TALES FROM THE MYSTERIOUS EAST: China Now Drinks More Budweiser than America, Report Says.

HEALTH: Suicidal Vet Calls MDMA Treatment ‘a Miracle.’

NEWS YOU CAN USE: Men, Beware of Biopsies for Prostate Cancer Diagnosis: Physicians often downplay the risks.

AT AMAZON, Used Textbooks – Save up to 90%.

Plus, Shop Amazon Warehouse Deals – Deep Discounts on Open-box and Used Sports Equipment.

JOHN ZMIRAK: The Fences Are Closing In. “Will America stay free? Or are powerful forces eating away at our freedoms? I won’t say nibbling, because they’re tearing off great big chunks of it at a time. Our freedom of speech, of religion, our right to back political candidates and stand up for what we believe in. All that’s now threatened. I think you know that.”

Read the whole thing.

HERE’S BETTING BRENNAN SHUTS UP ABOUT GOING TO COURT: When the president of the United States, who has, shall we say, a high level of previous experience with litigation, essentially responds to your threat to take him to court with a hearty “So sue me” … 

AYN RAND DIDN’T WRITE THE RETURN OF THE PRIMITIVE AS A HOW-TO GUIDE: We Traveled Out To The Bayou To Check Out An Anti-Pipeline Hippie Camp. When We Got There, A Man In A Dress Climbed Out Of A Tree.

THANKS, OBAMACARE: The doctor is out? Why physicians are leaving their practices to pursue other careers. “After 20 years, I quit medicine and none of my colleagues were surprised. In fact, they all said they wish they could do the same.”

NEWS YOU CAN USE: A Scientist Explains Why Mosquitoes Bite Some People More Than Others.

WINNING: German firms in line with U.S. Iran sanctions. “Several European companies have suspended plans to invest in Iran in light of the US sanctions.”

I’m old enough to remember when Trump’s bullying was going to cause us to lose our allies and force them to side with Tehran.

UNEXPECTED HEADLINES: Cybersex toy industry heats up as infamous “teledildonics” patent climaxes.

NOT YOUR FATHER’S FOUR-BANGER: Moving More With Less: Why Four-Cylinders Are Coming to Full-Size Trucks.

INTERESTING STUFF FROM MY COLLEAGUE GREG STEIN: Will The Sharing Economy Boost Inequality?

TYLER O’NEIL: Pope Francis Calls For Fasting and Prayer, ‘Zero Tolerance’ For Abusers, in Sex Abuse Letter.

GET YOUR Space Force T-Shirt Right Here.

THE CHICAGO WAY: At least 60 shot, 8 killed in another deadly Chicago weekend.

ALONG WITH EVERYTHING ELSE THEY TOUCH: ‘Social justice warriors’ are ruining engineering, prof warns. Social Justice Warriors should be shamed and ignored. They ruin everything, and they’re never satisfied anyway.

LOS ANGELES TIMES: Money to help the mentally ill is left unspent. “When California voters passed a tax on high-income residents in 2004, backers said it would make good on the state’s “failed promise” to help counties pay for the treatment of the mentally ill. After nearly 15 years, Proposition 63 has steered billions of dollars to the counties across the state. But huge sums remain unspent at a time when mental illness has become an epidemic among the homeless population. The Times found more nearly $1 billion in unspent funds in L.A. County alone.”

As I keep reminding people: We have far more government than we need, but far less than we actually pay for.

NO HUGGING: Are we living through a crisis of touch? “Strokes and hugs are being edged out of our lives, with doctors, teachers and colleagues increasingly hesitant about social touching. Is this hypervigilance of boundaries beginning to harm our mental health?”

TONI AIRAKSINEN: College Offers Class on ‘Consequences’ of Whiteness.

THIS WILL END WELL: South Africa begins seizing white-owned farms.

Over a decade ago, Nick Kristof reported that Zimbabweans were nostalgic for the old days of Rhodesia:

The hungry children and the families dying of AIDS here are gut-wrenching, but somehow what I find even more depressing is this: Many, many ordinary black Zimbabweans wish that they could get back the white racist government that oppressed them in the 1970’s.

“If we had the chance to go back to white rule, we’d do it,” said Solomon Dube, a peasant whose child was crying with hunger when I arrived in his village. “Life was easier then, and at least you could get food and a job.”

Mr. Dube acknowledged that the white regime of Ian Smith was awful. But now he worries that his 3-year-old son will die of starvation, and he would rather put up with any indignity than witness that.

An elderly peasant in another village, Makupila Muzamba, said that hunger today is worse than ever before in his seven decades or so, and said: “I want the white man’s government to come back. Even if whites were oppressing us, we could get jobs and things were cheap compared to today.”

His wife, Mugombo Mudenda, remembered that as a younger woman she used to eat meat, drink tea, use sugar and buy soap. But now she cannot even afford corn gruel. “I miss the days of white rule,” she said.

Nearly every peasant I’ve spoken to in Zimbabwe echoed those thoughts.

You’d think that Zimbabwe would be a cautionary example for South Africa, but it seems to be more of a how-to guide. And hey, the political insiders got rich.

YOU CAN TRUST THEM THIS TIME: Gmail’s ‘Confidential Mode’ arrives on mobile devices.

Once you’ve turned on confidential mode for a specific email, you can set an expiration date and passcode so that you can restrict access to the email either in the web interface or via SMS. Recipients of these confidential emails won’t be able to copy, paste, download, print or forward the message, and attachments will be disabled.

That doesn’t stop anyone from taking a screenshot of your message, however. As Google notes, “Although confidential mode helps prevent the recipients from accidentally sharing your email, it doesn’t prevent recipients from taking screenshots or photos of your messages or attachments. Recipients who have malicious programs on their computer may still be able to copy or download your messages or attachments. This feature isn’t available for G Suite customers at this time.”

The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) digital privacy advocacy group thinks that this new mode isn’t secure at all, and might even lend users a false sense of security.

Now why would Google want to do that?

SCRAPPLEFACE: Police Reach Deal with NFL Anthem Protestors. “‘Until recently, most police officers, regardless of color, felt it was acceptable to shoot black people whether they posed a threat or not,’ said a police spokesman.”

OUTRAGEOUS: Remy’s latest is a pretty accurate commentary on the state of CNN

Omarosa could not be reached for comment