| Time |
Event |
| 6:32a |
|
| 11:02a |
|
| 11:02a |
|
| 12:32p |
|
| 12:32p |
|
| 12:32p |
The reasons for defining antisemitism
The University of Melbourne has decided to adopt the IHRA's biased "definition"
of antisemitism
as part of academic rules intended to prohibit antisemitism.
This tends to be used to prohibit criticism of Israel's treatment of Arabs.
The IHRA criterion was designed for statistical studies
— to look at
a large corpus of statements and come up with figures such as the
frequency of antisemitism is in that corpus.
For that purpose, infrequent
misclassification of edge cases is tolerable — it won't make the
figures useless as long as those edge cases are rare in comparison to
to real antisemitism. However, in a rule to be imposed on individuals
and organizations, each misclassification is an injustice.
If the University or Melbourne goes ahead to develop criteria for
recognizing prejudice against Muslims
, I hope it will not refer to
this prejudice as a "phobia". That is a fundamental conceptual error.
|
| 12:47p |
Free software, a neo-Luddism
Arguments for the Luddite cause.
A world in which software is free will be a big step forward for people's
control over the digital technology we use.
|
| 1:02p |
Big Pharma, over-pricing solutions
Ralph Nader challenges Bernie Sanders to
move beyond denouncing Big Pharma
and take some action
independently of them.
That's a bit unfair, because taking action usually requires passing laws,
and the plutocratists in the Senate are on Big Pharma's side, so they
will block that.
|
| 1:17p |
Depleted uranium, battlefields
A Russian official pointed out that
depleted uranium munitions,
and the depleted uranium armor
in newer model Abrams tanks,
will cause lasting danger in Ukraine.
I can't estimate whether depleted uranium munitions will injure as
many Ukrainians as the Putin forces' weapons. But comparing the two
is irrelevant, because they are independent problems.
I expect that the US government will use the fact that this comes from
hypocritical Putin to pretend that the danger is just one of Putin's
lies. He can't believe anything on his say-so lie, but this time what
he said was accurate.
Putin does not care about Ukrainian lives. He might care about
hypothetical Russians who might someday live on conquered Ukrainian
territory. But what Putin thinks is a side issue. If future
Ukrainian lives matter to us, we should push for the US to protect
Ukraine from depleted uranium, regardless of what Putin thinks.
I saw a headline today that the US plans to give Ukraine the new
Abrams tanks with depleted uranium in the armor.
|
| 1:17p |
|
| 1:17p |
Nuclear power plants, dismantling
Antinuclear activists warn that the release of tritium-containing
water from the retired Indian Point nuclear reactors, and
demolition of their structure, will release radioactive materials
and they may be damaging.
https://www.commondreams.org/news/indian-point-wastewater
I can't say that is impossible, but the arguments presented in this
article by Caldecott and other opponents are based on an error.
It is true that no amount of radiation exposure is so small as to be
absolutely harmless. It does not follow that any increment in
radiation or radioactive material, not matter how small, is cause for
great alarm. Radiation is everywhere, and radionuclides are
everywhere. Adding a tiny fraction of the amount already present has
an effect which is nonzero, but the resulting increment in danger may
be so small as to be insignificant as regards public health.
Will the tritium releases of the operations now planned cause a
significant increment in danger? I don't know the answer; I don't
know how to calculate it. But that is the proper basis for judging
these issues.
The release of tritiated water is one issue, and dust from the
demolition is another issue. It could be that one is dangerous and
the other is not. Each one ought to be studied and calculated.
|
| 1:17p |
Immigrant and government, no love, UK
*In abandoning a commitment to create the post of a migrants’
commissioner to identify problems with the immigration system as
well as a pledge to increase the powers of the independent chief
inspector of borders and immigration, [Minister] Braverman is
making it very clear that
the government does not care about
immigrants
— past, present, or future.*
|
| 1:32p |
|
| 2:32p |
|
| 2:32p |
|
| 2:32p |
|
| 3:02p |
|
| 5:02p |
|
| 10:47p |
Murders carried out by uniformed thugs
The main causes of murders carried out by uniformed thugs is the
general violent attitude of most US thug departments.
That violent attitude is directed mainly at blacks, so thugs (even
black thugs) are more likely to kill blacks than whites. This is
ironic but it's the natural consequence of the violent approach that
thugs learn to consider normal.
|
| 10:47p |
CO2 pipeline
Big Oil wants to build a 2000-mile pipeline to transport CO2 to a place where
it can be buried. The landowners whose land they would need to cross are
fighting to block it.
I oppose this pipeline because it carbon storage is unproved and
switching to renewable generation is surely cheaper and better for
decarbonization. However, I am disappointed that the authors are so
obsessed with race that they perceive a need to apologize for
supporting, this time, a group of environmental defenders who happen
to be white. |
| 10:47p |
Campaign to eliminate nouns that designate subsets of humanity
Associated Press Stylebook endorsed the pressure campaign to eliminate
all nouns that designate subsets of humanity, citing a peculiar excuse
— the need for an article before those nouns. It brought ridicule on
itself.
However, I don't think they have retreated from this pressure campaign.
Whether you say "the French", or "French people", they are not all
alike. They differ from each other. That is no justification for the
pressure campaign. |
| 10:47p |
Fundamental threat to freedom of speech and free press
*The Assange prosecution poses a fundamental threat to the freedom of speech and a free press.* |
| 10:47p |
Memphis thug department disbanded "scorpion" unit
The Memphis thug department has disbanded the "scorpion" unit, some
of whose members killed Tyre Nichols.
For a thug department to give any group of thugs a name which refers to
a venomous and deadly animal seems misguided. |
| 10:47p |
Prisoners in Australia's Guantanamo commit suicide
In Australia's Guantanamo, the security is not as tight as in the
American Guantanamo; some prisoners succeed in escape via suicide. |
| 10:47p |
|
| 10:47p |
London thug taking photos of corpses
Two sides of corpse fetishism: a London thug was fired for taking photos
of two corpses.
I don't understand why he wanted the photos, nor do I understand why
the department did not want him to have them. |
| 10:47p |
|
| 10:47p |
Proposal to subcontract NHS medicine to private clinics
Starmer proposes to subcontract NHS medicine to private clinics.
That is a recipe for a brain drain from NHS clinics to private clinics.
Union Pacific spending on stock buybacks |
| 10:47p |
|
| 10:47p |
"Moderate" Democrats are joining Republicans
Plutocratist "moderate" Democrats are joining with Republicans (also
plutocratist) to defeat progressive Democrats in Democratic primaries. |
| 10:47p |
Hotline for Putin forces to call and arrange surrender
Ukraine has set up a hotline for Putin forces soldiers to call to
discuss how to arrange to surrender. |
| 10:47p |
|