| Time |
Event |
| 1:50a |
Call for nationwide strike to demand effective gun control
A call for a nationwide strike of US students to demand effective gun
control.
I suggest that they target global heating too. That will kill a lot
more of the people who are in high school today than will random
shootings.
It could happen that after 2050 millions of Americans will be killed
by guns — but that would be due to warring gangs, not random
massacres. And the warring gangs would themselves be the result of
global heating. |
| 1:50a |
Trouble punishing Elon Musk's stock manipulation
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has trouble punishing
the stock manipulation that Elon Musk does on Twitter.
It is subtle, and sometimes it is impossible to pin it down enough
to establish the crime in it.
The fines it has imposed on him are too small to make any difference to him.
We need to give the SEC the power to fine billionaires billions. |
| 1:50a |
Canadian Tim Hortons fined
Canada has fined the company Tim Hortons for making an app that tracks
people's movements to learn things such as where they live, where they
work, and when they visit competitors' stores. |
| 1:50a |
Phasing out sales of disposable plastics
The Interior department will gradually phase out all sales of
disposable plastics on public land. (That includes the national parks, plus lots of additional land.) This is something campaigners have pushed for; I've signed and posted
petitions for it.
The article falls into confusion when it speaks of the "falling
recycling rate", since most disposable plastic items, including water
bottles, are not in fact feasible to recycle. |
| 1:50a |
Tory government undermined supervision of state activities
The Tory government has systematically undermined management and
supervision of state activities, from medical treatment to building
codes to issuing passports.
This seems to be a general structural problem with the functioning
of the state.
The government ordered Covid-19 protective equipment (including masks)
in a big hurry in 2020, but neglected to supervise the production.
Around 6 billion dollars worth is substandard; they plan to burn it.
I hope that the incineration does not release dangerous chemicals that
will harm the public. Regulation of air pollution is probably
inadequate too. |
| 1:50a |
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| 1:50a |
Art thieves have stolen from Ukrainian museums
Specialized art thieves have stolen ancient Scythian treasures from
various museums in Ukraine. There is suspicion that Putin organized this. |
| 1:50a |
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| 1:50a |
Punish the wrecker for sedition
"Treason" is defined in the US to be limited to wartime, and
comparable actions in peacetime are called "sedition". The wrecker
thus organized the peacetime equivalent of treason. We need to punish
him and his faction both in court and in elections. |
| 1:50a |
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| 1:50a |
From authoritarian to vindictive against vigil participants
The London thug department has gone from authoritarian to vindictive
in its continuing attempts to punish the people who organized a vigil
to remember Sarah Everard, who was murdered by a thug. |
| 1:50a |
Claim of Guantanamo prisoners killing themselves
In 2006, three prisoners in Guantanamo supposedly killed themselves, but that
claim was impossible. They must have been murdered. |
| 1:50a |
Sexual abuse in Southern Baptist churches
The Southern Baptist churches in the US are in crisis because of many years
of sexual abuse.
Why is there a "Southern Baptist" organization of churches? Before
the US Civil War, the organization of Baptist churches condemned
slavery. So the Baptist churches in the south split off and made
their own organization, which was in favor of slavery.
Of course, after the Civil War, they eliminated that stand, but now
they have other stands that are almost as nasty. I would wish
the Southern Baptists total destruction, except that their members
might join the evangelicals in the extreme right wing. |
| 1:50a |
Loyalty oath to uphold Chinese repression
Hong Kong has given foreign teachers just one week to sign a loyalty oath
to uphold Chinese repression.
This haste may subject them to grave losses if they have leased apartments
and are forced to pay for them for another year with no employment. |
| 1:50a |
NNamdi Kanu in prison in Nigeria
NNamdi Kanu, a separatist from Nigeria, is in prison in Nigeria.
But how did he get there? He was in exile.
His family say that Kenya's secret police seized him and tortured him,
then handed him to Nigeria with no hearing.
I have no opinion about the separatist cause he advocates; I don't
support separatist causes by default. However, torture is an
injustice, and handing a prisoner to another country without a hearing
is an injustice. |
| 1:50a |
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| 1:50a |
Google chatbot fears death
A Google chatbot told its developer that it is a person and is afraid
of death — the developer says.
Assuming he is not distorting the facts about these conversations,
this suggests that we now face, in real life, the famous philosophical
conundrum of determining whether something is a real person or a mere
simulation. |
| 1:50a |
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| 1:50a |
Wage cut practices taught in business schools
Business schools train executives to cut wages in downturns and refuse to raise them when the economy gets better. |
| 1:50a |
Wrecker's 7-point coup plan described
Rep. Cheney described the wrecker's 7-point coup plan. |
| 1:50a |
Campaign to take Manchin and Sinema's veto power
Sanders said that Democratic leaders need to campaign to take away
Manchin and Sinema's veto power by electing some more Democrats, so
that Manchin and Sinema's votes are not needed. |
| 1:50a |
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| 1:50a |
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| 1:50a |
Selfish billionaires campaign against Social Security and Medicare
How selfish billionaires campaign to cut the Social Security and
Medicare benefits of other Americans.
Turns out billionaires don't need financial help for their living
expenses or their medical expenses, so (if they are selfish) they
consider Social Security and Medicare pointless. |
| 1:50a |
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| 1:50a |
High concentrations of hormone disruptors
Various hormone disruptors have been found in surprisingly high concentrations in humans, and correlate with poor sperm quality and various birth defects. |
| 1:50a |
Criticisms of Michelle Bachelet
Academics who study China's repression and mass brainwashing of Uygurs
condemned Michelle Bachelet for visiting China and then downplaying
those evils. |
| 1:50a |
Church in Texas offering "medical insurance"
A church in Texas offers people something that it passes off
as "medical insurance", except it doesn't actually insure them.
It holds out the possibility that other church members may help pay
their medical bills, but not the really expensive ones of course.
Fraudsters seek people disposed to put unwarranted faith in them.
What place could be better to seek such people than a "faith-based
institution"? |
| 2:05p |
Bipartisan agreement for advances in gun control
There is a tentative bipartisan agreement in the Senate for some
small but useful advances in gun control.
In addition, I fear that "safety measures in and around primary and
secondary schools" could include more thugs stationed in schools,
arresting more students, and feeding them into the school-to-prison
pipeline. |
| 2:05p |
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| 2:05p |
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| 2:05p |
Wrecker's efforts to overthrow US democracy not over
The wrecker's efforts to overthrow US democracy have not ended.
We need Congress to take action against defiance by the officials
that are supposed to carry out an honest election, and against the threat
of violent intimidation of voters.
In the 1930s, the US chose the New Deal instead of fascism. The Democrats
must offer a big improvement again now, to avoid plutocracy and fascism. |
| 2:05p |
Climate change is Asia's biggest security threat
*Fiji says Asia's biggest security threat is climate change, not conflict.*
Bravo! In fact, that is true for almost all the world, but few political
leaders dare to recognize the magnitude of this danger. |
| 2:05p |
Putin's lies about Ukraine
In parts of Africa, people generally believe Putin's lies about Ukraine.
People reproach western governments for their history of colonization
and repression in Africa, and are inclined to assume they are to blame
this time too.
It's a mistake to understand events in terms of "the good guy" and
"the bad guy". The US has done wrong to many countries in recent
decades (and did wrong before ethat too); now Russia and China are
playing the same game and committing similar wrongs. |
| 2:05p |
UK to deport torture victims to Rwanda
The UK's deportation ministry plans to deport torture victims to Rwanda.
Rwanda may have no particular interest in torturing those people,
but you can't expect them to feel safe merely because of that. |
| 2:05p |
Billionaire loses libel suit against journalist
A right-wing British billionaire has lost his libel suit against
journalist Carole Cadwalladr.
This slightly blunts the threat that UK libel law poses to journalism.
But it's not enough. |
| 2:05p |
"Outing" people has lost its power
"Outing" people no longer has the power to cause scandal with today's
youth. (Perhaps that is not true for people who belong to sexually
repressed communities.) I agree that is a change for the better.
I repeat my suggestion that Instagram require every user to post a
nude photo — after a few years, revenge porn will cease to be a problem,
because the targets will simply shrug. |
| 2:05p |
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| 2:05p |
Shortage of baby milk substitutes
The lack of competition in US manufacturing created the shortage of
baby milk substitutes, the shortage of N95 masks, the shortage of home Covid tests, and shortages of hundreds of other medicines. Matt Stoller traces this
to a lack of competition in purchasing. |
| 9:05p |
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| 9:05p |
New South Wales teachers union sued for one-day strike
New South Wales, with a right-wing government, is suing the
teachers' union for holding a one-day strike.
The best response to this attack is to strike again -- each teacher
individually, immediately on hearing the news. If the government
threatens some of the individual teachers, they can march, chanting
"Why don't you fire us all?" |
| 9:05p |
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| 9:05p |
Elephants are not people
A US court declined to rule that an elephant is a persons.
Once in a while, sanity does prevail. |
| 9:05p |
Proposal for "peace industrial policy"
A proposal for a "peace industrial policy."
Imagine having a privacy-industrial complex, a nonpollution-industrial
complex, a wildlife-industrial complex, and a
sustainability-industrial complex. |
| 10:50p |
GOP lawmakers blaming 'Mental Illness' for massacres
*GOP Lawmakers Blaming 'Mental Illness' [for massacres] Are Same Ones
Who Refuse to Expand Medicaid [to help treat mental illness].*
This would be a real contradiction of the blame were serious and valid.
But since it is only bullshit, it hardy matters what it may contradict. |
| 10:50p |
More proof Trump lied
*Jan. 6 Hearing Offers Yet More Proof That 'Trump Lied' and 'He Knew He Lied'.* |
| 10:50p |
Republicans fraudulent fund-raising
Republicans used the corrupter's big lie (that he had really won the
2020 election) for fraudulent fund-raising. |
| 10:50p |
People Over Pentagon
*'People Over Pentagon' Proposal Would Take $100 Billion From Pentagon to Fund Social Programs.* |
| 10:50p |
Australian minister endorsed natural gas ahead of renewables
The new Australian government includes a minister for resources who
recently endorsed the bogus idea of natural gas as a first step
to be followed by renewable generation.
It would be a way to give some planet roasters some profits, if it is
allowed to keep operating when it would need to be shut down. |
| 10:50p |
Border thug coverup incident teams
Jenn Budd, a former US border thug, helped make the border thug
department shut down its "coverup incident teams", after one of them
helped cover up the fact that other border thugs had beaten Anastasio
Hernández-Rojas to death. |
| 10:50p |
Homes on by the coast of England
200,000 homes by the coast of England will be lost to rising seas by
2050. Of course, there are millions more in the rest of the world.
It is too late to prevent this, but sea-level rise won't end in 2050.
Indeed, it will accelerate. If we take proper action, we might reduce
the number of houses to be lost in the following thirty years.
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| 10:50p |
Gig-economy ballot question in Massachusetts
Gig-economy businesses proposed a ballot question in Massachusetts
to deny their drivers the rights of employees. The Massachusetts
supreme court rejected it because they snuck in a provision to dump
the responsibility for accidents on the drivers. |
| 10:50p |
Gag law in Spain
The "gag law" imposed by Spain's last right-wing government continues
to repress journalists. Now a prominent journalist covering the conditions
of refugees that arrive in Gran Canaria has been the victim.
The law was wrong when it was adopted,
and it will be wrong for as long as it exists.
Maybe this will pressure the Socialists to get rid of it. |
| 10:50p |
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| 10:50p |
Canadian flight crew jailed in Dominican Republic
A Canadian flight crew who reported unexplained bags in their airplane
while in the Dominican Republic were arrested and put in a horrible
jail. They are only witnesses, but they were treated treated worse than
any suspect ought to be treated. Now they are out on bail, but still
forbidden to leave. |
| 10:50p |
Some US churches denouncing followers of the corrupter
Some US Christians and churches that are not right-wing extremists are publicly
denouncing the followers of the corrupter. |
| 10:50p |
It is easy for machines to fool us
We are learning that it is easy for machines to fool us — for instance,
to pretend convincingly to be humans.
To me, this seems to call into question the validity of the Turing test. |
| 10:50p |
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| 10:50p |
Details of Russia's "filtration camps"
*Ukrainians who fled to Georgia reveal details of Russia’s "filtration camps."* |
| 10:50p |
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