When Witchcraft is Outlawed...

Normally I'm all for allowing people to believe whatever stupid things they want. If they weren't, what would I have to make fun of? But I can see the reasoning behind Tajikistan's recent banning of witchcraft, sorcery, and fortune-telling. It's one of the poorest nations in Asia, and it's downtrodden people have lately turned to woo-woo merchants over real doctors. Not only are these frauds robbing Tajikistan's people of their precious financial resources, they aren't offering anything in return. So this legislation, while it may seem like an oppressive anti-free speech measure, is really just a case of the government cracking down on what is essentially spiritual robbery. More details here.