EPIC reports on how little we know about the "commercially available information" about Americans that US government agencies buy.

The root of this problem is not that _the US government buys the commercially available information_ but that sensitive information about people _can be collected at all_. The fourth amendment was meant to limit investigation of people's things and activities, and such limits are meaningful only if it can't be bypassed by asking a business to pressure you to consent.

Former prison thug: *If you think jails are too soft and full of hardened criminals, read this and think again.*

Global heating is on track to cause various medical problems for hundreds of millions more people in the next few decades.

War over access to water is increasing globally, and so is use of denial of water as a weapon. How can the world reduce this?

Our system for preventing atrocities, mostly set up after World War II, is defied constantly, and the most powerful governments are unable to make other countries obey. In some cases, Russia being just one one, they are among the most guilty. That encourages the increase of all kinds of atrocities.

So the real question is how to reshape international power competition so that it is not advantageous to disregard that system, let alone fight against it as Putin and Netanyahu are doing now.

There is a cancellation campaign against famous Chinese dissident artist Ai Wei Wei, for a political tweet that criticize Zionist influence on the US.

His response has been to defend freedom of speech, including the right to express "incorrect" thoughts.