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| TOP STORIES |
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| Obama may have new leverage with his $4 trillion budget request |
| President Obama’s $4 trillion budget request, packed with familiar proposals for new spending and higher taxes, landed Monday on the doorstep of a Republican Congress eager to end an era of political gridlock — giving Obama unexpected leverage in coming negotiations. Read full article » |
| Hayat Boumeddiene, wife of Paris attacker, becomes France’s most-wanted woman |
| PARIS —France’s most-wanted woman once loved the warm waves of the Dominican Republic, posing in a black bikini with her future husband, a petty thief. As her faith deepened, she exchanged the bathing suits for head scarves and new destinations: mosques in Malaysia, a pilgrimage to Mecca and now, authorities say, the jihadist cauldron of Syria. Read full article » |
| Artifacts show a Rosa Parks steeped in freedom struggle from childhood |
| When Rosa Parks was a little girl in rural Alabama, she would stay up at night, keeping watch with her grandfather as he stood guard with a shotgun against marauding members of the Ku Klux Klan.Klansmen often terrorized black communities in the early 1900s, and Parks’s grandfather, Sylvester Edwards, the son of a white plantation owner, had their house boarded up for protection. Read full article » |
| U.S. outreach to Cuba opens fissures among dissidents |
| HAVANA — President Obama’s outreach to Cuba, intended to open doors for human rights and political activists here, has also opened divisions within the island’s small, tight-knit dissident community.While many here see opportunity in restored diplomatic ties and expanded U.S. trade and travel to Cuba, others charge betrayal. Read full article » |
| The Chipotle effect: Why America is obsessed with fast casual food |
| Fast casual food is so hot right now.The market for fast casual food, which is almost but not quite fast food (I'll get to that in a second), has grown by 550 percent since 1999, more than ten times the growth seen in the fast food industry over the same period, according to data from market research firm Euromonitor. Chipotle, likely the best known purveyor of the category, has seen its sales more than quadruple during that time; Panera, another oft-used example, has watched its sales more than triple; and Shake Shack, the hamburger joint du jour, has done so well that it just went public despite operating only 36 outlets. Read full article » |
| ‘American Sniper’ misfires in Iraq |
| BAGHDAD — It is not only in America that Clint Eastwood’s Iraq war blockbuster “American Sniper” is proving controversial.After just a handful of sometimes rowdy screenings, the film has been pulled from Baghdad’s only movie theater amid complaints from the Iraqi government — as well as viewers — that it “insults” Iraqis. Read full article » |
| He’s got a ‘Downton Abbey’-inspired office, but Rep. Aaron Schock won’t talk about it. |
| The Rayburn House Office Building is a labyrinth of beige offices. And then, there’s . . . Rep. Aaron Schock’s new digs. Bright red walls. A gold-colored wall sconce with black candles. A Federal-style bull’s-eye mirror with an eagle perched on top. And this is just the Illinois Republican’s outer office. Read full article » |
| The Tehran hostages’ endless siege: A quest for compensation and closure |
| Deb Firestone remembers the day her father called home. It was Feb. 4, around 5 in the afternoon. Her mother had gone out to an important meeting — the first lady was going to be there — leaving Firestone, 16, at home with her two younger brothers and the music teacher. They were sitting at the electric organ in their split-level suburban home when the phone rang. Being the oldest, Firestone answered. Read full article » |
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| POLITICS |
| A zombie Obamacare stat emerges again, earns Four Pinocchios |
| “Under Obama, Average Family Premiums Have Increased $4,154”— Republican National Committee tweet and “fact check”The RNC circulated this talking point during the State of the Union address, and it is now popping up in the twitter feeds of Republican Housemembers and state parties. Read full article » |
| Joe Biden’s ‘Uncle Joe’ issue |
| Vice President Biden insists he's thinking about running for president. As we've written before, this is probably a fool's errand.Yes, Democrats like Biden just fine. In fact, a new Bloomberg/Des Moines Register poll of the Iowa caucuses shows Biden's popularity among likely Democratic caucus voters is almost as high as President Obama's and Hillary Clinton's (at least on its surface). While Obama is viewed favorably by 86 percent of these folks and Clinton is at 84 percent, Biden is at least in the same ballpark, at 78 percent. Read full article » |
| Six ways the White House budget would affect federal workers |
| The White House’s 2016 budget would change the way federal agencies operate and treat their employees, with proposals ranging from pay raises to agency consolidations.The structure of the budget document, released Monday, was actually pretty telling in this regard. It departed from the usual agency-by-agency |
| Va. lawmakers must weigh budget demands with new needsfor mental health services |
| Finances were one of the barriers to Alison Hymes’ release from Western State Hospital — not hers, but the state’s.Her placement at an assisted living facility in Charlottesville depended on whether her social workers could secure extra funds from the Discharge Assistance Program. DAP is designed to support individuals leaving state hospitals resume their lives in the community. Her hospital records which she shared with Post show that there was no more DAP funding available at the local level and her social workers had to appeal to the state for extra money, which eventually came through. Read full article » |
| OPINIONS |
| Obama holds high ground in budget fight with Republicans |
| The perennially tardy President Obama appeared half an hour early for Monday’s speech outlining his 2016 budget — a rare show of enthusiasm for the sacrificial ritual of sending his annual spending proposal to die on Capitol Hill. Read full article » |
| Anti-Semitism is once again on the march in Europe |
| The title of my recently published book is “Israel: Is It Good for the Jews?” When I started writing it, I did not know how I was going to answer that question. The more I delved into the subject, the more I read and did research, the more I concluded that the answer is yes. The recent events in Paris make me even surer. Read full article » |
| Vaccines and what we owe to our neighbors |
| The measles outbreak that began at California’s Disneyland — and spread like pixie dust — along with several other, smaller flare-ups, has health officials warning of worse to come. Preventable infectious disease is making its return to the developed world, this time by invitation. Read full article » |
| The Great Recession’s Lost Generation? Older millennials. |
| The kids are all right. Their slightly older siblings, not so much.For years you’ve probably been reading about aimless, idle millennials hunkering down in their parents’ basements, filling their days with video games, Instagram and deep, longing gazes upon their shelf of participation trophies. Members of the Boomerang Generation simply haven’t been sufficiently motivated — or well-parented? — to get a damn job, spouse and apartment of their own already. One need only watch “Girls” to understand how much my generation’s entitled, can’t-do attitude has been holding us back. Read full article » |
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| LOCAL |
| Long delays in John Geer shooting probe leave Fairfax County board seeking changes |
| Fairfax County officials say they are troubled by a lengthy delay in releasing information to the public about the fatal shooting of an unarmed Springfield man by a county police officer, and they are taking steps that they hope will help restore their constituents’ trust. Read full article » |
| How much will it cost to travel from Washington to Cuba? |
| President Obama announced this month that he would ease the United States’s longtime travel ban to Cuba, making it the easiest it’s been for Americans to travel to the Caribbean nation in more than 50 years. Under the new law, Americans will not need to obtain a government license to fly to Cuba and can make the trip provided they are traveling for professional, government, religious, or other approved reasons. Traveling for purely recreational purposes is still banned. Read full article » |
| D.C. area forecast: Sunshine returns, cold stays; next storm to watch is for Sunday |
| You think it’s cold now? Just wait until Thursday and Friday. Read full article » |
| Progressive labels for regressive practices: How key terms in education have been co-opted |
| Words matter. As Arthur H. Camins noted here, the words accountability, no-excuses and choice have “been claimed and defined by currently powerful policy makers and associated with their values.” Thus accountability language evokes the authority of the powerful to direct others to improve education, but not shared responsibility. And “no excuses language evokes blaming teachers, administrators, students and their parents for disappointing outcomes, while deflecting attention from the need to address systemic issues, such as the burden of poverty on children’s lives and inequitable school funding.” In the following posts, Alfie Kohn expands on this theme. Kohn (www.alfiekohn.org) is the author of 13 books, the most recent titled “The Myth of the Spoiled Child: Challenging the Conventional Wisdom About Children and Parenting.” This post, which I am publishing with permission, appeared on Kohn’s website. Read full article » |
| SPORTS |
| Wizards’ struggles at home continue with a 92-88 loss against the shorthanded Hornets |
| Randy Wittman entered the interview room at Verizon Center on Monday night, positioned himself in the seat at the podium, adjusted his glasses, and before a reporter could complete the postgame news conference’s first question, the Washington Wizards head coach commenced his harsh, candid self-criticism. Read full article » |
| Rex Ryan changes tattoo of wife in football jersey from green to blue |
| Rex Ryan is leading the Buffalo Bills these days, which means out with the old — i.e., any leftovers from his six-year stint with the New York Jets — and in with the new. To that end, he has reportedly thrown out almost all of his Jets gear, and he recently had a famous tattoo on his right arm changed from green to blue. Read full article » |
| Delay in Patriots’ celebration means Rob Gronkowski will be ‘up all night’ again |
| The Patriots were supposed to celebrate their Super Bowl XLIX victory on Tuesday morning, but Mother Nature got in the way, adding another foot-plus to Boston’s record snowfall over the past week. Thus New England will hold its celebration on Wednesday. Read full article » |
| Wizards’ Bradley Beal: ‘We are pretty soft right now’ |
| The Washington Wizards lost again Monday night, a 92-88 defeat to the Charlotte Hornets, and have lost three straight games for the second time in just over a month. Once 22-8, they are 9-10 since Dec. 30 and nine games behind the surging Atlanta Hawks in the Southeast Division standings. Read full article » |
| FEDERAL GOVERNMENT |
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| White House budget: Energy Department get get $2.5B increase |
| The Obama budget asks for $29.9 billion for the Energy Department, which manages the nation’s stockpile of nuclear weapons and materials in addition to fostering research and development of energy technologies. The request is a 9.2 percent, or $2.5 billion, increase over the current fiscal year. The biggest part of the department’s proposed budget, $12.6 billion, would go to the department’s National Nuclear Security Administration to maintain the nuclear stockpile, reduce threats of nuclear proliferation and nuclear terrorism, and bolster the capabilities of the nuclear Navy. Read full article » |
| White House budget: Justice Department would see a small funding increase |
| The Justice Department would see a small funding increase under President Obama’s proposed budget, but key Justice agencies, such as the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, would have to make do with less money, budget documents show. Read full article » |
| NATIONAL |
| We’re all agoraphobics now |
| Agoraphobia, from the Greek agora for marketplace, today afflicts 3.2 million adult Americans, a number no doubt underestimated because agoraphobics are notoriously hard to count. Originally conceived as the fear of wide-open spaces, the condition once conjured Munch’s (an agoraphobic himself) “The Scream”: a weakened individual cowering in the frenetic modern city. This definition has since mutated. Today it’s understood as the end game of panic anxiety disorder, the fear of one’s own fear response — being driven mad by the inescapable thunder of a panic attack. Because of this fear, agoraphobics map out safe zones (their homes, usually) and retreat into private worlds, which can become prisons. Read full article » |
| Even in 2015, the public doesn’t trust scientists |
| America risks drifting into a new Age of Ignorance. Even as science makes unparalleled advances in genomics to oceanography, science deniers are on the march — and they’re winning hearts and minds more successfully than the academic experts whose work they deride and undermine. Read full article » |
| Conservatives: Here’s one version of an anti-poverty agenda. Let’s see what you’ve got. |
| Someone recently quipped that people with car elevators shouldn’t complain about inequality, but I disagree. I welcome Mitt and Jeb and Marco (sounds like a cool boy band, no?) to the debate over inequality and poverty in America. Read full article » |
| WORLD |
| U.S. and North Korea have been secretly discussing having ‘talks about talks’ |
| TOKYO — The United States and North Korea have been actively discussing the possibility of returning to denuclearization talks, raising the prospect of a new round of diplomacy even as Washington takes a tougher line against Pyongyang. Read full article » |
| The dark side of Winston Churchill’s legacy no one should forget |
| There's no Western statesmen — at least in the English-speaking world — more routinely lionized than Winston Churchill. Last Friday marked a half century since his funeral, an occasion that itself led to numerous commemorations and paeans to the British Bulldog, whose moral courage and patriotism helped steer his nation through World War II. Read full article » |
| How Facebook is serving up Israeli settlement ads to Palestinian users |
| American social network Facebook is facing a new backlash after Palestinian Facebook users complained of seeing "promoted" posts that advertised homes in Israeli settlements.The Washington Post was sent screenshots of the sponsored advertisements, which were in Hebrew and appeared to show relatively luxurious homes. When asked how the advertisements ended up reaching Palestinians, a Facebook representative was unable to answer and said that the social network was investigating. RE/MAX Israel, a franchise of an American real estate company who appeared to be behind some of the posts, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Read full article » |
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| BUSINESS |
| With Kate Upton and Liam Neeson ads, mobile gaming has its Super Bowl moment |
| One of the Super Bowls ads featured model Kate Upton on horseback. Another starred a revenge-minded Liam Neeson. And a third carried an animated fight scene.But none of these spots came from traditional Super Bowl advertisers, the Chevrolets, Budweisers or Doritos of the world. Read full article » |
| What’s your credit score? Depends on what you’re buying. |
| Consumers often misunderstand something rather basic about credit scores: They think that each person has only one, when in fact a person has dozens of them under the nation’s most widely used credit scoring formula, known as FICO. Read full article » |
| The economic boom is here to stay |
| On Friday, the government announced that economy grew at a slower-than-expected 2.6 percent annual pace in the fourth quarter of 2014, but don't throw yourself into a pit of despair. The boom is still very much alive. Read full article » |
| TECHNOLOGY |
| What to make of Amazon’s island of misfit toys |
| Amazon is expanding in every direction -- and that has made some investors nervous. The company's stock price skyrocketed after a strong holiday quarter last week. Yet while its shares are trading 11 percent up at a price of $354.53 Monday morning, its 52-week high was still, well, just about 52 weeks ago. Read full article » |
| How two ‘free’ games made enough money to buy Super Bowl ads |
| Two mobile game developers paid big bucks to get big names to sell their apps during the Super Bowl on Sunday. Actor Liam Neeson did a riff on his role in the "Taken" film series for Clash of Clans, while model Kate Upton was featured in an ad for "Game of War: Fire Age." Read full article » |
| The FCC is moving to preempt state broadband limits |
| Federal regulators are moving ahead with a proposal to help two cities fighting with their state governments over the ability to build public alternatives to large Internet providers.The Federal Communications Commission this week will begin considering a draft decision to intervene against state laws in Tennessee and North Carolina that limit Internet access operated and sold by cities, according to a senior FCC official. The agency's chairman, Tom Wheeler, could circulate the draft to his fellow commissioners as early as Monday and the decision will be voted on in the FCC's public meeting on Feb. 26. Read full article » |
| Verizon Wireless to allow customers to actually opt-out of controversial supercookie tracking |
| Verizon Wireless said Friday that it will allow customers to opt out of having the company's controversial tracking code inserted into their Web traffic.The company previously offered a way for customers to opt-out of having their data used in its online advertising program. But the company continued to insert a unique code into their Web traffic, angering civil liberties groups who said the technology could be used to track customers movements on the Internet -- even if they took steps to protect their privacy. Now, the company is taking steps to give users more control. Read full article » |
| LIFESTYLE |
| Fifth Harmony: A reminder of when girl groups dominated the pop landscape |
| The great thing about prefab bands is that they can be whatever you want them to be. They can surf any trend, fill any niche, bend to any Top 40 desire. Things like “artistry” or “talent” are abstractions that do not trouble them. They will never try to make you believe that their sound “evolved organically.” They exist to be present-day hit machines, to be assembled into that thing you like right this at very moment. Read full article » |
| David Oyelowo of ‘Selma’ says Oscars only go to black actors in ‘subservient’ roles. Is he right? |
| David Oyelowo pulled no punches when asked about his Oscar snub during a Q&A at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival over the weekend. After making a couple of jokes, the man who played Martin Luther King Jr. in “Selma” got down to brass tacks. The problem, he said, is that the Academy gravitates toward certain types of black characters, and game-changing leaders aren’t one of them. Read full article » |
| That Super Bowl “accident ad” (or, as some call it: the buzzkiller) |
| There I was, overseeing my 5-year-old playing with superheroes at a Super Bowl party when this commercial came on in the background.Oof. Talk about a kick in the gut. I was immediately a bit angry. I wanted to protect my kid from seeing it, not that he would have understood. (And thankfully, Batman had his attention). But then, of course, seeing that commercial isn’t what I should be protecting him from, according to this commercial by Nationwide Insurance. Read full article » |
| Carolyn Hax: A dying parent and the etiquette of grief |
| Adapted from a recent online discussion. Dear Carolyn:I am faced with a terminally ill parent and a large, loud, gossipy extended family, all of whom are very easily offended and all of whom handle death in a way that my parents, siblings, our spouses and I find distressing and distasteful. Read full article » |
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