Richard Stallman's Political Notes' Journal

US economy will soon start losing 175,000 jobs a month, Bank of America warns

* The Federal Reserve’s fight to squash inflation will cause the US economy to start losing tens of thousands of jobs a month beginning early next year, Bank of America Warns.*

Russia's Crimea Disconnect

The real and complex history of Crimea, Ukraine and Russia, since around 1100 years ago, have almost nothing to do with Putin's fantasy justification for conquest.

I've read about parts of this history before, and the article accords with what I read.

Newspeak in the New Russia

A study of Putin's official Newspeak.

Cracks appear among Iran elite as senior figure calls for hijab policing rethink

An important Iranian politician called for more freedom for Iranians and less imposition of Islamic customs by force.

Sources in Russian analyst’s Trump dossier fabricated, prosecutors argue

* Igor Danchenko, who played a vital role in creating the Steele dossier, has been indicted on five counts of lying to the FBI.*

The Steele dossier made accusations about the bullshitter; it seems that some of the accusations may have been fabricated by Danchenko.

Activists Disrupt Meeting to Demand 'Loan Sharks' IMF and World Bank Cancel All Debt

CODEPINK activists crashed a meeting of the IMF and World Bank, calling on them to release poor countries from the debt trap that is impossible to escape from.

From barristers to bin collectors, strikers are working to empower us all

*From barristers to bin collectors, strikers are working to empower us all.*

But it isn't easy — the plutocratists are fighting hard.

In Britain and India, we must resist the tragic thinking that pits Hindus against Muslims

The violent hatred of India's Hindu-nationalist ruling party (BJP) is spreading into other countries where people of Indian descent live. In England it sparked a riot.

I don't know if it has generated a riot yet in the US, but they are working on building the foundation for one.

Naturally there is a counter-movement among Indian Muslims, but the Hindu nationalist's hostility covers Christians, Buddhists, and other minority religions.

US midterms 2022: the key candidates who threaten democracy

*US midterms 2022: the key candidates who threaten democracy.*

Rise of plea-bargaining coerces young defendants into guilty pleas, says report

* US-style negotiations for reduced sentences in England and Wales raises fears of false confessions and lack of informed consent.*

It ought to raise concern — those are the results in the US.

Urgent: No Climate Change Deniers at the World Bank

US citizens: call on the head of the World Bank to resign, since he is a global heating denialist.

For more explanation.

OPEC's Slap in the Face Shows Biden Critics Were Right About Meeting With Murderous Saudi Prince

*OPEC's Slap in the Face Shows Biden Critics Were Right About Meeting With Murderous Saudi Prince.*

Some people will respond to a gesture of friendship with cooperation, but a murderous power-hungry despot may interpret it as a sign of that you are weak and desperate.

Sergei Surovikin: the ‘General Armageddon’ now in charge of Russia’s war

Putin has appointed a supreme commander for the war against Ukraine. Perhaps he has come to understand that filling that role himself is resulting in losses.

The new commander is cruel and vicious, and cheerfully kills civilians when he thinks he has an excuse. It is only a matter of time before he commits war crimes. Indeed, he may already have done so, if he gave the order for the volley of missiles recently aimed at Kyiv.

Sam Tarry’s deselection is just one part of a bigger shakeup of the Labour party

Starmer is very effectively excluding potential Labour candidates for parliament who would aim to make substantial changes for the better

In effect, this finalizing the conversion of the Labour Party into a right-wing party more "sensible" than the Tories, and nailing the coffin of the Labour Party that inspired my support a few years ago.

If I were in the UK, I would probably vote Green.

Abortion on the ballot: here are the US states voting on a woman’s right to choose

*California, Kentucky, Michigan, Montana and Vermont will hold referendums on abortion next month.*

If you live in one of those states, please vote!

If you live in some other state of the US, please vote!

New Zealand farmers may pay for greenhouse gas emissions under world-first plans

New Zealand is considering a carbon tax that would cover farm animals as well as fossil fuels.

I think we need such a tax, or some other strong measures worldwide to press reduction in emissions.

An antitrust murder whodunnit

Analysis of pertinent events showed that US antitrust law was eviscerated 40 years ago by a conspiracy of big US businesses that wanted to buy their competitors.

Other political causes for that change have been ruled out by the data.

UN vote to ignore human rights abuses in China leaves west in dead end

The UN Human Rights Council voted to do nothing at all with the Human Rights Commissioner's report on China's oppression in Xinjiang.

In effect, most of the world treats China as too big to criticize, probably due to having been corrupted by China.

The US has done plenty of such corrupting, and plenty of oppressing, but China will do more because it lacks any substantial domestic opposition or criticism.

Nowhere in the world is safe if China continues to extend its power.

The UK Online Safety Bill Attacks Free Speech and Encryption

The UK's "Online Harms" bill will grievously harm privacy and freedom of speech.

Article 19 also warned of a threat to freedom of speech.

There is currently a moral panic in the UK about a teenager who committed suicide, apparently under the influence of antisocial media sites' recommendation algorithm.

When they saw she was looking at postings of despair, they directed her to more despair, which became overwhelming.

This suggests another approach which could achieve the goal without threatening people's freedom of speech or people's privacy: namely, to restrict the recommendation algorithms only.

The most basic way is to make a rule that the site must not offer any recommendations, any "promoted" posts, except when the user makes an explicit request — "please show me something you think might interest me". Even if the site's algorithm for deciding what to show you when you request this is unchanged, it will operate less often and show you fewer things.

The next step might be to have a way for users to mark a posting as "not nice". A posting thus marked would still be on line, so you could still see it if you ask for it specifically, but the site would never recommend it automatically to anyone.

We can conceive of many variations of this idea. Surely some variation of them will avoid the real danger without causing real repression.

ISIS-linked militants are threatening huge natural gas reserves the world needs badly right now

Mozambique has large reserves of natural gas. Oil companies describe natural gas as a "transition fuel to get us to support extracting them. Too bad that the extra global heating could destroy civilization.

There is no hint of that in this article,

which focuses on the threat that a predatory terrorist army (related to PISSI) might prevent the extraction (and unwittingly save us all).

This form of distraction is a standard pattern for global heating denialism nowadays.

Report Reveals How Utilities' Climate Pledges Amount to 'Textbook Greenwashing'

* Despite the passage of nearly $370 billion in renewable energy funding, the nation's utilities are squandering "a massive opportunity for clean electricity and electrification."*

China's repression of racial minorities and dissidents

China's repression of racial minorities, and dissidents, is pervasive. The state uses a dissident's relatives as hostages.

Imagine the worst injustices of the US, as the official and systematically enforces policy of the state, and you get China.

Protests in Iran

The protests in Iran did not happen now by sheer chance. They are the response to a recent intensification of repression, which was itself the regime's reaction to public opinion's shift away from strictness.

There is a lot of other interesting material in the article.

Cutting of tall trees in Papua New Guinea

Logging companies are cutting tall trees in Papua New Guinea, and crushing whatever gets in their way.

Kerch bridge train tracks

Russia states it has repaired the train tracks on the Kerch bridge. I expect it is true.

This is unfortunate, because it means the bridge is once again functional for delivering military supplies to the Putin forces.

Stricter controls on drone bombing attacks

Biden has established stricter controls on drone bombing attacks by the US military and the CIA.

Despite these rules, drone attacks against civilians, away from battlefields, will continue.

Repeal 2002 Iraq war authorization

*Urge the Senate to repeal the 2002 Iraq war authorization.*

Citizens pardoned for possession of marijuana

Biden pardoned US citizens that were convicted of possession of marijuana. He ought to pardon noncitizens, too.

UN climate summit hosted by Despotic Egyptian Regime

*Perils of UN Climate Summit Hosted by Despotic Egyptian Regime.*

*Unless political freedoms are defended, there will be no meaningful climate action. Not in Egypt, nor anywhere else. These issues are intertwined, as are our fates.*

Concern of Biden administration's handling of Covid

*We are deeply concerned that the Biden administration is minimizing Covid at a time when it needs to be redoubling its efforts to ensure funding and resources to prevent another surge.*

Parody files as amicus brief

The Onion filed a parody as an amicus brief with the Supreme Court, in the spirit of Ha Ha Only Serious, to defend a man who was jailed for parodying the web site of the local thug department.

Student Borrower Bankruptcy Relief Act

The Student Borrower Bankruptcy Relief Act would allow people who owe student debt to get rid of it through bankruptcy.

Until around 2000, Americans with burdensome student debt could declare bankruptcy and eliminate it. Then a law was passed to make an exception for student debt: it was exempt from bankruptcy. This bill would eliminate that exception.

High cost of drug for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis

A drug combination that might treat amyotrophic lateral sclerosis is being sold for $158,000 per patient.

The US Patent Office is such a patsy that it will allow a company to patent using two known drugs together.

The fact that this combination might not even work well is a side issue.

Torture and murder of Ukrainian prisoners

*Pro-Kremlin neo-Nazi militia inciting the torture and murder of Ukrainian prisoners.*

They murder prisoners without reporting having captured them.

Italy's communists in 1976

*The secret British plan to keep Italy's communists from winning the 1976 election in Italy.*

Just Stop Oil activists arrested

*Just Stop Oil activists arrested after gluing themselves to road in Whitehall.*

One protester sang a protest song as cops carried her off.

Coal companies plan to increase production

Coal companies around the world, but mainly in in China, India, Australia, Russia and South Africa, are planning to build new mines and increase production.

That implies almost certain global disaster.

The US is not building new coal-burning power plants, but it is not shutting down the existing ones fast enough.

Children of mothers who eat junk food

*Children of mothers who eat junk food more likely to be overweight.*

Toxic pollution particles in unborn babies

*Toxic air pollution particles found in lungs and brains of unborn babies.*

Air pollution, whether generated by natural phenomena or made by human activities (which nowadays include wildfires), puts each person born at risk, and harms society with complete certainty. However, some people profit greatly from continuing to cause pollution, and fight hard to resist efforts to reduce it.

Over 2 million living in US without running water

*Over 2 million people in the United States live without running water..*

Oath Keepers' "civil war" timeline

*New evidence details Oath Keepers' "civil war" timeline.*

UK "libertarians" want to allow rich to do whatever they like

UK "libertarians" believe the state should let rich people do whatever they like … while actively restricting the poor as well as letting the rich walk all over them.

For example, *Poorest families would lose £400 a year under Liz Truss benefits plan.*

Among all forms of government we know of, the only one that doesn't allow crushing the non-rich is democracy — when the non-rich understand that that is its purpose and know how to use it.

"Trickle down" never delivers

Robert Reich: "Trickle down" economics never deliver the paradoxical benefits that they promise. They deliver more riches to the rich. The rich buy politicians to get them enacted, and they buy economics departments so paint them as beneficial.

Covid-19 deaths higher in Republicans than Democrats

In the US, Republicans have been more likely to die from Covid-19 than Democrats. Especially since vaccines became available and Republicans convinced other Republicans not to get vaccinated.

This holds *even after controlling for location and age differences.*

Polluters hid climate-related financial risks

*Analysis Shows World's Biggest Polluters Hide Climate-Related Financial Risks.*

The crushing of the American Socialist Party

How the Espionage Act, together with kidnappings and threats of violence, were used to crush the American Socialist Party, which was pushing for a national medical system as well as to keep the US out of World War I.

Now it is being used to prosecute Julian Assange and to force Edward Snowden to remain in exile in an oppressive country where he never intended to go.