Putin is plans to set up means to disconnect the Russian internet from the rest of the world in an "emergency".

"Emergency" in this case means Russians' paying attention to criticism of Putin.

The proposed Australian "anti-terrorism" law would permit torture.

This law is clearly unnecessary; an alleged terrorist plot involving real violence was watched and the planners were arrested yesterday.

The London thug department apologized to Nordell Edmonson. A gang of thugs pulled him out of his car and hit him with sticks while he was helpless — supposedly because he was driving without insurance.

If he was indeed driving without insurance — I would not take the thugs word for it — he deserved to be tried, not beat up.

Edmonson is not satisfied with payment of compensation, because that helps him only. He wants action to curb the violence of the thugs.

Republican judges authorized Wisconsin's voter ID law less than two months before the election. 300,000 voters may be disenfranchised, and it would be very hard for them to get IDs even if they can afford to try.

Republicans impose voter ID laws because most citizens that don't have IDs are among the weak who are likely to vote Democrat.

California has had the driest three years ever recorded, causing record-breaking fires, and it's expected to get worse in the coming months.

The fire season in the US west has increased, typically, by 70 days since a few decades ago. That is long-term change, global heating at work.

The fires convert trees into carbon dioxide, adding to global heating. Positive feedbacks like this mean that at some point (which we can't predict) global heating will become self-perpetuating.

The fools running the University of California refused to divest from fossil fool companies.

They think divestment would cut the income for running the university. That's probably true, for the next few years at least. They'd certainly be better off continuing the status quo — but they are fools to think that is what they have chosen.

Have they thought about how much funds the University of California will lose when global heating wrecks the state economy? When drought eliminates half the farming in California, and the forests are burning up, do they think the state will prioritize the university over firefighters? If global heating continues unchecked, some sort of University of California may still exist in 30 years, but it will be a shadow of its present-day self.

If the regents were wiser, they would grab at any chance to avoid that fate. Divestment at least offers a chance.

This is much worse than rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic. They are on the oil train, rolling slowly torwards Lac-Mégantic, and trying to save money by not putting on the brakes.