Richard Stallman
Richard Stallman's Political Notes -
Ignorance, misunderstanding and obfuscation ended US-Iran nuclear talks - 2026-03-27T09:38:38+00:00
*How ignorance, misunderstanding and obfuscation ended [US-] Iran nuclear talks.*
They had made substantial progress before they were abruptly ended when the US and Israel started to attack instead.
*Oman claims Israel pushed US into Iran war when deal [with Iran] was possible.*
WATCA bill - 2026-03-27T09:38:37+00:00
The WATCA bill, which is one way of taxing the rich more, will provide only a small benefit for non-rich Americans. That's because its main method of helping them is by reducing their income tax, and poor people's income tax is already low.
In and of itself, WATCA is better than nothing, but we should focus on supporting other bills that would tax the rich more than that in order to help the non-rich more than that.
The imperialist says Israel attacked Iran gas wells without telling him - 2026-03-27T09:38:37+00:00
The imperialist says Israel attacked Iran's gas wells without telling him, and he has ordered Israel not to attack them again.
Whether or not he is telling the truth about what happened, it is at least somewhat of a relief that he seems to realize how much any further such attacks would backfire.
Heavy-handed actions accelerating US's decline - 2026-03-27T09:38:37+00:00
Owen Jones: *[the Bully] thinks brute force will arrest the US's decline. His heavy-handed actions in Iran are only accelerating it.*
Gulf of Hormuz closure sending enormus profits to rich people - 2026-03-27T09:38:36+00:00
The closure of the Gulf of Hormuz is sending enormous windfall profits to a few rich people. There should be a windfall profits tax in place all the time for the sake of future fossil fuel price spikes, so that governments won't need to act fast.
Parents deported to Honduras had no chance to arrange childcare for their children - 2026-03-27T09:38:34+00:00
* In interviews with dozens of parents deported to Honduras, as well as physicians and psychologists, government officials and staff at reception centers for deportees, researchers found that many parents were deported quickly after they were [jailed], without a chance to arrange for the care of their children.*
We understand the cause of this: deportation thugs are acting out hatred towards immigrants in general, and are eager for the chance to be cruel.
Christian Zionists want to help Israel conquer Middle East - 2026-03-27T09:38:34+00:00
Christian Zionists want to help Israel conquer much of the Middle East, believing that then sacrifices will trigger biblical prophecies which will result in forcing Jews to convert to Christianity or else be damned.
It is not easy to get along with fanatics like that. It is unlikely that the prophecies would actually come true, but there is no telling what might they do if the situation arises and the prophecies do not come true.
Amazon Alexa to better understand speach uttered in a relexed manner - 2026-03-27T09:38:34+00:00
A new upgrade of Amazon Alexa will be better able to understand speech uttered in a relaxed, usual manner. The better to snoop on you with, my dear.
US courtes generally rejecting equating criticism of Israel with antisemitism - 2026-03-27T09:38:34+00:00
US courts are generally rejecting attempts to equate criticism of Israel or support for Palestinians' rights with antisemitism.
New York City cops pressed charges against snowball fight participants - 2026-03-27T09:38:34+00:00
New York City cops have pressed charges against some of the participants in a snowball fight which they entered, apparantly as an excuse to find fault with Mayor Mamdani.
Bondi treated Congress with contempt - 2026-03-27T09:38:33+00:00
Bondi treated Congress with contempt by refusing to take an oath for her testimony.
At least she showed a minuscule level of respect for the oath to tell the truth — by refusing to take the oath and then lie anyway. That is a start, at least. Perhaps in the future she can be convinced to show truthfulness a little more respect, and then a little more, and so on.
Connection focused platforms less harmfull than algorithm-driven apps - 2026-03-27T09:38:33+00:00
* World Happiness Report finds platforms focused on connection less harmful than algorithm-driven apps.* For example, Instagram was more damaging to mental health than WhatsApp.
Both of the client programs are nonfree software, thus damaging to users' freedom.
Canadian and daughter are in deportation prison - 2026-03-27T09:38:33+00:00
The deportation thugs are once again working unpredictable cruelty. A Canadian who married an American, and her daughter, are in a deportation prison, being pressured to "self-deport". The thugs have given no explanation for jailing them despite their valid visas.
Pentagon ordered to cease political censorship policy - 2026-03-27T09:38:33+00:00
*A judge ordered the Pentagon to cease its new political censorship policy for press coverage.*
US banks a step closer to weaker regulation - 2026-03-27T09:38:33+00:00
The wrecker has granted the biggest US banks a step towards weaker regulation. Banks can cause a disastrous crash if they are not careful in how much and how readily they lend. That's what caused the 2008 financial crisis.
In Europe, the result was disaster for countries that needed deficit spending to get out of the recession but were banned by the Euro zone rules from doing that: Spain, Italy and especially Greece. But the crisis was profitable for the biggest banks, since governments were compelled to bail them out rather than allow them to actually fail.
Naturally, the biggest banks wanted to be allowed to do this again. And naturally the wrecker gave it to them.
India banned The Voice of Hind Rajab - 2026-03-27T09:38:32+00:00
India banned The Voice of Hind Rajab to placate Israel.
Russia shutting off mobile phone networks - 2026-03-27T09:38:32+00:00
In the name of "security", Russia is shutting off mobile phone networks, but in an unpredictable way which causes trouble for many activities, some of which Putin has no evident motive to shut down.
Ironically, it means people have to live the way I choose to live. It is a little inconvenient and much less vulnerable to surveillance.
Survivor from boat US military attacked - 2026-03-27T09:38:31+00:00
Finally, there is a survivor from one of the boats that the US military attacked and sunk.
Maybe the survivor will testify about what the people on the boat were doing.
Woman arrested for "murder" for taking abortion pills - 2026-03-27T09:38:30+00:00
A woman in Georgia has been arrested for "murder" for taking abortion pills.
Smokeless fuels produce ultrafine particles - 2026-03-27T09:38:30+00:00
Burning "smokeless" fuels at home produces produce less particulate pollution of the usual size, but instead produces lots of ultrafine particles.
The usual particulate pollution damages people's health. Does the small particulate pollution do likewise?
Deportation-protests as terror, US - 2026-03-27T02:38:45+00:00
*Why We Have to Fight Back Against [deportation] Protesters' Terror Convictions.*
Democracy metrics in steep backslide, US - 2026-03-27T02:38:45+00:00
According to the V-Dem Institute, democracy is in rapid decline globally, and the US is leading the decline.
World-wide, only 18 countries are observed to be democratizing. The article does not give a comparable count of countries that are autocratizing, but they are 40% of the world's population.
Heatwave covering CA, NV - 2026-03-27T02:38:45+00:00
Temperatures in California, Nevada and Arizona are 22-25 °F above normal. Temperatures are about to reach as much as 108°F. The heat will put some people's health in danger, and it's only the very beginning of spring.
If part of July is 22-25 °F above normal, that will kill thousands, or perhaps tens of thousands. This is global heating.
Urgent: Speaking engagements, Europe - 2026-03-26T08:38:56+00:00
I expect to have a trip to Europe in May - June. The start and end dates remain to be decided.
If you would like to invite me to speak during that trip, please write to me now so we can start discussing it. Write to `-invitation' following my three-letter username.
Kennedy Center closing down for two years - 2026-03-26T02:35:20+00:00
The board of the Kennedy Center in Washington DC, newly altered by the saboteur in chief, voted to close down for two years of "renovations".
I can imagine what the building will look like after that remodeling: every 20 feet along any wall there will be a molding depicting his face. It will be necessary to spend more money to undo that.
Greatly reduced homicides in Oakland, CA - 2026-03-26T02:35:20+00:00
How Oakland, California, greatly reduced homicides.
"Emergency Order" to restart leaky oil pipeline - 2026-03-26T02:35:20+00:00
California law shut down a leaky, polluting pipeline under the Pacific Ocean from Santa Barbara, after it spilled a lot of oil on a beach. so the oil spiller in chief gave the pipeline's owner, as a favor, an "emergency order" to restart it immediately.
California and the federal government continue legal action over whether the pipeline will be allowed to operate. What is clear is that having one more oil pipeline operating is not overall a benefit for the world.
Democratic candidates backed by AIPAC - 2026-03-26T02:35:20+00:00
Democratic candidates that are backed by AIPAC are now reluctant to admit that.
Google dis-service offering online medical advice deactivated - 2026-03-26T02:35:20+00:00
Google has deactivated an online dis-service that until recently offered medical advice based on applying Pretend Intelligence to what users with no medical training said.
This may have been the wise course, since Pretend Intelligence does not actually understand the text it inputs or outputs.
Criticism of streaming platforms in mainstream press - 2026-03-26T02:35:19+00:00
In the mainstream press, even criticism of streaming platforms takes for granted that they are entitled to the power to control what you can do with a recording, and thus reinforces that assumption. Here's an example.
Once you recognize that that power is based on Digital Restrictions Management, which means using nonfree software to control what users can and can't do, you can resist that implicit argument in favor of subjugating you.
Many infants start practicing deception before they can talk - 2026-03-26T02:35:19+00:00
Many infants start practicing deception before they can talk, at an age of less than one year.
Eight protesters in Texas convicted - 2026-03-26T02:35:19+00:00
Eight protesters in Texas, allegedly supporting of the alleged organization "Antifa", were convicted of "material support for terrorism". In their trial, prosecutors cited the fact that some of them wore black clothing, used Signal, and/or carried guns.
Right-wingers also carry guns at protest, and use Signal, but somehow do not get prosecuted for that.
US Department of Health ignored administration of Title X - 2026-03-26T02:35:18+00:00
The US Department of Health quietly ignored the administration of Title X, which provides birth control and sex-specific medical treatment for females, and the system may soon collapse.
I have a suspicion that this mysterious failure was engineered by right-wing extremist Christians who seek to force females to have babies.
Wrecker's new nominee to head of Department of Hatred and Sadism - 2026-03-26T02:35:18+00:00
The wrecker's new nominee to head the Department of Hatred and Sadism has a pattern of speaking so as to give the false impression that he has military experience.
This deception marks him as untrustworthy, but if he were honest about his lack of military experience, that might not be crucial. The DHS does not manage soldiers, after all.
I expect that anyone nominated by the wrecker would regard it as per mission to be cruel and sadistic, and thus should not be confirmed, but that is a separate issue.
Burning Tesla "cybertrucks" locked passengers inside - 2026-03-26T02:35:18+00:00
Tesla "cybertrucks" have locked passengers inside and burned so hot they've disintegrated drivers' bones.
States should designate vehicles which can lock passengers in as unsafe and illegal to drive on a road.
Populations of insect-eating birds in EU - 2026-03-26T02:35:18+00:00
Just 8 years after the EU banned neonicotinoid pesticides, the populations of insect-eating birds are starting to recover.
Because these pesticides are persistent, full recovery will take a long time. I hope other human-caused effects, such as global heating, will not swamp it.
British "Reform" party trying to bribe voters - 2026-03-26T02:35:17+00:00
The British right-wing extremist "Reform" Party is trying to bribe voters by entering them in a lottery, where winning may depend on which party you voted for, and stating which one you will vote for next time.
Zelenskyy offers Europe help in countering drone attacks - 2026-03-26T02:35:17+00:00
Zelenskyy offers Europe Ukraine's help in countering drone attacks, whether from Russia, from Iran, or from criminal gangs.
New link - 2026-03-26T02:35:16+00:00
Urgent: Energy market - 2026-03-26T02:35:15+00:00
US citizens: call on Congress to investigate energy market manipulation.
US citizens: Join with this campaign to address this issue.
To phone your congresscritter about this, the main switchboard is +1-202-224-3121.
Please spread the word.
Urgent: No funding for Iran war - 2026-03-25T02:38:20+00:00
US citizens: call on Congress to reject the $200 billion funding request for the war with Iran.
US citizens: Join with this campaign to address this issue.
To phone your congresscritter about this, the main switchboard is +1-202-224-3121.
Please spread the word.
Urgent: Unwanted pro-war propaganda - 2026-03-25T02:38:19+00:00
US citizens: call on Congress to investigate FCC Chairman Carr's threats to silence news media that report on the Iran war without slanting it to favor the war-starter.
US citizens: Join with this campaign to address this issue.
To phone your congresscritter about this, the main switchboard is +1-202-224-3121.
Please spread the word.
Urgent: Families, child care unfunded - 2026-03-25T02:38:19+00:00
US citizens: call on your federal legislators to stop the bully's attack on child care and families.
See the instructions for how to sign this letter campaign without running any nonfree JavaScript code--not trivial, but not hard.
US citizens: Join with this campaign to address this issue.
To phone your congresscritter about this, the main switchboard is +1-202-224-3121.
Please spread the word.
Urgent: No Kings - 2026-03-25T02:38:19+00:00
On March 28, or a date close to that, join one of the No Kings protests.
Alzheimer's drug that occasionally kills patients - 2026-03-24T03:18:43+00:00
A drug that is used to slow Alzheimer's disease occasionally kills patients. This article reports on an alleged conspiracy to get the drug wrongfully approved, and threats against someone who wrote about deaths that it caused.
Corruption of the medical system by Big Pharma is rife, and it does a lot of harm. Threats of violence against journalists are part of the evil of fascism.
But this drug raises an deeper question. Can a treatment for Alzheimer's disease be beneficial for patients, and thus morally deserve approval, despite killing a small fraction of the patients who take it?
Alzheimer's disease turns its victims slowly into zombies. Although the patient's body continues to live, the person who became a zombie is dead. This begs the question, if a certain drug gives a large fraction of patients several more years of non-zombie life, but kills a small fraction of them, does that make it a failure? If on the average it extends patients' non-zombie life, does that make it a bet worth making, one that drug regulations should allow people to make?
This question is important to me personally because I can envision being in that situation in a few years.
Fabrication by undercover infiltrator cop - 2026-03-24T03:18:43+00:00
One of Britain's undercover infiltrator cops seems to have fabricated an accusation that an animal rights activist wanted to get a gun and attack someone with it. Fortunately, his handlers distrusted the accusation.
I speculate that a cop whose job includes lying as part of false friendship will tend to normalize lying to anyone else.
Falsely identified by facial recognition system - 2026-03-24T03:18:43+00:00
A facial recognition system falsely identified a suspect as Angela Lipps, and she was jailed for 6 months; then, when she was brought to a courtroom in another state, the court noticed that the criminal could not be her. Meanwhile, she had lost her home and her car.
False identifications will always occur. Although this one used digital face matching, recognition by human witnesses makes mistakes too. But I think that the main mistake here was to wait 6 months before noticing her alibi and without granting her bail.
Charges dropped against soldiers accused of raping prisoner - 2026-03-24T03:18:43+00:00
The Israeli army has dropped charges against soldiers accused of raping a Palestinian prisoner.
The grounds given for dropping the charges are that (1) the prisoner had been released to Gaza and (2) *the conduct of senior officials had affected the chance of holding a fair trial.* To me, this says that (1) they are exaggerating to create an excuse and (2) high officials created an excuse and have suffered no punishment for it.
Bayer's CEO met with US regulators - 2026-03-24T03:18:42+00:00
*Top US regulators met with Bill Anderson, Bayer's CEO, last year to discuss "litigation" issues – including "supreme court action" over its glyphosate weed killer – just months before henchmen administration took a series of steps to boost Bayer's case at the high court, internal government records show.*
This sounds like a betrayal of the US — analogous to treason except that it occurred in a civil dispute rather than in a war.
Cops use license plate cameras to help deportation thugs - 2026-03-24T03:18:42+00:00
Local cops of some US towns regularly search license plate cameras to help the deportation thugs to track immigrants.
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