The United States, grappling with an intensifying Afghan insurgency, began stepping up attacks by pilotless drone aircraft on northwestern Pakistani militant enclaves a year ago despite the complaints of its ally, Pakistan.

Members of the Muslim Uighur ethnic group attacked people near the Urumqi's railway station, and women in headscarves protested the arrests of husbands and sons in another part of the city. Meanwhile, for much of the afternoon, a mob of 1,000 mostly young Han Chinese holding clubs and chanting "Defend the Country" tore through streets trying to get to a Uighur neighborhood until they were repulsed by police firing tear gas.

Delinquencies on the value of all card debt soared to a record 6.60 percent from 5.52 percent in the fourth quarter as more cardholders relied on plastic to meet day-to-day expenses, the American Bankers Association said.

“Switzerland at war with the rest of the world,” begins an update from colleague, Cecile Chevre, in Paris.

During WWII, the Germans considered invading Switzerland. According to legend, a top German general met with Switzerland’s top military man on the border.

“We have twice as many men on the border as you do,” said the German. “What would you do if we launched an attack?”

“The answer is very obvious,” replied the Swiss general. “I would tell each of my men to shoot twice.”

The most remarkable thing about civil unrest is that there hasn't been more of it.

Politicians are making a hash of this country �" and much of the rest of the civilized world. We know it. They know it. They know we know it. But we don't feel we can do anything much to stop them.

That right there is the pre-condition for civil unrest �" when people are frustrated and politicians are nervous.

Worse, that was how things stood before last fall's crash. Before pols on both left and right launched the biggest mass transfer of wealth in history �" transferring our wealth (what we had left of it!) to their friends on Wall Street and in the banking industry. In other words, that's how things were before things got bad!

The dollar and U.S. Treasuries are both likely to slide as soaring government debt in the world’s biggest economy undermines confidence in its assets, according to Jim Rogers, chairman of Rogers Holdings.

“The government is printing lots of money and borrowing even more; that’s not the basis for a sound currency,” he said in a telephone interview today from Singapore. “The idea that anybody would lend money to the U.S. government for 30 years at 3 or 4 or 5 or 6 percent interest is mind-boggling to me.”

But there are many of us who love this site, and who think it’s essential to the cause of liberty, here and all around the world, and we love liberty. Not only must LRC survive in that cause, it must thrive. My dream: to see it challenge the very top sites in news and opinion. It is possible.

But first LRC must survive. Please help me make sure it does. Help me make sure