One of many reasons we should not outsource government functions to private companies is that they will tend to block the public's right to learn how those functions are being administered. The outgoing information commissioner of Scotland calls for making Freedom of Information laws apply to those companies.

I agree with that as far as it goes, but I think that solution is incomplete, because this is far from the only problem caused by outsourcing. The real solution is to put an end to it.

The moral questions about Israel and Palestine are complex at many levels. Simplistic answers are inadequate. This is a good introduction to that complexity.

In Israel, swimming against the current of inter-ethnic hatred, there are many initiatives for coexistence and cooperation, some of them new or growing in reaction to the hatred.

I am sad that one of them operates using the digital dis-service WhatsApp. If I were there, I could laud the spirit of it while declining to participate or promote that actual activity because of that techoethical issue.

There is also the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra, founded by Daniel Barenboim and Edward Said for the specific goal of bringing the two peoples together.

US citizens: phone your senators (especially Democrats) to oppose the vague censorship bill called "Kids Online Safety Act". Republican attorneys general could use it to intimidate web sites over any topics that their states prohibit, including abortion and queerness.

I wince when I see the article refer to all web pages as "content", but that unfortunate usage does not at all reduce the validity and importance of the article's point.

If you phone, please spread the word! Main Switchboard: +1-202-224-3121

US citizens: phone Senator Schumer and call on him to prioritize confirming Biden's judicial nominees. This process is dragging and risks leaving vacancies that might be blocked or even filled by Republicans.