Friday, December 15th, 2023

Time	Event
10:07a	Demand for Hunter Biden to testify privately Republicans in Congress, investigating Hunter Biden, demand that he testify privately. He says that he will testify only if it is public. </li> (Comment on this)
10:07a	UK cops use of tasers on blacks A study found that the reason why UK cops use tasers more often against blacks than against whites (it's a fact that they do so) is because they perceive a black as more threatening than a white would be. Another cause is that they think of a taser as a way to "make people obey." </li> (Comment on this)
10:07a	Rule on arms transfers Biden made a rule that *all arms transfers to foreign governments be subject to rigorous and continual examination of the recipient’s record on the Geneva conventions and other global norms for conducting warfare.* But, in order to overlook the mass killing of civilians in Gaza, he is not following the rule in Israel's case. </li> (Comment on this)
10:07a	Protections for nature during fossil fuel phase-out *Fossil fuel phase-out [alpne] will "not avert climate breakdown without protections for nature."* That means protecting *carbon sinks such as forests and wetlands.* </li> (Comment on this)
10:07a	What British government needs to learn for next pandemic What Britain's government needs to learn in order to deal honestly, rationally and effectively with the next pandemic. </li> (Comment on this)
10:07a	Project Veritas "Project Veritas", the right-wing whistleblower which used misleading edited videos to attack progressive organizations, is floundering. </li> (Comment on this)
10:07a	Number of Americans with medical debt Almost 1/3 of all Americans now have medical debt, as most medical insurance plans push more and more of the cost onto the patient. European countries' medical systems have been getting worse, too. A French friend told me that the medical system there is much stingier now — but it still beats the US by a large margin, even though it costs less. I suspect that is due to the fact that the US operates mostly in medical insurance run by private companies, and most of them are unscrupulously greedy. </li> (Comment on this)
10:07a	Tripling renewable energy generation It is feasible for the world to triple renewable electric generation by 2030, with effort. </li> (Comment on this)
10:07a	EU rules on real time biometric surveillance The EU has agreed on strict rules on real time surveillance by biometric recognition. These rules seem pretty good to me — they will allow what society needs, but not much more. It is not clear to me whether any of these limits apply to searching the millions of hours of stored video footage, which increasingly cover every public place. To preserve justice and privacy, that must be subject to he same rules. And rules must apply to all private entities that collect or accumulate such data. If they cover public entities only, it will be easy to bypass them. The rules to limit using algorithms to discriminate between individuals seem to be a big step in the right direction. I can't tell from this article whether they go far enough; maybe only experience with the system that has just been enacted will tell us that. </li> (Comment on this)
10:07a	Dictator of Nicaragua The dictator of Nicaragua has reached a level of irrational persecution worthy of Stalin or Caligula. Dictator Ortega (or was it his wife?) accused the director of the Miss Nicaragua beauty contest of treason and then arrested her husband and son, all because the contest winner turned out to have participated in a protest against the ruling couple in 2018. </li> (Comment on this)
10:07a	Freshwater fish at risk of extinction *{One] quarter of world’s freshwater fish [species] at risk of extinction, according to assessment.* </li> (Comment on this)
10:07a	University presidents questioned on antisemitic statements Some US university presidents were asked by a congressional committee to explain why they did not punish students for stating antisemitic views. They explained that they were defending freedom of speech, which courts have ruled does apply to college students. That includes the right to express any views whatsoever. They are now facing waves of hatred for respecting the US Constitution. Subsequently the president of U Penn did resign. The article does not report why she yielded to this pressure. It appears that opposition to antisemitism, opposition which I join in, is being twisted into an excuse to shut down criticism of Israel's war crimes. Those are two different issues; condemnation of Israel's war crimes does not logically entail any opinion about Jews, just as condemnation of HAMAS's war crimes does not logically entail any opinion about Palestinians. I condemn those war crimes without antisemitism and without condemning the existence of Israel. The word "intifada" means "uprising". Palestinians have used different methods for uprising against the occupation, some of which used violence. The occupation itself uses violence too. Describing Palestine as stretching "from the river to the sea" does not embody antisemitism as such, but it does imply the disappearance of Israel. I oppose that goal, and therefore criticize that phrase, but I respect the freedom of speech of those who disagree with me on this issue. Many right-wing extremists reject outright the idea that the same moral rules apply to them and to the rest of us. Rep. Stefanik, a right-wing extremist, supports a fascist US presidential contender, the wrecker, who publicly welcomes support from antisemites and even Nazis. </li> (Comment on this)
10:07a	"Death certificates" for small island states * A group of countries including Australia, the US, UK, Canada and Japan have said they will "not be a co-signatory" to "death certificates" for small island states, and have demanded a stronger agreement at the COP28 summit to deal with fossil fuels and address the climate crisis.* At least that is pushing in the right direction. But it seems to late to lead to a better agreement this year. This inadequate agreement was prepared by the UAE, which appears to be using its power in precisely the sort of sabotage we all expected. </li> (Comment on this)

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