US citizens: tell Democrats you will refuse to support them if they block the nuclear deal with Iran.

One danger of autonomous robot weapons is that they will obey illegal orders without question. But even semi-autonomous weapons, with a human in "ultimate control", could make it more difficult for humans to refuse illegal orders.

The US has asked Australia and New Zealand for experienced firefighters to help fight wildfires that are too now big to handle.

Australia and New Zealand don't need their firefighters in August, but their fire season will start soon.

It will be a worse in each of these countries, 10 years from now. and it will keep getting worse as long as humans continue extracting and using fossil fuels.

Thousands of migrants tried to force their way across the border of the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. They are trapped in the no-country's-land between Macedonia and Greece.

I don't think Macedonia is obligated to allow all these people in. The problem is in the policies and behavior that sends so many people fleeing.

Merkel says the "migration crisis" will define this decade. Alas, it will get worse in the next decade. One of the causes is the early stages of climate mayhem. In a few decades, we can expect to see tens of millions of people trying to flee from regions where they can no longer live. This has already touched off the Syrian civil war and brought about PISSI. Imagine what will happen as climate mayhem gets worse.

Another contribution is the global corporate land grab, which drives people off their land leaving them with no way to survive. That will get worse, unless we hand those companies a stunning setback (I hope we do.)

Then there is overreproduction. We must end the growth of human population. The first step is to make reliable birth control and abortion services available gratis to all women. If we are lucky, that will be enough.

1/3 of the US veterans of the 1991 war in Iraq suffer from the effects of toxic chemicals.