Whole Foods is the latest company to drop this unusual CEO arrangement

John Mackey speaks onstage at an event during the 2013 SXSW Music, Film Interactive Festival in Austin in 2013. On Wednesday he was named sole CEO after sharing the job with Walter Robb as co-CEOs for the past six years. (Photo by Dustin Finkelstein/Getty Images for SXSW) Whole Foods has decided that the struggling merchant of organic edibles will be better off with one grocer-in-chief, rather than two. The company announced that John Mackey, its founder, will run the upscale supermarket by himself, ending an arrangement where he shared the helm with longtime Whole Foods executive Walter Robb. Facing lower commodity prices and competition from both mass market grocery stores upping their foodie game and upstarts like Blue Apron or Amazon Fresh -- the company reported a 2.6 percent decline in comparable store sales in its most recent quarter -- the board decided it was time for a more "streamlined structure," Robb said in an investor conference call. He will step down as co-CEO at year's end. With that news, the number of major U.S. corporations that have two co-CEOs were just slashed by a quarter. Just three other companies in the S&P 500 -- Chipotle, Oracle and Torchmark Corporation -- have co-chief executives who share the company's most powerful role, according to data from S&P Global Market Intelligence. The unusual leadership structure is one that management experts say can work well in certain circumstances, but is also fraught with potential problems, from personal infighting to slow decision-making. - [What to expect from Whole Foods’ new, low-price grocery chain] Other companies have given up the dual CEO structure when facing headwinds. Less than a year after Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia named two co-CEOs in 2008, the company replaced the structure with one that was "leaner and meaner" in a tough economy where the media giant faced heavy losses. After failing to keep up with the iPhone juggernaut, BlackBerry's co-CEOs Jim Balsillie and co-CEOs resigned and were replaced by a single chief executive. In May, John Cryan became the sole CEO of Deutsche Bank after two co-CEOs announced their resignations in 2015; the bank reported a huge record loss last year and is attempting a turnaround. That's why Whole Foods' change isn't terribly surprising. Tougher times necessitate the speed, urgency and clear communication that can be harder with two CEOs than one. "You need clarity, and clearly if you’re [struggling] what


Climate change is turning into a race between politics and physics

he said. Cullen agreed that finding funding for the projects that countries must undertake to slash their emissions and transform their energy sectors will be key. “We’re going to really need to develop these green financing mechanisms,” she said, adding that it will require a mixture of public and private investment. Even then, the reality of effectively ending fossil fuel emissions in coming decades will be a difficult proposition. “It’s going to take actors from every level, from every sector,” she said. “It’s far from where we are now. But we’ve managed to make tremendous progress.” The Paris climate agreement, in effect, pools together individual commitments by countries to lower their emissions, channeling that collective energy in an effort to bend the planet’s current climate trajectory. The trouble, though, is that while the current commitments help avoid a worst-case scenario of very extreme warming by 2100, they fail to put the planet on a “safe” path that would prevent serious climate impacts, such as rising seas, melting polar ice caps and more intense floods and droughts. Meanwhile, in the scientific world, the evidence has grown ever clearer that each incremental increase in temperature, if sustained over a considerable period, corresponds to a notably different planet. In particular, researchers today are drawing more and more on analogies with warm periods in the Earth’s past, which allow them to make connections between key parameters such as planetary temperatures, carbon dioxide levels and sea levels. And the news isn’t good: For instance, there were past eras not much warmer than our own, or with comparable levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide, that had far higher seas than we have now. Compared with those daunting possibilities, the to-do list for Marrakesh next week appears relatively mundane. “The parties are going to roll up their sleeves and lay out the key issues in the fine print of the agreement that need to be ironed out so the architecture has meaning,” said Mariana Panuncio-Feldman, who is co-leading the World Wildlife Fund’s delegation to Marrakesh. Only in 2018, at the earliest, will a future meeting actually focus on ramping up pressure on countries to put forward more ambitious commitments that alter the trajectory further, Panuncio-Feldman said. That’s cutting it uncomfortably close, in light of a United Nations Environment Programme report released Thursday suggesting that if the planet’s overall emissions don’t peak by the year 2020, it may no


The Daily 202: Rural strategy takes Trump to very red places in final days

and drives home the severe effects caused by the mosquito-borne disease. (Lena H. Sun) - Researchers think they have found a new use for polio drugs — using them to treat acute flaccid myelitis, a mysterious paralyzing disease that has affected more than 100 children this year. Some doctors suspect the two illnesses are in the same family of diseases. (Dan Hurley) - The SEC is now investigating Wells Fargo over its sham account scandal, working to determine whether the bank misled investors by not disclosing that 5,300 employees were fired in connection with setting up unauthorized accounts. (Renae Merle) - Middle school students are now just as likely to die from suicide as they are from traffic accidents, according to a horrifying new CDC study. Some believe the rising pervasiveness of social media may be a factor. (New York Times) - Harvard announced it will cancel the remainder of its men’s soccer season, after officials discovered that athletes were continuing to produce vulgar and explicit “scouting reports” rating women on physical appearance and sexual appeal. The dean also ordered a legal investigation into the matter. (Harvard Crimson) - A nationally known con man who posed as a high school student at age 26 before faking his way into a Princeton scholarship in the 1980s was arrested this week in Aspen. Officials found him living in an illegally built shack on the side of a ski mountain. (AP) - A South Carolina woman reported missing in August was found locked in a 30-foot shipping container this week. Police said she was “chained like a dog” and yelling for help. She told authorities that she has been kept captive there for more than two months. (WYFF-4) - Fans of Trader Joe’s often laud its friendly employees, known for cheerfully handing out samples. But some ousted workers are complaining of safety lapses and mistreatment from the company — including one former employee who says he was fired for lacking a “genuine” smile. (New York Times) Russian President Vladimir Putin confers with then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton at the APEC summit in Vladivostok, Russia, in September 2012. (Mikhail Metzel/AP/Pool) IMPORTANT READS ON RUSSIA: -- “From ‘reset’ to ‘pause’: The real story behind Hillary Clinton’s feud with Vladimir Putin,” by Joby Warrick and Karen DeYoung: -- U.S. intelligence agencies do not see Russia as capable of using cyberespionage to alter the outcome of next


An ocean-obsessed Spanish chef brings plankton to the plate — and makes it glow

(Courtesy of Ángel León) Thanks to one Spanish chef, the very bottom of the food chain — plankton, the tiny organisms that provide sustenance for fish and whales — is moving up in the culinary world. Spanish chef Ángel León, of the two-Michelin-star restaurant Aponiente, near Cadiz, has turned whale food into human food. The best part? Sometimes, it glows. In Spain, León is known as “The Chef of the Sea” for his all-seafood restaurant and his embrace of sustainable practices. He uses fish discards — either parts of the fish that other chefs trim away, or types of fish that fishermen would typically throw back into the water — and has learned that they have surprising benefits beyond just avoiding food waste. Through some experimentation with various types and parts of fish, he’s found that he can make them emulate meat. I “was looking for a pig in the ocean,” León said during a visit to Washington. (Jordi Paronella, a sommelier for José Andrés’s restaurant group, provided translation.) He has made charcuterie and cheeses out of fish discards. A skin of a moray eel can imitate chicharrón. Tuna bone marrow stands in for beef bone marrow. He has even made “cheese” out of fish fat. Aponiente restaurant, with tubes of plankton in the foreground. (Courtesy of Ángel León) It was these experiments with fish that led him to plankton, a dish that hasn’t traditionally been a food source for humans. León “became obsessed with plankton,” he said. “It reflects the flavors of the ocean.” León set up a system to collect plankton in very fine nets, but it’s an arduous process: Leaving the nets in the ocean for five hours returns only one gram of the microscopic organisms. He then farms plankton in tanks, in a room that looks like a mad scientist’s laboratory, full of beakers of green ooze. The plankton reproduce and multiply in the tanks. After about six months, he freeze-dries the plankton into a fine green powder that looks like matcha. When it’s reconstituted in water, he uses it as an ingredient in dishes like risotto, or in cocktails. Plankton is nutritious — high in Omega-3s. And as a cooking ingredient, it adds an oceanic saltiness to dishes, but also richness. León says that he never needs to use butter in a dish that contains plankton. Eating lower on the food chain has environmental benefits,


Brazil’s invasive pigs are bad enough. But now, they’re feeding rabid vampire bats

Common vampire bat (Desmodus rotundus). (iStock) For nearly three decades now, invasive wild pigs have been spreading throughout Brazil, uprooting native plants, damaging soil quality and destroying crops. There are even reports of the pigs attacking livestock. But while they’re considered a nuisance by most, at least one group seems to be benefiting from them: Brazil’s residents vampire bats. A new paper, published this week in the journal Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment, lends support to the idea that vampire bats have a taste for pig blood. And the scientists are cautioning that this might be a bigger problem than it seems. They’re concerned that as the pig populations continue to grow, so will the vampire bats — and this could mean an uptick in the spread of rabies to humans. In other words, it’s a classic example of how one human action — introducing a species that becomes an invader and colonizes new ecosystems in a destructive way — can have cascading and damaging effects that ultimately come back around and hurt humans, themselves. “Vampire bats…carry infectious disease, a lot of infectious disease,” said Felipe Pedrosa, a Ph.D. student at Sao Paolo State University and one of the new paper’s authors. “And one of these diseases is rabies.” Typically, vampire bats are known for preying mostly on livestock. But they’ll feed on wild animals as well, if they happen to be more accessible, and even humans. In 2005, a The bites typically happen at night while people are sleeping, and are most common in children, who tend to sleep more soundly and are less likely to be wakened by the bats. While 2005 was an unusually alarming year for rabies scares, generally human infection with rabies remains rare. Today, the incidence of rabies infections in vampire bats varies by location — it tends to be anywhere from about 1 to up to 10 percent, according to the authors of the new paper. Some farmers routinely vaccinate their livestock against the disease, but the feral pigs, which can also carry rabies, are another story and “may therefore pose a serious threat by spreading the disease,” the authors write. For the new paper, the researchers analyzed thousands of photographs and videos used to monitor wildlife in Brazil’s Pantanal region, a tropical wetland area mostly occupying the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso do Sul, and the Atlantic Forest, which runs down


A watershed moment for marijuana legalization

Ignored in the tumult of the presidential race is the fact that the 2016 election may be a milestone in the struggle to end marijuana prohibition. Five states – Arizona, California, Maine, Massachusetts, and Nevada – all have marijuana legalization initiatives on the ballot. Polls indicate that all five are likely to pass, as well as a medical marijuana initiative in Florida. Medical marijuana legalization initiatives in Arkansas and North Dakota seem too close to call. A recent nationwide Gallup poll finds that a record 60% of Americans support pot legalization. If these five states all legalize recreational marijuana – adding to the four states that have already taken this step – it would be a major blow to marijuana prohibition nationwide. The California initiative is particularly important, because the state is so big and has such a large population. Even if all of the legalization referenda pass, marijuana possession will still be illegal under the federal Controlled Substances Act. The constitutionality of sweeping federal marijuana prohibition was upheld in Gonzales v. Raich, the poorly reasoned 2005 Supreme Court decision holding that Congress’ power to regulate interstate commerce allowed it to ban the possession of medical marijuana that had never crossed state lines or been sold in any market. In Raich, constitutional federalism became yet another casualty of the War on Drugs. But even if federal marijuana prohibition is entirely constitutional and remains on the books, it will be extremely difficult to enforce without the cooperation of state governments. As a practical matter, the federal government has only a very limited supply of law enforcement personnel, and depends heavily on state police and prosecutors for help in waging the War on Drugs. If that assistance is no longer forthcoming in many of the nation’s largest states, it is unlikely that Washington will ramp up its own enforcement efforts enough to compensate – especially since such action might be very unpopular in the affected states. The growing trend towards legalization at the state level might even incentivize Washington to repeal federal marijuana prohibition entirely. There is an ongoing debate over the effects of marijuana legalization in Colorado, which voted to legalize in 2012. But, so far, there is no evidence of significant negative effects on health, violent crime, or fatalities caused by driving under the influence. Black market marijuana sales persist, but largely because legalization has not gone far enough (high


Molly Huddle becomes first American on New York City Marathon podium since 2010

Mary Keitany of Kenya and Molly Huddle of the United States start out on the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge. (Michael Reaves/Getty Images) In her first attempt at the marathon distance, Molly Huddle accomplished something no American runner — male or female — had done in the New York City Marathon since 2010. Huddle, a two-time Olympian, finished third, giving the United States a spot on the podium for the first time since Shalene Flanagan finished second in the NYC Marathon, likewise in her first 26.2-mile race. Huddle placed third with a time of 2:28:13, with Kenya’s Mary Keitany easily winning the marathon for the third consecutive year, in 2:24:26. Sally Kipyego of Kenya placed second place, in 2:28:01. On the men’s side, Ghirmay Ghebreslassie, a 20-year-old Eritrean, became the youngest winner in race history, blowing kisses to onlookers as he finished in 2:07:15. Lucas Rotich of Kenya placed second, in 2:08:53, and Abdi Abdirahman, a 39-year-old Somali-born American who is based in Arizona, finished third, in 2:11:23. In the women’s wheelchair division, Tatyana McFadden completed her fourth straight sweep of the Boston, Chicago, London and New York City marathons. Overall, McFadden has won the NYC race five times. Huddle’s marathon appearance was eagerly anticipated after she set the American 10,000-meter record (30:13.17) with a sixth-place finish in the Rio Olympics in August. Before the NYC Marathon, the 32-year-old runner from Providence, R.I., had never run a race longer than a half-marathon. She had, however, won the previous two NYC Half-Marathons. Finishing third sets up a nice payday for Huddle because the NYC Marathon now has a special prize purse for Americans, through the fifth finisher. The top American receives $25,000.


Do or die: Why our region needs personalized medicine

of research and development and a customer for cybersecurity technologies. It is also where issues such as privacy, legal liability for corporate boards when data breaches occur and national security coordination of threat responses are determined — issues that must be addressed and resolved for our cybersecurity industry to reach its potential. Entrepreneurial activity in personalized healthcare is not yet at the level of cybersecurity, however, the growth opportunities are very similar. The greater Washington region has a large and growing concentration of talent to support a dynamic personalized healthcare industry. The addition of University of Virginia School of Medicine at Inova amplifies existing activities at Johns Hopkins, George Washington University and George Mason. The federal government is a large funding source for research in personalized healthcare, with the National Institutes of Health being the best known but not sole example. And, as in the case of cybersecurity, resolution of important policy issues is needed for the personalized healthcare industry to grow — issues such as privacy, insurability considering genetic disposition for disease, government healthcare reimbursement and allocation of healthcare resources. There are two other important reasons our region should applaud efforts to grow more entrepreneurial activity in personalized healthcare. First, the conversion of research and development into commercial production occurs most frequently in healthcare, especially for university-derived technology transfer. Therefore, by focusing more regional efforts on personalized healthcare, we make it more likely that our universities and supporting organizations will create exciting new businesses that will accelerate regional growth. Second, the development of cybersecurity and personalized healthcare in the same region will provide an important multiplier effect. Many of the technologies underpinning the medical wave of the future — data analytics, sensors, man/machine interface and artificial intelligence — are also highly relevant to the development of the cybersecurity industry. And, of course, the concentration of highly confidential patient data is a huge market for cybersecurity technologies. There is still significant work to be done to integrate our region’s innovators into these opportunities. But, knowing where you want to go is a condition to success. And each day that is becoming clearer. Jonathan Aberman is a business owner, entrepreneur and founder of Tandem NSI, a national community that connects innovators to government agencies. He is host of “Forward Thinking Radio” on SiriusXM, a business and policy program, and lectures at the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business.


A time traveler’s apology for 2016

Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton shake hands at the first presidential debate, at Hofstra University. (Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg News) I think this may be my fault. Where I come from, none of this has happened. President Jeb Bush sent me back in time to kill Baby Hitler, and I am afraid that I have made a terrible mistake. Where I come from, the election of 2016 was something of a foregone conclusion. All the headlines in my timeline have been about the deja vu of it all. If I have seen one joke about another Bush-Clinton election, I have seen 90. Nobody was all that jazzed about Jeb, and Ted Cruz (of all people) gave him a run for his money, but in the end he proved that if you throw enough money at people, they will decide you are interesting and deserve their support. Samantha Bee has taken over “The Daily Show,” but everyone still misses Jon Stewart. There are moments, still, when I see flashes of my old timeline. Jeb Bush appeared at the Emmys, for some reason, in a sketch that made total sense when it had Donald Trump in it. In my timeline Seth Meyers was very nice to Donald Trump when he sat in the audience at the White House correspondents’ dinner (how could he not have been nice to our Donald Trump?) and he did not run for president. He had nothing to prove to anyone. But our Donald Trump is a very different man. It is amazing how tiny changes to the timeline can reverberate. I thought I was careful. I never strayed from the path. I accidentally crushed one butterfly, but all of us time travelers are forced by law to carry butterfly revival kits because of an incident that nearly happened one time. But it’s the butterflies you don’t step on. There was one butterfly in 1920 that a time traveler needed to crush or there would be enormous consequences, and I missed it. It flew off. The butterfly did not create extinctions. Our orthography is still much like yours. But one of its descendants distracted Mrs. E.B. Hamilton at a stoplight with its gossamer wings and, as a consequence, she did not get home in time to start her novel. She was supposed to write “The Kingfisher.” Instead she cooked dinner, watched television, played with her two daughters and went to


Taxpayers are still bailing out Wall Street, eight years later

this year -- and big banks continue to be paid based on how many homeowners they help. At least the money being paid to the banks is making it more likely that homeowners will qualify for help with their mortgages, said Alys Cohen, staff attorney for National Consumer Law Center. “To some extent, companies are being paid for what they should have been doing anyway,” said Cohen. “A large portion of the bailout money didn’t go to helping individuals or communities, but this money does.” But the stream of cash for the big banks is worrisome to Office of the Special Inspector General for the Troubled Asset Relief Program, or SIGTARP, the chief watchdog of the financial crisis-era bailouts. Many of the banks have repeatedly broken the rules of the program, including kicking homeowners out unfairly or making it too difficult to apply for the help. [This obscure government agency has a plan to put Wall Street CEOs in prison] “Why are we paying for nonperformance?...At what point is somebody going to say enough is enough?” said Christy Goldsmith Romero, special inspector general with the Troubled Asset Relief Program, who investigates crime at companies that received taxpayer bailout funds. “If a homeowner doesn’t follow the rules in HAMP they get knocked out of the program. If a bank doesn’t follow they still get paid by Treasury.” The banks and the Treasury Department, which oversees HAMP, defend the program. The "error rates" have fallen significantly, Mark McArdle, deputy assistant secretary for financial stability, said in a statement. Companies are required to fix any problems detected and “TARP funds are recovered as appropriate,” the Treasury Department said in a letter responding to SIGTARP’s critique. “We also have withheld financial incentives from servicers that performed poorly until they made specified improvements,” the letter said. The SIGTARP report is "inaccurate," Wells Fargo said in a statement. "We respond quickly to correct any errors we identify or that are brought to our attention." Bank of America said it has helped more than 2.1 million customers avoid foreclosure through HAMP and other programs. "These initiatives continue to help those who face financial difficulty today, even as the economy has recovered overall," the bank said in a statement. JPMorgan, which has more than $2 trillion in assets, says most of the money it receives through the program is passed on to investors and homeowners who receive incentives


PM Update: Another night of frost and freeze risk, then an exquisite Election Day

Bao Bao enjoying beautiful fall weather at the National Zoo. (angela n. via Flickr) * Frost advisory for much of the area from 2 to 8 a.m. | Freeze warning for Prince William County (map) * Today’s highs near 60 were fairly typical for the time of year. Sunshine was the big winner of the day once again. Sun seems to be the weather we’re best at these days! Clear skies rule tonight, and temperatures are seasonably chilly. It’ll be a bit warmer tomorrow, also known as perfect voting weather. Through Tonight: View the current weather conditions at The Washington Post. Tomorrow (Tuesday): See Jason Samenow’s forecast through the weekend. And if you haven’t already, join us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter and Instagram. For related traffic news, check out Dr. Gridlock. Frosty: Want our 5 a.m. forecast delivered to your email inbox? Subscribe here.


Where legal weed will likely win today — and where it probably won’t

polls on the marijuana measure have been fielded since Sept. 1. Both show majority support for the measure, averaging out at 52 percent in favor and 40 percent opposed. That's enough to make legalization the most likely outcome, but with only two data points the numbers here aren't as robust as they are in other states. Massachusetts Massachusetts may be the most interesting marijuana contest on the ballot this fall. Political leaders across the party spectrum have urged voters to reject it. The Boston Archdiocese of the Catholic Church gave $850,000 to fight the measure, the largest-ever donation from a religious group on any side of a marijuana initiative. As recently as the spring and summer support for legalization in Massachusetts appeared to be lagging behind the four other states, hovering in the low-40 percent range. But starting in the fall that began to change. Every poll conducted from September onward has shown legalization with majority or plurality support. The latest, conducted by Western New England University at the end of October, gives supporters a nearly 30 percentage point edge over opponents. Overall, the legalization measure enjoys an average of 54 percent support over the latest six polls, with only 35 percent opposing it. * * * There's more than full legalization on the ballot this year, too. Voters in four other states are considering various medical marijuana provisions. In Florida, a reprise of 2014's failed medical pot initiative appears to be doing much better this go-round, with polls showing well over the 60 percent support needed for passage. Montana voters are deciding whether to roll back a number of restrictions the legislature recently placed on the state's long-standing medical marijuana laws. Only one poll has been conducted on that question, in October, and it showed that a majority of voters were happy with the new restrictive provisions. Medical pot is on the ballot in Arkansas, too. Muddying the waters, there are technically two medical pot provisions on the ballot, but because of a cascade of lawsuits and signature problems, votes will only count for one of them. Polls on the question have been mixed, hovering just around 50 percent since September. Finally, a standard medical marijuana provision is on the ballot in deep-red North Dakota, too. But nobody seems to have told the nation's pollsters about it — there hasn't been a single survey on that question all year.


DHS report cites dangers in federal police hiring delays

homeland security mission,” said a 2015 House report on the DHS appropriation bill. “To stem skyrocketing attrition and hiring shortfalls,” the House committee directed the department to develop a corrective action plan based on a “root cause analysis.” One cause is insufficient staff needed to process new personnel. “At the Secret Service, for example, the lack of staff has affected completion of polygraph examinations and background investigations of applicants,” according to the IG report. “Special Agents in field offices conduct polygraph examinations and background investigations as collateral duties. Officials explained it is difficult for these Special Agents to complete these collateral duties because their primary investigative and protective functions take precedence.” DHS staffing shortages go beyond the law enforcement agencies. “More generally, all of DHS has experienced a reduction in mission support functions, including human resources personnel,” the IG reported. “Hiring freezes and attrition have affected staffing levels of human resources personnel across the Department and delayed applicant processing and hiring.” This poses real problems for Border Patrol agents. “We are over 1,500 agents below the congressionally mandated floor …” said Shawn Moran, vice president of the National Border Patrol Council, “and that has severe negative consequences for operations. “Many areas like the Rio Grande Valley Sector are seeing huge influxes of people and cannot maintain the operational tempo to deal with the detainees in a timely manner,” he added. In addition to staffing issues, some DHS units are not up to speed with automated systems. CBP is a leader with one system that tracks applicants. ICE and the Secret Service are behind. “For example, ICE uses six systems, which ICE officials said are not user friendly or well designed,” the report said. “Further, according to these officials, the systems require manual data entry, and large amounts of data have to be moved among the various systems.” That sounds like a big mistake in waiting. The Secret Service isn’t much better, with its two applicant tracking systems that don’t communicate and require manual manipulation, “making it difficult and cumbersome to process large numbers of applicants.” It’s not clear if short staffing was to blame for a significant error by the department’s office of chief human capital officer that the IG found. The report said the department miscalculated and reported the wrong time to hire information to Congress and the Office of Personnel Management. In the case of Border Patrol agents,


Elon Musk’s rocket blew up in September. Here’s why one of his main customers isn’t worried.

second time in two years. And even though SpaceX’s Elon Musk has said the company should fly by mid-December, the investigation into the explosion on Sept. 1 isn’t yet complete and the Federal Aviation Administration hasn’t yet given it the green light to fly. But Matt Desch, Iridium’s chief executive, said he is not worried. In an interview, he said he was heartened the investigation to date and by recent comments by Musk, who said that the company has discovered the cause of the explosion on Sept. 1. “We’ve been privy to the thinking and the analysis and the data involved at a very deep level,” Desch said. “So, yes, we know why he is saying what’s he’s saying and concur that they have found the issue. We’re encouraged, too, that it was procedural…We are back on the path for a first launch and, yes, I feel very confident that the issue that was found won’t be repeated for our launch.” Still, he said on launch day, “I might be in a corner rocking back and forth.” Not out of fear for the rocket, but more because it’s always nerve racking “when you see 10 of your precious babies going into orbit.” On Sept. 1 a Falcon 9 rocket blew up on a Cape Canaveral launch pad while it was being fueled ahead of an engine test fire. Musk said on CNBC Friday that the cause of the explosion was “a really surprising problem that’s never been encountered before.” SpaceX has been super cooling its liquid oxygen fuel, a process that makes it more dense, allowing the rocket to then carry more fuel. But apparently the propellant got so cold it turned solid, Musk said, without elaborating on how exactly that could lead to an explosion. “This was the toughest puzzle that we’ve ever had to solve,” he said. With an aging constellation of 66 satellites now in orbit, Iridium is eager to replace them with the new fleet. The company’s satellites provide an array of services, from communications and tracking for service members in war zones, to delivering Internet and mobile phone service to remote areas around the world and at sea. The new constellation will allow the company to offer airline tracking from space. It will also help the company with its fastest-growing market—the so-called Internet of Things—connecting machine to machine, so they can communicate on their own.


Brits blame strange new Toblerone shape on Brexit

Toblerone bars in Loughborough, Britain. (Darren Staples/Reuters) There are few candy bars as iconic as Toblerone. The popular nougat-and-chocolate bar, invented in Switzerland but now owned by the U.S.-based Mondelez International, became internationally famous in large part because of its distinctive triangular shape. But that very shape is now the subject of controversy in Britain, where a recent announcement that some versions of Toblerone would feature larger spaces between the triangles is being viewed as a political scandal. Why exactly? Well, many Brits think they know what is to blame for the sudden change: Brexit. #toblerone #brexit I told you that leaving the EU would have serious consequences. Now I' m really upset. https://t.co/w81cWYpNl4 Whether the new shape can be entirely blamed on Britain's decision to leave the European Union isn't clear. The vote in June to leave the E.U. sent the British pound falling amid uncertainty about the country's political and economic future, prompting some food producers to announce plans to raise prices. Last month, Britons were upset to discover that supermarkets were running out of the nation's favorite condiment — the love-it-or-hate-it Marmite — because of a pricing dispute in the wake of the Brexit vote. While that dispute was eventually solved, many viewed it as a sign of worse to come. Didn't realise I should have been stockpiling Marmite before brexit like I was prepping for the goddamn apocalypse #Marmitegate On Oct. 15, Toblerone first announced its plan to change the shape of some of its chocolate bars. In a statement posted to the candy bar's official Facebook page, the new shape was blamed on “higher costs for numerous ingredients.” Brexit was not mentioned specifically. However, it was only in the past few days that the decision gained widespread attention, with social media users voicing outrage. Hi @Toblerone I opened my chocolate and noticed half the triangles are missing. Can you please post them to me? Tha… https://t.co/aFCFxmhOwr Toblerone has a special place in Britain's confectionery culture, with travelers to Europe traditionally bringing the bars back home as gifts for friends and family. To many, the new Toblerone bars signal a dim economic future for Britain outside the E.U. #Toblerone in another 3 years: https://t.co/EUmhB5x1FP Meanwhile, across the EU. #Toblerone https://t.co/hv0ty3zX2o Some used the controversy over the chocolate bar to comment on the U.S. presidential election on Tuesday. It is axiomatic: a world that can change Toblerone,


How to celebrate Veterans Day at breweries and bars in the D.C. area

bars will have specials on beers from Honor Brewing Company, a veteran-owned Virginia brewery that donates a portion of sales to veterans' organizations. T-shirt sales at the bar crawl also benefit veterans' charities. 4 p.m. to 2 a.m. Free. Fair Winds Brewing Veterans and active-duty service members who visit Fair Winds Brewing's Lorton taproom on Veterans Day receive their first beer on the house. The brewery asks other customers to purchase a beer for a random vet as a way of showing appreciation and offers a chance to write a personal thank-you note, which will be given to the veteran who receives the beer. Noon to 10 p.m. 7000 Newington Rd., Lorton. fairwindsbrewing.com. Buying a pint for a vet costs $6. Heritage Brewing Owned by a pair of brothers who served in the military, Heritage opens the doors of its Manassas taproom at noon on Veterans Day, instead of the usual 5 p.m., and offers all veterans and active-duty service members a free beer and a free hot dog. Heritage knows that generosity isn't just for one day a year: 1 percent of all annual sales are given to charity. Noon to 10 p.m. 9436 Center Point Lane, Manassas. heritagebrewing.com. Free. Old Ox Brewery Old Ox welcomes comedian Lucas Bohn, who has shared stages with Dave Chappelle and Kevin Hart, to its taproom. A portion of the proceeds benefits the Semper Fi Fund, which provides financial assistance to wounded, injured and critically ill service members. 8 p.m. 44652 Guilford Rd., Ashburn. oldoxbrewery.com. $20; advance purchase recommended. Port City Brewing Company It's two holidays for the price of one in Alexandria, where Port City launches Tidings — its potent and delicious Belgian seasonal ale brewed with coriander, ginger and wildflower honey -- on Veterans Day. To honor the latter holiday, 10 percent of all sales will be donated to charities that support veterans. A tour of the brewery is offered at 6:30 p.m., and singer Emily Henry performs in the tasting room from 7 to 9 p.m. 3 to 10 p.m. 3950 Wheeler Ave., Alexandria. portcitybrewing.com. Free. Read more: - 9 things to do in the D.C. area the week of Nov. 7-11 - Food trucks, breweries and bike lanes: How D.C. has changed over the last eight years - The Hotlist: 13 things to see, eat, drink and do in November - The booming industry that veterans are tapping into


DeMatha’s D.J. Harvey, Gonzaga’s Chris Lykes among top recruits headlining college basketball’s early signing period

Marshall — Xavier When Eleanor Roosevelt won its first state title under Coach Brendan O’Connell in 2013, none of the team’s top players garnered high-major interest. But Marshall’s recruitment was different, particularly over the past year when he emerged as a force locally and a top 75 recruit nationally while leading the Raiders to another state championship. Though he’s spending this year at Hargrave Military Academy, Marshall is technically the highest-rated public school recruit in the area this year and his multidimensional skill set should make him a name to watch in the Big East for years to come. More: Marshall’s rapid recruiting rise leads to a Xavier commitment H.D. Woodson graduate Antwan Walker is set to join Georgetown’s roster next year after spending this season at Hargrave Military Academy. (Doug Kapustin / For The Washington Post) Maret F Luka Garza — Iowa The 6-11 forward should be a good fit in Iowa’s system because of his ability to both shoot from the outside and play with his back to the basket. But Garza’s signing is significant because he’s the first Washington area recruit to sign with the Hawkeyes since former DeMatha guard Jeff Peterson in 2007. Garza also represents the rise of Maret boys’ basketball as the rare (at least in recent memory) high-major basketball recruit from the Woodley Park private school. More: Garza grows up against the nation’s best basketball prospects H.D. Woodson F Antwan Walker — Georgetown The Hoyas have long mined the Washington area for basketball talent and Walker will be Coach John Thompson III’s latest local recruit. The two-time D.C. Interscholastic Athletic Association player of the year elected to head to the Hilltop after spending a prep year this season at Hargrave Military Academy. Walker, a 6-foot-7 All-Met with a developing jump shot and athleticism to spare, will become the first Washington area recruit to sign with the Hoyas since Marcus Derrickson (Paul VI) in 2015. Former St. John’s guard Tre Campbell is also on the current Georgetown roster. O’Connell F Nate Watson — Providence The 6-foot-8 Watson emerged as a force in the low block during his first season in the WCAC last winter and he continued that progress this past offseason. His commitment to Providence carries more weight because of what it means for the Friars coming off a season in which they won their first NCAA tournament game since 1997. Watson becomes


Peter Thiel explains why his company’s defense contracts could lead to less war

2007 and 2016, government records show. The Defense Department was its largest government customer in all but one of those years, followed by the departments of Justice and Homeland Security. The total value of the contracts awarded to Palantir is actually higher. Many contracts are paid in a series of installments as work is completed or funds are allocated, meaning the total value of the contract may be reflected over several years. In May, for example, Palantir was awarded a contract worth $222.1 million from the Defense Department to provide software and technical support to the U.S. Special Operations Command. The initial amount paid was $5 million with the remainder to come in installments over four years. Defense industry consultant Loren Thompson said some commercial technology companies see an opportunity to use their expertise and products to ultimately save the government money and contribute to less destructive aspects of the war effort. The Defense Department and other agencies have made a more concerted effort to engage the industry in recent years for this reason. “Basically, the argument here is if [the government] would use the right technology then they could minimize the cost and the human consequences regardless of what kind of war we’re fighting,” Thompson said. “This is big data, this is not things that blow up and cause collateral damage.” Nevertheless, Thompson added: “Whatever Thiel’s political convictions may be, business is business.” Thiel co-founded Palantir Technologies in 2004. The company formed an early connection to the defense and intelligence communities: In September 2005, Palantir received $2 million from In-Q-Tel, the CIA’s investment arm. A self-proclaimed libertarian, Thiel said Palantir was conceived as “a mission-oriented company” in a 2013 Forbes profile. “I defined the problem as needing to reduce terrorism while preserving civil liberties,” Thiel told the magazine. In recent years, Palantir has steadily built up its government business and hired lobbyists to help pave further inroads in Washington, lobbying disclosure records show. Its software was heralded by numerous high-profile defense and intelligence officials in the Forbes article, but also criticized by privacy experts who question whether Palantir’s software actually violates the privacy rights and liberties that Thiel intended it to protect. On its website, the firm boasts of its software’s applications in war zones: “From strategy to operations to tactics, from reachback facilities to the tactical edge of the battlefield, Palantir Defense gives the warfighter immediate access to


Marijuana wins big on election night

approaching.” Voters in California, Maine, Massachusetts and Nevada just approved recreational marijuana use. Here's what they can learn from Washington, Colorado and Oregon, states where marijuana use has already been legalized. California has long been seen as a bellwether by both supporters and opponents of marijuana reform. The state is home to about 12 percent of the U.S. population. Given the size of the state's economy and the economic impact of the marijuana industry there, California's adoption of legal marijuana could prompt federal authorities to rethink their decades-long prohibition on the use of marijuana. In a recent interview with Bill Maher, President Obama said that passage of the legalization measures on Tuesday could make the current federal approach to the drug “untenable.” Still, the likelihood of a Trump White House leaves a lot of uncertainty about the fate of marijuana measures in the next four years. Under Obama, federal authorities largely took a hands-off approach to state-level legalization efforts. But an incoming administration more skeptical of drug reform could easily reverse that approach. “The prospect of Rudy Giuliani or Chris Christie as attorney general does not bode well,” the Drug Policy Alliance's Nadelmann said in an interview. “There are various ways in which a hostile White House could trip things up.” Nadelmann pointed to the success of marijuana measures in the midst of an evident Republican wave as a sign that support for legalization now cuts deeply across party lines. And citing Trump's often contradictory statements on marijuana and drug use in the past, Nadelmann added that “Donald Trump personally could probably go any which way on this.” With today's votes, legal marijuana is also making significant inroads in the Northeast. “Marijuana legalization has arrived on the East Coast,” said Tom Angell of the marijuana reform group Marijuana Majority in an email. “What Colorado and other states have already done is generating revenue, creating jobs and reducing crime, so it’s not surprising that voters in more places are eager to end prohibition.” Opponents of legalization said they were disappointed by the outcomes. “We were outspent greatly in both California and Massachusetts, so this loss is disappointing, but not wholly unexpected,” said Kevin Sabet of the anti-legalization group Smart Approaches to Marijuana in a statement. “Despite having gained considerable ground in the last few weeks, the out-of-state interests determined to make money off of legalization put in too much money to


A political world turned upside down

Donald Trump. (Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post) With Donald Trump on the verge of securing 270 electoral votes and winning the presidency, it’s not too soon to consider how so many political observers, so many polls and so many politicians got the 2016 presidential race so wrong. As for the polling, if it makes every professional pollster feel better, the Trump team confesses that its own numbers showed Trump losing. The Hill reports a Trump senior campaign source revealed the campaign’s own internal polls, just as the exit polls did, had Trump down and out. While the popular vote count eventually may come within the margin of error for public polling, critical state polling was far enough off in multiple states to make a very big difference. The polling industry in the United States and elsewhere (Colombia’s peace referendum, Brexit) looks a lot like that dumpster fire we have been using to describe the election. Pollsters missed the intensity Trump was able to instill in his voters and Hillary Clinton’s failure to do the same. The Post reported: The composition of the 2016 electorate was similar to that of the 2012 voting population, according to preliminary exit poll data. But Trump was performing exceptionally well among white voters, while Clinton was doing less well among nonwhite voters than fellow Democrat President Obama did four years ago. In general, a pattern appeared to be taking hold across a number of key battleground states late Tuesday: In places where Obama won, Clinton appeared to be winning as well — but often by significantly less. Where Romney won, Trump won, too — but his margins were much bigger. We will spend weeks and months on an array of questions, including: - Did voters embrace Trump because of his racist, xenophobic rhetoric or despite it? - Did FBI Director James B. Comey’s bizarrely vague and precedent-breaking letter remind voters just in the nick of time of Clinton’s propensity to bend rules and avoid candor? - Have voters lost the capacity to differentiate between fact or fiction, or do they no longer care, assuming all politicians are liars? - How could President Obama, whose popularity is extraordinarily high, fail to convince voters in an improving economy to stay the course? - Was the 2016 election a reaction to Democratic excesses, cultural snobbery or some of both? Republicans will conclude that it is their populist message, not


Medical marijuana victories in Florida, North Dakota, Arkansas, Montana turn the tide

Cured and finished buds as well as growing medical marijuana plants propagated at a medical marijuana growing operation in Washington in September. (Linda Davidson/The Washington Post) Tuesday was a banner night for medical marijuana — with ballot initiatives in numerous states widening access to the substance for Americans seeking relief from pain or a treatment for illness. Massachusetts and California, where Napster co-founder and cancer philanthropist Sean Parker helped fund a campaign to legalize the drug, were among the states passing new recreational marijuana laws. The tide also turned in Florida, North Dakota and Arkansas — where similar measures were defeated in the past — and in Montana where measures regarding medical marijuana were passed. Before this week, medical marijuana was legal in a little over half the country or 25 states. The wins come as rigorous scientific evidence is mounting that marijuana or its components may have beneficial medical effects. Earlier this year, GW Pharmaceuticals said that clinical trials show a cannabis-derived drug may be able to reduce seizures in patients with Dravet syndrome, a rare and severe form of epilepsy. Physicians are also increasingly looking to marijuana as an alternative to highly addictive opioids that have led to a crisis in overdoses. This chart, from my colleague Christopher Ingraham, shows just how dramatic the difference in the painkiller prescriptions is in medical-marijuana states vs. non-medical-marijuana states. Here's a closer look at the medical marijuana measures passed Tuesday night: Florida: North Dakota: Montana: “The previous restriction imposed a limit of three, which was sharply opposed by patients and providers in the program. Most medical marijuana patients were left without a registered provider under the restrictions. Since they went into effect, patients have left the program. More than a third of patients registered in September left over the next month — 7,785 remained in October, according to the state health department. “I-182 adds post-traumatic stress disorder to the list of eligible conditions, allows for lab testing for marijuana and orders annual health department inspections of providers.” Arkansas: For some families with children who suffer from rare seizure disorders, a new form of medical marijuana is proving to be a life-changing treatment. Marijuana wins big on election night Cannabis-derived drug shows promise for kids with epilepsy; GW pharma stock doubles One striking chart shows why pharma companies are fighting legal marijuana


Trump promised Brexit ‘times five.’ He delivered.

“is nothing” without support from the news media. For Britons watching Tuesday's election, there was a sense of déjà vu as the results first came in. The Clinton camp's swing from confidence to uncertainty to despair and denial reminded many of the wild emotional ride that “remain” supporters had taken during Britain's referendum. And as Trump began to rack up unlikely wins in formerly Democratic strongholds, Farage took to Twitter to note the similarities with Britain's vote. His September prediction seemed to be coming true. The @realDonaldTrump win in Florida feels just like the Sunderland moment. By Wednesday morning, “Brexit and Trump” began to trend on Twitter in the United Kingdom. While there were some celebratory tweets, often the messages expressed despair, with many users raking over the path to the twin defeats to ask: What went wrong? Familiar fingers were pointed at elitist politicians, out-of-touch journalists and inaccurate pollsters. Brexit and Trump have shown that too many pundits and media people live in a London, New York and LA myopic bubble. #USElection2016 Right now, however, a full postmortem may be premature. As anyone watching the situation in Britain over the past few months will tell you, Brexit is far from a done deal: A recent court decision suggested that a hard exit from the E.U. may be politically difficult, if not impossible. Even in the immediate aftermath of the Brexit vote, “leave” campaigners were accused of walking back their biggest promises, and there were reports of regret among those who voted in favor of Britain exiting the E.U. Similarly, it remains to be seen what kind of president Trump will be and whether the grand vision he pitched to his supporters — including remarkable ideas such as building a wall on the border with Mexico or a 45 percent tariff on Chinese imports — is actually implementable. Even for the pro-Brexit camp, there's unpredictability here: How will “Mr. Brexit” deal with a post-Brexit Britain, a country where politicians until recently were insulting him and debating whether to ban his entry? Right now, an uncertainty about the future is what really ties together the future of Trump and Brexit. And the world may soon get more uncertainty. France will have its own general election next year — and far-right leader Marine Le Pen is looking more confident than ever. More on WorldViews: What a real ‘Brexit Britain’ would look like


Four questions about how Trump would affect the military industrial complex

the payroll. Mackenzie Eaglen, a defense analyst with the American Enterprise Institute who briefed the Trump campaign three times, said she urged against picking an outsider. “It’s much harder to make work given the sheer size of the Defense Department,” she said. “You don’t need someone who has to spend the first 12 months learning the acronyms.” Trump says he wants to rebuild the military. What will that look like? Trump has said he wants to increase the size of the Army and the Marine Corps, build new ships for the Navy and add jets to the Air Force’s arsenal and modernize the nuclear arsenal. Defense stocks jumped Wednesday morning with news of his election. BAE System and Raytheon saw their stock prices go up more than 6 percent by 11 a.m. Wednesday. Lockheed Martin was up more than 5 percent. “Trump’s win is good news for the defense industry, especially when coupled with Republican majorities in the House and Senate,” said Loren Thompson, a defense consultant who advises many of the nation’s top tier contractors. Increasing the size of the military will favor BAE Systems and General Dynamics, plus helicopter makers Boeing and Lockheed Martin, in particular, he said. Northrop Grumman, which is building the Air Force’s new bomber, could be a winner, he said, as could General Dynamics and Huntington Ingalls, companies that make submarines. Trump would most likely focus on weapons systems already in development or production, instead of starting new ones, Eaglen said, which would be good news for programs such as the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, the Joint Light Tactical Vehicle, the Littoral Combat Ship as well as building new aircraft carriers. All of that sounds costly. Where does he get the money? Eaglen has calculated that his promises could add up to an additional $55 billion in defense spending—“and that’s conservative,” she said. Trump has called to eliminate the budget caps that control defense spending, while also rooting out waste in the Pentagon’s budget, as he plans to disrupt Washington’s traditional ways of doing business. Some of the Pentagon’s main programs, many of which have suffered years of cost overruns and schedule delays, could be targeted, as well as the large defense corporations behind them. In a note to investors, Byron Callan, an analyst with Alpha Security Partners, “A populist president may be less tolerant of cost overruns on major weapons systems and greater


What the future of marijuana legalization could look like under President Trump

medical market in Florida, Blumenauer said. Opponents of legalization, meanwhile, are regrouping and considering how to address the new reality they face in the coming months and years. Smart Approaches to Marijuana, the nation's leading anti-legalization group, announced yesterday an initiative aimed at reform and oversight of the existing marijuana industry. The group's founder and executive director, Kevin Sabet, said in an email that this in no way represents a shift away from trying to stop legalization from happening. “We still plan to stop legalization,” he said, pointing to the group's successful effort to oppose the marijuana legalization measure in Arizona as a blueprint. “I am feeling (strangely, maybe) optimistic,” Sabet added. “We won in Arizona. The overarching lesson was that if we could raise enough money early, we can win. Arizona was the only state where we were toe to toe with the 'yes' side, and it's the only state we started early in.” On marijuana, as on so many issues, Trump is something of a wild card. He has surrounded himself with tough law-and-order advisers, including former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R). Trump's own statements don't offer much clarity on the topic. He has been vociferous about the negative effects of legalization but also said that recreational and medical marijuana should be treated at the state level. Beau Kilmer, a drug policy expert at the nonprofit Rand Corp., said it's unlikely that any sort of changes to marijuana law will be a priority for incoming Trump administration officials. “In the grand scheme of top issues the new administration is going to be dealing with, marijuana is not going to be a top priority,” Kilmer said in an interview. With 65 million people living in states that have given the green light to marijuana legalization, any federal crackdown “could have significant political costs associated with it,” Kilmer said. And the burgeoning marijuana industry is likely to step up its lobbying efforts at the state and local levels. Hudak agrees that any effort to stop state-level legalization will depend on lawmakers' appetite for dealing with the potential political fallout from the move. “This is a Congress that is about to repeal the Affordable Care Act,” Hudak said. “I think a Congress and an administration that are willing to do that are not going to worry about the optics of quashing the marijuana industry.”


Believe it or not, it was a pretty good night for criminal-justice reform

that problems with crime labs, eyewitness testimony, police misconduct and prosecutor misconduct are limited only to those cases in which DNA testing has exposed them. But there was also a lot of good news last night. Marijuana won in 8 of the 9 states in which it was on the ballot — including outright legalization in California, Massachusetts and Nevada. Those states all went blue in the presidential race, but red states Montana, Florida, Arkansas and North Dakota all legalized medicinal marijuana. The lesson here appears to be that pot has finally transcended the culture wars, but the death penalty hasn’t. There are a couple of other important reform measures that passed. Ironically, both were in states that strengthened the death penalty. California voters approved Prop 57, which expands parole (as opposed to prison) and time off for good behavior for nonviolent offenses, and lets judges (instead of prosecutors) determine whether juveniles should be tried in adult courts. And in Oklahoma, voters approved of a measure to reclassify certain property and drug possession crimes from felonies to misdemeanors. They also approved a measure that would use the money saved from reclassifying such crimes to fund rehabilitation, mental health treatment and vocational training for inmates. New Mexico voters passed a bail reform measure that, while poorly drafted, at least indicates that there’s an appetite in the electorate for such reforms. There was also some good news in individual races. Most significantly, Maricopa County, Ariz., Sheriff Joe Arpaio — the self-proclaimed “toughest sheriff in America” — was finally defeated (the fact that he’s currently under federal indictment may have had something to do with that). Unfortunately, Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery — one of the most punitive prosecutors in the country — did win. (Arizona was also the only state to vote against a bill to loosen restrictions on pot, although medicinal marijuana still remains legal there.) Voters also showed the door to overly punitive prosecutors like Harris County, Tex., District Attorney Devon Anderson (see my post about her here), and Birmingham, Ala., prosecutor Bill Veitch. In Tampa, a challenger won on an explicit reform campaign. It was the same story in New Mexico, where Marco Serna explicitly campaigned on “treating people like people” and getting addicts treatment, not prison time. His opponent ran a traditional law-and-order campaign. Serna won with over 70 percent of the vote. It was a similar story


As more states legalize marijuana, NFLPA to study potential as a pain-management tool

it can honestly ruin someone’s career if the wrong team gets wind of it and has adverse opinions on it. But my health is more important than the opinion of someone who could be my employer now or my future employer. . . . “There’s enough anecdotal evidence already to say, ‘Hey listen, we know it’s not toxic. We know it’s safer than what we’re already doing.’ ” Monroe, who announced his retirement in July, was not available for further comment Wednesday, according to one of his representatives. Some contend that the increasing number of states to legalize marijuana use should impact the NFL’s view. “There is no health and safety reason for marijuana being on the banned list and now the legal rationale has crumbled,” a person on the players’ side of the sport said Wednesday, speaking on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the topic. Some medical experts are also advocating for cannabis-based treatment over some current painkillers, noting the addiction and overdose potential of opioids. In 2014, 19,000 deaths were attributed to overdoses from prescription pain medication, according to the American Society of Addiction Medicine. Prescription painkillers have also been cited as a gateway to heroin use. “In my mind, there’s no comparison if we just started from scratch in the year 2016 and looked newly at which class of drugs worked better to treat pain and side-effect profile up to and including death, in the case of opioids,” Daniel Clauw, a University of Michigan professor who has performed studies comparing opioids and cannabis, told the Post in June. “You put the two next to each other, and there really is no debate which is more effective to treat pain. You would go the cannabinoid route instead of the opiate route.” Cannabidiol, or CBD, an anti-inflammatory extracted from cannabis, could potentially help players as a preventative measure against one of the most pressing issues facing the NFL: concussions. Lester Grinspoon, a professor emeritus at Harvard and one of the first medical marijuana researchers, said in an interview with the Post earlier this year that “evidence shows CBD is neuroprotective. I would have each individual take a capsule an hour or two before they play or practice. It’s better than nothing.” Grinspoon also noted there would be no guarantee such a measure would work. Following Tuesday’s election results, the league has given no indication that,


D.C.-area forecast: Sun returns in full force through the weekend; Cold on Saturday

Tidal Basin joggers, Nov. 8, 2016. (Kevin Wolf via Flickr) TODAY’S DAILY DIGIT 9/10: EXPRESS FORECAST Today: View the current weather conditions at The Washington Post headquarters. FORECAST IN DETAIL Clouds are few and far between for the next five days. We get an uncharacteristic chilly day Saturday with many areas seeing a freeze that night. The rest of the time seasonably mild is the name of the game. A little breezy for those enjoying Veterans Day but still a fine day to be off. All the clear skies make it perfect for viewing the most super of super full moons Sunday into Monday. Today (Thursday): Tonight: Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram for the latest updates. For related traffic news, check out Dr. Gridlock. Keep reading for the forecast through the weekend . . . Tomorrow (Veterans Day): Tomorrow night: A LOOK AHEAD Saturday Seasonable temps return Sunday with light breezes and plenty of sunshine. Highs reach the upper 50s to lower 60s. The clear evening affords super supermoon viewing. Overnight lows drop to the low-to-mid 30s suburbs to upper 30s downtown. Confidence: Medium-High Monday


Stephen Colbert enlists Neil deGrasse Tyson to put the election in perspective — using science

Stephen Colbert with Neil deGrasse Tyson, discussing politics and space. (Scott Kowalchyk/CBS) Astrophysicist and TV star Neil deGrasse Tyson is one of Stephen Colbert’s favorite guests. On Wednesday, Colbert enlisted him not once but twice on “The Late Show,” mostly to help put the chaotic presidential election in perspective for distressed voters — using science, of course. Colbert devoted a large portion of his show for expressing his disbelief that Donald Trump is the president-elect. He kicked things off with a pretaped skit in which he pretended to wander up to the roof of the building, where Tyson was hanging out with a telescope. “You’re so much fun to have on the show,” Colbert said. “But I gotta say, the way people are feeling, it might be hard to do a comedy show tonight.” Neil deGrasse Tyson Always Takes The Long View Tyson considered this. “You know what we do in moments like this in my field?” he asked. “We invoke the cosmic perspective.” “What’s that?” Colbert wondered. “That’s what Earth look likes from high above. Not just, like, from the atmosphere, but from space itself, from the universe,” Tyson explained. “And when you do that, all earth’s problems dissolve away into the infinitude of the space time continuum.” “Yeah…” said Colbert, not sounding convinced. “Does that make you feel any better?” Tyson asked hopefully. “No,” Colbert admitted. Tyson paused. “Why don’t we just chuck the telescope?” “Let’s do it,” Colbert ordered, and the two men “launched” the telescope over the railing so it shattered on the ground. Later, Tyson returned for a sit-down interview to plug the new season of his National Geographic show, “StarTalk.” Naturally, Trump came up almost immediately, as Tyson said he thinks the culture has become too obsessed with “bashing” politicians. “The politician is representing an electorate. So, really, if you’re against a politician, you’re against their voter base, fellow citizens of this country,” he said. “So I as an educator, when I want to educate people, I don’t say, ‘Don’t vote for this person’ or ‘Vote for that person.’ I just simply educate you, so that when the time comes, you can make as informed a decision as you can.” From The Moon, Our Politics Seem Petty “That’s very positive,” Colbert admitted, and then asked Tyson to circle back to the “cosmic perspective” he mentioned earlier, and how people can use it — presumably


A forgotten corner in D.C.’s most popular museum

stuff behind, Cranford said. “Coverings for gloves, coverings for boots. The first aliens on the moon have now littered the moon with stuff,” he said. “Our legacy on the moon is trash.” I still wasn’t feeling inspired by humanity, so I headed down a hallway and ducked into a promising-looking exhibit. “Explore the Universe,” beckoned a sign over a dark, arched entryway. I followed the crowd past some cool 17th-century astrolabes and stopped at a pair of telescopes. A sign explained how to use them to see a plastic moon stuck to a wall just a few yards away, but no one seemed to be able to get the telescopes to work. Perhaps the lesson of this display is: “Telescopes work better outdoors.” The lesson of this interactive? Telescopes work better outdoors. That was just the first broken equipment I found in “Explore the Universe.” Also out of order: a display that bounced a laser beam around some mirrors, a light that was supposed to shine through a prism, and a blank screen purporting to explain the origin of the universe. (I found that last equipment failure particularly disappointing.) The interactive elements that did work were pretty neat, though. I, and many younger visitors, particularly liked a crank that, when you turned it, caused a flickering light mounted on a pole to move up and down, toward or away from you. When you cranked it toward you, it turned blue, and when you cranked it away from you, it turned red. The display text explained that this color shift also happens when galaxies move toward or away from us. When they are moving closer, they look bluer. When they are moving away, which is usually the case, they look redder. “Blue-red-blue,” a 5-year-old girl yelled while turning the crank. “Blue’s my favorite color,” she told me. Her mom checked out the wall text. “The universe is expanding?” she asked after reading. “Well, I didn’t know that.” Just around the corner, I found another screen. This one was attached to a Jetsons-esque lamp and playing a deeply strange video of Scott Hamilton ice skating on swirling galaxies and spinning planets. This was, of course, set to the tune of “Galaxy Song,” from Monty Python’s “The Meaning of Life.” It was a delightful injection of weirdness in what was, thus far, a sober, scientific exhibit, and I didn’t have to look far


Fantasy football scout: Should we shovel dirt on the Texans’ fantasy prospects?

into 10 catches for just 57 yards, the Rams may have emerged from their Week 8 bye looking in different directions. Austin got just two targets last week, catching one for 17 yards, and if it looks like he’ll continue to play third or fourth fiddle in one of the league’s worst passing attacks, there will be little reason for his 56 percent ownership mark in ESPN leagues not to plummet. Brandon Marshall has been far less irrelevant, but his numbers have gone south in recent weeks (55.5 average yards over his past four games, with zero touchdowns). At age 32, and in a sputtering offense, Marshall also may be in the position of having to prove that he’s worth keeping on a fantasy roster. Seahawks at Patriots The high-scoring Patriots don’t necessarily need to change a thing, of course, but the possible return of explosive RB Dion Lewis could immediately provide a new dimension, not to mention an immediate headache for James White owners. New England’s diversity of receiving targets has also caused migraines for Julian Edelman owners, and it bears monitoring how much work he gets, as well as the likes of Martellus Bennett and Danny Amendola, against a tough pass defense. Falcons at Eagles As ZZ Top might ask, the Eagles have Treggs, but do they know how to use him? The undrafted rookie speedster caught a bomb last week, part of a two-catch, 69-yard game in his first action for Philly, indicating that the answer may be yes. The team could sorely use a game-breaker, never more so than against the prolific Falcons, so Treggs could come running just as fast as he can after more deep balls from Carson Wentz. (It took me way to long to figure out what ZZ Top reference to end on, and, no, it wasn’t worth the effort.) 49ers at Cardinals Unlike Treggs, Nelson is something of a known commodity; it’s just that, until, recently, he hasn’t been known to merit serious consideration in normal-size leagues. Before Arizona’s Week 9 bye, though, the second-year WR posted impressive numbers (162 total yards, two touchdowns), and now he’s set to start for the team against San Francisco’s generous secondary. Nelson already looks like a great bye-week fill-in, and he could quickly develop into a fantasy lineup regular. Packers at Titans Tajae Sharpe started off looking like the guy for the Titans, then


7 restaurants you should check out this weekend

Chef David Deshaies keeps Michel Richard's whimsy alive at Central. (Deb Lindsey for The Washington Post) Eating out requires a certain amount of time and money. So where should you commit these valuable resources? Here are seven recently reviewed restaurants that have been approved by our critics. Central Founding chef Michel Richard passed away this summer, but his protege, David Deshaies, is more than capable of producing his own wow factor at the downtown dining room. What to eat? Anything with bread — and the lamb bisteeya, the best pot pie in town. 1001 Pennsylvania Ave. NW. The shrimp curry and Matcha Picchu cocktail at Dirty Habit. (April Greer for The Washington Post) Dirty Habit Forget the bad name and strange decor. What you want at Poste's replacement in Penn Quarter's Hotel Monaco are Kyoo Eom's globally inspired dishes — charred eggplant, duck meatballs, braised short ribs — and the memorable cocktails. 555 Eighth St. NW. You can't go wrong with the vegetable ramen, left, shown with pork, and the mapo tofu poutine at Haikan. (Photos by Deb Lindsey for The Washington Post) Haikan The owners of Daikaya and Bantam King have a third success on their hands with their new, ramen-centric outpost in Shaw. The mapo tofu poutine is a must-try appetizer, and the vegetable ramen is the sleeper hit among the noodle-and-broth bowls. 805 V St. NW. Ann Cashion's crab cake at Johnny's Half Shell is a near-perfect dish. (Deb Lindsey for The Washington Post) Johnny's Half Shell “An old brand in a new home, Johnny's Half Shell sparkles as never before," Post food critic Tom Sietsema says of the restaurant that recently relocated from Capitol Hill to Adams Morgan. The entire menu is full of great dishes, including the crab cake, squid and grilled rib-eye. 1819 Columbia Rd. NW. The buffalo pork cheeks at Live Oak are a hit. (Dayna Smith for The Washington Post) Live Oak Chef Justus Frank has moved on from his previous Italian gigs and is now serving up a taste of the South in Del Ray. Think buffalo pork cheeks, a pork chop and buttermilk chess pie. 1603 Commonwealth Ave., Alexandria. Skate fingers at Vola’s Dockside Grill on the waterfront in Old Town Alexandria. (Dayna Smith for The Washington Post) Vola's Dockside Grill Both the waterside setting in Old Town Alexandria and the seafood-heavy menu will remind you of warmer days. Check


If you’re looking for good news about climate change, this is about the best there is right now

more like 50 percent. Carbon dioxide in the atmosphere still went up steadily each year, but maybe not at quite as fast a rate as before. Keenan completed the work with scientists from U.S., U.K., Australian and Chinese institutions — including two researchers with the Global Carbon Project, which every year tracks how much CO2 the world emits, as well as how much of it ends up in the atmosphere as opposed to being trapped by the ocean and land “sinks.” One reason for the change is the so-called global warming “pause” that persisted during much of the 2000s (and now appears to have ended), explained Keenan. You see, plants engage in photosynthesis which pulls in carbon dioxide, but they also engage in respiration, which releases it again. The same is true of microorganisms living on land – in its soil, for instance. And respiration rates increase at higher temperatures. But during the pause, Keenan continued, carbon dioxide levels kept rising but temperature didn’t rise as much over land surfaces. That seems to have triggered a disproportionate response from living things on land. “We have more and more CO2 going into photosynthesis, but we don’t have more and more coming out from respiration,” he explained. One related trend may be what has been termed “Arctic greening.” Scientists have been finding, of late, that as northern portions of the planet warm up even as total atmospheric carbon dioxide increases, there’s been an increase in plant growth in these regions: Using 29 years of data from Landsat satellites, researchers at NASA have found extensive greening in the vegetation across Alaska and Canada. Rapidly increasing temperatures in the Arctic have led to longer growing seasons and changing soils for the plants. Scientists have observed grassy tundras changing to scrublands, and shrubs growing bigger and denser.<br />(NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center/Cindy Starr) If all of this were to continue — if more carbon dioxide in the air continually meant an increased response from photosynthesis, and if respiration stayed in check too — then you might think the growing land carbon “sink” would be able to really help save us. And indeed, climate change “skeptics” have often pointed to plant growth as a possible factor that would mitigate climate change. However, that is most emphatically not the conclusion of the new paper. Rather, what it has detected seems to have been a temporary effect. It’s


Marijuana reform went 8 for 9 on the ballot this week. It could be the tipping point.

The 2016 election has proved to be the biggest victory for marijuana reform since 2012, with voters in California, Massachusetts, Nevada and Maine approving recreational marijuana initiatives. Today the Associated Press finally called Maine's marijuana ballot measure in favor of legalization. The 'yes' votes just squeaked by the 'no' votes with just a couple thousand votes to spare. In sum, reform of marijuana laws won in eight out of the nine states where it was put on the ballot, the strongest signal to date that the public is ready to embrace change and potentially put the harsh prohibitionist policies of the past behind them. Notably, advocates of reforming marijuana laws made progress in regions of the country they'd previously had little success in. On the medical marijuana sign, Florida became the first state in the South to approve a robust medical marijuana proposal. Arkansas soon followed suit, a surprising development given the chaotic history of the measure -- two separate proposals were actually on the ballot there, but due to a late court ruling only one could be voted on. Another surprise in the medical marijuana space was deep-red North Dakota, where nearly two-thirds of voters cast their ballots in favor of medical pot. That contest flew so far under the radar that there wasn't a single poll conducted on the question. Neighboring Montana had initially approved of a medical marijuana way back in 2004. But since then state lawmakers had steadily chipped away at the measure, eventually passing strict new rules that would have shut down many of the state's dispensaries. This year, medical marijuana supporters put an item on the ballot to roll back most of those restrictions. Polls seemed to indicate voter skepticism, with 51 percent opposing the ballot measure as recently as October. But in a surprising twist, they ultimately passed the measure by 58-42. On the recreational marijuana side, one of the biggest surprises was a strong showing in favor of legalization in Massachusetts where voters approved the measure by a strong 54-46 showing. Political and businesses leaders had come out swinging against the proposal earlier in the year. They were bolstered at the last minute by an 11th-hour donation of $850,000 to the opposition campaign from the Archdiocese of Boston. But most voters were unswayed by the arguments against marijuana. Maine's contest was the closest on the recreational marijuana side. But voters there ultimately


Trump taps climate-change skeptic to oversee EPA transition

President-elect Donald Trump has made no secret of his disdain for the Environmental Protection Agency, saying the regulations it has put out under President Obama are “a disgrace.” He has vowed to roll back Obama’s signature effort to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions, known as the Clean Power Plan, and to scrap a litany of other “unnecessary” rules, especially those imposed on the oil, gas and coal sectors. The man planning how a Trump administration can obliterate Obama’s environmental legacy is Myron Ebell, a Washington fixture who has long been a cheerful warrior against what he sees as an alarmist, overzealous environmental movement that has used global warming as a pretext for expanding government. Ebell has argued for opening up more federal lands for logging, oil and gas exploration and coal mining, and for turning over more permitting authority to the states. And he has urged the Senate to vote to reject an international climate accord signed last year in Paris. The self-described public-policy wonk has for years made his home at the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI), a conservative policy group that once received considerable funding from ExxonMobil. More recently, the organization has been funded in part by Donors Trust. The Virginia-based organization, which is not required by law to disclose its contributors, is staffed largely by people who have worked for Koch Industries or nonprofit groups supported by the conservative Koch brothers. Ebell, who is not a scientist, has long questioned the overwhelming scientific consensus that human activity is fueling unprecedented global warming. He also has staunchly opposed what he calls energy rationing, instead arguing that the United States should unleash the full power of coal, oil and gas to fuel economic growth and job creation. All that makes him an ideal ambassador for Trump, who has repeatedly called the notion of man-made climate change a “hoax.” President Trump entered the White House with an environmental policy agenda opposed to that of the Obama administration and many other nations that have pledged support to the Paris climate agreement. The Washington Post's Chris Mooney breaks down what a Donald Trump presidency will mean when it comes to climate change. Ebell declined to comment this week on his work or the type of people likely to be appointed to run the EPA, instead referring inquiries to the Trump transition headquarters. But it doesn’t take much imagination to figure out the likely list of


It’s been a stressful week. Treat yourself to one of these comforting D.C. restaurant dishes.

Georgian Khachapuri at Compass Rose. (Greg Powers For The Washington Post) What a week. After the stress of the presidential election, the post-time change hangover and the onset of chilly weather, you might want nothing other than comforting — or even indulgent — food. We scoured The Post's collection of 40 Eats, our annual assemblage of essential D.C. dishes, for six options you should consider trying around town. Khachapuri at Compass Rose Cheese and bread: a classic combination. This Georgian specialty is indulgent based on the sheer quantity of cheese, a mix of ricotta, feta and mozzarella — not to mention the fact that the boat-shaped delicacy is also adorned with butter and a runny egg. 1346 T. St. NW. The Nutella pizza at Osteria Marzano. (Scott Suchman for The Washington Post) Nutella pizza at Osteria Marzano The chocolate hazelnut spread with a rabid following gets star billing in this eye-catching dessert, which features a crown of gently broiled mini marshmallows. 6361 Walker Lane., Suite 140, Alexandria. The toasted marshmallow shake at Good Stuff Eatery. (Lavanya Ramanathan/The Washington Post) Toasted marshmallow milkshake at Good Stuff Eatery This sweet and nostalgic dessert, made with vanilla custard and toasted marshmallows, might make you forget the present — for a minute, anyway. 303 Pennsylvania Ave. SE; 2110 Crystal Dr., Arlington; 3291 M St. NW. The shoyu ramen at Ren's Ramen. (Camille Kilgore/The Washington Post) Sapporo style shoyu ramen at Ren's Ramen Is there any doubt that a big bowl of soup can cure whatever ails you? This one gets an extra savory boost thanks to the ground pork, garlic and shoyu spices stir-fried in scallion oil. 11403 Amherst Ave., Silver Spring. Red Hen's mezze rigatoni. (Linda Davidson/The Washington Post) Mezze rigatoni with fennel sausage at Red Hen This dish has become a staple, and with good reason. It combines house-made pasta with a slow-roasted tomato sauce spiked with garlic, butter and sausage made with local pork, toasted fennel seed, pepper and floral fennel pollen. 1822 First St. NW. Ayote con queso pupusa at El Comalito. (Dixie D. Vereen for The Washington Post) Ayote con queso pupusa at El Comalito A molten layer of mozzarella and Salvadoran cheeses inside a masa shell. Need we say more? 1167-C University Blvd., Takoma Park; 18749-C N. Frederick Rd., Gaithersburg; 6100 Baltimore Ave., Riverdale Park. Read more: - 7 restaurants you should check out this weekend - The


This retired Army general was a scholar and acolyte of David Petraeus. Now he’s on Team Trump.

of the International Security Assistance Force in Kabul, a complicated job at an especially bloody time in the war after the Obama administration surged tens of thousands of troops to battle the Taliban. “Anyone who can keep that group heading in the same direction should be well suited to assisting the Trump team with government transition in the weeks ahead,” Mansoor said. Meese, a 32-year Army veteran, declined to comment for this story. Originally a field artillery officer, he retired in 2013 and has served most recently as the chief operating officer of the American Armed Forces Mutual Aid Association, a nonprofit that helps military families with insurance, financial planning and survivor assistance. He’s seen as someone capable of assisting the Trump transition with both veterans and defense issues. In 2012, Deputy Defense Secretary Ashton B. Carter is escorted to his helicopter by Col. Michael Meese after delivering remarks to attendees at a conference at the U.S. Military Academy in West Point, N.Y. (Glenn Fawcett/Defense Department) Former colleagues describe him as affable, pragmatic and private with his political views. His father, Edwin, also is involved in the Trump transition, and is a longtime member of the Republican Party who served in several roles in the Reagan administration, including as attorney general. “I suppose it makes sense that Mike would have inherited the same contacts and be recognized by the new administration for his gravitas,” said Bruce Hoffman, the director of the Center for Security Studies at Georgetown University. He recruited Meese to teach there part-time after he retired from the Army because he found his work as a founding member of the Combating Terrorism Center at the U.S. Military Academy impressive. “I think he’s an enormously accomplished scholar and leader, and I’ve always found to have both an intellectual and practical approach,” Hoffman said. In 2014, Meese argued in a piece written for the National Defense University that polarization in politics has limited the ability to enhance national security. He cited the federally mandated budget cuts known as sequestration, and argued that if defense spending must be cut, it should be used to bring down the federal deficit, and not spent on social programs. “While some might argue the military should not comment on domestic programs or entitlement spending, it is not only appropriate, but it is essential that leaders provide their best judgment about the impact of those programs


Sunday night’s supermoon is the closest and biggest full moon since 1948

This NASA Goddard video explains why you don't want to miss the Nov. 14 supermoon. (This story, originally published Tuesday, has been updated.) November’s full moon is special. Not only is it a supermoon — which appears larger than a “regular” full moon — it will be the closest such moon to Earth since January 1948. We won’t see the full moon this close again until Nov. 25, 2034, according to NASA. This month’s awe-inspiring full moon is also known as the Full Beaver Moon, as it was when Native American tribes set beaver traps before the swamps froze, to ensure a supply of warm winter furs. Late Sunday afternoon, the nearly-full moon rises at 4:43 p.m. in Washington, while the sun sets at 4:55 p.m. Clear skies are forecast for much of the country Sunday evening, allowing excellent viewing, with the exception of the Southeast and Pacific Northwest, where cloudy skies are expected. Cloud cover forecast at 7 p.m. Eastern Sunday. (WeatherBell.com) Monday morning, the moon sets at 6:36 a.m. (in Washington) — so if you scoot out of bed around 5 a.m., you’ll see the moon low in the western sky plump and full. The moon officially becomes full on Monday at 8:52 a.m. — it won’t be visible on the East Coast at the exact moment of fullness, but it will on the West Coast. The nearly full moon next rises Monday evening at 5:30 p.m., so look for it close to the eastern horizon. However, clouds may then be an obstruction not only in the Mid-Atlantic, but across much of the nation’s northern tier. Cloud cover forecast at 7 p.m. eastern Monday. (WeatherBell.com) For any location in the United States or abroad, the Naval Observatory provides rise and set times for the moon and sun. In October, NASA said that “the perigee full moon can be as much as 14 percent larger and 30 percent brighter than an apogee full moon.” The NASA team goes on to explain, “Hanging high overhead with no reference points to provide a sense of scale, one full moon looks much like any other.” In other words, for the human eye, it is difficult to perceive the difference between a supermoon and any other. The next perigee full moon occurs Dec. 14 — the third such moon in an October-November-December lunar trifecta. After that, there will be a perigee full moon


Veterans continue to get jobs in the federal government

wars in Iraq and Afghanistan — an advantage in the long federal hiring queue, the share of full-time, permanent jobs going to them has hovered around 45 percent. The government brought on more veterans in fiscal 2015 than 2014. But since hiring and turnover affect the overall number of veterans in the workforce, their share dropped slightly, to 43.7 percent from 47.4 percent. [Veterans preference in federal hiring: The ‘third rail’ of civil service reform] The picture for veteran hiring into government could change under President-elect Donald Trump. He won the support of a majority of former service members in last week’s election. But he also has pledged to shrink the size of government, a shift that would affect veterans and nonveterans alike. Some bad news for the government: Once veterans get in, they don’t stay as long as nonveterans, the data show, even if they’ve transferred from another federal agency. The growing presence in government of men and women with military backgrounds has been the most visible federal effort to reward military service since the draft ended in the 1970s. [Obama push to hire veterans into federal jobs spurs resentment] The effort has fueled culture clashes in some federal offices, though, and resentment from job candidates who did not serve and see their prospects for getting hired diminish. For some federal offices, finding the right fit for veterans who have different jobs skills than their colleagues has been a challenge. In response to concerns from Pentagon officials, Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John McCain (R-Ariz.) pushed a plan through the Senate this fall that would have knocked out a key advantage for veterans applying for federal jobs. [Senate votes to scale back federal jobs preferences for veterans] The change, in a military policy bill, would have taken away a veteran’s right to go to the head of the federal hiring queue not once but twice, because veterans get preference over civilian applicants not just when they apply for their first positions but also when they move between agencies or seek promotions. Pentagon officials had told McCain and other lawmakers that they were unable to hire qualified candidates for some jobs because of the pressure to hire veterans. But McCain abandoned the proposal shortly before last week’s election under pressure from the veterans lobby. [McCain, in reelection fight, abandons plan to weaken vets’ leg up in federal hiring] Some agencies


Entrepreneurs love disruption. And Donald Trump just gave us a doozy.

of our strengths and this election certainly clarified why cybersecurity matters. The greater Washington region would benefit from a renewed federal focus on innovation. The Obama administration is tightly integrated in Silicon Valley as a conduit for innovation, with many of the most publicized efforts including government tech hubs called DIUx, 18F and others reflecting this integration. The incoming administration does not have the same level of existing interconnectedness with Silicon Valley, creating an opportunity for a “reset” of the perceived role of our region in providing technology innovation. Federal spending on national security is also expected to increase, driving opportunities for our region’s federal contracting businesses — particularly the most innovative. Innovation for national security will continue to be important because our adversaries are not standing still, and many national security challenges require small and creative teams in areas such as cybersecurity, artificial intelligence, autonomy and space exploration. In the past, increased demand for talent in the national security sector crowded out those otherwise available for start-ups. For the greater Washington region, this has been the good news/bad news of proximity to the federal government. Expected dynamics in the coming years will make this crowding out less likely. First, much of the required agility in innovation is more suited for small teams building technology products. This will drive technology product start-up growth; expect regional government contractors to be more active participants and partners in the start-up community as a result. Second, promised tax cuts will free up significant amounts of capital to invest. Risk capital is the lifeblood of start-ups. Third, start-ups will be affected by changes in regulation — or lack thereof — in two unexpected ways. It will be less likely that rules to encourage business competition by limiting concentrations of economic power (think net neutrality or antitrust) will be enforced. This will provide an advantage to large scale businesses operating in maturing industries, and make it harder for smaller businesses to compete and grow in existing industries. Conversely, the lack of government intervention will allow start-ups creating something innovative to reach customers more quickly. With less friction, nimbleness is more likely to be rewarded. The Trump administration will change Washington, D.C, and the politics and policies that affect these changes will be profound and likely hard fought. Our region’s innovation community is used to pivoting, and although we don’t know what exactly will replace the status


The extra-supermoon rose last night, and it won’t be that close again for 18 years

also known as the “Beaver Moon,” when Native American tribes would set beaver traps before the swamps froze to ensure a supply of warm winter furs. The nearly-full moon rose at 4:43 p.m. in Washington. Skies were crystal-clear, which allowed the moon to be visible on the eastern horizon as the sun’s fading light illuminated the Washington Monument and Capitol with shades of red and pink. The weather was absolutely perfect for viewing vibrant sunset colors at moonrise. It probably won’t be quite as nice this evening. The supermoon rises above the eastern horizon at sunset. The sun’s fading light illuminates the Washington Monument and Capitol while the moon begins its ascent into the sky. (Kevin Ambrose) The moon’s orbit around Earth is an ellipse, not a perfect circle, so there are moments when our natural satellite is closer to Earth than others. These moments are called perigee. This month, perigee occurred Monday morning at 6 a.m., which was within two hours of the moon becoming officially full. That timing is why this moon was a “supermoon.” Astrologer Richard Nolle defined a supermoon in 1979, but the term has really taken off in the past few years. Sometimes it seems as if every moon is a supermoon. Nolle said that a supermoon is a new or full moon that occurs when the moon is within 90 percent of its closest approach to Earth in a given orbit. The supermoon with the Lincoln Memorial. (Kevin Wolf) The supermoon over the capital. (Kevin Ambrose) Beautiful sunset color with the rising moon Sunday. This photo was taken from the Arlington House. (Jim Schuyler) The supermoon rises over Constitution Gardens. (Navin Sarma) The supermoon behind the trees at Great Falls. (Brandon Ginsburg) Moon size comparison: Using Photoshop, I moved the moon’s position yesterday (image on the right) to match the position of the moon on Sept. 18 (image on the left). I wanted to compare the visible size of the supermoon to another moonrise. You can judge for yourself if the moons appear to have a different size in the sky. (Kevin Ambrose) A large crowd of photographers assembled at the Netherlands Carillon to photograph the supermoon. (Kevin Ambrose) The supermoon is reflected on the Potomac River. (Kevin Wolf) A wide view of the supermoon rising over Washington, D.C. (Kevin Ambrose) Blaine Friedlander and The Post’s Angela Fritz contributed to this report.