The Hubble Space Telescope has a glitch — again

Operations on one of the Hubble Space Telescope’s most important instruments were suspended Tuesday as NASA investigates a hardware malfunction with the instrument. Tom Brown, the Hubble mission head at the Space Telescope Science Institute, said the glitch affects the optical and ultraviolet channels on Hubble’s Wide Field Camera 3. This camera, which was installed during a 2009 servicing mission, has produced about 50 percent of all Hubble science results in the past decade and many of its most celebrated images. Engineers are working to find a solution to the problem, which could take days or even weeks, Brown said. But he was confident that the camera will soon be back up and working. Because NASA can no longer service the telescope, engineers built several redundancies into each instrument to ensure they keep functioning after a mishap. Brown did not expect the partial government shutdown to affect scientists' ability to address the problem. Though 95 percent of NASA employees are furloughed, those who operate currently flying missions like Hubble are exempt and currently working without pay. This is the second technical issue Hubble operators have faced in recent months. In October, a problem with one of the gyroscopes that keeps the telescope pointed in the proper direction brought operations to a halt for several weeks. The two glitches are unrelated, Brown said, but they’re emblematic of the same challenge. “Every one of these issues is a sign of age,” he said. Hubble is nearly 30 years old, and its orbit around Earth exposes it to an extreme space environment. NASA’s billion-dollar-a-year astrophysics program flies eight major telescopes aimed at studying space beyond the solar system. Of these, all but one are in their “extended missions” — the bonus years beyond the time for which the spacecraft was originally designed. NASA has one new flagship observatory in development, the James Webb Space Telescope, but engineering mishaps and cost overruns have put it significantly behind schedule. Hubble is expected to work well into the 2020s. Still, Matt Mountain, president of the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, which operates Hubble on behalf of NASA, told The Washington Post in October that he worries about what will happen when it and other observatories are gone. “We’re facing a very daunting prospect as a community,” Mountain said. “Some fields just won’t have a telescope. And the science will not be possible to do


The administration is manipulating the shutdown to mitigate Trump’s most harmful PR problems

The cruelty of government shutdowns is pain is a necessary component. Inconveniences and economic ill effects are what put pressure on both sides to bring it to an end. Without real pain, sad anecdotes in the media and constituents complaining to their lawmakers, there is far less of an incentive to do that. And for President Trump, his own self-declared ownership of the shutdown accordingly comes with PR challenges and harm for his personal priorities. Unless, of course, his administration just manipulates them away. In recent days, the Trump administration has taken a number of steps conspicuously geared toward Trump’s legacy items and especially unhelpful PR narratives. The most recent among them is the Tuesday extension of a deadline for the farmer bailout. This is a bailout the administration was forced to offer to help farmers who were adversely affected by Trump’s trade war (another bit of manipulation). With the government partially shut down, applications submitted in advance of the Jan. 15 deadline could not be processed, so Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue has now extended the deadline until after the shutdown ends. This does not help the farmers who aren’t getting aid in the meantime — which is a big and more immediate issue — but it does prevent longer-term damage from the shutdown, which would be inextricably tied to Trump’s controversial trade war. On Monday, something similar happened with tax refunds. The IRS said last year and in previous administrations it could not issue refunds during a government shutdown, but the White House decided to force it to do so — which is legally questionable. That is especially convenient for Trump, not just because it means people can get their refunds earlier, but also because it is the first filing season to take place after the GOP tax cuts bill went fully into effect. So that is perhaps Trump’s signature foreign-policy effort (the trade war) and his signature legislative accomplishment (the tax cuts) that have both been exempted from some of the pain of the shutdown. Actions have also been taken when it comes to some of the more unhelpful narratives of the shutdown for the administration. After trash piled up and several deaths occurred at national parks, the National Park Service announced it would use entrance fees for cleanup and provide some staffing — despite those fees apparently being legally earmarked for visitor services instead of operations and


As shutdown continues, so does damage to U.S. science

Neither bear nor rattlesnake nor hurricane has prevented ecosystem ecologist Jeff Atkins from collecting water samples in Shenandoah National Park. But a recent letter from the government did what wildlife and storms could not: For the first time since the early 1980s, the monitoring program, which traces the forest’s recovery from acid rain, has a gap in its weekly data. Because the project uses federal money on federal land, the data point became another casualty of the ongoing shutdown. “Losing that one point is going to be really detrimental,” said Atkins, a postdoctoral researcher at Virginia Commonwealth University who usually takes samples of Shenandoah’s streams on weekends. “Now I have a hole in the data set. It’s just a needless problem.” Atkins is one of the many scientists whose work has been hobbled by the 18-day shutdown, which could last “months or even years,” President Trump recently threatened. Of the 800,000 federal employees furloughed or working without pay, thousands are researchers. These include agency scientists at the Agriculture Department, the National Institute of Standards and Technology, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the National Science Foundation and the U.S. Geological Survey. (The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Institutes of Health, which were separately funded through September, are almost entirely safe from this shutdown.) Furloughed government scientists are banned from any form of work activity — they cannot so much as open an email. “The current government shutdown has far-reaching effects that put America’s scientific progress at risk. While there are reports that agencies such as NOAA and the USGS are still issuing alerts about weather and natural hazards, much of the scientific research into how to prevent these kinds of disasters has stalled,” said Christine McEntee, executive director of the American Geophysical Union. “This shutdown could affect the EPA’s ability to meet deadlines for assessing chemicals, and NOAA isn’t able to track fish for commercial harvesting or endangered species to protect them from passing ships.” She added, “Until funding is secured, many scientists employed by the U.S. government aren’t able to make important observations or analyze data to protect life, property and ecosystems here at home and abroad." A small crew maintains the National Center for Agricultural Utilization Research in Peoria, Ill., which is normally staffed at 250 and is the largest research center run by the USDA. Studies there exploring new treatments for antibiotic-resistant


too, as federal researchers were unable to travel to scientific meetings. Hundreds of scientists could not attend the American Meteorological Society’s annual meeting in Phoenix. More than 100 federal scientists scheduled to attend an International Soil Science Society of America meeting, which took place Jan. 5 through Jan. 9, did not. The shutdown dealt “a significant blow” to federal soil research, said Ellen Bergfeld, chief executive of the Soil Science Society of America. “Soil science is understood globally to be a fundamental component of national security — as the resource for life as we know it. . . . Our U.S. federal scientists deserve to be able to communicate, disseminate their information and learn from their colleagues in this crucial area of science for the benefit of all Americans.” A scientific tour of federal lands where California wildfires have altered soil ecosystems was canceled. At the winter meeting of the American Astronomical Society in Seattle, hundreds of federal scientists were missed. The society estimated that roughly 15 percent of attendees — as many as 450 people — were unable to attend because of the shutdown. Presentations by invited federal researchers were canceled. Academic scientists had to scramble to serve as understudies for government colleagues who were supposed to present the results of their research. Committees to award prizes and plan future research were short several members. “It’s been chaotic,” said Rafaella Margutti, an astrophysicist at Northwestern University who was asked at the last minute to fill in on panels about the future of the Hubble Space Telescope and a new alert system for tracking fleeting celestial phenomena. The majority of those missing were NASA employees; about 95 percent of the agency’s staff members are furloughed. AAS was forced to cancel an agency town hall meeting, which usually involves hundreds of people, as well as special sessions to discuss research priorities and plans for upcoming telescopes. The society urged its members to contact their representatives in Congress to demand a federal budget. And at the meeting’s opening session, scientists recorded a video message to their absent government colleagues. “We miss you,” AAS President Megan Donahue said. “We’re facing a world where science is not always at the table.” Read more: Disruptive, disappointing, chaotic: Shutdown upends scientific research Hundreds of scientists to miss world’s largest weather conference because of federal shutdown Federal workers in Washington aren’t the only ones going without pay


House Democrats demand Treasury explain rollback of sanctions on Russia oligarch

The Democratic leaders of seven House panels are demanding Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin delay implementing a planned easing of sanctions on businesses tied to a prominent Russian oligarch until the Treasury Department briefs committee members on the matter. The committee chairs told Mnuchin they want the briefing to take place before Friday, as they are working against the clock if they want to stop the administration from acting on its mid-December announcement that it would roll back sanctions. “There are a number of additional questions that we and other Members of Congress must pursue to fully assess whether the U.S. agreement and the sanctions terminations are justified,” the panel chairs wrote, complaining that the administration had intentionally announced the change in policy right before a holiday and a government shutdown, making it difficult for members to exercise their right to challenge the decision. The Democratic leaders expressed particular alarm about the proposed easement of sanctions because of the oligarch who would benefit from the change: Oleg Deripaska, who has ties to former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort, and “who has abetted the Putin Regime’s malign activity against the United States,” the lawmakers wrote. They asked for the Treasury Department to engage in “a full discussion of all aspects of the agreement” the administration reached with Derispaska, “the sanctions termination, and the impact that these decisions would have on the U.S. effort to end Russia’s malign activities aimed at our country.” In 2017, Congress gave itself the authority to prevent the president from reducing any Russia-related sanctions, but only if lawmakers voted to do so within a 30-day window of the administration announcing its intentions. The Trump administration announced it would lift the sanctions on the businesses in question on Dec. 19. karoun.demirjian@washpost.com


Thailand is no friend to asylum seekers. So why did it let a Saudi teenager stay?

people, including many Pakistani asylum seekers, during an immigration crackdown called Operation X-Ray Outlaw Foreigner. In November, the country detained a Bahraini former soccer player named Hakeem al-Araibi, who was living as a refugee in Australia after speaking out against a Bahraini official. So why did the country back down in Alqunun’s case? An obvious reason may be the global attention Alqunun attracted on Twitter. The Saudi teen posted videos from inside the hotel room where she was being held, documenting her refusal to emerge until she was put in contact with UNHCR, the refugee agency. Abdalelah Mohammed A. al-Shuaibi, the chargé d’affaires at the Saudi Embassy in Thailand, said during a Tuesday meeting with Thai officials that “we wish they had confiscated her phone instead of her passport,” according to CNN. Another factor may be growing international disapproval of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s brutal war in Yemen and the killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, apparently at the hands of the Saudi government. “You could argue that in this post-Khashoggi era, no nation would want to bend over backward to help the Saudis,” said Michael Kugelman, deputy director of the Asia program at the Wilson Center. “Even authoritarian states do give mind to reputational considerations." But history could be playing a role as well — namely the mysterious events surrounding a 1989 jewel heist that caused a diplomatic freeze between the two countries. It all began when a Thai gardener working for a Saudi prince stole as much as 200 pounds of jewelry from the family (he is rumored to have wheeled the booty out of the estate in a vacuum cleaner) and then fled home to Thailand. When Thai authorities returned the jewels to Saudi Arabia, the family found that many of them were cheap fakes. They sent Saudi officials to Thailand to investigate, but three of the diplomats were mysteriously murdered. Kugelman said relations between the two countries have vastly improved since the heist, but some scars apparently remain. In 2010, according to the Economist, Thai Muslims were still being held in limbo waiting for visas for their pilgrimages to Mecca. Read more: Saudi woman alleging abuse will remain in Thailand as refugee claim is processed No indication Saudi sisters found dead and bound with duct tape in NYC were killed, authorities say Indonesia says it had no warning Saudi Arabia would be executing maid


The Daily 202: The new Russia revelations are more consequential than Trump’s newsless immigration speech

(i.e., to count against Manafort's debt). That only makes sense if Deripaska was passing on to others -- and that Manafort KNEW he was,” “Big story. New info,” said former Nixon White House counsel John Dean “If proven, then call it by whatever c word that you want -- collusion, cooperation, conspiracy -- but this is serious,” said former U.S. ambassador to Russia Mike McFaul “This is potentially very significant evidence of collusion,” said Post columnist Max Boot Atlantic writer David Frum, a former speechwriter for George W. Bush, posed another question: -- “Internal polling data is precious. It reveals your strengths—and your weaknesses,” said Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.). -- -- Philip Bump argues that the revelation Manafort allegedly passed along polling is “more evocative than definitive” -- Last night, the Democratic leaders of seven House panels called on Steven Mnuchin to delay implementing a planned easing of sanctions on businesses tied to Deripaska until the Treasury Department briefs committee members. House Democrats believe that the Trump administration intentionally announced the relaxation of sanctions against Deripaska right before the Christmas holidays and the government shutdown to make the move harder to overturn. -- In related oversight news, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler is preparing to subpoena acting attorney general Matt Whitaker to testify about whether his relationship with Trump has influenced his oversight of Mueller’s probe. -- Breaking this morning: ABC, CNN — and, now, The Post — are reporting that Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein is expected to leave the Justice Department in the coming weeks. -- Separately, four senators plan to reintroduce their bill to protect the special counsel that Mitch McConnell blocked from getting a vote on the floor during the last Congress. -- There were two other significant developments in L'Affaire Russe on Tuesday: 1. The Supreme Court left in place a lower-court order requiring an unnamed foreign-owned corporation to comply with a subpoena said to be part of Mueller’s investigation. “It is thought to be the first time that an aspect of Mueller’s wide-ranging probe … has reached the Supreme Court. Last year, a federal court in Washington ordered the corporation to pay a daily fine of $50,000 until it complied with the subpoena, according to court records. An appeals court panel upheld that decision last month. … In a separate redacted opinion published Tuesday, the D.C. Circuit reiterated its reasoning … The appeals


Smokey Bear made it to the Rose Parade during the shutdown, but now all trips are off

As thousands of U.S. Forest Service employees were furloughed Jan. 1, agency chief Vicki Christiansen and Smokey Bear rode in the Rose Parade in Pasadena, Calif., standing on a float laden with greenery. “What a great way to kick off the new year,” the legendary mascot tweeted. The Forest Service’s main Twitter account had been silent since the shutdown began Dec. 22. But this week, the White House directed agencies to cancel all travel for their employees — including Smokey Bear — during the budget impasse unless it is critical to an agency’s mission. The new policy, which affects even departments that are fully funded such as Energy, Veterans Affairs and Defense, reflects optics as much as a legal determination. With 800,000 federal employees either furloughed at home or working without pay, White House officials said, allowing federal officials to travel sends a questionable message. “We should be mindful of what resources we’re using and why we’re using them when so many people are affected by the shutdown,” said one White House official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter. The back-and-forth over who can travel during a partial government shutdown underscores the vexing problems that have emerged as officials sort out which activities can continue and which might prompt a political backlash. The Forest Service, for example, is shut down, with roughly three-quarters of its employees out on furlough. But the agency decided to tap Smokey Bear licensing revenue to fund the trip to the parade, which ensured the expense did not violate federal law. The agency publicized the event on Smokey Bear’s official Twitter and Facebook accounts, posting tweets in which the Forest Service mascot thanked the crowd for serenading him on his 75th birthday. “Want to know what it feels like to be in a parade?” the ursine icon tweeted. “Watch this. And, btw, it feels amazing! #RoseParade2019 #RoseBowlParade #RoseParade.” In an email, Forest Service spokeswoman Katie O’Connor said federal officials had committed more than a year ago to participating in the parade, and they had worked with the Ad Council and the National Association of State Foresters to create a float that would showcase the agency’s priorities. “This is a unique opportunity to highlight our critical fire prevention and conservation messages to a huge and diverse audience across the United States and around the world,” O’Connor said. “This is


The Health 202: Justice Kavanaugh could soon reveal his willingness to take on abortion cases

Guttmacher Institute, which supports abortion rights. Courts have blocked many of those laws, but they’ve also opened more big questions about how far states can go in restricting access. “This law ignores long-settled precedent from the Supreme Court that a woman, not the legislature, gets to decide whether an abortion is the right decision for her and her family,” Ken Falk, legal director with the ACLU of Indiana, said in a statement. Correction: AHH: A majority of Democratic voters want lawmakers to take on a national health-care plan such as Medicare-for-all, while fewer than half say Congress should repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, according to a new Harvard/Politico poll. More than four in five Democratic voters called for a taxpayer-funded health-care plan. Furthermore, 60 percent of Republicans and 83 percent of Democrats supported a plan in which Americans under 65 have the option of buying into Medicare. Overall, 65 percent of people surveyed said they back a public health insurance option that competes with private payers, Politico’s Rachel Roubein writes. Robert Blendon, a professor of health policy and political analysis at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, told Rachel the poll’s findings on a Medicare buy-in option reflect support for “another option.” “In the mind of the person answering it, they’re hearing choice. And that’s not Medicare for All, which everybody in America has the same card,” he said. OOF: For the 38 million low-income Americans who depend on food stamps, it’s not clear when the government shutdown may start to affect their benefits. The Trump administration won’t say how long it can keep doling out benefits during the stalemate, Politico’s Helena Bottemiller Evich reports. “The USDA, which administers the food stamp program, has declined to answer questions about its reserves and would not provide an estimate of when the program would run out of funding,” Helena writes. “In the omnibus spending package passed early last year, Congress gave USDA $3 billion for the reserve fund and provided a longer leash … Some experts believe USDA’s food stamp cushion could be closer to $6 billion, which would cover February, though Congress would need to come up with money beyond that point. It’s also possible the department has extra funds it can use.” But the program could be in limbo amid political maneuvering during the shutdown. OUCH: In this wrenching account in The Washington Post Magazine, Tiffany


The shutdown is a great time for identity thieves. I know this firsthand.

operations require a pace and patience with which I am unfamiliar. Recently I dialed up a bank and, after fumbling several times through its tree of options, none of which pertained, I finally pecked a number and was told that my wait time would be 28 minutes. No, I said to no one, it won’t be — because I have 28 things to do in the next minute. I hung up. Thus, a better-organized person might have wondered sooner why she no longer was allowed to access her personal Social Security account. I did wonder, briefly, but then wandered off to slay other dragons. A couple of months passed. A hungrier person might have gladly spent hours on the phone arguing with an agent about the missing checks that were due in her bank account. But, probably because I’m still employed and Social Security isn’t my sole income, I was able to postpone any reckoning. I simply assumed, the government being the government, things are slow. Finally, having received no money since being told to expect my first check in October for six months retroactively, I called a local SSA representative, who told me the money went out in October to a Green Dot account. A what? I don’t have a Green Dot. Is that 30 or 40 percent off? Well, it says here it went out in October. But I didn’t get it. It says it went to a Green Dot account in October. You said that already. I didn’t get it. I don’t have a Green Dot. I’ve never heard of Green Dot. It’s a thing. It’s not my thing. Next I called the national SSA number, which I found on a letter I’d received saying the SSA couldn’t send me any more money (haha) because it had an incorrect address. A very professional-sounding woman picked up the phone and, upon hearing my description, immediately declared a fraud, issued an alert, filed a report with the inspector general and told me to call the Federal Trade Commission to get information about freezing my credit. Suddenly, I’m very interested in this problem, which can’t be resolved because the relevant government agencies, including the FTC, are shut down. The cobwebbed IdentityTheft.gov website says, “We will resume normal operations when the government is funded.” Bottom line: Someone hacked into my Social Security account and changed my bank routing and checking account


Where to find a delicious breakfast around D.C. for $6 or less

very fiery sauce. 7393 D Lee Hwy., Falls Church. Breakfast hours: Available all day. Opens at 7:30 a.m. daily. Pupuseria Irene's It seems like hundreds of pupusa fans could fit into the cavernous dining room at the Glenmont location of local Salvadoran and Honduran eatery Irene’s. There isn’t much atmosphere here beyond rows of booths, packed-in tables and a stage by the bar. Luckily, the pupusas are way more of a draw than the decor. At this pupuseria, $6 goes a long way: Each corn cake is priced at about $2.50, and one nearly covers your plate. There are 10 options to choose from — warm tortillas stuffed with gooey cheese and toppings ranging from beans and zucchini to fried pork and chicken. Can’t decide? Order the “mixta con todo,” the “everything” option. When paired with tangy, spice-flecked cabbage, two would more than keep hunger at bay. 12391 Georgia Ave., Glenmont; 2218 University Blvd. E., Hyattsville. Breakfast hours: Available all day at both locations. Glenmont: Opens at 9:30 a.m. daily. Hyattsville: Opens at 8:30 a.m. daily. Bob and Edith's Walking into the Bob and Edith’s in Huntington on a weekend morning often means instantly joining a line that stretches to the door. That’s how popular this no-frills local chain can be, with a constant flow of families and friends lining up for the chance to seat themselves at the tiled diner’s blue tables and metal bar stools. To avoid cracking the $6 mark, scan the side-order section of the menu and create your own plate. For example: Combine a glistening order of $2.79 hash browns with scrapple or a half smoke, each $3.19. It’s instant portion control, and the fare here is everything you’d want from a diner. Waiters are happy to refill your coffee mug over and over, but don’t linger: A sign on the wall reminds diners that “management reserves the right to limit seating time to half an hour.” Locations in Alexandria, Arlington and Springfield, all open 24 hours. Sunrise Cafe At Sunrise Cafe, diners can grab such essentials as Advil, M&M’s and, perhaps more important, a cheap yet tasty breakfast. There’s barely room to turn around in this old-school joint near Farragut Square, as construction workers, cubicle dwellers and tourists towing suitcases order all manner of breakfast sandwiches. Think every combination of egg, cheese, meat and bread: The array of options start at just $2.95 for


Paul Manafort shared 2016 polling data with Russian associate, according to court filing

the campaign and met with Manafort in the United States in May and in August 2016. Kilimnik did not immediately respond Tuesday to a request for comment. Manafort’s lawyers provided no additional details about the “Ukrainian peace plan” in their filing. Trump’s personal attorney Michael Cohen has said that in January 2017, he was given a Russian-friendly peace plan for Ukraine during a meeting at a New York hotel with a Ukrainian lawmaker and Felix Sater, a longtime Trump business associate. The proposal would have paved the way for the United States to lift sanctions on Russia, a top Kremlin foreign policy goal. Manafort told The Post in 2017 he had “no role” in the episode. In emails first reported by The Post, Manafort, who was deeply in debt at the time he agreed to work for Trump’s campaign for no pay, wrote to Kilimnik during the campaign and said he hoped to use his position to “get whole.” He also asked Kilimnik to offer private briefings about the campaign to Oleg Deripaska, a Russian businessman who is close to Russian President Vladimir Putin and to whom Manafort owed money. A spokeswoman for Deripaska has said he was never offered briefings and didn’t receive any. Mueller also said in a previous court filing that Manafort lied about contacting administration officials after Trump took office. Manafort had told investigators he had no direct or indirect contact with White House officials since the inauguration, but Manafort had been in touch with officials as recently as the spring, according to the special counsel’s assertions. Manafort told a colleague in February — four months after his indictment — he was in contact with a senior administration official through that time, prosecutors said. And in a text message, he authorized another person to speak with a White House official on May 26, they alleged. In Tuesday’s filing, Manafort’s attorneys said that person was “asking permission to use Mr. Manafort’s name as an introduction in the event the third-party met the President,” which “does not constitute outreach by Mr. Manafort to the President.” The lawyers added that the other example of alleged contact with administration officials “is hearsay purportedly offered by an undisclosed third party and the defense has not been provided with the statement.” Defense attorneys wrote Manafort had trouble recollecting certain details partly because solitary confinement at the Alexandria jail in Virginia has “taken


Russian lawyer at Trump Tower meeting charged in separate case

complicit, U.S. prosecutors say. Magnitsky was arrested in Russia and died in custody in 2009. On the day he died, U.S. prosecutors said, he was beaten by guards with a rubber baton, and an ambulance crew called to treat him was deliberately kept outside his cell until he was dead. The incident sparked the United States to pass the Magnitsky Act, which allowed the U.S. government to penalize Russian officials found to have committed human rights violations there. The Russian government has spent years trying to end those sanctions and have Browder arrested. On Tuesday, Browder called Veselnitskaya’s indictment “the definition of karma,” adding: “When all is said and done, all the truth will come out.” In 2014, U.S. authorities were investigating whether Prevezon Holdings, a Cyprus-based real estate corporation, orchestrated the lawsuit and tax scheme that targeted Browder’s companies. Veselnitskaya represented Prevezon Holdings in that civil case, which led the U.S. attorney’s office in Manhattan to seek millions of dollars in forfeiture from the company and others connected to the tax-refund scheme. As U.S. officials in New York pursued the financial investigation, they asked Russian prosecutors for assistance. In response, Russian prosecutors provided what they called “the results of the investigation carried out in its territory” and accused Browder of fraud, according to the new indictment. But they refused to provide the requested records. In November 2015, Veselnitskaya submitted a declaration to the judge overseeing the Prevezon case, asserting that she had gone to great lengths to acquire the Russian government’s response to the U.S. records request. In 2017, the U.S. attorney’s office settled its civil case against Prevezon for more than $5.8 million. According to the indictment, Veselnitskaya’s 2015 filing to the court in the Prevezon case amounted to obstruction of justice because she “made to the court a false and misleading declaration implying that she had not participated in the drafting” of the Russian government’s response to the U.S. request for records. The indictment charges that, contrary to those claims, U.S. investigators obtained emails between Veselnitskaya and a Russian prosecutor in which, together, they worked on the language of the Russian government’s response. The thrust of the charge is that Veselnitskaya stymied prosecutors’ investigation by working with the Russian government to prevent the United States from acquiring documents that could have aided their investigation, while claiming to the court that she was not acting in concert with


A new link between the Trump campaign and Russian intelligence that’s more evocative than definitive

were not particularly sophisticated. There was a late-campaign focus on trying to suppress the black vote to some extent, a focus that Bloomberg News reported in October 2016 was also a focus of the Trump campaign itself. But, as we noted last month, the Russian effort was not particularly robust. There was nothing in the product of the Russian effort that we know of that would suggest any particular inside knowledge. That is beside the point, of course. It’s worth asking why Manafort might have passed polling to Kilimnik. If he wanted Kilimnik to share that information with Russia to influence the campaign, it’s hard to see that as anything less than an effort to collude with Russia. We know, thanks to reporting from the Atlantic, that Manafort in April 2016 emailed Kilimnik to ensure that his colleague had been sharing information about his new position with the Trump campaign to an oligarch named Oleg Deripaska. Manafort and Deripaska, an ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, worked together for years until they had a falling out. In July 2016, Manafort asked Kilimnik to offer Deripaska private briefings on the campaign, according to Post reporting. Manafort seemed to believe that his position with the campaign offered an opportunity to provide something of value to Deripaska and, further, seemed to believe that offering insight into the inner workings of the campaign might be of interest to the oligarch. It's not hard to extend this train of thought to an obvious place: Perhaps that effort included Manafort passing Kilimnik polling information with the intent that he give it to Deripaska. Update: The Times Why would Deripaska care? Perhaps because he hoped that Trump’s election would result in a relaxation of the sanctions that he faced from the U.S. government. This was an effort that spanned multiple administrations and that involved Manafort for years. Perhaps Manafort hoped to rebuild their business partnership by showing that the candidate for whom he was working might soon be president. If that was the plan, it worked out to a limited degree. Trump is president and sanctions on Deripaska will be eased. How much of that if any is due to Manafort, first fired and then indicted, is not clear. Perhaps there was a conduit for collusion that went from Trump to Manafort to Kilimnik to Russian intelligence. Or perhaps Manafort, ever the hustler, was working a hustle.


Marijuana gives you the munchies. What about CBD?

way if it’s added to foods and beverages or taken as a medication. “CBD helps relieve nausea and can calm your nervous system and digestive tract,” Bissex says. “If you feel less nauseated, you may eat more. CBD also quells pain, and feeling less pain may also boost appetite.” For that reason, it’s often used by people with cancer, chronic pain or other medical issues. (Either CBD or THC — or both — can be found in medical marijuana products; the legality of CBD and THC products depends on the state in which you reside.) If THC increases appetite, does that mean recreational cannabis users will weigh more than nonusers because they want to keep eating? You’d think so, but surprisingly the answer is no. “Studies indicate that regular heavy cannabis users tend to be leaner than age- and gender-matched groups of nonusers,” Kunos says. Overall, cannabis use in the general population is associated with a lower body mass index. “Interestingly, cannabis may help increase weight in those who are low weight, but not in those who are normal or overweight,” says Bissex. The reason has not been definitively established but may involve the amount of THC that someone is exposed to, Kunos says. High doses of THC can suppress the number of CB1 receptors so that fewer receptors are stimulated, which could limit weight gain. And THC’s hunger-boosting effect may signal hope for weight-loss efforts. Because researchers are able to figure out how cannabis increases appetite, it may help them develop products to reduce appetite, too. Some drugs are “inverse agonists,” which means that they bind to the same area in the brain but produce an opposite response. Using this theory, researchers are investigating how to reduce, rather than increase, appetite using CB1 receptors. In 2006, a drug called rimonabant held potential to be an effective inverse agonist to aid weight loss, but it had too many psychiatric side effects and was pulled off the market. Kunos’s lab is working on an appetite-suppressant drug without the side effects. So, are the food-trends experts on to something? Will CBD be on the menu at your favorite restaurants and on store shelves where you buy groceries? That will depend on where you reside. If you live in Oregon, California, New York or Colorado, you may very well be ordering CBD-infused beer or buying CBD-enhanced sweets and pastries. You can rest assured


Coming to grocery shelves in 2019: Mushroom/meat mixes, pea protein and banana milk

Banana milk, cassava flour and pea yogurt may sound exotic, but I predict they’re going to be in your shopping cart in 2019. These are just a few of the items that caught my attention at the annual Food and Nutrition Conference and Expo, an event that brings together more than 13,000 nutrition and food professionals to learn about new research and product innovations. As consumers look for more creative and convenient ways to enjoy a plant-based diet, we’re going to see more products in that category. Plus, diets such as paleo, Whole30 and low-FODMAP will become mainstream. Here are the nutrition and food trends you’ll see in the new year. Plants in animal-based foods Consumers are craving more plant-based foods for their health and a desire to help the environment, but not everyone wants to go vegetarian or vegan. That’s why working plant-based ingredients into animal-based dishes is a trend to watch. One example is combining mushrooms with ground meat for flavorful, healthier and more environmentally friendly recipes. Earlier this year, more than 350 independent restaurants developed their mushroom-blended take on the classic burger in the James Beard Foundation’s Blended Burger Project. Sonic Drive-In became the first fast food restaurant to serve a blended burger made with 35 percent mushrooms, resulting in a burger that’s less than 350 calories and offers phytochemicals and antioxidants that could help reduce the risk of chronic disease. The Sonic Slinger was offered for a limited time in the spring and proved so popular it was served for a limited time in the fall and is back as part of a new promotion, according to Scott Uehlein, Sonic’s vice president of product innovation and development. In 2019, expect to see more restaurants offering up mushroom-and-meat blends, as well as more recipes for the home cook that combine plant-based ingredients with meat. Bone broth as a base for plant-based soups is another example of the animal-based and plant-based worlds combining to offer the best of both worlds. Bone broth has been trending upward for the past couple of years as a key component of both the paleo and Whole30 diets. It’s thought to have potential benefits for digestive health, and at the very least, contains some protein. Instead of sipping on straight bone broth as in years past, this year you’ll see it used as a base for classic and creative soups. Companies such as


The Daily 202: Wall fight underscores Trump’s weaknesses

in past administrations -- Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin, who will deliver a briefing today to House members on his decision to lift sanctions on companies linked to a Russian oligarch, is attracting more scrutiny from House Democrats. -- Senate Finance Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) said he’s looking into whether he could obtain Trump’s tax returns. -- Republican senators promised William Barr would not interfere with Mueller’s investigation if he is confirmed as attorney general. -- But Chuck -- The Center for American Progress has tracked more than 100 contacts between members of Trump’s campaign and transition team and Russian-linked officials. -- The New York Times corrected a story we included in yesterday’s 202: -- Sen. Doug Jones (D-Ala.) asked the FEC to investigate an alleged disinformation campaign by Democratic strategists to help him win his 2017 special election. -- A Russian SOCIAL MEDIA SPEED READ: Trump this morning denied that he slammed the table when he left his meeting with Democrats: And he reiterated his claim that the GOP is unified: He also pledged that he won’t cave: Trump complained about his comments in a closed-door meeting being leaked and lashed out against the news media as “totally bonkers”: The secretary of state arrived in Cairo: A Republican senator expressed her view on the pointlessness of the shutdown: Maryland’s Republican governor accused Washington of playing political games at the expense of average Americans: A Republican congressman explained the reason for the gridlock to a Post reporter: The host of “Morning Joe,” a former Republican congressman, reflected on the future of the GOP: A presidential historian tweeted a famous Trump quote after he walked out of his meeting with Democratic leadership: The libertarian Cato Institute fact-checked Trump’s dire warnings about undocumented immigrants: An energy reporter for the LA Times imagined this scenario: A cab driver told a Post reporter about the personal impact of the shutdown: National Park employees lent a helping hand: A Post reporter obtained this behind-the-scenes detail about Trump’s meeting with Schumer and Pelosi: A House Republican explained his awkward reaction to his Democratic colleagues’ applause for their funding bills: A Senate Republican and House Republican shared this uniquely divisive exchange about Trump’s attorney general nominee: But Barr is refusing to meet with several Democrats on the committee he will appear before next week, with the administration citing the shutdown as the reason. A Daily Beast reporter


This is exactly what collusion looks like

election. One of the Russian companies, Concord Management & Consulting LLC, appeared in court to contest the indictment. The company mounted a vigorous challenge to the conspiracy charge, claiming the government’s legal theory was invalid for a number of reasons. But in November, a federal judge rejected Concord’s arguments. As of now, only Russians are charged in that indictment. But if there is evidence that Manafort or others in the Trump campaign agreed to help the Russians in their efforts, they could potentially be implicated in the same conspiracy. This would be true even if the Americans did not directly participate in any of the fake social media campaigns or other Russian activities. You can be guilty of conspiring to help others commit crimes even if you do not directly take part in those crimes yourself. This is why Manafort’s sharing of polling information could be some of the most significant evidence to date of a criminal conspiracy involving Russians and the Trump campaign. We don’t yet know how that data was used by Russian agents, if at all. But polling information could have been extremely useful in targeting illicit social media campaigns and other political activities in the most effective way. And it’s hard to think of another practical use Russian officials could have had for such data. As far as a criminal case is concerned, the key unknowns are Manafort’s knowledge and intent. It’s possible he was providing the data simply to impress his Russian contacts or was trying to somehow leverage the information to offset his personal financial obligations to Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska. That might be improper for all kinds of reasons, but if Manafort didn’t intend to help the Russians influence the election he would not be implicated in that criminal conspiracy. How will Mueller get to the bottom of this? One likely key is Rick Gates, Manafort’s longtime associate and Trump’s former deputy campaign manager. Gates also has pleaded guilty and has been cooperating for months — which is probably how prosecutors knew Manafort was lying to them. According to a report in the New York Times, Gates was involved with Manafort in passing the campaign polling data to the Russians. If there is evidence tying these actions to the Russian efforts to affect the election, Gates has undoubtedly laid it all out for the prosecutors. When Manafort pleaded guilty and agreed to cooperate,


The Finance 202: Trump can probably stop worrying about Fed hikes for now

one risk emanating from the White House: That the president would try to fire Powell in a fit of pique, a move that is “universally regarded as difficult to achieve and likely disruptive if not disastrous for the market.” — Trump walks out of shutdown negotiations. The Post's Erica Werner and co.: “Talks between [Trump] and congressional Democrats aimed at ending the partial government shutdown collapsed in acrimony and disarray Wednesday, with the president walking out of the White House meeting and calling it ‘a total waste of time’ after Democrats rejected his demand for border-wall funding. Furious Democrats accused Trump of slamming his hand on the table before he exited, and they said he ignored their pleas to reopen the federal government as they continue to negotiate over his border wall demands. With the shutdown nearing the three-week mark, some 800,000 workers are about to miss their first paycheck. ‘He thinks maybe they could just ask their father for more money. But they can’t,’ said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), an implicit dig at Trump’s wealthy upbringing.” Some House GOP defect on bill to reopen Treasury Meanwhile, small business owners can't get loans, as the Small Business Administration has stopped processing applications, The Post reports. And the Treasury Department can't cover it’s water bill. — House Dems seek answers from Mnuchin. NYT's Alan Rappeport and Ken Vogel: “House Democrats have summoned Steven Mnuchin, the Treasury secretary, to Congress on Thursday to deliver a classified briefing about the Trump administration’s plans to end sanctions on companies linked to the billionaire Russian oligarch Oleg V. Deripaska. The briefing is an early instance of Democratic lawmakers flexing their new oversight muscles after taking control of the House last week... Congress is reviewing the administration’s decision — announced in December by the Treasury Department — to lift sanctions against three companies that Mr. Deripaska controls, EN+, Rusal and JSC EuroSibEnergo.” — Stocks cautiously climbing. “The S&P 500 Index was up for a fourth consecutive day led by energy producers, reaching the highest level in almost a month. The Nasdaq benchmarks were the strongest performers on strength in semiconductors and technology hardware manufacturers.” Why stocks tanked in December “On the first day of trading in 2019 last week, Apple warned that its fiscal first-quarter sales wouldn’t be as high as previously projected and said its profit margin would be ever so slightly narrower than


Is North Korea a player in the U.S.-China trade war?

Want smart analysis of the most important news in your inbox every weekday along with other global reads, interesting ideas and opinions to know? Kim Jong Un’s visit to Beijing this week was brief. After a 20-hour journey to the Chinese capital aboard his armored green train, the young North Korean leader spent barely a day at his destination. But it was still an important visit — and the target audience appears to be President Trump, who’s pursuing ambitious foreign-policy goals with both North Korea and China. Kim’s fourth visit to China in 10 months wasn’t quite as spectacular as prior trips: Kim attended a banquet with President Xi Jinping on Tuesday evening, which was also his 35th birthday, The Washington Post’s Anna Fifield reported. The following morning, he toured a factory producing traditional Chinese medicines, had lunch with Xi and then headed back home. Speaking to the state-run Global Times newspaper, Chinese analysts said the real focus of the trip was not pharmaceutical but geopolitical. North Korea and the United States are planning for a second meeting between Trump and Kim, a sequel to their historic meeting in Singapore last June. Despite ambitious talk after that event, the first-ever summit between sitting North Korean and American leaders, each side has since accused the other of violating promises that were made. While North Korea has stopped overt testing of missiles and nuclear weapons, it has not denuclearized. Meanwhile, U.S. and U.N. sanctions on Pyongyang remain in place. The hope is that a second summit might make some real progress after months of stalling. But Trump’s trade war with China complicates things. While Kim was in Beijing, negotiators from the United States were also in the city working on the next steps toward calming the economic standoff between the two nations. Trump tweeted Tuesday that the talks were going “very well!” The Wall Street Journal’s Lingling Wei also reported some positive movement in the dispute after an unscheduled third day of discussions. Other observers, however, looked at the timing of Kim’s unannounced trip to Beijing and wondered about the effect it might have on U.S.-China trade diplomacy. China has obvious reasons — at least theoretically — to gain from tying nuclear and trade diplomacy together. Xi could potentially use China’s leverage over North Korea as a valuable concession in trade talks with the United States, trading flexibility from Washington for more


National Park Service resumes some local maintenance despite shutdown

The National Park Service said Thursday that it would resume trash collection, urgent roadwork and sanitation services at its parks in and around the District of Columbia starting Friday. “Some of these services had been donated by park partners since the start of the lapse of appropriations” on Dec. 22, the Park Service said in a statement. The services will now be paid for with funding revenue collected by national parks across the country under the Federal Lands Recreation Enhancement Act. The areas affected are Anacostia Park, Baltimore-Washington Parkway, Capitol Hill Parks, Civil War Defenses of Washington, George Washington Memorial Parkway and Georgetown-area parks, including Georgetown Waterfront Park. The areas also include Kenilworth Park, Meridian Hill Park, the Mall and Memorial Parks, President’s Park, Rock Creek Park and Suitland Parkway. During the first 20 days of the partial shutdown, the District of Columbia Department of Public Works and several business improvement districts across the city collected trash at park services sites across city, the Park Service said. D.C.-area national parks remain as accessible as possible during the shutdown, but some services and sites are unavailable, including visitor centers, ranger talks and programs and emergency services, the agency said. michael.ruane@washpost.com


TSA officers get some shutdown love

It’s a tough job even in the best of times: Transportation Security Administration officers often take a lot of grief from frustrated travelers. Starting pay is low, and the agency consistently ranks near the bottom of annual surveys that look at employee morale. During a government shutdown, however, TSA officers are considered essential — required to show up for work even if they aren’t getting paid. Reports have circulated that some simply aren’t reporting for duty. Friday marks the first time since the shutdown began last month that they won’t be getting a paycheck. Still, those who are reporting for duty are getting something they may not normally receive: respect and appreciation from travelers. There’s the adorable photograph circulating on Twitter of two young travelers holding a sign that says: “Thank You TSA FOR KEEPING MY FAMILY SAFE!” Scattered through the agency’s @askTSA Twitter feed are messages of encouragement and appreciation. More than a few travelers offered to express their support with cards and gifts of home-baked cookies — both no-no’s under the TSA’s ethics policies. The folks at Hope Supply Company, a nonprofit agency in North Texas that provides diapers to needy families, offered to help TSA families who might be struggling because they aren’t getting paid for their work. “We had heard through the news and on [NPR] that TSA employees might not be able to make basic ends meet,” said Liz Muth, development and community outreach manager for the nonprofit, which was founded in 1989. “We were thinking that we’d be happy to provide diapers or hygiene items if people needed some help.” So Muth tweeted the offer to @askTSA. Appreciated, but again, the ethics issue. Muth said they weren’t giving up and that Hope would try to find other ways to help TSA workers and others affected by the shutdown. “We know how scary it can be to go without a paycheck and how expensive diapers are,” she added. TSA officials say they appreciate the gestures. “We are humbled by the acts of kindness and support from industry and the public, who clearly recognize and admire our officers’ efforts,” the agency said in a statement posted on its website. “TSA will continue to conduct the critical work necessary to secure the nation’s transportation systems. Not on our watch.” The salary for TSA officers can vary depending on where the job is based. According to listings on


The cascade of shutdown problems grows each week

1,150 affordable-housing contracts from the Department of Housing and Urban Development expired in December, with another 500 expiring by the end of the month. January is a critical month for science grants that are going unrewarded during the shutdown. Benjamin Corb, director of public affairs for the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, calculated how much funding National Science Foundation provided through Jan. 8 last year: $42 million in 2018 vs. $0 in 2019. Late January or early February: Activities for 2020 Census stop The Census Bureau has already ended some work but has continued preparation for the 2020 Census by using previously authorized funding. The bureau said that funding is expected to run out in late January or early February, and outside experts warn it might run out earlier than that. End of February: Food stamps possibly run out, country’s credit rating could be reconsidered, housing vouchers program runs out It was unclear whether food stamps would remain operational through February, but the administration announced it has the funds to keep the program open until March, when funding is less certain. Also, More than 2,500 grocers and retails are no longer accepting food stamps because their SNAP licenses have not been renewed. The shutdown could put the country’s AAA credit rating at risk if it extends to March and pushes a debt ceiling fight back, Fitch Ratings warned. HUD’s Section 8 rent vouchers for 2.2. million households run out, and funds for state and local public-housing agencies to manage more than 1 million public housing units also run out. Mixed dates: Cash welfare expired Funding has lapsed for the federal welfare program TANF (Temporary Assistance for Needy Families) that provides cash assistance to 3.4 million Americans, but states have cobbled together previously unspent federal funds and state dollars to cover it. Deadlines vary by state for when that funding would expire. What’s affected already The government functions listed below have already ceased or slowed because of the shutdown. These departments are affected: Homeland Security, Justice, State, Agriculture, Treasury, Interior, Transportation, Commerce, Housing and Urban Development and the Environmental Protection Agency. Federal office buildings for affected agencies National parks closed or unstaffed Federal museums and zoo closed Government contracts have stopped Advanced federal law enforcement training Do-not-call registry E-Verify offline Many federal research operations stalled New beer approvals Immigration courts significantly reduced Reduced food inspections Vehicle safety testing and


For charities, the government shutdown could not have come at a worse time

her fundraising drive “Reopen America’s Heart (and the government!).” Her suggested donation is a dollar for every day government agencies have been shuttered. Hildreth said she’ll choose a new organization every three days until the shutdown ends. She started the fundraiser on a whim, she said, after spending days feeling helpless in the face of fruitless debates and a shutdown with no end in sight. She set a goal of $1,000. In the fundraiser’s first three days, it raised more than $600. “I guess it’s a way to take some control back, and to feel like maybe I can give people a way to vent their frustrations in all this in a way that’s creating something positive,” Hildreth said. “Shutdowns are very discouraging.” Some private businesses in the District have offered free meals to furloughed federal workers. On Tuesday, Washington Gas announced it would offer flexible payment plans for families affected by the shutdown. Montgomery County Council member Evan Glass (D-At Large) on Wednesday asked county agencies and nonprofit organizations to “make their services available for federal employees and contractors,” and for businesses to “allow for creative and flexible payment options.” Several members of Congress have pledged to donate their salaries to charity during the shutdown. Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) is donating to Homes For The Brave, a nonprofit group that provides housing for homeless veterans. Sen. Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii) said she would donate her salary to Hawaii’s food banks. Sen. John Hoeven (R-N.D.) will donate to the North Dakota National Guard Foundation. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) promised her salary to HIAS, a global Jewish nonprofit organization that provides relief to refugees. More than 30 members of Congress have asked that their pay be withheld during the shutdown in solidarity with federal workers. Some, including Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.) and Rep. Bradley Schneider (D-Ill.), have directed the government to send their paycheck back to the U.S. Treasury until funding is restored. For furloughed workers such as Hildreth, those actions are nice to see but fall short of what she and her colleagues really want: to get back to work. “I appreciate the gesture, and I don’t want to discount whatever help they’re providing, but I think donations really address a piece of what we’re dealing with. The problem is so much bigger,” she said. “The main job of Congress right now should be to try to figure this out.” marissa.lang@washpost.com


Food stamps, rent aid and the safety net for American’s poorest at risk as shutdown drags on

end of January, and 550 in February, the agency said. The risk of eviction for low-income tenants grows the longer the government remains closed, housing advocates say. “The longer the shutdown continues, the more the lowest income people will be hard hit,” said Diane Yentel, president of the National Low Income Housing Coalition. “If we get to March, we’re going to be looking at a potentially significant number of evictions.” HUD also announced Wednesday there could be major delays in the disaster relief funding it is sending to Puerto Rico, Florida, and a number of other places because of the shutdown, saying it likely would not be able to meet a timeline set by Congress . The shutdown has hit Native American tribes especially hard because so many of their basic services depend on federal funding, as a legacy of their negotiated treaties with the U.S. government. U.S. Rep. Sharice Davids (D-Kan.) — a member of the Ho-Chunk Nation and one of two Native American congresswomen newly sworn in this month — said one tribe witnessed a member die during the shutdown because road crews did not plow snow-filled roads and an ambulance could not get through. She did not provide further details, saying she wanted to respect the tribe’s privacy. Several tribes have reallocated funds to keep hospitals and clinics open on their lands. But staff at those hospitals has already grown thinner, Davids said. “For many in these communities, this is the only way people can access health care,” she said. Kerry Hawk Lessard, executive director of Native American Lifelines — a Baltimore-based group that provides health assistance to Native Americans living in urban areas — said she has needed to turn away members seeking rides to doctor’s appointments and halt funding for previously promised eyeglasses as a result of the shutdown. Nonprofit groups in Washington say they are making contingency plans after facing an uptick in calls from furloughed federal workers — with 362,000 of them living in the area — as well as families starting to panic about losing a slew of social safety benefits. The Capital Area Food Bank in Northeast Washington revamped its website to lead with a tutorial on how to get food during the shutdown. The food bank sought assurances from federal authorities that the government will continue supplies of food and is trying to persuade grocery stores and other partners to


José Andrés keeps up the fight to feed the hungry

José Andrés, president of Think Food Group, is an award-winning chef with restaurants across the United States, including Washington’s Jaleo and Minibar by José Andrés, which was awarded 2 stars by the Michelin Guide . His book “We Fed an Island” details efforts through his nonprofit group, World Central Kitchen, to help Puerto Rico recover after the 2017 hurricane. Andrés was recently nominated for the 2019 Nobel Peace Prize. You were pretty candid about calling out leadership failings at the federal level after the devastating hurricane in Puerto Rico. Did you feel inhibited about being so frank in your book? What is funny is that everybody began calling us disrupters, and actually, inside me I don’t see ourselves as disrupters at all. We are doers. We were there, and we were making things happen versus meetings and roundtables that were not having any real effect. We are talking about water, and we are talking about food. Just feed them! If being a doer is a disrupter, we have a big problem because if the only thing it requires to make things happen is that you stop talking and start doing, pfffff, then life is very simple! Your approach was clearly effective, feeding millions of people, but drew some criticism as well. I saw one FEMA official said of you: Oh, he’s a businessman out to draw attention to his business. But they came back and apologized. I’m an American citizen; my role was to bring light to what I felt was a lack of effort from the federal government. I didn’t do press releases about what we were doing. Yes, you do tweets. And yes, it’s beneficial that people know what you’re doing. And then you have people that say, Ah, y ou’re not humble, you’re doing it to show everybody. I’m like, Okay, if that’s how you see it, but the vast majority of the people see it as thank you for keeping light on this issue, and we’re going to support the efforts. That’s the 25,000-plus volunteers, that’s how we got all the people that help us with donations. How do you juggle your business and all your restaurants with your expanding humanitarian work? Probably my company should fire me, my partners should fire me, my board should fire me. But, you know, it’s nothing new. I mean, now we are getting more notoriety, but I’m not behaving


The Finance 202: Trump’s trade war is far from over

crisis. Starting in October 2016, the Fed began allowing a fixed cap of proceeds from those bonds to run off each month, with the level now reaching a ceiling of $50 billion.” — Fourth-quarter earnings bring hotly anticipated numbers. “On the whole, the numbers are expected to be solid. Analysts estimate that, when all the results are in for S&P 500 companies, fourth-quarter profits will have risen 15 percent over a year earlier. That would be the fifth-straight period of double-digit profit growth . . . It doesn’t guarantee investors will be happy.” But gloomy signs right off the bat. — Pelosi slams Mnuchin after classified sanctions briefing. Politico's Martin Matishak: “House Democrats excoriated Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin on Thursday following a classified briefing about the Trump administration’s decision to ease economic sanctions on three companies linked to Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska. ‘One of the worst classified briefings we’ve received from the Trump administration,’ House Speaker Nancy Pelosi told reporters. ‘The secretary barely testified.’ ... “House Democrats called for the briefing after Treasury announced last month that it would lift sanctions on Rusal, one the world’s largest aluminum producers, as well as En+ Group, the holding company that owns roughly half of Rusal, and EuroSibEnergo, a Russian power company. Deripaska — an ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin who was one of several associates sanctioned last year over Moscow’s interference in the 2016 presidential election — has a large stake in all three companies... ‘We’ll see,’ Pelosi replied when asked whether she would consider a resolution of disapproval to block the removal of sanctions.” TRADE FLY-AROUND: — Top Chinese official to visit Washington this month. WSJ's Lingling Wei: “China and the U.S. are moving ahead with plans to hold a round of higher-level talks to resolve their continuing trade conflict, with President Xi Jinping’s economic-policy captain scheduled to visit Washington in late January. For now, Vice Premier Liu He is planning to meet with his U.S. counterparts including [Lighthizer] and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin for negotiations on Jan. 30 and Jan. 31, according to people briefed on the matter. These people caution that the plan could be delayed by the partial U.S. government shutdown. “We’re negotiating and having tremendous success with China,” Trump told reporters on Thursday. Huawei's headaches spread — Chamber of Commerce criticizes Trump on trade and shutdown. MELTDOWN WATCH: — Ford launches major European shakeup. The move


Let’s step back from the wall and consider: Why does anybody even care?

When I was in college, I took a class on terrorism that covered what are quaintly known in Northern Ireland as the Troubles. Curiously, this helps explain my current feelings about the wall . . . and the government shutdown due to the wall . . . and most other matters wall-related. Being myself of somewhat distant Northern Irish extraction, I took a particular interest in this section of the terrorism course, especially when the professor livened up a listless discussion by saying, “None of you has asked the obvious question: Why does Britain even want Northern Ireland? What’s there? Guinness?” For those of us weaned on soft Irish nationalism, this was a bit like being asked, “Why do you want to breathe?” But, as I groped for an answer, I realized it was, in fact, a very good question. Why were the British so attached to the place? It’s a net drain on their budget, and, frankly, the rest of the British Isles didn’t seem overfond of the Protestant unionists. They had even less affection for the Catholic nationalists, whose radical wing had a nasty habit of setting off bombs in London. And this was decades before the quandary of Northern Ireland’s border with the Republic of Ireland had hopelessly entangled an already muddled Brexit process. I was hardly alone in my confusion. A lot of people on both sides of the Atlantic were so busy parsing the details of the conflict, and who did what to whom, that they rarely paused to ask the more fundamental question: Why not just let them have what they want when it’s no skin off our nose? I’m not saying there’s no answer to that question — there is, though it rests on intangibles. I’m simply noting how rarely it occurred to anyone to ask it. And that, in short, is how I feel about the whole sorry mess that has been convulsing this country for the past few weeks: We spend too much time on “he hit me first!” and too little asking why we care. Why would anyone be willing to shut down the government over something as dumb as the wall? Clearly, President Trump is doing it because Ann Coulter and her brethren will throw a snit if he doesn’t. But why are they so gung-ho about the wall rather than pushing for an immigration policy that would, I


Food bank to host pop-up markets for D.C.-area federal workers, contractors affected by the shutdown

Five pop-up markets for federal workers and contractors affected by the partial government shutdown will be held Saturday in the D.C. area by the Capital Area Food Bank. Produce and other food items will be available for up to 250 people at each of the sites from 9 a.m. to noon. Recipients must show proper identification. The pop-ups will be at the following Giant supermarket locations: ●1050 Brentwood Rd. in the District. ●6800 Richmond Hwy. in Alexandria. ●10480 Campus Way South in Largo, Md. ●7074 Allentown Rd. in Camp Springs, Md. ●12051 Rockville Pike in Rockville. Nationwide, about 800,000 federal workers, both furloughed and working without pay, have been affected by shutdown, which began Dec. 22. On Friday, those workers received pay stubs with $0 net pay statements. Several D.C.-area groups and workers’ unions have been organizing food drives and collecting financial aid for those in need. Local government agencies are also offering assistance, and several local utilities are providing grace periods and other assistance to cover missed payments. dana.hedgpeth@washpost.com


The verdict is in: Aung San Suu Kyi is an authoritarian

Charles Petrie, former U.N. assistant secretary general, just returned from Myanmar, where he has been involved in the peace process since 2012, and had served as the U.N. Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator from 2003 to 2007. A Myanmar court has rejected the appeal of two Reuters journalists jailed for exposing crimes committed by the country’s military against the Rohingya. No better proof could be needed of the extent to which authoritarianism has once again returned to Myanmar. This anti-democratic resurgence has an unlikely source: the Nobel Peace Prize laureate once reflexively referred to as a democracy "icon.” It is increasingly apparent that the Myanmar military and its leader share with the de facto President Aung San Suu Kyi a similar vision for the future of the country. It is an age-old vision of domination by a nationalist Buddhist elite, who have difficulty accommodating any form of dissent, and demonstrate very little regard for the aspirations of the other ethnic groups with whom they should be negotiating an end to decades of armed conflict. As a result, the hopes for democracy and peace in Myanmar are steadily unraveling — and the conditions for any quick return of the Rohingya increasingly becoming elusive. The main differences between the commander in chief of the armed forces, Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, and Aung San Suu Kyi, also known as “the Lady,” appear to have less to do with ideology than their desire for power. And though Aung San Suu Kyi seems committed to some form of parliamentary governance, her approach has strikingly authoritarian traits. Members of parliament from her party, the National League for Democracy, are held on a very tight leash. The repressive apparatus of the state, put in place by the British and refined by the former military regime, is now used by her government to intimidate and suppress dissenting voices. A recently published civil society report found that since the 2015 elections (which the Lady’s party won), 139 journalists and civil society activists have been arrested, as compared to 11 in the preceding five years. Increasingly, the Myanmar of today resembles that which I knew when serving as the United Nations representative during the dark ages of the junta. The peace process is now being held hostage to a broader confrontation between the Lady and the senior general. Both are increasingly focusing their attention on the 2020 elections. Aung San


Scientists had never seen anything like this supernova. Could it be a newborn black hole?

laws of physics are pushed to their extremes. The June 16, 2018, detection came from Hawaii’s ATLAS telescope, which surveys the night sky for supernovas and other powerful, short-lived phenomena. These events, known as “transients,” typically take a few weeks to reach full brightness. But this flare unfolded even faster. By day three, it was about 10 times as bright as a standard exploding star, and it sent a shock wave zooming outward at 20,000 miles a second — 10 percent of the speed of light. An urgent message was posted on the Astronomer’s Telegram, an online service for astronomers to rapidly report interesting observations. Thanks to the site’s randomized three-letter naming system, the object was dubbed AT2018cow, or “the Cow” for short. And the world took notice. Within a week, the ATLAS observation was followed up by more than two dozen teams of astronomers using telescopes based on at least four continents and in space. “There’s a lot of interest,” Robert Rutledge, editor in chief of the Astronomer’s Telegram and an astrophysicist at McGill University in Canada, said at the time. “I think it’s the most notices for any individual object in such a short period of time.” Several studies suggested the object was a mere 200 million light-years away — practically in our backyard, by cosmic standards. Yet the Cow seemed to strain every model devised to explain it, said Dan Perley, an astronomer at Liverpool John Moores University in the United Kingdom. It carried light signatures of hydrogen and helium — typical elements for a star like our own sun — rather than the carbon, oxygen and nitrogen usually seen in a supernova. Caltech researcher Anna Ho led an investigation into the event using millimeter wavelengths, a part of the electromagnetic spectrum that is slightly higher in energy than radio waves, but which is rarely used to study supernova. To their surprise, the Cow kept getting brighter in millimeter wavelengths — something astronomers have never seen before. “There wasn’t just a single release of energy that happened and then it was over. There had to be energy that was still being produced,” Ho said. “There had to be an active engine.” Margutti was among the scores of scientists who sprang into action to seek that “engine.” Like Captain Planet uniting the Planeteers, she called on colleagues around the globe to study the Cow over the next 100


French prosecutors pursuing corruption charges against head of Japan’s Olympic committee

France’s financial crimes office announced Friday that is investigating Tsunekazu Takeda, president of Japan’s Olympic committee, for “active corruption” related to the bidding on the 2020 Tokyo Games, which begin in a little more than 18 months. Takeda has yet to be formally indicted on any charge, but a French judge has determined that there is enough evidence to consider him a “formal suspect,” according to Reuters. Le Monde reports that the magistrate overseeing a wide-ranging French investigation into sports corruption, Renaud Van Ruymbeke, suspects that the 2013 IOC vote that awarded Japan the 2020 Olympics was tainted by backroom deals involving payments to African IOC members, who then threw their support to the Japanese capital’s bid. French prosecutors have questioned Takeda about $2 million worth of payments made by Japan’s bidding committee to a Singaporean consulting firm called Black Tidings, which is headed by a close ally of Papa Massata Diack, the son of Lamine Diack, the Senegalese former president of the International Association of Athletics Federation. Lamine Diack, who headed world track and field’s governing body from 1999 to 2015, is facing a host of money laundering and corruption charges in France and also has been accused of helping sway the vote for the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro via bribery. Takeda, who remains in Tokyo, denied wrongdoing in a statement released Friday by Japan’s Olympic Committee. Japanese Olympic officials have said that the payments to Black Tidings were legitimate consulting fees, but French officials are investigating whether the payments were in fact bribes and that Takeda authorized them. “I apologize for the huge worries that have been brought to the people of Japan, who have given so much support to the Tokyo Olympics and [Paralympics], and in order to put every doubt to rest I intend to continue cooperating with investigations,” Takeda said, per Reuters. In a separate statement, the International Olympic Committee said its ethics commission “has opened a file and will continue to monitor the situation.” The ethics commission is scheduled to meet Friday in Lausanne, Switzerland, and the Associated Press reports that Takeda could be provisionally suspended from Olympic duty. Japan’s Olympic preparations have been bedeviled by massive cost overruns at a time when the IOC is looking for ways to make the Games less of a financial drain on the host cities. After initially forecasting that it would cost around $7


Even blue-chip companies fail. Here’s how to save their workers, and towns, when they do.

The new year has not been happy for former Sears employees. As the company fights for its life in bankruptcy court, laid-off employees of the 126-year-old retailer recently saw their severance pay stopped by the court at the same time that it approved $25 million in bonuses for the company’s executives. The contrast is unconscionable but not unique. The history of American business is defined by corporate failure: a long series of panics, recessions, slumps, bankruptcies and depressions. Yet while corporate leaders generally escape the financial repercussions of their own business mistakes, workers and the communities that depend on a company for their livelihoods do not. Workers must therefore prepare for economic failure. They can do so by organizing collectively. Consider the history of Seattle. Decades before it became Amazon’s company town, Seattle belonged to Boeing. The company may be a successful global aerospace manufacturer today. But almost a half-century ago, Boeing too came close to bankruptcy and nearly took down the city of Seattle with it. What saved the city and its workers? Unions. During the 1970s, Boeing was coming off a decade of accelerated workforce expansion, having added 50,000 jobs in the Seattle area between 1966 and 1968. Cold War military contracts generated sufficient profits for Boeing to take big risks in the research and design of commercial aircraft. The speed and efficiency of the company’s new jetliners enabled substantially cheaper airfares, generating a mass commercial air-travel market and making Boeing a global leader. Within two years of the introduction of the company’s jetliners, air travel nearly doubled, and by 1964 over a third of all passenger airliners in service worldwide were Boeing planes. In 1968, Boeing’s Seattle area employment peaked at over 100,000 jobs, a remarkable 19 percent of all the city's workers. Then, a grave misreading of the market for the company’s new 747 jumbo jet, combined with the unwillingness of the federal government to come to the rescue with aerospace contracts, gave way to what is known in Seattle as the “Boeing Bust.” Executives wildly overestimated Boeing’s capacities, resulting in severe overspending and production delays matched by a souring global economy and a marked decline in the growth of air traffic. To try to survive, Boeing eliminated 60,000 jobs in less than two years, which drove the city’s unemployment rate to 16 percent in June of 1971, higher than that of any urban area in


To keep a shut down government running, White House ventures into uncharted territory

overseen largely by a small team at the OMB, led by acting director Russell Vought and his general counsel, Mark Paoletta. Many of the requests for changes came in late in the process because some agencies didn’t realize how many problems they had with their contingency plans until more than a week after the shutdown began on Dec. 22. Last Friday, the Internal Revenue Service announced it would restart a program that provides income information for companies processing mortgage applications. On Sunday, the National Park Service brought some staff back, still with no pay, so that it could clean up areas at a number of national parks. On Monday, the White House announced the IRS would be allowed to pay tax refunds next month even if the shutdown continued, something that had previously been deemed to violate government rules. On Tuesday, the Agriculture Department said it would be able to pay food stamp benefits in February, even though it initially appeared to lack the funding to do so just a few days ago. Collectively, these changes have served to extend government services to millions of people, even though in most cases the federal employees performing the functions will not receive any salary. “This should be a serious challenge to the congressional leadership, because this sets up a presidency, that can — by whim of the OMB — pick and choose and give relief where they think it needs to be,” said Steve Bell, a Republican and former staff director of the Senate Budget Committee. The OMB frequently has conference calls with federal agencies, and during the current lapse it has scheduled a large-scale call with numerous agencies roughly three times a week. It is not unprecedented for White House officials to constantly monitor the impact of a government shutdown and make changes, particularly in the face of political pressure. During a funding lapse in 2013, the Obama administration allowed World War II veterans to visit the World War II Memorial, which as a national monument had been closed off. But the Trump administration has gone much further, and the OMB call on Wednesday suggested that more changes could come. Bell said by continuing operations that had previously been halted because employees weren’t allowed to work, the White House was effectively blunting some of the public relations backlash from people who are demanding their tax refunds or food stamp benefits. damian.paletta@washpost.com


‘We all have bills. We all have to eat.’ For furloughed federal workers, the first missed paychecks ratchet up anxiety.

very well, not knowing if we’ll have enough to take care of her.” This was Thursday morning, Day 20 of the partial government shutdown, and roughly 800,000 workers, including Gordy Sachs, were about to experience their first payless payday during the funding impasse between President Trump and congressional Democrats. The Sachses, a one-income family, have sufficient savings to make their February mortgage and minivan payments and to cover other expenses for a few more weeks, after which, if the standoff continues, they’ll be broke, Gordy said. They’re far from alone in their dread. Friday marked the beginning of a new phase in the second-longest U.S. government closure in history, as across the country, innumerable workers living paycheck to paycheck must find another way. They’re putting off bills and selling possessions, struggling to be frugal and pleading with creditors to be patient. The shutdown isn’t a just a looming threat to their wallets anymore. Now, if out of habit they look at their mobile banking apps, they’ll see no direct deposits. Now it’s real. For virtually every idled civil servant and essential employee forced to work without compensation, there’s a story of personal disruption and inconvenience. The Sachses are better off than some and in worse straits than others. But “we’re all being held hostage,” Lisa said. “I mean, put them back to work! Figure this out! It’s every government employee: We all have bills. We all have to eat. And we have Brandy to think about.” In 1998, when she was 13, Brandy was found to be suffering from reflex sympathetic dystrophy syndrome, a rare nerve affliction with no known cure. Her skin is acutely sensitive to even mild irritations, which aggravate her persistent, debilitating pain. “She can’t go outside in the sun,” Lisa said. “Or the wind,” Gordy said, “or the rain.” “Or anything,” Lisa said. “She basically has to stay indoors.” Brandy, who has a college degree in English and philosophy, lives in the finished basement of her parents’ 4,000-square-foot house in Prince William County. She used a wheelchair for 10 years, starting as a teenager, but now she’s able to walk haltingly with a forearm crutch. She gets a federal disability allotment of about $400 a month, which Gordy said isn’t nearly enough to pay for the medications she needs. “Because her disease is considered rare, there aren’t really meds that are designed specifically for her condition,”


Europe urges Congress to support lifting U.S. sanctions on Russian firm controlled by Vladimir Putin ally

easing the sanctions, as Schumer has done in the Senate, Pelosi said: “We’ll see.” Treasury has said Deripaska will remain under personal sanctions but sanctions against the three companies could be lifted because the businessman had agreed to reduce his ownership below 50 percent. Mnuchin disputed Pelosi’s description of the briefing, saying he was “somewhat surprised to see the speaker’s comment...We gave them close to an hour and a half and answered all their questions.” In an emailed statement before the briefing, Mnuchin said the sanctions had met their goal. “One of the goals of sanctions is to change behavior, and the proposed delistings of companies that Deripaska will no longer control show that sanctions can result in positive change,” Mnuchin said. Rep. Lloyd Doggett (D-Tex.), however, said he still has questions about whether Deripaska is really ceding control. “I think there’s a real question about whether he’s effectively divested his stake, and we need more facts about that,” Doggett said after the briefing. Washington’s sanctions on Rusal and two other Deripaska-controlled firms, enacted last year, clobbered the oligarch financially, sinking the market value of his publicly traded companies. They also caused havoc far beyond Russia. Global aluminum prices spiked, battering U.S. and European companies and prompting complaints from European allies. European governments began warning the State Department last summer that the sanctions were hurting European factories. A holding company connected to Deripaska and Rusal lobbied the Trump administration heavily to lift the sanctions. The chairman of the company hired Mercury Public Affairs and former U.S. senator David Vitter to call on the State Department and other officials. The Treasury Department informed Congress on Dec. 19 that it intended to lift the sanctions on Rusal and the other two firms in 30 days because the companies had agreed to reduce Deripaska’s ownership stake below 50 percent. The letter suggested Treasury wanted to lift the sanctions in part because of the havoc they caused in metals markets. The letter noted that aluminum prices soared and that “Rusal subsidiaries in the United States, Ireland, Sweden, Jamaica, Guinea and elsewhere faced imminent closure.” Deripaska will not receive any cash as a result of the transactions necessary to reduce his ownership of Rusal or the other companies, Treasury said in the letter. And any future dividends he is entitled to from his reduced ownership stake will be placed into a blocked account, it said.


Shutdown situation bleak as feds rally against Trump at White House

of the government is out of order. Maria Middleton is. She attended the rally to tell members of Congress “while they are tweedlydeeing and tweedlyduming about some damn wall — excuse my French — that lives are being affected.” Middleton, a Treasury Department employee and National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU) shop steward, emphasized she was speaking for herself during an interview. As much as she wants to return to work, like others at the rally Middleton doesn’t want the Democrats to bow to Trump’s demands on wall funding. “Let the Trump family pay for it,” she said. Noting the seizure of 110 pounds of the opioid fentanyl in Philadelphia last year, she asked “are we going to extend the wall around Philadelphia? … We don’t need to cave in.” American Federation of Government Employees President J. David Cox Sr. told the protesters Trump’s “effort at extortion is more of a lockout than a shutdown. But maybe an even more accurate description of this is that it’s a shakedown.” The Mexico promise was a sham, as is so much from a president who lies as though it is his favorite recreational activity. But the lack of paychecks is real. Friday is the first day checks will not be issued. Many are hurting. Listen to Talten Hall, a 54-year-old Silver Spring, Md., resident who delights in his work as a gardener in the parks surrounding the White House. “I love my job. I love planting flowers and pulling weeds and making it all look good,” the NTEU member and National Park Service employee told the crowd. He hates being furloughed. “I’m hurting financially. I count on each and every paycheck to pay my bills,” he said. “I should be back at work and I should be getting paid for my time.” In an interview later, he mentioned postponing hernia surgery. “I had to put that on the back burner, because of the co-pay,” he said. “That’s $20 that can go somewhere else … as long as I’m not in pain.” The rally in the District was one of several around the country, including Kentucky, Colorado, Massachusetts, California, Minnesota, West Virginia and Florida. “These rallies today illustrate not only how high the anxiety level has risen,” said NTEU President Tony Reardon, “but also how committed these employees are to serving their country.” Upon leaving the White House a couple of hours before the


The Energy 202: Senate Democrats warn EPA may be ‘afoul’ of law by prepping Wheeler for confirmation during shutdown

with Trump and Senate Republicans working to advance Wheeler’s nomination while other EPA employees are furloughed, such as those working to inspect factories for pollution or prepare cleanup plans for toxic waste sites. “It’s a shocking waste of precious resources to spend any staff time preparing Andrew Wheeler’s nomination,” Collin O’Mara, president and chief executive of the National Wildlife Federation, said while calling for a delay in the hearing. SHUTDOWN WATCH — All along the clock tower: The National Park Service clock tower has remain opened during the government shutdown while nearby attractions managed by the parks agency have been shuttered. “While GSA has authority to transfer funds to NPS under certain conditions, the lengths to which to your agencies have gone to open the tower facility within a Trump business enterprise have raised public concerns that the tower may be receiving special treatment,” wrote Peters, the top Democrat on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. A symbolic vote on opening agencies: EPA’s pollution inspectors: Most of the 600 or so inspectors have been furloughed, as have others who oversee compliance with environmental regulations, the New York Times reports. In 2017, these inspectors performed about 11,700 inspections, or about 225 a week, which suggests maybe hundreds of these inspections could have been canceled because of the shutdown, with the potential for hundreds more to be suspended as well, per the report. That pause makes it more likely that “companies might emit illegal levels of contaminants into the air or water without detection, for weeks on end.” Some park work resumes in D.C.: Ongoing 60-year-old wolf study could be snarled: Joshua Tree remains open after all: FEMA contractors ordered to halt work: While current disaster response efforts places like Puerto Rico, Florida and Texas are meant to continue during the shutdown, Gregg writes the agency told “hundreds of contractors to halt work on outstanding government contracts, withholding payments for disaster planning work such as flood mapping, government administrative functions like contract management support, and facilities maintenance work.” Wildfire prep affected: — New Congress, new climate focus: But: — Fiat Chrysler's $800 million settlement over emissions cheating charges: The details: But: — How Russia hacked the U.S. electric grid: One terrifying tidbit: — More electric grid news, California edition: Newsom said he is talking to state energy regulators and incoming staff, as well as members of his predecessor’s administration “to address the


Power Up: Pence is in a tough position as Trump’s shutdown messenger

It's Friday. That means for the first time during the partial government shutdown, 800,000 furloughed federal workers won't get paid. It also means that this shutdown is close to making history as the longest one ever if the government has not been reopened by tomorrow. We're doing our best to sift through the many emails coming in from Power Up readers affected by the shutdown -- please keep writing. Breaking SLOUCHING TOWARD A NATIONAL EMERGENCY: In an interview on Fox News’s Sean Hannity’s show last night, Trump gave the clearest indication yet that he’s planning on declaring a national emergency: “Now if we don’t make a deal with Congress, most likely I will do that . . . I would actually say I would. I can’t imagine any reason why not because I’m allowed to do it. The law is 100 percent on my side.” The move would reopen the government but simultaneously set off a firestorm by tapping money meant primarily for disaster relief and setting a precedent that even some of his allies think is a bad idea and an abuse of executive power. If Trump does pursue this course of action, a former top aide to Vice President Biden warned: HOW DO YOU SOLVE A PROBLEM LIKE DONALD TRUMP?: Pence has played point on Capitol Hill in negotiations to reopen the government. The fruitlessness of serving as Trump’s shutdown messenger was crystallized over a period of two hours yesterday: Lawmakers empathized with Pence's predicament: P.S. Mark your calendars: From a former FBI agent and CNN commentator: 'WE'RE GETTING INTO UNCHARTED TERRITORIES' What’s your initial reaction to President Trump’s visit to McAllen? “It is always good to go down and see what’s happening on the ground . . . My fear is that we use this opportunity to declare a national emergency, and I think that would be an actual overreach of power. While I do believe the Democrats need to show a willingness to negotiate on an agreement to get out of this, I think calling it a national emergency is the wrong way to go.” Do you believe there’s truly a “crisis” at the border? “This has been a problem under multiple administrations. This is a serious challenge, and it takes serious people to solve it. And it’s complicated, so we need a thoughtful approach, rather than empty rhetoric — from both sides, to be frank


‘A travesty to this nation’: People are destroying Joshua trees in Joshua Tree National Park

In most depictions, Joshua trees tower above the earth. Feathery-looking limbs topped with spiky green leaves twist skyward, completing the gangly succulent’s striking appearance. But now, viral pictures of these protected trees show a vastly different scene unfolding at Joshua Tree National Park in Southern California. The trees in the photos have been felled and are lying on the dusty ground — and Park Service officials say people, not Mother Nature, are to blame. Shared widely on social media Thursday, the photos have sparked outrage over the plight of national parks that remain open amid a partial government shutdown, leaving them understaffed and vulnerable to the antics of unruly visitors. Parks nationwide have struggled to deal with a variety of issues ranging from rampant littering and overflowing public restrooms to the vandalism of habitats. “I don’t care if you’re a Democrat or Republican, what’s going on at Joshua Tree National Park is a travesty to this nation,” one person tweeted. During the course of the shutdown, which is in its third week, conditions at Joshua Tree have only worsened, prompting Park Service officials to schedule a temporary closure on Thursday morning to “allow park staff to address sanitation, safety, and resource protection issues in the park that have arisen during the lapse in appropriations.” The park spans more than 1,200 square miles, straddling the Mojave Desert and Colorado Desert, but there are only eight law-enforcement rangers patrolling the vast landscape during the shutdown, National Parks Traveler, a nonprofit dedicated to news about national parks, reported. “While the vast majority of those who visit Joshua Tree National Park do so in a responsible manner, there have been incidents of new roads being created by motorists and the destruction of Joshua trees in recent days that have precipitated the closure,” the Park Service release said. On Wednesday, the Park Service announced that it would be able to remain open by using funds from recreation fees. Joshua Tree National Park Superintendent David Smith told National Parks Traveler that visitors have been illegally off-roading, cutting down trees and spray painting rocks, among other infractions. "Joshua trees were actually cut down to make new roads,” Smith said. Joshua Tree resident Rand Abbott, who has frequented the park since the 1980s, said seeing the damaged trees was “devastating.” Aside from being one of the park’s most recognizable features, Joshua trees are at risk of being affected