| Time |
Event |
| 3:02a |
Compensation for damage from fossil fuel companies
Arguing that fossil fuel companies owe a total of $200 billion per
year in compensation for some of the kinds of damage their products
have done.
I fear that arguing about the amount of "compensation" various companies
and states ought to pay will act as a distraction from the crucial issue:
how to build sustainable power facilities fast and wind up fossil fuel
use soon.
The companies will resist reducing the amount of fossil fuels they sell,
and they will resist paying reparations. I think the wise choice is to focus
on avoiding more damage than on making them pay for it.
Meanwhile, we should certainly tax these companies (and other rich companies)
a lot more. I suggest the method I described in
https://stallman.org/articles/progressive-tax-on-business-gross-income.html
.
|
| 3:02a |
Criminal records of juveniles
Louisiana is considering a bill to require just three cities — with
mostly black residents — to publish criminal records of juveniles.
The purpose of not publishing the criminal records of juveniles is to
help them to turn away from crime. So why adopt the opposite policy
mainly for blacks? Perhaps it is to lead black teenagers into a life
of crime, so as to put them in prison. |
| 3:02a |
Election observers arrested
*Turkish Elections: Erdoğan’s Government Arrested and Expelled International
Election Observers.* |
| 3:02a |
Muscovites ordered to use internet voting system
Some Muscovites are being pressured, even ordered, to register to vote
through an internet voting system.
Such systems tend to be greatly insecure, and not to be trusted.
Putin has made a practice of rigging elections for years, often blatantly.
It is not clear that what a voter actually does has any effect on
the "results" that Putin's state will report. But it might.
Therefore, I think it is good not to actually vote. |
| 3:02a |
Debt Limit Chicken
*"Debt Limit Chicken" is a direct result of anti-democratic US house
[of representatives] elections.*
The reason so many house districts are not competitive is in large part
due to Republican gerrymandering. |
| 3:02a |
Australia badging gas expansion as "sustainable"
*How is Australia trying to sell a major gas expansion? By badging it
"sustainable".*
The plan is to start extracting gas from large reserves, and bet that
carbon capture will be improved fast to cancel that out.
If the bet succeeds, this expansion may be carbon-neutral,
unless something else goes wrong.
If the bet fails, what will they do? Shut down the gas extraction?
I don't think so. They will say, "Too bad, but you can't win 'em all.
Enjoy your increased greenhouse emissions!"
The only sense in which this is "sustainable" is that they could
hope to sustain the extraction from these new gas fields
until civilization collapses from climate breakdown.
This is a plan to bet young people's lives. The owners of those
companies should bet their own lives instead. |
| 3:02a |
Thai party for democracy
A new Thai party that aims to restore democracy got the most seats
in parliament.
The next question is, can it form a coalition that will make some
changes for the good. |
| 3:02a |
Massachusetts hospitals dropping mask requirements
Most Massachusetts hospitals are eagerly dropping mask requirements.
The 6% of adults of age 18 to 64 who are immunocompromised
are worried this will give them Covid-19
(or some other respiratory illness).
1500 people have died from Covid-19 in Massachusetts this year.
I expect there is no way to count how many contracted long Covid
and whose lives are now ruined.
Hospitals should act to protect patients' health. When they must
choose, they should choose to protect the wise patients who take
precautions for their health and other people's, rather than catering
to the foolish ones who neglect the matter. |
| 3:02a |
Teaching children about neural network text generators
Siva Vaidhyanathan finds it easy to catch students who cheated by
using neural network text generators, and uses the opportunity
to teach them about the issues those raise — and the fact that you
can't trust anything they say.
I am disappointed that he refers to them as "AI". |
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Khan supporters arrested based on camera footage
The Pakistani army and former prime minister Imran Khan have become enemies.
Thousands of Khan's supporters went wild and attacked military buildings.
Now the state is arresting thousands of Khan supporters, and claims it has
identified each one arrested based on camera footage.
I have no way to reach any conclusion about moral culpability or
justification in this. |
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Urgent: Stop Wall Street Looting Act
US citizens: call on members of Congress to co-sponsor the Stop Wall Street Looting
Act.
This would make it harder for private equity combinations to destroy
otherwise successful businesses and reduce competition. |
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