Richard Stallman

Richard Stallman's Political Notes -

Environmental groups demand halt to US datacenters - 2025-12-12T22:38:44+00:00

*More than 200 environmental groups demand halt to new US data centers.* Canada's environmental realism *Canada's environmental "realism" looks more like surrender.*

Plutocratist's favorites refrain is, "Be realistic -- don't aim for the change that would suffice for survival."

Social media damages children's ability to focus - 2025-12-12T22:38:43+00:00

*Study of 8,300 US children suggests social media may be contributing to a rise in ADHD diagnoses… [it] damages children's ability to focus.*

Risk-free childhood - 2025-12-12T22:38:43+00:00

Lenore Skenazy: risk-averse society demanded that facilities for children be designed to eliminate any identified risk.

Family of student deported to Honduras targeted by ICE agents - 2025-12-12T22:38:43+00:00

When deportation thugs grabbed Any Lucia López Belloza as she was boarding a flight to see her family in Texas, other thugs went to her family home and sought to bluff their way into it without saying why.

Whether the López family should have residency in the US is a complex question which I can't judge. I don't know all the facts, all the US laws, nor all about the asylum treaty and its interpretation. So I have no opinion about that.

However, a few things are clear. No one should ever be deported in a rush, no one should ever be deported without a careful hearing, and no one should be deported without a reasonable time to say goodbye to friends and family.

And no one should be deported based arguments that rest on fabricated facts.

Warner Bros. Discovery Should Remain Independent - 2025-12-12T22:38:43+00:00

*Warner Bros. Discovery Should Remain Independent to Keep Film/TV Markets .*

As this instance shows, business owners generally prefer to increase their power by reducing the number of competitors -- often through mergers.

The original purpose of antitrust law was to prevent the gradual disappearance of real competition. Since the 1980s, plutocratist US politicians (including Democrats such as Bill Clinton) have undermined antitrust enforcement, and thus permitted more and more mergers, resulting in many fields which have only two competitors, or perhaps just one.

One of the things I admired about Biden was that he firmly opposed that tendency, including by appointing Lina Khan to head the Federal Trade Commission.

Robert Inlakesh's YouTube account deleted - 2025-12-12T22:38:42+00:00

Google deleted journalist Robert Inlakesh's YouTube account. The reasons it offers vary and are not credible; people suspect it was because of what he reported from Gaza.

Israel 'yellow line' new border - 2025-12-12T22:38:42+00:00

Israel has more or less admitted its intent to annex half of Gaza, the half from which it has already expelled all Palestinians -- up to the slowly advancing "yellow line".

Trump calls for release of ex-clerk guilty of Colorado election data breach - 2025-12-12T22:38:42+00:00

The underminer isn't satisfied with his outrageous practice of pardoning, for any federal crimes, whoever offers fealty to him. He wants to bully states into pardoning his servants for state crimes too.

College students affected by Trump's new tax bill - 2025-12-12T22:38:42+00:00

Magas have canceled Biden's program that allows students who took out loans, but have low income, to repay less than the face value of their loans.

That will actually make education of future students in the US more expensive.

Aside from that, there will be lower limits on how much a student can borrow. This is not necessarily a bad thing, because borrowing more than that is taking a terrible risk. We recently saw the job market for programming graduates crash because of (perhaps foolhardy) use of Imitation Intelligence. That could happen in other fields too.

Every country should fund the education of capable students. That is an investment in its future.

Arizona Representative pepper-sprayed - 2025-12-12T16:38:19+00:00

Newly elected Representative Grijalva of Arizona accuses deportation thugs of spraying her with pepper spray, and a video supports the claim, but a magat official insists that it never happened.

Uyghur brothers jailed in India without trial - 2025-12-12T16:38:16+00:00

Three Uyghur brothers have been jailed in India for 12 years, without a trial, for crossing the China-India border unknowingly since there was nothing to say it was a border.

The greatest danger to them is that India may expel them to China, which systematically brainwashes Uyghurs.

Sexual abuse protections for prisoned queer people eliminated - 2025-12-12T04:38:41+00:00

*DoJ moves to eliminate sexual abuse protections for LGBTQ+ people in prisons.* In effect, magats want to threaten those prisoners with rape.

Monument to corruption - 2025-12-12T04:38:40+00:00

*The giant [White House] ballroom is [the corrupter's] monument to corruption.* Countries are donating to it as bribes for government favors.

About Peter Francis - 2025-12-12T04:38:40+00:00

About Peter Francis, former police undercover infiltrator of protest movements, who became a whistleblower to expose that antidemocratic practice.

Chernobyl shelter bombed - 2025-12-12T04:38:40+00:00

The Putin forces blew a hole in the Chernobyl reactor disaster shield, which was meant to contain radioactive materials in the old wreckage.

The damage makes it impossible to proceed to clean up the reactor.

Labour EU customs union - 2025-12-12T04:38:39+00:00

Labour is considering bringing the UK partly back into the EU by negotiating a customs union. Corbyn advocated a customs union with the EU when he was head of the Labour Party.

Pentagon press taken over by right-wing activists - 2025-12-12T04:38:39+00:00

Pentagon "press conferences" are now limited to right-wing extremists that will support the bully's militarist policy 110%.

Since that happened, the major US media have become mostly subservient themselves, on the big issues, but they remain willing to criticize smaller details of government actions.

Trump pardons ex-Honduran president - 2025-12-12T04:38:39+00:00

*[The wrecker]'s pardon of an ex-Honduran president is shocking. So is the history of US support for him [in power].*

Hillary Clinton encouraged the coup in which he stole the presidency. Presidents Obama and Biden gave him support, as well as the wrecker.

Qatar and Egypt urge Israeli withdrawal - 2025-12-12T04:38:39+00:00

Qatar and Egypt, designated as guarantors of the Gaza peace plan Israel has nominally accepted, call on Israel to withdraw its army from Gaza and allow the agreed-on international peace force to take over Gaza.

If Israel does this, that will mean an end to the bloodshed in Gaza (though not the sickness, hunger and cold). Otherwise, Israel will be visibly responsible for breaking the deal.

Urgent: Protect wildlife, not business interests - 2025-12-10T16:38:16+00:00

US citizens: call on federal agencies to protect endangered wildlife, not business interests.

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

Urgent: Impeach Hegseth - 2025-12-10T16:38:16+00:00

US citizens: phone our congresscritter and say to impeach Hegseth.

The main switchboard is +1-202-224-3121. If you message Congress, please spread the word!

Chatbot slop persuading with false information - 2025-12-10T16:38:15+00:00

Chatbot slop that contains a lot of supposed information can persuade people, but that supposed information tends often to be false.

(satire) Eye Contact During Sex - 2025-12-10T16:38:15+00:00

(satire) *Utah Bans Eye Contact During Sex.*

Schools buying supplies from Amazon - 2025-12-10T16:38:15+00:00

Some US schools buy supplies from Amazon, and get screwed by changing prices.

States ought to prohibit public agencies and institutions (such as public schools) from buying from any company that requires sellers to commit not to charge less though other retailers. This would exclude Amazon, not by discrimination, but by rejecting its anti-competitive practice.

Footage of U.S. attack on supposed drug boat - 2025-12-10T16:38:15+00:00

*[Congressional representatives] who saw a video of a U.S. attack on wounded and helpless people clinging to the wreckage of a supposed drug boat on September 2 described the footage as deeply disturbing.*

*Killing of survivors sparks outrage – but entire US "drug boat" war is legally shaky.* Not to mention that any murder is vicious.

PFAS in cereal products in Europe - 2025-12-10T16:38:13+00:00

A PFAS is found in high concentrations in cereal products in Europe. It is a breakdown product of other PFAS that are used in pesticides.

Prisoner left outdoors in cage - 2025-12-10T16:38:13+00:00

The thugs running the Everglades deportation prison leave a prisoner in a constricting cage outdoors for a day without water to drink.

Even at this time of year, it is often rather hot for part of the day down there. Such a cage is torture, and the lack of water to drink risks doing harm.

Google takes stand for the deportation thugs - 2025-12-10T16:38:13+00:00

Google takes a stand for the deportation thugs and against their victims.

Is Google's political stand a matter of support for repression?
Or is it a matter of surrendering to bullying?
Either way, it shows the injustice of the nonfree software of Google's app store.

At last for now you can load apps from elsewhere on Android. But Google is talking about making that harder.

Lawsuit against Google over Gemini - 2025-12-10T16:38:12+00:00

A lawsuit accuses Google of activating its bullshit generator, Gemini, by default for various widely used apps, as a way of snooping on what users say in them.

It's not impossible to deactivate Gemini, but Google has set up a "dark pattern" to make it so inconvenient that people will give up.

Snooping, and dark patterns, are typical ways nonfree programs mistreat users. If you run a nonfree program, yo are helplessly at the mercy of any nonfree program's developer.

Global heating damaged Britain's grain harvest - 2025-12-10T16:38:12+00:00

Global heating seems to have greatly damaged Britain's grain harvest, enough that farmers are considering giving up.

Repeal of Biden-era fuel efficiency standards - 2025-12-10T16:38:12+00:00

*[The saboteur in chief] says he will repeal Biden-era fuel efficiency standards for cars and trucks.*

He must be working an hour a week to maximize use of fossil fuels.

Washington's betrayal of European allies averted - 2025-12-10T16:38:12+00:00

*Washington's betrayal of its [European] allies has been averted for now,* but Europe must prepare for a world where it cannot trust the US as an ally.

Politicians distract from damage of tracking everyone - 2025-12-10T16:38:11+00:00

How politicians that want to track everyone distract attention from the damage of doing that: by focusing public concern on the secondary danger that people of some minority groups will be tracked less accurately than most people.

As if the only danger were that of tracked wrong.

Meanwhile, the same government tries to jail everyone who states support for Palestine Action.

If you are in Britain, call your MP to tell per that tracking people as much as the UK does is Orwellian and puts democracy in danger.

And while you're it it, insist on paying cash for what you buy, so that your identity is not known.

Crash in sardine population - 2025-12-10T16:38:11+00:00

A crash in the sardine population killed most of the African penguins population from 2004 to 2012. The species is now critically endangered.

Legal refugee in Britain, treated like criminal - 2025-12-10T16:38:11+00:00

*I'm a legal refugee in Britain. So why am I always being treated like a criminal?.*

Heat driving animals to extinction - 2025-12-09T04:38:02+00:00

Many species are threatened with extinction from sheer excess heat.

US professor fired over pro-Palestinian protests - 2025-12-09T04:38:02+00:00

San José State University's president has fired a tenured professor for involvement in a protest "violating rules". She is contesting this with the help of the faculty union.

Racist housing policies - 2025-12-09T04:38:02+00:00

Racist housing policies drove down the property values in the US neighborhoods where blacks were allowed to live; adding injury to injury. Their houses were taxed for far more than they were worth.

The article linked to just above 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.

Sudanese city left "a slaughterhouse" - 2025-12-09T04:38:02+00:00

*Up to 150,000 residents of El Fasher are missing since North Darfur capital fell to paramilitary Rapid Support Forces,* which is one of the two warring factions.

A large number of them seem to have been massacred, but investigators and reporters are not allowed in.

Margaret Atwood, Guardian interviewers - 2025-12-08T10:38:20+00:00

Margaret Atwood responds to big questions, after clarifying them philosophically with vigorous logic.

New religious mandates in Malaysia - 2025-12-07T22:41:02+00:00

Some states in Malaysia make it a legal obligation for Muslim men to participate in prayer on Friday. Failure can be punished by a long prison term.

Being labeled a Muslim in Malaysia is not a matter of choice or belief. If your parents were Muslim, the national government designates you as a Muslim. Likewise if you are racially Malay. This is an offense against the human right, freedom of religion.

In general, countries that are generally considered "Muslim" have laws that deny people religious freedom. Typically these laws ban conversion of Muslims to any other religion or to Atheism, as well as other more specific injustices.

A good example is Egypt.

Magat officials threaten to withhold Snap funds - 2025-12-12T16:38:10+00:00

Magat officials have threatened to withhold food stamp funds from states that don't hand over all their personal data about all recipients.

PFAS-banning bill, NYC - 2025-12-07T04:38:10+00:00

*New York City bill aims to ban toxic "forever chemicals" in firefighting gear.* The states of Massachusetts and Connecticut did this last year, but New York City is a bigger market than either of them.

Cryptocurrency and politics in the UK - 2025-12-07T04:38:10+00:00

*UK ministers pressing ahead with ban on cryptocurrency political donations.*

To restore democracy, we need to prevent the rich from buying elections. That entails preventing anonymous contribution in electioneering.

Legality of military murder orders - 2025-12-07T04:38:10+00:00

*Entire Chain of Command [from Hegseth down to the soldiers who fired the shots] Could Be [prosecuted under actual US military law] for Killing Boat Strike Survivors, Sources Say,*

Thus, the statement that soldiers are allowed to refuse an order to commit a war crime is half the point. The other half is that those who receive an order to commit a crime must refuse, lest they make themselves criminals and later be prosecuted for those crimes. "I was obeying orders" is not a defense.

One unfortunate consequence of this situation is that their only remaining way to avoid such prosecution is to have a president who protects criminals. That could become a system that generates soldiers desperate to be pardoned by the president for crimes they committed for per.

(Satire) US order: increase ALL numbers - 2025-12-07T04:38:10+00:00

(satire) *[The bullshitter] Announces 5,000% Increase In All Numbers.*

US National Guard arms, DC - 2025-12-07T04:38:10+00:00

*Pentagon says every national guard [soldier] deployed in Washington DC "is now armed."

The hate-spreader is using an shooting attack on some national guard troops in Washington as an opportunity to make it easier for violence against civilians to occur. Such violence serves his purposes.

Border thugs raided medical aid site - 2025-12-06T22:38:10+00:00

Border thugs broke into and raided a humanitarian aid station in the Arizona desert, without a warrant.

This station gives food, water and medical care, and a chance to rest -- but not transportation -- to people who have crossed the border. The thugs could have entered the place lawfully by first applying for a warrant, but they look for opportunities for lawlessness that will diminish constitutional rights in the US.

Dollar-store industry overcharging customers - 2025-12-06T22:38:10+00:00

*A Guardian investigation reveals Dollar General and Family Dollar stores often fail to honor their shelf prices – charging more at checkout for everything from frying pans to Frosted Flakes.*

The companies let such errors accumulate systematically "by accident"; not doing the work required to update the price stickers on the products themselves. When they are caught, the fines are minuscule. Morally it is the equivalent of deciding to lie and defraud, and it ought to be punished as such.

Some dollar stores also explicitly lie by presenting fake "discount prices".

I've heard these stores criticized also for (1) not offering much in the way of fresh vegetables and fruit, thus imposing a less healthful diet, and (2) driving all competitors out of business, so that whole neighborhoods have no access to those foods.

Strikes on alleged drug boats - 2025-12-06T22:38:10+00:00

The wrecker has given the US military permission to keep attacking alleged drug smuggling boats until they are completely destroyed, even if this will result in killing survivors.

This second attack is a secondary crime on top of the first crime -- the first military attack on an alleged drug smuggling boat. The US could easily capture these boats and their crews, then prosecute the people on the boat for smuggling drugs, if it turns out they were really smuggling drugs. That is the legitimate thing to do, respecting the law.

But the wrecker doesn't want to carry out justice under laws, rather to twist them into a fascist regime's laws -- a means of compelling everyone's submission.