Richard Stallman

Richard Stallman's Political Notes -

UK cops that infiltrated protests reported to MI5 - 2026-01-13T04:37:19+00:00

The UK cops that infiltrated nonviolent protest organizations reported to MI5, the state counterintelligence agency. It seems the government envisaged the protesters as Russian agents, though there is no evidence that they worked for or supported Russia.

(satire) Felony Oil Possession - 2026-01-13T04:37:18+00:00

(satire) *Nicolás Maduro Charged With Felony Oil Possession.*

US repression of protesters reaches new level - 2026-01-13T04:37:18+00:00

US repression of protesters reaches a new level as students are charged with a felony for an occupation on campus and pouring fake blood.

The students hope to use the trial to put Israel on trial for pouring the real blood of tens (or hundreds) of thousands of Palestinians.

US has made every other country less safe - 2026-01-13T04:37:18+00:00

*With [the would-be emperor's] military action in Venezuela, the US has made every other country less safe.*

*[His] lawless actions in Venezuela demand a resolute response.*

Worst Free-Range kids stories of 2025 - 2026-01-13T04:37:18+00:00

*It's Safe to Look Back! The Worst Free-Range Kids Stories of 2025.*

Saboteur's purges of US military - 2026-01-13T04:37:18+00:00

General Paul Eaton (retired) says the saboteur's purges of the US military could have dire long-term consequences to the military's reputation and efficiency.

*"There is an active effort to politicize the armed forces," Eaton said. "Once you infect the body, the cure may be very difficult and painful for presidents downstream."*

Eaton compares this to Stalin's purges of the Red Army in the 1930s, which removed nearly all the generals and left the Soviet Union weak and vulnerable, which led Hitler to decide to attack it, and greatly hampered its defense.

Here is background on Eaton.

Failure to condemn US for attacking Venezuela - 2026-01-13T04:37:14+00:00

International failure to condemn the US for attacking Venezuela is likely to encourage Russia and China to aggression.

Two conflicting strands of American history - 2026-01-13T04:37:14+00:00

Two conflicting strands of American history, one enlightened side that stands for liberty and one dogmatic and brutal Christian side, have been in conflict since the beginning.

Preparing to help resist threatened US invasion of Greenland - 2026-01-13T04:37:14+00:00

European NATO members are preparing to help resist a threatened US invasion of Greenland.

One third in US live in areas that could suffer next fire disaster - 2026-01-13T04:37:13+00:00

*Researchers estimate roughly 115 million people – more than a third of the US population – live in areas that could [suffer] the next fire disaster.*

Resisting spread of urban fires requires removing anything that can burn from a certain zone around each house or structure — up to 5 feet away.

This should be a condition of fire insurance, or even part of the fire code.

America's "leaders" sucking up to saboteur in chief - 2026-01-13T04:37:13+00:00

Most of America's "leaders" are sucking up to the saboteur in chief, and worst of all are the billionaire "captains of industry".

Saboteur's reckless drilling plan - 2026-01-13T04:37:13+00:00

"Our analysis shows that [the saboteur's] ridiculously reckless drilling plan could cause thousands of new oil spills, threatening almost every U.S. coast," said Kristen Monsell, oceans legal director at the Center for Biological Diversity. "Nobody wants beaches and marine life coated in crude, but that'll be our future if [his] scheme goes forward. Every new drilling project signs us up for decades of problems, and our wildlife and coastal economies will suffer the most."

[This] analysis assumes average spill rates for platforms and pipelines based on 1974-2015 data. It does not include catastrophic events like the 2010 BP Deepwater Horizon disaster, which released more than 210 million gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico.

Supercharged oil extraction - 2026-01-13T04:37:13+00:00

*"Everybody loses" if [oil extraction] supercharged in country with largest known oil reserves, critics say.*

This is likely to push civilization over the climate cliff.

Cuba, Mexico, Colombia and Greenland in President's sights - 2026-01-13T04:37:13+00:00

*The US president has been quite clear that Cuba, Mexico, Colombia and Greenland are in his sights. We must believe him.*

I would say, we must consider that a serious threat. Any of his threats can be bullshit, but we can't assume it is bullshit.

Massacred Muslims in Delhi - 2026-01-13T04:37:13+00:00

People unidentified massacred Muslims in Delhi, so Modi's government (Hindu-nationalist) charged Umar Khalid, a leftist political activist who is Muslim, with being behind the massacre. This is a priori implausible, but they have kept him in jail for 5 years while the prosecution drags slowly on.

Senate investigating UnitedHellth - 2026-01-13T04:37:12+00:00

The Senate is investigating UnitedHellth for cutting costs in nursing homes by resisting sending inmates to hospitals when they needed hospital treatment. It demanded some of the company's internal documents, but UnitedHellth continues to "engage" with the Senate by not providing the demanded documents.

Britain following path of fascism - 2026-01-13T04:37:12+00:00

Step by step, Britain is following the path of fascism that Orbán imposed on Hungary.

Masked deportation thug murdered Renee Nicole Good - 2026-01-13T04:37:12+00:00

A masked deportation thug murdered Renee Nicole Good as she tried to drive her parked car away from him. He had nothing remotely like grounds for violence.

Then federal officials told lies to try to excuse the killing.

Outsourcing state services to companies - 2026-01-13T04:37:12+00:00

Outsourcing state services to companies makes the services unaccountable. That is a disaster directly — but it has a secondary bad effect: ministers have little effective control to convert new policies into changes in actions.

Outsourcing may appear cheaper for the state in a superficial sense, but it is not cheaper for the people that the state is meant to serve, and that ultimately pay for it one way or another. The outsourcing company may charge the state less, but it skimps on maintenance while gouging and screwing the people.

Poor people in poor countries burn plastic for heating - 2026-01-13T04:37:12+00:00

Poor people in poor countries often burn plastic for heating and cooking. The fumes are toxic — especially for the families who do this, but also generally for the population.

Join an ICE-protest today - 2026-01-11T16:37:40+00:00

Join an ICE protest today, (Sunday), in your city.

ICE has killed a friendly protester and lied about it, so the Facsists are in full swing with their extreme acts of injustice and oppression.

Urgent: Defeat bill to criminalize protests - 2026-01-11T10:37:07+00:00

US citizens: call on Congress to defeat Ted Cruz's bill to criminalize. protests.

US citizens: Join with this campaign to address this issue.

To phone your congresscritter about this, the main switchboard is +1-202-224-3121.

Please spread the word.

Urgent: Call on CBS not to slant debate to right wing - 2026-01-11T10:37:07+00:00

US citizens: call on CBS not to let its magat news director slant debate to the right wing.

US restored part of canceled foreign aid budget - 2026-01-11T10:37:07+00:00

The US has restored part of the foreign aid budget that had canceled early in 2025.

Toxic dirt in Detroit home demolition sites - 2026-01-11T10:37:07+00:00

*Hundreds of Detroit home demolition sites may have been filled with toxic dirt.*

Waymo robotaxis blocked emergency vehicles - 2026-01-11T10:37:07+00:00

Paralyzed Waymo robotaxis stopped together at some intersections in San Francisco blocked emergency vehicles from carrying out their missions.

After a real physical disaster, such as an earthquake, they may have continued blocking emergency vehicles until towed away one by one.

In the midst of a slow-motion fascist disaster, the widespread use of taxis that require every customer to identify perself could lead to the arrest of dissidents and journalists. Uber and Lyft have already partially this sort of harmful effect, but robotaxis will exacerbate it.

Dry "sertão" region of Brazil became dryer - 2026-01-11T10:37:07+00:00

In one generation, part of the dry "sertão" region of Brazil has become just enough dryer that the inhabitants can't eke out a living there any more.

The sertão is known for a style of music called sertanejo, about which a Brazilian quipped, "Everything has a good side, except a sertanejo record." However, while I don't admire that music, I am sad for the people who lived there and won't be able to live there any more.

Ex-marine leading the Vet Voice Foundation - 2026-01-11T10:37:06+00:00

An ex-marine is leading the Vet Voice Foundation, which organizes the opposition to criminality and authoritarianism in the US military.

Walgreens bought by "private equity" company - 2026-01-11T10:37:06+00:00

Walgreens was bought by a "private equity" company through a leveraged buy-out. This fall it imposed a new CEO that started closing many Walgreens stores.

The same CEO previously did the job on Staples, and I noticed the results myself: it seems that all the Staples stores in Boston that could get to by subway train had shut down. I had to find other sources of supplies for writing and printing. I wondered why a company would do that, but now I think I know.

Bully punishes hatred that is not on his side - 2026-01-11T10:37:06+00:00

The bully punishes people for displaying hatred, when they are not on his side, and promotes them when they are on his side.

(satire) Species requirements to join deportation thugs - 2026-01-11T10:37:06+00:00

(satire) [The government relaxes] species requirements to join [the deportation thugs].

Hepatitis B vaccination delayed from birth to two months later - 2026-01-11T10:37:06+00:00

The antivaxers in control at the CDC voted to delay the Hepatitis B vaccination from birth to two months later.

Even if every baby gets vaccinated two months after birth, that delay creates a window of unnecessary risk, during which any babies that get infected are very likely to have lifelong problems.

Due to the general antivax buzz, some babies won't get vaccinated at all.

Prisoners given rotten food and bad water at deportation prison - 2026-01-11T10:37:06+00:00

In the largest deportation prison in the US, the prisoners are given rotten food and bad water.

Google LLM overviews put people at risk - 2026-01-11T10:37:05+00:00

*Google [LLM] Overviews put people at risk of harm with misleading health advice.*

The article gives examples and explains them.

FCC proposes to nullify local and state regulations on cellular towers - 2026-01-11T10:37:05+00:00

The FCC proposes to nullify local and state regulations on the installation and location of cellular towers.

Cellular towers are not dangerous to people who are merely physically near them. The danger comes only from the surveillance they do to people's cellular devices, which track their owners and can also transmit what they (and any others) say while close enough to be heard.

Persecutor threatening to attack Iran for persecuting protesters - 2026-01-11T10:37:05+00:00

Ironically, the persecutor is threatening to attack Iran for persecuting Iranian protesters much like the way he persecutes American protesters that criticize him.

Sometimes he will find it convenient to support, on some issue, the side that we defenders of human rights will agree with. It never represents real support for anyone's human rights.

Ralph Nader's criticism of public radio - 2026-01-11T10:37:05+00:00

Ralph Nader's criticism of public radio in the US starts with their practice of being funded mostly by payment from businesses which buy lots of advertising. Then he calls for various changes.

One of his criticisms is that NPR focuses on injustices of discrimination, but not enough on "indiscriminate injustice" which falls on the poor regardless of race, color, creed, national origin, and so on.

Ironically, the article displays symbolic bigotry by capitalizing "black" but not "white". (To avoid endorsing bigotry, capitalize both words or neither one.) I denounce bigotry, and normally I will not link to articles that practice it. But I make exceptions for some articles because I consider them important — and I present this comment about them.

Mamdani overturns many executive orders - 2026-01-11T10:37:05+00:00

Mayor Mamdani has overturned many of Adams's night-mayorish executive orders: all those issued after he was indicted on corruption charges. One of those orders was the adoption of the IHRA criterion for antisemitism, which is often used to label criticism of Israel as "antisemitic".

Native plant species blooming in UK winter - 2026-01-11T10:37:05+00:00

* Daisies and dandelions are among hundreds of native plant species blooming in the UK* in winter.

This won't directly hurt anyone, but it is a sign of the magnitude of changes we have caused in natural ecologies. Those changes will have large consequences, including disasters. And those are already starting to happen.

*In some UK woodlands, every young tree has died.* And the large trees have a shorter life expectancy.

Unusual heat in Jordan killed most of olive harvest - 2026-01-11T10:37:04+00:00

Unusual heat in Jordan has killed most of the olive harvest, and is killing the olive trees too.

Funny cartoon satire of Disney cartoons - 2026-01-11T10:37:04+00:00

A funny cartoon (use yt-dlp HMGD1KCYFOw) satire of Disney cartoons, targeting the bully.

Bully kidnapped President Maduro and his wife - 2026-01-11T10:37:04+00:00

Robert Reich: the bully attacked Venezuela and kidnapped President Maduro and his wife. The he said that the US government would "run the country of Venezuela," which would signify resuming military colonization such as the US used to do to Latin America ad the Caribbean.

Venezuelans are mostly cynical about Maduro, and I don't think they would fight to bring him back, except for corrupt reasons. But that doesn't mean they have no patriotism.

Government sued over Cape wind offshore generators - 2026-01-11T10:37:03+00:00

The Danish contractor being paid to finish the Cape Wind offshore generators is suing to make the US government resume paying for that.

US health institutions no longer dependable - 2026-01-07T10:37:15+00:00

Canada warns that US government institutions should not be trusted for medical advice.

I've urged my clinics and my state government to refer to something reliable rather than US institutions such as the CDC.

Venezuelan oil focus - 2026-01-07T10:37:15+00:00

The bully no longer tries to justify the war with Venezuela based on alleged drug trade, but rather claims that the US (or US oil companies?) owns Venezuelan oil deposits.

US intervention in Venezuela - 2026-01-07T10:37:14+00:00

It is unlikely that the US intervention in Venezuela will have a simple resolution.

The wrecker and his henchmen have stated no plan for what to do next, which suggests that whatever they do will make an even bigger mess.

The US used to intervene militarily often in weaker countries in the Americas.

Self defense - 2026-01-07T10:37:14+00:00

The US government is expected to claim that its attack on Venezuela was justified self-defense by pretending that smuggling of drugs — mostly not even from Venezuela — constituted making war on the US.

The US will surely veto any effort in the Security Council to oppose this act of US aggression. But demonstrating the weakness of the UN in restraining the great powers from making war will be nothing new. The UN's effectiveness for keeping peace has long been limited, and it will remain limited, but it is not zero.

What will be next? Maybe China will attack Taiwan.

Urgent: Require environmental impact statements on data centers - 2026-01-07T10:37:14+00:00

US citizens: call on the US government to require comprehensive environmental impact statements from proposed data centers. Don't let them lock in fossil fuels.

Urgent: Fully staff Federal Election Commission - 2026-01-07T10:37:14+00:00

US citizens: call on the corruptor to fully staff the Federal Election Commission.

Urgent: Stop news media presenting oversimplified statements about inflation - 2026-01-07T10:37:14+00:00

US citizens: call on news media to stop presenting oversimplified statements about inflation and its effects.