Richard Stallman

Richard Stallman's Political Notes -

Urgent: End the Gaza genocide - 2025-12-02T04:38:04+00:00

US citizens: support Rashida Tlaib's resolution to acknowledge and put an end to the genocide in Gaza.

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

Mamdani criticises Israel's crimes - 2025-12-02T16:37:54+00:00

Zohran Mamdani is blazing a trail for criticism of Israel's crimes in New York City.

BBC forbids criticism of Trump - 2025-12-02T16:37:54+00:00

The BBC has ordered its presenters , when reporting on how it deleted some words from a speech it was going to broadcast, that they are forbidden to say what those words were.

They were, "The most openly corrupt president in American history".

Ultra-rich reshaping British politics - 2025-12-02T16:37:54+00:00

How rich people dominate British politics, notwithstanding that it is suppose to be democratic.

You can see the results in the Labour Party's mostly right-wing policies, which they maintain _despite_ what their voters want.

Canada oil pipeline deal - 2025-12-02T16:37:54+00:00

Canada's new version of planet-roaster government has decided to push through another pipeline for exporting tar sands oil.

The party was re-elected because it stood up to the bully, but in regard to actual political issues it is plutocratist.

UK criminal cases backlog - 2025-12-02T16:37:54+00:00

*The [UK] criminal cases backlog requires radical action, but the problem has been caused by government cuts , not by an ancient and fundamental liberty [the right to a jury trial].*

No peace without conquest - 2025-12-02T16:37:53+00:00

Putin says, no peace without conquest of territory.

Yet another act of US-war against VEN - 2025-12-01T16:37:52+00:00

The bully has started war with Venezuela by threatening to attack any civilian airplanes flying in its airspace.

He couched the threat falsely as some sort of legitimate order to "close that airspace". The US government has authority to declare parts of US airspace closed, but has no such authority over Venezuelan airspace.

Many of the airlines (perhaps all of them) that fly in and out of Venezuela responded to the threat by canceling all flights to and from there.

Urgent: About illegal military orders - 2025-12-01T04:37:56+00:00

US citizens: support the members of Congress who reminded the US military that their legal and moral duty is to disobey illegal orders.

The criminal in chief threatened to have them killed for making this statement, so they need our support.

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

Urgent: Deportation debacles accountability - 2025-12-01T04:37:56+00:00

US citizens: call for holding the deportation thugs accountable for surveillance abuses.

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

"Do not eat game" warnings, US - 2025-12-01T04:37:56+00:00

Wild turkeys and deer in various US states have PFAS levels so high that the state recommends not eating them.

Trump designates supposed terrorist groups - 2025-12-02T04:38:02+00:00

To support his claims about "antifa" as a terrorist group, the bullshitter is trying to create a legend: he has arbitrarily designated a few names of supposed foreign terrorist groups, as magical "proof" that they are real terrorists.

*"The whole thing is a bit ridiculous," said Heidi Beirich, co-founder of the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism, which tracks extremist movements worldwide, "because the groups designated by the administration barely exist and certainly aren’t terrorists."*

BBC censors criticism of Trump - 2025-12-02T04:38:01+00:00

The BBC has become terrified of the bully's libel lawsuit threat, and is trying secretly to censor its broadcasts to avoid irritating him.

The BBC should stop distributing its broadcasts through any US companies, rather than cover up criticism of the bully.

Marine animals vulnerable to noise from ships - 2025-12-02T04:38:01+00:00

*Noise from ships can disrupt the animals' ability to communicate and find food.*

The food system a climate disaster - 2025-12-02T04:38:01+00:00

We know how end fossil fuels, even if we aren't pushing hard to do it. But we are in an early stage of figuring out how to make our food without greenhouse emissions.

KOSA will be used to censor LGBTQ - 2025-12-02T04:38:00+00:00

The internet mandatory user-identification bill, KOSA, will provide right-wing officials a means to block access to information about queer people.

Democrats who support the bill don't realize that.

Trump is hiding economic reports - 2025-12-02T04:38:00+00:00

*Why Is [the corrupter] Trump Hiding Economic Reports?*

It might be due to the shutdown. If so, the reports should resume soon. But one agency canceled some reports back in the summer. Speculation that he is trying to hide from Americans how much economic damage he has done to the US.

Taxing wealth - 2025-11-30T22:37:48+00:00

Arguments for taxing wealth, in the UK and any other country.

There are other means of redirecting the flow of wealth back to the many. For instance, regulating "private equity" combinations like public corporations, and the progressive income tax on corporations. Over the long term, these complement the direct taxation of the wealthy to make the wealth distribution more even.

Illegalising zines - 2025-11-30T22:37:47+00:00

*The Feds Want to Make It Illegal to Even Possess an Anarchist Zine.* They are launching an absurd prosecution and hoping that the Supreme Court will let them shred the First Amendment.

University students fight back over LLM-created course - 2025-11-30T22:37:46+00:00

Students in the University of Staffordshire are protesting vociferously that their programming course's course materials were generated by a bullshit generator.

Even the "instructor feedback" on their homework is produced by a bullshit generator. In effect, the human "professor" is giving only thin supervision to a robot that can't understand the subject.

The students have a valid point in saying that the university has violated its own code of academic misconduct. But that could be excused if there were no substantial reason to reject this practice. In fact, there is a substantial reason: because chatbots are not intelligent. Whatever topic their output seems to be "about", they don't really understand it.

If someday we create a true artificial intelligence that can indeed understand a subject, and human discourse in its various levels, it would surely be able to understand how to teach humans, supposing there were still a call for teaching humans. I am sure any of us could learn a lot from the insight of a humane superintelligence that wishes to help us learn.

But the chatbots to which people are led to apply the "AI" marketing buzzword come nowhere near qualifying for that.

Please join me in refusing to call them that! Please stand firm in this and don't let anyone make you give in!

Can anyone find a way to communicate this political note to some of those students?

Big Media and the kleptocracy - 2025-11-29T16:37:42+00:00

Robert Reich: The ever-increasing concentration of US major media, in the hands of billionaires, plays into the hands of corrupt governments.

I agree with his recommendations, but they are limited to trying to prevent the appearance of the problem we already have. They are not applicable in our current situation, where the problem already exists and the task is to cure it.

I think we need to set up a new structure for news companies, one that prevents very rich individuals or corporations from gaining control over them. It should give them some advantages in getting income so that they can do without billionaires' money and thus avoid becoming opportunities for bias-for-sale.

CoP30 as final CoP on fossil fuels, BRA - 2025-11-29T16:37:42+00:00

*US, Russia and Saudi Arabia create axis of obstruction as Cop30 sputters out.*

The countries that want civilization to survive need to move on from trying to make deals with them, and unite to compel adherence to limits on the fossil fuel they can buy. This may have to include tariffs on the products of countries that fail to participate in those limits.

Urgent: Pass the EXPERTS act - 2025-11-29T10:37:55+00:00

US citizens: call on Congress to pass Senator Warren's EXPERTS act, which would hinder lobbyists from serving as "experts" in government consultations.

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

Urgent: Condemn the death threats - 2025-11-29T10:37:55+00:00

US citizens: Condemn the persecutor's death threats against Democrats.

If you sign this petition going to House and Senate leaders, please spread the word!

Urgent: Stop anti-protest bill - 2025-11-29T10:37:55+00:00

US citizens: call on Congress to reject the bill to make organizing protests a crime.

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

Urgent: Restore Medicaid funds - 2025-11-29T10:37:54+00:00

US citizens: phone your congresscritter and call on per to sign the discharge petition for the bill to restore the Medicaid funds that were cut by the Big Bad Bill.

If half of the House signs this discharge petition, it will have to be voted on.

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

False healthcare expenditure claim - 2025-12-01T04:37:53+00:00

Mehmet Oz, one of the bully's incompetent medical officials, falsely accuses massive medical expenditures for immigrants -- falsely, because he misunderstood the records and exaggerates how much was spent.

Call for US troops to refuse illegal orders - 2025-11-30T22:37:44+00:00

The justice hater really hates the legal principle that soldiers can and indeed must reject illegal orders. It seems he has decided to have his henchmen erase it by pretending it never existed.

Israeli soldiers speak out on Gaza civilian killings - 2025-11-30T22:37:44+00:00

*IDF soldiers tell documentary of opening fire unprovoked and arbitrary designations of who was an enemy.*

Focus on Maga goals harms other DoJ investigations - 2025-11-30T22:37:43+00:00

The wrecker is interested in the Justice Department primarily for revenge and enforcing submission. He has fired, or driven out, many of the lawyers, with the result that the investigations he doesn't support have been hampered.

Xi's hope for Taiwan surrender plan - 2025-11-30T04:37:46+00:00

The wrecker's recent surrender plan for Ukraine seems to have given Chairman Xi hope that he can convince the wrecker to agree to a similar surrender plan for Taiwan.

Depending on the wrecker to defend you against a powerful enemy that he might wish to win the support of is inherently unreliable. He has no concept of loyalty or justice, and does not value democracy or human rights.

What can Taiwan do? I suggest that Australia sell Taiwan one sixth of the Nullarbor Plain (that is the same area as Taiwan), so it can move its people and industry there. The Nullarbor Plain is not very useful economically because it lacks water (and therefore trees), but Taiwan can afford to build solar-powered desalination plants and make the near-desert bloom. The partnership between these two countries would be good for both.

Australia foreign visitors prison - 2025-11-30T04:37:46+00:00

Australia is paying Nauru to act as a prison for foreign visitors who had visas, which Australia canceled after they committed crimes.

Australia tried hard to conceal the fact that the president (or is it dictator?) said he might forcibly return them to repressive countries they fled from before.

US cancels temporary asylum for Myanmar nationals - 2025-11-30T04:37:45+00:00

Burma is still ruled by a murderous military dictatorship, but the wrecker has decided to pretend that that is not so.

Big Media and the plutocracy, US - 2025-11-28T10:37:55+00:00

The billionaire owner of CNN is offering the corrupter a deal including firing TV presenters that the corrupter doesn't like.

The root cause of this is the enormous media consolidation of the last few decades. To counteract that tendency calls for splitting up the media megacorps into many smaller pieces.

Cop30 inadequate results - 2025-11-30T04:37:45+00:00

*The UN climate summit Cop30 moved forward the fight against the climate crisis and the damage it is already causing to lives and livelihoods. But the measures agreed are steps, rather than the leaps needed.*

To me it seems that the planet roasters have succeeded in delaying adequate action for one more year. If they keep this up for a few more decades, they will have won; the human population and the biosphere will suffer disaster.

*Cop30's watered-down agreements will do little for an ecosystem at tipping point.*

Indonesia climate crisis - 2025-11-28T22:37:47+00:00

Indonesia is very vulnerable to global heating damage. Meanwhile, it is one of the main emitters of greenhouse gases. Somehow officials fail to put those two together and draw the rational conclusion.

UK to remove right to trial - 2025-11-28T22:37:47+00:00

The UK government plans to eliminate trial by jury for many criminal cases.

This will make it easier to enforce repressive laws to nullify human rights, such as the law that makes it a crime to hold a sign saying "Palestine Action".

It is important to make trials happen sooner. It is important to prosecute more accusations of rape. What effect the absence of a jury would have on convictions, I don't know.

Spain's rosy view of Franco - 2025-11-28T22:37:47+00:00

Spain has neglected to teach young people about the crimes and repression of the dictator, Franco. Right-wing extremists now wish they could resurrect him.

FBI facial recognition surveillance drones - 2025-11-28T22:37:47+00:00

The FBI wants to develop facial recognition drones.

If we wish to avoid total repression, we must either make it a crime to posses or operate such a thing, or put strictly enforced limits on their use. However, the bully won't enforce any human rights protection strictly enough to protect human rights.

See gnu.org/philosophy/surveillance-vs-democracy for more about issues like this.

Australia making fighter jets for Saudi Arabia - 2025-11-28T22:37:46+00:00

Australia pushed the US to give it part of the business of manufacturing F-35 fighter planes. But the US decision to sell some of those planes to Crown Prince Bone Saw means that Australia would be complicit in supporting his cruel and repressive regime.

Making parts of F-35 planes for the US may become equally bad, if the current US regime establishes total repression.

MAGA personalities based outside of US - 2025-11-27T22:37:44+00:00

On ex-Twitter it is now possible to see which country an account operates from. Users observe that many users that present as true-blue American magats are based outside the US.

They may not be Americans at all. Or perhaps they are Americans operating from exile - but why do that if you support the regime?

Perhaps because Putin recruited them?

Australian in Thailand criminalized for criticizing Malaysia - 2025-11-27T22:37:43+00:00

An Australian living in Thailand published criticism of Malaysia's regulations, and accusing the regulator of abuse of power. Thailand is now prosecuting him for "criminal libel" on behalf of Malaysia.

This is a form of international repression, but even when it is not international, "criminal libel" prosecution is an injustice.

Magats accuse universities of anti-semitism - 2025-11-27T22:37:43+00:00

Robert Reich: Magats accuse universities of supposed anti-semitism to compel them to repress protests against Israel's atrocities and eliminate freedom to criticize Israel, but look the other way when their supporters turn out to be real anti-semites.

Toxic US sites face risk of coastal flooding - 2025-11-27T22:37:43+00:00

Rising sea level will cause flooding of thousands of shore-side sites that handle toxic waste.

With all the things that will be causing danger and damage in the 2070s, I doubt that the US (or any other country) will have the funds to move or clean up these facilities. I think many will simply be abandoned and their hazardous contents released into the ocean.

Reddit "modernized" has devolved - 2025-11-27T04:37:45+00:00

Posting on Reddit requires running nonfree JavaScript code. By using old.reddit.com you can read existing postings, but there is no way to post without running nonfree code.

Counter-terror surveillance used against student activists - 2025-12-01T04:37:46+00:00

*How Universities Used Counter-terror Intelligence-Sharing Hubs to Surveil [student activists for Palestinians' rights].*

Calls for respecting Ukraine's sovereignty - 2025-11-26T16:37:36+00:00

Many countries in Europe, and Australia, have rejected the bully's capitulation plan for Ukraine.

I hope those presenting an alternative "peace plan" have verified that Ukraine will accept it, before arguing for it.

Unjust plans for Ukraine - 2025-11-26T16:37:35+00:00

The bully's surrender plan for Ukraine is obviously unjust, a reward to a dictator that wants to conquer more territory. This article describes additional secondary aspects that would make Ukraine a sitting duck if Putin ever wants to conquer the rest of it.

Brain-drugs as weapons - 2025-11-26T16:37:35+00:00

Fast-acting mind-affecting drugs have been developed for use as weapons.

Covid bereaved pursue accountability for Johnson - 2025-11-26T16:37:34+00:00

An inquiry found that Bogus Johnson did a careless job of handling the Covid-19 pandemic, and this caused thousands of avoidable deaths. The relatives of the deceased demand to punish him for this by denying him public funds.