Monday roundup

Good morning, policy-and-culture observers.

Herewith a panoply of developments in the space-time realm as we commence Advent Week:

File this one under "I thought I was the only human being with this status": Tanza Loudenback at Business Insider proudly says she's never seen a Star Wars, Lord of the Rings or Harry Potter movie.

Gordon Chang at the Daily Beast says China's seizure of the US Navy underwater drone was an act of war. Of course, it doesn't seem to even be on the Most Equal Comrade's radar screen:

Today, President Obama cannot even talk about Chinese aggression. He did not, for example, mention it in his opening statement at his press conference Friday and did not address it when answering Mark Landler of the New York Times, who raised the drone seizure in his question. 

And another of the MEC's foreign-policy successes fiascoes has yet to improve its human-rights record since its patty-cake with post-America culminated in full diplomatic relations:

Authorities across Cuba have cracked down on dissidents, arresting dozens, keeping others from marching in Havana, and detaining an American human rights lawyer, activists said Sunday.

In the first such anti-dissident operation since Fidel Castro's death last month, President Raul Castro seemed to indicate the Americas' only one-party communist state was in no mood for dissent.

A roundup in the country's east snared dozens and derailed street protests planned to demand that political prisoners be freed.

"There was a joint operation at 6:00 am in Santiago and Palma Soriano. They searched four homes, and so far we have 42 reported arrests -- 20 in Santiago, 12 in Palma and 10 in Havana," Jose Daniel Ferrer told AFP by phone.

The 46-year-old, who heads the Patriotic Union of Cuba (Unpacu), had called the demonstrations to demand that political prisoners be set free. Castro insists there are no political prisoners, just lawbreakers.

Ferrer said he was detained in Santiago, Cuba's second biggest city, at a police unit known as Micro 9.

"They threatened me, and said by calling the demonstration I was facilitating public disorder.... disobedience and espionage," Ferrer said.

Most arrests of dissidents in roundups are brief. Sometimes, the authorities prevent them from leaving their homes to attend a protest or march.

- Ladies in White, shut in -

In Havana, the award-winning Ladies in White group, which presses for the release of jailed dissidents who are their relatives, said that at least 20 of its activists were "under siege," kept from attending their weekly march.

"At least 20 homes were blocking the residents to keep us from marching today," said group leader Berta Soler.

It was a step backward for the Ladies in White. They long have been considered the only dissidents the Cuban government allowed to march regularly; they hold one weekly protest outside a church in Havana.

But not this Sunday, Soler said.

- US rights lawyer held, freed -

Kimberley Motley, an American human rights lawyer, was briefly detained on Friday along with Cuban activists Gorki Avila and Luis Alberto Marino when they planned to visit graffiti artist Danilo Maldonado, known as "El Sexto," in jail.

Maldonado was also arrested on November 26, a day after the death of Cuban revolutionary icon Fidel Castro, after painting on a wall in Havana the phrase "He's gone," her relatives say.

According to online newspaper 14 y medio, Motley left Cuba at the request of the government.

Now she tells us:

Attorney General Loretta Lynch said on Sunday she regrets secretly meeting with former President Bill Clinton last June because of the negative impression it gave some voters.

"I do regret sitting down and having a conversation with him because it did give people concern. And as I said, my greatest concern has always been making sure that people understand that the Department of Justice works in a way that is independent and looks at everybody equally," Lynch said on CNN's "State of the Union."

The Obama official said it has been "painful" for her to see how the infamous airport tarmac meeting played out during the height of an FBIinvestigation into Hillary Clinton's use of a private email server.

Moral preening and nanny-state finger-wagging in the Circle City:

The Indianapolis City-County Council passed a resolution in support of Meatless Mondays on December 5, 2016. The resolution encourages Indianapolis residents and institutions to try a meat-free day at the beginning of each week, aiming to reduce the city’s environmental footprint and raise awareness about healthy eating.

The resolution was championed by Council Vice-President Zach Adamson (D - District 17), and co-sponsored by Jared Evans (D - District 22), Blake Johnson (D - District 12) and Jeff Miller (R - District 16). “I’m excited the City Council has made clear both the importance of a diet high in vegetables and the negative impacts meat products have on our health and our environment,” Councilman Adamson said. “With Indianapolis ranking so high in diet-related illness, including obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, this is an important declaration that encourages our fellow residents to make healthy and environmentally sound food choices.”

Oh, please.

That said, Matthew Scully at NRO offers a viewpoint worth of consideration, namely, that humankind still lacks a truly humane approach to its interaction with the animal kingdom's lesser species.  You will notice though, that he does not call for any stinkin' government involvement.