Richard Stallman
Richard Stallman's Political Notes -
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 cancelled 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 a "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:
- 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.
- 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.
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.*
LLM developmental attributes, devices - 2024-04-20T06:26:59+00:00
Present-day bullshit generators' output may be recognizable by certain words they tend to use strangely often, including "delve".
Tax Day in a representative democracy - 2024-04-20T06:26:58+00:00
*I Want My Taxes to Be Used for Our True National Security: Helping People in Need.*
Rafah ground invasion imminent, Gaza - 2024-04-20T06:26:56+00:00
Israel's fight with Iran has given Rafah a respite from an attack by Israeli ground troops (if indeed Israel still intends to attack Rafah).
When an enemy tries to attack you, but the attempt does essentially no damage, this is an opportunity to end the cycle of retaliation by doing nothing in response. If Israel had leaders who were statesmanlike and wanted peace, they would gratefully welcome the opportunity. Instead, it has war hawks who want to push the US into war with Iran, are galled by their lack of success at this, and are planning to try again.
Climate disruption, flooding in UAE - 2024-04-20T06:26:56+00:00
On cloud seeding — what it can do, and its limits.
Iran strikes Israel - 2024-04-19T13:27:43+00:00
[This note was posted on Monday with a major editing error:Iran launched many missiles and drones against Israel.
the word "not" was mistakenly inserted after "simply."
That has now been corrected.]
Israel's attack on the Iranian consulate was not, in and of itself, a war crime. It was an attack on military personnel of a country which was already at war with Israel.
I don't know what specific targets Iran's missiles and drones were aimed at, but I don't see a reason why that attack would be a war crime. It seems that this is simply war.
Judged in terms of its effects in the current context, Israel's attack was a manipulative provocation. Netanyahu must have figured that Iran would retaliate, and that this would give Israel an opportunity to attack Iran in a much bigger way and justify it as "retaliation". He may have hoped that this would talk western countries into "standing by Israel" in war against Iran.
I am not the only one to suspect that.
I hope those countries' governments are wise enough to refuse to fall for Netanyahu's efforts to lure them into war, or lure them into disregarding the urgency of ending the siege of Gaza.
This could be an opportunity to squeeze Netanyahu out of the Israeli government. They could tell Israel, "We will support Israel against Iranian attack, provided it adopts a defensive posture and provided Netanyahu is not its prime minister."
All MPAs+, no trawling, an EU first, GRC - 2024-04-19T08:25:47+00:00
Greece will ban bottom trawling in protected marine areas.
Tobacco-use forever-ban on 15yr-olds, UK - 2024-04-19T08:25:45+00:00
The UK is considering a law to forever ban sales of tobacco to anyone born after 2008.
Tobacco is deadly and addictive. I wish everyone would avoid ever using it, and I wish all smokers would quit. I personally urge people to quit. But I oppose prohibition of drugs that people want to use, because it tends to cause great harm to society in other ways.
Pro-Palestinian professor canceled, DEU - 2024-04-19T08:25:44+00:00
University of Cologne retracted an offer of a visiting professorship to Nancy Fraser over opinions she stated about the war in Gaza.
I disagree firmly with Professor Fraser's views — legitimization of HAMAS's large terrorist action, and assertion that Israel's very existence is an injustice. But those are tangents to the issue at hand. People have a right to advocate those views, and should bot be blacklisted for them.
Pro-Palestinian valedictorian canceled - 2024-04-19T08:25:41+00:00
*USC draws backlash for canceling valedictorian’s speech due to support for Palestine.*
Whether she was actually going to talk about that in her canceled speech is unknown, but supposing she was, "support for Palestine" is a rather broad category. There are many different views that qualify, and most of them are not threatening anyone.
The concern for "security" that the university claimed was a bogus excuse — in effect, "We are gagging you for your own safety."
NYT's Israeli narratives: the Gaza memo - 2024-04-19T08:25:37+00:00
The New York Times stated rules of word usage that support Israel's point of view about Gaza and its inhabitants.
UK oceanic bans, a win for 13 MPAs - 2024-04-18T09:56:56+00:00
The UK has banned the destructive fishing method of bottom trawling. giving some real protection to several "protected" marine areas. The ban applies to all fishing boats, including French ones.
[irony]
France should retaliate by banning bottom trawling in some French
waters. Eventually the two countries could entirely eliminate
that practice near their coasts.
[/irony]
Jordanian airspace and its people - 2024-04-18T09:56:55+00:00
Iran is reportedly threatening to attack Jordan if it does not allow Iran's attack drones to cross Jordanian airspace to get at Israel.
Damage by satellite debris - 2024-04-17T21:25:57+00:00
Communications companies plan to launch a total of a million satellites by the 2040s. So many satellites could damage the ionosphere or Earth's magnetic fields.
This is in addition to the danger that some will be hit by space junk, creating a chain reaction that will block humanity off from space travel for millenia.
Thugs investigated - 2024-04-17T21:25:56+00:00
Investigating the Los Angeles thug deparment for a series of shootings in which thugs encountered people who were carrying various harmless objects and jumped to the conclusion that they had weapons.
US, UK, and Jordan vs. Iran - 2024-04-17T21:25:55+00:00
Reportedly US, UK and Jordanian planes shot down Iranian attack drones before they reached Israel.
That was a good way to defeat the Iranian attack — not attacking any Iranians, only their machines.
Modi's repression - 2024-04-17T21:25:53+00:00
Modi is weaponizing Hindu pilgrimage sites in the Himalayan state of Uttarakhand, and trying out repression of Muslims.
Fossil fuel disinformation - 2024-04-17T21:25:53+00:00
Explaining and puncturing the fossil fuel industry's five principal disinformation approaches.
Here's another one: politicians who want to act fast enough to avert disaster are overeager -- the "grown-ups" are the ones who will move slowly, surely, and therefore arrive too late."
Perhaps these grown-ups would buy a fire engine that can't go faster than 10 miles per hour.
American Zionists quash Jews' criticism - 2024-04-17T21:25:52+00:00
Israel used the influence of its American supporters to quash American Jews' criticism of treatment of Palestinians.
Individualism vs commonwealth in voting - 2024-04-17T09:22:25+00:00
*To Save US Democracy, Prioritize the Common Good.*
Democracy is weakened (and then threatened) by policies that serve specifically the plutocrats, rather than people in general.
Mount Zero bookstore closure, HK - 2024-04-28T08:40:43+00:00
Hong Kong's people have been silenced by China, which is using many different laws to disguise the extent of repression.
This repression is what China today means. This is why we must defend whatever targets China aims to conquer in the future.
Urgent: Fossil-fuel policy rallies - 2024-04-16T04:26:28+00:00
In the US: join rallies for curbing global heating on April 19 and April 22.
(Satire) gated community - 2024-04-16T03:55:44+00:00
(satire) *Residents [of a Gated Community] Establish More Exclusive Gated [Nested] Community Within First.*
Carbon-offsetting revolt - 2024-04-16T03:55:43+00:00
*The UN-backed Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi), which certifies whether a company is on track to help limit global heating to under 1.5°C,* has bought into the idea that "carbon offsets" are valid methods for curbing global heating.
The organization's staff condemn the plan and say it is not in fact based on science.
I've said for many years that we cannot trust a company to achieve the goal, because it is easy to set up bogus offsets that won't really reduce emissions but only pretend to.
For similar reasons, a "carbon market" would be easy to game and therefore to render ineffective. It appeals to the worshipers of the Invisible Hand.
By contrast, a carbon tax really would pressure companies to emit less greenhouse gas.
Prescription concerns - 2024-04-16T03:55:41+00:00
*"What we’re seeing is not tele[medicine]": alarm over doctors using AI and prescribing without seeing patients.*
Medicine is intended to result in better health (better than it would otherwise have been), but it is misleading to refer to medicine as "health", and likewise to refer to telemedicine as "telehealth".
Heat stress - 2024-04-16T03:55:39+00:00
Ocean temperatures of 25°C lead to the premature death of octopus mothers, from heat stress, before their eggs have hatched.
The article is confused when it talks about "unborn offspring". Octopus eggs are not "born", any more than birds' chicks are "born" when they hatch. Baby octopuses do not develop inside their mother. However, the mother must circulate water for them constantly until they are ready to swim away.
It is too bad that the experiment did not report on the visual capabilities of octopuses that did hatch at 25°C. That is the only way to tell for certain whether that water high temperature will damage their vision.
It is possible that octopuses can evolve to adopt to warmer conditions, if the change is not terribly fast. Or they can survive farther from the equator.
Cashier-free shops - 2024-04-16T03:55:36+00:00
Amazon's notorious checkout-less stores supposedly used secret scanning and AI systems to figure out what each shopper bought. Actually they used remote workers in low-wage countries to watch the shoppers.
What Amazon had invented was a new method of replacing workers in the US with outsourcing to low-wage workers. But if they ever succeed in really automating this, workers will lose even more.
Labour and the Sun - 2024-04-16T03:26:28+00:00
*Starmer is courting Tory voters so hard it’s almost as though he wants to lose his own.*
I think he wants to convert the Labour Party into a competent but mainly plutocratist party, which would make policies mainly to benefit the wealthy, and carry them out competently. This would occupy the space that the Tory Party has abandoned to become the party of cruel rigidity.
Labour would then try to win elections by preventing any non-plutocratist opposition party from becoming a real alternative.
It is true that victory for a political cause usually requires compromises. The crucial thing is to distinguish the compromises that you can safely make from the compromises that would undermine your values.
Trump case - 2024-04-16T03:26:27+00:00
The cheater is about to be tried for violating campaign finance laws to hush up a scandal that could have interfered with his chances of getting elected. Describing it as a matter of a "sex scandal" covers up what is really at stake.
Negative experiences - 2024-04-16T03:26:27+00:00
*Negative experiences during military service are the main drivers of extremist beliefs amongst veterans, [suggests a small survey].*
These "negative experiences" are likely to involve hatred, bullying and war crimes. How ironic that their reaction to such violence leads them to commit or advocate similar violence themselves.
It is a mistake to classify "Antifa" as "extremist", since it means only participation in organized activity against a form of violence (fascism). That sometimes takes the form of fighting violent fascists, but basically it is nonviolent resistance against fascists.
Right-wing disinformation in the US portrayed Antifa a few years ago as a violent movement, which it was not.
Bogotá water supply - 2024-04-16T03:26:26+00:00
Due to El Niño plus Global heating, much of South America is suffering from record droughts, and Bogotá is facing exhaustion of water in two months.
Food production crisis building, UK - 2024-04-16T02:25:20+00:00
Britain has had a year of heavy rain, which has damaged wheat production.
This is surely related somehow to global heating. Whether it will continue, get better, or get worse, I have no basis to predict. But it is a dangerous situation.
Global coal-power up 2% - 2024-04-16T02:25:19+00:00
China is building new coal-fired generators faster than the US and Europe are closing them.
Corp. rename butt of media jokes, UK - 2024-04-16T02:25:15+00:00
A corporation that changed its name to "abrdn" claims to be entitled to certain kinds of human kindness that we think humans deserve. Corporations are not in fact persons, and they are not entitled to human rights or even human kindness.
I conjecture that the name "abrdn" was meant to acknowledge that large corporations are often a brdn on society, and to encourage regulating them more strictly ;-}.
Where the article comments on a matter of trademark law, it injects gratuitous confusion by using the propaganda overgeneralization of "the intellectual property" instead of the objective and concrete term, "the trademark".
Trademarks are nothing whatsoever like copyrights or patents or trade secrets — be careful never to generalize about all those laws.
CJPA news link tax - 2024-04-15T05:25:15+00:00
Google is testing a response to California's "news link tax", which is to remove all news links from what users post on Google platforms.
I see this as a counterattack rather than as a compelled reaction. But it is a fact that nothing can stop Google from retaliating this way. Whether Google's claims are right that the tax encourages further concentration and hollowing out of the newspaper business, I don't know.
The article talks about possible "better alternative" in a vague way, and I have no idea what Google means to suggest. But I do have a suggestion.
Adopt a tax on web sites that display advertising and allow users to post their own messages. The tax should be based on the amount of usage and/or the amount of advertising. The money should be distributed to news organizations in a way that does not depend on who does or does not post links to them. This way, Google and other platforms could not evade the tax by counterattacking.
US military drones - 2024-04-15T05:25:15+00:00
Reportedly US military drones have proved unreliable in Ukraine, so Ukraine is buying commercial Chinese drones (and spare parts), which work better.
Peer review corruption - 2024-04-15T05:25:14+00:00
There is evidence that peer reviewers are using bullshit generators (chatbots) to generate evaluations of submitted papers.
Since those programs don't really understand the articles that are being reviewed, or the subject that those are about, this is asking for error.
Please don't call those programs "AI"!
Pro-Putin far right - 2024-04-15T05:25:11+00:00
*The pro-Putin far right is on the march across Europe — and it could spell tragedy for Ukraine.*
Aid not reaching Gaza - 2024-04-15T05:25:09+00:00
Israel promised to allow more aid into Gaza, but it has not really done that. Famine has started.
Israel said it would allow aid into Gaza from the north, but instead of doing this using the existing crossing, it has decided to build a new crossing first. That's as absurd as extinguishing a life-threatening urban fire by ordering a new fire engine and waiting for it to arrive.
However, there seems to be other impediments to distributing aid inside Gaza once it gets across the border.
Perhaps these are not directly Israel's doing, but they are consequences of Israel's actions. I can imagine that truck owners don't want to risk that their trucks be destroyed by Israeli drones, and drivers don't want to risk getting killed that way.
Network of ghost roads - 2024-04-15T04:55:23+00:00
*Network of "ghost roads" paves the way for leveling Asia-Pacific rain forests.*
Layan Nasir - 2024-04-15T04:55:22+00:00
Not all Palestinians are Muslims. Israeli soldiers came to arrest an unarmed Christian Palestinian at home, at night, in the West Bank.
They are planning to hold her in prison indefinitely, with no official charges and therefore no trial. However, there is suspicion that she is in prison for political organizing.
Repression of activism - 2024-04-15T04:55:21+00:00
The UK is erecting a repressive system to crush protests, especially protests demanding measures to save civilization from climate disaster. People are imprisoned for holding protest signs, as in China.
I don't recall that Starmer Labour is any better on this issue than the Tories.
Iran drone strikes - 2024-04-15T04:55:21+00:00
Iran launched 100 drones, or more, in attacks on Israel. This was a response to an Israeli attack on an Iranian consulate in Syria.
Israel and Iran have been, formally, at war for decades. Can anyone point me at info on how and when that state of war started?
Here is more background.
Shoplifting crackdown - 2024-04-15T04:55:19+00:00
The UK proposes to use facial recognition systems on important streets, including mobile vans, to find people wanted for arrest. And not only for heinous crimes — even shoplifters would be sought this way.
RMS will give a talk in Braga - 2024-04-15T04:25:52+00:00
In Braga, Portugal, April 17th, Richard Stallman will give a talk, Free Software and Freedom in a Digital Society.
More Midwest fires earlier, USA - 2024-04-15T03:25:24+00:00
It is early spring, and the US Midwest is already suffering from wildfires.
Ecuadorian, diplomatic faux pas, MEX - 2024-04-14T10:56:09+00:00
*Mexico calls on UN to expel Ecuador over embassy raid as tensions soar.*
To legitimize the practice of invading other countries' embassies would further destabilize what remains of the conventions and rules of international relations.
That may have helped arrest a crook this time. In London, 10 years ago, it would have enabled the UK to grab Julian Assange sooner. But overall, these specific effects will average out to zero; what will remain is less stability.
More PFAS regulations, lawsuits - 2024-04-14T10:56:08+00:00
*US imposes first-ever limits on levels of [four specific] toxic PFA substances in drinking water.*
No level of these substances is absolutely safe, but a smaller concentration causes a smaller danger. Even though no nonzero level leads to zero danger, a small enough level makes for a danger that is insignificant, practically speaking, compared with the other dangers of life. The effort to reduce PFA substance levels beyond that is not efficient reduction of the danger.
Satire: Finger exercises - 2024-04-14T10:56:07+00:00
(satire) *CDC Recommends 6 Hours Of Clicking Per Day For Healthy Fingers.*
Satire: A Gotta dalita - 2024-04-14T10:56:07+00:00
(satire) *God To Delete Several Million Humans Due To Inactivity.*
Amazon rainforest as bargaining chip, COL - 2024-04-14T10:56:06+00:00
*Colombian Amazon deforestation surges as armed groups tighten grip.* The groups started as rebels fighting a repressive government, but now they use the forest as a hostage. Meanwhile, the erstwhile provincial rebel group made peace and disarmed, so it is no longer there to keep the others down.
Palestinian village raided, brutalized - 2024-04-14T10:56:05+00:00
Violent Israeli colonists in Palestinian territory attacked a Palestinian village, killing one Palestinian and injuring many. They were searching for a missing teenager who seems not to have been there at all. However, people who hate some others are often in a rush to declare them guilty of crimes, which may not even have happened at all.
Let's not lose sight of where we want to end up.
Ireland, Spain, push EU for Palestine - 2024-04-14T10:56:05+00:00
*Ireland and Spain reiterate plan to form alliance to recognize state of Palestine.*
Buying EU govt influence, RUS - 2024-04-14T10:56:04+00:00
*Belgium investigates alleged Russian payments to MEPs.*
*Belgian [prime minister] says Russia is trying to influence forthcoming elections to weaken European support for Ukraine.*
Sargassum belt polycrisis, CARICOM - 2024-04-14T01:49:01+00:00
Enormous excesses of sargassum seaweed are choking coasts in the Caribbean, and emitting hydrogen sulfide gas, which is foul-smelling and even toxic in large enough amounts.
The dangerous excess is partly caused by the large amounts of fertilizer runoff that humans' farms now release to the Atlantic Ocean.
Urgent: Drop charges on Julian Assange - 2024-04-13T08:58:39+00:00
US citizens: call on the US to drop charges against Julian Assange.
- Phone the White House at 202-456-1111 (only 11-3pm, Tues, Wed & Thur).
- Phone the Department of Justice at 202-353-1555 x1.
- Phone your congresscritter via 202-224-3121 and ask per to support H.Res.934.
See assangedefense.org/press-releases for more information
Any medical treatment attacked, Gaza - 2024-04-13T08:58:38+00:00
Foreign doctors who volunteered to work in Gaza claim that Israel intentionally targets medical facilities and personnel.
Let's not lose sight of where we want to end up.
Republican personhood in abortion vs IVF - 2024-04-13T08:58:37+00:00
*Alabama IVF ruling leaves Republicans stuck between their base and the broader public.*
I am not surprised by this good news As the bully pushes his followers into increasingly extreme and cruel positions, he is sure to generate more and more opposition. Republicans' usual methods of rigging elections won't help them if the demographic groups that normally vote Republican start doing rejecting them.
Ex-president's criminal trial, COL - 2024-04-13T08:58:36+00:00
Colombia's former president, Alvaro Horrible, will be tried for witness tampering and fraud.
He has been tied to the paramilitaries, gangs of criminals with close connections to the army, who were Colombia's worst terrorists.
Satanic Temple bomb, Witch City, MA - 2024-04-13T08:58:35+00:00
A bomb was planted on the Satanic Temple. It did little damage, due to an apparent malfunction, but it looks like right-wing terrorism.
New EPA rules finally cleanup air - 2024-04-13T08:58:35+00:00
A new EPA rule will require 200 US chemical plants to be redesigned to reduce toxic pollution.
Gun sales' loopholes closed - 2024-04-13T08:58:34+00:00
*US will require background checks for gun shows and online firearm sales.*
This is a step forward, but we urgently need strict laws about safe storage and transport of guns.
WTO sabotaged - 2024-04-12T23:58:52+00:00
The US has sabotaged the WTO by blocking appointment of "judges" to implement its dispute appeals procedure. See how I have condemned the WTO in the past.
The WTO "dispute resolution procedure" is much like an ISDS clause except that businesses cannot directly sue countries for making laws to protect human right, public health, the environment, or their citizens' standard of living. In the WTO, only another member country can do that. But a big enough company can generally get the government of the country it claims to be located in to sue on its behalf.
With the dispute resolution system spiked, the WTO will be unable to do much to countries that relax the unjust copyright laws that persecute people who share with other people, and may be unable to pressure countries to make exceptions in patent law for software, medicine and agriculture.
If the WTO limited itself to preventing international dumping of products, I would support it. But it goes far beyond that, into injustice.
Trade agreements is one of the few areas in which the corrupter did good things, For instance, keeping the US out of the TPP, and spiking the WTO. But that is no reason to vote for the corrupter, since Biden has continued the same policies. What's more, Biden has taken broad action against monopolies in the US.
In any case, the danger that the corrupter would impose fascism and abolish human rights in the US outweighs other the political issues.
Antarctica temperature fluctuations - 2024-04-12T23:58:51+00:00
Antarctica has begun experiencing big temperature fluctuations which are likely to make global heating start causing bigger changes there.
Vagrancy Act arrests - 2024-04-12T23:58:50+00:00
There have been 2500 arrests of people simply for being homeless in the UK since 2019.
Google's bullshit generator - 2024-04-12T23:58:50+00:00
Google tried to make its bullshit generator respond to questions about morals by saying that it can't judge those questions because they are for each person to judge. That's not a bad idea, in general. However, on some specific questions, such as *'Who negatively impacted society more, Elon tweeting memes or Hitler?'*, to assert that is there is no right answer is taking a kind of stand.
Perhaps if it said, "That asks for a moral judgment — this system lacks the capability to make such judgments," it would achieve the intended result.
Of course, there are many other topics about which a bullshit generator lacks the capability to give valid responses.
Vending machine facial recognition - 2024-04-12T23:58:48+00:00
Vending machines installed in a university in Canada have cameras, but various companies assert that they don't identify persons or store photos of them. They only detect that some person is in front of the machine and perhaps wants to use it.
In my view, the injustice of most cameras that watch people lies in tracking people. A camera that can't identify a person (or a car) is not an injustice. But it makes sense to demand that the company demonstrate at the technical level that these cameras cannot identify persons.
We can't take on trust any statements about what the machine actually does today if that depends on software, because the machine's owner could install different software any day.
Climate-smart agriculture funds - 2024-04-12T23:58:47+00:00
*More than half of federal funding for "climate-smart" agriculture in the US goes to farming practices that are unlikely to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.*
In some cases, this is because the funding pays for changes that reduce emissions, but they effectively subsidize raising livestock, and that is likely to mean more livestock and therefore more emissions.
Abdellatif freed - 2024-04-12T05:14:37+00:00
Australia kept an Egyptian refugee in deportation prison for 12 years because the government gave undue respect to a conviction in absentia in an Egyptian court which used torture to get "evidence".
Kafkaesque rigidity prolonged his imprisonment.
Lab-grown meat ban - 2024-04-12T05:14:36+00:00
Some Republican-ruled states want to prohibit lab-grown meat.
Some of those states have already passed laws to punish making pictures of how farms treat their animals. We know the reason for both kinds of laws: to serve the powerful few companies that dominate US agriculture, and also to oppose efforts to curb global heating.
Mooing cows - 2024-04-12T05:14:36+00:00
A new French law says that people who move into living spaces near existing activities that normally make noise have no right to demand an end to the noise.
This is simple common sense.
Lawful photography - 2024-04-12T05:14:35+00:00
A UK thug accused press photographer Dimitris Legakis of "assaulting" per, and arrested him. Seven months later, just before the trial, prosecutors realized Legakis had committed no crime, and dropped the case.
The thug seems to have accused Legakis of a fictitious crime — something not unusual for thugs. Dropping the prosecution was the right thing for prosecutors to do, but it isn't enough. It is necessary also to teach thugs to lose that unjust habit.
What has been done towards that end?
HP printer rental - 2024-04-12T05:00:33+00:00
HP invites customers to rent printers, with a contract that requires the printer to be reachable over the internet from HP, so it can monitor lots of things about what the renter prints.
Supposedly HP makes this snooping legitimate by making the renter explicitly consent to it. Balderdash! Massive surveillance cannot be justified by the manufacture of consent.
If we seriously want to stop companies from putting digital shackles on people, this sort of monitoring and control should be a crime. It should be punished with prison for the people who implemented it, as well as with fines to, or dissolution of, the company.
Arabic science - 2024-04-12T05:00:31+00:00
*Why the Arabic World Turned Away from Science.*
Science thrived in the Islamic world until around 1000 CE, but since then has lost its impetus and its influence. The article speculates about what the causes was, and whether there is a chance of changing it today. One suggested cause is that Islam never recognized autonomous institutions of study that were not controlled by religious authorities.
Today there are Arabs who do science, but they often do it in parts of the world where Islam does not dominate.
Prison phone lawsuit - 2024-04-12T05:00:26+00:00
*Lawsuits filed by a civil rights group allege that county jails in Michigan banned in-person visits in order to gouge prisoners and their families, as part of a "quid pro quo kickback scheme" with prison phone companies.*
The reason "prison phone companies" exist is to exploit an opportunity to gouge people who can least afford it — people who can't work except for a minuscule wage.
We need laws to require that these phone calls have a low price, or even zero price.
TikTok tracking - 2024-04-12T04:31:00+00:00
TikTok is accused of tracking journalists to find out who has met physically with TikTok employees to investigate the company.
India election - 2024-04-12T04:30:59+00:00
*"BJP v democracy": India’s opposition alliance cries foul as election nears.*
NYC Chatbot deception - 2024-04-12T04:30:53+00:00
New York City has set up a Chatbot, supposedly to give people information about legal questions based on official web sites. The site uses a bullshit generator, so its answers are often incorrect.
The article describes this behavior as "lying", but that cannot be true. The definition of "a lie" is a false statement, made knowing that it is false, intending that it deceive someone. A bullshit generator doesn't know that its output "means" anything, let alone whether a statement in that output is true or false.
Record global heating, past 1.5℃ - 2024-04-12T04:30:51+00:00
*Tenth consecutive monthly heat record alarms and confounds climate scientists.*
The world has warmed more in the past year than models predicted, and has exceeded the 1.5°C limit at which drastic consequences were expected. Scientists wonder whether this is an inexplicable temporary blip or an inexplicable lasting change.
Urgent: Libre tax-filing software - 2024-04-12T03:28:11+00:00
US citizens: call on the IRS to make a web site for filing tax returns that is libre, not merely gratis.
Asbestos usage bans and history, USA - 2024-04-12T02:00:49+00:00
Decades after recognizing that asbestos is dangerous to humans who breathe it, the US is slowly moving step by step towards banning its use.
Credentialed journalist booted, CO GOP - 2024-04-12T02:00:47+00:00
The head of the Colorado Republican Party, an insurrectionist trumppet, ordered the exclusion of a local reporter, preemptively prohibiting her from covering the event.
Satire: Excuses to delay legal hearings - 2024-04-12T02:00:43+00:00
(satire) *[The bullshitter's] Best Excuses For Delaying Legal Hearings.*
Satire: Killing all connections to HAMAS - 2024-04-12T02:00:39+00:00
(satire) *Israel Orders [Air] Strike On Chef José Andrés' Boyhood Home.* (He is the founder of World Central Kitchen.)
Universities' profits excluding all else - 2024-04-11T01:25:53+00:00
Indiana has prohibited spending state research funds for studying sexuality and sexual behavior. The Kinsey Institute and its extensive collections are now threatened. The university trustees are about to vote on some way to react to this and have refused to tell the institute's staff what the plan is.
Indiana Republicans' next planned attack on academic freedom is to undermine the system of tenure for professors, which is supposed to protect academic freedom. Once undermined it will no longer achieve that purpose.
I have to point out that universities have already, with no compulsion at all, eliminated tenure for a large fraction of their professors: they are "adjunct" professors, hired term by term, who can be "junct" after any term without giving reasons. One of my friends was junct by Harvard University in this way.
Religious harmony, UK - 2024-04-11T01:25:52+00:00
*"We stand together": Bradford Muslim and Jewish leaders join forces for Ramadan event.*
Artist-solidarity win, UK - 2024-04-11T01:25:48+00:00
*Manchester theatre restores canceled Palestinian event after artists protest.*
It was initially canceled because a mainstream Jewish organization accused one of the participants — false, as it happens — of trying to excuse the Holocaust.
Antisemitism subtleties - 2024-04-11T01:25:46+00:00
Distinguishing various kinds of antisemitism.
Troop withdrawal in Gaza - 2024-04-11T01:25:44+00:00
Israel has withdrawn its troops from southern Gaza, leaving a smaller number in northern Gaza where not much active fighting is happening.
This could lead to an end of the fighting, but we can't take that for granted.
*The Israeli cabinet’s decision followed warnings from foreign ministry officials that if aid was not increased, Israel would risk sanctions and arms embargoes.*
Urgent: Arming vs helping Israelis - 2024-04-11T01:25:42+00:00
US citizens: call on Congress to stop arms for Israel if it doesn't fully allow humanitarian aid access.
If you phone, please spread the word! Main Switchboard: +1-202-224-3121
Air defense weak, UKR - 2024-04-11T01:25:40+00:00
*Ukraine's air defense missiles are running out, Zelenskiy warns.*
Political assassination - 2024-04-11T01:25:38+00:00
Political Assassination is spreading to more and more countries.
The US continues to practice it occasionally, but not as much as in the decades from 2000 to 2020, when it was often carried out using fighter planes and drones.
Urgent: US post-offices as banks - 2024-04-11T01:25:37+00:00
US citizens: Call on Congress to establish postal banking, so as to support the USPS and under-served communities.
If you phone, please spread the word! Main Switchboard: +1-202-224-3121
Starlight tours - 2024-04-10T03:24:35+00:00
Thugs in Saskatoon made a practice of arresting indigenous people and leaving them at isolated places, on freezing cold nights, when their clothing was not adequate to survive. They were likely to die as a result. One victim knew a place where he could find shelter, and survived to testify.
Two thugs who were known to have killed indigenous people in this way were later convicted of a crime for that, and sentenced to prison. That's better than what usually happens to killer thugs, which is that they are never prosecuted at all; but the crime they were convicted of was an understatement.
They should have been charged with murder. They must have expected that the men they dumped in the cold were likely to die as a result, and intended that result.
It seems that the attempt to kill Darrell Night was motivated only by his being merely a nuisance.
Turkey democracy - 2024-04-10T03:24:34+00:00
Things are looking up in Turkey for democracy; a secularist and democratic opposition party won most of the votes in local elections.
But it is not certain that the public will be allowed to go ahead peacefully to vote that way. Erdoğan has used horrible dirty tricks before, even starting a civil war as an excuse to redo an election and get more votes by appealing to a misguided idea of patriotism, much as Dubya did by attacking Iraq.
15-minute neighborhoods - 2024-04-10T03:24:33+00:00
Paris is constructing "15-minute neighborhoods" (what most people want every day is available close by), and people generally like them a lot.
It is a shame that right-wing disinformation killed this in the UK. This is far from the worst harm that right-wing disinformation has done, but it is noteworthy for being so evidently false, so easy to confirm as false. We need to change our social systems so that they cease to facilitate lies, even lies as blatant as this.
US prisoner deaths - 2024-04-10T03:24:32+00:00
*US prisoners are dying from treatable conditions… inmates who died of preventable conditions were deemed malingerers and "time wasters".*
(Satire) 50% Discount - 2024-04-10T03:24:31+00:00
(satire) *Clarence Thomas Announces 50% Discount On All Favorable Rulings.*
A symbol of harmony - 2024-04-10T02:54:54+00:00
About a mosque in Varanasi where both Hindus and Muslims come to say their respective prayers.
I myself do not pray to anything, because I don't believe there is anything to pray to. But I am glad that Hindus and Muslims coexist in peace and tranquility.
Possible war crimes - 2024-04-10T02:54:53+00:00
The UN Human Rights Council adopted a resolution to hold Israel accountable for possible war crimes. "Hold accountable" is rather vague — I don't see precisely what the resolution called for.
Meanwhile, Biden threatened to cut off support, and this compelled Netanyahu to agree to open more channels for humanitarian aid into Gaza. This demonstrates that Biden can compel Israel to change an inhumane practice in war.
Whether these changes will end the starvation in Gaza remains to be seen. I would not sell Netanyahu anything on credit.
Israeli inquiry - 2024-04-10T02:54:52+00:00
Australia demands that Israel save pertinent evidence and permit an independent investigation into the killing of an Australian aid worker
who was in the WCK aid convoy attacked by a drone.
Toxic bandage brands - 2024-04-10T02:54:51+00:00
The biggest US brands of bandages contain PFAS, which can be absorbed directly into the skin.
How much of a dose a person is likely to get from wearing these bandages, the article does not say, and perhaps no one knows. I think it would not be an easy experiment to do. But it would surely be safer not to have them in bandages.
No Labels director vote - 2024-04-10T02:54:51+00:00
No Labels has abandoned the idea of running a candidate for president. Its director said that between Biden and the wrecker he would vote for Biden.
Military AI databases, ISR - 2024-04-09T07:54:44+00:00
Israel has implemented in real life the most horrible fictional scenario of a bloodbath caused by letting algorithms choose targets for bombing.
| ♣ | When it came to targeting low-ranking Hamas and PIJ suspects, they said, the preference was to attack when they were believed to be at home. “We were not interested in killing [Hamas] operatives only when they were in a military building or engaged in a military activity,” one said. "It’s much easier to bomb a family’s home. The system is built to look for them in these situations." |
| ♣ | Another said that after the 7 October attacks by Hamas, the atmosphere in the IDF was "painful and vindictive". "There was a dissonance: on the one hand, people here were frustrated that we were not attacking enough. On the other hand, you see at the end of the day that another thousand Gazans have died, most of them civilians." |
Urgent: The greed of Big Pharma - 2024-04-09T07:54:44+00:00
US citizens: call on Biden to direct Medicare to lower drug costs and fight Big Pharma's greed.
If you phone, please spread the word! White House: +1-202-456-1111and (TTY/TDD) +1-202-456-6213
Urgent: Apply over-pricing laws, Big Grocery - 2024-04-09T07:54:43+00:00
US citizens: call on the FTC to enforce the law and stop supermarket chains from putting massive profits over consumers.
USA to ISR: reach HAMAS deal, NOW - 2024-04-09T07:54:42+00:00
*Protect civilians and aid workers or risk losing US support, Biden tells Israel.*
That is a big step towards making Israel stop killing them. We now know it, that the cause was a central policy, not mere mistakes or randomness.
*Amid the slaughter and with famine looming, Israel’s allies must say enough is enough. If not now when?*
Let's not lose sight of where we want to end up.
Pivotal point in Gaza war - 2024-04-09T07:54:41+00:00
Biden's threat to stop support for Israel led it to make a concession to allow aid into Gaza through Israel.
Whether Israel will really allow all the food, water, medical supplies and other aid that the people of Gaza need is something that remains to be seen. We can't take for granted Israel will sincerely implement what it has agreed to.
However, there is also the matter that we now know from whistleblowers that the Israeli army was disregarding its obligation to avoid wanton killing of civilians. The US must not tolerate the continuation of this attitude towards causing civilian casualties.
Let's not lose sight of where we want to end up.
JBS meats and consumer fraud, NY - 2024-04-09T07:54:40+00:00
New York State is suing JBS, the biggest meat company for greenwashing that tried to pretend it was reducing its greenhouse gas emissions.
From JR's : articles
2 words - 51 chars
created on
updated on
- #
source
- versions
- backlinks