Foreign desk: The Logic Behind Hong Kong’s Flash Mobs

“When the Hong Kong protests began in June in response to a bill allowing extradition” to mainland China, “they were orderly scheduled and well-attended,” The Wall Street Journal’s Jillian Kay Melchior reports from the embattled territory. “But as police have responded more violently, protesters changed tactics.” Nowadays, they organize rallies at the “spur-of-the-moment” and by “word-of-mouth, on the Telegram messaging app or on the LIHKG online forum.” Doing it this way has important strategic benefits. “Their spontaneity and disorganization make it harder for police to respond and the crowds’ smaller sizes reduce the likelihood of a crackdown with large casualties.” Thus, while Beijing makes “ominous noises,” threatening punishment, the protests remain “leaderless” but “well-organized.”

From the Right: Don’t Apologize to Speech Scolds

This is “an age when satire is subjected to stern and humorless fact-checks,” muses Kyle Smith in National Review. Nevertheless, the comic Ricky Gervais soldiers on even though “willfully ignoring comic intent [has become] a growth industry.” Gervais earns a badge of courage from Smith because he “supports speaking freely” — and does speak freely. As Smith puts it, “Unless you stick to the softest possible level of comedy, every joke is going to have a target . . .” That’s why Gervais cringes when he sees other comedians apologize. “ I go ‘oh, F***ing don’t apologize!’ You can’t please everyone, and you shouldn’t. You can’t legislate against stupidity, and you shouldn’t. ”

Conspiracy watch: Stick With the Facts in Epstein Case

Since Jeffrey Epstein’s death, much evidence has made “his supposed suicide” look suspicious, writes Tiana Lowe at The Washington Examiner. “But let’s not go crazy with the conspiracy theories.” Epstein, the medical examiner said, hanged himself with a bedsheet, which he shouldn’t have had. The autopsy showed multiple broken neck bones, which break “more often during strangulation than suicide.” And “key people” aren’t cooperating with the probe. Still, “Bill Clinton and Donald Trump seem to be guilty only of choosing a bad friend.” The public’s right to be “riled up” that the presidents were “friends with such a monster.” But it’s important that “we follow the facts,” and “right now, they don’t point to reason to seriously suspect wrongdoing” by either one.

Iconoclast: What Exactly Is Beto Up To?

Matthew Walther at The Week wonders if Beto O’Rourke is “actually running for president.” The failed Texas senatorial candidate has decided he won’t be campaigning in Iowa or New Hampshire, “the states in which the earlier of these things called ‘primary contests’ are held.” Yes, O’Rourke is far from the first candidate to do this, but those who also took this approach . . . didn’t get to the White House. “Ignoring the early-voting states was also Rudy Giuliani’s 2008 strategy. It is widely considered one of the worst in the history of American politics.” Instead of going for those early-voting states, O’Rourke is going to travel around the country to places “where he thinks President Trump has done the most damage,” like Mississippi. Walther suggests O’Rourke has got “bigger and better things to do” than, say, try to win the highest office in the land.

Culture critic: Walmart Is Trying To Be Just Too Hip?

“Walmart has tried hard of late to shed its red state/flyover country image by becoming a huge purveyor of organic foods [and] by greening its supply chain,” which is “all laudable.” But does its apparent strategy to “penetrate suburbs and cities, and blue states” have to extend to “hawking travel-size dildos and vibrating penis rings in its stores, along with two-percent milk [and] Jiffy Gold Yellow Cake?” asks Peter A. Coclanis in the Spectator USA. He swears he’s “no knee-jerk Walmart basher” but he does have a beef when he sees a company “stray . . . too far from its traditional markets.” It’s better that Walmart “stay with the business it knows.”

— Compiled by The Post editorial board