Donations to Gianforte's campaign increased after he physically attacked reporter Ben Jacobs.

I suspected that something like this was the case. The other Republicans who, shortly after, hinted at endorsing such violence did it because they understood what sort of fanatics support them.

Many Republicans are itching to commit violence for the cause of abolishing democracy in the US. The are unwilling to live in a free, democratic and peaceful society; they want a violent tyrant to follow.

Venezuela's President Maduro threatens to hold power by force if defeated in elections.

Venezuela may be on the verge of fighting now. A Venezuelan ex-thug, operating a helicopter belonging to the thug department, used guns and grenades to attack government buildings.

He stated that his motive was opposition to Maduro's regime. It's not clear what kind of government he wants, but I would guess he is right-wing.

What a sad end for Chavez's movement. Chavez never had to worry about losing an election — most of Venezuela supported him, for good reason.

People criticize Chavez for making Venezuela depend on using oil revenue to subsidize people's needs. What they don't mention is that previously the oil revenue was diverted to wealthy foreigners and did no good a all for Venezuela.

The Pentagon claims that Assad's air force is preparing another poison gas attack.

I wish the Pentagon were honest enough that I could presume this to be the truth.

Canada has ordered Google to censor searches world-wide.

The accusation against Datalink makes no sense to me. What is wrong with buying products and reselling them under another name? And "acquiring trade secrets" is not in general wrong — and whether it is illegal depends on how it is done. If it's done by taking them apart and examining them, that reverse engineering, which in general is lawful.

Be that as it may, to allow any country to impose global censorship for any reason is unacceptable.

Google pulled out of China to reject its censorship requirements, but that was long ago when it still had the motto, "Don't be evil." What will it do with Canada?

For internet search to be run by a company (Google, in this case) that does business globally makes it vulnerable to global censorship at the orders of any country. The overall lesson is: search engines must be run by organizations that do business only in one country so that they are safe from being sued in other countries.

How San Francisco Is Leading the Way out of Bottled Water Culture.

Bravo!

Here's the wrong way to do it: with a cr…app that tracks who refills bottles, where, and when. If public places to get water are plentiful enough, no one will need this.

The UK requires all restaurants and cafes to refill bottles with water. All places should adopt such laws.

I make a point of filling my water bottle in an airport after security. If there are no water fountains or sinks with potable water, I ask a cafe.