Iran's failed denial of having accidentally shot down an airliner has reminded Iranians of their criticism of the regime — from which they had been temporarily distracted by the bully's rash act.

The criticism of the regime is strong.

The wisest thing for the US to do is avoid any hint of meddling. Iranians will not welcome advice from the US about a domestic matter. If the bully had any concern for the interests of the US, he would heed advice to do that.

The regime's best hope is that the bully will commit another rash act that will unify Iranians again.

This reminds me of the way Dubya and al-Qa'ida used to strengthen each other's support base through belligerent and offensive statements.

The EU offered to let UK banks do business in Europe in exchange for letting EU fishing boats fish in the UK.

Each of those would make the world a worse place.

The Department of Harassment and Subjugation (DHS) listed the nonviolent Valve Turners as "suspected environmental rights extremists."

To criticize climate defenders as "extremists" shows the conceptual error in using "extreme" to define "dangerous". Not all extremists are dangerous, only those who lean towards violence when there is no justification for violence. When plutocrats have maneuvered almost everyone into disregarding the harm that plutocrats are doing, the few who try to oppose that are by definition "extremists" -- but that doesn't make them a menace to society. Quite the contrary.

The right concept to use here is "fanatical".

The oceans continue heating up. 2019 saw an especially great rise in ocean temperature.

11 endangered Australian animal species that the fires have brought closer to extinction.