Women who stand for something more important than fashion should not face arguments about the way they dress.

How foolish it is to judge a politician by per looks. I didn't refuse to vote for Hillary Clinton because of her appearance. I didn't vote for Jill Stein because of her appearance. I chose based on their political stands.

This applies to male politicians, too. Americans have tended for a long time to elect for the (male) presidential candidate that has better looks. How foolish.

The plutocratist government of Tasmania pledges to enact a new law to repress protests, after the old one was overturned as unconstitutional.

Protests are a transient inconvenience. Extinction is forever.

Gambia's president is moving to abolish the death penalty.

US High school students are mobilizing for gun control, led by those whose friends were shot last week.

Here is the letter from the Taliban to the American people, calling for peace negotiations.

As you would expect, the letter contains exaggerations and false points that put the Taliban in a better light than it deserves.

• The US did have some basis for invading Afghanistan: al Qa'ida was based there, with the Taliban's approval.

  However, the US had not exhausted peaceful ways to deal with that issue. The Taliban had expressed a willingness to discuss expelling al Qa'ida, not long before.

• The Taliban did not unite all of Afghanistan — one region in the north resisted. Perhaps this was because of an interethnic dispute.
• The Afghan people are not unanimous in support of the Taliban, and I am not convinced that the majority do, though they clearly have substantial support.
• The Taliban are hardly entitled to criticize the Afghan state about women's rights. Bad as the government is, the Taliban are even worse.
• The Taliban are even more callous about killing civilians than the US.
• Any government that calls itself an "Islamic Emirate" is evidently inclined to trample human rights — much like the theocratic Christians of the Republican Party.

I hope the US has the decency to make peace.