Hello Dear Friends,
How are you?
I am still trying to wrap my head around the fact that I’ve picked up and moved to another city. So, far I like it here. The pace is slow, and I think I need that for a while.
However, I am concerned with how small the city seems. It feels like one of those places where you can run into people you know all too frequently. I know I’ll miss the feeling of absolute anonymity that I feel when I’m back in New York.
With the move, I’ve been finding it harder to carve out a consistent time for me to read and digest the headlines. I hoped by now that I’d be sending out these letters in regular cadences, but it seems that these will be sporadic for the time being.
Have hope,
Kim B.
TODAY’S TOP STORIES
U.S. Allegedly Trashing Afghan Community
According to reporting on ABCNews.com, some Afghanistan residents are furious about the literal mess the United States is leaving behind as it prepares to withdraw its troops.
American soldiers have been ordered to destroy tanks, cars and weapons to the point where they can’t be used or turned over into the wrong hands.
According to some sources, U.S. soldiers are telling people living near the base to take the rubble and sell it as scrap. However, local scrap sellers say the waste is just junk. (Source.)
Divided Over “Critical Race Theory”?
Recently, the news headlines have been a buzz about whether or not schools should teach “critical race theory” in primary and secondary schools.
So far, the loudest members of the GOP seems to be staunchly against mandating the inclusion of critical race theory. Democrats, on the other hand, say that an education system that omits critical race theory fails its students.
According to NBCNews.com, “Louisiana is one of many states where legislators have proposed bills to bar educators from teaching “divisive” concepts like white privilege and racial equity… Lawmakers behind an Idaho bill said critical race theory ‘tries to make kids feel bad,’ and in Tennessee, legislators accused such practices of ‘promoting division.’ Meanwhile, a Rhode Island bill bans teaching the idea that ‘the United States of America is fundamentally racist or sexist.’” (Source.)
McConnell Tries Old School Political Compromise
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell is saying that he would be supportive of an infrastructure bill that cost $800 billion dollars– as long as it focused on “traditional infrastructure.”
This is in contrast to the $2.3 trillion infrastructure bill that Biden’s administration is pushing, and the $568 billion plan that some Republicans introduced last month.
According to FoxNews.com, “Republicans have criticized the size and scope of Biden’s spending measure, arguing that it contains too many provisions that are unrelated to traditional forms of infrastructure. They have also pushed back against his proposal to pay for the measure by raising the corporate tax rate to 28% from 21% and imposing a higher global minimum rate on U.S. companies’ foreign earnings.” (Source.)
Seth Rogen and James Franco Bromance Split
Actor and director, Seth Rogen, says he still won’t work with his former friend and frequent collaborator, James Franco, after Franco was accused of trying to arrange sex with underaged girls and other misconduct toward women from 2014 to 2018.
According to CNN.com, “Rogen also expressed regret over his infamous 2014 “Saturday Night Live” joke, which trivialized the then recent revelation Franco had propositioned a 17-year-old on Instagram.”
Rogen says the allegations against Franco changed their dynamic. (Source.)