Richard Stallman's Political Notes' Journal

Hong Kong to Taiwan

Hong Kong exiles in Taiwan think about how their old home has been changed into something they cannot return to — about the danger that China could do the same thing to Taiwan next.

PISSI mercenaries, Austrailia

Australia has brought home some Australians supporters of PISSI who were in prison camps in Syria. Now one of them is facing charges of going to Syria to support PISSI.

I think it was right to bring them home, and right to prosecute those who supported PISSI. Other countries should do likewise. Exile should not be used as a punishment for a crime, and imposing any punishment for any alleged crime without a trial is even worse.

However, the actual charge is "Travelling to Raqqa." That action is being used as a proxy for the act of going to support PISSI. The prosecution of an action which is only a proxy for the real accusation seems wrong to me.

Security at The House, US

Republicans have eliminated the security checks for entering the House of Representatives' chamber, where the representatives meet and vote. They demand to be allowed to bring in guns, and want Democrats to trust them not to shoot anyone.

Some of them have hinted at murdering Democratic representatives in Congress, and all of them practice frequent shameless lying. I wouldn't trust them not to plan to kill me.

Union-busting, UK

New Tory strike-busting laws will order unions to betray workers, and destroy them if they don't.

Medical abortion, US mail

An old censorship law could be reinterpreted as prohibiting sending abortion medicine through US mail. The decision will be up to the antiabortion right-wing extremists of the Supreme Court.

Climate disasters, US

Over 1% of the US adult population were displaced by "natural" disasters in 2022. Of course, we know that these "natural" disasters were at least partly artificial.

I wonder how this compares with past years' disasters.

Political destruction, Brazil

Lula's wife says that Brazil's presidential residence was left by Bolsonaro in very damaged condition. I wonder when Bolsonaro started this act of spite. Did he start it before the election he lost? Or only after he had lost?

Some art works appear to have been stolen. The president surely does not have the authority to dispose of state property, but he probably did so. Can he be charged with conspiracy to steal them? That could provide grounds to ask the US to extradite him.

Air pollution, US EPA

The EPA is proposing stricter standards for soot pollution, which harms people's health. However, its proposal is not as strong as what the EPA's scientist advisors say is needed.

Political violence, Jan 6

*Two Years Later, Neither [the corrupter] Nor Worst Actors in Congress Have Been Held to Account for Jan 6. Insurrection.*

Flight cancellations, Buttigieg

Secretary of Transportation Buttigieg was supposed to use his authority to make airlines work to prevent massive cancellation of flights. He ignored warnings and did nothing.

Democratic officials privately implored Buttigieg to do something about this, but no Democrats wanted the public to know he was doing a bad job.

Security at The House, US

Some of them have hinted at murdering Democratic representatives in Congress, and all of them practice frequent shameless lying. I wouldn't trust them not to plan to kill me.

Medical abortion, US mail

An old censorship law could be reinterpreted as prohibiting sending abortion medicine through US mail. The decision will be up to the antiabortion right-wing extremists of the Supreme Court.

Union-busting, UK

New Tory strike-busting laws will order unions to betray workers, and destroy them if they don't.

Political destruction, Brazil

Political violence, Jan 6

*Two Years Later, Neither [the corrupter] Nor Worst Actors in Congress Have Been Held to Account for Jan 6. Insurrection.*

Climate disasters, US

Over 1% of the US adult population were displaced by "natural" disasters in 2022. Of course, we know that these "natural" disasters were at least partly artificial.

I wonder how this compares with past years' disasters.

Air pollution, US EPA

The EPA is proposing stricter standards for soot pollution, which harms people's health. However, its proposal is not as strong as what the EPA's scientist advisors say is needed.

Flight cancellations, Buttigieg

Secretary of Transportation Buttigieg was supposed to use his authority to make airlines work to prevent massive cancellation of flights. He ignored warnings and did nothing.

Democratic officials privately implored Buttigieg to do something about this, but no Democrats wanted the public to know he was doing a bad job.

Forest protection, EU

The EU has adopted a plan to reject products produced via deforestation, including agricultural products.

Anti-abortion law, England

A woman in England is charged with the crime of trying to give herself a late-term abortion.

Even if this is not allowed, it should not be a crime. Human life begins around the time of birth.

Glacial heating, 2100

Half the world's glaciers are expected to disappear by 2100 if we have 4C of global heating.

(Satire) Elections

(satire) How the Speaker of the House is elected.

Financial arrogance, Musk

*Two months after Elon Musk laid off half of Twitter’s workforce, some employees affected say they have yet to receive any formal severance offer or separation agreement.*

Twitter has stopped paying rent on a San Francisco office building. Perhaps Musk believes he can get away with stiffing those employees.

Musk seems to be imitating the cheater's behavior patterns. The cheater is famous for refusing to pay contractors he hired to work on buildings; one of sued and won.

Perhaps Musk feels inclined to follow that example of arrogance.

McCarthy on shaky ground

McCarthy was elected Speaker of the House after a series of concessions that put him under the power of the hyperextremists. If even one of them no longer supports McCarthy as speaker, perse will be able to demand a new election for speaker, and McCarthy could easily face the resumption of the conflict.

""Kevin McCarthy has repeatedly put his personal ambitions ahead of our democracy."

Mayor visits, Spain

The mayor of Xirivella, a suburb of Valencia near its airport, visits constituents for dinner to find out what they are thinking.

Extreme weather, CA

California has been hit by several extreme rainstorms in sequence, and more are expected to follow.

Global heating is predicted to make this happen frequently in certain places, the US Pacific Coast being one of them.

Guantanamo release, stateless

Sabri al-Qurashi was released from Guantanamo prison to Kazakhstan, where he is treated as a stateless illegal immigrant, forbidden to work, and his wife is forbidden to visit him there.

Grief recovery, talking

This is advice about talking with people who are grieving, from someone who has listened to many grieving people talk about it. As I read the article, I thought of the friends and relatives I have lost. I have a list of the people I've lost via death, and every so often I go through it and think about each one of them.

I frequently felt grief for the English language while reading the article, each time I came across plural pronouns and verbs alternating with singular pronouns and verbs, referring to the same one person.

I have never understand the idea that it was obligatory to try desperately to avoid reminding someone about a loss. In my experience, I recall a raw loss frequently, whether anyone reminds me about it or not. That's what the author says, too.

Recalling the death of a friend years ago is not agony, more of a distant regret. It reminds me of feeling at ease with that person in the past. By contrast, recalling an old rejection can be devastating, since it was probably my fault.

Genetic engineering, wheat

Scientists have solved the crucial problem of genetically engineering wheat. They plan to produce heat-resistant varieties.

If they go on to make flood-resistant varieties and drought-resistant varieties of wheat, wheat could be safe against extreme weather. Hmm, better make that varieties which are flood-resistant and drought-resistant.

But what about wildfires? Can any wheat plant be fire-resistant?

The article says nothing about whether these new varieties of wheat will be patented, or restricted by plant variety monopolies. If they are, their use will have an enormous cost for farmers, and will further concentrate wealth for the richest few, at the expence of everyone who eats wheat.

The world must exempt food, all forms of food plants and animals, from imposed artificial monopolies.

Fossil fuel profits

Windfall profits taxes in Europe permit fossil fuel companies to deduct the amount they invest in access to fossil fuels.

That is the usual way of handling taxes on business, but it will lead for bad results with fossil fuel investments. There is no room in the carbon budget for more fossil fuel wells or processing capacity, so investing in those things should be forbidden. If it can't be forbidden just yet, at least it should not be tax-deductible.

Journalism arrested, Phoenix

As reporter Dion Rabouin was interviewing people on the street outside an office of Chase Bank in Phoenix, a bank employee asked him what he was doing. Soon a Phoenix thug showed up, handcuffed him with no apparant excuse, and made him sit in a police car, threatening violence along the way.

Someone made a video of this harassment, and the thug threatened to arrest per as well.

It is common in the US for thugs to arrest journalists for recording how they treat members of the public. It is less common for cops to come and threaten reporters for journailsm that does not involve cops at all.

The reporter worked for the powerful Wall Street Journal, which has demanded explanations.

Urgent: Airline flight cancellations

US citizens: call on leaders in Congress and Transportation Secretary Buttigieg to fine airlines that cancel flights for reasons other than weather, and allow states to participate in enforcement.

PISSI mercenaries, Australia

Australia has brought home some Australians supporters of PISSI who were in prison camps in Syria. Now one of them is facing charges of going to Syria to support PISSI.