2021
August
27
Friday

Monitor Daily Podcast

August 27, 2021
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Peter Grier
Washington editor

Late Thursday night Republicans in the Texas House passed new voting restrictions after months of protests, and a 38-day walkout by Democratic colleagues.

The move ensures that Gov. Greg Abbott will soon sign the measure. It also caps a spring and summer where many state legislatures fought bitterly over electoral legislation sparked in part by former President Donald Trump’s false claims of fraud in the 2020 vote.

As Texas demonstrates, some big states controlled by Republicans have moved decisively toward tightening vote procedures. The Texas bill adds new ID requirements for voting by mail, gives more power to partisan poll watchers, and bans drive-thru and 24-hour voting, which were used in 2020 in Houston’s Harris County.

These changes could make voting more difficult in a state where turnout ranked 44th out of 50 in last year’s presidential election.

“It’s hard not to define those [laws] that make it harder to vote in a state that already has one of the lowest voter participation rates in the country as anything other than suppression,” Joshua Blank, research director at the Texas Politics Project at the University of Texas at Austin, told the Monitor’s Dwight Weingarten last month.

But the overall national effect of this year’s legislative changes may be more nuanced. At least 18 states have enacted 30 laws that restrict voting access, according to a report by the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University School of Law. However, at least 25 states have enacted 54 laws with provisions to expand voting access, according to the Brennan study.


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Today’s stories

And why we wrote them

Reuters
Armed Taliban men drink tea as the militant group's forces block the roads around the airport after Thursday's attack in Kabul, Afghanistan, Aug. 27, 2021.

As it negotiated its exit from Afghanistan, the U.S. relied, in part, on Taliban pledges to curb terrorism. The Kabul attack underscores experts’ doubts about the militants’ abilities, and intentions.

There are many domestic factors underpinning Mexico’s high murder rate. But the government is arguing that U.S. gun-makers – and gun policy – play a part as well.

Erika Page/The Christian Science Monitor.
Yachts are seen anchored – some above Posidonia seagrass – in one of Menorca's many inlets, July 10, 2021. Despite a 2018 regional decree that prohibits anchoring above the Posidonia, many boaters, and especially tourists, are not aware of the ecological importance of the seagrass.

The island of Menorca is a rare success in sustainable tourism. But the threat to Posidonia oceanica, known as the “lungs of the Mediterranean,” shows that there is still work to be done.

Film

Kino Lorber
The documentary "On Broadway" examines Broadway's fortunes over the years, from the struggle of the 1969-72 era up to just before the pandemic hit.

When Broadway reopens this fall, it won’t be the first time it’s staged a comeback. The new documentary “On Broadway” explores the resiliency of the theater – and why it matters in people’s lives today.


The Monitor's View

Reuters
An Afghan national holds a candle during a vigil in memory of the victims of the Kabul explosions in New Delhi, India, Aug. 27.

In the past six years, deaths from terrorist attacks have declined year by year. That fact, however, can hardly be a salve for the current sorrow and fear from Thursday’s suicide attack in Kabul. The high death toll of Afghan civilians and U.S. service members has instead led to calls for retaliation by the United States against the local branch of the Islamic State group that claimed responsibility for the attack . Yet in this tragedy, as in similar attacks of recent years, lies an insight on why terrorist killings are falling.

The Taliban that now control most of Afghanistan do not get along with the group called Islamic State Khorasan. The two differ in tactics, goals, and ideology. As a result, they not only compete directly against each other; they also compete for the support of Afghan civilians. Even within the Taliban are factions that often tangle. The widespread disgust among Afghans over the Kabul airport attack will not be lost on Taliban leaders. They might decide to lessen their own savage violence.

This would not be new in the recent history of jihadi terror. Muslim societies often silently withdraw or openly oppose violence they see as opposite to Islamic teachings. Al Qaeda in Iraq, for example, lost popular support after a series of beheadings of civilians. Within Al Qaeda itself, top leaders were divided over such tactics.

After the Islamic State took over parts of Syria and Iraq in 2014, it began to lose internal support because of its inhumane killings. When the Iraqi military and Western forces attacked in 2017, the victory was made easier by the errors of the militant caliphate and the loss of civilian backing.

Groups that conduct cruelty toward civilians contain the seeds of their own demise. Even in Iran, a country known as an exporter of terror, the people have power to soften a regime’s ruthlessness. On Tuesday, the head of the notorious Evin prison in Tehran had to apologize for the brutal treatment of prisoners. A video had been released showing guards beating and dragging inmates, many of whom are political prisoners. It created popular outrage in Iran. An official probe of the incident has been ordered.

“Regarding the pictures from Evin prison, I accept responsibility for such unacceptable behavior and pledge to try to prevent any repeat of these bitter events and to deal seriously with the wrongdoers,” the prison chief posted on Twitter.

The world has only begun to adopt a patient expectation that evil acts can create their own undoing. As an old Arab saying goes, “Leave evil and it will leave you.” 


A Christian Science Perspective

About this feature

Nothing can stop the limitless flow of inspiration and peace from God, the divine Love that forever “encircles you and me,” as this poem conveys.


A message of love

Sarah Meyssonnier/Reuters
Shakiba Dawod (right), an Afghan artist who has lived in France since 2009, kisses her mother, Qadira, as they reunite for the first time in 12 years, following her mother's evacuation from Afghanistan, along with another daughter and three sons. They greeted in front of a reception center in Pantin, near Paris, France, Aug. 27, 2021.
( The illustrations in today’s Monitor Daily are by Karen Norris. )

A look ahead

That’s it for the news. Come back Monday, when we’ll have a story on efforts to save the iconic Louisiana longleaf pine. 

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