The Republican Senate proposal for additional aid for struggling non-rich Americans is far insufficient. And that's aside from the harm it would do: cutting Social Security in the future, and even giving additional money to the Pentagon.

When Barr testified to Congress, Rep. Jayapal attacked him for using force against Black Lives Matter protesters in Oregon while not troubling the armed right-wing protesters in Minnesota.

*No private, unelected entity should have the power over the economy that BlackRock has, without a legally enforceable fiduciary duty to wield it in the public interest.*

I agree, but I don't think that goes far enough. I think that no company should be allowed to get as big as BlackRock. With my tax plan, we could put them under irresistible pressure to split up.

By the way, the "vampire squid" is simply an unusual-looking squid which reminded some zoologist of Bela Lugosi in Dracula. It has no other vampire-like characteristics.

China threatens to hold Hong Kongers prisoner by stopping them from leaving Hong Kong if they seek to move to Britain.

In the 1980s and before, Communist countries typically made citizens get permission to leave the country. Perhaps that is officially still the case in China, but in practice Chinese have been allowed to travel as tourists if they could afford to do so.

By making this threat, China is hoping to use its own citizens as hostages to demand acquiescence in its campaign to spread tyranny. It is betting that it is so powerful now, and the US so weak and dizzy, that it can make all opposition cave and start a march to world hegemony.

I don't think China will win this bet. Instead, I think it will backfire, as the world perceives ever more clearly how evil China now is. The power that the conman wishes to have, Xi already has.

France will have to stop allowing use of glue traps to catch birds. The trappers have been catching endangered species.