Richard Stallman's Political Notes' Journal

Censorship, documentaries in Israel

Israel subsidizes making movies. The goverment dislikes two documentaries about Israel's occupation policies, so now the government demands that money back, explicitly adopting a policy of ideological bias.

The US government carries censorship of movies about war through a policy whereby the US military cooperates with making films, but only when it approves of the message of the film.

Protester killed, Georgia

Georgia thugs killed protester Manuel Esteban Paez Terán, who had participated for more than a year in a nonviolent encampment protest that aims to block construction of a large thug training facility in a forest that had been slated to become a park. The thugs say they killed him after he shot a thug, but you can't trust what thugs say about such things. They present no evidence that he shot at all. But they have systematically begun to charge protestors with "terrorism".

Republican states' drag shows

*Republican legislators introduce new laws to crack down on drag shows.*

The article says that most of these bills go much further than what you would think that means: they "define a drag performer as someone performing while using dress, makeup and mannerisms associated with a gender other than the one assigned to [per] at birth." This means that _any_ performance by a trans person would be banned. Even a talk about any subject could be a "performance".

This is typical of the dishonesty of right-wing extremists, whose repressive laws are often described as prohibiting something very specific but create the opportunity to prohibit a lot more. Consider critical race theory — a field of research for historians, some of whom promote teaching methods that face criticism in academia. Republicans have passed laws that purport to prohibit teaching critical race theory in primary and secondary school, which never happens, but actually prohibit nearly any teaching about systemic racism.

High officials, Brazilian army

Lula has fired 80 high officials of the Brazilian army, including its commander, for aiding the attack on the government or shielding the attackers.

The commander was appointed by Bolsonaro shortly before the latter's term ended. It is entirely plausible that Bolsonaro did this to support the insurrection, and entirely plausible that he prepared and organized the insurrection.

NATO politics, Turkey

Erdoğan is using the issue of bringing Sweden and Finland into NATO to attack freedom of expression in those countries.

I disapprove of burning books, as a general matter, but if there are millions of copies of a book then burning one that you own is no great loss. Perhaps it should be a crime to intentionally destroy a rare book — if you don't want it, you must sell it to someone who does or give it to a museum.

It is outrageous to demand that some religion's "sacred" book receive a higher legal status that any other book — such as, for instance, my own book, Free Software, Free Society . I think the moral ideas in that book are wise, but you have the right to buy a copy and burn it if you think the opposite.

The Turkish government argues that burning a Qur'an was a hate crime. This shows that the concept of "hate crimes" as it is understood in some European countries is a threat to human rights.

Piracy, Nigeria

Local pirates in Nigeria kidnap people from boats and steal their engines, cargo and fish.

Tasered to death

Sadistic LA thugs tased Keenan Anderson repeatedly for 42 seconds while he was already helplessly on the ground. It is not unusual for such treatment to kill someone, and it killed him.

After killing him, the thug department claimed his death was his fault.

The author of the first article appears to make a foolish scientific error. It is irrelevant to understanding the issue politically or morally, but it is important to learn to avoid. It seems that the author misunderstood the difference between power and energy, and assumed that the wattage of successive taser shots should be added to get a "combined wattage". That is a mistake; adding them is appropriate only if they happen simultaneously.

If I could find out the wattage that a taser delivers while operating, I could tell for certain whether this mistake was made.

Protest category moral ligitimacy

A general discussion of the moral issues of which kinds of protest are legitimate, then applied to the case of protesting by blocking highways.

This discussion makes sense, in its narrow framework. However, treating the Just Stop Oil protests in isolation, ignoring the deadly threat they confront, leads to wrong conclusions.

Global heating and the resulting climate breakdown are already causing millions of deaths. This year, 200 million deaths are predicted. The UK government has pledged to help stop global heating but is not taking much action. Can you seriously argue that blocking highways in desperation to pressure the state to carry out its mission is morally wrong?

Blocking highways seems to be a self-defeating method, but that is a different kind of issue.

Urgent: power plant gas emissions

US citizens: call on the EPA to stop dragging its feet on rules to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by power plants.

If you have disabled the page's JavaScript, you may get a blank response after signing. That does not mean anything is wrong;your signsature has probably been sent in properly. The blank screen has text that is rendered invisible by CSS; if your browser gives you a way to disable the CSS in the page (as Icecat does), that should make the text appear.

Protest category moral legitimacy

A general discussion of the moral issues of which kinds of protest are legitimate, then applied to the case of protesting by blocking highways.

This discussion makes sense, in its narrow framework. However, treating the Just Stop Oil protests in isolation, ignoring the deadly threat they confront, leads to wrong conclusions.

Blocking highways seems to be a self-defeating method, but that is a different kind of issue.

Police violently raid Lima university and shut Machu Picchu amid Peru unrest

Peruvian thugs raided San Marcos University and forced students out of their dorm at gunpoint and with violence. The thugs gave them no explanation, and reportedly then began to search the students' rooms.

Some years ago, San Marcos University had a student group, San Marcux, which taught students how to spread the free software ideas. They invited me to speak on some occasions. That was years ago. I wonder what is happening there now.

The American Shame of Mass Layoffs

When companies are compelled to reduce staff, some countries laws' pressure the companies to do it in a gradual way that doesn't cause a trauma to workers, rather than using the mass layoffs typical in the US.

*Tesla video [in 2016] promoting self-driving was staged, senior engineer testifies.*

*Tesla video [in 2016] promoting self-driving was staged, senior engineer testifies.*

Increase in dust in the air, since 1800, may have cancelled out some of global heating.

Increase in dust in the air, since 1800, may have cancelled out some of global heating.

Up to 8% of it.

However, since the 1980s, the amount of dust has been decreasing.

On the complex relationship between unions and public opinion

On the complex relationship between unions and public opinion.

In the long term, unions need public support to block right-wing governments from legislating to impede organizing and striking. People will give this support through the occasional inconvenient strike if they recognize that in the long term it makes a better life for all the non-rich. Thus, unions must make sure that the labor movement keeps that aim in mind.

Trump mistook rape accuser E Jean Carroll for ex-wife, deposition shows

The bullshitter mistook E Jean Carroll for his former wife, Marla Maples.

Perhaps that explains why he thought he could have sex with the former ;-}.

A ban on ‘positive’ videos won’t stop the Channel crossings, but it may well cause more tragedies

The Tories plan to start criminalizing the presentation of unwelcome attitudes and opinions, using one special case — video that shows illegal immigrants and their boats in "a positive light" — to destroy freedom of expression. They will label such videos as "abetting" a crime.

Imagine what other attitudes and opinions they might prohibit by applying that approach to other areas of life.

Mass Protests Across France Condemn Macron Attack on Pension System

French president Macron has sparked a general strike by proposing to raise the retirement age for the non-rich.

I can imagine situations of great adversity where a democratic country would act justly by increasing the age for retirement pensions. But since that adversity would be fiscal in nature, it is a moral obligation to demand sacrifices first of the rich. Macron fails to understand this, because he believes in plutocracy.

His main opponents, even more right-wing, are likewise plutocratist but their stated ideology is to demonize some disprivileged groups. Right-wingers generally seek to divide people, so they use scapegoats.

(Satire) Alito, Thomas Share Laugh After Discovering They Both Leaked Dobbs Decision

(satire) *Alito, Thomas Share Laugh After Discovering They Both Leaked Dobbs Decision.*

Police investigating rape claims in England believe victim-blaming myths, study finds

*Police investigating rape claims in England believe victim-blaming myths, study finds.*

They tend to assume that false accusations are far more frequent than they really are.