Richard Stallman's Political Notes' Journal

30-year-old graduates high school a second time

The story of a 30-year-old man who returned to his old high school, pretending to be a teenager, and graduated a second time.

I wonder what grounds the medical school cited for expelling him after that. His giving a false name and age may have been irregular, but they did not harm anyone, including the medical school. If he was doing well enough in his studies there, why not regularize his status instead?

Democracy defenders plead guilty in jail

29 Hong Kong democracy defenders have plead guilty to political charges after a year in jail.

Rare earth metal mining

The west needs to mine lots more rare earth metals, to end China's domination of that market; but if it isn't careful, the mining process will cause disastrous toxic pollution, as it did in China.

Timor sea

The dispute about which country gets gas from the Timor Sea is heating up again. Australia, or East Timor?

There is only one acceptable decision: nobody. There is no room in the carbon budget for that gas. It must stay under the sea.

Other countries should support East Timor so that this step, necessary for civilization's survival, does not cause a bigger disaster to East Timor than is going to hit world wide.

State sponsored disappearances

A Mexican government commission concluded that the disappearance of 43 Mexican students in 2014 was state-sponsored.

App for reporting dissidents

A new app for reporting dissidents has magnified the threat from Crown Prince Bone Saw to anyone who criticizes the government.

This article doesn't mention the most grave statement that Salma al-Shehab made while at school in the UK: she stated support for the women's rights activist, Loujain al-Hathlou, who has been punished for that.

To imprison someone for so little shows repression carried to an almost Chinese extreme.

Covid and people over 65 years old

A large study of medical records shows that, for people over 65 years old, Covid-19 leads to an increase of almost 5% in the probability of having brain fog or dementia in the next two years.

That is a big risk, worth considerable effort to avoid. The previous mayor of London — Bogus Johnson himself — gave thugs access to license plate camera images for the inner parts of London. The current mayor wants to extend this to a much broader area.

The injustice of this is the same regardless of how big an area it covers. Indeed, tracking cars through their license plates is wrong in itself. Surveillance of everyone is the soil for repression to grow.

World's main powers have not signed treaty for International Criminal Court

The International Criminal Court is operating, but handicapped because the world's main powers have not signed the treaty for it. That includes the US.

Negotiating bulk prices

Big Pharma's condemnation of the bill that allows Medicare to negotiate bulk drug prices with pharma companies (for some drugs only) shows the central bogus assumption: whatever increases those companies' profit is automatically best for patients.

This is the faith of the cult of the Invisible Hand: "the market knows best," no obey it sheepishly, no matter how much big businesses use their clout to arrange for bad results.

Israel labels civil society groups as "terrorists" without trials

Israel arbitrarily labeled six Palestinian civil society groups as "terrorist," without a trial, by passing a law saying, "They are terrorists."

Then state agents raided the offices of those organizations.

Ask yourself, if Israel stops Palestinians from organized peaceful defense of their human rights, what alternative they would naturally turn to.

I greatly miss Uri Avnery, who would have explained the links between the events, and the newsletter The Other Israel, which would have given more information.

Urgent: Stop DeJoy

US citizens: call on Congress and President Biden to stop DeJoy from slashing USPS jobs.

Fatal defect

Nancy Davis of Louisiana is pregnant, but the fetus has a fatal defect. Nonetheless, Louisiana will not allow her to abort it.

Preventing nurdles from getting into ocean

The UN is considering regulations to prevent small plastic pellets ("nurdles") from getting into the ocean.

"Jobs" program

Bogus Johnson invented a "jobs" program designed to pressure unemployed people to apply for jobs outside their careers. Low-paid jobs, that would be. The change led to a decrease in Britons' finding work.

President Petro's coalition

How President Petro's coalition seeks a lasting civil peace in Colombia.

Children malnourished

*Tigray: almost one in three children under five malnourished, UN says.*

Ex-attorney general arrested over 43 students' disappearances

*Mexico's ex-attorney general arrested over disappearance of 43 students in 2014.*

Warrants have been issued to arrest 83 others, including soldiers, thugs, and local officials, as well as gang members,

I am curious about the evidence which led to these conclusions about the case.

Urgent: Support a Green New Deal now

US citizens: call on Congress and the President to support a Green New Deal now.

To sign without running nonfree JavaScript code from the web site, use the Salsalabs workaround.

Walden Bello

Walden Bello, socialist candidate in the Philippines, has been charged with libel and arrested, for criticizing President Marcos and running mate Duterte.

This is a sign that they are going to be as evil as people have feared.

England chemical pollution

Chemical pollution is wiping out the animals in England's rivers, by killing small animals that the larger ones eat. Most of this pollution is from pesticides used in farms.

Covid misinformation

*Police call for Bolsonaro to be charged for spreading Covid misinformation.*

EU and some Palestinian organizations

EU countries support the work of some of the Palestinian organizations that Israel has declared "terrorist". They reject the accusation.

Tax fraud

*Allen Weisselberg, longtime Trump Organization loyalist, pleads guilty to tax fraud.*

He will testify about the company, but not about the corrupter personally other than that.

Secret Service

*Watchdog: Secret Service Didn't Notify Capitol Police of Threat to Pelosi Until After Jan. 6 Attack.*

It seems natural that it should have passed along the warning. Whether this was just a screw-up, or criminally suspect, depends on background information I don't know.

Intel

The US just gave Intel a pile of money, supposedly so it could manufacture more chips in the US. Instead it has announced a plan to reduce investments and pay big dividends.

Intel is famous for making processors with malicious hardware, the Management Engine back door, that users cannot turn off.

Google and antiabortion donations

Google workers are calling on Google to stop donating to antiabortion politicians.

Use of spyware by Greek intelligence agency

A Greek intelligence agency used spyware on the phone of an opposition party leader, and is under pressure to resign.

Greece should have laws and mechanisms to stop this sort of thing. So should the US, whose laws and mechanisms seem to have been effectively negated.

Government of Gujarat released 11 prisoners convicted of rape

The government of Gujarat released 11 prisoners convicted of raping a Muslim woman and murdering her relatives.

Gujarat is a center of powerful hatred against Muslims. In 2002, Hindi extremists with support from the Gujarat government carried out major pogrom against Muslims there, with support from Modi himself.

These rapes and murders were part of that pogrom. One must suspect that the release of these prisoners represents the Hindu extremists' endorsement of support for pogroms against Muslims.

Ukrainians with social media following get kidnapped

The Putin forces make a point of kidnapping Ukrainians with a significant social media following, and torturing them to get passwords to post lies in their names.

Tearing up memos that weren't liked

The ripper made a habit of tearing up memos he didn't like, disregarding the Presidential Records Act for the whole of his term as president.

Preferring poverty to inflation

Minutes show that the Federal Reserve will keep on raising interest rates, preferring poverty to inflation.

Progressives warned Biden that reappointing the wrecker's chairman of the Federal Reserve could lead to things like this.

The search of Mar-a-Lago

The search of Mar-a-Lago will not directly interfere with the corrupter's plans to run again for president. It could lead to a criminal conviction, if it finds evidence to convict him. That could — let's hope — make it harder for him to cheat his way to victory again the way he did in 2016. On the other hand, it won't protect us from Governor Dementis.

London mayor to extend thug access to license plate camera images

The previous mayor of London — Bogus Johnson himself — gave thugs access to license plate camera images for the inner parts of London. The current mayor wants to extend this to a much broader area.