Richard Stallman

Richard Stallman's Political Notes -

Urgent: On executives of failed banks - 2025-01-12T22:36:43+00:00

US citizens: call on the FDIC to release findings from probes into executives of failed banks.

Nauru refugees win ruling against AUS - 2025-01-12T10:36:37+00:00

The United Nations human rights committee decided that Australia violated the human rights of refugees by sending them to Nauru, essentially for life.

This decision was published almost 24 years after Australia started sending refugees there. The committee warned other countries that they too would be violators if they shirked their responsibility to asylum seekers by outsourcing the handling of them.

LA fires and climate chaos - 2025-01-12T04:36:52+00:00

A fire destroyed 5,000 buildings in Pacific Palisades, part of Los Angeles. 5,000 more buildings have been destroyed in other parts of LA.

Global heating is affecting the US to the point where Americans even in major urban areas are in danger. And the world overall, too.

The only way to stop this from getting steadily worse is to curb greenhouse gas emissions. Biden tried to make a start at that in the Inflation Reduction Act, but after 2021 Republican opposition solidified and he could not do more.

I expect the bullshitter to scapegoat Biden for not doing enough (never mind who prevented him from doing more), while pushing useless measures that won't reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Arctica Sea ice - LA fires - teleconnect - 2025-01-12T04:36:48+00:00

*The Los Angeles wildfires are climate disasters compounded.*

Remember the insane rigidity of UK punishment of climate-defense protests, which is bent on repressing climate protesters and will punish them even for unintentional failure to comply. The root of this cruelty is a fundamental wrong decision not to recognize the magnitude of the crime that fossil fuel companies are committing.

Kurds want US troops, SYR - 2025-01-10T16:36:33+00:00

*Kurdish general urges [the fascist] to leave US troops in north-east Syria.*

If Russia were still contending for power in Syria, Putin would have told him not to do this. But Putin may have little influence now over decisions about Syria.

Heating-caused climate change helped trigger Arab Spring - 2025-01-10T10:36:36+00:00

How heating-caused climate changes, and others, helped to trigger the Arab Spring in 2011, as an example of what global heating does to political situations.

UK Thugs illegally keep photos of arrested people - 2025-01-10T10:36:36+00:00

It is illegal in the UK for thugs to retain photos of people who were arrested if they were not charged with a crime. But it seems that thugs regularly do this and use it for facial recognition.

Fake news law in Spain - 2025-01-10T10:36:36+00:00

Spain is considering a law requiring whoever posts fake news to publish a correction.

A law like this is good if it is not misused. The danger is that a repressive government is surely going to try to misuse it. The bullshitter often calls reports of truth that criticizes him "fake news". If the US had that law he would surely try to use it to censor truthful criticism of him.

Lead in air from Roman mining - 2025-01-10T10:36:35+00:00

Roman mining activities put a substantial amount of lead into the air, which shows up in Arctic ice cores. This could have reduced the average IQ by up to 3 points.

That decrease could have had an effect on society overall.

If this atmospheric lead arrived in the Arctic, it may have arrived in Asia and North America too. So the effect could have reached there too. However, it is also possible that the level of lead in the Arctic was less than in Europe.

Maybe it would have reached parts of Africa and South America too. I don't know enough to say whether this was likely to result.

Labour party called to deprioritize poor people - 2025-01-10T10:36:35+00:00

An article calls on the Labour Party to further deprioritize poor people in general to focus narrowly on voters who graduated university but couldn't get a decent job afterward.

It might be a good strategy for getting reelected, if we take for granted that Labour won't do what Britain really needs: to tax the rich and enable all non-rich Britons to have a better life.

Instigator of UK racist riots sentenced - 2025-01-10T10:36:35+00:00

An instigator of the racist riots in the UK some months ago has been sentenced to 7 years imprisonment.

The US government needs to make sure to do this reliably in response to efforts to intimidate voters or lawful election campaigners. If it had responded vigorously in 2020 when a mob of magats besieged a Democratic campaign bus, perhaps magats would not have been so ready to attack the Capitol on Jan 6.

Pressure for wrecker to top past outrages - 2025-01-10T10:36:35+00:00

Predicting that the wrecker will feel "second album pressure" to commit outrages that top what he did in the past.

Predictions the corrupter will undermine laws for corporations - 2025-01-10T10:36:35+00:00

Predicting that the corrupter will systematically undermine and weaken efforts to enforce US laws against corporations that break them.

EPA to require incinerators monitor for toxic emissions - 2025-01-10T10:36:35+00:00

*EPA to require municipal waste incinerators monitor for toxic emissions.*

This is a very good idea, and should have been adopted many years ago. I speculate that it was delayed by opposition by business.

Secretly deporting asylum seekers, GRC - 2025-01-10T10:36:34+00:00

The European court of human rights found Greece guilty of secretly carrying out deportations of refugees seeking asylum, in violation of European human rights treaties.

About Facebook - 2025-01-10T00:06:29+00:00

In January 2025, Zuckerberg announced that Facebook and Instagram will replace fact-checking with a system of not-really-checking similar to what ex-Twitter does.

The announcement was made in ways that signaled the intent to become a loyal part of the corrupter's tame media organizations.

That article also argues that "social media" fact checking was never very effective. (I have no experience with it so I don't know whether that was true.) It further argues that result was inevitable, but I don't see that that claim is sustained there, so I am skeptical that anyone can know whether this is true.

See facebook.html for many other reasons to refuse to be used by Facebook.

Urgent: Nonprofits' status - 2025-01-10T00:06:28+00:00

US citizens: phone your senators and call on them to reject H.R.9495, the bill that would make it easy to strip a nonprofit organization of tax-exempt status administratively, bypassing trial.

If you phone, please spread the word! Main Switchboard: +1-202-224-3121

Global Water Monitor Report - 2025-01-09T12:51:14+00:00

*Climate crisis "wreaking havoc" on Earth’s water cycle, report finds.*

Crime is going down, UK, US - 2025-01-08T22:36:51+00:00

Most kinds of physical crime have decreased steadily in Britain (and likewise the US) since the start of this century. So why do most people think crime is going up?

A few kinds of crime, such as theft of portable phones and shoplifting, have increased, but the total has decreased enormously.

New pun: the swarm of gnats - 2025-01-08T06:39:59+00:00

New pun: The swarm of gnats

Mainstream journalism pressures, US - 2025-01-08T06:39:59+00:00

Can the bully silence the US mainstream media? It looks like he is already succeeding.

Tariffs as hijacked, weaponized, US - 2025-01-08T06:39:59+00:00

*Firms that donated to Republican party avoided tariffs in [the corrupter]'s first term.*

Republicans don't miss a chance to extract the moral equivalent of a bribe.

Decarbonization regression, UK - 2025-01-08T06:39:59+00:00

Labour has retreated from another plan to accelerate decarbonization with a deadline date.

I can understand the pressure to do this. Such changes always cost money. They may reduce the income of some businesses, which generally oppose the change by cherry-picking and exaggeration. Once a government decides to keep the country poor by allowing some individuals to be giga-rich, it keeps encountering a "need" to abandon the attempt.

Hybrids with no power plugin! - 2025-01-08T06:39:59+00:00

Pushing for requiring new hybrid cars to have chargers.

Political topics off limits - 2025-01-07T06:19:37+00:00

A Washington Post editorial cartoonist quit because, for the first time, she was told that a political topic was off limits.

The topic that was forbidden was that of billionaire executives going to Mar-a-lago to swear fealty to the corrupter.

More examples: Amazon, and "Open" "AI", have joined the parade of big companies that are donating to the glorification of the corrupter -- what the cartoonist was going to criticize. These donations are not, strictly speaking, bribes, since they don't go to the corrupter personally. But they are the moral equivalent of bribes. They demonstrates how the corrupter has made corruption normal.

Burning waste - 2025-01-07T06:19:37+00:00

*Burning waste is not the way to move the UK towards a circular economy.*

Taliban oppressing women - 2025-01-07T06:19:36+00:00

The Taliban are inviting foreign tourists, and there is no sign that they refuse in revulsion against the total oppression and segregation of women.

Jan 6, Coup defeat, US - 2025-01-06T16:36:42+00:00

Jan 6 is a date that will live in infamy, unless the wrecker intimidates commemoration of it.

We need a name to help each other remember it by. The only one I can think of is "Coup defeat day". Watch out: the wrecker and the muskrat will try to celebrate the coup as heroism in a perverted idea of patriotism.

Tourist had holiday romance in Dubai - 2025-01-07T12:55:29+00:00

Two tourists from London went to Dubai with their families, and had a holiday romance. Then one was arrested because the other was not legally "old enough".

This is one of many reasons to stay away from Dubai.

Free hardware designs - 2025-01-05T16:38:58+00:00

There are crucial differences between hardware and software, This will not come as a surprise to you, but based on them I conclude that it makes no sense under present circumstances to talk about "free hardware". What does make sense as a concept is "free hardware designs".

That article addresses many issues about freedom raised by digital hardware.

Fossil fuel shipping ports flood - 2025-01-05T16:38:57+00:00

13 of the world's principal oil export ports will be put out of action by 1 meter of sea level rise, which could happen as soon as 2070.

However, if it gets as far as 1 meter of sea level rise, lots of other things will be going very wrong too. And the rise won't stop then. Even worse, oil companies could make replacement ports and go on flooding the world's coastal cities.

Pay to play cops' footage, OH - 2025-01-05T16:38:57+00:00

Ohio, ruled by Republicans, will charge a fee to look at thugs' body camera footage. That will interfere with checking whether the thugs were honest.

Filling gap that makes for "existential boredom" - 2025-01-05T16:38:49+00:00

On filling the gap that makes for "existential boredom" with finding out what really matters to you.

One kind of thing that you might find really matters to you is making a free and just society. There are many ways of working for that goal, one of them being the free software movement. Maybe one of them will give meaning to your life.

Condemning the rich for impoverishing the rest of us - 2025-01-05T16:38:48+00:00

Bringing Americans back, once again, to condemning the rich for impoverishing the rest of us.

Free-range stories of 2024 - 2025-01-05T16:38:48+00:00

*The 10 Worst Free-Range Stories of 2024.*

New Orleans terrorist murder - 2025-01-05T16:38:47+00:00

The New Orleans terrorist murder endorsed fanatical Muslim views condemning music and lewdness, as well as alcohol.

Islam prohibits drinking alcohol in even small quantities. Mainstream Islam does not condemn music, but there is a long history in the Muslim world of extremist movements that prohibit all music. The Almurabitun and Almohad empires which conquered Morocco, and most of what is now Spain in the 11th century and 12th century, prohibited music. ISTR that the Taliban did so before 2001, and maybe they do that again today.

Most Muslims think that is crazy.

Federal jurisdiction over essential broadband Internet access - 2025-01-05T16:38:47+00:00

*6th Circuit Wrongly Rejects Federal Jurisdiction Over Essential Broadband Internet Access Services.*

This wipes out federal network neutrality regulations, unless the extreme court resurrects them. Those regulations are inadequate to really protect internet users' freedom, but it was better than nothing. Now there is nothing to limit how ISPs in the US restrict users for their profit.

Design new towns for use without a car - 2025-01-05T16:38:57+00:00

When building "new towns", design them to be easy to live in without a car.

Reminder: don't assume everyone can ride a bike.

Constitutional crisis in South Korea - 2025-01-05T16:38:56+00:00

South Korea's recently impeached president is wanted for arrest for insurrection, but the question of how to arrest him has raised a constitutional crisis.

Proposal to burn garbage over fossil fuels - 2025-01-05T16:38:56+00:00

The UK government proposes to burn more garbage instead of some of the fossil fuels.

That produces as much CO2, as well as random mixture of toxic pollutants. So I think it is more harmful even than coal. As far as I can see, the only advantage is that the garbage is cheaper than fossil fuels. That suggests this is an example of short-term thinking by the government, instead of the long-term planning that is crucial for survival

Aside from the materials that can be put to better use immediately if separated, a landfill may be the best alternative. Not perfect: harmful substances (some toxic, some planet-roasting) do seep out. But they emerge over a much longer period, and a substantial fraction may not get out.

I wonder if the UK has a searchable national register of all proposed projects that would need planning permission. I think every country should have one.

Cooperative to operate trains on national tracks - 2025-01-05T16:38:54+00:00

The UK has authorized a cooperative to operate trains on the national train tracks alongside money-extraction corporations. But it won't operate until 2026.

This may prove to be a good solution. It will certainly treat its workers better. However, a worker-owned cooperative does not automatically treat passengers better, and there is no assurance that it will respect travelers' privacy more than any other train operator.

Trees destroyed by hurricanes - 2025-01-05T16:38:52+00:00

*10m trees to be planted in US to replace ones destroyed by hurricanes.*

If the hurricanes were a freak one-off event, this would correct the damage. But since they represent a new normal, there will be more hurricanes and many of these new trees won't live very long.

Generally, repairing damage from local climate disasters cannot substitute for curbing the global heating that regularly causes worse disasters.

Advice for confronting the corrupter - 2025-01-05T16:38:51+00:00

Turkish journalist Asli Aydintasbas confronted Erdoğan, and now has advice for Americans about how to confront the corrupter.

Immigration deported US citizen's wife - 2025-01-05T16:38:51+00:00

The US deportation thugs hastily arrested and deported a US citizen's wife for missing an immigration appointment. She missed the appointment because she suddenly started to give birth to US citizen children.

Anyone who is so heartless and rigid as to make a decision like that should not be in a position to make such consequential decisions. Doing so merits punishment.

The punishment for the first such offense should be publicly begging for forgiveness. For the second offense, dismissal.

Thugs in UK surveilled journalists - 2025-01-05T16:38:50+00:00

Thug departments in the UK were found to have surveilled journalists in recent years for investigating accusations of misconduct by thugs. How much more have they done this?

Unmarried foreign domestic workers in Salafi Arabia - 2025-01-05T16:38:50+00:00

Unmarried foreign domestic workers in Salafi Arabia that have babies cannot ever bring their children home with them because Salafi Arabia punishes them for their parents' "sin" by forbidding them to leave. It also denies those children all normal rights, including schooling.

Many of these women are effectively trapped there too, because they will not abandon their children.

This shows the vicious nature of religious condemnation of sex and pleasure.

It seems incomprehensible that Salafi Arabia despises these children while forcing them to remain there. But perhaps the practical result is that they are compelled to spend their lives working underground at low-pay menial jobs. That must be convenient for powerful people in Salafi Arabia.

Bullying congresscritters, journalists - 2025-01-04T22:36:40+00:00

When the corrupter was president before, he launched an investigation into congresscritters and staff, and some journalists, and the Department of Justice disregarded its rules for such investigations.

Anti-politics age - 2025-01-04T10:36:43+00:00

Suggesting that we are in an "anti-politics" age which leans towards irrational rage as the way to express resentment with politics.

Here is more about the murderer that the article refers to.

Political crime, CO - 2025-01-04T10:36:43+00:00

A magat got out of his car to violently attack a TV reporter working on the street in Colorado, saying he was attacking on behalf of the fascist leader.

It appears the attacker knew nothing specific about that reporter except his appearance, which indicated non-European ancestry.

A growing vitamin deprivation, UK - 2025-01-04T10:36:43+00:00

Due to crush-the-poor economics, millions of Britons are suffering from serious vitamin deficiencies. Due to policies crested by Tories but not yet fixed by Labour, many cannot afford a balanced diet.