Richard Stallman

Richard Stallman's Political Notes -

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Please spread the word.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The article gives examples and explains them.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

What will be next? Maybe China will attack Taiwan.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Arbitrary denial of US visas to five Europeans - 2026-01-07T10:37:14+00:00

The bully's henchmen arbitrarily ordered denial of US visas to five Europeans who campaign against online hatred. One of them, Imran Ahmed, lives with his wife in the US as a permanent resident, and they want to jail him and deport him. A judge ruled he is entitled to a court hearing about that.

Robert Reich on American Bar Association and American Medical Association and saboteur in chief - 2026-01-07T10:37:13+00:00

Robert Reich asks why the American Bar Association and the American Medical Association have not taken action against lawyers and medical professionals who violate the ethical rules of their professions obeying the saboteur in chief.

Working Americans and Medicaid - 2026-01-07T10:37:13+00:00

Most of the Americans that magats seek to kick off Medicaid for "not working" do in fact work, but the difficulty of proving this over and over will kick them off anyway.

Israel doesn't bother to lie about killing journalists - 2026-01-07T10:37:12+00:00

*Israel used to lie about killing journalists; now it barely bothers to do so. What happened?*

Banksy image on side of court building - 2026-01-07T10:37:11+00:00

*Court staff cover up Banksy image of judge beating a protester.* Banksy painted in on the side of a court building.

(satire) Condoms cause autism - 2026-01-07T10:37:11+00:00

(satire) *RFK Jr. Warns Mistress That Condoms Cause Autism.*

Right-wing extremists trying to eliminate equal rights - 2026-01-07T10:37:10+00:00

Right-wing extremists are trying to eliminate all vestige of the 20th century ideas of equal rights for non-whites, for non-Christians, and for women.

Waymo driverless taxis during power outage - 2026-01-07T10:37:10+00:00

When part of San Francisco had a power outage, and traffic lights shut off, Waymo driverless taxis (which are not "autonomous") were commanded simply to stop at intersections. That was better than driving normally without traffic lights, but it blocked intersections and they stayed blocked.

Crisis Intervention Training for cops - 2026-01-07T10:37:10+00:00

Crisis Intervention Training for cops, teaching them how to treat someone having a drug overdose, makes for a decrease in overall deaths from drug overdose.

Cyrillic letters as "funny" stand-ins for other letters - 2026-01-07T10:37:10+00:00

Writing Cyrillic letters as "funny" stand-ins for similar-looking letters in the Roman alphabet is annoying to some people whose languages use that alphabet. And it has no wittiness to make up for that.

I too look down on mockery of the Cyrillic alphabet, or of umlauts. Not as strongly as Viv Groskop does, but enough to give me a low opinion of whoever did it. Likewise for mockery of Chinese characters and Indian alphabets. The first time someone did these things, it may have been clever, but nowadays it is merely silly and trite.

I was just a little more clever when I pronounced Toys-Я-Us as if the Я were Cyrillic — as Toys-Ya-Us. I wasn't the one who chose to write it that way, rather I mocked the company by pronouncing its name in the correct way which it probably did not expect.

Plain text transfer of confidential documents - 2026-01-07T10:37:10+00:00

European institutions including hospitals and courts have been using a company called Zivver to transmit and save confidential documents and records. Investigators report finding that documents are sent to Zivver's server in plain text, and encrypted only on the server. That is fundamentally insecure and untrustworthy.

However, things have got worse. Zivver was recently sold to a US company, so now the US government can access all those documents, including before they are encrypted.

Making it even worse, the executives of that US company are associated with Israeli Intelligence. So the Israeli government can get that access too.

Europe should insist that purchasers of companies that hold European people's personal data be European companies, with no exceptions.

But this is a secondary issue compared with how bad Zivver itself did. Even before Kiteworks purchased Zivver, Zivver was offering fundamentally weak security, which no one should have accepted.

Threats of military trial of Senator Kelly - 2026-01-07T10:37:09+00:00

Secretary of Politicized Justice Hegseth threatened a military trial of Senator Kelly (a former Navy officer) for reminding the US military that it is lawful to disobey an illegal order, but the Pentagon shows no particular interest in prosecuting Americans who committed war crimes in Vietnam.

White House refuses to rule out summary executions - 2026-01-07T10:37:09+00:00

*White House Refuses to Rule Out Summary Executions of People on Its Secret Domestic Terrorist List.*

Maximum temperature reduction managed by carbon capture - 2026-01-07T10:37:09+00:00

A new report says that worldwide, the maximum [temperature] reduction that carbon capture and storage could manage for the atmosphere would be 0.7C, far short of the 5C to 6C industry and governments claim.

In effect, CC&S is a distraction that enables planet roasters to reduce the social pressure to reduce their greenhouse emissions.

Warnings that machine learning is ripe for abuse - 2026-01-07T10:37:09+00:00

*[In 2017,] Kate Crawford of Microsoft Research warned that [machine learning] is ripe for abuse. Crawford, who researches the social impact of large-scale data systems and machine learning, described how encoded biases in [machine learning] systems could be abused to target certain populations and centralize power in the hands of authoritarian regimes.*

The article uses the term "artificial intelligence", and it seems to use it properly, to refer to systems that try to know and understand some (perhaps narrow) aspect the world, and not about LLMs which understand nothing.

Upcoming talk: Atlanta, Georgia - 2026-01-06T10:36:42+00:00

On Friday, January 23rd, RMS will give a talk, "Free/Libre Software And Our Freedom: Our shield against many digital injustices." at Scheller College of Business.

Seats are unreserved. Please bring cash to get FSF merchandise.

EU: New Rules on Asylum - 2026-01-04T04:37:00+00:00

Amnesty International rebuked the EU for strict new asylum policies that can arbitrarily send a refugee to an unrelated country with which person has no connections.

They define many countries as "safe" including Bangladesh, Colombia, Egypt, Kosovo, India, Morocco and Tunisia. India denies the citizenship of Muslims, Morocco and Tunisia are more or less Islamist, Bangladesh is wracked by Islamist mobs, and Egypt imprisons dissidents.

Investigation of political interference - 2026-01-04T04:37:00+00:00

A UK political party calls for investigation of political interference by hostile foreign states to include interference by the US.

It needs to include the US if its results are to be meaningful.

Trump threatens to move olympics and world cup - 2026-01-04T04:37:00+00:00

The bully threatens to move highly profitable global sporting events out of US cities that don't bow down to him.

The head of FIFA has been sucking up to him so much as to suggest it would willingly cooperate with being used as a stick to beat US cities with. This article suggests that FIFA and the corrupt US government have become a partnership for plunder.

As for the Olympic Games, they have a decades-long history of demanding and getting laws that are unfair to the non-rich, including general surveillance of the public.

Meanwhile, the great expense to taxpayers goes to boost some local businesses.

This is why I support citizens' campaigns against hosting the games.

I make myself invulnerable to being bribed or manipulated by Big Sports by resisting the impulse to care who wins a sports match. The matches that I care about are elections for office, and I always root for the progressive-green-human rights defender. And, beyond just caring about the outcome, I can help them win.

SNAP food work requirements - 2026-01-04T04:37:00+00:00

*In many parts of the country, there are new work requirements to get food aid. But starving people doesn’t motivate them — despite centuries of this rhetoric.* In other words, poor people who can work will work, if work is doable.