It’s been a helluva weekend. A good friend of mine from college is a professor at the US Naval Academy. He’s lost several students in Afghanistan and several more have come home severely injured. It’s been really hard on him. Not that he wanted us to stay over there, not at all. Let me be clear: he wanted us out of there, but it’s still very difficult to watch us just leaving. It’s bee a tough weekend in a lot of different directions for a lot of people. I’m not even sure why it was tough for me.

So here’s some stuff to talk about:

Well this is grim.

The first-ever water shortage has been declared in the country's largest reservoir, affecting tens of millions of people. https://t.co/HmkZPE0rNF

— ABC News (@ABC) August 17, 2021

Per that stuff up there I wrote:

Really great email sent to Afghanistan veterans by the @DeptVetAffairs. Exactly right. You are not alone. pic.twitter.com/pYipx8opUH

— Paul Szoldra (@PaulSzoldra) August 17, 2021

Boosters are coming:

The Biden administration is expected to announce that most Americans should get a booster shot eight months after receiving their initial Covid-19 vaccine, and could begin offering the extra shots as early as mid-September. https://t.co/Hlyb8qb4EC

— The New York Times (@nytimes) August 17, 2021

Everything else out there is hard, and tiring, and angry-making, and depressing, so let’s make this space better than that. Not by being nice, but by being kind. There is a difference. And put that junk mail in the recycling bin, don’t let it pile up.