From the week:
The West: The waning of Democracy and the middle class (Article)
Human progress: Some 6% (94M) of the earth’s people still lack access to toilets? (Article)
China: Fielding a digital currency? (Article)
Univ. of Calif: To permanently remove testing from admissions (Report)
The pandemic: Second night of anti-lockdown violence in Europe (Report)
Australia: Army arresting and imprisoning COVID positives and their contacts (Report)
Electricity was cut off for 32,000 Southern California subscribers to reduce fire risk (Report)
California port congestion: Update (Article)
Solomon Islands: Australia sends assistance with sudden capitol riots over China relations (Report)
Subway restaurant: U.S. chain future murky at founder’s death (Article)
The internet: How to escape Google censorship (Article)\
The war on fossil energy: California halts new fracking permits (Article)
The culture: Mobs of looters hit Best Buy and Home Depot (Report)
Chicago: 5 dead, 27 wounded in weekend shootings (Report)
A naked woman was arrested by police in mistaken raid on home (Report)
That’s all …
EDITORIAL: No Government Has Ever Imposed Liberty
The only competence of any human government has ever been to confiscate property or to restrict actions of the governed. Nothing of government can exist but at some cost to citizens. In reality, a voter is negotiating the degree to which his right to property and freedom of action will be subject to forced compromise. Since politicians only gain by increasing their takings from and restricting the actions of citizens, they work hard to obfuscate this aspect of their programs. They want all eyes upon their handouts after confiscation. After enriching themselves, they divide the rest unequally among their supporters in the name of equality. Whether governed y the left or by the right, the long term trend is always the continued enhancement of government, at the continued expense of the citizens. Currently, this has been dramatically accelerated in the name of what amounts to a rather mild pandemic.