Gang wars in Central America are sending large numbers of refugees fleeing to Mexico.

Ending the War on Drugs would cut off a lot of the money that fuels the gangs.

The UK government has taken another substantial step towards making the National Health Service nonfunctional.

If the Labour party still stood for the non-rich, this taste of what the rich do in power would give it every chance of winning again.

Thug infiltrators tried to get Occupy Austin protesters to commit violence, but the protesters firmly refused. So the infiltrators gave them "lockboxes" — basically tools to strap themselves together for a sit-in so that removing them would be more work — then accused them of a felony, "possessing a criminal instrument", even though legally lockboxes don't qualify.

Next time you think about how Putin threatens nonviolent protesters with years in prison, remember that the US does it too.

The charges about the lockboxes were eventually dropped.

It's not clear whether the court ultimately acknowledged that it is absurd to call lockboxes a "criminal instrument".

New Zealand offers an example of regulating prostitution that really does make prostitutes safer.

It seems to have worked out well there, based on anecdotes and official reports.

Meanwhile, the US keeps prostitution illegal and maintains a stigma against prostitutes, with predictable results.

SD cards (and other memories) have processors whose programs can be changed.

If it is normal to change that software — for instance, if users are sometimes given upgrades — then it is an injustice that these programs are proprietary. However, even if it is not normal to change that software, this is a dangerous vulnerability to viruses, the NSA, etc.