Appointment in Kabul
Suicide bombs in Kabul. Racial segregation in the U.S. American infrastructure bill.
In this edition: An ISIS affiliate group explodes suicide vests in Kabul; I have a piece exploring the effects of single-family zoning on racial segregation for Investopedia; The infrastructure package has advanced, if only on a slim margin.
Housekeeping: It’s good to be back after a bit of a break. Thanks to those of you who reached out to me to ensure I hadn’t vanished from the face of the earth or slipped into a stupor. I was just consumed with other work and family matters.
*Update: It’s rare for me to slip in an update note in here, but let’s try something new: The Department of Defense has released the names of the 13 servicemembers among the dead, who were mostly U.S. Marines. The U.S. President pledged vengenance for the suicide bombing described below: “We will hunt you down and make you pay,” President Joseph Biden said from the White House.
There’s a lot that we missed. In fact, there’s even more going on now: from the devastating impact of the earthquake in Haiti to the fact that the press now considers talk show host Larry Elder—a man with a shoe size higher than his IQ, who is facing a domestic abuse allegation and who allegedly pulled a gun on his former fiance—to be the frontrunner of the Gavin Newsom recall election in California.
However, as usual, the mind wanders. Here are a few items you should catch up on:
Appointment in Kabul: An ISIS affiliate group which U.S. officials dubbed the “sworn enemy of the Taliban,” ISIS-K, banged up the Kabul international airport with two suicide bombers, slaying American soldiers and civilians. Death counts vary, but they’re apparently in the dozens and may have included children. It’s unclear how this will impact the frantic last-minute efforts to evacuate Americans and allied Afghanis ahead of the August 31 withdrawal deadline, which Biden has so far held firm on. NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg has said that the top priority remains to get people out, and U.S. officials have held fast to the idea that the Taliban is committing to keeping an avenue of escape open for those that want to leave. My coverage, which basically just says that: here.
Fix the G-D roads: The infrastructure plan advanced, keeping the Democrat’s economic proposals alive. House leaders have committed to vote on the largest update to America’s crumbling infrastructure in recent memory, the $1 trillion Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill, according to CNBC reporting. The bill is now lashed to an enlargement of the social safety net, the $3.5 trillion reconciliation bill, which will have to be passed first. American infrastructure has become vulnerable to worsening climate disasters, creating a lethal and expensive combination. Experts have suggested that targeted investments could take the edge off some of the effects of events like the Texas cold snap, and even save lives. An Investopedia piece, which is in editing, will unspool how this will probably lead to increased bankruptcies for public utilities, making it hard for victims of climate-related disasters to recover anything.
Separate still isn’t equal: My newest piece for Investopedia looks at the impact of zoning laws on racial segregation and inequality in America, with a special emphasis on the “single-family zoning” classification which popped up in Berkeley, Calif., in the 20th century and afterward became common across the country.
Good to have ya back. I read The Stringer every time I come across it. I’d still be down to try to do something with irreverent/hardcore content, I took a break from articles to finish my pilot. Regardless, keep up the good work, there’s always a dearth of solid writing.