Some people who’ve been wanting to know whether we’ll be getting more stimulus money anytime soon — in the form of a fourth relief check — have arguably been looking for that financial boost in the wrong place.
The federal government is bogged down with a number of catastrophes and politically thorny legislative priorities at the moment. The Biden administration, for example, is trying to call on every drop of political capital it can to push an infrastructure bill over the finish line.
Meanwhile, unrelated crises in Afghanistan as well as damage stemming from Hurricane Ida are demanding immediate attention. All of which is to say, finding enough votes in Congress to pass some sort of new stimulus legislation that funds an all-new round of checks anytime soon seems like a mountain that no one has the stomach to climb right now.
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An Afghan YouTuber was killed at Kabul airport. Many more fear the worst.
Four days after the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan, 20-year-old YouTuber Najma Sadeqi sat on her bed and recorded a final video to tens of thousands of followers.
Usually, her posts would show her cooking or exploring Kabul alongside her friends, in bright clothes and with cheerful music playing in the background. But before Sadeqi even began speaking, the dispirited expression on her face told viewers that this one was different.AdNewRetirementHow Much Money Do You Really Get from a Reverse Mortgage?
“Since we are not allowed to work and go out of our homes, we all had to record you a last video,” she began. “And through this video say goodbye to you all.”
She told viewers she was too scared to walk the street, and asked them to pray for her. “Life in Kabul has become very difficult, especially for those who used to be free and happy,” she said. “I wish it is a bad dream, I wish we can wake up one day,” she added, stopping at times to stifle tears. “But I know that it is not possible …. and it is a reality that we are finished.”
Days later, Sadeqi was killed in a terror attack outside Kabul’s international airport, two of her colleagues told CNN. At least 170 Afghans died in the atrocity, while trying desperately to flee the country.
Sadeqi was in the final year of study at a journalism institute in Kabul. She had recently joined the Afghan Insider YouTube channel, whose videos have amassed more than 24 million views. They gave weekly glimpses into the lives of young content creators, who had been raised amid the relative safety of a post-Taliban age. They also allowed Sadeqi and others to support their families, while following their own aspirations.
“I was working to make enough to pay for my daily expenses and for my education,” Sadeqi said in her last video. “Most of the families in the city are just waiting for (one) meal for the day to survive now.”
Her death has rattled a broad community of young YouTubers who have enjoyed the freedoms afforded to Afghans in the two decades since the last Taliban regime was removed — many of whom do not even remember the pre-9/11 days.
And it shone a devastating new light on her final video — an emotional eight-minute goodbye to those who had watched her work. “Dear friends! We are both mentally affected and physically have become vulnerable,” she said. Sadeqi would usually co-host videos with her friend, Rohina Afshar, but the pair were forced to record their last messages separately, for fear of leaving their homes.
Even before the attack at the airport, many vloggers had gone dark. They included Afshar, who confirmed her friend’s death to CNN.
“I was the only breadwinner in my family as my father is dead and my brother is not old enough to work,” she told CNN. “With the salary I used to get from the YouTube channel I was paying for all our expenses. Now I am jobless, I am too scared to go out and we have got no income at all. I don’t know how can we survive this situation.
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