Oil company Mobil "donated" to universities and civic groups to buy influence against regulation to protect society from toxic pollution.

This included supporting experts who would downplay the effects of toxic pollution.

The conman's official White House lawyers appear to be helping him subvert the US legal system, in counter to their responsibility as lawyers.

Murals in George Washington High School in San Francisco depict Washington's participation in war with indigenous Americans and in holding slaves. Some students demand these murals be taken down because they feel oppressed by them.

Those murals were intended to depict wrongs, to show the aspects of Washington's life we nowadays disapprove of. Showing them helps teach people to judge the moral issues depicted. Covering them up would encourage people to forget those acts, and that would weaken society's resolve not to repeat them.

The US media take a one-sided stance in order to call Guaidó the leader of a "democracy movement" in Venezuela.

Set against these valid points, I have to point out a couple of things that tarnish Maduro's own democratic credentials.

He arranged to strip the national legislature of its powers once the opposition won control of it. He did this by creating another body and giving it power to override the legislature at will. One could argue that Venezuela's constitution is no longer being observed.

Maduro has also had opposition candidates barred arbitrarily from running, and arrested some of them.

This doesn't make Guaidó worthy of support, but it shows that Maduro isn't either.

Sanders refused to be intimidated when a New York Times reporter tried to shame him for opposing Reagan's campaign to overthrow the government of Nicaragua in the 1980s.

Many readers may not know what Sanders was opposing, so I will summarize it.

The US Congress prohibited Reagan from spending money on overthrowing the government of Nicaragua, so he sold arms as ransom to Iran-supported kidnapers who had taken hostages in Lebanon. Then he used the proceeds to fund mercenaries to run a campaign of violence and sabotage in Niaragua.

The Times reporter contended that if the US commits a grave crime and the victims respond by hating the US, Americans are morally obligated to consider that as excusing or justifying the crime. Nonsense! Our duty as patriotic Americans is to make our country do what is right. That is what Sanders tried to do.

As for the people who criticize him for not remaining perfectly calm in the face of that dishonest attack, they should stop demanding a superhuman.