Late model cars have quieter engines, so designers put in systems to make imitation engine noise so owners feel they got what they paid for.

The manufacturers are being dishonest, tricking the car buyer. At the same time, those buyers are being irrational, in effect complaining if they are not fooled.

Car manufacturers should be required to let the driver or owner turn this feature on and off. But if the car software were free, the owner would be able to turn it off.

France proposes to punish internet platforms if they do not delete "hate speech".

European laws that prohibit "hate speech" impose censorship of political views. Such laws, in the US, would be unconstitutional. The danger is that US companies will bow to foreign censorship laws.

Google famously refused to bow to China's censorship, but that is a rare exception.

A UK politician has apologized for pointing out that nuclear missiles, if used, would kill more people than the Nazis killed, and that misguided expenditure can't be justified merely because it creates jobs.

This is not to say that Trident missiles and Nazi murder camps raise exactly the same issues. Nazis intended to kill Jews (and some other people), whereas the Trident missile is intended to deter a nuclear attack. Despite that difference, the two have important things in common.

Why media fall for sports industry's bogus economic claims about public benefits from staging the Superbowl.

The same thing happens with the Olympics.

An Israeli attack against Hezbollah, which killed a visiting Iranian general, has led to retaliation by Hezbollah, followed by "retaliation" by Israel.

Israel publicly "forgets" having started this sequence of attacks when it talks about needing to "defend itself" from Hezbollah.