In Australia, due to the recent state secrets law, journalists face the threat of imprisonment for reporting on serious government wrongdoing.

Don't identify middle-class white Americans with the 1%.

The white Americans who are (still) in the middle class are not downtrodden, but as plutocracy replaced democracy, they too lose political power. Those who have political power today are fewer than 1 percent.

The Senate's Victims of Human Trafficking Act is dangerous in several ways.

When it talks about having the customs agency do more to enforce "intellectual property", I am sure that refers to something bad. Whenever that term is used, something nasty is afoot.

The way to protect children from being forced into prostitution is to legalize prostitution by licensed prostitutes. Customers could be required to check the prostitute's license. If the customer fails to check, that concrete omission would be legitimate grounds for punishment.

Minors should not be denied prostitution licenses in a blanket way, but the state should ask them why they want one and probe their situation, then offer help so they can avoid prostitution.

The US poor are now poor in social bonds and relationships as well as in money.

North Korea is less different from other tyrannical states than we normally suppose. It cannot block the people totally from information about the rest of the world.

Nonetheless, North Korea is unusual among tyrannies to some extent. Its two special characteristics are the continued state of war with South Korea, and the trade embargo imposed by most of the world as a result.