The "law and order" Tories have made big cuts in cops on the street. So landlords pay to replace them, in some local areas, with private security guards who enforce unpublished secret rules, and get away with violence just like official thugs.

Asserting that the Republican plan to hold the US hostage over the debt ceiling represents the the power of right-wing billionaires who put ideology over their own interests.

Proposed federal and California laws supposedly intended to "save local journalism" would instead help the Sinclair broadcast chain wipe it out.

Robert Reich argues that the fact that the UK has a king, and a royal family, is a minor side-issue as regards everything important. He also criticizes the US tendency to idolize the president's family.

I'm with both points.

*Royal occasions aren’t really about the royals at all. What we love is our own reactions.* Most Britishers are content with the royal family because it is a sort of play-acting which makes no real difference.

The exception is whan a royal occasion becomes an occasion for repression.

The US hires mercenaries to fight in its wars, but it is hard to find out how many. The mercenaries are lumped together with the contractors that only cook and serve food, and the ones who work for the CIA or the State Department are not listed.

A large fraction are not Americans, but rather hired in the countries where military actions take place.