Richard Stallman's Political Notes' Journal
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Monday, August 5th, 2024
| Time |
Event |
| 2:56p |
How Israel assassinates HAMAS leaders
Israel has assassinated
many
HAMAS leaders over the years, and at present most of its old leadership is gone.
That won't make it harder for HAMAS to fight in Gaza, but will make it hard for it to negotiate a
peace agreement or even a cease-fire.
Let's not lose sight of
where we want to end up.
| | 2:56p |
Polar amplification, ATA
*Antarctic temperatures rise
10°C
above average in near record heatwave. Reported temperatures on continent in midwinter reach
28°C above expectations on some days in July.*
| | 2:56p |
Quietly disappeared names, Project 2025
Some of the contributors to Project 2025 are now embarrassed to receive credit for
their work.
Or perhaps they figure that what they wished to achieve has already been achieved, and now they seek
to duck, hoping to avoid public odium for that.
| | 2:56p |
| | 2:56p |
Election protests against Maduro, VEN
There are
big
protests in Venezuela against Maduro's claim to have won the recent election. Who should I
believe?
When Chávez was president, the right-wing minority (1/4 of the population) could organize large
protests, and welcomed a US-organized coup attempt. The protests now don't show that Maduro really
cheated.
The
opinion
of the US government does not convince me of anything. After all,
in 2019 it supported
Juan
Guaidó's campaign to proclaim himself president of Venezuela. True, that occurred when the
wrecker was president of the US; but the US supported the
coup
against President Zelaya of Honduras when Obama was president.
However, given that various left-leaning presidents, some of whom I respect, are pressing Maduro to
justify his claim to have won, and since he seem to have kept the local vote counts secret, it looks
like he must in fact have lost and be trying to cheat.
| | 2:56p |
Family and gender values in a patriarchy
Republicans now openly stand for imposing marriage and children on
every woman, and
denying
various rights to women who don't have them.
I think that "family values" was meant, all along, to hint at this goal.
| | 2:56p |
Vance labels Rep. Ocasio-Cortez
Vance called Rep. Ocasio-Cortez "sociopathic" for choosing (at least for the time being)
not to have
children.
This demonstrates the depth of his intentions to impose repression on women if he ever gets the
chance.
| | 2:56p |
Never vote again?
The fascist told his followers that if they elect
him this year, they won't need to vote ever again. That is
a
deniable suggestion that he won't allow citizens the power to undo what he will have done.
| | 2:56p |
The bully's causes and elections
When the wrecker states his drastic plans
explicitly,
his
supporters say he is joking.
I've noticed that he no longer tends to disregard all criticism, by simply taking a totally different
stand the next day. It seems to be possible nowadays for public criticism to make him respond to
criticism of things he said.
For instance, he recently tried to
explain
away his remark about asking Christians to vote "just once." His explanation was that
Christians tend to have a low voting rate (I am skeptical of this and I won't believe it just
because the bullshitter says it). He was,
he claims, imploring them to vote this year, but in 2028 it will be ok if they return to their habit
of not voting.
Supposedly that should reassure us that he is not planning to ruin what remains of democracy in the
US. Don't buy that! On the contrary, that plan is implicit in his explanation.
If he needs nonvoting Christian supporters to vote for him this year, why would he not need them
next year?
Because non-rich Americans, who by then would have suffered the harmful effects of the denial of
their rights, will support him? Not likely. Will secular Americans have become
supporters of hierocracy? Surely not.
The natural reason, which his supporters will believe, is that he expects to have made it impossible
by 2028 for any opponent, no matter how popular, to defeat him.
To believe he means that is not a radical claim.
Republicans
have
organized to
rig
elections for more than a decade,
and their
efforts have intensified
in recent
years. Support from president and federal agencies, as well as the extreme court, would
potentiate those efforts, making the fight for democracy in America even more uphill.
By now, we should not be shocked by this, only determined to defeat the attempt to impose right-wing
extremist rule.
| | 2:56p |
| | 2:56p |
Recent US-VEN history
The US established
crushing
trade sanctions against Venezuela to punish Maduro. It also launched
a
coup attempt, which failed, together with a right-wing opposition (that
wasn't
what people wanted). I think they would have elected an honest Chavista, but they did not have
that option.
The sanctions spread poverty in Venezuela, and pressured millions of Venezuelans to flee to the US
and other countries. That suffering many have convinced may to vote against Maduro just now. But
the US could have been far more helpful if democracy was its goal.
| | 2:56p |
Prison exchanges, US-RUS
Russian
liberal
opposition politician Ilya Yashin, just released from Putin's prison through an exchange of
prisoners, criticized that very exchange.
He said, "It encourages Putin to take more hostages." He is thinking
like
the
patriotic hostage I wrote about yesterday.
He did not want to leave Russia, either; he wanted to stay there and campaign for freedom. I
understand those feelings, but in any fight there can be times when it is better to retreat than to
stay put and be totally defeated. This was one. Putin makes it nearly impossible to campaign for
freedom, justice, truth or peace in Russia.
| | 2:56p |
Harris on medical entitlement
Kamala Harris said she supported "Medicare for all", but it turned out
she meant private insurance, for all with
limits on medical
treatment. What she supports in that area now is not clear.
| | 2:56p |
A Democratic party strategy
Democrats need to
mobilize
support based on class, which can unite most Americans, rather than race or identity, which tend
to divide groups.
Most Americans nowadays are poor and struggling; that is something they can share. For some, bigotry
against their various identity groups plays a part in causing that; but not for all. The other
causes, the ones associated with class, makes anyone who is not wealthy a victim, so it can mobilize
all those people together.
Given this, why does the corrupter have
followers? Partly by appealing to religious fanatics. Partly by blaming minority groups for the
consequences of systems that make life bad for them (which often are the work of the rich and
the plutocratist politicians).
We are warned not to underestimate the
corrupter's
appeal
to his target audience. He knows how to touch many Americans emotionally. His willingness to
use that dishonestly, and his lack of any commitment to really address Americans' real problems,
facilitates his doing winning misguided support.
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