Richard Stallman

Richard Stallman's Political Notes -

Urgent: Stop showing recruitment ads for deportation thugs - 2026-02-04T10:39:22+00:00

Everyone: call on Google and YouTube to stop showing recruitment ads for the deportation thugs.

See the instructions for how to sign this letter campaign without running any nonfree JavaScript code--not trivial, but not hard.

Urgent: Temporary immigration permission for Haitian refugees - 2026-02-04T10:39:22+00:00

US citizens: call on your congresscritter to sign the discharge petition for preserving temporary immigration permission for Haitian refugees.

See the instructions for how to sign this letter campaign without running any nonfree JavaScript code--not trivial, but not hard.

Urgent: Call for firing the gnome - 2026-02-04T10:39:21+00:00

US citizens: call for firing the gnome (Kristi Noem).

Section 702 of PAT RIOT Act - 2026-02-04T10:39:21+00:00

What's happening with Section 702 of the PAT RIOT Act, which allows massive collection of Americans' communication because they get lumped in with the communications of foreigners.

Separatists in Alberta accused of treason - 2026-02-04T10:39:21+00:00

Separatists in Alberta are accused of treason because they met secretly with US officials seeking assistance in launching a referendum to break up Canada.

There is little chance the referendum would win, but the corrupter might fabricate the claim that it was defeated by supposed "fraud".

EU called upon to phase out fossil fuels from US - 2026-02-04T10:39:21+00:00

Civil society organizations called on the EU to phase out purchases of fossil fuels from the US.

The fossil fuels carry a threat of global disaster, and buying them from the US carries a threat of global fascism.

Tax breaks for landlords in Australia - 2026-02-04T10:39:20+00:00

*Australia spends more on tax breaks for landlords than social housing, homelessness and rent assistance combined.*

This demonstrates which people the politicians listen to. Australia needs a Spread the Wealth party that will prioritize the non-rich.

Australia outsources deportation prisons. - 2026-02-04T10:39:20+00:00

Australia outsources deportation prisons. For an additional shock, it outsources them to a multinational company accused of "gross negligence" in its deportation prisons in the US.

Outsourcing any government service to specific companies invites them to skimp on the work and gouge the state. The practice should be abolished.

Alex Pretti 11 days before deportation thugs killed him - 2026-02-04T10:39:19+00:00

11 days before deportation thugs killed Alex Pretti, he was at or near a protest and made an angry but harmless gesture against deportation thugs' car, whereupon some came out and violently attacked him.

On that occasion, the thugs didn't shoot him, but they committed violence against various people present at the protest.

I'm gratified to see that others have joined me in calling cops that commit wanton and gratuitous violence "thugs". Whether cops act like thugs depends on their training. The persecutor's >haste to hire tens of thousands more deportation thugs, with little qualifications and little training, surely encourages their gratuitous violence.

Doctors being arrested in Iran - 2026-02-04T10:39:19+00:00

* Doctors are being arrested in Iran for helping save the lives of some of the tens of thousands injured during Iran's [murderous] crackdown on anti-regime protests.*

Pretend Intelligence to write transportation regulations - 2026-02-04T10:39:19+00:00

The magat administration plans to use Pretend Intelligence to write federal transportation regulations.

It may do no harm as long as the numskull is in charge, since he often tells his officials to ignore what regulations actually say and impose unrelated requirements or no requirements.

Australia's law to protect environment - 2026-02-04T10:39:18+00:00

* Australia's law that is supposed to protect the environment and cultural heritage doesn’t work.* Analysis of one major recent case demonstrates this.

Chicago to investigate deportation thugs - 2026-02-04T10:39:18+00:00

Chicago is preparing to investigate deportation thugs for crimes they commit.

If University of Pennsylvania hands over list of Jews - 2026-02-04T10:39:18+00:00

If the US government succeeds in forcing the University of Pennsylvania to hand over a list of students and employees who are Jews, it could make any school or any employer give a list of Jews, a list of Muslims, and maybe even a list of Atheists.

The irony of starting the persecution of a group by pretending to be working to protect it would be a fillip of delight for the cunning persecutors of Project 2025.

Venezuelans must choose their own path - 2026-02-04T10:39:17+00:00

*We Venezuelans must choose our own path. We need fair elections, not bombs or contracts with the US oil industry.*

WhatsApp can access purportedly 'private' communications - 2026-02-04T10:39:17+00:00

A lawsuit claims that WhatsApp "can access virtually all of WhatsApp users’ purportedly 'private' communications."

I don't know any facts about what WhatsApp can decrypt at present. What I do know is that the app is nonfree software. As a matter of fundamental principle, you can't trust a non-free program to deal with you honestly. Meta certainly could rig the WhatsApp app to save the cleartext of messages, and send it to the server (encrypted in a way the server can decrypt, just so users can't tell what it is doing). I know of nothing that would prevent or deter it from doing so.

As for whether it has actually done so, I have no knowledge about that. Maybe the lawsuit will give us information. But if we learn that Meta has not done this, that won't prove it can't do so next year.

Aspects of fascism in wrecker's misrule - 2026-02-04T10:39:17+00:00

Identifying many diagnostic aspects of fascism in the wrecker's misrule.

Farcical case against Don Lemon and Georgia Fort - 2026-02-04T10:39:17+00:00

*The Farcical Case Against Don Lemon and Georgia Fort for Protest Reporting.*

The arrest of journalists Don Lemon and Georgia Fort in Minnesota was ordered by Persecutor General Bondi, after two courts had ruled there was nothing to arrest them for. It is an example the bully's attempt to eliminate freedom of the press.

Israel's army accepted figures of casualties - 2026-02-04T10:39:17+00:00

Israel's army has accepted HAMAS's figures for casualties in Gaza. This is after two years of claiming they were lies.

Doomsday clock - 2026-02-04T10:39:09+00:00

The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists advanced the Doomsday Clock to 85 seconds before midnight.

*The scientists cited risks of nuclear war, the climate crisis, potential misuse of biotechnology and the increasing use of [pretend intelligence and] artificial intelligence without adequate controls.*

Drug search danger - 2026-02-04T10:39:09+00:00

How drug searches at events increase the danger to participants from drugs.

Border patrol commander - 2026-01-31T22:39:05+00:00

The persecutor is walking back his outrageous accusations against the victims of the thugs' crimes, but not very far — now it is a "tragedy", as if no one were responsible.

Bovino, whom the persecutor chose to lead the mad stampede of deportation thugs in Minnesota, has returned to his previous local post. Alas, his replacement is just as cruel

even if not as wild.

I think all this represents unstated recognition that the blatant lies that high officials were telling about the people that thugs had murdered were driving some of their supporters away.

Police resource allocation concern - 2026-01-31T22:39:04+00:00

The corrupter has continued a decades-long trend of increasing the resources put into policing (and punishing) of ordinary people's behavior, and reducing the policing (investigation) of rich people's self-enrichment behavior.

Biden went against that trend when he gave the IRS more money to investigate tax dodgers. Of course, the corrupter reversed that change, precisely because it was effective.

Trump sues IRS and US treasury - 2026-01-31T22:39:04+00:00

An IRS employee leaked the corrupter's private income tax data, and was properly convicted and sentenced for doing so. Now the corrupter is suing the IRS and demands ten billion dollars in damages for the leak.

The president should not be allowed to sue federal agencies at all, because that creates an opportunity for corruption.

DHS Is Expanding Domestic Surveillance - 2026-01-31T22:39:04+00:00

The deportation thugs are expanding pervasive surveillance in a way that threatens the rights of everyone in the US.

Ian McEwan call for extending rights - 2026-01-31T22:39:04+00:00

*Ian McEwan calls for assisted dying rights to extend to dementia sufferers.*

My mother used to say to me: 'If I ever become really terrible, I’d like you to finish me off.' But of course, that’s to commit murder as things stand. Imagine standing up in court and saying: ‘Well, she did say when we were on the beach 20 years ago …' By the time my mother was well advanced and could not recognize anyone, she was dead. She was alive and dead all at once. It was a terrible thing.

Such a person is effectively a zombie. We should have the right to register in advance, when we still have the capacity to think about the question, the request to be killed painlessly if we become zombies.

Third No Kings protests - 2026-01-31T22:39:03+00:00

The next No Kings protest will be held on March 28th against the deportation thugs' "reign of terror".

Urgent: stop funding inhumane tactics - 2026-01-31T22:39:03+00:00

US citizens: call on your rep and senators to have Congress stop funding DHS’ and ICE’s inhumane and lethal tactics.

See the instructions for how to sign this letter campaign without running any nonfree JavaScript code—not trivial, but not hard.

Urgent: stop ICE home invasion - 2026-01-31T22:39:03+00:00

In the US: call on your state attorney general to stop deportation thugs from invading people's homes without a warrant.

See the instructions for how to sign this letter campaign without running any nonfree JavaScript code—not trivial, but not hard.

Urgent: call on Verizon - 2026-01-31T22:39:02+00:00

In the US: call on Verizon to terminate its contracts with the Department of Hatred and Sadism and with I Can't Empathize.

See the instructions for how to sign this letter campaign without running any nonfree JavaScript code—not trivial, but not hard.

Urgent: choose peace - 2026-01-31T22:39:01+00:00

US citizens: urge your representative and senators to support continuing the New START nuclear arms limitation treaty and the moratorium on testing nuclear weapons.

See the instructions for how to sign this letter campaign without running any nonfree JavaScript code—not trivial, but not hard.

Amazon fresh closures - 2026-01-31T16:38:45+00:00

Amazon is giving up on its surveillance-based stores that require every customer to be tracked. Hooray for the failure of an initiative that tried to expand surveillance! But that still leaves so much surveillance that we need to put an end to.

Bushfires - 2026-01-31T16:38:45+00:00

*Bushfires in Victoria push threatened species to the brink.*

One kind of human-caused disaster thus tends to cause other kinds.

Urgent: stop Chevron's responsibility evading - 2026-01-31T16:38:44+00:00

Everyone: call on Tell Chevron’s CEO: Stop evading Chevron’s responsibility for your destruction of Louisiana's coast.

See the instructions for how to sign this letter campaign without running any nonfree JavaScript code--not trivial, but not hard.

Swift bricks - 2026-01-31T16:38:44+00:00

Scotland has legislated new buildings must include swift bricks that provide nesting spaces for swifts.

These special bricks contain a cavity that small birds can nest in. The added cost of construction is minuscule, but business owners think a little more profit is worth destruction of endangered species.

Pretend intelligence office chaos - 2026-01-31T16:38:44+00:00

People who use Pretend Intelligence for work meetings and job interviews are causing chaos in business. Some of them are trying to use it to compensate for their own lack of ability or knowledge. People who catch on to this learn they cannot be trusted.

Urgent: block big tech data centers - 2026-01-31T16:38:44+00:00

US citizens: call on your local and state leaders to block Big Tech data centers in your community.

See the instructions for how to sign this letter campaign without running any nonfree JavaScript code--not trivial, but not hard.

LA wildfires and insurance industry - 2026-01-31T16:38:44+00:00

US homeowners whose homes were destroyed by fire report that some insurance companies seem to be trying to fob them off with much less then the actual value of the destroyed home or what rebuilding would cost.

UK ecosystem collapse - 2026-01-31T16:38:43+00:00

The UK government tried to cover up its report on ecosystem collapse, after first deleting some of the most frightening parts. (What was not deleted is plenty frightening anyway.)

*"Ecosystem degradation is occurring across all regions. Every critical ecosystem is on a pathway to collapse (irreversible loss of function beyond repair)." This presents a threat to "UK national security and prosperity". It says "the world is already experiencing impacts including crop failures, intensified natural disasters and infectious disease outbreaks. Threats will increase with degradation and intensify with collapse." The results will include geopolitical and economic instability, increased conflict and competition for resources. "It is unlikely the UK would be able to maintain food security if ecosystem collapse drives geopolitical competition for food." It also warns that "conflict and military escalation will become more likely, both within and between states, as groups compete for arable land and food and water resources".*

The Starmer government is tossing out environmental protection commitments made by the Tories.

Last remaining hostage's corpse found - 2026-01-31T16:38:43+00:00

The corpse of the last remaining hostage was found -- in the Israel-occupied area of Gaza, were HAMAS could not easily search for it.

This demonstrates that Netanyahu was using that corpse as an excuse to continue the occupation and siege, and the killing of Palestinians.

The article does not say who actually found the corpse. I am curious about this because I conjecture that Netanyahu did his best to avoid its being found.

Extreme heat - 2026-01-31T16:38:43+00:00

Modeling projects that 40% of the world population will face extreme heat by 2050, if the world reaches 2°C of global heating by then.

The article says 41%, but such a prediction cannot be exact enough to justify stating the result with two significant figures. The proper scientific way to state it is 40%.

The study reports that every nation is unprepared for this level of heat, which generally kills some people. However, instead of planning to treat the symptoms in 2050, the wise priority is to curb global heating so that we don't reach that level of danger. The ecological side effects of that much heating (fires, floods, crop failures and hunger, spreading parasites, diseases, extinctions) may be far more dangerous to civilization and humans than the direct effects of high temperatures.

Instagram - 2026-01-31T16:38:43+00:00

Is presenting your children's lives on Instagram somehow dangerous to them?

This article seems to take for granted an emotional conclusion that makes no sense to me. I just don't get it. Why would being talked about on Instagram hurt a child?

I am not saying it can't do that -- I don't know. But I can't see why the writer expects that result.

I have never seen Instagram, and have never wished to look. I am not interested in gawking at the details of someone else's luxuries or activities. Why waste time on that when there are so many more important or more interesting things to do?

But I know of bad things that Instagram tends to do to anyone.

Connecting to Instagram requires identifying oneself. I don't want anyone to track what I look at. I don't want anyone to track what you look at, either -- such tracking is the foundation for repression.

Another reason is that connecting to Instagram requires running nonfree software (either an app or JavaScript programs sent to our browser). Running them implies surrendering freedom. I refuse to be a zucker, and I hope you won't be one either.

Instagram seems to promote parasocial relationships. I don't want a parasocial relationship with anyone, because that strikes me as a kind of self-delusion. If I wish that a certain famous person were my friend, I also wish to remain aware of the reality of the situation. I can't tell you what to do, but I hope you'll focus on reality.

Andy Burnham - 2026-01-31T16:38:42+00:00

Starmer's appointees have blocked authentic Labour activist Andy Burnham from running for an open seat in Parliament. Evidently his priority for the Labour Party is to ensure it never returns to championing workers and the non-rich, as it was founded to do. He'd rather nail its coffin shut than allow it to win by allowing it to be true to its purpose.

Alex Pretti - 2026-01-31T16:38:42+00:00

*NRA and pro-gun groups call for full investigation into killing of Alex Pretti.*

Any person or group that upholds any right whatsoever for citizens in general will have conflicts with the magat position, which is that magats can do whatever they like to anyone else.

Second amendment - 2026-01-31T16:38:42+00:00

Gun lovers are up in arms at the statement (by the persecutor's henchman) that thugs are entitled to shoot anyone who has a gun (even if perse doing nothing threatening with it).

The article also says that one of the thugs took Pretti's gun before other thugs shot him. So it seems that thugs are entitled to shoot anyone who had a gun, even if perse has since been disarmed.

I advocate gun control laws, but those who are permitted to carry a gun should not be killed for carrying one as long as they don't threaten anyone.

Israel's corpse search - 2026-01-31T16:38:41+00:00

Israel has ceased using the last hostage corpse as an excuse to continue the siege of Gaza. It is instead searching for the corpse, which at least is not hurting anyone.

Whether Israel will really end the siege now remains to be seen.

New pun - 2026-01-31T16:38:41+00:00

The sunglasses

FBI to investigate Minneapolis activists after claim about anti-ICE chats - 2026-01-31T16:38:41+00:00

A right-wing extremist joined a chat with people discussing how to identify and find deportation thugs, presumed that this was for some illegal plan, informed the henchman in charge of the FBI (who he knows), and the latter eagerly started investigating them in the hopes of finding such a plan.

By contrast, when deportation thugs commit major crimes including murder, federal agencies look aside.

Families of Boat Strike Victims Sue US - 2026-01-31T16:38:41+00:00

Families of two men killed by a US attack on a small boat are suing the US government.

Minnesota judge summons acting ICE director - 2026-01-31T16:38:40+00:00

A federal judge in Minnesota ordered the acting head of the deportation thugs to come personally to court and answer questions, since the agency has ignored court orders and questions from the court.