| Time |
Event |
| 5:33a |
Denying the call to boycott Russian music
Denying the call to boycott Russian music.
I take a stronger stand: it is misguided and destructive to blame
"Russia" for Putin's crime of aggressive war. Putin is the one
responsible. Let us not refer to the army that invaded Ukraine as
"the Russian army" — call them the Putin forces. |
| 5:33a |
US rescued hostage Brittney Griner by trading Russian arms dealer
The US rescued hostage Brittney Griner by trading an important Russian
arms dealer for her.
Griner deserved to be freed for the simple reason that what she did
was not wrong. However, I don't understand why Americans clamor for
Griner's release more than for the release of everyone imprisoned in
the US for possession of marijuana. There are many Americans unjustly
imprisoned in the US for doing nothing more than what Griner did. They too
deserve to be freed.
It is a shame to let arms merchant Viktor Bout go free, though.
I think we should not pressure the US to try to ransom hostages,
because that pressure benefits the regimes that take hostages at the
expense of the US. If I were a hostage, I would say, "Don't ransom me
if the ransom hurts my country!" |
| 5:33a |
Pegasus spyware used to crack reporters' phones
*Pegasus spyware was used to [crack] reporters’ phones. I’m suing its
[developers].*
Referring to the developers of a program as "creators"
is propaganda for ideas we would be wiser not to promote. |
| 5:33a |
Criticizing effective altruism
Criticizing Effective Altruism: to program people as donation robots
is desocializing, isolating and alienating.
I suspect those things reduce people's lifespan. |
| 5:33a |
Congress considering "link tax"
Congress is considering a kind of "link tax" to require discussion platforms
to pay for hosting links to news sites. It would harm libraries and smaller
news media.
It would also give lots of subsidy to Big Media. |
| 5:33a |
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| 5:33a |
Labour party turning to mythical trickle-down economics
The Labour Party is turning to mythical trickle-down economics, saying it
aims to turn the UK into a "global start-up hub."
Poor Britain. Competing to help the rich dominate society won't help
anyone but the rich. |
| 5:33a |
Plutocratist "mainstream" Democrats continue control of party's leadership in House
Plutocratist "mainstream" Democrats continue to control the party's
leadership in the House of Representatives. |
| 5:33a |
Brown University bans caste discrimination throughout campus
*Brown University bans caste discrimination throughout campus in a
first for the Ivy League.*
I think caste discrimination should be prohibited like race or sex
discrimination. |
| 5:33a |
Apple dropped plan to scan every user's photos
Apple has dropped its plan to scan every user's photos and will use another
approach to protect children from would-be abusers.
The new approach seems not to be a threat to other users' privacy. |
| 5:33a |
Republicans running political platform on weakening education
* Republicans are literally running a political platform on weakening
teachers, schools and education because they need the poorly educated
to make up their voting base.* |
| 5:33a |
Raphael Warnock defeated Herschel Walker by under 3%
Raphael Warnock defeated Herschel Walker in the Georgia Senate runoff
by under 3%.
It is good that he won, but the closeness of the outcome shows that
most Republicans hate our freedoms so much that they will vote for
even a lying creep who will help destroy them. |
| 5:33a |
President of Peru removed from office by Congress
The president of Peru was removed from office by Congress. He had
attempted to prevent this by dismissing Congress.
I don't have enough contact with Peru to judge which side was
basically at fault, but I lean towards trusting Arce's view. He is a
leftist elected president in a country that borders on Peru, so he has
surely paid plenty of attention.
More about the new president Dina Boluarte, who was previously
the vice president. |
| 5:33a |
FTC blocked merger of Microsoft and Activision
The FTC has blocked the merger of Microsoft and Activision, both giants
in making video games.
These video games are nonfree software, which means they treat
users unjustly.
I would not allow any of them on my computers, and I urge you to
reject them too.
Notwithstanding that, it is still important to stop them from merging.
Allowing them to merge would exacerbate the evil of concentration of
industry, and do nothing to reduce the evil o f nonfree software. |
| 5:33a |
Urgent: US citizens reject anything like SECURE Act and EARN Act
US citizens: phone your congresscritter and senators and say to reject
anything like the SECURE Act (HR 2954) and the EARN Act (S 4808).
These bills would change Social Security to give less to the poor
and more to the rich.
The Capitol Switchboard numbers are
+1-202-224-3121,
+1-888-818-6641 and
+1-888-355-3588.
If you phone, please spread the word! |
| 5:33a |
Urgent: Call on US to end subsidies for fracking in Argentina
US citizens: call on the US to end subsidies for fracking in
Argentina. |