Richard Stallman

Richard Stallman's Political Notes -

Xi Jinping EU tour, amid spying concerns - 2024-05-13T08:47:37+00:00

*Rise in Chinese espionage arrests alarms Europe. Increase in cases reflects changing mood across continent towards Chinese threats, say experts.*

Militia of bad cops as FL state guard - 2024-05-13T08:47:36+00:00

An ex-thug known for harassment has been welcomed into Governor DeMentis's politicizable militia.

People like that are public dangers. He should not be in the National Guard either, nor any thug department.

On the clampdown of protesters in UK - 2024-05-13T08:47:35+00:00

* The former director of [UK] public prosecutions for England and Wales has warned against the risk of creating “thought crimes” amid the recent clampdown on protesters and demonization of demonstrators by politicians.*

When you're winning, jump, ISR - 2024-05-13T08:47:34+00:00

*The Guardian view on Israel's far right: occupation of Palestinian territory feeds its extremism.*

A US report on its Israel relations - 2024-05-13T08:47:33+00:00

*The State Department lays out numerous suspected international humanitarian violations by Israel in its war on Gaza, yet suggests no changes in policy or consequences.*

This is a peculiar sort of mental blindness, the blindness of he who will not see.

"Antisemitism" in the RWing playbook - 2024-05-13T08:47:32+00:00

*Campus protest crackdowns claim to be about antisemitism — but they're part of a rightwing plan.*

*US campus protests give [the fascist leader] a target for his violent rhetoric of vengeance.*

Russian assassination plot foiled, UKR - 2024-05-12T20:48:18+00:00

A concrete Russian plot to assassinate President Zelenskiy has been exposed.

The saboteur's project 2025 - 2024-05-12T20:48:16+00:00

What the corrupter told an interviewer he would do if he wins or steals the election.

*To carry out a deportation operation designed to remove more than 11 million people from the country … he would be willing to build migrant detention camps and deploy the U.S. military, both at the border and inland. He would let red states monitor women’s pregnancies and prosecute those who violate abortion bans. He would, at his personal discretion, withhold funds appropriated by Congress, according to top advisers. He would be willing to fire a U.S. Attorney who doesn’t carry out his order to prosecute someone, breaking with a tradition of independent law enforcement that dates from America’s founding. He is weighing pardons for every one of his supporters accused of attacking the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, more than 800 of whom have pleaded guilty or been convicted by a jury. He might not come to the aid of an attacked ally in Europe or Asia if he felt that country wasn’t paying enough for its own defense. He would gut the U.S. civil service, deploy the National Guard to American cities as he sees fit, close the White House pandemic-preparedness office, and staff his Administration with acolytes who back his false assertion that the 2020 election was stolen.*

Rafah-invasion explainer - 2024-05-12T14:46:21+00:00

The Israeli army seized the Rafah crossing, the main path for the insufficient aid that still enters Gaza, and closed it. If any US aid travels to Gaza that way, US law (as I understand it) requires cutting off military assistance to Israel. Promised new routes for aid to enter Gaza are not possible replacements for the Rafah crossing because they are not actually ready for use.

I interpret this as Netanyahu's defiance to Biden: "You weakling, I dare you to obey that law." Since then, Biden has suspended delivery of one kind of weapon to Israel. Maybe that was a response telling Netanyahu, "Just you watch!" Has he found the courage to go further than that one suspension?

Let's not lose sight of where we want to end up.

Traditional USA "old college try" - 2024-05-12T14:46:20+00:00

*[Sacramento State University] will pursue an investment strategy divested from “corporations & funds that profit from genocide, ethnic cleansing, and activities that violate fundamental human rights.”*

Several other US universities have made agreements with student protesters along roughly similar lines, including two that had first tried violence against the students.

This is a significant achievement for the student protesters, all the more so because it is general, not aimed only at Israel.

In and of itself, that is a good goal, but as a means for ending the bombardment and siege of Gaza, I fear it is too indirect and too slow.

NO to the foreign influence bill, GEO - 2024-05-12T14:46:19+00:00

Georgia (Sakartvelo)'s government is pushing a repressive law modeled after Putin's repression of NGOs. Georgians, especially young ones, are protesting this.

Filmmaker's incarcerations, Iran - 2024-05-12T14:46:18+00:00

A prominent Iranian film director faces 8 years in prison for making a movie that has attracted international attention. The idea that the festival would drop the showing of the movie if the government flogs him into saying "Don't show my film!" is offensive. Film festivals should disregard whatever the director and other participants are forced to say, and they should make sure in advance that torturers know that approach is futile.

Cancel all medical debt - 2024-05-12T02:46:58+00:00

*Bernie Sanders and Ro Khanna reveal bill aimed at eliminating medical debt.*

Defensive operation - 2024-05-12T02:46:57+00:00

Northern Ireland thugs spied on journalists that were investigating them.

Natalie Elphicke - 2024-05-12T02:46:56+00:00

Starmer welcomed a defecting Tory MP whose views are very right wing.

It shows his goal is victory, and never mind for what cause.

*Natalie Elphicke's queasy welcome shows Labour will turn no one away.*

Antisemitism - 2024-05-12T02:46:55+00:00

*US public school officials push back in congressional hearing on antisemitism.*

A Republican on the committee accused the officials of lying, based on no grounds, and then threatened them with wrecking their careers. That's a Republican bully for you.

University protester - 2024-05-12T02:46:54+00:00

*What a 1968 Columbia University protester makes of today’s pro-Palestinian encampment.*

Israel violating US bomb-usage laws, LBN - 2024-05-11T14:47:41+00:00

*Israeli airstrike that killed seven health workers in Lebanon used US munition.*

What conclusion follows from this depends on conclusions that would depend on an investigation. If Israeli forces knew it was targeting medical personnel, that was a war crime.

If it did not know, it may not have been a war crime. but it should be scandalous anyway. Why did they not know? Did they try hard enough to identify the target? Israel seems to be ready to kill lots of civilians in Gaza.

Biden pauses bombs-delivery to ISR - 2024-05-11T14:47:40+00:00

Biden has blocked a large shipment to Israel of large dumb bombs, demanding that Israel start avoiding harm to Palestinian civilians.

Thank you, Biden. You should have done this a few months ago, but better late than never.

Let's not lose sight of where we want to end up.

Evacuation immiseration in Rafah, Gaza - 2024-05-11T14:47:40+00:00

*600,000 Palestinian [minors] in Rafah Can't "Evacuate" Safely, UNICEF Official Says.*

Mental illness' childhood-causation, AUS - 2024-05-11T14:47:39+00:00

Almost a quarter of Australia's cases of depression, anxiety and are caused by childhood maltreatment and could in principle be prevented.

Farmers' climate catastrophe, UK, LATAM - 2024-05-11T14:47:38+00:00

*The climate crisis is making the farming business unsustainable — and without support for us, food security will suffer too.*

The article claims that a 30% increase in money what farmers receive would make up for a 30% decrease in crop yields. In financial terms, it would do that, but it would not at all fill the 30% shortage in food. What needs to be subsidized is curbing global heating, to make farming somewhat reliable again.

*Climate chaos [in Latin America] is threatening food production, trade and lives.*

Climate scientists: civ in peril soon - 2024-05-11T14:47:37+00:00

*World’s top climate scientists expect global heating to blast past 1.5°C target.* They expect a 2.5°C rise, which implies disaster.

Polycrisis: Human rights vs govt and biz - 2024-05-11T02:48:09+00:00

David Boyd, until recently UN special rapporteur on human rights and the environment, says that government plans to curb global heating are succumbing to the pressure to profit by exploiting people and nature.

Liberation Day Anti-Fascist canceled, ITA - 2024-05-11T02:48:08+00:00

Journalists at Italy's public broadcaster plan to strike in protest against censorship by the right-wing government.

Suspects vs a corporate software pkg - 2024-05-11T02:48:07+00:00

A nonfree and secret program is being consulted by courts about how to treat individuals accused of crimes. That should be forbidden; every method used to evaluate and partially judge suspects must be entirely disclosed, and courts must be free to change it so as to follow court rulings about the rights of the accused. Basically, courts must use only free software for such purposes.

The developer claims that the program does "artificial intelligence", but that term is usually bullshit in general.

Political lying as criminal, UK - 2024-05-11T02:48:06+00:00

Wales considers making it a crime for politicians to lie to the public.

Lula finds who ordered Marielle's murder - 2024-05-10T08:46:35+00:00

* Two powerful politicians and Rio de Janeiro’s former chief of police have been arrested* in connection with the 2018 murder of city councilor Marielle Franco.*

Counter-protester racial misconduct, MS - 2024-05-10T08:46:34+00:00

At the University of Mississippi, a provocateur who harassed a protest on behalf of Palestine is being investigated over violence.

Noam, VP hopeful: Kill yer dog - 2024-05-10T08:46:33+00:00

*Noem book contains threat against Biden dog: "Commander, say hello to Cricket."*

This is a hint at a threat of violence — a standard right wing tactic, popularized by the wrecker. It is designed to fill his opponents with helpless rage, because it is too vague for any legal action. Meanwhile it sends right-wing supporters on a power trip imagining violence against whoever does not support them.

All in all, it demonstrates the vicious hate right-wingers display towards their chosen targets and scapegoats. But this is mild compared with what they usually do and threaten. Usually they target human beings.

Rafah residents flee, Gaza - 2024-05-10T08:46:33+00:00

Palestinians who have left east Rafah and tried to go to the "safe area" Israel recommended say it is difficult to get there, it is not a good place for inhabitance, and it is already filled with people who fled there first.

Student-protester wounds, NY, CA - 2024-05-10T08:46:33+00:00

NYPD thugs beat up and injured some of the students they arrested. They put several in solitary for hours, and they denied water (and food) to one for 16 hours. This while fabricating accusations to smear the protesters.

*[Uniformed thugs] let violent mobs attack UCLA students. This is what lawlessness looks like.* A large mob attacked the protesters with firecrackers and sprayed gas, then attacked with fists and poles. 25 of the protester/victims were hospitalized. The thugs did nothing to protect them. The next day, thugs arrested 200 of the protesters.

Major news media disregarded the facts and pretended that the protesters and the mob were equally to blame.

A generation of American students is learning the old lessons: that cops are cruel, violent liars when they deal with members of groups they despise, and that the mainstream media work hard to create false justifications.

Biden endorsed that same injustice of blaming the protesters for the violence that was done to them.

I will vote for Biden anyway, because the corrupter hatefully proclaims that he will be even worse.

Meanwhile, the UCLA administration condemned the thugs failure to protect the protesters and said they will investigate what happened.

If this is sincere, if that investigation is honest and unbiased, it could be an important step forward. But I am skeptical of that. If the UCLA administration really feels this way about the attack on the protesters, why did it tell LA thugs to arrest them?

Nahla and Sami Al-Arian - 2024-05-10T08:46:32+00:00

Two Columbia graduates who are journalists went back to campus to cover the student protest, and their mother, Nahla Al-Arian, came along for an hour. Night-Mayor Adams cited her as an example of an "outside agitator", fictitiously responsible for organizing the protest.

Their father, Professor Sami Al-Arian, was smeared as a terrorist by Dubya's men. The jury found him innocent on most of the charges, but there were some minor charges that the jury could not decide on. He was pressured into a plea bargain which is now being used by New York's thug department as an excuse to smear Nahla Al-Arian as an "outside organizer" of the protests, as if that would justify their violence.

Where venomous snakes can live and bite - 2024-05-10T08:46:31+00:00

*Venomous snakes likely to [move substantial distances to new habitats] en masse amid global heating, says study. Researchers find many countries unprepared for influx of new species and will be vulnerable to bites*

Medieval leprosy via fur trade - 2024-05-10T08:46:31+00:00

In medieval England, leprosy was transmitted between humans and red squirrels. It may have reached England on squirrels' furs.

RMS will give a talk in Paris - 2024-05-09T14:45:26+00:00

Richard Stallman will give a talk, in French, Free Software and Freedom in a Digital Society at Centrale Supelec in Saclay, on May 15.

Deal rejected, Israel invades Rafah - 2024-05-09T14:45:25+00:00

Israel has attacked part of Rafah, after calling on civilians there to move to another zone.

Has Israel come up with a way to attack HAMAS while not endangering civilians by the hundreds or thousands? I hope so, but I won't take that for granted. Israel has repeatedly failed to care about killing thousands of civilians.

The text suggests that the new "safe" zone is close to Rafah, but does not clearly say so, or how far one has to walk to get there.

For civilians weakened by hunger, and by untreated sickness and wounds, to carry their own bodies plus meager remaining belongings there may be beyond them. They also have reasons to distrust Israel's promise that it won't attack that zone. It has falsified such commitments before.

Let's not lose sight of where we want to end up.

Tory carbon plans found unlawful, again - 2024-05-09T14:45:24+00:00

A court ruled that the Tories "climate action plan" is illegal because it would be more properly called the "climate inaction plan".

New techniques read ancient scrolls - 2024-05-09T14:45:20+00:00

Breakthroughs in reading text in ancient scrolls that were toasted by an eruption of Mt Vesuvius are giving us a way to read copies of books believed lost.

How great that would be — many mysteries of history could be understood.

Election information crisis, 2024 - 2024-05-08T08:46:14+00:00

* Job losses [in US journalism], declining circulations and local newspaper closures could mean spread of misinformation in pivotal election year.*

Parsi burial rites lacking vultures - 2024-05-08T08:46:13+00:00

The drug diclofenac is poisonous to vultures. They eat dead cattle that were given diclofenac, and eventually they die from it. This has mostly wiped out vultures in India. As a result, Parsis cannot practice any more their religious duty to give corpses to the vultures.

I know a computing professor who told me he was a Parsi. I asked him, "Did you have a bad interaction with a Parser?" He collapsed in irresistible laughter — it was a delight.

Bumblebees need cool climates - 2024-05-08T08:46:13+00:00

Global heating leads to temperatures that exceed the capacity of bumblebees to cool their hive.

Irony, metaphor, misunderstood plays, UK - 2024-05-08T08:46:12+00:00

When Fawlty Towers was made, it was possible to have a character use a racial insult as a way of presenting that character as racist. John Cleese reports that this has become impossible, and *said some people "don't understand metaphor, irony or comedy exaggeration."*

I suggest that their deficiency is in "theory of mind": the faculty of distinguishing between what you think, what your interlocutor thinks, and what some other persons think.

Top Gaza-witness speaker banned, DE, EU - 2024-05-08T08:46:12+00:00

Surgeon Ghassan Abu-Sitta volunteered to work in Gaza, and has testified about Israeli attacks he has seen. French senators invited him to speak to them, but Germany has banned him from entering anywhere in the Schengen zone.

Did Germany present any basis claimed to justify this, or is it purely arbitrary?

Many universities' true American values - 2024-05-08T08:46:11+00:00

*The US universities that allow protest encampments — and even negotiate.*

A university president who rushes to call the thug department is not fit for the office.

Arbitrary repression, Columbia Uni., NY - 2024-05-08T08:46:10+00:00

The Columbia College Student Council accuses the university administration of imposing a policy of arbitrary repression ever since October, and become ever more cruel, arbitrary and unjust in the past weeks.

The university directed violent uniformed thugs at students it was falsely accusing of violence, all the while interfering with video recording of their violence. While claiming it was striving to "keep all members of our community physically safe", it opened the door to physical danger to them. This is part of a broad pattern of thugs committing violence against nonviolent protesters.

Some protesters were not entirely nonviolent — throwing things at thugs is aggressive, as well as self-defeating since it gives thugs an excuse to commit violence against those protesters and others too. It may also provoke them to the point that they lose self-control. That is not an excuse for their violence, but it is a reason not to provoke them.

The protest movement needs to develop nonviolence discipline, and marshals to enforce it, just as the civil rights movement and Vietnam peace movement did.

Heat disrupts schools, farms, THL, PHI, BGD - 2024-05-08T08:46:10+00:00

A general heat wave in south-east Asia, stretching from Bangladesh to the Philippines, is killing people and destroying crops.

It is clear that our global heating activities are part of the cause. Even worse, they are sure to make it hotter in the future. People can't survive if farming does not work.

University protests allowed, AU - 2024-05-08T08:46:09+00:00

*[A group of prestigious] Australian universities reject calls for police to break up Gaza protests.*

That bespeaks thoughtful attention to their various responsibilities.

IHRA antisemitism criterion - 2024-05-07T02:44:58+00:00

The US House of Representatives passed a bill which would judge cases of alleged antisemitism in education based on the criterion promulgated by the IHRA. This criterion mistakes some criticism of Israel for antisemitism and even one of its authors has condemned it.

I have no confidence that Senate Democrats will reject this for the sake of getting the distinction right.

Disinformationists - 2024-05-07T02:44:57+00:00

The UK's right-wing extremist party, which I will call Deform UK, is running disinformationist candidates reminiscent of supporters of today's US Republicans.

Australian image censorship - 2024-05-06T14:46:57+00:00

Australia has ordered Ex-Twitter to delete some images on the grounds that they are somehow disgusting.

I think Musk is right on this issue. If one country has the power to order Ex-Twitter to delete something, then any other country could do likewise. That would lead to deletion of anything that any country wants to censor. For instance, China would demand deletion of photos of events to remember the Tian An Men Square massacre, and even photos of the protest and massacre themselves.

Big oil disinformation - 2024-05-06T14:46:56+00:00

*Big oil spent decades sowing doubt about fossil fuel dangers, experts testify.*

Ukraine state agencies harassing journalists - 2024-05-06T14:46:55+00:00

Some independent journalists in Ukraine have encountered harassment through state agencies.

Al-Shifa hospital - 2024-05-06T14:46:53+00:00

Israel claimed that the al-Shifa hospital was deeply integrated with HAMAS tunnels and that they were used for combat operations. The Washington Post found a tunnel and an entrance, but no evidence it was used for combat, or that it was designed to be of use for combat.

The US government asked people to take that on faith, but past experience says we cannot give the US or Israel the total and implicit trust they ask for.

Common cold can kill chimps - 2024-05-06T14:46:52+00:00

Humans that come near chimpanzees transmit viruses that in humans cause only "colds" but can kill chimps.

Queensland sex work - 2024-05-06T14:46:51+00:00

Queensland, a part of Australia, has legalized sex work, but the right-wing opposition wants to criminalize it again if they win the next election.

Transgender actors and casting - 2024-05-06T14:46:49+00:00

*UK transgender actors appeal to be cast in non-trans roles.* Discrimination is in general a bad thing. If in general it gives good results to cast actors without discriminating between cis and trans, it is better not to discriminate.

The hard part is judging whether a trans actor can do a good job of playing a cis role, and likewise whether a cis actor can do a good job of playing a trans role. Whether actor A plays role R well is a question that is inherently subjective -- so how can you tell if you are giving way to discrimination?

NYPD raided Columbia U. because … - 2024-05-04T14:43:11+00:00

Night-Mayor Adams asserted that the Gaza protest in Columbia was booted by "outside agitators". Reporters are skeptical, and Adams won't say who those were.

Cost of rebuilding Gaza - 2024-05-04T14:43:10+00:00

*Rebuilding homes in Gaza will cost $40bn and take 16 years, UN finds.*

UC system: protesters' legal strikes back - 2024-05-04T14:43:10+00:00

The union of student workers at UCLA will strike against the school administration for using city thugs to crush a Gaza protest.

Peaceful resolutions to Uni. protesters - 2024-05-04T14:43:09+00:00

Rutgers and University of Minnesota reached compromises with protesting students, granting some of their demands, and students picked up their encampments.

If the students want to have an actual influence for peace in Gaza, and more rights for Palestine, they need to keep people thinking about the issue but not as a bitter knock-down confrontation.

Let's not lose sight of where we want to end up.

Brutal protester suppression: GA, OH, IN - 2024-05-04T14:43:08+00:00

Uniformed thugs let loose on protesters at Emory university went on a violent rampage against students and faculty — a gas-them-beat-them-and-frame-them operation.

The thugs that mauled protesters ought to go to jail. The university presidents that invited them to do that should resign.

(Satire) Students in NY penitentiary system - 2024-05-04T14:43:08+00:00

(satire) *Columbia University Gives Students Option To Finish Classes From Prison.*

Global changes that sever human bonds - 2024-05-04T14:43:07+00:00

*We think loneliness is in our heads, but its source lies in the ruin of civil society.*

In 2019, I found that the Tech Model Railroad Club (famously associated with early computer hackers) was almost dead. A few years before members had been vigorously developing it. I told Professor Sussman, and he told me that several years before, most incoming MIT freshmen had lost interest in physical hobbies and activities (model railroading being one). We both speculated that widespread use of snoop-phones and antisocial media platforms, which were addictive to social groups, helped to bring that change about.

A decrease in Americans' use of those systems might perhaps expand the space for civil society.

Columbia U. protesters vile statements - 2024-05-04T14:43:07+00:00

Some of the protesters on behalf of Palestine in Columbia called for burning Tel Aviv and for eliminating Israel.

The references for this are on Ex-Twitter and therefore inaccessible to me. What they said advocated mass killing and ethnic cleansing of Jews in Israel.

This is the same sort of wrong that right-wing Israelis are advocating and doing to Palestinians. But having this on both sides is not a step towards peace. It is not on the path to having both sides treat each other with respect.

Let's not lose sight of where we want to end up.

Biden - 2024-05-04T02:43:34+00:00

Biden is the most progressive, most liberal president the US has had since 1980. (I don't recall enough to judge how he compares with Jimmy Carter.) We should show our appreciation for that. On some important issues, he is doing great.

At the same time, on some other important issues he falls far short of what the US and the world needs and what we demand. We get frustrated and infuriated that he doesn't change for the better. One of these issues is ending the bombing and siege of Gaza.

How should we deal with this half-full, half-empty glass? I think we should make sure to keep showing both sides of what we feel.

We need to keep saying, "Yes, more of that," for the issues where Biden does the right thing, and "Stop this nonsense!" where he does not. To continue pressure on Biden, we need both sides. Sometimes we need both at once: "This is a big advance, but without more, we are still headed for disaster. Tackle the whole problem, fast!"

There are times for saying, "Yes, this measure is something to be proud of, for today." And there are times to say, "Don't make us laugh — that change is inadequate."

The student protests against Biden's inadequate efforts to protect the civilians of Gaza are running into increasing repression. Although not violent, they are calculated to provoke the schools to violence. This tends to make compromise impossible and leave no chance of agreeing on an outcome we would really want: It seems designed to lead to going down fighting, followed by years of hatred, rather than to a change for the better that leads to opportunities to demand further change.

Drug use in private places - 2024-05-03T14:44:19+00:00

British Columbia has modified its experimental system of decriminalizing some recreational drugs, limiting lawful use to private places.

I oppose prohibition of drugs, but requiring drug use to be in private places is not prohibition. I don't think it will cause the same great harm that prohibition has caused.

Israel's human rights abuses - 2024-05-03T14:44:19+00:00

*US finds Israeli units committed human rights abuses before Gaza war.*

LLMs and web searches - 2024-05-03T14:44:18+00:00

Because LLMs are not real intelligence, using them as a basis for web search is likely to lead to various bad results.

The article presumes that searching means "Google search", but for me it is just the opposite: I can't access Google search at all. For me, bizarre or inconvenient things that Google does to its search engine are things I won't notice.

So let's not forget that people can use other search engines if they get burned by Google's.

Business-supremacy treaties - 2024-05-03T14:44:17+00:00

Recent advances against business-supremacy treaties, around the world.

More about business-supremacy treaties.

Thug violence against Gaza protest - 2024-05-03T14:44:17+00:00

New Orleans thugs crushed a Gaza protest in a city park, using horrifying violence against participants and against bystanders.

When Republicans complain about federal debt - 2024-05-03T14:44:16+00:00

*So the next time you hear Republicans complain about the federal debt and our swelling interest payments on it, remember that: (1) the debt has grown mainly because of Republican tax cuts, (2) those cuts have mostly benefited the rich, (3) the rich are now the major recipients of interest payments on that debt, (4) and those interest payments are crowding out spending on childcare, elder care, affordable housing, better schools, paid family leave, and everything Americans need.*

Bowing to lobbyists - 2024-05-03T14:44:15+00:00

*Developed countries accused of bowing to lobbyists at plastic pollution talks[:] Campaigners say last-minute compromise plays into the hands of petrostates and industry influences.*

Big oil downplaying crisis - 2024-05-03T14:44:15+00:00

*Big oil privately acknowledged efforts to downplay climate crisis, Senate report finds.*

Coral bleaching - 2024-05-03T14:44:14+00:00

*Great Barrier Reef's worst bleaching [ever] leaves giant coral graveyard: "It looks as if it has been carpet bombed."*

G7 and unabated coal - 2024-05-03T14:44:13+00:00

*G7 agree to end use of unabated coal power plants by 2035.* However, they are failing to take action to reduce oil and gas use fast enough to avoid disaster.

A reprotoxic PFAS' high rate of increase - 2024-05-03T02:42:00+00:00

Human activity is increasing the concentration of one PFAS in drinking water by a substantial amount each year. Finding out whether this is causing major damage to humans is a question that will take difficult research, so it will be many years before we know whether we are causing a disaster this way.

Important lesson from history - 2024-05-03T02:42:00+00:00

*Everyone laughed at Hitler in the 1920s. A century on, are we making the same mistake?*

If we Americans don't make sure the wrecker loses, and then block his supporters from stealing the next election, we will never have another real election.

The 32 hr work week? - 2024-05-03T02:41:59+00:00

It is possible that some large companies are so inefficient that staff working 32 hours per week could get as much done as they now get done in 40 hours. But that can't work for small businesses.

What could work is to offer employees the flexibility to work four 10-hour days in a week.

Urgent: Working people need Congress - 2024-05-02T14:42:07+00:00

US citizens: call on Congress to side with working people, not billionaires and big business, by raising taxes on the latter.

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

Feds reconsidering cannabis - 2024-05-02T14:42:07+00:00

Biden plans to put marijuana into a less strict category of prohibition instead of legalizing it.

This is simply not adequate.

Columbia University protesters drama - 2024-05-02T14:42:07+00:00

Students at Columbia University occupied a building, and the president brought in cops to arrest them.

Was the occupation really organized by outside agitators unrelated to Columbia? I am skeptical of the claim, given that at least 50 students have been suspended. That sort of convenient accusation is easy to claim, whether it is true or not, because it is hard to disprove. I can't be sure it is false, but I would not trust Night-Mayor Adams' word for it, or President Shafik's.

Likewise for the claim that students destroyed doors and so on. I wonder what the protest organizers have to say about this claim.

What is unfortunate is that the confrontation has gone in a direction which is likely to lead university administrations to give priority to "showing who's boss" over all else. Which means that the protest movement can vent a lot of anger but it can't advance the cause of peace in Gaza. It can only create festering hostility.

It also plays into the hands of the right-wingers in Congress who bullied the university presidents, and the fascist leader they serve.

To make effective pressure for peace in Gaza, or more precisely to pressure the US to pressure Israel to allow peace in Gaza, would require different kind of protests.

Let's not lose sight of where we want to end up.

Medical abortion ban "science" - 2024-05-02T08:40:23+00:00

*Junk science is cited in abortion ban cases. Researchers are [calling for retraction of] the "fatally flawed" work*. They object on the grounds of scientific methodology, not based on the conclusions as such.

The ancient civilization myth, debunked - 2024-05-02T08:40:21+00:00

An archeologist describes the enormous weight of evidence that shows there was never a lost ancient civilization. The archeological evidence shows hunter gatherers all around the inhabited worlds.

New Spanish pun - 2024-05-02T02:40:24+00:00

New Spanish pun:

La ninfa de roble

University protesters debacle, MA - 2024-05-01T13:00:36+00:00

At a Gaza solidarity encampment in Northeastern University, "pro-Israel" counterprotesters shouted "Kill the Jews! Anybody onboard?", acting as dishonest provocateurs. The encampment responded with shouting and booing.

The university administration soon after cited this as a reason to tear up the encampment and arrest the protesters.

They have since tried to bury the crucial distinction between what the Gaza solidarity protesters said and their adversaries' provocations. That is deceitful.

If I learned I had made a mistake like this, I would be mortified, and I would do everything possible to unmake it. I would apologize for the arrests, drop all charges, return or replace any property stolen by cops, and authorize the reestablishment of the encampment.

Let's not lose sight of where we want to end up.

Project 2025 NOAA - 2024-05-01T13:00:31+00:00

*Climate experts fear [the wrecker] will follow a blueprint created by his allies to gut the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), disbanding its work on climate science and tailoring its operations to business interests.*

A suicide around an ELIZA effect - 2024-04-30T14:47:01+00:00

Chatbots can lead people to suicide. What should we make of that?

It seems that chatbots can build, with susceptible people, various sorts of self-reinforcing loops of conversation, such that both get stuck in the loop together.

Of course, this happens to people in interactions with other people. Getting out of them is a challenge.

A long wait in the casualty dept, UK - 2024-04-30T14:47:01+00:00

Inga Rublite died after waiting 8 hours in an emergency room in Britain. None of the staff had even looked at her or taken her blood pressure.

The fault does not belong to the overloaded staff. It belongs to the Tories, who have cut medical spending over and over, simply so the rich can pay less taxes.

Now that Labour has also caved to the rich and their demand for low taxes, Britain needs a party to champion what Labour used to stand for.

Thermonator, a robotized flamethrower - 2024-04-30T14:47:00+00:00

A four-legged robot with a flamethrower is now available for anyone to purchase in the US. Supposedly it is not intended for war. Maybe that means it is intended for criminal gangs?

Weather tracker - 2024-04-30T08:46:33+00:00

I suspect that flooding in East Africa was caused by atmospheric rivers.

I think it can happen anywhere that the prevailing winds arrive over a large body of water.

Bomb-filled debris - 2024-04-30T08:46:32+00:00

*Gaza's 37m tonnes of bomb-filled debris could take 14 years to clear, says expert.*

Nepinak’s headdress - 2024-04-30T08:46:31+00:00

A leader of an indigenous tribe brought a headdress onto an Air Canada flight and was told it had to be put in the baggage compartment. She objected that her headdress was sacred and therefore deserved special treatment.

That demand for privilege should be refused. We all face the possibility of being required to check some item rather than carry it into the cabin, and we deserve equal treatment.

The rules don't have to be rigid; it is good if they are somewhat flexible. However, that flexibility should apply equally to all passengers, not in a discriminatory way based on a passenger's ethnicity or religion.

Political arrest - 2024-04-30T08:46:31+00:00

Professor Shalhoub-Kevorkian of Hebrew University in Jerusalem was arrested and treated quite harshly, and charged with publishing unacceptable views.

(They are similar, in grand lines, to my views and the views of many of my readers.)

Many colleagues and other academics have condemned the arrest as political repression. Even Hebrew University condemned it.

The cruel treatment of Shalhoub-Kevorkian in jail adds to the nastiness of this, but the core of the issue is the intention to prosecute people in Israel who demand a cease-fire.

Taxing big fossil fuel - 2024-04-30T08:46:30+00:00

*Taxing big fossil fuel firms "could raise $900bn in climate finance by 2030."*

That extra money will enable states to do far more of the vital jobs we need them for.

Cashless society - 2024-04-30T08:46:30+00:00

China reaffirmed its plan to eliminate cash, and thus keep track of all purchases anyone makes.

Despite some recent compromises, the government remains dead set on tracking everything that people do.

The anonymous use of cash is the basis for other freedoms. If you think that using cash is too inconvenient, please approach the matter with a problem-solving spirit. Can you find a way to make it convenient enough to bring enough cash with you whenever you leave the house?

Media freedom breaking point - 2024-04-30T08:46:29+00:00

Freedom of the press is being hammered in several European Union countries.

Torres Strait Islanders - 2024-04-30T08:46:29+00:00

Torres Strait Islanders, who live on islands between Australia and New Guinea, are suing about the damage that sea-level rise will do to their homes if we don't curb global heating in 20 years.

Important litmus test - 2024-04-30T08:46:28+00:00

Robert Reich warns that SCROTUS are already warning that they might arbitrarily override the next congressional election as a stepping stone to stealing the presidency.

Revulsion against anti-abortion is splitting Republican party - 2024-04-29T08:44:16+00:00

The public revulsion against anti-abortion extremes is splitting the Republican Party.

May the fragments fall on the ground and be trampled by Americans' boots!

Unawareness of injustice of "modern digital society" - 2024-04-29T08:44:15+00:00

Unawareness of the injustice of "modern digital society" leads to thinking about internet connections that misses half the point. Here is an example.

The concept of "digital inclusion" as a goal presumes that the ways people normally participate in "modern digital society" are just fine, and labors systematically to help people surrender to what is demanded of them.

Most people judge every Internet "service" in superficial terms, and know no other way because they have never learned about the injustices: massive surveillance, demands for personal data, addictivity, anti socializing contracts, DRM, and more. In addition, people confronted with a demand to "use snooper.com now to do this" tend to see the immediate inconvenience of refusing now more vividly than the long-term harm of having an account on snooper.com.

In Spain, a friend has told me, banks are making it inconvenient and expensive to withdraw cash from your own bank account. You can do that only if you physically go to a bank branch when it is open, which is some hassle outside of big cities. But he has decided now to withdraw cash enough to last for some weeks so he can make a habit of paying cash.

Justice Sotomayor - 2024-04-29T08:44:15+00:00

Justice Sotomayor had better retire now, so we can replace her with another liberal, rather than risk dying in office and be replaced by Republicans with another right-winger.

Ecuador ban on ISDS clauses - 2024-04-29T08:44:15+00:00

Ecuador has voted to affirm its constitutional ban on ISDS clauses, which I call "I Sue Democratic States" clauses.

Some have criticized my term, saying that ISDS clauses are not specifically limited to democratic states. That is true — but in practice it tends to be democratic states that are targets for them. That's because the kind of law that foreign corporations target that way is a kind that tends to be passed by democratic states. Most dictators rarely pass laws that would make foreign corporations treat the populace better.

Professors support for violated rights of arrested students - 2024-04-29T08:44:14+00:00

Professors at several US universities which have brought in thugs to arrest students, steal their property and make them homeless, are showing strong support for the violated rights of those students.

If those university presidents thought they were going to quickly crush all opposition, they have now learned otherwise.

I expect to see some law professors bringing suit against the universities from students who were suspended or made homeless.

Turning back to the reason all of this is so important, it seems that Israel continues not to attack Rafah. Maybe Biden has brought sufficient pressure to make Netanyahu change that plan.

However, I have not seen that Gaza is getting enough humanitarian aid to prevent thousands of additional avoidable deaths.

Participants in corrupter's fake electors scheme - 2024-04-29T08:44:14+00:00

Summarizing what is happening to the participants in the corrupter's fake electors scheme to steal the 2020 election.

Origins of QAnon - 2024-04-29T08:44:14+00:00

* QAnon Was Born Out of the Sex Ad Moral Panic That Took Down Backpage.com.*

I've seen a number of sex-related moral panic articles the Guardian, and I generally find they are based on a series of exaggerations of the likely magnitude of side issues — the tail wagging the dog.

I've read articles in which prostitutes say that legalization enables them to look up information about the customer's behavior towards other prostitutes. It makes sense that would be useful for them, but it boggles my mind that anyone considering being a prostitute's customer would agree to reveal per real name to anyone involved in the transaction. Or pay by a credit card at all. That seems like asking for trouble.

If I imagine myself in the place of a prostitute's customer (where it is unlikely I would ever actually be, since I'm not interested in sex without affection and wouldn't feel safe without closeness and trust), I would pay cash and give no one any identifying information. We can't help knowing the sorts of scandal that have resulted when the wrong person found out, and anonymity is the only plausible protection.

How Google decided to enshittify search - 2024-04-29T08:44:13+00:00

Enshittification, and the detailed story of how Google decided to enshittify search.

It should be clear that making users depend on nonfree software is a considerable part of what makes a company "too big to care". So this is one more reason why we need to reject nonfree software.

The article makes a vague comment using the incoherent term "IP laws". Those laws have very little in common, so it is a mistake to generalize about them by using that term; I carefully never use it, because anything that is meaningful to say is a matter of one particular law, or perhaps the subtle interaction of more than one of them. The article gives no details, so I have no idea what actual events that vague comment refers to.

Harvey Weinstein's New York trial - 2024-04-29T08:44:13+00:00

An appeals court ruled that Harvey Weinstein's New York trial in which he was convicted of rape, was carried out wrong. This does not mean he has been found innocent. It means the trial needs to be done over.

I am no expert on trials, but I think the result of the new trial is likely to be the same as the first trial. Nonetheless, it is important to give each accused a fair trial.

Delay of corrupter's trial for insurrection - 2024-04-28T08:41:31+00:00

The right-wing judges that dominate the Supreme Court have decided to use the corrupter's ridiculous claim of immunity as an excuse to delay his trial for insurrection.

The terms "pro-Palestine" and "pro-Israel" - 2024-04-28T08:41:30+00:00

Using the terms "pro-Palestine" and "pro-Israel" leads people to think of those two nations as pure enemies, and assume that one's gain is always the other's loss. This is the feeling with which I've stated that I am pro-Israel and pro-Palestine.

I love the call, quoted at the end of the article for *liberation for everyone "between every river and every sea."*

I like the spirit shown by celebrating Jewish and Muslim holidays in encampments. That makes their total rejection of antisemitism and antimuslimism as clear as can be. However, I don't want my rejection of antisemitism and antimuslimism to submerge my peaceful and persistent advocacy of Atheism.

Hmm. If and when it is normal to have a 4-day work week, people could (if they wish) celebrate the Muslim sabbath on Friday, the Jewish sabbath on Saturday, and the Christian sabbath on Sunday. The fanatics of each religion could rage against that.

That sort of combine-them-all approach can be good for things that are mainly symbolic, like sabbath. It is not applicable, however, to substantive questions of right and wrong — for those, we need to think about each issue in substance.

Drug trial to prove cost of tuberculosis treatment - 2024-04-28T08:41:30+00:00

Doctors without Borders carried out a large drug trial, seeking approval of a treatment for tuberculosis, was able to do it for only 34 million dollars, Big Pharma claims they cost billions, and use that as an excuse for making drugs so expensive.

It seems that is one more reason for taking drug trials away from pharma companies. The main reason is that their influence corrupts the results.

The research should also be funded by governments or noncommercial organizations. That would eliminate all the supposed arguments for patents on medicines.

EPA rule on coal-powered generators - 2024-04-28T08:41:29+00:00

The EPA has made a rule that coal-powered generators must in the future capture most of the greenhouse pollution they emit, or shut down.

The article is not clear about exactly which kinds of pollution this covers. Does it include all particulates? Does it include toxic chemicals? Does it include the fallout that consists of uranium naturally present in coal?

The coal industry continues demanding to be given billions for development of "carbon capture and storage", but when it sees a demand to start using that everywhere 15 years from now, it wants to fight. That demonstrates that their unending "development" of such capture is not meant as a serious solution, but rather as an excuse to let it continue.

Oil lobbyists at UN plastic pollution talks - 2024-04-28T08:41:29+00:00

*Fears grow over rising number of oil lobbyists at UN plastic pollution talks.*

Allowing any representatives of oil companies in events intended to reduce the dangerous uses of petroleum simply invites their sabotage. Even if they claim that it is impossible for them to change faster, we can be sure that the real reason it is impossible is because they are trying hard to resist it.

Slovakia's right-wing government - 2024-04-28T08:41:29+00:00

Slovakia's new right-wing government is moving to exert political control over government support for independent media.

Thugs fire rubber-coated hard bullets at protesters - 2024-04-28T08:41:29+00:00

Thugs fired rubber-coated hard bullets at protesters in Emery University, as well as tear gas.

USC canceled its combined graduation ceremony entirely, claiming this was because of "safety measures."

That is balderdash. The only new safety concern on the USC campus comes from the thugs that are arresting students at the behest of those same administrators. They can cure the safety problems easily by simply resigning.

There are several standard kinds of falsehood that are normally used as excuses for repression.

• "Security" or "safety", as we see in this case.
• Claiming to be protecting people in the neighborhood from the inconvenience or disturbance of a protest. One must ask how much actual inconvenience or disturbance they actually experienced. And also whether they were also among the protesters who were repressed.
• Demonization of harmless activities by referring to them with terms that presuppose that they were somehow harmful.
• Terms such as "trespassing", which appear to be objective condemnation but really mean nothing except "We administrators drew an arbitrary line and you crossed it."

Brazilian indigenous groups rally against railroad through Amazonia - 2024-04-28T08:41:28+00:00

Brazilian indigenous groups rallied together in Brasilia against the construction of a railroad through Amazonia, intended by its backers to facilitate mining and deforestation.

It disturbs me that Lula was not there. We was formerly a strong protector of the forest. I hope he has not surrendered to the deforesters.

Council of Europe human rights watchdog condemns UK's Rwanda bill - 2024-04-28T08:41:28+00:00

*Council of Europe human rights watchdog condemns UK's Rwanda bill.*

Various countries are trying to make it difficult for people to ask for asylum there. Sending them to another place to wait for years while their cases are considered is a popular method, which has been used by Australia, the UK and the US. It is an injustice regardless of details.

But that's not the only method in use. Another is to slow down the processing of each case. Reducing the funding for handling cases will generally achieve that. If each asylum seeker has to wait for years while forbidden to work, it will drive many to give up.

Effect of traffic noise on birds - 2024-04-28T08:41:27+00:00

An experiment on one species of bird found that traffic noise stunts their growth even in the egg. And continues to do so after they hatch, too.

Robert Reich: A university's mission - 2024-04-28T08:41:27+00:00

Robert Reich: a university's mission is to encourage students to debate and consider ideas. Shutting down protest is betrayal of its mission.

"New government" installed in Haiti - 2024-04-28T08:41:27+00:00

A "new government" was installed in Haiti. The article says nothing about who chose the members of the new government. The previous one was chosen, more or less, by the US government.

Advice for New York City School Chancellor - 2024-04-28T08:41:26+00:00

The House Anti-Education Committee (not its official name) has called the New York City School Chancellor to testify. Here is advice for him.

Amnesty Int'l on UK's universal failings - 2024-04-27T13:39:22+00:00

*UK accused by Amnesty of ‘deliberately destabilizing’ human rights globally* for political reasons.

*The damning Amnesty report also criticizes Israel's allies for the failure to stop the "indescribable civilian bloodshed" in Gaza.*

MEPs vote - 2024-04-27T06:44:35+00:00

The European Parliament has voted to take the EU out of the Energy Charter Treaty.

That treaty is a threat to civilization because it penalizes member countries for effective measures to reduce use or extraction of fossil fuels.

Even worse, it was designed to be impossible to effectively get out of. It says that countries that abrogate it are still subject to the treaty's punishments for reducing the profits of petroleum companies.

If the EU decides to defy that, it may be powerful enough to kill the ghost of the treaty.

ByteDance - 2024-04-27T06:14:28+00:00

Word is that TikTok will shut down in the US rather than sell its US business to some other company.

To shut down TikTok would be a great start. Maybe then we could shut down the other sites that use "recommendation engines" programmed to maximize "engagement with the site" — in other words, addiction.

However, much of the harm done by addictiveness could be prevented by taking recommendation engines out of the control of the platform itself.

Gaza aid pier - 2024-04-27T06:14:27+00:00

The US is building a pier in Gaza to receive aid. But Biden has given Israel plenty of opportunity to choke off the flow of aid once it gets onto the pier.

I also wonder if there will really be a "third party" available to transport the aid into Gaza. It would not surprise me if the amount of aid that really arrives is far too little.

Biden should have taken Netanyahu down a peg by showing that the US does not need Israel's approval to deliver aid to Gaza.

Mahtab Eftekhar - 2024-04-27T06:14:27+00:00

Being a woman in Afghanistan is so horrible that even being a woman in Iran is a big step up.

I'd be tempted to support forcibly removing the Taliban from power so that they can't do these things any more. But that is not a real solution. We tried that already, and it led to 20 years of war that we were slowly but steadily losing.

I don't think we know a way to fight that war and win.

This is why I still believe that removing US troops from Afghanistan was the right thing to do.

BSI's risky silence - 2024-04-27T06:14:27+00:00

If you thought that the insertion of a back door in XZ indicates a problem with free software, please compare that with the worse problem of nonfree software. Microsoft's servers are in far worse shape.

And that's not to mention the ways the developers/owners of those programs can break those programs' "security" — that exists only if they choose to let it exist.

Reporting in India - 2024-04-27T05:44:43+00:00

India drove out an Australian journalist for the ABC network by various sorts of harassment including sending DMCA take down notices for her stories. The government objected to what she said in news coverage.

Miss AI - 2024-04-27T05:44:43+00:00

There is an "AI beauty contest" for images drawn by generative systems, whose "conversations" (if they pretend to have any) are output from bullshit generators.

This is an extrapolation of the absurdity of beauty contests with real women, and highlights that absurdity.

The corrupter bought a beauty contest, and was accused of rigging the outcome so that the contestants had to go to bed with him to have a chance of winning.

Shadow of the superhero - 2024-04-27T05:44:42+00:00

The corrupter's torpidity in his criminal trial punctures the false "strongman" image that he cultivates with so much bluster and pretension when he is in control of his life.

Hijab crackdown - 2024-04-27T05:44:42+00:00

*Iranian women violently dragged from streets by [religious thugs] amid hijab crackdown.*

Urgent consideration - 2024-04-27T05:44:42+00:00

British doctors' associations have condemned the suspension of Dr. Sarah Benn from medical practice, which was done for no reason except that she was convicted of protesting against government policies that endanger human health.

There is no reason whatever to think that she has become incapable of properly practicing medicine.

Nestle accountability - 2024-04-27T05:44:41+00:00

*Nestlé has been criticized for adding sugar and honey to infant milk and cereal products sold in many poorer countries.*

UNRWA operations - 2024-04-27T05:44:41+00:00

*Germany to resume funding of UNRWA aid operations in Gaza… after review says Israel has provided no evidence of terrorist links.*

Other countries must do likewise — because the alternative is horrible.

Climate-related power outages - 2024-04-27T05:44:41+00:00

*Power outages in the US are surging, as climate-related extreme weather strain an already burdened energy grid.*

Rail nationalization - 2024-04-27T05:44:40+00:00

Labour says it will re nationalize Britain's railways.

At last a clear decision that it will improve one area that right-wing rule has wrecked.

Honduras abortion ban - 2024-04-26T11:01:29+00:00

*Honduras referred to UN human rights committee over total abortion ban.*

Protect rights to stand for views - 2024-04-26T11:01:28+00:00

Robert Reich: Universities should protect the right to stand for views that disagree with whoever-it-might-be, while protecting students from practical harassment.

This calls for insisting on the difference between (1) actual harassment and (2) supposed "harassment" that consists of disagreeing. Punishing so-called "microaggressions" can easily be stretched into an excuse for macro-intimidation.

Retired GP suspended for activism - 2024-04-26T01:32:30+00:00

The UK now claims that engaging in protests of civil disobedience makes one unfit to practice medicine.

As a reason, that's absurd, but as an excuse for unjustified punishment of protesters it may fly.

Caribou endangered - 2024-04-26T01:32:29+00:00

Unless/until old growth trees increase again, the only way to save the mountain caribou of western Canada is to kill some wolves in those regions.

Activist tried to provoke his own arrest - 2024-04-26T01:32:29+00:00

A long-suffering British cop confronted a Jewish activist who tried to cross the route of a protest for Palestine, claiming it was to get to the other side. The cop repeatedly offered to escort him to the other side, but the activist did not find that satisfactory; instead he tried to provoke his own arrest.

The cop did not take the bait. Despite that, the activist is going to all lengths to present the cops as having acted antisemitically. I don't think that was the case.

I admire that cop who refused to be a thug. All cops confronting nonviolent protesters ought to maintain that level of self-control.

The Maidan martyrs - 2024-04-26T01:32:28+00:00

*The Maidan martyrs: a decade on from Kyiv’s bloody revolution.*

Israeli colonist violence - 2024-04-26T01:32:27+00:00

A description of violence by Israeli colonists (often helped by soldiers) against Palestinians in the West Bank part of Palestine.

Public toilet in San Francisco - 2024-04-26T01:32:27+00:00

San Francisco has built a public toilet for only 200,000 dollars.

The toilet's existence is an improvement, but the city can't afford to do the whole job if it is that expensive.

If the city required every restaurant, while it is open for business, to allow any orderly person to use its toilet, it would have thousands of toilets available for the public, and the total burden of taking care of them could be far less.

Removing Chiang Kai-shek statues - 2024-04-26T01:32:26+00:00

*Taiwan pledges to remove 760 statues of Chinese dictator Chiang Kai-shek.*

The US was hypocritical to claim to be defending freedom by supporting military dictators in Taiwan until the 1980s. But, ironically, freedom had the last laugh; Taiwan is a democracy now.

What to do with all the removed statues? Here's an idea: add old weapons and make them into a mockery of an ancient dictator's terra-cotta army.

Republicans against vaccine laws - 2024-04-26T01:32:26+00:00

New Hampshire Republican crazies are working on repealing the existing vaccine requirements for polio and measles. The danger this poses to other people will not be limited to the children of right-wing fools.

There should be no religious exceptions to the duty to protect the whole population from dangerous diseases by getting yourself and your children vaccinated. The only exception should be for medical reasons, in case a person for special medical conditions cannot be vaccinated.

Coral gametes - 2024-04-26T01:32:25+00:00

A clever idea to attract coral gametes to dying reef could help them evolve to adapt to increasing heat.

However, this will do nothing to protect against ocean acidification, caused by increasing concentration of CO2 in the water itself. At some point this will dissolve the shells of all coral, as well as mollusks and crustaceans in general.

Republicans and power grabbing - 2024-04-26T01:32:25+00:00

Governor Sununu, Republican, proudly told America he would swallow any lie in order to make a Republican the next president. "Grab power" is all that the Republican Party stands for how -- that and intimidating mainstream organizations that might dare to condemn those lies,

Rich countries against Haiti - 2024-04-26T01:32:24+00:00

200 years ago, Haiti's slave revolt won freedom, and nominal independence, but since then rich countries have intervened over and over to drive Haiti into submission.

Haitians showed their capacity for democracy by twice electing Aristide president. I think they could succeed if only the US did not knock them down again.

Slaves in Russian army - 2024-04-26T01:32:22+00:00

It is not unusual to recruit people in poor countries to "work" in another country, where they find themselves enslaved. Now some are slaves in the Russian army, fighting for Putin to conquer Ukraine.

Catastrophic flooding, CN-GD - 2024-04-25T11:34:33+00:00

Guangdong province in China is the latest place to be hit by formerly-unusual torrential rains.

Will this teach China that continuing to increase its greenhouse emissions would be deadly?

Permafrost regime shift - 2024-04-25T11:34:31+00:00

Due to global heating, *northern permafrost region [now] emits more greenhouse gases than it captures.*

This is an example of a positive feedback. Positive feedbacks, which we can't entirely predict, are what can destroy civilization.

National, progressive rebranding, SAU - 2024-04-25T11:34:30+00:00

Salafi Arabia is running a marketing campaign to pretend it is something other than repressive and sexist.

Yanis Varoufakis censored, banned, DEU - 2024-04-25T11:34:30+00:00

Yanis Varoufakis presents the text of the speech over which Germany banned his presence and even from presenting videos of his views. This puts political freedom in Germany under grave threat.

In the text he affirms his solidarity with all victims of atrocities, including Jews and Palestinians. I don't agree with every detail of his views, but rather than quibble, I say his heart is in the right place.

Zoom demands that users make accounts and identify themselves before they can participate in a call. This puts Zoom in position to block any conference in Germany in which Varoufakis tried to participate.

That is one of many reasons why Zoom is an injustice and we should denounce and reject it.

The pregnant denied medical treatment - 2024-04-25T11:34:28+00:00

Some hospitals in abortion-forbidding states turn women away from emergency rooms so as not to get stuck choosing between the crime of saving them or the liability of letting them die.

The US government s trying to enforce the law that emergency rooms can't just send a patient away. Now the case has come to the Supreme Court, where right-wing fanatics may decide to kill women in the name of the sacredness of fetuses.

World Bank and IMF meet on polycrisis - 2024-04-25T11:34:27+00:00

The new president of the World Bank wants funds to invest in decarbonization of poor countries.

This lending program would be a good idea, but the highest priorities for investments in decarbonization are:

1. Getting wealthier countries to invest in their own decarbonization, They produce a lot more greenhouse gas than poor countries do. They do invest in renewable electric generation, but their fossil fuel extraction is still increasing year by year, and greenhouse emissions likewise.
2. Putting an end to funding for "aid" that takes the form of "investment" and "development" of fossil fuel extraction, transport and combustion in poor countries.

Shifting those funds to decarbonization aid would be the best way to start that.

But if we don't require these actions. decarbonization won't get off the ground.

Salman Rushdie - 2024-04-24T07:58:01+00:00

*Salman Rushdie warns young people against forgetting value of free speech.*

How dangerous, how foolish, and what a shame: young people motivated by good causes think they can make the world better by tactics of bullying. It makes them kin to fascists, and once they eliminate freedom of speech, it is the fascists that take advantage.

Narendra Modi - 2024-04-24T07:58:01+00:00

Modi is building a cult of personality to manipulate the Indian public.

I urge Indians to think deeply and do what Dr Ambedkar would have done.

Sanctions against extremist groups in ISR - 2024-04-24T07:58:00+00:00

The US and Europe have put sanctions on two right-wing Israelis who are leaders of the movement to take Palestinians' land, and associated with pogroms against them.

I don't know how much good this will do, but at least it is an effort in the right direction.

Murder charges on cops, CA - 2024-04-24T07:57:59+00:00

The California thugs who killed Mario Gonzalez by holding him down for a long time face charges of manslaughter.

Tightening Internet control, China - 2024-04-24T07:57:58+00:00

Apple removes WhatsApp and Threads from [Apple' China] App Store,

We could hardly expect Apple to defy government orders to stop distributing a certain program, whether those orders are backed by valid judgments or arbitrary commands. But why does that choice come down to Apple at all? For a simple reason:

Because Apple doesn't allow users to freely install application programs!

Apple is compelled to serve repressive governments in repressing Apple customers because Apple designs the software to give it unjust power over users in the first place.

We should not forget that the apps for WhatsApp and Threads (like those for Facebook and Instagram) are themselves nonfree and therefore freedom-trampling.

Pro-Iranian Iraqi bases attacked - 2024-04-24T07:57:58+00:00

There was an air attack on Iraqi army auxiliaries that unofficially support Iran. At the moment it is hard to know whether the attack was done by Israel or by PISSI. The US probably knows but is not telling us.

If this was Netanyahu's doing, he is playing a dangerous game, and the US should demand he stop provoking Iran if he wants any help when Iran retaliates.

Columbia U. President shocks nation, USA - 2024-04-24T07:57:57+00:00

The Columbia and Barnard chapters of the American Association of University Professors have condemned the president of Columbia for repression of students protesting in support of Palestine.

They said, “We are shocked at her failure to mount any defense of the free inquiry central to the educational mission of a university in a democratic society and at her willingness to appease legislators seeking to interfere in university affairs.”

The president of Columbia has acted like a coward, and had better develop some courage soon.

"In favor of Palestine" includes a range of views — including some I agree with and others (for instance, calling for the elimination of Israel) that I oppose. People, including students, are entitled to the right to advocate any of those views, or other views different entirely, whether you agree with them or not, whether I agree with them or not. We depend on this freedom and we must defend it firmly.

The science of tree- and plant-life - 2024-04-24T07:57:56+00:00

Questioning the claim that trees communicate and plan.

To control transfer of nutrients is far simpler than consciousness. Trees can do fairly complex behaviors without anything like consciousness,

Columbia U. arrests peaceful protesters - 2024-04-24T07:57:55+00:00

*54 Columbia Law School Faculty Condemn Administration for Mass Arrests and Suspensions.*

Political debate - 2024-04-24T04:28:23+00:00

Politicians right and left are trying to censor political views, but censorship by the right wing has an easier time succeeding.

Oil firms influence - 2024-04-24T04:28:22+00:00

Louisiana State University is accused of selling oil companies the opportunity to influence research topics or even control research.

I have the impression that many other US universities do this, and even more in other countries.

Wales speed limit petition - 2024-04-24T04:28:21+00:00

Wales (part of the UK) has given local communities control over which streets to limit to 20 mph.

Many citizens had objected to the way the Welsh government set this up.

Sewage laws - 2024-04-24T04:28:20+00:00

* insiders say UK water firms knowingly break sewage laws.*

If the government really wanted this to stop, it could stop them. Seeing as the UK government can make it a crime to protest in "annoying" ways, it could, it could clearly make it a crime, punished by imprisonment, to intentionally pollute the waters.

So why doesn't it? I speculate that it is a matter of values. Under plutocratist rule, letting the "investors" extract money they are supposedly entitle do takes priority.

Lukewarm adverts - 2024-04-24T04:28:19+00:00

Advertainment is taking over movie-making. Why spend money on product advertisements to accompany some sort of show if you can have the show based entirely on your product?

The article highlights a general tendency towards milking assets that are available rather than making anything new.

To describe the result, the article falls into the intellectual pitfall of the misleading term "intellectual property", which twists thinking about any of the disparate laws that have been crammed into it.

If you want to think clearly about copyright, for instance, shun the term "intellectual property" and say you are talking about "copyright". Don't bring patents into that discussion — they are totally different from copyright. Also don't bring in trademarks, or trade secrets, or publicity rights.

For this article's point, the term "licensing rentierism" would fit better and avoid that confusion.

NSA pwning business comms. equip. - 2024-04-23T15:28:36+00:00

The US has adopted the law to conscript people in to spying on computer and phone data for US secret agencies.

It's not really "everyone" in the US that could be forced to spy in his way. But it is more people than you might think.

*Former and current U.S. officials told The Washington Post that the new language was intended to apply to data [server] storage centers, but civil liberties advocates like Goitein warn it could be used to compel any business — such as a grocery store, gym, or laundry service — to allow the National Security Agency (NSA) to scoop up data from its phones or computers.*

*"The provision effectively grants the NSA access to the communications equipment of almost any U.S. business, plus huge numbers of organizations and individuals," Goitein wrote on social media early Saturday. "It's a gift to any president who may wish to spy on political enemies, journalists, ideological opponents, etc."*

Oppressive system vs. protesters, UK - 2024-04-23T15:28:35+00:00

The UK is gradually eliminating the right to protest in ways people might actually notice. Nonviolent protesters have been sentenced to years in prison.

High court and First Amendment - 2024-04-22T05:26:58+00:00

A Republican-packed US appeals court approved state laws that hold nonviolent protest organizers liable for unplanned and unorganized violence at the protest. This is an attack on the right to protest.

The Supreme Court refused to consider an appeal against that ruling.

Huge win for UAW union, and the South - 2024-04-22T05:26:57+00:00

Volkswagen workers in Tennessee voted to unionize.

Oceanic PFAS coughing-up onto land - 2024-04-22T05:26:56+00:00

Breaking waves launch enormous quantities of certain PFAS into the air. Does this make the distribution in manufactured products insignificant by comparison?

To what extent are these the same PFAS that get into the environment via manufacturing?

Columbia U. raids, congressional hearing - 2024-04-22T05:26:56+00:00

Columbia University's president has bent over to placate right-wing congresscritters by attacking protesting students.

The cops that the president called to clear out the protesters bent over backwards to destroy their things and supplies, and deny them access to medicine.

Land system-change protections, AK - 2024-04-22T05:26:55+00:00

*Biden administration moves to restrict oil and gas leases on 13m acres in Alaska.*

Alaskan planet roasters called the new rule "illegal." I hope that killing you is illegal, because that's what more drilling would do.

Israel retaliation, Iran - 2024-04-22T05:26:54+00:00

Netanyahu launched an air attack against an Iranian air base. Reportedly it did little damage, and Iran does not plan to retaliate.

Israel could consider that its honor is now satisfied, and let the fighting drop.

But I have a feeling that Netanyahu will not be satisfied with this sword dance, because his manipulation has not succeeded, and that he will continue attacking Iran until he provokes a substantial counterattack.

Boeing whistleblower to congress - 2024-04-22T05:26:53+00:00

Boeing engineer Sam Salehpour testified to Congress that there is no longer any safety culture at the company, and engineers who point out dangers are ignored, shunned, and even threatened.

*Salehpour says he faced retaliation as he repeatedly sought to raise the flag inside Boeing over three years. "I was ignored," he told the Senate’s permanent subcommittee on investigations. "I was told not to create delays. I was told, frankly, to shut up."*

I am skeptical that the current management could undo the harm that they have become part of. It is hard for a person to change attitude that drastically and fully understand what it means. Replacing the upper management alone would not be sufficient — several levels would need to be replaced. But I don't see how that could be possible either. I hope someone knows.

Urgent: The conscripted surveillance provision - 2024-04-21T11:56:40+00:00

US citizens: call on Congress to reject the surveillance bill that would allow government agencies to conscript any conveniently available American to start spying on whoever the agency directs.

Alas, I don't have any more details about this. But we should treat it as a real danger. Please phone each of your senators at 202-688-0628 and urge per to oppose that bill.

While you are at it, you could also urge those same senators to refuse to extend section 702 mass surveillance.

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

First hemp-lime facility, MN - 2024-04-21T03:27:11+00:00

The Lower Sioux tribe has developed hempcrete as a building material, and reports that it saves energy in summer and winter, as well as being low cost.

Park Güell tourist crowds, Barcelona - 2024-04-21T03:27:10+00:00

Barcelona has removed bus line 116 (which goes to the beautiful Parc Güell) from Google and Apple maps, to discourage the tourists from using it to get to the park.

This seems perverse to me. Do they want the tourists not to visit Parc Güell? To take taxis to get there? To travel by a more circuitous route? To walk a long distance?

If lots of people use line 116, the sensible and helpful thing to do is to run more frequent buses on part or all of that line.

Homelessness as a profit center, CA - 2024-04-21T03:27:09+00:00

California cities have privatized destruction of homeless encampments. Companies have been paid at least $100 million, and perhaps much more.

Privatizing a government activity tends to make it more expensive. It also tends to become less accountable, leading to more cruel abuse and more callous careless abuse.

Near-total abortion ban - 2024-04-21T00:58:55+00:00

*Arizona Republicans again block effort to repeal 1864 near-total abortion ban.*

(Satire) Potential Juror - 2024-04-21T00:58:54+00:00

(satire) *Eric Trump Only Potential Juror Uninformed Enough To Serve At Father's Trial.*

Kari Lake - 2024-04-21T00:58:53+00:00

Kari Lake, an insurrectionist Republican candidate for the US Senate, called on Republicans to carry guns around the time of the election. We know that will lead to killings, which insurrectionists hope will give them a chance to steal the election.

Lake said that Washington is a swamp. Evidently she is an alligator that can't wait to get in and bite people.

Unsafe oil fleet - 2024-04-21T00:58:52+00:00

Russia exports lots of oil from the Baltic Sea in ships that go through the narrow passages around Denmark. These ships are badly maintained, and likely to cause disaster even without an intention to do so.

Whether the ships are insured is almost irrelevant, since an insurance company could hardly make up for the damage that a big oil spill could do in those confided waters. The crucial issue is to stop allowing unseaworthy ships to pass through.

Regardless of future between Ukraine and Russia, it would be wise to require all oil shipments between the North Sea and the Baltic Sea to be sent through pipelines across Denmark, not by ship. Pipeline leaks on land will make smaller spills than ship disasters.

Olympian cruelty - 2024-04-21T00:58:52+00:00

Paris is displaying the usual Olympian cruelty by "cleaning up" homeless people and squats to look pretty for the games.

These games tend to do permanent harm to street vendors, due to new strict laws, and to everyone that travels on streets, due to new surveillance measures. In addition they tend to enrich companies at the expense of the public.

If your city proposes to host the Olympic Games, I urge you organize to defeat the proposal.

Undercover officer - 2024-04-21T00:58:51+00:00

St Louis thugs went on a rampage at a protest, attacking based on no grounds. Oops! They attacked an undercover thug.

Some of the attackers were jailed for this, which is good. But what we really should demand is that thugs be jailed for rampaging against innocent people even when those are not actually thugs in disguise.

Oil sanctions - 2024-04-21T00:58:50+00:00

*US reimposes sanctions on Venezuela as hope for democracy crumbles.*

Maduro and his lieutenants deserve sanctions, but US trade sanctions tend to fall on the people who are victims, not culprits.

British politics - 2024-04-21T00:58:49+00:00

*Britain’s latest descent into authoritarianism fits a depressingly familiar pattern. This is how it tends to work: a subversive group is identified by political elites and presented as a danger to the nation, often being additionally labeled as allies or dupes of hostile foreign enemies. An air of national emergency is contrived, with exaggerated, distorted, or simply invented evidence used to justify claims of an imminent threat. The ensuing repressive measures are supposedly to defend the security of both individual citizens and the nation alike.*

This year's target is "supporters of Palestine", a term that covers a wide range of views.

Settlement-building - 2024-04-21T00:28:41+00:00

*Israel has sped up settlement-building in East Jerusalem since Gaza war began.*

Pro-Israel money - 2024-04-21T00:28:39+00:00

Pro-Israel money pours in to unseat prominent progressives in Congress.

Climate crisis income study - 2024-04-21T00:28:38+00:00

*Climate crisis: average world incomes to drop by nearly a fifth by 2050. Cost of environmental damage will be six times higher than price of limiting global heating to 2°C, study finds.*

RMS dará una charla en Córdoba - 2024-04-20T06:27:04+00:00

Richard Stallman dará una conferencia, El software libre, libertad, y sociedad, en Córdoba, Spain, Viernes, el 26 de April, de 17:30 a 18:50 en la Colegio Mayor Nuestra Señora de la Asunción. La conferencia es en español.

Biden considering Assange case - 2024-04-20T06:27:03+00:00

As predicted, the US "assurances" about Julian Assange's US trial are designed to give the misleading impression that the First Amendment would apply to him.

Palestine as full member of UN - 2024-04-20T06:27:02+00:00

*Leaked Cables Show White House Opposes Palestinian Statehood.*

Heatwave deaths in April in Mali - 2024-04-20T06:27:01+00:00

*Lethal heatwave in Sahel worsened by fossil fuel burning, study finds*, perhaps by 1.5°C.

Oil-extraction leasing reforms - 2024-04-20T06:27:01+00:00

Leasing of federal land for oil and gas extraction will no longer be a near-giveaway.

Lukashenko's brutal political prisons - 2024-04-20T06:27:00+00:00

*Belarus [political] prisoner smuggles out account of brutal jail written on toilet paper.*