Richard Stallman's Political Notes' Journal

NYC march against fossil fuels

*Tens of thousands in NYC march against fossil fuels as AOC hails powerful message.* *Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said the crowd must become ‘too big and too radical to ignore” as Biden came under fire for oil projects.*

I agree. Having separate rallies on different dates* in various cities makes a smaller impression with the same number of people.

When people are motivated enough for hundreds of thousands to rally in Washington DC, that will be impossible to ignore.

Starmer adopts a Corbyn idea on trade

Starmer has adopted one of Corbyn's ideas about trade with the EU, at least partially. Corbyn said he would try to form a customs union with the EU.

Recording of Seattle thug

A Seattle thug was recorded expressing derision for a woman who was killed by another thug who was driving dangerously fast to deal with an incident.

The derision did not injure anyone, but it shows he has the wrong attitude towards members of the public and is not fit to be a police officer.

Possible repeal for authorizations of use of force in Iraq

Congress is considering repealing the authorizations for use of military force in Iraq. It should also repeal the one for Afghanistan, which has been used to justify war in other parts of the globe.

Test to determine use of mifepristone and misoprostol

The Polish government has funded development of a test to determine whether someone has taken mifepristone and misoprostol. And now it is using this test to determine whether specific people have had abortions.

Some right-wing US politicians are looking forward to the same thing.

Starbucks workers' union considering consumer boycott

The Starbucks workers' union is considering calling for a consumer boycott.

Why wait? You can start boycotting now. I would, except that I never buy from Starbucks anyway — its products don't appeal to me.

IHRA criterion for antisemitism

Use of the IHRA criterion for antisemitism has led to 40 cases of accusations by universities against specific people and groups, of which 38 have been dismissed.

Coverup of Mangosuthu Buthelezi's career

After Mangosuthu Buthelezi's death, South African officials are covering up his career of running a movement to serve the apartheid government and repress for it.

DeMentis contradicts his own abortion law

Florida governor DeMentis *contradicted [his] own abortion law to claim woman will not be criminalized.* However, the text clearly admits of prosecuting the woman who has an abortion.

This is the common Republican tactic of trying to have it both ways.

Desperation of some shoplifters

*I work in a supermarket and see how desperate some shoplifters are. My heart goes out to them.*

The same worker also sees professional thieves, and addicts who steal to buy an addictive drug. Those have always existed, but what's changed is that now there are many desperate thieves stealing necessities of life.

The Earth has limits

*The Guardian view on planetary boundaries: the Earth has limits and governments must act on them.*

Wisconsin's gerrymandered state senate

Wisconsin's gerrymandered state senate gives Republicans a 2-1 supermajority. They just voted to fire the state's chief election administrator — in line with conspiracy disinformation, but really for having unwelcome integrity.

Exxon Executives cast doubt on climate science

*New[ly released old] Documents Show Exxon Executives Cast Doubt on Climate Science to Protect Profits.*

* ExxonMobil executives privately sought to undermine climate science even after the oil and gas giant publicly acknowledged the link between fossil fuel emissions and [global heating].*

In 2008, Exxon said it would stop supporting climate-denialist groups but it continued to support influentia; individual climate-denialists.

Advice about tobacco policies

The government of Victoria got advice about tobacco policies from the PR company KPMG which has a long association with tobacco companies. This was, in effect, giving those companies special influence over the policies meant to protect the public from their addictive, disease-causing product.

Right-wing extremist as mayor in Germany

A right-wing extremist is likely to be elected mayor of a city in Germany. He has condemned the activities to remind Germans of the evil of the Holoaust.

I don't see in the article that he endorses antisemitism, but I think the AfD party is heading in a direction which will get there soon.

Another politician in that party is being tried for using a Nazi slogan.

I abhor censorship of anything, even Nazism, because censorship opens the door to tyranny. However, so does Nazism, and more generally fascism. I am not sure which is the bigger danger.

"Carbon offsets" misleading

A study has found that "carbon offsets" as certified by Verra are misleading and ineffective.

We need a radical change in economic policy

*We need radical change in economic policy, not just a change of government.*

This goes for the US as well as the UK.

New York University to divest from fossil fuels

Students have convinced New York University to divest from fossil fuels.

Going by the article, the criteria will be fairly strict. Many organizations have "divested from fossil fuels", but it covered only some of the ways of investing in fossil fuels, leaving plenty of room to do so.

Sanctions on Iran for non-nuclear deal

The non-nuclear deal with Iran calls for lifting certain sanctions in October 2023. However, France, Germany and the UK say that Iran's violations are significant and they won't do it.

Iran could come back into compliance if it decided to. It might do this if the US offers a return to the deal in exchange.

Ex-twitter paid ads

Ex-Twitter has stopped labeling paid ads at all, for some users.

Bullshit generators

Using bullshit generators to generate letters of recommendation, letters of complaint, or letters of pressure, paradoxically makes them count for less.

NYC debates climate mitigation

Expensive plans to protect Rockaway in NYC from future hurricanes may not be effective.

The article explains that efforts to estimate the probability of a another similar disaster were bogus or confused. Meanwhile, science has advanced since the 2000s. We should make a more plausible estimate of that probability, based on acceleration of global heating, then increase it for our continued incomplete knowledge.

Then we should make another such estimate assuming that proposed flood protection plans have been implemented. We can judge whether those plans are worth implementing based on how much they decrease the disaster likelihood.

If even after flood protection it is likely that another disaster will happen within 50 years, the federal government should buy out the properties there, and declare it a protected zone. Let it become beach, or wetlands. We had better be spending that money on decarbonization, which protects the whole world, not on short-term protection of each area by itself.

Tigray's dark war, Ethiopia

Despite the cease fire of the Tigray region's forces with Ethiopia, the atrocities continue there, committed by other ethnic Ethiopian militias and the Eritrean army.

Funding climate mitigation, CA

*California sues [five giant] oil companies claiming they [deceptively downplayed] the risk of fossil fuels.*

Solar farms in space

Solar power satellites are being considered seriously by the EU.

The L5 society's 1980 plan was to build large ones using material from the Moon. Launching that from the Moon's shallower gravity well would be far cheaper than launching that from Earth.

Energy transition, AUS analysis

Australia needs to replace the old coal-powered electric generators. The right-wing wants to build small nuclear power plants, but they would cost over 17 times as much as solar power, 9 times as much as wind power.

Clearly the lobbying for small nuclear plants does not aim to serve the public good. It is an attempt by companies to profit by wasting public funds. That was pretty clear already, but this strengthens the case.

Recovering, social-networking addict

How quitting Facebook and Ex-Twitter enabled one user to change for the better his approach to life.

Levels of salt in UK food

For several years, the UK Labour government ordered reductions in the amount of salt added to certain foods. In 2014, the new government ended that, and levels of salt increased. This has been tied to 24,000 additional deaths.

Since we get accustomed to whatever level of salt we consume, there is no loss in reducing that across the board.

Plans to protect Rockaway in NYC

Expensive plans to protect Rockaway in NYC from future hurricanes may not be effective.

Labor activism good for America

Robert Reich: *Why labor activism is good for America.*

Indian agents in Canada

Trudeau accuses Indian agents of murdering a Sikh separatist leader in Canada.

I do not see a reason to support that separatist cause, but assassinating exiles is not justified.

Large UK union spending on issues

A large UK union will spend some money on publicly promoting a few specific policy issues, instead of giving it to Labour.

Not all of these policies are good. One of them is to continue developing more offshore oilfields, to extract oil that the world cannot safely burn or make into more plastic.

I am in favor of a well-managed green transition, but trying to demand it by overdrawing the carbon budget is environmental terrorism.

I can't see a reason why it would be beneficial overall to subsidize steel production rather than import it. Does that have any purpose except competition for the votes of steel workers?

Parents tracking their children

Parents in the US are tracking their children up through ever-higher ages. Now some college students are being tracked.

This article describes the harm that does.

Conditions of use on medical equipment

Some manufacturers of medical equipment are trying to impose conditions on how the purchaser uses it — "use for execution prohibited." They are trying to propagate this to indirect purchasers too.

I oppose the death penalty. However, these manufacturers are claiming the outrageous general power to control those who buy their products. Use that power to ban use for execution, they could use it to ban anything else too. Imagine "Use of this cable for copying audio and video works without explicit authorization from copyright holders is prohibited."

We must not tolerate the attempt to impose such power just because it is being applied today to aid a cause we support.

Tibetan children in China's boarding schools

*The One Million Tibetan Children in China’s Boarding Schools.* They are being taught Chinese culture and separated from Tibetan culture. Tibet is being abolished.

Many other countries have done this to minority groups, including the US, UK, Canada and France, to mention only those I recall at this moment.