Richard Stallman

Richard Stallman's Political Notes -

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!

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.

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 busines 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 creuel 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 shoreside 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.

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.

Counterterror surveillance used against student activists - 2025-11-26T16:37:35+00:00

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

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.

Republicans' serious, glaring, hypocrisy - 2025-11-26T16:37:33+00:00

Senator Kelly rebuked Republicans in Congress for almost complete silence about the persecutor's death threats against him and five other congressional Democrats.

He contrasted that with their exaggerated reproach of those who dared criticize Charles Kirk's bigotry and hatred after he had been killed (but never claimed that his wrongs justified killing him).

These two contrasting reactions of Republican officials, juxtaposed, demonstrate that they have abandoned the idea of a moral standard of conduct that is above politics. They have shamelessly replaced it with cowardly submission to partisan extremism encompassing political terrorism.

A few exceptions may exist even though the general tendency is clear. If you know of any significant exception — any prominent Republican who publicly denounces the persecutor's death threat — please do tell me the specifics.

Anyone who leans Republican but doesn't want to be changed by peer pressure into accepting political terrorism should reject and denounce the Republican Party now!

An exercise for the reader: what reasons make Vance's response invalid? I see two.

Urgent: Stop Spotify recruit-ads - 2025-11-26T10:37:32+00:00

US citizens: call on Spotify to cease running recruiting ads for the bully's deportation thugs.

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

If you send a letter, please spread the word!

In my letter I said that if Spotify stops using DRM, makes it possible to pay anonymously, and makes it possible to be a customer without running nonfree software, I could consider being one. Thus, I used this letter for two issues: the issue of supporting the deportation thugs and the issue of unjust software.

Urgent: Stop US, Venezuela-war plans - 2025-11-26T10:37:32+00:00

US citizens: call on Congress to stop threatened U.S. military attack against Venezuela, Mexico, and other countries in Latin America.

Urgent: Stop Congress trading stocks - 2025-11-26T10:37:31+00:00

US citizens: call on Congress to pass a law to ban members of Congress from trading stocks.

Urgent: US scheming to tax nonprofits - 2025-11-26T10:37:31+00:00

US citizens: call on the IRS commissioner to protect nonprofits from the bully's "National Security" Memo.

President of Serbia accused of war profiteering scheme - 2025-11-26T10:37:31+00:00

The president of Serbia is accused of involvement in a perverse war profiteering scheme which allowed rich foreigners to pay to come to a hill near Sarajevo and shoot noncombatants from a long distance with a telescopic sight.

Immigrant doctors in Britain leaving - 2025-11-26T10:37:30+00:00

Many of the doctors in Britain are immigrants. The growth of right-wing hatred in the UK, fomented by organized right-wing extremists, is increasingly driving them to leave and practice medicine elsewhere.

Pernicious giveaway to Big Food - 2025-11-26T10:37:30+00:00

The deal that ended the shutdown had a pernicious giveaway to Big Food that negated until 2028 some state regulations for food safety.

I expect this will harm some Americans but not thousands. Still, Congress needs a way to designate a bill as "free from tangential riders" that would invalidate any that somehow appeared in the text finally passed.

Tortured into making false confession - 2025-11-26T10:37:30+00:00

British thugs tortured Peter Sullivan into making a false confession of murder. (DNA evidence later proved that he was not the murderer.)

False convictions seem to happen often. Perhaps the legal system ought to show more doubt about confessions which no had evidence to support them.

Normally cool regions having heat waves - 2025-11-26T10:37:30+00:00

Even normally cool regions such as Scandinavia are having deadly heat waves boosted by global heating.

"22 days over 30°C" does not sound like much of a danger to people who live in tropical countries. But the people and ecosystems in Scandinavia are not accustomed to this heat, so things go wrong. The engineered systems there were not designed for this heat, so they malfunction. And hundreds of people die. Elsewhere, it is sometimes tens of thousands who die.

I expect that not all the fatalities caused by the heatwave occur during the heatwave. Such is the case for big storms: the local death rate remains higher for decades after.

The article warns that heating could make reindeer-herding impossible. Heat that makes reindeer too hot to move out of the shade, if continued for longer, would stare them.

In climate disaster, The inability to continue our way of life would hardly be limited to indigenous peoples. It would affect just about everyone.

Birth control information on TikTok - 2025-11-25T10:37:29+00:00

Searching on TikTok for information on birth control finds right-wing medical disinformation.

Observing effects of ocean acidification - 2025-11-25T10:37:29+00:00

To observe the effects of ocean acidification, scientists retraced the path of Scott's Antarctic expedition, and collected sea animals to compare with the samples he collected. The sea urchins have become very fragile, and ocean acidification seems to be the cause.

Fish in Mekong River - 2025-11-25T10:37:29+00:00

*Fish [species, in the Mekong River,] once as large as grizzly bears have become far smaller in recent years due to overfishing, dams and climate crisis.*

US states give federal agencies drivers license records - 2025-11-25T10:37:28+00:00

US states give some federal agencies unlimited access to their drivers license records — and now these agencies may be using them for facial recognition, disregarding laws and human rights.

US hiring countries as deportation prisons - 2025-11-25T10:37:28+00:00

The US is hiring various countries as private deportation prisons for the US.

Risking health of babies for profit - 2025-11-25T10:37:28+00:00

*Nestlé accused of "risking health of babies for profit" over added sugar in cereals sold in African countries.*

Armed Israeli "settlers" escalated violence - 2025-11-25T10:37:28+00:00

The armed Israeli "settlers" have escalated their violence against Palestinian inhabitants of the West Bank.

Labour privatising NHS in plain sight - 2025-11-25T10:37:28+00:00

In Britain, *Labour is privatising the NHS in plain sight.*

I expect it will remain nominally a public service, but if you don't want your treatment to wait till you're dead, you will have to use it to book a private service to do the treatment — at private medicine prices.

Big Pharma lobby scheme - 2025-11-25T10:37:27+00:00

By spending 4 million dollars on campaigns for Congress, the big US drug companies made Americans pay 8 billion more for medicine.

They lobbied to eliminate the changes Biden made to make manufacturers negotiate a lower price for a list pf important medicines.

Most countries have a national medical system which buys the drugs for most people. It uses its market power to drive drug prices down. This is one of the side benefits that would add to the fundamental benefit of establishing a national medical system in the US.

Huge cuts to staff at WHO - 2025-11-25T10:37:27+00:00

*Huge cuts to staff at WHO will leave world "less healthy and less safe," experts warn.*

The saboteur in chief is responsible for these cuts.

Cluster munitions used by Israel in Lebanon - 2025-11-25T10:37:27+00:00

*Israel used widely banned cluster munitions in Lebanon, photos of remnants suggest.*

Explaining civil war in Sudan - 2025-11-25T10:37:27+00:00

Explaining the civil war in Sudan: two military factions fighting to exploit the country, with the UAE investing in one of them.

Australia's official forestry statistics - 2025-11-25T10:37:27+00:00

Australia's official forestry statistics report that forest cover is increasing, but that counts new-growth forests without native wildlife as a substitute for the native habitat which is being steadily destroyed.

China doesn't want to be alone on climate policies - 2025-11-25T10:37:27+00:00

*China doesn’t want to take lead on climate policies alone, senior adviser warns.*

It would be better if China wanted to show more leadership, but the fault in his area is not mainly China's. China is working pretty hard on curbing its greenhouse gas emissions, and its emissions are about to start decreasing. It is the US billionaires and their flunky, the corrupter, that are eagerly trashing Earth's livable climate.

People helping people leave cults - 2025-11-25T10:37:26+00:00

About people who slowly, step by step, help a person in a cult reach the point of considering whether to leave it.

Putin's sabotage in Poland - 2025-11-24T16:37:20+00:00

Poland accuses Putin of organizing sabotage against Poland's railroads.

This doesn't surprise me. To start low-intensity war is Putin's modus operandi, intended to leave the attacked country unsure of how to respond. Europe needs to develop appropriate ways to fight back. It must not limit itself to a choice between the two extreme options — full war, and full peace — while Putin plays in the middle.

RUS-UKR war - 2025-11-24T16:37:20+00:00

It looks like the bully is searching for a way to give Putin complete victory over Ukraine.

US wants UKR to cede land to RUS - 2025-11-24T16:37:19+00:00

The wrecker has thrown his support fully to Putin, trying to rush Ukraine into agreeing a pernicious deal to capitulate and hand over territory to the Putin forces.

Zelenskyy has already refused.