Mass killer Dylann Roof’s sister charged with carrying weapons at SC high school

Leave a reply

On a day when tens of thousands of students across the county walked out of classes to protest gun violence, the sister of notorious mass killer Dylann Roof was arrested in South Carolina after allegedly carrying a knife and pepper spray on school property.

Morgan Roof, 18, a student at A.C. Flora High School in Columbia, was charged Wednesday with two counts of carrying weapons on school property and possession of marijuana, according to records at the Alvin S. Glenn Detention Center where she was taken.

Students at her school became alarmed Wednesday at her Snapchat post disparaging National Walkout Day, which was being held in response to a mass shooting at a high school in Parkland, Fla., that left 17 dead. Roof’s post said she hoped “it’s a trap and y’all get shot” and “we know it’s fixing to be nothing but black people walkin out anyway,” authorities told local news outlets.

The Richland County Sheriff’s Department confirmed to the State newspaper that Morgan is the sister of Dylann Roof, who fatally shot nine black members of a Charleston church during a Bible study in 2015. Roof, a self-described white supremacist, told authorities that he targeted a historic black church in hopes of starting a race war. A month after the killings, South Carolina removed the Confederate flag from the statehouse grounds, ending its 54-year presence at the Capitol.

[ Dylann Roof’s racist manifesto: ‘I have no choice’ ]

In December 2016, a jury convicted Roof on 33 federal hate crime charges in connection with the killings at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church. He was sentenced to death in January 2017. Four months later, he pleaded guilty to state charges — nine counts of murder, three counts of attempted murder charges and a related weapons charge. A deal with prosecutors allowed him to avoid a second death penalty trial and be given a sentence of life in prison without parole.

After Wednesday’s incident, Morgan Roof is not allowed to return to school, WLTX-19 reported.

“A student used social media to post hateful messages,” Susan Childs, the school’s principal, said Wednesday in a statement to parents. “The posting was not a threat, but was extremely inappropriate. That student was dealt with in a swift and severe manner as the posting caused quite a disruption.”

A second student was also arrested at the school this week for allegedly having a loaded magazine, The State reported. A Smith Wesson .380 handgun was recovered on school grounds with information provided by students, authorities told the news outlet. The student, who was not identified, was released to the custody of his parents, the newspaper said.

The principal’s statement did not mention the arrests. On the second matter, she wrote: “In an isolated incident yesterday, administration was notified that there was possibly a weapon on campus. Through diligent work from the Assistant Principals and the School Resource Officers, an unloaded weapon was recovered. The investigation of this matter involves law enforcement as well as school officials.”

Gov. Henry McMaster said on Twitter that “we owe a debt of gratitude to all involved” for acting quickly and decisively.

“Potential tragedy was avoided at AC Flora High School. In two separate incidents, students and educators reacted quickly to reports of suspicious activity and behavior to their Richland County Sheriff’s Department school resource officer.”

More from Morning Mix:

Gun-trained teacher accidentally discharges firearm in Calif. classroom, injuring student

US, France and Germany join Britain in saying Russia likely responsible for chemical attack against former spy

Leave a reply

LONDON — The United States and two major European allies on Thursday formally backed Britain’s claims that Russia was likely responsible for a chemical toxin attack against a former spy living in England, calling it the “first offensive use of a nerve agent” in Europe since World War II.

The joint statement from the leaders of France, Germany, the United States and Britain signaled another step in mounting international pressure on Russia over apparent ties to the assault.

The statement said the four nations shared the view of British investigators of Russian ties to last week’s attack against a former double agent and his daughter.

There was no “plausible alternative explanation,” the statement added, noting that Russia’s “failure to address the legitimate request by the U.K. government further underlines its responsibility.”

“It is an assault on U.K. sovereignty and any such use by a state party is a clear violation of the Chemical Weapons Convention and a breach of international law,” said the statement, released by the office of the British prime minister.

British Prime Minister Theresa May, right, Wiltshire Police’s Chief Constable Kier Pritchard, center, and MP for Salisbury and South Wiltshire John Glen visit the scene visited by Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia before they were found on a nearby bench on March 15, 2018 in Salisbury, England. (Jack Taylor/Getty Images)

“It threatens the security of us all,” it added, without spelling out any possible further reprisals by the United Kingdom and its allies.

The next move in the deepening standoff could come from Moscow.

Russia promised Thursday to respond “very soon” to Britain’s decision to expel 23 Russian diplomats, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said. Britain made the move in response to the use of an alleged Russian nerve agent against a former Russian spy last week in the quiet town of Salisbury in southern England.

“The answer will come very soon, I assure you,” Lavrov said. “You know that we as polite people will first communicate this response to our British colleagues.”

On Thursday afternoon, British Prime Minister Theresa May made her first appearance in Salisbury since the attack, speaking there with officials and local residents.

“We do hold Russia culpable for this brazen, brazen act and despicable act that’s taken place on the streets of what is such a remarkable city,” she told the BBC.

Russia has been relatively slow to react to May’s announcement Wednesday that Britain would take action against Russia after Moscow ignored an ultimatum to explain how an alleged Russian nerve agent came to be used on British soil.

Moscow responded to the ultimatum with scorn and sarcasm, ultimately blowing off May’s demands. Meanwhile, officials and pundits in Moscow have issued a steady stream of denials and counterclaims, a tactic that has continued through Thursday.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that President Vladi­mir Putin met with members of his national security council Thursday for a “detailed discussion” on the situation with Britain. “Extreme concern was expressed in connection with the destructive and provocative position taken by the British side,” he said.

Lavrov reiterated earlier comments that the allegations were “boorish and unfounded.” The actions taken by the British “go beyond the limits of elementary rules of decency,” he said, while asserting that Russia has attempted to handle the situation in a civilized manner.

[Britain has few good options to hit back against Russia]

When asked how Britain might respond to any retaliation, British Defense Secretary Gavin Williamson said that Russia “should go away; it should shut up.”

He was taking questions after a speech announcing a $67 million investment in a new chemical weapons defense center.

In Brussels, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg condemned what he said was a “reckless pattern of Russian behavior over many years.” He added the alleged chemical weapons attack to the Kremlin’s ongoing nuclear buildup, military action in Georgia and Ukraine, and the targeting of Western political systems for influence operations.

“We do not want a new Cold War, and we do not want to be dragged into an arms race. An arms race has no winners. It is expensive. It is risky. It is in nobody’s interest,” Stoltenberg said. He said that any response to the chemical attack ought to be “proportionate, measured and defensive.”

Russia has also asked for access to the poison and its victims, 66-year-old Sergei Skripal and his daughter, 33-year-old Yulia Skripal.

They are both reported to be in comas after being found slumped on a park bench in the quiet town of Salisbury, near Stonehenge, on March 4. Skripal, a former Russian double agent, was jailed in Russia in 2006 for selling state secrets to British intelligence for 10 years, but he was released in 2010 as part of a high-profile spy swap.

Despite Russia’s constant and rigorous denials, the United States and France have fallen in behind Britain in support its conclusion that Russia was involved the use of the nerve agent on the Skripals.

“France agrees with the U.K. that there is no other plausible explanation,” President Emmanuel Macron’s office said in a statement following a phone call between Macron and the May.

Macron said France would take measures of its own in coming days against Russia.

British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson called on Britain’s allies to stand united against the nerve-agent attack.

Writing in The Washington Post, he said that “all responsible nations share an obligation to take a principled stance against this behavior,” which he characterized as part of a larger pattern of “reckless behavior” by Putin. The nerve agent, Novichok, was selected for a reason, he said.

“In its blatant Russian-ness, the nerve agent sends a signal to all who may be thinking of dissent in the intensifying repression of Putin’s Russia,” Johnson said. “The message is clear: We will find you, we will catch you, we will kill you — and though we will deny it with lip-curling scorn, the world will know beyond doubt that Russia did it.”

Analysts said that Britain was bracing for a tit-for-tat response from Russia.

“They are not going to take this lying down, and we should expect that. If you’re not prepared to take a few blows, you shouldn’t make any punches. The question is, where does it stop?” said James Nixey, head of the Russia and Eurasia Program at Chatham House, a London-based think tank.

Bodner reported from Moscow. James McAuley in Paris contributed to this report.

Read more:

Britain’s expulsion of 23 Russian diplomats marks a return to Cold War ejections

Britain to expel 23 Russian diplomats after poisoning of ex-spy

Russia demands access to British probe of nerve agent attacks

Today’s coverage from Post correspondents around the world

Like Washington Post World on Facebook and stay updated on foreign news

The Health 202: Tillerson’s rhetoric didn’t match reality when it came to global health

Leave a reply

THE PROGNOSIS

As Rex Tillerson exits the State Department, he leaves behind a confusing trail of mixed messages about whether the Trump administration wants to support or undermine U.S. funding for global health.

President Trump’s tweet yesterday morning that he’d fired Tillerson was sudden yet not surprising given the former oil executive’s fraught year as the country’s top diplomat. Tillerson’s tenure was marked by repeated clashes with the White House, a massive exit of talent from the agency he leads and an extreme reticence to interacting with the media.

Trump didn’t specifically cite Tillerson’s health-care policies as a reason for giving him the boot — the president instead pointed to disagreements in key areas of foreign policy such as the 2015 Iran nuclear deal and the approach to North Korea. But it’s easy to see why the two men were not on the same page when you look at how they approached major U.S. funding streams for priorities such as HIV/AIDS, maternal health and more.

Trump and Tillerson’s rhetoric did at times sounded quite positive toward funding major global-health initiatives. Trump used his first address to the United Nations to brag about U.S. investments in programs to take on AIDS, infectious diseases and human trafficking. And Tillerson occasionally expressed public support for global health programs, for example praising the Bush-era PEPFAR program in a major speech in October.

“PEPFAR has empowered people around the world to take their lives and their counties back,” Tillerson said at the time. “The Trump administration is committed to building on the progress we have already made by accelerating our approach that focuses on the hardest-hit populations.”

But the picture looks different when you consider Trump’s budget requests. The president called for sweeping cuts to virtually every funding stream in his 2018 budget plan last year and in the 2019 version the White House released last month.

The president’s most recent budget requested cuts of 18 percent for PEPFAR, which distributes medical supplies to combat HIV/AIDS in the developing world. The budget document seeks a 32 percent reduction for the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria; a cut of 24 percent for maternal and child health; and a whopping 50 percent slash for family planning and reproductive health.

“There was this rhetorical support, but the proposed cuts were so significant there seemed to be a disconnect,” said Jen Kates, director of global health and HIV policy at the Kaiser Family Foundation.

It’s unclear precisely why the administration has called for such deep cuts to global health aid. For one thing, it’s one area Republicans in Congress are typically eager to fund. Congress routinely allocated even more dollars for global aid than President Barack Obama requested during his two terms. A major hallmark of George W. Bush’s presidency was dramatically expanding AIDS funding through both PEPFAR and the global fund — now the two biggest funding streams for global health initiatives.

There’s another reason the proposed cuts were puzzling. Foreign assistance makes up less than 1 percent of the federal budget, and less than one-fourth of that goes to global health. So trying to trim these programs would do next to nothing to move the needle on U.S. spending, regardless of deficit concerns.

Tillerson didn’t publicly push back against the Trump budget, which would have been unusual for a Cabinet member, anyway. But he provided little evidence that he was making global health any kind of priority for the State Department. Instead, he’ll be best remembered for his effort to reorganize the agency, for which he received much criticism as key positions remained unfilled for months.

“I don’t know that global health was a particular focus for Secretary Tillerson at all,” Thomas Bollyky, senior fellow for global health at the Council on Foreign Relations, told me. “He tended to focus pretty heavily on institutional issues, a big departure from the past.”

The Onion poked fun yesterday:

Morale Low At State Department After Only Employee Fired

A post shared by The Onion (@theonion) on Mar 13, 2018 at 10:01am PDT

Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) questioned whether Tillerson’s successor, CIA Director Mike Pompeo, will continue the restructuring: 

There is one way global health programs appeared to be sheltered from the staffing upheaval in Foggy Bottom. Experts say Tillerson left in place or brought on top administrators with strong backgrounds in global health, including Deborah Birx, who oversees PEPFAR, and Mark Green, head of USAID.

But, as with many other areas of Trump’s administration, it’s often hard to figure out the direction or priorities for top Trump appointees. That is how many global health experts said they’ll remember Tillerson.

“Part of the problem is this administration has been inconstant in its support,” said Jeff Sturchio, president of Rabin Martin, a global health consulting firm. “You never know if it’s going to change its tune overnight.”

The president discussing Rex’s departure:

This story, tweeted by the Post’s Ashley Parker, is a good illustration of how Trump treated Tillerson:

Abortion rights groups weren’t pleased Tillerson had enacted new bans on funding for organizations that provide abortions. Planned Parenthood tweeted that CIA Director Mike Pompeo, Trump’s choice to replace Tillerson, likely won’t be any better.

(iStock)

AHH: The panel that advises the White House on cancer policy is calling for immediate action to curb high costs for medications. The President’s Cancer Panel released a report yesterday outlining a series of recommendations  to ensure cancer drugs, which can at times run more than $100,000 per year, are priced according to value. The panel also sought to push cheaper, generic versions of drugs to the market.

“Cancer patients should not have to choose between paying for their medications or paying their mortgages. For so many, it is truly a matter of life and death,” panel chairwoman Barbara Rimer said in a statement. “This is a national imperative that will not be solved by any one sector working alone.”

The report says the complex process that goes into getting a drug to the patient “has resulted in drug prices that often do not reflect the benefits experienced by patients.” “Achieving better alignment could improve the quality of cancer care; create incentives for development of innovative, effective new drugs; and help address increases in drug spending that are threatening to put high-value drugs out of reach for some patients,” it says.

(iStock)

OOF: So exactly why does the United States spend twice as much on health care as other wealthy countries? A new study suggests Americans are using health care at similar rates to other rich countries, and the real difference is in the exorbitant prices of procedures and treatments, The Washington Post’s Carolyn Y. Johnson reports. The finding doesn’t mean Americans aren’t overusing health care — it just means that we aren’t alone in doing so, Carolyn explains.

The sweeping study of health-care expenditures, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, found higher spending in the United States isn’t driven by overuse but by high prices — including doctors’ and nurses’ salaries, hospital charges, pharmaceuticals and administrative overhead. That finding contradicts conventional wisdom. “The thinking goes that the American health care system is uniquely set up to incentivize wasteful imaging scans, oodles of unnecessary prescriptions and procedures that could have been prevented,” Carolyn writes.

The study compared the United States with the United Kingdom, Canada, Germany, Australia, Japan, Sweden, France, the Netherlands, Switzerland and Denmark from 2013 to 2016 on nearly 100 different measures of care. It found the United States spent about twice as much per person on health care, an investment that produced the shortest life spans and the highest rate of infant deaths. 

Veterans Affairs Secretary David Shulkin speaks on Capitol Hill. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, File)

OUCH: Will David Shulkin be the next secretary to get fired? Trump is souring on his embattled VA secretary and telling aides he might replace him as part of a broader shakeup of his Cabinet, The Post’s Lisa Rein and Josh Dawsey report. Senior White House officials said Shulkin could be forced out within days and the New York Times has reported the president is considering Energy Secretary Rick Perry, an Air Force veteran, to replace Shulkin. Trump invited Perry to the White House for lunch on Monday but did not formally offer him the job.

“A physician and former hospital executive who won unanimous confirmation by the Senate last year, Shulkin has been a favorite of Trump’s, racking up legislative victories and fast changes at an agency the president railed against on the campaign trail,” Lisa and Josh write. “But months of turmoil in VA’s senior ranks have roiled the ­second-largest federal bureaucracy, which employs 360,000 people. Shulkin has said publicly that high-level political appointees installed by the White House are scheming to oust him over personality and policy differences.”

This file photo shows the Food and Drug Administration campus in Silver Spring, Md. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik, File)

—Yesterday, House lawmakers rejected a “Right to Try” bill that would have allowed seriously ill patients to bypass the FDA to access to experimental treatments. Our colleague Laurie McGInley reports the 259-to-140 vote followed a “spirited debate in which GOP lawmakers portrayed the measure, which was strongly backed by President Trump and Vice President Pence, as a last chance at survival for desperately ill patients.” They also noted dozens of states have passed or introduced similar measures.

But Democrats argued the legislation would weaken critical FDA protections without addressing the fundamental obstacles to experimental drugs. On Monday, more than 75 patient groups sent a letter to House leaders calling for them to reject the bill. The groups, which included the American Cancer Society, Cancer Action Network and the American Lung Association, said it “would not increase access to promising therapies.” The letter said the proposed model would be “less safe” for patients than the existing program, called expanded access.

“The FDA’s expanded-access program, which receives about 1,000 requests a year for experimental drugs, already approves 99 percent of the appeals,” Laurie explained. “But drug companies often balk at providing experimental drugs outside of clinical trials. The right-to-try legislation does not compel pharmaceutical firms to provide sought-after therapies.”

Logos of CVS and Aetna are displayed on a monitor above the floor of the New York Stock Exchange shortly after the opening bell in New York on Dec. 5, 2017. (REUTERS/Lucas Jackson)

—CVS Health and Aetna shareholders have voted to approve the merger between the pharmacy benefits manager and major health insurer. CVS first announced the deal to buy Aetna for $69 billion in December. Yesterday, the two companies held meetings where more than 98 percent of CVS shareholders’ ballots and 97 percent of Aetna shareholders’ ballots were in favor of the deal, CNBC reported. Now it’s up to the Justice Department to approve it.

“When this merger is complete, the combined company will be well-positioned to reshape the consumer health care experience, putting people at the center of health care delivery to ensure they have access to high-quality, more affordable care where they are, when they need it,” CVS Health chief executive Larry Merlo said in a statement.

President Trump delivers remarks to reporters alongside then-HHS Secretary Tom Price and White House counselor Kellyanne Conway. (REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst)

—It appears former HHS Secretary Tom Price has paid back the government for the costs of his jet travel that resulted in his resignation last fall. In a letter raising new questions about travel costs associated with flights White House senior adviser Kellyanne Conway took with Price, Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.) noted Price had paid the Treasury $60,000 to reimburse costs of his travel.

In his letter to House Oversight Chairman Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.), Cummings urged Gowdy to subpoena White House documents on Cabinet officials’ pricey travel that includes information on Conway. He wrote that Conway’s travel, as well as costs from another White House official cost taxpayers “tens of thousands of additional dollars.” Cummings’s letter details four trips, including travel in May 2017 for Price, Conway and several staffers totaling more than $44,530, another trip in July totaling more than $14,569 for all passengers and a trip in September.

“To date, the White House has refused to provide any documents at all, including those relating to Ms. Conway’s participation in these trips, whether she intends to repay the taxpayers for the cost of her travel, or whether the President is considering any disciplinary action against her in light of his decision to fire Secretary Price for participating in the same trips,” Cummings writes.

The White House dismissed the letter, saying the “partisan attack on Kellyanne is ridiculous,” per ABC News. Deputy White House press secretary Hogan Gidley added: “Members of the President’s Cabinet invite relevant White House staff for official travel to events advancing the President’s agenda. When White House staff accompany Cabinet Members their travel plans are arranged, secured and financed by the inviting agency.”

–A few more good reads from The Post and beyond:

Today

  • The Senate Indian Affairs Committee holds an oversight hearing on opioids in the Indian community.
  • The Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute and the American Heart Association hold a briefing on cardiovascular disease.

Coming Up

  • The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee holds a hearing on the 340B Drug Discount Program on Thursday.
  • VA Secretary David Shulkin testifies before the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Military Construction, Veterans Affairs and Related Agencies on Thursday.
  • HHS Secretary Alex Azar testifies before the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies on Thursday.

Activists laid 7,000 pairs of shoes on the lawn of the U.S. Capitol to represent every young person killed by a gun since the Sandy Hook massacre:

Education Secretary Betsy DeVos calls onCongress to pass gun control legislation “without delay:”

Here’s Stephen Colbert’s take on Trump ousting Secretary of State Rex Tillerson: 

Gun-trained teacher accidentally discharges firearm in Calif. classroom, injuring student

Leave a reply

A teacher who is also a reserve police officer trained in firearm use accidentally discharged a gun Tuesday at Seaside High School in Monterey County, Calif., during a class devoted to public safety. A male student was reported to have sustained non-life-threatening injuries.

The weapon, which was not described, was pointed at the ceiling, according to a statement from the school, and debris fell from the ceiling.

Seaside Police Chief Abdul Pridgen told the Monterey County Weekly that a male student was “struck in the neck by ‘debris or fragmentation’ from something overhead.” Pridgen said whatever hit the student was not a bullet.

However, the student’s father, Fermin Gonzales, told KSBW 8 that it was his understanding that fragments from the bullet ricocheted off the ceiling and lodged in the boy’s neck. The father said the teacher told the class before pointing the gun at the ceiling that he was doing so to make sure his gun wasn’t loaded, something that can be determined visually.

“It’s the craziest thing,” Gonzales told the station. “It could have been very bad.”

Gonzales said he learned about the incident when his 17-year-old son came home with blood on his shirt and bullet fragments in his neck.

“He’s shaken up, but he’s going to be okay. I’m just pretty upset that no one told us anything and we had to call the police ourselves to report it,” the father told the TV station.

The teen was treated at a hospital.

The teacher was identified by police as Dennis Alexander, who teaches math as well as a course in the administration of justice. Alexander is a reserve police officer for Sand City and a Seaside city councilman. He could not immediately be reached for comment but he has reportedly apologized for the incident. 

The Monterey County Weekly, quoting Sand City Police Chief Brian Ferrante, reported that Alexander had his last gun safety training less than a year ago. “I have concerns about why he was displaying a loaded firearm in a classroom,” Ferrante told KSBW. “We will be looking into that.”

Exactly why the teacher was displaying the weapon at all was not entirely clear. Police said he was “providing instruction related to public safety.”

The father told KSBW that the teacher was preparing to use the gun to show how to disarm someone.

Daniel “PK” Diffenbaugh, superintendent of the Monterey Peninsula Unified School District, told the Weekly that the incident occurred during the administration of justice class, a career track course offered by the school. “Clearly, we will revisit this incident to ensure that something like this would never happen again.”

Diffenbaugh noted that state law and school policy forbids carrying firearms on campus without authorization. Alexander, he said, was not authorized.

“I think a lot of questions are on parents’ minds are, why a teacher would be pointing a loaded firearm at the ceiling in front of students,” Diffenbaugh told KSBW. “Clearly, in this incident, protocols were not followed.”

The teacher has been placed on administrative leave while an investigation takes place, according to the school. The Sand City Police Department also placed Alexander on administrative leave.

The incident comes amid a national debate on how to protect students from mass shootings like the one that took the lives of 17 people in Parkland, Fla., on Feb. 14. Among the proposals advanced is training and arming teachers, an approach favored by President Trump, among others but opposed by a majority of the teachers in the National Education Association, including many who said in an NEA survey that it would make them feel less safe.

More from Morning Mix:

What made Hawking’s ‘A Brief History of Time’ so immensely popular?

Stephen Hawking’s secret to surviving his terrible condition? A sense of humor.

Fox News sued by parents of Seth Rich, slain DNC staffer, over conspiracy theory about his death

For Xavier Becerra, California’s attorney general, the fight with Trump is personal

Stephen Hawking: The book that made him a star

Leave a reply

Image copyright
Getty Images

Stephen Hawking was the most remarkable author I had the privilege of working with during my career as the director of science publishing at Cambridge University Press.

In 1982, I had responsibility for his third academic book for the Press, Superspace And Supergravity.

This was a messy collection of papers from a technical workshop on how to devise a new theory of gravity.

While that book was in production, I suggested he try something easier: a popular book about the nature of the Universe, suitable for the general market.

Stephen mulled over my suggestion.

He already had an international reputation as a brilliant theoretical physicist working on rotating black holes and theories of gravity.

And he had concerns about financial matters: importantly, it was impossible for him to obtain any form of life insurance to protect his family in the event of his death or becoming total dependent on nursing care.

So, he took precious time out from his research to prepare the rough draft of a book.

Image caption

Ten million copies in all editions and translations

At the time, several bestselling physics authors had already published non-technical books on the early Universe and black holes.

Stephen decided to write a more personal approach, by explaining his own research in cosmology and quantum theory.

As he himself pointed out it, his area of interest had “become so technical that only a very small number of specialists could master the mathematics” used to describe it.

For a starting point, he took some themes from a course of advanced lectures that he had recently given at Harvard University.

These had catchy titles such as “The edge of spacetime”, “Black holes and thermodynamics”, and “Quantum gravity”.

In the 1980s, my office and Stephen’s were in the same courtyard in central Cambridge, so I often chatted with him about publishing.

One afternoon he invited me to take a look at the first draft, but first he wanted to discuss cash.

He told me he had spent considerable time away from his research, and that he expected advances and royalties to be large.

When I pressed him on the market that he foresaw, he insisted that it had to be on sale, up front, at all airport bookshops in the UK and the US.

I told that was a tough call for a university press.

Then I thumbed the typescript. To my dismay, the text was far too technical for a general reader.

A few weeks later he showed me a revision, much improved, but still littered with equations.

I said: “Steve, it’s still too technical – every equation will halve the market.”

He eventually removed all except one, E = mc². And he decided, fortunately, to place it with a mass market publisher rather than a university press.

Bantam published A Brief History of Time in March 1988.

Sales took off like a rocket, and it ranked as a bestseller for at least five years.

Total sales approached 10 million copies.

The book’s impact on the popularisation of science has been incalculable.

Stephen was an inspirational ambassador for the power of science to provide rational accounts of the physical laws governing the natural world.

Simon Mitton is a historian of science at the University of Cambridge

The Daily 202: Pennsylvania special election shows GOP still hasn’t found a winning midterms message

Leave a reply

Want more news and analysis about the 2018 midterms? Sign up for James Hohmann’s newsletter here.

With Breanne Deppisch and Joanie Greve.

THE BIG IDEA: National Republicans threw the kitchen sink to hold a House seat in Pennsylvania that President Trump won by 20 points. But while the special election remains too close to call, Democrat Conor Lamb clings to a narrow lead and declared victory early this morning.

The media will focus today on what an embarrassment it is for Trump to lose in the heart of his geographic base of support. He went to Pittsburgh twice in the closing weeks to boost Republican Rick Saccone, including on Saturday, and tweeted his support again on Tuesday. The White House also deployed Don Jr., Ivanka, Kellyanne Conway, Mike Pence and even Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke to help.

The bigger reason that the savviest GOP operatives in town are freaking out right now, though, is that the results underscore the degree to which the party has been unable to hone in on a message that can reliably win races in this environment.

Republican groups carpet bombed Lamb with commercials linking him to Nancy Pelosi, but Lamb largely defused these hits by running a response ad saying that he wouldn’t support her for leader.

Trump administration officials told reporters that they thought the tariffs could tip the race their way. Eighteen thousand members of the United Steelworkers union live in the district. But both candidates embraced the new levies, and the unions backed the Democrat because Saccone supports right-to-work legislation. So the issue was a wash.

Republicans tried to run on the tax cuts, which they’ve promised for months will be the centerpiece of their 2018 messaging. Commercials highlighted Lamb’s opposition to reform and relief for the middle class. When these spots didn’t move the needle, GOP groups stopped talking about them. Politico’s Kevin Robillard pulled the data to show what was on the airwaves: “For the weeks of Feb. 4 and Feb. 11, roughly two-thirds of the broadcast television ads from Saccone’s campaign, the Congressional Leadership Fund super PAC and the National Republican Congressional Committee mentioned taxes … For the week of Feb. 18, that dropped to 36 percent, and to 14 percent the week after. … Since the beginning of March, tax ads have been essentially nonexistent.”

These groups then hammered Lamb, a Marine Corps veteran and former prosecutor, as pro-sanctuary cities. Then they accused him of letting dangerous drug dealers get off the hook for their crimes with lenient sentences. (The dark turn the ads took in the final weeks foreshadows a particularly nasty fall campaign. If you live in a battleground and have young children, you might want to keep them away from the tube.)

Something similar happened in last year’s Virginia governor’s race. Republican Ed Gillespie initially made a proposal for tax cuts the centerpiece of his campaign. When that failed to excite conservatives, he embraced divisive wedge issues. Gillespie defended Confederate monuments, attacked his opponent on sanctuary cities and called him weak on the MS-13 street gang. Democrat Ralph Northam won anyway.

Money was essentially no object in Pennsylvania. National Republicans spent at least $10.7 million to help Saccone, more than five times as much as their Democratic rivals. They will not be able to do that in every close race this fall.

What’s wild about that spending is this race was almost entirely for bragging rights. The Pennsylvania Supreme Court has struck down the Republican-drawn map as unconstitutional and ordered redistricting. The district won’t look anything like it currently does come November.

But with 100 percent of precincts reporting, Lamb has 49.8 percent of the vote to Saccone’s 49.6 percent. There are thousands of absentee and provisional ballots outstanding, and a recount is possible if the candidates are separated by 0.5 percentage points or less. Saccone, with the support of the NRCC, said around midnight that “it’s not over yet.” Around 1 a.m., Lamb declared victory at his watch party.

It’s always dangerous to overinterpret the results of any single special election. Remember, Republican Karen Handel prevailed in a much-ballyhooed special election last year in the Atlanta suburbs – in which both sides spent even more. But if Democrats can win in a district where they didn’t even bother to field a candidate the past two election cycles, they can triumph anywhere.

Moreover, there are not many — if any — real opportunities for Republican incumbents to score meaningful legislative achievements between now and November.

The GOP’s struggles are remarkable because the economy is so strong. A solid jobs report came out last Friday, and the stock market is still up big since Trump took office, even after the recent correction.

But it’s not puzzling what’s going on: Trump’s approval rating is hovering below 40 percent, and he sucks up all the oxygen. He did it again yesterday, when he fired Secretary of State Rex Tillerson over Twitter.

Saccone wanted Trump’s help because it was such a red district. In many competitive House races, the incumbent Republican won’t. The Air Force veteran promised to be Trump’s “wingman” in the House. “I was Trump before Trump was Trump,” Saccone said over and over again.

Lamb ran a cautious campaign, but he offered a clear contrast to the constant chaos that has defined the past 14 months. “People are so tired of the shouting on TV and in our politics,” Lamb said during his speech early this morning, encapsulating the tack he took.

Driven by Trump, last night’s returns offered another illustration of the problem Republicans have in the suburbs. The 18th District, as it’s presently drawn, stretches from the more well-to-do suburbs outside Pittsburgh into coal country, reaching Pennsylvania’s borders with Ohio and West Virginia. Everywhere moved toward Democrats, but many raw votes came from Allegheny County, which includes the closer-in suburbs. This reflects a motivated liberal base, as well as moderate women who are grossed out by Trump, his crudeness and alleged philandering.

Note the light blue districts in this map below. These are precincts that flipped from Trump to Lamb, and they’re concentrated outside the city: 

From the House editor of the Cook Political Report:

If this district’s composition had been just a little more suburban, Lamb probably would have won a decisive victory. There are 23 Republican-held districts that also voted for Hillary Clinton. Most are in the suburbs.

In the suburb of Mount Lebanon, dental hygienist Janet Dellana said after voting on Tuesday that she was outraged by Trump’s wobbly reaction to the deadly school shooting in Florida. She disagrees with his push for arming teachers instead of limiting access to semiautomatic weapons. “He flip-flops on everything, but in the end, he caters to the extreme right,” the 64-year-old told Dave Weigel. “I am a registered Republican, but as this party continues to cater to the extreme right, they push me left.”

“We should be able to elect a box of hammers in this district. If we’re losing here, you can bet there is a Democratic wave coming,” said veteran Republican consultant Mike Murphy, a Trump critic, in an interview with Robert Costa.

Republicans and White House aides are scapegoating Saccone, saying he ran a bad campaign. Indeed, the four-term state representative was uninspiring. He was a terrible fundraiser — forcing the national party to bail him out — and he ran a lackluster, disorganized campaign that never effectively introduced him to voters. But, but, but: He’s not a lightning rod like Roy Moore, the Republican who blew a special Senate election in Alabama in December. In every way, Saccone is a generic, standard issue Republican.

GOP operatives also say Lamb has a superb resume, ran a stellar campaign and didn’t face a primary to force him to the left the way that many Democrats will later this year.

“The reality is that plenty of mediocre, uninspiring candidates get elected to the House from typically-safe districts,” writes National Journal’s Josh Kraushaar. “The difference this year isn’t the caliber of candidates. It’s that Trump is driving the Republican party rank-and-file off the proverbial political cliff. At this point, there have been enough off-year elections, polling data and candidate recruiting successes to render a clear verdict: Democrats are solid favorites to retake the House this year.”

Eight months is an eternity in politics, especially in this tumultuous era when each day feels like a week. The underlying dynamics could certainly change. Trump could negotiate a grand bargain with the North Koreans, for example. On the other hand, special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation could reach even deeper into the Oval Office. There will be an October Surprise. Who it benefits we won’t know until November.

Rick Saccone supporters watch election results at his party in McKeesport, Pa. (Ricky Carioti/The Washington Post)

— Republican thought leaders sounded the alarm.

From the GOP’s focus group guru: 

A veteran GOP operative in Richmond, who was a senior adviser to Gillespie’s gubernatorial campaign in Virginia last year:

A former RNC communications director and House GOP leadership aide:

A former Florida Republican congressman who lost in 2016:

A former Illinois Republican congressman who lost in 2012: 

The conservative editor of Commentary and New York Post columnist:

The political editor of the conservative site TownHall.com got attacked by some of his followers after he said on Fox News that the results are problematic for Republicans:

From the former Breitbart writer who now edits the conservative DailyWire.com:

— Here are a few other interesting nuggets from analysts.

The editor of Vox:

 “This outcome is tantamount to a Democrat winning (or tying) a statewide race in Louisiana or Kansas or Montana, which also voted for Trump by 20 points,” tweeted FiveThirtyEight’s Nate Silver. One of his colleagues added:

A political scientist at the University of Chicago who closely tracks House races:

WHILE YOU WERE SLEEPING:

— Celebrated physicist Stephen Hawking died at 76. Joel Achenbach and Boyce Rensberger write: “Unable to move a muscle, speechless but for a computer-synthesized voice, Dr. Hawking had suffered since the age of 21 from a degenerative motor neuron disease similar to amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or Lou Gehrig’s disease. Initially given two years to live, a diagnosis that threw him into a profound depression, he found the strength to complete his doctorate and rise to the position of Lucasian professor of mathematics at the University of Cambridge, the same post held by Isaac Newton 300 years earlier. … His scientific achievements included breakthroughs in understanding the extreme conditions of black holes, objects so dense that not even light can escape their gravity.” “My goal is simple,” Hawking once said. “It is complete understanding of the universe, why it is as it is and why it exists at all.”

Adult film star Stormy Daniels arrives at the 2008 Grammy Awards in Los Angeles. (Chris Pizzello/AP)

— A Florida radio host said Stormy Daniels discussed her alleged affair with Trump on his show in 2007, the earliest known instance of the adult-film star publicly discussing the relationship. CNN’s Andrew Kaczynski reports: “Bubba the Love Sponge Clem … played portions of the interview on his radio show Friday and Monday, in which Daniels was asked to write down the names of famous men she had slept with. Clem says the first name on that list was Donald Trump. Although neither Daniels nor the host says Trump’s name in the 2007 audio, she can be heard describing key details that match the description of her alleged affair with Trump. Clem said on his nationally syndicated radio program that Daniels was talking about Trump, and later verified the same information to CNN. CNN independently corroborated the story with another person who was in Clem’s studio that day … ”

GET SMART FAST:​​

  1. The family of slain DNC staffer Seth Rich is suing Fox News. Rich’s parents allege the network “aided and abetted the intentional infliction of emotional distress” by fueling conspiracy theories that their son was tied to WikiLeaks’s DNC email dump before his 2016 murder. (ABC News)
  2. Former attorney general Eric Holder is traveling to Wisconsin to campaign in a state Supreme Court race. The April 3 election will likely become the next nationalized race after last night’s Pennsylvania matchup. (Politico)
  3. Democratic senators facing tough reelection races distanced themselves from Hillary Clinton’s claim that she “won the places that are optimistic, diverse, dynamic, moving forward.” “Those are kind of fighting words for me, because I’m partial to Missouri voters,” Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) said. “I may not have agreed with their choice, but I certainly respect them. And I don’t think that’s the way you should talk about any voter especially ones in my state.” (Michael Scherer)
  4. Federal authorities say a former aide to Rep. Bob Brady (D-Pa.) was targeted in a murder-for-hire plot. Prominent Arkansas lobbyist Milton Russel “Rusty” Cranford was allegedly trying to keep Brady aide Donald “D.A.” Jones from cooperating in a corruption probe. (Philadelphia Inquirer)

  5. A California teacher trained in gun use accidentally discharged his firearm in class. The weapon was pointed at the ceiling during a class devoted to public safety. A male student sustained non-life-threatening injuries from the incident. (Fred Barbash)

  6. The third package in the Austin bombings was addressed to a different home nearby. That package severely injured a 75-year-old Hispanic woman who had no apparent connection to the first two victims, who both had ties to the city’s African American community. Austin’s police chief said his team was not ruling out the possibility the attacks were racially motivated. (Eva Ruth Moravec, Eli Rosenberg, Mark Berman and Matt Zapotosky)
  7. A powerful nor’easter knocked out power to tens of thousands of homes and businesses. Some communities received up to two feet of snow. (AP)

  8. Five women accused celebrated architect Richard Meier of sexual misconduct. Two of the women described being sent to Meier’s New York apartment, where he exposed himself to them. (New York Times)

  9. A 10-month-old puppy suffocated after being place in the overhead compartment during a United flight. Passengers on the plane claim a flight attendant insisted the dog be placed in the compartment, telling a woman and her two children they would not be allowed to travel if they refused to stow their pet. (Martine Powers)
  10. Charles Manson’s grandson won possession of the cult leader’s remains. Manson’s body stayed on ice under a fake name in a California coroner’s office for four months as multiple parties claimed their right to bury him. (Kyle Swenson)

REXIT:

— “Fired via Twitter: How Trump soured on Tillerson as his lead diplomat.” Ashley Parker, Philip Rucker, John Hudson and Carol D. Leonnig have the ticktock behind Secretary of State Rex Tillerson’s final moments in a job that never seemed to suit him (in Trump’s eyes anyway): ” … Tillerson was asleep in his Nairobi hotel room early Saturday morning fighting a stomach bug when White House Chief of Staff John F. Kelly called to wake him around 2 a.m. to relay a terse message from President Trump: The boss was not happy. The president was so eager to fire Tillerson that he wanted to do so in a tweet on Friday, but Kelly persuaded Trump to wait until his secretary of state was back in the United States from Africa, two people familiar with the conversation said … 

But Kelly had also warned Tillerson to possibly expect a pejorative tweet from Trump over the weekend, a State Department official said. Tillerson failed to fully understand that the chief of staff was gently signaling to him that he was about to be fired. And so, just over four hours after Tillerson’s government plane touched down at Joint Base Andrews on Tuesday morning, the secretary of state learned of his dismissal from a tweet …

“More than three hours after his tweet, Trump finally called Tillerson from Air Force One. The call was brief and cordial, according to people with knowledge of it, and Trump decided to make it to try to defuse more tensions. Trump reiterated that Tillerson would be happier outside the department, and the secretary of state was diplomatic, a senior White House official said.”

— Trump and Tillerson never got along, a fact exacerbated by the former ExxonMobil chief publicly contradicting his boss on key policy issues (never mind that he never directly denied calling the president a “moron“). More from Ashley, Phil, John and Carol: “Trump and Tillerson have disagreed over strategy in key areas of foreign policy, such as the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, how to handle China and the Middle East, the Paris climate accord, the approach to North Korea, and the overall tone of U.S. diplomacy. The president was disdainful of his secretary of state for being “too establishment” in his thinking and for disagreeing with him in meetings.”

— Kiss of death: “Tillerson was ousted Tuesday just as he seemed to be hitting his diplomatic stride. In recent weeks, he grew even more outspoken in criticizing Russia, more confident that his patient pressure on North Korea was bearing fruit and more comfortable that he would outlast his many critics in the West Wing. In the end, no one was more surprised that Tillerson was fired than Tillerson himself,” write Anne Gearan and Carol Morello.

“Clearly shaken, his voice thin, Tillerson appeared at a State Department lectern shortly after 2 p.m. to read a statement thanking colleagues and tying up some administrative details. He thanked the American people ‘for your devotion to a free and open society; to acts of kindness toward one another; to honesty and the quiet hard work that you do every day.’ He did not thank President Trump individually, or even mention him beyond saying that Trump had called him two hours before.”

— A State Department spokesman who contradicted the White House’s version of events was swiftly fired. Ashley, Phil, John and Carol note: “Steve Goldstein, undersecretary of state for public diplomacy and public affairs, said that Tillerson was ‘unaware of the reason’ for his firing and had not spoken directly with Trump. … [Goldstein’s dismissal] came just before he was scheduled to brief reporters about the shake-up at Foggy Bottom … ”

— The Wall Street Journal recounts another smaller but still telling illustration of how Trump humiliates people who work for him: “In a private room in China’s Great Hall of the People in November, [Tillerson] sat with [Trump] and other U.S. officials as their hosts delivered plates of wilted Caesar salad. Mr. Trump, in the midst of a five-country tour of Asia, grew concerned the untouched greens would offend the Chinese, according to people familiar with the matter. So he ordered Mr. Tillerson to start. ‘Rex,’ he said, ‘eat the salad.’ Mr. Tillerson laughed off the remark, but the moment illustrated the at-times awkward relationship between [the two men].” (Michael C. Bender and Felicia Schwartz)

CIA Director Mike Pompeo. (Jacquelyn Martin/AP)

— Sucking up pays dividends: CIA Director Mike Pompeo is Trump’s choice to replace Tillerson. “Pompeo, assuming that the Senate confirms him in time, will face a confluence of foreign policy decisions and potential national security crises this spring that would challenge even the most experienced diplomats,” write Karen DeYoung and John Hudson. “Pompeo is likely to be more amenable to Trump’s way of doing business. As a congressman from Kansas and a tea party leader, he sharply opposed the Iran nuclear deal, tweeting just before his CIA nomination his determination to ‘roll back’ the agreement.”

–“The danger is that Pompeo, so much in sync with Trump, will remove the dampers that have sometimes checked the president’s disruptive instincts,” warns Post columnist David Ignatius. “Tillerson offered solid, traditional foreign policy counsel[.] He operated in tandem with [Defense Secretary Jim Mattis]; this axis of caution has now been broken, perhaps leaving Mattis in a more vulnerable position … The center-weight is now likely to shift to Trump and Pompeo … [and] for better or worse, the White House and Foggy Bottom will be going in the same direction.”  

— State Department rank-and-file employees rejoiced over Tillerson’s departure. The Daily Beast’s Asawin Suebsaeng, Noah Shachtman and Spencer Ackerman report. “State Department staffers … described the secretary of state’s downfall as a liberation — even as they grimly recognized that recent history, literal and metaphorical, suggests that what follows liberation is chaos and occupation. … State Department officials were horrified by what they perceived as his disdain for them. His reforms left many experienced diplomats internally marginalized — with little to do but vent to reporters about Tillerson presiding over a decline of American diplomacy that many felt was the entire point of his tenure.”

— How it’s playing:

THE FIRST FEMALE CIA DIRECTOR?

— Trump tapped Gina Haspel to be the next CIA director, selecting a woman who spent multiple tours overseas and is respected within the CIA. But she also has deep ties to the agency’s use of brutal interrogation measures. Greg Miller and Shane Harris report: “Haspel’s selection faced immediate opposition from some lawmakers and human rights groups because of her prominent role in one of the agency’s darkest chapters. Haspel was in charge of one of the CIA’s ‘black site’ prisons where detainees were subjected to waterboarding and other harrowing interrogation measures widely condemned as torture. When those methods were exposed and their legality came under scrutiny, Haspel was among a group of CIA officials involved in the decision to destroy videotapes of interrogation sessions that left some detainees on the brink of physical collapse. Jameel Jaffer, formerly deputy legal director of the ACLU, said Tuesday on his Twitter feed that Haspel is ‘quite literally a war criminal.’

“[But] current and former U.S. intelligence officials who have worked with Haspel praised her as an effective leader who could be expected to stand up to the pressures that Trump has often placed on spy agencies — including his denunciations of the intelligence community’s conclusion that Russia interfered in the 2016 election. Officials … said CIA employees would greet her appointment with some relief, because an intelligence veteran would be back in charge.”

— “The confirmation of [Trump’s] picks for secretary of state and CIA director is likely to be hampered but not stymied by a mostly partisan backlash to their past statements and [actions],” Karoun Demirjian, Seung Min Kim and Mike DeBonis report from Capitol Hill. “Leaders of both parties predicted it could take a while to confirm [Pompeo and Haspel], leaving the State Department officially rudderless at a time when the administration faces pressing [national security] challenges … ‘It’ll obviously take some time and effort,’ said [Sen. John Cornyn] (R-Tex.). ‘I’m confident we’ll get them confirmed, but … it just adds two other high-profile nominations to our workload.’

Senate Democrats excoriated Trump: “Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.), the ranking Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, called Trump ‘a commander in chaos,’ and some of Tillerson’s harshest Democratic critics rushed to defend him. … The widespread criticism from Democrats ensures that GOP leaders will have difficulty confirming Pompeo and Haspel expeditiously. But the backlash is not expected to upset their eventual chances of confirmation — [Sen. Chuck Schumer] (D-N.Y.) said Tuesday that at this point he has no plans to ask Democrats to oppose their nominations.”

ALL THE PRESIDENT’S MEN AND WOMEN:

— Trump is also souring on VA Secretary and Obama-era holdover David Shulkin, and has told advisers he could replace him “within days” as part of a broader Cabinet shake-up. Lisa Rein and Josh Dawsey report: “The president is considering Energy Secretary Rick Perry, an Air Force veteran, to replace Shulkin … Trump invited Perry to the White House for lunch on Monday, but did not formally offer him the job. A physician and former hospital executive who won unanimous confirmation by the Senate last year … Shulkin … has taken a moderate approach to expanding a program called Choice, which gives veterans the option to see private doctors outside the system. But conservatives at the agency and in the White House, backed by the billionaire Koch brothers, have pushed for more private care — and say Shulkin has hindered that goal.”

— John McEntee joined Trump’s reelection campaign less than 24 hours after being fired from the White House over security clearance issues. David Nakamura and Josh report: “The White House did not say why McEntee was let go, but a senior U.S. official said he lost his security clearance and could no longer perform his role. Trump wanted to keep him around so a spot was made for him at the campaign, this person said. Also Tuesday, the Trump campaign announced that Katrina Pierson, who served as the campaign’s 2016 national spokeswoman, will rejoin the effort as a senior adviser. … Trump has had a record rate of turnover in his senior staff. Before McEntee’s departure, 43 percent of the president’s executive staff had left in the first 13½ months …”

— McEntee is under investigation by the Secret Service due to problems over online gambling and mishandling his taxes, report the Wall Street Journal’s Michael C. Bender and Rebecca Ballhaus.

— What’s going on? In recent weeks, Trump’s decisions appear to be guided by his gut rather than the advice of more cautious White House advisers, who previously convinced him to walk back some of his more impulsive inclinations. David Nakamura and Damian Paletta report: “Trump’s moves have shaken and alarmed a West Wing staff who fear the president has felt less restrained about acting on his whims amid the recent departures of several longtime aides … depleting the ranks of those the president feels he can trust. [White House allies] suggested that Trump has been liberated to manage his administration as he did his private business, making decisions that feel good in the moment because he believes in his ability to win — regardless of whether they are backed by rigorous analysis or supported by top advisers. This, they said, is the real Trump — freewheeling by nature, decisive in the moment, unafraid to chart his own course.”

People familiar with Trump say he becomes more erratic when under pressure: “When he’s under pressure is when he tends to do this impulsive stuff,” said Jack O’Donnell, former president of the Trump Plaza Hotel and Casino. “That’s what I saw in the business. When he began to have pressure with debts, when the [Taj Mahal casino] … was underperforming, is when he began acting very erratically.”

— Newly released emails revealed Candy Carson, who is married to HUD Secretary Ben Carson, consulted on the redecoration of her husband’s government office. The secretary’s wife weighed in on the purchase of a replacement conference table and set of chairs costing $31,561. (Juliet Eilperin and Jack Gillum)

— The president of the Heritage Foundation said former Trump adviser Omarosa Manigault “blocked” her from serving in the administration. “The way it was described to me is she approached the whole thing like it was ‘The Apprentice,‘” Kay Coles James added. “So she looked around Washington and said, ‘OK, who do I need to get rid of first?’” (Politico)

THERE’S A BEAR IN THE WOODS:

— Remarkable: Republicans on the House Intelligence Committee appeared to back away from their finding that Russia was not trying to assist Trump by meddling in the 2016 election. Karoun Demirjian reports: “Rep. K. Michael Conaway (R-Tex.) told reporters Tuesday that ‘it’s clear [Russian officials] were trying to hurt Hillary [Clinton]’ by interfering in the 2016 election and that ‘everybody gets to make up their own mind whether they were trying to hurt Hillary, help Trump, it’s kind of glass half full, glass half empty.’ That equivalence stands in sharp contrast to the conclusions of a 150-page GOP-drafted report Conaway announced to the news media on Monday that concludes that the intelligence community ‘didn’t meet the standards’ of proof necessary to determine that Russia meddled in the 2016 election with the aim of helping Trump.”

— Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) said panel Democrats will try to continue their investigation regardless of the GOP shutting it down, releasing a list of 30 witnesses that Democrats still want to call. CNN’s Manu Raju and Jeremy Herb report: “Schiff said that Republicans ‘prematurely shut down the Russia investigation’ … [calling the GOP report] ‘another Nunes memo in long form,’ and said the Democrats were drafting their own long-form report that will be released with witness transcripts attached. The 21-page status report document … also argues the committee failed to investigate matters like Trump’s finances and failed to answer questions like whether the Trump campaign had advance knowledge of Russia’s email hacking. The Democrats say there are 20 entities they should request documents from and 15 subpoenas that should be issued.”

— A federal judge in Virginia said Paul Manafort could face more than 300 years in prison for charges stemming from Robert Mueller’s investigation. CNN’s Katelyn Polantz reports: “’Given the nature of the charges against the defendant and the apparent weight of the evidence against him, defendant faces the very real possibility of spending the rest of his life in prison,’ federal judge T.S. Ellis III of the US District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia wrote Tuesday. Ellis last week placed Manafort under home incarceration while wearing a GPS monitor and set a $10 million unsecured bail. … Ellis said Manafort has the financial resources and international connections to help himself flee before his trial and stay at large, ‘as well as every incentive to do so.’” His trial in Virginia is scheduled to begin Sept. 17.

Russian President Vladimir Putin walks through St.George’s Hall to take part in an inauguration ceremony in Moscow. (Alexander Zemlianichenko/AP )

MORE RUSSIAN AGGRESSION ACROSS THE POND:

— Britain’s counterterrorism unit is investigating the death of Russian exile Nikolai Glushkov, who was found dead on Monday in his London home. Glushkov was an associate of the late Putin critic, Boris Berezovsky, and was granted political asylum in the United Kingdom in 2004. The Guardian’s Luke Harding reports: “[Metropolitan police] said the counter-terrorism command unit was leading the investigation into the death ‘as a precaution because of associations that the man is believed to have had.’”

— Russia vowed to retaliate if the U.K. imposes sanctions in response to the poisoning of former spy Sergei Skripal. Authorities also demanded access to the sample of a nerve agent British officials have identified as Russian. Matthew Bodner reports: “Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov also said Russia does not intend to comply with British [Theresa May’s demand] for an official explanation of how a nerve agent identified as Novichok … allegedly came to be used in the poisoning attack in southern England[.] Lavrov insisted that Russian experts should be able to examine the British evidence but again denied Russian involvement in last week’s attack.”

— Skripal’s attempted assassination represents a “whole new level of defiance” from Russia, Post columnist Anne Applebaum writes. “But why are they doing this? Just like the attack on the journalist Anna Politkovskaya … the hit may have been meant as a warning to other potential double agents: You don’t have to murder every journalist, or every spy, to frighten the rest. … More ominously, it may have been designed to expose Britain’s new isolation: Now that it is leaving the European Union, the United Kingdom no longer has a set of allies it can rely upon to help craft a response.”

THE REST OF TRUMP’S AGENDA:

— Trump made his first visit to California, viewing border wall prototypes and insulting the state’s governor. John Wagner reports: “The visit, which drew protesters on both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border, came at a time of escalating acrimony between Trump and Democratic leaders of the nation’s most populous state, who have sought through legislation and lawsuits to counter Trump on immigration and other policies. Even against that backdrop, Trump’s swipe at Gov. Jerry Brown (D) was remarkable coming from a sitting president. As Trump toured the site of eight prototypes of the border wall, he told onlookers that Brown ‘does a very poor job of running California.’ ‘They have the highest taxes in the United States,’ Trump said. ‘The place is totally out of control. You have sanctuary cities where you have criminals living in the sanctuary cities.’”

— A federal appeals court largely upheld Texas immigration enforcement law targeting “sanctuary” cities. The Texas Tribune’s Julián Aguilar reports: “As passed, Senate Bill 4 allows local law enforcement officers to question the immigration status of people they detain or arrest and punishes local government department heads and elected officials who don’t cooperate with federal immigration ‘detainers’ — requests by agents to turn over immigrants subject to possible deportation — in the form of jail time and penalties that exceed $25,000.”

— An immigration bill from conservative Republicans could become more generous to “dreamers” in the hopes of attracting moderates’ support. From Mike DeBonis: “The bill sponsored by House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.) and others would grant legal status to those who have been protected under [DACA]. But as written, Goodlatte’s bill would grant that status for only three years at a time, forcing recipients to deal with a constant cycle of renewals and a potential lifetime of uncertainty regarding their future in the United States.”

— Trump wants tougher tariff proposals to punish the Chinese, David J. Lynch reports. “The order came after Trump last week rejected as inadequate a proposal from U.S. Trade Representative Robert E. Lighthizer to levy import taxes on $30 billion in Chinese imports, the people said. The president’s message to his trade chief was ‘make it bigger,’ said one lobbyist familiar with the discussion. ‘The president told him it wasn’t enough,’ said a second executive.”

— Trump has left the Federal Election Commission shorthanded, despite his promises to “drain the swamp.” Michelle Ye Hee Lee reports: “So far, Trump has nominated just one new commissioner to fill the two open spots on the panel. He has the opportunity to name an entirely new slate. The remaining four commissioners are serving on expired terms, two of which ended as long as a decade ago. If one more leaves without being replaced, the FEC will lack a quorum and be effectively paralyzed.” If Trump does choose a new slate of commissioners, they could play a pivotal role in determining whether his team violated campaign finance rules by paying Stormy Daniels.

— Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke acknowledged offshore drilling may not happen along the Pacific coast. Darryl Fears reports: “[Zinke said] California, Oregon and Washington have ‘no known resources of any weight’ for energy companies to extract. Discussing the Atlantic coast while testifying before the Senate Energy Committee, the secretary similarly described Maine as a state with little recoverable oil and gas. Zinke stopped short of saying that the three Pacific states would be exempted from the president’s plan to offer leases on 95 percent of the outer continental shelf.”

— Several Democratic senators called on the Trump administration to uphold the ban on importing elephant hunting trophies. In a letter to Ryan Zinke, the senators highlighted past comments from Trump supporting the ban. “We must conclude that either [the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service] is willfully ignoring the direction of the President, or the President is ignoring the necessary policy, regulatory, or legal considerations, and misleading the American people as to the position of his Administration on the trophy hunting of endangered species,” the senators wrote. (I wrote last week about Trump’s reversal on the trophy ban — and how it emphasizes the need to watch what he does, not what he says.)

— The House rejected “Right to Try” legislation to allow terminally ill patients easier access to experimental treatments. Laurie McGinley reports: “The vote came after a spirited debate in which GOP lawmakers portrayed the measure, which was strongly backed by [Trump] and Vice President Pence, as a last chance at survival for desperately ill patients. Democrats said the bill would weaken critical FDA protections without addressing the fundamental obstacles to experimental drugs.”

FLORIDA FALLOUT:

— Broward County prosecutors will seek the death sentence for alleged Parkland shooter Nikolas Cruz. Mark Berman reports: “In a notice filed Tuesday in circuit court, Michael J. Satz, the Broward state attorney, said the state intended to seek the death penalty for Cruz and would prove that the crime ‘was especially heinous, atrocious or cruel.’ Satz’s filing included multiple aggravating factors he said warranted a death sentence, including that Cruz knowingly created a risk of death to many people and that the killings were ‘a homicide … committed in a cold, calculated, and premeditated manner.’”

— Students at thousands of schools nationwide are expected to walk out of class today to mark one month since the Parkland shooting. Joe Heim and Susan Svrluga write: “The nationally organized walkouts, most of which will last 17 minutes in symbolic tribute to the Florida victims, are unprecedented in recent American history. … In the Washington region, high school students from local districts are planning to stand in silence for 17 minutes in front of the White House and later march to the Capitol, where they hope to meet with lawmakers.”

— Permit requests have been approved for the pro-gun control “March For Our Lives” later this month. From Justin Wm. Moyer: “[The rally] will be held March 24 along Pennsylvania Avenue beginning at noon, although organizers expect participants will start to gather hours earlier. More than 700 ‘sibling marches’ are also being planned around the world that day, according to the event’s website.” As many as 500,000 people are expected to attend.

— YouTube announced it would link to Wikipedia articles under conspiracy theory videos to better inform viewers. BuzzFeed News’s Blake Montgomery, Ryan Mac and Charlie Warzel report: “The feature will roll out in the coming months. The Wikipedia links will not appear solely on conspiracy-related videos, but will instead show up on topics and events that have inspired significant debate.”

— About 7,000 pairs of shoes were displayed on the Capitol lawn representing children killed by gun violence since Sandy Hook. Marissa J. Lang reports: “Avaaz, a global activist network that organizes campaigns involving social issues, solicited donations from around the country to fill the lawn with children’s shoes and send a message to Congress about the toll that gun violence takes. … Tom Mauser, whose son, Daniel, was killed in the 1999 massacre at Columbine High School, was among several who put the shoes of slain family members on display.”

SOCIAL MEDIA SPEED READ:

Tillerson’s firing dominated the Twitter conversation for much of the day. From Obama’s former White House ethics czar:

From Hillary Clinton’s running mate:

From the executive editor of Bloomberg View:

From Trump’s hometown paper:

No love lost here:

An Obama-era Justice Department spokesman made a recommendation for Mike Pompeo’s confirmation hearing:

This old Pompeo tweet attracted scrutiny:

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) signaled Pompeo’s replacement at the CIA may have trouble getting confirmed:

Rep. Mike Coffman (R-Colo.) called on Trump to fire his VA secretary:

The Onion satirized the rotating door of Trump’s senior staff:

Trump’s visit to the Marines in California got political, per a Bloomberg News reporter:

California’s governor confronted the president:

Here’s what the White House served yesterday, per an NPR reporter:

House Republicans’ campaign arm played up Democratic infighting: 

Stormy Daniels’s attorney clarified a detail of her nondisclosure agreement:

And NASA paid homage to Stephen Hawking:

GOOD READS FROM ELSEWHERE:

— Politico, “Schumer struggles to quell Warren-led rebellion,” by Burgess Everett, Elana Schor and Zachary Warmbrodt: “For Schumer, the banking bill and its rollback of some of the Dodd-Frank financial reform law’s regulations has been quite the tightrope to walk. The minority leader has to balance the needs of moderate caucus members who are desperate for a bipartisan accomplishment heading into brutal reelection races, and the priorities of liberals like Warren who believe they are fighting for the heart and soul of the Democratic Party. Plus, the New Yorker is already viewed with suspicion by liberals for his own ties to Wall Street.”

— New York Times, “Why Is U.S. Health Care So Expensive? Some of the Reasons You’ve Heard Turn Out to Be Myths,” by Margot Sanger-Katz: “Compared with peer nations, the United States sends people to the hospital less often, it has a smaller share of specialist physicians, and it gives people about the same number of hospitalizations and doctors’ visits, according to a new study. … If you’ve been listening to many of the common narratives that seek to explain the high costs of America’s health system and the nation’s relatively low life expectancy, those results might surprise you.”

HOT ON THE LEFT:

“Only Half Of Trump Voters Say Affair With Porn Actress Would Be Immoral,” from HuffPost: “Conservatives have long given Trump a pass on his less-than-stellar record on so-called ‘moral’ values … [and] only about half of the people who voted for [Trump] say it would be immoral if he had an affair with pornographic film actress Stormy Daniels. The other half say it is not immoral, or they are not sure, according to a new HuffPost/YouGov survey … Three-quarters of Trump voters also contend that, even if Daniels’ allegations are true, they are not relevant to Trump’s presidency. In fact, they claim to be barely concerned about a president’s private life at all: Seventy percent say an elected official who has committed an ‘immoral act’ in his or her personal life can still behave ethically and fulfill duties in the public and professional sphere.”

 

HOT ON THE RIGHT

“‘Vice President Pence is right’: Joy Behar publicly apologizes for mocking Christianity,” from Marwa Eltagouri: “Joy Behar, a co-host of ABC’s ‘The View,’ apologized Tuesday for mocking Vice President Pence’s Christian faith last month and suggesting his religious views made him mentally ill. ‘I think Vice President Pence is right. I was raised to respect everyone’s religious faith, and I fell short of that,’ Behar said. … Her apology came after weeks of protests by viewers who were outraged by Behar’s remarks. … By Tuesday, Pence had already forgiven Behar. He told Fox News Host Sean Hannity Monday that his faith had taught him ‘grace.’ ‘I give Joy Behar a lot of credit. She picked up the phone. She called me. She was very sincere. And she apologized,’ he said. ‘One of the things my faith teaches me is grace. Forgive as you have been forgiven.’”

 

DAYBOOK:

Trump will travel from California to St. Louis today, where he will take a tour of the Boeing Company and attend a fundraiser. He gets back to D.C. later tonight.

Pence will participate in deputy OMB Director Russ Vought’s swearing-in ceremony.

 

NEWS YOU CAN USE IF YOU LIVE IN D.C.:

— Cold and windy conditions are sticking around Washington. The Capital Weather Gang forecasts: “Spring continues missing in action today, with temperatures well below normal and a chilly wind. We’re partly cloudy as morning readings rise into and through the 30s, with afternoon highs only in the low-to-mid 40s. Winds come from the west-northwest around 15-25 mph, with gusts around 30-40 mph. Can’t rule out a few flurries.”

— The Wizards lost to the Timberwolves 116-111. (Candace Buckner)

— Footage was released that a Maryland state senator cited as proof of a lobbyist groping her in an Annapolis pub. Ovetta Wiggins reports: “The video shows lobbyist Gil Genn approaching Sen. Cheryl Kagan (D-Montgomery) near a crowded bar at Castlebay Irish Pub, putting his hand on Kagan’s back and moving it around. The physical contact is brief, and it is hard to tell exactly when Genn — who previously denied touching Kagan at all — removes his hand. At a hastily called news conference, Kagan held up her laptop to play the 86-second video, saying it showed how Genn put his hand on her back and slid ‘it down my body.’ … Genn, meanwhile, demanded an apology from Kagan, saying in a statement that the video shows ‘beyond dispute that I did not grab or grope her.’”

— D.C. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D) signed a law approving publicly financed elections. The law will first affect elections in 2020 and will steer millions of dollars toward local campaigns. (Peter Jamison)

— Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam (D) called a special session for the state’s legislature to continue budget negotiations, which stalled over the Medicaid expansion debate. (Laura Vozzella)

VIDEOS OF THE DAY:

Late night hosts laughed at Rex Tillerson’s abrupt firing:

A bipartisan pair of senators called for an end to U.S. military action in Yemen:

The Post fact-checked Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s numbers on Palestinian authorities paying “terrorists and their families”:

Austin residents expressed fear after the recent bombings:

And nearly four years after a U.S. marshal killed a gang member lunging for a witness testifying in court, a federal judge released the video of the deadly exchange: