Balloon Juice - Islam, the 'Peaceful' Religion. Afghan

Afghan pilgrims kill transport minister

DUBAI (Reuters) – Afghan Muslim pilgrims, angry over plane delays, have attacked and killed Afghanistan’s interim transport minister at Kabul airport, Arabic-language al-Jazeera television has reported.

It quoted its reporter in the Afghan capital as saying Air Transport and Tourism Minister Abdul Rahman had gone to the airport to leave on a trip abroad when he was attacked on Thursday by a large number of disgruntled pilgrims awaiting flights to Saudi Arabia.

There was no immediate confirmation of the report by Afghan officials. Foreign journalists were unable to go to the airport to check on reports of a disturbance there because of a curfew.

More than 5,000 Afghans planning to leave for the annual haj pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia have been told that foreign aircraft are being leased for the trip as Afghanistan’s Ariana airline has only one functioning plane, Afghan-based reporters said.

Saudi officials have said pilgrims coming from abroad must arrive by Sunday to be able to perform haj, one of Islam’s five pillars.

The choice is between normal and crazy.

fuckem (in honor of the late great efgoldman)

This really is a full service blog.

One of our two political parties is a cult whose leader admires Vladimir Putin.

I am pretty sure Katy Tur wasn’t always such a bootlicking sycophant.

Whoever he was, that guy was nuts.

Let’s finish the job.

T R E 4 5 O N

I’m pretty sure there’s only one Jack Smith.

Impressively dumb. Congratulations.

The cruelty is the point; the law be damned.

I like you, you’re my kind of trouble.

Wow, you are pre-disappointed. How surprising.

Putin dreamed of ending NATO, and now it’s Finnish-ed.

If you still can’t see these things even now, maybe politics isn’t your forte and you should stop writing about it.

Bogus polls are all they’ve got left. Let’s bury these fuckers at the polls a year from now.

“woke” is the new caravan.

I might just take the rest of the day off and do even more nothing than usual.

Technically true, but collectively nonsense

You’re just a puppy masquerading as an old coot.

Russia bombs Ukraine’s maternity hospitals; Republicans in the House can’t sort out supporting Ukraine.

Innocent people don’t delay justice.

Let’s not be the monsters we hate.

“Joe Biden deserved better than he got from some folks in his own party.”

Islam, the ‘Peaceful’ Religion. Afghan