US citizens: call on Congress to ban assault weapons and high-capacity magazines.

The Capitol Switchboard number is +1-202-224-3121.

If you call, please spread the word!

Alexei Navalny is in permanent solitary confinement, and in "meetings" with his lawyers they are not allowed to see him. They cannot tell how sick he is.

*Monkeypox to be renamed mpox to avoid stigma, says WHO.*

This illustrates our society's tendency to cater excessively to hypersensitivity. There is nothing in the name "monkeypox" which insults anyone, and monkeys can't understand the word "pox".

What next — will they rename "chicken pox" to protect the feelings of chickens, or people accused of timidity? How about renaming "Rock Mountain Spotted Fever" so that the Rocky Mountains don't feel stigmatized?

It is futile to bully people to eliminate locutions because racists or right-wingers could spin them in a nasty way. They can invent more such things at any moment. The bullying would be a never-ending series of self-inflicted blows, at which bigots would laugh and say, "See how easily we make them go nuts!"

A group of UN experts call for putting the Great Barrier Reef on UNESCO's list of world heritage sites that are in danger.

*War in space would have immediate effects [on civilian life.] Attacks on satellites could take out GPS systems, banking systems, power grids …*