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Norfolk State plays in MEAC Tournament against the Delaware State
FANDUEL SPORTSBOOK LINE: Norfolk State -16.5; over/under is 135.5
BOTTOM LINE: The Norfolk State Spartans play the Delaware State Hornets in the MEAC Tournament.
The Spartans have gone 12-0 in home games. Norfolk State leads the MEAC with 27.3 defensive rebounds per game led by Dana Tate averaging 4.7.
The Hornets are 0-14 in conference play. Delaware State is 0-3 in games decided by less than 4 points.
The teams meet for the third time this season. The Spartans won 69-66 in the last matchup on Feb. 15. Tate led the Spartans with 20 points, and John Stansbury led the Hornets with 15 points.
TOP PERFORMERS: Kris Bankston is averaging 11.3 points and 6.9 rebounds for the Spartans. Joe Bryant Jr. is averaging 17.9 points over the last 10 games for Norfolk State.
Corey Perkins is averaging 5.9 points, 3.3 assists and 1.5 steals for the Hornets. Myles Carter is averaging 19.4 points and 6.1 rebounds while shooting 49.4% over the past 10 games for Delaware State. | null | null | null | null | null |
FANDUEL SPORTSBOOK LINE: Northwestern -4.5; over/under is 144
BOTTOM LINE: The Northwestern Wildcats play the Nebraska Cornhuskers in the Big Ten Tournament.
The Wildcats have gone 10-6 at home. Northwestern has a 2-2 record in one-possession games.
The Cornhuskers have gone 4-16 against Big Ten opponents. Nebraska averages 12.5 turnovers per game and is 8-9 when turning the ball over less than opponents.
The teams meet for the third time this season. The Wildcats won 77-65 in the last matchup on Feb. 23. Pete Nance led the Wildcats with 20 points, and Bryce McGowens led the Cornhuskers with 15 points.
TOP PERFORMERS: Boo Buie is averaging 14.1 points and 4.4 assists for the Wildcats. Nance is averaging 7.7 points over the last 10 games for Northwestern.
Alonzo Verge Jr. is averaging 14.2 points, 5.2 assists and 1.5 steals for the Cornhuskers. McGowens is averaging 12.2 points over the last 10 games for Nebraska. | null | null | null | null | null |
Oregon meets Oregon State in Pac-12 Tournament
FANDUEL SPORTSBOOK LINE: Oregon -9; over/under is 143.5
BOTTOM LINE: The Oregon Ducks take on the Oregon State Beavers in the Pac-12 Tournament.
The Ducks are 12-5 on their home court. Oregon ranks third in the Pac-12 with 34.6 points per game in the paint led by N’Faly Dante averaging 6.4.
The teams meet for the third time this season. The Ducks won 78-56 in the last matchup on Jan. 30. Jacob Young led the Ducks with 17 points, and Roman Silva led the Beavers with 17 points.
TOP PERFORMERS: Will Richardson is averaging 14.1 points and 3.6 assists for the Ducks. De’Vion Harmon is averaging 7.7 points over the last 10 games for Oregon.
Abdul Alatishe is averaging 9.3 points and 5.2 rebounds for the Beavers. Jarod Lucas is averaging 7.5 points over the last 10 games for Oregon State. | null | null | null | null | null |
FANDUEL SPORTSBOOK LINE: Penn State -3.5; over/under is 125.5
BOTTOM LINE: The Penn State Nittany Lions and Minnesota Golden Gophers play in the Big Ten Tournament.
The Nittany Lions have gone 10-5 in home games. Penn State has a 1-3 record in games decided by less than 4 points.
The Golden Gophers are 4-16 against Big Ten opponents. Minnesota has a 6-11 record in games decided by 10 or more points.
The teams meet for the third time this season. The Nittany Lions won 67-46 in the last matchup on Feb. 17. Jalen Pickett led the Nittany Lions with 20 points, and Jamison Battle led the Golden Gophers with 16 points.
TOP PERFORMERS: Pickett is averaging 12.8 points and 4.3 assists for the Nittany Lions. Sam Sessoms is averaging 7.5 points over the last 10 games for Penn State.
Payton Willis averages 2.6 made 3-pointers per game for the Golden Gophers, scoring 16.1 points while shooting 43.1% from beyond the arc. Battle is shooting 42.6% and averaging 11.2 points over the last 10 games for Minnesota. | null | null | null | null | null |
FANDUEL SPORTSBOOK LINE: Rhode Island -9; over/under is 131.5
BOTTOM LINE: The Rhode Island Rams and Duquesne Dukes play in the A-10 Tournament.
The Rams have gone 10-5 in home games. Rhode Island scores 67.0 points while outscoring opponents by 2.4 points per game.
The Dukes are 1-16 in A-10 play. Duquesne has a 2-14 record in games decided by 10 or more points.
The teams meet for the second time this season. The Rams won 70-54 in the last matchup on Feb. 26. Ishmael El-Amin led the Rams with 21 points, and Kevin Easley Jr. led the Dukes with 13 points.
TOP PERFORMERS: Makhi Mitchell is averaging 10 points, 7.4 rebounds and 1.5 blocks for the Rams. Makhel Mitchell is averaging 6.3 points over the last 10 games for Rhode Island.
Amir “Primo” Spears is scoring 12.1 points per game and averaging 2.4 rebounds for the Dukes. Jackie Johnson III is averaging 6.1 points and 0.8 rebounds over the last 10 games for Duquesne. | null | null | null | null | null |
Sacramento State Hornets face the Idaho Vandals in Big Sky Tournament
FANDUEL SPORTSBOOK LINE: Sacramento State -1.5; over/under is 139.5
BOTTOM LINE: The Sacramento State Hornets and Idaho Vandals square off in the Big Sky Tournament.
The Hornets have gone 5-8 at home. Sacramento State ranks ninth in the Big Sky with 28.6 points per game in the paint led by Akili Evans averaging 1.5.
The Vandals have gone 6-14 against Big Sky opponents. Idaho is sixth in the Big Sky scoring 73.6 points per game and is shooting 44.2%.
TOP PERFORMERS: Fowler is averaging 18.7 points, 5.1 rebounds, 4.1 assists and 1.5 steals for the Hornets. Zach Chappell is averaging 11.4 points over the past 10 games for Sacramento State.
Dixon is shooting 43.3% and averaging 16.9 points for the Vandals. Rashad Smith is averaging 2.1 made 3-pointers over the last 10 games for Idaho. | null | null | null | null | null |
Saint John's (NY) Red Storm and DePaul Blue Demons square off in Big East Tournament
BOTTOM LINE: The Saint John’s (NY) Red Storm play in the Big East Tournament against the DePaul Blue Demons.
The Red Storm are 12-7 in home games. Saint John’s (NY) averages 77.2 points while outscoring opponents by 5.1 points per game.
The Blue Demons are 6-14 against conference opponents. DePaul is 5-6 in games decided by 10 or more points.
The teams meet for the third time this season. DePaul won 99-94 in the last matchup on Feb. 27. Javon Freeman-Liberty led DePaul with 39 points, and Julian Champagnie led Saint John’s (NY) with 26 points.
TOP PERFORMERS: Posh Alexander is averaging 14.1 points, 5.4 assists and 2.3 steals for the Red Storm. Champagnie is averaging 18.9 points, 6.6 rebounds and 1.9 steals over the last 10 games for Saint John’s (NY).
David Jones is scoring 14.6 points per game with 7.4 rebounds and 2.4 assists for the Blue Demons. Freeman-Liberty is averaging 15.7 points over the last 10 games for DePaul. | null | null | null | null | null |
Saint Peter's Peacocks play the Fairfield Stags on 4-game win streak
Fairfield Stags (15-17, 8-12 MAAC) vs. Saint Peter’s Peacocks (16-11, 14-6 MAAC)
Atlantic City, New Jersey; Wednesday, 9:30 p.m. EST
BOTTOM LINE: Saint Peter’s seeks to build upon its four-game win streak with a victory over Fairfield.
The Peacocks are 9-4 in home games. Saint Peter’s is 1-4 in one-possession games.
The Stags are 8-12 in conference games. Fairfield is seventh in the MAAC with 32.2 rebounds per game led by Supreme Cook averaging 8.3.
The teams square off for the third time this season. Saint Peter’s won the last meeting 57-41 on March 5. KC Ndefo scored 14 to help lead Saint Peter’s to the victory, and Jesus Cruz scored 11 points for Fairfield.
TOP PERFORMERS: Daryl Banks III is averaging 11.2 points for the Peacocks. Ndefo is averaging 11.5 points over the last 10 games for Saint Peter’s.
Taj Benning is scoring 10.8 points per game and averaging 4.3 rebounds for the Stags. TJ Long is averaging 1.8 made 3-pointers over the last 10 games for Fairfield.
Stags: 5-5, averaging 65.2 points, 30.4 rebounds, 11.7 assists, 5.6 steals and 3.8 blocks per game while shooting 42.3% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 62.4 points. | null | null | null | null | null |
BOTTOM LINE: The Toledo Rockets take on the Central Michigan Chippewas in the MAC Tournament.
The Rockets are 13-1 on their home court. Toledo is 4-2 in games decided by 3 points or fewer.
The Chippewas are 6-12 in conference play. Central Michigan gives up 77.1 points to opponents and has been outscored by 11.3 points per game.
The teams square off for the third time this season. Toledo won the last matchup 68-66 on Feb. 20. JT Shumate scored 29 to help lead Toledo to the win, and Cameron Healy scored 18 points for Central Michigan.
TOP PERFORMERS: Shumate is shooting 51.2% from beyond the arc with 2.0 made 3-pointers per game for the Rockets, while averaging 15.7 points and 6.1 rebounds. Ryan Rollins is shooting 47.3% and averaging 14.1 points over the last 10 games for Toledo.
Kevin Miller is averaging 13.1 points and 4.5 assists for the Chippewas. Harrison Henderson is averaging 11.6 points over the last 10 games for Central Michigan. | null | null | null | null | null |
FANDUEL SPORTSBOOK LINE: Utah State -14.5; over/under is 127.5
BOTTOM LINE: The Utah State Aggies face the Air Force Falcons in the MWC Tournament.
The Aggies are 9-6 on their home court. Utah State ranks fifth in college basketball with 17.8 assists per game. Rylan Jones leads the Aggies averaging 4.5.
The Falcons are 4-13 in MWC play. Air Force averages 11.6 turnovers per game and is 8-12 when committing fewer turnovers than opponents.
The teams meet for the third time this season. Utah State won 73-46 in the last matchup on Feb. 2. Brandon Horvath led Utah State with 17 points, and Joseph Octave led Air Force with nine points.
TOP PERFORMERS: Steven Ashworth is shooting 38.6% from beyond the arc with 1.8 made 3-pointers per game for the Aggies, while averaging 8.5 points and 3.5 assists. Justin Bean is averaging 11 points and 6.3 rebounds over the last 10 games for Utah State. | null | null | null | null | null |
BOTTOM LINE: The Vanderbilt Commodores and Georgia Bulldogs meet in the SEC Tournament.
The Commodores have gone 10-8 at home. Vanderbilt has a 3-2 record in one-possession games.
The Bulldogs are 1-17 in SEC play. Georgia averages 13.6 turnovers per game and is 4-4 when committing fewer turnovers than opponents.
The teams meet for the third time this season. Vanderbilt won 85-77 in the last matchup on Jan. 29. Scotty Pippen Jr. led Vanderbilt with 23 points, and Aaron Cook led Georgia with 18 points.
TOP PERFORMERS: Pippen is scoring 20.5 points per game with 3.6 rebounds and 4.0 assists for the Commodores. Jordan Wright is averaging 7.1 points and 4.9 rebounds while shooting 41.3% over the past 10 games for Vanderbilt.
Kario Oquendo is shooting 45.7% and averaging 15.4 points for the Bulldogs. Braelen Bridges is averaging 8.9 points over the last 10 games for Georgia. | null | null | null | null | null |
Vermont Catamounts play in America East Tournament against the Binghamton Bearcats
BOTTOM LINE: The Vermont Catamounts square off against the Binghamton Bearcats in the America East Tournament.
The Catamounts have gone 14-0 at home. Vermont is 2-3 in games decided by 3 points or fewer.
The Bearcats have gone 8-10 against America East opponents. Binghamton averages 12.3 turnovers per game and is 3-2 when committing fewer turnovers than opponents.
The teams square off for the third time this season. Vermont won the last meeting 66-49 on Feb. 24. Ryan Davis scored 19 to help lead Vermont to the win, and John McGriff scored 16 points for Binghamton.
TOP PERFORMERS: Davis is scoring 17.1 points per game with 5.8 rebounds and 1.3 assists for the Catamounts. Ben Shungu is averaging 15.2 points and 4.8 rebounds while shooting 53.7% over the past 10 games for Vermont.
Jacob Falko is averaging 12.9 points and 3.2 assists for the Bearcats. McGriff is averaging 10.9 points over the last 10 games for Binghamton. | null | null | null | null | null |
Washington Huskies play in Pac-12 Tournament against the Utah Utes
FANDUEL SPORTSBOOK LINE: Washington -1; over/under is 141
BOTTOM LINE: The Washington Huskies take on the Utah Utes in the Pac-12 Tournament.
The Huskies have gone 12-6 in home games. Washington is 7-10 in games decided by at least 10 points.
The Utes are 4-16 in Pac-12 play. Utah is seventh in the Pac-12 with 32.9 rebounds per game led by Marco Anthony averaging 7.1.
The teams meet for the third time this season. The Huskies won 77-73 in the last matchup on Jan. 29. Terrell Brown Jr. led the Huskies with 30 points, and Branden Carlson led the Utes with 18 points.
TOP PERFORMERS: Jamal Bey averages 1.4 made 3-pointers per game for the Huskies, scoring 9.0 points while shooting 30.3% from beyond the arc. Terrell Brown is shooting 44.4% and averaging 14.0 points over the last 10 games for Washington.
Carlson is averaging 13.5 points, 5.9 rebounds and 1.6 blocks for the Utes. Gabe Madsen is averaging 6.3 points over the past 10 games for Utah. | null | null | null | null | null |
Washington State squares off against Cal in Pac-12 Tournament
FANDUEL SPORTSBOOK LINE: Washington State -8; over/under is 125.5
BOTTOM LINE: The Washington State Cougars and California Golden Bears meet in the Pac-12 Tournament.
The Golden Bears have gone 5-15 against Pac-12 opponents. Cal is fourth in the Pac-12 with 24.6 defensive rebounds per game led by Andre Kelly averaging 6.5.
TOP PERFORMERS: Flowers is averaging 14.2 points and 3.4 assists for the Cougars. Tyrell Roberts is averaging 6.7 points over the past 10 games for Washington State.
Jordan Shepherd is averaging 14.5 points for the Golden Bears. Celestine is averaging 6.3 points over the last 10 games for Cal. | null | null | null | null | null |
Xavier Musketeers take on the Butler Bulldogs in Big East Tournament
FANDUEL SPORTSBOOK LINE: Xavier -5.5; over/under is 131
BOTTOM LINE: The Xavier Musketeers play in the Big East Tournament against the Butler Bulldogs.
The Musketeers are 13-5 on their home court. Xavier is 4-2 in games decided by 3 points or fewer.
The teams meet for the third time this season. The Musketeers won 68-66 in the last matchup on Feb. 3. Zach Freemantle led the Musketeers with 23 points, and Jayden Taylor led the Bulldogs with 18 points.
TOP PERFORMERS: Jack Nunge is scoring 13.1 points per game with 7.5 rebounds and 0.9 assists for the Musketeers. Paul Scruggs is averaging 7.4 points and 2.1 rebounds while shooting 46.8% over the past 10 games for Xavier.
Chuck Harris is averaging 10.7 points for the Bulldogs. Bo Hodges is averaging 8.5 points over the last 10 games for Butler. | null | null | null | null | null |
But there are signs that there may have been an opposite effect: Turnout numbers released throughout the day show voters are on pace to meet the 20-year record set in 2017 at 77 percent of registered voters, when the country voted for a new leader after the dramatic impeachment and removal of former president Park Geun-hye.
“This is the closest and most unpredictable presidential election that I have seen in my life,” said Kim Kyeong-gi, 86, who voted early because he was worried about covid exposure on Election Day. “But since this election is so neck-and-neck, every vote matters and I came out to cast mine.”
South Korea reported over 340,000 coronavirus cases on Wednesday in a record. With omicron spreading rapidly, South Korea took special measures to allow those who are infected with coronavirus or in mandatory quarantine after arriving in South Korea, to cast ballots after the general public voting period concludes at 6 p.m.
Yoon, formerly the country’s top prosecutor, helped convict previous president Park in her impeachment trial, and has built his brand as an aggressive anti-corruption prosecutor. The nominee of the conservative People Power Party has proposed deregulation and a more hard-line approach to North Korea and China.
The economy and the soaring housing prices are the top two issues for voters this election, polls show. Housing prices rose to all-time high during the term of outgoing President Moon Jae-in. On Wednesday, several voters said they wanted to make sure there is a change in government because they are disappointed in the president’s record on housing.
Voters were divided on who has the best personal and professional credentials to solve South Korea’s growing inequality, noting the stark difference in personal backgrounds of both candidates: Lee, worked his way up from a child laborer to a presidential nominee, and Yoon is the son of an affluent family and longtime prosecutor.
Choi Myung-soo, 88 and born and raised in the southeastern city of Busan, said on Wednesday his choice is the conservative candidate because the former prosecutor will “get rid of thieves” in the political establishment that he believes have neglected the public’s economic woes.
But others said they wanted to see an experienced politician run the government, compared to Yoon, a first-time politician who has been criticized for his gaffes on the campaign trail.
Voters in their 20s are expected to be swing bloc this election, because they are less ideologically aligned with the parties than the older generations.
Choi Su-hyeok, 21, who voted for president for the first time, took a selfie in front of an early voting station to mark the occasion. One of the campaign issues that Choi paid most attention to was defense policy, as he has to serve his mandatory military service soon. | null | null | null | null | null |
Pedestrian killed near Dupont Circle, police say, in apparent hit-and-run
A pedestrian was killed Tuesday night near the Dupont Circle and Adams Morgan areas, police said.
The man was apparently struck by a vehicle around 8 p.m. at 18th Street and Florida Avenue NW, police said. They said it appeared that the vehicle left the scene.
Few other details could be learned. The site is near the northern edge of the Dupont Circle neighborhood and the southern edge of Adams Morgan. | null | null | null | null | null |
That is when he called Pujols the n-word twice, according to an arrest affidavit, and Pujols punched the 77-year-old man unconscious, causing him to fall, hit his head and bleed on the floor. Cook was hospitalized in the intensive care unit of Tampa General Hospital and died there days later, according to the Times.
An autopsy found that the fall resulted in a skull fracture and brain contusions, WTVT reported. The death was ruled a homicide, and Pujols was arrested on the manslaughter charge that same day. | null | null | null | null | null |
Rafael Grossi, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), holds a news conference in Vienna, March 4, 2022, about the situation of nuclear power plants in Ukraine. (Joe Klamar/AFP/Getty Images)
Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak also tweeted Wednesday that the IAEA had “unexpectedly lost connection” with the monitoring systems, calling it an “extremely dangerous situation.”
The Chernobyl nuclear power plant, then under the Soviet Union’s control, was the scene of a 1986 disaster when a series of explosions and fires sent a huge radioactive cloud over parts of Europe and left contaminated soil and other fallout, which remains dangerous.
The building containing the exploded reactor from 1986 was covered in 2017 by an enormous shelter aimed at containing radiation still leaking from the accident. Robots inside the shelter work to dismantle the destroyed reactor and gather up the radioactive waste. It’s expected to take until 2064 to finish safely dismantling the reactors.
IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi said Ukrainian authorities have told the agency that it was “increasingly urgent” for the Chernobyl plant’s 210 technical staff and guards to be rotated out to ensure the “safe management” of the plant amid “worsening” conditions. The guards have been working at the plant since Russian forces took control. | null | null | null | null | null |
NBC’s stalwart crime-and-courts procedural returned recently, but there’s no real evidence that it ever left us
Sam Waterston as D.A. Jack McCoy in the recent return of the original “Law & Order” series. It was off for 12 years (while spinoffs continued) but was brought back by NBC in February, with more than 5 million viewers tuning in. (Virginia Sherwood/NBC)
DUN DUN.
“Law & Order’s” unmistakable sound returned in late February with the premiere of Season 21 of the original (and venerable) NBC legal drama — 12 years after it last aired new episodes. Some former cast members are back (Sam Waterston, Anthony Anderson), and the stories are satisfyingly the same offering of alluringly topical whodunits: A Bill Cosby-esque figure, convicted of serial rape but maintaining his innocence, is murdered; in the next episode an executive for a tech start-up turns up dead, and the process begins again. The network has touted the revival as a return to classic form, not that any of “L&O’s” many spinoffs had ever strayed particularly far from the basic blueprint.
But why is it here? How can something that never really left boast a comeback? It’s almost like questioning the presence of a mountain: “Law & Order” just is, a vital ingredient in a culture now thoroughly fixated on true (or true-ish) crime stories. The show appeases an audience that yearns for repeat acts of closure, or comforting examples of approximate justice.
The new episodes have been fairly well-received, even if they’re not particularly surprising. “The formula remains unchanged, just with new pieces plugged into the machinery,” wrote CNN’s Brian Lowry. “Why mess with success?” And, indeed, ol’ reliable pulled in 5.5 million viewers with the Feb. 24 premiere and another 4.3 million on March 3 — noteworthy numbers for broadcast TV in the streaming age — proving that time has done little to diminish the appetite for both law and order.
In some ways, it’s astonishing that a show as workmanlike as “L&O” has not only survived but flourished during an era of high-minded (and high-budget) prestige television. A straightforward procedural continuing to excite television viewers feels antithetical to the philosophy driving the creation of most of today’s lauded shows.
The show debuted in 1990, the fruit of a simple idea: an hour-long drama, centered on a crime and split into two 30-minute segments focusing on different aspects of the criminal justice system. The first would be about police, and the second about prosecution. Each half was originally intended to be individually syndicated.
The first ‘Joe Millionaire’ was a cruel trick. Nearly two decades later, the reboot is just sad.
Some 32 years later, series creator Dick Wolf attributes its longevity to the fact that its “stories reflect current events but the show is basically the same. A murder mystery in the first half with a moral mystery in the back half.”
The key, he said in an email, is strong writing. Wolf holds this truth to be so self-evident that a few years ago he gave the NBC network presidents a Christmas gift. “It was a plaque that said ‘It’s the writing, stupid,’” he said. “First and foremost, the show’s longevity and success starts with consistently engaging and well written stories.”
Many of those stories mirror real events, which adds a layer of urgency to the proceedings. “We shot the pilot in 1988. CBS and Fox passed, and in 1990, [then-President of NBC] Brandon Tartikoff asked me, “What’s the bible for the show?’” Wolf said. “I said the front page of the New York Post.” These ripped-from-the-headlines episodes have tackled everything in both the original series and its spinoffs, from the trial of Casey Anthony, who in 2011 was found not guilty of murdering her daughter Caylee, but found guilty of providing false information to law enforcement officials, to reality-TV star Josh Duggar’s molestation scandal. (“Law & Order: Special Victims Unit” arrived in 1999 with matching TV DNA but with an emphasis on sexual crimes and crimes against children.)
“Sometimes, when you didn’t get justice in real life, you can get it from” the show, said true-crime writer Kevin Flynn, who co-hosts “… These Are Their Stories: The Law & Order Podcast.” “They cornered the market by planting the flag and saying out loud, ‘We are copying storylines from the newspaper.’ ... So, sometimes when you see stuff in the news, you turn to your friend and say, ‘Oh, I can’t wait to see that on SVU.’”
Wolf, who began his career as an advertising copywriter, knew the importance of keeping consistency and applied that as the show branched out. Each new series feels both familiar and slightly new. “Coming from advertising, I understood brand loyalty,” he said. “So when I created SVU to expand the brand, and saw how quickly it succeeded, I knew the Law & Order name had unlimited potential.”
Wolf and his team have produced more than 1,200 episodes of “L&O” and its various spinoffs, an astounding number in a television landscape that tends to favor limited-run shows — think the eight-episode “Mare of Eastown” on HBO or even the 62-episode run of AMC’s “Breaking Bad.”
In ‘True Story,’ reality TV tells us a lot about society. Maybe more than we want.
“I watch episodes over and over again, even though I know who did it,” Ganz said. “When I was in college, I used to schedule all my classes around a TNT block of ‘Law & Order’ that happened in the middle of the day. I got to the point where I could remember how the episode ended before they found the body. Just from the conversation that two people were having as they’re strolling through the park.”
Ganz compares her love for the show to how soap opera fans feel for their “stories.” Her relationship with “L&O” is a lifelong one, and old episodes can have “sort of a nostalgic feeling to me, which is strange for a show that’s kind of about murder a lot of the time.”
She credits the show’s natural rhythms and its familiar structure for its success. “The human brain loves patterns,” she said. “There’s something about the procedural structure that feels, for lack of a better word, orderly. It’s nice to return to that pattern over and over, to hear those familiar dun duns, and in such a crazy and chaotic world, to feel like there is justice and order and the good guys win in the end.” (It’s even inspired her unique love of jury duty: “It’s engendered in me a real fondness not for what our justice system always is but what it aspires to be.”)
Ganz’s passion led to her writing an “L&O” parody episode of “Community” in 2012 titled “Basic Lupine Urology,” a play on Dick Wolf’s name. The episode — which revolved around the “murder” of a yam a community college study group was growing for biology class — felt like more homage than mockery. Leslie Hendrix, who plays medical examiner Elizabeth Rodgers on several L&O incarnations, made an appearance. Perhaps most important, they were able to license the DUN DUN, which Ganz said, “makes the entire episode. ... Why is that noise so great? Why is it so perfectly synced up with the feeling of justice being served?”
That sound almost didn’t happen. Mike Post, the musician responsible for the score and theme of every L&O property except “Organized Crime,” had already written the first episode’s score. That was no easy task, as Wolf asked for something “stark, and it’s got to sound like a signature for New York.” By snapping the strings of a new guitar with his thumb and forefinger and adding a clarinet part, Post nailed the score. Then Wolf called with another request: He needed a sound to play during the date-stamped scene changes.
“I said, ‘Great. I’m your composer. Call sound effects,'” Post remembered. Wolf persisted, however, and Post finally agreed. He began combining a variety of sounds, including drums, the sound of a jail door slamming, a guy hitting an anvil with a hammer and a bunch of men stomping on a gymnasium floor at the same time. He spent a day and a half mixing all of that into the two-beat stinger we know today.
Post remains surprised — pleasantly so — how much the show and the DUN DUN remains culturally relevant. He once received a letter from a high school principal in Cleveland thanking him for the sound, which the principal used over the intercom when calling students to his office. “It just strikes fear into the hearts of all my students,” he wrote.
For most, though, the DUN DUN signals comfort rather than fear. Thirty-two years later, it’s the clarion call we never stopped answering. These are our stories. | null | null | null | null | null |
He’s been a life-insurance salesman, a stand-up comedian, a game-show host and a TV “judge.” He’s not done yet.
Steve Harvey has been a life-insurance salesman, a stand-up comedian, a game-show host and a TV “judge.” He's not done yet. (Maarten de Boer/NBCUniversal/Getty Images)
But he still wouldn’t call himself “self-made” or bulletproof. Mistakes have been made. Very public ones. Remember the Miss Universe mix-up? The time he disparaged Asian men as being romantically undesirable on his talk show? When he joked with a caller from Flint, Mich., on his radio show to “enjoy your nice brown glass of water"? None of that was as bad as the thing with Donald Trump though.
“This brother don’t know nothing about the ’hood; I do,” Harvey explained. So he went to Trump Tower and pitched Vision Centers, or shuttered urban school buildings turned into community centers. The Trump team loved it. They even got Carson on the phone.
Christopher Walken on ‘Severance,’ the importance of dancing and why he speaks in that Walken way
After two divorces, he called Marjorie “a guiding force.” The comedian doesn’t make a major decision without her. It was Marjorie who persuaded him to stop wearing the zoot suits and eventually hire a stylist. Marjorie who said it was okay for him to go bald and leave his signature high-top fade behind. Marjorie who assured him that he was more than just a showman. | null | null | null | null | null |
Baseless claims of ‘denazification’ have underscored Russian aggression since World War II
Putin’s claims sound crazy, but they are part of a longtime Russian tactic
By Audrius Rickus
Audrius Rickus is a PhD student in history at the University of Virginia. His research focuses on the intersection between intellectual and diplomatic history of the Cold War.
Huge placards with images of Russian President Vladimir Putin read, “Russia does not start wars, it ends them,” left, and “We will aim for the demilitarization and denazification of Ukraine” in Simferopol, Crimea, on March 4. (Stringer/AFP/Getty Images)
In the early hours of Feb. 24, Vladimir Putin justified a Russian military invasion of Ukraine as an attempt to “denazify” the country. After Russian forces struggled to topple the Kyiv government in the initial hours of the war, the Russian president disparaged Ukrainian authorities as “drug addicts” and “neo-Nazis.”
Putin’s use of the term “denazification” shocked many in the West. How could the centrist (and Jewish) Volodymyr Zelensky, elected in a free and fair election in 2019, be a neo-Nazi?
He’s not. Rather, Putin’s rhetoric reflects how the Kremlin has repeatedly used traumatic legacies of Russia’s past wars to justify its illegitimate actions — and to preemptively discredit those who challenge its authority.
In 1939, Joseph Stalin and Adolf Hitler divided Eastern Europe. As Nazi Germany prepared to wage war against Poland, France and Great Britain, it negotiated a nonaggression pact with the Soviet Union. The treaty came to be known as the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, and in its secret provisions, Germany, in exchange for peace, guaranteed the Soviet Union’s claims to half of Poland as well as the Baltic States and Bessarabia.
Lithuania found itself in the Soviet sphere of influence under this pact. At first, this didn’t mean much for the independence of this southernmost Baltic state. The Kremlin did demand a Mutual Assistance Treaty, which meant allowing Soviet military bases on Lithuanian soil. Stalin framed it as a necessity to defend his country from hostile capitalist states. After all, the Soviets did fight wars on its western frontiers in the past. But that, presumably, was all.
This changed on June 14, 1940, when Lithuanian diplomats received an ultimatum from Soviet Foreign Minister Vyacheslav Molotov. In the preceding weeks, the Kremlin blamed Lithuania for kidnapping and committing acts of violence against Soviet troops stationed there. Moscow also raised military concerns about the Baltic Entente, a barely functioning cooperative political organization joining Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. “Our government is pro-Lithuanian,” Molotov told the Lithuanian diplomats, “so it is important to us that the Lithuanian government be pro-Soviet.” Of course, his accusations were fiction. The government was already appeasing Moscow at every step. In 1939, it even resisted intense Nazi pressure to join its war against Poland.
There were hundreds of thousands of Red Army troops at the border. The Soviets demanded from Lithuania a new government and arrests of key figures in the national security apparatus. The Lithuanian government in Kaunas had 10 hours to respond to Molotov’s requests. The Soviet minister’s tone made it clear that Lithuanians had no say in the future of their state.
That night and over the next months, Molotov and other Soviet officials would frame their imperial expansion as a selfless act of saving Lithuania from rotten bourgeois-nationalist governance. A flurry of telegrams between Kaunas and Moscow on the night of June 14-15, 1940, could not prevent denationalization and sovietization.
After accepting the ultimatum, Lithuania was remade in Soviet fashion, setting the stage for annexation. President Antanas Smetona fled abroad, making the transition easy. In June and July 1940, local communists, together with advisers from Moscow, worked to delegitimize the previous government by framing it as exploitative, corrupt and pervasively nationalist. The new people’s government was a pro-Soviet socialist entity. It denationalized the country by reframing the local identity in Bolshevik terms. Eventually, the Soviet Union annexed Lithuania.
This heavy-handed Soviet playbook carried on into the Cold War. Soviet leaders also rationalized Operation Danube, the Moscow-led invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968, as a gracious attempt to eliminate the threat of anti-Soviet rightist forces.
Throughout 1968, Czech communist leader Alexander Dubcek attempted to implement a limited liberalization of his country, a process that came to be known as Prague Spring. He carefully worked to reassure the Kremlin at every step that his democratic and civil reforms did not threaten the stability of the Soviet-dominated Eastern Bloc.
Yet over the course of the year, Leonid Brezhnev and other Soviet leaders started to doubt Dubcek’s loyalty. A more liberal socialism threatened the legitimacy of Soviet domination, which was based on coercion. So to justify a regime change in Prague, the Kremlin created a narrative about a threat of right-wing counterrevolution that compelled the Soviets to take action. In the wake of World War II and the deadly battle against Nazi Germany, framing of the government in Czechoslovakia as prone to right-wing influences was poignant.
While Brezhnev personally had doubts about the implications of a military operation, the Kremlin deliberately painted Dubcek as weak and prone to right-wing influences. This was enough for Moscow to manufacture a reason to invade. Eventually, in August 1968, local hard-line Czechoslovak communists, led by Vasil Bilak, pleaded for Soviet help. “The very existence of socialism” was under threat “by right wing forces,” they claimed. Assistance was needed to prevent “the imminent danger of counterrevolution.”
On Aug. 20-21, 1968, the Soviet Union led a Warsaw Pact intervention to eliminate the alleged threat of right-wing counterrevolution. Within a year, the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia was purged. Its new leadership was completely loyal to Moscow.
In 2008, Russia again invoked the threat of Nazism next door as a cause to invade a foreign country. This time, its eyes turned to tiny Georgia, one of the three states in the Caucasus.
After weeks of skirmishes, on Aug. 7, 2008, hostilities at the Russo-Georgian border evolved into a full-scale war. Officially, the Kremlin asserted the right of self-defense. It claimed to be defending its peacekeepers as well as the people in the Georgian breakaway regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia. Soon enough, Moscow took the liberty to push its military operations into the interior of Georgia.
At the same time, Russian politicians and media personalities framed the war in terms of fighting Nazism. Of course, Mikheil Saakashvili, the liberal president of Georgia, was no fascist. Yet as the war broke out, he was accused of made-up war crimes in South Ossetia and Abkhazia. In this context, Russia framed its war as one against “a ranting Georgian führer” who was the “same as Hitler” and “a foreign spot on the body of the Georgian people.” Three years after a pompous celebration of the 60th anniversary of victory against Nazi Germany, this framing had an effect on the Russian public.
Georgia lost the war. While it avoided complete subjugation by Russia, the country never regained its regions. Due to a lack of territorial integrity, it cannot join Western institutions, allowing the Kremlin to maintain a level of control over Georgia.
Throughout the past century, Moscow has repeatedly used “denazification” as a legitimate reason to invade countries it wants to control. It allows the Kremlin to frame any state as an enemy in a way that is emotionally impactful to the average Russian citizen. It also makes any foreign government think twice before defending whomever Moscow might label as “Nazi.” As bizarre as Putin sounded at the outset of the Russo-Ukrainian War, “denazification” remains a powerful tool of Russia’s foreign policy. | null | null | null | null | null |
Facebook and Twitter could let Trump back online. But he’s still a danger.
The defense of democracy isn’t over yet
Richard L. Hasen is the chancellor’s professor of law and political science at the University of California at Irvine and the author of "Election Meltdown: Dirty Tricks, Distrust, and the Threat to American Democracy."
Then-President Donald Trump in Washington in May 2020. Trump was banned from Facebook and Twitter after the Jan. 6, 2021, attack at the Capitol. (Patrick Semansky/AP)
In the Menlo Park, Calif., offices of Meta, discussions probably have already begun to consider what will happen Jan. 7, 2023, when former president Donald Trump’s ban from Facebook for encouraging the violent insurrection at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, is set to potentially expire. Judging by how large social media companies have responded lately to the aftermath of the 2020 election and the looming 2022 election in which Republicans may take back control of Congress, there’s ample reason to worry Meta will restore the former president’s ability to post on Facebook — allowing him to continue to spread the false and dangerous claim that the 2020 election was stolen from him. Social media networks and other online platforms such as Google’s YouTube and Spotify can, instead, step up their support for reasonable measures to assure both vibrant political debate and protection of American election integrity and legitimacy. That would include keeping Trump off Facebook.
The communications and technology revolution over the past few decades that brought us a proliferation of cable channels, on-demand video and extensive social media has created new threats to the integrity of elections. Never before this new era of “cheap speech” have political candidates and others had the ability to communicate false and inflammatory claims of election manipulation directly and repeatedly to voters to influence their views about the legitimacy and fairness of elections. For example, in the three weeks after Election Day in 2020, Trump used Twitter more than 400 times to claim without evidence that the election was rigged against him and in favor of his challenger, Joe Biden. In an earlier era, the media would not have given Trump the platform to spread such lies with regularity and intensity. There would have been no faux news networks such as OAN or Newsmax to amplify claims of fraudulent elections. We would not have had widely spread baseless claims about counterfeit ballots sent in from China or results manipulated by Italian space lasers.
The incendiary claims have had predictably bad results for American democracy. Urged by Trump and his cronies to “Stop the Steal,” thousands of Trump supporters organized via Facebook “groups” and on other platforms to meet in Washington on Jan. 6, 2021, the day the Constitution set for Congress to officially count the electoral votes in the 2020 presidential election. Some of those agitated by the #StoptheSteal movement stormed the Capitol, resulting in four deaths and injuries to more than 140 law enforcement officials protecting government officials carrying out their constitutional duties.
Trump’s lies have had long-lasting deleterious consequences for American democracy. An ABC-Ipsos poll in January found that most Republican voters believed the false claims that the 2020 election was stolen. A September 2021 CNN poll found that 59 percent of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents said believing Trump won the 2020 election is important to being a Republican. This Trumpian base of the GOP has pressured Republican state legislators to pass new laws that make it harder to register and vote, all in the name of preventing phantom voter fraud. Already in Texas, at least hundreds of voters who have regularly voted by mail face the risk of disenfranchisement because of unnecessary new laws passed in the last year. Some Republican candidates running for secretary of state have embraced the “big lie” and made it part of their platform, raising the risk that if they are elected and announce election results, Democrats, too, will lose confidence in the fairness of the election process. Arizona conducted a faux “forensic audit” that produced nothing but more vacuous doubt. When people stop believing in the fairness of the election process or in official election results, it undermines the entire edifice of a democratic society.
Social media and other new communications technologies are not solely to blame for the metastasizing election lies, but they play a big part. As the 2020 election season geared up and as Trump began spreading his false claims in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic that the election would be stolen or rigged, Facebook and Twitter reacted meekly. Rather than blocking Trump, they slapped labels on his posts saying his claims were disputed or directing voters to more information. Evidence indicates these labels may have backfired, amplifying Trump’s falsehoods and perhaps even suggesting to voters that they were correct. Things were even worse on other platforms: YouTube allowed videos with false accusations about the election to flourish, and its algorithm directed viewers to ever more extreme content. And those who distribute podcasts, such as on Spotify or Apple, appeared to do little policing of incendiary and dangerous election claims.
It took the actual violence of Jan. 6 for Facebook and Twitter to take action. Both chose to remove Trump from their platforms. Twitter made its ban permanent. Facebook initially did, too, but the Oversight Board it created to give it guidance on content told Meta that while deplatforming Trump was justified because he “created an environment where a serious risk of violence was possible,” the company needed criteria for removing politicians and conditions for determining the length of such bans. In response, the company announced that Trump would be booted for two years, followed by an evaluation as to whether he remained a “threat to public safety.” The company explained: “At the end of this period, we will look to experts to assess whether the risk to public safety has receded. We will evaluate external factors, including instances of violence, restrictions on peaceful assembly and other markers of civil unrest. If we determine that there is still a serious risk to public safety, we will extend the restriction for a set period of time and continue to reevaluate until that risk has receded.”
I monitor Trump’s die-hard base. They’re still plotting out in the open.
Since then, though, Trump has continued to spread the false claim that the 2020 election was stolen, even pushing the lie of a “rigged” election on Fox News on the night Russia invaded Ukraine. He’s supporting candidates that embrace the “big lie” and opponents of those Republicans, such as Rep. Liz Cheney (Wyo.) and Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, who stood up to him in 2020. Election officials are facing increasing threats of violence and leaving the profession in droves, potentially replaced by those who are less competent and more partisan.
Meta may soon face great political pressure from the right to show that they are being “fair” to Trump, especially with Republicans likely to take control of one or both houses of Congress after the 2022 elections and consider laws reining in tech platforms the GOP considers unfriendly. It could also have other incentives to let Trump back onto the site: Recent reporting by Judd Legum, for example, suggests that Facebook has not followed its own policies to prevent the viral spread of false political information, allowing fake groups to manipulate its rules to build up millions of followers to further spread election misinformation. Posts containing such misinformation are often among the most shared items on the platform.
It’s not just Facebook. To little fanfare, Twitter confirmed a few weeks ago that it will no longer police false election claims about the 2020 election, apparently because it believes such claims are no longer a threat to election integrity. Twitter told CNN that its civic integrity “policy is designed to be used ‘during the duration’ of an election or other civic event, and ‘the 2020 U.S. election is not only certified, but President Biden has been in office for more than a year.’ The staying power of the “big lie” and the rising threat of election subversion built on that lie shows how wrong that calculation is.
We’re better off without Trump on Twitter. And worse off with Twitter in charge.
Perhaps the biggest culprits for the spread of misinformation are YouTube and podcast platforms that are the worst at content moderation. Every day, people can get awful election information from Stephen K. Bannon and other Trump supporters who continue to undermine election integrity. It’s much harder for companies to engage in algorithmic removal of such content, because video and audio is not as easily susceptible to filtering as text-based messages such as those appearing on Twitter and Facebook.
Companies such as Meta, Twitter and Google are private corporations, which have the right to decide what content to include, exclude, promote or demote on their platforms. They already do that with hate speech, pornography and violence. They need to continue to do that with speech threatening the integrity of American elections. Silencing a political leader should be the last resort, given our commitment to free speech and vibrant election contests. But Trump clearly crossed the line well before the Jan. 6 insurrection.
It’s up to those of us in the public and across civil society to speak out loudly and repeatedly when these companies fail to do their part to shore up American elections and democracy. If we don’t, we soon might not have a democracy to defend anymore. | null | null | null | null | null |
Florida’s bill restricting LGBTQ discussion will hurt all children, LGBTQ and straight
Florida’s new law is just the latest chapter in a history of school policies that hurt learning and breed bigotry
By Marie-Amélie George
Marie-Amélie George is a legal historian and assistant professor at Wake Forest University School of Law.
Hillsborough High School students protest a Republican-backed bill that would prohibit classroom discussion of sexual orientation and gender identity, a measure Democrats denounced as being anti-LGBTQ, in Tampa on March 3. (Octavio Jones/Reuters)
Florida made headlines in late February when its House of Representatives approved a bill that critics have dubbed the “don’t say gay” bill. On Tuesday, the state Senate followed and Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) has indicated that he will sign the law, officially titled the Parental Rights in Education bill, which limits discussions of sexual orientation or gender identity in grades K-3. The bill also encourages parents to sue schools and educators that address these topics.
The proposal has sparked protests. Critics fear the law will become a de facto ban on teaching LGBTQ history and will prevent educators from addressing queer identity in schools. That concern is well-grounded, given that religious conservatives have spent almost five decades trying to limit what children can learn about same-sex sexuality. This history reveals just how harmful the ban would be for Florida students — LGBTQ and straight.
The gay rights movement that gained steam throughout the 1970s provoked a fierce backlash from religious conservatives. In 1978, schools became the focus of the religious right’s efforts to curtail gay rights and address the perceived threat of same-sex sexuality. That year, California state Sen. John Briggs (R) sponsored a statewide ballot proposition that would have prohibited public schools from employing people who engaged in “public homosexual conduct” or “advocate[d]” for homosexuality. Briggs maintained that his purpose was to prevent educators from “teaching lifestyles” or “encourag[ing] a youngster to commit a homosexual act.” Briggs’s much-publicized effort failed, arousing opposition even from former governor and presidential aspirant Ronald Reagan.
Yet with much less fanfare, Oklahoma enacted a similar law that same year, indicating the potential for such efforts to succeed — especially ones that stuck to material taught in schools, not teachers’ personal lives.
In the 1980s, therefore, religious conservatives shifted their attention from teachers to curricular policy. They succeeded in convincing school boards to frame same-sex sexuality as deviant and LGBTQ individuals as diseased. Alabama and Texas began requiring schools to teach that homosexuality was an unacceptable lifestyle and a criminal offense. Other states took more circuitous yet no less damaging approaches by introducing an abstinence-only curriculum that framed homosexuality in the context of AIDS. One of the most popular abstinence programs during this period, “Sex Respect,” identified the AIDS epidemic as “nature’s way of ‘making some kind of comment on sexual behavior.’ ”
The impact of such curriculums was devastating — even deadly — for queer youths. Such lessons taught these students shame, guilt and rejection. LGBTQ teens suffered from so much verbal harassment and physical abuse at the hands of their classmates that many abused alcohol and drugs; some even dropped out of school.
For others, the situation was so dire that suicide seemed like the only option. Researchers reported that between a third and a half of gay students attempted suicide at least once before reaching adulthood. By the end of the decade, suicide had become the leading cause of death for gay and lesbian teens.
Straight teens did not just torment their LGBTQ peers. They also took their hatred beyond the schoolhouse doors, violently assaulting gay and lesbian adults. In 1981, gay men and lesbians suffered 400 violent attacks in San Francisco alone. Most of the assailants were adolescents. In New York, the results of a survey of high school juniors and seniors shocked the Governor’s Task Force on Bias-Related Violence: 69 percent reported they would not tolerate having gay neighbors.
Over the course of the 1980s, the rate of violent crime against sexual minorities only increased. California’s Office of the Attorney General ultimately argued that unless schools began dispelling myths and stereotypes about gay and lesbian sexuality, the state could not effectively combat hate crimes.
California was not the only state to draw this conclusion. When repeated studies showed that schools were sowing seeds of dangerous prejudice, districts across America launched programs to inculcate tolerance for sexual minorities. In New York City and Los Angeles, they introduced lessons about LGBTQ history and trained teachers to respect queer youths. Thousands of schools around the country began sponsoring gay-straight alliances, which created more welcoming environments.
These efforts transformed the lives of students such as Greg Cartwright, who as a teenager considered dropping out because of the violence he endured. Instead, he transferred to a high school with a support program for LGBTQ youths, where he graduated as valedictorian in 1988. Gay and lesbian rights advocates used Cartwright’s story to convince schools to adopt similar programs.
Yet districts with inclusive policies remained in the minority. Christian conservatives’ extensive lobbying campaign soon extended beyond sex education, infusing every part of the curriculum with anti-LGBTQ content.
By the middle of the 1990s, school boards from Minnesota to Indiana had passed sweeping policies that banned any activity or instruction that had “the effect of encouraging or supporting homosexuality as a positive lifestyle alternative.” In Merrimack, N.H., teachers struggled to implement the law’s vague contours. They removed canonical works, including William Shakespeare’s “Twelfth Night,” from the curriculum. They also eliminated instructional materials, including one that referenced Walt Whitman’s sexuality, and stopped teaching students about AIDS prevention. In the frenzy to stigmatize same-sex sexuality, these school boards instituted policies that harmed all students by limiting their education.
The results of these policies could border on the absurd. In 1994, a school principal in Sawyers Bar, Calif., had to review episodes of “Sesame Street” before teachers could show them to kindergarten classes after a parent objected that Bert and Ernie “promote homosexuality.” Questions about the fuzzy puppets’ sexuality generated so much attention that the show’s producers eventually issued a news release denying Bert and Ernie were dating.
In 1996, in Elizabethtown, Pa., the school district declared that it would never tolerate or accept “pro-homosexual concepts on sex and family.” The town’s administrators and music teachers consequently prohibited the school band from performing “YMCA,” reasoning that it was “associated with the gay lifestyle.”
Ultimately, the anti-LGBTQ laws imposed real harm on all students. They helped fuel anti-LGBTQ sentiment in schools, thereby exacerbating what was already a deadly environment for queer youths. That sentiment spilled outside schools as well, leading to violence and bigotry. But straight students lost out, too, as their education became circumscribed to satisfy sweeping anti-LGBTQ policies that teachers and administrators were forced to implement.
Florida has now passed a law that could be just as destructive as those policies enacted in the 1980s and 1990s. This push comes even as schools continue to be perilous places for LGBTQ youths, who disproportionately suffer verbal harassment and physical abuse from their prejudiced peers. And the consequences of this abuse remain potentially deadly: Today, LGBTQ youths are four times more likely than their classmates to seriously consider suicide.
This history reveals that safeguarding the well-being of children — and providing the best education possible — demands rejecting such discriminatory laws. But that is not enough. As the efforts in New York and California in the 1980s revealed, only inclusive education can reduce prejudice, violence and abuse. A growing number of states are moving in this direction, but as the Florida law demonstrates, the battle is far from over. | null | null | null | null | null |
Here’s what the European Union might offer instead
By Joshua C. Fjelstul
European Union and Ukrainian flags flutter outside the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France, on March 8. (Frederick Florin/AFP/Getty Images)
On Feb. 28, four days after Russia invaded Ukraine, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky formally submitted an application for E.U. membership. On March 1, Zelensky reiterated his appeal, in an emotional address from a bunker in Kyiv to an extraordinary session of the European Parliament. He asked the E.U. to “prove that you are with us.”
The president of the European Commission — the E.U.’s executive body — has endorsed Ukraine’s membership, and a number of E.U. members have called on the E.U. to immediately make Ukraine a candidate for membership. Seeing this positive reaction, Georgia and Moldova also formally applied to join.
But becoming an E.U. member involves more than encouragement from key officials. Here’s what you need to know about the European Union — and the membership process.
Ukraine thinks it would be more secure and prosperous in the E.U.
Joining the E.U. provides security. Like NATO, the E.U. has a defense pact. Article 42(7) of the Treaty on European Union is the E.U.’s version of Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty. In short, an attack against one E.U. member is an attack against all of the E.U. If Ukraine becomes a member, the European Union would be committed to taking all necessary action to defend Ukraine against Russia’s unprovoked aggression.
Ukraine also sees E.U. membership as a long-term path to economic prosperity. In 2014, it signed an Association Agreement with the E.U. to deepen economic ties — a first step toward membership.
E.U. membership comes with access to the European Single Market — one of the world’s largest economies — and the prospect of membership in the Eurozone, the group of E.U. members that use the euro. Adopting the euro would boost economic growth and facilitate post-war recovery. But it would also require Ukraine to comply with E.U. spending rules designed to prevent economic crises.
Actually joining the E.U. is hard
However, “accession” (the E.U’s term for becoming a member) could take years. The rules laid out in the E.U.’s governing treaties are quite demanding. First, a country has to submit an application to the Council of the European Union — one of the E.U.’s legislative bodies. After hearing the commission’s opinion, the council can decide to grant the country candidate status, but every E.U. member has to agree.
Then the candidate country enters into negotiations with the E.U., during which time it has to satisfy the E.U’s membership criteria, known as the Copenhagen Criteria. This includes implementing the acquis communautaire, a formidable body of tens of thousands of laws and court rulings issued by Court of Justice of the E.U.
Once the commission certifies that the candidate country has fully adopted the acquis, the council can close negotiations — again, every E.U. member has to be in agreement. At this point, the directly elected European Parliament — the E.U.’s other legislative body — has to give its consent.
If it passes all these hurdles, the candidate country can sign an accession treaty with the E.U., which has to be signed and ratified by all 27 E.U. members.
It’s not easy to speed up the process
Zelensky has asked the E.U. to fast-track Ukraine’s accession by creating a “new special procedure.” That’s a big ask. Creating a new, faster procedure would require the E.U. to change its governing treaties. All E.U. members would all have to sign and ratify a new treaty that amends the current treaties.
A somewhat easier path might be for the E.U. to relax the Copenhagen Criteria, so that Ukraine wouldn’t have to implement the acquis all at once. But that would carry its own political challenges.
Would E.U. members agree to fast-track Ukraine?
Even if the E.U. could agree on a procedure to fast-track Ukrainian membership, there would still be two major political obstacles to Ukraine’s accession.
First, fast-tracking Ukraine’s accession would undermine the E.U.’s long-standing policy of requiring candidate countries to fully implement the acquis before joining. Ukraine would become a member before the commission has signed off on its ability to implement E.U. law.
This would be politically controversial for many current members. The E.U. has leverage when it’s negotiating with countries over membership. Once a country becomes a member, it’s harder for the E.U. to incentivize it to implement E.U. law correctly. The commission, which is responsible for enforcing E.U. law, is often hesitant to pick a political fight.
At the moment, the E.U. faces a rule of law crisis because of the willingness of Poland and Hungary, which have experienced democratic backsliding since they joined in 2004, to openly violate E.U. law. This crisis may make some E.U. members nervous about bringing Ukraine in too quickly. Other candidate countries might also demand that the E.U. bend the rules.
Second, Ukraine’s accession would immediately trigger the E.U.’s defense pact. This provision greatly increases the risk of a full-scale war between NATO and Russia, as 21 E.U. member countries are also in NATO. To prevent this, the E.U. would have to exclude Ukraine from the defense pact — but that’s a key reason Zelensky is pushing to join quickly.
The E.U. will likely just make Ukraine a candidate
All this means that the E.U. isn’t likely to fast-track Ukraine’s accession. What’s more likely is that the E.U. would grant Ukraine candidate status — something it can do almost immediately — and then postpone further negotiations. This would signal to Russia that the E.U. has a strong, long-term commitment to Ukraine’s independence. It’s hard to know if that would deter Putin from further aggression, or just provoke him.
Joshua C. Fjelstul (@joshfjelstul) received his PhD in political science from Emory University. He is currently a post-doctoral research fellow in the Department of Political Science and International Relations at the University of Geneva and a researcher at the ARENA Centre for European Studies at the University of Oslo, where he studies political economy, international courts, international law and E.U. politics. | null | null | null | null | null |
Wale, shown here performing at the Fillmore Silver Spring in 2019, returns to the venue on March 11. (Andre Chung for The Washington Post)
Wale’s upcoming appearance in the D.C. area is a full-circle moment for the Southeast native. It not only marks his homecoming but a return to form as he tours behind his latest album, “Folarin II.” The record — an ode to his 2012 mix tape, “Folarin” — employs his sampling prowess and the talents of hip-hop heavy hitters such as J. Cole and Rick Ross. Day 1 fans will find the record nostalgic and a nod to the Wale they knew before the accolades and Hollywood allure. While “Folarin II” is technically an album, it mirrors a mix-tape blueprint more than a singular cohesive effort, bouncing from “Poke it Out,” infusing a sample from Q-Tip’s 1999 hit “Vivrant Thing,” to the high energy go-go percussion of “Jump In,” which features D.C.’s own Lil Chris of TOB. March 11 at 8 p.m. at the Fillmore Silver Spring, 8656 Colesville Rd., Silver Spring. fillmoresilverspring.com. Sold out.
The world seemed gray as we endured our second winter of the coronavirus, but then Animal Collective returned with their first album in six years and added Technicolor to the drudgery. “Time Skiffs” again shows the quartet traversing peaks and valleys of sonic terrain, layering spacey, psychedelic melodies with angular instrumentation and unpredictable time signatures. Each song weaves seamlessly into the next, creating a bright, magnetic continuum that you’d be disappointed to leave. And while “Time Skiffs” is not quite to the ranks of “Merriweather Post Pavilion,” it’s a much-welcomed gift for those who needed an escape. March 13 at 7 p.m. (doors) at 9:30 Club, 815 V St. NW. 930.com. Sold out.
Eric Bellinger is ready to introduce himself — for the second time. His name may not be familiar, but his songs are. His songwriting credits include tracks on Chris Brown’s 2011 “F.A.M.E.” album (which he won a Grammy for), “Lemme See” by Usher and “Right Here” by Justin Bieber. And now with his solo career, Bellinger is once again getting recognition from the Grammys with his latest album, “New Light.” He’s more adventurous in his soundscapes, fusing ‘80s synths with trap, R&B and house, and it’s why he’s nominated for best progressive R&B album. Still, Bellinger keeps things grounded by infusing infectious pop melodies into his songs. March 13 at 8 p.m. at the Fillmore Silver Spring, 8656 Colesville Rd., Silver Spring. fillmoresilverspring.com. $30.
There are few musicians who had a more prolific year in isolation than Ryley Walker, who released four albums in 2021 alone. Each sounded like a completely different side of Walker, from the mellow and psychedelic vibes of “A Tap on the Shoulder” to the more brooding, prog-rock sounds of “Course in Fable.” He delivered a multidimensional listening experience and kept upping his game with every new album. And just when you thought the singer-songwriter was going to take a break from dropping new music, he launched into 2022 with a new EP, “So Certain.” March 16 at 7 p.m. at Songbyrd, 540 Penn St. NE. songbyrddc.com. $16-$18. | null | null | null | null | null |
In this photo issued by Falklands Maritime Heritage Trust, a view of the stern of the wreck of Endurance, polar explorer’s Ernest Shackleton’s ship. Scientists say they have found the sunken wreck of polar explorer Ernest Shackleton’s ship Endurance, more than a century after it was lost to the Antarctic ice. The Falklands Maritime Heritage Trust says the vessel lies 3,000 meters (10,000 feet) below the surface of the Weddell Sea. An expedition set off from South Africa last month to search for the ship, which was crushed by ice and sank in November 1915 during Shackleton’s failed attempt to become the first person to cross Antarctica via the South Pole. (Falklands Maritime Heritage Trust/National Georgraphic via AP) (Uncredited/Falklands Maritime Heritage Trust/National Georgraphic) | null | null | null | null | null |
Boyle Heights, a heavily Latino area in Los Angeles singled out for its ‘detrimental racial elements,’ has one of the highest pollution scores in California
The Boyle Heights area of Los Angeles, reflected in a car window. The community was redlined by federal map drawers from the Home Owners’ Loan Corporation in the 1930s. (Jane Hahn for The Washington Post)
Decades of federal housing discrimination did not only depress home values, lower job opportunities and spur poverty in communities deemed undesirable because of race. It’s why 45 million Americans are breathing dirtier air today, according to a landmark study released Wednesday.
“Of course, we’ve known about redlining and its other unequal impacts, but air pollution is one of the most important environmental health issues in the U.S.,” said Joshua Apte, a co-author of the study and an assistant professor in the School of Public Health at the University of California at Berkeley.
“If you just look at the number of people that get killed by air pollution, it’s arguably the most important environmental health issue in the country,” Apte said.
The federal Home Owners’ Loan Corporation (HOLC) marked areas across the United States as unworthy of loans because of an “infiltration of foreign-born, Negro, or lower grade population,” and shaded them in red starting in the 1930s. This made it harder for home buyers of color to get mortgages; the corporation awarded A grades for solidly White areas and D’s for largely non-White areas that lenders were advised to shun.
Redlining was banned 50 years ago. It’s still hurting minorities today.
Throughout redlining’s history, local zoning officials worked with businesses to place polluting operations such as industrial plants, major roadways and shipping ports in and around neighborhoods that the federal government marginalized.
The researchers analyzed air quality data in 202 cities where communities were redlined and found a consistent disparity in the level of nitrogen dioxide, which forms smog, and PM2.5 pollution, the small particles than can become embedded in people’s lungs and arteries.
Redlining’s fingerprint lingers in the nation’s air
Levels of nitrogen dioxide pollution in 2010 tended to be worse in areas graded C or D than areas graded A or B on government mortgage maps dating to the 1930s.
A “Best”
-5 parts
per billion
2M people
Less NO2 pollution
than city average
More NO2 pollution
B “Still Desirable”
C “Definitely Declining”
D “Hazardous”
Most residents of D-graded areas breathed dirtier air than their city’s average in 2010
Note: City averages are population-weighted mean values calculated for HOLC-graded blocks only.
Source: Lane et al., 2022
JOHN MUYSKENS/THE WASHINGTON POST
With nitrogen dioxide, pollution levels were higher in 80 percent of communities given D grades and lower in 84 percent of communities given A grades. That trend held regardless of whether a city was as large as Los Angeles or Chicago, or as small as Macon, Ga., or Albany.
Haley Lane, a graduate student in the civil and environmental engineering department at UC-Berkeley and the study’s lead author, said the team embarked on the research to show that a “widespread, federally backed, and well documented” practice like redlining was indelibly linked to air pollution. The research took about two years.
“These maps allowed us to analyze conditions in cities across the country, and the consistency we found shows us how many of the pollution problems we have today are tied to patterns that were present in cities more than 80 years ago,” Lane said.
While air quality has improved in the United States overall, several recent studies — including the one released Wednesday — show that people of color, especially African Americans and Latinos, are still disproportionately affected by pollution.
“This groundbreaking study builds on the solid empirical evidence that systemic racism is killing and making people of color sick, it’s just that simple,” said Robert D. Bullard, a distinguished professor of urban planning and environmental policy at Texas Southern University and the author of “Dumping in Dixie: Race, Class and Environmental Quality.”
Bullard, who was not involved in the study, said that it “makes clear the elevated air pollution disparities we see today between Black Americans and White Americans have their roots in systemic racism endorsed, practiced and legitimated by the federal Home Owners’ Loan Corporation some eight decades ago.”
'This is environmental racism': How a protest in a North Carolina farming town sparked a national movement
President Biden addressed that concern after taking office by signing an executive order to help marginalized communities that are overburdened by pollution. He established the Justice40 Initiative to direct 40 percent of federal resources to those communities and established the White House Environmental Justice Advisory Council to help guide the administration’s decisions.
“Any time we can get a study that takes the anecdotal stories of communities and we end up having scientific findings to support those anecdotal stories, that’s a good thing,” said Wright, who, like Bullard, sits on the White House Environmental Justice Advisory Council. “It supports community claims on the ground.”
Julian D. Marshall, a professor of civil and environmental engineering at the University of Washington and one of the study’s co-authors, said the research provides the kind of information that helps societies move toward solutions.
“One way is to document that the disparities we see today have a long history,” Marshall said. “The decisions and the actions we’re talking about were made by people who are no longer alive, and yet we’re suffering the consequences of this structural, race-based planning.”
Racial inequality is so baked into redlined communities that even when it shouldn’t matter, it did, the study said. Black and Latino Americans who live within the very same HOLC grade as White people still breathe dirtier air because of their closer proximity to pollution.
“This point is really key,” said Lane, the lead author. “People of color can be living in the same cities, and even in neighborhoods with the same redlining grade as nearby White residents, and they will still tend to experience worse pollution on average.”
The finding suggests that redlining added to inequities that developed from long-standing racial discrimination, Lane said. “Racist segregation was always essential to redlining, but there is a long history and a wide range of factors contributing to the disparities we see today. We can’t point to any single decision or program which brought about current conditions because the problem is systemic.”
Deadly air pollutant 'systematically and disproportionately' harms Americans of color, study finds
“It is seriously doubted whether there is a single block in the area which does not contain detrimental racial elements,” they wrote, “and there are very few districts which are not hopelessly heterogeneous in type of improvement and quality of maintenance.”
Following its designation as one of the city’s least desirable communities for investment, Boyle Heights was encircled by four major freeways — Interstates 5, 10, 710 and 110 — in a city with some of the heaviest automobile traffic in the world.
CalEnviroScreen, a mapping tool that tracks state pollution by census tracts, gives large parts of Boyle Heights the highest pollution burden score available, 100 percent. More than 86,000 people live there, most of them Latino.
“It’s not like one part of Los Angeles is considered, you know, necessarily less polluted than another,” said Cyrus Rangan, director of the toxics epidemiology program for the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health. “We have these air quality problems all over.”
But areas that hug freeways, such as Boyle Heights, get the worst of round-the-clock diesel truck traffic that spews fine particulate matter. “When it comes to the ports and the ways our freeways are situated, in the way we kind of squeezed in a lot of residential areas in and around all of those economic developments, that’s what’s created a major issue,” Rangan said.
“The land and housing tends to be cheaper, so people who tend to live there tend to be people of lower-cost origins,” Rangan said.
Whites are mainly to blame for pollution, but Black and Latino residents bear the burden
Paul Simon, the Los Angeles health department’s chief science officer, said Long Beach and San Pedro, where mostly Latino and Black residents live near major shipping ports, have pollution levels similar to Boyle Heights.
Simon praised the redlining study, calling it something he’s never seen. “It … highlights the challenges moving forward in trying to address these disparities and inequities to change the pattern of land use and transportation planning to sort of alter the built environment,” Simon said.
“The agency that concocted the racist grading system itself deserved an F grade,” Bullard said.
It discriminated against mostly Black and Latino families, robbed them of the wealth their homes could have generated, he said, “and created pollution magnets that threatens the health, well-being and quality of life of families who settle in formerly redlined neighborhoods.” | null | null | null | null | null |
Man found dead in tent fire on New York Avenue in Northeast D.C.
A D.C. firetruck. (Michael Robinson Chavez/The Washington Post)
A man was found dead inside a tent that caught fire early Wednesday along New York Avenue near Union Market in Northeast Washington, according to police and fire officials.
The incident occurred shortly before 3 a.m. and forced authorities to close both eastbound and westbound lanes of New York Avenue into the morning rush hour.
Vito Maggiolo, a spokesman for the D.C. Fire and Emergency Medical Services, said authorities are trying to determine how the fire started.
A police spokesman said there were no obvious signs of trauma on the body. A cause of death is pending an autopsy from the medical examiner. | null | null | null | null | null |
Opinion: What conservatives asking for Ketanji Brown Jackson’s test scores are really doing
President Biden, left, listens as Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, center, makes remarks in D.C. on Feb. 25. (Bill O'Leary/The Washington Post)
At the start of an international military crisis, during the waning days of a time-stopping pandemic, and as the United States grappled with the aftereffects of the unhinged Trump administration, President Biden’s nomination to the Supreme Court of Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, a widely respected and unusually noncontroversial figure, came as something of a relief.
Democrats lauded her. Even some conservatives conceded she was an excellent pick. Jackson “is eminently qualified to serve on the Supreme Court of the United States,” former federal judge J. Michael Luttig wrote. “Indeed, she is as highly credentialed and experienced in the law as any nominee in history.”
Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), of all people, said: “She’s a very smart, very accomplished attorney. I imagine she’ll be able to defend her litigation.”
Tough to complain, in other words. So naturally, Fox News’s Tucker Carlson had to ruin it.
“It might be time for Joe Biden to let us know what Ketanji Brown Jackson’s LSAT score was,” he sneered on his show last week. “Wonder how she did on the LSATs, why won’t he tell us that?”
The implication was obvious — that Jackson had somehow sneaked into her nomination by way of affirmative action, that Biden was hiding the concrete evidence that would show she didn’t deserve a seat on the court.
Carlson’s comments were of a piece with the rumors Donald Trump spread about Barack Obama’s college grades during the 2012 election, suggesting that a Black candidate could not have met critical standards and should be forced to demonstrate his worth with a specific credential of the accuser’s choosing.
Of course, standards should be met. The Supreme Court should be made up of the most qualified, experienced and brilliant jurists. But of course, there’s no doubt that Jackson is one. All the evidence available — her Harvard Law School degree and position as an editor of the law review, her three federal clerkships, her years as a public defender and trial court judge, her more recent elevation to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit — makes this clear.
But Carlson’s griping reveals the ease and consistency with which conservatives have weaponized “deservedness” to hide racist attitudes under paper-thin critiques. It also underscores why this deservedness myth — the idea that there is an objective standard of merit that might confirm one’s worth, and that people of color especially need to prove they’ve reached it — deserves to die.
To begin with, these critics’ own deservedness is often questionable at best. What are Carlson’s qualifications for scrutinizing Supreme Court nominees? He has no legal experience and told the Columbia Journalism Review that he spent most of his college days drunk. Did Trump ever prove that he deserved his spot at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School, much less the presidency? Michael Cohen, his former lawyer, told the House Oversight and Reform Committee that Trump — for all his agitating over Obama’s grades — directed him to threaten his high school, colleges and the College Board with legal action to make sure his own records would not be released.
More important than the blatant hypocrisy is the fact that deservedness, as understood in terms of raw achievement, has always been a questionable concept. The American ideal is that any success should be earned through pure effort, but this is rarely the case in reality. (The term “meritocracy,” when coined, was meant to satirize that view, not canonize it.)
The insistence that there is one specific, quantifiable measure of deservedness for a role like that of a Supreme Court justice foregrounds something that matters not at all — in Carlson’s estimation, Jackson’s long-out-of-date score on a multiple-choice exam — while backgrounding the less quantifiable things that actually do matter, whether specific expertise or the quality of one’s work. (Have you ever asked your personal physician what their MCAT score is? No. And why would you?)
It also ignores that grand success such as Jackson’s is a mixture of many components — hard work and talent, yes, but also luck, privilege, support from others. Jackson acknowledged as much in her remarks after the announcement of her nomination, thanking God, her family and her mentors, and even the blessing of being born in the United States, which she described as “the greatest beacon of hope and democracy” in the world.
Carlson and his cohort would like to play down these truths — not to mention the role that luck and privilege played in their own elevation — by erecting a series of ever-higher hoops only certain people must jump through to verify their suitability.
At a certain point, there are any number of people who might be fit for an important role. The “best” candidate for a Supreme Court seat is a largely subjective decision, a choice of one extremely talented, accomplished jurist among the country’s many incredible legal minds.
Jackson exceeds the standard. Whether she deserves her success is not Tucker Carlson’s question to ask or answer. | null | null | null | null | null |
Amazon did not immediately respond to a request for comment. In the past, a company spokesman has denied that it misled the committee.
The 24-page letter, dated March 9, accuses the Seattle-based company of lying in sworn testimony to the committee in 2019 about whether it uses data that it collects from third-party sellers to compete with them. “[C]redible investigative reporting” and the committee’s investigation showed the company was engaging in the practice despite its denial, the letter said.
Subsequently, as the investigation continued, Amazon tried to “cover up its lie by offering ever-shifting explanations” of its policies, the letter said.
Furthermore, “after Amazon was caught in a lie and repeated misrepresentations, it stonewalled the Committee’s efforts to uncover the truth,” according to the letter.
In addition to Nadler, Judiciary committee members signing the letter include Rep. David N. Cicilline (D-R.I.), the chairman of the panel’s subcommittee on antitrust, commercial and administrative law; and Rep. Ken Buck (Colo.), the top Republican on the subcommittee. Reps. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) and Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.), two other subcommittee members, also signed the letter.
“Amazon and its executives must be held accountable for this behavior,” the letter said. “That is why we are referring this matter to the Department of Justice to investigate whether Amazon obstructed Congress or violated other federal laws. We look forward to hearing from the Department on this important matter.”
Aaron Gregg contributed to this report. | null | null | null | null | null |
Birthright to Israel and beyond: 7 trips to explore your roots
Travelers can apply for funding to visit everywhere from West Africa to Croatia
Africa (Ghana)
Travel restrictions are easing around the world, but the coronavirus pandemic continues to shape decisions on where, when and how to travel. Sarah Kline, the owner of the travel agency Time For Travel, said the emotional weight of the past few years has brought on an uptick in requests for trips that feel more significant than the average getaway.
“[Clients] would like experiences that renew their sense of well-being,” she said. “We all want to engage in personally meaningful things and not just walk the beaten path.”
Traveling to learn more about your roots is one example. Depending on your heritage (and often your age) you may even qualify to travel free — or with a big discount. “Birthright” trips are government- or nonprofit-funded programs that aim to strengthen foreign ties to a country’s culture and history. That means participants will see a place through the lens of the sponsor — which could be a pro or a con depending on personal politics.
Here are seven programs that cover costs for people interested in learning more about their ancestral cultures.
8 ways to find free or subsidized travel in 2022
For many people, the “birthright” trip is synonymous with Israel. Birthright Israel has been organizing partially and fully subsidized travel to the country since 1999, and it has inspired cultures around the world to launch similar programs. More than 750,000 members of the Jewish diaspora (defined as having one Jewish birth parent or having converted to Judaism) have since traveled with the program. Participants must be between 18 and 32 years old, among other eligibility requirements.
For seven to 10 days, travelers can visit Jerusalem, where they will see the Western Wall, experience nightlife in Tel Aviv and float in the Dead Sea, among other tours and experiences. Beyond the classic trip, which promises a quintessential experience visiting historic sites, there are trips with themes such as LGBTQ and arts and culture.
Americans of African descent who are between 13 and 30 can apply for a free 10-day educational trip through Birthright AFRICA. The program encourages participants, called Scholars, to explore their cultural roots while fostering confidence and creativity in an effort to build the next generation of world leaders and entrepreneurs.
Each trip is unique, but they usually include 10 to 16 participants — with a 5-to-1 ratio of scholars to staff — on trips to Ghana, with South Africa also being listed on the website. The program also includes a domestic follow-up trip to key destinations in the United States, such as D.C. or New York.
You aren’t be eligible if you have traveled to an African country after the age of 12. You must also follow @birthrightafrica on Instagram.
People with at least one Croatian-born grandparent can apply to travel with the Domovina Birthright Program, a 16-day subsidized trip that takes those ages 18 to 30 to Croatia. Organized by the Croatian government, the program takes groups of up to 44 people to explore the domovina, or homeland.
There are different themed trips, such as “Narratives of the Croatian People” and “Contemporary Croatia.” The program invites Croatian peers to the tour so participants can learn more about the culture from locals. The trip is partially funded by the government; it costs $1,250, not including airfare, insurance for travel and medical expenses, and incidentals.
Diversifying the face of travel, one TikTok at a time
For members of the Armenian diaspora, Birthright Armenia offers the opportunity to combine travel and volunteering. For nine weeks to one year, participants live with a local family, can take biweekly Armenian-language classes, go on weekend excursions, and attend organized gatherings with program peers and locals.
The program offers a travel reimbursement for your “voluntourism” trip. Depending on how long you stay, you may be eligible for a 100 percent refund.
Applicants must be between 21 and 32 years old and have at least one fully Armenian grandparent, among other requirements.
ReConnect Hungary organizes two-week birthright trips every summer for Americans and Canadians with Hungarian heritage. Focused on culture, traditions and history, the program includes airfare between New York and Budapest, accommodations and meals, plus experiences such as educational lectures and cultural attractions.
Participants will visit thermal baths, Holocaust memorials and synagogues; meet with local business leaders and politicians; take Hungarian language classes; and go on boat tours. They will also have free days.
Applicants must be between the ages of 18 and 28. For an older crowd, there is ReConnect Hungary 29+. To continue their adventure, participants can add on a week through ReConnect Transylvania, an excursion for connecting with the largest Hungarian minority community outside Hungary.
A post shared by Hungarian Birthright Program (@reconnecthungary)
Let By The Way help you navigate travel dilemmas
Looking for a summer internship? Birthright Macedonia arranges a three-week stay and an internship for people of Macedonian descent. Participants will visit the capital city of Skopje along with Bitola, one of the country’s oldest cities, dating back to the 4th century B.C. They will also take weekend heritage trips to explore areas of the country such as Lake Ohrid, a UNESCO World Heritage site.
Participants must be at least 18 years old and pay for their airfare to Macedonia, travel and medical insurance, and a $750 application fee (applicants who are not accepted will receive a refund). Unless you opt to stay with relatives or pay for alternative accommodations, the program includes housing and meals with a local family.
Greek American college students are welcome to apply for the Heritage Greece Program (HG), a two-week cultural and educational immersion trip focused on language, history and traditions. Founded by the National Hellenic Society, HG takes place on a 65-acre campus in Agia Paraskevi, a suburb of Athens. Participants will study Greek, visit archaeological sites and museums, travel to an island, and take dancing and cooking classes.
The program covers expenses for tuition, meals and transportation within Greece. Candidates must be American or Canadian citizens of Hellenic descent who are between 18 and 26. According to the application website, that means one or more parents, grandparents or great-grandparents were born in Greece or Cyprus. To be eligible, you must be enrolled as an undergraduate or graduate student with a 3.0 GPA and be fully vaccinated for the coronavirus. | null | null | null | null | null |
Pentagon Weighs Ending Speedy Payments to Contractors Started for the Pandemic
By Tony Capaccio | Bloomberg
The Pentagon is reviewing whether to end increased progress payments to defense contractors, a policy started two years ago to buffer the impact of Covid-19 on subcontractors. Under the program, $6.7 billion was expedited through December.
A combined $5.3 billion has been paid to the biggest contractors: Lockheed Martin Corp., Boeing Co., Raytheon Technologies Corp., Northrop Grumman Corp. and General Dynamics Corp., Defense Department spokesperson Jessica Maxwell said in a statement.
Under the policy put in place in March 2020, large companies have been given expedited payments for as much as 90% of incurred costs in billings, up from 80% previously. The figure climbed to 95% for small businesses, up from 90%. The policy was instituted with the intent that major contractors would pass along payments to their subcontractors rapidly to mitigate the coronavirus pandemic’s effect on programs and employees, keep firms solvent and bolster cash flow.
“The department has begun reviewing the criteria and process for reverting to the pre-Covid-19 customary progress payment rates,” Maxwell said. “The department will provide advance notice to industry before any changes are put into effect.” Asked what prompted the review, Maxwell said the Pentagon’s office of Defense Pricing and Contracting “has been monitoring the operational and economic need for the increased progress payment rates since the start of the pandemic.”
Alison Lynn, spokesperson for the Aerospace Industries Association, said the group believes the “review will validate the importance of cash flow and the effectiveness of progress payments in delivering it.” That’s “particularly important for small and medium-sized businesses that remain stressed from the pandemic, labor shortages, supply disruptions and now inflation,” she said.
Buyback Surge
The payments have been monitored by the Defense Contract Management Agency to ensure they haven’t been diverted to pay dividends and share repurchases. Pentagon officials have said repeatedly there’s been no evidence of abuse even as the major defense companies last year executed a record number of buybacks.
Asked if the surge in buybacks was a factor in the review, Maxwell said “although the department is aware of substantive increases in DOD contractors’ share buybacks during 2021, it is important to acknowledge that the additional finance payments provided by the increased progress payment rate cannot be directly linked to share buybacks.”
That’s because contractors “must have already incurred costs before they receive the increased progress payments associated with related DoD contracts,” she said.
Still, Byron Callan, managing director for Capital Alpha Partners LLC, said the buybacks might have influenced the decision to review whether to continue the rushed payments.
“The scale of share buybacks in 2021 by major U.S. defense primes suggests they have very ample resources to help subcontractors without DoD accelerated progress payments,” he said.
Lockheed, Raytheon, Northrop Grumman, General Dynamics and L3Harris Technologies Inc. reported spending $15.5 billion on net buybacks, the most in any year so far, Callan said in a note to clients. Average annual buybacks from 2011 through 2020 totaled $5.7 billion, he said.
Callan said in an email that he accepted the Pentagon’s conclusion that there’s been no diversion of payments that were supposed to go to subcontractors but “the open issue is why accelerated payments are still needed when the four largest contractors used $15.5 billion of cash for share repurchases” last year. | null | null | null | null | null |
FILE - National Hockey League Vice President and Deputy General Counsel Jessica Berman is shown at the Senate Commerce Committee hearing on domestic violence in professional sports on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, Dec. 2, 2014. Berman, a former executive for the NHL and the National Lacrosse League, has been named commissioner of the National Women’s Soccer League. Berman replaces Lisa Baird, who resigned last October amid a scandal involving allegations of sexual harassment and coercion brought against one of the league’s most prominent coaches. Berman’s appointment was announced Wednesday, March 9, 2022, and her four-year term will start on April 20. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh, File) | null | null | null | null | null |
Wake Forest vs. Boston College (ACC second round, approx. 2:30, ESPN): There are multiple problems with fifth-seeded Wake Forest’s resume, none of them remedied by facing #TuesdayInBrooklyn survivor Boston College (12-19). The Demon Deacons (23-8) played the 338th-toughest (or, 21st-easiest) nonconference schedule, and it is 1-4 in Quadrant 1 games — the most challenging set of games on the NCAA’s team sheet. It does own two victories against the likely field, at home against North Carolina and Notre Dame.
Xavier vs. Butler (Big East first round, 4:30, Fox Sports 1): Despite a late five-game losing streak that put their NCAA chances in peril, the Musketeers (18-12) blasted Georgetown like they were supposed to Saturday. Xavier’s performance in the six metrics on the NCAA’s team sheets range from between 36th and 54th, and their 5-9 mark in Quadrant 1 games isn’t great but probably good enough. Still, just to be safe, the Musketeers might want to handle Butler (13-18) and avoid any unnecessary Selection Sunday anxiety. | null | null | null | null | null |
It’s an episode many might have forgotten in the long and sordid run-up to the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection. But there was a time in which none other than Carlson stepped forward to question the “stolen election” narrative that had taken hold in the Trump movement and in certain corners of his network. Carlson on Nov. 19 said Powell’s claims were serious, but he also (rightfully) noted that she had yet to substantiate them. He said he had asked, over the course of a week, for the evidence and offered her his platform, but that she had declined.
Carson said Powell “never demonstrated that a single actual vote was moved illegitimately by software from one candidate to another. Not one.” He said that when he invited her on his show, she became “angry and told us to stop contacting her.” | null | null | null | null | null |
An 11-year-old boy from Ukraine who traveled hundreds of miles to Slovakia with a plastic bag, a passport and a telephone number written on his hand. (Courtesy of Mario Bona/Slovak Police Force)
An 11-year-old Ukrainian boy who fled to Slovakia alone — with a plastic bag, a passport and a telephone number scrawled on his hand — was hailed by authorities. But it was not the first time fighting has uprooted the child, whose family fled Syria’s war about a decade ago.
His safe escape from Ukraine, traveling hundreds of miles by train on his own, marked a bright moment this week in a conflict that has escalated since Russian troops marched into the country. It showed “fearlessness and determination worthy of a real hero” from a boy whose smile had “won everybody’s hearts,” Slovakia’s Interior Ministry wrote on Facebook as the minister met with the child he called “Little Hassan.”
Once he crossed the border, volunteers used the number on his hand to contact his siblings in the Slovakian capital, and they were reunited.
“We thought maybe one of us could go back to Ukraine and take him, but it was very dangerous and it was very surprising when he crossed,” one of the boy’s teenage sisters, Luna, told The Washington Post. “It’s the best thing that happened because I was scared for him.”
The siblings later moved to their mother’s native country, Ukraine, after spending their early childhood in Syria — where Russia is also embroiled in the war since intervening with airstrikes to back Damascus. Luna said their Syrian father went missing in the conflict there, “but I remember him.”
In a tearful video shared by Slovakian authorities, the boy’s mother, Yulia Pisetskaya, said she was a widow and was unable to leave their home in Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia region because she was caring for her mother, who could not move on her own.
Half of the 2 million people driven from Ukraine by the Russian assault are children, according to UNICEF. The scale of the exodus announced by the United Nations on Tuesday has amounted in less than two weeks to the historic flow of mainly Syrian refugees into Europe in 2015 and 2016.
The European Union has enacted unprecedented measures for the new refugees within its borders, breaking with past resistance to others seeking refuge. Under recently declared rules, Ukrainian nationals could get temporary protection anywhere within the 27-country bloc for up to three years.
After his escape, 11-year-old Hassan recounted a tiring journey on trains crammed with Ukrainians trying to flee and help from strangers along the way, his sister said. “He’s very proud” that people in Slovakia and others have dubbed him a hero, she added, laughing. “He tells me, ‘Luna, I’m a hero!’ ” | null | null | null | null | null |
Sunken ship of Antarctic explorer Shackleton is found after a century
The ship Endurance was crushed by ice and sank in 1915. Scientists found it 10,000 feet below the surface of the Weddell Sea.
Scientists say they have found the sunken wreck of polar explorer Ernest Shackleton's ship Endurance more than a century after it was lost to the Antarctic ice. The Falklands Maritime Heritage Trust says the vessel lies 10,000 feet below the surface of the Weddell Sea. (AP)
“This is by far the finest wooden shipwreck I have ever seen,” he said. “It is upright, [clear] of the seabed, intact, and in a brilliant state of preservation. You can even see ‘Endurance’ arced across the stern, directly below the taffrail.”
Shackleton’s 1914 to 1916 attempt to become the first person to cross Antarctica by way of the South Pole failed — he never set foot on the continent. But his successful bid to reach help at a remote South Atlantic whaling station and rescue his men is considered a heroic feat of endurance. All the men survived and were rescued many months later.
British historian and broadcaster Dan Snow, who accompanied the expedition, tweeted that Endurance was found Saturday, “100 years to the day since Shackleton was buried.”
He said the wreck had been filmed but wouldn’t be touched. | null | null | null | null | null |
House Sets Vote on $1.5 Trillion Funding Bill, Ukraine Response
The House is set to vote Wednesday on a long-delayed $1.5 trillion spending bill that would fund the U.S. government through the rest of the fiscal year and provide $13.6 billion to respond to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Lawmakers released the text of the 2,741-page measure earlier in the day before scheduled mid-day votes on the package, with the Senate looking to vote before the end of the day Friday. To pass the bill, House Democrats have set up separate votes on the defense-related and domestic portions because progressives are refusing to back the defense increase and Republican votes will be needed.
The House also plans to vote on another stopgap spending bill, continuing government funding at current levels through March 15 to give the Senate time to deal with the full-year legislation.
The legislation would provide $730 billion for non-defense discretionary spending, a 6.7% increase and a win for Democrats, while Republicans were able to negotiate a 5.6% increase for defense spending over fiscal 2021, bringing it to $782 billion.
The military spending is far more than progressive Democrats and the White House wanted. The annual spending for Pentagon alone comes out to $743.4 billion, $28.4 billion above the president’s request of $715 billion for the year.
White House budget director Shalanda Young issued a statement praising the overall agreement and said that more Covid-19 resources will be needed soon
The measure also wold reauthorize the Violence Against Women Act, which expired in 2019.
“Including the long-overdue reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act in the omnibus assures that it will be enacted once again, helping to protect survivors of sexual assault and domestic violence,” Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer said in a statement.
The bill revamps the EB-5 visa for wealthy investors aiming to steer funds away from real estate into projects creating more jobs.
The bill would give the Food and Drug Administration clear powers to regulate electronic cigarettes as tobacco products.
Democrats failed in their attempt to get rid of a decades-old provision that’s regularly attached to spending legislation. Known as the Hyde amendment, it bans federal money for abortion, except in cases of rape, incest, or to save the life of the woman. President Joe Biden had previously supported the restriction before changing his position in 2019 and calling for it to be repealed. They also failed to remove a provision barring the District of Columbia from legalizing marijuana. | null | null | null | null | null |
By Lauran Neergaard and Carla K. Johnson | AP
In this photo provided by the University of Maryland School of Medicine, David Bennett Jr., right, stands next to his father’s hospital bed in Baltimore, Md., on Jan. 12, 2022, five days after doctors transplanted a pig heart into Bennett Sr., in a last-ditch effort to save his life. Bennett, the first person to receive a heart transplant from a pig died Tuesday, March 8, at the University of Maryland Medical Center, two months after the groundbreaking experiment. His death was announced Wednesday.(University of Maryland School of Medicine via AP) (Uncredited/University of Maryland School of Medicine) | null | null | null | null | null |
Chernobyl is in danger. Here’s The Post’s front page from the 1986 disaster.
On Wednesday, Ukraine’s power grid operator reported that Russian forces had disconnected the country’s closed Chernobyl nuclear power plant from the grid. Nuclear material is still stored at the site, and the cutoff could jeopardize the cooling of that material and potentially risk radiation leak.
Chernobyl was the site of the world’s worst nuclear power plant accident on April 26, 1986, when a meltdown sent a huge radioactive cloud over parts of Europe. Below is the front page of the April 29, 1986, issue of The Washington Post, which reported the news of the disaster. | null | null | null | null | null |
CLAYTON, Del. — A Delaware volunteer fire chief died Tuesday, a day after he was injured in a 25-foot fall at the firehouse, officials said.
Pridemore, who joined the fire company in 1991 and served in many offices before becoming chief, was hired at the Clayton town manager last month. | null | null | null | null | null |
“I don’t know what’s going on to be honest, brother, I really don’t,” he said. “There’s so much stuff — and I don’t think nobody knows what’s going on fully. There’s been so much political corruption in that area. You got Biden and his son making a [expletive]-ton of money off of and using our tax dollars to bribe their people. That’s treasonous, in my opinion. … He shouldn’t be giving our tax dollars to that country anyway! We got veterans out here sleeping on the street, and you’re going to give our frickin’ tax dollars to these Ukrainians?”
Who is? Who accused him of treason? Carlson’s jumped from “people like you” to “you” in order to amplify the idea that Mitchell represents a broad, oppressed mass of people who the elites are trying to cajole into engaging in a shooting war with Russia. | null | null | null | null | null |
Dave Clarke named editor of The Washington Post’s 202 Franchise
WASHINGTON, DC- JUNE 02: Dave Clarke (Marvin Joseph/The Washington Post)
Announcement from National Editor Matea Gold and Deputy National Editor Philip Rucker:
We are excited to announce that Dave Clarke will become the new editor of our 202 franchise, which provides news and analysis for Washington insiders on Capitol Hill, in the executive branch and in the policy and political advocacy communities.
Dave brings to this leadership role the nimble editing skills, sharp story ideas and unflappable demeanor he honed helping run coverage of the Trump White House and, most recently, as our Congress editor. In his new position, Dave will oversee a team that produces six daily newsletters. He will collaborate with groups crucial to the newsletters’ growth and success, including those focused on subscriber retention, marketing and advertising, public relations, audience, and design and product. He will draw on his strong relationships across the newsroom to promote our most distinctive journalism in the newsletters and foster deeper collaborations between the anchors and their colleagues on other teams.
This position is a homecoming of sorts for Dave, who joined The Post in 2015 from Politico to help launch the PowerPost vertical and The Daily 202. In January 2017, he moved to the White House team, a job he said tested the durability of the human nervous system. After paternity leave, Dave returned in January 2021 as an editor for our Congress team, running coverage that has chronicled the ups and downs of the Democratic majority, Trump’s lasting influence on the GOP and the House Select Committee’s investigation of the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.
Dave, who is known for his droll sense of humor, graduated from Trinity College and has a master's degree in journalism from Northwestern University. He lives in the District with his wife, Margaret, and 16-month-old daughter Betsy, who likes to bang on his keyboard while he edits.
Dave begins his new role immediately. Please join us in congratulating him. | null | null | null | null | null |
Eastern Orthodox priests in Russia denounce invasion of Ukraine at their own peril
Russian President Vladimir Putin congratulates Russian Orthodox Church Patriarch Kirill on the 13th anniversary of his enthronement, in Moscow on Feb. 1, 2022. (Alexei Nikolsky/Sputnik/Kremlin Pool/AP)
The letter called for “the cessation of the fratricidal war” against Ukraine, insisted that the “people of Ukraine should make their choice on their own” and lamented the “trial that our brothers and sisters in Ukraine were undeservedly subjected to.”
“The Last Judgment awaits every person,” reads an automated translation of the letter. “No earthly authority, no doctors, no guards will protect from this judgment. … We remind you that the Blood of Christ, shed by the Savior for the life of the world, will be received in the sacrament of Communion by those people who give murderous orders, not into life, but into eternal torment.”
The Russian Orthodox Church has long lent its considerable influence, within Russia and abroad, to the geopolitical aims of Vladimir Putin. The Russian president has enjoyed close personal support from Patriarch Kirill of Moscow, who once characterized Putin’s leadership as “a miracle of God.”
While Kirill called on military leaders to minimize casualties when Putin’s assault on Ukraine began last week, he seemed to support Putin’s disputed argument that Ukrainians and Russians are one people and notably made no appeal for a cessation of hostilities. A few days later, Kirill referred to Russia’s opponents in Ukraine as “evil forces.”
The Russian church has a long history in Ukraine, but in 2019, Patriarch Bartholomew I, the Greek Orthodox primate, defied Kirill and recognized a new, independent Orthodox body in Ukraine that broke away from the Moscow-based church. In an interview this week with CNN Turk, Bartholomew said that recognizing the new branch had made him a “target” of the Russian Patriarchate.
But the priests’ letter showed Russia’s invasion has further challenged Moscow’s leadership. While their protest is qualified and the number of signers tiny compared to the total number of clerics (church authorities estimated roughly 40,000 operated within the church as of 2009), it points to a broader trend of dissent within the church regarding the Ukraine invasion, and it could signal important shifts for a tradition that has in recent years operated in tandem with the Kremlin.
“We are transmitting the message that there’s no way for a Christian to enter eternal life without forgiving — but also without being forgiven,” the Very Rev. Andrey Kordochkin, dean of the Cathedral of St. Mary Magdalene in Madrid and one of priests who initiated the letter, told Religion News Service in a phone interview.
“Entering into [eternal] life being cursed by thousands of mothers, Russian mothers and Ukrainian mothers, is not really the most appropriate way for a Christian — especially if he’s getting older — to prepare for the end of his earthly life,” Kordochkin said.
Kordochkin stressed that the open letter was not directed at religious authorities such as Kirill, saying he didn’t believe “state authorities consult with a higher hierarchy before they do something.” But the signers, he said, wanted to push back on the notion that the Russian Orthodox Church “only has one voice.”
Kordochkin said some have complained that the language of the letter was “not radical enough,” but he explained that any dissent under the current Russian government carries risk. This is especially true for priests who live and work in Russia, a category he estimated made up the majority of the signers.
“For any priest who signed it, wherever he is — whether he’s in Russia or whether he’s abroad — I think that he puts himself under certain pressures,” he said. “The reaction to any kind of specific protest is very aggressive.”
He added: “Any priest who lives in Russia who is signing such a letter — it’s a sign of courage. But therefore, when he does it, it is also an important event in his own life.”
Kristina Stoeckl, a sociology professor at Austria’s University of Innsbruck and an expert on the Russian Orthodox Church, pointed out that the letter was carefully phrased: It avoided the words “war” or “invasion,” while the Russian government itself has termed its invasion of Ukraine a “special military operation.”
Stoeckl said that other recent open letters by Orthodox priests — particularly one pushing back on the treatment of Russian protesters in 2019, which Kordochkin also signed — were more forceful, spurring condemnation from Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill of Moscow.
The most recent letter doesn’t represent a “revolt” against the patriarch on its own but rather is “a call for peace,” she said.
However, she noted that it comes as more-overt forms of dissent among Russian Orthodox priests have emerged in Ukraine over the past week. According to OrthoChristian, Ukrainian clerics still loyal to Moscow, particularly in Western Ukraine, have stopped commemorating Patriarch Kirill in their liturgies.
On Monday, Metropolitan Archbishop Evlogy of the Sumy Diocese in Eastern Ukraine published a Facebook post signed by 28 priests and deacons lamenting that Kirill “did not condemn the aggressive actions of the Russian authorities in any way” but rather issued a statement last week calling on “all parties to the conflict to do everything possible to avoid civilian casualties.”
“In this difficult situation, guided by the dictates of our pastoral conscience, we have decided to stop commemorating the Moscow Patriarch at divine services,” read the statement. “This decision was also dictated by the demands of our flock, which, alas, no longer wants to hear the name of Patriarch Kirill in our churches.”
Others have taken an even more dramatic step of asking Metropolitan Onuphry of Kyiv, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church in the region, to consider autocephaly — becoming an independent church. In a YouTube video posted March 1 to an account that appeared to be associated with the Church of St. Theodore the Sanctified, a group of men identifying as priests in the Kyiv Diocese made the case for breaking with their leadership in Russia.
“I turn to Kirill, the patriarch of the Church of Moscow: I stopped remembering your name during the blessing at Mass. This is my response to your silence on the war between Russia and Ukraine and for allowing Russian President Putin to get to this war,” one priest, who identifies himself as the Rev. Peter Semachuk of Kyiv, says in Ukrainian.
He goes on to ask Onuphry to “gather a high meeting of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church” to discuss “changes to the canonical status of our church.”
Another man who identifies himself as a priest near Kyiv, the Rev. Mihail Voron, claims that his church was destroyed by Russian troops during the invasion. After explaining that he stopped commemorating Kirill in 2014, the same year Crimea was annexed by Russia, he addressed the patriarch directly.
“I do not want to have anything to do with you, and that is why I appeal to our Primate Onuphry to call an Assembly of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church to approve the decision to cut communications with the Moscow Patriarchate,” he says in Russian.
Clergy of the Dioceses of Volyn and Lutsk also have issued a written appeal to Onuphry, who has called the Russian invasion “a disaster,” asking him to “raise the issue of full autocephaly of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church immediately before the clergy” because “His Holiness Patriarch Kirill did not condemn the fact that the Russian invasion of the Ukrainian people is taking place before our eyes.”
Kirill, meanwhile, has rebuked Ukrainian leaders who have stopped commemorating him in their services.
“The termination of the commemoration of the Primate of the Church, not because of doctrinal or canonical errors, or delusions, but because of inconsistency with one or another political views and preferences, is a schism for which everyone who commits it will answer before God and not only in the future century, but also in the present,” read a translation of a message from church authorities published on Wednesday.
The statement recalled the Rev. Grigory Prozorov, explaining that he was the priest who was arrested and killed in Nazi Germany after he refused to stop commemorating a prelate. The reference, Stoeckl said, echoed Putin’s attempt to justify invading Ukraine by claiming he would “denazify” the country.
Other Orthodox leaders have called on the Russian patriarch to do more to stop the war. In an open letter published Wednesday, Romanian Orthodox priest Ioan Sauca, the acting general secretary of the World Council of Churches, urged Kirill to persuade Putin to end the bloodshed.
“I write to Your Holiness as acting general secretary of the WCC but also as an Orthodox priest,” Sauca wrote. “Please, raise up your voice and speak on behalf of the suffering brothers and sisters, most of whom are also faithful members of our Orthodox Church.”
In addition, a group of Catholic bishops from Ireland, Scotland, England and Wales issued a statement this week calling on “Patriarch Kirill and all in the Russian Orthodox Church” to work to end the war.
Stoeckl said escalating tensions within the Russian Orthodox Church over the invasion could amount to a “watershed moment” for the church. Russian Orthodox leaders stand to lose “all of Ukraine,” she said, and there is evidence of mounting distrust of the church in the region: According to The New York Times, last week an angry crowd in western Ukraine threw a Russian Orthodox priest out of his own church.
Kordochkin, who was born in St. Petersburg, remains focused on the Russian government. After his phone interview, he sent an email saying he worries about the far-reaching repercussions of the invasion for his home country.
He wrote: “What path will it follow? Wealthy, free and open country? Or poverty, isolation and dictatorship?” | null | null | null | null | null |
An 11-year-old boy from Ukraine who traveled hundreds of miles to Slovakia with a plastic bag, a passport and a phone number written on his hand. (Courtesy of Mario Bona/Slovak Police Force)
An 11-year-old Ukrainian boy who fled to Slovakia alone — with a plastic bag, a passport and a telephone number scrawled on his hand — was hailed by authorities. But it was not the first time fighting had uprooted the child, whose family fled Syria’s war about a decade ago.
His safe escape from Ukraine, traveling hundreds of miles by train on his own, marked a bright moment this week in a conflict that has escalated since Russian troops marched into the country. It showed “fearlessness and determination worthy of a real hero” from a boy whose smile has “won everybody’s hearts,” Slovakia’s Interior Ministry wrote on Facebook as the minister met with the child he called “Little Hassan.”
Once the boy crossed the border, volunteers used the number on his hand to contact his siblings in the Slovak capital, and they were reunited.
“We thought maybe one of us could go back to Ukraine and take him, but it was very dangerous, and it was very surprising when he crossed,” one of the boy’s teenage sisters, Luna, told The Washington Post. “It’s the best thing that happened because I was scared for him.”
The siblings moved to their mother’s native country, Ukraine, after spending their early childhood in Syria — where Russia is also embroiled in war since intervening with airstrikes to back Damascus. Luna said their Syrian father disappeared in the conflict there, “but I remember him.”
In a tearful video shared by Slovak authorities, the boy’s mother, Yulia Pisetskaya, said she was a widow and was unable to leave their home in Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia region because she was caring for her mother, who could not move on her own.
Half of the 2 million people driven from Ukraine by the Russian assault are children, according to UNICEF. The scale of the exodus announced by the United Nations on Tuesday has equaled in less than two weeks the historic flow of mainly Syrian refugees into Europe in 2015 and 2016.
The European Union has enacted unprecedented measures for the new refugees within its borders, breaking with past resistance to others seeking refuge. Under recently declared rules, Ukrainian nationals can get temporary protection anywhere within the 27-country bloc for up to three years.
After his escape, Hassan recounted a tiring journey on trains crammed with Ukrainians trying to flee and help from strangers along the way, his sister said. “He’s very proud” that people in Slovakia and others have dubbed him a hero, she added, laughing. “He tells me, ‘Luna, I’m a hero!’ ” | null | null | null | null | null |
The long-awaited executive order aims to ensure that the U.S. fosters the surging industry while mitigating its potential threats.
President Biden, seen March 8, 2022, returning to the White House, has ordered a review of the federal government’s approach to cryptocurrency. (Oliver Contreras/Pool/EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock)
President Biden signed an executive order Wednesday for a sweeping review of the government’s approach to cryptocurrencies, aiming to secure the nation’s position as a leader in the rapidly growing industry while containing risks to consumers and the financial system itself.
Ultimately, some structure could be imposed on what has been a fractured regulatory response to the rise of digital assets in a global market now valued at roughly $1.85 trillion.
The Russian invasion of Ukraine has sharpened Washington’s focus on both the promise and peril of digital currency. The Ukrainian government and affiliated causes have collected tens of millions of dollars in cryptocurrency donations since the conflict began. Meanwhile, some U.S. policymakers have raised concerns about the potential for Russians to use cryptocurrencies to dodge sanctions, although others say the relatively small size of the asset market and the traceability of digital tokens make it an unworkable option for the Russians targeted with sanctions.
The order also directs federal policymakers to place “urgency on research and development” of a central bank digital currency, a sort of digital dollar that more than 100 other countries including Russia and China are exploring for their own currencies. The Federal Reserve issued a report in January outlining potential benefits and drawbacks of issuing electronic cash, requesting public input on the matter. And the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston last month unveiled a technical mock-up for the project.
Circle chief executive Jeremy Allaire, whose company issues the world’s second-most popular stablecoin, wrote on Twitter that the order signals that the U.S. “seems to be taking on the reality that digital assets represent one of the most significant technologies and infrastructures for the 21st century; it’s rewarding to see this from the WH after so many of us have been making the case for 9+ years.” | null | null | null | null | null |
Wake Forest vs. Boston College (ACC second round, approx. 2:30, ESPN): There are multiple problems with fifth-seeded Wake Forest’s resume, none of them remedied by facing #TuesdayInBrooklyn survivor Boston College (12-19). The Demon Deacons (23-8) played the 338th-toughest (or, 21st-easiest) nonconference schedule, and they are 1-4 in Quadrant 1 games — the most challenging set of games on the NCAA’s team sheet. It does own two victories against the likely field, at home against North Carolina and Notre Dame.
Xavier vs. Butler (Big East first round, 4:30, Fox Sports 1): Despite a late five-game losing streak that put their NCAA chances in peril, the Musketeers (18-12) blasted Georgetown like they were supposed to Saturday. Xavier’s performance in the six metrics on the NCAA’s team sheets range from between 36th and 54th, and its 5-9 mark in Quadrant 1 games isn’t great but probably good enough. Still, just to be safe, the Musketeers might want to handle Butler (13-18) and avoid any unnecessary Selection Sunday anxiety. | null | null | null | null | null |
The right-wing media-verse finds a powerful proponent for its straw men
“I don’t know what’s going on to be honest, brother, I really don’t,” he said. “There’s so much stuff — and I don’t think nobody knows what’s going on fully. There’s been so much political corruption in that area. You got Biden and his son making a … ton of money off of and using our tax dollars to bribe their people. That’s treasonous, in my opinion. … He shouldn’t be giving our tax dollars to that country anyway! We got veterans out here sleeping on the street, and you’re going to give our … tax dollars to these Ukrainians?”
Who is? Who accused him of treason? Carlson’s jumped from “people like you” to “you” to amplify the idea that Mitchell represents a broad, oppressed mass of people who the elites are trying to cajole into engaging in a shooting war with Russia. | null | null | null | null | null |
Alexandria Mayor Justin Wilson (D) at a city council meeting on Feb. 15, 2022. (Craig Hudson/For the Washington Post)
Whole Woman’s Health, one of two abortion providers in the Northern Virginia suburb of D.C., had approached a city lawmaker to ask for an in-person proclamation — a document signed by the mayor and issued at his discretion — declaring March 10 as “Abortion Provider Appreciation Day” in Alexandria.
In Virginia, that tenuous future has created a political storm on the right and the left: Some members of the Democratic Party, which until recently controlled all three levels of state government, came up short in their last-minute push to codify abortion rights into state law. They also have made unusual maneuvers in the General Assembly to ensure that moderate members of their party cannot advance abortion restrictions pushed by Republicans.
Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R) has also irked GOP activists by letting antiabortion legislation sit on the back burner in favor of reforming school curriculums and issuing tax cuts, even as the commonwealth has withdrawn from a legal brief supporting Roe.
Abortion rights groups began pushing to mark March 10 as Abortion Provider Appreciation Day after David Gunn, an OB/GYN in Florida, was murdered outside his clinic on that day in 1993 during an antiabortion protest. The day has been recognized in recent years with proclamations in Atlanta, Minneapolis and St. Louis, as well as in Washington state. Advocates have tried to spread that further with abortion rights seemingly more at risk than at any point since the Roe decision.
Residents or local groups may ask Alexandria’s mayor for a proclamation on just about anything — including birthdays, graduations and history months — that can be presented at a city council meeting or an outside event. Wilson said that although he does turn down some requests from the public, it would be “rare” for him to turn down a request from another member of city council, all of which is Democratic. | null | null | null | null | null |
The Commanders want a star quarterback. Do any star QBs want the Commanders?
Russell Wilson will not be calling FedEx Field his new home. (Ricky Carioti/The Washington Post)
This is all going to end with Mitchell Trubisky and Taylor Heinicke battling it out in camp, isn’t it?
Aaron Rodgers is staying in Green Bay. Russell Wilson is heading to Denver. And the Washington Commanders eternally need a quarterback. They were willing, apparently, to part with three first-round draft picks to land the 33-year-old Wilson. But they were left where they always seem to be: With their nose pressed to the glass, on the outside looking in.
There’s a lot to untangle here, and that’s before we even get to the tawdry possibility of pursuing Deshaun Watson — which we will. But the upshot seems to be this: Washington’s brass, led by head coach/chief football czar Ron Rivera, understands this franchise’s potential is perpetually limited unless and until it can fix the chronic problem at quarterback. And the quarterbacks with some control over where they land don’t want to be part of Washington’s solution.
This is a problem. There are two ways to land a stable, franchise-steadying quarterback: be fortunate enough to have a high draft pick in a year when one of those players is coming out of college, or create an environment and build a roster that would be attractive to an established quarterback who is looking for new surroundings.
On the first front: Since the last of its three Super Bowl titles following the 1991 season, Washington has drafted 14 quarterbacks, from Chris Hakel in the fourth round in 1992 to Dwayne Haskins in the first round in 2019. They have combined to win one playoff game as a starter — and that was Kirk Cousins for Minnesota, after he moved on from Washington. That’s quite a run of incompetence — particularly notable with the next draft just seven weeks away and Washington possessing the enticing-but-dangerous combination of a vacuum at quarterback and the 11th pick in the first round.
So Rivera has to figure out a way to take another swing. Remember, this pursuit didn’t start this offseason. The Commanders — back when they were the Washington Football Team — took a shot at Matthew Stafford when the Detroit Lions were shopping their longtime incumbent. They missed and ended up with 38-year-old free agent Ryan Fitzpatrick, who lasted roughly 30 seconds before succumbing to injury and relinquishing the job to Heinicke. Stafford went on to win the Super Bowl with the Los Angeles Rams. The Commanders posted their fifth straight losing season. It’s who they are.
Rodgers returning for what will be an 18th season in Green Bay really had a nominal effect on the Commanders’ 2022 situation, because it defies logic that a player who won the past two MVP awards would survey the landscape and say, “I choose Ashburn.” But it’s still instructive that the Commanders are such a non-contender in these situations. Washington plays in an outdated, half-empty stadium for an owner who is universally loathed by its fan base and oversaw a culture that demeaned and harassed women for years — a shroud that still covers the entire operation. Oh, and they have one playoff win this century. No wonder quarterbacks aren’t lining up to play here.
The problem for Rivera isn’t just that he missed out on Wilson. It’s that he ended his second season by saying, “It’s time I think that we see this team start to take that big step forward.” That’s absolutely what should be the goal going into the third year of a coach’s and front office’s tenure. It can’t be ignored that the Cincinnati Bengals went 2-14 and 4-11-1 — and then ended up in the Super Bowl.
Hmmm. It’s almost as if being in position to take Joe Burrow with the No. 1 pick in the draft mattered.
Okay, before we get to the draft, let’s deal with Watson. He is just 26. The belief in Houston is that he has taken his last snap with the Texans. He will be traded. And on Friday, a grand jury will hear testimony from eight of the 10 women who last year filed criminal complaints of sexual misconduct against him. In all, 22 women have sued Watson for a variety of sexual misdeeds.
So this is murky. If Watson is guilty of even one of these complaints, Washington can’t pursue him. There’s just no way a franchise that has been defined by its mistreatment of women can bring in a mistreater of women. That’s not just lousy PR. It’s lousy morals.
If Watson is cleared of all these issues — a massive if — there’s this: He has a no-trade clause. So he, like Wilson, would have to say, “I choose you, Commanders.”
Which gets us to the draft. This isn’t a year ago, when five quarterbacks went among the first 15 picks. This is a year when it wouldn’t be shocking to see no quarterbacks go in the top 10 picks. It’s not that Pitt’s Kenny Pickett or Liberty’s Malik Willis — or both — could be available at No. 11. It’s that Rivera and his lieutenants have to believe in that quarterback for 2022 and beyond.
And don’t even go down a road that has the Commanders taking a quarterback in the first round — and having the season go badly awry anyway. In a worst-case scenario, that could lead to a change at coach and in the front office, which would lead to a new regime having to develop and evaluate an iffy quarterback, which would just continue this bottomless cycle. Ugh.
So, then, Trubisky, the former second pick in the draft who became a backup in Buffalo? Marcus Mariota? Jameis Winston? Teddy Bridgewater? Retreads and reclamations. It feels so … Washington.
The most significant NFL news of the offseason came Tuesday. More will follow. And there the Commanders will stand, staring at all the diamonds through the windowpane. | null | null | null | null | null |
“Black Panther” director Ryan Coogler said Wednesday that he was handcuffed and briefly detained in January after he was mistaken for a bank robber while trying to get money from his own Bank of America account.
Coogler, who is currently filming “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” in Atlanta, entered a Bank of America branch on Jan. 7 wearing sunglasses, a hat and a face mask to prevent the spread of covid-19. When he approached the counter, he allegedly handed the teller a withdrawal slip with a note written on the back, according to TMZ, the first to report the news.
Coogler, widely considered one of the hottest young directors in Hollywood, has explored social and racial themes in his work. The Bay Area native first broke through with his acclaimed 2013 biographical debut “Fruitvale Station,” centered on the life and 2009 shooting of Oscar Grant III, a 22-year-old Black man who died at the hands of Bay Area Rapid Transit police in Oakland. | null | null | null | null | null |
“Black Panther” director Ryan Coogler said Wednesday that he was handcuffed and briefly detained in January after he was mistaken for a bank robber while trying to get money from his Bank of America account.
Coogler, who is currently filming “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” in Atlanta, entered a Bank of America branch on Jan. 7 wearing sunglasses, a hat and a face mask to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. When he approached the counter, he allegedly handed the teller a withdrawal slip with a note written on the back, according to TMZ, the first to report the news.
Coogler, widely considered one of the hottest young directors in Hollywood, has explored social and racial themes in his work. The Bay Area native first broke through with his acclaimed 2013 biographical debut “Fruitvale Station,” centered on the life and 2009 shooting of Oscar Grant III, a 22-year-old Black man who died at the hands of Bay Area Rapid Transit police in Oakland, Calif.
News that Coogler was detained and mistaken for a bank robber stirred widespread criticism of Bank of America from his supporters and media pundits. The NAACP slammed Bank of America for profiling Coogler, who is Black. | null | null | null | null | null |
Alexandria Mayor Justin Wilson (D) at a city council meeting on Feb. 15. (Craig Hudson/For the Washington Post)
Whole Woman’s Health, one of two abortion providers in the Northern Virginia suburb, had approached a city lawmaker to ask for an in-person proclamation — a document signed by the mayor and issued at his discretion — declaring March 10 as “Abortion Provider Appreciation Day” in Alexandria.
In Virginia, that tenuous future has created a political storm on the right and the left: Democrats in the General Assembly have made unusual maneuvers to ensure that moderate members of their party cannot advance abortion restrictions pushed by Republicans.
Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R), meanwhile, has irked GOP activists by letting antiabortion legislation sit on the back burner, even as the commonwealth has withdrawn from a legal brief supporting Roe.
Abortion rights groups began pushing to mark March 10 as Abortion Provider Appreciation Day after David Gunn, an OB/GYN in Florida, was murdered outside his clinic on that day in 1993 during an antiabortion protest. The day has been recognized in recent years with proclamations in Atlanta, Minneapolis and St. Louis, as well as in Washington state.
Whole Woman’s Health, which is based in Texas and operates several clinics around the country, has tried to spread the day to more cities, particularly as they warn that abortion rights are now “in peril," spokeswoman Jackie Dilworth said in a statement. The network of clinics has sued Texas and other states for laws restricting access to abortion.
Residents or local groups may ask Alexandria’s mayor for a proclamation on just about anything — including birthdays, graduations and history months — that can be presented at a city council meeting or an outside event. Wilson said that although he does turn down some requests from the public, it would be “rare” for him to turn down a request from another city lawmaker, all of whom are Democrats.
But for Dilworth, of Whole Woman’s Health, it all proved why the proclamation was necessary in the first place.
“This backlash underscores just how important it is to let abortion providers and clinic staff know that they are supported,” she said in a statement. "It’s a shame that a very vocal minority has taken this course of disruptive and disrespectful action.” | null | null | null | null | null |
Russell Wilson won a Super Bowl and made nine Pro Bowls during 10 years in Seattle. (Elaine Thompson/AP)
It began as a maverick partnership, the Seattle Seahawks believing 10 years ago that a 5-foot-11 third-round draft pick could operate a playoff-ready team. Russell Wilson made short quarterbacks fashionable, redefining the possibilities as a Super Bowl champion, thriving long before Baker Mayfield and Kyler Murray were selected first overall.
For a franchise built on the unconventional personnel whims of Coach Pete Carroll and General Manager John Schneider, Wilson was the eccentric masterpiece. Ten seasons, nine Pro Bowls, eight playoff appearances, two Super Bowls and one title later, the Wilson-Seahawks alliance stands as one of the great revelations of the past decade in the NFL. And on Tuesday, the relationship ended in a strangely proper way, with Seattle resolving more than a year of philosophical differences by making another unorthodox quarterback decision.
This time, the Seahawks traded away the elite quarterback they developed, one who should have plenty of life left in his arm. They made a kind of blockbuster deal you normally see in basketball or baseball, swapping the most coveted asset in professional team sports for a bundle of draft picks from the Denver Broncos and players who may or may not help them rebuild.
In a sport in which franchise QBs are asked to cover many sins (and paid well for it), Wilson has spent most of the past seven years carrying the post-Super Bowl Seahawks along the outskirts of contention and waiting for the chance to lead a dominant team again. For his work, he earned two top-market contract extensions and acclaim as one of football’s transcendent talents. But he wanted more. He wanted to step outside the philosophies of the defensive-minded Carroll and introduce his coach to the league’s pass revolution.
But while Carroll is a master motivator and a visionary gifted at amplifying atypical talent, he prefers traditional strategy on the field. The quarterback, coach and team were ideal complements during the Legion of Boom era, when a legendarily fierce defense guided Seattle. However, that version of the Seahawks peaked in early 2015, after a potential game-winning drive in Super Bowl XLIX ended with Wilson throwing a devastating goal-line interception that cost Seattle a second straight championship and ruined the chemistry of a mercurial locker room. Since then, Seattle has remained competitive but slipped to the second tier as it struggled to turn over an aging roster, made questionable draft decisions and relied too heavily on risky and pricey acquisitions via trades and free agency.
Yet through all the mishaps, the Seahawks had a great quarterback who kept finding ways to help them win. Wilson didn’t experience a losing year until this past season, when a broken finger forced him to miss the first three games of his career and Seattle finished 7-10.
And now, it’s over. At 33, Wilson still has stardom in him; he posted a stellar 103.1 passer rating in 2021. But to those who pay close attention, he hasn’t been the same player since midway through the 2020 season. He missed more opportunities than usual. He declined to make simple throws and held onto the football for too long, greedy for big plays. He stopped scrambling. He went from speaking in cliches during interviews to expressing frustration and making headlines on occasion.
Wilson continued to dream aloud about winning multiple Super Bowls with the Seahawks and staying in Seattle for his entire career. Still, the whispers of discontent never subsided.
So for a second time with Wilson, the Seahawks decided to do what most teams wouldn’t dare try.
Ten years ago, they reset a few NFL team-building philosophies when Schneider chose to draft Wilson despite his size and Carroll opted to start him as a rookie over veterans Matt Flynn and Tarvaris Jackson. All of a sudden, they had a star quarterback on an extremely cheap rookie deal, which allowed them to build the league’s deepest roster. It became a blueprint for franchises with shrewd talent evaluators and fast-rising aspirations.
Ten years later, the Seahawks have decided to forgo stability, acquiesce to Wilson’s desire for something new and play the value game with a seemingly invaluable commodity. They’re officially rebuilding. On Tuesday night, they also released middle linebacker Bobby Wagner, another future Hall of Famer they drafted in the same 2012 class as Wilson. Just like that, the remnants of a glorious past are gone. The organization either will be fools for letting go of Wilson too soon and venturing back into a quarterback unknown that seems like an abyss for more than half the league. Or by getting all weird again, it will rediscover its old team-building magic and perhaps pave the way for more organizations to leverage their standout quarterbacks for rebuilding purposes.
We’re at the beginning of something new in the NFL. It’s hard to know whether it will last. But for the second straight offseason, a big-time QB talent has been traded. A year ago, the Los Angeles Rams exchanged Jared Goff for the big arm of Matthew Stafford. The move, which was the first swap of former No. 1 picks in modern NFL history, propelled the Rams to a Super Bowl triumph. On the other side, the Detroit Lions are tolerating Goff and hoping they can make good use of all the draft capital.
Wilson is a bigger star, but unlike Stafford, he’s not going to a certain championship-caliber squad. The Broncos have had five straight losing seasons. They haven’t been to the playoffs since winning the Super Bowl six years ago in Peyton Manning’s final season. Since Manning retired, they have been in stopgap quarterback hell: Trevor Siemian, Case Keenum, Joe Flacco, Drew Lock and Teddy Bridgewater all failed to provide ideal stability. After a long search, Wilson is worth the investment, and the Broncos also think they have the right offensive mind to engage him: new head coach Nathaniel Hackett. Denver can support Wilson with a top 10 defense, two effective running backs and a solid receiving corps.
If Wilson returns to form, it could be a promising situation. In the AFC, where the majority of the NFL’s outstanding young quarterbacks dwell, he needs to be at his best.
The Seahawks have the most to lose, however. In the recent period of star quarterback displeasure, you kept wondering which team would have the guts to say goodbye to the face of its franchise. It’s hard to quit a great quarterback, and for the most part, it’s hard for a great quarterback to quit the team he represents. Even Aaron Rodgers, after all that drama, is staying in Green Bay. The Seahawks and Wilson, once perfect for each other, turned out to be the ones who couldn’t stay together.
For Carroll and Schneider, this move will clarify their Seattle legacies. They led the franchise to its first championship eight years ago and managed the roster well enough to also create the longest run of success in team history. But there’s still a sense they left some success on the table and never recovered from that Super Bowl loss.
All that joy and pain is suddenly behind them. What’s ahead looks hazy. Wilson, an unconventional gem, used to be the one who sustained the Seahawks. They’ll have to be different without him now. | null | null | null | null | null |
A service member of pro-Russian troops in a uniform without insignia walks past trucks with the letter “Z” painted on tent tops in the separatist-controlled settlement of Buhas (Bugas), as Russia's invasion of Ukraine continues, in the Donetsk region, Ukraine on March 1. (Reuters/Alexander Ermochenko)
A new pro-Russian symbol is emerging as the nation continues its assault on Ukraine. The insignia is bold, recognizable, and, importantly, according to some analysts, can be painted with one stroke: the letter Z.
It first caught the world’s attention when it was spotted on military vehicles clustered along the Russian border with Ukraine, in the days ahead of the invasion that began on Feb. 24.
But it’s since been appearing across Russia: Spray-painted on buildings, printed on T-shirts, plastered on billboards and brushed on tanks. Even children are forming Z-shaped lines at schools. Experts say it has quickly become a distinctive symbol of support of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Although the symbol has been officially promoted by the military, and some experts say it appears to be a state-directed, they also say there is no way yet to know its origins for sure.
Several videos shared on social media last week showed what appeared to be flash mobs of young protesters dancing amid a pool of Russian flags and wearing black T-shirts with the Z.
The letter has also been painted on large apartment blocks and posted on advertising signs in major cities. In St. Petersburg, one billboard featured a large Z in black and orange stripes, accompanied by the words, “We don’t give up our own.”
The slogan referred to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s official line that the invasion’s aim is to “liberate” and “de-Nazify” Ukraine, an independent nation led by a democratically elected Jewish president.
Photos published by the Associated Press from a pro-military rally in Volgograd, show cars parked to form the shape of a “Z.” Others show stickers on car windows featuring an orange and black Z with the message “For Ours” in support of Russian forces.
Twenty-year-old gymnast Ivan Kuliak taped a white Z shape on his chest on the podium while receiving his bronze medal this week at an international competition in Qatar. And Maria Butina, a member of the Russian parliament who was convicted in the United States for trying to being an unregistered foreign agent for Russia, posted a video of herself drawing a white Z on the lapel of her jacket.
While the symbol has been gaining traction over the past week, so too have antiwar protests in Russia and other places denouncing the war, even in the face of a clampdown on critics. About 58 percent of Russians approve of the invasion of Ukraine, while 23 percent oppose it, according to a survey conducted across Russia by independent polling groups last week.
The Russian Defense Ministry over the past week has posted a string of graphics with the Z on Instagram — the first such case, alongside the phrase beginning with a Z: “Za pobedu,” or “For victory.” And later, “For peace” and “For truth.”
Many of the images coming out of Russia show an orange-and-black Z, the same colors found in a ribbon tied to the Order of Saint George, the highest battlefield award in Imperial Russia. It was established in 1769.
The color combination was also the informal symbol of the Soviet Union’s victory over Nazi Germany in World War II, The Post reported, and was later widely used in 2014 by separatists as a way to show allegiance to Moscow during Russia’s annexation of Crimea.
The St. George ribbons are ubiquitous in Russia, particularly in the weeks ahead of the Victory Day celebration on May 9. They have served as a powerful and effective unifying symbol under Putin, tying together support for the state and the country’s historic contribution to the defeat of fascism.
Maria Snegovaya, a scholar of Russia’s domestic and foreign policy, argued the orange-and-black Z creates a link between the ongoing invasion and celebrations of the victory of World War II, which she said is understood as “the historic Russian fight against the West,” while bolstering the idea of Russia being “historically the winner.”
As the symbol appears to be everywhere in Russia, experts say it has now become potent, intended to show a united Russia in times of war.
In this sense, the Z became a symbol of a new Russian ideology and national identity, said Kamil Galeev, a former Wilson Center fellow who researched Russian identity politics from Moscow, in a long Twitter thread.
But experts like Galeev and others, argue its sudden use among many Russians follows a state-organized propaganda campaign to rally support, or at least create the impression to the outside world that Russian people stand behind the invasion.
Hale added these symbols can be “powerful tools for authoritarian regimes,” like Russia which in this case is “promoting something simple, visible, adaptable, versatile and that way, it can take on a life of its own, while creating the impression of broad support for the regime.”
But such efforts can also be used to influence and coerce others into embracing the regime’s policies — or at least pretend to, said Hale, who specializes in Russian and Ukrainian politics.
“If many people see many others displaying symbols, it puts pressure on other people to show the same kind of support, to stay in the good graces of the regime, not run into trouble with neighbors and to adopt the socially desirable position.”
Alexei Yurchak, an anthropologist at University of California-Berkeley studying post-Soviet Russia and Eastern Europe, argued the fact that this is a new symbol never used before endows it with even more power.
“Everyone can easily draw it. They can endow it with all sorts of different meanings … And no one quite knows whether it’s true or not,” he said, adding that there is no “real meaning” of the symbol.
Some people have connected it to the fictional character of Zorro, the avenging vigilante fighting to protect the common people. Or “For Victory.” Or “Zapad,” the Russian word for “West.” Or the St. George’s ribbon symbolizing heroism and resistance. | null | null | null | null | null |
A day after Aaron Rodgers announced his return to Green Bay and Russell Wilson was traded to Denver, Washington agreed to acquire Indianapolis Colts quarterback Carson Wentz, according to multiple people with knowledge of the deal.
The terms of the trade, which cannot be made official until March 16, the start of the new league year, aren’t yet known. But the agreement settles the biggest uncertainty in Washington — for at least a year. | null | null | null | null | null |
A plane carrying former president Donald Trump made an emergency landing in New Orleans after an engine failure over the Gulf of Mexico. (Charlie Neibergall/AP)
The plane carrying Trump was forced to immediately return to the airport and make the unscheduled landing in Louisiana shortly before 11 p.m., according to people familiar with the episode. The plane was attempting to take Trump home to his Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Fla., from the Four Seasons Hotel in New Orleans, where he spoke to some of the party’s top donors at a private event. | null | null | null | null | null |
FILE - A decorated stage appears prior to the 73rd annual Tony Awards at Radio City Music Hall in New York on June 9, 2019. The Broadway League and the American Theatre Wing announced Wednesday that the Tony Awards will be held at Radio City Music Hall on June 12 and aired on CBS. Instead of a three-hour presentation, producers are adding an extra hour ahead of the telecast that will stream only on Paramount+. (Charles Sykes/Invision/AP, File) | null | null | null | null | null |
Renee Poussaint, award-winning newscaster, dies at 77
By Louie Estrada
Renee Poussaint (Rich Lipski/The Washington Post)
Renee Poussaint, an award-winning local Washington newscaster and correspondent for ABC News who stepped away from journalism in the late 1990s to pursue endeavors to educate young people about Black history and civil rights, died March 4 at her home in the District. She was 77.
The cause was lung cancer, said her husband, Henry Richardson, a retired Temple University professor of international law.
Ms. Poussaint joined the Washington-area media market in the mid-1970s as a correspondent for CBS News before WJLA-TV (Channel 7) hired her in 1978 as an evening and late-night co-anchor with David Schoumacher.
She received local Emmy Awards for her reporting on human-interest stories, including Haitian migrant workers at a labor camp on Maryland’s Eastern Shore and her account of the return of the American hostages from Iran. She won another for a profile of Jack Kent Cooke, the owner of what is now the Washington Commanders football team.
After leaving WJLA in 1992, she was elevated to the network level and continued to win awards. She covered U.S. presidential campaigns and reported from conflict zones such as Haiti, South Africa and Uganda for the newsmagazine programs “20/20” and “PrimeTime Live.” On a few occasions, she filled-in for anchor Peter Jennings on the network’s half-hour evening program “World News Tonight.”
Renee Francine Poussaint was born in Manhattan on Aug. 12, 1944, and grew up in the Spanish Harlem neighborhood. Her father was an engraver and union leader at the New York Times, and her mother was a social worker who became the city’s deputy commissioner of welfare.
She and her younger brother were raised primarily by their mother after their parents divorced, and she was surrounded by relatives who stressed the importance of education. Her uncle Alvin Poussaint became a Harvard Medical School psychiatry professor and was a consultant to Bill Cosby in creating “The Cosby Show.”
Ms. Poussaint attended Sarah Lawrence College in Bronxville, N.Y., on a scholarship and graduated in 1964 with a degree in comparative literature. She received a master’s degree in African studies from the University of California at Los Angeles in 1970, took classes at Yale Law School for a year and entered Indiana University for doctoral work in comparative literature.
While teaching a class on Black American literature, she told the Chicago Tribune, she found that her students had little interest in the material and exhibited barely passable reading and writing skills.
“They told me that they didn’t see it as a problem because they got the bulk of their information from television,” she said. “So I went through a kind of identity crisis because at the same time my studies were becoming more and more esoteric — I would sit in seminars with six people and translate parts of the Bible into Swahili — and so I decided that I needed to learn something about television.”
She left Indiana to enroll in a program for minority journalists at Columbia University, then was hired as a news writer for WBBM in Chicago. Her first on-air reporting occurred accidentally. Short-staffed, the editor sent her to relay information back to the station about a house fire in the suburbs. Authorities discovered that the fire was the site of a murder-suicide that left five people dead, and Ms. Poussaint found herself for the first time speaking to the television camera for a live report.
“I did it, and I was terrible,” she told The Washington Post in 1982. “I stumbled and hemmed and hawed and carried on and figured that the only redeeming feature of the whole thing was my mother in New York couldn’t see me make a fool of myself. But it was pretty bad. Anyway I survived the experience.”
In 2001, she co-founded and served as executive director of the National Visionary Leadership Project, which recorded 300 oral history interviews with Black leaders in the arts, education, government and civil rights. Ms. Poussaint compiled many of them in the 2004 book “A Wealth of Wisdom: Legendary African American Elders Speak,” which she co-edited with Cosby’s wife, Camille.
Ms. Poussaint tutored and mentored District children and was an adjunct professor of journalism at the University of Maryland. She also was president of her own communications firm and founded Wisdom Works, a nonprofit documentary film company that made “Tutu and Franklin: A Journey Towards Peace,” with South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu and American historian John Hope Franklin discussing racial reconciliation.
In addition to her husband of 45 years, survivors include a brother and two half-sisters.
When she entered broadcast journalism in Chicago, she recalled being told that she would never succeed, for many reasons. In addition to her race, gender and short hair, a supervisor told her, she came across as too intelligent — superior to the average viewer.
The conversation compelled her to challenge bias and inequality during and after her TV career.
“As a young black woman, my opportunities for activism and involvement were rich and constant,” Ms. Poussaint wrote in a 2001 essay. “My moral imperatives — my woulds and shoulds — were firm and clear. And, although I was a woman and a black, I believed I should have an equal chance to be president, or anything else I pleased.” | null | null | null | null | null |
If you thought the anti-abortion vigilante law Texas Republicans passed last year was the most appalling abuse of legislative power you’d ever seen, I have some bad news for you.
If that shocks you, just wait. In Idaho, the state House just passed a bill that would make it illegal to provide puberty blockers or other hormonal treatment to trans kids. The bill’s language says that not only physicians but “whoever knowingly gives permission for, or permits on a child” these treatments — i.e., parents — will be guilty of a felony and can be sentenced to life in prison.
Instead, extreme Republicans have gotten elected to state legislatures over the course of the last few elections and have worked their way up the ranks. You’re familiar with trolls in Congress, such as Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) and Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.), but there are dozens or even hundreds like them in state legislatures around the country. | null | null | null | null | null |
Kokhav Ya'akov, Binyamin. June, 2014 (Ken Taranto)
These photos of Jewish settlements in the West Bank are imbued with the tension of places built on disputed land
Shomron, Binyamin, Hebron Hills, Gush Etzione. These are the names of some of the Jewish settlements that photographer Ken Taranto visited on his quest to try to understand them. That quest is eloquently presented in his book, aptly titled, “The Settlements” (Gost Books, 2021).
Taranto had always been curious about the nature of the settlements and had been visiting Israel for seven years before he finally decided to visit one. Reading stories about them in the news had piqued his interest and they had lodged in his mind. From news reports, he had fashioned an image of the settlements, and he was interested in investigating what they were like in person.
Now, if you have been paying attention to the news, you probably know that the settlements are and have been a point of contention for a very long time. As Taranto notes in an afterword to his book, they are built on disputed territory and link, inexorably, to the ongoing conflict that has gripped the area for decades. In fact, the first time he actually set foot in a settlement, Taranto felt a palpable sense of unease as he realized he was stepping into disputed territory.
But Taranto’s curiosity compelled him to see for himself what these places were like. As he says, again in the book’s afterword:
“My aim was to make an architectural portrait of the settlements from a broad sampling of all types, sizes, densities, ages and regions to determine if they truly were monolithic. I set out on day trips from Tel Aviv by car and started to visit them.
“I followed news reports about the settlements and often decided which to visit based on what I had just read. If a large expansion was announced, I was curious to see the settlements that were slated to receive the new units, even if there was nothing to see yet. Why were they selected? What made them desirable and influential communities? Was there a bigger picture I could glean from the announcement about the direction of settlement growth? Sometimes the High Court ruled in cases involving disputed ownership of land in a settlement. On a rare occasion, a directive was issued that an outpost had to be evacuated and buildings demolished. Reports of attacks on a settlement or attacks perpetrated by the residents of a settlement were defining, traumatic events that became part of a settlement’s history and character. Were there any visible traces of the trauma, or would just knowing about it sharpen my perception?”
“The Settlements” is entirely made up of beautifully wrought landscapes. Like the work of some of photography’s well known “New Topographers,” such as Lewis Baltz and Robert Adams, these are not merely pretty pictures, though. There is a heavy weight underneath them.
Baltz and Adams made landscape photographs that spoke to the encroaching of civilization, and the resulting degradation of nature on the American west. Taranto’s work does the same. Israel is a gorgeous place, but one could say it is also marred by civilization and its war of ideologies.
So what does that look like? Like I said earlier, Taranto’s photographs are beautifully constructed. But you cannot help notice a feeling of stricture in them. There are tight clusters of houses sitting in the midst of a wide-open landscape, as though they are huddling with each other for safety against an unseen threat. There they sit, all tensed up, plopped down into a beautiful, ancient and arid, wind-swept landscape.
Taranto’s photos kind of remind me of a castle surrounded by a moat, or a town encased in high gates that you might see in period films about the Old West or medieval times. As such, any sense of warmth is whisked away. These places are hard and have their hackles raised. This makes perfect sense when you realize they are in no way exempt from attacks and even global resentment.
Another passage in the afterword to “The Settlements” sums it up so nicely:
“One day I came upon a yard with a panoramic vista of rolling hills that I found breathtaking and wanted to photograph it. No one was around so I crossed the yard and took a picture. A woman came out of the house beside the yard and scolded me for not asking permission. I apologised and explained there was no one around to ask and I found the view too beautiful to resist. She said she couldn’t blame me for wanting to take the picture because, after all, it’s the land that God gave Abraham.”
The settlements are so many things — situated in gorgeous land but imbued with the tension and guardedness that is a result of their complicated nature as part of a decades-long, ugly, dehumanizing and deadly conflict. Nobody, on either side, is exempt from the deleterious effects of that ongoing struggle.
You can see more of about “The Settlements,” including how to buy it, here. | null | null | null | null | null |
During a 33-year diplomatic career, Marie Yovanovitch served as the U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine from 2016 to 2019 and took a hardline approach against the country’s culture of corruption. She writes in her new book, “Lessons from the Edge” how her tenure abruptly ended when she was recalled after being criticized as being disloyal to then-President Trump. On Wednesday, March 16 at 10:00 a.m. ET, Yovanovitch joins Washington Post national investigative reporter Carol Leonnig to tell her side of the story and speak about what the future holds for Ukraine. | null | null | null | null | null |
A pro-Russian fighter in a uniform without insignia walks past trucks painted with the letter “Z” in the separatist-controlled settlement of Buhas, in the Donetsk region, on March 1. (Reuters/Alexander Ermochenko)
A new pro-Russian symbol is emerging as Moscow continues its assault on Ukraine. The insignia is bold, recognizable and — importantly, according to some analysts — can be painted with one stroke: the letter Z.
It first caught the world’s attention when it was spotted on military vehicles clustered along the Russian border with Ukraine in the days ahead of the invasion, which began on Feb. 24.
But it has since been appearing across Russia: spray-painted on buildings, printed on T-shirts, plastered on billboards and brushed onto tanks. Even children are forming Z-shaped lines at schools. Experts say it has quickly become a distinctive symbol of support for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Although the symbol has been officially promoted by the military, and some experts say it appears to be state-directed, they also say there is no way yet to know its origins for sure.
Several videos shared on social media last week showed what appeared to be flash mobs of young protesters dancing amid a sea of Russian flags and wearing black T-shirts with the Z.
The letter has also been painted on large apartment blocks and posted on advertising signs in major cities. In St. Petersburg, one billboard featured a large Z in black and orange stripes, accompanied by the words “We don’t give up our own.”
The slogan referred to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s official line that the invasion’s aim is to “liberate” and “denazify” Ukraine, an independent nation led by a democratically elected Jewish president.
Photos published by the Associated Press from a pro-military rally in Volgograd show cars parked to form a “Z.” Others show stickers on car windows featuring an orange-and-black "Z" with the message “For Ours,” in support of Russian forces.
Twenty-year-old gymnast Ivan Kuliak taped a white Z on his chest while on the podium to receive his bronze medal this week at an international competition in Qatar. And Maria Butina, a member of the Russian parliament who was convicted in the United States as an unregistered foreign agent for Russia, posted a video of herself drawing a white Z on the lapel of her jacket.
While the symbol has been gaining traction over the past week, so too have antiwar demonstrations in Russia and other places, even in the face of a clampdown on critics. About 58 percent of Russians approve of the invasion of Ukraine, while 23 percent oppose it, according to a survey conducted across Russia by independent polling groups last week.
The Russian Defense Ministry over the past week has posted graphics with the Z on Instagram — in the first such case, it appeared alongside the phrase “Za pobedu,” or “For victory.” And later, “For peace” and “For truth.”
Many of the images coming out of Russia show a Z in orange and black, the same colors found in a ribbon tied to the Order of Saint George, the highest battlefield award in Imperial Russia. It was established in 1769.
The color combination was also the informal symbol of the Soviet Union’s victory over Nazi Germany in World War II, The Washington Post reported, and was later widely used in 2014 by Ukrainian separatists as a way to show allegiance to Moscow during Russia’s annexation of Crimea.
The Saint George ribbons are ubiquitous in Russia, particularly in the weeks ahead of its Victory Day celebration on May 9. They have served as a powerful and effective unifying symbol under Putin, tying together support for the state and the country’s historic contribution to defeating fascism.
Maria Snegovaya, a scholar of Russia’s domestic and foreign policy, said the orange-and-black Z creates a link between the ongoing invasion and celebrations of the victory in World War II, which she said is understood as “the historic Russian fight against the West.” It also bolsters the idea of Russia being “historically the winner,” she said.
As the Z appears to be everywhere in Russia, experts say it has now become a potent symbol, intended to show a united Russia in times of war.
In this sense, the Z became a symbol of a new Russian ideology and national identity, Kamil Galeev, a former Wilson Center fellow who researched Russian identity politics from Moscow, said in a long Twitter thread.
But experts like Galeev and others, say its sudden use among many Russians follows a state-organized propaganda campaign to rally support, or at least create the impression to the outside world that Russian people stand behind the invasion.
Hale added that these symbols can be “powerful tools for authoritarian regimes” like Russia, which in this case is “promoting something simple, visible, adaptable, versatile, and that way, it can take on a life of its own, while creating the impression of broad support for the regime.”
But such efforts can also be used to influence and coerce others into embracing the regime’s policies — or at least pretending to, said Hale, who specializes in Russian and Ukrainian politics.
“If many people see many others displaying symbols, it puts pressure on other people to show the same kind of support to stay in the good graces of the regime, not run into trouble with neighbors and to adopt the socially desirable position.”
Alexei Yurchak, an anthropologist at the University of California at Berkeley who studies post-Soviet Russia and Eastern Europe, said the fact that this is a new symbol endows it with even more power.
“Everyone can easily draw it. They can endow it with all sorts of different meanings. … And no one quite knows whether it’s true or not,” he said, adding that there is no “real meaning” for the symbol.
Some people have connected it to the fictional character Zorro, the vigilante fighting to protect the common people. Or to “For Victory.” Or to “Zapad,” the Russian word for “West.” Or to the Saint George’s ribbon symbolizing heroism and resistance. | null | null | null | null | null |
President Donald Trump in 2019. (Charlie Neibergall/AP)
The flight had gone approximately 75 miles after taking off from New Orleans Lakefront Airport, reaching an altitude of about 28,000 feet before turning around, according to tracking data from ADS-B Exchange. The Dassault Falcon 900 carried a retinue of Secret Service agents, other support staffers, Trump and some of his advisers, the people said. One of the plane’s engines failed, according to people familiar with the episode.
Trump advisers worked to secure another donor’s plane brought to the airport in New Orleans to meet him, and he did not arrive home to Palm Beach, until early in the morning, the people said. | null | null | null | null | null |
A day after Aaron Rodgers announced his return to Green Bay and Russell Wilson was traded to Denver, Washington agreed to acquire Indianapolis Colts quarterback Carson Wentz for a package of draft picks, according to multiple people with knowledge of the deal.
In addition to Wentz, the Commanders will swap 2022 second-round picks with the Colts. The Colts will also get Washington’s 2022 third-round pick and its 2023 third-round pick, which can turn into a second-round pick if Wentz plays at least 70 percent of the team’s snaps.
The deal, which cannot be made official until March 16, the start of the new league year, settles the biggest uncertainty in Washington — for at least a year.
The Carson Wentz deal
Washington receives …
Indianapolis receives …
Colts’ 2022 second-round pick
2023 third-round pick that can convert to a second-rounder if Wentz plays 70 percent of the snaps | null | null | null | null | null |
NEW YORK — A prominent literary journal is shutting down this fall after losing support from its publisher, Bard College. Conjunctions, founded in 1981 by Bradford Morrow and the recipient of numerous awards, has been a forum for writers ranging from W.S. Merwin and Richard Powers to Kelly Link and John Edgar Wideman. | null | null | null | null | null |
Members of the Oath Keepers provide security to Roger Stone at a rally the night before groups attacked the U.S. Capitol, in Washington, Jan.y 5, 2021. (Jim Urquhart/REUTERS)
There are at most two degrees of separation from former president Donald Trump to the leaders of far-right extremist groups that were involved in the pro-Trump riot at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. Between both Trump and the heads of the Proud Boys and the Oath Keepers sits only Trump’s longtime adviser Roger Stone.
On Tuesday, the federal government indicted Enrique Tarrio, the head of the Proud Boys, on eight criminal counts ranging from conspiracy to obstructing law enforcement to obstruction of an official proceeding. Oath Keepers founder Stuart Rhodes was arrested in January for similarly engaging in an effort to block the counting of electoral votes on that day; he faces charges including seditious conspiracy. Last week, one of those included in the conspiracy charge, Joshua James, pleaded guilty.
All of which makes Stone’s connections to both groups much more salient. In fact, D.C. District Judge Amit Mehta made that question explicit in a ruling that allowed lawsuits against Trump related to Jan. 6 to move forward.
Both Stone and Tarrio live in South Florida, which appears to be how they came to know one another. After the Proud Boys were founded in late 2016, Tarrio became the head of a chapter located in the area, before rising to the top position.
The earliest indications of how Stone and the Proud Boys overlapped came, strangely, from activity posted by fake accounts on Facebook. A network of fake accounts and pages shared information about politics and about Stone during a period ranging from 2015 to 2017. When it shuttered the network in 2020, Facebook wrote that it “first started looking into this network as part of our investigation into the Proud Boys’ attempts to return to Facebook after we had designated and banned them from the platform” in 2018. “ … Our investigation linked this network to Roger Stone and his associates.” | null | null | null | null | null |
In 2014, the league actually got six NCAA tournament bids — matching the ACC, Big Ten and Pac-12. Only the Big 12, with seven, had more tournament teams. No non-power conference had gotten six bids before, and none has since.
A year earlier, the A-10 got five bids. In fact, it has been a multi-bid league for each of the last 15 tournaments. It also has four schools that have been to the Final Four — although none were in the league at the time. Dayton reached the championship game in 1967, losing to a John Wooden/Lew Alcindor UCLA team. St. Bonaventure got to the Final Four in 1970, but had to face Jacksonville without Bob Lanier.
Much more recently, George Mason (2006) and VCU (2011) both made the Final Four while they were members of the Colonial Athletic Association. Davidson and Steph Curry reached the Elite Eight in 2008, losing to Kansas — which won the national championship — at the buzzer. Davidson also went to the Elite Eight in 1968 and 1969, led by a young coach named Lefty Driesell.
The most electric atmosphere I have ever been in for a basketball game — and I’ve been in a few of them — was a 2013 Atlantic 10 game held at VCU’s Siegel Center between Butler and VCU. That was the only year Butler was in the league, moving to the Big East the next season. The reason was money, but after getting blown out at VCU, I think Brad Stevens — then Butler’s coach — wanted nothing to do with going back to Richmond.
But the reason attention should be paid the next few days isn’t the past, but the present. This week will be vitally important to just about every key team involved. Right now, the only A-10 team that is a lock for the NCAA tournament is regular season champion Davidson, although I believe both Dayton and VCU should also be locks.
I base this on having seen the two teams play, not on whatever unfathomable statistics the NCAA men’s basketball committee will use Sunday night to explain some of its inexplicable decisions. Dayton has been something of a Jekyll-and-Hyde team this season, but when the Flyers are good, they are very good. They had early losses to Massachusetts-Lowell and Lipscomb but also had early wins over Kansas and Miami. A late loss to La Salle probably has the various stat-heads shaking their stat-heads. Forget that. The Flyers are good.
No one will ever know how deep the Rams might have gone last season, when they still had sophomore guard Bones Hyland, currently averaging 8.8 points a game as a Denver Nuggets rookie. VCU was forced to forfeit its first round tournament game to Oregon a couple of hours before tip-off because of positive coronavirus tests. It was the only team in the 68-team field eliminated by covid.
The next three seeds in the A-10 field — St. Bonaventure, Saint Louis and Richmond — all have some serious work to do if they want to avoid the NIT. Still, the Bonnies and Billikens are already 20-win teams; Richmond is 19-12. Beyond that are teams dreaming of a four- or five-game miracle run to win the conference tournament and keep playing next week. That includes locals George Washington (the seventh seed) and George Mason (the ninth seed).
Upsets are entirely possible because, records aside, the league has been remarkably competitive this season. La Salle Coach Ashley Howard and St. Joseph’s Coach Billy Lange — whose teams met in the tournament’s opening game on Wednesday, a seven-point La Salle win — said virtually the same thing on Monday: “You know, we’re about five plays away from being 10-8.”
Duquesne Coach Keith Dambrot, whose team lost three key players during the season and finished in last, explained the A-10 best: “Everyone in this league is focused on basketball,” he said. “There no big-time football or football money. That means it’s vitally important at every school to get good and be good.” | null | null | null | null | null |
Xi and Putin’s excellent adventure might prove to be the world’s shortest bromance.
He might be rethinking his hurry-up schedule for absorbing Taiwan. The anti-communist island has been beefing up its defenses. If Ukraine can so easily become a graveyard for Russian tanks, what might Taiwan be for amphibious Chinese troops? China has spent a lot of money on its military in recent years, and the country does lots of training exercises. But Chinese generals and their troops aren’t battle-tested, and a contested assault on Taiwan could be a battle such as the world has not seen.
Consider: The English Channel, crossed on D-Day, is 20 miles at its narrowest. The Strait of Taiwan’s narrowest point is 81 miles wide. Consider, too: There were no satellites on D-Day to make targets of every ship. | null | null | null | null | null |
If you thought the antiabortion vigilante law Texas Republicans passed last year was the most appalling abuse of legislative power you’d ever seen, I have some bad news for you.
If that shocks you, just wait. In Idaho, the state House just passed a bill that would make it illegal to provide puberty blockers or other hormonal treatment to trans kids. The bill’s language says that not only physicians but also “whoever knowingly gives permission for, or permits on a child” these treatments — i.e., parents — will be guilty of a felony and can be sentenced to life in prison.
Instead, extreme Republicans have gotten elected to state legislatures over the course of the past few elections and have worked their way up the ranks. You’re familiar with trolls in Congress, such as Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) and Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.), but there are dozens or even hundreds like them in state legislatures around the country. | null | null | null | null | null |
Coach Mark Turgeon's departure was difficult for senior Eric Ayala, but he said, “You can’t sit in that darkness.” (Katherine Frey/The Washington Post)
Three chairs waited for them at the middle of the court inside Maryland basketball’s arena. Eric Ayala and his mother sat down with Mark Turgeon, the Terrapins’ coach, for another conversation during the recruiting process. Ayala took control of his decision, weighing the factors related to basketball and his college experience. His mom, Brandy Smith, zeroed in on the coach who would serve as a role model for her son.
Ayala grew up as an only child with a single parent, and they have a tight mother-son bond that often feels similar to a two-person team. A couple years after that Xfinity Center conversation, Ayala got a tattoo on his right arm depicting a tiger and a cub, symbolizing his relationship with his mom. That’s all she wanted for her son at Maryland — people around him who cared — “and they have,” she says as his college career inches toward its end.
Ayala’s four years in College Park have included an array of peaks and painful jolts. As a freshman starter, Ayala lost in the NCAA tournament’s second round on a layup in the final seconds. The next year, his group became one of the best recent Maryland teams, clinching a share of the Big Ten regular season title with hopes of a memorable run in the postseason that was canceled because of the coronavirus pandemic. Ayala led the team in scoring as a junior while his team struggled at times but overachieved into the second round of the NCAA tournament.
Before this season, he vowed to help the transfer-laden Terps go further. Instead, Ayala navigated an in-season coaching change when Turgeon stepped down in December. This Maryland team (15-16, 7-13 Big Ten) enters the conference tournament as the No. 10 seed and far from the NCAA tournament picture. Any run would have to start with a win Thursday over Michigan State, which has beaten the Terps twice this season. The 2021-22 campaign will probably become the school’s first losing season since 1993.
Ayala holds onto hope. When asked about the highlight of his senior year, he takes a long pause and says maybe it hasn’t happened yet. He finds positives in the season — that win over Ohio State with Maryland’s 2002 national title team in attendance and the way the Terps mustered four wins in their final six games of the regular season. But this is still a dreary end for the senior who has been a staple in Maryland’s starting lineups for four years.
After the Terps lost against Virginia Tech, the players arrived for what they thought would be a typical film session. Ayala felt ready to figure out what went wrong and hear Turgeon’s next game plan. Ayala saw potential in the players around him. But that day, Turgeon told the team he had stepped down. Danny Manning took over as the interim coach. Shock and emotion filled the room, even for Ayala, who’s mostly even-keeled and unflappable.
Ayala views Turgeon as a father figure. His mom said the change was difficult for her son to handle. But “you can’t sit in that darkness,” Ayala said.
Since Ayala’s freshman year, his coaches viewed him as the old soul of the team. He has scored 1,432 points in his career and made 221 three-pointers, the third most in program history. Ayala, a 6-foot-5 guard from Wilmington, Del., is second on the team in scoring, averaging 14.6 points despite a wrist injury that limited him for a short stretch this season. Ayala is joined by three other seniors, all transfers, and he’s the only player left from his large freshman class. So Ayala placed some responsibility on himself to help guide this team through the turbulence.
After Turgeon’s departure eight games into the season, Ayala wondered how other teams responded to similar situations. Then he realized the rarity of an early season coaching change. Ayala apologized for cursing and described the team’s mind-set as, “F--- it, we’ve just got to figure it out.”
Ayala compared the urgency to what he knows best: He said it’s like when a team guards you a certain way and you need to quickly figure out how to adapt so that you can score. There was no time for him to feel sorry for himself.
About a week after the abrupt news, Maryland’s win over a ranked Florida team in December helped “change the narrative from a negative trajectory,” Ayala said. But then the Terps slipped to a 3-11 start in conference play. They’ve spent the past few months trying to salvage their season.
“We’ve got a lot of fighters on our team, a lot of guys who like to compete and guys that just don’t give up,” Ayala said. “We all kind of come from similar backgrounds. We all embody that.”
They take solace in that commitment and have enjoyed the reward of a couple marquee wins. The home victory against then-No. 22 Ohio State made it feel as though “nothing that happened all year mattered,” Ayala said. In some games, the Terps have climbed back from massive deficits, only to ultimately fall just short.
What’s difficult about a season like this, Ayala said, are the expectations. He sees Maryland as a blue-blood program, and he came to College Park to be part of a team that could be among the nation’s best. With the perspective of this season’s struggles, Ayala appreciates the Big Ten title from 2020 even more.
He still has confidence in this group. During the regular season, Maryland beat the Big Ten’s top seed (Illinois) in one of two meetings, and the Terps lost by just one point against the No. 2 seed (Wisconsin) and the No. 3 seed (Purdue). But when discussing those expectations viewed as the standard at Maryland, Ayala also mentions the importance of adjusting. That turned into a theme of the season.
Heading into his senior day game against Minnesota, Ayala mentioned that he never attended prom in high school, and he didn’t want a graduation party. That comes from his laid-back personality, his mom said. But before Maryland recognized Ayala on the court last week, she noticed excitement from her son, who isn’t over-the-top in the emotion he expresses.
Ayala said he never pictured how he wanted his career to end, other than explaining months ago his goal of going on a postseason run. There’s too much that fills his busy days for Ayala to harp on how this season could have unfolded. And the reality is that many players don’t get a perfect ending to their careers.
Ayala still seeks off-the-court advice from Turgeon, and they talk on the phone at times. Before the senior day ceremony, Ayala thought about that recruiting visit, acknowledging the symmetry with this moment. His mom remembers him saying: “We came in together. We’re leaving here together.” Ayala’s mom feels nervous in front of a crowd — the opposite of her son, who’s comfortable in public-facing moments — so he held her hand.
The arena announcer introduced Ayala as “the heart and soul of the team,” then he and his mom emerged from the tunnel. Ayala clapped to the crowd, celebrated with his teammates and returned to his mom’s side. They walked toward Manning, the interim coach waiting with flowers and a framed jersey.
After navigating three months of chaos, Ayala’s mom said, “that was a very special moment for him.” | null | null | null | null | null |
George Mason and George Washington looking for redemption in A-10 tournament
George Mason forward Josh Oduro (13) and George Washington center Noel Brown (21) will both be in action Thursday for the Atlantic 10 tournament. (Terrance Williams for The Washington Post)
It would be easy for George Mason to have conflicting emotions about how its first season under Coach Kim English has unfolded.
The Patriots won in November at Maryland, later picked off Georgia on the road and defeated regular Atlantic 10 contenders Dayton, Richmond and St. Bonaventure at home.
Mason also lost to Fordham and La Salle on the road, and fell to 14-15 (7-9 A-10) with an 83-80 overtime loss to Massachusetts in Saturday’s regular season finale.
Little wonder English’s own description of the season — “frustrating/optimistic” — is a mash-up of opposing thoughts as the ninth-seeded Patriots begin A-10 tournament play at noon Thursday at Capital One Arena against eighth-seeded Fordham (15-15).
“It’s incredibly frustrating, because I think the person on the outside just sees a .500 season for George Mason,” English said. “But there was a point where I was looking at our schedule and I’m thinking Nevada, Old Dominion and VCU beat us. Everyone else, I thought we beat ourselves. That’s a lesson for growth.”
The five-day tournament began Wednesday with the league’s bottom four teams playing in the first round. Regular season champion Davidson (25-5) is in good shape for an NCAA tournament berth even if it doesn’t win this event, while second-seeded Dayton (22-9) and third-seeded VCU (21-8) are both in the hunt for an at-large bid.
St. Bonaventure (20-8) is the No. 4 seed and has all five starters back from last year’s A-10 title run. Like Davidson, Dayton and VCU, the Bonnies don’t begin tournament play until Friday.
Getting underway Thursday is seventh-seeded George Washington (12-17), which struggled to a 4-8 record in nonconference play and then got pummeled in its first two league games coming out of a covid pause. A frantic comeback defeat of George Mason on Jan. 17 ignited a 7-4 stretch before the Colonials dropped three of their last four.
They’ll face 10th-seeded Massachusetts (14-16) at 6 p.m.
“We’ve had a resilient group of guys all year long,” Coach Jamion Christian said. “There’s a lot of teams that would have started the way we did and the frustration that we all felt in the locker room and they would have just folded it, and we didn’t do that. We just consistently kept getting better. I think there’s a lot of teams that have the ability to win this, and I would include us in that just because we have not played our best yet.”
The Colonials have leaned heavily on their top seven throughout conference play, and wing Joe Bamisile has emerged as their most potent scoring option, averaging 18 points against league foes. That comes a year after the explosive Bamisile played sparingly in his lone year at Virginia Tech.
Guard James Bishop (team-high 16.8 ppg for the season) remains a factor, and the improvement of freshman guard Brayon Freeman has helped George Washington become more cohesive as an offense.
“We have a lot of guys who are just starting to figure it out,” Christian said. “I wish we had another month of the season. I think if we had another month of the season, we could be dangerous. Maybe if we keep playing, we will. The more games we’ve played, the more seasoned we’ve gotten.”
Mason began the season with an older group, in part because English mined the transfer portal to add starters DeVon Cooper (Morehead State), Davonte “Ticket” Gaines (Tennessee) and D’Shawn Schwartz (Colorado). He also convinced junior forward Josh Oduro to remain in Fairfax, a shrewd decision since Oduro led the league in scoring (18 per game) and earned a first team all-conference nod.
Josh Oduro stakes his claim as the A-10′s best big, scoring 27 in Mason’s win over GW
The Patriots are 0-3 when Oduro missed games because of injury, but he played in a closing stretch in which Mason dropped four of five to drop under .500 for the first time since early December.
“I think the biggest thing is to not get wrapped up in recency bias,” Schwartz said. “We obviously lost a tough one [Saturday] that we know we could have handled, but our record is 0-0 now heading into tournament play and we know we can hang with anybody in the league.”
It’s a belief similar to George Washington’s. If Mason can hit its stride this week — a big if, given its inconsistency, but not out of the question given the ability in its starting lineup — it has the potential to go on a deep run behind a hometown crowd in Washington.
“I will take our best game versus anyone’s best game in the league,” English said. “We have to get our mind-set focused on defense.” | null | null | null | null | null |
Fresh from a timeout, Notre Dame inbounded the ball to its star junior. Arike Ogunbowale pivoted hard to her left and pulled up for a three-point shot, the ball arcing over a Mississippi State’s player’s outstretched arms and dropping right into the basket.
After they left the bar, Nguyen remembers one of her friends telling the group, “That game was amazing. It would have been so much better if we had the sound on.”
Nguyen was skeptical: Would a women’s sports-only bar really help the community? | null | null | null | null | null |
Opinion: It’s not yet time to ditch masks completely
Women order lunch while wearing masks as masked and unmasked pedestrians pass by. All three women have worked or are working in health care and felt strongly that the mask mandate has been lifted too early. (Nick Otto for The Washington Post)
In her March 3 op-ed, “A glimpse of the maskless future,” Leana S. Wen argued that the country can soon go maskless.
Nearly everyone at the State of the Union address, her example, was fully vaccinated and boosted, and everyone had to be tested. But only 65 percent of Americans are “fully vaccinated.” In some states, that figure is barely above 50 percent. For children between 5 and 11, the figure is a shocking 18 percent. And only 44 percent of Americans have received a booster. Very few public spaces require proof of a negative coronavirus test as a condition of admission.
Dr. Wen noted that people who are worried can wear a mask, but the most important role of a mask is to keep contagious individuals from filling the air around them with virus aerosols. Wearing a mask around infected people who are not wearing masks is far less effective than if both parties wear a mask.
Finally, she wrote that those who were uncomfortable attending had the option to stay away. Dr. Wen’s approach turns the immunocompromised into shut-ins, largely barred from the public sphere.
Covid-19 has already killed more Americans than did the 1918 flu pandemic, and despite the availability of vaccines, more died of Covid in 2021 than in 2020. With the elimination of mask and vaccine mandates, next winter is going to be even worse. A new variant is already spreading.
Bob Meyer, Herndon | null | null | null | null | null |
Opinion: The region’s recovery rides on Metro
Riders travel on a Metro train through the McPherson Square Station in 2016. (Ricky Carioti/The Washington Post)
There’s good news and bad news about the D.C. transit system, whose robust recovery from the pandemic is a prerequisite for the region’s own revival. Unfortunately, the bad news about Metro is far more consequential — and regional leaders should heed the alarm bells now.
On the positive side, train service to Dulles International Airport, a project imagined at least since the Nixon administration, will soon be a reality. If all goes right, this year Washington will join the ranks of other major world capitals whose main international gateways are served by transit.
That long-delayed achievement cannot be allowed to distract from the harsh realities facing Metro, the nation’s third-busiest rail transit system. And while the agency faces an uncertain landscape — no one has a firm fix on post-pandemic commuting patterns — it is not too soon for officials to start making a case for enhanced future funding. Without that, severe service cuts, and the resulting inconvenience and economic anemia, are likely.
It may be unsurprising that Metro’s subway ridership remains at less than a third of that of pre-pandemic levels, despite some recent (though gradual) office reopenings. The lag is in part an aftereffect of the recent covid-19 surge arising from the omicron variant, which impeded plans to get workers back to offices.
More concerning are Metro’s forecasts. Even with the spike in back-to-office work expected in the coming months, transit officials predict that combined subway and bus passengers will reach scarcely half their pre-pandemic numbers by this summer. And even by mid-2024, the agency predicts that ridership will have attained just three-quarters of the early 2020 level, before the coronavirus’ impact.
Even more worrying, the biggest drop is projected for long-distance commuters, who pay the highest fares. For Metro’s fiscal year starting this July, overall passenger fares will amount to barely a quarter of the system’s operating revenue; before the pandemic, they accounted for well over half.
For the time being, the gap is being bridged mainly by federal relief funding, which is expected to provide roughly 66 percent of Metro’s operating revenue of nearly $1.1 billion for the fiscal year starting this summer. When those funds run out, as they will the following year, look out. Long waits for buses and trains, reduced hours and other service cuts will probably be required to balance Metro’s budget.
The problem is not just, or even primarily, that traditional suburbs-to-downtown commuters could face delays in such a scenario. It’s also that economic activity — shopping, recreation, restaurants, sporting events — will feel the drag of spotty transit service, and new business will face an additional hurdle. Once-lively city and suburban neighborhoods will struggle to regain their former vitality.
The way to avoid that grim picture is to start making the case now for beefed-up subsidies from Metro’s federal, state and local stakeholders, in the form of some type of earmarked new funding. That will be a challenge; no one relishes higher taxes. But Washington and its suburbs, which together constituted one of the nation’s most vibrant metropolitan areas before the pandemic, cannot fully recover if Metro’s struggles continue indefinitely.
EDITORIAL BOARD ON METRO
Metrorail is a mess. What’s going to happen when more commuters return?
Are the wheels coming off at Metrorail? And why didn’t we know? | null | null | null | null | null |
Opinion: What freedom really is
The People’s Convoy makes its way along I-495 south on March 7 in McLean. (Matt McClain/The Washington Post)
The March 6 Metro article about the “People’s Convoy” of truckers, "'Freedom Convoy’ spinoff rouses groups frustrated by mandates,” quoted one of the organizers, Brian Brase, as stating, “We just want freedom, freedom.” Apparently, Mr. Brase and his like-minded colleagues think public health measures such as vaccine and mask mandates to mitigate the transmission and severity of the coronavirus deprives them of their “freedom.” They demonstrate that they have no idea what freedom is, and more important, what being deprived of freedom is like.
As a retired U.S. Foreign Service officer whose first post was the U.S. Embassy in Sofia, Bulgaria, from 1974 to 1976, during the height of the Cold War when Bulgaria was ruled by the communist dictator Todor Zhivkov, I know something about what it means for a population to be deprived of freedom. Bulgarians did not have free elections. Bulgarians could not travel abroad, as only the highest officials could obtain passports. Bulgarians had to get permission to travel within the country and were required to have an “internal passport” to do so. Bulgarians could only read the government newspaper filled with propaganda, and all theater, art, radio, television and cinema had to pass government censorship. Religion was suppressed. I could go on, but that conveys a sense of the lack of freedom under the regime.
The “People's Convoy” and all those in the United States who think temporary public health measures deprive them of their “freedom” show just how coddled they have been. They need to experience the world and realize how lucky they are to live in a country that does not deprive them of their freedom but does assume the responsibility of protecting the population during a pandemic by taking appropriate public health measures.
William H. Barkell, Arlington | null | null | null | null | null |
Matt DePerno speaks to supporters of former president Donald Trump as they gather for a rally at the Michigan Capitol in Lansing, Mich., on Oct. 12, 2021, to demand a forensic audit of the 2020 presidential election. (Salwan Georges/The Washington Post)
I’ve written about this at length before, but a short summary is useful here. On Election Day, Antrim County voters cast ballots on electronic machines. The totals were added up and submitted to the state. The next morning, the administrator of elections in the county was tipped off that the numbers were weird: Joe Biden won reliably-Republican Antrim County? The county scrambled to address the problem, realizing that they’d failed to calibrate the vote-counting machine properly. After a false start, they reran the count and got an accurate tally. | null | null | null | null | null |
Transcript: The Future of Russia: The Oligarchs with Pavel Khodorkovskiy
MR. MILLER: Hello, everyone, and welcome to Washington Post Live. My name is Greg Miller. I am an investigative correspondent on The Washington Post foreign staff based in London.
Over the past few weeks, after Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the United States and its allies have imposed sanctions on Russia that go beyond anything we've ever seen targeting an economy of that size. Just yesterday, President Biden announced that the United States would ban imports on oil from Russia in just another in a series of measures meant at putting extraordinary pressure on Russia in an attempt to persuade its leader, President Vladimir Putin, to change his decisions and calculations about the ongoing war in Ukraine.
To help us make sense of these important developments, we are fortunate to have Pavel Khodorkovskiy, who is the president of the Institute of Modern Russia and who is the son of one of the‑‑a man who was once one of the wealthiest individuals in Russia, who spent ten years in prison in Russia after a confrontation with Putin over corruption.
So we're very pleased to have you, Pavel. Thanks for joining us. We look forward to our conversation.
MR. KHODORKOVSKIY: Greg, first of all, thank you so much for inviting me to speak on this topic. I very much appreciate the time because I'm trying to do everything I personally can to raise awareness of the war that's happening in Ukraine.
MR. MILLER: Thank you, Pavel.
Let's start, Pavel, if it's okay with you, with some of the news. So, as I just mentioned, Biden announced a ban on oil imports yesterday. The United Kingdom has followed suit, and we're yet to see what other countries in Europe, whether they might do the same. Can you give us a sense? I mean, your father made his initial fortune in this industry in Russia. Can you give us some perspective on how this is likely to play out?
MR. KHODORKOVSKIY: Of course. So, first of all, the measures that were taken recently by the U.S. administration and followed by the United Kingdom government are very important. They are very important both in terms of their symbolism and messaging that it sends to the government of Russia and particularly the president, Putin, as well as in terms of their economic implications.
First, the messaging. I think Putin, when deciding to wage this war against the Ukrainian people and invade Ukraine, could not have foreseen the united front that the United States and the European allies will present, and certainly, the ban on the imports of Russian hydrocarbons was unthinkable only a few weeks ago. So I think it very well demonstrates the type of leadership that the Western allies can muster when confronted with a new existential threat.
Of course, there is a question of the European imports. If we're looking at it from the practical perspective, of course, the Russian oil only comprise about 8 percent of the total imports into the U.S. Europe is, of course, a lot more dependent on the import of both oil and gas, but even there, we have seen very strong statements and concrete plans to wean off of the Russian‑produced hydrocarbons in just the next few years which, again, was unthinkable just a few weeks ago.
MR. MILLER: Pavel, do you think that‑‑or do you worry that there might unintended or unexpected consequences of a move as aggressive as that? I mean, you just touched on the unity that we've seen across the Western world and the much greater dependence that countries in Europe, including Germany, have on Russian gas and oil. I mean, there will be ramifications for people all over the world as a result of this, and I wonder who you think might be sort of the winners and losers.
[Technical difficulties]
MR. KHODORKOVSKIY: Hi, everybody. I'm sorry. It looks like we're having some‑‑
MR. KHODORKOVSKIY: Sorry about that. I think the connection broke.
MR. MILLER: That's okay, Pavel. Did you hear my question? Should I‑‑can I help you by repeating?
MR. KHODORKOVSKIY: Yeah.
MR. MILLER: Okay.
MR. KHODORKOVSKIY: The question was about the unintended consequences, if I understood it correctly.
MR. MILLER: Yes, exactly.
MR. KHODORKOVSKIY: So, first of all, the unintended consequences, of course, are the impact that this is going to have on the trajectory of Russia's economy over the next few decades. I don't think it's an exaggeration to say that at this point in time, and obviously, the victims of that rapid change in direction will be the Russian people, including those which if not the majority, at least a healthy proportion of the Russian population, including those that are against the war in Ukraine.
Obviously, the standards of living have already started to deteriorate, given the foreign exchange rapid swings and the devaluation of ruble, but it also affects people's everyday lives in terms of food imports, consumer durables, et cetera.
But I think the bigger question in terms of the unintended consequences is the perception of Russian people in the world. That's the type of stain that will be impossible, inconceivable to wash off, at least for my generation. I'll never be able to tell or explain to new people that I meet in any other countries around the world that I'm not that Russian that has attacked Ukraine.
MR. MILLER: I want to circle back to that point toward the end of the program but stick with the oil for one more question, if you don't mind, Pavel. Biden has warned the American public that gas prices are going to rise and could rise significantly in the United States. How do you convey the message that whatever‑‑that this price is worth it, if indeed you think it is?
MR. KHODORKOVSKIY: I think early on at the onset of this war in Ukraine, the United States thought that it could distance itself or maybe isolate itself from this conflict, and I think that's a mistake. What's at stake in Europe right now is more than simply the lives and liberties of the Ukrainian people. They are the ones paying the cost with their blood, but what they're defending is more than their life and freedom. They're also defending the rest of the Europe and the democratic values against those values of autocracy, if such can be said about autocratic, despotic regimes such as the one of Vladimir Putin in Russia. They're acting as live shield for the rest of the world right now.
So I think the people in the United States are starting to see that. They're starting to understand that the fight in the Ukraine is more than just a regional conflict, and as we've seen in some of the polling, the people in the U.S., even though they're seeing higher gas prices, are willing to make that economic sacrifice to fight for democracy.
MR. MILLER: Yeah. That's a very good point.
Pavel, can we step back for a bit here? I would like to ask you to explain to our audience just a bit about your background and your father's background. Can you tell us about the case that was brought against him and your family's history in Russia, I mean, in a brief‑‑in a brief way? I apologize. And I would also mention that, you know, you and I in a conversation offline, you talked about your family's connections to Ukraine as well, and I think our viewers would be really interested in hearing a bit about that.
MR. KHODORKOVSKIY: Of course. Well, in terms of my father's story of confrontation with Vladimir Putin, thankfully, that's in the past, although there are still people that work at Yukos, the company that my father has grown to one of the leading oil producers in Russia, some of them are still imprisoned or unable to leave for fear of persecution.
But let's start at the beginning. My father was one of the more successful businessmen in Russia, and at the beginning of the period of economic transition from communism to a liberalized economy, he was able to build up, first, a commercial bank and then rebuild an oil company called Yukos, which he has managed to put on par with some of the largest producers of oil in the world in just a few years.
His confrontation with Putin centered on corruption and the ability of business to support civil society. My father was on one side of that argument, and Vladimir Putin was on the other. Unfortunately, for my dad, back in October 2003, Putin decided that he will crack down on all dissents, starting with the people who have the most economic power.
So my father went‑‑went to prison on trumped‑up charges of tax evasion and fraud. His company was broken up and sold to the state‑owned oil giant, Rosneft.
In terms of our family history, my father's family is actually originally from Ukraine. Both his maternal and paternal grandparents are from Ukraine. One of them was from Kharkiv, and the other one was from Zhytomyr. So the conflict that's happening right now in Ukraine is very close and dear to our family, simply because we still have relatives that live there. My cousin is in Lviv, and a lot of my friends are actually in Ukraine right now.
I went to school with a dear friend of mine from Dnipropetrovsk. It's in the center east of Ukraine. I have gone there on my summer breaks and Christmas breaks when I was back in college, and I've met a lot of people who became my very good friends. A lot of them are still back there. Two of the friends that I have known for more than 18 years are in Kyiv right now, hiding in a basement from the airstrikes. Another one of my friends has driven his family to the border. They successfully crossed. He came back to Lviv, and he's helping to organize humanitarian aid to the besieged cities in the east of the country.
MR. MILLER: It's remarkable how many Russians have similar connections across that border, and also, I've been fascinated by some of the reporting in recent days about just the different‑‑the sort of reality, the warped realities across that border as well in terms of relatives in Ukraine, who are witnessing the horror of this conflict and in touch with relatives in Russia who seem oblivious to the carnage because of the constraints on information in Russia. Have you had conversations with your father about what's happening? Can you tell us anything about what he has said and what you guys have talked about?
MR. KHODORKOVSKIY: We've been talking with my father every day trying to coordinate whatever we can do, whatever is in our ability to somehow stop this war, and that means, you know, talking to the‑‑talking to the media, raising awareness about the case, and also helping in terms of, you know, sending humanitarian aid to Ukraine.
Our conversations are‑‑conversations with him, though, are primarily about how that's going to affect the future of our country. Obviously, what's‑‑the war that's brought its horrors to Ukraine is the immediate catastrophe that needs to be stopped right now, and we're also thinking about the long‑term disaster that it has brought on Russia, both in terms of the economy, which has been thrust back to the middle of the 20th century, if not further, and in terms of the perception of the Russian people in the world.
MR. MILLER: I want to pause on a phrase you just used there, you just mentioned in your conversation with your father. You talk about "our country." Here I think you're, at the moment, in the United States. I believe your father is based in London, and I don't know whether he has been back to Russia. I would expect otherwise for many, many years, but you still see it as your country. You both still have some attachment to it, some concern for its future.
MR. KHODORKOVSKIY: Of course. And it's not because I'm trying to sound, you know, pompous for no reason. We really do feel that way. We still have families back there. A lot of my friends are back in Russia. Unfortunately, with some of them, we've had very recently serious disagreements on what's‑‑what's happening, but I do feel that Russia is still very much my country, although I have been, and I realize, extremely lucky and privileged to be living in the United States, given what's going on right now.
MR. MILLER: What kind of disagreements? Can you tell us a little bit more about that, Pavel? I think that's really interesting. What are you disagreeing about?
MR. KHODORKOVSKIY: We're arguing about what can be done right now, and my position and that of my father is very simple, that the only way how the Russian people can begin to atone for the sin of the government is by going to the street, protesting the war, in effect, opening the Second Front for Putin back home. Every single protest in Russia right now is dragging away the attention of the government to try and control the situation domestically, and it's literally saving, saving lives of people in Ukraine.
I don't think‑‑I don't think that people fully realize that back in Russia. It's understandable, but I think that point needs to be made. It's understandable because they have a lot to lose. You know, people of my generation‑‑I'm 36 years old‑‑they have a family. They have kids. Some of them have businesses. They see that their well‑being is crumbling from the war as a result of sanctions, and yet they don't see an opportunity to change anything. And I just want to say to those people that, in part, it's due to their inaction in the last 10 years that the situation has gone as far as Russians killing Ukrainians and invading the country.
MR. MILLER: Yeah. I mean, it's hard to wrap your head around that point, but you're right that for many Russians, perhaps many of those who were in the position to do the most, also perhaps have the most to lose, and it must be terribly disorienting for millions of Russians right now to try to sort out what's happening and what's coming, especially given the dearth of accurate information available.
So, you know, when we talk about the history of your family and your father's encounter and kind of showdown with Putin, it really‑‑you know, there are echoes of it even now because he was, to some, one of the original oligarchs, and he tried to stand up to Putin over issues of corruption and paid a terrible price personally. I mean, one of the points of the sanctions that the United States and other countries are imposing now is to try to force or coerce other oligarchs close to Putin to do something like that, to get in his ear, to convince him to change his mind. Is that‑‑is that a reasonable expectation? Can you talk to us about what‑‑whether oligarchs even function as influencers, given the political environment in Russia now?
MR. KHODORKOVSKIY: So, first, the personal sanctions against oligarchs that‑‑let's call them the "new generation of oligarchs" that are closely associated with the president himself, presidential administration, those sanctions are incredibly important. Why? Because they are stemming the flow of capital back to Russia that, at this point, can and will be used to finance the slaughter of Ukrainian people, to finance the war.
However, in terms of oligarchs' personal influence over Putin, I think that's a misconception. There is none. Putin views them as wallets, as a means to an end.
So, although the sanctions are important and effective in terms of the capital implications, I think the idea that somehow they can be pressured to overthrow the government from within or to lobby Putin to stop the war, I think that's a misconception.
MR. MILLER: As a reporter who has covered the flow of Russian money into offshore accounts, into tax havens, into shell companies, I mean, it is a daunting undertaking to try to identify and locate those sorts of assets. I mean, can you talk about how sort of the difficulty of imposing these sanctions and executing these sanctions and whether there are ways that the United States and its allies in Europe can be more effective as they go about this?
MR. KHODORKOVSKIY: It is a daunting task, but I think it's a question of political will, both in Europe and in the United States. I think that the intelligence community is very well informed of the movement of capital from Russia into those offshore zones that you mentioned, and I think nothing has been done up until two weeks ago, simply because there was no political will to oppose Russia in those terms.
Of course, we've seen very effective sanctions for people that have been directly implicated in corruption and human rights abuses. I'm talking right now about the Magnitsky Act that was passed initially in the United States Congress and later on adopted in other forms throughout the rest of the European countries and Canada.
The implications of uncovering those assets, of course, are‑‑you know, they're going to take effort, and they're going to take time, but I think it's, nevertheless, a very important signal to perhaps the next generation of oligarchs that their actions matter, and they will not be accepted in the West if they align themselves with an autocratic or despotic regime.
MR. MILLER: That would represent a significant and substantial turnabout from the signal that the West has sent for many years, I think. It will be interesting to watch that play out.
Pavel, can we circle back to an idea that you were raising at the start of our program today which was‑‑I think you were sort of touching on the idea that, you know, there are obviously millions of Russians who do not support this war. There are upcoming generations of Russians, and you are among them in your teens or twenties or thirties for whom there is a long future ahead. Are there risks to the global backlash against Russia now? Do we risk isolating those people who are the potential reformers of the future? Do we risk making‑‑turning them against the West because of the pain that is about to be inflicted on their country and on their lives?
MR. KHODORKOVSKIY: Yes. And it's a knife's‑edge situation. You want to put enough pressure on the government to stop the war, to stop the killing of innocent people, but you also don't want to alienate the society to the point where they'll perceive the economic sanctions as an attack on the country.
So, if there was ever a time for both the European countries and the United States and Canada to increase the flow of qualified immigration, the time is now because those are‑‑and that would achieve two goals. First of all, it would give people access to the education system in the West. It would give them access to unbiased information that's free of Russian propaganda, and it will take away resources from the Russian government in terms of the human capital, and that human capital can be used in further fortifying the military resources of the country, which as we have seen are not intended for defense. They are intended for offense.
One other thing I wanted to come back to that I haven't answered in your previous question is what else can be done in terms of economic pressure. I think the distinction that's being made right now between the banks that are directly controlled by the Russian government versus the banks in Russia that are only commercial is, again, a misconception presently. Every single bank that's operating in Russia can and will be used as a wallet to fund the war in Ukraine. So I think the economic sanctions on Russian banks should be all‑encompassing at this point in time.
MR. MILLER: Pavel, I wanted to tell you that this is a fascinating conversation. We could go on, and I wish we could. We are‑‑we have run up against our time limit for this program today. I want to thank you so much for your participation and for the insights that you've shared.
MR. KHODORKOVSKIY: Thank you, Greg. Thanks for inviting me.
MR. MILLER: And to our audience, thank you also for joining us. To find out‑‑I’m Greg Miller from The Washington Post foreign staff. To find out more about upcoming programs like this, visit us at WashingtonPostLive.com. Thanks very much. | null | null | null | null | null |
Transcript: Race in America: Giving Voice with John Cho
MR. NAKAMURA: Hi, and welcome to Washington Post Live. I’m David Nakamura, a reporter here at the Post, and today we’re continuing our Race in America series with our guest, the actor and author, John Cho, whose new novel called “Troublemaker” is a portrait of a Korean American family set against the backdrop of the Los Angeles riots, 30 years ago.
John, Welcome.
MR. CHO: Thanks for having me. How are you?
MR. NAKAMURA: I'm great. You know, I have your book here, and I did read it over the weekend, and it's a powerful read. And I wanted to just jump right in with some questions about how this book came to be.
You said in the author's note in the book that you had a contractor write a different kind of book in 2020, but that that year "conspired against fun," in your words. Tell us a little bit about how this particular story came to be, why you wanted to tell it, and why you used the backdrop of the L.A. riots to tell this story.
MR. CHO: I will, and forgive me if this is a long answer, but I had a different book in mind. It was going to be much lighter. I had always wanted to see an Asian American kid on the cover of a young adult novel. It was those years that I became a very avid reader, and perhaps because we were moving around so much, books meant so much more to me at that age than they do now even.
But, in 2020, you know, because we were holed up with the pandemic, George Floyd was murdered, anti‑Asian violence was rising, and our kids were at home with us, we were struggling to explain what could be happening. And it caused me to reflect on, I guess, really my immigrant journey and what the country meant, what I conceived the country to be when we arrived and as I grew up, and what the country was today and what my kids were going to inherit and how we would explain all this stuff.
So, my thoughts drifted back to another incident of police brutality in 1992, and I wondered how a kid might see those events. And this story came to me, and we changed course.
MR. NAKAMURA: You talked about that you moved around a lot. I think you ended up in Los Angeles. I'm wondering, you were a little bit older than Jordan, who is the protagonist of your novel, in 1992 during the aftermath of the Rodney King verdict. What do you recall from your perspective‑‑I think you were around 19 years old‑‑about that time?
MR. CHO: A lot of anxiety. I was watching television like everyone else. At first, it was a phone call, the panicky phone call to my parents to see whether they were all right and whether we knew anyone that had been swept up in that situation, and the answer was, thankfully, no.
But, you know, I think I've spent a lot of years trying to understand what that event meant for the Korean American community, and even myself, in general, I think I was dealing with lots of things. I was worried. I was ashamed. I was trying to understand all of what I was feeling at the time, and I think being a young person‑‑I was 19 or 20 at the time‑‑I didn't understand how‑‑why those men would go on the rooftops and risk their lives and perhaps have to shoot back. But being older now, I suppose I understand what that, the building beneath them, meant, which was their savings, their future, education, food on the table. It was sort of the entirety of their lives wrapped up in a single building.
MR. NAKAMURA: Yes. What's interesting about the way you told the story was that the riots themselves and even Los Angeles is not the main point of the book. I think at its heart, the book is about an immigrant's family and their own personal journey in coming to the United States.
There's a part of the book where you talk about Jordan's father. He's sort of ruminating on his decision to emigrate from South Korea and saying it may be not the best decision, given some of the struggles that he was facing at setting up in the United States. Can you talk about what you hoped readers take away from that passage in the book?
MR. CHO: Well, I suppose, in general, I wanted the focus of the book, even though it was set in a very volatile, political situation, to be about a‑‑I wanted it to be a portrait of a loving Korean American family, and I wanted to start there and build outward and explore some family dynamics. And as far as that particular passage, I think I imagine that my parents must have questioned their decision‑making. It only seems natural.
Even I, growing up and watching Korean television or movies, I would always imagine another life where we didn't come to America, and what would that have been like? So, it is a kind of great fork in the road, the fork in the road for an immigrant family. So, it's difficult not to go back to that fork in the road when any‑‑when any difficulty happens in your life.
MR. NAKAMURA: Absolutely. Another aspect of the book that I know you wrestled with from what I've read is the decision to make sort of the narrative device, Jordan's journey to try to bring a gun that his father owned but kept at home to his father at the liquor store the family owned. I'm curious about your decision to use the gun as sort of that narrative device, given that this book is aimed at sort of young adults. Can you talk about how you sort of wrestled with doing that and why you came to the decision to go ahead and do that and whether you had any thought of this book weighing in on sort of the debate about guns and gun control?
MR. CHO: Yeah. I guess the idea of the gun kind of originated from the image that most people remember from those days of Korean Americans, and it was the men on the rooftops with their rifles defending their stores.
Incidentally, I think most people don't realize that those men weren't necessarily classical vigilantes, but any immigrant from‑‑any immigrant man from South Korea has served time in the military. So, they are familiar with weapons in a way that a lot of Americans probably are not.
But we wanted to start at that image and dig deeper and say who is that‑‑who is that man, what is his family life like, what is his home like, and so I always imagine that he owned a gun.
As far as the decision to put the gun into the narrative, I‑‑and have the child holding it, I had‑‑I, indeed, had some great reservations about it and wondering whether I should do it at all, but I also knew that my kids were going through active shooter drills at school, you know, that the discussion around guns is not something that I felt that I could avoid. And the way I phrased it, I think, in the author's note was that I felt it was an abdication of our responsibility as parents to not talk about these difficult things with the kids and give‑‑or rather give them an opportunity to ask questions about them. So that's where I started.
But the gun for him is not‑‑is symbolic of so many things, manhood and adulthood, power. It's a stand‑in for belonging in this country. So, I just needed a device that would stand in for all of these feelings that he was having.
MR. NAKAMURA: Sure. You know, I wanted to talk a little bit about your personal journey, you know, emigrating from South Korea as a young boy. I think you ended up first in Houston. I'm curious if you could talk a little bit about some of the obstacles you may have faced fitting into the United States whether it was language or other cultural aspects, you know, in growing up as an immigrant here.
MR. CHO: Yeah. I think it's‑‑my experience as an immigrant in Houston was probably very similar to a lot of Asian immigrants. There weren't many Koreans at the time in Houston. That would be the late seventies, early eighties. So, you know, a lot of people didn't know where Korea was on a map. A lot of kids weren't aware that there was a‑‑that American troops fought a war in Korea not too many years prior. So, there was a lot of ignorance. A lot of it, I understood. Some of it was mean; some of it was just isolating. I think it was compounded by the fact that we were the only ones in our family that were in the United States, so‑‑but, yeah, like I say, that's a very‑‑that's a very commonplace experience for Asian Americans from my vantage point. I've heard that story many times.
MR. NAKAMURA: It is. You know, I wonder about your father because part of‑‑you know, really at the center of your book is the relationship between Jordan and his father and basically a son's search for approval, and I wonder how much you took away from your own relationship with your father, who I think was a Christian pastor who ultimately‑‑originated from North Korea. But did you take some of the aspects, if not the exact details, from your relationship with him?
MR. CHO: Yeah. You know, it's funny. The book was written so impulsively in a lot of ways that I'm kind of right now, as I'm talking about the book on the eve of its release, trying to understand what I put in there and why I wrote what I did.
But, absolutely, there‑‑I think Joran and his father have this very compact journey of understanding one another in the book. Mine‑‑it feels like a very compressed version of my relationship with my dad over many years, and incidentally, he recently finished the book and called me. And I said, "What did you think?" and he said, "I liked it. It really made me think about what I did as a father and our journey here." And I said, "You have to explain what that means? What do you mean?" and he said, "I'm not ready to talk with you about that yet." So, I think he and I both are trying to figure out our relationship as it relates to the book.
MR. NAKAMURA: Sure. Hopefully, the book can help facilitate that conversation.
MR. NAKAMURA: You know, you wrote in‑‑during the time of this pandemic where there's been a lot of talk about backlash against Asian Americans and Asian people. You wrote in the Los Angeles Times in 2020 as anti‑Asian hate incidents and racism was rising, quote, "I claimed the citizenship my parents wanted for me, and I think I've spent my life earning it. I'm not going to let anyone tell me or anyone who looks like me that we are not really American." Can you explain a little bit what made you feel like you had to earn your citizenship?
MR. CHO: Well, I think many immigrants have a very‑‑make a very conscious decision to embrace the values set forth in the Constitution, and I was one of those people. I really‑‑I heard those values. They were explicated to me in school and in society, and I think I made a very conscious choice to go forward and embrace it. And I think I've been a good citizen, and the process of even taking a citizenship test is kind of a compact version of that larger decision.
And I think many Asian Americans feel the way I do, which is we pay our taxes. We've been here. We‑‑and in the case of the '92 riots, we've spilt blood in this country. So, I think we have as much of a stake to being American as anyone else, and it is a‑‑it is a tragedy that because of the way we look, we would be denied that citizenship.
MR. NAKAMURA: Was there a moment you think you came that‑‑you were maybe six years old when you came. Was there a moment‑‑you talk about taking a citizenship test. I don't know if there‑‑was there a moment you felt something had changed, you were American, or was that a gradual process?
MR. CHO: I think it's a very gradual process. I mean, at first, you feel American in contrast to your parents, you know, who feel more Korean, and so I had always felt more American. But I think it was the understanding American history that led me to believe that this was‑‑that even though we were an imperfect country that we were set up to become more and more perfect as the decades passed. And that was really the kind of questioning that our progress was at the start of this book which was‑‑which is to say‑‑I think I said as much in the L.A. Times op‑ed that I imagine having the discussion about anti‑Asian violence, maybe with myself and my parents or my parents having that discussion with me, but I never imagined that I would be having that discussion with my own children, that with each successive generation, things would become better. And I found myself reconsidering that proposition, that it felt like we were regressing as a country, and that caused me to look backward toward the riots. And that's where the book started.
MR. NAKAMURA: You mention your children. I think in the op‑ed, you talked about having to both sort of call your parents after the outbreak of the coronavirus and some of the backlash against Asians but also maybe having conversations with your children about what was happening and how they may be treated because of their race or their background. Can you talk more about those kind of conversations, what specifically maybe your kids experienced and/or, you know, kind of your conversation about what you did tell them?
MR. CHO: I don't‑‑I don't have any magic advice for anyone, but, I mean, our approach was to be as honest as we could without unnecessarily frightening them. But I didn't want them to feel, you know, scared about walking on the street or anything, but we wanted to make them aware that this was happening and why. And I think we just started at a place of plain‑‑plain talk and measure it, but that's our tactic. I don't know whether we made the right decision, whether we did the right thing. It still remains to be seen. I think they're still working through it.
And there's more violence. This has continued unabated. I'm very dismayed to hear about the things that are happening in New York in particular. So, this is an ongoing thing, you know.
MR. NAKAMURA: Absolutely. I mean, it's been a year this month since the tragic mass shooting in Atlanta at the Asian‑owned spas. Everyone from the White House to Congress to the Justice Department have taken steps to address anti‑Asian hate and hate crimes, but there's outside groups that have said Asian‑‑hate incidents against Asian Americans continue to be high.
I'm curious from your vantage point. Do you think there is progress being made, you know, either on the political level, through legislation, or even culturally to try to deal with this?
MR. CHO: I'm not aware of any successful legislation, are you? So‑‑
MR. NAKAMURA: Yes. There was the COVID hate crimes bill that Congress did pass that‑‑it was modest, and it instructed the Justice Department to do a bit more on hate crimes, but you're right. There's no big sweeping kind of bill.
MR. CHO: So, I have to say no. [Laughs] I guess that's my honest reaction. It doesn't seem nearly enough, and whatever‑‑I can only measure it in terms of the amount of violence that's happening, and I don't see any effective deterrent. So, yeah, I guess I would have to sadly say no.
MR. NAKAMURA: You know, I've written about this. There's been talk about, you know, sort of allyship among minority groups, right? But there's also been questions about tensions within those groups, and your book addresses some of this, about the relationship between Korean Americans and African Americans, Hispanics. Jordan and his journey through the arc of a novel sort of experiences different kinds of people and sort of realizes there's maybe goodness in all of us.
Last year, though, Jay Caspian Kang, a Korean American writer, wrote an essay in the New York Times that also looked at the aftermath of the Los Angeles riots and talked about the tensions between Black and Korean communities that has existed for a while now and talked about that if we are too simplistic and cannot really appreciate some of these challenges or some of the reasons for these tensions, it could, you know, result in Korean American groups embracing, you know, law and order conservatism. I'm curious about if you read that or if you have thoughts about this issue.
MR. CHO: I didn't read it, but my general thoughts are that it's a very complicated issue. And allyship is absolutely useful. I do think that we have to recognize, first and foremost, that being Asian is a kind of‑‑to some extent, it's an artificial construct. It's not a culture, you know. Being Korean is a culture, but being Asian is not necessarily a culture. So, we come from many different places, come from many different economic backgrounds, and I think the stereotype of Asians is that we're upwardly mobile. We earn‑‑we earn a lot, and that's not necessarily the case.
So, we have to recognize how fractured we are as a political group and how many different places we come from and how varied we are, and I think the focus, rather than‑‑I think I hear the phrase in the media a lot, "race relations," as though there is some‑‑as though the magic pill is us hugging one another. And I think really the focus should be on economic justice, social injustice, you know, educational opportunities, and that's‑‑I think that's where our focus should be rather than a kind of artificial detente between‑‑between races.
MR. NAKAMURA: Sure. We're down to under 10 minutes here. I wanted to shift a little bit into representation, Asian American representation. You're in Hollywood, where it's very important.
MR. CHO: [Laughs]
MR. NAKAMURA: You know, I was talking to Jeff Yang, whose son, Hudson, was, of course, the star of "Fresh Off the Boat," about some of these issues for a story last year. He said, look, the backlash against Asians during this pandemic was a real wakeup call, you know, because Hollywood‑‑Asians had been celebrating success‑‑"Fresh Off the Boat," "Crazy Rich Asians"‑‑and that this moment, you know, quickly showed that no matter who you are, you know, it could turn on a dime that stereotypes‑‑negative stereotypes about Asians being untrustworthy and so on could affect all of us.
You've had experiences in Hollywood, and I've read some about them. I wonder if you could talk a little bit about how you've dealt with, you know, efforts maybe in Hollywood to pigeonhole you, stereotype you, or lack of support for projects featuring Asian American narratives of stories. How have you dealt with those?
MR. CHO: Well, the easiest way to deal with stereotypical roles is the power that all actors have is to say no, and that's something I've employed even when I had no juice when I was just starting out. I was so stupid. I said no to those roles. I just have always‑‑I think I always wanted to please 12‑year‑old me, which may explain the existence of this book, but I always wondered whether 12‑year‑old me would appreciate me doing this role or would be upset. And that's been kind of my very simple guiding principle.
So that's the one thing you can do. Yeah, you have‑‑there's certainly‑‑gatekeepers still exist, and I don't think‑‑I don't know what the appetite is for telling our story sometimes. I think as much‑‑as much new talent as there is right now, my‑‑the one thing I want to be mindful of is I want to tell our stories, but I want to also decide what our stories are as a community rather than have someone else tell us what is an Asian story and what is not an Asian story, but yeah.
MR. NAKAMURA: Yeah. I think I read that you had, you know, maybe turned down the idea of having to do a sort of stereotypical Asian accent in one case, maybe tweeted in another case, you know, stop turning our roles sort of White.
You know, but I wanted on that note to talk‑‑you wrote in your essay last‑‑in 2020 about, you know, something you learned in traveling with Kal Penn, you know, maybe almost 20 years ago now in the aftermath of 9/11. He's South Asian. You were traveling in airports. Can you talk a little bit about that story and kind of what it showed you about how people are viewed in the United States?
MR. CHO: Yeah. I can't remember what year that was. That must have been 2005.
MR. NAKAMURA: 2004 is what‑‑yep.
MR. CHO: 2004? Yeah. And we were traveling on these one‑way tickets all around the country to do a promotional tour for "Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle," and he was very reliably stopped for random searches for every flight we had. And obviously, he's‑‑he's brown. I wouldn't have believed it, I think, if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes, and I think the capper was we were traveling with a friend of his who's White, and he went through the security screening right ahead of Kal. And Kal was stopped and was frisked, and while we were waiting for him, his friend, his White friend, looked in his backpack and realized that he had neglected to remove the hunting knife that he'd brought camping. [Laughs] So, the knife‑‑
MR. NAKAMURA: Double standard.
MR. CHO: The Rambo knife went through, and he walked right on through, and Kal was‑‑Kal was stopped for having paperclips.
MR. NAKAMURA: We have time for about just a couple more here. You know, you've written this book, which addresses a lot of these themes, you know, you've dealt with in Hollywood. I'm wondering about, since the 2020 social justice protests whether you've sensed‑‑and, you know, it's not been that long, but whether you sense an appetite for more of these kind of stories. I do in the media, frankly, that there is somewhat, maybe not enough, of an appetite to tell some of these stories. Do you see that coming in Hollywood?
MR. CHO: I think so. I don't know whether I‑‑I can't say for sure. I'm not sure that I could have written this book prior. There seems to be a shift. I don't‑‑I'm not out there as much to‑‑talking to people, but I think so. You know, just in the conversations that I've had in my world with my business partners and my representatives, it seems like there is an appetite to maybe explore and understand, for which I'm incredibly thankful, because it starts there. It starts with a shift in‑‑a shift in attitude and just the tiniest opening to try and understand one another.
And so, for me, I think the book is‑‑if I had an aim, it would be to generate some empathy for a Korean American family, to understand our family dynamics, and to just sort of peer into the household of a neighbor that you might know actually.
MR. NAKAMURA: Last question for you. You know, you named the protagonist of "Troublemaker," Jordan, not after Michael Jordan but after the river where Jesus was baptized‑‑
MR. NAKAMURA: ‑‑and the Israelites crossed into the land of‑‑the Promised Land. At the end of the book‑‑I don't want to sort of give away any spoilers, but you do talk about sort of‑‑we all like rivers‑‑we're running to something bigger, an ocean, something larger than ourselves. But sometimes I wonder are we, and I wonder, you know, given where we are a couple years after the social justice protests, you know, where you see the country headed? Where are we running, you know, and do you have some optimism about where we're headed?
MR. CHO: I have some optimism. I think we have demonstrated an ability to unify and to behave according to our better angels, and I think that's there within us. It's a very distressing political moment. It's tough. Sometimes it feels like the end of something. I'm referring to perhaps the environment and, you know, things that seemed a thousand years away when I was a kid seem around the corner now.
But I think we have it in us. Yes, I do. Maybe that's unfounded, but I think I'm holding on to what I referred to before, the ideals in America that I believed in. It's pretty deep in me, and I do love this country. You know, there was talk‑‑just because we were living in New Zealand when I was writing this book and for a large part of the pandemic, you know, we had‑‑we were having sort of these fanciful conversations, could we live here, you know, and we decided no. The United States is our home. We have family. We have roots here, and I want to stay and make this country one that my children can inherit.
MR. NAKAMURA: Very well said. Unfortunately, we're out of time. John, thank you so much for spending this time with us and for sharing some honest reflections here.
And thank you for watching, and head over to WashingtonPost.com to register for future programs. Again, I’m David Nakamura, and thank you for joining Washington Post Live. | null | null | null | null | null |
The Path Forward: David Malpass, President, World Bank Group
David Malpass is the president of the World Bank Group and the former Under Secretary of the U.S. Treasury for International Affairs. On Monday, March 14 at 2:00 p.m. ET Washington Post columnist David Ignatius speaks with Malpass about the global financial impact of Russia’s war in Ukraine, the latest on the effect of sanctions against Russia and what support is being offered to the people of the region as economic and human toll escalates.
President, World Bank Group | null | null | null | null | null |
World Stage: Ukraine with Fatih Birol, Executive Director, International Energy Agency
The world’s energy sector has been thrown into chaos amid the ongoing invasion of Ukraine. Join Washington Post Live on Monday, March 14 at 12:30 p.m. ET for a conversation with Fatih Birol, the executive director of the International Energy Agency, about the risks to the economy and how the U.S. ban on Russian energy imports reverberated throughout the global energy economy. | null | null | null | null | null |
Beyond that, the argument that the EPA has overstepped its authority in issuing the rule is tenuous at best. The Supreme Court has already made clear that the EPA can regulate carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions from power plants. Opponents of the Clean Power Plan argue that the rule went beyond what the law allows in attempting to regulate emissions from the entire electrical grid, rather than individual power plants. While it is true that the decades-old Clean Air Act is not the ideal mechanism to combat climate change, the Obama-era plan fit well within the bounds that the Clean Air Act laid out for regulating dangerous pollutants.
There is no need for such radical rewiring of administrative law in this case. The Supreme Court should recognize what is plainly obvious: This case has been overtaken by events. The justices should stop making legal mischief and let the Biden administration craft its own rule. Meanwhile, Congress should supersede these legal battles and finally lay out a comprehensive strategy to combat climate change, ideally by taxing carbon pollution. | null | null | null | null | null |
The questions in Washington haven’t changed, and Carson Wentz isn’t the answer
Indianapolis Colts quarterback Carson Wentz runs a drill during practice at the NFL team's football training camp in Westfield, Ind., Wednesday, July 28, 2021. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)
This column has been updated
Here’s the thing about Carson Wentz, who is set to become the new Washington Commanders quarterback: Even at 29, he’s a lot closer in profile and ability to a tired Donovan McNabb and a decrepit Ryan Fitzpatrick than he is to, say, Russell Wilson. He is a placeholder by résumé and ability, and the franchise’s endless search for a quarterback who repeatedly can lead it deep into the playoffs continues ad infinitum.
There’s an explanation for why Washington agreed Wednesday to send a couple of third-round draft picks to Indianapolis for Wentz, who two seasons ago essentially was run out of Philadelphia in favor of decidedly unproven Jalen Hurts, then last year took the NFL’s best running game and failed to deliver the Colts to the playoffs. But remember when listening to those explanations — that he’s an upgrade over the incumbent Taylor Heinicke, that the capital they gave up doesn’t hinder their ability to continue to build the rest of the roster, blah blah blah — that the Commanders have Wentz because they failed to land Wilson, and they failed to land Wilson because they have an environment that established stars avoid like toddlers turning away from cauliflower on a fork. They can’t and won’t choke it down.
Here is what Indianapolis General Manager Chris Ballard, the man who gave up first- and third-round picks for Wentz just a year ago, said at last week’s scouting combine following one year of the Carson Experience: “As we sit down and work through whether Carson’s the best long-term answer or not … we’re not there yet.”
Now they’re there. The result: Carson wasn’t the Colts’ best long-term answer. Now he’s here.
So welcome to Washington’s hamster wheel. Wentz is just the latest to jump aboard and start running to nowhere. Go over the entire century for this franchise. It’s old news, but it’s perpetually a marvel.
Tony Banks leads to Mark Brunell, who gives way to Jason Campbell, who is replaced by Donovan McNabb, who is benched for Rex Grossman, who begets a trade up in the draft for Robert Griffin III, who gets hurt, gets healthy and eventually gets benched for Kirk Cousins, who signs elsewhere, so the team trades for Alex Smith, who suffers a devastating injury and is replaced by Case Keenum, but the team also drafts Dwayne Haskins, who lasts six starts under new coach Ron Rivera, who ends up signing 38-year-old Fitzpatrick, who lasts roughly 30 seconds before he is injured and replaced by Heinicke, who was an out-of-work math graduate student one year earlier. That’s some combination of dizzying and defining, and it doesn’t even deal with the John Becks and Garrett Gilberts who filled in some of the cracks in between.
In that way, Wentz will fit right in. In his one season with the Colts — a season in which no one rushed for more yards than Indianapolis running back Jonathan Taylor — Wentz averaged 6.9 yards per attempt, which tied with Heinicke for a decidedly middle-of-the-pack 20th in the league. He completed 62.4 percent of his passes — better than just six regular starters in the league, three of whom were rookies, and not as good as Heinicke’s 65 percent. The Colts have a roster that is ready to win now, and they decided they would prefer to try to do it with someone else. That’s telling.
So the search for a stable, franchise-steadying quarterback continues. In general, there are two ways to land one: be fortunate enough to have a high draft pick in a year when one of those players is coming out of college or create an environment and build a roster that would be attractive to an established quarterback who is looking for new surroundings.
On the first front: Since the last of its three Super Bowl titles following the 1991 season, Washington has drafted 14 quarterbacks, from Chris Hakel in the fourth round in 1992 to Haskins in the first round in 2019. They have combined to win one playoff game as starters — and that was Cousins for Minnesota, after he moved on from Washington. That’s quite a run of incompetence — particularly with the next draft just seven weeks away and Washington possessing the enticing-but-dangerous combination of a vacuum at quarterback and the 11th pick in the first round.
Aaron Rodgers returning for what will be an 18th season in Green Bay really had nominal effect on the Commanders’ 2022 situation because it just defies logic that the player who won the past two MVP awards would survey the landscape and say, “I choose Ashburn.” But it’s still instructive because the Commanders are such a non-contender in these situations. Washington plays in an outdated, half-empty stadium for an owner who is loathed by its fan base and who oversaw a culture that demeaned and harassed women for years — a shroud that still covers the entire operation. Oh, and it has one playoff win this century. No wonder quarterbacks aren’t lining up to play here.
So Wentz becomes Rivera’s way to kick the can down the road. His arrival won’t end the questions about who the long-term quarterback will be, because Washington can cut him after the 2022 season and be free and clear of any future salary cap implications. Maybe that’s better than tying your cart to one of the reclamation project quarterbacks who will be out there in free agency — Mitch Trubisky or Jameis Winston or Marcus Mariota or the like. Of course, those guys wouldn’t have cost any draft picks, so …
Wait. Forget that stuff. It’s minutia.
The draft is seven weeks away. Rivera and his lieutenants may well have a quarterback in mind at No. 11. Pittsburgh’s Kenny Pickett or Liberty’s Malik Willis — or both — could be there. Then Wentz becomes even more of a stopgap, and the future belongs to that kid.
Don’t even go down the road that has the Commanders both trading for Wentz and taking a quarterback in the first round — and having the season go awry anyway. In a worst-case scenario, that could lead to a change at coach and in the front office, which would lead to a new regime having to develop and evaluate an iffy quarterback, which would just continue this bottomless cycle. Ugh.
When this offseason opened, Rivera said, “It’s time I think that we see this team start to take that big step forward.” He tried to do it by landing Wilson, which would have helped. He now will do it by inserting Wentz, which just begets more questions. Washington traded for a quarterback Wednesday. But the answer to “Who will lead this team behind center in 2023 and beyond?” is not at all clearer. | null | null | null | null | null |
SXSW is scheduled to be held in Austin, Texas, from March 11 to 20 this year. Activision Blizzard did not respond to comment.
Kotick said in a news release that he had to focus his “full attention on Activision Blizzard at this pivotal time as we prepare for our merger with Microsoft.” Coca-Cola declined to comment. | null | null | null | null | null |
The freezing temperatures come at a time when hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians are without electricity and could affect troop movement
A man walks through a checkpoint in heavy snow on March 7 in Lviv, Ukraine. (Dan Kitwood/Getty Images)
A strong blocking high-pressure system has developed over western and northern Europe, opening a passageway for very frigid Arctic air to enter northern Asia and Eastern Europe. The polar outbreak could bring daytime temperatures 18 to 22 degrees (10 to 12 Celsius) below normal in eastern Ukraine on Thursday and Friday, and 9 to 13 degrees (5 to 7 Celsius) below normal in the western part of the country.
“Cold weather indeed affected civilians, who [were] trying to flee the war zone,” Tatiana Adamenko, head of Agrometeorological Department of the Hydrometeorological center of Ukraine in Kyiv, wrote in an email. Adamenko corresponded with The Washington Post through Inbal Becker-Reshef, University of Maryland professor and program director of NASA Harvest, which collaborates with the Ukrainian hydrometeorological center for crop forecasting.
The official Ukrainian Hydrometeorological Center website has been unresponsive for several days. Adamenko said standard meteorological information is still coming in and is saved on its server, but only from the stations that are not being occupied by the enemy forces. She said sometimes the center uses data from the German meteorological service. However, weather information for the Ukrainian army is being provided by the military hydrometeorological service, with which she does not have a connection.
This week’s extreme cold comes in stark contrast to unusually warm temperatures in February. Data from 17 Ukrainian ground weather stations indicated temperatures in February were several degrees above normal averaged over the month. Many weather stations had interrupted service near the end of February, but satellite data also shows above-average temperatures into March.
“It has been unusually warm in Ukraine. They had a period with about 5 degrees [Celsius] plus [above average] for a few consecutive days over February. That is unusual because usually it’s below 0 during this [time of the] year,” said Daniel Müller, a geographer and agricultural economist at the Leibniz Institute of Agricultural Development in Transition Economies. “This indeed contributed to an early thawing of the soils that might have created problems for the heavy armor of the Russians."
“There’s this clay underneath the topsoil, which prevents the water from draining further down, and that’s why sort of the humidity accumulates in the upper soil layers. That’s why this becomes extremely muddy,” Müller said. “Entire regions in southern Belarus, southern European Russia are famous for these mud conditions, this rasputitsa, in spring and autumn.”
“Columns [of vehicles] tend to get channeled onto the roads, and we’re seeing that,” Cancian said. “When that happens, then it favors the defense because they don’t have to defend a broad front. They can focus their energies on relatively narrow fronts, the roads. So that helps the Ukrainians.”
“In retrospective, I would have guessed they come in earlier because really harsh winter conditions are best for such an attack because then the heavy vehicles can move anywhere,” Müller said. “Temperatures have been far above the average so maybe they haven’t expected that.”
Cancian said typically campaign season in Russia starts after the ground has dried out, which is usually in April. He thinks Russian President Vladimir Putin proceeded to attack because “Putin thought he was going to win in a couple of days … he didn’t think he was going to be fighting in the mud, and he thought it would be all over by now.”
Forecasts project mostly below-average temperatures for at least one week, with the most extreme cold Thursday through Monday. Kyiv’s temperatures could plummet to 16 degrees (minus-9 Celsius) Saturday while Kharkiv’s could dip as low as minus-2 (minus-19 Celsius).
Some light snow is forecast east of Kyiv on Thursday and Friday, but it is unclear how deep it may pack over soils for troop movement. So far, snow this season has been below average and unstable, Adamenko said.
“It is now very relevant how early the rains will start,” Müller said. “Once the spring rains come, which usually come [in the middle or end] of March or early April, then you know this mud thing would really become impassable basically completely and for heavy vehicles.” | null | null | null | null | null |
Some men said they took exit routes that were illegal. At a refugee center in Chisinau, one man lowered his voice to a whisper to confide that he’d joined a group of Jews that he’d first heard about from a rabbi in Kyiv. People paid between 2,000 and 7,500 euros, he said. The men spread out and tried to cross the border. Only some made it over.
Andriy Demchenko, a spokesman for Ukraine’s state border guard service, said that people between the ages of 18 and 60 who don’t have permission to leave — and who come to official border crossings — are simply turned back. He said those who cross illegally face fines if caught and are “recommended to the local recruiting station.”
He felt the options around him collapsing. He could fly to Russia, but that would amount to a betrayal of his values, his fiancee and her 13-year-old daughter from an earlier relationship. He could stay in Moldova, but for what? His fiancee had already moved on to Romania, where he’d heard Russian citizens were also having a hard time entering. | null | null | null | null | null |
Matthew DePerno speaks to supporters of former president Donald Trump as they gather for a rally at the Michigan Capitol in Lansing, Mich., on Oct. 12, 2021, to demand a forensic audit of the 2020 presidential election. (Salwan Georges/The Washington Post)
I’ve written about this at length before, but a short summary is useful here. On Election Day, Antrim County voters cast ballots on electronic machines. The totals were added up and submitted to the state. The next morning, the administrator of elections in the county was tipped off that the numbers were weird: Joe Biden won reliably Republican Antrim County? The county scrambled to address the problem, realizing that they’d failed to calibrate the vote-counting machine properly. After a false start, they reran the count and got an accurate tally. | null | null | null | null | null |
The United States is back in an energy crisis, with record gas prices due to disruptions stemming from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Many nations have rightly taken steps to halt or sharply reduce Russian energy purchases in an effort to choke off Vladimir Putin’s economy. But the shunning of Russian oil — which accounts for more than 10 percent of worldwide consumption — is causing a huge supply problem.
In the short term, President Biden has little choice but to turn to Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Venezuela for more heavy crude oil. The United States stopped importing Venezuelan oil in 2019 in response to widespread human rights abuses under President Nicolás Maduro. In wartime, Mr. Biden must make hard choices. If he can get some political concessions from the regime, it could be worth lifting the ban on U.S. purchases from Venezuela and adding the 600,000 additional barrels per day it may be capable of producing to the global supply. Mr. Biden has already sent envoys to Venezuela, and Mr. Maduro has freed two American prisoners.
In the medium term, we need more U.S. production of oil and natural gas, changes to U.S. refineries so they can handle more shale oil, and an ongoing push to be more energy efficient.
Mr. Biden is already outpacing former president Donald Trump in issuing drilling permits on federal land. It may be necessary to provide tax credits or other incentives to get refineries to upgrade and Americans to reduce energy consumption. Automakers are predicting an electric vehicle boom in the coming years, proving that even cars and trucks can change.
In the longer term, the United States must continue to push for greener energy. Democrats should make a deal with West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin (D) to pass the climate change provisions of Build Back Better. It will take time, but continuing to move in the direction of a greener future is wise both for climate reasons and geopolitics. | null | null | null | null | null |
Regan is far from the first politician or other public figure to try to make light of what a woman experiences during rape — specifically, to suggest that she likes it. As far back as 1976, a television weatherman in New York said pretty much the same thing that Regan did — after a stock market report, and inexplicably, claiming it was a saying by Confucius. When Indiana University basketball coach Bob Knight was asked in a 1989 network television interview how he handled stress, he found the same analogy: ''I think that if rape is inevitable, relax and enjoy it.''
Most famous, perhaps, was West Texas oilman Clayton Williams, who as the 1990 GOP nominee for governor, bankrolled himself into a seemingly invincible lead in the race over the Democrat, state treasurer Ann Richards. The race was quickly christened “Claytie and the lady.“
And while that gaffe alone didn’t kill Williams’s candidacy, it was revelatory and dogged him as other ones mounted. As Richards, a recovering alcoholic, began gaining on him in the polls, Williams averred “I hope she hasn’t gone back to drinking again,” and announced he would “head her and hoof her and drag her through the mud.” And then came a final blow, just days before the election, when news broke that the big-spending candidate hadn’t paid income taxes in 1986. Richards pulled out a three-point victory.
What’s really at issue, however, is how Regan thinks, not the way he expressed it. His is a worldview that is not only offensive, but twisted. This is the same man who last year offered the opinion that feminism is a “Jewish program to degrade and subjugate White men” and more recently called the Russian invasion of Ukraine a “fake war just like the fake pandemic.” | null | null | null | null | null |
But let’s be clear-eyed about what the U.S. government prefers but cannot say: For the long-term security of Europe, the preservation of the international order and the restoration of Russian self-determination, Putin must go. The 69-year-old, who has paved the way to stay on as president indefinitely, harbors grandiose ambitions to re-create the Soviet empire. Conquering Ukraine may not satisfy his appetite.
The intelligence community believes the economic crisis is exacerbating domestic political opposition to Putin, though reliable polling is difficult. Facebook and Twitter are blocked. Independent reporting has literally been criminalized. Journalists can be sentenced to 15 years in prison for writing that the war is a war, instead of a “special military operation,” the phrase used by the Kremlin. Meanwhile, a generation of western conveniences and commercial openings have dried up overnight. “Thirty years of progress in Russia has been wiped out,” Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Victoria Nuland testified Tuesday before the Senate.
But those pre-revolutionary events are more than a century old. And history also teaches that the czar you know sometimes turns out to be better than the train full of revolutionaries you don’t. Who can say for sure that whomever or whatever follows Putin in Moscow will be more reasonable? Putin is a leader who has been closely studied in the West for decades; multiple U.S. presidents have met and negotiated with him; anyone who takes his place is likely to be untested and unknown. This is why calling for regime change with a nuclear state is very dangerous business.
Perhaps one day the benefits of giving Putin a taste of his own medicine will more clearly outweigh the costs. But that day has not yet come. | null | null | null | null | null |
Man fatally shot in Landover
A man was fatally shot Wednesday afternoon in Landover, Prince George’s County police said.
Officers found the victim outside suffering from a gunshot wound in the 800 block of Hill Stream Drive after police responded to the report of a shooting about 2:15 p.m., officials said on social media. The victim, whose name police did not immediately release, was taken to a hospital and pronounced dead, police said.
Investigators released no information about a motive or a description of a suspect. | null | null | null | null | null |
Antonio Olivo
Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R) signs an executive order establishing K-12 "lab schools" in January. (Steve Helber/AP)
A collection of left-leaning Virginia advocacy groups is asking Gov. Glenn Youngkin to reconsider appointing replacements for three state Board of Education members whose terms ended early because of maneuvering by Republican legislators.
The three members — Jamelle S. Wilson, Anthony Swann and Stewart D. Roberson — were all nominated before last fall’s gubernatorial election by the Republican winner’s predecessor, Gov. Ralph Northam (D). But House Republicans declined to confirm them during the legislative session in January, after Senate Democrats refused to confirm Andrew Wheeler as state secretary of natural and historic resources.
Wheeler, Youngkin’s pick for the role, is a former coal lobbyist who served as President Donald Trump’s Environmental Protection Agency administrator. Republicans have explicitly said Wheeler’s rejection led them to block 11 Northam nominations — including for the three Board of Education seats, as well as positions on the Air Pollution Control Board, the Water Control Board, the Virginia Marine Resources Commission and the Safety and Health Codes Board.
Because House Republicans refused to confirm Wilson, Swann and Roberson, the trio’s terms ended years earlier than expected. In a Tuesday letter to Youngkin, the collection of advocacy groups, calling itself the Virginia Grassroots Coalition, asked the governor not to appoint replacements for the threesome but rather to renominate Wilson, Swann and Roberson to their roles.
“This goes against the spirit of the law and the precedents set by all preceding governors since 1971,” the letter reads. “That was the year that the constitution was changed in part to prevent Virginia Governors from removing Board members who disagreed with the Governor’s agenda.”
That change to the state constitution, the letter notes, was enacted partly to prevent Virginia’s then-governor from forcing the state Board of Education to obey his preference for “Massive Resistance” to desegregation of the state’s schools. The letter is signed by Marianne Burke, chair of the education working group for the Virginia Grassroots Coalition.
A spokeswoman for Youngkin did not respond on the record to a request for comment about the letter Wednesday.
The Virginia Grassroots Coalition supports “progressive candidates & policies,” according to its website, and member organizations include the Fairfax County Democratic Committee, Arlington Blue Families and Loudoun Progressives. Other groups listed as endorsing the coalition’s Tuesday letter include the Virginia Education Association, the Fairfax County and Hanover County branches of the NAACP, the Virginia chapter of the National Organization for Women and LGBTQ advocacy group FCPS Pride.
Tuesday’s letter states that the three challenged board members would “provide much needed expertise to the Board,” pointing to Swann, Wilson and Roberson’s long careers and advanced degrees in education.
Swann is a Franklin County fifth-grade teacher who was named Virginia’s 2021 teacher of the year. Roberson is a former Hanover County Public Schools superintendent who leads an architectural and engineering company. Wilson is also a former Hanover schools superintendent who now serves as dean of the University of Richmond School of Professional and Continuing Studies. She joined the state board in 2017 and has served as its vice president.
“Their tenure on the Board will provide continuity, stability, and a buffer from political influence on policies as intended in the Constitution,” the Tuesday letter states.
Youngkin made education a cornerstone of his campaign for the governorship and has continued to focus on the topic during his early weeks in office. On his first day in the job, he issued executive orders making masks optional in schools and banning the teaching of critical race theory.
In recent years, the nine-member Board of Education has supported policies favored by Democrats.
The letter also points out that, when Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D) took office in 2014, he reappointed all 40 people nominated for positions by his predecessor, Gov. Robert McDonnell (R), even though the General Assembly had not confirmed those people by the time McAuliffe gained power.
“Governor McAuliffe reappointed all of those previously appointed people and communicated his support to the General Assembly so they could serve their terms,” the letter states. “It seems only appropriate that the three Board of Education appointments made by Governor Northam be allowed to complete their terms.” | null | null | null | null | null |
4 convicted in 2016 ISIS killing of priest
Four men were convicted in Paris on Wednesday of terrorist conspiracy in the killing of a Catholic priest in a Normandy church in 2016, an attack that was claimed by the Islamic State.
The four were handed sentences of between eight years and life in prison in the attack on the Rev. Jacques Hamel, 85, who was stabbed in his church in Saint-Étienne-du-Rouvray by two 19-year-olds as he finished celebrating Mass.
Two nuns and an elderly couple were held hostage before the assailants slashed the priest’s throat and seriously injured another elderly churchgoer. The two attackers, Abdel Malik Petitjean and Adel Kermiche, were killed by police as they left the church.
The four men on trial were accused of having helped or encouraged the attack. Only three defendants were present at the trial; the other was convicted in absentia. The three present did not play a role in carrying out the attack but were part of the attackers’ entourage.
The most serious punishment was handed to the absent defendant: Rachid Kassim, a Frenchman who was a notorious Islamic State recruiter, was sentenced to life in prison. Kassim is believed to have been killed in a drone strike in 2017 in Iraq. He had already received a life sentence in absentia in 2019 for having ordered a failed attack near Notre Dame Cathedral.
Premier apologizes to Greenland Inuits
Denmark’s prime minister on Wednesday delivered a face-to-face apology to six living victims of a 1950s social experiment in which 22 Greenlandic children were taken from their families and sent to Denmark to be integrated into Danish society.
The Inuit children were between 4 and 9 years old when they were shipped to Denmark, then the colonial power, in 1951 to try to reeducate them as “little Danes.” The children were supposed to return to Greenland and be part of a new Danish-speaking elite that would help modernize the Arctic island’s Inuit population.
The children, however, were never sent back to their families, but were either adopted by Danish families or sent back to Greenland to be placed in an orphanage, where they were forced to speak Danish and had little or no contact with relatives.
“Your stories have touched us deeply and this is why Denmark today says the only word that is right to say: Sorry!” said Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen before an audience that included the six survivors at a ceremony
at the National Museum of Denmark in Copenhagen. “What you were exposed to was wrong. It was inhuman, it was unreasonable and it was heartless.”
Covid case and death rates fall in the Americas: The Pan American Health Organization said covid-19 cases fell by 26 percent across the Americas last week while deaths from the coronavirus dropped by nearly 19 percent, but cautioned that some effective measures to curb infections should be maintained. "We all want the pandemic to be over, but optimism alone cannot control the virus. It is too soon to lower our guard," PAHO Director Carissa Etienne said. Six million people around the world have died of covid-19, with the Americas accounting for almost half of the deaths, including nearly 965,000 in the United States.
Ontario to end mask mandate as covid cases drop: Officials in Ontario, Canada's most populous province, announced plans to end mask mandates on March 21 in most settings, including schools. Provincial officials said improving coronavirus indicators such as a stable test positivity rate and declining hospitalizations, as well as Ontario's high vaccination rates and the availability of antiviral treatments, allowed for the planned move.
18 killed in attack on church in Congo: Militiamen killed 18 civilians who had sought refuge in a church compound in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo, a witness and local human rights groups said. The attack took place early Tuesday in Banyali Kilo, a district in conflict-riven Ituri province, as the victims slept in church outbuildings. They had fled there after escaping previous attacks, the sources said. | null | null | null | null | null |
The question is a matter of when, not if, Congress has to go back to the well to provide more funding and, largely depending on Zelensky and his government’s fate, whether this exercise becomes a semi-regular round of war funding similar to how the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan were funded — or, possibly, whether it becomes more of a secretly financed effort akin to how Congress propped up the mujahideen resistance against the Soviet Union’s invasion of Afghanistan during the 1980s.
This semi-regular request for funds irritated Pelosi (D-Calif.) during her first stint as speaker, and eventually she started splitting those supplemental bills into two pieces — so Democrats could provide the overwhelming support for the domestic provisions and Republicans the overwhelming majority for the war funding. | null | null | null | null | null |
In Carson Wentz, the Washington Commanders have arguably their best combination of talent and experience at quarterback since 2017, Kirk Cousins’s final season with the team. But Wentz is a complicated player who not only has struggled to use his physical talents judiciously but has gained a reputation as a player who makes crushing mistakes in the biggest moments.
The latest and most dramatic example came last season in Week 18. The Colts’ stunning loss to the two-win Jacksonville Jaguars that kept them out of the postseason wasn’t entirely on Wentz — the defense and his offensive supporting cast shared the blame — but he shouldered a sizable chunk. Wentz completed 17 of 29 passes for 185 yards, one touchdown and one interception. He took six sacks and lost a fumble. Per ESPN, his QBR of 4.3 was one of the worst for any passer all season.
It’s fair to wonder if Wentz will fare any better with Washington. Wentz will turn 30 in December and was just traded away by his biggest advocate, Colts Coach Frank Reich, who was the Philadelphia Eagles’ offensive coordinator during Wentz’s MVP-caliber 2017 season. But even if the Commanders’ coaches can’t help Wentz improve, even if he remains a quarterback with a chasm between his talent and his production, he figures to be an upgrade over Taylor Heinicke in ability and consistency.
This is key for a Washington offense that has struggled for the past two years. It’s difficult to know how much blame falls on coordinator Scott Turner, because he has spent the bulk of his tenure calling plays for limited quarterbacks in Dwayne Haskins, Alex Smith and Heinicke. Wentz, an established NFL starter, was considered for most of this past season about league average, and he should bring some of the stability that Ryan Fitzpatrick was expected to offer in 2021.
But, like Heinicke early in the season, Wentz seemed to have trouble balancing his aggressive style with the conservative approach his coaches wanted. At his end-of-season news conference, Colts General Manager Chris Ballard divulged that he had a lengthy conversation with Wentz after Week 18 in which he urged him to make smarter, safer decisions. Ballard said he told Wentz that he needed to get the ball out quickly — which is what Commanders Coach Ron Rivera said about Heinicke at times last season.
During his news conference at last week’s NFL combine, Ballard hinted that Wentz needed to learn to better handle criticism and that “it’ll be interesting to see how he grows from this. I think he will.”
In Washington, Wentz may have one of the best supporting casts of his career. He’s downgrading at running back — Indianapolis’s Jonathan Taylor was the class of the league last season — but getting a boost along the offensive line and with his pass catchers. Last season, rookie wideout Michael Pittman Jr. (1,082 yards, six touchdowns), one of his only consistent options, became his second 1,000-yard receiver (joining Eagles tight end Zach Ertz, who had 1,163 in 2018). The combination of wide receiver Terry McLaurin, running back Antonio Gibson and tight end Logan Thomas, among others, should help. | null | null | null | null | null |
Major League Baseball cancels more regular season games as lockout continues
NEW YORK — Major League Baseball canceled another week of regular season games Wednesday afternoon, pushing Opening Day to April 14 at the earliest with owners and players deadlocked on a new collective bargaining agreement. MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred has now canceled the first four series of the regular season. No agreement is in sight.
Instead, the MLB Players Association proposed a deal by which the owners would drop draft pick compensation in exchange for continued discussions about an international draft until a Nov. 15 deadline, at which point if the players did not agree to the international draft, the owners could reinstate draft pick compensation next winter. After delaying a recently-imposed Tuesday deadline to allow for more talks, MLB enforced it around 6:30 p.m. Wednesday. Instead of responding to that union offer, the league sent out a news release announcing the cancellation of games.
The owners and their negotiators told the union that agreeing to a deal by Tuesday would save the full 162-game season and, just as importantly, a full season of player pay and service time accumulation. If they missed that deadline, the league believed it would be able to implement a shorter schedule and cut player pay accordingly. The union believes both the schedule and pay remain negotiable, regardless of MLB’s cutoffs. So far, the union has been right.
By then, a new pivotal issue had emerged: the creation of an international draft, a long-debated concept that grew in emphasis at what seemed like the 11th hour. The league foisted the international draft into the spotlight late Tuesday when they informed the union that the owners would be willing to drop direct draft pick compensation for top free agents — something the players see as a deterrent to free agent spending — in exchange for replacing the current free-for-all international signing system for players from outside the United States, Canada, Puerto Rico, and Japan with a more structured, centralized draft, according to people familiar with the talks. Again, MLB extended a deadline a day to allow further talks.
“In a last-ditch effort to preserve a 162-game season, this week we have made good-faith proposals that address the specific concerns voiced by the MLBPA and would have allowed the players to return to the field immediately.” Manfred’s statement read. “The Clubs went to extraordinary lengths to meet the substantial demands of the MLBPA. On the key economic issues that have posed stumbling blocks, the Clubs proposed ways to bridge gaps to preserve a full schedule. Regrettably, after our second late-night bargaining session in a week, we remain without a deal.”
But multiple agents and executives asked Wednesday joined the league in arguing that a draft would help eliminate some of the corruption that runs rampant in the current signing system. The league also claims that its proposal was built specifically to ensure the same number of players would be signed each year and that draft pick slot values ensure more money is invested in Latino players annually than under the current system.
If the players’ association agrees to the draft by Nov. 15, the deal is done, just as if they had agreed to it Wednesday. But if the players don’t agree, the league would gain the right to reopen the collective bargaining agreement after the 2024 season, effectively reducing a would-be five-year deal to three, allowing the league to renegotiate any parts of the deal it felt weren’t working in the owners’ favor.
But to the union, the pitting the international draft against direct draft pick compensation represented a strategically timed negotiating ploy, one that forces the players to choose between something they believe suppresses free agent spending and an international draft that many of its members do not support. They refused to choose, frustrated that MLB promised a full counterproposal and withheld most of it with that ultimatum. The union did not bite.
So a week after the sides’ inability to make a deal officially delayed Opening Day from March 31, another week of disagreement pushed it to April 14 — the day before the league plans to celebrate the 75th anniversary of Jackie Robinson becoming MLB’s first Black player. Should another week pass without a deal, should another week of games succumb to the financial concerns of the few at the expense of the many who treasure the game, the scars will only grow. | null | null | null | null | null |
D.C. police released a video of what officials said is the victim’s Mercedes being parked on a street in Northwest Washington. Two people who appear to be men are seen getting out of the vehicle, one from the front-passenger side and other from the back. The video shows the people walking away from the car. The video does not show the person driving the vehicle. Police describe the two people as “persons of interest” in the case. | null | null | null | null | null |
Nearly two-thirds of Americans want to stop shifting their clocks twice a year, according to polls
A congressional panel on Wednesday debated whether to end the nation’s “spring forward” and “fall back” daylight saving policy, citing the health effects of shifting the clock twice per year. Most agreed it was about time.
On Sunday, people in most parts of the United States will set their clocks ahead one hour so that darkness falls later in the day, a seasonal shift that is enforced by the federal government and will be reversed on Nov. 6. But more than 40 states, including Maryland, are considering changes to end the shifting, and federal lawmakers are weighing legislation that could make daylight saving time permanent.
Health groups including the American Academy of Sleep Medicine have called for an end to the shifting, which was first adopted in the United States a century ago. Daylight saving time has since been revised repeatedly by lawmakers trying to strike the right balance, including a short-lived effort to make it year-round in response to the 1970s energy crisis. A pair of experts at Wednesday’s hearing, convened by the House Energy and Commerce Committee’s subcommittee on consumer protection, also testified that the twice-per-year disruption hurts sleep, is linked to cardiac problems and presents other health and public safety risks.
Malow said essential workers and students are the most vulnerable to health and sleep problems, and warned that the time shift means people may be waking up to commute in dark hours.
“There’s going to be more car accidents on the Monday following this Sunday switch, and it’s because we’re going to mess up people’s sleep cycles,” University of Washington law professor Steve Calandrillo, who also testified at the hearing, predicted in an interview.
But while the experts sounded alarms about the clock change, they split on the right fix. Calandrillo argued that the nation should permanently adopt daylight saving time to capitalize on as much light as possible in the early evening, while Malow argued for a permanent shift to standard time, saying that moving the clocks earlier throws off the body’s natural responses to light.
Daylight saving time “is like living in the wrong time zone for almost eight months out of the year,” she testified, citing research into circadian rhythms and release of hormones such as cortisol.
Meanwhile, a retail industry group argued to preserve the current policy, saying the existing “balancing act” provides significant economic benefits — with people more likely to shop during the extra daylight hours — and suggesting that some of the health fears are exaggerated.
“Every Sunday or Monday, the majority of your colleagues are returning from their districts,” testified Lyle Beckwith, senior vice president for government relations at the National Association of Convenience Stores. “They’re returning with one, two, three hours of sleep deprivation. … So if setting the clocks ahead one hour is dangerous, flying East is deadly.”
Pallone after the hearing sent a request to the Transportation Department, which enforces the federal Uniform Time Act first enacted in 1966, asking for an analysis of the effects of changing the clocks. That analysis was promised in 2018 but never delivered to Congress, according to a letter Pallone’s office provided to The Washington Post.
Congress’s treatment of daylight saving time has sometimes been played for a joke, such as on HBO’s “Veep,” where an ambitious backbench lawmaker made ending it his top policy issue.
But the issue is building real-world momentum, with lawmakers and analysts insisting that an end to the shifting is overdue. Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) last year reintroduced a bipartisan bill to make daylight saving time permanent, a position shared by Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.), who chairs the Senate’s Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee.
“My wife actually called it a ‘big little issue.’ … It affects everyone,” said Jim Reed, who directs energy issues for the National Conference of State Legislatures and has studied the policy, noting that 28 states are considering 68 different pieces of legislation that would address daylight saving time. “It does seem to be bipartisan, both at the congressional level and at the state level.”
While states can choose to adopt permanent standard time — as Arizona and Hawaii have done — it would take an act of Congress to allow states to adopt permanent daylight saving time, a fact that has repeatedly astounded lawmakers over the years.
“I was pretty surprised we had the power to change time itself,” said Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.), who led the hearing, referencing her discovery at a years-ago vote on daylight saving time.
Some GOP lawmakers didn’t like how Congress was spending its time, arguing that Democrats should have focused first on the Ukraine conflict, inflation and other concerns.
“There remain many issues that this committee should be prioritizing before daylight saving, like unleashing American energy to help Ukraine and counter Russian aggression,” said Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (Wash.), the committee’s top Republican.
“This hearing could not be more timely,” said Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-Mich.), referencing Sunday’s time shift and the effect on small businesses, the economy and public health.
Democrats changed the hearing’s start from 10:15 a.m. to 9:30 so they could leave for an event in Philadelphia in the afternoon, a time shift that caught one witness by surprise. | null | null | null | null | null |
The reference to Robert S. Mueller III, then serving as special counsel investigating Russia’s effort to interfere in the 2016 campaign, was pointed. In January 2019, Mueller successfully sought an indictment of Stone on a number of charges, including lying to law enforcement, obstruction and witness tampering. Among those quickest to rise to Stone’s defense: Tarrio, who attended a news conference wearing a “Roger Stone Did Nothing Wrong” T-shirt. He wore it to a Trump rally the next month.
During a presidential debate in September 2020, Trump was asked to denounce right-wing extremism and to tell groups to stand down. Trump instead told the Proud Boys to “stand back and stand by” — possibly simply jumbling the moderator’s request but nonetheless making a comment that the Proud Boys quickly embraced as an endorsement. This increased attention being paid to the group and to Stone’s relationship with them. In a conversation with a reporter published a few days later, Stone denied having an affiliation with the group.
It’s useful to diverge here to talk about the Oath Keepers, an extremist organization focused on recruiting former members of the military and law enforcement. There are not obvious ties between Stone and the Oath Keepers or founder Rhodes before the post-election period, but the Oath Keepers’ activity in that period is alleged in government indictments.
“I remember you saying, ‘I have no money for security, are you going to handle it?’ And I said, ‘Yeah, get with me,’” Jones said. “But you never ended up getting with me, because the town was so mobbed, you couldn’t even find me, and so Oath Keepers helped you out.” Stone replied that he didn’t “know any of them on an intimate basis.”
One of them was James.
On both Jan. 5 and Jan. 6, the Oath Keepers were Stone’s perpetual companions. They accompanied him to a rally outside the Supreme Court on Jan. 5, sporting badges that read “all access.” When Stone spoke at a rally that evening, they were there with him backstage (as in the photo at the top of this article, again with the same pass). And on the day of the riot itself, they served as his escorts.
For example, Stone was at the center of questions about the Trump campaign’s awareness of efforts by Russian actors to influence the election results by leaking stolen material through WikiLeaks. Stone claimed to have a relationship with WikiLeaks and unique insights into what the group was going to release, a relationship that led a “senior” campaign official to ask Stone to reach out to the group (which he then did through backchannels). It’s worth noting that this overlapped with the period in which those fake accounts that eventually somehow linked to the Proud Boys were active on Facebook.
The effort to undercut Biden’s presidency was moving down two tracks: one tightly linked to Trump and his legal team and the other loosely organized by outside opportunists such as Alexander and Jones. Both tracks were aiming for events in Washington on Jan. 6, forcing a negotiated agreement on who would be doing what, when. It was agreed that Stone and others would have a prominent role in the event on Jan. 5 and that, after Trump’s speech outside the White House on Jan. 6, there would be a rally at Capitol Hill.
But on Jan. 6, Stone appears to have found himself largely outside the loop. He complained to the filmmakers following him that he’d been cut out of the main event at the Ellipse, an event that sparked a known confrontation as a prominent donor and ally of Jones worked to get the conspiracy theorist a prominent placement that morning. He remained in his room the rest of the day. His bodyguards decamped for the Capitol, where they joined other Oath Keepers and Proud Boys in storming the Capitol. | null | null | null | null | null |
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