts on this one?


How Josh Duggar and Dennis Hastert could change the laws on sex crimes

FILE - MAY 28: According to reports, the Justice Department has indicted former U.S. Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert on bank-related charges and lying to the FBI, on May 28, 2015. WASHINGTON - JULY 28: Former House Speaker Dennis Hastert of Illinois attends the unveiling of his portrait at the U.S. Capitol July 28, 2009 in Washington, DC. Hastert is the longest serving Republican speaker, holding the post from 1999-2007. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images) Two days after former House speaker Dennis Hastert’s (R-Ill.) indictment became public, a small group of sexual abuse survivors gathered at Federal Plaza in downtown Chicago. The group, made up of members of the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests (SNAP), was there say thank you to prosecutors for exposing Hastert’s alleged crimes. It was also there to issue a distinct challenge to Illinois lawmakers. One year after pushing state legislators to enact changes in the criminal statute of limitations – the time during which a person can be prosecuted for sex crimes involving minors -- sex abuse survivors and their advocates, some legal scholars and anti-rape activists are pushing Illinois and other states to go further. Much further. They want to see Illinois and other states extend, eliminate or -- at the very least -- temporarily lift the often short time frames during which alleged victims have to report sex crimes and the system has to pursue these cases in criminal and civil court. And some of these same forces are now pushing Congress to use its ready weapon – federal funding – to incentivize states that do so. In late May, just hours before the charges against Hastert became public, retiring Senate minority leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) told a Nevada newspaper that he is seeking co-sponsors for just such a bill. At first glance, the statute of limitation reform movement can seem like the kind of push for civil and criminal procedure reform with meaning to only a small subset of Americans involved in such cases. To others, it might seem like one of those causes so deep in the legislative weeds that rallying support will be difficult. And the reforms do have their critics. Civil libertarians worry that extending criminal and civil statutes of limitation will lead to wholesale violations of the constitutional rights of the accused. Over time, memories fade, evidence disappears and witnesses and victims die, they say,


Why David Brooks is wrong about Hillary’s Democratic base strategy

talking. This is also an imperfect substitute for approximating the death of the swing voter, but it's probably closer. Then there's the other datapoint, the vaguely-sourced "about 23 percent of the electorate can be swayed by a compelling campaign." I've paid attention to politics for a long time and am pretty familiar with political communications and turnout efforts. I have never heard that stat before. I'll note, too, that it's a lot more vague than it seems. What does "swayed" mean? Convinced to support an issue? The other candidate? Convinced to consider changing support? There are unquestionably degrees of "ability to be swayed" that would be important for a campaign to consider. There was a study published after the 2004 election that identified 25 percent of the "politically aware," partisan-aligned electorate as "persuadable." (Right-most column.) That year, 17 percent of partisans voted for the opposite party's candidate for president, according to exit polls. Close! But in a Gallup poll from June 2004 -- before the campaign started in earnest -- 10 percent of Democrats backed George W. Bush and 8 percent of Republicans backed John Kerry. In other words, the divide didn't really change at all. So who, if anyone, was persuaded? In July 2012, our polling suggested that only 6 percent of Americans had a good chance of changing their minds about who they were planning to vote for. Another 13 percent said it was possible. On the day we published that article, 538's polling average estimated 50.7 percent support for Obama and 48.3 for Romney. The final tally? Obama was 0.4 percent higher; Romney, 1.1 percent lower. If much of that six percent changed their mind, they either changed back or the net effect was a wash. There may be a study out there that offers Brooks' "23 percent are persuadable" more concretely and I didn't find it. As the National Journal pointed out last week, there have been studies showing that pointed, face-to-face communication can move people on political issues, albeit only a small amount. Personal contact can also get people to the polls, which appears to be where Clinton is focusing her attention. If the 23 percent study does exist (much less "a range" of them), it's also worth asking when it was conducted. Clinton is banking in part on partisan feeling having cemented recently. Studies conducted when her husband was running likely won't capture that.


More and more little kids are finding mom and dad’s (legal) marijuana stash

researchers said. But they increased again several years down the road. “Any state considering marijuana legalization needs to include child protections in its laws from the very beginning,” added Gary Smith, a senior author of the study and director of the Center for Injury Research and Policy at Nationwide Children’s Hospital. “Child safety must be part of the discussion when a state is considering legalization of marijuana.” Most of the children who were exposed weren't hospitalized, and the symptoms they experienced were relatively minor, researchers said. [Why armed drug cops took ‘every belonging’ from a Michigan soccer mom] But, they added, that shouldn't be assumed to mean that the risk is minimal. Marijuana edibles tend to have higher-than-expected levels of tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, the main psychoactive ingredient in marijuana, and exactly how much can vary widely from product to product. Some of the more severe consequences of accidental ingestion include seizures, coma and respiratory issues. In a recent editorial in the New England Journal of Medicine about the marketing of marijuana edibles to children, two Stanford University professors, Robert J. MacCoun and Michelle M. Mello, explained why edibles pose such a serious potential problem when it comes to the safety of children. "Whereas consumers commonly assume that a candy bar constitutes a single serving, some of these products contain four or more times the level of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) that is considered to be a safe dose," they wrote. "(Colorado, for instance, set a standard size for an edible serving at no more than 10 mg of THC.) At high doses, THC can produce serious anxiety attacks and psychotic-like symptoms. This problem is augmented by differences in the pharmacokinetic and metabolic effects of marijuana when it is ingested rather than smoked." [Mom who uses medical marijuana faces up to 30 years in prison] That's why enforcement actions have targeted products that could be attractive to children, with packaging and names that are deceptively similar to popular junk-food and candy products. From "Pot Tarts" to "Keef Kat," these products are being pulled off the shelves nearly as quickly as they are being put on. But that should signal the need for a more proactive strategy, critics say. One concern beyond increasing the likelihood of accidental ingestion is that edibles might also encourage children to adopt marijuana habits at a younger age. "Every drug policy analyst expected that marijuana brownies would be a


The Army denied a Medal of Honor to this Green Beret war hero. What happened?

the Silver Star.” Smith declined to provide additional details about the case, citing a need for Plumlee to sign a privacy waiver. Plumlee and Dunford, the the top U.S. general in Afghanistan, also declined to comment. The Pentagon announced Monday that McHugh will step down by down by November after about six years of service as Army secretary, but there is no indication it is related to Plumlee’s case. The case has angered Rep. Duncan D. Hunter (R.Calif.), a frequent critic of McHugh’s. In a May 19 letter to Defense Department Inspector General Jon T. Rymer, the congressman said he was concerned that top Army officials use Army CID as a cudgel to punish soldiers. “In Plumlee’s case, he was nominated for the Medal of Honor and received full support and approval, with the exception of the Secretary of the Army, who downgraded his award to a Silver Star following a questionable CID investigation,” Hunter wrote. [Inside the stunning fall of Maj. Matt Golsteyn, a Green Beret war hero] Hunter tied Plumlee’s case to that of two other soldiers: Lt. Col. Jason Amerine, a Green Beret officer who is under investigation by the Army after raising concerns about U.S. hostage policy on Capitol Hill, and Maj. Mathew L. Golsteyn, who was investigated for the alleged unlawful killing of a suspected Taliban bomb maker in Afghanistan in 2010. No charges were brought against Golsteyn, but he faces an administrative hearing later this month that could result in him being thrown out of the Army. Army investigative documents obtained by The Post said he admitted to killing an unarmed insurgent during a CIA polygraph test needed to take a job with the agency. “Based on these cases, in addition to others I am willing to discuss, I ask that you review CID’s actions to ensure the Army itself is not abusing its investigations process to retaliate against soldiers or justify its actions/outcomes,” Hunter wrote. Marine Gen. Joseph F. Dunford, then the top U.S. general in Afghanistan, congratulates Army Sgt. Maj. Lester Edwards at Forward Operating Base Ghazni after he received the Bronze Star with “V” device on Sept. 15, 2013, for his actions in defending the base the previous month. (Photo by U.S. Army Staff Sgr. Bryan Spreitzer, Task Force White Eagle PAO Liaison) Rymer wrote back three days later, saying the congressman’s concerns are currently under review. A spokesman for Rymer,


How one joke photo has become a symbol of South Korea’s fears about MERS

A young South Korean couple and dozens of guests jokingly pose for a group picture wearing surgical masks on June 6. (Sewing for the Soil via AFP/Getty Images) The fear of MERS in South Korea is real but a photo that has become a symbol of that fear is not. It’s a joke but that didn’t stop it from going viral. Contracted through close contact So far, 9 people have died, the total number of infections sits at 108 and more than 2,800 are quarantined. [Past coverage: 9 things you need to know about MERS] So when a young couple’s wedding photo — which shows the couple along with their guests all wearing surgical masks — hit South Korean social media, it became a statement about how MERS is plaguing the county. The country has taken emergency measures to stop the spread of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome. [South Korea’s Park delays trip to U.S. over MERS outbreak] But the couple and their guests had no intention of making a statement. Hwang Myung-Hwan, the couple’s wedding planner, told Agence France-Press the photo wasn’t suppose to be taken seriously. “They had already taken normal group photos without masks when they decided to do something fun,” he told AFP. Hwang said his “firm had handed out 200 masks as a message for ‘the couple to live a healthy life’ together,” AFP also reported. “The photo was never meant to fan fears about MERS or scare anyone,” Hwang said. But the photo’s intended message was quickly lost as it was shared and reposted online. MERS can’t stop this wedding.. Stay safe everyone!! #korea #mers — https://t.co/2EGPodag6A http://t.co/lLzinmkfiv MERS vs Wedding http://t.co/sT6ezql2js MERS fears in Seoul. Visitors temperature checked. Guests donning masks for group picture at wedding. @STcom reports http://t.co/K60JUmpjp3 South Korea announced two more deaths from Middle East Respiratory Syndrome, bringing the total to nine. More Morning Mix stories about photos: The moment South Asian migrants, desperately in need of water, got some rain ‘Beautiful, engaging and impossible to forget’: Mary Ellen Mark and her most intimate subject Wildlife experts: Photo of bobcat catching shark is a first — but probably not a fake


That magical moment Dumbledore and Gandalf got married — across from Westboro Baptist Church

Actors playing fictional wizards Gandalf the White and Albus Dumbledore had a pretend wedding Sunday at Equality House in Topeka, Kan., to promote marriage equality. (Courtesy of Planting Peace) The “Harry Potter” theme song resonated across the Equality House lawn in Topeka, Kan., as famed professor Albus Dumbledore walked down the aisle. Then came the melody from “The Lord of the Rings.” Gandalf the White and Frodo Baggins, the ring bearer, marched down to join him. “Gandalf the White, will you have Albus Dumbledore to be your husband and will you love him faithfully as long as you both shall live?” “Albus Dumbledore, will you have Gandalf the White, to be your husband and will you love him faithfully as long as you both shall live, recognizing that he has a tendency to come back from the dead?” (Courtesy of Planting Peace) So it wasn’t a true wedding, but when Planting Peace’s Equality House orchestrated a pretend one during the weekend using local actors, the message was real and pointed, specifically, pointed at the Westboro Baptist Church, the small, independent church infamous for picketing soldiers’ funerals and denouncing homosexuals, which is located just across from Equality House. “I think it’s just about the power of fiction, right?” Planting Peace director of operations Davis Hammet told WIBW-TV. “All of us love the stories … because they’re about people seeking justice, struggling through these things and finding courage and strength to do what is right.” Equality House has not released the actors’ real names. The idea came from a recent cyber struggle between “Harry Potter” author J.K. Rowling and Westboro Baptist Church. After Ireland voted to legalize gay marriage, Rowling tweeted a meme, saying “What if Dumbledore and Gandolf were gay together?” She wrote: “Then they could get married in Ireland!” Westboro responded: “If that happens, WBC will picket!” (Courtesy of Planting Peace) So Sunday afternoon, the two fictional characters tied the knot. “When we read the battle between J.K. Rowling and the Westboro Baptist Church, we instantly connected with Ms. Rowling’s message on many levels,” founder Aaron Jackson told the Huffington Post in a statement. “The Equality House was founded to take a stand against the hurtful words and actions of hate groups like the WBC. … We must actively stand up to hate and ensure that LGBTQ youth understand that they have a broad platform of love and support in


Think outside the table: Where to eat on a boat, train and bike around D.C.

Would you eat lunch on a bike? Food truck bike tour Regardless of your fitness level, you’ll be able to complete this three-hour bike ride in part because the tour makes four stops at food trucks. “You work up an appetite,” says Che Ruddell-Tabisola, your tour guide and the executive director of the DMV Food Truck Association. You’ll also be joined by a rep of Capital City Bike Tours (provider of the bikes and helmets), who will dish out historical context as you ride from Farragut Square to L’Enfant Plaza. Mystery dinner train 34 W. Pennsylvania Ave., Walkersville, Md.; May-Nov., third Sat. at 6 p.m., $80 Just 50 miles outside of D.C. lies the Walkersville Southern Railroad, a railway that dates back to 1872. The train’s ultra-popular murder mystery dinner takes place on a passenger car that seats up to 36 guests. A gourmet meal is served, and Clue-like high jinks ensue for the two-hour ride. “The cast is given an outline of their character, but the minute they walk on the train anything can happen,” says Justin Kiska, president of the theater company that produces the show. Potomac River food boat Nauti Boat, the floating cafe on the Potomac, is back for a second summer season doling out Bullfrog Bagels, Compass Coffee and District Doughnuts to seafarers. “The current can be a challenge,” says co-founder Ari Fingeroth. “People will row up and say we’re moving. We’re anchored, so it’s them.” If it floats, Nauti will serve it: The team has serviced kayaks, boats, inflatable rafts, Jet Skis and canoes. They even provide garbage bags to clip on your life vest. You may also like Five new restaurants to try in the D.C. area Know before you go: Bar Civita, a new restaurant in Woodley Park Guess the D.C. restaurant … emojis edition!


The non-apology of the year award goes to Nobel scientist who thinks women just cry all the time

Tim Hunt, winner of the Nobel Prize for Medicine, made troubling comments at the World Conference of Science Journalists in South Korea. (AP Photo/Alastair Grant, File) Earlier this week at the World Conference of Science Journalists in Seoul, Nobel Prize-winning scientist Tim Hunt laid this on the audience during his remarks: “Three things happen when they are in the lab.... You fall in love with them, they fall in love with you, and when you criticize them, they cry." Hunt, who won the 2001 Nobel Prize in medicine for his work on cell division and now works for Cancer Research UK, wasn't talking about whiny, distracting lab puppies. He was talking about women. He went on to say that he thought people should work in gender-segregated labs but that he hoped such sentiment wouldn't "stand in the way of women." The reaction in the science and science journalism community has been, well, about what you'd expect. I'm not going to embed any tweets, but my favorite lighthearted takes on the subject have been to the effect of well to be fair, most female scientists have a 'no Tim Hunt' policy in their labs and but where will we get that male co-author we're supposed to have if the lab is all female?! [Sexism in science: Peer editor tells female researchers their study needs a male author] Outside the Twittersphere, the Royal Society distanced itself from Hunt's remarks, reiterating its commitment to help women succeed in the sciences. And why are Hunt's feelings so troubling? Well, there's this problem we've got where women are underrepresented in the sciences, math, technology and engineering. In fact, in Britain (Hunt's home country) only 13 percent of people working in STEM are women. In science academia, 84 percent of full-time professors in the field are men. The situation in the United States is perhaps a bit better, with women getting a share of science doctorates that hovers just above 25 percent. One recent study claimed the problem had been solved, but other scientists were quick to dismantle the flaws in its methodology and cast doubt on its conclusions. [Gender gap: Women welcome in ‘hard working’ fields, but ‘genius’ fields are male-dominated, study finds] This isn't to say that Hunt is the first Nobel laureate to use his elevated status to share some problematic remarks. James Watson is known for having some real zingers (of the


Photos: The sun glows red through the veil of Canadian wildfire smoke

A smoky sunset over the District, June 9, 2015 (Richard Barnhill via Flickr) A thick haze of smoke drifted over the D.C. region late Tuesday afternoon, driven south from Canada’s burgeoning wildfires by the high-level winds of the jet stream. There are six large wildfires burning in Alberta and British Columbia, according to the Remote Sensing Applications Center in Salt Lake City. These fires are pumping copious amounts of smoke high into the atmosphere, which is then hitching a ride on the global jet stream to paint our skies pink and orange. Smoke from Canadian wildfires drifts south into the eastern U.S. on Tuesday afternoon, seen here in a high-resolution visible satellite image. (NASA) The 9 a.m. visible satellite scan on Wednesday showed the unmistakable, thick smoke from eastern Kentucky all the way into Delaware. NOAA’s Satellite Services Division says that some amount of smoke is present in 17 states from North Dakota to Connecticut, and as far south as Georgia and Alabama. Visible Satellite giving us a great view of the smoke high up in the atmosphere. http://t.co/t18TIcJldr According to Airnow.gov, the air quality index is moderate in the Mid-Atlantic on Wednesday, meaning the air is “acceptable” to most populations, although people with high sensitivity might have a “moderate health concern.” While the wildfire smoke may be contributing slightly to the elevated index in Washington, D.C., and Baltimore, the Maryland Department of the Environment suspects it’s a small impact, and they’re more concerned about sunny skies and light winds driving up the ozone levels. “Some Canadian wildfire smoke may be visible Wednesday as a slight haze,” the department writes, “and some minor contributions to fine particle concentrations is expected.” The red, filtered sun greeted our readers as they stepped out into the late afternoon on Tuesday and again on Wednesday morning. The size of the smoke particles are just right for filtering out other colors, which means the pink and orange is seen more vividly in the sky. The smoky sun, June 9, 2015 (Geoff Chester via Facebook) (National Weather Service) @capitalweather tonight's sunset http://t.co/gGO8OBcvyX @suepalkafox5dc @SteveRudinABC7 @capitalweather @Ginger_Zee Impact of Canada's wildfires on tonight's DC sunset. http://t.co/gTilJRSYGw Hazy #sunset tonight caused by Canadian wildfire smoke. #AnneArundel #PasadenaMD @capitalweather @JustinWeather http://t.co/tigoJljbfZ Check it out DC - Gorgeous red sun! @capitalweather @weatherchannel @JimCantore @FamousDC @dcfocused #myweather @AMHQ http://t.co/x23pKusXVC The sun is looking extra hazy tonight @capitalweather http://t.co/tEJkHl1R8G @capitalweather


Five great things to do in Seoul while people are staying home for fear of MERS

SEOUL — The outbreak of MERS panic around Seoul is certainly much more severe than the outbreak of MERS itself — even though almost all those who have caught the virus have done so in a hospital where “patient zero” was treated, and even though health officials have been warning against overreactions and have made it clear that normal life can go on. A joint mission by the World Health Organization and the Health Ministry on Wednesday recommended that the 2,500 schools that have closed their doors over fear of contagion should reopen, saying schools have not been linked to transmission of the virus. But with every day bringing more cases — a total of 108 people were infected by the end of Wednesday, and nine people had died — South Koreans are still nervous about going to public places. That means the capital, a teeming metropolis, is unnaturally quiet right now. There are usually only two times of year when the relentlessly fast-paced Seoul calms down: Korean Thanksgiving and Lunar New Year. The other 363 days, Seoul residents get pushed, shoved, jostled and stepped on as they make their way around the city. Seoulites generally don't seem to mind — personal space is a rare luxury when over 10 million people live in a city the size of Chicago. About 60 percent of South Koreans live in high-rise apartment complexes, so they are literally living on top of each other. But since MERS broke out, there has been a significant drop in the number of people in public places, especially in enclosed spaces. A Seoul subway car at rush hour on Wednesday night. Usually it would be crowded at this time of day, but people, afraid of catching MERS, are avoiding confined public spaces. (Yoonjung Seo) If you dare, this gives you a perfect opportunity to enjoy the city while it's quiet, with some facilities offering special prices to lure people in. Here are five things to do in Seoul right now. Don’t forget your hand sanitizer. Go to the movies From one disaster to another: The American movie "San Andreas," about a devastating earthquake, has been released in 3D and 4D IMAX formats and has swept the South Korean box office. Tickets would usually be hard to get, but right now you could waltz right in and choose the best seats in the house. The Korean Film Council


Even governors get summoned for jury duty

Inauguration Day,” Hogan wrote on Facebook. “I contacted the Court and informed them that the Constitution required me to be sworn in at noon that day, so I was unable to make it. They thought it was a pretty good reason. So they put me back in the system, and tomorrow is my make-up day!” [What happens when Chief Justice John Roberts gets called for jury duty?] Hogan stepped out of the waiting room for a break at 10:20 a.m. and said his presence drew a lot of attention from other prospective jurors. “I’ve taken selfies and pictures with almost every person in the room,” he said after posing for a photo with courthouse employees Victoria Bowen and Sarah Weber. He noted that he played a role in appointing judges while serving as appointments secretary under former Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr., saying the experience could impact his chance of being chosen. “I think most defense attorneys might try to kick me off, but I’m willing to serve if I’m chosen,” he said. The court dismissed Hogan at about 10:50 a.m., and he left the facility in a joking mood. “I was getting ready to run a campaign for jury foreman, but I didn’t get the opportunity,” he said. “I guess I don’t get a break from the normal job, but I’m not really disappointed … I’m happy to get back to work. We’ve got a lot of other things we have to get done.” The governor is fresh off a 12-day trade mission in Asia, where he lauded the benefits of Japan’s high-speed magnetic levitation trains. He announced last week that his administration would seek a $28 million federal grant to study the possibility of building a similar rail line between Baltimore and Washington. [In Japan, a super-fast chain with a high price tag] Any day now, Hogan is expected to decide whether to move forward with a much lower-speed transit project, the proposed Purple Line light-rail, which would run from Bethesda in Montgomery County to New Carrollton in Prince George’s County. He has said the current cost estimates for the project are too high. Purple Line supporters have criticized the governor for riding Japan’s “maglev” train last week, but never touring the proposed Purple Line route. Asked about the discrepancy last week, Hogan spokesman Matt Clark told The Baltimore Sun that the governor was not aware of any


Senators decry slow implementation of train safety technology

Emergency personnel work the scene of a deadly train wreck, Tuesday, May 12, 2015, in Philadelphia. An Amtrak train headed to New York City derailed and crashed in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/ Joseph Kaczmarek) Senate Democrats expressed deep concern Wednesday that railroad operators nationwide were not moving quickly enough to install train safety technology that experts say would have prevented the Amtrak crash that killed eight passengers last month. The Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee hearing comes as two groups of senators have proposed giving railroad operators more time to implement the technology, and one day after the House voted to slash Amtrak’s budget. Congress passed a law in 2008 requiring positive train control technologies, which are designed to mitigate accidents caused by human error, be installed on roughly 70,000 miles of railroad nationwide. Operators were given until December 2015 to comply. With that deadline now six months away, only 29 percent of commuter railway operators are on track, Robert C. Lauby, associate administrator for railroad safety at the Transportation Department, told the committee. Of the outstanding 71 percent, he said just half will have the technology implemented by 2018. “There is nothing new or novel about these accidents. There is nothing new or novel about the technology,” Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) said. “What we’ve seen here is a failure of will, and I think that the blame will be on Congress and on the agencies in the federal government that have responsibility for enforcing this law.” Blumenthal is co-sponsoring a bill that would provide up to three one-year extensions to railroad operators who have yet to implement positive train control providing they have demonstrated “good faith” in meeting the requirements and have a plan to complete the work no later than December 31, 2018. A similar bill introduced with bipartisan support by Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) would provide one-year extensions until Dec. 31, 2022. “What we need to understand is what are the consequences of us not acting,” Sen. Claire McClaskill (D- Mo.) said. “Are we helping safety if we don’t delay the deadline? Are we hampering safety if we don’t delay the deadline?” If Congress does not act, rail operators that have yet to install positive train control would be in violation of the 2008 law and subject to Transportation Department penalties that could include fines or closure. The issue has become a major priority since an Amtrak


These 5 food entrepreneurs are vying for a slot in Union Market

From a fast-casual pasta joint to an upgrade for an already-popular baker, local food entrepreneurs are competing in Mess Hall's Launch Pad competition -- the incubator's search for the next great D.C. food business. The winner will take over Ris's Union Market stall -- a particularly desirable spot for its visibility and top-of-the-line equipment and vented hood -- for six months. Mess Hall founder Al Goldberg said a panel of more than a dozen judges -- including Ris Lacoste of Ris -- reviewed nearly 50 business plans. On July 12, Lacoste, Patrick O'Connell of the Inn at Little Washington, and Aaron Silverman of Rose's Luxury will convene at Union Market's Dock 5 to crown a champion, who will then have access to a dedicated panel of advisers and mentors including restaurateurs Spike Mendelsohn, Eric and Ian Hilton and a variety of experts in the fields of technology, real estate and financial services. The finalists were judged not only on how comprehensive their business plans are, but also on "Menus that made us say 'Wow, I'd wait in line to try that!' Goldberg said. Al Goldberg, founder of Mess Hall and the Launch Pad contest. (Photo by Ben Droz) These five aspiring restaurateurs made the cut: Bao Bros Bar Louis Grayson and Nelson Wong think bao buns are too often relegated to the appetizer section of the menu. Their concept is a customizable fast-casual bao joint with fillings like pork belly, lamb, chicken, tofu, and a variety of sauces -- and, on a sample menu, punny names like the "Rocky Baoboa" (steak, crispy onion, shallot, jalapeno). Their mock-up logo is an appropriately bro-ish fist bump. Half Smoke D.C.'s most beloved sausage gets the fast-casual assembly-line treatment, from hometown aspiring restaurateur Andre McCain. In addition to the eponymous spicy links, McCain also wants to offer pork, beef, chicken and veggie sausages with fully customizable toppings, including chili, kimchi, and artichokes. He'll dish out tater tots and Brussels sprouts on the side, with funnel cake for dessert. And with the changing of the seasons, he'll introduce more exotic offerings, like a foie gras and duck sausage, or smoked elk. Whisked! You may have already seen Jenna Huntsberger's sweets at farmer's markets and coffee shops around town. Winning the Mess Hall competition would give Whisked! a more permanent and visible presence, and room to expand the current roster of quiches, pies, and cookies. Bene


PornHub crowdfunds for sex tape filmed in space

Porn star Eva Lovia. (Courtesy PornHub) About half a century ago, humankind — inspired as much by Cold War geopolitics as the desire to go where no one has gone before — set its sights on that most distant horizon: space, the final frontier. About 50 years in, that most distant horizon seems as far away as ever. Sure, we put satellites in orbit and sent men to the moon. But as NASA faces budget cuts and private corporations jockey for position in what’s now called the “space industry,” the “Jetsons”-ish hope of living extraterrestrially looks like a 1960s daydream. But today, an enterprising company has jump-started what remains of the space race in a most unusual fashion. PornHub, which claims to be the world’s biggest pornography site, is crowdfunding for a sex tape filmed in zero gravity. “Pornhub is teaming up with top ranking adult studio Digital Playground in joining the ranks of Armstrong and Gagarin by pioneering a one of a kind mission to defy gravity, make history, and push the boundaries of intergalactic ‘Sexploration’ by filming the first ever sextape in space,” the site’s $3.4 million appeal reads. “In doing so, we will not only be changing the face of the adult industry, we will also be chronicling how a core component of human life operates while in orbit.” No, it’s not a joke. “This is actually 100% real,” Corey Price, one of Pornhub’s vice presidents, wrote to The Washington Post in an e-mail. Porn star Johnny Sins. (Courtesy PorhHub) As fans of films such as “Flesh Gordon” (1974) and “Sex Trek” (1990) already know, filmmakers have long been interested in exploring the erotic possibilities of the outer limits. But in proposing to send real people — or, at least, porn stars — into orbit to engage in a biological activity researchers might actually need to know more about, PornHub has fused innovation and titillation. “I’ve had sex pretty much everywhere and everyway you can imagine,” proposed sexplorer Johnny Sins said in PornHub’s IndieGogo video. “I’ve had sex on almost every different continent with all kinds of different women. Don’t get me wrong: I love what I do and who I do, but this is a really unique opportunity to break ground in the adult industry.” Sins added: “I’m excited to be part of the PornHub space program for this exact reason: We’re going to make porn


Sublime and subversive: Female artists take on mother nature

fascinated by the life cycle of caterpillars and their metamorphosis into butterflies,” Gaston says. “At the time many people didn’t understand that it was one animal, so she was really a pioneering entomologist as well as an artist.” Merian’s accomplishments were unappreciated by her peers. Men criticized her for depicting “impossible” things that turned out to be accurate, like a hairy spider devouring a little bird. Contemporary female artists find inspiration in Merian’s bold spirit of exploration, Wat says. “Like Merian, we’re seeing women artists striking out into nature alone,” Wat says. “But women today aren’t content to reflect and interpret nature, they are inserting themselves or their creations into it.” Perhaps none so dramatically as German-Brazilian artist Janaina Tschape, who spent several years traveling the world to produce “100 Little Deaths,” a series of photos where she lies face-down in fields and other places. Fifteen of her morbid selfies are on display in “Super Natural.” “This series is about how, when you travel, a little part of you dies and stays there,” Wat says. Tschape’s series, as well as many of the exhibits’ works, serve as a reminder of humanity’s ultimate relationship with nature. We may see ourselves as separate from the natural world, but in the end, it always takes us back. National Museum of Women in the Arts, 1250 New York Ave. NW; through Sept. 13, $8-$10. Maria Sibylla Merian, “Plate 5 from ‘Dissertation in Insect Generations and Metamorphoses in Surinam,’ 2nd Ed.”: Merian was a pioneering entomologist as well as an artist. At a time when many people believed insects spontaneously sprung from mud, her illustrations showed scientifically accurate life cycles within a single image. (National Museum of Women in the Arts) Rachel Ruysch, “Roses, Convolvulus, Poppies and Other Flowers on a Stone Ledge”: Ruysch, a notable 17th-century Dutch painter, had a scientist’s eye for detail: “Every one of these blooms is completely identifiable, yet this is not a natural bouquet at all, because these flowers all bloomed at different times of the year,” Gaston says. Ruysch put together the fabulous bouquet in her imagination, working off of studies she had drawn of individual flowers. (National Museum of Women in the Arts) Jiha Moon, “Peach Mask I”: “Angry Birds,” Chinese dragons and the Korean character for “Bless” all swirl together in this piece. “I like to put together different iconography from all over the place,” Moon


How an American slacker caught a Russian spy at a New Jersey Hooters

the FBI was still keeping tabs on them.” So he reached out to the FBI and suggested that he take more risks, entice the enemy further. “My parents are getting older,” he explains. “They’ll be retiring soon. From now on, I’ll be the one dealing with the Russians.” And deal he did. At the time, the Russian official coming by Books & Research was a gruff, short, cheap, middle-aged and monosyllabic intelligence officer named Oleg, who Jamali thought sounded a bit like Borat. Watching Jamali and Oleg trying to outsmart each other is the joy of the book, because they’re both so awkward at it. Early on, Jamali tries to put Oleg at ease with an old glasnost joke. (Oleg isn’t amused.) Jamali is crushed when he finds that their clandestine meeting places are all chain restaurants in strip malls. “We were going to Pizzeria Uno?” Jamali asks himself. “Was this really where treason was committed these days?”At one point, Oleg asks Jamali to sign a receipt for the thousands of dollars he was paying the American to retrieve sensitive documents. (I guess spies need to file expense reports, too.) If you’ve watched too much “Homeland” or “The Americans,” then “How to Catch a Russian Spy” is a nice corrective showing how prosaic low-level espionage can be. Even the FBI messes up: After two agents come by Jamali’s apartment for a morning meeting and one of them leaves a tampon wrapper in the bathroom trash can, Jamali’s wife finds it and concludes that he’s having an affair. “You’re telling me this just magically showed up?” she demands. “Well, it isn’t mine!” (Jamali explains the situation, only to get into deeper trouble for not having cleaned the bathroom ahead of time.) Jamali decides he can fool Oleg by developing a traitorous persona based on the fictional stories he loved. “I went looking for characters I could copy and learn from,” he explains. “Then I’d stand in front of the bathroom mirror and practice some of the juicier lines,” mimicking Joe Pesci in “Goodfellas,” Al Pacino in “Scarface” and of course James Gandolfini in “The Sopranos.” Before each meeting, Jamali goes into character as a money-loving American willing to betray his country not because of ideology or coercion, but for cash. When Jamali delivers Oleg the proceedings of a closed defense industry conference — provided to him by the FBI — the


This dying star looks like a beautiful cosmic butterfly

Some of the sharpest images ever made with European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope have for the first time revealed what appears to be an ageing star in the early stages of forming a butterfly-like planetary nebula. (P. Kervella/ESO) In space, death is a gorgeous thing. The image above -- made from some of the sharpest shots ever taken by the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope -- show an aging star birthing a bipolar nebula. The nebula's discovery is described in a new study published in Astronomy and Astrophysics. [Stunning new picture of the Pillars of Creation] The nebula, which is being formed 200 light-years away by the red giant star L2 Puppis, is an important find. Astronomers want to better understand why stars die the way they do. In the case of L2 Puppis, a younger red giant of similar mass is joining in the death throws. The nebula is formed by the massive disk of dust thrown off by a dying star, but the presence of another red giant nearby is shaping it into this beautiful butterfly effect. Scientists say its just at the early stages of its formation, which will allow them to see how the dusty remnants of dead stars evolve. [The Hubble spotted this smiley face in space] It still isn't clear by what mechanism a binary star shapes this kind of nebula formation. But with the instrument that spotted L2 Puppis -- an attachment to the Very Large Telescope called SPHERE -- we'll be able to find and investigate lots more. The instrument allows very faint objects next to bright ones to be imaged in unprecedented clarity, and this is just the first finding published using data from it. With the capability to produce images three times sharper than the Hubble, SPHERE is sure to net a lot more butterflies. Read More: New images of Ceres put those creepy white spots in a better light Gaze upon the Medusa (Nebula) in unprecedented detail Breathtaking new image captures birth of countless stars Scientists are figuring out some weird things about a star they’ve nicknamed ‘Nasty’


Special Forces officer: American hostages held overseas ‘failed’ by U.S. government

were my last resort. But now I am labeled a whistleblower, a term both radioactive and derogatory. I am before you because I did my duty, and you need to ensure all in uniform can go on doing their duty without fear of reprisal.” [This Special Forces war hero turned whistleblower — and now he’s under investigation] Amerine testified before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee during a hearing called “Blowing the Whistle on Retaliation: Accounts of Current and Former Federal Agency Whistleblowers.” He first acknowledged facing an Army investigation and communicating his concerns about U.S. hostage policy to Hunter in a Facebook post on May 15. The case pits one of the first heroes of the Afghanistan War against the Army. Amerine led a Special Forces team there in 2001 that protected future Afghan President Hamid Karzai. Amerine was wounded by an errant American bomb on Dec. 5, 2001, that killed three other Special Forces soldiers. He later received the Bronze Star with “V” and the Purple Heart, and was labeled by the Army as a “Real Hero” in the 2006 version of its popular video game, “America’s Army.” The Army Criminal Investigation Command (CID) has disputed that it is investigating Amerine as an act of reprisal, and declined to say whether the soldier is under investigation at all. A spokesman for CID, Chris Grey, declined to comment Thursday on Amerine’s testimony. Amerine told the Senate that in 2013, his office at the Pentagon was asked to help recover Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, the U.S. soldier held captive for five years overseas and charged earlier this year with desertion. He was later recovered May 31, 2014, in a controversial swap for five Taliban officials. In this file image taken from video obtained from the Voice Of Jihad Website, Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl sits in a vehicle guarded by the Taliban in eastern Afghanistan. He was recovered in a swap for five Taliban officials last year. (AP Photo/Voice Of Jihad Website via AP video, File) “We audited the recovery effort and determined that the reason the effort failed for four years was because our nation lacked an organization that can synchronize the efforts of all our government agencies to get our hostages home,” Amerine said. “We also realized that there were civilian hostages in Pakistan that nobody was trying to free, so we added them to our mission.” Amerine’s team


‘Trouble with girls?’ Female scientists mock Nobel laureate with #DistractinglySexy photos

Tim Hunt, winner of the Nobel Prize for Medicine, shown in 2001 in a laboratory in London. The Nobel Prize-winning British scientist has apologized for saying the "trouble with girls" working in science labs is that it leads to romantic entanglements and harms science. (Alastair Grant/AP) LONDON -- Female scientists were jumping on Twitter on Thursday to voice their views on the controversial comments by a Nobel Prize-winning British scientist, who spoke about his "trouble with girls" when working in laboratories. Speaking at the World Conference of Science Journalists in South Korea, Sir Tim Hunt reportedly said: "Let me tell you about my trouble with girls. Three things happen when they are in the lab: You fall in love with them, they fall in love with you, and when you criticize them they cry." The 72-year-old biochemist has since resigned his post as an honorary professor with University College London. He also apologized for his remarks, telling the BBC that it was a “very stupid thing” to say in front of journalists, but that “I did mean the part about having trouble with girls." He told the broadcaster: "I have fallen in love with people in the lab and people in the lab have fallen in love with me and it's very disruptive to the science because it's terribly important that in a lab people are on a level playing field.” He added: “I'm really, really sorry I caused any offense, that's awful. I certainly didn't mean that. I just meant to be honest, actually." Female scientists lampooned his sexist remarks, using the hashtag #distractinglysexy, which for anyone following the thread was distractingly funny. Here are some of our favorite Tweets: I will not say I haven't cried for my thesis but the worst thing is being so #distractinglysexy when I code... http://t.co/OKRFA3FqE5 Yes I know I am #distractinglysexy in my Level A PPE. The suit totally flatters my curves. http://t.co/LUb5nXx9yO Still #distractinglysexy after a full day of cell culture. Didn't even cry this time, so proud! #HeyaTimHunt http://t.co/RdAxxLJ1fY Later that day, I filled this Bronze Age ditch with my womanly archaeology tears #distractinglysexy http://t.co/r8UTTCCqSg This is now up in our lab! Watch out :) #TimHunt #distractinglysexy http://t.co/HGRJcVmywt #distractinglysexy in the field. The headtorch is waterproof to avoid any tear-related malfunctions @VagendaMagazine http://t.co/E5ac3vTNtR Nothing like a sample tube full of cheetah poop to make you #distractinglysexy http://t.co/tdBTLRos4p Far too #distractinglysexy


Transit backers urge Gov. Hogan to ‘finally take a tour’ of the Purple Line

Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan on board one of Japan’s maglev trains during a 12-day trade mission in Asia. (Ko Sasaki/The Washington Post) Transit advocates took note when Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (R) rode and then praised Japan’s high-speed magnetic levitation trains, and now they want the same consideration for a proposed rail project in his own state: The Purple Line. The Action Committee for Transit (ACT) and Prince George’s Advocates for Community-based Transit (PG ACT) held a news conference in Annapolis on Thursday, calling on Hogan to tour the planned route and take a closer look at the potential benefits. “After the governor rode the maglev, he said ‘Seeing is believing,’ and we think that applies here, too,” said Prince George’s ACT co-chair Lessie Henderson. ACT president Nick Brand and PG ACT representative Dominic Lyon hold a poster of an invitation for Gov. Hogan to tour the Purple Line. (Courtesy of Kathy Jentz/ACT) Hogan spokesman Matt Clark told The Baltimore Sun for an article last week that he wasn’t aware of any invitations to tour the proposed Purple Line route. Now he has one. The pro-transit groups unveiled an engraved invitation asking the governor to join them on a tour of the route, which would stretch from Bethesda to New Carrollton. “It’s a perfect time to finally take a tour and make up your mind and go ahead with the project,” ACT president Nick Brand told The Washington Post. Hogan spokesman Doug Mayer said in an e-mail Thursday that the governor is “intimately familiar” with the proposed route, noting that Hogan grew up in Prince George’s County. “It’s great these groups finally got around to sending an invitation – five months after inauguration,” Mayer said. The Purple Line would cost $2.45 billion to build, with $900 million coming from federal grants and the rest from the state and the two counties. Montgomery and Prince George’s have pledged $120 million each toward the proposal. [Hogan: Price of Purple Line is ‘not acceptable’] Hogan is expected to make a decision about the project any day now, but he told The Post last month that the current price tag is too high. The Washington Post reported Thursday that Maryland Transportation Secretary Pete K. Rahn has recommended that Hogan approve the Purple Line, if the costs to the state can be reduced from current estimates. Hogan’s office has not confirmed that Rahn had urged


Evolution tuned this moth’s night vision to follow swaying flowers

to see fast things." If moths slowed down their brains to let in more light, Sponberg figured, difficulty following fast objects would be the consequence. So he and his team built robotic flowers that they could have "sway" at specific speeds. Sure enough, the moths lost their ability to track flowers in the dark and hover in front of them as they swayed if the swaying got too fast. [Hummingbirds actually fly more like insects] "We saw that in low light, there was a very abrupt cut off at a flower moving faster than two times a second," Sponberg said. "And we wondered what was so special about that speed." A hawkmoth clings to a robotic flower used to study the insect's ability to track the moving flower under low light conditions. The research shows that the creatures can slow their brains to improve vision under low light conditions while continuing to perform demanding tasks. (Rob Felt, Georgia Tech) That speed was indeed quite special: When Sponberg's team tested the five flowers that provide most of a hawkmoth's sustenance, they realized that the moths had modulated their night vision to track those specific plants in the dark. In those plants, 94 percent of the movement researchers recorded was below that cut off. "The take home is that moths probably do slow their brains down in order to be more sensitive to low light, but only just to the point where it would actually hurt their ability to do what they need to do," he said. Now the team will go looking for the actual mechanism in hawkmoth brains. But they're also going to look for similar adaptations in other creatures. "It would make sense for other moths, that fly at other light levels and go after other flowers, to be tuned in to other speeds," he said. But Sponberg has no particular fondness for moths. To him, the findings speak more broadly to the fascinating intricacies of the brain -- even a tiny one. "Even the small brains of insects are capable of a huge variety of behaviors," he said. Read More: Fruit flies can apparently tell time Bats use a super sense of touch to fly with precision Say hello to the dementor wasp. It turns cockroaches into zombies. This praying mantis is terrifyingly good at pretending to be a flower This beetle’s butt is basically a machine gun


DGS Delicatessen opens in the Mosaic District on Monday

DGS Delicatessen [Tom Sietsema reviews Brine in the Mosaic District] "It's just an awesome group of restaurants," co-owner Nick Wiseman said. "It's an interesting community. It's got a lot of character." As at the Dupont original, diners at DGS in the Mosaic District can expect house-made pickles and pastrami. (Scott Suchman for The Washington Post) Wiseman said another part of the motivation for opening a second DGS was to leverage the knowledge Wiseman and his cousin, David, gathered while "relearning the craft of delicatessen." The investment in figuring out how to brine, cure and pickle meat and vegetables helped justify the expansion, he said. The menu includes such kosher-style deli classics as chopped liver, Reuben sandwiches, pickles and pastrami, largely mirroring that of DGS's original Dupont restaurant, which opened in 2012. In Fairfax, though, there will be a bigger emphasis on the bar. A new bar menu will feature small bites such as smoked whitefish croquettes, Reuben egg rolls and brisket sliders. Also expect more cocktails and house-made sodas. The soda menu will eventually consist of five flavors, but the opening day roster is Concord grape, cucumber mint and pomegranate ginger. Wiseman said meat and fish will be sold by the pound in the future, as staff is still trying to figure out production logistics in the new space. [Take a Mosaic District food and drink tour] The 80-seat restaurant is decorated in "a rich aesthetic" that Wiseman said is "even more classic" than the Dupont decor. You'll see red upholstered booths, pendant lighting and subway tiles featured in the space. DGS 2 will start by serving lunch and dinner, with brunch to come. Wiseman expects a slightly different dining pattern, since the first location is surrounded by a lot of office space. "Here we're in a residential neighborhood, so we'll probably be more of a dinner destination," he said. DGS Delicatessen, 2985 District Ave., Suite 115, Fairfax, 703-280-1111. www.dgsdelicatessen.com. Lunch 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday; dinner 4 to 10 p.m. Monday through Friday, 3 to 11 p.m. Saturday and 3 to 10 p.m. Sunday; brunch (coming soon) 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. Related items: Tom Sietsema reviews Brine in the Mosaic District Take a Mosaic District food and drink tour Gypsy Soul: R.J. Cooper brings a wanderer’s touch and Southern flair to the Mosaic District Gypsy Soul, B Side and True Food Kitchen


Best summer beers: Stay cool and look cool with these refreshing brews

and the forthcoming All Purpose Narragansett Del's Shandy Sweltering heat always drives me to Stiegl Radler, perhaps with a shot of Bulleit rye in it. The refreshingly light body and effervescence make it the perfect way to beat the heat, and the added shot gets the ABV up enough to make an impact. -- Dave Coleman, founder of 3 Stars Brewing Company Look for Ocelot Brewing's Our Elaborate Plans IPA. It's a 7 percent IPA brewed with Citra hops that I think drinks really smooth with a refreshing citrus flavor. It would suit me well on a hot day - or any day really. -- Will Cook, brewer at Fair Winds Brewing German sours! Leipziger Gose or Professor Fritz Briem 1809 Berliner Weisse. Sometimes, for my second glass, I add just a tad of raspberry syrup. -- Dmitri Chekaldin, co-owner of Dacha Beer Garden I don't really like the heat, because it tends to wear me down, so I like a good IPA to pick me up! A few of my faves are Bell's Two Hearted and Mad Fox's Orange Whip. -- Mari Rodela, president of the D.C. Brewers' Guild (Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post) You're heading to a friend's cookout on a Saturday afternoon. What beer are you bringing, and why? (Bill O'Leary/The Washington Post) I always bring Flying Dog Dead Rise. It's a perfect summer beer: light, drinkable and leaves you both refreshed and wanting more. It's a great conversation starter as well: "An Old Bay beer?!" -- Chrystalle Ball, founder of DC Metro Girls Pint Out I'm bringing the Boulevard Lemon Ginger Radler, because I'll be the most popular kid at the cookout when folks taste that easy-drinking goodness. Women and men alike will crown me the king of beers. -- Miles Gray III, president of D.C. Beer Week and owner of Smith Public Trust I always opt for something with a lower ABV, so that you can have more than a few and not knock yourself out. I sometimes get some grief about this one, but my go-to beer is Busch Light for said occasions. Depending on the crowd, I may opt for Founders All Day IPA or DC Brau El Hefe Speaks. -- Gareth Croke, co-owner of Boundary Stone and the forthcoming All Purpose (Bill O'Leary/The Washington Post) I would go for an Port City Optimal Wit. It goes down really crisp and the citrus finish


Whistleblowers tell Senate hearing about retaliation for reporting wrongs

Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.). (Associated Press) “Warren Weinstein is dead. Colin Rutherford, Joshua Boyle, Caitlin Coleman and the child she bore in captivity are still hostages in Pakistan. I failed them. I exhausted all efforts and resources available to return them but I failed.” So began Army Lt. Col. Jason Amerine’s testimony before a Senate hearing Thursday on retaliation against whistleblowers. He was the first witness in what was a sometimes-emotional hearing into the reprisals military personnel and civilians can face from the government they serve. Amerine is the decorated Special Forces officer who was assigned to help retrieve Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, the soldier held captive for five years after leaving his base in Afghanistan. He was charged with desertion after his return. [This Special Forces war hero turned whistleblower — and now he’s under investigation by the Army] In the course of Amerine’s work, he said his team learned about the other prisoners, Rutherford, Boyle and Coleman. After he complained to Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.) that “the bureaucracy for hostage recovery was broken” and spoke with the FBI, Amerine said he was labeled a whistleblower, “a term that has become radioactive and derogatory.” His security clearance was suspended, his retirement was halted and he became the subject of a criminal investigation. “A terrible irony is that my security clearance was suspended on January 15th,” he said, “the day after Warren Weinstein was killed, as we now know,” accidentally in an American drone attack. At a hearing of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, Lt. Col. Jason Amerine testified about his experience at war and being labelled a whistleblower. The Army would not comment specifically on Amerine’s case, but a spokesman, Lt. Col. Ben Garrett, said by e-mail “that both the law and Army policy would prohibit initiating an investigation based solely on a Soldier’s protected communications with Congress.” Amerine was with three other whistleblowers, federal civilians also reporting reprisals from an Uncle Sam who evidently did not want to hear the truth. Their cases are still in progress, so their claims have not been fully substantiated. But they testified under oath about the kind of revenge that is reported all too often in the federal workplace. “These men and women take great risk to stand up and expose wrongdoing,” said Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. “They sacrifice their


The brutal dictatorship the world keeps ignoring

added weight, academics and human rights researchers had long written similar things about the Eritrean state without a significant mainstream response in America or Europe. In 2014, for instance Human Rights Watch called Eritrea "among the most closed countries in the world" and pointed to "indefinite military service, torture, arbitrary detention, and severe restrictions on freedoms of expression, association, and religion." Reporters Without Borders has repeatedly ranked it as the worst country in the world for press freedom -- worse even than North Korea. "The U.N. report? We knew it already," said Ismail Einashe, a Somali-British journalist who works with Eritrean migrants. "Too little, too late." Despite this, some reports on the country ignore this and focus on another aspect of Eritrea: Its unlikely tourism sector. International isolation, a history as an Italian colony and reported Qatari investment may have made Eritrea a unique if distasteful vacation destination: As one travel blogger put it last year, the capital of "Asmara felt much more like Naples than North Korea." Sara Dorman, an expert in African politics at Edinburgh University, doesn't think much of either comparison. "I don't think it's particularly helpful," she said of the country's reputation as the "North Korea of Africa." At the same time, she stressed that Eritrea really does deserve to be seen as a special case. "As somebody who studies authoritarian regimes elsewhere in Africa, the Eritrean regime's control over its population is qualitatively different than other African states," Dorman said, before pointing to features such as the scale of Eritrea's intelligence service and the practice of punishing entire families for the crimes of one member. There are plenty of historical arguments for why the world should pay more attention to what's happening in Eritrea. Former colonial rulers Italy and Britain have an obvious legacy there, and so does the United States, which allowed Ethiopia to incorporate Eritrea with the aim of keeping the U.S. Kagnew Station military base in the country. In addition, Eritrea has a difficult recent history with its East African neighbors: It's currently under U.N. sanctions for supporting al-Shabab, the Somali Islamist group, and others in the region. But one important reason to pay attention has become an unavoidable reality for Europe. Eritreans make up a large share of the migrants crossing the Mediterranean in flimsy boats to seek asylum in Europe: More than 22 percent of those who made the journey


Turns out that your cool automatic braking system can be all too human

recognizes an object in the road, stops and saves you from certain catastrophe. But what if it makes a mistake? That’s what happened with some Acura models— Honda’s high-end cousin. The automaker has recalled nearly 48,000 MDX SUVs and RLX sedans from 2014 and 2015 — 19,000 of them in the United States. Why? There have been reports that Acura’s “Collision Mitigation Braking System,” which uses radar to watch roadway conditions, sees phantom objects and applies the brakes. Acura’s automatic braking system seems to get confused when drivers are changing lanes, and it can mistake a guardrail or another vehicle for a roadblock, according to the Associated Press. [Carmakers’ automated dilemma: How to keep drivers from feeling robotic] “In rare cases, the system may interpret certain roadside objects, such as metal fences or metal guardrails, as obstacles and apply emergency braking,” according to a recall report from National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. “If the [Collision Mitigation Braking System] applies unexpected emergency braking force during normal operation, it could increase the risk of a crash.” The problem first popped up in Japan in November 2013 when the automatic braking system malfunctioned and caused a rear-end collision. Another incident was reported there the next year. In October 2014, Honda was finally able to recreate the problem and figure out what was causing it. Honda alerted regulators to the recall last month, but says there have been no reports of incidents or injuries in the United States. [GM to unveil car that can drive itself — sort of — in 2 years] Owners who have recalled Acura models can take the vehicles to dealers, which will update the system software for free. “Owners may manually turn off the [Collision Mitigation Braking System] in their vehicle, at their discretion, until repairs can be made,” the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said. The agency is looking into similar issues with the 2014 Jeep Grand Cherokee, which has been reported to suddenly reduce speed “with no pending threats in the line of travel,” according to the AP. “Whenever we do a new technology there is a learning curve,” Autotrader senior analyst Michelle Krebs told CNN Money. “The real world is a whole lot different than the lab and the test track. It’s only when we get into the real world that we discover the problems.” Sleepy face, sad face or shocked face: The emoji identity crisis.


What you should know about MERS, the mystery disease that has South Korea on edge

With the MERS death toll climbing higher in South Korea, here's what scientists know about the virus, how it spreads, and whether it poses a global threat. It began with a single coughing man. A South Korean businessman had just returned from a trip to the Middle East when he started to feel ill. Feverish and wheezing, he made his way to one hospital, then another, then a third, then a fourth. By the time doctors figured out what was ailing him — a rare disease called Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) — the man had left a trail of the virus across the country. On Friday a 72-year-old patient died from the illness [PHOTOS: South Korea battles MERS] Still, across the country Koreans remain wary of this new and little-understood illness. MERS first appeared in humans in 2012, and three years later scientists and public health officials are still sorting out where it came from and how it’s spread. Here’s what we do know: MERS affects the lower respiratory system. According to the Centers for Disease Control, MERS usually starts out looking like any old common cold, causing fever, coughs and shortness of breath. But in some patients it can lead to severe complications, ranging from nausea, vomiting and diarrhea to pneumonia and kidney failure. Just over a third of people reported with MERS have died, according to the World Health Organization. As of this March, the WHO reported 1082 cases of the disease and 439 deaths, the vast majority in Saudi Arabia. The outbreak in South Korea is the biggest to happen outside Saudi Arabia since MERS was first identified. The virus likely jumped from camels to humans. The country has taken emergency measures to stop the spread of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome. MERS has no cure. The South Korean outbreak may have been caused by a “superspreader.” But in South Korea, something strange happened. One infected man seems to have passed on the disease at least 20 others, according to NPR. The businessman who started it all may be what’s called a “superspreader,” someone who carries an exceptionally large amount of the virus in his lungs, German virologist Christian Drosten told NPR. It didn’t help that the businessman visited several hospitals before being diagnosed and quarantined — sick people are more vulnerable to contracting the disease. [How one joke photo has become a symbol of South Korea’s


The 5 things you need to know about MERS (and global health)

The hunt for the MERS virus in South Korea continues. (Reuters) Even before the Ebola outbreak in West Africa has ended, there’s a new infectious disease to fear: Middle East respiratory syndrome, or MERS. MERS appeared three years ago in Saudi Arabia, probably after jumping from camels to their human handlers, and had mostly stayed there — until last month, when it struck in South Korea. Within that month, MERS has caused more than 100 illnesses and at least 9 deaths in that country. Will it become an epidemic? Can it be contained? Those questions are on many minds for several reasons. Scientists know relatively little about MERS. We don’t yet know how to treat it. It’s related to other deadly respiratory ailments like SARS. Many wonder whether global institutions like the World Health Organization can keep people safe — especially after WHO’s failures in responding to Ebola. But the situation does not appear quite as dire with MERS. Thanks to the lessons learned from previous outbreaks of respiratory diseases and relatively pro-active responses, the global health governance system’s response has reassured a number of experts that a full-blown MERS epidemic is unlikely. At the same time, MERS shows that there are still important shortcomings in global health governance. 1. There’s a lot we don’t know about MERS yet, but it doesn’t act like a disease that will become a widespread epidemic. MERS appears unlikely to become widespread, in part because of its unique qualities. MERS is a relatively new disease. It was first identified in 2012 in Saudi Arabia, after a 60-year-old man entered a hospital in Jeddah complaining of shortness of breath, a week-long cough, and kidney failure. Between its discovery in 2012 and this past March, MERS had infected slightly more than 1,000 people and caused nearly 400 deaths. Two facts about how MERS spreads make a widespread outbreak less likely. First, MERS doesn’t spread very easily. The average MERS patient causes only 0.7 additional illnesses. By contrast, the average SARS patient infected 5 other people. Many of the Saudi cases still occur in people who are in close contact with camels. Since the typical MERS patient does not infect another person, the disease can be contained. Second, human-to-human MERS transmission is happening mainly within health-care facilities and among people with weakened immune systems. As a result, relatively simple changes in hospital procedures may stop MERS’ spread.


there are still important shortcomings in global health governance. 1. There’s a lot we don’t know about MERS yet, but it doesn’t act like a disease that will become a widespread epidemic. MERS appears unlikely to become widespread, in part because of its unique qualities. MERS is a relatively new disease. It was first identified in 2012 in Saudi Arabia, after a 60-year-old man entered a hospital in Jeddah complaining of shortness of breath, a week-long cough, and kidney failure. Between its discovery in 2012 and this past March, MERS had infected slightly more than 1,000 people and caused nearly 400 deaths. Two facts about how MERS spreads make a widespread outbreak less likely. First, MERS doesn’t spread very easily. The average MERS patient causes only 0.7 additional illnesses. By contrast, the average SARS patient infected 5 other people. Many of the Saudi cases still occur in people who are in close contact with camels. Since the typical MERS patient does not infect another person, the disease can be contained. Second, human-to-human MERS transmission is happening mainly within health-care facilities and among people with weakened immune systems. As a result, relatively simple changes in hospital procedures may stop MERS’ spread. 2. The South Korean government is trying to avoid China’s mistakes with SARS. When SARS appeared in 2002, the Chinese government’s initial response was abysmal. It denied the reports of a new disease. It recommended ineffective prevention strategies, like using vinegar to disinfect the air. It imposed a news blackout to prevent reporting about “atypical pneumonia.” It prevented WHO officials from having access to hospitals and clinics. These responses exacerbated the problem, giving the disease time to infect more people and causing people to question the government’s trustworthiness. The secrecy and failure to share information with international partners impeded a timely response, and China was widely condemned. At first, the Korean government underestimated the disease’s extent and provided little information about how widely it had spread. This caused many to openly question the government’s ability to handle the crisis. By last Sunday, though, Seoul had thoroughly changed its tactics. The government is sharing the names of all the hospitals treating MERS patients, providing public information about how people can protect themselves, and actively countering rumors. President Park Geun-hye even postponed her planned trip to Washington this week so that she could help coordinate her government’s response. The Korean government’s strategic


Why Americans have such bad taste in beer

shipments of beer that was very low in alcohol. An entire army's worth of young men, in effect, fell in love with light beer. [WATCH: Hopping times for growers of key beer ingredient] By war's end, Phil Berkes, who was the president of the Master Brewers Association of American, noted that the country was heading toward a time when "the majority of consumers will probably favor a beer pale in color and with an agreeable, mild hop flavor without any bitter after-taste." "Above all," he said, " the beer should not be satiating." That last bit is perhaps the most prescient part of Berkes' prediction. The past half century, after all, has been defined by the consolidation of the beer industry. Anheuser-Busch InBev, Miller Coors, and the like, have come to dominate the beer landscape in the United States. Bud Light is the best selling beer in the country; Coors Light, the second; Budweiser is third; and Miller Lite is fourth. And the main appeal of the most popular beers in the United States hasn't been taste so much as a lack of it. Miller Lite's classic slogan, 'tastes great—less filling,' had little do to with waist management. What it pitched was a beer that didn't fill people up, so they could drink more of it. Today, there is a growing migration away from lighter beers. Craft brewers, which have sprouted all across the country, are finding success selling higher-end bottles that were once unpalatable to Americans. Domestic beer hasn't been this hoppy since the 1930s, according to Dighe. And some of the biggest brands are suffering as a result. [WATCH: The chemistry of craft beer] But even as fancier, more bitter beers gain favor in the American palate, there are still some things that this country longs for that bland ones are simply better suited for. There are so-called session beers, beverages that can be sipped over the course of hours. And for that, a light beer is sometimes just better. "The whole idea of a beer that you can drink more than one or two of is really important to Americans," said Dighe. "That's why you see craft brewers today selling 'session IPAs.' People want something they can drink for a while without getting too drunk." Flavor, in other words, is important. But only so long as it doesn't get in the way of other things, like tailgating.


Climate engineering would cool down the planet — but it may not save West Antarctica

This undated handout photo provided by NASA shows the Thwaites Glacier in West Antarctica. (NASA via AP) For some time now, fears of climate disaster have been at least partly assuaged by the thought that if the planet really begins to heat up, well, at least we may have a backup plan. That backup plan is so-called “geoengineering” — artificially altering the planet still further so as to offset warming temperatures. One leading idea in the space is to fill the Earth’s stratosphere with sulfate aerosol particles, which would have a cooling effect by reflecting sunlight back to space. We know this would work because we know that large volcanic eruptions cool the planet, and that they do so by a similar mechanism — firing sulfur high into the skies. But it’s also very risky — there are many possible unintended consequences of geoengineering. Thus, the only reason to really consider it is if you’re on the verge of climate impacts so severe — impacts like, say, the potential collapse of the West Antarctic ice sheet, leading to 10 or more feet of global sea level rise — that it becomes the lesser evil. That’s why a new study recently accepted in Geophysical Research Letters could be so significant. For it calls into question whether geoengineering — at least using sulfate aerosols — can actually save this ice sheet, which is already beginning to be destabilized in our warming world. The new paper, by Kelly McCusker of the University of Victoria in British Columbia, Canada, and two colleagues from the University of Washington in Seattle, uses a climate and ocean model simulation to examine the fate of West Antarctica in a world in which humans pump huge volumes of sulfate aerosols into the atmosphere to curb global warming. And it finds that while the planet would indeed cool in such a scenario, West Antarctica would continue to melt, especially in the region of the vulnerable Pine Island glacier. Thus, the authors conclude, the notion that this form of geoengineering can serve as “a ‘backstop’ measure that could be rapidly deployed to avoid so-called climate emergencies, such as destabilization of marine ice sheets” is “not supported in this study.” Indeed, the article’s title puts it even more bluntly: “Stratospheric sulfate aerosol injections cannot preserve the West Antarctic Ice Sheet.” But why wouldn’t a cooler, geoengineered Earth let us preserve West Antarctica?


Five reasons why the tech industry cares about the trade debate

high barriers to access. Following Snowden’s revelations about U.S. spying, however, a number of countries have questioned whether that openness comes at the expense of privacy. This issue has been most acute in trade negotiations with Europe, but countries across the globe have weighed privacy measures that restrict where U.S. companies are allowed to move and store their data. TPP could be the first trade deal to seriously address this issue, but even a deal may not fully prevent such regulations from passing. The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative states the White House is seeking “requirements that support a single, global Internet, including ensuring cross-border data flows, consistent with governments’ legitimate interest in regulating for purposes of privacy protection.” - Forced localization Similar to the data flow issue is what the industry calls “forced localization,” or the idea that companies must set up data centers and networks in every area they do business. The advent of cloud computing has made that irrelevant. Data that originates from New Zealand, for example, could be stored on servers in Northern Virginia without slowing down the user’s experience. But for countries that want to keep their data on home soil or generate jobs for locals, the idea of making local data centers a condition for companies to operate there certainly has appeal. Industry advocates, on the other hand, contend the cost to companies would be crippling and could stifle their global expansion. Language in TPA and TPP aims to eliminate this threat, asking countries to create “rules against localization requirements.” - Intellectual property Much of a technology company’s value is held in its patents. These discourage other companies from ripping off their products and provide the necessary credentials to contest those who try to profit off their inventions. This is especially true at an international level where companies cannot rely solely on patents issued by the U.S. government. TPA urges negotiators to secure intellectual property rights that are similar to those found in the United States while also protecting emerging technologies so as not to snuff out innovation. - Copyright protections There is a push and pull between the creators of digital content and the technology companies that distribute their work over how strong to make international copyright agreements. It’s a debate that has played out here in the United States as well (SOPA and PIPA, anyone?). For motion picture studios and record