Jason Lilley was a special operations forces Marine Raider who fought in multiple battles in Iraq and Afghanistan during America's longest war reut.rs/3xYUMcQ 1/6
As Lilley reflects on Joe Biden's decision to end America's military mission in Afghanistan on Aug. 31, he expresses love for his country but disgust at its politicians and dismay at the blood and money squandered reut.rs/3isOag5 2/6
'A hundred percent we lost the war,' Lilley says.
Comrades were killed and maimed in wars he says were unwinnable, making him rethink his country and his life 3/6
Biden says that the Afghan people must decide their own future and that America should not have to sacrifice another generation in an unwinnable war reut.rs/2VR6uI3 4/6
'Was it worth it? It's a big ass question,' said Lilley, who was on the front lines of America's Global War on Terror in Iraq and Afghanistan for almost 16 years 5/6
He said he deployed believing troops were there to defeat the enemy, stimulate the economy and uplift Afghanistan as a whole.
In Virginia, a culture war over race and education is firing up Republican voters ahead of the governor’s race. The issue has become central to the party’s campaign, offering a preview of what’s in store for the 2022 midterm elections reut.rs/3xY46xt 1/5
Marie Murphy, who is white, is alarmed by anti-racism talks at her son's school. Meanwhile, Suparna Dutta, an Indian immigrant mother, is incensed that new admissions standards aimed at boosting Black and Latino enrollment have resulted in fewer Asian Americans being admitted 2/5
Both women will vote Republican this fall. Public schools are a major issue for suburban parents, many of whom moved to quality school districts for their kids. Republicans across the U.S. have mounted a campaign against 'critical race theory' to persuade these voters 3/5
At least 25 people have died in China's flood-stricken central province of Henan, 12 of them in a subway line in its capital that was drenched by what weather officials called the heaviest rains in a thousand years reut.rs/3BrxKx9 1/5
About 100,000 people have been evacuated in Zhengzhou, the capital, where rail and road transport have been disrupted, while dams and reservoirs have swelled to warning levels 2/5
More than 500 people were pulled to safety from the flooded subway, authorities said, as social media images showed train commuters immersed in chest-deep waters in the dark and one station reduced to a large brown pool 3/5
The English city of Liverpool has been removed from @UNESCO’s list of world heritage sites after the United Nations' cultural agency found new buildings, including a football stadium, undermined the attractiveness of its Victorian docks reut.rs/3eIHucD
Liverpool was named a World Heritage Site in 2004, joining cultural landmarks such as the Great Wall of China, the Taj Mahal, and the Leaning Tower of Pisa.
The city is only the third place to be removed from the prestigious list
After a vote in China by members of its World Heritage Committee, UNESCO said that Liverpool should be deleted from the international cultural organization's list
First his torch relay was canceled because of COVID-19 fears.
Then spectators were banned from the Games’ first-ever surfing competition.
Now Ted Adegawa and the surfing town he helped build symbolize the disappointment that characterize #Tokyo2020reut.rs/3iyZvLy 1/7
Adegawa is renowned in Japan as one of the nation’s surfing pioneers.
He has sponsored Japan’s first surf team, organized its inaugural competition and introduced international surfers to the country’s unique surf culture 2/7
Laying out dozens of old photographs, Adegawa recalls how he traveled to California as a college junior with only vague ideas of what the U.S. would be like.
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has become one of America's most prominent progressive Democrats with her calls to tax the wealthy and spend heavily to fight climate change reut.rs/3BgUpfv 1/5
📢 ’Tax the Rich’ 📢 ‘Fight for our Future'
Now she is investing heavily in her online store, selling merchandise with her name, initials and slogans as a fundraising effort and profile-building exercise 2/5
💰 Her campaign paid a political merchandise firm more than $1.4 million in the first six months of 2021, according to campaign disclosures to the Federal Election Commission.
That’s more than many lawmakers spent on their entire re-election efforts during the period 3/5
London clubbers flocked to one of the first rule-free live music events since the pandemic began last year, dancing through the night and rejoicing in human interaction as England lifted most COVID restrictions at midnight reut.rs/3wSdC3P 1/4
UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson's 'freedom day' ending over a year of COVID-19 lockdown restrictions in England was marred by surging infections, warnings of supermarket shortages and his own forced self-isolation reut.rs/3hQ6yAq 2/4
Johnson's bet that he can get one of Europe's largest economies firing again because so many people are now vaccinated marks a new chapter in the global response to the coronavirus reut.rs/3hQ6yAq 3/4