Resistance: A few hundred Afghans have showed remarkable courage standing up to Taliban gunmen in the streets of Kabul and waving the national flag in protest.  As many as 200 people gathered in Kabul before the crowd was violently broken up.

  At the airport, the Taliban are roughing up people trying to get out of the country. One man who said he was a joint US/Afghan citizen told The Washington Post he had been whipped by one of the militants.

  How the Taliban will rule remains to be seen. Afghanistan, and particularly Kabul, have returned to western freedoms and customs during the 20 years of American presence. They aren’t just falling into line for the Taliban.

  The NY Times reports that, “Many critical workers are hiding in their homes, fearful of retribution despite promises of amnesty. And services like electricity, sanitation and clean water could soon be affected.”

  While the Taliban have said they’ve abandoned the brutality of their former days in power, there have been ugly incidents. They are reported to be hunting down people who worked for western agencies and governments while returning to abusive Shariah law out in the countryside, forcing women to remain in their homes unless they are accompanied by a male relative.

  The desperation of some Afghans to get out of the country is illustrated in the death of a youth soccer player killed at the Kabul airport. Zaki Anwari, 17, clung to a US transport plane until he fell to his death.

The Law As They See It: The Taliban have pledged that women in Afghanistan will have rights “within the bounds of Islamic law,” but they’re the ones who interpret the law, and sometimes they’re whistling a tune that’s not in the Quran, the holy book of the Muslim faith.

  Shariah law is basically about morals; it bans theft and adultery while giving moral and spiritual guidance. It outlines procedures for prayer, marriage, and divorce. 

  Even so, the Taliban are reputed to finance themselves in part with drug running.

  As The NY Times reports, Shariah law “does not forbid women to leave home without a male escort or bar them from working in most jobs,” but the Taliban do. They kicked a female television anchor off the air. 

  The last time the Taliban controlled Afghanistan they stoned to death women accused of adultery. Hosna Jalil, the former deputy minister for women’s affairs in Afghanistan, told a German network that she had little faith the Taliban would interpret Shariah differently now. “​​Shariah law for them meant lack of access to education, restricted access to health services, no access to justice, no shelter, no food security, no employment, literally nothing.” 

Covid Nation: Three vaccinated US senators have tested positive for Covid-19. This comes after Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, also vaccinated, tested positive.

  The senators are Roger Wicker, Republican of Mississippi, Angus King, independent of Maine, and John Hickenlooper, Democrat of Colorado. King said in a statement, “While I am not feeling great, I’m definitely feeling much better than I would have without the vaccine.”

  Wicker’s state of Mississippi is one of the states doing the worst in the resurgence of the coronavirus with a 77 percent increase in new cases over the past two weeks. He’s been among the politicians demanding for an end to mask mandates on passenger jets.

  In Alabama, where infections are up 33 percent, hospitals have run out of intensive care beds for Covid patients.

  Topping the list of states with runaway Covid increases are:

Indiana, 101%

North Dakota, 128%

Vermont, 101%

Delaware, 121%

West Virginia, 147%

South Dakota, 268%

  And as a footnote, Sonny Chiba, who burst into fame with his 1974 martial arts movie, The Street Fighter, in which he smashed faces and broke bones, has died of Covid-19 at age 82.

The Spin Rack: A 28-year-old woman testifying in the trial of rapper R. Kelly said that back when she was 16, “He wanted me to put my hair up in pigtails and dress like a girl scout.” Kelly is on trial for one count of racketeering with underlying of kidnapping, forced labor, sex trafficking, and sex trafficking across state lines. — A man who claimed to have a bomb in his pickup truck near the Library of Congress surrendered yesterday after a five-hour standoff that paralyzed part of Washington. Police found bomb-making materials, but no bomb. — A US bankruptcy judge has signed off on an $850 million settlement to resolve tens of thousands of sex abuse claims against the Boy Scouts of America. — Fines levied on people accused of making disturbances over mask mandates on airplanes have reached as much as $1 million. The FAA so far this year has 2,867 complaints about passengers refusing to wear a mask and causing a disturbance about it. — After a six weak boycott, enough Democrats returned to work in the Texas legislature for the body to conduct business and possibly allow the Republicans to pass a restrictive new voting bill.

Jeopardized: Controversy continues over the selection of  the unknown Mike Richards to replace the late beloved Alex Trebek as the host of the game show Jeopardy!  Richards, who’s been the show’s executive producer, has already been smeared by the unearthing of an old podcast in which Richards made derogatory remarks about women, Jews, and Haiti. 

  Late-night host Stephen Colbert made fun of a clip in which Richards asked two female co-hosts whether they had ever taken nude photos of themselves—or as he put it, “Like booby pictures?”

“‘Booby pictures?’” Colbert mocked. “Is this the man about to become the host of America’s most beloved quiz show or a 12-year-old boy trying to sneak into an R-rated movie?”

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