The desperation to keep shedding blood in Afghanistan

Afghanistan

I disagree with David Petraeus, of course. He fundamentally fails to answer two crucial questions:[1] First, how is resolving Afghanistan’s internal disputes U.S. responsibility? Second, how does endless war resolve those disputes? Failing to answer these questions, Petraeus effectively advocates endless U.S. military bloodshed in an effort, he claims, to limit Afghan bloodshed. Sorry if I don’t think anybody should be impressed by that argument.

Michael Evans and Hugh Tomlinson, “US abandoning Afghanistan to civil war, says General David Petraeus,” Times, August 2, 2021, https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/us-abandoning-afghanistan-to-civil-war-says-general-david-petraeus-00ftvwpt3


Student loans

The funny thing about politicians following economic advice is that they generally only do so when it suits their twisted, vindictive sense of morality. When it doesn’t, economists are as much out in the cold as other social scientists almost always are.

Robert Hildreth, “The time is right to restructure student debt,” Hill, August 1, 2021, https://thehill.com/opinion/education/565671-the-time-is-right-to-restructure-student-debt


Academic freedom

Megan Zahneis, “Scholar Who Claimed He Was Fired for Speaking Out Settles With U. of Mississippi,” Chronicle of Higher Education, July 29, 2021, https://www.chronicle.com/article/scholar-who-claimed-he-was-fired-for-speaking-out-settles-with-u-of-mississippi


Pandemic


Fig. 1. Screenshot by author on August 2, 2021, of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention COVID-19 transmission map.

Natasha Korecki, Erin Banco, and Adam Cancryn, “Tensions rise within Biden team over mask reversal,” Politico, August 2, 2021, https://www.politico.com/news/2021/08/02/coronavirus-mask-policy-biden-502026

Jimmy Vielkind and Zusha Elinson, “Louisiana and San Francisco Area to Reinstate Indoor Mask Mandates,” Wall Street Journal, August 2, 2021, https://www.wsj.com/articles/new-york-officials-recommend-masks-indoors-as-covid-19-cases-rise-11627925181


Evictions

Matt Stieb, “What Happens Now That the Eviction Moratorium Has Expired?” New York, August 2, 2021, https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2021/08/what-happens-now-that-the-eviction-moratorium-has-expired.html


Amazon

Sebastian Herrera, “Federal Labor Official Recommends Alabama Amazon Workers Hold New Vote, Union Says,” Wall Street Journal, August 2, 2021, https://www.wsj.com/articles/federal-labor-official-recommends-alabama-amazon-workers-hold-new-vote-union-says-11627947027


  1. [1]Michael Evans and Hugh Tomlinson, “US abandoning Afghanistan to civil war, says General David Petraeus,” Times, August 2, 2021, https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/us-abandoning-afghanistan-to-civil-war-says-general-david-petraeus-00ftvwpt3

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.