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Taliban’s New Law Legalizes Slavery In Afghanistan, Makes Mullahs Immune

https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/talibans-new-law-legalises-slavery-in-afghanistan-makes-mullahs-immune-10897166

Excerpt:

The Taliban has formally entrenched a class-based justice system in Afghanistan under a newly enacted Criminal Procedure Code signed by its supreme leader, Hibatullah Akhundzada, a move that has sparked outrage among human rights organisations and renewed international concern over the direction of the country’s legal and political order.

The new code, issued on January 4, 2026, and circulated to courts across the country, has been obtained by Rawadari, an Afghan human rights organisation that monitors violations and advocates for accountability. While the document spans 119 articles across three sections and 10 chapters, critics say one of its most alarming features is the explicit legalisation of social hierarchy within the justice system itself.

Hierarchy-Based Division
At the centre of the controversy is Article 9, which divides Afghan society into four categories: religious scholars (ulama or mullah), the elite (ashraf), the middle class, and the lower class. Under this system, punishment for the same crime is no longer determined primarily by the nature or gravity of the offence but by the social status of the accused.

According to the code, if an Islamic religious scholar commits a crime, the response is limited to advice. If the offender belongs to the elite, the consequence is a summons to court and advice. For those in the so-called middle class, the same offence results in imprisonment. But for individuals from the “lower class”, the punishment escalates to both imprisonment and corporal punishment.

.....the Taliban’s new code openly embraces social stratification as a legal principle, turning courts into instruments for preserving and enforcing a rigid social order.

The class-based system is compounded by another deeply controversial element— the code’s repeated references to “free” persons and “slaves”.

In several articles, including provisions on punishment, the law explicitly distinguishes between free individuals and enslaved ones.....

.....the new Criminal Procedure Code..... relies heavily on “confession” and “testimony” as the main means of proving guilt, while removing the requirement for independent investigation and failing to set clear minimum and maximum penalties for crimes.

.....The code also significantly expands the use of corporal punishment, including flogging, and introduces vaguely defined offences such as “dancing” or being present in “gatherings of corruption”, giving judges sweeping discretion to detain and punish people for ordinary cultural or social activities.

.....For many observers, however, the formalisation of class-based justice is the clearest signal yet that the Taliban is not merely imposing harsh laws, but reconstructing the entire legal system around privilege, loyalty and religious status. “By placing clerics and religious elites above the law, the Taliban has effectively announced that some people are untouchable, while others are permanently disposable,” Rawadari said......
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More proof that Afghanistan is where civilization dies.

‘A betrayal’: Southwest’s new plus size policy leaves some passengers unable to fly

https://www.oregonlive.com/travel/2026/01/a-betrayal-southwests-new-plus-size-policy-leaves-some-passengers-unable-to-fly.html

Excerpt:

A new Southwest Airlines policy that requires plus-sized passengers to buy an extra seat if they “encroach” onto the seat next to theirs is sparking disappointment, anguish and frustration among leagues of larger bodied people across the U.S. who long relied on the airline as their carrier of choice.

Southwest’s new “customer of size” policy, which takes effect Tuesday, requires plus-sized passengers who cannot fit entirely within one seat to purchase a second one. That’s regardless of whether the seat next to them is empty.

Those passengers can later request a refund for the second seat, but will only receive one if the flight is not full. Under Southwest’s old policy, plus-sized passengers could choose to purchase an extra seat, but the airline didn’t require it. And the airline would later refund the price of that extra ticket — even if all other seats on the plane were full and the refund could result in a net loss for the airline, according to an airline spokesperson.
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This is not a betrayal as the garbage paper headline says, it is a much needed correction to flying. Obese and morbidly obese have the privilege of flying but that privilege does not mean infringing on other customers personal space on the plane, especially those sitting in the same row or next to the obese.