"Investor-state" treaties that allow companies to sue national governments for interfering with their profits were started by the World Bank to give rich countries another advantage against the sovereignty of poor countries. Now European countries too are blocked from protecting the environment or anything more important than foreign investors.

It's not enough to reject new ones, such as the TPP. There must be an international movement to nullify them all.

An ALEC-member state legislator admitted that lobbyists fund the legislators' participation in the event.

The London Israeli Film Festival presented a film and limited viewing to women only.

I consider this just as offensive as barring women from seeing a film would be, or barring them from driving their children to school.

Why do some charedi women want their film not to be seen by men? They must have internalized the nearly-Islamic misogyny of charedi men. I am sorry for them.

I would not try to compel them to act in a film that will be seen by men, if they don't want to. However, gender discrimination must not be tolerated in public events, and demands for it must be refused flat-out. If actors demanded that the film-maker impose discrimination, that is no excuse; the film-maker should have hired other actors. If the film-maker demanded that the festival discriminate, that is no excuse; the festival should have shown another film.

A Russian oligarch advised Putin to set up two political parties that would agree on everything except abortion rights, to distract the Russian people from other issues.

It is not true that the Democratic and Republican parties agree about everything except abortion. But it was almost true in 2000. They tended to disagree about whether to openly praise and serve US oligarchs, or obey them in a veiled fashion.

Nowadays, most Democratic elected officials resemble what Republicans used to be, and most Republican elected officials are out to sabotage the country.

Fortunately nowadays we see an increasing number of progressive Democrats.

Regardless of whether Noel Carter ran away from the thugs, or even resisted arrest — once he was sitting down and helpless, thugs had no right to kick and beat him.