Tens of thousands of elderly people are left struggling to see because of an NHS cost-cutting drive that relies on them dying before they can qualify for cataract surgery, senior doctors say.

BLINDED BY BUREAUCRACY

The NHS has ignored instructions to end cataract treatment rationing in defiance of official guidance two years ago, a survey by the Royal College of Ophthalmologists has found.
— The Times (of London), April 6, 2019

… OR WE MIGHT PLANT MORE FRUITS AND VEGETABLES
What would happen if everyone around the globe began to eat a healthy diet, filling three-fourths of their plates with fruits, vegetables, and whole grains? We’d run out. Yep, that’s right. A recent study published in the journal PLOS One by researchers at the University of Guelph found that there would not be enough fruit and vegetables to go around.
— NPR, April 3, 2019

MAYBE IT WORKS UNDER MODERN MONETARY THEORY
One of the new [ferry] routes Mr. de Blasio announced this year — between Coney Island and Wall Street — is projected to require a subsidy from the city of $24.75 for every passenger. … City officials say the subsidy will fall as the system attracts more riders. They now project that it will drop to less than $8 per passenger, after the addition in the next two years of routes to Coney Island, the North Shore of Staten Island, and Ferry Point Park in the Bronx.

But that forecast hinges on an estimate that two million riders a year will opt to pay $2.75 to ride from Staten Island to the West Side of Midtown when they can get to Lower Manhattan on the city-run Staten Island Ferry for free.
— New York Times, April 17, 2019

ANOTHER LOST WAR?
It is a heady goal for this coal-fueled [Kentucky] county where Lyndon B. Johnson launched his War on Poverty 55 years ago. Forty percent of the 12,000 residents still live below the poverty line, and the unemployment rate is well above the national average.
— Washington Post, April 17, 2019

NEXT STOP, ANARCHY
In the Islamic State, they told us what was right and what was wrong. “It was better,” she said. “Here, people wear whatever they want.”
— Washington Post, April 20, 2019

DISRUPTER-IN-CHIEF OR POLITICS-AS-USUAL?
The Trump administration is taking steps that could delay premium spikes for Medicare prescription drug beneficiaries until after President Trump’s 2020 reelection bid.
— Washington Post, April 10, 2019

AND BY ITS LEGAL MONOPOLIES
Comcast Corp. said net profit rose 14% in the first quarter, boosted by its highspeed internet business, a spate of successful movies, and the recent acquisition of European pay-television operator Sky PLC.
— Wall Street Journal, April 26, 2019

CENTRAL PLANNING ALWAYS BUMPS INTO PEOPLE’S PREFERENCES
When she started her job nine years ago, Liu Fang’s work involved making sure the women from her village did not have unauthorized babies. …

Today, her job could hardly be more different. After the Chinese government abandoned its one-child policy three years ago, Liu’s mandate has changed from making sure local women don’t have too many babies to actively encouraging them to have more. There’s just one problem: Now, most people don’t want to have more than one child anymore.
— Washington Post, May 5, 2019

FREEDOM IS A DANGEROUS IDEA
Access to this book online must be blocked. In Islam, there is no Secularism or Liberalism.
— Comment at Yahoo​.com, May 5, 2019

The Polish interior minister, Joachim Brudzin´ski, announced on Twitter on Monday that a person had been arrested for [designing] images of the Virgin Mary with the rainbow-coloured halo. …

Offending religious feeling is a crime under the Polish penal code. If convicted, the woman could face a prison sentence of up to two years.

Brudzin´ski, who described the posters as “cultural barbarism” when they appeared overnight in April, said: “Telling stories about freedom and ‘tolerance’ doesn’t give anyone the right to offend the feelings of believers.”
— The Guardian, May 6, 2019

WHY BE A SENATOR, THEN?
The president doesn’t have the authority to do it without our permission,” said libertarian-leaning Sen. Rand Paul (R‑Ky.), a frequent golf partner of the president, when asked about a possible military intervention in Venezuela. There has to be a vote in Congress or it will be illegal and unconstitutional.”

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R‑S.C.), who is also close to Trump and is the polar opposite of Paul on foreign policy said, I don’t care about voting on the use of force.”
— Politico, May 6, 2019