Morning Belz, June 30

Links.

Southeast Asia feeling ignored by U.S. — Foreign Policy
Deep (mostly supportive) dive on Bidenomics — Noah Smith
Record-setting “heat dome” in Pacific Northwest — CBS
Everything you need to know about Cali wildfires — Nintil
McChrystal: expand national service options — Yahoo*
87-yr-old Chuck Grassley doing 22 “pushups” — Twitter
Tips on asking better questions — Tyler Cowen**

*from March
**very much an opportunity for improvement for yours truly

Spent the day yesterday in downtown Atlanta, half of that time at the Martin Luther King Jr. memorial. A lot of people were ready to talk about racism. After every interview I wish I had asked better questions, but I think we got enough for a good video. Tomorrow we go for the Optimist International Convention. It’s a bigger event than I figured it for, seems to skew middle-aged and white, and I’m excited to button-hole people on Peachtree Street and ask them from whence comes their buoyancy.

Quote
“What we eventually run up against are the forces of humourlessness, and let me assure you that the humourless as a bunch don't just not know what's funny, they don't know what's serious. They have no common sense, either, and shouldn't be trusted with anything.” — Martin Amis

About: I send this email most weekdays in an effort to stay informed and in touch. I was a newspaper reporter for 14 years, most recently at the Minneapolis Star Tribune. I explained why my family left Minneapolis here. Now we live just outside Chattanooga and I work on Scuffed News. Please share this newsletter with anyone you think might enjoy it. And please consider supporting this work with your money on Patreon.