12 NEWS Best columns: The U.S.
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worthQA two-timing Florida man
has been charged with
stealing engagement and
wedding rings from one
girlfriend—and using them
to propose to his other girl-
friend. Police said Joseph L.
Davis, 48, saw his scam blow
up once the first girlfriend
heard that he had a fiancée,
looked up her rival on social
media, and saw the woman
wearing the rings she’d got
in her first marriage and had
stored in a jewelry box. The
two women, who live about
30 miles apart, agreed to
cooperate with police. Davis
remains at large, and police
said he has a tattoo on his
left arm that reads, “Only
God can judge me.”
QA 6-foot-
wide resi-
dence in west
London has
gone on the
market for
$1.3 million.
The home,
which was
advertised
as “possibly
the skinniest
house” in the
city, was once
a hat shop but was converted
by fashion photographer
Juergen Teller. It boasts
five floors, two bedrooms,
1,034 square feet of living
space, and what the realtor
calls the same design as the
cabin of “a luxury yacht.”
QAn Alaska woman got
quite a scare when she sat
down on an outhouse toilet
and was bitten by a bear.
Shannon Stevens had been
snowmobiling with her
brother when she visited the
outhouse. “Something bit my
butt right as I sat down,” Ste-
vens said. Her brother, Erik,
heard her scream and ran to
her aid. “I opened the toilet
seat and there’s just a bear
face just right there,” he said.
The bear may have turned
the little-used outhouse into
a den. An Alaska wildlife of-
ficial said Stevens “could be
the only person on Earth that
this has ever happened to.”It must be true...
I read it in the tabloids“The end of the pandemic is on the horizon at last,” said Joe Pinsker,
but the question everyone is now asking is, When does normal life
return? The coronavirus variants have introduced some uncertainty,
but as vaccine doses become available to all Americans and warm
weather returns, “summer could, miraculously, be close to normal.”
Most experts think that at some point after July 1 it will become safe to
socialize with vaccinated friends and family indoors, to work in offices,
to dine inside restaurants, and to travel domestically. But because of
vaccine resistance here and slower vaccination abroad, indoor con-
certs, indoor sporting events, and full international travel will likely
not yet resume. The fall could see some “isolated flare-ups,” with a
real risk that variants will set us back. But vaccines tweaked to defeat
those variants could be rolled out in a matter of months. In coming
years, the virus will still circulate throughout the world, similar to the
flu, but with far fewer serious illnesses and deaths. By spring of 2022,
Americans should be able to “do most, if not all, of the things that they
missed so much in 2020 and 2021, mask- and worry-free.”Two assailants in Brooklyn slapped an 89-year-old woman in the face
and set her shirt on fire. In San Francisco, an 84-year-old man died
after he was attacked on a morning walk. Over the past year, Asian-
Americans have been the targets of a “frightening wave of attacks,”
said Qian Julie Wang. We’ve always experienced discrimination and
harassment, but hostility escalated dramatically after the coronavirus
originated in China and President Trump “incited hatred” with racist
language like “kung flu” and “China plague.” Between last March and
December, there were more than 2,800 reported incidents of violence
or discrimination against Asian-Americans. And those reported cases
are just the tip of the iceberg. After the pandemic began, people made
a show of avoiding me in public, and someone poked me with an um-
brella and shouted, “Go back to China!” A subway passenger yelled
“chink” in my face. Many Americans believe Asians “don’t experience
racism,” but that’s never been true, and in the pandemic, we’ve become
targets for aggressive bigots. My father left his professor’s job in China
“in pursuit of the rights and equality touted by our nation’s Founders.”
Three decades later, “he hesitates each time he leaves his home.”President Biden faces an “agonizing choice” in Afghanistan, said
David Ignatius. Eager to end U.S. troop presence abroad, President
Trump agreed to a tentative peace deal with the Taliban to withdraw
the remaining 2,500 U.S. troops by May 1. But the Kabul govern-
ment, headed by President Ashraf Ghani, “may be too corrupt and
fragile to survive,” and a total U.S. withdrawal will very likely lead to
its fall and a Taliban takeover. Images of the fall of Kabul to celebrat-
ing Islamist extremists “would embolden jihadists” and re-energize a
movement that’s been in retreat, with Afghanistan once again becom-
ing a safe haven for terrorists. A Taliban takeover would also lead to
horrific violations of human rights, particularly for the Afghan girls
and women, who’ve enjoyed far more freedom since the religious ex-
tremists’ regime was toppled in 2001. If Biden decides to stay, it will
trigger new Taliban attacks on our forces. The Pentagon may argue
that the cost of “keeping a small but sustainable force in Afghanistan”
is well worth it. But it will be Biden’s burden to explain why the sac-
rifice is necessary—and to write a letter of condolence to the family of
“the first American who dies on his watch in this terrible war.”When will
we be back
to normal?
Joe Pinsker
TheAtlantic.com
Biden’s
Afghanistan
choices
David Ignatius
The Washington Post
Anti-Asian
violence
on the rise
Qian Julie Wang
The New York Times
“Is there anything that politics can’t ruin? The answer, it appears, is a resound-
ing ‘no,’ as partisan conflict creeps into all areas of American life. People’s
partisan identities influence the range of people with whom they are willing to have relationships,
the brands they purchase, and the jobs they take. People often choose positions on matters such
as vaccines or mask wearing not based on a rational assessment of the issues but on a plug-and-
play adoption of their tribe’s stances. This sort of politicized decision making can stand in the way of
rational choices and healthy connections.” J.D. Tuccille in Reason.comViewpoint