Richard Stallman's Political Notes' Journal

Youtube ordering invidious proxies to shut down

Youtube has ordered the invidious proxies to shut down.

If you know of a campaign to pressure youtube not to do this, please let me know.

Contention between Wagner and Putin forces

Contention between Wagner (including Progizhin personally) and the Putin forces (from the Russian army) has reached the point of actual physical fighting, though mostly not in the form of combat.

I can't tell what parts of Colonel Venevitin's statements I should believe, if any. But it puzzles me that Putin allows anyone in Russia to say what Prigozhin says.

Clear path to block three golf championship series

*Enforcers Have Clear Path to Block [three golf championship series]’ Brazen Merger to Monopoly.*

(satire) Insulin that won't work on poor people

(satire) *Eli Lilly Unveils Insulin That Doesn't Work On Poor People.*

(satire) All sports teams move to Las Vegas

(satire) *Every Professional Sports Team Moves To Las Vegas.*

(satire) Homeless population to complete Doomsday device

(satire) *LAPD Warns Homeless Population Closer Than Ever To Completing Doomsday Device.*

Today's Robert F Kennedy is right-wing nut

Today's Robert F Kennedy is a right-wing nut, like the corrupter.

UAE state oil firm access to Cop28 emails

*UAE state oil firm able to read Cop28 climate summit emails.*

Assange close to US extradition

*Julian Assange "dangerously close" to US extradition after losing latest legal appeal.*

The UK government has trampled Assange's legal rights many times. It has never felt the need for a convincing argument to justify this; it is satisfied by pulling a thin curtain over the violations.

Twitter asserts Musk is wrong about government interference

*Twitter Admits in Court Filing: Elon Musk Is Simply Wrong About Government Interference At Twitter.*

Trump's strategy to secure autocratic power

* Former DoJ prosecutors say Trump will pack government agencies with sympathizers in effort to "secure his autocratic power."*

* Bromwich noted that Trump’s choices of Barr and Jeff Sessions as attorneys general ultimately disappointed him, "because there came a point for both of them that they couldn’t go as far as Trump needed."*

Regulations on bluetooth sharing in China

China has imposed strict regulations on bluetooth file sharing so that it can crush any communication of dissent.

Rules to reduce plastic waste in Australia

Australia has decided to impose mandatory rules for packaging and recycling to reduce the amount of waste, especially plastic waste.

"Local food" advertising

"Local food" as advertised in supermarkets is a marketing distraction.

Pollinator population decline in UK

Fruit farming in the UK is suffering from the decline in pollinator populations brought about by human use of chemicals.

"AI software" can be used to design bioweapons

Warning that "AI software" can already be used to design bioweapons and to break computer security.

That seems plausible to me.

However, that doesn't mean terrorist groups will have the ability to make bioweapons. And the same "AI software" could be used to fix holes in security.

Traffic jams from driverless cars

Driverless cars that are driving around in San Francisco are programmed to stop if they can't figure out what to do. This happens frequently enough that the resulting traffic jams are a big nuisance.

Evidence on destruction of Kakhovka dam

Evidence demonstrates that the Putin forces destroyed the Kakhovka dam with explosives planted inside it.

China drilling in Tarim basin

China is drilling a very deep narrow hole in the Tarim basin, apparently with a view to drilling for oil there.

One deep hole for geological exploration is an interesting project. More oil extraction is murder.

Origins of idea of "death wish"

Psychoanalyzing Russia: the idea of a "death wish" was adopted by Freud from Russian psychoanalyst Sabina Spielrein. The author sees this as the root of the atrocities of the Putin forces, which often have no other conceivable purpose except to cause suffering.

Afghan refugees to be homeless

*Thousands of Afghan refugees in UK set to be made homeless.*

The problem is that Britain does not have space for everyone to live. Whether the ones left out in this game of musical apartments are natives or immigrants is a secondary detail.

What could the government do to make enough living places soon? One idea is to seize the thousands of empty luxury apartments and make them available for groups of homeless to live in. Maybe they could give thousands of people places to live. Then there are the underused office buildings. Since being homeless is an emergency, the government could suspend the usual regulations temporarily.

UK agency to monitor cops behavior

The UK has an agency to monitor thuggish behavior by cops and recommend changes in policy. But mostly they just ignore these recommendations. The agency head has called for the power to require thug departments to adopt measures to control their violence and injustice.

(satire) Florida bill allows guns to start businesses

(satire) *New Florida Bill Allows Guns To Start Businesses.*

(satire) Trump warns classified document

(satire) *"You Better Not Talk," Trump Warns Classified Document.*

ChatGPT developer sued

The developer of ChatGPT is being sued for defamation because ChatGPT generated output that seems to defame the plaintiff.

In fact, ChatGPT is not really intelligent: it doesn't know anything and does not understand the text it generates. This ought to make it immune to accusations based on the meaning of the text it generates. But the company is trying to have it both ways, saying that the output should not be trusted while suggesting that it gives valid information. Perhaps because of that it should be found liable for defamation.

Buoys along Rio Grande

Governor Abbott of Texas plans to install a chain of buoys along the Rio Grande to make it impossible to cross it from Mexico to the US.

The people who try to cross that way are mostly desperate — they risk death by staying at home. When they cross, they look for the safest way, but staying home is too dangerous. They will tackle the buoys somehow even if some of them die trying.

True price of war

*We Still Haven’t Learned the True Price of War.*

No army at war, no matter how careful and scrupulous, can avoid killing and injuring people that were not supposed to be targets. Sometimes soldiers motivated by a brutal spirit intentionally kill civilians. Sometimes an excess of zeal plays a role alongside possible bigotry.

But usually the killings that nobody ever specifically intended make up most of the civilians killed.

Since there is no way in war to prevent "collateral damage" to people's lives, every country must figure this in when deciding whether any given war is justified.

Revelations from Trump's indictment

*Nuclear weapon secrets in the bathroom: five revelations from Trump’s unsealed indictment.*

PFAs known, since 1961, to be toxic

Since 1961, chemical manufacturers' labs have several times observed experimentally that some kind of PFA was toxic. The companies covered it up and claimed PFAs were safe.

The failure to report this to the EPA (once that existed) was illegal.

Interviews with fighters in Burma

Interviews with civilians and rebel fighters in Burma.

The US and Europe have little influence to stop the military repression, because China supports it and Burma shares a frontier with China. Chinese neocolonialism is much like Americans neocolonialism except that China has no worries about criticism from Chinese public opinion.

The rebels refer to the military government and its army as "Bamar". That is the name of the majority ethnic group which translates in English as "Burmese". What this says to me is that the rebels think of this as a war against the majority ethnic group.

I find that quite sad. It is much easier to defeat a government conclusively than to defeat the majority ethnic group conclusively. The former can have an outcome that is good for just about everyone except the ruling elite. It is hard to do that in the latter case.

Methane reduction to avert climate catastrophe

*Methane reduction holds key to averting climate catastrophe [in the short term].*

Urgent: Eliminate tax-exempt status for major sports leagues

US citizens: call on Congress to eliminate tax-exempt status for major sports leagues. 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!

Urgent: Call Maximus to discuss employee demands

US citizens: call on Maximus to meet with its employees to discuss their demands.

Urgent: US officials meet with Russian ambassador

US citizens: call on US officials to meet and talk with the Russian ambassador about smaller disputes that might perhaps be resolved.

Urgent: Call on YouTube to block election denialism

US citizens: call on YouTube to block election denialism.