A man in the US was arrested after pointing a banana at a thug as if it were a weapon.

It is foolish to pretend to threaten armed people with a gun, even if it without anything that looks much like a gun. If he had succeeded in fooling them, they couldn't be blamed for shooting him in perceived self-defense.

However, once they knew it was a banana, they also knew it was never seriously meant as a threat. Thus, it was wrong for them to arrest and charge the man with threatening anyone. Mere folly should not be treated as a crime.

Israel deploys balloon-suspended cameras over Jerusalem which can track all protesters, and everyone else too.

A Chinese official threatened Tibetan students with punishment later if they study the Tibetan language.

Some of China's methods of spreading propaganda about Tibet.

Pope Francis, visiting Turkey, calls for responding to religious fundamentalism by helping the poor and marginalized.

It seems that he and I agree on political issues, except for those related to sex and reproduction.

Dostoevski predicted the totalitarianism that can occur when people abandon individual morality by going to any lengths to fight for some cause.

It is a mistake, however, to equate morality with religion.

The problem he presents is not in having ideals, not as such, but in approaching them with the assumption that they justify any means whatsoever.