The Weekly Arc: August 25, 2017

Welcome to Arc’s newsletter, sent out once per week, highlighting the best and most interesting stories from around the web. The Weekly Arc is curated by Berny Belvedere. Past editions can be accessed here.

Are you sick of spending your money on items of questionable utility such as milk and bread? Instead, use those funds to help support a publication you believe in.

Please visit our Patreon page and help us build something special.

War Without End

President Trump outlined a revised vision for the U.S. war in Afghanistan on Monday, pledging to end a strategy of “nation-building” and instead institute a policy aimed more squarely at addressing the terrorist threat that emanates from the region.
“I share the American people’s frustration,” he said. “I also share their frustration over a foreign policy that has spent too much time, energy, money — and, most importantly, lives — trying to rebuild countries in our own image instead of pursuing our security interests above all other considerations.”
But Trump provided few specifics about his policy and how much the U.S. military commitment in the region would increase as a result, insisting that conditions on the ground would determine troop levels and strategy.
Trump’s decision to further commit to the nation’s longest war, rather than withdraw, reflects a significant shift in his approach to Afghanistan since taking office and marks a new willingness to take greater ownership of a protracted conflict that he had long dismissed as a waste of time and resources. As a candidate, Trump denounced Afghanistan as a “total disaster” and railed that the costly conflict in Central Asia drained enormous resources at a time of more pressing needs at home for American taxpayers. — The Washington Post

Arc’s Nicholas Grossman likes this move, writing:

Though there are some questionable aspects to the administration’s approach, the overall strategy moves in the right direction.

Grossman’s analysis is worth reading in full. With that said, I disagree with his positive assessment.

While it’s good Trump is focusing on Afghanistan as a security threat, as opposed to a geopolitical project to undertake, I think the President could’ve secured a “withdrawal” that accomplishes our national security objectives while signaling and effecting a strategic retreat. I might lay this out in greater detail in a post to come.

Total Eclipse

We had ourselves an eclipse. Did you hear about it?

No?

Well, this New York Times collection is well worth your time.

While you’re at it, check out Ryan Huber’s comedic riff on the President’s decision to turn his naked gaze skyward. He has a thing for glowing orbs, does he not?

Shutdown Looming?

President Donald Trump’s threat to shut down the government if Congress doesn’t approve funding for a wall along the Mexico border raised alarm among some GOP lawmakers, injecting new volatility into an already uncertain political climate this fall.
Lawmakers returning to Washington in early September have a dozen days with both the House and Senate in session before the government’s current funding expires on Oct. 1. Lawmakers from both parties had expected Congress to pass a stopgap two- or three-month spending bill, but Mr. Trump’s remarks raised fresh questions about the path forward.
The GOP president said Tuesday night that he was prepared to dig in over his request for $1.6 billion toward the border wall, one of his signature campaign promises.
“We’re going to get our wall,” Mr. Trump said at a rally in Phoenix. “If we have to close down our government, we’re building that wall.”
Mr. Trump’s push quickly hit resistance within his own party.
“I don’t think anyone’s interested in having a shutdown,” House Speaker Paul Ryan said at a stop at an Intel Corp. facility in Oregon on Wednesday.
Mr. Ryan (R., Wis.) said that he agreed with Mr. Trump that a physical barrier was needed in places along the border. Still, he said: “I don’t think a government shutdown is necessary and I don’t think most people want to see a government shutdown, ourselves included.”
Mr. Ryan said he expected lawmakers would need to pass a short-term spending bill in September to give them more time to work out a broader budget agreement later this year.
Asked about Mr. Trump’s shutdown threat, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Wednesday: “He’s going to make sure there’s definite plans for it to get built. The president has made no secret that this is a priority for him.”
While some conservatives have backed Mr. Trump’s demand for a wall, it is controversial among many Republicans, some of whom think it isn’t the most effective way to tighten security. And after this year’s protracted and unsuccessful struggle to roll back and replace much of the Affordable Care Act, few Republicans are eager to shut down the government, now that they control the White House and both chambers of Congress. — The Wall Street Journal

Harvey Threatens Texas

Highways in Texas filled with cars Thursday into the night as coastal residents made their way north and out of the path of a hurricane that forecasters say will bring “life-threatening” amounts of rain.
Some areas could get as many as 35 inches of rain from Hurricane Harvey and many will get more than a foot, forecasters from the National Hurricane Center said. Harvey has strengthened to a Category 2 storm, with maximum sustained winds of 100 mph, according to the National Weather Service.
As Harvey gained strength Thursday, residents along the Texas coast made the choice to evacuate or stay. Those staying in place aren’t taking any chances; they’re filling sandbags, stocking up on water and boarding up windows.
Harvey is rapidly becoming more powerful and is forecast to become a Category 3 hurricane with winds of at least 111 mph by the time it hits the middle Texas coast late Friday or early Saturday, the hurricane center said Thursday. After hitting Corpus Christi, the storm is expected to stall over the state, forecasters say.
In Corpus Christi, where Harvey could make landfall and Mayor Joe McComb has issued a voluntary evacuation order, Walmart shelves were clearing quickly, as the city canceled Friday’s dockets in city court and provided self-serve sandbags to residents.
Hurricane-force winds are a concern as the storm builds strength in the Gulf of Mexico, and a potential deluge and subsequent flooding may be a big danger as well, according to meteorologists. — CNN

According to the latest data from Weather.com, Hurricane Harvey threatens to bring “the strongest Texas coastal bend landfall in at least 47 years tonight.”

Lord, have mercy.

This week, I’ll be featuring pieces only from Medium. That’s because they’ve just announced a new Medium Partners Program and I’d like to highlight its quality here in The Weekly Arc. Even the pieces I’ve chosen from other publications — e.g. New York Magazine, The Economist, etc. — are ones those publications have published on Medium.