USA - The non-profit organization that I founded in 2018, Citizens for Free Speech, is weary of the constant propaganda that all speech is protected by the First Amendment, no matter how vile, ignorant or deceptive it might be. The founding fathers intended the First Amendment to protect our unalienable rights to freely communicate ideas and to promote civil debate. Ideas are communicated by the spoken and printed word, plus our associated actions. All five elements of the First Amendment bear this out.

UK - Underwater volcanoes produce so much energy they would be able to power an entire continent, a study has found. Submarine volcanoes litter the world's seabeds, but the eruptions were thought to be less exciting than the terrestrial explosions with slow-moving lava and no ash clouds. However, new research found underwater eruptions do produce ash clouds which in turn drives megaplumes of hot water that spread upwards and then outwards. These megaplumes have been detected previously with researchers identifying how far and fast they moved, propelling around forty million Olympic-sized swimming pools of water. This revealed that to create these underwater ash deposits and to power the megaplumes, the volcanic eruptions must release enormous energy equivalent to the power use of the entire US, the researchers say.

USA - The men of the world are demanding reparations from the women of the world after realizing all their problems stem from Eve taking a bite of the fruit from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil over 5,999 years ago. "Eve, the ancestor of all women, ruined everything for us," said Carl McGuinness of Provo, Utah, at a press conference Friday. "We demand payment for the sin and death that rained down upon the human race after the first woman went ahead and took a bite of the forbidden fruit." "This is merely leveling the playing field from all the inequity that women have caused through their ancestor less than 6,001 years ago." After calculating the damages stemming from Eve's bite out of the fruit, men have determined they are owed some $593,000,000,000,000,000. As they realize this will take some time to pay back, they have stated they are graciously willing to take payment in the form of sandwiches for the time being. At publishing time, men had withdrawn their request since women pointed out that if Adam had been there to lead his wife as the head of the household, Satan probably wouldn't have been able to trick her.

CANADA - A Canadian pastor was thrown in jail and his church closed when he refused to limit capacity on his congregation. Why is the state clamping down so heavily on people who just want to practice their religion? Pastor Coates, of GraceLife church in Alberta, Canada, was arrested on February 16 and sent to prison. He spent almost five weeks behind bars. For two weeks, he was in a cell on his own which he was only allowed to leave twice for 15 minutes. His crime was failing to place capacity restrictions upon the congregants in his church.

CHINA - Chinese President Xi Jinping on Tuesday called for a rejection of hegemonic power structures in global governance, amid growing tensions between Washington and Beijing over a widening range of issues including alleged human rights abuses. Speaking at the annual Boao Forum for Asia, Xi criticised efforts by some countries to "build barriers" and "decouple", which he said would harm others and benefit no one.

TAIWAN - The US military has deteriorated to the point that the only way it could win a simulated war game in which it was called on to defend Taiwan from a ‘Chinese invasion’ force was by inventing capabilities it does not yet possess. In 2018 and 2019, the US Air Force conducted detailed simulated war games that had its forces square off against those of China. On both occasions, the US was decisively defeated, the first time challenging the Chinese in the South China Sea, and the second time defending Taiwan – which China sees as an integral part of its territory – against a Chinese invasion. In 2020, the US repeated the Taiwan scenario, and won – but only barely. The difference? In both 2018 and 2019, it played with the resources it had on hand. Last year, it gave itself a host of new technologies and capabilities that are either not in production or aren’t even planned for development. In short, the exercise was as far removed from reality as it could get. The fact is the US can only successfully defend Taiwan from a full-scale Chinese invasion in its dreams.

USA - The US Department of State announced on Monday it will issue a 'Level 4: Do Not Travel' advisory, its highest warning, for about 80 percent of countries. In an official statement, the agency said the risk of COVID-19 while traveling remains too high and urged Americans to 'reconsider all travel abroad.' 'This does not imply a reassessment of the current health situation in a given country, but rather reflects an adjustment in the State Department's Travel Advisory system to rely more on CDC's existing epidemiological assessments,' the statement read. Level 4 is generally reserved for war-torn countries or nations that would be hostile to Americans such as Afghanistan and North Korea. Most countries are currently listed on the State Department website with a 'Level 3 - Reconsider Travel' warning, the second-highest alert.

USA - Consensual incest advocates are rooting for an anonymous New York parent who wants to marry their own adult child. Australian Richard Morris, who is pushing to change incest laws in about 60 countries, said he supports the legal push in Manhattan Federal Court and that such behavior between consenting adults “should not be criminalized.” Fighting for true “marriage equality” is “the right thing to do, isn’t it?” Morris said. “It seems to be as unjust as the law that used to imprison gay people, and the law that used to stop people of different races marrying,” he added. “It is absurd to say that an adult can’t consent to marry their parent. That same adult can be sent to war, take on six or seven figures of debt, operate heavy machinery, be sentenced to death by a federal court, and consent to sex with five strangers (and marriage with one of them) but can’t consent to marry someone they love?” he told The Post.

USA - Just 10 miles off the coast of Los Angeles lurks an environmental disaster over 70 years in the making, which few have ever heard about. That is, until now, thanks to the research of a University of California marine scientist named David Valentine. Working with little more than rumors and a hunch, curiosity guided him 3,000 feet below the ocean's surface. A few hours of research time and an autonomous robotic submersible unearthed what had been hidden since the 1940s: countless barrels of toxic waste, laced with DDT, littering the ocean floor in between Long Beach and Catalina Island. The fact that his underwater camera spotted dozens of decaying barrels immediately in what is otherwise a barren, desert-like sea floor, Valentine says, is evidence that the number of barrels is likely immense. Although the exact number is still unknown, a historical account estimates it may be as many as a half a million.

NORTH KOREA - North Korea is the only nation in the world whose government is known to conduct nakedly criminal hacking for monetary gain. Units of its military-intelligence division, the Reconnaissance General Bureau, are trained specifically for this purpose. In 2013, Kim Jong Un described the men who worked in the “brave RGB” as his “warriors ... for the construction of a strong and prosperous nation.”

GERMANY - The battle to lead Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservative bloc into September’s election is headed for a final showdown, with a decision likely at some point in the next 48 hours. Armin Laschet, who leads Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union, and Markus Soeder, who runs the CDU’s Bavarian sister party CSU, were holding “constructive talks,” but have yet to come up with a solution, a CDU spokeswoman said without giving any further details.

MIDDLE EAST - In March Bahrain signed a $3 million deal with Israeli state water company Mekorot to tap its knowledge on water desalination. That follows a similar deal in which Israeli start-up Watergen will provide Al Dahra Agricultural of the UAE with technology to produce drinking water from humidity in the air. Both deals come after Bahrain and the UAE normalised relations with Israel last year.

USA - The man-made lakes that store water supplying millions of people in the US West and Mexico are projected to shrink to historic lows in the coming months, dropping to levels that could trigger the federal government's first-ever official shortage declaration and prompt cuts in Arizona and Nevada. The US Bureau of Reclamation released 24-month projections this week forecasting that less Colorado River water will cascade down from the Rocky Mountains through Lake Powell and Lake Mead and into the arid deserts of the US Southwest and the Gulf of California. Water levels in the two lakes are expected to plummet low enough for the agency to declare an official shortage for the first time, threatening the supply of Colorado River water that growing cities and farms rely on. "It is incumbent upon all users of the Colorado River to find ways to conserve," Pellegrino said in a statement.

CHINA - Beijing may consider sending a peacekeeping force to Afghanistan if the security situation in the South Asian country poses a threat to the neighbouring Chinese province of Xinjiang after American troops pull out , analysts said. US President Joe Biden said on Wednesday that he would withdraw all remaining US troops – about 2,500 – from Afghanistan by September 11, the 20th anniversary of the terrorist attack in New York. The withdrawal may pose a threat to Afghanistan’s security and stability, which could spill over into Xinjiang and disrupt China’s counterterrorism efforts. “If the security situation poses a significant threat, China may send peacekeeping troops along with humanitarian assistance to the region under the terms of the Charter of the United Nations to ensure the safety and interests of Chinese people and companies there,” he said.

UK - Extinction Rebellion’s latest stunt is to campaign for vegan school meals because dairy products “discriminate against non-white people.” Any credibility they have left is being eroded as they become a parody of themselves. Some of the woke warriors within Extinction Rebellion may well be the dumbest and most intolerant people on planet Earth. And this world’s not short on stupid intolerance. They would not though, of course, accept that they are behaving in exactly the same way as the people they claim they most despise.