Richard Stallman's Political Notes' Journal
[Most Recent Entries]
[Calendar View]
Saturday, March 23rd, 2024
| Time |
Event |
| 5:53a |
An effective movement for Palestine
In advocating peace and an end to the injustice of the occupation of
Palestine, we should welcome support from
Israelis that work for these
goals.
The doctrinaire hostility towards Israel, described in the article,
seems designed to create a mirror image of Netanyahu, and thus make
sure the conflict can never be resolved except by total defeat for
Israel or Palestine.
| | 5:53a |
Trump’s warnings of violence
In case there is any doubt that the wrecker's talk of a "bloodbath" if
he loses the election was a threat to seize power through violence,
there sure plenty of instances of his making
such threats and inciting
violence.
The wrecker was caught after a speech telling someone he wanted Americans
to show him the sort of deference that
North Koreans show Dictator Kim.
North Koreans have a rational reason to show total obedience to Dictator Kim:
he will have them jailed or killed if they don't.
That is indeed what he wants. He recently called for imprisoning Liz
Cheney for participating in the congressional investigation of the
wrecker's role in the Jan 6
attack on the Capitol.
Americans who don't want to be ruled by a repressive and brutal tyrant
must make sure to defeat the wrecker in the election, and be ready to
defeat his violent supporters afterward.
| | 5:53a |
WTO fails to reach agreement
The campaign by poor countries for the World Trade Organization to
temporarily suspend patents on treatments and vaccines for Covid-19
was defeated by governments in the
pockets of Big Pharma.
Patents are the expensive, gruesome way to fund drug research. We
should abolish those patents and fund the research with public money.
| | 5:53a |
Driver data being shared
GM cars snoop on their drivers, and GM makes the data available
(through a broker) to
insurance companies.
To make this data available to anyone but the owner or renter of the
car should be a crime. If the car is owned by a rental company, that
company should not have access to it either.
| | 5:53a |
Zelaya reflects on the coup
When the US supported the coup against
President Zelaya of Honduras,
the coup-installed government under President Hernández gave coup
investors large parts of the country to rule as fiefs.
The new government has revoked these fiefdoms, and Hernández is
in a US prison convicted of narcotrafficking, but the coup investors
are trying to impose their
long-term power through a secret court
run by the World Bank.
It seems that CAFTA,
a business-supremacy treaty, includes an ISDS clause
which they hope the World Bank will help them enforce.
Honduras has announced it will abrogate its membership in CAFTA and
defy the World Bank. Bravo!
Such treaties often have a clause saying that the special power of
foreign investors will continue for some number of decades even if the
country pulls out of the treaty. Rejecting CAFTA may not be enough to
make the World Bank drop the cases. If not, there will be struggles
around the world to convince other governments to refuse to support the
coup investors.
I can't forecast which side Obama will take, but it is clear that the
wrecker would take the side of the investors if they bribe him enough.
| | 5:53a |
TikTok moral panic
*Yes, TikTok sucks. But the rules for
tech giants must be better than
"it's only bad if China does it."*
I think countries can indeed be safer by barring antisocial media
platforms that accumulate data for adversary countries.
It is true that this also helps dictatorships block the influence of
anyone from outside the dictator's power. But dictators already do
that, as it suits them, So I don't think this is a valid argument
about what a free country should do.
However, it is equally dangerous for a "domestic" company to collect
lots of personal data about people, with which to manipulate and
control them. And using peer pressure to make almost everyone
"consent" is not an excuse. We need to protect American minors, and
American adults, from Facebook and Ex-Twitter as well as Lies Social,
and to do it in a way that respects freedom of speech.
My proposal is to require recommendation engines to be independent
from platforms, using a standard protocol, so that any user can choose
to send an edited subset of per viewing history on any platform to any
recommendation engine, anonymously. then choose to follow (or not)
some or all of the recommendation.
| | 5:53a |
UN staff accusations
*UN staff in West Bank accuse
Israeli authorities of campaign of harassment.
Documents seen by the Guardian list hundreds of incidents, including
UNRWA workers allegedly being blindfolded and beaten.*
I see no reason to doubt these accusations. Those employees are
Palestinians. It is quite common for the Israeli soldiers and border
patrol, or the fanatical "settlers", to treat
Palestinians brutally.
Why would they make an exception for those who work for UNRWA?
| | 6:23a |
| | 6:23a |
Gaza food aid
*UN [high commissioner for human rights] says Israeli restrictions on Gaza food aid may
constitute a war crime,*
because *Israeli restrictions on the entry of aid may amount to "starvation as a method of war."*
|
|