Richard Stallman's Political Notes' Journal
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Thursday, July 18th, 2024
| Time |
Event |
| 12:48p |
(Satire) Orthodox Prime
(satire) *Amazon Announces
Orthodox
Prime Day Will Be July 29 Through 30.*
Just as I don't celebrate Easter on any date, I won't celebrate Prime Day
on any date.
| | 12:48p |
Urgent: Avert a war in Lebanon
US citizens:
call
on Biden to avert war in Lebanon.
If you phone, please spread the word!
White House: +1-202-456-1111 and (TTY/TDD) +1-202-456-6213
| | 12:48p |
Urgent: Taxpayer-funded drug patents
US citizens:
call on
Congress to support Biden's initiative to reduce prices on some drugs.
Biden did this through a change in a regulation, which (unlike a law) does not require specific
approval from Congress, but Republicans will push to override it, and plutocratist Democrats
might support it, acting on the principle that the income of lobbying corporations is
sacrosanct. The point is to dissuade them from doing so.
By the way, please vote to defeat the corrupter and all Republicans!
If you phone, please spread the word!
Main Switchboard: +1-202-224-3121
| | 12:48p |
Puberty-blockers ban, UK
Labour has extended the Tory
ban
on prescribing puberty blockers to young people. (It is not clear from the words of the
article who the ban covers.)
The justification given by the minister is not outright nasty, but I think it is the wrong
policy. The result will be to push people into puberty
in
a sex that they may not want. It is better to give each person the choice. and the only
way to do that is with these medicines.
| | 12:48p |
RR infrastructure, DEU
Germany will close the railroad from Frankfurt to Mannheim, a major trunk line, to rebuild it after
years
of lack of investment.
I observed this problem when I visited Germany in May, and asked my host/friend about it. He
said that Germans had become less willing (than in the past) to prioritize the long term future.
I suspect that that manifests itself as a demand to pay lower taxes, and let the rich pay lower taxes too.
| | 12:48p |
Urgent: Politico-monopoly, -utility cos.
US citizens:
call
on Congress to ban utilities and monopoly corporations from making political contributions.
If you phone, please spread the word!
Main Switchboard: +1-202-224-3121
| | 12:48p |
Urgent: Republican squeeze on public edu
US residents:
denounce
Republicans attacks on public education.
| | 12:48p |
| | 12:48p |
Brute-factual aftermaths, Gaza
*Clearing Gaza of almost
40m
tonnes of war rubble will take years, says UN.*
The scenario of using only 100 trucks, over 15 years, is clearly not a real solution to the
problem. Using 500 trucks, the job could be finished in 3 years. But where would they put
this rubble?
After removing the rubble, could people live there? Is the land of Gaza poisoned by toxic
chemicals? And the water in it?
| | 12:48p |
Reality-rejector distraction campaign
*[The wrecker's] running mate
says
UK could be "first Islamist country" with nuclear weapons.*
That is not physically impossible but it disregards reality completely. It is bullshit.
It is also a distraction campaign — as is usual for right-wing reality rejectors, they
accuse opponents baselessly of actions similar to what the reality rejectors are in fact doing.
The US could very likely become, next January, the first theocratic Christian regime with
nuclear weapons.
To prevent that, we Americans must vote and work to defeat Republicans at all levels.
That extends to all Republicans.
It used to be that there were Republicans that were right-wing but not radical extremists, who
had some integrity left and could coexist with other camps. Not any more: the wrecker has
converted nearly all to be as dishonest and extreme as he is. Even those who, like Senator
Collins,
publicly
disendorse the wrecker are likely to support extremists in other ways, such as by passing
their bills in the senate.
| | 12:48p |
Biden housing plan, rent-control
*Biden housing plan seeks to curb rent increases by
penalizing
[large] landlords.* The penalties would be triggered by a rent increase of more than 5% in
a year.
This requires approval from Congress. Republicans will surely call this a monstrous attack on the
"free
market". (A free market means one where the same rules apply to everyone who
participates.)
Please contact your congresscritter's and senators' offices and ask where they stand on Biden's
plan. Take notes, and publish what they said. Preferably in places that the public can see
without getting an account. (Alas,
ex-Twitter
is not such a place any more.)
Please vote to defeat the corrupter and all Republicans!
Nowadays, the increase in prices for many kinds of things is boosted by the lack of
competition. The advent of large corporations that own very large amounts of rental housing
has reduced the effective competition on rents.
I think we should prohibited any private entity from controlling more than a minuscule fraction
of the rental housing market. (I would not put this maximum as low as 50 units — perhaps
either 500 units or one local physically connected development, whichever is larger.)
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