Essay: Anatomy of the Deep State. The US government is deadlocked, but the president and the executive spy and war agencies are allowed to do almost anything with no checks.

Poverty, in today's social system, forces parents to feed their children unhealthful food. Healthful food costs too much, requires time and skill to cook that these parents don't have.

It may not even be on sale in many urban areas where the stores are geared towards those that don't cook.

To touch on the unrelated topic of the last section of the article, I see nothing wrong with protesting a speaker by theatrically walking out of the talk. As long as the protest doesn't compel everyone to participate, those who want to hear the speaker can do so.

The common theme in US social decay: redesigning various systems to privilege the rich and push the rest down.

A man shot people at Planned Parenthood in Colorado because he had been stirred up by deceptive attack videos.

He's also identifying fetuses with babies, which is a common irrationality among those that want to ban abortion.

The main terrorist threat in the US comes from fanatics like those, who call themselves "pro-life" but they mean "life for fetuses — not for real human beings."

Conversing mainly through digital devices may have to do with the decline in ability to empathize seen in young Americans.