Making a monkey out of European data protection law, Luxembourg ruled that Skype is allowed to send data to the US and the NSA.

Students don't want to pay to study neoclassical economics, especially now that it has catastrophically failed.

Neoclassical economics is a pseudoscience cult that gives academic respectability to Reagan's bogus trickle-down economics. How did university departments end up hiring mostly cultists? Influence of the rich, that trickle-down was meant to serve, must have played some role. I think it would be interesting to investigate how this occurred.

Massive surveillance developed in the US because a pliant court operated in secret.

132 poor countries have walked out of the global heating conference in Warsaw because the richer countries refused to discuss compensation.

The poor countries want compensation for the tremendous cost of weather disasters caused by rich countries' CO₂ emissions, such as 5 billion dollars to rebuild in the Philippines after just one superstorm.

A billion Africans face dangers such as hunger and flooding, and likely resulting war.

With rich countries cutting their CO₂ commitments, it looks like the talks are failing entirely and we are on a track towards almost 4C of heating.

It has been clear for several years that the rich countries' governments, in thrall to fossil fuel companies, are determined to continue making this problem worse. Negotiating with them is useless, and serves as cover for making things worse, much like the useless "peace process" between Israel and Palestine.

Overt rupture might be good since it would show the world that we are heading for disaster.

US citizens: support Elizabeth Warren's pledge to expand Social Security.