The tyrant of Thailand says he will convert himself from military ruler to civilian dictator.

Not much of a change, it seems.

Several presidential candidates are pretending they are not even "testing the waters" hoping to evade campaign funding rules. At the same time, they acknowledge that they are pretending.

Israel is going to make refugees from Africa go to some African country or else be imprisoned.

People fleeing persecution are entitled to asylum; economic migrants are not. However, the distinction is not so sharp. Sometimes a person flees real persecution, and chooses to flee to a wealthy country as a way to get more money. This is why many people try to get to the US, Israel, the European Union, and Australia. It is wrong to send those people back to where they will be persecuted, but that doesn't have to imply they are entitled to entry to the country of their choice.

However, these countries currently subject the refugees to horrible treatment to make them go somewhere else. That can't be justified and can't really be necessary.

If we didn't have so much war, so much tyranny, and so much environmental disaster, fewer people would need to flee persecution.

US states have passed vague constitutional amendments that allow big farms to claim the right to disregard environmental protection laws and laws against cruelty to animals.

China is building artificial concrete islands in the South China Sea as military bases and excuses to claim the undersea oil.