| Time |
Event |
| 8:05a |
Sexual assault for stealing a kiss
I warned that the stretchable term "sexual assault", which extends
from grave crimes such as rape through significant crimes such as
groping and down to no clear lower bound, could be stretched to
criminalize minor things, perhaps even stealing a kiss. Now this has
happened.
What next? Will a pat on the arm or a hug be criminalized? There is
no clear limit to how far this can go, when a group builds up enough
outrage to push it.
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| 8:05a |
Decriminalization of drugs
Criminal prosecution and harassment of drug users are both cruel and
ineffective for reducing use of the dangerous drugs. San Francisco in
particular, and the rest of the US, should decriminalize the forbidden
drugs.
|
| 8:05a |
Killing and expelling of Palestinians
Israeli soldiers in occupied Palestine, and fanatical "settlers" whose
goal is ethnic cleansing, have killed 51 Palestinians in the past week
and expelled everyone from small Palestinian villages.
This is terrorism, and it cannot rationally be presented as any sort
of defense against HAMAS.
*When the US Media Silences One Side's Suffering, Only More Death and
War Follow.*
We should mourn the Israelis killed by HAMAS. We should mourn the Gazans
bombed and shelled by Israel. We should mourn the Israelis killed by the
intifadas. We should mourn the Palestinians killed or merely oppressed
by the occupation. And we should make a peace agreement the goal.
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| 8:05a |
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| 8:05a |
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| 8:05a |
Lobbying against WHO on vapes
*Philip Morris lobbying to stop WHO ‘attack’ on vapes and similar products.*
Information in the article shows clearly that vapes are being marketed towards
children.
|
| 8:05a |
Blacklist of students that supported HAMAS
Some business executives want to start a blacklist of all the students
in Harvard student groups that signed their name to a letter that
supported HAMAS.
This would be adding evil to evil. The last thing we need in the US
is another massive blacklist campaign against freedom of speech.
The letter took an extreme position which entirely exculpated HAMAS
for massacres and kidnapping of hundreds of civilians. As you can see
in my recent political notes, I reject that view.
It is true that Israel confines millions of Palestinians to what can
be called open-air prisons,
but that doesn't excuse HAMAS's response.
In a situation with wrong on all sides, we need to be able to see the
various wrongs of various sides, and also to weigh them against each
other. Two great wrongs are not necessarily equivalent. Whether one
wrong overrides or justifies another is a subtle question and it
depends on details.
For instance, a crime such as Putin's invasion of Ukraine justifies
the violence of fighting back with war, which Ukraine is doing, but it
would not justify terrorism as a response. (Ukraine is not doing
that.)
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| 8:05a |
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| 8:05a |
Women working as domestic workers in UAE
* Women seeking jobs as domestic workers in the UAE allege they are being
detained and abused in squalid accommodation, while recruiters sell
them over apps and social media platforms to household employers.*
Trafficking and enslavement of workers in many industries exists in
many countries, including in Europe,
but Arab countries on the Persian Gulf seem to protect
it especially strongly.
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| 8:05a |
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| 8:05a |
HAMAS not following rules of war
HAMAS, as usual, has shown total contempt for the rules of war
with its massacres and hostage-taking.
Israel claims to be following the rules, but in practical terms is
violating them massively. Its attacks on hospitals and homes violate
them, and blockage of food and medicine,
are clear violations, and they could kill hundreds of thousands of civilians as the fighting
continues.
*No power, water or fuel to Gaza until hostages freed, says Israel minister.*
That makes it explicit. Isn't denying fuel to hospitals and water
to the whole population a war crime?
Preventing civilians from fleeing the battlefield may also be
a war crime. I don't know for certain but I expect so.
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| 8:05a |
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| 8:05a |
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| 8:05a |
Urgent: Protect Social Security (again)
US citizens: call on Congress to protect Social Security from proposed
right-wing cuts — yet again.
If you phone, please spread the word!
Main Switchboard: +1-202-224-3121 |
| 8:05a |
Urgent: Refillable glass bottles from Coca Cola
Everyone: call on Coca Cola to offer refillable glass bottles in the
US and support laws requiring deposits on bottles.
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| 8:05a |
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| 8:05a |
Urgent: Moore v. United States
US citizens: call on the Supreme Court to dismiss Moore v. United
States.
Supreme Court members Roberts and Alito own stock in companies that could
win around 30 billion dollars from a decision they will soon participate in.
There were apparent falsehoods in the claims made in the case.
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| 8:05a |
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| 8:05a |
Urgent: Prioritize confirming Biden's judicial nominees
US citizens: phone Senator Schumer and call on him to prioritize
confirming Biden's judicial nominees. This process is dragging and
risks leaving vacancies that might be blocked or even filled by Republicans. |
| 8:05a |
Urgent: Oppose "Kids Online Safety Act"
US citizens: phone your senators (especially Democrats) to oppose
the vague censorship bill called "Kids Online Safety Act". Republican
attorneys general could use it to intimidate web sites over any topics
that their states prohibit, including abortion and queerness.
I wince when I see the article refer to all web pages as "content", but
that unfortunate usage does not at all reduce the validity and importance of the article's point.
If you phone, please spread the word!
Main Switchboard: +1-202-224-3121 |
| 8:05a |
Crackdown on climate protesters
* In Germany, France, Italy, Sweden, the Netherlands and the UK,
authorities have responded to climate protests with mass arrests, the
passing of draconian new laws, the imposing of severe sentences for
non-violent protests and the labeling of activists as hooligans,
saboteurs or eco-terrorists.*
They seem to be confused about where the real threat comes from. The
protesters do not threaten to destroy civilization and cause a mass
extinction; that threat comes from the businesses that insist on
continuing to cause the danger and the politicians that refuse to stop
them.
If the politicians carried out their responsibility to make those
businesses stop roasting the Earth, the protesters wouldn't need to
undertake to campaign for them to do it.
When politicians call climate defense protesters "selfish", they are
saying the opposite of the truth, denying deny the danger that global
heating poses to all of us and the virtue of trying to save
civilization from disaster. In effect, they declare allegiance to
the planet-roaster side.
*How criminalization is being used to silence climate activists across the
world.*
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| 8:05a |
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