Новости за 12.07.2021

It’s rare that U.S. foreign policy makes much of a dent in domestic politics—did anyone, outside of the families of military members and refugees, notice the end of the Afghan war?—but recent political unrest in Cuba has quickly been taken up by Republican politicians with fervor. Florida Senator Marco Rubio, who is of Cuban descent, has tweeted frequently over the past few days in support of anti-government protesters while taking the opportunity to bash the Biden administration as insufficiently supportive of their efforts. Читать дальше...

America’s retreat from Afghanistan after nearly 20 years of war, $2 trillion in taxpayer dollars, and 2,448 dead service members is nearly complete. The top commander of U.S. forces there, Army Gen. Austin “Scott” Miller, stepped down on Monday after three years in the role. He is not being replaced. Good riddance.

The Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, or RGGI, is something of a Rorschach test for climate activists and policy wonks. For incrementalists or politicians hoping to do something about the climate crisis (as long as it can’t be termed anti-industry), the multistate cap-and-trade program that debuted in New England over a decade ago is a godsend. But for marginalized communities across the South—already on the front lines of environmental destruction, up to their necks in climate half-measures... Читать дальше...

Ashli Babbitt should be alive right now. A Capitol Police officer shot and killed the 35-year-old woman on January 6 outside the House chamber as she and other pro-Trump rioters besieged it. Babbitt was one of five people who died during or shortly after the insurrection, along with three other Trump supporters and Officer Brian Sicknick. Two other officers died by suicide in the weeks that followed.

Something important is happening this week, something that never would have happened if Donald Trump had been reelected or if the Republicans had controlled either house of Congress. The child tax credit, or CTC, checks are starting to go out to parents across the country. A couple earning $100,000 with two children will get a $600 check from the government for the next six months, and then they’ll get a $3,600 refund when they file taxes next year.

After four years of Donald Trump, not much is holding what little is left of the GOP’s establishment wing together. Formerly mainstream Republicans like Representatives Adam Kinzinger and Liz Cheney, herself the daughter of a former vice president, have become pariahs for their criticism of the former president; Lindsey Graham and Mitch McConnell, establishment stalwarts in the Senate for decades, have largely acquiesced to Trump’s dominance. But one issue binds the remnants of the party establishment... Читать дальше...

Barely two weeks before the opening ceremony of the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo—already postponed a year due to the pandemic—organizers announced that spectators would be barred from most events amid a surge in Covid-19 cases. Japan’s pandemic response has largely been lauded as effective; though the country’s proportion of elderly citizens is higher than anywhere in the world, fewer than 15,000 people died. But the delta variant and a relatively low vaccination rate have fueled rational concerns... Читать дальше...