“An American citizen, who was held by the Taliban in Afghanistan for two months, has been released, Washington’s former envoy to Kabul has said. Faye Hall will ‘soon be heading home’ after she was arrested by the Taliban in February, Zalmay Khalilzad, who served as the US special representative for Afghanistan from 2018-2021, wrote on X. Ms Hall, who is now in the care of Qatari officials, was detained alongside a British couple in their seventies — Barbie and Peter Reynolds — and their interpreter. The couple ran training programmes for women and girls, and stayed when the Taliban retook control of Afghanistan in 2021. Afghan officials have not made the reason for their arrest public. In his announcement, Mr Khalilzad thanked Qatar, which acts as a mediator between the US and Afghanistan. The US State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.” (03/30/25)
“The historic SF-88 Nike Missile Site, a part of Golden Gate National Recreation Area in the Marin Headlands, was vandalized sometime between March 15 and March 19, according to the National Park Service. Officials in a news release Tuesday said the site was forcibly entered and extensively damaged. Hate speech was spray-painted throughout the magazine, and hazardous chemicals were dumped inside. The vandal or vandals ‘may have sustained chemical burns and may have needed medical attention,’ the park service statement said. The SF-88 site, built during the Cold War, is ‘the most fully restored Nike missile facility in the country,’ the statement said, and a key part of Golden Gate National Recreation Area’s historical preservation efforts. The missile facility was built to defend against any potential Soviet attacks and meant to serve as a last resort against Soviet planes carrying hydrogen bombs.” (03/28/25)
“When you sit down to write a column and the first word you write nearly breaks the ‘F’ key, then you have to continually erase it, well, it’s a way to tell you’re in a mood. And nothing deserves a ‘mood’ like dealing with the worst creatures on the planet since life crawled out of the primordial ooze: Democrats. How depraved must a group of people be to have Hillary Clinton step forward as the person to speak out on this so-called ‘Signal scandal?’ That’s like hiring OJ Simpson to be the spokesmodel for your battered women’s shelter or Bill Clinton to be your marriage counselor.” (03/30/25)
“A woman says police overreacted by trying to ban her from a park over allegations she was illegally foraging for mushrooms. Louise Gather said a police officer came to her home and attempted to issue her with a community resolution report after she visited Bradgate Park, in Leicestershire, in search of magpie inkcaps — a rare kind of fungi. It follows a complaint by the Bradgate Park Trust, which runs the park, that Mrs Gather picked mushrooms illegally because it is a designated site of special scientific interest (SSSI). The 38-year-old insisted she had not picked any mushrooms during her visit in November, and that Leicestershire Police’s actions had been ‘a bit excessive.’ Mrs Gather, from Derby, revealed details of the community resolution order on TikTok this week.” (03/30/25)
“Outraged by Elon Musk’s devastating [sic] contributions to the Trump administration, tens of thousands worldwide held ‘Tesla Takedown’ protests at over 200 locations on Saturday. Protests began the day in front of Tesla showrooms in Australia and New Zealand. They then rippled across Europe, including Finland, Norway, Denmark, Germany, France, the Netherlands, and the UK. In the US, protests occurred in nearly every state, including the northeast, south, midwest, and west coast. ‘Elon Musk is destroying our democracy, and he’s using the fortune he built at Tesla to do it,’ organizers wrote on Action Network, which has an interactive map of the protest sites. ‘We are taking action at Tesla to stop Musk’s illegal coup.’ Organizers also have a message for people with ties to the company: ‘Sell your Teslas, dump your stock, join the picket lines.'” (03/30/25)
Source: Common Dreams
by Edward Ahmed Mitchell & Ismail Allison
“If a worker consistently and completely fails at a job, he or she should not receive a promotion, a pay raise, or a pat on the back. Sooner or later, that worker should receive a termination notice. This is especially true of workers who engage in unethical behavior on the job. Almost any worker who violates office rules, defrauds their employer, or hurts their customers risks not only termination, but potential lawsuits and criminal charges. Yet a small sector of workers in our nation do not face such consequences for such mistakes or misconduct on the job. Some people, no matter how badly they fail at their job or how many disasters they create on their job, can keep their positions or even move on to even better jobs. Who are these special people who can ‘fail up’ again and again? Outgoing White House officials.” (03/29/25)
“Pakistan said it killed 10 civilians during an anti-militant operation in the country’s northwest and promised to investigate the circumstances. Authorities made the admission Saturday evening about the deaths, which occurred in the early hours of that morning in a remote hilltop area of Katlang, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. It is rare for Pakistan to reveal civilian casualties resulting from anti-militant activities and it was not immediately clear how the Saturday operations were carried out. According to provincial government spokesman Muhammad Ali Saif, reports indicated the location was being used as a ‘hideout and transit point for terrorist’ elements. Subsequent information revealed that some unarmed civilians were present in the vicinity of the site, Saif added. Locals said 10 bodies, including those of women and children, were recovered from the area where government officials claimed the anti-militant operation had taken place.” (03/29/25)
“Everywhere I go in America, when I tell people I’m from California, I get one of two reactions: ‘You need to get out of there — move to somewhere less crazy!’ Or: ‘Why do they keep voting for that [fill in your curse word of choice]?’ Well, here’s the good news: the answers to those two questions are now coming together in a beautiful and positive prospect — real political change in the Golden State. My answer to the first question is typically, ‘Why should we leave? This is my home! I’m raising my family here; I started a business here. Yes, our terrible government has turned everything into a disaster right now, but I love California. …’ Then combine that with how I’m now answering the second question, about why people still vote for the same old you-know-what: ‘Actually, they’re starting to vote differently.'” (03/28/25)
“Somalia’s breakaway region of Somaliland has rejected an attempt by the central government to give the US exclusive control of a port and airbase in Berbera. The city lies on the strategic Gulf of Aden, on the northern coast of Somaliland. The territory, which declared independence in 1991 as Somalia descended into civil war, says the facilities are not Mogadishu’s to give away. In a letter to US President Donald Trump, seen by Reuters news agency, Somalia’s President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud also offered port and airbase within Somalia, saying all four would strengthen US security operations. Somaliland’s Foreign Affairs Minister Abdirahman Dahir Aden dismissed the move as ‘desperate’. Signals given before Trump began his second term have given Somalilanders hope that the US may become the world’s first country to recognise the self-declared republic, which has functioned as a de facto state for nearly 34 years.” (03/30/25)
“The family of Jesus Uribe Corona is vowing to sue the town of Mammoth Lakes after officers shot and killed the unarmed man earlier this month. Police shot Uribe on March 4 after he was allegedly throwing rocks at passing cars near the town’s library. The Mammoth Lakes Police Department released a video (warning: graphic content) on Thursday of the shooting showing Uribe, who was 39, running from police before he’s shot multiple times by two police officers. Will Horowitz, an attorney representing Uribe’s children, said in a press release that officers had no justification for the killing. ‘The video demonstrates that the police’s use of deadly force was completely unnecessary. He was unarmed, had not thrown a rock at officers, and was at a safe distance from them,’ Horowitz said in a Thursday press release.” (03/28/25)
