No one must be shocked that the brand new Taliban regime in Afghanistan is trying rather a lot just like the previous Taliban regime in Afghanistan. Kathy Gannon studies for the Associated Press from Kabul:
Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers on Saturday ordered all Afghan girls to put on head-to-toe clothes in public — a pointy, hard-line pivot that confirmed the worst fears of rights activists and was certain to additional complicate Taliban dealings with an already distrustful worldwide group.
The decree says that ladies ought to depart the house solely when crucial, and that male kinfolk would face punishment — beginning with a summons and escalating as much as court docket hearings and jail time — for girls’s gown code violations.
Meanwhile the communist regime in China is doing what communist regimes do—making coverage with out regard to particular person liberty. Winni Zhou and Martin Quin Pollard report for Reuters at this time on circumstances in Shanghai and Beijing:
China’s two largest cities tightened COVID-19 curbs on Monday, fuelling public angst and even questions in regards to the legality of its uncompromising battle with the virus that has battered the world’s second largest financial system…
While there was no official announcement, residents in a minimum of 4 of Shanghai’s 16 districts acquired notices on the weekend saying they wouldn’t be allowed to go away their houses or obtain deliveries, prompting a scramble to refill on meals… “It was like a prison,” mentioned Coco Wang, a Shanghai resident dwelling beneath the brand new restrictions. “We are not afraid of the virus. We are afraid of this policy.”
… The curbs have additionally fuelled uncommon expressions of public anger, additional infected by latest on-line accounts of Shanghai authorities forcing neighbours of COVID-positive instances into centralised quarantine and demanding that they hand over the keys to their houses to be disinfected.
One video confirmed police selecting a lock after a resident refused to open a door… In response to Reuters questions on the most recent restrictions in Shanghai, the municipal authorities there mentioned it “must insist on regulating the flow and control of the movement of people” and that every district was allowed to tighten measures in keeping with its personal scenario.
Reuters reported on Sunday from Shanghai:
Accounts from residents in a number of districts in addition to social media posts confirmed the federal government of town of 25 million accelerating and increasing an effort to switch the shut contacts of optimistic instances to central quarantines centres.
Multiple residents mentioned they have been being required to maneuver to such amenities, regardless of testing unfavourable, after instances have been discovered of their buildings, stoking frustrations… On Saturday, authorities in Putuo and Changning districts issued notices saying residents of housing compounds categorised as town’s lowest-risk “prevention” areas may now not depart their compounds.
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Unmasked America
Now that Americans are typically free to return to the workplace, there’s an argument that younger employees may particularly profit from returning to the office. The Journal’s Kathryn Dill and Lindsay Ellis just lately reported from Texas:
Companies nationwide are struggling to get staff again within the workplace, however not in Austin.
These days, town’s workforce is placing in additional face time at workplaces than these in some other main U.S. metro space…
“It’s a good way to get out there and meet people,” mentioned Rohit Ravichandran, a 27-year-old cybersecurity employee.
Mr. Ravichandran moved to Austin in July and has been going into the workplace 5 days per week for the previous few months regardless that his firm has a versatile work coverage. In-office conferences and lunches with co-workers have made the 9-to-5 this 12 months really feel “as close to normal as possible,” he mentioned.
Now Megan McArdle opines within the Washington Post:
I don’t need to run by way of the advantages of distant work for anybody. But there are risks, too. And these risks are apt to be most harmful for younger individuals, who must be build up their human capital proper now: buying abilities, studying about their industries, making skilled contacts who may help them discover their subsequent job, or the job after that. All of that stuff is more durable to do over e-mail or Zoom.
Humans are a social species, advanced for face-to-face interplay. Anyone who labored or schooled remotely through the pandemic is aware of the drawbacks of transferring to videoconference. The jerky, unnatural tempo of dialog stifles spontaneity, and the distractions of residence make it straightforward for individuals to take a look at, even once they need to concentrate. You by no means stumble upon somebody earlier than the assembly and bear in mind a fast query you needed to ask, nor catch up afterward on children and pets and up to date holidays.
Over time, these deficits accumulate. You haven’t made buddies or constructed up a reservoir of goodwill with managers and friends that can carry you thru tough patches (I remorse to tell new graduates that there’ll inevitably be tough patches). You didn’t hear the gossip about rivals which may warn you to alternatives — or warn you off comparable errors. You haven’t listened to the conflict tales that educate you find out how to deal with difficult conditions, or get roped into an attention-grabbing challenge since you have been chatting to the suitable individual on the espresso maker. When you depart, you aren’t a fond reminiscence, however only one much less field on the Zoom display.
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Plastic Bag Ban Not Popular
State and native bans on plastic merchandise have gotten extra widespread within the U.S., regardless that when pressed on the issues they allegedly clear up, advocates sometimes describe disposal failures in overseas nations. A ban on so-called single-use plastic luggage favored by many grocery store buyers has simply gone into impact in New Jersey and the coverage appears to be going over like a non-plastic lead balloon.
Bill Bonvie of the Pine Barrens Tribune studies on his survey of shoppers within the southern a part of the Garden State:
“I’ll take that survey,” mentioned one such respondent, Laurie Benton, of the Mystic Island part of Little Egg Harbor, who, when then requested what she considered the ban, replied, “I like my plastic bags, and use them for multiple purposes.”
“I put my cans in them and use them for diapers and have even got my kid’s uniform in a plastic bag,” she added.
As for whether or not banning them would assist the atmosphere, Benton felt it might not be all that useful, since “there is so much other plastic out there” and “so many other important things to worry about in this world other than plastic bags.”
Jose Ramos, of Whiting, was likewise “not happy” with the luggage being faraway from circulation, being within the behavior of utilizing them to line his waste baskets and to scrub up after his pets. Similar sentiments have been voiced by different interviewees for whom the designation “single-use” was not essentially an correct one… they usually reuse these disposable luggage in quite a lot of alternative ways, corresponding to for scooping kitty litter or when strolling the household canine…
“Don’t even get me started (on that subject),” mentioned Nancy C. King, of Browns Mills, an proprietor of two cats who was amongst these surveyed on the Medford ShopRite, and who was plainly put out that she would quickly have to make use of a part of her Social Security enhance to order litter luggage from
Amazon.com.
Scott Fallon of northen New Jersey’s Record newspaper studies:
Since the COVID-19 pandemic started two years in the past, volunteers for the longtime charity Family Promise of Bergen County have been handing out 150 scorching meals in plastic luggage every day to the hungry who have been now not in a position to eat on the county homeless shelter.
But the charity’s organizers say this system is in jeopardy after they have been denied an exemption by the state Department of Environmental Protection to a statewide plastic bag ban… They as a substitute acquired a six-month extension and at the moment are scrambling to foyer lawmakers to jot down a brand new invoice that will exclude charities corresponding to theirs.
“We were overlooked when this bill was being written,” mentioned Paul Shackford, president of the Family Promise board of trustees. “You have exemptions for newspaper bags and dry cleaner bags. I’d argue that bags for delivering meals to the homeless are also deserving.”
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What Would We Do Without Experts?
David Leonhardt refers within the
New York Times
to the early days of Russia’s invasion on Ukraine:
On the floor, Ukraine initially appeared like one other misplaced trigger. Its army was far smaller and fewer properly armed than Russia’s, and Western consultants anticipated Ukraine’s authorities to fall inside days.
Mr. Leonhardt hyperlinks to a CNN dispatch from February which cited unnamed individuals “familiar with the latest intelligence” and reported:
The sources mentioned that the preliminary US evaluation from earlier than the invasion — which anticipated that the Ukrainian capital can be overrun inside one to 4 days of a Russian assault — stays the present expectation.
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James Freeman is the co-author of “The Cost: Trump, China and American Revival.”
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