Ranchers are burning down large parts of the Amazon forest, deforesting it in the way that contributes the most possible to global heating.

China says it makes two commitments: to healthy life and the wild, and to economic growth, In practice, the latter takes priority. Neither China nor the US can easily escape from the trap of extreme capitalism.

Six would-be mass shooters have been arrested in the US in just two weeks.

Although these people appear feckless, I think they posed somewhat of a real threat -- more so than the Walter Mitty-ish would-be Islamist terrorists that the FBI used to arrest. Here is why.

Those people dreamed of making a bomb, but would never have been in a position to make one without help from FBI "informants" — thus, they were not really capable of hurting anyone. In addition, sometimes those "informants" persuaded people who were reluctant to get involved at all.

It appears that these people wanted to use guns, which maybe they could have obtained, and they announced the plans on their own.

Maduro has been talking with the US government about stepping down as president of Venezuela.

The hard question is, how to find a replacement that won't sell the whole country to Venezuelan and American oligarchs.

Australia is following the example of the US, in deporting people to places where they have not been since infancy, don't know anyone, and don't speak the language.