There’s a story that has become somewhat legendary at the Monitor. Decades ago, when one of our foreign correspondents was having lunch with several colleagues in the foreign press, a bomb went off. The journalists quite literally leaped into action, eager to be the first to file. But not the Monitor correspondent.

Back then, there weren’t really “hot takes” and there was certainly no social media to carry every conceivable viewpoint (some rather badly undercooked) to every corner of the globe in seconds. But even then, there was a value to journalistic patience – to getting to work but not with a haste that confused speed with understanding and insight.

Today, the United States is trying to understand the ramifications of the Supreme Court’s decision to let stand a law that curtails legal abortion to an unprecedented degree in Texas. And the nation is looking at the aftermath of Hurricane Ida with no small amount of despair.

But just as the Monitor sought to bring calm, cleareyed understanding to the fall of Afghanistan, we’re aiming to do that today, too, starting with an explainer on how the Texas decision fits a pattern, and how Louisiana is aiming to address the enormous task in front of it. We’ll continue to follow both stories in the days and weeks ahead. As always, our goal will be to give you the clearest picture, not the most rushed.