Richard Stallman

Richard Stallman's Political Notes -

Big Oil cartel - 2026-02-12T22:39:40+00:00

Michigan has sued some big oil companies, accusing them of forming a cartel to stifle renewable energy and cover up the danger of fossil fuels.

Chinese and British censorship - 2026-02-12T22:39:39+00:00

Ai Wei Wei talks about facing Chinese censorship and British censorship.

How bloody stupid are LLMs - 2026-02-12T22:39:39+00:00

*Recently, the Rowsons accidentally invented a new game that anyone can play at home. I have yet to come up with a world-beating name for it, so for now let's just call it "How bloody stupid is [some so-called] AI?" The playing of the game will change from player to player, depending on their circumstances – but essentially the rules remain the same. Ask [some so-called] AI a simple question about yourself, and see just how wrong it gets it.*

He that knows not, and knows not that he knows not, is a fool -- shun him.

It that knows not, and knows not that it knows not, is an LLM -- switch it off.

RFK Jr mislead Senate - 2026-02-12T22:39:39+00:00

*RFK Jr misled Senate during confirmation, Congress members and Hawaii governor say.*

Observers arrested - 2026-02-12T22:39:39+00:00

The deportation thugs have taken to arresting legal observers, while continuing to threaten them with weapons.

There is no limit to the hatred that twists them.

Robert Reich: Mamdani campaign lessons - 2026-02-12T22:39:38+00:00

New York City's public funding system was crucial for giving Zohran Mamdani the possibility of overcoming rich people's money.

DHS and Google - 2026-02-12T22:39:38+00:00

The Department of Harassment Surveillance sometimes punishes people for posting criticism of US government policies by demanding lots of information about them from Google's databases

Substack's owner doesn't believe in censorship - 2026-02-12T22:39:38+00:00

Substack does not censor right-wing and Nazi views -- its owner dislikes their views but doesn't believe in censoring views he dislikes. I find that honorable and proper.

What makes US Nazis dangerous is not the fact that they can publish their views in the same way anyone else can. Rather, it is the support they get from powerful people such as the persecutor and his henchmen.

Australia hate speech laws - 2026-02-12T22:39:38+00:00

Australia is trying to establish control of protest as the standard response to murder.

ICE arrests continue - 2026-02-12T22:39:38+00:00

Deportation thugs continue making many arrests in the cities they targeted for occupation, but they don't mass in large numbers as before. As a result, they draw less attention and less protest.

I think that they intentionally chose tactics that made them so noticeable, as a strategy of state terrorism.

And I speculate that they have dropped those tactics partly because the public's reaction was effective pressure on them.

Trump's Penn station rename reversed - 2026-02-12T22:39:37+00:00

A court quashed the bully's demand to have Penn Station renamed with his name.

Trump administration aim to deport five-year-old - 2026-02-12T22:39:37+00:00

*[The persecutor's] lawyers aim to deport five-year-old [Liam Conejo Ramos] after judge ordered his release.*

Australia shielding Israel's president - 2026-02-12T22:39:37+00:00

*The government's decision to roll out the red carpet for President Herzog while simultaneously establishing "exclusion zones" for the public is a misstep, one likely to deepen the rift between already polarised communities. People must be able to peacefully voice their objections to the horrors of war in Gaza, against the violence of ultra-Orthodox settlers in the West Bank, the massacre of Iranian protesters or the terror unleashed by Hamas. Protest, when done peacefully and without hate, is not only legitimate – it is vital.*

I think Australia should not have invited Herzog, but since it did, it should not silence Australians' condemnation of the violent actions that he stands for.

State terror - 2026-02-12T22:39:37+00:00

The essence of a state built on terror is that no one can rely on being safe, and people who were not persecuted this week can only guess why not.

Who was or who wasn't persecuted is usual a minor detail, which is why it often operates based on quotas.

Trump family crypto deal - 2026-02-12T22:39:36+00:00

*[The corrupter]'s family is embroiled in a $500m UAE scandal. We've hardly noticed.*

Easier to fire US government employees - 2026-02-12T10:39:21+00:00

The corruptor has changed the rules to make it easier to fire some US government employees and to weaken protection for whistleblowers who report corruption.

He wouldn't want them to dare reporting corruption, in case it is his corruption.

Facebook ads for deportation thugs - 2026-02-12T10:39:21+00:00

Facebook is running ads for the deportation thugs, ads that *included imagery and music intended to appeal to white nationalists and neo-Nazis.*

Israel accused of spraying cancer-linked herbicide - 2026-02-12T10:39:20+00:00

*Israel accused of spraying cancer-linked herbicide on farms in southern Lebanon.*

We can reverse America's decline - 2026-02-12T10:39:20+00:00

Bernie Sanders: *We can reverse America's decline.*

Facial recognition used to accuse person of shoplifting - 2026-02-12T10:39:20+00:00

A British supermarket accused a customer of shoplifting based on a reported face recognition match — in fact, it had accused the wrong person — and then demanded he run nonfree software to clear his name.

That was successful, since the database had no record of his face. But if that error had happened to me, since I would not run that nonfree software, I think would have not been able to clear my name.

Peter Mandelson asked Epstein for help in 2010 - 2026-02-12T10:39:20+00:00

Peter Mandelson, a clear example of the sort of sell-out to business that had come to fill the Labour Party leadership, asked Epstein for help in 2010 in angling for contracting work for both Billionaire Polluters and Glencore. BP is, of course, a fossil fuel company. Glencore mines and trades various commodities, including oil.

The enablers of these companies are contributing to harm—possibly deadly harm—to over a hundred million female teenagers, a like number of male teenagers, as well as around eight billion children and adults. No one on Earth is safe.

(satire) AI Chatbot that only responds with "huh" - 2026-02-12T10:39:19+00:00

(satire) *AI Chatbot That Only Responds "Huh" Valued At $200 Billion.*

Long Island hotter in winter - 2026-02-12T10:39:19+00:00

Long Island has got 5°F hotter in the winter (on the average) since 55 years ago. This leads to various dangers to human health, wildlife, homes, and farms, including the spread of insect pests as well as weather itself.

Measles in US deportation prison for children - 2026-02-12T10:39:19+00:00

The US has deportation prisons for children, and thanks to RFK jr, one of them is spreading measles.

Corrupter is making China great - 2026-02-12T10:39:18+00:00

The corrupter is making China great.

Families of Americans killed by Israel - 2026-02-12T10:39:18+00:00

*Families of Americans killed by Israel face uphill climb to justice.*

History of failure to tackle UK police racism - 2026-02-12T10:39:18+00:00

*The long history of failure to tackle UK police racism.*

More about this.

Wood burned in Drax electric generator - 2026-02-12T10:39:17+00:00

The executives of the Drax electric generator insisted that the wood it burns came only from young, renewable trees, but in private many of them recognized that was false.

Boos for Vance at Olympic Games - 2026-02-12T10:39:17+00:00

Vance was presented at the Olympic Games, and received more boos than applause. But NBC News hid the boos, in its broadcast stream. And the White House promoted that falsified broadcast.

This sort of lie is not as directly harmful as some other lies, but engaging in it proves NBC News is corrupt.

(satire) Citizenship pill - 2026-02-12T10:39:17+00:00

(satire) *TrumpRx Unveils $1 Million Citizenship Pill.*

Intelligence files of journalists investigating thinktank - 2026-02-12T10:39:16+00:00

A thinktank that helped Starmer win leadership of the Labour Party was headed by a minister of state, who received secret intelligence files about journalists investigating the actions of that thinktank.

This looks like corruption of the state's mission for partisan purposes, and Starmer ought to resign for that.

Laws to allow fossil fuel company lawsuits - 2026-02-12T22:39:31+00:00

California, Hawaii and New York lawmakers propose laws to allow those states to sue fossil fuel companies for the cost of local disasters caused by their fossil fuels.

This has the potential to gradually make fossil fuels so expensive, across a period of many years, that people will gradually stop using them.

Election sabotage warning - 2026-02-12T22:39:30+00:00

Senator Warner warns that the saboteur in chief may really try to sabotage the 2026 election.

When the saboteur in chief claims he will do something, we must not assume he will do it. But when he threatens to do something, we had better plan to stop him.

Urgent: address housing crisis - 2026-02-12T22:39:30+00:00

US citizens: call on Demand Congress Address the Housing Crisis: Pass the Make Housing Affordable Act!

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

Foreign aid budget - 2026-02-12T22:39:29+00:00

Congress has restored much of the foreign aid budget that the persecutor unilaterally erased early last year.

Israel killed over 50,000 civilians - 2026-02-12T22:39:28+00:00

*Israeli Military Admits Murder of [50,000 or more] Palestinian Civilians.*

In some places, they killed Palestinians indiscriminately without trying to distinguish fighters from civilians.

Now the persecutor is trying to punish Harvard for not sufficiently repressing student protests which said exactly this.

Washing Post layoffs - 2026-02-12T22:39:27+00:00

Bezos bought the Washington Post for small change, then decided to ruin it totally to gain more valuable rewards from the corrupter.

Many subscribers dropped the Washington Post in response to his first turn toward the right wing. Now his flunkies cite that setback as a reason for another turn toward the right wing.

Foreign correspondent Lizzie Johnson was fired while freezing in Kyiv.

I feel no regret about the dismissal of sports reporters.

Melania ticket sales - 2026-02-12T22:39:27+00:00

It appears that someone is buying up large blocks of tickets to the movie Melania and giving them away to groups. Most of them never actually get used, but they inflate the apparent popularity of the movie.

Nothing means what it pretends to mean when the bullshitter and the billionaires get together.

Urgent: Cryptocurrency oversight - 2026-02-12T22:39:27+00:00

US citizens: call on your senators to block corruptive bills about cryptocurrency.

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

Urgent: Call Verizon not to support DHS and deportation thugs - 2026-02-11T16:39:06+00:00

US citizens: call on Verizon to stop supporting the Department of Hatred and Suffering and the deportation thugs.

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

Urgent: End Apple and Google contracts with deportation thugs - 2026-02-11T16:39:05+00:00

US citizens: Tell Apple & Google CEOs: End your contracts with the deportation thugs. Also call on them to allow people to freely share and install libre apps.

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

Urgent: End Amazon contracts with deportation thugs - 2026-02-11T16:39:05+00:00

US citizens: Tell Amazon to end contracts with deportation thugs.

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

Urgent: Call on Target to help protect Minnesota from deportation thugs - 2026-02-11T16:39:05+00:00

US citizens: call on Target's New CEO to help protect Minnesota from deportation thugs.

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

Human made sediments on British beaches - 2026-02-11T16:39:05+00:00

* As much as half of some British beaches' coarse sediments consist of human-made materials such as brick, concrete, glass and industrial waste, a study has found. Climate breakdown, which has caused more frequent and destructive coastal storms, has led to an increase in these substances on beaches.*

This doesn't imply that those substance do specific harm when present in a beach, but they demonstrate the magnitude of change that humans are already causing in this early stage of climate breakdown.

(satire) ICE agent deports own family - 2026-02-11T16:39:05+00:00

(satire) *ICE Agent Scores Easy Win By Deporting Own Family.*

"Hate speech" rules could stifle classroom discussions - 2026-02-11T16:39:04+00:00

*New "hate speech" rules for NSW schools could stifle classroom discussions about Gaza, teachers warn.*

Punishing "hate speech" as a crime generally tends to lead to repression.

Crushingly disappointing PFAS action plan for UK - 2026-02-11T16:39:04+00:00

*Environmentalists decry "crushingly disappointing" PFAS action plan for UK.*

This weakness was predictable, because Starmer Labour's first priority is catering to business.

Cars in Chine to have mechanical release on all doors - 2026-02-11T16:39:04+00:00

*Cars sold in China will now be required to have a mechanical release on both the inside and outside of every door except the [trunk].*

That exception is disturbing. I had heard, years ago, that cars were designed so that a person inside the trunk could open the door of the trunk. It seems a shame to retreat from that safety measure.

Contacts with Epstein pulled plug on career of Peter Mandelson - 2026-02-11T16:39:03+00:00

Contacts with Epstein pulled the plug on the career of Peter Mandelson, a Labour MP and minister who worked unceasingly to strengthen the power of business — and not only in Britain.

Defiance through music and dance at funerals - 2026-02-11T16:39:03+00:00

*Music and dancing signify defiance at celebratory funerals of Iran's protesters.*