Richard Stallman's Political Notes' Journal

"Security forces" throwing people from airplanes

When Argentine soldiers were throwing dissidents out of airplanes into the Atlantic Ocean, Mexican "security forces" were doing likewise in Mexico.

Surely this was not a coincidence. They must have been in touch. Perhaps by way of the US?

If you are searching for a missing relative, do not me taken in by shamans or other supposed mediums. They have no special access to factual information about missing people, and cannot communicate with the dead.

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Bullshitter orders to spew disinformation

The bullshitter may soon order Voice of America and Radio Free Europe to spew disinformation.

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States with the death penalty

Most Americans live in states which do not use the death penalty and may have forgotten about the issue, but the states that do execute still display scandalous disregard for new evidence that tends to prove that trials gave incorrect results.

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Opening of Australian mine

Labor in Australia claims to have said they did not open any new coal mines, but that is based on mislabeling a new mine as an extension of an old mine located 10ks away.

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Apps that snoop on and manipulate employees

An international company forces the employees of its national subsidiaries to run apps that snoop on them and manipulate them. Italy has found that app to be illegal, for various reasons.

This is a good decision, and I am glad that the GDPR are actually benefiting some workers. But they don't go far enough, and neither does this decision. Simply requiring workers to carry a snoop phone with them is an injustice and should be illegal.

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Politicizing the FTC

*Republicans Said the FTC Was Too Politicized. Now Trump’s FTC Pick Says It Should be Politicized — by [his side].*

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Pact to phase out fossil fuels

*Pakistan and Bahamas join push for global pact to phase out fossil fuels.*

Several other countries already support it. But we are still far from getting a global agreement to stop destroying the ecosphere and civilization.

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How Israeli forces destroyed Jabaliya refugee camp

*‘Everything is gone’: how Israeli forces destroyed Jabaliya refugee camp.*

The current stage of the attack on Jabaliya is systematically demolishing large parts of the area, leveling everything and building wide roads for military vehicles.

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Uber donation to corrupter

Uber donated a million dollars to the corrupter's inaugural celebration. This is the moral equivalent of a bribe.

Don't be a customer of Guber — it mistreats its customers and its drivers.

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Powers of US government to snoop

A new law gives the US government extremely broad indirect powers to snoop on digital communications.

*House Republicans crafted language requiring any "service provider" with access to equipment "that is being or may be used to transmit or store wire or electronic communications" to help the government spy.

The language was so broad that almost anyone with a business who happened to have access to a hard drive could be forced to comply, critics have warned.

The government could force commercial landlords, for instance, to help it scoop up the communications of journalists, nonprofit groups, political campaigns, and lawyers, according to the Center for Democracy and Technology.*

Nominally this spying must be directed at foreigners, but when they are used they tend to spy on Americans too.

Of course, if you're the sort of person who carries a portable tracking and surveillance device various companies can snoop on you too.

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Rights of seasonal workers

When companies hire temporary workers for a peak season, those workers should have the same legal rights as permanent workers, except that their employment will end at the end of that season.

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Uplifting the provocateur, UKR

Ukraine made a mining agreement with the Biden administration, and postponed signing it until now so that the corrupter could give the false impression he had something to do with it.

At least this delay did not do any real harm to Ukraine or to the US.

Riches want right-wing, UK

The musk-rat is talking about donating massive amounts to the extreme right-wing British political party.

It is not only Musk who can get too much political power from his money. There are British billionaires who also give large amounts to the right wing. And (I've read) Musk may be entitled to get British citizenship, which would bypass this obstacle.

The UK should prohibit political donations and spending by businesses, and limit the amount of donations that any one individual can originate.

Giant Hornet threat neutralized

The US has eradicated the northern giant hornet, which threatens honeybees.

DPRK warring in Ukraine

North Korean soldiers are fighting Ukraine in Russia. What are the implications for North Korea and its foreign relations.

Syrian emigrant pressure to return, BGR

Bulgaria is using word-twisting, threats and beatings to compel Syrian asylum seekers to sign a "voluntary" agreement to return to Syria right away.

After a reasonable amount if time, it may be clear that Syria has become stable and respects human rights. It may then be valid to deny asylum to most Syrians because they no longer need asylum and have no claim for it.

But it is unjust to jump to that conclusion now, even if it were done in an honest way. We don't know today whether Syria will become stable and respect human rights.

The aggressor vs journalism

The fascist sues the press to say, *Bend the knee or else.*

Nissan as Honda

The major car manufacturers Nissan and Honda want to merge.

They are planning to exploit the amoral loophole in antitrust law: "We're major competitors in our field, but we need to merge to compete with the giants."

A policy of Granting such requests leads inexorably, over time, to a market made up of just a few giants.

I think Lina Khan would have blocked this merger. But now that Republicans have blocked her reappointment, we have to hope that the EU or Japan will block it. The Republicans surely hope that they have paved the way to having a few more multi-billionaires they can serve.

Wikipedia brush with India

Wikipedia described Asian News International as working for the Indian government and promoting disinformation. That company sued and threatened to have Wikipedia blocked in India.

The court ordered Wikipedia to take down a page about this case. The page linked above still has a link to that page, but that page's real contents no longer appear.

Zoo birds vs flu

*Bird flu sweeps through zoos with ‘grave implications’ for endangered animals.*

This variant of bird flue will probably die out in a few years, as they generally do — thing is to make sure no species are wiped out in the mean time. I gather zoos are vaccinating some of their animals, but the article does not make it clear why vaccinated animals are still in danger.

It may be helpful to wall off their enclosures with wire screens that no wild birds can fit through.

The exploiter vs naturalized immigrants

How the bully plans to strip the citizenship from naturalized citizens, even over minor harmless errors, with a funded program to de-naturalize as many people as possible.

The program would be led by people have absorbed the right-wing ideology of dehumanizing hatred for immigrants.

If the people targeted can't afford a lawyer, they could easily be punished by mistake. As for those who can afford one, if they come through with their citizenship intact, they could be ruined by the expense.

The immigrants' children would also lose US citizenship, and might then be expelled to countries they have never seen.

Big Medicine organization, US

The history of how United"Health" used vertical integration to grow like a cancer in US medicine, using its power in one aspect to gain control of another.

For instance, when its delays in paying clinics and medical practices for the work they have done push them into financial distress, United"Health" buys them up, working toward a monopoly on another level. And they can require patients to use only the clinics they own.

*At least 5000 people a week die in hospitals in the U.S. due to “preventable problems,” concluded a peer-reviewed study … in 2016.* The rate has surely increased since.

Not all such deaths are caused by United"Health" in particular; other similar companies surely cause some too.

Medical insurance policy makers

*[Medical] Insurance Execs Should Live in Fear of Prison, Not Murder.*

But that can't happen unless we pass laws to prohibit the existing medical megaconglomerates such as United"Ill"Health.

Judicial Branch corruption, US

*Investigation by Senate Democrats found that Thomas accepted gifts and travel worth more than $4.75m since 1991.*

I see this as corruption, pure and simple. But now there is no hope of taking the court back from the control of the right-wing extremists, three of whom are known to be corrupt.

Another military-government defeat, MMR

The Burmese military government has suffered another major defeat: it has lost control of Rakhine state.

The region was taken over by the ethnic army of a local ethnic group, which also calls itself Arakan and calls the region that too.

Arakan is also where the Rohingya live but the Arakan and the Rohingya are mutually hostile.