Biden's plan needs to be (at least) $5 trillion bigger
Personal update and a global news roundup | #TC91
Welcome to Third Cultured – a foreign policy and LGBTQIA+ politics newsletter – published by yours truly, Kyle Borland. My goal is to highlight the unique role Queer people play in the politics of the United States and the world-at-large.
Third Cultured is available to all but, as Austin Kleon says, "This newsletter is free, but not cheap.” If you’re able, support my writing by becoming a paid subscriber!
This edition:
Personal Update
Stories to Watch
Personal Update
I started a new job last week! I’m both excited and nervous about this opportunity. It’s right up my alley, but in typical “me” fashion, I worry too much about if I’ve made the “right” decisions. This always occurs in the form of questions about where I “should” be living. There’s no correct answer to that question…and maybe if I tell myself that enough times I’ll start to believe it!
In every way, the past several months were a journey, but I’ll fill y’all in on that later.
Stay safe and healthy, beautiful people. And, thanks for reading.
xoxo,
Kyle (@kgborland)
PS – Here are some great reads worth your time.
A beloved Alabama weatherman learned mid-broadcast that a tornado hit home. He got back on air. (Washington Post)
A Different Kind of April Fools' Day (Fruity)
My fear of The Fool feels appropriate: I’ve always been the youngest person in many an intimidating corporate setting, and I’ve often held roles that involved a certain degree of public-facing pressure. My worst fear was that I would be perceived as—or worse, played for—a fool.
After a little bit of time, though, I realized that whatever made me special or valuable in those settings was exactly what The Fool embodies: a fearless, devil-may-care attitude, a hungry kind of optimism, and a lack of awareness about the limited appetite for change. It was only when I got burnt out along the Fool’s journey that I felt a lot less in touch with whatever magic I had to offer those around me. Now, when the card comes up in a reading, I smile. Sometimes, it feels like a message to take things less seriously—as woo-woo as that sounds. Other times, it feels like an old friend, reminding me that there’s a fine line between being wise and being jaded.
A priest blessed my queer wedding. Catholic couples deserve the same. (The Lily)
Anti-Asian Violence Must Be a Bigger Part of America’s Racial Discourse (GEN)
China’s Unrestricted War on India (Foreign Affairs)
Coronavirus Variant Tracker (Axios)
Hunting for books in the ruins: how Syria's rebel librarians found hope (The Guardian)
Japan court says not recognizing same-sex marriage unconstitutional (Kyodo News)
LGBTQ Rights Regress in Unexpected Places Yet Advance in Others (Bloomberg)
Megan Rapinoe: Bills to ban transgender kids from sports try to solve a problem that doesn’t exist(Washington Post)
Misgendering students is not ‘academic freedom.’ It’s an abuse of power. (WaPo)
My Kids’ School Closed Again. So I Started Calling Experts. (ProPublica)
Novel HIV vaccine approach shows promise in “landmark” first-in-human trial (EPR)
Only Here to Sin: Lil Nas Continues a Tradition of Queer Blasphemy (BitchMedia)
Poem: “My Empire” by Kaveh Akbar (The New Yorker)
Rachel Levine, historic transgender nominee, confirmed as assistant health secretary (Washington Post)
Speculative Friction -- Air War: California AD 2043 (Wars of Future Past)
The Amazon Union Vote Is Ending in Bessemer. Workers Are Already Preparing for the Next Fight. (The New Republic)
The Photo Book That Let Lesbians See Themselves (The New Yorker)
This Anti-Trans Moment Demands More Than Representation (Them)
Toward an Arctic City (Real Clear Defense)
The Soviet Union, and later the Russian Federation, demonstrated the power and prosperity possible with a settled Arctic. Unfortunately, the United States is lagging behind. With two almost derelict icebreakers, almost no Arctic deep-water ports, limited Alaskan infrastructure, and no Arctic cities, the polar gap is only widening. Charleston elucidates America’s frontier heritage and urbanist tradition, Songdo the viability of new-city projects, and Russia the Arctic’s geostrategic value. On that basis, an American Arctic city is imaginable.
What the ‘Invisible’ People Cleaning the Subway Want Riders to Know (NYT)
Where Is God in All of This? (Fruity)
Stroop and a number of other notable “ex-vangelicals” have long been raising the alarm about evangelical Christianity’s ties to white supremacy, and thus, white supremacist violence. The evangelical support for far-right conservative views has helped birth a Republican stronghold in some parts of our electorate, making it harder to affect real change on issues like LGBTQ+ rights, gun control, police reform, reproductive justice, and more. In this very specific case, ex-evangelical writers and activists have seen this attack as the unfortunate but unsurprising result of a purity culture that demonizes people for their sexuality. When the shooter told police that he targeted these massage parlors—and these women—to eradicate his sexual temptations, he was acting on the perverse teachings he’d been fed from the so-called Bible.
Writing Myself Back Into My Body and Into the World (Catapult)
“I was surprised to learn, when we pulled together all the different proposed restrictions being considered, how comprehensive an effect they would have, in the aggregate, on voting in America. I think the ‘squeezed balloon’ metaphor we used in the story sums it up well — if you shrink early voting hours, or restrict who may vote by mail, then the pressure will pop out somewhere else in the system. In the case of voting, that would be on Election Day. And as for race, in states that have a history of long lines, particularly in large cities with large minority populations, that means a disproportionate impact on people of color.”
– Amy Gardner, who along with Kate Rabinowitz and Harry Stevens worked on a story about the GOP’s efforts, on what she took away from their reporting on the Republicans proposed at least 250 laws that would limit mail, early in-person and Election Day voting in states across the country.
Stories to Watch
$4 Trillion: The Biden administration unveiled its massive infrastructure package. It will be broken into two parts. The first is a $2.25 trillion package focused on infrastructure and jobs (supposedly to pass the House by July 4) while the second includes almost $2 trillion in an expansion of health insurance coverage, an extension of the expanded child tax benefit, paid family and medical leave, and other efforts aimed at families. The spending is over eight years and will be paid for by tax hikes on corporations (aka reversing Trump’s tax cuts). Biden is pitching it as the “largest infrastructure package since the 1950’s,” but it’s not nearly enough. It should be at least $5 trillion – even Biden said $2 trillion over four years during the campaign – and more international in scope! We need $1 trillion on rail alone to build a high-speed rail network ASAP. China built their’s since 2009 – why can’t we?
$5.3 Trillion: The US has passed more than $5.3 trillion – or $43K per household – in total COVID stimulus. It’s worth the money though because the economy is projected to grow the US economy 6% this year – the fastest growth since 1983 – while adding 3 million jobs. It’ll even boost China and the EU’s economies by 0.5%! Between COVID and proposed infrastructure spending, the US is putting the $90 trillion world economy on our back’s during this recovery. 2021 is the first time since 2005 that the US will be the largest single contributor to global growth.
Afghanistan: Biden said he “can’t picture” US troops in the country in 2022. Don’t get your hopes up! Remember when he said that about 2014? Based on Germany’s Bundeswehr 10-month mission extension, troops will be there until at least January. (Graphic: Statista)
Anti-Asian Hate: Another of America’s long-time demons is boiling over again, anti-Asian racism. Not all attackers have been successful, thankfully. Xiao Zhen Xie, the 75-year-old woman who was punched by a white man in San Francisco, defended herself by beating the man to a pulp with a wood board. More than $1 million has been raised for her that she plans to give right back to the AAPI community.
Border Crisis: More than 16,000 unaccompanied children crossed the southern US border in March and that number is projected to go up to 26,000 in September. The previous record was 11,475 in May 2019. (The only answer is to include Mexico and Central America in an international infrastructure program that develops their nation’s local economies and creates safe trade corridors for the multinational economy we have in our hemisphere.)
Ceasefire in Yemen: The Saudis proposed a ceasefire with the Houthis in a renewed push to end the six-year-long war (strongly influenced by the new US administration), but the Houthis said they’d only agree to the terms if the Saudi’s lifted their blockade.
COVID Vaccine Diplomacy: The US finally entered the game by announcing it export 1.5 million doses of the AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine to Canada, and 2.5 million to Mexico. The Biden administration is keeping the 1.3 billion doses the US purchased close to its chest, but the North American deal shows the White House is preparing the supply chains for when enough enough Americans are vaccinated. Notably, he announced the new goal of 200 million vaccinations within his first 100 days. I’m sure we’ll see vaccine diplomacy expedited once we cross that threshold.
Diversifying the Judiciary: Biden announced 11 nominees for federal judicial appointments, including three Black women as well as candidates who, if confirmed, would be the first Muslim American federal judge, the first Asian-American Pacific Islander woman to serve on the US District Court for the District of DC, and the first woman of color to serve as a federal judge for the District of Maryland.
Global Choke Points: Can you name them all?
In addition to the Suez Canal, there are three international straits and one other canal that represent the major maritime choke points. These are the Strait of Malacca that separates the Pacific and Indian Oceans; the Bosporus Strait that separates the Aegean and Black Sea; the Strait of Bab-El-Mandeb at the tip of the Arabian Peninsula; and the Strait of Hormuz at the mouth of the Arabian Gulf. The other canal, of course, is the Panama Canal.
Iran and China: Tehran and Beijing signed their $400 billion, 25-year “strategic pact,” creating the basis for an axis of countries under US sanctions (to include Russia, North Korea, Cuba, and Venezuela). China also urged both Iran and the US to rejoin the JCPOA. Meanwhile, in the Indian Ocean, France is hosting naval drills with the Quad.
Libya: France reopened its embassy in Tripoli after being closed for seven years. Other countries plan to follow suit, including Egypt, Greece, and Malta. The new unity government demanded all foreign mercenaries leave the country immediately, which was echoed by France, Germany, and Italy.
North Korea: Russia proposed a renewal of the six-party talks for the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, including North and South Korea, Moscow, Japan, the U.S., and China.
Semiconductors: When it comes to microchips, it’s all about Taiwan. That’s why Japan and the US are investing in creating new supply chains that aren’t dependent on Taiwan. Biden said his administration was ready to put in $50 billion out the gate.
Ukraine: Russia is amassing thousands of troops at its border with Ukraine as both sides claim the other violated the razor-thin ceasefire. This happens along an uptick in NATO interception of Russian planes in alliance airspace up to 10x a day. Biden also held his first call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to affirm his administraton’s dedication to restoring Ukraine’s territorial integrity and its Western integration, but China made it clear it supports whatever Putin has planned.
Uyghurs: The U.S., U.K., European Union, and Canada all announced sanctions against Chinese officials involved in human rights abuses against Uyghur Muslims.
