ASIA

Cash-strapped Taliban selling tickets to ruins of Buddhas it blew up

By Rick Noack
June 15, 2023 at 2:00 a.m. EDT



A tattered Taliban flag flies from the roof of a hotel in Bamian, Afghanistan. The recesses that once sheltered giant figures of the Buddha can be seen in the cliff face beyond. (Elise Blanchard for The Washington Post)

BAMIAN, Afghanistan — The three Taliban soldiers gazed down at the gaping hole in the 125-foot cliff where one of Afghanistan’s two great Buddhas once stood and wondered aloud who was to blame for its destruction 22 years ago. ... “This is the identity of our country,” said Kheyal Mohammad, 44, wearing a camouflage cap as he bent over a railing at the top of the giant cavity. “It shouldn’t have been bombed.” ... The soldiers, taking a rare day off from military training to visit the site, agreed that the people who had destroyed the work were “careless,” and it should be rebuilt. “If God wills,” Mohammad exclaimed.

In 2001, Taliban founder Mohammad Omar declared the Buddhas false gods and announced plans to destroy them. Ignoring pleas from around the world, Taliban fighters detonated explosives and fired antiaircraft guns to smash the immense sixth-century reliefs to pieces. ... The attack on the treasured ancient monument stunned the international community and cemented the Taliban’s reputation as uncompromising extremists.



A young guard sits last month near the cavity where one of the two 1,500-year-old Buddhas stood before the Taliban destroyed them in 2001. (Elise Blanchard for The Washington Post)



Taliban soldiers visit the site in May. (Elise Blanchard for The Washington Post)



The soldiers survey the site from the top of one of the recesses. (Elise Blanchard for The Washington Post)

With the group now back in power, Bamian holds new symbolic and economic importance to the cash-strapped region: Officials see the Buddha remnants as a potentially lucrative source of revenue and are working to draw tourism around the site. They suggest their efforts are not only a gesture to archaeologists, but also reflect a regime that’s more pragmatic now than when it first ruled from 1996 to 2001.

“Bamian and the Buddhas in particular are of great importance to our government, just as they are to the world,” Atiqullah Azizi, the Taliban’s deputy culture minister, said in an interview. He said more than 1,000 guards have been assigned to protect cultural heritage across Afghanistan, restricting access and overseeing ticket sales. Staffers at Kabul’s national museum were surprised last month to see senior Taliban officials at the inauguration of a prominent museum section dedicated to Buddhist artifacts.

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Pamela Constable in Islamabad, Pakistan, contributed to this report.

By Rick Noack
Rick Noack is a Paris-based correspondent covering France for The Washington Post. Previously, he was a foreign affairs reporter for The Post based in Berlin. He also worked for The Post from Washington, Britain, Australia and New Zealand. Twitter https://twitter.com/rick_n

Documents show how conservative doctors influenced abortion, trans rights

By Lauren Weber, Caitlin Gilbert and Taylor Lorenz
June 15, 2023 at 6:00 a.m. EDT

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More than 10,000 confidential files from the American College of Pediatricians were exposed after the organization left the contents of its Google Drive publicly accessible. (Washington Post illustration)

A small group of conservative doctors has sought to shape the nation’s most contentious policies on abortion and transgender rights by promoting views rejected by the medical establishment as scientific fact, according to documents reviewed by The Washington Post that describe the group’s internal strategies. ... The records show that after long struggling to attract members, the American College of Pediatricians gained outsize political influence in recent years, primarily by using conservative media as a megaphone in its quest to position the group as a reputable source of information.

The organization has successfully lobbied since 2021 for laws in more than a half-dozen states that ban gender-affirming care for transgender youths, with its representatives testifying before state legislatures against the guidelines recommended by mainstream medical groups, according to its records. It gained further national prominence this year as one of the plaintiffs in the federal lawsuit to limit access to mifepristone, a key abortion drug.

Despite efforts to invoke the credibility of the medical profession, the American College of Pediatricians is viewed with skepticism by the medical establishment. For years, the group has presented statistics and talking points to state legislators, public school officials and the American public as settled science while internal documents emphasize how religion and morality influence its positions. Meeting minutes from 2021 describe how the organization worked with religious groups to “affect the idea makers through the high courts, professional literature, and legislatures.”

It promotes conversion therapy, a discredited practice intended to change the sexual orientation or gender identity of LGBTQ people that most medical societies warn can result in harm. (1) Pediatric experts deemed a June 2022 report crafted by the group that undergirds a new Florida policy banning transgender care for Medicaid recipients as “unscientific.” Francis Collins, former longtime director of the National Institutes of Health, accused the group in 2010 of distorting his research to “make a point against homosexuality.”

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Kevin Crowe contributed to this report.

Gift Article
https://wapo.st/462Z2t4

By Lauren Weber
Lauren Weber joined The Washington Post in 2023 as an accountability reporter focused on the forces promoting scientific and medical disinformation. She previously investigated the decimated public health system and covid disparities for Kaiser Health News. Twitter https://twitter.com/LaurenWeberHP

By Caitlin Gilbert
Caitlin Gilbert is a Well+Being data reporter at The Washington Post, where she uses data analysis and statistics to report stories. Before joining The Post, she worked as a U.S.-based data journalist at the Financial Times. Twitter https://twitter.com/caitlinsgilbert

By Taylor Lorenz
Taylor Lorenz is a columnist at The Washington Post covering technology and online culture. Before joining The Post, she was a technology reporter for the New York Times' business section. She was also previously a technology reporter at the Atlantic and the Daily Beast. Twitter https://twitter.com/TaylorLorenz

"FIRST-EVER CHILDREN’S CLIMATE TRIAL" —

Montana calls UN climate report “hearsay” at landmark youth-led climate trial

Official: “Montana’s emissions are simply too minuscule to make any difference."

ASHLEY BELANGER - 6/13/2023, 4:00 PM

Yesterday, a landmark climate trial kicked off in Montana, with 16 young residents demanding that the state be ordered to do more to protect residents' constitutional rights by reducing emissions and tossing out state policies promoting the fossil fuels industry.

The trial comes shortly after the state legislature passed a new law that "explicitly prohibits" greenhouse gas emissions and climate effects to be considered in state agencies' environmental impact reviews, The Wall Street Journal reported. Critics argue that means that new power plants or factories can be developed in Montana without considering climate impacts.

A victory for the young plaintiffs could potentially set important legal precedent for how courts can hold states accountable for climate inaction. The trial will take place over the next two weeks, ending on June 23. It will soon be followed by similar challenges by young people in other states, including Oregon and Hawaii.

Young people in Montana have alleged that policies promoting the fossil fuels industry in the state—like the State Energy Policy—violate their constitutional environmental rights. Unlike most states, Montana's constitution explicitly promises that the state "shall maintain and improve a clean and healthful environment in Montana for present and future generations." Other states with similar constitutional environmental protections include Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, and New York—but most state constitutions don't include those protections.

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This guy has figured out a cool way to help people help themselves while having a great time:

bostonglobe.com
George Vaill, the ‘Free Advice’ guy, is a source of wisdom in Harvard Square - The Boston Globe
For three years, George Vaill has been offering counsel to passersby in Harvard Square from his folding chair, to which he attaches a large sign offering “FREE

@BeschlossDC
is right: Cannon’s reputation is already ruined except with Trumpers and the MAGA crowd, so playing to them to become “Associate Justice Aileen Cannon” in a GOP administration is her likeliest path. I’d love to be proved wrong, but don’t count on it. 28 USC Sec 455!

Don't assume that Judge Cannon, if she presides over the trial, will be constrained by fear of tarnishing her judicial reputation. It is not impossible that she might opt to show even more favoritism and corner-cutting that benefits Trump and makes her a national Trumpist hero.

SCOOP: No Labels, which claims to be bipartisan and says it opposes extremism of the right and left, is helping a firm that raises money for MAGA Republicans and far-right extremists. Please read this and share widely.

motherjones.com
No Labels is helping a firm that raises money for right-wing extremists
The self-proclaimed centrist group is using a vendor that assists election deniers and the radical Trump right.

Grizzly bear mauls hunter, who fatally shoots animal in Alaska, officials say

usatoday.com
Grizzly bear mauls hunter, who fatally shoots animal in Alaska, officials say
A 34-year-old Alaska hunter fatally shot the animal after being attacked, officials said. The female bear was accompanied by cubs.

1948 - Steve Hunter
American guitarist, and session player Steve Hunter who has worked with Lou Reed, Aerosmith and Alice Cooper. He played the acoustic intro on Peter Gabriel's 1977 hit 'Solsbury Hill'.

Steve Hunter



Hunter in March 2013

Background information
Birth name: Stephen John Hunter
Also known as: The Deacon
Born: June 14, 1948 (age 75); Decatur, Illinois
Website: Official website

Stephen John Hunter (born June 14, 1948) is an American guitarist, primarily a session player. He has worked with Lou Reed and Alice Cooper, acquiring the moniker "The Deacon". Hunter first played with Mitch Ryder's Detroit, beginning a long association with record producer Bob Ezrin who has said Steve Hunter has contributed so much to rock music in general that he truly deserves the designation of "Guitar Hero". Steve Hunter has played some of the greatest riffs in rock history - the first solo in Aerosmith's "Train Kept A Rollin'", the acoustic intro on Peter Gabriel's "Solsbury Hill" and he wrote the intro interlude on Lou Reed's live version of "Sweet Jane" on Reed's first gold record (the Rock 'N' Roll Animal live set).

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Lou Reed - Sweet Jane from Rock n Roll Animal

dg0557
6.57K subscribers

5,508,408 views Feb 4, 2009
Sweet Jane from Rock n Roll Animal. The best version of Sweet Jane out there.