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Each political note has its own anchor in case you want to link to it.
My intention is to make links only to publicly accessible, stable URLs. If you find a link to a page that requires subscription, please report that as you would report any other broken link.
Some sites have paper tiger paywalls that can be defeated by deleting a cookie. I don't post links to those sites because it would be too complex to tell users what to do to avoid having to identify themselves.
Superstorm Sandy, Google, France, and Saving the Freedom to Link.
In the US, a court says thugs can install cameras in open land without a warrant.
The article points out that allowing thugbots to do whatever real thugs are allowed to do leads invariably to a tremendous increase in surveillance of everyone by the thugs.
An Israeli border thug who shot an 11-year-old boy at a protest has been
convicted
only of firing his gun inappropriately.
[Reference updated on 2018-03-02 because the old link was broken.]
Unless someone else fired ordinary bullets, it had to be him.
Beijing is restricted so tightly that people must
fill
out a form to get in a taxi.
[Reference updated on 2018-03-02 because the old link was broken.]
In New York, by contrast, the taxi sends your photo to the police.
The cloudy thinking by many companies about their computing has led them to make web services depend on lots of different servers run by different companies. If any one of them fails, perhaps due to a hurricane, the service may become inoperational.
The same design practice often means that using one web service enables many servers run by different companies to track you.
Why Chavez
Won Again.
[Reference updated on 2018-03-02 because the old link was broken.]
Jill Stein was arrested for bringing supplies to tree-sitters blocking construction of the planet-roaster pipeline.
The report says that the company is routing the pipeline around the tree sitters, thus giving the lie to previous statements that it could not change the route for all the world.
However, the pain that Texas landowners are suffering from the construction of the pipeline is nothing compared to what global heating will do to humanity if this pipeline is finished and used.
Here is a
statement published by Ms Stein's campaign.
[Reference updated on 2018-03-02 because the old link was broken.]
US Media Covering Hurricane Sandy Mostly Ignore Whether Climate Change Fueled Storm's Fury.
The New York Times mentions that sea level is rising, but avoids saying why: global heating, of course.
"Free trade" treaties allow countries to use any measures to protect
public health or the environment,
provided they
have no effect.
[Reference updated on 2018-03-02 because the old link was broken.]
A commission involving businessmen and unionists concluded that the UK will experience increasing inequality and decreased income, and recommended measures to push wages up as well enable people to work.
Other useful measures would be to help people have fewer children and to help more workers unionize. It would be hard to get such a commission to recommend these.
The US sugar industry's organized PR campaign ended scientific research into the health effects of eating lots of sugar.
This enables the sugar company to continue to claim that there is no evidence that eating sugar causes obesity or diabetes.
Bahrain's tyranny has overtly banned all protests.
Colombia's president is pushing a constitutional amendment that would give the country's murderous military effective immunity for murdering civilians.
I heard in Colombia that he was minister of defense when the "false positive" murders took place.
An executive of the Bank of England says that Occupy London Stock
Exchange was right in its
criticisms
of finance in the UK.
[Reference updated on 2018-03-02 because the old link was broken.]
US citizens: sign this petition against giving immunity to banksters' fraud.
Congress is so paralyzed that it cannot defend its own power from the other two branches of government.
To say that Congress is "polarized" mis-states the problem; "paralyzed" fits it better. The Republicans can block anything in the House, and the Democrats can block anything in the Senate. Thus, it hard to pass any law.
UN Special Rapporteur Falk endorsed the boycott of certain companies that support the Israeli occupation of the West Bank.
The US response repeats Israel's practice of using the moribund "peace process" as a smokescreen.
President Carter recognized publicly that
Netanyahu
has abandoned the goal of peace with Palestine.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-13 because the old link was broken.]
Israeli soldiers shot at Palestinian fishermen, and killed one of them.
As Katrina Katarzyna monitored a nonviolent protest in Palestine, Israeli thugs choked her and then dragged her away. She has not been allowed to see a lawyer.
Israeli fanatics are trying to build a colony on the lands of Beit Sahour, so the Palestinians have begun regular protests.
Until 1977, Israel tried to treat the inhabitants of the West Bank decently.
Then the
colonization
started.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-13 because the old link was broken.]
As Israel has taken 89% of the West Bank's water resources, the aquifer is being emptied and Palestinians' water supply decreases every year. In Gaza, overuse of the aquifer threatens to ruin it permanently.
Emptying aquifers through overextraction is a world-wide problem. Israel's policies cause this problem to occur more strongly in Palestine.
Imports and exports via tunnels have greatly eased the siege of Gaza, but Hamas has developed unexpected bad relations with Egypt.
Hasan Safadi ended his second hunger strike and was freed from imprisonment without trial in Israel.
Safadi ended his first long hunger strike when Israel promised to release him. Then Israel reneged on the deal by extending his imprisonment, so he launched the second hunger strike.
America's Schools: Breeding grounds for
compliant
citizens.
[Reference updated on 2018-03-02 because the old link was broken.]
Telling
Truths about Israel, Palestine.
[Reference updated on 2018-03-02 because the old link was broken.]
The founder of the regulation-defying taxi company UberTaxi has praised and echoed the ideas of Ayn Rand, and shows Rand-like contempt for mere workers.
Government regulations can be well or badly chosen, but trying to destroy government regulation is means a society in which businesses trample people at every opportunity. I've seen taxi regulations that I think are cruel (requiring drivers to wear jackets and ties in hot weather, supposedly for my sake — I felt ashamed) and even flat-out tyrannical (in NYC, every cab must have equipment to send the customer's photo immediately to the thug department by radio, so I refuse to use cabs in NYC). However, there are also legitimate grounds for some kinds of taxi regulation. One of them is to make sure there aren't so many taxis that each driver is idle most of the time.
In several cities in Australia, taxis have microphones that record the passengers' conversation. I silently showed cab drivers a note which said,
Don't speakfollowed by the destination address.
Cab is bugged
Activists have occupied parts of a new gas-fired power plant in the UK to protest fracking and increasing CO2 output.
Greek journalists face several kinds of repression from the state.
Why the US tends to have ridiculous rules that can be gamed: powerful companies have blocked the simpler reasonable methods.
New York thugs beat up a homeless man who they found sleeping inside a synagogue-attached school.
When he explained that he had permission to sleep there, the thugs were not interested in checking.
Even if resisting arrest justifies something, it can't justify this violence, which was not necessary for any legitimate purpose.
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights does not call for or advocate copyright as we understand the term.
The article falls into the widespread error of treating "intellectual property" sometimes as if it were a coherent concept meaningful to talk about, but that doesn't invalidate its argument.
In Greece, as in the US, treatable cancer kills those who don't have money.
The families of these people should use their funerals as political rallies to condemn the politicians responsible for killing them.
Rebecca Watson writes about the sexist bullying that she received after complaining about sexist bullying in the skeptical community.
The page mentions threats, insults, criticism, and gentle expressions of attraction. To think clearly about these issues, we need to distinguish them clearly.
The insults are mean and nasty; the threats are mean and nasty and maybe illegal too. I see no excuse (or even basis) for them in the events described here.
The gentle expression of attraction was a different matter entirely. Some men find a woman attractive for knowing what she stands for and acting capably and firmly to achieve it. I don't think he did her any wrong by suggesting coffee as an excuse for sitting and talking and perhaps going further. It was an harmless offer of something she didn't want.
Repeated offers of something unwanted can get to be annoying. In some countries, if I have a small bag in my hand, numerous people ask me if they can carry it for me. I call this "obsessive hospitality" and I find it burdensome — but I realize it is not mean or nasty. Occasionally I can't take any more and I am short with people who offer me this absurd help, but afterward I feel sorry because I was too harsh with them.
If Ms Watson finds gentle invitations for sex or romance burdensome because they are so frequent, I will restrain my envy and say the same thing to her that I say to myself. When a practice is meant in good will, but turns out annoying, we ought to explain without rebuke why we want others to change their practice. To say "You must change the way you treat me" does not require "You're being mean to me."
Dawkins criticized her for complaining about the invitation, saying it was a small matter compared with the oppression some women suffer. It certainly was. I don't know whether her complaint was made in a way that called for this criticism, but he could have said it without the sarcasm.
All in all, the insults and threats are the more important issue. Having discussed the complex but minor issue of the invitation and responses to it, I suggest the skeptical community focus on rejecting verbal bullying.
More about the Greek journalist arrested for leaking the list of accused tax evaders that the Greek government doesn't want to touch.
Burning natural gas makes less CO2 than coal, but supposing that remains true when the other effects of fracking are considered, the global effect of fracking in the US is to increase CO2 emissions.
This is because the substitution of gas for coal in the US has led to a glut of coal, driving down its price and leading to a boom in coal exports. The coal that the US used to burn is still being burnt, just elsewhere.
This reinforces my conclusion that taxes on fuels and activities that lead to greenhouse gas emissions are the only way to slow global heating.
Ukraine's ruling party claimed victory in the elections.
Here is how it rigged them.
A woman is facing execution if convicted of smuggling heroin out of Pakistan.
Ms Shah says other people (in her family?) gave her the luggage to carry. She might be telling the truth, and might be lying. If she gets a fair trial, the outcome cannot be based on certainty; at best it could be based on plausibility of the various possibilities. Even if she is guilty, the death penalty is barbaric.
It would be much better to end the War on Drugs. Heroin is somewhat dangerous, so I don't recommend legalizing its sale to the public, but making it available legally to registered addicts would wipe out most of the black market as well as any romantic attraction the drug has. That would nearly get rid of smuggling.
Old oil pipelines owned by a company known for skimping on maintenance could pollute the Great Lakes, ruining the drinking water for tens of millions of people.
An Egyptian tv commentator was sentenced to prison for defaming president Morsi.
He is said to state support for the dictator Mubarak. If so, I disagree with him, but he has a right to say it.
The right-wing austerity-imposing government of Greece has arrested a journalist for publishing a list of rich suspected tax-evaders.
The Greek government's policy is to impose suffering on ordinary people, but apparently it intends to protect the rich. As for attacking whistleblowers, that is the finest Obama tradition.
South Africa's president has
dropped
his lawsuit against a cartoonist that criticized him.
[Reference updated on 2018-03-02 because the old link was broken.]
US citizens: sign this petition to limit the catch of menhaden. These small fish, which many larger fish eat, are down 90% from what they used to be.
US citizens:
sign
this petition to Obama and Romney calling on them
to explain how global heating makes big and dangerous hurricanes
like Sandy more likely.
[Reference updated on 2018-03-02 because the old link was broken.]
Environmental protesters in Ningbo pushed the Chinese state into saying it would suspend construction of a petrochemical factory. But they do not trust the government.
A court in Bahrain acquitted a thug charged with torturing a journalist.
The US wouldn't even have prosecuted a thug for that.
Experiments by scientists that distrust genetically modified foods can
hardly be more biased that the
experiments
funded by the seed companies.
[Reference updated on 2018-03-02 because the old link was broken.]
Look at all the ways Republicans in the House of Representatives have voted to make Americans suffer.
Obama has systematized the US's killing system, now called "the matrix", making it massive and likely permanent.
Of course, the criteria can easily be changed. In the absence of judicial control, whether your name goes on the kill list is up to the president alone — this president and any future president.
Criminals and terrorists
can
use high technology to attack, just as states can.
[Reference updated on 2018-03-02 because the old link was broken.]
Here are some comments on the article.
Alarm about deadly cyber-attacks is exaggerated and self-serving.
By jailing whistleblower Kiriakou, Obama's message is: torture is ok, but those exposing torture will be punished.
A bunch of rich CEOs who are already ripping off the US treasury
gave
advice to let them take more.
[Reference updated on 2018-03-02 because the old link was broken.]
Like Reagan's absurd "trickle down", this is supposed to magically make us better off. And like Reagan's absurd "trickle down", it won't.
Romney's performance in the foreign policy debate demonstrated that
his only policy commitment is to
change
his position as often as it suits him.
[Reference updated on 2018-03-02 because the old link was broken.]
US citizens: call
on Attorney General Holder not to allow
Republicans to use electronic voting machines to steal the Ohio
election.
[Reference updated on 2018-03-02 because the old link was broken.]
A mother in Atlanta called 911 because she thought her son might shoot
himself, so a SWAT team came and a sniper thug
shot him from a distance.
[Reference updated on 2018-03-02 because the old link was broken.]
How did this happen? Here is a guess. Once Atlanta had a SWAT team, it had to decide when to use it. It wrote rules for when to send a SWAT team, such as, "Whenever someone has a gun and is likely to shoot it." So they sent the team. The SWAT team's mentality is dedicated towards shooting people, so they shot.
Such harm has happened many times, and will happen again and again until there are fewer SWAT teams.
A friend said this reminded him of a joke, "Save police time — beat yourself up."
David Attenborough says, "There is no problem on Earth that could not be solved quite easily if you could reduce world population."
I am disappointed, however, that the article promotes Bluray disks. They have DRM which has only been broken for some disks — the other Bluray disks remain incompatible with freedom.
If a product is designed to chain you, you must not surrender to it. If you can't break the chains, don't put them on!
US citizens: sign
this petition to block more mountaintop removal mines.
[Reference updated on 2018-03-02 because the old link was broken.]
UK prudes are looking to persecute 1960s pop stars for having sex with possibly underage groupies.
The idea that stars generally "manipulated" their groupies into having sex is ridiculous. Groupies crossed hurdles to get sex with stars.
Mr Roffey gives no reason for prosecuting these stars except the existence of a prohibition, which begs the question of whether the prohibition is justified. His idea of "child protection", which he applies to teenagers who were hardly children, is as hypocritical as "protective custody".
US citizens: call
for prosecution of a company boss who threatened
employees if they don't vote for Romney.
[Reference updated on 2018-03-02 because the old link was broken.]
In America, the weak protections against companies that pressure their employees about how to vote are hardly even enforced.
Guarani-Kaiowá people in Brazil who were kicked off their lands by violent farmers now face court-ordered eviction from their lands.
I wonder whether these farmers have a connection with megacorporations.
Prisoners linked to former president Gbagbo are being tortured in Ivory Coast.
On the danger that Twitter will be used to manipulate US congressional elections with lies.
US citizens:
support
those who have called for applying US law
to Israel's use of US weapons.
[Reference updated on 2018-03-02 because the old link was broken.]
Wikileaks has published US government military prison regulations.
Amnesty International is
concerned
about what it sees.
[Reference updated on 2018-03-02 because the old link was broken.]
Defenders of Palestinian prisoners' human rights face state harassment in Israel.
Indonesian thugs shot Papuans protesting for independence.
Papuans never wanted to be part of Indonesia, which has sent large numbers of Javanese to colonize West Papua.
Another argument against supporting the lesser of two evil candidates.
US citizens:
call
on the US government to publish its policy for drone
bombings and make it fit international treaties.
[Reference updated on 2018-03-02 because the old link was broken.]
The government of Greece has tolerated the growth of fascist enclaves among the thugs in order to use them to suppress leftist-organized protests against austerity.
Two Jamaican homosexuals have asked an international commission to criticize Jamaica's law against homosexual acts, calling attention to entrenched bigotry in that region.
The Library of Congress has decided it is legal to jailbreak phones but not tablets.
Obama demonstrates his commitments by offering logging companies a treat: stripping protection from part of the forest where an already threatened seabird hangs on.
Now that workers are protesting against moving the Sensata factory to China, Bain (which Romney still owns part of) is threatening to close the plant early.
What's most pitiful here is that it is possible to threaten American workers with closing their plant a few weeks before it was going to be closed anyway. They should respond by saying, "Shut it today!"
The workers should have walked out immediately as soon as Bain told them to help ship their jobs to China, telling Bain, "If you do it, you'll do it without our help and without our knowledge — and we hope the business fails as a result." Then, instead of helping their oppressor, they could have done their best to make Bain regret this decision.
350 former generals endorsed Romney, perhaps because they now work for arms companies and he's promising to pay them more money.
The great drought has brought the dust bowl back to Oklahoma, and recent pesticide-heavy farming (thanks to GMOs) has made the soil more susceptible to blowing away.
The heirs of author William Faulkner sued Woody Allen for using in a movie an 8-word attributed quotation from Faulkner's work.
This is ridiculous opportunism, but if successful, it could make copyright nastier for everyone.
A UK politician is getting flack for advising people to give false personal information to web sites.
I think his only mistake was to suggest that people trust large commercial sites. Nobody should trust Facebook with personal data. If a social networking system requires correct personal data, we should reject it on principle.
Massachusetts citizens: call on Governor Patrick to move forward with the state's solid waste plan.
A survey of fracking areas found a large fraction of respondents have become sick from pollution of their water supplies.
US citizens: support Walmart workers on strike.
A campaign
accuses
various UK officials of lying in order to convict
Abdelbaset Al Megrahi of the bombing of Pan American flight 103 over
Lockerbie.
There are reports that suspicion was turned towards Libya for political reasons
despite
evidence
that pointed towards Syria.
Senator Inhofe
won
the Rubber Dodo award.
Berlusconi has been
convicted of tax fraud.
Everyone:
help
stop India's National Investment Board, a new scheme
for selling the country to business.
A Texas official
threatened
to arrest international election monitors.
More about the
United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime call for total surveillance
of the Internet, including a ban on anonymous use in places such
as libraries.
Readers will recognize this as a policy typical of tyrannical regimes
such as China, which was imitated to some extent by France under Sarkozy
and Italy under Berlusconi.
Five
Specific Questions Journalists Should Ask About the Drone Strike Policy.
The "I pay more" campaign —
one dollar is
more tax than many large corporations pay.
Mairead Maguire, who received the Nobel Peace Prize, says that the
peace
prize committee must be reformed.
US citizens: call
for investigation of Republican voter registration fraud
across the US.
Two of the 6 largest publishing companies
want
to merge.
Mergers should be absolutely barred between companies so powerful
within their fields. Such mergers create companies "too big to fail".
A UN report advocates
rigorous
surveillance of the Internet, in the name
of stopping "terrorists".
For "terrorists", read "dissidents", since that's who it will be used against.
Another
aspect of the Playstation 3 has been jailbroken.
Way to go, hackers! (I use the word in the correct sense, even though
the domain they are hacking in this time happens to be cracking.)
Recall that Sony sold the Playstation 3 with the ability to run
GNU/Linux or its proprietary system; then it
demanded
that each user give up one or the other.
The Free Software Foundation calls for a
complete boycott of Sony
because of its legal attacks on jailbreakers.
Romney's naval spending adviser knows what he's talking about — and
how
much money he has made from navy shipbuilding.
Even if we suppose is the good thing for the US to have a powerful
navy — which depends on whether the US will support or oppose
human rights around the world — the US navy is so powerful
already that any further increase is wasteful as well as unaffordable.
Charter schools are
big profiteers.
There are only three ways that charter schools can make money like
this: skimping on the students, paying teachers less, or charging the
public more. (Of course, one school can combine all three methods.)
This demonstrates the general rule: privatizing any public service
is a bad policy unless it gives the public the direct benefit of competition.
Internet surveillance by companies includes
information
about most US Internet users' political affiliation.
This is a reason to be careful in how you browse, and block various kinds
of surveillance. I browse from shared computers and don't identify myself
to any web site I visit. Using Tor and the Tor browser is a good idea too.
Reasons
to avoid Internet voting.
David Attenborough says that
only
a bigger disaster will make the world start acting to stop global
heating.
The UK has
refused
a US request to use its bases to attack Iran.
The request could be part of a contingency plan. But it could also
indicate that Obama really plans to launch another war.
The Tibetan leadership asks Tibetans to
stop
setting themselves on fire as a method protest.
The UN special rapporteur for counterterrorism
will
investigate US drone bombings and says that some may be war crimes.
He also talks about the waterboarding that was the centerpiece
of the Khmer Rouge's torture.
One of the few good things ever done by the government of Vietnam was
to capture Cambodia from the Khmer Rouge and rescue Cambodians from
their genocide. The US opposed this, effectively supporting the Khmer
Rouge, as a way of opposing the Vietnamese government, which it still
considered an enemy.
A New York thug was arrested and
accused
of plotting to kidnap women to be raped and eaten.
Turkish political prisoners have spent
43
days on hunger strike.
Beijing has shown off a
new
model jail.
Based on previous precedents, I suspect that they will keep treating
most prisoners badly and hope we believe that this is typical.
A UK thug who called a prisoner "nigger" has
escaped
all punishment.
On the one hand, this demonstrates the impunity of the thugs.
On the other hand, it is wrong for insults (racist or not) to be a
crime — even for a thug. However, any public official who
gratuitously insults members of the public in the course of his work
ought to be fired.
The UK has seen over 4000 oil spills and
has
fined those responsible only 7 times.
The UK government has put a
global
heating denialist on its energy committee, demonstrating its policy of
undermining renewable energy supports step by step.
Russia Today broadcast a presidential debate
including
the US candidates that are on the ballot in enough states to win,
but shut out by the major media.
There will be
another
such debate on Oct 30.
BP is asking the US to settle some of the damages for the Big Spill
for
only half what they really cost to others.
US citizens: here's the ACLU's
advice
on ballot questions.
The US military
keep spending
more and changing its doctrines, but keeps losing.
Perhaps the US military is a success for its real purpose:
spending money on the companies that get the money.
In Boston:
join
the vigil to end climate silence.
Romney would "do nothing to hurt the auto industry", but he
moved
every unionized Delphi job to China.
US citizens: vote for candidates that support abortion and
contraception rights.
Here's
a list.
US citizens:
put
KFC under more pressure to stop using paper made from
cutting down wild forests.
The US has sued Bank of America for
dishonest
lending to government home loan systems.
NOAA suppressed information about whales that
may
have been killed by the Big Spill.
Hamas
launched
missiles against Israel, saying this was a response to
Israeli attacks.
US citizens:
sign this petition
to abolish several states' constitutional
rules that ban Atheists (as well as Unitarians, Hindus and Buddhists)
from holding office.
Elik Elhannan, from the Estelle,
says
that Israeli soldiers shot him repeatedly with tasers as he was
helpless, and that they beat a Greek MP in prison.
Former Mossad chief
condemns
Israeli leadership and Romney, saying that negotiations are
needed, not war.
Israeli extremist "settlers" attacked a Palestinian harvesting his
olives near Hebron. Israeli soldiers arrived and took the side of the
extremists. They
arrested two
Palestinians and an Italian for making videos of the attack.
Another Palestinian was arrested
because
the extremists threw stones at him as he harvested his olives.
This is part of a pattern
of attacks by colony inhabitants against the Palestinians they
want to push out.
Also near Hebron, a group of
"undercover"
Israeli soldiers, apparently posing as Palestinians, were also
attacked by the extremists.
"Undercover soldiers" is a strange idea — if captured in war,
would this mean they can be shot as spies? However, they might
represent an attempt by the Israeli government to put a stop to the
extremists' violence. I eagerly await analysis from someone such as
Uri Avnery who will understand what's really going on here.
Israel needs leaders who will
tell
the truth and make peace.
Republican senate candidate Mourdock
says
raped women should not be allowed abortions because the pregnancy
is "God's will".
By his strange reasoning, there is no reason to treat heart attacks,
cancer or infections, or rescue people from burning buildings. Aren't
all those events just as much "God's will" as a rape? The Panglossian
idea that humans should surrender to bad things because they are
"God's will" is at the heart of Christianity and Islam. (I don't
think Judaism has the same fatalism.)
Ohio Republicans working for the state told voters the
wrong
date and place for them to vote.
The Republican Party has no shame, and would boast of successfully stealing
an election.
Imprisoned Iranian human rights lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh has started a
hunger strike.
The Pakistani Taliban
threaten to shoot another teenage activist for
women's rights.
Russia
kidnaped
a Russian dissident from Ukraine. Naturally he is
accused of "planning terrorism".
If criticized, Putin can say he is only following the example of
Dubya. Until the US conclusively rejects his example, frees the
victims of arbitrary imprisonment, and puts the torturers on trial, it
will continue to set an example to inspire tyrants around the world.
Turkey
systematically
harasses and imprisons journalists who criticize government policies.
It appears that if Egypt's supreme court dissolves the constituent
assembly, Morsi
will be able to choose the members to replace it.
So it seems to me that there will be an Islamist constitution either way.
US "aid" for Haiti means suffering, and it is
no
accident.
The humble ebook bundle has collected a
million dollars in voluntary payments in two weeks.
This bundle avoids two of the three
unethical
aspects of most commercial ebooks: it has no
Digital Restrictions
Management, and it doesn't impose an EULA to restrict users more
tightly than copyright law.
The only problem remaining is that there is no way to pay anonymously.
On principle, I won't buy a book in a way that identifies me to a data
base. I asked them if they would please accept a money order, but was
told it would be too difficult to handle those.
The dissidents of Pussy Riot have been
sent
to remote prison camps
where their children will hardly be able to see them.
Haiti can expect the same suffering from
international
gold mining companies that they have caused in the neighboring
Dominican Republic.
Our system for testing medicines has been
corrupted
at every level by the pharma companies.
We should take this testing completely out of their hands.
The state should fund all studies, insist on publication of
all studies, and pay for them by taxing the pharma companies.
In regard to danger of dependence on computer systems we don't
understand, see
The
Persistent Peril of the Artificial Slave.
The Airbus crash over the Atlantic, mentioned in the paper, was later
analyzed. It seems that the high-level clever flight controls got
confused and gave up, reverting the plane to an ordinary flight
control mode, but the pilots did not expect this and did not realize
they should go back to the old-fashioned manner of controlling the
plane that every commercial pilot has learned. They could have coped,
but they didn't figure out that they needed to.
As Obama and Romney Agree on Afghan War, Israel and Syria, Third
Parties Give Alternative.
Corporate lobbyists are in charge of the US presidential debates, and
use this power to
suppress
some issues where the public disagrees with both of the approved
candidates.
Expanding the foreign policy debate with
Jill
Stein and Rocky Anderson.
e-Voting
Company Could Intercept and Change Ballots Without a Trace.
Mitt
Romney's Medicaid Claims Belie How Block Granting Would Affect the
Program.
With high US officials warning about the danger of
"cyberwar",
which of our freedoms will they attack in the name of "protecting us"?
Terrorists are a real danger, but anti-terror laws are a
bigger
danger. This article points out that the same is true for
cybersecurity. Bad security practices are widespread; many of
Microsoft's decisions amount to negligence. Aggressively
prosecuting such negligence, and actively seeking web sites with bad
security of users' personal data so as to fine them heavily, could
reduce the real danger by changing the usual practices that developers
follow. And it would not attack anyone's rights or privacy.
Perhaps that's why the Obama regime prefers another approach.
The author was taken in by treating "intellectual property theft" as a
meaningful concept. "Intellectual property" lumps together so many
unrelated laws, which have nothing in common in their practical
effects and requirements, that its only meaning is confusion.
Most of these laws have no connection with theft; for instance, it is
impossible to steal a patent or a copyright. (The term "copyright
theft" is a bogus propaganda term for "copyright infringement", which
is not theft, and usually not a crime although Hollywood would love to
make it one.)
See
http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/not-ipr.html
for more information about this.
The article also uses the term "hacker" as synonymous with "security
breaker", which is unkind to us
hackers.
Putin is redefining treason to include
political
opposition and working with international organizations.
I think all international scientific organizations should cut off working with
Russians if this is adopted, because those Russians would be guilty of treason
and we should not lure them into such a situation.
Is execution a form of torture?
Maybe it is. However,
extended solitary confinement seems to be much
worse, as torture.
The other
reasons
to oppose capital punishment are quite sufficient.
CIA whistleblower
John
Kiriakou will go to prison, a great victory for Obama's
War
on Journalism and Public Knowledge.
An informant recruited by the New York Thug Department quit
and said he was
ashamed
of spying on his friends.
Such infiltrators have found quite a few people they could
entice into terrorist plots, but few who were motivated enough
to try anything on their own — and they would have been unable
to achieve anything.
A dispute about biofuels —
between
corn farmers and cattle ranchers.
The interests of the poor around the world who can't afford food, and
the need to reduce global heating, do not enter into it.
Egypt's Supreme Court will take up the question of
whether
to elect a new assembly to write the constitution.
The implications of this decision have changed since the military rulers
tried
to dissolve the assembly, and Morsi defied them by reinstating it,
since they no longer have power, so pushing them out of power is no
longer Egypt's crucial need.
The Stingray
collects
data on all the cell phones in a given area,
effectively a blanket search technique that can search hundreds of people.
The FBI worked with private security companies to
sabotage
and defeat protests in Oakland.
However, 2/3 of the documents are labeled "classified", in effect
treating protests as a threat to national security.
Right-wing politicians are the real threat to the security
if the American nation. They and their cronies think
they can make most Americans into oppressed poor. Then when
the oppressed American nation fights to protect itself,
they pretend that the American nation is a threat to the
security of the American nation.
noPhoto is
designed to nullify red-light cameras that generate
automatic traffic tickets.
Defenders of Obama's drone assassinations follow the
same
thought pattern as Osama bin Laden.
The UK privatized its court interpreters, and the service
doesn't
work.
Sri Lankan Tamils were spared deportation from the UK based on evidence
they
would be tortured if returned there.
Racists in Louisiana
doused
a Black woman in chemicals and set her on fire.
The world is
provisionally
winning the battle against piracy.
Qatar will give 400 million dollars to Gaza
to
repair damage done by Israel's attacks.
International observers will
monitor
the US elections for voter suppression.
True
the Vote is outraged by this observation,
because its mission is to make the election unfair.
The Atheist, Secularist and Humanist group at the London School of
Economics posted a Jesus & Mo cartoon and was
ordered
to take it down.
Eventually it was vindicated
and will keep the cartoon up.
I am only sad that they are using
Facebook to post it.
The Green Party and Libertarian Party together are
suing
to call for inclusion of more candidates in presidential debates.
It is too late for this year, but it might do good in the future.
Another effect of smartphones:
apps
designed to encourage teenagers to smoke tobacco.
US citizens:
sign this petition
to take the Minuteman missiles off
13-minute alert.
US citizens:
call
on the Virginia Election Commission to investigate a
Republican voter registration fraud.
(Collecting registration forms from voters, then throwing them away
instead of turning them in.)
It is getting to the point where we should call it the Election Cheating Party.
US citizens: stand with Jill Stein
for ending global heating,
instead of Obama and Romney's "burn it all" policy.
A UK thug is accused of boasting that he lied and
blamed
the victims of the Hillsborough disaster.
A passenger was
mysteriously stranded in Hawai'i by the No Fly list.
Since flying is the principal method of long-distance travel in the
US, it is inexcusable to deny anyone the right to fly except as
punishment for a crime after a fair trial.
Thanks to global heating tropical avian malaria is now
infecting
birds in Alaska. Populations never before exposed could be wiped
out by the parasite.
I don't think most birds could open and reseal mosquito nettings when
they leave the nest to seek food for their chicks. Just for fun, it
would be interesting to see if some parrots or corvids could learn to
do this.
The Big Spill is not leaking, but the experimental containment dome
which failed to hold in the oil did collect some oil. That oil is
now leaking
out of the dome.
A containment dome with a large tank and a collection pipe for ships
to empty the tank might perhaps be of use in future spills.
Italian seismologists were
convicted
of manslaughter for making a report, for the state, saying they
saw no particular reason to expect a large earthquake in L'Aquila.
They did not say there would be no large earthquake, only that they did
not think the many small quakes implied there would be a large one.
As the scientists say, this is a horrible decision.
Amazon wiped a user's
Kindle and deleted her account, then offered her
kafkaesque
"explanations".
The Russian opposition held an Internet election to choose a shadow government,
but it was
blocked
by some sort of interference with the server.
For a real election, voting by Internet is utter folly.
Since these people are not being elected to positions of
real authority, maybe it is tolerable.
Governments
Grow Increasingly Repressive Online, Activists Fight Back.
Microsoft just made changes
similar
to Google's much-criticized privacy rules, yet people are not
criticizing Microsoft.
Maybe this is because the people who disapprove have been worn out
opposing Google's change. Or maybe it is the targeted ads that they
really hate.
For me, this issue of combining data bases is secondary, because the
danger is in the fact that Google and Microsoft collect the
information, not in what they do with it. Once a US company collects
information, Big Brother can take all of it under the PAT RIOT Act.
Big Brother can combine all the data even if the company doesn't.
As for the targeting of advertising, I don't see that as bad in
itself. When the targeting seems creepy, that's because it shows
Internet users how much data is being collected about them. The
targeting is a diagnostic sign; the collection is the disease.
Comedian Rowan Atkinson speaks
in
favor of legalization of insults in the UK. His point, however, is
more general: feeling offended is no excuse for censorship.
I think he gives too much credit for good intentions to the authors of
this unjust law. Anyone who can't see this is a violation of human
rights does not belong in a position of public responsibility.
Italy has decided to
ban
cash payments over 50 euros.
I will limit my own purchases to under 50 euros when I am there,
but Italians won't be able to do this. In fact, I suspect some
will be unable to pay utility bills.
Wendell Potter: Romney tells the same bullshit about the uninsured
that Potter wrote as a
flack for the insurance companies.
It is noteworthy that the uninsured have a 40% higher risk of death.
Shane Bauer spent 26 months in prison in Iran waiting for a trial in
which he was forbidden to talk with his lawyer. Four months were in
solitary confinement.
He
reports on solitary confinement in California, where the
conditions in the prison he visited are much worse and last far
longer.
Their hearings for solitary confinement are more absurd than Bauer's
joke of a trial in Iran, since they can't have lawyers. What they
have in common with Bauer's trial is that the supposed evidence
against these people is kept secret from them. Naturally, much of it
is bogus, an excuse to put in solitary whoever the guards want to put
there. It includes evidence from informants who have been driven half
crazy by years in solitary confinement, and know they can get out only
by inculpating other prisoners.
This ties in with the prison industrial complex that profits from
making the US the country with the highest fraction of its population
in prison.
Israeli marines
boarded
the Estelle to stop it from reaching Gaza.
One of the passengers was
Yonatan
Shapira, a former Israeli air force pilot
Fair taxation:
raise
billionaires' tax rates to what they were under Nixon —
or maybe even Eisenhower.
This, by the way, is part of what makes Obama more right-wing
than Nixon.
A
false
confession in Japan.
The definition of
"Democrat".
Thugs in the US and UK are enjoying the opportunity provided by tasers
to
attack
people more often, with less hesitation.
Whatever rules are made, thugs will stretch them and break them
unless they are severely punished when they do.
UK thugs lied to
frame striking miners who they attacked.
The facts were established long ago, but they have enjoyed impunity
until now.
Uruguay has legalized abortion, but
makes
women jump through hoops to get it.
India's sellout government, working together with Walmart,
plans to undo
land reform.
Thugs in Atlanta are
torn
between supporting an ex-detective facing eviction
and their right-wing general leanings.
In terms of economic interests, the thugs are indeed part of the 99%.
But their job is to defend the power of the 1%, and usually they do it
enthusiastically.
The man who
promoted the
financial derivatives that led to the financial crisis is Romney's
adviser.
Polluters are attacking the Clean Water Act, and seek to
continue
dumping raw sewage into rivers and lakes.
UK citizens: support
the campaign to abolish the law against saying
anything that offends someone.
Although social networking systems can have positive uses, they can
strip away all privacy from a social gathering, and even lure adults
into
childish
competitions for how much they can reveal about themselves and others.
I don't use any social networking system, unless you count email and
this web site. I think I am better off without them.
I urge everyone to say, in every social gathering, "If you take any
photos of me, please don't put them on any web site without asking me
first." Even if there is nothing particularly private about the
gathering or the conversations there, even if there are no secrets as
such, it is still good to encourage people to think about others'
privacy.
I don't say that in my speeches because the speeches are public events.
I do, however, ask people not to post any photos of me on Facebook.
The Civil Liberties Australia has launched a campaign to
repeal
Australian laws that trample human rights.
We need such a campaign in the US too. A government that fails to
respect human rights is far more dangerous than any other terrorists.
For once, Facebook did the right thing. It was asked to shut down a
page that presents photos of suspected undercover thugs' cars, and
refused.
This page may benefit some thieves, but it will also help dissidents,
and that is a more important issue. Meanwhile, the biggest thieves,
the banksters, don't need this information because states allow them
to be above the law.
Even though Facebook did the right thing on this occasion, it is
a problem for such activities to depend on any company's good will.
A study shows
humans
develop a tolerance for THC. What does this imply
about use of marijuana?
Romney made
15
million from the rescue of the automobile companies.
Everyone:
support
protecting parts of the Southern Ocean.
US citizens:
support
the ACLU's campaign to limit surveillance of dissidents in the US.
US citizens:
rebuke Faux News for denying global heating.
Ireland has scrapped its computerized voting machines, recognizing that
they cannot be trusted.
Some sort of
licensing
between related corporations has become an excuse to let
multinational companies avoid taxes.
Because the article uses the vague term "intellectual property" to
hide the details, it doesn't tell us what they are licensing. But in
this case it does not really matter what they are licensing. It might
be something of no real value, since it is only an excuse.
Chinese fools looking for sex potions have switched from tigers to lions,
so lions
are being wiped out, and South Africa's President Zuma
doesn't want it talked about.
Why don't they use viagra? It's not made from an endangered species,
it's much cheaper, and it really works.
The ACLU fights the
orwellian
coverup of CIA torture.
On the
ethical
significance of outing people who are nasty on the Internet.
Threatening Amanda Todd and posting her photo was nasty. But this
alone would not have hurt her very much, without the cruel context in
which it occurred. What did the real damage was the response of
society to the photo.
Much of our society condemns and sneers at women for showing their
bodies. It is taboo, and violators of the taboo are undeservedly
scorned. This is what drove Ms Todd to suicide. It is no better than
condemning and attacking women for showing the hair on their heads,
which happens in some parts of the world that are even more twisted
than our own.
Without this scorn, that photo's publication would have been one of
the many embarrassments that teenagers live down — nothing more.
However, I would guess that Ms Todd's suffering started much earlier.
Most 13-year-olds don't seek to chat on the Internet with adults they
don't know. The ones who do are generally disturbed; i.e., hurt. My
hunch is that there was something bad about her life before age 13. I
have no idea what it might be. But if this hunch is right, it would
have predisposed her to chat with that man and maybe also to grant his
request. It would have been the first blow in the series of blows
that led to her suicide. The publication of the photo was the second,
and the attacks by others the last.
If the question is to judge the man who published the photo, his
actions were contemptible. But if we focus instead on Ms Todd, her
suffering, and how to save others from similar suffering, it seems to
me that the last blow, and maybe the first, are the points where
action can do real good while avoiding repression.
The Netherlands is considering
legally
authorizing its thugs to attack foreign computers.
The US government has effectively adopted a similar policy
with no law and no discussion by Congress.
Security holes in pacemakers
can
be used for murder.
The article does not say whether the bug is in software.
I wonder whether it could be used to write free software
and install it. Perhaps that free software might not have
the security hole.
Bahrainis face
imprisonment for "defaming the king".
Many countries make it a crime to criticize or insult certain people.
All such laws are injustice and shame whatever state imposes them.
Obama has taken government secrecy to a
new
level, with help from
Congress and little resistance from the press.
How the Republican plan to replace medical care with vouchers
would
kill thousands of Americans.
Many reporters in Zimbabwe have been arrested and the thugs steal
their equipment. Often they face
criminal
charges for reporting.
The Pakistani Taliban
threaten
to kill journalists that criticize them.
It's Time to Fix YouTube's Biased Copyright System!
I think the root of the problem is depending on a centralized service
for distributing videos on the Internet.
There are things about YouTube I consider bad — for instance,
the site requires the user to run some nonfree software or other
(either Flash Player or the nonfree Javascript in the page). Google
ought to fix that. The "Content ID" system is another problem, which
this article talks about.
Even if those were fixed, it would still be bad to depend on a
centralized system. Google faces pressure for censorship, and it does
business in many countries, which enables them to force Google to
censor as they demand. The only solution is not to use such a system.
This is why the Free Software Foundation does not use anyone else's
video service. We distribute videos ourselves.
Romney doesn't want to say he promotes school vouchers, so he calls
them "school choice", but it is really the
same thing.
Right-wing tax reductions are responsible for
poverty and
the increasing national debt, and even reduced the entrepreneurship
that they were supposedly going to stimulate.
US citizens:
support
the plan to protect salmon in Oregon.
Exit polls have been cancelled in 19 US states, making it
harder
to tell if elections are stolen.
However, the poll results were already "adjusted" for a mysterious
pattern, the "red shift". It seems that the official totals
systematically slant Republican compared with the exit polls.
So either people who vote Republican are ashamed to admit it to
election pollsters, or the totals are being distorted by fraud.
There is some evidence of the latter. In 2004, in Ohio, this
"red
shift" was observed in Ohio counties that used certain
scanners to count the ballots, but not in counties where people
did the counting.
Big
Oil and the US Chamber of Commerce Fight to Keep Foreign Bribery
Flourishing.
Britons
protested
in London against austerity policies that were
supposed to stimulate the economy but, predictably, did the opposite.
Keynes showed that the way to end a recession is deficit spending.
Spending cuts make it worse. When the elites propose to respond to a
recession with cuts, it shows that their goal is not to end the
recession but to use it to grab more wealth and power away from the
rest.
They are fighting a class war, and the rest of us, if we don't want to
be suckers, must organize to fight back.
Jill Stein for president!
The record companies dropped their "three strikes" case against a New Zealand
student after
having caused her so much grief that she had to move out of her apartment.
The advice that you should fight back when accused is, of course,
correct, but individual resistance is not enough — collective
resistance is needed too. That means organizing to defeat all
politicians that take the copyright industry's side against the people
of New Zealand.
While copyright cruelty is just one of many important political
issues, politicians that side with one industry against the people are
likely to side with other industries against the people too.
Universities in India
systematically
gave Dalit students failing grades by mis-marking their exams.
What we know about the Trapwire surveillance system: supposedly meant
to detect would-be terrorists, it's really more important
against dissidents.
When occasionally a company working on renewable energy fails, it get
disproportionate media attention — which
enables
Romney to lie.
The US media let Romney get away with touting a "tax
plan" whose details he refuses to reveal.
US citizens:
sign
Bernie Sanders' petition to preserve Social
Security, Medicare and Medicaid.
Enbridge, whose pipeline had a million-gallon oil spill that polluted
Michigan,
wants
to build another pipeline alongside the Keystone XL
planet roaster, and just as big. Plus more.
We can't kill the Earth more than once. Pumping out the tar sand oil
twice as fast (or even more) will make the full extent of the disaster
arrive quicker, but won't make the ultimate disaster worse.
However, if and when the world starts trying to reduce the disaster,
more pipelines could be additional obstacles to success.
Lebanon's security chief was
assassinated
as he was preparing a case against a powerful politician, accused of
joining with Syria to plan bombings and assassinations.
US citizens:
call for a question on global heating in the last
presidential debate.
The ACLU published documents proving that the Boston "fusion center",
through which local, state and federal thugs exchange information
about the public, has systematically
spied
on political opposition groups with no grounds.
The fusion centers threaten our freedom and do no good.
Get rid of them all!
Twitter shut the account of a neo-Nazi group because
the German state
told it to.
I disapprove strongly of Nazis and their racist ideology. At the same
time, I uphold their right to present their views even though, due to
my ancestry, I may well be one of the targets of their hatred.
This group is accused of making a "threatening video". Depending on
what's in it, it could be legitimate to prosecute them for that.
However, banning any organization without trial (on mere accusation)
is a violation of fundamental human rights, and that punishment
without trial can hardly be an ethical justification for Twitter to
pour on more punishment without trial.
An international tribunal is
trying
to investigate the execution of thousands
of political prisoners in Iran under Khomeini.
Everyone:
sign
this petition condemning the prosecution in Uganda of
the producer of a play.
US citizens:
call on local
TV stations to reject false and misleading political ads from
SuperPACs.
The US subsidizes coal mining for
export
to Asia.
While this is against the US's short term competitive interest,
subsidizing coal for US use is also against the US' interest in long
term survival of civilization. We must keep it in the ground.
Israel has
ordered
a big expansion of a settlement in West Bank land
that Israel has relabeled as Jerusalem.
Repressive
grand juries land three activists in jail.
Greece
needs a zero-tolerance policy for violence by thugs.
So does the US.
ACLU: the US is quietly setting up a
total
system for tracking car travel, as found in the UK, and the thugs
are looking forward to having it.
Homeless people in the UK are being led into slavery by
offers
of a place to stay.
This is thanks to the austerity practiced in the UK, without which
they wouldn't be homeless.
Karzai
refuses
to allow foreign monitoring of Afghanistan's next election.
The motive for this decision can be adduced from the corruption
of the last election.
Everyone:
call
on Israel to free Majd and Abdelateef Obeid, who were arrested and
jailed for being inside their house.
The Koch brothers sent mail to 45,000 employees pressuring them
to vote Republican, while
threatening
employees who express other political views.
The EU, which was created around 20 years ago, is being applauded for
"60 years of peace" now that it
inexplicably
received the Nobel Peace Prize.
The BBC said "seventy years of peace" — but 70 years ago was
1942. I don't think there was peace in Europe in 1942.
I criticize some of the specific points in the article. Yugoslavia
was not broken up or destroyed by a military intervention; the
intervention came later, and ended the Serb attacks against Bosnian
Muslims. I supported the intervention in Afghanistan initially, and
initially it appeared to result in peace and an end to Taliban oppression.
Nonetheless, the article is useful for its main points.
And what it says about Kissinger, Mother Teresa and Obama is valid.
Repression of homosexuals in Uganda has reached the point of
prosecuting
the producer of a play with a homosexual character.
Islamist harassment is
spreading
in Egypt.
Defeating religious oppression is a crucial battle for human rights.
US citizens:
demand
a question about global heating in the last
presidential debate.
Let's put the heat on them about their plan to pour the heat fatally
on us.
Another would-be bomber has fallen for an
FBI sting operation.
If he indeed came to the US with the intention of carrying out a
bombing, then I see nothing wrong with the operation. The usual
problem with these stings is that the FBI appears in many cases to
have stimulated the desire in people who, left to themselves, would
not have had the idea of attacking anything.
"Private equity" takeover companies are antisocial — and
they're
even dishonest at it.
Computerized medical devices in hospitals are vulnerable to viruses,
and
perverse
laws don't allow the hospitals to fix them.
My conclusion: nonfree software is as unjust in these machines
as it is anywhere else.
Rigged voting machines
could
steal the election in Ohio as they
apparently did in 2004.
Two Palestinians were
arrested
for being in their home while a protest passed by.
Romney told
31
lies in 41 minutes, breaking his own record.
Neither Romney nor Obama mentioned
global
heating, the elephant in our
biosphere.
The argument about who can reduce gasoline prices is especially
harmful. We need to keep the oil, gas and coal in the ground, and
that requires high prices for fossil fuels.
Expanding the Debate with Third-Party Candidates Jill Stein,
Virgil Goode, Rocky Anderson.
Western governments refuse to recognize that the Iran sanctions
endanger the lives of Iranians with
cancer
and other diseases.
They should provide these medicines gratis to Iran if they are
serious about not blocking them.
Russian protest leader Sergei Udaltsov has been arrested and
could
be imprisoned for 10 years for the crime of leading an opposition movement.
Rwanda's defense minister is
accused of leading a rebel group in the Congo
that commits many atrocities.
These rebel groups mainly seek to control profits from mining.
Thugs in the UK tasered a 61-year-old blind man who was walking slowly
with a stick, which
they
thought was a sword.
A drunkard with a sword might be dangerous, but not as dangerous
in practice as thugs with tasers.
Inorganic
arsenic, used as a pesticide, is carcinogenic; it may
be dangerous to eat rice often.
Libyan rebels
murdered
Mutassim Gaddafi and 66 of his supporters after capturing them.
Jill Stein and Cheri Honkala were arrested
protesting
the presidential debate from which they were excluded.
Israel is moving demographically towards a form of
right-wing
religious Zionism that will make anyone secular want to leave.
San Francisco "clipper" bus and train cards clip your privacy —
and can
keep
data for 7 years.
And someone who walks by you could scan it to determine your travel
history, too. Unless you keep it in a radio-proof container.
The Charlie Card system in Boston also records passengers' travel.
This is why from time to time I empty my card, give it away, and get
a new one.
Verizon is selling data about its customers'
calls
and Web browsing.
Israel fired a missile at Gaza and
wounded
10 civilians.
The missile was aimed at two people alleged to be planning an attack.
If that's true, this is still a lot of civilian casualties.
Calling on Congress to examine
whether
Israel uses US arms to violate human rights.
Israeli fanatics built a "settlement" in the lands of Al-Khader town,
and now are
cutting
down the residents' olive trees to drive them out.
Similar attacks are
widespread,
as they are every year.
Palestinians responded with a protest
occupying
a road that the Israeli army does not allow them to use.
Ukraine's voting system allows voters to
sell
their votes and prove that they voted as ordered.
Why
does the US support the coup in the Maldives?
The vague and mild messages that the US are its usual way
of pretending to be concerned while actually giving support.
Compare with Honduras and Bahrain.
Republicans have filled the House Science Committee with
people
who condemn science outright.
Many company executives are threatening their employees with
losing
their jobs if Romney does not win.
People with guts would tell the CEO to stick it to himself,
but Americans have lost the habit of resisting corporate abuse,
and Obama is hardly trying to motivate working Americans to fight.
Noam Chomsky writes about the Cuban missile crisis, and the
US-sponsored
military and sabotage attacks against Cuba that led
the Soviet Union to put missiles there.
The article omits to mention one significant factor. While the US
treated the people of other countries (such as Guatemala and Iran)
with contempt, it practiced a certain level of democracy and human
rights, which it had come to symbolize. The Soviet Union and Cuba
practiced neither democracy nor human rights. This did not justify
the US's treatment of Guatemala and Iran, and other countries, but it
meant that the Cold War was not a contest with moral parity.
I wonder, however, to what extent Castro might have respected the
human rights of Cubans more if the US had not waged a low-intensity
war against Cuba.
Europe is
making
progress towards adopting a small tax on financial
transactions.
This tax was originally proposed by Tobin to stabilize financial
markets by discouraging rapid speculation for tiny profits.
Bringing in revenue is will be a nice bonus.
US citizens: call
on Clear Channel to remove billboards
apparently intended to scare minority group voters.
US citizens:
call
on Obama to name a new Secretary of the Treasury,
and not the banksters' man.
Everyone:
call
on Pakistan to extend to the whole country
the support for education for girls.
Another
painfully
funny work of genius from Nina Paley.
Lithuanian voters tossed out their right-wing
austerity
government.
If Americans want to do likewise, they must vote for Jill Stein.
India has a law against some kinds of abuses against Dalits,
but the
thugs
and the courts ignore it, and it doesn't even cover
many everyday forms of discrimination.
Gary McKinnon
will
not be extradited to the US, but the unjust one-sided extradition
treaty between the US and UK remains in force, and the government
plans to eliminate some safeguards.
Sudan is back at work in
violent repression.
Linking birth defects in Falluja and Basra to
toxic
metals in US bombs.
People have generally suspected Depleted Uranium, but if it turns
out to be lead or mercury, the conclusions differ only in detail.
The EU
may
end its stupid policy of growing crops for biofuels.
If farmers complain, ignore them. Let them eat their crops —
i.e., grow something for people to eat.
Attempts to
sink
carbon dioxide by fertilizing ocean algae
risk backfiring disastrously.
On the other hand, letting the CO2 accumulate in the ocean
is also causing disaster through
acidification.
Which disaster is worse? I don't know enough to judge, but I suggest
it is not a straightforward decision, and depends on facts we could learn
through experiments such as this one.
TEPCO admits that it
caused
the Fukushima disaster by neglecting
recommended safety precautions.
Jill Stein explains the
Green
New Deal.
Since I will be outside the US on election day, I had to cast an
absentee ballot. I have already voted for Jill Stein for president.
This year's grain harvest will be the third largest in history, and we
have a shortage anyway. However, in coming years,
extreme
weather is likely to devastate production.
Freedom of speech is
under
assault across the Western World.
Exports of food and medicine to Iran are
regularly
blocked by financial sanctions.
I'm convinced that the Iranian nuclear enrichment program relates to
nuclear weapons. Nothing else would plausibly explain the regime's
persistence and its rejection of other ways of getting fuel for
reactors. However, it appears that Iran
intends
to hold short of the development and construction of the weapons.
If the US hopes that inflicting pain on Iranians will lead them to
overthrow their government, this is utter folly. A few years ago many
of them did want to overthrow their government, when it attacked them
in the streets. That government is no less oppressive today, but now
that they are being attacked by foreigners, their reaction is patriotism.
Biden voted for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, but
pretended
in the debate not to have done so.
Threatening
3D printing with mandatory DRM.
The fact that someone has a patent on this idea actually has nothing
to do with scheming to impose it. The patent might encourage
companies to fight harder against such a scheme.
In the US:
support
the boycott of American Crystal Sugar
on account of its lockout.
Assad's forces are
dropping
cluster bombs in populated areas.
The US has done
likewise.
The US
refuses
to sign the convention to ban cluster bombs.
Morgan
Stanley Sued for Racial Discrimination in Pushing Predatory Loans to
Black Homeowners.
US citizens:
sign
this petition to end the silence about global heating.
Malala Yousafzai, the heroic girl shot by a Taliban fanatic, is unconscious
and has been
sent
to the UK for medical treatment.
I fear that she will never really recover.
The UK Drug Policy Commission recommended
decriminalizing
possession of small amounts of drugs, as well as growing marijuana for
personal use.
The government ruled this out in advance, of course, because its drug
policy is based on demonization rather than the public good.
A
human rights lawyer is Libya's new prime minister.
Mental stimulation around age 4 is
crucial
for cognitive development later in life.
This has lessons for social policy: if we arrange to give children
in deprived families mental stimulation at that age, they will be more
capable throughout their lives.
Oakland
has sued the US Government to try to protect the Harborside
medical marijuana dispensary.
Thanks to federal funds, lots of small US cities now have SWAT teams.
Of course, they feel they must make use of them, so they are assigned
to carry out many searches and raids "just in case". This means
innocent people regularly get hurt.
This time a
12-year-old
sleeping girl got seriously burned.
19,000 Britons wrote to a parliamentary committee to oppose the
Snooper's Charter.
Zero
wrote to support it.
Everyone: support
Walmart workers on strike.
EU citizens: The Canada-Europe free exploitation treaty specifies
ACTA-style
punishments for Internet users. Contact your national
government to oppose this.
Turkey's government proposes to
require
people to enter government ID numbers to access the Internet.
Nigerian journalist Desmond Utomwen, who was beaten unconscious by thugs
while covering a protest,
won
a lawsuit against the thug department.
A journalist says secret documents prove Venezuela's secret service
tracked his team, and infiltrated opposition groups. As his team
tried to leave the country,
they
were interrogated and their computers were erased.
The US has a regular practice of examining and even
confiscating
the computers of dissidents entering the US. I am not sure whether it
does this when they leave.
The UK has had
undercover thugs infiltrate opposition groups
for decades.
I am disappointed that Chavez does likewise.
Greenpeace activists demonstrated the lax security at Swedish nuclear
power plants by sneaking in, staying overnight, then
telling
reporters.
Violent evictions are on the rise across China as
local
governments unofficially seize land.
Why do the victims kill themselves instead of killing one of the
officials responsible?
Environmental activist Liu Futang is on trial on absurd charges
for
telling the public about environmental damage near where he lives.
A lawyer argues for legalizing
Internet
protests a la Anonymous.
Medact calls for banning drones, because they
inflict
fear on everyone in the areas where they are used.
The army in Guatemala attacked an indigenous protest,
wounding
and killing protesters.
The biggest danger to our privacy isn't specifically corporate data
mining or government massive wiretapping. It's the
combination
of the two.
Rackspace advocates
abolishing
software patents.
Neda Soltani's photo was mistakenly used instead of that of the dead
Neda Soltan, so the thoroughly dishonest Iranian regime tried to force
her to pretend to be Neda Soltan and still alive. She had to
flee
the country.
I hope that her memoirs becomes available in paper copies that don't
attack the reader. Until then, don't buy a copy! We should
never buy an Amazon ebook.
No matter how admirable it may be as a work of literature, its manner
of distribution is execrable.
A London sting operation meant to catch thieves has
lured
many people into committing their first crimes.
The selling point for the London Olympic games was that they would
lead to better sports programs and improve British people's health.
But the politicians
have
not bothered to follow through.
The businesses have got what they wanted, the surveillance agencies
have got what they wanted, and the people are stuck with the bill.
Thus, the politicians see no need to give them anything. Perhaps they
intended it all along as a scam.
I have nothing against a sporting event as such, even though I
recommend not granting them very much importance. However, the
Olympics impose a wide range of
harmful
policies, so I urge people in Madrid, Tokyo and Istanbul
to organize now against holding the 2020 Olympics there.
The Swedish Pirate Party's
platform
positions on copyrights, patents and trademarks.
I agree with all three of these positions. I do suggest, however,
that it would be better not to group together these three issues and
only these three. Why would anyone group together these three
unrelated laws? I suspect it reflects the mistaken concept of
"intellectual
property".
US citizens: phone your congresscritter to support the Grassroots
Democracy Act. Also sign
this
petition.
The Capitol Switchboard numbers are 202-224-3121, 888-818-6641
and 888-355-3588.
The empire directed by the US
has inherited
the evils of previous empires.
Although it is more militarily superior than any previous empire was,
it becomes
ever less
able to defeat popular resistance.
It is a mistake to refer to this empire as "American" or "US", because
its rulers are not the officials in Washington, but the billionaires
and corporations that control its elections, laws and policies.
Democracy means government of the people, by the people, and for the
people. Elections are the mechanism of democracy, but elections
controlled by the powerful are not democracy, not in the US any more
than in Russia.
Dennis Kucinich:
Weapons of
Mass Distraction: The Big, Long Lie about Iraq Lingers Still.
The US Presidential Debates —
Illusion of Political Choice.
Is cutting Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid Obama's next plan?
This article argues it is.
Paul Ryan has proposed a
scheme
to wreck Medicaid.
What it comes down to is that most Americans are no longer of any use
to the rich, who have concluded it is better to let them die.
Thanks to global heating, world food production is falling, supplies
are dwindling, and food prices are rising around the world. The UN
warns of
a food crisis next year.
The rational response would be to curb greenhouse gas emissions
and promote contraception. However, between the oil companies
and the twisted religions, humanity is unable to respond rationally.
Obama's free exploitation treaties
did
not even produce their supposed benefit of increased exports.
But no matter — they achieved their real goal, to undermine democracy.
In this area, Obama is no different from Clinton and Dubya.
Expanding
the VP Debate: Third-Party Candidates Challenge Biden & Ryan
on War, Economy, Healthcare.
How a debate question
prepared
the way for Paul Ryan to lie about Social Security.
Ryan
pleaded
repeatedly for federal spending in his district, then
condemned Democrats for that spending in the debate.
The New York Times presented a
thoughtful
article about the harm done by software patents.
Although pretty good overall, the story has a few gross confusions.
For instance, it says that, "Patents are vitally important to
protecting intellectual property," as if "intellectual property" had
some independent meaning. In fact it is just a posited abstraction of
patents and other unrelated legal privileges, which makes the
statement is a tautology — in effect "Patents are vitally important
to having patents".
Likewise, when Apple says, “If we can't protect our
intellectual
property”, it is a fancy way of saying “If we can't use
patents to sue other companies.”
As for Professor Kesan, when he says that "intellectual property works
fine", he knows full well that his statement applies to a dozen or so
unrelated laws, all but one of which have nothing to do with this
issue. This alone shows that he is trying to pull the wool over
people's eyes. And the argument he gives, "Even rules that need
improvements are better than no rules at all," attacks a straw man:
abolishing patents from any field would not result in no rules, but
rather in clearer, simpler and more predictable rules for doing
business in that field.
Has anyone investigated whether Kesan has financial interests in patents?
When the article says that Creative Technology applied for a patent
for a "'portable music playback device that bore minor similarities to
the iPod", readers could get the impression that the patent was based
on a specific product that resembled an iPod. I don't know whether
that company ever made such a product, but if so the patent had
nothing to do with it. A patent is never legally based on a specific
product, even if the patent applicant made some product that the
patent covers. Every patent application describes an idea and it is
judged based on the idea; actual products are irrelevant. The
significant point is that Creative Technology's patent described an
idea that the iPod seemed to be an instance of.
The article errs when citing, in this context, Apple's statement that
some Samsung products were "copies" of Apple products. This statement
had to do with a different legal claim about the appearance of the
products — nothing to do with patents.
The practice of imprisoning people for unfunny sick jokes
has
made British comedians afraid they will be next.
The one Pussy Riot prisoner who was freed
promises
to use her freedom for continued protests.
I suspect that the reason why the judges' deliberation didn't take long
is that the decision was made in advance.
The
Right Won't Defund PBS — and the Left Won't Save It.
New
restrictions
about driving on some US beaches have enabled
endangered sea turtles and birds to resume breeding there.
A report presents an
economic
case for abolishing patents entirely.
The report is long and technical;
here's
an article that acts as a summary.
The report seriously tries to generalize about copyright and patents,
calling them
"intellectual
property". This leads the authors into a
substantial error on page 3, where the report says that free software
software operates "absent intellectual property". In fact, nearly all
free software is copyrighted, and nearly all free software licenses
(including copyleft
licenses) are based purely on copyright.
This error does not invalidate the substance of the arguments
presented against patents, but it should serve as a warning not to use
that term. If it lures even experts into error, do you think you can
use it safely?
Why, though, did they think of trying to generalize about copyright
and patents together? Because they are economists, and economists
find a narrow economic aspect in the two laws that they can generalize
about. However, this narrow focus is misleading for political
consideration of either of these laws, since it disregards their
disparate requirements and disparate effects.
The shorter article also uses that term, but in the usual unthinking
way. It doesn't really try to talk about copyrights, so if you
consciously read "patents" whenever it says "intellectual property",
it makes sense.
Lying in presidential debates is
a Republican strategy acknowledged in
the 80s.
Romney's team
admitted
the same strategy for the whole campaign.
US citizens: Call
on Obama to support the right of first sale.
An archbishop demonstrates
Christian
Cruelty demanding that a
woman change her mind about respect for her gay son.
The archbishop, and his church, are entitled to their views.
But these views are repugnant.
A man was sentenced to prison in the UK for wearing a shirt with
slogans
that might offend thugs.
One could perhaps read the slogan on the back as an incitement to
violence, but it doesn't seem serious, and that's not what he was
accused of.
People should not be imprisoned for any opinion — even if
everyone else considers that opinion "reprehensible". What's truly
reprehensible here is the UK's repression of dissent.
Protecting endangered species requires spending a substantial amount
—
half as much each year as banksters get in bonuses.
US citizens:
call
on Walmart to sell only responsibly-caught tuna.
Systematic Republican efforts to stop Hispanic citizens from voting.
"Is
This a Joke?" after Nobel Peace Prize is awarded to the European Union.
An investigator resigned from the UK investigation into torture by the
Bush forces, saying it was
set
up as a whitewash.
Wikileaks' web site now
pushes
visitors to either donate or publicize it.
Since it is so easy to bypass this, it is effectively just a request,
so it can't be any harm.
I'd say it reflects the damage caused by the US's distributed denial
of service attack against Wikileaks, which blocked most people from
donating to Wikileaks.
Anti-abortion
Republican Congressman Desjarlais pressured his pregnant lover
to get an abortion.
A
16-word
quotation was the excuse to shut down an entire web site
under the DMCA.
US companies do DNA sequencing on
samples
taken from coffee cups.
Private insurance plans operated under Medicare are
making
Medicare more expensive. In other words, they are a rip-off.
US citizens: call
for a criminal investigation of Murray Energy
for ordering employees to contribute to election campaigns.
US citizens:
call
on federal agencies not to muzzle scientists.
US citizens:
stand against the plan to rig the election in Florida.
Activists convinced Disney to
stop
buying paper made by cutting down Indonesian rain forests.
The description of the extent of the Disney empire reminds me of the
need to break up such large companies.
However, I expect this
will
not stop the loggers from cutting down those trees. They will cut
down the trees to grow palm oil, and sell the paper somewhere or other.
Protesters
were arrested blocking Romney's Bain from shipping a factory
to China.
The US regime claims that prisoners' description of how they were
tortured is
classified
secret.
This will, I suppose, be an excuse to refuse to ever release them.
If they were released, they could talk about their torture, and that
would never do.
Greek thugs grabbed a protester and used her as a
human shield.
Western powers are starting to offer relaxation of sanctions on Iran as
part
of a deal on uranium refining.
Maybe this means they now seriously want a deal.
A Cuban blogger was
jailed
for 30 hours, and apparently beaten badly
since she lost a tooth.
A report on the
practical
problems caused by genetically engineered food crops.
I think the recommendations are too weak. Farmers must have the right
to save, trade and replant seeds.
A virus-infected computer was used remotely to post threats of
violence, leading to an
accusation
against the computer's owner.
One piece of advice that should have been in the article is to use
GNU/Linux — there are very few viruses for our system.
Colombia, Guatemala and Mexico call for changes in
the
treaty that demands prohibition of drugs.
Instead of begging the arrogant US for changes, they should
withdraw from the treaty and then do as they see fit.
Putin's judge
freed one of the members of Pussy Riot, while the other two
had their appeals rejected and were sent to prison.
Maybe he thinks that if he imprisons only two singers instead of three
that people will forgive him.
Kagame has brought progress and general peace to Rwanda, but
imprisons
and kills opposition leaders and journalists even in exile.
The UK government wants to restart
road-building
schemes that were killed years ago.
The government spending would do some good for employment, but why spend
in a way that presupposes and encourages increased use of fossil fuels?
Why not use the money to encourage renewable energy instead?
The same UK government keeps cutting the funds for that.
Putting the two together, the effect is to transfer money from
renewable energy to fossil fuels. Perhaps the fossil fuel companies
are behind this.
The right-wing UK
government will investigate accusations that the BBC
has a left-wing bias.
Given that the BBC's persistent right-wing bias has just been
demonstrated,
this must be intended as intimidation to increase the right-wing bias.
Workers are on strike against Walmart in many states, both
in
warehouses and in stores.
In Asia, many women and girls are
forcibly
married.
The people described in this article have been horribly mistreated.
They were forced into marriage, beaten, denied contraception and thus
forced to bear children, and/or denied medical care. These acts are
wrong regardless of the victim's age.
Girls are more vulnerable because they typically have less strength
(of various kinds) with which to resist their families than a woman
would have. Thus, special programs to protect girls from these abuses
may be needed. However, that is no reason to conclude that marriage
for someone under 18 is inherently wrong.
Raising the minimum age for marriage, even to more than 18, could be
justified if necessary to reduce population growth.
US citizens: sign this petition to support extending tax credits
for wind power.
The unconstitutionally installed president of Paraguay has
approved
GMO corn. Peasant farmers fear genetic contamination.
Superweeds and superpests as in the US will follow in a few years.
High school students in Texas are
resisting the imposition of RFID cards.
I wish MIT students had resisted them. The building where my office is
located has doors opened by RFID cards — I call them "pox cards" —
but I refuse to carry one. So I have to find other ways to get in.
Romney is
flipflopping on restricting abortion, trying to be all
things to all men.
Of course, if elected he will surely be up to no good.
The leader of Kazakhstan's opposition has been sentenced to
7
years in prison.
A giant insurance company says,
expect
global heating to bring increased weather disasters.
They can't afford to wait decades to be absolutely certain in hindsight.
They need to use the best rational conclusion based on current information,
and this is it.
Governments also need to act based on the best rational conclusion
based on current information. However, unlike this company, governments
are under the control of the fossil fuel industry which won't allow
them to do it.
The US House of Representatives has
voted
223 times in favor of dirty energy in just two years.
The US government showed its support for Bahrain's repression with a
new
trade and investment scheme.
The EFF's heroic effort to punish the companies guilty of warrantless
wiretapping has been
rejected
by the Supreme Court.
Jeremy Forrest and Megan Stammers ran away to France as a couple, and
were captured walking hand in hand. Now he has been
charged
with kidnapping her.
I am sure they won't let her spoil the accusation by telling the
truth, such as, "Nonsense, he did not kidnap me. I love him. Please
let him go!" They are surely demanding that she endorse their
distorted view of the situation.
Thus, I expect she is being brainwashed by her family to say (and even
believe) that he did her a horrible wrong, one that would excuse the
treachery of testifying to put him in prison. If she yields to that
pressure she will be mentally twisted by it. When the article talks
about "support" for her, it probably means additional pressure for her
to endorse this lie.
This is not to say that the two were heroic lovers headed for a
beautiful romantic future. It seems that neither of them thought very
far about their plans to get away. If they had been thinking clearly,
they would probably rather have waited a year or two, then lived
together legally. That would have given him time to get divorced
if it seemed necessary that he be single.
That they were not thinking carefully about how to have a future
together suggests their relationship might not have lasted. They
might not have what it takes to thread life's maze and reach the
desired exit. They might not know each other well enough to have a
basis to believe they will continue to love each other. However,
those shortcomings are frequent among people. They can hardly justify
punishing someone.
The support Megan needs is help in resisting the pressure to commit a
treason she would spend the rest of her life trying to justify. Even
if there is little chance this couple will be happy together for many
years, she needs the chance to try, so that if and when it fails she
will see that it failed from its nature, and not as a martyr to
the cruelty of family and state.
Privatization of fishing quotas is not necessarily effective for
protecting fishing stocks.
Since Europe needs more employment, perhaps privatization of quotas
would work better if combined with a ban on some efficient but
destructive fishing methods.
I suggest that the first goal should be sustainable fishing, and the
second goal should be to maximize the number of fishermen who can make
a living from sustainable fishing. As means, I propose to let
fishermen catch as much fish as they can using the permitted methods,
and keep the operation sustainable by regulating who may fish and by
what methods.
The prison scandal that brought down Georgia's president is no side
issue. Georgia has embarked on a
US-style
imprisonment binge, combined with Soviet-style rubber-stamp courts
that make it futile to plead not-guilty.
Don't believe Suckerberg — a poll finds Americans do
object
to tracking of their browsing.
I think tracking by the state is more dangerous than tracking by
corporations. The state can specifically
arrest you or kill you if
you're a "terrorist" (i.e., dissident). Corporations can't.
The main danger of corporate surveillance in the US is that whatever
info the corporations collect about you is available to the state
without a warrant, under the PAT RIOT act Act.
3/4 of Americans now believe
global
heating is affecting the weather.
However, it won't make a difference what Americans think as long as they
vote for candidates who don't want to take action to correct the problem
(such as Romney and Obama).
US psychiatrists in the US has been
seduced
by the drug companies into overprescribing, and it is so pervasive
that they may not recognize what has happened.
Greek thugs
arrested
anti-fascist protesters, tortured and wounded them, then threatened
to give their names and addresses to violent fascists for further
reprisals.
The thugs' spokesman responded in the best tradition of thugs: he said
this accusation couldn't be true, since Greek thugs would never do
such a thing.
This is why I call them "thugs": to reject the presumption that we
should expect them to be honest or good.
The victims compared their treatment to US torture practices. Isn't
it a shame, my fellow Americans, that our country deserves this
comparison? That it has not prosecuted the torturers so as to restore
its honor?
Putin's regime plans to ban
children from access to public Wifi networks.
Environmental activists face
systematic
harassment for taking photos of refineries in the US.
A man in Texas was harassed by the FBI for
taking
photos of storm clouds.
Answering
questions for the FBI can be very dangerous.
Even innocent
answers to innocent questions can give
them an excuse to prosecute you.
The supposed threat of terrorism is also the
excuse
for massive surveillance of Americans' communications.
This threat is almost entirely a
myth,
but it's a very handy myth.
US citizens: call for a question about abortion rights
in the vice
presidential debate.
Opposition to the UK's secret
courts bill. Indigenous protesters stopped construction
of the Belo Monte
dam.
More censorship in the UK: it is a crime, apparently, to wish for
UK soldiers to
be killed in war.
Or perhaps the crime is wishing they would go to hell. Would it be a crime, I wonder, to express a wish for them to be
defeated but not physically harmed? That too might offend some. "Freedom of speech" limited to statements that don't offend
is an absurdity.
The UK must repeal its law that
criminalizes Internet postings that
offend.
A former UK minister has been accused of lying to MPs to cover up
Britain's
role in handing over Libyan dissidents
to Gaddafi for
torture. The CIA participated too, of course. But the US has already completely
crushed
any attempt to probe these actions.
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The US sued Wells Fargo Bank for fraud amounting to around 200 million dollars.
Why no criminal prosecution of the people involved?
The US government has outsourced handling of FOI requests to companies.
This seems to be an attempt to evade the law. However, even aside from that, privatization of government work is just an excuse to degrade working conditions.
Israel's right-wing government no longer wants criticism from leftist academics.
Bahrain's highest court confirmed the sentences of medical personnel accused of treating protesters who had been wounded by the thugs.
Legal action in the UK against the export of parts for US killer drones.
An Islamist fanatic shot an outspoken 14-year-old Pakistani political activist in the head.
These right-wing extremists hate women who show any independence.
President Morsi has pardoned all protesters accused of crimes during the protests that brought about Mubarak's ouster.
US citizens:
call
on the EPA to ban the pesticides that are killing honeybees.
[Reference updated on 2018-03-02 because the old link was broken.]
US citizens: call on Obama and Secy of the Interior Salazar not to give licenses for drilling for oil in the Arctic.
In the US:
support
striking Walmart workers.
[Reference updated on 2018-03-02 because the old link was broken.]
Organizing resistance to the war in Afghanistan among the US troops due to be sent there.
The US and EU have frozen aid to Kagame's regime in Rwanda because it seems to be fueling rebels in the Congo.
Some doctors say that children under three should never watch video screens.
The leader of the Mexican Zetas gang seems to have been killed in a battle with Mexican marines.
I doubt that his death will make much difference to the gang or its operations. There are generally many ambitious would-be replacements.
In the US: support the "Do the Math" tour to strengthen the movement to stop global heating.
A man in the UK was jailed for posting a sick joke about a kidnaped and possibly murdered girl.
The UK's censored media don't dare tell you what the joke was, but it is shown in slashdot.
The joke is gross, with too little wit to rate a groan. (I'm not one of those who considers mere grossness humor.) However, people should not be imprisoned for their jokes, not even lousy, tasteless jokes.
The judge said the joke is offensive. It is, but imprisoning people for saying something offensive is tyranny. Putin demonstrated this point by defending the imprisonment of Pussy Riot on the grounds that their name is offensive.
Of course, there are many differences between a puerile and unfunny joke about a kidnaped child and a protest against a tyrant. Those differences are relevant to other judgments, which is why we admire Pussy Riot and not this humorist. However, those differences are not relevant to the question of whether these people should be in prison.
Freedom of speech includes the freedom to offend anyone.
Quebec thugs mounted a sustained and massive campaign of
violence
and lies against the protest movement in Quebec.
[Reference updated on 2018-03-02 because the old link was broken.]
An investigation is not enough — the thugs who injured protesters, or lied, must be locked up.
The main US ISPs have begun acting as unofficial anti-sharing police.
This is designed to stop people from cooperating — in other words, it is divide-and-conquer. It is not just nasty, it is completely mean-spirited.
The long-term necessary fire-prevention measure is to curb global heating, and of course the US doesn't dare do that either.
Greeks protested Merkel's visit to Greece, intended to "support" the flunkies carrying out her austerity policies, so the same flunkies banned protests.
A leftist Turkish whistleblower group has been accused of "terrorism".
Pregnant women are warned not to eat birds killed with lead shot.
I've read that the California condor has the same problem: it is a scavenger, and when it occasionally eats an animal killed with lead shot, it can be poisoned.
Hugo Chavez won reelection, but his margin was smaller than in the past.
Rwandan civilians have been tortured into false confessions.
It sounds horribly like the US.
US citizens: call on Trader Joe's to support the California GMO-labelling initiative.
Belarus officially imprisons some dissident leaders, but more often they are disappeared or killed.
The Corporations United decision has led, as predicted, to foreigners' spending money to influence US elections.
How Obama subtly signaled his willingness to gut Social Security.
Pakistan's army blocked 10,000 anti-drone protesters from entering Waziristan.
US citizens: Call on Obama to allow a pesky Yemeni journalist to be freed from unjust imprisonment.
His supposed crime is interviewing members of al Qa'ida. If Obama acts to keep someone in jail over that, it shows the plaintiffs worried Obama will imprison them without trial are right.
Apple product manufacturers went on strike after Apple demanded they do better work but wouldn't give them more time to do it.
Students in Italy protested
against
education cutbacks.
[Reference updated on 2018-03-02 because the old link was broken.]
Hospitals in several states have
agreed
to stop distributing baby formula, since its distribution leads
mothers to disregard the hospitals' medical recommendation to
breast-feed their babies.
[Reference updated on 2018-03-02 because the old link was broken.]
A Cuban journalist was arrested and taken back to Havana when she tried
to cover the
trial
of the driver who accidentally killed Oswaldo Paya.
[Reference updated on 2018-03-02 because the old link was broken.]
The driver is associated with the right-wing Partido Popular in Spain. That party, now in power, also represses dissidents. In addition, it obeys the banksters' orders to make life horrible for most people in Spain. Given the choice, I'd prefer repression under Castro to repression plus exploitation under the PP.
Bogus DMCA requests are damaging large numbers of web sites.
Calling for a criminal investigation of Romney for lying in his
financial disclosure reports.
[Reference updated on 2018-03-02 because the old link was broken.]
I predict that the Republicans that tried to impeach Clinton for lying about a private matter will claim that Romney should suffer no penalty for this lie.
In Ethiopia, foreign journalists covering protests are arrested and harassed, but Ethiopian journalists get imprisoned.
Jeremy Hammond is accused of obtaining and leaking the Stratfor files. Here his defenders explain their support for him.
Here for comparison purposes is a statement of the indictment against him.
If Hammond and/or others did indeed make charges on some credit cards he obtained this way, I would consider that wrong unless they can show some specific justification for it.
Drones with facial recognition technology could soon follow anyone everywhere.
This could be useful for catching minor criminals, as well as dissidents. But it will do nothing to protect us from the most dangerous criminals — the banksters that ruin millions of lives with their frauds, and the politicians that start wars of aggression, because our sell-out governments don't prosecute them.
The Vatican has sentenced its corruption whistleblower to several years in prison, focusing on punishing the messenger so as to ignore the message.
I wonder if Obama's persistent attacks on whistleblowers was an inspiration to them.
Several countries are pushing to tighten economic sanctions on Iran, which are already pushing the country into suffering comparable to Greece and Spain.
Iran is already offering to negotiate about its uranium enrichment in exchange for lifting the sanctions. If the goal of these sanctions is to end Iran's uranium enrichment, why does the US not offer to end the sanctions as part of a satisfactory deal?
Although Netanyahu has not got the US to bomb Iran, he has distracted the world mostly from the occupation of Palestine.
A politician admits the real reason why the US government doesn't want Iran to have nuclear weapons: it would deter US attacks and increase the regime's influence.
It would be unfortunate for those murderous tyrants to get more influence, and I would stop them from getting nuclear weapons if I could do it by snapping my fingers. However, doing it through an attack that would kill thousands of civilians from the toxic chemicals alone would be wrong even if it had a chance of working — which it doesn't.
I suggest that we Americans instead put more effort into restraining our own government from acting like Iranian tyrants. Obama claims the power to kill or imprison anyone without a trial — different in detail from the Iranian tyrants, but fundamentally the same evil.
Tibetans have been imprisoned for transmitting information about protests to the outside world.
Morocco's government functionaries denied a journalist's permission to work because they disagreed with a statement in his article.
Thugs' cameras in Lansing, Michigan, can read the names off your mail envelopes as you take the letters out of your mailbox.
Chevron is trying to subpoena private information about people who have merely stated opinions about Chevron's legal case in Ecuador.
US citizens:
ask
your state governor to support a ban on the
"conversion therapy" sometimes imposed on gay adolescents.
[Reference updated on 2018-03-02 because the old link was broken.]
Marijuana helps people cope with the intense nausea caused by cancer therapies. Does it also fight cancer? Thanks to US laws, there is no way to follow up on promising research.
Haiti's US-imposed president Martelly has inspired mass protests.
Obama is personally responsible for imposing President Martelly on Haiti.
Obama is actively defending his power to imprison Americans without trial by appealing the court decision that temporarily blocked it.
Obama said he was unhappy with this provision, but he cannot evade responsibility for this step.
US citizens: tell the owner of Olive Garden and Red Lobster restaurants to allow their staff sick leave, instead of making them work while sick.
Web filtering in US schools harms students' education, as well as their freedom.
Thugs in Uganda arrested an opposition leader, then beat up journalists who were covering the event.
It appears to be as systematic a practice in Uganda as it is in
New
York City.
US citizens: call on the Philadelphia DA to spare Terry Williams' life.
Chomsky: Issues That Obama and Romney Avoid.
Everyone:
call
on eBay to stop its nasty and absurd arbitration
requirement.
US citizens: sign this petition to replace Columbus Day with
Exploration Day.
Kenyans win permission
to sue the UK government for torturing them in
prison.
Greg Palast presents
what
the Democratic presidential candidate ought to have said in reply to
Romney.
The next step in sabotaging the UK's national health plan:
fire
the best doctors for treating the main killer diseases.
The Philippines' president advocates
subsidized contraceptives, defying the power of the Catholic Church.
Walmart warehouse workers are on strike, demanding protective gear
to prevent sickness
and injury caused by their work.
Romney told big
lies in the debate.
In fact, 27 lies in 38 minutes.
He even denounced
his own tax plan.
Romney calls
successful electric car companies "losers". By his
definition, only fossil fuel is a "winner".
Both Romney and Obama are too much under the thumb of the fossil fuel
companies to do anything to move us off the road that goes over the
cliff.
As Obama and Romney debated in their bubble, Democracy Now presented
real-time responses by candidates Jill Stein and Rocky Anderson.
US citizens: denounce Shell for claiming that
laws
against its crimes in Nigeria don't apply to it because it is a
corporation.
Fast food logos are
imprinted in children's brains.
Speculators and biofuel producers have bought land that
could
feed a billion people — most of it in countries where there
isn't enough food.
A Russian company offers dangerous technology to
track
people when they use other people's phones.
This will be especially dangerous for dissidents in countries
such as Russia
and the US
that regularly press absurd charges against them.
I make calls using strangers' cell phones, figuring that
I am not tracked that way, but with this technology that may
be tracked too.
Perhaps dissidents will need to use voice distorters
all the time.
Tim DeChristopher, who blocked an illegal auction of mineral
rights and was imprisoned for it, explains that he
has given up
on appeals against his conviction.
He also explains what this implies about the US legal system.
Here's info about his victory and sacrifice,
for which he has no regrets.
Spain
and Greece Are Being Forced to Suffer to Save Germany From High
Inflation.
Regional "fusion centers" harm
Americans' essential liberty,
and fail even to give us a little temporary security in exchange.
Joseph Stiglitz says that the "American dream has become a myth",
thanks to the corruption of the political system, and reminds
us that government
spending is needed to end the recession.
US citizens:
sign
this petition to include other candidates with
nationwide support in the presidential debates.
Brazil plans to require
every car to have a radio tracking device.
This is too dangerous to be allowed, even if it is "useful".
Meanwhile, I suspect it won't stop professional car thieves.
They will be able to jam the car's RFID and override its signals,
even faster than they can switch the license plates today.
US citizens: call for continued protection of the Illinois River
(in Oregon) for the sake of its fish stocks.
The European Parliament must stand ready to
reject
a proposed free exploitation treaty with Canada just as it
rejected ACTA.
Hamas is accused
of practicing torture, arbitrary imprisonment and
unfair trials.
Sounds like Guantanamo. If only the US were a positive example for the world
instead of a negative one.
An abortion ship plans to visit Morocco in order to give Moroccan
women for a brief
period of access to safe abortion.
GMOs need more regulation, since they are leading to superweeds and
superpests and broad use of toxic pesticides. However, the US farm
bill proposes
to reduce the regulation of GMOs.
Romney says he would go back to Dubya's torture practices.
That would not make much of a difference, in practice,
because Obama has not changed those policies very much.
He banned one of Dubya's torture techniques, waterboarding,
and that's all.
Republican voter registration drives use
dishonesty to avoid registering any Democrats.
I would not criticize them for looking for Republicans to register,
but using dishonesty to avoid registering Democrats reflects the general
dishonesty of the Republican Party.
Two Egyptian Christian children, aged 9 and 10, face
charges
of insulting Islam.
While others might focus on the idea of punishing children, this law
would hardly become acceptable if limited to adults. If repression of
others' disapproval is part of Islam, then Islam itself insults Islam,
and we should not hesitate to point to this fact.
More about the Philippine
criminal libel law.
Radical Islamist Abu Hamza was awakened hourly
every night, for 8 years in jail in the UK. The sleep deprivation
has caused him permanent medical problems.
The IMF says that the world won't
recover from the recession until 2018.
That probably means never, because by 2018 global heating will be
doing ever more damage.
The IMF's idea of "recovery" is probably defined in terms of GDP, not
employment or the general standard of living. Thus, a "recovery"
according to the IMF might do most people no good. However, if
business is going to keep losing even given business-favoring
governments, the general public will be hurt all the more.
Part of gutting social welfare in the UK is requiring
many sick people to go to work — even some who can't cross
the street on their own
[Reference updated on 2018-03-02 because the old link was broken.]
[Reference updated on 2018-03-02 because the old link was broken.]
[Reference updated on 2018-03-02 because the old link was broken.]
[Reference updated on 2018-03-02 because the old link was broken.]
[Reference updated on 2018-03-02 because the old link was broken.]
It is not absurd to think that a person who needs a personal nurse full-time might be able to do productive work. She could be escorted to work so that she would arrive safely. The nurse could take care of her while she is at work just as at home; this would not require any more nursing time than she needs now. Of course, this depends on how bad the person's medical problems are in other respects.
However, in a society beset by unemployment, where many who are not disabled and want a job can't find one, it makes no sense to push even partially disabled people to work.
A group of American women plan to march in Pakistan to protest CIA drone attacks.
The presidential debate was jointly controlled by Romney and Obama
to the point of making
it totally "safe".
[Reference updated on 2018-03-02 because the old link was broken.]
The moderator, Jim Lehrer, shows a
general pro-business
bias in his PBS news program. A progressive candidate would have
objected to him, but Republicans-at-heart like Romney and Obama
probably found him easy to accept.
[Reference updated on 2018-03-02 because the old link was broken.]
Victory in Quebec shows that a
mass movement
can overcome the power of repression.
[Reference updated on 2018-03-02 because the old link was broken.]
Romney's health care plans would leave 72 million Americans without coverage.
As the Great Barrier Reef's coral dies due to human-imposed stress, the US Export Import Bank finances coal projects around the world, including one likely to attack it even more.
Academic paywalls mean "publish and perish."
Obama's dangerous drone legacy: any future president could use drones to kill anyone at all.
California's legislature has tried twice to pass laws to make thugs get warrants to search inside portable computers, but the governor keeps vetoing them.
Climate scientists complain about attempts to subpoena their private emails.
In general, I think scientists should publish more of their data and the software they use to analyze it, as part of doing good science. However, they should not have to publish their conversations about their work.
The Philippine law that censors the Internet apparently has some other repressive provisions, described as being about "intellectual property theft".
"Intellectual property theft" is the latest propaganda term used to make file sharing sound bad. The term is incoherent, in regard to copyright, because there is no way to steal a copyright.
Even more nonsensical, the term "intellectual property" confuses copyrights with a dozen or so unrelated laws. (See http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/not-ipr.html.)
The article's reference to this bogus concept leads me to expect that this law contains a second repressive provision, above and beyond its libel provision. Does anyone know what it is?
Later: It looks like this was a
false
alarm. I don't see anything pertinent in the text of the law.
Ships bringing aid are once again
on
the way to Gaza.
See http://shiptogaza.se/en
for more information.
US citizens:
call
for continued protection of the Illinois River in Oregon.
A project leased a 3D printer to make a
plastic
pistol, but the lease was cancelled arbitrarily by the manufacturer.
I don't have a position on the project itself, but it is clear that
the manufacturer acted abusively. Those leasing a machine tool should
not have any say over what the lessee does with it; that is the
lessee's responsibility.
Furthermore, whatever the lease conditions may be, the company should
not be allowed to decide arbitrarily that it was violated. Such a
contract should be illegal.
Everyone: sign
this petition to remove David Gregory as host of Meet the Press.
Israel points out that Arab countries expelled
nearly
a million Jews in and after 1948.
The Israeli right wing cites these expulsions now to try to put the
Palestinians in the wrong. However, the Jews who were expelled hadn't
done anything to the Palestinians, and their expulsion didn't help any
Palestinians. So I don't think these two wrongs cancel out. They add
up to two wrongs.
As many as
80,000
people marched in France to oppose austerity plans.
"Strict fiscal discipline" makes every recession worse, and dumps the
burden on the poor. It is inherently wrong. The euro zone needs to
establish a way to authorize deficit spending in periods like these.
Pennsylvania's voter ID law has been
blocked in court, for this election
at least.
It needs to be blocked permanently, because there are
systematic
reasons why poor, downtrodden and/or decrepit citizens, entitled to
vote, do not have the kind of IDs that expire frequently and state
the person's address.
Google has agreed to
support
Turkish censorship of YouTube in much the same way as it supported
Chinese censorship for a time.
Google stopped upholding Chinese censorship, and should stop upholding
Turkish censorship too.
It occurs to me that
browser-based
user-location snooping systems might make it difficult to bypass
censorship such as this. If YouTube detects that you're connected
to a wireless router it believes is in Turkey, it might apply Turkish
censorship to you even if you connect through a proxy or VPN outside
Turkey.
Wisconsin officials are being
sued to release emails about state business
that they sent and received using personal email accounts. (They are
trying to evade the state's open records law.)
Here's an instance in which computerized voting machines allowed
systematic
vote-rigging through "social engineering".
In other words, the vulnerabilities of computerized voting may not be visible
in study of the machine itself.
Verizon can monkey with voice mail and phone lines in various ways,
and will do so on
simple request from the thugs.
Israel is proceeding with
demolition
of Bedouin villages in the Negev.
Progress in the
divestment campaign against companies that aid the occupation of
Palestine.
Israel is constructing a road between colonies in the West Bank
through
the territory of Palestinian villages that Israel wants to
eliminate.
An Israeli peace activist who was taking photos of illegal
construction of a colony was
attacked,
beaten and robbed by
"settlers", while thugs watched and did nothing.
Discussions of self-driving cars claim that humans are unreliable
drivers. Nonsense!
There were around
2.3
million car accident injuries in the US in 2010,
which comes out to 1 accident per 33,000 hours of driving.
As for accidents that caused a fatality, there were around 30,000,
which was around 1 for every 2 million hours of driving.
These figures are based on a rough estimate of around 75 billion hours
of driving in the US, which was made from figures for number of miles
driven on various kinds of roads and the estimated speeds. However,
even if the correct number is as little as 50 billion hours or as much
as 100 billion, it won't change the conclusion: humans are very
reliable drivers.
Global heating
will
kill 100 million people by 2030, according to an
official study.
US citizens:
Tell
New York Governor Cuomo: Be a leader to protect all of us from
fracking. Ban fracking in New York.
It appears UK thug chiefs want secret courts so as to
cover
up evidence about undercover thugs that slept with dissidents they
were spying on.
Hezbollah is fighting
in Syria in support of Assad. So are the Iranian
revolutionary guards.
The president of Georgia has been replaced
democratically.
When debating candidate Elizabeth Warren, Massachusetts Senator Brown
said his model Supreme Court justice is Scalia.
'Nuff said.
Undercover thugs in Austin try to convince Occupy protesters to do
something violent, but the protesters refused. So the protesters were
threatened
with 2 years in prison for nonviolent civil disobedience.
A movie in India has been censored
because
it presents the viewpoint of Dalits and criticizes Gandhi.
The conservative government has imposed disastrous "reforms" on the
National Health Service (which I suspect are designed to ruin it and
provide an excuse for further "reforms"). During two years of debate,
the BBC's coverage of the issue was nearly completely
biased
in favor of the government.
How tables of wireless networks' hardware addresses work with
malicious browser features to
determine
where you are located when you browse.
Obama says that we should not "look back" to punish Bush's torturers
but Iraqi-American
Shakir
Hamoodi has just been sentenced for sending
money to his family in Iraq before the war.
A genetically modified cow produces milk that might avoid
allergic reactions in a small but significant fraction of human babies.
Calling
U.S. Drone Strikes 'Surgical' Is Orwellian Propaganda.
An attack on Iran's uranium enrichment factories could kill 5000 to
8000 Iranians who live nearby, due to the
toxic
chemicals and radioactive fallout that would be released if the
factories are bombed.
Thugs in Azerbaijan
falsely
accuse dissidents of "resisting arrest" to
put them in jail; it is standard practice.
Did they learn this from the US?
The US mainstream media
hardly touch the
issue of unemployment in the US.
US citizens:
call on
Obama and Romney to say what they will do about global heating.
Global heating is affecting coastal waters much
more than the average, and this can kill the fish.
Global heating is forecast to result in a horrible drought in the
US Southwest in most years, which
will kill lots of the trees.
A Cambodian dissident was framed and sentenced to
prison
for 20 years.
This is comparable to Bahrain.
The Great Barrier Reef is in trouble:
coral is dying fast.
US-imposed sanctions are causing rapid inflation in Iran, which means
great
hardship for many of the poor.
The stated purpose of these sanctions is to pressure Iran to stop
moving towards development of nuclear weapons. I wonder why the US
does not offer to drop the sanctions in exchange for a deal.
Local TV stations run political ads paid by rich secret donors but
do
not cover the fact that this is going on.
California has
banned
conversion "therapy" that pretends to convert gays into straights.
Copyright Kills New Music, by composer Mehmet Okonsar.
Scandal: web sites track children that use them, and are
designed
to lure them into providing personal information.
I think it's scandalous to treat adults this way, too.
US citizens:
call
on grocery stores not to stock GMO apples.
The New York Thug Department
systematically
and dishonestly attacks journalists and anyone else it feels like
abusing.
In 2050, thanks to global heating,
fish
will be smaller and there will be fewer of them.
The US has
thousands of known sites contaminated with toxic
chemicals, and cleaning up is very slow.
An editor in Italy has been sentenced
to prison for libel for publishing a letter to the editor with a
controversial viewpoint. I disagree with the letter, but that is no
reason to support censorship.
Indian thugs attacked a reporter, hitting him with rifles.
Then they
threatened
to frame him if he didn't sign a statement
that was presumably damaging to his rights.
Texas thugs
pepper
sprayed and tasered nonviolent protesters who were
blocking construction of the planet-roaster pipeline.
Shame
on Obama for ordering this.
Protesters pepper-sprayed at UC Davis got a
million-dollar
settlement from the university.
I hope the Texas victims get 10 million dollars.
I think that destroying already-constructed parts of the pipeline is
justified under the necessity principle: preventing a greater crime.
The rent-to-own companies that put spyware on the rented computers
don't have to stop. The FTC required them only to
promise
to tell users about the spying.
I suppose it will be stated cryptically in the fine print of a 50-page
agreement that hardly any users read. But if they did, they would surely
find it is an EULA for nonfree software that nobody should ever sign.
Defending the study that found Roundup and "Roundup-ready" maize cause
cancer
in rats.
US citizens: stand with Bradley Manning and demand dismissal of
charges against him.
US residents: call
on Whole Foods to come clean regarding GMOs in its products.
Nuclear energy is
unreliable
and unsafe, and more expensive than renewable energy.
Obama's officials rebuked a government climate scientist for leaking
government documents that revealed
the danger of Shell's undersea drilling plans.
Thugs disguised
as protesters provoked violence at a protest in Madrid.
US citizens: sign
the Peace Voter Pledge.
US citizens: demand
arrangements to enable foreclosed people to vote.
US citizens:
call
on Jim Lehrer to ask the candidates a question
about global heating in the first presidential debate.
Some
US politicians want to support the Mujahedin-e Khalq as a
government in exile for Iran.
This won't win the support of anyone in Iran. Most Iranians love
their country even if they hate the mullahs. They recognize the US
economic sanctions
(which often hurt ordinary Iranian people)
as hostility between the US and Iran, and some see the US as a worse
enemy than the Iranian regime. Under these circumstances, no Iranian
opposition can benefit from US support, and an organization such as
the MeK which has no support in Iran to begin with can only be
ridiculous.
Basically, the US can pressure Iran as a state with trade sanctions,
or it can try to support Iranian people against their state, but it
can't do both.
Why I can't support
Obama.
US citizens: call for including
questions about Corporations
United and election funding in the presidential debates.
Everyone:
phone
Transcanada to condemn brutal treatment of
anti-pipeline protesters.
The two protesters, who had handcuffed themselves together on
TransCanada's construction equipment, were subjected to choke holds,
stress positions in which their free arms were handcuffed, contorted, and
then pepper sprayed, burning their skin. They were then tased -- one of
the activists was tased twice.
There is no excuse for subjecting peaceful, defenseless protesters to this
level of violence.
Those willing to cause global disaster for profit will hardly care
about injuring protesters. But they fear strengthening the opposition,
and when our calls show them this is happening, they may hesitate
to treat protesters that way again.
California will develop
free/libre
textbooks for the 50 most common college courses.
Elementary school should be next.
My only disappointment is that the article uses the word "open" so much.
In education, lots of works called "open" are not free/libre, and use
a
license that has a particular problem.
An analyst predicts that Karzai's regime
won't
last long after the US troops pull out.
I think he's right, but propping up Karzai is not worth continuing
this war.
The Taliban offered to drop support for al Qa'ida in 2009 but
the US was not interested in the deal.
A dishonest forensic analyst in Boston
falsified
tests for drugs.
A large fraction of the 34,000 cases affected by this falsification are
consequences of the destructive War on Drugs.
Such cases are a large fraction of all criminal cases in the US.
If we only had ended this war years ago, there would not have been
pressure on forensic analysts to rush their tests.
Some
Democratic senators oppose oil drilling in the Arctic.
[Reference updated on 2018-03-02 because the old link was broken.]
[Reference updated on 2018-03-02 because the old link was broken.]
[Reference updated on 2018-03-02 because the old link was broken.]
[Reference updated on 2018-05-13 because the old link was broken.]
[Reference updated on 2018-03-02 because the old link was broken.]
[Reference updated on 2018-03-02 because the old link was broken.]
[Reference updated on 2018-03-02 because the old link was broken.]
[Reference updated on 2018-03-02 because the old link was broken.]
[Reference updated on 2018-03-02 because the old link was broken.]
[Reference updated on 2018-03-02 because the old link was broken.]
[Reference updated on 2018-03-02 because the old link was broken.]
[Reference updated on 2018-03-02 because the old link was broken.]
Anwar Sadat made a peace offer in 1973 via Kissinger to Golda Meir, who rejected it without even telling most of Israel's ministers. So he tried war instead.
Uri Avnery says that Israel's current policies are comparable.
One of the Federal Reserve governors says the US unemployment problem requires spending, not just money expansion.
It's too bad Obama talks about compromise with the Republicans to cut the deficit.
The US drought is getting worse and will reach even the Northwest, where it normally rains most of the time.
More about the protests in Georgia about the torture of prisoners.
Amnesty International criticizes the conditions inside
California
prisons.
[Reference updated on 2018-03-02 because the old link was broken.]
Chicago's park curfew, used as an excuse to arrest Occupy protesters, was ruled unconstitutional.
When Ted Koppel criticizes media falsehoods, his starting premise is that there must be equal criticism for Republicans and Democrats. Except sometimes there can be a little more for Democrats.
A thug attacked Austin DeCaro for refusing to switch off his video camera, then laid false charges against him.
The thug ought to be prosecuted for attempting obstruction of justice.
The Arctic is substantially hotter now than it was due to natural causes in the medieval warm period.
Global heating causes extreme weather events in the ocean too.
Obama picks people to kill with drones, but he doesn't know how many civilians they have killed, and neither does anyone else.
Old men are kept in prison in the US even when they are paralyzed or can hardly hold a pen.
And often they can't get the medical treatment they need.
A major reason for imprisoning criminals is so they cannot commit more crimes. An old man is not likely to commit a crime of violence. A paralyzed old man could hardly even try.
Afghanistan: Violence stalks women workers.
Karzai's government reflects the sexist attitude of Afghan society. It is a step forward compared with the Taliban, but not that big a step. If it could be kept in power by something less than unending war, I might be in favor of that. But this small gain can't justify the unending war, which likewise exposes Afghan women to violence.
The medieval souk of Aleppo is being destroyed
by fire
started by combat.
[Reference updated on 2018-03-02 because the old link was broken.]
Another Bahraini protester was killed by the thugs.
It isn't wrong for Bahrainis to fight the thugs with violence, just as it wasn't wrong for Libyans and isn't wrong for Syrians to do so. It may or may not be a wise idea — that is a different question.
The Freedom Theater performed in Nabi Saleh, which has held a weekly protest for almost 3 years against the theft of their land by an Israeli colony.
The US government has illegally held Bradley Manning before trial 6 times the legal limit.
The Wall Street Journal published op-eds by 10 people while not disclosing that they are associated with Romney.
A right-wing anti-immigrant party is gaining power in Greece by helping poor Greeks and bullying immigrants for them.
When powerful rich knock the people down, they get angry. But if they don't know to focus their anger directly at the rich, demagogues can use it by scapegoating others who are even weaker.
France tries to cut its deficit, but uses taxes as well as cuts.
It appears Pakistan tacitly cooperates with US drone attacks in Pakistan.
Megan Stammers and her lover, Jeremy Forrest, objects of an international dragnet for running away together, were arrested. Her family claims to be "elated".
I doubt that Ms Stammers feels elated. Most people are not elated to be arrested, even if their jailers say it is for their "protection". She may not relish being "reunited with her father" against her will. When she envisions being forced to testify against him when he is trued for the crime of running away with her, she might feel despair.
The FBI manufactures bombing plots among dissidents as well as among Muslims.
Many US states enforce regulations on oil and gas wells in such a
perfunctory and slapdash fashion that it
hardly does any good.
[Reference updated on 2018-03-02 because the old link was broken.]
The president of Guatemala will propose legalization of drugs to the
UN General Assembly.
[Reference updated on 2018-03-02 because the old link was broken.]
It is useful to try this route, but Guatemala and any other country that doesn't want to be at war with its own citizens should take unilateral steps to legalize drugs.
It is common in India for the thugs to torture arrested people. Now India faces international pressure to pass a law against it.
The US already has a law against torture, but Obama refuses to enforce it.
New Justice Department Documents Show Huge Increase in Warrantless Electronic Surveillance.
Officials and executives in the US increasingly demand journalists get permission for quotes they want to use
Since I have sometimes been terribly misquoted, I too ask reporters to verify their quotes with me — but only if they don't make an audio recording, which is the best way to ensure they quote what I really said.
A Portuguese prosecutor dropped cases against accused file sharers, saying that file sharing for personal use is lawful there.
Panama is proposing to fine people a hundred thousand dollars for file sharing, while giving them only 15 days to prepare a defense.
The money thus collected is paid as a bonus to the staff of the agency that issues the fines, which don't go through any court.
Obama pushed through the free exploitation treaty between Panama and the US. Is Obama responsible for this?
Boston police cameras recognize 3,600 license plates per day, and there are no real limits on what they do with this data. They store some in a corporation's server.
A Tunisian woman is on trial for something comparable to public
nudity. Apparently
she was nude
because thugs raped her.
[Reference updated on 2018-03-02 because the old link was broken.]
The UK is imprisoning squatters who live in empty buildings.
To call the sentence "disproportionate" is a grave understatement, since it grants some legitimacy to a law that is pure evil.
Nation-building in Afghanistan meant building schools and clinics that Karzai's government can't afford to run.
The article doesn't mention corruption, but I suspect that is the reason why Karzai's government can't pay to run these schools and clinics.
Civilians in parts of Pakistan feel terrorized by US drones. They are taking their children out of school and fear to attend funerals.
The US military designated Assange and Wikileaks as "enemies".
This means that Assange might be imprisoned without trial if the US got its hands on him. It also suggests the US might to try to kidnap him or assassinate him.
Rejecting the
"wasted
vote" argument against voting Green.
[Reference updated on 2018-03-02 because the old link was broken.]
Voting for Obama is effectively voting Republican since on issues of concern to business he effectively is one.
I think one minor point in the article is mistaken. The Democratic Party was never a third party; it was the first organized political party in the US, though at its beginning in the 1790s it was called "Republican".
Anonymous obtained 60 hours of video made by New York thugs as they shut down the protest camp of Occupy Wall Street last November. The thugs attacked journalists so as to prevent them from taking videos.
A person who looked at the short clip for me says it shows thugs beating up on the protesters while handcuffing them and taking them a way. At one point, a gang of thugs abuse a man who seems to be screaming in pain. They rip people out of groups who have intertwined their arms by pulling on their legs. They push a guy from behind whose arms are cuffed behind him.
It is possible that this video was obtained from the office of a lawyer suing the thugs. The article assumes that, if this is so, it would damage the rights of other protesters brutalized by thugs. I am skeptical of that conclusion.
If you look at videos on youtube.com, take care not to access them by visiting the site in a browser, since that requires running nonfree software (either Flash Player or nonfree Javascript code). Use the youtubedl script to get the Webm file, and play that with free software.
Here's a magnet link for the full set of videos.
States in Latin America are establishing massive surveillance systems.
Gold mines in South Africa exploit their employees cruelly, but they are starting to push back.
At the same time, it is clear that the other root of this problem is too high a birth rate. I support the miners' demand for higher pay, but they also have a responsibility: not to have so many children that it makes them slaves to the mine. If contraception is not easily available to them, the state has a responsibility to help.
US citizens:
join
Amnesty International's campaign to free Pussy Riot.
[Reference updated on 2018-03-02 because the old link was broken.]
Julian Assange points out that it was Wikileaks, not the US government, that spurred the Arab Spring.
The US seems to support the repression of the democracy movement in Bahrain.
Protesters were arrested in NYC for putting paintings or stickers over anti-Muslim advertisements.
I support the right to make such statements, even though I don't agree with them. I also support the right to criticize them by writing on the posters. Covering them up or tearing them down is on the borderline; to prosecute people for this is extreme.
Large numbers of abusive US mortgages have invalid title, so cities and states can use eminent domain to seize and abolish the mortgages.
Comparing Obama with Roosevelt.
The US is restricting who can fly between Spain and Mexico.
Record Arctic Snow Loss May Be Prolonging North American Drought.
Romney has failed to notice that the US has plenty of moochers totally dependent on the government.
Thugs in Spain attacked travellers in Madrid's principal train station as a mass protest continued outside.
A German and French proposal to extend copyright to
cover publishing snippets of articles could cause problems for
smaller competitors of Google.
[Reference updated on 2018-03-02 because the old link was broken.]
Free Speech, the Internet, and a Very Big Lie.
The problem of censorship begins when a site that the public depends on for communication — in other words, an effectively public virtual space that is formally private — blocks access to any material from any country. If a state installs filters to block the material, the state is clearly committing censorship. When a company does the state's dirty work, that disguises the censorship as an editorial judgment.
Google says that it must comply with the censorship laws of the various countries where it has offices. That's true, but incomplete. For a time, Google complied with the censorship laws of China for this reason; but then it closed its office there and stopped complying. That was the right thing to do, but Google does not always do the right thing. When Google opens an office in a country that imposes censorship, it extends that country's censorship to YouTube.
US citizens: call
on the NFL to end its lockout of referees.
[Reference updated on 2018-03-02 because the old link was broken.]
The US Passport Agency is trying to create the option to give any passport applicant an impossible set of irrelevant questions.
Refuting the
myths spread
by agribusiness about GMO labelling.
[Reference updated on 2018-03-02 because the old link was broken.]
A Google executive in Brazil faces criminal charges for
not
removing a video from YouTube.
[Reference updated on 2018-03-02 because the old link was broken.]
To punish executives personally when corporations act illegally seems in general like a good idea. This particular law is another matter: it is a form of censorship.
The words in the article suggest that the law was meant to apply to advertisements by election campaigns. Thus limited, it might be acceptable — and applying it to statements published by independent members of the public might be a legal error. However, only a Brazilian lawyer could tell if this is really true.
EU proposal to stop terrorist sites even more ridiculous than it sounds.
This is supposed to be a justification for trying to develop it in secret. That reminds me of "I believe because it is absurd".
Ralph Nader says
Obama is
a war criminal, and condemns Romney too.
[Reference updated on 2018-03-02 because the old link was broken.]
In the US, even kindergarten children are burdened with
standardized
tests.
[Reference updated on 2018-03-02 because the old link was broken.]
The Gates Foundation is pushing dependent agriculture in Africa: expensive patented seeds that need expensive fertilizers.
There is a general strike against austerity in Greece.
Rent-to-Own Laptops Secretly Photographed Users Having Sex.
Lots of proprietary software has malicious features; it is not limited to rental computers.
By abolishing the Palestinian Authority, Palestinians could demonstrate
that Israel's current path is an
apartheid
state.
[Reference updated on 2018-03-02 because the old link was broken.]
US citizens: sign this petition to raise the Corporations United (*) decision in the presidential debate.
* These corporations called themselves "Citizens United", but there's no reason to repeat their spin.
The BBC interviewed members of Israel's largest violent extremist group: those who launch acts of violence against Palestinians.
One group of settlers decided to campaign for better housing for their Palestinian neighbors, who have been blocked for a decade from constructing even a toilet.
I admire that attitude, but we shouldn't consider that a settlers who show good will towards neighboring Palestinians make the settlement land grab and water grab ok.
A rigged Israeli government committee is trying to shut down the politics and government department at Ben Gurion University because it is "leftist".
Israel long prided itself on being the "only democracy in the Middle East". That's no longer the case, since Egypt seems to have become a real democracy, and Libya is making a substantial attempt. But Israel could continue to call itself the oldest democracy in the Middle East.
That's presuming the right wing doesn't change it into a non-democracy.
US citizens: Join Shirin Ebadi in opposing war with Iran.
Arguing that the US should bring back its system of postal banking.
Even when there is an arms embargo against an oppressive regime, the UK still trains its thugs and soldiers.
An academic study in the US concludes that drone attacks in Pakistan do more to boost the Taliban than to damage it.
For a guerrilla movement, the limiting factor is its ability to recruit supporters. Leaders, even the best, can always be replaced if recruiting is good. Thus, to kill leaders in a way that stimulates popular support for the guerrilla only strengthens it.
Thus, the study's conclusion is not surprising. However, it is good to see it confirmed in a way that may impede the attempts to ignore the point.
Innocent-seeming text posted on Facebook could cause you lots of trouble, due to development of systems to deduce things about you.
A high Tory official in the UK faces a scandal because he "swore" at a thug who would not let him leave the prime minister's office by his usual path.
A Tory politician surely advocates policies that will harm the non-rich and damage the environment, but Britons are more upset that he insulted a thug?! This absurdity rivals that of the sex scandals that bring down right-wing US politicians after they have got away with policies that hurt most of their electorate.
If he did treat a thug with disrespect, was that wrong? Persons and institutions deserve what respect they earn. After publicly lying to blame the victims of their own misconduct, sleeping with dissidents they were spying on, besieging thousands of protesters, beating and shooting innocent people, and killing numerous prisoners, I think the UK thugs should go and earn more respect before they complain.
If there is a real wrong in what Mitchell is reported to have said, it is the arrogance — for instance, "learn your place" and "plebs". Those words suppose a society in which a few deserve to be served by the rest.
However, if that attitude were unacceptable in a politician, it would exclude the Tories and New Labour in general, since both parties are subservient to the rich.
As for the "swear word" Mitchell allegedly used, that merely indicates anger. People understandably feel angry when forcibly blocked from travelling on their usual paths. To arrest someone for displaying that anger is to kick him when he's down. Not even a politician deserves that.
The UK should take this opportunity to ensure that no Briton will ever again be arrested for "swearing".
The UK government admits that part of the motive for secret courts is to protect itself from bad publicity.
France's new government proposes to "abolish prostitution".
What these measures would really do is force prostitution underground, hurting both prostitutes and their customers.
If you want to help people who feel they have been driven into prostitution, help them deal in other ways with the problems that drove them. That would be real help, and they would appreciate it. Some might then be able to stop doing prostitution. If others continue, voluntarily, why should you object?
Protests against the TPP got
through to the negotiators of other countries.
[Reference updated on 2018-03-02 because the old link was broken.]
A few months ago, an unjust Canadian law increased copyright restrictions. The lobbyists already demand more.
The article uses the unwise term "digital locks" to refer to Digital Restrictions Management. Please don't imitate that weak choice.
Voting laws may disenfranchise 10 million Hispanic U.S. citizens.
The Union of Concerned Scientists rebuked News Corp for distorted coverage of global heating in the Wall Street Journal and Faux News.
Shell is suing Greenpeace International aiming to ban protests anywhere near Shell installations and activities.
Romney believes poor Americans can get needed medical care via emergency room visits.
Data refute the theory that companies "need" to offer CEOs pay that is competitive with CEOs of other companies in the same size.
Journalist John Knefel reports how thugs attacked him then arrested him as he was covering the Occupy Wall Street protest.
Facebook has started working with a purchase-tracking company to cross-reference Facebook's data about users with data about their purchases.
This can't affect you if you do as I do: refuse to use Facebook, block its surveillance of non-users (done via Like buttons), and pay cash. But it is nasty nonetheless.
New Zealand Intel Agency Investigated for Unlawful Spying on Kim Dotcom.
The city of Bogota will provide addictive drugs to addicts by prescription, as a plan to reduce the crime committed by addicts.
A human rights lawyer in Honduras was
murdered.
[Reference updated on 2018-03-02 because the old link was broken.]
Human rights defenders and journalists are murdered often in Honduras since the US-legitimized coup.
Iran officially offered to halt uranium enrichment to 20% in exchange for relaxation of trade sanctions.
The rational point of trade sanctions is to pressure a country into changing policies. If the US goal is that Iran not be able to make a nuclear weapon, Iran is now offering just that. In negotiations, it might offer more. So why would the US not make a deal?
One reason would be if the real US goal is something other than a change of Iranian nuclear policy.
President Morsi of Egypt called on the US to honor the Camp David agreement by supporting Palestinian independence.
Why it is important not to have children.
US citizens:
ask
the FBI to investigate a gruesome antisemitic
attack in the US.
[Reference updated on 2018-03-02 because the old link was broken.]
Most of the world uses second hand goods that came from the rich countries. Therefore, our decisions in rich countries about what sort of goods to use have a long effect on others.
The US must firmly defend the right to criticize any religion.
I posted a link to a note pointing out that protests against the video are organized by extremists as an attempt to spread their extremism among Muslims who mostly are not inclined to violence against anyone. Harris is mistaken in not recognizing this difference among Muslims. However, his main point is valid.
Global heating and acidification due to CO2 are forecast to destroy half the fisheries in the Persian Gulf. And do lots of damage all around the world.
US citizens: insist
on an investigation of the manifest injustices
in Troy Davis' case.
[Reference updated on 2018-03-02 because the old link was broken.]
In an experiment,
Roundup-resistant
GMO corn killed rats by causing cancer. Roundup itself had similar
effects.
[Reference updated on 2018-03-02 because the old link was broken.]
However, the experiment's validity has been criticized.
To conduct a larger experiment seems like a wise policy.
Libya is cracking down on Islamist militias.
Companies are perverting the cooperative spirit of free software and Wikipedia to get people to work gratis.
When someone asks you to contribute to a joint project, think about whether it is being contributed to the public as it ought to be.
The article refers only to "Linux" but it's clearly talking about the GNU/Linux system. The author probably does not know this is an error.
According to Romney's own words, he is unqualified for the presidency because in 2011 he intentionally paid more federal taxes than he had to.
There is nothing inherently wrong in a person's making a gift to the national treasury, but it looks like Romney did this to avoid showing how low a federal tax rate he might have paid before.
And since it is not presented as a gift to the treasury, but rather as not claiming the full deduction he could claim, he can get that money back next year.
Now, I am in favor of a tax deduction for charitable donations, including to churches. His low basic tax rate is the problem.
A Chinese AIDS activist has been disappeared after going on hunger strike to protest his house arrest.
Human Rights Watch and others accuse the Syrian rebels of various war crimes including summary execution.
Ministers in Georgia have resigned due to public protests against brutal treatment of prisoners.
US prisons are getting worse and worse, and privatization creates a systematic motive to imprison ever more Americans. When will Americans show enough spine to protest massively?
A journalist has been arrested in Cuba for writing about diseases there.
Oman sentenced a blogger to a year in prison for criticizing the state.
In Quebec, just across the border from the US, the student protest movement brought down the government and eliminated harsh restrictions on protests.
France bans GMO corn and fracking.
A leak shows that the EU's "Clean IT" plan means massive surveillance and Internet filters.
Karzai's government has
not resulted in respect for womens' rights
in Afghanistan.
[Reference updated on 2018-03-02 because the old link was broken.]
Human Rights Watch makes recommendations for Peru regarding conduct towards protesters.
Global heating deniers tend to believe many conspiracy theories.
Tunisian artists cry for help against religious extremists.
An artist faces 5 years in prison for "disturbing public order" … with paintings
The House of Representatives passed the Dirty Air/Water Act.
Glenn Greenwald: Republicans and Democrats defend freedom of speech
only for some opinions,
while
supporting censorship or even prosecution of others.
[Reference updated on 2018-03-02 because the old link was broken.]
The Internet is made up of privatized "public spaces" comparable to shopping malls, and that puts freedom of speech in danger.
The article also points up the UK's lack of respect for freedom of speech.
Sugar withdrawal can affect part of a rat's brain like opiate withdrawal.
Uri Avnery explains to Romney about the two-state solution to the one-state problem.
Five Looming
Curses of Privatization.
[Reference updated on 2018-03-02 because the old link was broken.]
The US public asks "Why do they hate us" because
our media
don't tell us how the US kills them.
[Reference updated on 2018-03-02 because the old link was broken.]
Romney's embarrassing statements are not "gaffes" — they show the real Romney.
A study predicts that most people in the UK will get worse off through 2020 even though the total economy expands.
That's what happens if you promote economic growth by deregulating business and taxing the rich less — the growth is only for the rich, so why bother?
Only cannabidiol from marijuana stops 6-year-old Jayden David from having seizures all the time. Thanks to Obama, he may be unable to obtain it any more.
Abortion, compared to having an unwanted baby, does not pose a risk of increased mental illness to the woman.
A previous study that purported to show such a risk seems to have been flawed.
The Syrian rebels have
moved
their headquarters into areas of Syria that they control.
[Reference updated on 2018-03-02 because the old link was broken.]
The existence of areas under rebel control means that it is now militarily possible for the West to aid them, as it was in Libya. Whether to do so is another question. The challenge would be to avoid making this a victory for Salafists that could be worse than Assad.
The TSA stopped a traveler from boarding a plane, after she had passed
through security, because
an
agent did not like her attitude.
[Reference updated on 2017-12-02 because the old link was broken.]
US citizens: don't let PG&E sterilize a marine reserve with explosive "tests".
A crowd of citizens stormed the base of Ansar al-Sharia in Benghazi, whose fighters fled after some attempt at resistance.
This may be a step forward in helping the state take power away from the various militias that control parts of Libya. But not necessarily.
Glyphosate (Roundup) promotes gwowth of fungi, and its use has been associated with the appearance of a new fungal disease that causes abortions in farm animals.
Whether Roundup is responsible for this disease is not yet established, but may be established by further study. Whether ceasing to use Roundup would eliminate the disease is a separate question, which experiments could answer.
Whether continued use of Roundup is likely to make more such diseases appear is another question, which we can't answer with certainty, so we must not ignore the risk.
Obama has ignored a letter from 27 congresscritters criticizing the "signature" drone attacks — for 3 months.
Some victims of the shooting in a movie theater
are suing the
theater.
[Reference updated on 2018-03-02 because the old link was broken.]
Isn't this nuts? If they win, theaters will adopt new "security measures" to make life more difficult for everyone (and, as a secondary evil, charge more). But I don't blame the plaintiffs. Due to the lack of a national health service in the US, and the lack of proper support for the disabled, they must be desperate to get money from somewhere.
Reggie Clemons got a new investigation, which presented evidence that his prosecution was unfair.
Thugs get lots of practice lying on the witness stand, so what they said must be disregarded. Aside from that, it looks like Clemons was guilty of something, perhaps participating in rape, if not murder. Some suspects are guilty, after all, but that doesn't excuse torture, or execution.
Our system of testing drugs for safety and efficacy is fundamentally
broken. Pharma companies systematically manipulate it so they can
sell drugs
that don't work, are dangerous, or both.
[Reference updated on 2018-03-02 because the old link was broken.]
The solution is to tax the companies and have the state fund the studies.
This is one example among many of the harm done by the political power of business. That is why I support movements and candidates ready to take away that power.
Democracy does not mean elections. Elections are part of the method, but they are not the point. The point of democracy is that the many non-rich unite to be stronger than the rich. The US doesn't do this, which means democracy is sick.
Clinton the Great Deregulator gave the banksters the conditions to
create
the financial
crisis and the recession.
[Reference updated on 2018-03-02 because the old link was broken.]
I had read that Clinton opposed repeal of Glass-Steagall, but that was incorrect information. He supported it.
In an experiment, Roundup-resistant GMO corn killed rats
by causing
cancer.
[Reference updated on 2018-03-02 because the old link was broken.]
Using a cell phone while driving may not in fact be dangerous. It
seems that the drivers who typically answer the phone drive
dangerously
all the time.
[Reference updated on 2018-03-02 because the old link was broken.]
Fracking is used as a way to dispose of inconvenient toxic waste.
The US has published a list of 55 Guantanamo prisoners who are "cleared for release".
Since the US government doesn't claim to have a reason to imprison them, they should be freed immediately.
The rest of the prisoners should be freed immediately too, unless they are charged with some crime and tried.
(I refuse to call prisoners "detainees". That word sanitizes the horror of being imprisoned.)
Violent protests against an insulting film are being
used
by Muslim extremists (Salafists) to build support for their extremism,
much the way Christian extremists in the West used sometimes violent protest
against abortion providers.
[Reference updated on 2018-03-02 because the old link was broken.]
What is crucial is whether Muslims who respect freedom of expression organize to defeat the extremists.
The world center of Salafism is Saudi Arabia, whose state the US has supported in repression for decades.
If you live in the US, your house can be wrecked as part of the War on Drugs.
Protesters in Benghazi, perhaps remembering how the US air force defended their city, tried to attack the Islamist militia accused of killing the US ambassador.
Millionaires spent millions on lobbyists and campaign contributions to get the Mojahedin-e Khalq removed from the list of organizations arbitrarily labeled as "terrorist".
This demonstrates that the list is a matter of politics, nothing to do with justice. It is prohibition of groups by decree, if they don't have political connections.
Obama has become, on many fronts, as bad an enemy of civil liberties as Bush.
The delusion that terrorism in the US is a significant danger is part of the cause.
A leader of the UK Tory party runs a sleazy search engine spamming company.
Many conservatives own or work for businesses that exploit people (consider Romney), so this should not be surprising.
On the delusion that terrorism is a significant danger in the US.
Authoritarians are not slow to take advantage of this irrational fear. A thug chief claimed that illegal drugs are terrorism.
Facebook censorship guidelines
have been leaked. They include political censorship catering to
various countries that do not respect freedom of speech.
[Reference updated on 2018-03-02 because the old link was broken.]
Some people believe that global heating is a massive hoax. What a silly theory!
Facebook is experimenting with a system to ask people to rat on friends who have not given their real names.
If I used Facebook, I would give my real name, but being denied the option of doing otherwise is enough reason for me to refuse to use it at all.
There are many reasons to reject Facebook.
Amnesty International warns that Israel plans to demolish 13 Palestinian villages.
A simulation
exercise found that the US and Iran could drift into war
through miscommunication.
The Taliban
actively encourage Karzai's troops to kill US troops,
and nothing can be done to stop it.
The root cause of this is that Karzai's rule inspires no loyalty.
If men joined his army because they wanted to defeat the Taliban,
it would be quite rare for soldiers to betray their units and buddies.
Inspections of factories, to assure "social responsibility", often
mean
nothing.
Since Obama's "surge" in Afghanistan did not achieve the goal of
weakening the Taliban, officials
give
it a new goal that has not failed yet.
Romney and Ryan are
letting
neocons decide their foreign policy ideas.
We shouldn't listen to neocons until they become ex-cons.
Murderous fanatics in Pakistan demand
execution
of the man who made a video that insulted Muhammad.
Once again we see the comparison between prohibiting denial of the Nazi
genocide and prohibiting such insults. Censoring one opinion leads
to pressure to censor another. To ban denial of this genocide or others
may be well-intentioned, but it is extremely dangerous.
US citizens:
call on Republican senators
to stop blocking the bill
to aid veterans with education for jobs.
I disagree with calling veterans "our heroes" — those who were
sent to Iraq were victims and dupes. But we should not punish them
for that. It is the lying officials like Bush that should be punished.
US citizens:
Call on the NLRB
to investigate the mining company
that forced employees to participate in a rally for Romney
(and lose pay as a result).
US citizens:
Tell the Bureau of Indian Affairs
to support tribes that
want to stop the Keystone XL pipeline from bulldozing sacred burial
grounds.
The resignation of Yale's president presents an
opportunity
to protect liberal education from turning into corporate
propaganda, but this is not automatic.
US citizens: tell
the EPA to keep farm runoff from turning Chesapeake Bay
into a sewer.
US citizens: Phone your senators to support Senator Merkley's bill,
the Protect America's Privacy Act (S. 3515), which would limit
warrantless wiretapping of Americans.
The Capitol Switchboard numbers are 202-224-3121, 888-818-6641
and 888-355-3588.
Here's info from CREDO Action about the bill:
While Sen. Merkley's bill does not repeal telecom immunity for illegal
spying, restore privacy protection to library and bookstore records, end
National Security Letter abuse, or roll back the worst abuses of the
PATRIOT Act (all issues CREDO will continue to fight for, in addition to
the full repeal of the PATRIOT Act), it does make three major changes to
the warrantless wiretapping program that help us end some of the abuses of
the Bush era.
First, it would put stronger protections in place to ensure that spy
agencies are not using this program as an indirect way to target someone
in the U.S.
Second, current law allows the government to collect information in
anticipation of having its request to do so approved by a special type of
top-secret court. Sen. Merkley's bill would ensure that if this court
decides the procedures the government is using to collect information are
improper, any information collected from Americans cannot be used in a
legal proceeding.
Third, the bill would establish a new process for ensuring that if
security agencies determine that information is being collected on
Americans, that information cannot be accessed or searched until a proper
warrant is obtained.
In France, the "collecting society" that
claims
to represent songwriters squeezes money out of them.
US citizens: call
on the FCC to stop privatized prisons from charging
prisoners a dollar a minute to talk with their families.
US citizens: support
Italy in demanding extradition of CIA
agents convicted of kidnapping.
US citizens: phone your congresscritter and say to remove the "summary
judgment provision" from Whistleblower Protection Enhancement bill.
This provision would allow a judge to dismiss a whistleblower's case
before it is heard in court.
The Capitol Switchboard numbers are 202-224-3121, 888-818-6641
and 888-355-3588.
A Republican legislator who supports voter-ID laws said that
people
who get government benefits should not be allowed to vote.
Store owners and workers went on strike across India
against
plans to allow foreign supermarkets such as Walmart.
When politicians say these stores are "good for the economy", they
mean for the total GNP. However, deregulation implies these "benefits"
go mostly to the rich.
German spyware business
supports
dictators.
Germany is not alone in this: US, UK and French companies do it too.
Arrogant Islamist groups demand the
world-wide
prohibition of blasphemy.
If this proposal is adopted, my cartoon,
Shared
Sacrifice in America, might get me imprisoned for blasphemy
against Huitzilopochtli.
Recall
what
laws against blasphemy do in Pakistan. But even when not carried
so far, censorship is an injustice. We must defend the right to
blaspheme against Allah, Huitzilopochtli, or any other deity.
In a blow against freedom of speech, France has banned
all protest
against the controversial anti-Islam film.
Muslims have a right to protest this or any film, just as people have
a right to make such a film.
Freedom of speech is rather weak in France.
The company that made the ammonia-treated meat derivative that was
secretly added to hamburgers in the US is
suing lots of people for calling it "pink slime".
The Palestinian Authority has arrested
over
100 protesters, activists and journalists.
A UK man was
arrested
for praising someone accused of killing two thugs.
The UK's restrictions on freedom of speech are far more dangerous to
Britons than a murderer.
The Philippine government is considering a
"cybercrime" bill that
exacerbates the danger of criminal punishment for libel, intended to
chill online expression.
Ukraine has restricted
public protests in a manner reminiscent of the US.
There is
Chicago's anti-protest law, the restriction
of protests to far-off "free speech zones" outside the Republican
and Democratic conventions, and
the
law that makes nonviolent protest at events where the Secret Service
is present a felony.
All in all, Ukraine's shame is following the example set by the US.
Massive
protests against austerity in Portugal, but what change
to advocate?
Some are looking towards Iceland's example.
Iran is setting up an independent Internet so as to
disconnect
most citizens from the rest of the world.
Australian public television used a DMCA-like law to
censor
a free program that could access the ABC's web site.
This act of censorship is despicable, and so is the law that was used.
Australians, tell your MP that this law is an injustice.
Although may countries endorse the idea of freedom of speech to some
extent,
most
of them fall short in important ways.
Freedom of speech has been perfected in the US thanks to the
ACLU. I'm a member; are you?
Another paralyzed UK man is
suing
to get permission to pay people to transport
him to Switzerland, where he could get help in dying.
A further disaster for Greece:
most
state property will be privatized.
When it is a matter of selling palaces or islands, the only loss will
be that they get a smaller price than if they had sold at a better
time. Privatizing public services is much worse, since will result
in mistreatment of the workers and the people who use them. This will
result in further poverty.
Privatizing revenue generators such as the lottery will, in the long run,
exacerbate the problem of revenue,
as
in Chicago.
Some in the UK parliament recognize that
drilling
for oil in the Arctic is going in the wrong direction.
How John Paulson arranged with Goldman Sachs to swindle other banks
and got away with it, and now is
paying
millions of those winnings to help Romney.
If you want to buy the book, please don't get it from Amazon.
Other links include
http://www.indiebound.org/book/9781609804787
but even better, you can ask a local independent bookstore to order it.
A French Magazine has published cartoons about Muhammad, and
lots
of intolerant Muslims are expected to go nuts.
I have not seen these cartoons (I hope I can find a copy on Friday),
but I doubt they represent hatred. They are probably kind and gentle
compared with what
my
latest political cartoon
says about Romney and Obama. If Muslims did not let these
caricatures get their goat, people would laugh at them and forget
them.
The main thing currently inciting hatred against Muslims is their own
intolerance. However, most people would hold no grudge against
Muslims if Muslims learn to practice tolerance for disagreement.
Note how the French censorship law that prohibits denial of Hitler's
murder of Jews is being cited as an excuse to advocate further
censorship. That law violates freedom of expression, which makes it
an injustice in its own right. Now we see it threatens to create more
injustice. All laws prohibiting the expression of certain views
on some issue must be repealed.
Meanwhile, look at the Jesus & Mo cartoons — no hatred, but
lots of fun.
US citizens:
tell
the Bureau of Land Management: no fracking near Arches National
Park.
Overfishing and agricultural runoff damage coral reefs by
encouraging
algae to replace coral.
A new
law in Jordan threatens websites that post user comments.
The Israeli
state excused the killing of Rachel Corrie by accepting
inconsistent testimony (probably lies) and by defining everyone in the
area as an "enemy".
This goes a little further than Obama, who only
defines
every adult male as an "enemy".
The fossil fuel companies are
spending
heavily to promote Romney even though Obama is giving them most of
what they want.
Partly this is because they don't like EPA regulations. But partly it
is meant to push Obama further into obedience.
US citizens: call your congresscritter to oppose the Dirty Air/Water Act.
Also send a message through
this
page.
The Capitol Switchboard numbers are 202-224-3121, 888-818-6641
and 888-355-3588.
The Palestinian Authority is considering scrapping the Oslo agreement,
which has
served
to allow Israel to prevent a peace agreement.
Chicago's teachers union ended the strike and
claims
victory.
I can't tell from this article whether it is a real victory for labor.
Obama's treatment of Haiti demonstrates that
you
shouldn't judge a person by race.
Jimmy Carter said that Venezuela's elections in 2006 were the most honest
he has seen, while
the US is far
behind.
A CIA
analysis of the mistaken belief that Saddam Hussein was
developing weapons of mass destruction might have lessons about Iran
today.
New Comic, Shared Sacrifice.
Arctic sea ice reached a record low of this year,
18%
smaller than the previous record low in 2007.
The volume of ice has decreased even more because the ice is now
thinner than ever before. Some scientists say that the Arctic could
be ice-free in summer in just 5 years. If so, it would lead to
further warming (since open water absorbs sunlight unlike ice that
reflects it). This could lead to release of tremendous amounts of
stored methane, which could force a lot more warming, which could kill
a large fraction of humanity.
This disaster is not necessarily inevitable. If we try hard, we might
be able to avoid it.
Anyone arguing for extending airports or highways now is proposing
to let the disaster happen — which a most unwise investment.
A response
to an inquiry about the September 11 note. (September 2012)
On-line education is using a flawed Creative Commons license.
The US has declared fishery disasters on
four coasts.
This should demonstrate that we must do more to protect fish stocks
from disaster. This means
US citizens: Phone your congresscritter and say, "No war with Iran". The Capitol Switchboard numbers are 202-224-3121, 888-818-6641 and 888-355-3588.
[Reference updated on 2018-03-02 because the old link was broken.]
[Reference updated on 2018-03-02 because the old link was broken.]
[Reference updated on 2018-03-02 because the old link was broken.]
[Reference updated on 2018-03-02 because the old link was broken.]
[Reference updated on 2018-03-02 because the old link was broken.]
[Reference updated on 2018-03-02 because the old link was broken.]
[Reference updated on 2018-03-02 because the old link was broken.]
US citizens: phone your congresscritter to support Rep. Keith Ellison's bill for a small tax on sales of stocks, bonds and derivatives.
A secondary benefit of this tax would be to damp out rapid fluctuations caused by computerized trading. (This goal was Tobin's reason to propose the tax.)
The Capitol Switchboard numbers are 202-224-3121, 888-818-6641 and 888-355-3588.
Congressman Kucinich voted to cut off funding for war.
The US diet, with added sugar and fat, causes diabetes. It may also cause Alzheimer's disease.
A misguided policy of selling auto fuel with 15% ethanol, which can ruin a small engine, has made it necessary for the EPA to impose an impractical regulation about minimum sales that will make many purchasers unable to buy what they need.
This Republican congressman's rant about the "free market" is invalid. Environmental protection regulations are necessary — and these regulations seem like a rational choice, given that the 15% ethanol fuel is being sold.
The root of this problem is using ethanol made from growing corn in fuel for automobiles. This would be fine if there were plenty of corn, but nowadays the shortage, caused by global heating, means that billions of people are bidding up the price.
We need to burn less fossil fuel, but replacing it with ethanol made instead of food is nuts
.Some kids are getting tired of Facebook.
The author does not care how Facebook (or other companies) abuse his privacy; he does not mind how the iBad restricts him, let alone how the workers producing Apple products are treated. But even he finds Facebook unpleasant. I hope others, if they don't learn to be concerned about the important issues, at least follow him that far.
21 would-be refugees were trapped between the Israeli and Egyptian border fences. Here's how the Israeli army made the problem disappear.
Jill Stein joined the Occupy Wall Street protest.
Production of iThings continues to oppress workers, notwithstanding Apple's attempts to pretend it has changed the conditions.
Bahrain has made trivial "reforms" but remains
the enemy of human
rights.
[Reference updated on 2018-03-02 because the old link was broken.]
Cell phones for thugs infiltrating protesters can mean cells for protesters.
It's only natural that the thugs beat up a journalist who tried to follow one of these infiltrators. That's what thugs do.
Putin has kicked out USAid for supporting an organization that publicized dishonesty in the elections.
Aaron Swartz faces 50 years in prison if convicted of crimes that
amount
to violating JSTOR's terms of service.
[Reference updated on 2018-03-02 because the old link was broken.]
I've heard that the Injustice Department, which he filled with former RIAA heavies, is pushing hard to get Swartz, which is why they don't care that JSTOR has no complaint against him.
If Obama wins this, people could be imprisoned for registering for Spotify with inaccurate information, or for lending someone else the music they "bought" from iTunes. Perhaps that is Obama's long-term goal.
Uri Avnery comments on mass protests in the West Bank against the Palestinian Authority.
Charity workers have been in prison in Haiti for months for not having a permit.
William Binney went public about NSA spying on all Americans after working privately inside the NSA won him an FBI raid on his home.
Here is a video in which he explains more [35 meg Ogg Theora].
Sworn Declaration of Whistleblower William Binney on NSA Domestic Surveillance Capabilities.
Working within the system for reform occasionally works, but it depends on outside pressure that gives the rulers a reason to want to change. More often, the idea that you're working within the system to reduce the harm it does is merely an excuse to overlook the harm you are doing by not fighting against it.
US prosecutors work hand in glove with sleazy collection agencies.
Should we consider the US and the West
"the
good guys"?
[Reference updated on 2018-03-02 because the old link was broken.]
In the Cold War, the US was far less bad than the Russian Empire, and mostly deserved to be considered the good guys even despite the horrible things (such as overthrowing governments and arranging death squads) that it did in many countries, just because the Russian Empire was such tyranny.
However, as the US moves toward tyranny, I don't see that it deserves to be considered "the good guys". China and Russia today are much worse, but the US may come to rival them in time.
The Obama regime's response to the injunction against imprisonment without trial shows that the plaintiffs' worst fears are justified.
The US bases environmental regulations on an underestimated figure for the harm done by CO2 emissions.
US citizens: tell
the EPA not to make unexplained exceptions
to its rules on air pollution from PVC factories.
[Reference updated on 2018-03-02 because the old link was broken.]
Argentina plans to attack farmers' rights in order to encourage GMOs.
The use of the term “intellectual property” shows the twisted thinking underlying this plan.
Glyphosate, a.k.a. "Roundup", has harmful effects, and weeds are developing resistance fast in the US.
Israel has been claiming
for 20 years that Iran was just about
to develop nuclear weapons.
[Reference updated on 2018-03-02 because the old link was broken.]
The IAEA report referred to in the last paragraph does not factually support the belief that Iran is now developing nuclear weapons.
I don't believe Iran would go to this much trouble if it were not related to making nuclear weapons. But the facts seem to fit the view that Iran wants to develop the capability but not actually build any yet.
Obama's unofficial system of punishment on mere accusation doesn't go as far as the official punishment systems of some other countries, but it is unjust nonetheless.
Romney, not knowing he was on camera, said that half the US population is dependent on the government and he doesn't care about them.
He also claimed that these people pay no income tax, but 2/3 of them pay social security tax which adds up to more than Romney's own tax rate.
Meanwhile, many big and successful companies pay little or no tax despite their high incomes.
So many of Karzai's men have shot Americans that things finally snapped: the US has mostly suspended joint missions with them.
Panetta misrepresents the situation when he calls this the "last gasp of the weakened Taliban." I wish that were true, because the Taliban are loathsome fanatics, but it isn't true. There is no sign that the Taliban have been weakened militarily — their attacks increased this year. The attacks by Karzai's men occur in addition, not instead.
US citizens:
Call
on Obama to regulate fracking effectively to protect
water supplies.
[Reference updated on 2018-03-02 because the old link was broken.]
Of course, we don't dare keep depending on these fossil fuels.
The EU "unitary patent" proposal
threatens
to impose software patents on most of the EU.
[Reference updated on 2018-03-02 because the old link was broken.]
It looks like Iraq is cooperating with a push to remove the Mujahedin-e Khalq from the US list of arbitrarily banned organizations. (I think People's Mujahideen Organisation of Iran is another name for that.)
The Mujahedin-e Khalq are accused of working with Israel to kill Iranian scientists involved in nuclear weapons research. I am not convinced that is a horrible thing to do; I regard it as low-intensity continuation of a long-existing war. Whether the organization should be considered terrorist, I don't know. However, it is clear that what the US government says about this or any other organization is a political decision. It is unlikely that your bowling league will be designated as "terrorist" and banned, but Obama could do it if he really wants to.
To ban any organization without a trial is tyranny.
The Obama regime condemned the court ruling against imprisonment without trial on the grounds that it might require release of some people already imprisoned without trial.
Shame on you, Obama, and shame on the US if we do not stamp out this tyranny.
A court in Afghanistan
ruled
against imprisonment without trial, too.
[Reference updated on 2018-03-02 because the old link was broken.]
Romney's business was started using US government funds that had been delivered to El Salvador for repression, then extracted by the corrupt ruling elite.
So Romney didn't build his engine of job destruction alone. He did it with government help.
A peculiar kidney disease is becoming common in three specific regions, and nobody can figure out why.
In Belarus, where opposition candidates are arrested,
those
who talk of boycotting elections are punished.
[Reference updated on 2018-03-02 because the old link was broken.]
Australia punished Albert Langer for urging people to vote in such a way that their ballots could not count for two major parties that are mostly sellouts to business.
Shell's experimental "containment dome", meant to deal with future oil well leaks in the Arctic Ocean, broke when tested.
Maybe next year Shell will make it work well enough not to break, but that doesn't mean it would really do its job.
The thug who shoved Ian Tomlinson has been punished — by being fired.
US citizens: support
the Occupy Movement.
[Reference updated on 2018-03-02 because the old link was broken.]
Chicago Mayor Emanuel says he will
sue
to stop the teachers' strike,
effectively threatening to jail the teachers.
[Reference updated on 2018-03-02 because the old link was broken.]
It's a favorite right-wing tactic to demonize whichever workers they haven't yet cut the pay of.
Freedom of speech is threatened in the US for Muslims and anti-Muslims, by both Republicans and Democrats.
Everyone:
sign
this petition for clemency for Terrance Williams.
[Reference updated on 2018-03-02 because the old link was broken.]
I think he ought to have a new trial.
Stirring up violence towards anything that "insults" Islam is a
political
tool of Islamist extremists.
[Reference updated on 2018-03-02 because the old link was broken.]
Iran's revolutionary guards are in Syria fighting for Assad.
Occupy Wall Street has returned to protests.
Have the thugs returned to violent attacks on protesters and journalists? Since they must have considered their past practice a success, and none have been punished for these crimes, I expect them to continue.
Netanyahu is trying to pressure the US government to commit itself to war with Iran.
A man in Chicago was arrested for trying to set off a
government-supplied
dummy bomb.
[Reference updated on 2018-03-02 because the old link was broken.]
This raises the issue: to what extent did the government lead him into committing a crime that he otherwise would never have attempted?
Whistleblower Richard Perkins says the Nuclear Regulatory Commission is covering up the danger that a nuclear power plant in South Carolina could have a meltdown if a dam breaks and floods it.
Thirty thousand people protested to block loading nuclear fuel into a reactor in India.
Some argue for nuclear power as a way to prevent global heating. But this is a dangerous bet. If civilization collapses, all the dirty used nuclear fuel rods, stored in a manner that requires frequent high-tech maintenance, will leak into the environment.
The killing of the US ambassador to Libya may have been done by a militia linked to al Qa'ida.
If true — the US or the Libyan government could be lying — this reflects the fact that various militias that participated in the revolution against Gaddafi remain armed, and pursuing their own agendas, including in some cases Islamist extremism.
US surveillance drones are flying over Libya now, probably with the state's approval. What does this imply?
Such groups are not like the army of a state. The army of a state is limited by the state's funding for the troops, training and arms. Killing some of the troops makes the remaining army smaller and (unless it was victorious) weaker in spirit. But these underground groups are limited mainly by how much they can recruit. The drone attacks seem to make them stronger, especially through the resentment generated when they kill civilians.
How the US government talks about drone attacks while claiming it doesn't.
A massive protest in Madrid demanded a referendum on austerity.
Germany is proposing to establish a kind of copyright over news stories in bulk.
Major ISPs want to use the ITU to get rid of network neutrality.
Some in the Taliban want to make an accommodation with the US, but don't trust Karzai to run an election.
Since his last election was a sham, I can't blame them.
The UK's new environment minister has no credentials except the support of a prominent global heating denier.
The current government says it plans to be the "greenest ever" but has taken every opportunity to sabotage renewable energy and boost fossil fuels. I concluded long ago that its actions show us its true goals. Now this is confirmed.
Arguing that continued economic growth is now impossible and people must prepare for society on a broad scale to collapse.
Although economic growth has, in the past, meant increased use of resources that are now scarce, that is not the only way an economic recovery for American workers can occur. Directing the US towards constructing renewable energy in the way it was once directed towards fighting World War II could provide jobs for millions while reducing our resource usage.
But this possibility changes little in practice as long as our corporate rulers will not allow it to happen.
The UN criticized the UK's plan for secret courts.
Protecting torturers is not merely an accidental byproduct of this plan. It is the motive for the plan. The servile UK government will go to any lengths to help Obama protect US torturers.
US citizens:
call
on Congress to repeal the law
that prohibits nearly all protests at many public events.
[Reference updated on 2018-03-02 because the old link was broken.]
US citizens: phone your congresscritter to support the Whistleblower Protection Enhancement Act.
The Capitol Switchboard numbers are 202-224-3121, 888-818-6641 and 888-355-3588.
Major "natural foods" store chains have stopped trying to resist GMOs.
The White House seems to have pressured Google in vague terms to take down the anti-Muslim video that fanatics are using as an excuse to provoke violence.
I am not surprised that the video has been blocked in India.
Terry Williams faces execution for
killing the men who
raped him repeatedly in church.
The death penalty is always wrong, but commuting it to life imprisonment
in this case seems insufficient.
Responding to broad public condemnation, the Canadian government
dropped its plan to
charge
a musician for using pictures of pennies on a record cover.
The mint spreads gratuitous confusion by describing its copyright
policy as
“intellectual
property policy”, mixing up copyright with a
several other unrelated laws.
This confusion is so easy to avoid that it is inexcusable
not to.
Drought due to global heating is
blocking
the operation of electric power plants.
Solar and wind power are not affected by these problems.
Charging farms more for water is also vitally necessary to prevent
wasteful use. This has been recognized for decades, but agribusiness
interests have prevented it.
Former anti-Gaddafi Libyan dissidents describe
how
the CIA tortured them before handing them over to Gaddafi's torturers.
Since Obama has gone all-out to protect US torturers so far,
he will surely protect the perpetrators of this torture too,
while doing everything possible to prevent the accusations from
being investigated in court.
In effect, Obama is complicit in the torture he covers up.
Hadopi, the unjust French law that
punishes
people when they are accused of file-sharing.
A former Republican (of the non-theocratic variant)
explains what
he used to believe, and how he found out that much of it was baloney.
US citizens: call
for raising the issue of global heating in the
presidential debates.
Wisconsin has carried the War on Dissent to new lengths,
arresting
people carrying hand-held signs in the capitol building.
A lobbying group of "fire experts" was shut down after it was exposed
as a
front
for the companies that make toxic fire-retardant chemicals.
The idea of artificially stopping fires from starting is not a bad
one, and it isn't self-evident whether these chemicals do more or less
harm than the fires they prevent. On the other hand, some highly
flammable materials such as polyurethane could be banned in consumer
products instead of treated with toxins.
Nobody in the US will be prosecuted for torture
except
the whistleblower John Kiriakou who told us about it.
As a patriotic American, brought up to love freedom,
I feel the same disgust for the US government today
as I feel for other governments that torture and oppress.
The impression of "balance": a Washington Post columnist says it
bothers him to criticize Romney more than he criticizes Obama.
Someone taught him a decent journalist is
supposed
to criticize both candidates equally.
I think a decent citizen should criticize Obama and Romney equally
for the right-wing policies they agree on.
The US will protect former Mexican president Zedillo from a
lawsuit by
victims of a massacre carried out by paramilitaries during his
presidency.
Thanks to Obama,
punishment
without trial is coming to the US, "justified" by the illegitimate
goal of stopping people from sharing.
US citizens: support
striking Walmart workers.
Everyone: call
on Apple to treat its workers ethically.
This would not be enough
to make Apple computer products acceptable to use.
Florida's Republican rulers
plan
to resume a hasty purge of supposedly ineligible voters,
giving them too little time to challenge the exclusion.
Japan has announced a plan to close
all nuclear power plants in 30 years and expand renewable energy.
Fossil fuel companies are buying lots of ads to
push
Obama to give them all they want.
Arguing that the protests against US embassies are more due
to
US
policies (such as drone assassinations) and fanatical
organizers than to a video.
US citizens: Phone your congresscritter to say "No war with Iran".
Then send a message through this page.
The Capitol Switchboard numbers are 202-224-3121, 888-818-6641
and 888-355-3588.
US citizens:
call
on the Senate Judiciary Committee to hold hearings
on Republican voter suppression.
Arctic sea ice sets a new record low, just
half
the area that was usual in the 1970s.
But this understates the loss, because it is also much thinner than it
used to be. In volume, it is now far less than half.
The UK plans to deport Tamil refugees to Sri Lanka despite evidence
they are
likely
to be tortured there.
Repressive Malaysia is
extending
repression of gays.
Brought to You by...Big Oil? The Washington Post presented a biased
"debate" about energy sources, concealing the fact that it was
sponsored
by fossil fuel companies.
A Dutch court put journalists and web site operators in danger by
fining
a site for a link to an unauthorized copy of a photo.
Intel has designed a chip with secret features so that
only
Windows can run on it.
House
GOP Budget Would Cost States Ten Times More Than Expanding Medicaid.
Republican Romney and Chicago's Democrat mayor both
oppose
Chicago's teachers, and Obama doesn't support them.
How Romney
helped
Monsanto become the menacing giant that it is today.
If Romney applies the
Bain Capital methods to the 50 states.
Protests against the
TPP
negotiations.
Networking
Rebellion: Digital Policing and Revolt in the Arab Uprisings.
UC Davis will pay
compensation
to the protesters who were pepper sprayed by thugs.
Zainab Al-Khawaja protested even with a cast on her leg, which had
been broken
by Bahraini thugs in a previous protest. So now she is in prison.
Her father was raped in prison while recovering from the many operations
needed to repair all the bones that the thugs broke.
The US government continues supporting Bahrain's cruel king,
as part of the race for who gets to roast our planet fastest.
Senator Leahy has proposed an
amendment
to fill the gap in Americans'
rights against surveillance of their stored email.
This ought to ban the existing universal
NSA
snooping, but I suspect that point will be ignored.
High-ranking UK thugs may face prosecution for
lying
about the events of a disaster in which 96 sports fans died,
falsely blaming the victims.
Apple censorship is not always aimed at its direct commercial advantage.
Naomi Wolf's book
"Vagina"
is presented on iTunes with a censored title.
Calling on
Clinton to apply the law and suspend US arms sales to Bahrain.
US citizens: sign
up to confront candidates about public funding of
elections and reversing the Corporations United decision
(note that I call it by what it really was).
Some Syrians who didn't like Assad are
repelled
by the violence and extremism of the rebels.
I doubt we can tell how many Syrians feel this way, how many support
the rebels, and how many supported Assad all along. However, I think
the disapproval of the rebels might result in Assad's keeping power.
World of Warcraft screenshots have secret watermarks
identifying
who made them.
Rick Falkvinge joins me in demanding an end to the
censorship
of "child pornography", and points out that if in the US you
observe the rape of a child, making a video or photo to use as
evidence would subject you to a greater penalty than the rapist.
The article does not mention that it's common practice for teenagers
to exchange nude photos with their lovers, and they all potentially
could be imprisoned for this. A substantial fraction of them are
actually prosecuted.
Just 350 miles from the North Pole, sea ice is only fragmentary.
This means that
satellites
overestimate the amount of ice that remains.
A Cambodian journalist who
reported
on deforestation has been murdered.
Sustainable development
must
aim at wellbeing, not at economic growth.
This is all the more so given that economic growth under the empire of
business tends to benefit only the rich.
Thousands of species of frogs in Asia may be
wiped
out by human activity before science discovers their existence.
The UK government is
planning
to break its own laws by pushing for
extended use of fracked gas rather than renewable energy.
How will Libya's new government
deal
with violent Islamists?
A million Catalans marched in favor of separating Catalunya from
Spain.
Their grievances are fueled by the effects of austerity. Catalans are
making a mistake blaming the poor in Andalucía and Extremadura;
they should join together to fight their common enemies: Rajoy and the
banksters.
Meanwhile, this shows a way for a country to exit the euro zone. It
can split into regions, each of which will need a new currency since
it will be outside the EU. But instead of making a new currency for
each region, they could share a single new currency, just as Ecuador
and the US share the dollar. Then the regions could reunite.
One of many tyrannical laws in the UK allows border agents to arrest people
arbitrarily and
imprison
them for refusing to answer a question.
The plans to revise the law affect other secondary nasty points, but
apparently there is no plan to change the law's principal attack
against the rights of Englishmen: forcing people to incriminate
themselves.
An iThing user writes about being
trapped by the Apple "ecosystem".
It is not impossible to break loose: you can stop, and you should
stop. However, is is a considerable inconvenience to break loose from
this pernicious system, and that makes Apple culpable for creating it.
Colombian General Motors worker Jorge Parra is on hunger-strike again,
after
GM refused to help the workers who were
fired
after they were injured on the job.
Pakistan
Parties Uniting Against Drones.
The US continues imprisonment without trial. Prisoner
Adnan
Abd-ul-Latif died in Guantanamo, where he was held merely for
being Yemeni.
U.S. strike on Iran
could
lead to all-out Mideast war, experts say.
Even the thugs are
protesting against austerity in Greece.
Fortunately for Greece, the long-term disaster of privatization has
proceeded slowly. There may be some government activities that could
safely be privatized, because the public would be able to use them
through a competitive market; but I expect that the main privatization
will be for the things that ought to be run by the state.
Unjust US laws have harmed Tunisians' human rights, in
Guantanamo
and in Tunisia.
Google has
blocked
access in Libya and Egypt to the video that
Muslim fanatics are offended by.
Big Banks
failed to properly implement the Home Affordable
Modification Program, resulting in 800,000 foreclosures that should
have been avoided.
Judge Katherine B. Forrest
issued
a permanent injunction against the
imprisonment without trial authorized by the National "Defense"
Authorization Act.
While it is good that this injustice has been blocked, the grounds for
blocking it are too specific: that the grounds stated for imprisoning
people were too vague. Even given a very clear and precise criterion,
imprisonment without trial is tyranny. For the US to be the Land of
Liberty, it must respect the most basic human right: no punishment
without a fair trial.
Foxconn
closed
schools and forced the students to work building iThings.
Republicans
Admit Federal Reserve Can Help The Economy, But Prefer It Wouldn't.
Increased government spending is a much better way to promote employment
in the US, but Republicans have been able to block that since 2010.
New
Study Finds High-Income Tax Cuts Don't Stimulate Economic Growth.
In recent history, that is.
The House of Representatives voted for
5 more years of warrantless
wiretapping of Americans' international communications.
Note that the NSA in fact intercepts
nearly all the digital communications in the US, but has redefined
the word "intercept" to pretend this isn't so.
US citizens: call
on Obama and your senators not to defend
imprisonment without trial, which a judge found unconstitutional.
In the two messages, I replaced "indefinite detention"
with "imprisonment without trial". Why mince words?
"Agent
Orange Corn" One Step Closer to Approval
Stanford scientists who published an analysis of studies comparing
organic and conventional foods worked in a lab
funded
by organizations
with their own private interests in the issue.
This does not necessarily invalidate the conclusion: that organic food
was not better in nutritional value. But it casts doubt on whether we
can trust the scientists who published the study.
The first announcement of the study that I saw said that it
acknowledged that organic foods could be better in avoiding pesticides
and drug-resistant bacteria. So I am surprised by the articles
criticizing the study for denying that.
US citizens: call
on Citibank to cancel student loans when a student dies.
US citizens: sign this petition against the TPP.
A mob attack on the US consulate in Banghazi provided the opportunity
for someone to fire a rocket that
killed
the US ambassador.
If I saw the movie that the mob was angry at, I might disagree with
parts of it. I'm not interested in seeing it, because whatever
opinion I might have of the film itself is irrelevant to the important
issue at stake. We must defend the freedom to state those views, or
any views, whether we agree with them or not.
Censorship is an injustice. Whether it is done by a state such as
Turkey, a company such as Apple or Facebook, or a mob of people who
think one has no right to offend them, it is an injustice. No matter
how powerful are the forces of censorship, we must never grant them
legitimacy.
An undercover journalist reports on the horrible conditions in the
Foxconn factory that makes iThings:
still
horrible in 2012.
Vietnam plans
to prosecute publishers of anti-government web sites.
Protesters
and legislators
condemned the secret negotiations of the TPP.
The articles spread confusion when they use the term "intellectual
property". The draft treaty probably does it too.
Romney condemned the US embassy in Egypt for responding to mob attack
by condemning the film that the mob was angry at. But he was mistaken.
It turns out that the embassy
anticipated
the attacks by condemning the film.
To my mind, that makes the embassy's action even worse. Surrender before
you're even attacked?
US citizens:
tell
Nintendo to refuse to buy conflict minerals
mined by brutal African militias.
US citizens:
call
on Obama to ban trade in polar bear parts.
1/5
of children in the US are living in poverty.
When you cut everything that can help the non-rich, you get more poverty.
Most Americans and most Europeans want to remove lots of the NATO troops
from Afghanistan
immediately.
Paul Ryan voted
repeatedly against paying for the treatment of
illnesses caused by breathing the toxic air of the burning World Trade
Center.
Today's banks, focused on financial schemes to grab more money from
other investors,
downplay
productive investment.
Many UK schools have put surveillance cameras in
toilets
and changing rooms.
Ten years ago, an article
foretold
what the results would be if Bush invaded Iraq.
Few of those who supported the decision have admitted it was wrong.
Perhaps that is because it was worse than just a mistake. It was a
crime, and those responsible do not want to feel that they are
criminals.
The Caravan for Peace has toured the US
protesting
against the destructive War on Drugs.
The record companies have been victorious
in their lawsuits for hundreds of thousands of dollars for
nonprofit sharing of songs.
We must demand that our congressional representatives support
legalization of sharing.
Other countries should monitor the US election to see if Republicans
will win via disenfranchisement.
The multiple
swindles of No Child Left Behind.
AT&T claims that "Internet freedom" means
abolishing
all regulation of ISPs and phone companies. It wants to force
people to switch from telephone service to Internet service, and
abolish "common carrier" status so it can arbitrarily cut people off.
The US Navy got court approval to risk causing the
extinction
of North Atlantic right whales, by setting up a sonar testing
range next to the place they give birth to their young.
Chicago teachers have gone on strike because
the
city is planning to fire them if they teach in schools where students
do badly (because they are poor).
Greg Palast explains
how the scheme works.
White
House Preparing Executive Order As A Stand-In For CISPA.
Ensuring that companies that run crucial infrastructure maintain good
computer security is a legitimate goal, and parts of the plan may
be unproblematical. But it needs to be done in a way that doesn't
trample the public's freedom.
Twitter seems to have lost its appeal to protect
personal
data of a protester in New York City.
I agree that tweets, which are published, cannot be the object of privacy.
However, I've read in other articles that the information in question
includes IP addresses and other non-published data.
Julian Assange threatened to sue SXSW if it broadcast a
film
that presented him in a bad light.
I have not seen the film, and I have no opinion about it, but even if
it were an out-and-out lie and deserved a libel suit, this advance threat
seems harsh and aggressive.
However, this is a secondary issue compared with the heroic work of Wikileaks
and has no effect on the need to protect Assange from US persecution.
Egyptians attacked the US embassy, enraged about a
video
made in the US which insults Muhammad.
The embassy conceded
too much to these would-be censors.
Another example of
dangerous
surrender occurred in the UK.
People have as much right to express anti-Muslim views as they have to
be Muslims. Censorship threats by arrogant Muslims who can't bear
criticism must be resisted with not the slightest hint of an apology.
A suicide bomber in Kabul
killed
and injured teenagers who sold trinkets
outside NATO headquarters.
Whatever may have been the bomber's originally intended target, he
surely knew when he pushed the button who the victims would actually
be. He could instead have walked away.
I wonder whether Afghans will feel the same disgust at the Taliban
that they feel towards the US for killing civilians.
Prohibition of marijuana in the UK is fueling violence among producers,
so a chief of thugs proposes …
more
prohibition.
It appears that there was
no
massacre in the jungle in Venezuela. The group that made the
accusation retracted it.
US citizens: sign this petition
for presidential debate to include
other real candidates.
Everyone:
sign this petition
to the US and Israel, saying not to
attack Iran.
11
years after Dubya invaded Afghanistan, the US is still at war
there, still killing, still dying, still propping up a corrupt
government that treats women with contempt.
Meanwhile, the Taliban get their funds from US "ally" Saudi Arabia.
Instead of asking people to pay for access, websites might in the
future
ask
visitors to answer a survey question.
There are many kinds of questions I would not mind answering to visit
a web site. However, I would not mind paying money, either, in
principle. My objection to today's paywalls is that paying would
require me to identify myself. My concern about possible future
"surveywalls" is likewise about the details.
If I could answer the survey question without running nonfree software
(including nonfree Javascript code), and without its being tied to my
identity or to my other browsing, I would be willing to answer,
supposing the question itself were not objectionable.
Did Romney intentionally misrepresent his position on health care to
mislead
undecided voters?
I have no proof, but I think it is plausible that he did.
The outcome of the US election may be determined by lawsuits over
Republican
voter suppression laws.
Dubya ignored many warnings about the Sep 2001 attacks and is
still
covering up what they were.
Romney's PACs get
millions
from Chinese casinos, and from dummy
corporations run by cartoon characters.
"This
blogpost will cause lasting damage to children's brains".
Many cleaning products contain toxic substances that
can cause
asthma or cancer.
South Sudan is a new country, but its thugs have already
beat up
a human rights activist.
Legitimizing
tyranny in Sri Lanka.
The leaked list of iThing UDIDs
originated
from a company. This does not necessarily prove it was not
obtained from the FBI.
That list is personal information about people who did nothing to
deserve mistreatment. (They did something very foolish by using Apple
devices, but they shouldn't be punished for that.) The
crackers
reduced the wrong by limiting the information in what
they leaked, but it was nonetheless somewhat wrong.
However, the more important wrong was collecting the data in the first
place. When we consider how to prevent future wrongs, we should focus
on that kind.
An HIV-infected political prisoner in Zimbabwe is
campaigning
for prisoners to have access to the medicines that save their
lives by preventing AIDS.
Climbers in an Austrian mountain peak found it
without
an ice cap for the first time.
Global heating should be
presented
as a public health issue.
Econometric evidence that taxes and regulations are
not
the obstacle to US economic recovery.
Even the Koch brothers can criticize
crony capitalism. So let's stop them from practicing it.
The claim that 80% of human DNA is functional was based
on a lax criterion for "functional".
Some
of that 80% might nonetheless be junk.
Today we commemorate the September 11 attacks, which killed President
Allende of Chile and installed Pinochet's murderous military
dictatorship. More than 3,000 dissidents were killed or "disappeared"
by the Pinochet regime. The USA operated a destabilization campaign
in Chile, and the September 11 attacks were part of
that campaign.
I also support a
new investigation of the September 11, 2001, attacks in the US.
A study reports that the apparent grains of microthermite in
dust from the World Trade Center
could
be a mixture of kaolin and epoxy, both common in paint.
Also, the iron microspheres can form in a fire at a temperature
much
lower than the usual burning point of iron.
This undercuts the practical evidence cited for the claim that the
World Trade Center was knocked down by thermite planted in the
buildings.
I still support the demand for an honest, impartial investigation with
full subpoena power. The weakened and then
corrupted
investigation that Bush allowed was not sufficient
to establish the truth and demonstrate it to the public.
The UN's global carbon trading system, set up to encourage investment in
emissions reduction in poor countries, is
on
the edge of collapsing.
Salmon farms, like plant farms, need ever increasing amounts of toxic
pesticides. These pesticides are
dumped
straight into the ocean.
Taliban leaders want to negotiate,
according
to former Taliban leaders.
44 journalists face charges of terrorism in Turkey
for
criticizing the state in various ways.
The saddest thing is that
US
dissidents are getting similar treatment.
America
the Possible: Breaking the Chains of Consumerism.
Garbage magnates are
lobbying
to discourage composting recycling.
Apparently I am not the only one who's non compost mentis.
Existing nature reserves fall far short of what is needed to prevent
a mass
extinction later this century.
Iraq's vice president, a Sunni and now in exile in Turkey, was
sentenced
to death in absentia.
I won't say it is impossible that he's guilty of ordering killings,
but it is clear that the trial is political and the verdict is
meaningless. Several major Iraqi political parties were (maybe still
are) connected with militias which participated in the sectarian
warfare a few years ago. It would be good to punish all those
involved, but trying to execute only the Sunni political leader looks
more like a further act in that warfare.
Caribbean coral reefs are over 90% dead, and
what's
left is threatened.
Laura Poitras' new documentary shows
how
much the NSA is spying on every American.
Congress
could
stop this, if it cared about human rights.
Ask your candidates for congresscritter and senator where they stand
on warrantless surveillance of Americans.
Privatized water companies are giving US homeowners
unjustified
and incredible bills.
Greenpeace says Shell was
reckless
in its rushed and incomplete testing
to a crucial component it wants to use for undersea Arctic drilling.
The US shielded
Bolivia's ex-president from extradition on charges of
mass murder.
Not the Financial Times.
Wind-power generators kill hundreds of thousands of birds in the US,
but that's
insignificant
because buildings, power lines and cats kill
hundreds of millions of birds.
UK citizens: oppose
default-on UK Internet filtering.
Wells Fargo
foreclosed
a home that had no mortgage, and a retired couple
lost all their possessions.
The reason this can occur is that courts don't bother to insist the
banks provide valid proof of the mortgage they claim to be foreclosing.
Pressure
for Labour in the UK to imitate Obama and move even further
to the right.
The Democratic Party platform
endorses
the War on Sharing, using the propaganda term
"intellectual
property".
The use of that term by the government is a method of
framing the copyright issue so as to support the War on Sharing.
Using that term helps their cause, so please don't.
Jacob Appelbaum explains how much of a
security
risk a cell phone is.
US-funded
African armies are now joining in the slaughter of elephants.
The Republican and Democratic conventions have turned into
displays
run on corporate sponsorship.
We are a
step closer to seeing Tony B'liar prosecuted for the
crime of aggressive war, but there is a long way to go.
Subsidies and tax breaks for the 1% are
vast
compared with social welfare programs for the 99%.
Thanks to these, the owners of major US companies can't honestly
claim to have built those companies. We the taxpayers built them
too. (And the workers surely helped.)
The richest Americans and big business are creating
hardly
any jobs in the US, even though they have plenty of money.
So it is no surprise that giving them more money,
with tax cuts, doesn't lead to any more jobs.
That article accepts one erroneous but widely believed point: that
innovative startups create substantial numbers of jobs. As an Intel
executive pointed out a couple of years ago, such companies only provide
substantial numbers of jobs when they ramp up production, and nowadays
they don't do that in the US.
Other kinds of new businesses, such as restaurants and stores, can add
up to large numbers of jobs, simply because there can be large numbers
of these businesses.
US citizens: phone your congresscritter to call for continued funding
for US conservation programs. Also send a message through
this page.
The Capitol Switchboard numbers are 202-224-3121, 888-818-6641
and 888-355-3588.
I called for increased efforts to stop global heating.
We need a new
911 investigation.
The FBI has a new facial recognition system, and there is little to
stop them from
trying
to put in a photo of everyone in the country.
China continues repression in Tibet,
arresting
monks and confiscating computers.
A girl who made a solitary protest was
imprisoned
for 3 years. Beating and injuring her was not enough to satisfy
the thugs.
Chinese
who want human rights face repression too.
A Nigerian journalist who was attacked
may
get justice.
Comparing Obama, Romney and Stein on
energy
policy.
Arguing against
the premature dismissal of organic food.
The advocates of organic food often adopt a simplistic "natural is
good" platform which is not justifiable. But that doesn't mean that
it it does not sometimes address real problems. Ecological damage,
resistant bacteria and efficient resource usage are all important
issues. Avoiding monoculture and domination by giant agribusinesses
is important too. Many of the practices of organic farming may be
necessary to address these problems.
Romney advocates more government spending, in
the name of jobs, as long as it's military spending.
Strange that he wants to cut the other government spending,
that creates more jobs per dollar and does some real good
for society in the process.
Romney wants Internet filtering software
installed
in all computers.
Note how he uses works that some find disgusting as
an excuse for something even more disgusting.
The Koch brothers' political front endorses tax breaks for oil companies,
but opposes
them for wind power.
Half
of America's unemployed people are not getting unemployment
benefits.
Car insurance companies want to install
computer
systems in cars to track where and how they drive.
The whole idea of insurance is that you pay based on an estimate of
what your accidents are likely to cost. With more information,
they can make a better prediction. This is not inherently bad,
but there are some kinds of information that companies should
not be able to use for this.
I think it is legitimate to charge based on a person's style of
driving, and to collect data to determine what that style is. For
instance, how you typically brake is not sensitive for other reasons,
so there's no reason to stop that from being measured.
However, the insurance company must not be able to collect any
information about where or when you drive, because nobody should
be allowed to collect that sort of information about you.
It is too sensitive and amounts to a surveillance society.
"Raising
the retirement age" is the euphemism for cutting social
security benefits.
With longer life spans, it makes sense to ask people to retire later
— if there is work that we need them to do. However, in a
society with high unemployment, it is absurd to claim that people
should be required to keep working longer even though they can't find
a job.
The
New
York Times won't dare to call torture torture, when the US
government does it.
This is a double standard. After World War II, the US
executed
Japanese soldiers who applied this kind of torture to US prisoners
of war.
I oppose capital punishment, but anyone who commits torture
deserves to be punished, and the US has the duty to punish
its torturers.
Why Romney is not
afraid of fact-checkers.
Paul
Ryan's lies are mere "overreaching" which calls for a "course correction".
One author sells his ebooks to libraries
without DRM or EULA. And also permits a
certain
amount of copying.
This doesn't go as far as it should — readers should be free to
share copies of any published work — but it is at least no worse
than a printed book.
The ACLU
is suing the Washington DC thug department for stealing
a man's phone memory.
The political conventions demonstrate the US success in
repressing
mass protest.
What's left of US democracy is an election between two right-wing
parties in which businesses can spend as much as they wish to make
lies appear true.
Can we do anything with this shred of democracy? Only if we can
thwart the attempt by the rich to buy victory for their flunkies.
Who is not their flunky? If they are buying lots of attack ads against
someone, that's a hint. If the target is progressive, vote for him.
Glenn Greenwald
dissects
CNN's response to his article about burying
Amber Lyon's documentary.
Restaurants are
starting
to replace waiters with computerized ordering systems.
How will millions of poor Americans work as waiters? Will the US government
do anything for them when half of them are out of work?
US citizens: tell
Obama to stop his assassination policy.
Americans, unless they resist, will be the subjects in an experiment in
massive
personalized marketing.
Not me, though. I almost never use the systems that give companies
personal information about customers.
US citizens:
oppose
fracking in Yellowstone National Park.
Everyone: call
on the EU to negotiate with China over clean energy policy.
Obama stated
his own guidelines for drone assassinations.
Given the US practice of claiming that any adult male that gets killed
was an enemy combatant, point 4 seems to be mere window dressing.
However, in the absence of any legal procedure, they could all be
empty words.
Amnesty International warns that the TPP threatens
free
speech and health care.
US sanctions against Iran supposedly do not affect medicine,
but here is how
they do so in practice.
Supporters of Bradley Manning protested
at
Obama campaign headquarters in 34 US cities.
Some schools in the US are forcing students to carry RFIDs all the time
so as to track them around the school.
They are being trained to live in subjection in prison.
Rimsha Masih was granted bail but
her
lawyer says Muslim fanatics will try to murder her.
The history
of the sex-toy vibrator: it was invented for doctors
to give their patients orgasms.
The idea that there is something wrong with a woman if she doesn't
have an orgasm in sex with a man seems so strange to me that I can
hardly believe anyone thought that. If I can't give a woman pleasure,
I might feel inadequate, or perhaps just disappointed, but it would
never occur to me to think that this was a flaw in her.
The US designated the Haqqani network as a
"terrorist
organization".
That might be an accurate designation, but terrorism is a crime, and
it is an injustice to declare an organization guilty of a crime
without a fair trial to prove it.
Human Rights Watch says that evidence points to Assad's men as the
perpetrators
of the massacre of Daraya.
18
million Americans can't get enough food.
It will be even harder in a few years as global heating reduces agricultural
productivity and drives up food prices.
Israel's defense minister
reportedly
now opposes attacking Iran.
If this is true, Israel will not attack unless Netanyahu pulls off a
really clever trick. This is good, because such a war would be a
disaster for everyone.
Almost 2/3 of Indian school children from lower castes have been subject
to explicit
discrimination in school.
US citizens: tell
the Bureau of Land Management that its proposed
rules on fracking need to be tougher.
Honduras plans to create a city with separate laws to be written to
suit
foreign investors.
Now it is clear what Obama hoped to gain by supporting the coup.
An architect of multiple levels of front groups, designed to let oil
companies spread denial of global heating while denying it's done with
their funds, is now getting
closely
involved with the Democratic National Convention.
The NAACP President explains why Black Americans (and poor Americans
generally) are likely
not to have up-to-date government IDs with their
current addresses.
US citizens:
Tell
President Obama and Secretary Salazar: don't give
Shell an extension on its Arctic drilling window.
Amber Lyon made an award-winning documentary in Bahrain for CNN, as
part of a larger program about the Arab Spring. CNN suppressed it
after one showing, fired her, and is now
making
threats to silence her.
If you watch the video on YouTube, don't do it through the site itself:
that requires running nonfree software (either Flash, or nonfree Javascript
from YouTube itself). You can download the videos from YouTube and
watch them using free software, such as youtube-dl.
Human Rights Watch announces its report about US torture of Libyan
dissidents for
Gaddafi.
Here's
the
report itself.
Democrats have started talking as if they were defending Americans
from Republicans and business-friendly plans, but they too
plan
to sell us out.
The Democratic Party's claims to have resisted the banksters, defended
American workers, and resisted global heating turn out to me
more
false than true.
The overall strategy of the two-party system is to push the US ever further
towards right-wing
cruelty.
Individual Democratic candidates may deserve support, especially if they
oppose such things as free exploitation treaties. But not the Democratic
Party in general, and not Obama.
Global heating is changing the forests in New England, and the seas
around New England. Industries have already been wiped out, and
more
will follow.
The Democratic Party supports "internet freedom", but it
endorses
the copyright lobby's war against the Internet at the same time.
Striking miners in South Africa are demanding a
big
raise, and heartlessly resisting when the bosses beg them to be
reasonable and go back to work. Management would like us to believe
that a raise for these low-paid and dangerous jobs would be a
"dangerous precedent".
I think the company can afford to pay these workers decently.
Republicans want "small government" except, mysteriously,
for the
military.
The US gives billions
in tax exemptions for construction of stadiums.
Supporters of the Keystone XL planet-roaster pipeline
continue
to lie about how many jobs it would create.
Of course, the bigger and deeper error would be to judge the pipeline
by a secondary issue such as jobs working on it, and ignore the
tremendous boost it would give to global heating. The articles that
claim the pipeline is good because of the imaginary jobs are not only
false, they are also distraction.
Human Rights Watch says that the CIA
tortured Libyan dissidents by
waterboarding before handing them over to Gaddafi's men.
I think Obama will protect these torturers too.
American mobile phone users are demonstrating they are
starting
to care about privacy.
If they had the option of mobile phones that wouldn't track them
everywhere, they might choose those. But no such phones exist, and it
is simply impossible to prevent the localization done by cell towers.
The way not to be tracked is to reject portable phones.
US citizens: call
on IBM, Google, Pepsico and Microsoft to
stop supporting the US Chamber of Commerce
US citizens: tell
New York Governor Cuomo that he won't get public
support if he allows fracking in New York State.
EU citizens: comment to oppose plans for a "clean" Internet,
where "clean"
means "no sharing".
Here's the
consultation itself.
Here's where to submit
a comment.
Rather than only opposing unjust proposals, how about demanding a
right not to be disconnected from the Internet without a trial, and a
ban on Digital Restrictions Management? I don't know if this is
possible — because of the short time available, I have asked to
post this without waiting to get a copy of those pages.
US citizens:
Ask
Michelle Obama to remind the president
to carry out his promise and support labeling requirements for GMOs.
The UK government, throwing the Earth's climate to the winds, is
looking
for an excuse to support extending Heathrow airport.
Bahrain Court Upholds Life Sentences for Activists.
It appears a US drone killed 13
civilians in Yemen. The victims' families are rather angry at the
US government.
IAEA
Report Shows Iran Reduced Its Breakout Capacity.
In
Iran, sanctions take toll on the sick.
How the TPP could make life-saving medicines
prohibitively
expensive in some countries.
The US already has these bad policies, and it needs to change them.
Therefore, the Big Pharma lobby wants to give sellout politicians
such as Obama and Romney an excuse in the form of a treaty.
Bottom-trawling affects the sea floor
as
much as plowing affects the land.
Glaciers in Patagonia are melting
faster since 2000.
Deforestation in tropical regions reduces
rain there.
A court in Rhode Island ruled that
a
thug should have had a warrant
to look at someone's text messages in her phone.
But this will probably be appealed.
The ACLU calls on Apple to get
rid of the UDID unique identifying number.
I agree. However, every mobile phone has another unique ID number
that it transmits to the phone system every time. Which is one of the
reasons I don't have a mobile phone.
Pakistan has punished Save the Children,
claiming
that the CIA used that organization to find Osama bin Laden.
It is valid to criticize Afridi (and his US employers) on the grounds
that, by setting up a phony vaccination scheme, they put the
vaccination mission in peril. Eliminating polio forever was (and is)
far more important than finding bin Laden. If the US wanted to
prosecute someone with lots of blood on his hands, Dubya is easy to
find.
However, it is clear that Pakistan did not put Afridi in prison for
endangering the elimination of polio — because Pakistan is now
going the US one worse by attacking that project outright.
Through these actions, Pakistan in effect declares bin Laden a
national hero, which implies endorsement of what he did. Even if he
was a lesser criminal than Dubya, he was still very bad.
Thousands
of people have faced prosecution under Pakistan's blasphemy
law. Some due to ludicrous reasons, and others for exercising their
freedom of expression.
The article asserts that the words these people are accused of saying
cannot be published because it would be blasphemy. That may be true
in Pakistan, but The Guardian is published in the UK. I therefore beg
the Guardian to publish this information.
If someone emails me this information, I will post it here.
Samsung joins Apple in
being accused of mistreating workers in China.
Addicted gamblers are not hoping to win, just to
prolong
the sensation of playing.
If they could manage to get the same sensation from playing a game that
doesn't cost money, they might be home free.
Deregulation has encouraged speculation on food, which can
cause price
rises that can drive millions around the world
into hunger.
"Free trade" treaties also do this; they subject peasants in
many countries to very efficient mechanized competition,
resulting in reduced production and increased poverty.
An Apple patent suggests a
plan
to restrict users of phones based on where they are located.
The article says that this poses the question of who really owns the
phone. I'm glad they are starting to ask it. In fact, with nonfree
software, you never really own it.
US citizens:
call
on the Attorney General to take action against Colorado's
voter-suppression plan.
On-line music "sales" are in many cases
not
sales at all.
More
fraud in Barclay's Bank.
A study finds that "organic" food is no better than any other food, in
terms of nutrition, but it
reduces
exposure to pesticides and
antibiotic-resistant bacteria.
This is what common sense would have suggested, and it shows what society
ought to aim for in regard to farming.
A group called AntiSec claims
to have found and leaked an FBI list
identifying the owners of 12 million iThings based on a unique ID code
in each device.
The FBI says
that it never had the list.
Neither source is guaranteed reliable, but I think that on this point
it is more plausible that the FBI is lying. If AntiSec had got the
info somewhere else, it would have had no evident motivation to claim
it came from the FBI. By contrast, the FBI would have a clear
motivation to deny the facts. Another point is that the FBI (like
municipal thugs) is habituated to lying, since it expects people to
assume its statements are honest.
In a leaked
Stratfor email, an FBI agent speaks of "felonious" spying
by the New York Thug Department.
Destroying
precious land (and poisoning precious water) for gas.
Apple store staff are taught twisted
psychological manipulation.
The mere practice of referring to service staff as "geniuses"
is dishonest already.
As global heating makes the oceans rise, the parking lots at
Assateague National Seashore's beach keep
turning
into ocean.
Censorship robots in Ustream cut
off the live stream of the Hugo awards ceremony.
This is ironic because an activity concerned with future technology
was the occasion to show how evil technology can be.
Ustream does harm to society even when it doesn't censor, because it
requires viewers to run nonfree software. It is fundamentally bad.
Once I found out there was a plan to stream my speech through Ustream,
and I insisted they not do it.
If you are connected with an event that is going to do streaming, I
can put you in touch with people that can teach you how to do it using
Ogg Theora, with free software. Then nobody can censor it.
Smugglers of endangered wildlife are using the Internet in
sneaky
ways.
I strongly support cracking down on this trade, but that does not
require abolishing privacy on the Internet. The merchandise has to be
delivered physically, so the sellers are vulnerable to stings.
US citizens: call
on the Democratic Convention to support clean energy
and peace, and cut military funding.
A former Moonie tells how he was
recruited
and brainwashed.
Leading Pakistani Muslim clerics came to the defense of the girl
who was
falsely
accused of burning pages from a Qur'an.
This demonstrates a commitment to truth and rejection of lies.
However, honesty of application does not justify censorship, such as
the prohibition of blasphemy. Even people who really do burn Qur'ans
must not be imprisoned, let alone killed, for that. If you don't like
their doing so, buy a copy of some book they admire and burn that in
response.
Three Palestinian prisoners, imprisoned without trial, have been on
hunger strike for months to
protest
Israel's breaking the agreement that settled the previous massive
hunger strike.
Israel's mining of minerals from the Dead Sea is a
crime
under international law.
US citizens: sign
this petition for media attention to the substance
of what Paul Ryan says.
Workers in Colombia ended their hunger strike after gaining an agreement
to submit
their dispute with General Motors to arbitration.
Many Americans let the replacement of Dubya by Obama silence
their criticism of the
same
offenses against human rights.
The Republicans are getting so much secret money that they have changed
their position to oppose
requirements
to disclose donations.
Massachusetts has passed a
law to make it harder to cheat temporary employees.
Extremist Muslim cleric accused of
framing
the retarded Christian girl
to create an excuse to scare all the Christians out of the neighborhood.
Attempting
a citizen's arrest of Tony B'liar for his war crimes.
The UK has the responsibility to prosecute B'liar,
just as the US has the responsibility to prosecute Dubya.
They launched a war based on lies which killed uncounted
hundreds of thousands of Iraqis, as well as around 4500 Americans.
South Africa has temporarily dropped murder charges against striking miners,
who were charged with the deaths of their fellow protesters actually
killed
by the thugs.
The Afghan government
fails
to punish its torturers.
With the US as an example, why would it?
The Israeli state forced settlers to leave one "outpost", but they
moved
to another (state-supported) colony in the West Bank.
Mexico is creating a database with
iris
scans and fingerprints of all citizens.
By cutting military spending instead of civilian aid programs, the US
would
save 300,000 jobs.
However, this is a choice between bad and worse. The US should not
cut spending at all now, because the way to get out of a
recession is through deficit spending. The time to reduce the
national debt is when things are going well.
Israel has driven around 160,000 Palestinians from their homes, mostly
by demolishing
their homes.
2011 was the worst year ever for this.
The UK law that makes squatting a crime
"criminalizes
the homeless".
The government which passed this law showed it is the enemy of the 99%.
Shell was given
permission to start drilling in the Arctic Ocean.
Desmond Tutu called for prosecution of Dubya and Bl'iar for the crime
of
starting
a war based on lies.
Hooray, Tutu!
Police forces in Europe defy parliamentary oversight into their
spying
on opposition groups.
In 2011, Paul Ryan supported big military spending cuts.
Now
he wants military spending increases.
The press should
stop
giving global heating deniers the same respect
that it gives climate scientists.
Paul Watson of Sea Shepard describes the bogus Japanese charges against him,
and says that Sea Shepard will continue its activity
whether
he can get to the ships or not.
A Pakistani lawyers says, if the US can kill Pakistani civilians with
drone missiles, why shouldn't they execute a girl for blasphemy?
What's the difference, he
asks?
Of course, we can see plenty of specific differences, but he's right
that there is a great similarity between one unjust killing and
another. So what is his twisted point? To take revenge on the US by
killing this girl?
A member of the team that killed Osama bin Laden said, in his book,
that the team had orders to arrest bin Laden if he was not armed,
but shot
him instead. This was followed by a public lie to justify the shooting.
When I first heard about the raid, I was skeptical that the man shot
was really Osama bin Laden. After all, the US government is hardly an
honest and reliable source about such things. However, since nobody
is claiming that he wasn't Osama bin Laden, I suppose he was.
Nonetheless, the really important point is that his death made no
real difference. It
did
not hurt al Qa'ida, for instance.
Internet surveillance is getting so cheap that
companies
might start recording all their network traffic.
Jordanians protest
a proposed law that would filter Internet access.
Romney was a pioneer in creating debt and saddling companies with it.
Now his hypocritical campaign pretends to be against debt, as an excuse
for an economic revolution bringing poor-country suffering to most Americans.
Here is Matt Taibbi's description of
Romney's
career.
Melting Arctic ice means
even
worse weather disasters are coming in
Europe and the US.
Obama's government launched a
new
campaign for corporate immunity.
Hidden in the IAEA report on Iran: evidence that its uranium enrichment program
is not
aimed at making bombs.
Factchecking
the Minnows and Letting the Whales Swim Away.
Letting the US manage the Internet domains and addresses
is bad, but the other options are worse.
US citizens:
oppose a plan to make the ITU the primary standards committee
for the Internet.
Tunisian political cartoonist Z says that the new regime
represses
him like the old one.
Furthermore, it has convinced Facebook to censor him, which shows that it
was a mistake using Facebook at all.
As license plate cameras spread around the US, a movement to resist is
beginning, and New Hampshire has
limited
the use of them.
Miners in South Africa were charged with killing
after
some of them were shot by thugs.
Eritrea has imprisoned dissidents since 2001, and several
journalists have died in prison.
US citizens: support
continuing the US environmental education program.
Microrobots are being
designed to repair coral reefs.
This might deal with the effects of bottom trawling, but the worst
long-term threat to coral is from acidification of the ocean due to
CO2 emissions from human activity. I don't think robotic repair
can do that. What we need is to stop the CO2 emissions.
We
Are Writing the Epilogue to the World We Knew
Most new US jobs are low-wage
jobs.
(I take issue with the article's assumption that the recession has ended.)
Obama has quashed
the last two possible criminal cases against US torturers.
Persistently over 4 years he has acted to make sure that no US
government torturers will face justice, in the US or elsewhere,
even those that tortured prisoners to death.
Don't vote for torture. Jill Stein for president!
A federal court
restored
early voting in Ohio.
US citizens: phone your congresscritter to
cosponsor
three bills to help state-authorized medical marijuana
dispensaries.
The Capitol Switchboard numbers are 202-224-3121, 888-818-6641
and 888-355-3588.
The Angolan president seems to have got himself re-elected by
stopping
lots of people from voting, and making the rest feel it was useless.
Spain has a large wildfire due
to heat and drought.
Global heating is making Spain drier and hotter, meaning there will
be more of these and worse.
US citizens:
sign
this petition against commercial advertising by schools.
US citizens: call on Secretary of the Interior Salazar not to
give Shell any special exception regarding Arctic drilling.
This week, Arctic sea ice reached a new record low, and it
will
keep melting for several weeks more. The Republican National
Convention was partly shut down by a hurricane, but they still deny
the problem.
Decades from now, as the disaster unfolds, many of them will keep
denying what is happening.
Meanwhile, Obama is no solution. He
talks little about global heating, and as for actions, he
"expedited" the planet-roaster pipeline.
Kasparov describes how he was arrested while talking to
journalists, and calls
for the West to impose financial sanctions on Putin's government.
Some US states are on track to
vote
to legalize marijuana sales to adults.
The siege of Gaza has relaxed somewhat, but the UN warns it
will
not be livable in 2020.
Part of the action needed, however, is to reduce the birth rate.
Having such a "young population" is the result of human activity, not
a natural characteristic.
The Antarctic ice sheet may cover
billions
of tons of methane.
Poor
people should work harder and stop complaining, says the world's
wealthiest woman.
I think she should pay more taxes.
Over
100,000 signed the petition to pardon Peter Sunde, associated
with The Pirate Bay.
Here is Sunde's description of the charges against him.
6
Worst Lies In Paul Ryan's Speech.
The corporate
media mysteriously decline to pounce on Ryan's lies.
A voter-ID law in Texas has been
overturned.
The US national debt's interest burden is the
lowest
it has been since World War II.
Ecuador has protected another
political whistleblower, this one from Belarus.
Colombia-US Labor Action Plan led only to "cosmetic changes".
Since the real purpose of "free trade" treaties is to help business at
the expense of everyone else, it is not a surprise that the provisions
about improved rights for labor are mere window dressing, that meant
to take arguments away from the opposition in order to gain votes, and
not intended truly to help workers in Colombia. Why then bother
to implement them once the blow has fallen?
Militarizing
the Police and Killing Natives: How the US Drug War Is Ripping Honduras Apart.
The Republican Party has endorsed Internet freedom, but it must be a rather
weak stand since the
MPAA does not object to it.
Brazilian
Supreme Court Judge Overturns Suspension of Belo Monte Dam.
US citizens: call
on your congresscritter and senator to limit NSA surveillance of
Americans.
US citizens: tell
your senators to support EPA regulation of coal ash
from coal-fired power plants.
Big data and combining data means companies are developing the "database
of ruin", which can find out enough secrets to ruin nearly
anyone.
See also Cory Doctorow's story,
Scroogled.
Work is being done on making paper
money with RFIDs.
It's dangerous because governments could track who gets and spends what money.
Also dangerous because thieves could track who has money in his purse, or in
a hidden pocket.
Muslim fanatics out for blood
threaten
mob violence against the retarded child accused of burning pages
of a Qur'an.
Of course, it would be equally unacceptable to punish a mentally
competent adult for this. The right to offend anyone about anything
is a central part of freedom of speech.
Reportedly every
country in the Middle East now has Stuxnet-type
attack viruses.
Corporations that already duck the US income tax are nonetheless
reincorporating in
other
countries that allow them to pay less.
The US should make sure that proper taxes are paid on US business
activity and prevent the accounting tricks used to attribute
the profit to anywhere else.
US citizens: call
on Obama to defend environmental education in US schools.
Everyone: write
to Putin demanding he free the members of Pussy Riot.
US bank employees are being fired for minor
crimes committed many years ago. However, the gross fraud
committed by the banksters goes unprosecuted, so banks don't have
to fire them.
Criminal miners from Brazil killed
around 80 Yanomami who did not want their
land to be mined.
The international mining companies operating in India, Peru, Canada
and other countries can kill more people, but they construct a legal
excuse so that they can claim not to be "criminal".
After a judge closed one loophole about identifying their donors,
the Koch brothers switched to a
slightly different
loophole.
Although Obama's new fuel efficiency standards are a step forward,
they don't go far enough.
Here
are some flaws.
US military contractors have been
cutting
jobs even as their contracts increased.
Florida's Republican anti-voter-registration law
bites
the dust.
The Republican Party platform advocates
abstinence-only
sex noneducation and falsely claims that it prevents pregnancy.
Murray Energy
forced
workers to take a day without pay and attend a Romney
campaign rally.
Protesters blocked construction of the Keystone XL planet-roaster pipeline
for a day by chaining
themselves to a truck.
The "Urban Infrastructure Bank" is a desperate scheme to indirectly
privatize
parts of US cities' infrastructure.
The attraction of these schemes is short-term: the cities are not getting
enough funds from the state and federal governments and can't maintain
their infrastructure. However, as Chicago has already learned from its
privatization
of parking meters, the long-term effects are to make the problem
worse.
Chile's version of the DMCA protects
against false copyright claims by
requiring a court to approve an order to take down material.
US citizens: call
on Duke Energy to stop supporting ALEC.
US citizens: thank
Obama for increased car mileage standards.
Obama doesn't do 10% of what's needed to prevent disaster, and seems
to be in favor of increased drilling which means increased emissions.
However, that is more reason to express appreciation when he does
something.
US citizens:
tell
Governor Perry and 11 other governors
to allow the expansion of Medicaid in their states.
Carbon-trading markets in Europe and Australia will be
linked.
In theory, cap-and-trade systems like these should work efficiently
to reduce emissions. In practice, the systems can easily have flaws
that cause them not
to achieve their goals at all.
Thus I think we should institute a real tax on fossil fuels,
rather than cap-and-trade.
Twitter has appealed a court ruling that it must turn over
a protester's personal info.
I have some criticisms of Twitter in other areas, but no one could do
more to protect its users' from government searches. However, what is
needed is better laws: laws that recognize that the user is entitled
to challenge searches of her data stored in a company's server.
Massachusetts Senator Brown was the crucial swing vote to weaken
US financial reform, and got paid off
for this by Morgan
Stanley.
[Reference updated on 2018-03-02 because the old link was broken.]
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Rachel Corrie's parents and other activists will protest for divestment from Caterpillar, which provides bulldozers to Israel which are used for demolishing Palestinians' homes.
It looks like Assad's men murdered 400 civilians going house to house in Daraya, near Damascus.
The US is having its biggest ever outbreak of West Nile Virus, in its hottest year on record, and the trail points straight at global heating.
Some of today's top Republican campaign figures participated in an illegal voter-suppression operation in 2004, but were not punished.
Thousands protested in Albany, New York, to oppose fracking in the state.
The TPP sets out to attack Internet freedom in the name of the twisted cult of "free trade".
The EFF gave the details.
The TPP would also to kill thousands, perhaps millions of poor people,
through increased patent powers
and other monopolies over drugs.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-27 because the old link was broken.]
An Austin man who campaigns against harassment of photographers by
the thugs was arrested a second time
for filming their actions in
public.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-27 because the old link was broken.]
South Korea's Supreme Court decided that it is unconstitutional to require web sites to demand users' real names
After a mob of Jewish teenagers beat an Arab teenager nearly to death, Israeli schools are barely starting to confront ingrained hatred.
The US soldiers in Afghanistan were warned that burning Qur'ans was a bad idea, that it was likely to make many Afghans feel offended.
I mention this to correct an earlier note in which I supposed that wasn't so.
I disagree with Greenwald's equating of an act that some took offense at with a killing.
Amnesty International: Rachel Corrie Verdict Highlights Impunity for Israeli Military.
The Israeli army in Gaza was totally accustomed to killing civilians, often children, and lying about that too.
Desmond Tutu cancelled his attendance in an event to protest the presence of Tony B'liar in it.
Doctors are traveling around the US on a bus to argue in favor of Obama's health care law.
The law is a step forward, but fails to do the whole job because it is a compromise with the medical insurance industry, which now wants to abolish it.
Americans should abolish the private medical insurance industry before it abolishes our lives.
We Don't Need No Stinking Warrant: The Disturbing, Unchecked Rise of
the Administrative Subpoena.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-27 because the old link was broken.]
Alternative currencies are springing up in Spain to help people cope with punishing right-wing economic policies.
Iran, leading a meeting of the unaligned states, reiterates the call for total nuclear disarmament.
Romney's campaign says only Obama's campaign should heed fact checkers.
The Orkney Islands are on the verge of generating a surplus of electricity from wind and solar power.
France has opened an investigation into the possible murder of Yasser Arafat.
Human Rights Watch rebukes Israel's decision on Rachel Corrie.
The Lib Dem leader proposes a wealth tax to reduce austerity in the UK.
What Putin does with the money he extracts from Russia.
Microfinance can help the poor, but can also exploit them.
When someone told me she worked with microfinance, I asked her if they were visible to the naked eye.
A bill passed by the California legislature would totally deregulate phone service, cable TV service and Internet service in the state.
Satellite photos show the extent of the bombardment of Aleppo by Assad's forces.
A Vermont man's lawsuit against being forced to work while in
pre-trial detention was
brought
back to life on appeal.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-27 because the old link was broken.]
However, the bigger threat to Americans' way of life comes from requiring convicted prisoners to work for low wages, competing with free workers.
Rachel Corrie's parents lost their lawsuit over her killing by an Israeli bulldozer driver.
US troops that carelessly burned Qur'ans, and others that made a video of urinating on corpses, were punished administratively.
I think this is, for once, the just response. There is nothing inherently wrong in those actions, and the burning of Qur'ans was not intentional anyway, but I'm pretty sure all soldiers were ordered (for good reason) not to do these things, and they had no grounds to disobey.
More texts from former Israeli occupation soldiers.
Everyone: ask the New York Times to pay attention to the basic questions about Julian Assange's extradition.
The US interrogated prisoners while under the effect of mind-altering drugs, and whatever they said is presumed true unless they prove it false.
Twitter has appealed a court order to give private information about a user account thought to be used by an Occupy protester.
Israel blocked a hundred activists from bringing school supplies to Palestine from Jordan.
How the history of India since independence gave rise to the weakness of its democracy and human rights.
A study shows that use of marijuana by teenagers permanently reduces their intelligence, but that adults are not affected.
US citizens: sign this petition for the Democratic and Republican parties to endorse Internet freedom.
Delta Airlines blocked a man from flying because his shirt set off fears in unidentified racist passengers.
Ironically, the shirt's message criticized precisely these irrational fears.
The Dictator's Practical Internet Guide.
Population growth and water scarcity may force most of the world into vegetarianism.
Limiting yourself to a small amount of meat is good for your health, but rather than being forced to go all the way, we should arrange to limit population growth.
30 Israeli soldiers describe how they repeatedly and systematically subjected Palestinian children to abuse to squeeze confessions out of them, or make them rat on their families.
One US judge appears to continue to work for the RIAA.
French tourists were convicted of blasphemy in Sri Lanka for
simulating
the act of kissing a Buddha statue.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-27 because the old link was broken.]
Like all laws against offending someone, this law is pure injustice. It is also a ludicrous travesty of what the Buddha said.
If the Buddha could be reincarnated (impossible, according to Buddhism, since he attained nirvana), he would tell the authorities and people of Sri Lanka that their attachment to his statue and his relics is an obstacle to their spiritual progress, and they should try to overcome it through meditation and benevolence. But the Buddhists of Sri Lanka would not listen.
Rich families there vie for the prestige of sponsoring a ceremony to adore his tooth, permanently enshrined in the Temple of the Tooth. Thus they convert his tranquil wisdom (albeit based on the then-general assumption that reincarnation occurs, for which there is no evidence) into competitive folly.
I wonder if they would sentence someone for teaching Dr. Ambedkar's thoroughly rational version of Buddhism.
Mining companies dispossessed indigenous people in Guatemala thanks to a US-backed coup, then took advantage of US-backed repression, and then imposed a "reformed" mining law to let them take what they want.
Guatemala's president should be in prison for the repression he led. With him as president, the country is little better than Assad's regime in Syria.
The US scans all car license plates at the border and gives all the data to a private organization, including times and places.
The border is a special case, and maybe it is legitimate for a country to record the licenses of all cars that cross the border. It is certainly not legitimate to show all those licenses to a private organization. Meanwhile, this method is wasting opportunities to block car theft.
The appropriate US agency should have a list of stolen cars' license numbers, and check for those plates at border crossings — while the car is still there.
The head of Ohio Republicans admitted that Ohio voting inconveniences are meant to stop Blacks from voting.
The US corporate press paints Paul Ryan as a good Catholic for trying to oppress the poor and help the rich.
The FBI plans to give US thug departments software to access a database of over 12 million photos for face recognition purposes.
A leaked draft shows that TPP is planned to impose a regime of punishment by accusation without trial, and Internet filtering.
"Free trade" treaties are meant to weaken democracy, by giving businesses more power than governments. They should all be torn up, for that reason. However, it's normal for these treaties to have additional requirements that directly attack the citizens, especially when the US gets involved. That is an additional reason to tear up these treaties.
Assad's men seem to have committed
another
massacre of civilians.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-27 because the old link was broken.]
Syrian rebels attacked the old city of Aleppo, destroying
buildings almost a thousand years old in the combat.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-27 because the old link was broken.]
The war crimes of the rebels, which include ethnic cleansing as well as killings, are a serious problem: they compel many Syrians, who might welcome a secular state with human rights, to support Assad instead.
Romney proposes "energy independence" for North America by extracting fossil fuels everywhere possible and never mind the damage.
The downside is that thanks to global heating North America will cease to be food-independent, and there will be none available to import either.
Everyone: support EU sanctions against Putin's cronies.
South Africa's president Zuma faces intense criticism for taking the mining company's side against striking miners.
The article places the emphasis on the possible effects on Zuma's political career, but what's really important is decent labor conditions for the miners.
Correa
says that the UK has promised not to invade the Ecuadorian embassy.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-27 because the old link was broken.]
Electric plants in Illinois are discharging water that is almost boiling, due to the unusual heat of the water they use for cooling. The result is almost to boil the fish.
It will be far worse in 20 years. These plants may have to shut down.
Americans are deeply confused about what government policies they
want, giving
contradictory-seeming answers to slightly different poll
questions.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-27 because the old link was broken.]
The corporate media keep up the impression that Paul Ryan pays careful attention to budget details by covering up the facts.
At the Democratic Convention in anti-union North Carolina, sanitation workers are being driven into the ground with mandatory overtime.
US citizens: call on the US government not to let BP off the hook.
Malware can use brain-computer interfaces to extract secrets from the user.
A fascist-minded principal denied valedictorian Kaitlin Nootbaar her high school degree because she said "hell" in her speech.
The editors of the University of Georgia student paper have quit after corporate staff were put in charge of them and pressured them to avoid writing about "bad news".
Don't they understand? This is was simply intended to prepare them for professional journalism.
The claim that women can't conceive as a result of rape dates back at least to the 13th century, and appeals to politicians whose views are still in the 13th century.
Scientific information about rape and pregnancy.
Obama announces he is ready to be even more right-wing as a "compromise" with Republicans.
He's already too right-wing for me to vote for.
Garry Kasparov was freed after a court dismissed charges that he participated in an illegal protest.
However, Putin stands convicted of leading a state that declares protests illegal.
New York thugs fired randomly at people on the street while chasing an armed killer.
The killer pulled out his gun but did not fire it. Perhaps did that in order to get killed ("suicide by cop"). It is understandable that the thugs shot him, but hitting 9 other people means they must have fired all around.
Greenpeace has occupied a Russian Arctic oil drilling platform.
Iranian newspaper publishers and writers have been imprisoned without trial for over a year.
Everyone: support Amnesty International's campaign against arbitrary eviction from slums in Africa.
US citizens:
call
on the mayors of cities hosting the Democratic and
Republican conventions to respect the right to protest.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-27 because the old link was broken.]
Everyone: call
on Ohio to reinstate early voting, to help all voters participate.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-27 because the old link was broken.]
Everyone: donate to the reward for leaking the TPP draft text to Wikileaks.
Haiti's new constitution made the Vodou religion illegal. Participants in a ceremony were recently jailed, though it is not clear whether that is mainly about their religion or instead for their political sentiments. Of course, it's a shameful act either way.
US citizens: call on the FCC to enforce net neutrality rules against AT&T.
The issue is about banning a protocol set up by Apple, available only through nonfree software that (for your freedom's sake) you should never use, which runs only on the malicious iThings which you should reject also. But that doesn't affect this issue. If AT&T can arbitrarily ban one protocol, it can arbitrarily ban any protocol.
US citizens: call the major news media to insist they cover the TPP plans for Nafta on Steroids.
The New York Thug Department has systematically infiltrated Muslim
neighborhoods and mosques for 6 years, finding
absolutely
zero sign of terrorism.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-27 because the old link was broken.]
A new analysis estimates that around 3/4 of the casualties from US drone attacks in Pakistan are civilians.
Residents of Ahuas tell how the US-supervised Honduran troops shot and killed without warning, brutalized people in the town, and refused to help rescue the wounded. And then they tried to cover it up in several ways.
US citizens: call on Obama to block drilling in the Arctic.
On Ecuador and freedom of the press.
A teenager in London has been harassed for 4 years, including numerous arrests over false charges, because of hostility by the thugs.
Racial prejudice may be the reason it started, but I think it developed into a personal prejudice against him.
LA Muslims who sued about FBI surveillance suffered a setback, thanks to the law that allows the government to say the magic words "national security" and quash any lawsuit.
Cory Doctorow: between the owner of a computer and its current user, who should have what control?
My view is that in the case of a long-term lease, the person who has obtained the computer by lease should have full control over the software, just as if he were the owner.
UNESCO opposes creation of new barriers to diffusion of information.
Although this article means to oppose those barriers, it unwittingly lends them support by using the term "intellectual property", which refers to other unrelated issues at the same time. Please don't use that term.
A loophole allows US cities to spend less on minority group students' schools.
US citizens: sign the campaign to reject deficit cuts and instead
make
the rich support rebuilding America.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-27 because the old link was broken.]
Privatizing child welfare protection in Nebraska led to horrible mistreatment of children.
Privatization of any state function is bad unless it gives the public a competitive market. The kind of privatization where the state gives the contract to one company should always be avoided, because the way the company profits is by shafting the state, the public, its workers, or all three.
Romney wants to let states allow oil companies to drill in Federal land.
Paul Ryan's lousy foreign policy record.
Big Oil's temporary victory in Iraq depends on illegal contracts and repressing the oil unions.
The ITU plan to take control of the Internet represents an attack on freedom for all users, and serves the interests of the dictatorships (and the phony democracies).
The article mentions the term "intellectual property", but based on the substance, I think that is inaccurate: I think that what is meant here is copyright enforcement. Referring to this as "intellectual property" is a biased and confusing practice — please don't repeat it.
Privatization of US water supplies exploits the financial crisis to create hardship for Americans.
Getting Rid of Dubya Wasn't Enough. The US Remains a Bully.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-27 because the old link was broken.]
Alas, I don't see any sign that reduced US power will lead to a better world order. Rising powers such as India and China are no better (India keeps getting worse). And Russia is turning into a overt dictatorship.
An Israeli attack on the Iranian uranium enrichment plant in Bushehr
would kill
thousands, perhaps eventually hundreds of thousands.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-27 because the old link was broken.]
The leader of Kadima, an Israeli centrist party not particularly in favor of peace, condemned Netanyahu's threats to attack Iran as rash and irresponsible.
The Palestinian Authority has invited Swiss investigators to test Arafat's remains for radioactive polonium.
South
Africa requires labels "Made In Palestinian Territories"
for goods made in factories in Israeli colonies.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-27 because the old link was broken.]
Missing in the US election is a debate about what role the government
should play in people's lives.
Neither
the Democratic Party nor the media are interested in it.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-27 because the old link was broken.]
Questions About Sweden's Actions in Assange Case.
Corporate propaganda in the form of
"educational" books
for children.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-27 because the old link was broken.]
We Built
This, Except That It Was Mostly Publicly Financed and It's Publicly
Owned and Supported.
[Reference updated on 2022-03-10 because the old link was broken.]
Perhaps these Republicans were misled by the name Tampa Bay Times Forum. US cities nowadays consider everything to be for sale, even the names of public buildings. I think that some company must have bought permission to put its name on that building. The name might give the appearance that it was a private building, privately constructed.
The lack of freedom of speech in the UK is demonstrated by sentencing someone for sending a rude email.
The message was rude but made no threat. It only expressed an attitude of disapproval and rebuke. I have no opinion about whether that attitude was justified, but freedom of speech includes the right to say such things (and even harsher) about anyone.
The UK has adopted a law to facilitate moving money into tax havens.
I guess the government thinks that companies pay too much taxes and wants to increase government deficits.
Anonymous wrote dissident slogans on the web site of the court that imprisoned Pussy Riot.
Writing a slogan on the wall of a nasty institution is part of opposition, and this is its virtual equivalent. It is legitimate, and should be legal. Please don't call this an "attack" or "hijacking" because that is propaganda for those who don't want democracy or opposition in the virtual world.
Strangely, Mugabe has started to gain some public support in Zimbabwe.
Farmers and herders in Kenya are fighting over use of land.
Such conflicts have gone on for a long time, even in the US (see the movie, Shane). But they are likely to get worse in the future in Africa, since population growth makes the existing supply insufficient just as global heating reduces what is available.
US is trying to prosecute Assange, Australian cables reveal.
The media cold war: states vs users of the Internet.
The US attempts to kick Wikileaks off the net and prosecute Assange put it on the wrong side.
US citizens: sign this petition for the Republican and Democratic conventions to stop accepting corporate sponsorships.
US citizens: call on Jim Lehrer to raise the issue of global heating in the presidential debate.
New, non-political comic (in Spanish).
Serious debate about real issues has almost vanished from the US political campaigns, thanks to a twisted and corrupted press.
1/3 of US workers are temps, with no social safety net.
This is why we need to disconnect medical care and other benefits from employment.
China has arrested over 1000 Tibetans involved in a movement to preserve Tibetan culture. Some of them have been disappeared.
A thinning Antarctic ice shelf indicates the
human-induced
global heating over the past 50 years.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-27 because the old link was broken.]
Tony Nicklinson, who was unable to get permission for anyone to help him die, died of pneumonia.
Maybe his rejection of food since the court verdict, about 5 days before, contributed to his illness. It is also possible that he refused some treatment that could have cured it. Still, it seems like amazing luck to develop a fatal illness so soon.
In addition to Putin's tyranny, Russia will soon face another obstacle to democracy: the WTO.
If Novartis wins a lawsuit about Indian patent law, various generic drugs from India will be blocked and lots of people in many poor countries will die. They will have been murdered by the World Trade Organization, and the treaties that set it up. Their funerals should be protests to abolish it.
The person in the article who criticizes the pharma companies for spending too much on research is mistaken. Actually they spend only a tiny fraction of their funds on research, and far more on marketing.
Intellectual Ventures, the giant patent troll, operates over a thousand shell companies to disguise the fact that it has tens of thousands of patents.
The Republican Party is likely to approve a platform calling for banning abortion in all circumstances.
China and North Korea are adopting smartcards as ID cards to record everywhere a person goes.
Are Your Skinny Jeans Starving the World?
Dennis Kucinich: the US seems to have learned nothing from 10 years of interventions that have created more enemies and inspired terrorists.
I disagree about the intervention in Libya; that one was justified and didn't have this effect. (Libya still has conflicts, but few want to go back to Gaddafi and few blame the US.) The intervention in Afghanistan might have gone well if Dubya hadn't invaded Iraq, but it is hard to be sure. However, Kucinich's overall point remains valid.
US citizens: tell the EPA to ban use of diesel fuel for fracking.
Todd Akin, the Republican candidate who said that real rape doesn't make women pregnant (as an excuse to ban abortions even after rape), has refused to quit even after Romney said he should.
This provides an opportunity to reelect a senator who supports abortion and contraception rights.
World leaders state their fulsome admiration of the Ethiopian tyrant who just died.
Apparently in their view arresting the political opposition does not make him unworthy of admiration.
Oil companies are taking US homes to build pipelines.
This is because the Supreme Court ruled that eminent domain can be used for companies.
Apple gets rich by paying very little taxes.
I think products DRM should be subject to a special punitive tax rate of 1000%.
LA's smog pollution is 2% of what it was in the 1960s, even with more cars. This is entirely due to government intervention.
Butterflies in Massachusetts are moving north due to global warming.
Some that used to inhabit the northern part of the state are now hardly present at all
The US bans Guantanamo prisoners from telling their lawyers how they were tortured.
The US says that knowledge of CIA torture techniques would cause the US "exceptionally grave damage". Indeed the US would receive lots of well-deserved condemnation.
A large fraction of the prisoners in Guantanamo are acknowledged to be innocent, but still can't get out. The men being tried are accused of real crimes, so they deserve real trials.
Thousands protest in Togo accusing the government of ensuring its reelection by gerrymandering districts.
Obama and Romney campaign mobile phone apps slurp down loads of personal data.
Labeling that states the amount of trans fats in food has pushed US food manufacturers to reduce its use. But they fought to prevent this.
If Assange had sex with a sleeping woman, the morning after they had sex and then slept together, was that rape? MP George Galloway says no.
Waking up your lover with sex is a tradition that has given pleasure to many, and prohibiting it by designating it as rape is absurd. If that's what the law says in some country, that law is absurd.
On the other hand, waking up someone with sex who is not your lover (or has recently been disinclined to have sex with you) is properly considered rape. Thus, the conclusion depends on circumstances.
The circumstances described for Assange are borderline, but the couple were lovers at the time. Their last interaction, a few hours before, was to have sex. Based on the circumstances described in the article, I agree with George Galloway's conclusion. I don't know whether that description fits what happened, of course.
I agree with him also that the empire's crimes are a bigger issue than this one. However, there is no need to make that comparison. Handing Assange to the US is one thing; investigating the sexual accusations is another.
If the two issues are to be tied to one single decision — if the only choices are to permit both or prevent both — that would raise the question of which issue is more important, which issue should be the basis for the choice.
However, tying the two issues together is in itself incorrect. The UK and Sweden want to do that because, for them, the sexual accusations are only an excuse to deliver Assange to the US, but there is no valid reason to tie them. The two issues ought to be kept separate, so that each one can be handled on its own merits.
That's what Ecuador is doing: protecting Assange from the US, while offering to cooperate with Sweden in regard to the sexual accusations.
The Russian Police are
hunting
for the other members of Pussy Riot. That is, the ones who didn't
participate in the song for which three members have been sentenced to
prison.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-27 because the old link was broken.]
Israeli laws and punishments against protests resemble Russia's.
Paul Ryan sponsored a bill to declare that fetuses are persons, which would have banned abortion and some kinds of birth control.
Years After Haiti Quake, Safe Housing Is a Dream for Many.
Paul Ryan's Fairy-Tale Budget Plan, according to Reagan's director of the Office of Management and Budget.
Burma's abolition of advance censorship does not in fact mean freedom of the press.
Palestinians in Kufr Qaddoum held a peaceful protest against the theft of a third of their land and the siege of their village. Israeli soldiers attacked them and journalists; some journalists had broken bones.
Four women from Gaza, who want to study in the West Bank, won a court victory in Israel, so the military invented a "security reason" which is too vague to answer.
Israeli "settlers" in Palestinian territory threw a molotov cocktail at a taxi carrying a Palestinian family.
Violence against Palestinian persons extends the long-established practice of violence against their farms and houses.
Israeli "settlers"
cut
down Palestinians' olive trees
near an "illegal" settlement that they wish to expand.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-13 because the old link was broken.]
All the settlements are illegal by international standards, but the ones that were built without permission from the Israeli government are called "illegal".
Other illegal settlers stole Palestinian land to build a chicken farm.
Other "settlers" used an electric pump to flood Palestinian farmland while simultaneously emptying a well.
This is especially nasty given that the "settlers" have taken for themselves a disproportionate share of the water resources of the West Bank.
It is even worse in Gaza: inhabitants spend 30% of their income on drinking water.
The United Church of Canada joined the boycott
of products made in Israeli settlements in Palestinian territory.
In response it was subject to the usual barrage of fallacious
criticism.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-13 because the old link was broken.]
Some companies pay more to their CEOs than they pay in taxes.
Burma has ended its official system of advance censorship of news stories.
This does not necessarily imply freedom of the press, but it is an important step forward.
Republicans in Ohio fired Democratic election commissioners for
not
following orders to vote against allowing early voting on the weekend.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-27 because the old link was broken.]
Voter suppression is the general strategy of Republicans in this election, and it shows their intent to force themselves on the country.
Report: Romney May Have Violated Ethics Laws Through Company Linked to Paul Ryan's Brother.
The US listed attacks on Palestinians as "terrorism". These attacks are becoming more frequent, and Israel does almost nothing to discourage them.
All the Christians living in a suburb of Islamabad were chased out, after a girl was accused of burning a copy of the Qur'an.
The accusation sounds so implausible that it must surely be a lie. However, ethically it would make no difference if the accusation were true. There is nothing wrong with your burning any book, as long as it's yours and it's not rare. You have the right to burn a copy of the Qur'an, or even Free Software, Free Society, if you wish — and anyone who tries to stop you is an enemy of freedom.
French thugs arrested protesters supporting Pussy Riot, because they were wearing balaclavas as Pussy Riot does.
This demonstrates that the law against wearing face coverings in public, which Sarkozy pretended was aimed at a handful of Muslim women, was really an attack on everyone's rights.
With face recognition surveillance, the only way to have any privacy will be to wear a mask. More masked protests are needed to demand this freedom.
July 2012 set a US record for the hottest month ever (since record-keeping began).
US businesses use unregulated data to decide who is a desirable customer, and this could result in big discrimination.
Assange, speaking from a balcony in the Ecuadorian embassy, called on the US to end its war on whistleblowers.
This war has been described by several political notes.
Obama asked Congress to spend money to help localities hire more teachers.
Stimulating the economy like this is a good idea. I wish it were not such a rare thing from Obama.
In Russia, churches have been converted into props for tyranny, but the head of the Orthodox Church was eager for the job.
So are the leaders of many US churches.
US citizens:
sign
this petition to reinstate the Glass-Steagall act.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-27 because the old link was broken.]
Arctic summer sea ice is not only retreating, it is getting thinner,
so fast that in
10 years it might be totally gone.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-27 because the old link was broken.]
This is extremely dangerous since that will cause the Arctic Ocean to absorb a lot more heat from the sun in the summer.
Supporters of Romney, Ryan and Obama have convinced themselves of a fundamentally false picture of these people's lives and politics.
Obama has appealed
the court decision banning imprisonment without
trial in the US. By doing so he has declared in favor of imprisonment
without trial.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-27 because the old link was broken.]
Construction of the planet-roaster pipeline started in Texas
and was met with protests.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-27 because the old link was broken.]
NPR has fired several radio presenters for protesting against banks, but it is happy to let one large bank underwrite the Planet Money show, whose host makes a business of giving speeches to banks.
These two policies might seem contradictory if viewed in ethical terms. However, if viewed in terms of selling out, they fit together perfectly.
The US Veterans Administration is too eager to diagnose PTSD, applying that label to many other kinds of problems including depression. This leads to giving veterans the wrong therapy, and making their problems worse.
Everyone: thank Ecuador for giving asylum to Julian Assange.
Student protests are spreading in Chile as
students occupy more schools.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-27 because the old link was broken.]
Copyright trolls, who threaten lots of people with lawsuits unless they pay a medium-size sum for possibly real copyright infringement, have inspired a phony copyright troll whose activities are pure fraud.
The funniest part is, this is not very different from what the real copyright trolls have done. Some of them have been shut down by courts for abusing the legal system.
You Have the Right to Remain Spied On.
Increased monitoring of US government employees through their computer threatens to punish whistleblowers, or worse, to make their activities impossible.
The top 100 US corporations for air pollution.
Koch Industries is in 5th place.
The current outbreak of West Nile virus in Texas will recur often in the future since global heating helps the mosquitos.
The Sioux tribes plan to use some of their settlement money for the US theft of the Black Hills to buy back parts of it.
Former eagle scouts returned their scouting medals to protest the
anti-gay stance of the Boy Scouts, but
the
organization is unmoved.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-27 because the old link was broken.]
US citizens: call
on the clothing store company Zara to stop
using cotton picked by forced child labor in Uzbekistan.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-27 because the old link was broken.]
Shell's drilling in the Arctic could damage newly discovered cold-water corals that can take centuries to recover if they are smashed.
Pakistan has extended its Internet censorship to blocking political scandal.
The previous censorship, of sex and criticism of religion, is also an injustice and in no way excusable.
Bain Capital is moving a profitable car parts factory in the US to China so it can pay workers less.
If these workers had had guts, they would have gone on strike and told the company to ask Romney to train their replacements.
Romney is fibbing when he claims to have disassociated himself from Bain in 1999. However, it makes no great difference that Romney is no longer running Bain. He built this monster and set it in motion, so he's responsible for what it continues to do, no matter who is at the controls now.
Romney is profiting from behavior that the US economic system was set up to encourage. The system is to blame — and Romney is also to blame. So are the politicians who set up or preserve the system, including nearly all Republicans and many Democrats. In general, when a system leaves you vulnerable to mistreatment, that doesn't excuse the people who take advantage of it.
Time
Wars: how precarious employment, misuse of technology and
domination by the rich have turned all time into work and crushed
creativity.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-27 because the old link was broken.]
Big data means racial discrimination can be disguised as "personalization".
One way you can resist such monitoring of you is by not identifying yourself in your purchases and other activities.
The women of Pussy Riot were sentenced to 2 years in prison.
Hundreds of supporters protesting outside the courtroom were arrested.
Other Russian dissidents are accused of obviously bogus crimes too. It is misguided to argue that some of these people are really innocent of the crime of protesting, since it would not be bad if they were "guilty". Prosecuting protesters, whether in Russia, the UK or the US, only proves the state is guilty.
Privatization of public services is a recipe for inefficiency, failure, and even oppression.
No public service should ever be privatized unless the result is to offer competition directly to citizens.
An unusually hot summer in Greenland may be linked to the unusually cold and wet summer in the UK. As well as to the droughts and storms in the US.
Dead Woman Working: the greatest hope for working-class Americans is to keep paying the rent.
Nabeel Rajab, already in prison for criticizing Bahrain's government, was sentenced to three years in prison for an "illegal demonstration".
Obama shamelessly continues propping up Bahrain's tyrannical government.
The US has committed acts of persecution and aggression for a long time, so it is appropriate that Julian Assange has been granted political asylum for fear of oppression by the US.
US teenagers mostly listen to music via YouTube.
This makes it even more unfortunate that the YouTube site cannot be accessed in HTML5 without running nonfree Javascript code from the site.
Large companies that own "natural" or organic food brands are funding the opposition to the GMO labeling ballot initiative in California. Along with many other big food companies.
The US prefers failed reconstruction of nations it has destroyed to reconstruction of American cities that have been pushed into poverty.
Another possible cause is that it was easier for corrupt interests allied with Dubya to divert money in Iraq than in the US.
A man in Texas shot the thug who came to deliver an eviction notice.
Romney is trying to distance himself from Paul Ryan's poorhouse budget,
but not long ago he was praising it.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-27 because the old link was broken.]
Romney's advisors said that whatever Romney said during the primary campaign, afterwards he could erase the slate and start over.
Egypt's government is putting a journalist on trial for insulting the president.
That change is effectively a confession of failure to respect freedom of expression.
Ethiopia is repressing Muslim protesters who objected to state interference in their mosques.
The Ethiopian government represses anyone in Ethiopia that gets in its way, and has the backing of the US in doing so.
South African thugs shot and killed striking miners. Some say the miners attacked first, but that seems unlikely a priori.
Tony Nicklinson lost his lawsuit demanding not to punish people for helping him to die.
The judge may be right that this is beyond the authority of a court, but Nicklinson deserves to be helped somehow.
He has the right to travel, and the right to travel to Switzerland since he does not need a visa to go there. Does the state pretend to deny him this right merely because he might use it to avail himself of the services of Dignitas?
The Euro is not in trouble.
Europeans are.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-27 because the old link was broken.]
Julian Assange Asylum: Ecuador is Right to Stand Up to the US.
Clothing designer Zahia Dahar was a prostitute for a while, and one of her customers when she was 17 faces prosecution.
The term "child prostitution" calls to mind the troubled girls and boys, in their early teens or even younger, who are lured and pushed into prostitution. Treating them that way deserves prosecution.
However, there is no reason to prosecute the customers of people like Ms Dahar, who chose their path and are not under anyone's thumb.
The US "Justice Department"
will
not prosecute Goldman Sachs for swindling its clients.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-27 because the old link was broken.]
Paul Ryan has faced no difficult races for Congress, but he has accepted millions in campaign funds from corporations that want service from him.
Apple envisions making iThings control all the appliances in the home.
The abuses of Big Pharma can make people sick, but the fines they agree to pay are tiny compared to their profits, so they don't stop.
What Olympic games sponsors buy is sin-washing.
Why it is often a mistake to vote for the lesser of two evil candidates.
The US is deploying the same sort of cameras that China used to identify and intimidate protesters through face recognition.
We should avoid exaggerating what Trapwire surveillance does, but no exaggeration is needed to show the US is turning into a surveillance state that represses dissidents.
Islamists in Pakistan attacked an air force base.
Australian politicians call for an independent investigation into why Australia joined in Bush's conquest of Iraq.
A US court ruled that the government doesn't need a search warrant to collect people's phone GPS locations.
A warrant should be required for the phone company even to take note of a phone's location, except when the user asks for it.
US citizens: sign this petition to save Social Security.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-27 because the old link was broken.]
US citizens: sign up for the campaign for a constitutional amendment to reverse the Corporations United decision (to call it what it really is).
Here's a comparison of various bills proposing constitutional amendments related to corporations' power and regulation of campaign spending.
Everyone: call on Hyatt
Hotels to reinstate two workers who were
apparently fired for objecting when their coworkers mocked them
with pasted-up photos.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-27 because the old link was broken.]
Nobody should have 5 children — even 3 puts too much of a burden on the Earth — but that doesn't excuse what Hyatt did.
The UK has threatened
to invade the Ecuadorian embassy to capture Julian Assange.
In defiant response, Ecuador formally granted him asylum.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-27 because the old link was broken.]
That the UK would threaten to take things to this level proves conclusively that this is a scheme to hand Assange to the US. Craig Murray's private sources say the US ordered the UK prime minister to do this.
The UK could get Assange without violating treaties or starting a war by breaking off diplomatic relations with Ecuador and shutting the embassy.
The usual figure cites for the sequester's reductions in military spending increases is exaggerated by 100 billion.
Too bad — the US needs to cut more.
Republicans in Florida want last-minute voter purge.
Non-citizens are not entitled to vote in the US, and there is nothing wrong in principle with making sure they don't. However, we know from experience what Republicans are really up to. They will get a long list of names of non-citizens, lots of them Hispanic, and exclude all voters whose names resemble those, including lots of Hispanic US citizens who are entitled to vote.
Romney wants to force those lazy, greedy welfare recipients (mostly single mothers, nowadays) to work. But not the lazy and greedy banksters, of course.
Since Romney and friends have shipped all the jobs to China, what work would there be for these women to do? He'd have to send them to China too.
Belo Monte Dam Suspended by Brazilian Appeals Court.
Paul Ryan argued against economic stimulus and clean energy programs, but he was happy to spend the money after he lost.
Rootworms have developed resistance to BT toxin made by GMO corn, and this is joining with the drought to destroy the US corn crop.
Farmers had better go back to crop rotation, and integrated pest management.
Paul Ryan's family company is closely tied to a corrupt union that supported Ryan's candidacy and punished members who objected to this.
Poland is investigating the CIA torturers who operated a secret US prison.
Mexico's Supreme Court has ordered a civilian trial for the officer accused of covering up the killing of a civilian prisoner.
Egypt's military has backed down from the confrontation
with the new president by giving up on the
constitutional
changes that it tried to impose a few months ago.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-27 because the old link was broken.]
Rep. Kucinich has proposed a law to block the use
of NATO as an excuse
for the US to engage in war without consent of Congress.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-27 because the old link was broken.]
US citizens: preregister now to participate in an anti-TPP protest in Leesberg, Virginia, on Sep 9.
Please do NOT use Google Docs to inform Public Citizen that you have registered — that requires running nonfree software. Instead, please tell Public Citizen some other way.
An independent investigation reports contradictions in the official story about the raid in Honduras that shot passengers on a ferry.
Here's the full report.
The US is withholding
some funds for Honduras based on accusations that
its new thug chief operated a death squad before.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-27 because the old link was broken.]
A UN investigation holds Assad's army and Shabiha militia responsible for massacres and torture of prisoners.
The investigation also says that rebels have killed prisoners.
The Syrian civil war is leading to hostage taking in Lebanon.
A Spanish mayor is leading
resistance to the right-wing's cruel policies.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-27 because the old link was broken.]
Putin's thugs attacked a small protest in favor of Pussy Riot and then arrested some of the protesters.
It seems thugs are the same in Moscow and New York City.
"Self-reliant" Paul Ryan got a college education using
Social Security benefits at a publicly funded university. Yet he
wants to deny the same help to future Americans.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-27 because the old link was broken.]
US citizens:
tell
the Forest Service not to allow fracking in national forests.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-27 because the old link was broken.]
US citizens: sign this petition to the Democratic and Republican parties to adopt preservation of a free Internet in their platforms.
A US court ordered the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to stop assuming that it is safe to store used fuel rods along with the reactors and that this will only be a temporary stopgap.
However, it is a long way from there to any practical effect, such as denying licenses to old or new power reactors.
In the absence of a permanent solution, perhaps we should start moving and/or converting the used fuel rods to a kind of storage that is safer than pools next to reactors. The Fukushima meltdowns demonstrated that that is a very bad place for them.
Google has shut down YouTube download helper sites, by technical means and by threatening to sue them.
Streaming anything from YouTube requires running nonfree software, which for your freedom's sake you should refuse to do. To view a recording on YouTube without running nonfree software, you need to download the recording. There are free software scripts to do this. Whether the sites that are now being attacked can be used without running nonfree software, I do not know.
The US military-entertainment-industrial complex reinforces an idealized view of soldiers and war that facilitates war.
It also helps the arms spending lobby.
Most US high schools have turned themselves into exclusive marketing platforms for either Coca Cola Company or Pepsico. Now studies find that selling junk food in school promotes obesity.
Racist advertisements calling Palestinians "savages" face censorship pressure.
In certain periods in the past, Palestinians committed plenty of acts of savagery. In recent years those are more commonly carried out by Israelis, as Gush Shalom ably documents. These ads are clearly mistaken. Nonetheless, I defend people's right to express that political view (or any other). There is no place for censorship in a free society. Progressive views face censorship too in the US, and we must continue to fight against it.
Australia has won a victory over tobacco pushers:
cigarettes
will have to be sold in plain packages to reduce marketing
(especially to teenagers).
[Reference updated on 2018-02-27 because the old link was broken.]
Note how the tobacco companies tried to use the vague, almost meaningless term "intellectual property" to argue that the state must compensate them if it does anything to limit their ability to market tobacco. This term is harmful and we must reject it.
Slashing value from famous brands ought to be adopted as a goal in itself, because those brands' marketing power and the outsourcing system they support facilitates many abuses. We must reject the idea of logos or trademarks as investment vehicles, and return them to their original purpose: identification so that purchasers can know what they are buying.
Students in Santiago Chile have occupied high schools to demand improvements in public education.
Protesting a fracking pipeline in New York City.
Malaysia is tightening Internet censorship through a law to punish Internet cafes if their customers say anything dissident.
Mainstream US media are praising Paul Ryan as a great expert on the
budget, and pretending
that there is a problem that needs a drastic
"solution" such as he proposes.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-27 because the old link was broken.]
Suicide bombers attacked noncombatants in Afghanistan.
Schools in Meridian, Mississippi, are sending students to prison for wearing the wrong clothing.
These schools are clearly prisons, and the only thing the students could learn from them is resistance. They should protest by wearing prison uniforms to school.
When banks sue people over credit card debts, most of the time they have no proof they are owed any money; but they win by default.
Mauritania still practices slavery, and the slaves are so downtrodden that they will lie to avoid being freed.
The EU has adopted strict new rules for handling of e-waste.
I don't know whether the rules are good ones, but the goal is important.
Superstition can kill: children in the UK accused of witchcraft by credulous relatives have suffered abuse that sometimes is deadly.
There are claims that a system called Tripwire is in use in the US to carry out widespread surveillance via TV cameras and license plate recognizers.
Interviews with some nonsectarian Syrian rebels.
Unfortunately, their existence does not make the Islamist fanatics not exist.
Israel might attack Iran before the US presidential election figuring that Obama would not dare refuse to join in.
US voters don't want war with Iran. But it's not the voters Obama is concerned about, it's the rich people who demand war and might threaten to use their money against him.
How personalized store prices can hurt customers.
I don't have any store "loyalty cards", but occasionally I use other people's numbers.
A three-star general explicitly ordered brainwashing treatment for Bradley Manning.
This demonstrates that the repeated official claims that this treatment was for Manning's own protection were not merely absurd and false. They were deliberate lies told by a cruel and arrogant state that takes pride in its callousness. We have no proof that the orders came from even higher up, but Obama surely heard the world criticism of this brainwashing for a long time without stopping it.
Do the US government and US army have enough courage and integrity to prosecute those responsible? I'd applaud if they do, but I don't expect it.
I do not expect Manning's judge to dismiss the charges. The flaw of all military trials is command influence: the judge is an officer whose future career is under the control of the army command. In this case, the judge's own superiors (up to Obama) ordered the prosecution of Manning, and his brainwashing. He knows what verdict they want, and he knows what will happen to him if he does not deliver it. To refuse would take considerable courage.
I use the term "brainwashing" because what the US did to Manning resembles what North Korean captors did to US GIs during the Korean War to break their will.
Radiation from the Fukushima meltdown is causing mutations in butterflies living near the reactors.
Greater temperature swings, caused by global heating, can give parasites an advantage over some of the animals they live in.
Facebook wants to present itself as a virtual town square … a censored one.
WIPO is once again pushing a treaty to create a new pseudo-copyright for broadcasting, that would give broadcasters a monopoly over the works that are transmitted.
As usual, the US is the bad guy.
US citizens:
Tell Colbert, Maddow & Stewart that Jill Stein deserves air time. You can send email to
US citizens: ask Obama and Congress to commit to no cuts in Social Security or Medicare.
South Korea has censored several critics of the state; some even face criminal charges for criticizing the government.
Vermont voted to set up a single-payer health care system, but it needs US government waivers to start before 5 years from now, and the medical/financial interests are campaigning to prevent it.
US citizens: call on Clinton to pressure Russia on human rights.
Subway is firing workers in Oakland for trying to unionize.
Thugs' unions and prison guards' unions have lobbied effectively for enabling their members to abuse more people.
I would say that the unions are not the root of the problem, but rather a manifestation of it. The root is in the impunity these people have, together with their incentives to commit abuse. The New York City thugs behave like an occupying army, not just towards minority groups but towards protesters and the press.
Thousands of UK workers have been secretly blacklisted
for
years or decades.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-27 because the old link was broken.]
Florida thugs pulled a driver out of her car and strip-searched her by the side of the road.
No matter what anyone had claimed she had done, it could not justify this.
Thanks to school vouchers, Louisiana pays schools to teach that humans and dinosaurs lived at the same time, that slavery was kind, and that the great depression wasn't very bad.
The French government plans to deactivate Hadopi, the law to punish people with Internet disconnection. This is a step forward, but not enough. That unjust law must be abolished.
Yekaterina Samutsevich of Pussy Riot made a closing speech defiantly explaining how Putin has used the Russian Orthodox Church for political purposes.
There is a long history of this; the tsars did it starting in the 1700s.
Romney founded
Bain Capital with money from rich Central Americans who
also invested in death squads.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-27 because the old link was broken.]
Egypt's president confronted the army's power by replacing two generals and revoking the army's constitutional alteration.
A former Israeli soldier will spend 45 days in jail for killing two Palestinian women in Gaza who were waving white flags.
That seems like a slap on the wrist to me.
US citizens: tell
the EPA once more that it should treat the death of
honey bees as an emergency.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-27 because the old link was broken.]
90 journalists are in prison in Turkey.
A protest in Dallas against imprisonment without trial.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-27 because the old link was broken.]
The barbaric Islamist rulers of Northern Mali are using amputation as a punishment.
In the south, 60,000 people rallied for peace and reconciliation. But I think that is a misguided goal, if it is possible instead to defeat those barbarians.
Belarus has imprisoned two journalists for protesting the imprisonment of their colleague.
A Vietnamese blogger has been imprisoned, explicitly because of what he said in his blog.
Supposed TSA "behavioral detection" turns out to be just plain old racial profiling.
Even worse, it focuses on issues that have nothing to do with the safety of flights. In effect, this article admits that the TSA's main activity is an unwarranted fishing expedition, with safety of flights as a mere excuse.
Amnesty International says that indigenous leaders in Ecuador
face false criminal charges for protesting
against mines in their territory.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-27 because the old link was broken.]
The barrier to innovation in the US is that established companies prefer rent-seeking rather than innovation, and buy laws accordingly.
A new satellite shows that Arctic Ocean ice is melting faster than predicted.
Afghans in Karzai's government's uniform have carried out two attacks on government forces in two days.
In one case, the attack was led by the commander of a unit.
We've known for years that Karzai's corrupt government cannot inspire loyalty, except in exchange for money, so its army would never be able to fight very hard. Now it is becoming clear that his soldiers are likely to fight for the enemy.
Under Paul Ryan's tax plan, Romney's tax rate would drop to under 1%.
That would be another reason to call the super rich "the 1%".
Americans without health coverage sometimes must choose to die of
cancer rather than accept expensive treatment. A doctor recounts an
example.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-27 because the old link was broken.]
With such advanced lung cancer, the best medical care possible today might not have extended this man's life for very long. However, even one extra year would have been a very good thing for his daughter.
Romney's running mate, Paul Ryan, is a global heating denier in the pay of the Koch brothers.
He used to call himself a Randian, and he wants to destroy Medicare and Social Security. He also wants to raise taxes on the middle class and cut them for the rich.
This is known as class warfare. Sad to say, Obama is not on our side, merely less enthusiastic about attacking us.
Occupy Wall Street calls for protests against the two Plutocratic National Convention and the Repelican National Convention.
In Spain, one method of resistance to the policies of poverty is to take food from supermarkets and give it to the poor.
Many other forms of civic resistance are described — even police who refused to act like thugs.
With the US drought, millions will go hungry around the world.
This is the beginning of problems that will only get worse as global heating batters farm output around the world.
Oxfam calls for an end to the diversion of food crops to make fuel.
That is an inefficient way to make fuel, anyway. It uses lots of petroleum to replace petroleum.
Ohio has expanded voting hours in generally Republican areas and reduced them in generally Democratic areas.
New Mexico is trying to stop many people from voting, and also obstruct voter registration.
Homeless Americans (their number is increasing) face difficulties in registering to vote.
I disagree with the article's claim that local elections are more important than national ones. Back when Cambridge had rent control, I voted in local elections for candidates who were in favor of it. Ever since Cambridge rent control was abolished by voters outside Cambridge, I have never heard of a single local issue that would affect anything important.
However, that might be different for homeless people.
Republicans believe life is sacred, for fetuses and wealthy people. The others are welcome to die.
Israel is trying to bribe and threaten the Palestinian Authority into dropping its bid for statehood.
The peace negotiations that Israel demands are phony, since Israel demands impossible terms and thus ensures they make no progress. In effect, they are an excuse to let Israel do whatever it wants to Palestinians.
US
Senate voted to demand an investigation of the car crash that
killed Oswaldo Payá, even though the survivors, who are his
supporters, say it was an accident and no other car was involved.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-27 because the old link was broken.]
US citizens: urge
the Obama campaign to drop its cynical pro-coal ad.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-27 because the old link was broken.]
Senator Reid said someone had told him Romney paid no taxes for years, but that he (Reid) had no way to tell whether that was true, and Romney should release his tax returns to show the truth.
The US corporate media are distorting this, and accusing Reid of acting like Joe McCarthy.
TEPCO has released video of discussions held about how to respond
to the Fukishima meltdown,
but
most of it is without sound, not showing what the people said.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-27 because the old link was broken.]
1/4 of US pregnancies are due to failure of contraception. Implanted hormonal IUDs have the potential to put an end to this failure, but the US government has not approved them for women with no children.
Chilean senators propose decriminalizing
cultivation
of marijuana for personal use.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-27 because the old link was broken.]
Uruguay's President Mujica has formally proposed
legalizing
marijuana with the state as the distributor.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-27 because the old link was broken.]
GM won't negotiate with the Colombian workers, injured by their work,
who were fired without compensation.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-27 because the old link was broken.]
Americans who are interested in foreign affairs generally have no wish for a war with Iran.
So why are Obama and Romney speaking talking tough? Because they are paid to. The influence of the "fat cats" referred to in the article does not come from conversation with thee candidates.
The brunt of the sanctions falls on ordinary Iranians, but they don't have enough influence on the Iranian government to alter its policy on such an issue — even if they wanted to surrender to foreign pressure.
LendInk, which connected users to practice the limited "lending" allowed by the Amazon Swindle and the Barnes & Noble Shnook, was shut down by a campaign of intimidation aimed at its hosting provider.
I would not endorse or support the use of LendInk, because to use it you'd first need to be a user of those freedom-trampling products. That's what you must not do. Something like LendInk was hardly enough to make the Swindle or Shnook ethically acceptable, so closing LendInk doesn't make them substantially worse than they were.
However, I mention this to underline how nasty those companies are. These products are the enemy of your freedom, and you should fight them until they are dead.
US citizens:
tell
the Senate, stick to the Pentagon cuts agreed on in the
2011 budget agreement.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-27 because the old link was broken.]
Bradley Manning's lawyer has asked for dismissal of all charges, on the grounds that he was illegally punished through humiliating treatment before his trial.
I don't expect the judge will do it, though.
The US government won't prosecute Goldman Sachs for
misleading
(effectively swindling) its customers.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-27 because the old link was broken.]
If laws don't protect customers from such lies, is the US planning to change them? Obviously not.
EU governments want to set up an informal, extralegal mechanism to censor unwanted opinions without even a trial.
Freedom of speech means freedom to express any and all views. Even hatred has a place in our thoughts — for instance, that's what governments that practice censorship deserve.
US citizens: call on the EPA not to postpone or weaken its standards for pollution from cement.
US citizens:
Call
on Russia to free the members of Pussy Riot.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-27 because the old link was broken.]
A doctor has been charged with waterboarding
his daughter.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-27 because the old link was broken.]
When will Bush's torturers be charged?
A simple system of food labeling based on healthfulness turned out to be quite effective at moving people towards better eating.
I dispute what the article says about "illusion of control". It is not an illusion; it is real control. To have control does not require being immune to anyone else's influence (that would be impossible anyway, in a society). Looked at from the other side, saying things that influence people does not mean trampling their freedom.
This note doesn't deprive you of any freedom, but it may (or may not) influence you.
Gonorrhea has developed resistance to all but one antibiotic. Resistance to that one is surely on the way.
I think Christian theocrats will rejoice at this. They will be happy that thousands will be killed as long as it might make some people scared to have sex. If gonorrhea did not exist, they would want to invent it.
US citizens: sign this petition calling on Romney to identify those who play an important role in his fundraising — the "bundlers".
US citizens: sign this petition to safe-seat Democrats asking them to help other Democrats win in Congress.
Cuban exiles plan to light fireworks to protest Internet censorship in Cuba.
US citizens: visit your congresscritter during the August recess, and ask for a $10 minimum wage.
Time for Romania to Face the Truth over Secret CIA Prison.
The
US will start cleaning up an Agent Orange depot in Vietnam.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-27 because the old link was broken.]
People are trying to challenge Obama's assassination policy through the UK.
Another plan to reduce paying employment in the UK: running call centers inside prisons.
I have nothing against hiring prisoners, as long as it isn't an excuse to reduce workers' wages. If they paid these prisoners what the workers make on the outside, I would not criticize it.
US citizens: Phone the White House at 202-456-1111 and say, "Fire Ed DeMarco now!"
Ed DeMarco is head of Fannie Mae, and is blocking mortgage relief for US homeowners for the sake of the banksters.
The last lawsuit against Bush's illegal warrantless wiretapping scheme has been dismissed.
A bill proposed in Congress would require the government to get a search warrant to examine users' data stored in network services.
I think this bill is a good idea, but let's not use the nebulous term "cloud" to describe these network servers.
Indigenous people in the Philippines were kicked off their lands for a palm-oil plantation.
The Philippine government appears to be too corrupt to enforce its laws against companies. Sad to say, the same is true nowadays of the US government against the banksters and oil companies. Even arms smugglers pay a fine to avoid actual prosecution.
The ACLU warns that Maryland has set up an integrated system to record license plate scans indefinitely, and explains why this is dangerous.
A similar system in the UK has already been used to sabotage democracy by pre-emptively arresting dissidents believed to be on the way to a protest. The US already persecutes dissidents as "terrorists", so we can be sure the US will abuse this system.
A school in Louisiana illegally forces female students to take pregnancy tests, and expels them if they are pregnant.
I think schools should help and encourage students to use contraception and abortion, but punishing someone with a denial of education only makes a repeat of the problem more likely.
Everyone: Call
on the premier of British Columbia to block the tar
sands pipeline project that would run to the Pacific Ocean.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-27 because the old link was broken.]
Tar sands pipelines carry fluids more corrosive than ordinary petroleum; when the pipelines leak, companies claim it isn't their fault.
This is not to mention the worst pollution these pipelines would give us: lots more CO2 in the air.
Everyone: Tell Kentucky Fried Chicken you don't like its use of paper made by cutting down rainforests in Sumatra.
US citizens:
sign
this petition calling on Romney to release more tax returns.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-27 because the old link was broken.]
Half of Manila has been flooded; almost a million people have been driven from their homes.
Is this linked to global heating? We don't specifically know, but it is the sort of event that global heating is making far more likely in many regions. Also, global heating increases the amount of rain that storms can deliver.
Peru's exploitative mining, which threatens to permanently poison water supplies, could be corrected by proper government mining regulations.
The US needs stricter regulations too, on mining and oil extraction.
The Balinese language and Balinese gamelan music are threatened by the effects of mass tourism.
If you want to go to the beach, go to one nearby. Traveling to Bali is a total waste, for that.
The Wisconsin massacre shooter was a neo-Nazi, and was connected with white-supremacist groups that have grown fast in recent years.
I would guess that the tremendous increase in poverty and suffering in the US is partly responsible for this. People are naturally angry at the events.
When they don't grasp who is really responsible (the 1% and the politicians they have bought), perhaps because of propaganda that tries to discourage this awareness, or when they feel that blaming the true culprits is useless because they are strong enough to crush protests, some may place the blame on convenient vulnerable scapegoats such as immigrants. The harsh anti-immigrant laws in some states are another aspect of this.
New York City, working with another enemy of your freedom (Microsoft), has installed a new system of total surveillance. Everything caught by the cameras is recorded and accessible, so it is easy to backtrack and see where any car has been. Probably any pedestrian, too.
They say they will keep license plate data for 5 years, unless they feel like keeping it longer.
Note the deceptive description, "The purpose is to fight terrorism but we can use it for anything".
For "terrorism", read "dissent". Dissidents in the US are often accused of "terrorism". You can bet this will be used against dissidents if they dare to protest. The New York Thug Department, which runs this system, systematically practices violence against dissidents.
New York City has a long history of oppressive surveillance. Taxicabs in New York transmit the passengers' photos by radio to the thugs, so I never take taxicabs there. By contrast, car service cars only store passengers' photos; that system is tolerable since, if you don't attack the driver (something I never do), the photos are ignored.
Hotels in New York City demand photo IDs to report to the thugs. I refuse to stay in them — you should too.
Dissidents in Oman were sentenced
to prison for a peaceful protest.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-27 because the old link was broken.]
Most US state ethics commissions powerless and underfunded, so they
can't
do their job, supposing they even try.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-27 because the old link was broken.]
As the US shreds the safety net, poverty for old people will become common once again.
Before Social Security, a large fraction of old people in the US were poor, even though most of them were healthy (because those who got sick just died).
Around the world, humans are emptying aquifers fast. This will cause major problems in a few decades, even as many areas become much hotter and more arid.
In the US, one forbidden painkiller pill can ruin your life.
And the War on the Suffering keeps on escalating. I dread what will happen next time I need surgery.
Oil companies are not acknowledging to their stockholders the risks of undersea oil drilling.
Republicans want military contractors to frighten all their workers with layoffs, though in fact the planned reduction in military spending increases would affect only a fraction of them.
Military spending is less efficient at creating jobs that other kinds of government spending, so diverting the planned increase in military spending to other uses would help the US make more jobs.
Colombia has taken one step away from the War on Drugs,
decriminalizing possession of small amounts of drugs and treating
addiction as a public health issue rather than a crime.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-27 because the old link was broken.]
Experiments with LSD in the 1960s, before the US cracked down, enabled many scientists and engineers to make important advances, solving problems that had stymied them.
A Gambian dissident has been sentenced to life in prison for
anti-government t-shirts.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-27 because the old link was broken.]
This is a step or two beyond Putin, but he'll get there.
Record heat in the US is damaging highways, railroads, and airports.
James Hansen's latest study ties global heating to some recent droughts and heat waves.
This study did not cover the current year's US droughts, but they are most likely part of the general long-term trend. However, as long as the oil companies purchase the silence of the politicians and the media, Americans seem unwilling to open their eyes.
An increase in temperatures, even temporarily, holds back economic growth in poor countries. So far, heating does not affect economic growth in rich countries, even though extreme weather events cause damage. It may be that economic growth in rich countries is determined more by other factors.
Of course, economic growth is not guaranteed to benefit most people. The US has had plenty of economic growth since 1980, but the benefits have gone almost entirely to the well-off.
The government's refusal to recognize that things are changing (and will get even worse) is part and parcel of the shut eyes that are letting society continue towards the coming train wreck.
Thugs in Arkansas apparently shot a handcuffed man in the head and killed him. Then they said he had shot himself.
Thugs are so accustomed to lying with impunity that they expect even the most incredible lies to stand up. Horribly, they might be right, until we as a society learn to doubt whatever they say.
Obama's War on Leakers (read "whistleblowers") is going to absurd
extremes.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-27 because the old link was broken.]
Those extremes may be funny, but the general climate of fear and secrecy is no laughing matter.
A campaign to end the War on Drugs has massive support in Mexico.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-27 because the old link was broken.]
Egypt's army is fighting with "Islamic" militants in the Sinai.
The mentality of these militants, attacking Muslims in a religious activity, must be rather twisted.
A Briton has avoided conviction under a censorship law against "extreme pornography".
The "extreme pornography" law is censorship for censorship's sake, banning ideas that someone found disgusting. Though some of the acts it prohibits depicting would do bodily harm this law is not concerned with whether anyone is harmed, since even animation is banned. Meanwhile, movies show much worse bodily harm all the time. Somehow brutality and even murder are ok, but combining them with sex makes them bad. (I don't enjoy watching even fictional bodily harm, but that is no excuse for censoring it.)
Low-paid prisoners have replaced regular workers in a call center in the UK.
This is a recipe for unemployment, which will encourage crime and more imprisonment, leading towards where the US is.
US citizens: tell Obama, please don't end protection for wolves.
A Honduran journalist who has faced attacks asked for asylum in the US embassy.
Since the US backs the coup-installed government that unleashed the violence, that is a strange choice of place to ask. I expect the US will tell him that everything is fine in Honduras and he doesn't have a case for asylum.
The States' Medical Marijuana Property Rights Protection Act would stop the US government from interfering with medical marijuana legal under state law.
It is a brilliant idea to link this with "states' rights". Republicans will surely oppose this bill, but doing so will embarrass them.
US citizens:
thank
the House Democrats who have committed to end Bush's tax
cuts for the rich and protect Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-27 because the old link was broken.]
Turkish repression of Kurds has killed 500 Kurdish children since 1988.
The latest one was killed by a tear gas cartridge shot to his head. This does not happen by accident; it is murder, because shooters are trained to fire tear gas away from people, and they are skilled enough to do it when they try. Israeli troops have killed Palestinians this way.
Support from Saudi Arabia and Qatar has turned the Syrian civil war into the sectarian conflict that Assad always said it was.
This article argues that the only hope for a non-oppressive Syria, rather than a choice between oppressive systems, would be in negotiations.
Egypt's president must take action against religious discrimination and occasional persecution that Christians face.
Western companies have sold total digital surveillance to the obvious tyrannies, but we are not safe anywhere from this surveillance.
A Republican study claiming to show a need for voter ID laws was written by a fraudster who just got out of prison.
The Taliban bombed a bus full of workers headed for Kabul.
Will this violence turn Afghanis against the Taliban? It would if they were logical and even-handed, but I suspect they are not.
The Great Impostors: In the Name of Saving Natural World,
Governments
Are
Privatizing It.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-27 because the old link was broken.]
Is it ok to destroy a meadow (or a wetland) if you create another? Maybe in theory, but in practice it's no so easy to make them.
What happens if the new one doesn't come out right, or isn't really as good as the other because some species fail to thrive. Will the company paid to do the work recognize the failure and pay damages? Or will it say, "We did what we agreed to do, so don't blame us"? Or will it try to cover up the shortfall in results? That's what I expect, given the low level of honesty in businesses today. That's what happens with lots of carbon compensation programs; they plant trees that would absorb carbon someday, if they thrive and if global heating doesn't kill them.
Which means that this whole idea is a fraud.
Employees of Baidu were arrested for censoring the site for private companies.
Chinese might have trouble understanding how censorship could be forbidden.
Global heating and its effects on rainfall are projected to eliminate 7 million jobs in the US by 2050.
It will get worse after that.
A large for-profit hospital chain performed dangerous heart operations on patients that didn't need them.
Fighting California's GMO labeling initiative is the food lobby's highest priority.
When business considers it so important to keep us in the dark, that means it would be a great victory to pass this initiative.
The US finds it feasible to continue the prohibition of drugs because
most of the suffering caused by prohibition
falls
on other countries.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-27 because the old link was broken.]
However, the suffering imposed on the US is considerable too, with on the order of a million Americans in prison for drug offenses. And prohibition does cause a substantial amount of corruption of thugs in the US.
US citizens: sign this petition to investigate Rupert Murdoch.
The US spiked the global arms trade treaty, but Amnesty International will continue to campaign for one.
Someone who participated in the start of developing the Arpanet (which turned into the Internet) explains why government support was the only way to get it going.
For the most part, he is right that the subsequent participation of companies was useful for extending the Internet to more people. However, when what they develop is proprietary software, it leads systematically to abuse.
Apple's iCloud service includes a back door that can be used to
attack
and wipe computers connected to it.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-27 because the old link was broken.]
The story describes several other bad practices, but this one takes the cake. (Please don't refer to the attacker as a "hacker"; that is derogatory to us hackers. I'd call him a cracker, or perhaps just a hooligan.)
New York thugs beat up and arrested a press photographer who covered an arrest.
It's not enough to sue the city. These thugs must be prosecuted and sent to prison; nothing less will end their reign of terror. Laws that protect them must be changed.
The US Senate may punish Ecuador for not overriding the legal decision against a "US" oil company.
Egypt demands the release of an Egyptian Guantanamo detainee.
Illinois has passed a law banning employers from asking for job
applicants' or employees
social networking passwords.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-27 because the old link was broken.]
YouTube automatically took down NASA's post of its own video
for supposed copyright infringement.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-27 because the old link was broken.]
YouTube does this to lots of users. The idea of automatically detecting copyright infringement is absurd. Similarity can be detected, but determining the legal implications of that requires both intelligence and more facts.
Standard Chartered Bank ran a specialized group, designed to help Iran violate trade sanctions, for nearly a decade.
Ethnic cleansing by Islamists in Syria has motivated some Syrians to support Assad again.
The rebels shoot and torture prisoners.
The UK's right-wing government has instituted compulsory unpaid work programs; people are ordered to work for no pay (except their unemployment benefits). A court rejected a challenge to this on human rights grounds.
Unpaid work programs will not help unemployed Britons find jobs, because (thanks to the government's policies) there are few jobs to be found. On the contrary, as unpaid workers replace paid staff, there will be fewer paid jobs available, thus more unemployment. Business will pay less wages, and workers will have less income.
Could that be the real motive for these unpaid work programs?
The mother of a Vietnamese political prisoner set herself on fire and died.
This takes place as the US enjoys Vietnam's military cooperation and invites companies to exploit Vietnamese workers.
The Vietnamese government has a policy of complete submission to Western commercial demands — almost "Whatever you say, sir!" If the US government said it would cut off trade unless these prisoners are freed, Vietnam would probably free them
Existing renewable energy technology could provide all of the US's power needs.
It's just a question of spending the money to do it.
The US almost agreed with Russia on a UN resolution on Syria, then pulled back.
I am not sure what outsiders ought to do now in regard to Syria. Assad is a murderous secular tyrant, and al Qa'ida would be a murderous theocratic tyrant (even worse). Globally, Islamic extremism is a bigger threat to human rights than Assad. Is there a way Syria can become a democratic state that respects human rights?
Militants possibly from Gaza attacked Egyptian soldiers, then stole armored vehicles to crash Israel's border fence.
Hamas condemned the attack, following its usual practice: Hamas wants a truce with Israel and an end to the siege. It is Israel that doesn't want this.
Aid workers and the ICRC have been attacked in Libya.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-27 because the old link was broken.]
It is very tempting to keep running old nuclear power plants. The construction costs were already spent, so it's all gravy now, right? No.
These plants are slowly decaying, increasing the chance of a disastrous accident.
The techniques described in this article might be of some use, but the question is whether we want to bet on them against a disaster.
The US economy is working fine, for the banksters and Wall Street, because it's not working for the rest of us.
Airlines collect large amounts of information about their passengers, including everything they buy with the credit card that they used to pay for the flight. And they hand it all to Big Brother.
Organizers of the Union of Agricultural Work Committees in Palestine face persecution including imprisonment without trial.
Obamacare gives most US women birth control coverage without a co-pay, but it isn't free — they have to pay for the insurance.
The US funded a medical study using prisoners in China who probably were not given a real option to say no.
Apple wants to collect users' fingerprints.
The iThings are known for surveillance features — some delivered by Apple, and others delivered by apps. You'd be a fool to trust this; but then, you'd be a fool to use an iThing.
Spain's public broadcasting is firing journalists that criticize the government.
US citizens: Tell
Adidas to pay the laid-off workers in Indonesia
their back salary.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-27 because the old link was broken.]
NBC broadcast a two-hour greedwashing show which did nothing but praise JP Morgan Chase for giving to charity.
Plans for reducing electric consumption at peak hours would record all your electricity use, for the state or crackers to access later.
Assuming that Romney didn't give false figures on his tax returns, what might he be hiding? An income tax expert describes some possibilities.
The article ends with the absurd claim that "no one should begrudge Mr. Romney or his family the wealth they have earned". What Romney did to get this money hardly counts as earning it; it was an attack on Americans that a democracy would have stopped him from doing.
It's amazing how bad computerized voting machines can be. Here is a study of a machine that was used in New Jersey (and maybe elsewhere).
A flat-out provable lie from the Romney campaign.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-27 because the old link was broken.]
What it took to unionize a chicken packing plant in Alabama.
A new approach to fighting global heating through US state courts.
As US and Canadian governors met to consider how to keep the austerity lid on people and extract more fossil fuels, activists protested outside.
Protests
in London targeted the sweatshops of Olympic games sponsor
Adidas.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-27 because the old link was broken.]
Here's more information
about
the campaign.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-27 because the old link was broken.]
Wozniak is warning people about the danger
of the careless attitude induced by the vague term "cloud computing".
[Reference updated on 2018-02-27 because the old link was broken.]
Drought and intense heat created a tremendous fire in Oklahoma.
Many species are endangered in islands that belong to the UK. And this is before the extinction that global heating will cause.
Aside from the 1% who are richest and have too much political power, around 1% of humanity are psychopaths. There is a lot of overlap between the two groups. How should humanity deal with the 1% who are psychopaths?
According to The Psychopath Test, by Jon Ronson, there is no clear sharp line between psychopaths and non-psychopaths. The condition is defined in terms of a group of characteristics, and people who have enough of them are diagnosed as psychopaths. This means that there are lots people on the borderline, perhaps numbering more than those who are clearly psychopaths. This would complicate the issue.
How the ITU's control over the Internet would turn it into a system designed only for accessing large commercial services that pay.
A Lockheed lobbyist resigned and was hired as staff for the Senate Armed Services Committee.
This ought to be illegal. Congress should not be allowed to hire anyone who has been a lobbyist, or in certain other relationships with a company, within the past 10 years.
US citizens: phone your senators to support Senator Merkley's bill (S. 3515)
to end warrantless US spying on Americans.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-27 because the old link was broken.]
The Capitol Switchboard numbers are 202-224-3121, 888-818-6641 and 888-355-3588.
The world's largest butterfly is now in danger of extinction due to cutting the rain forest in New Guinea for palm oil plantations.
I'd expect thousands of other species that live in that region are also endangered.
Idea: hold media pundits accountable by pointing out where they were wrong before.
The US is a democracy in form, but in substance it doesn't do what people want.
This is because the government is controlled by the rich. Its' not the same rich people for every issue; those interested in keeping medical care expensive are not the same ones that want the state to buy lots of weapons. But it's the same problem in both cases.
Walmart says it will sell GMO corn to humans.
Walmart is surely spending money to try to defeat California's initiative for GMO labeling. You can help the initiative by (1) contributing to the campaign in favor and (2) not buying from Walmart.
Thousands of children in India are sold into slavery each year by their parents, who have no way to feed them.
The children are promised a salary, then kept locked up for years and not paid.
The root problem is that poor people in India are having children they cannot support. India needs to reduce the birth rate; will fewer children, India would be able to provide welfare funds to give their families a decent life.
Physicians for Human Rights says that Bahrain is exposing protesters (and people in their homes) to unprecedented levels of teargas, which is making people sick.
Here is the Physicians for Human Rights report.
US citizens: Call on Romney to insist that Bain Capital
refrain
from shipping more jobs to China.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-27 because the old link was broken.]
US citizens:
call
on the Democratic Party to adopt marriage equality in its platform.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-27 because the old link was broken.]
US citizens: phone your congresscritter to say that the farm bill should preserve protections for wildlife, as the Senate has done.
The Capitol Switchboard numbers are 202-224-3121, 888-818-6641 and 888-355-3588.
The US proposes to finance gas export facilities in the Great Barrier Reef, and a big coal mine that could also pollute it.
It seems strange for the US to finance anything in Australia, but these things should not be built at all.
In addition to contributing to the destruction of civilization, they would also threaten sea turtles, which might offer a legal basis to block the projects.
Tunisia is considering a law to imprison people for mocking the "sanctity of religion". Maybe this means even Saint iGNUcius will be banned there.
Jordan has joined the countries that restrict foreign funding for human rights groups.
Many countries that violate human rights don't want human rights defenders to get help from anywhere else. Putin is doing something like this in Russia, and Israel is considering doing likewise.
Obama's is the most secretive US administration ever.
Subpoenaed Portland activists declare they will refuse to cooperate with a federal McCarthy-style grand jury investigation.
Meanwhile, a former political prisoner in Cuba was arrested
again, for no stated reason.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-27 because the old link was broken.]
Special interests win in Senate panel's attempt at tax reform.
RIM says it will give the Indian government the keys to break the encryption in even corporate Blackberry systems.
Formerly RIM said that was impossible because the companies had control of these systems. I wonder what has changed. In any case, I expect companies not to trust blackberries any more.
Shafilea Ahmed's parents have been sentenced to life imprisonment. They murdered her because she wanted to live like a Westerner, instead of marrying the Pakistani they wanted to foist on her.
New York plans to privatize prisons in cooperation with Goldman Sachs.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-27 because the old link was broken.]
It would make more sense to let the thieves go to work for Goldman.
Universal music wants to buy EMI, which would increase the concentration of large music companies.
A few years ago there were five of those; now I think there are three, which means this would reduce it to just two.
That they have even a ghost of a chance of being allowed to do this shows that US antitrust laws are too weak. Companies that are among the ten largest in any market should not be allowed to merge — period.
Social networking sites frequently suspend or censor legitimate users, and most of them don't have enough clout to get their accounts back, I have a suggestion. Don't use centralized network services for jobs that we can do with distributed systems.
Romney would eliminate subsidies for wind power. I presume he would maintain all the subsidies for fossil fuels and nuclear power, as any good planet burner would.
Subsidies for solar power have encouraged the installation of lots of capacity in Europe. The US ought to have them too. It's the beginning of what we need to avoid disaster, and even though not enough by itself, it could lead to more steps.
Brazil has succeeded in further reducing deforestation, but the data do not show what effect the recent weakening of the forest protection law will have.
"Ten Billion" is either a warning of where we are taking the Earth, or a cry of despair about the coming disaster.
To avoid this, we need to stop politicians from being
paid
to deny the danger.
A group of subservient governments in the Planet Burner Bloc propose
to replace the EU's airline carbon tax with
"voluntary caps".
The advantage of these caps, in their view, is that they would not
apply until 2020, which gives the airlines 8 years to look for a way
to avoid really making any concession even then.
EU, stick to your guns! Americans must do all possible to pressure
Obama to stop opposing carbon taxes. This tax alone won't avoid
disaster, but the battle over this tax is crucial because a positive
outcome for this carbon tax could lead to more.
On the
Steve
Dorkland affair.
Olympic games WiFi repression
bans
even setting up a personal hotspot.
US citizens: call on the US not to set off explosions in the Atlantic
that are likely to damage whales' hearing.
What Gore Vidal wrote after the Bush regime imposed the PAT RIOT
Act on the US.
Things have not gone exactly has he feared — there was
an election in 2004, although Bush appears to have
rigged
it in Ohio.
However, he was mostly right.
Everyone: phone
eBay to say, stop supporting ALEC.
Sofia Peeters' film demonstrates the sexist insults women receive
from strangers as
they walk down the street.
When I see a woman I don't know, and find her pretty, or sexy, or
both, the last thing I would think of is to insult her; the idea is so
strange that it makes no sense to me. (I could dream of chatting her
up and asking her to go out with me, but I would not expect success so
I don't try. I might attempt to find a way to give her a compliment.)
I can't understand why these men would want to insult women who have
never done anything bad to them. However, the facts can't be denied,
and these men's behavior is nasty.
However, being nasty must not be a crime. There are other ways
to teach men to act better.
Most defense witnesses were disallowed
in the Pussy Riot show trial. The defendants are being deprived
of sleep and food.
Colombian employees of General Motors have started a hunger strike at
the US embassy in Bogotá to
protest
the firing of employees who were on sick leave.
The Free Exploitation Treaty between the US and Colombia has provisions
to protect unions in Colombia, but they were not intended to really function.
Senator Robledo, a candidate for president, aims to cancel the Free
Exploitation Treaty. He says it is designed to promote monopoly.
Bahraini protesters, violently repressed by the state, are
turning
towards violence in return.
Maddeningly, the US implores the protesters to remain nonviolent when
attacked, while doing nothing to stop the regime's attacks. By now
most Bahrainis must hate the US.
That might be a long-term vicious US strategy, designed to generate an
excuse for supporting Bahraini government repression in the long term.
US officials have said, of people imprisoned in Guantanamo on false
accusations, "By now they hate us so much that if we let them out they
would seek revenge, so we can never let them out." The same officials
could easily say, a few years from now, "By now the Bahrainis hate us
so much that we can't ever let them get control of their country."
Neither argument is ethically valid.
Gaza's sole electric plant was damaged by Israeli bombs in 2006
and Israel will not allow it to be repaired.
Calling
on the US Congress to stop the arming of human rights abusers.
Julian Assange is right to fear US prosecution,
says
his lawyer.
An oil pipeline leak in Nigeria seems to be due to corrosion,
but Shell
claims it was sabotage. Shell always claims it is sabotage.
Given the terrible harm that Shell's oil extraction has done to
the people who live there, I cannot blame them for sabotaging oil
pipelines. But it seems Shell is lying about them.
US citizens: sign
this petition calling on Obama to make the TSA obey the court
ruling and hold public hearings on body scanners.
A stock broker company may
have destroyed itself through bugs in its automated trading software.
Everyone: sign
this petition asking the UK to pledge not to let Sweden
extradite Assange to the US.
US citizens: thank
the senators that stood up for privacy against the Cybersecurity Bill.
The Cybersecurity bill was defeated in the Senate, but only because
some senators opposed it for
reasons
other than support for Americans' privacy rights.
How the Cybersecurity Act was a surveillance bill in disguise.
US consumers' disgust forced an end to the use of "pink slime"
(fat processed with ammonia) in meat labeled as "ground beef",
but the US corporate media
grasped
at straws to support the meat industry against this pressure.
Pakistan's ambassador to the UK says that US drone attacks
undermine
democracy in Pakistan.
The family of Simon Rigg, killed by UK thugs, demand
criminal
charges against the thugs.
The thugs' lies hurt the feelings of Rigg's family, but worse than
that, they attempted to maintain the thugs' impunity to maraud through
society.
Congress is considering a bill to make patent holders pay the
defense's cost, in the IT field, if
the court rules the suit is frivolous.
This would be a small step in the right direction but would not come near
eliminating the problem of software patents. The most important thing
is not to let this distract us from demanding a full solution.
Do 3D Printers Make Prohibitions Impossible?
I am concerned states will try to ban 3d printers or require them to
contain DRM software.
Scientology's jail-in-an-office
for punishing executives.
Some have been locked up for years.
Anti-NDAA, anti-SOPA Candidates Running for Congress.
US citizens:
tell
your congresscritter to oppose the new attempt to undermine
insurance coverage for contraception.
Jill Stein and Cheri Honkala, the Green Party candidates for president
and vice president, were arrested in a sit-in protest against Fannie Mae.
The protest was because this US government mortgage lending agency
dishonestly supports foreclosures that could have been avoided.
Monsanto's Quiet Coup: Will Congress Limit Scope and Time for GMO Reviews?
A thug at UC Davis, who fired pepper spray at protesters who were
sitting on the ground, has been fired.
A committee of thugs tried to justify this attack.
Italy criminalizes insults, and a court ruled it is a crime to tell
someone, "You don't have the balls."
Whether this particular statement should be a crime is a minor
detail of a larger wrong. Insults must not be a crime.
Pretending that the threat to democracy in Latin America is not
US-sponsored coups but rather elected and popular leftist leaders.
Thugs in Kenya shut down an exhibit of photos that makes politicians
uncomfortable.
Craigslist makes users sign away exclusive rights to their ads,
meaning they are not allowed to post the same ad anywhere else.
It might be difficult for the same person to advertise a similar thing
anywhere else, ever.
I suggest refusing to accept those conditions and going elsewhere.
Global heating is damaging homes and hunting grounds in Greenland, but
now there is an opportunity for mining that could poison the
Greenlanders' land, water and society.
Business-friendly "neogreens" repackage
the comfortable but doubtful message that technology will save us,
so we need not take any strong measures to limit global heating.
I disagree with the article's suggestion too, however.
We need to take measures at the level of entire countries
if we are to alter our current path to disaster.
Arctic sea ice is melting at a record level, and a study determined
that the long-term decrease in sea ice is mainly
due to human activity.
The US is considering a law to forbid "American" airlines to pay
Europe's carbon emission tax.
If the US passes this law, Europe should respond that "American"
airlines are welcome to stop flying to Europe if they won't pay the
tax. However, Americans should not net things go so far. This is a
great opportunity to condemn the politicians who have sold their
support to the airlines, and bring global heating front and center.
A well-known band in Finland told people how to get around filters that block
access to the Pirate Bay.
It is too bad that they repeated the propaganda term "piracy", and
that they suggested that "selling music with little friction" would
make things ok. I don't think it ok to make people identify
themselves to get a copy of a record, or to make them sign license
contracts for copies, or force them to use nonfree software, as
music-screaming services such as Spotify do. Out, out, damned
Spotify!
US estimates of the cost of cybercrime are not based on facts.
I'm sure a lot of the supposed cost comes from when Chinese spy on
trade secrets of "US" companies. For Americans in the 99%, this is
not a loss for us. The idea that we Americans should care about the
success of "US" companies is based on the suppositions that "US"
manufacturing companies would employ Americans and pay taxes to the US
government and states. Neither one is true any more. Why should we
care whether the company that manufactures goods in China is "American"
or "Chinese"?
The new French government has decided not to implement a law that provides
for filtering the Internet — administratively,
without a court decision.
However, even a court decision can't justify filtering the Internet.
The Senate and the House disagree about whether to extend part or all
of Dubya's misguided tax cuts.
If they continue to disagree, those tax cuts will expire entirely,
which is the best thing to do with them. However, I fear both parties
are sufficiently controlled by the rich that they will find some
compromise. Perhaps Republicans in the House will practice obstructionism
and the Democrats will surrender to it as they generally do.
Over The Last Nine Years, Bush Tax Cuts Have Delivered $1 Million In
Tax Breaks To The Average Millionaire.
The Federal Reserve is aiming to keep inflation low, which is good for
creditors (mostly the rich) and bad for debtors (most Americans).
For the past few years, the Federal Reserve set interests rates very
low with the aim of boosting business. It may have increased the
profits of some business, but if so, that did most Americans no good;
the business owners pocketed it. Only deficit spending can get
America back to work. The deficit will be somewhat less if we raise
taxes on the rich and on businesses.
US citizens: phone the EPA say, don't let Shell get away with
disregarding environmental safety regulations in order to imperil
the Arctic and our atmosphere.
The UK government overrode its freedom of information law to conceal
a discussion between Dubya and B'liar about invading Iraq.
An Israeli soldier explains that the purpose of checkpoints, often plopped
down on roads in Palestine, is to
be unpredictable, so that Palestinians
cannot predict what they need to do in order to carry out their lives.
It hurts the soldiers in their humanity, but it hurts the Palestinians
much more.
Trying to help Palestinians through "positive investment" is futile
because Israel systematically prevents
the Palestinian economy from succeeding. Thus, the only way to
make a Palestinian economy possible is by putting pressure on Israel.
European pressure for Israel to stop blocking humanitarian aid
projects in the majority of the West Bank territory.
Israel's handling of Area C qualifies as ethnic cleansing because it
is meant to oppress Palestinians to the point where they will flee.
Israel's attacks against domestic political opposition and
international aid organizations are both symptoms of the same disease.
In Silwan, adjoining the old city of Jerusalem (and, I suspect,
illegally annexed by Israel to Jerusalem), Israel uses every pretext
to destroy houses and confiscate land. The inhabitants
resist
stubbornly.
Each Israeli "settler" (colonist) gets 70 times as much water
a Palestinian.
Avoid drawing irrational lessons from the Aurora shootings:
being in a movie theater is less dangerous than driving to one.
Comparison of videos reveals a police provocateur in Anaheim protests.
Senator Wyden was given permission by executive agencies to make short
cryptic statements about NSA abuses, but not to tell us any details.
If he did, he would lose his security clearance.
US Farmers Urge Obama Administration to Suspend Ethanol Quota Amid Drought
The use of corn to make ethanol has always been foolish and harmful.
New US-funded projects in Afghanistan, intended to build support for Karzai's
government, have mostly not even got started.
I doubt they would achieve the intended result even if they were
completed. It takes more than an electric grid to convince people
to be loyal to a corrupt state.
The US Senate is considering harsher sanctions on Iran, but their effect
would fall mainly on the Iranian people, not on the tyrannical regime.
If the US were serious about uranium negotiations, it would offer to
terminate the existing sanctions in exchange for sufficient
commitments about nuclear fuel enrichment.
North Korea's agriculture has been repeatedly devastated by floods
and droughts.
Is this global heating at work? The fact that extreme weather became
common in the 90s suggests so.
Twitter has not fully explained why it suspended Guy Adams' account.
Although Twitter seems to be fairly well committed to freedom of
speech and to privacy, it is strange for questions about what hundreds
of millions of people in general can say to be decided by a company.
It makes a difference that there are so many users. If Twitter had
100,000 users, I would see no harm in its making and enforcing
whatever rules it might prefer.
The US media discuss Romney's distorted version of an Obama quote
without
caring what Obama really said.
The Twitter user who insulted athlete Daley went on to make real
threats. I think those threats justify legal action against him,
in a way that mere opinion would not.
I disagree with the article on one important background point. The
article suggests that limits to freedom of speech are valid as a
matter of law, as if any limits that some government chose to impose
would therefore be valid.
I think that the limits on freedom of speech are an ethical question.
The UK government restricts freedom of speech too much already, which
is why it was so plausible to think the state was trying to go even
further.
10 questions to ask Romney about his own foreign policy.
I too wonder why Obama is so popular outside the US. People don't
seem to be aware that he supports torture, assassination and
right-wing economic policies. Of course, Romney would be worse.
We need Jill Stein for president.
US citizens:
sign
this petition
telling Romney the basic facts of the
occupation of Palestine.
US citizens: support
offshore wind power in the Atlantic.
US citizens:
oppose
the abortion ban for Washington DC
that would threaten women's lives.
US citizens: tell your senators
to amend the cybersecurity bill
and vote against it.
The Capitol Switchboard
numbers are 202-224-3121, 888-818-6641 and 888-355-3588.
The Biggest New Spying Program You've Probably Never Heard Of.
Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Qatar are sending
arms to Syrian rebels.
Christians in Syria are fighting for Assad, because they fear
persecution by Islamist rebels.
Congress Wants to See Obama's "License to Kill";
but if they get it, they won't
be allowed to show it to you.
Romney calls the Arab Spring revolutions' governments enemies.
The Senate Intelligence Committee plans to
attack
whistleblowers and journalism.
Predatory privatization takes advantage of governments with
budget problems to do
permanent
damage to the state and the people.
Americans: Don't forget all the harm that Justice Roberts has done.
Then there's Scalia.
Global heating is causing bigger snow and rainfalls.
Chinese opposition to pollution is turning
nationalist, since one polluting business is owned by a Japanese
company.
Corporations have no loyalty to countries. Whether a company
is Japanese, Chinese, or American makes no difference to how
it would try to treat us.
South Africa is investigating journalists who are trying
to cover a giant arms sale scandal.
A Malaysian court endorsed
the arrest of a dissident cartoonist.
Malaysia does not respect freedom of speech, or religious freedom
(Muslims are forbidden to stop being Muslims).
Many journalists have been prosecuted in Turkey for writing
about human rights violations by the state.
A Russian protest blogger faces criminal charges that are
apparently
fabricated for political reasons.
Twitter reinstated the journalist's account, but will it own up to
the deeper implications
of this event?
Olympic games athletes complain,
"I am an investment vehicle and you're not letting my investors
profit."
Why should we care about a dispute among the investors in the
Olympics? All of them profiting at public expense, while imposing
surveillance and harsh laws. Let's cancel the whole thing.
US citizens: phone your senators to support the Shareholder Protection
Act, which would require large companies to have shareholders vote on
any political activity. Also send them email through this page.
The Capitol Switchboard numbers are 202-224-3121, 888-818-6641
and 888-355-3588.
A Canadian government report labeled Greenpeace as radical and dangerous.
Actually it is the Canadian government which is radical, and its plans
are very dangerous. The collaboration of the US government in the
planet-roaster pipeline makes the plan even more dangerous.
Practices such as torture, assassination and mass surveillance, that
still seemed outrageous in US politics just a decade ago, have become
accepted.
March of Folly: The Debate We're Not Having and What it Costs Us
I take issue with one final point. If we stumble foolishly into world
disaster, only some of us will deserve it, but we will all get it.
Most married women in Gaza suffer violence from their husbands, and
most of them don't dare ask for help because they might be killed.
Add Argentina To The List Of Countries Looking To Censor The Internet
(For The Children, Of Course).
The UK hits a new low in human rights as a teenager is arrested
for expressing a harsh opinion on Twitter.
Interviews
with al Qa'ida fighters in Syria.
They could be worse than Assad.
Apple censors iTunes ebooks — banning all mention of Amazon.
People should not do business with Amazon, which mistreats authors,
publishers, its workers, and its customers. Ms Lisle's presupposition
that the goal of success is all that matters is not admirable.
However, that doesn't justify censorship.
Of course, publishing in iTunes was already bad for other reasons,
such as DRM, and requiring users to use nonfree software.
Rich executives are reportedly planning to
push Congress
to cut Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid in December.
Everyone: call on NBC to stop presenting war as a sport
and start showing what war does to real people.
Bloomberg has a campaign to encourage breastfeeding by making mothers
explicitly ask for baby formula in hospitals.
The claim that this tramples the mothers' freedom seems mistaken to
me, since they can still get the formula if they ask.
Twitter blocked a journalist's account, apparently for criticizing
NBC's coverage of the Olympics, at the request of NBC. Twitter's false excuse is no excuse.
This journalist was criticizing a minor problem of convenience,
and ignoring the bigger wrongs of the Olympics,
but that doesn't excuse censoring him.
US citizens:
oppose
CISPA's surveillance provisions in the senate.
The US gives churches many kinds of preferential treatment.
Bloomberg Sues to Keep NY Wages Low.
US citizens:
ask
Trader Joe's
to take a stand against indiscriminate
use of antibiotics in cattle.
Why The NSA Can't Be Trusted to Run U.S. Cybersecurity Programs.
The NSA director was being deceptive in claiming that the NSA doesn't
collect files on Americans. This according to whistleblower William
Binney, who quit because he saw the NSA wanted to spy on "everybody in
the country".
Austero-Erotic
Fantasies For The Elites, Terror For Everyone Else
The Pentagon wants to stop production of Abrams tanks for some years,
but the manufacturer's lobby is so strong that this can't be done.
This is a clear example of corporate domination of the state.
Frackers are corrupting professors to conclude academically that
fracking is safe.
Banksters Hijack Microfinance.
Privatization: The Big Joke That Isn't Funny.
At
For-Profit Colleges, It's All About Profits, Not Students.
London thugs besieged a monthly group of bicycle riders for hours,
then arrested them all.
Romania's election to remove the president from office because the total
number of votes was insufficient.
An acquaintance in Romania told me that the number of voters in Romania
has decreased greatly due to emigration since the last census,
which meant that the referendum needed considerably more than half
the current number of voters to be valid.
Sports drinks are "solutions" to a fictitious problem
invented by the companies that sell them.
Studies found there's no need to drink before you exercise;
it is better to drink as much as your thirst suggests. And water
is better for you than the sports drinks with their calories.
US medical insurance companies foist excessive
"wellness programs" on customers.
Of course, some amount of checkups and preventive medicine is useful
and effective. The right amount of this is not zero. But there's no need
for it to be monthly.
The part of the article's argument that I don't follow is why they
would rather spend money this way than on needed medical procedures.
The money that rich Americans have evaded taxes on
would cover the whole national debt.
People who don't use Facebook may face
suspicion
and accusations.
A hoax New York Times op-ed defending Wikileaks is reported to be
partly
the work of Wikileaks itself.
I think such hoaxes are fun, but Wikileaks and its leaders should steer
clear of participating in them.
US citizens:
stand
with the city of Oakland
in demanding that Goldman
Sachs stop squeezing money out of Oakland or forfeit Oakland's business.
The banksters' bailouts and tolerated frauds means that the idea of
private companies in a free market does not apply to them. If they
can go to the state to demand money and the state dare not refuse,
this should work the other way, too.
The money the Pirate Bay defendants were ordered to pay the music
factories to "compensate artists"
won't
go to any artists. Only to the war on sharing.
Olympian dishonesty:
bringing
in soldiers to fill empty seats, just to avoid embarrassment.
A new study, led by one of the few climate scientists who was
skeptical about global heating, found
1.5C of heating since 1800, with human activity as the apparent
cause.
Washington's law to punish sites that contain ads for child
prostitutes (even without knowing that that's what they are) has been
blocked
as possibly unconstitutional.
Punishing web sites is weak as well as unjust. At most it would make
the pimps find another way to advertise. If a state really wants to
put a stop to child prostitution, a few undercover investigators
pretending to be clients could actually do it.
Do tiger farms
hurt or help conservation of tigers?
Tiger poaching is organized crime. If poaching a tiger is cheaper
than raising a tiger, the poaching will continue. If the poaching is
fought strongly enough to make it more expensive, everyone will decide
to raise tigers instead. But I don't know how far away that point is.
I wonder whether fake tiger wine can be made convincing. Why would
a criminal use a real tiger if it is cheaper to use a fake?
Privatized US prisons hire illegal immigrants for
a dollar a day.
US statistics show the top 1% have an increasing share of the national
income, but show no increase in their share of the total wealth. How
can that be? Because they
put
their increased wealth into offshore tax havens.
Syrian War of Lies and Hypocrisy
A summary of Google's methods of surveillance, or at least
a
few hundred of them.
US citizens: tell the SEC to expose publicly traded corporations'
political spending.
As the US poverty rate approaches the highest since 1965 (when LBJ's
social programs started to reduce it), Republicans are trying their
best to make poverty even harder to survive.
Racist
motivation behind Arizona's "show your papers" law revealed.
Jurors in a New Jersey trial will hear testimony about the fallibility
of human memory.
If you believe you saw your brother, you wouldn't make a mistake about
that. But if you saw a stranger, and believe he is someone you later
came to know, you have a good chance of being mistaken.
Greenland melting events have occurred every 150 years or so, but with
temperatures high enough to feel warm to a human, Greenland sees lots
of melting every year.
The drought in the US midwest has got worse and spread.
Global heating created the likelihood for the lack of rain, and contributed
to the strength of the heat.
10 African countries have accepted aid to fight poaching (of
elephants, mainly).
Can elephants survive reasonably well in the wild de-tusked? If they
can, systematically removing live elephants' tusks might be a way to
make poaching unprofitable.
Captain Wilson of Sea Shepherd has fled to avoid extradition to Japan.
In Russia, any women who are musicians can become Pussy Riot,
and the intense persecution of three of them is making Russians recognize
what a tyrant Putin is.
HSBC has a Swiss branch whose business seems to consist of helping
rich in the UK evade taxes.
Harassment by animal rights campaigners is starting to
interfere with breeding lab
animals in the UK.
I defend their right to stand for their views, but I disagree with
their views. I support biological and medical research using animals,
as long as it isn't wasteful.
Tribal governments in Brazil arrested dam engineers for failing to
carry out commitments not to block the tribes' river traffic.
Haitian families, ordered to leave their land with compensation
inadequate to buy other land, fought back with stones against thugs
sent to evict them.
The bodies of the children who were shot by the thugs cannot be found.
Since the thugs tried to deny having killed anyone, I suppose they disposed
of the bodies secretly.
US citizens: call on Obama to work with Russia to take
ICBMs off immediate firing alert.
Corning complained that it was paying too much US taxes, while its
taxes amounted to zero.
John Scalzi, self-made man, writes about how government aid as well
as private assistance was vital for him to make a success of his life.
A minister in Norway explains the decision to prosecute Breivik,
right-wing extremist, for his murders through the
normal legal
procedure rather than making an exception of him (such as
assassination or military kangaroo courts a la US).
Violent movies don't make most people violent, but they shape the
expression of some people's insanity in a violent direction.
A Super PAC has been set up to attack politicians who
oppose the abolition of Super PACs.
Super PACs are the result of the Supreme Court's Corporations
United decision and the way to thoroughly override that is with a
constitutional amendment.
A surprising secondary consequence of San Francisco's persecution of
the homeless: they use BART escalators as toilets,
and shit gums up the works.
This inconvenience to BART riders must be added to the much greater
problems imposed on the homeless by a city that wants to chase them
out. But then, most of them wouldn't be homeless if our country were
run to benefit everyone. The people now homeless would be better off,
and so would the local merchants who regard them as unsightly
inconveniences to business. Only the 1% would have less.
Three states will vote in November on referendums to legalize marijuana.
In Colorado the measure has so much support it
can hardly lose.
Ayn Rand's version of Lord of the Rings.
US citizens: sign this petition calling
on Democratic leaders to support the Student Loan Forgiveness Act.
Interviews with Syrian rebels in Aleppo, and with a captured
Shabiha member.
Working while 8 months pregnant hurts the baby as much
as smoking.
Will Republicans with their "family values" try to prosecute women who
work that late in pregnancy?
Will they support providing these mothers-to-be with aid so they can
do without from working that late in pregnancy?
Obama is using the FBI and grand juries to threaten anarchists
in
the Occupy Wall Street movement.
Increased storms due to global heating endangers the ozone layer in
temperate zones, including the US for example. Destroying the ozone later causes more skin cancer, and can
also damage crops.
Since global heating means drought will more often cause crop failures,
this will mean a double blow to US agriculture. Caused principally
by US government policies.
Anti-pollution protests in China forced cancellation of a pipeline to carry
industrial waste.
Chinese are following the path of the US, where the middle class in
1970 recognized that pollution was doing great harm and that clean air
and water were worth quite a lot of expense.
Meanwhile, in Italy, a huge steel plant in Taranto was shut down
because its pollution was found to kill many people in the city.
Paradoxically, workers there demand reopening the plant even as it continues
to poison their city.
I think this reflects the fear that Italians feel due to the euro crisis,
which was inherent in the system behind the euro.
A popular protest movement is trying to overthrow the regime of
"President" Bashir.
This regime has repeatedly visited violence on Sudan.
In Mexico, attacks on journalists are hardly ever prosecuted.
Romney is advocating war with Iran.
I don't think this is a matter of seeking votes from Jews. Most US
Jewish voters are not eager for war and will not like this. Rather,
Romney seeks money from rich right-wing Jews.
Major network TV stations in the 50 largest US markets will have to
identify the purchasers of political ads on line starting next week.
I wonder if the plutocrats will make this ineffective by routing all the
money through shadowy organizations.
London's hydrogen-powered fuel-cell buses have been taken out of service
for the Olympics.
This might be security theater or it might be simple irrational fear.
Making gadgets that can't be repaired causes e-waste and oppresses
their users.
Israel's supreme court restrained a "pilot project" meant to pave
the way for a biometric database.
Israel plans to demolish 8 Palestinian villages to create a new
military training ground.
Here's more information.
Israel has no right to dispossess the inhabitants of occupied territory
under this or any pretext.
US citizens: oppose the Monsanto rider requiring automatic
approval of GMOs.
US citizens: sign this petition for a progressive budget.
US citizens: call on Boehner to remove bigoted Bachmann from
the House Intelligence Committee.
She hasn't got enough of it to qualify anyway.
US citizens: file a comment saying that environmental review
of the Keystone XL planet burner pipeline should take account
of its contribution to global heating.
Uri Avnery: Zionism can't resolve its contradictions because it ceased
to make sense once its goal, to create Israel, was achieved.
China arrested many network users for online fraud,
but it's possible that some of them were only criticizing the state.
It is common for states to lump dissent and political opposition
together with some other kind of crime, including "terrorism".
Even the US does this.
Paul Chambers won an appeal against his conviction for a joke that was
treated by the state as a threat to bomb an airport.
Chambers should not have been prosecuted, but he was foolish —
to conduct a private conversation in the equivalent of a newspaper.
If you are going to post something in a public place, write it for
publication. When you want to have a private conversation, do it
privately, not in Twitter.
California's proposition for labeling GMO foods
pits grassroots activists
against powerful food companies and store companies, and more.
Hua Yong tried to write in his own blood to commemorate the massacre
at Tiananmen Square, and was sent to a labor camp.
The year from July 2011 thru June 2012 is the
warmest July-June year
ever in the US.
The "War on Drugs" has
conclusively failed to make drugs less available,
but it continues to do tremendous harm in the US and other countries.
WIPO is working a treaty for a new monopoly, similar to copyright but
different, that would be handed out to actors in movies but they would
give it to the movie companies.
A study estimates that "stand your ground" laws in 14 states
lead to an extra 500 to 700 gun killings annually, but without
deterring any kind of crime.
Facebook asks its users to provide their entire list of other people's
email addresses.
This by itself is surveillance of those other people, but Facebook uses
it to go further and try to guess the relationships of people who are not
Facebook users.
That information must be worth some money to companies. It is surely
worth money to the secret police of any country that isn't democratic
enough.
However, principal wrong here is not that Facebook can guess which
non-users know you or me. It is that Facebook collects information
from its users about whether they know you or me.
I think we can formulate the principle that any social network that
asks its members for information about other people is abusive.
Facebook makes a practice of telling users to rat on their friends who
use aliases.
I think we can formulate the principle that any social network that
asks its members for information about other people is abusive.
Human rights groups filed a complaint against a French company
accused of helping Assad do surveillance on the Internet.
When will we prosecute the companies that help the US spy on the Internet?
The Michigan senate is considering a bill to harass women who get
abortions (or miscarriages) by requiring them to cremate fetuses and
have funerals for them.
US citizens: sign this petition telling the Secretary of Agriculture
to stop dodging questions about global heating.
Here's more information.
States that extend Medicaid save lives.
Extrapolating these statistics, doing so for the whole US would save
around 25000 lives a year.
More information about the military coverup of corruption at a hospital
in Afghanistan.
What makes this important is that such coverups could be a common
occurrence.
A thousand Vietnamese villagers are protesting at a government
building, demanding return of their land.
The government of Vietnam is a really nasty tyranny. For anyone
to dare protest is unusual.
Senior economists say the Republicans' "jobs package" will do nothing
to create jobs, but will make people sick.
Contact lenses can be used in iris scanners to impersonate people.
I am not going to try to impersonate anyone this way, but I might be
willing to let my irises be scanned if I could make sure this could
not be used to recognize me on the street.
If only I could overcome my terror of anything's touching my eye so as
to insert them.
The possibility of impersonation might be enough to deter governments
from demanding and using iris scans, but this is would only win one
battle against surveillance; it would not win the war.
The Washington DC thug chief established a surprisingly proper policy
about dealing with citizens that record the activities of the thugs.
The next day, a citizen in Washington saw thugs beating up someone on
the street and began to make a recording. A thug grabbed his phone
and stole his memory card.
I suppose these thugs will fabricate some false defense and will all
testify to it.
Explicit orders are evidently not enough to stop thugs from attacking
possible witnesses to their crimes and lies. The only way to stop
them is to punish them for their lies and abuses. When current laws
make it hard to convict them, we must change those laws.
Thousands of protesters surround the studios of a TV channel shown by
documents to have sold slanted coverage to the winning presidential
candidate.
Cuba's president Raul Castro invited the US to negotiations without
preconditions.
The US responded by criticizing Cuba for unjustly arresting dissidents,
disregarding the fact that this injustice is also practiced in the US.
Meanwhile, Castro defended Gaddafi and Assad.
J. William Leonard, who was in charge of government secrecy for Dubya,
says the government's system of secrecy is "dysfunctional".
The article shows how right he is. Meanwhile, the US government still
refuses to declassify the memos published by Wikileaks. It can't succeed
in denying that they are accurate, since it admits this by prosecuting
Bradley Manning.
Obama declared that Colombia had taken required steps to protect union
organizers, but Colombian unionists say it's false, and that murders
of union organizers there are increasing.
In effect, Obama treated these requirements as an excuse to get
an unjust treaty ratified, not as a real goal.
All "free trade" treaties since the one that created the WTO attack
democracy and therefore must be abolished in order to restore
democracy.
The world-wide boycott of Coca Cola Company started because of its use of paramilitary terrorists to murder
union organizers. The most recent murder was this year.
State legislators ask companies to pay for their travel
by laundering the money through ALEC.
Adidas signed a contract promising to apply a code of conduct to its
suppliers, and then hoped to forget it. But the University of
Wisconsin-Madison has gone to court to insist.
The Olympic Games leave surveillance systems in their wake, time and
again, and this threatens to occur in Rio de Janeiro in 2016.
Comparing Norway's response to terrorism with the US's response.
The September 11 attacks, even if not arranged partly by the
Bush regime, gave Dubya an opportunity to attack Americans' freedom in
a way he clearly wanted to do.
Catholic extremists say they will renew their sectarian violence in
Northern Ireland.
I have never understood why people who claim to be progressive
sympathize with these people. Why should the Catholic minority
have power there anyway?
Israel's colonization of Palestinian territory is accelerating;
the numbers have doubled in the past 12 years.
Ecuadorian officials say that both the UK and Sweden have been
unwilling to guarantee that Julian Assange would not be handed over to
the US.
The UK could insist Sweden not send Assange to the US, and refuses to
do so. This is more confirmation that they plan exactly that. The
quoted statements from UK officials, which pretend to reassure while
refusing to confront the issue, demonstrate bad faith.
Joseph Stiglitz warns Mozambique not to follow the IMF's devastating
advice.
The UN says US drones in Somalia are endangering air traffic and
violating the US arms embargo.
Al Qa'ida is worming its way into the Syrian rebels, joining Assad in
trying to make the conflict a sectarian one.
The US has 55,000 homeless female veterans.
I would guess there are half a million homeless male veterans.
Whichever the sex, this is a symptom of the US' failure to care for
people who are weak, hurt or unlucky.
Judge Garzon's task will be to aid Assange's asylum request.
The study of the New York Thug Department concludes that it violated
international human rights standards, and calls for the state to
prosecute thugs.
An extensive study accuses the New York Thug Department of persistently
attacking Occupy Wall Street protesters and journalists with unjustified
force and bogus arrests.
In effect, these thugs understood that their mission was to repress
democracy.
It's not a crisis in Europe, it's extortion.
This is to correct the previous political note about the Angry Syrians
game.
I presumed initially that the game was proprietary, because the Apple Store
does not allow any free software. However, the developer has released
it as free software. I corrected the note to reflect this.
Microsoft has changed Skype to make it easier for states to snoop on users.
Arguing that the boycott and divestment movement should target the
Moroccan occupation of Western Sahara as well as the Israeli
occupation of Palestine.
A court in Australia ruled in favor of the right to protest in a
privatized former public space, but only because video proved
the thugs were lying.
If the thugs are not punished, they might attack another protest
and hope there will be no video to contradict them that time.
Loss of Arctic sea ice "70% man-made" — at least.
Although Obama bows down to the banksters most of the time, Barclays banksters
endorse Romney with their cash.
A US general blocked an investigation into Afghan corruption because
the official in control of it was his personal friend.
Spain's right-wing government plans to ban abortion — even of
malformed fetuses.
Many Spanish women will be able to go to France or Portugal to get an
abortion, but since a quarter of the country is unemployed, they may
have to go there by hitchhiking.
Women forced to bear malformed fetuses should save them to give them
to the deputies responsible during their public appearances.
Big Pharma and the medical insurance companies are paying for large ad
campaigns against senators that support Obama's health care plan.
In the case of Big Pharma, this is interesting because Obama got their
"support" by giving them what they wanted at the outset.
As for the medical insurance companies, it is interesting is that even
the requirement for people to buy insurance from them is not enough to
make them accept being required to cover people despite pre-existing
conditions.
The US should abolish the private insurance business by adopting a
Canadian-style national health care system, and applaud as those
business lose everything.
Chicago thugs systematically tortured people into making false
confessions. Some spent many years in prison for crimes they did not
commit.
The city has paid $50 million in settlements to them.
Some of the thugs are in prison.
Facebook apps have access to the user's information — and the
user's ffiends' information, too. Thus, if you make the mistake of
using Facebook, even if you let a company access your data, any of your
ffiends can give the company access to your data.
(Although Facebook uses the term "friends", that is an abuse of
language; a user's "friends" are often not really friends, and being
"friends" on Facebook is not the way to treat a friend anyway.
Therefore I propose the replacement term "ffiends", replacing the "r"
with the "f" of Facebook.)
The major record companies' anti-listener attack organization, the
IFPI, aims to impose Internet filtering around the world.
Rich UK music stars demand a more aggressive war on music fans.
The reason these people have a financial interest in the matter is
that they are among the few artists who profit substantially from the
current system. In fact, they are already rich, but not satisfied.
The musicians that we ought to support more won't get much from this
war.
I think this calls for a boycott of those stars' music products.
Would someone like to work on organizing and promoting the boycott?
Citizens of the EU: call for a network neutrality law in the EU
rather than yet another consultation.
About 500 days after the Fukushima nuclear disaster, workers
are starting to remove some of the spent fuel from the storage pools.
Another earthquake and tsunami could happen at any time, so it is
crucial to make sure that the systems now in use to prevent further
disaster are protected from them. Also that these systems are
redundant and that plenty of fuel is available to generate
electricity. I don't know if this has been considered.
The House of Representatives passed a bill to publish an audit of the
Federal Reserve annually.
Unless there is some unobvious problem with this, it seems like a good
idea to me.
A Nasty TSA "Pilot Program".
On July 24 I flew out of Logan Airport and encountered a TSA "pilot
program" which seems to consist of asking every traveller questions
about the purpose of travel. We were warned that if we did not answer
we would be subjected to "extra security checks".
The information I was asked for is public knowledge — I was
travelling to give speeches — so I did not refuse to answer.
However, after the TSA agents felt me up (I refuse to go through X-ray
scanners because they are potentially dangerous),
I asked what the "extra security checks" consist of. I was told they
would feel me up (as had just happened anyway) and look through my
hand baggage.
In other words, the TSA is going to pressure Americans into giving
information about their activities on pain of being harassed.
In the 1930s, during a previous great drought exacerbated by the
banks, the US took effective action, with programs to help farmers
protect the soil and to regulate the banks.
When today's business-subservient officials try to pretend that the
only solution would be a rain dance, they are trying to distract us
from the government's failure to regulate the banks and stop global
heating.
A retired former Citigroup CEO advocated on CBS TV the breakup of the
big banks and restoration of the Glass-Steagall Act.
That the hosts of the show treated this as radical and shocking,
inviting him repeatedly to pull back to a position more approved by
Wall Street, bespeaks their own bias.
NSA Whistleblowers: They're Spying on 'the Entire Country'.
The latest right-wing Big Lie is that the Internet was developed by
private companies.
I was there too. The ARPANET was so called because it was funded by
ARPA (part of the Department of Defense). The MIT AI Lab was funded,
in the 1970s, mainly by ARPA. This included my work, such as the
development of the original Emacs editor, infrastructure that helped
many other projects both public and private.
Many of the hackers at the AI Lab were bothered by this funding, but
it seemed to me that funding from corporations was likely to have more
harmful result.
Note that the Wall Street Journal and Faux News, which are both
spreading this lie, are both owned by Rupert Murdoch's company.
The larger lie, that business executives are personally 100%
responsible for the success of their businesses, is false because they
depended on the society around them. But that's only the secondary
falsehood. The primary one is that the workers surely made some
contribution.
The right-wing denies both contributions to excuse the policy it
wants: for the executives and owners to take essentially all the
income, giving a pittance to the workers and nothing to society.
An Maoist political party, Movadef, challenges the pro-corporate
policy of the government of Peru.
Opposition says it will morph into a guerrilla movement, but I think
this is calumny. A political party is unlikely to start a violent
conflict. The state might start one, though.
The government of Peru declared an emergency in order to repress
people who want to protect their water supply from an international
mining company that the government supports. If Movadef organizes
people for nonviolent resistance to mines, crushing them with violence
would be the natural next move for the state. Then it might find the
people respond with violence. But there is no reason why they would
have to use tactics like those of Shining Path.
Judge Garzon will join Assange's defense team.
One thing not clear in this article is what case Garzon might work on.
Assange has already made all the possible appeals in the UK, and as I
understand it, that means there is no case left. If Ecuador grants
him asylum, there may never be one.
The UK's ridiculous budget cuts have resulted in the deepening
recession predicted by everyone whose eyes were not closed.
It looks like the US has effectively gutted the arms trade treaty.
This is easy to do in a negotiation based on unanimous consent. The
only check against it is for some state to say, "You have ruined this,
so we will cancel it entirely rather than pretend it is not ruined."
The Free Syrian Army, expanded by Syrian refugees returning,
now controls some regions of Syria.
This means that military support to the rebels could be feasible.
However, it is split by fundamental divisions, including that between
secularists and Islamist extremists.
The new head of the World Bank sets the goal of eliminating abject
poverty in the world.
It is a noble goal and deserves cooperation, but I fear that the
governments that control the World Bank will not permit it.
Abuse online may repel us, but it shouldn't be a crime.
The Greenland ice sheet melted faster this month than ever before.
US citizens: call for an increase in the US minimum wage.
US right-wing Christians are working in Africa to promote attacks
against homosexuals and abortion rights.
Claims that Hezbollah (backed by Iran) carried out the bus bombing in
Bulgaria rest on supposed similarity to a 1994 bombing in Argentina.
However, the assertions about that bombing are questionable, making
the comparison inconclusive.
It's not impossible that Iran is responsible. That tyrannical regime
is guilty of numerous atrocities, as well as blatant lies and
injustice, against people in Iran and elsewhere.
But there are others in the world that are equally unscrupulous, and
the West has a long history of pinning the responsibility for bombings
on suspects chosen for political reasons. Consider for instance the
Pan Am flight bombed over Lockerbie in Scotland: a Libyan man was
convicted and imprisoned of this, but always maintained he was
innocent; other evidence suggests Hafez al-Assad (father of the
current tyrant of Syria) was responsible, and the west blamed Gaddafi
for political reasons and fabricated evidence.
A unit commander in the Afghan government thugs defected to the Taliban
with some of the men in his unit.
Of 2000 peaceful protesters in Tel Aviv, thugs selected one to arrest,
apparently because he was a Bedouin.
A committee hand-picked by Netanyahu reached the absurd conclusion
that there is no occupation of Palestine. Is this preparation
for a huge annexation?
The committee's report pulls the rug from under the government's claim
that the 45-year-long occupation is "temporary" and that oppressive
measures are for "security".
US citizens: phone your senators to support two constitutional amendments:
one to say that human rights do not apply to corporations, another to allow
regulation of campaign spending.
The Capitol Switchboard numbers are 202-224-3121, 888-818-6641 and
888-355-3588.
Shortly after EU foreign ministers rebuked Israel's occupation
policies, murmuring about possible sanctions, they are about to offer
Israel increased access to European markets.
Israel demolished a 100-year-old Palestinian building in Jerusalem on
the grounds it was built without a permit.
Of course, Israel never gives Palestinians permits to
build. This demolition compounds the injustice, and reveals the
true aim of the occupation policies: slow ethnic cleansing.
Indeed, that's what Israel has achieved in a large part of the West
Bank (the part under direct Israeli control).
US citizens: sign
this petition to Obama and Romney to ban the sale of assault weapons
(i.e., rapid-fire repeating rifles).
An alliance of activist groups say that the thugs
have systematically damaged the freedom to protest in the UK.
They condemn the unjust thug tactics, including persistent spying on
dissidents, pre-emptive arrests, and besieging protests.
The article does not mention the law against "aggravated trespass",
whose purpose was simply to criminalize many kinds of protests,
but that too plays a part in the destruction of democracy in the UK.
A journalist reports
on a visit to Syrian rebels near the Turkish border.
The US and Israel blame Iran for the suicide
attack in Bulgaria, but offer no evidence for the accusation
The US and Iran might stumble into a hot war.
Soleimani Nia has been imprisoned in Iran, not for doing anything, but
for refusing to put his technical skills at the disposal of the
tyrants.
Olympics Labor Campaign Aims for Sweat-Free Games.
Anaheim residents continue their protest over a killing by thugs,
despite renewed violence by the thugs.
A 5-year-old was hit in the eye with a "rubber" bullet (I think they
are steel coated by rubber). A thug dog bit some of the protesters,
and the thugs said it got loose by accident. You can't trust what
thugs say about what happened at a protest; they have practiced lying
so much that it looks natural.
India is judged the worst of the G20 countries to be a woman in.
Ethanol Subsidies: Even Stupider Than We Thought.
US courts approve tens of thousands of phone and email surveillance
requests a year, based on very weak criteria, and the targets are
almost never informed they were surveilled.
A book printed in disappearing ink teaches people what's wrong with
ebooks today.
US citizens: phone your congresscritter to oppose the Let Reckless
Corporations Do Whatever They Want Act, HR 4078.
The Capitol Switchboard numbers are 202-224-3121, 888-818-6641
and 888-355-3588.
Don't Regulate the Banks, Nationalize Them.
A Georgia man got a stay of execution at the last minute for being retarded.
The death penalty is wrong in general, and should be abolished, but for the life of me I can't understand why anyone thinks
that mental retardation makes any difference to the issue.
The US government accuses Bradley Manning of releasing real diplomatic cables
but refuses in court to acknowledge them as real.
Russian human rights activists are considering defying Putin's
new restrictions.
US citizens: tell Attorney General Holder to stop attacking
state-authorized medical marijuana dispensaries.
Assad threatened to use chemical and biological weapons if Syria faces
"external aggression".
Since Assad also says that the rebels are "external aggression", this
does not rule out using chemical weapons against rebels.
It seems clear that the rebels are almost entirely Syrians, but they
do seem to have received arms from Islamic extremist states such as
Saudi Arabia.
Staff at several Murdoch newspapers are accused of bribing officials
to get information.
Everyone: sign this petition on behalf of Sanal Edamaruku.
Turning vacant lots into gardens reduces violence as well as producing
fresh local food.
A system that commits atrocities is generally supported and implemented
by careerists whose goal is only personal success within the system.
Some referred to Dubya as King George, but Obama is King John.
Cuban dissident Oswaldo Payá died in a car crash.
Payá attempted to invoke a clause in the Cuban constitution
which allows a certain number of citizens to demand a referendum. His
petition was for a referendum to establish certain basic human rights.
Although he submitted far more than the required number of signatures,
the state never held the referendum.
He appreciated some of the achievements of the Cuban revolution,
and did not seek to turn Cuba into a US-dominated tyranny such as
it was before Castro.
Your Corporate Democracy, according to The Invisible Hand.
The Yes Men tackle Shell and drilling in the Arctic Ocean.
US citizens: tell Congress not to make a loophole in the Volcker Rule.
Documents show that UK thugs did massive spying on peaceful dissidents at
the Glastonbury festival in 2009.
Cargill buys palm oil grown in plantations made by chopping down
forests where Orangutans live.
US Expands Failing Drug War to Africa.
The Big Spill combined with weather to kill lots of dolphins in the
Gulf of Mexico.
Global heating has enabled bacteria that infect humans to spread in the ocean
into temperate areas.
Is the WWF too close with industry?
This is a tricky issue, because both sides could be sincerely trying
to serve the same cause. WWF leaders surely think its deals with
business are inadequate, yet they could believe (perhaps rightly) that
these are the best deals it can get and better than no deal.
At least, they are better in the short term. They leave out the
question of whether endorsing a company that has gone part way towards
protecting wildlife is undermining the goal. If a company does only a
quarter of what it ought to do, maybe it should get only a quarter
approval.
Many well-known US companies fund right-wing attack ads. Take a look, and don't buy from them.
Gun interests have spent almost $100 million to buy congressional opposition
to gun control, since the late 90s.
Some Republicans who voted against the DISCLOSE act got a million or more
in campaign help from unidentified companies.
Copyright is starving Wikipedia for photos.
Guerrilla war is spreading in Syria's cities.
The US drought continues and will probably lead to very high food prices
next winter. I hope this wakes up Americans to the danger we are causing.
Journalists in Japan have been arrested for publishing how to copy a DVD.
A 2009 UN study estimated that global heating killed 300,000 people per year
and its effects cost $125 billion per year.
I expect they have both gone up tremendously since then.
The Liebor scandal, like many others, results from the systemic
effects of deregulation.
The article argues for breaking up the large banks and privatizing
some. I agree, but since part of the problem comes from complexity,
we need to simplify the system also. The obvious way to do that is to
ban most kinds of derivatives.
Savannah Dietrich believed her rapists were being let off lightly in court,
so she posted a statement about this and now faces jail herself.
Dietrich felt ashamed of having been raped, and afraid someone would
find out. That makes no moral sense — she was the victim, not
the perpetrator. She ought to feel somewhat foolish for drinking too
much, but I don't think it was about that. Because of this
unjustified shame, she suffered a second time, gratuitously. Who
taught her to feel this way? Anyway, at least she has overcome this
and is no longer ashamed to have been attacked.
Modern medicine, together with the obsession to use it to the last
gasp, implies years of dementia for a considerable fraction of the
population. The victim suffers for some years, and when he is too
demented to notice any more, it is the relatives' turn to suffer.
A change in the perspective of doctors would improve things, as the
article makes clear. They should stop encouraging people to bet on
unlikely chances and to grasp for more "life" even if it's demented.
But most important would be a change in the perspective of the
relatives.
When my father was demented, I visited him once. He was still able to
recognize me, just barely, and have very limited conversation, but he
would not remember the visit the next day. I concluded that my father
was really dead, even though his corpse could still walk and talk a
little. Visiting him was a pointless sacrifice; like any dead person,
he was beyond the possibility of doing anything for him. So I decided
not to see him again. If asked to take care of his corpse every day,
I would have flatly refused.
Why do many people go to such lengths to care for a demented parent
who is hardly even aware of them? There is unwillingness to face the
facts of loss: they don't recognize that their sacrifice is pointless,
because they can't bring themselves to accept that the person they
loved is dead. The breathing, defecating "living" corpse
superficially resembles that parent, and looks so lifelike that they
can believe that person is still alive. (This calls to mind the
ancient Egyptian mummification of corpses.) Even when they start to
recognize that the labor is pointless, they have trouble feeling
completely certain.
I am sorry for their loss, because anyone's death is a great loss, but
they need to face the facts and stop clinging to the corpse. It's not
a disloyalty to recognize that someone you loved is dead, and not a
disloyalty to let the corpse be buried. You can remember the
deceased, and honor that memory, in other ways.
London faces a shortage of school places due to population growth.
Instead of planning for growth, the government should plan to
discourage births.
Tax havens may store 13 trillion dollars in assets.
This leads to underestimates of economic inequality. The tax loss to
debtor countries could be enough to get them out of debt.
A TEPCO subcontractor told workers to cover their radiation dosimiters
with lead so as to falsely report their exposure.
What is amazing is that some of them obeyed this order, which means
they risked damage to their health. They must have felt very
intimidated by the employer.
BP's latest advertising campaign presents it as the "spirit of the
Gulf [of Mexico]".
Maybe this signifies that food in the Gulf Coast today contains a
little toxic something from a BP oil well.
A right-wing American moved to Canada and learned to appreciate
universal health care.
I must denounce her opposition to abortion. While abortion is no
pleasure, it does less harm on the average (to the woman or the world)
than having a baby. And if you have a baby today, it will reach
adulthood in a world probably entering disaster.
The War on Drugs is driving the spread of HIV.
The Colorado shooting spree demonstrates that the US needs better gun
control.
This is not so much to prevent shooting sprees like this one, since
they amount to few deaths in the US (less than 100 a year, I think).
Rather, it is to prevent all the other shootings, which kill some
30,000 people a year in the US (based on the statistics in this
article). Stricter gun control laws could put a dent in that.
One of Shell's Arctic drilling ships came loose from its anchor
in harbor, and drifted onto the beach.
Following the normal behavior pattern of those that think they enjoy
impunity, Shell seems to have subsequently tried to deny part of the
events.
This accident may not indicate Shell was particularly careless; such
accidents do happen with ships. Either way, it shows that Shell's
drilling plans are dangerous. Shell should not be allowed to drill in
the Arctic Ocean, and neither should any other company.
Meanwhile, every ship can be put out of action due to accidents,
especially in bad sea conditions. Thus, having just one ship
to deal with oil spills, even if it is properly equipped and totally
up to spec, is inherently inadequate.
(That's even assuming that we had reliable methods for dealing with
spills from undersea oil wells, which we do not.)
Massive fraud by banks was enabled by promotion of the regulators
who were supposed to stop it.
Lie-bor and other scams too have resulted in a wave of lawsuits and
criminal investigations. But we must look beyond the specific crimes
and correct the conditions that bred them.
Miners in West Virginia revolted in 1920 against a corporate-state
alliance that enslaved them and worked them to death.
The miners had every moral right to kill the "gun thugs" who had
killed so many of them, and to resist the state's forces when those
came to support the corporations. This conclusion simply applies the
principles stated in the US Declaration of Independence.
However, what achieved victory — for a few decades — was
not shooting, but voting for candidates who were enthusiastically on
the side of the many against the rich. Candidates determined to
defeat oppression rather than make excuses for it. Candidates
nothing like Romney or Obama.
Gratuitous cruelty is rampant in the US border patrol. These thugs
regularly torture illegal immigrants, sometimes to death, and
enjoy total impunity.
The true spirit of cruelty is the destruction of the water bottles
that No More Deaths leaves so that border crossers won't die of
thirst.
I don't criticize the policy of not allowing everyone into the US (or
whatever country). That is not the issue here.
The fossil fuel companies are the world's public enemy number one.
The present .8C of global heating has a bigger effect than was
predicted, casting doubt on whether 2C of heating would cause
disaster. But the world is on track to burn enough CO2 to reach 2C of
heating in just 16 years.
This means I might actually survive to be caught up in the disaster of
global heating. And if you are young, you will almost surely see that
disaster, unless you manage to defeat the fossil fuel industry soon.
Iceberg Twice Manhattan's Size Breaks Off Greenland Glacier.
This ice was floating, so its subsequent melting won't change sea
level. But the faster flow of the glacier will add to sea level rise
Romney's contradictory statements about his role in Bain reflect a
general lack of honesty in US financial circles, including contempt
for reports to the SEC.
In claiming to be a devout Mormon, Romney demonstrates another form of
hypocrisy.
Four federal spending myths that Republicans spread.
Namely, that the current US deficit is a big problem, that military
spending has been cut, that government health insurance is more expensive
than private insurance, and that Obama's health care bill will
cause a big budgetary problem.
The problem with Obama's health care bill is that it isn't going
to save a lot of money. It would take a national health program
to do that.
Republicans voted to cut funding for OHSA and block new programs
for safety in additional work areas.
SIGIR estimates that 6 to 8 billion in funds for Iraq reconstruction were
lost to waste, fraud and abuse due to careless accounting.
Lots more were wasted in other ways, such as building projects that were
ill-conceived and never functioned.
A Canadian senate report concluded, in effect, that Canada must do
more to gain a reputation for concern about global heating in order to
succeed in selling all its extreme oil and bringing about a global
heating disaster.
US citizens:
call
for an end
to mountaintop removal coal mining in
Appalachia.
High
levels of toxins have been found in the water in the vicinity
of mountaintop removal mines.
US citizens: call your congresscritter to support
HR5864,
to increase protection against intrusive species that
can be damaging.
The Capitol Switchboard numbers are 202-224-3121, 888-818-6641 and
888-355-3588.
A government study
found
lots of toxic chemicals
in the vicinity of mountaintop-removal coal mining.
The people who live in these areas gain next to nothing from the
mining (since it employs few people), and
they
are fighting to stop it.
Someone should tell Orem that companies are not citizens, not even
under the
Corporations United
decision.
And they don't want to be citizens. Rather, they want the rights
of citizens without the duties.
HSBC knowingly kept open the bank accounts suspected of money laundering
and that violated trade sanctions.
One can question whether a bank should be allowed to close an account
because it "looks suspicious", but violating the trade sanctions is
more clear cut. It is clear that HSBC sought the income from these
accounts.
After President Correa got convictions of Ecuadorian journalists
for printing false accusations against him, he pardoned them.
The pardons do not justify laws that make libel a crime,
but it does mean that Correa personally is not the demon
that the corporate media claim.
Across the US, thugs make prostitutes afraid
to carry condoms.
We ended the prohibition of alcohol, which was unjust and harmful.
The prohibition of prostitution is likewise unjust and harmful, and
must be repealed. If you don't like prostitution, nobody forces you
to do it.
A local
government solution to the mortgage crisis makes the banksters
very worried.
Libya held an election, but can its government restrain the violent
militias?
Anti-HIV drugs in Africa cost
much less than was previously estimated, and they reduce the rate
of new infections too.
Citizens of Massachusetts: ask
Governor Patrick to oppose the "3 strikes" law.
US citizens: call your senators to support further privacy rights protections
in the cybersecurity bill, but to oppose the bill unless it is improved.
Also sign this
petition.
The Capitol Switchboard numbers are 202-224-3121, 888-818-6641
and 888-355-3588.
The ban on showing a BBC program about the riots was to avoid
prejudicing a murder
trial, which has now ended.
The judge in this trial accused a very high thug official of lying
in court.
Thugs are accustomed to bearing false witness against others. I wonder
if any of them will be prosecuted for this.
When environmental activists in the Philippines are murdered, the
state looks
the other way.
Shell was unable
to get its act together to prepare a ship to try to deal with
Arctic Ocean oil spills.
This is not to mention that the ship would only be able to do this job
in the most favorable conditions.
New York State's environmental official in charge of fracking (and all
mining) says that CO2 emissions are "beneficial".
Big Corporations Are Making Huge Profits While Keeping
Their Employees Stuck At Minimum Wage.
Relatives of US citizens killed by US drones have sued
the government.
Putin's repressive judges denied
bail to the three protest musicians in the band Pussy Riot.
The new Senate cybersecurity bill is less dangerous than the old one,
but might still have nasty effects, such as allowing ISPs to block TOR.
Obama's response to whistleblowers goes far beyond prosecuting them.
It is accompanied by many strict
measures to prevent anyone from showing the public what the
government is doing.
London thugs went to great efforts to conceal Harwood's background of
unjustified violence. In fact, they played
games to keep him on the thug force despite being punished for
that.
Welfare recipients in the UK are supposed to be allowed to record when
they are tested for fitness to work, but they are being denied this
right based on absurd
excuses.
This fits with the perverse nature of the entire activity. What
difference does it make if someone is theoretically able to work, when
there are no jobs available? Would it be better if he got one of those
jobs and left someone else jobless instead?
These tests are evidently meant as an excuse to crush the poor, and
the company carrying out the tests is simply taking account of that
real mission when it judges people to harshly and denies them the
right to record.
Republicans want to kill the US navy's biofuel
project.
Unlike some biofuel projects, this one uses waste and algae, not
crops. It is a useful approach, and subsidizing it in the early days
could be the way to get production started.
That alone does not prove this project is well-designed, or even
honest. But I can't see who in Washington we could trust on that
question. Any politician that opposes the plan is most likely doing
so in order to help the oil companies.
How the Libor Lies were possible: banks
say what interest rate they would borrow at, but are not required to
borrow at that rate.
This sounds just like what enabled JP Morgan to cheat California on
electric rates: it said
it would sell electricity for a certain price, then avoided actually
doing so.
In other words, these systems assume banksters are honest. What suckers!
Syrian rebels are gaining military
strength, and territory.
Moshe Silman set himself on fire in Tel Aviv to protest
the government policies that left him unable to afford both his
rent and his medical bills.
Retired people in Berlin have occupied
their social center, which the local authority has sold to a
developer.
CBS's "weather expert" is a global heating denier.
The EFF calls for regulation of face recognition, such as requiring
a court order for its use.
Up to 10
million poor US voters could be disenfranchised by Republican
voter-suppression.
The ID office that opens only 4 days a year demonstrates the malicious
spirit of these laws. Disenfranchising the poor is their purpose, not
a byproduct, as a Pennsylvania
Republican admitted.
A European car rental company was fined for secret
GPS tracking of its customers.
This is a small first step, but more is needed. Many (all?) GM cars
have built-in cell phones by which they can be tracked. I think
Zipcar tracks everywhere the car goes (can someone find out for
certain)?
Western pundits and media bemoan the lack of a "Palestinian Gandhi"
but disregard the prisoners
who mount hunger strikes.
US citizens: phone your congresscritter in support of the FDA
whistleblowers who told Congress that the FDA was ignoring evidence
that certain drugs were dangerous.
For more information: whistleblowers.org,
but I can't recommend you sign your name there, since it requires
nonfree Javascript to work.
The Capitol Switchboard numbers are 202-224-3121, 888-818-6641
and 888-355-3588.
US citizens: call on the State Department to grant
visas to two Afghan Peace Volunteers.
More info.
The UK will require sex offenders to take "lie
detector" tests.
"Lie detectors" don't really detect lies; they detect anxiety. It
looks like all the reported benefits of performing these tests come
from the convicts' expectation that the tests will work.
It might be a useful practice nonetheless.
US citizens: tell
the US government to stop obstructing the arms trade treaty.
US citizens: sign
this petition to remove the cap on social security tax.
US citizens: sign
the ACLU's petition against illegal targeted killings.
John Brennan, who stripped
to protest the TSA's naked body scanners, had his charges
dropped. The judge ruled this was legitimate political speech under
Oregon law. I don't know whether the same would apply in the rest of
the US.
A Cambodian broadcaster who supported
protests has been accused of "insurrection".
The US drought is getting worse, which means an agricultural
disaster.
In a few decades, this sort of drought will be normal, so US
agricultural production will go way down.
Ecuador has brought absurd charges against 24 indigenous protest leaders —
most commonly "terrorism".
It is disappointing to find Ecuador following the US lead.
The EFF is challenging the constitutionality
of the secrecy part of the U SAP AT RIOT act's massive FBI
surveillance provisions.
Debunking
The Dangerous "If You Have Nothing To Hide, You Have Nothing To Fear".
I can add an additional point: the state denies that this argument is valid
when applied to the state's own activities
Bahrain has allowed 100 Indian workers to leave after 6 years of
being effectively detained for quitting their jobs.
India should refuse to allow Indian citizens to work in Bahrain
until it changes the law that forbids foreign workers from quitting
and going home.
Evidence on the ground in Tremseh suggest a battle
between the Syrian army and rebels, not a massacre of civilians.
However, the fact that UN observers were kept out of the area for a
considerable time after the events means the possibility of a cover-up
can't be ruled out.
The New America Foundation publishes an inaccurate list of casualties
from drone attacks, one which omits
civilian casualties.
An Indian fisherman on the boat that the USNS Rappahannock fired at
says he knows what sort of warnings US navy ships give, and there was
none
this time.
The US national security complex cost only 13 billion dollars last
year, but managed to label 26 million
documents "top secret".
Even the IMF says that the UK government's spending cuts are dangerous.
So who are they making the cuts for?
Senator Franken calls for regulation of the use of face
recognition.
I agree.
Nokia's sell-out to Microsoft has turned into a big
loss.
This is good, but we need to get Apple too. And then we need
to get the Android devices that can't be rooted.
The thug who apparently killed Ian Tomlinson, a passerby at a protest
that was besieged, was acquitted. This
jury seems to have had some doubt about whether Tomlinson's death was
caused by the attack. Other thugs supported his testimony.
Since thugs generally lie for each other, the testimony of a thug
about what happened at a protest is always worthless. Other people
sometimes lie, but they are rarely habituated to lying like a thug.
The US drought (probably related to global heating) has pushed food
prices to a level comparable with 2008, but the real
problem is worse than that.
Making biofuel by growing crops that compete with food is an absurd waste, and the practice
should be ended immediately.
Most Americans should also eat less meat, both to reduce the burden on
the Earth and for their health.
Lawyers for torture victims accuse the UK of withholding
evidence about it.
The US does this too, but has done it so long and so
thoroughly that it no longer makes news.
For the first time, one of Dubya's torture supporters faces
consequences: embarrassment
he might not care about.
This is not enough. Torture is a heinous crime, and everyone who is
responsible for US official torture policies, from Dubya on down,
ought to be prosecuted.
Another treaty
that must be abolished is the one that requires prohibition of
marijuana.
While civilized and kind countries enable single parents to get by,
the US demonizes
them.
Meanwhile, the malign Christian interference with US real sex
education, birth control, and abortion increases the number of single
parents. US cruelty gets women coming and going, as it were.
US citizens: tell Congress to stop accepting payoffs from Hollywood in
the form of movie cameos and stop supporting the
nasty laws Hollywood wants.
Citizens of India: tell the Prime Minister to stop giving away India's
forests to be cut down for
coal mining.
Russia adopted a law to shut web sites if they are "harmful
to children". I think the site does not get a trial before it is
shut.
Of course, they won't shut the web sites that do harm large numbers of
children, by selling them toys and candy. But they might stretch this
to shut political web sites.
This is not as bad as SOPA, which was rejected in the US, but it is
still unacceptable.
The main beneficiaries of US "food aid" programs are three
giant agribusiness companies. I am not convinced that it is bad
to give hungry people food, as opposed to giving them cash to buy
food. The local elites would try to divert the cash; is there an
effective solution to prevent this?
Nor is it necessarily bad for the state to support farmers by buying
their surplus for use as aid. (The surplus could be cheap, if the
government looks for a good price, but this program seems to pay a
high price.) However, that is only a good thing when it supports many
small farms. Supporting big companies is not a valid goal.
The US could certainly buy the food for aid in a way that supports
farmers rather than the largest companies.
The UK government is hurting the poor so badly that food
banks have sprung up in many cities.
The winner in Mexico's presidential election was accused of money
laundering for his campaign.
There is already evidence he bought favorable TV news coverage.
US families — those that are not broke — are made
miserable by all their possessions, especially the piles of toys that
are used
for a short time and then ignored.
It is clear that Romney lied in a required financial disclosure form
when he asserted he was no longer involved in Bain "in any way".
President Clinton lied about an event of no public significance, not
speaking under penalties of perjury, and he was impeached for this.
Romney lied about a conflict of interest. Prosecute him!
Apple censored a game for the iThings called Angry
Syrians, which is a political parody of Angry Birds.
If Apple had accepted the game, it would have been unethical
because it would have been proprietary. But Apple
doesn't mind that. Rather, Apple said it was "defamatory or
offensive" — to the dictator Assad, apparently.
The government of Libya has held an election, but militias
continue to rampage around the country, arbitrarily arresting,
then torturing and even killing prisoners.
A political crisis in Romania: the EU accused the prime minister of an
unconstitutional
power grab, an attempt to change the rules for removing the
president from office.
If the IMF-imposed austerity program was "effective", that probably
means it was effective for making people suffer. Indeed, a friend in
Romania says that the president, when his party was in power, cut
pensions, cut education, cut medicine (and that 12000 doctors have
left the country), taught religion in schools, and stole lots of
money. However, he says that the prime minister's party is corrupt
too.
I hope Romania does break its deal with the IMF. IMF "rescues" oppress the people of the country they are
made with.
JP Morgan cheated the citizens of California by getting
paid not to generate electricity.
The system was stupidly designed, just waiting to be targeted by a
clever cheat. But that does not excuse the cheats.
Wikileaks has found a way to receive credit card payments, thanks to a
special contracts set up by the French credit
card processing system that say no merchant can be arbitrarily cut
off.
The whole world needs to establish such rights as a matter of law.
However, it's possible that the US will bully Visa and Mastercard
into breaking their contracts with Carte Bleu.
The Rise and
Fall and Rise of Great Public Spaces.
A bomb exploded in a bus filled with Israeli tourists in Bulgaria,
apparently meant for murder
of civilians.
The Iranian regime has carried out plenty of atrocities (mostly
against Iranians, but some against Israelis), so it might be
responsible. Nonetheless, it is would be a mistake to jump to a
hurried conclusion about responsibility for this bombing.
Meanwhile, this wrong should not distract us from the much larger
wrong of the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and the siege of
Gaza.
In an astounding blow against human rights, a UK court ruled in favor
of preemptive
arrests of potential protesters.
Apparently the thugs are allowed to make advance plans to arrest
anyone "preventively" without any court approval, let alone charges.
This is a sad day for human rights in the UK.
A Syrian
rebel attack killed two of Assad's principal henchmen.
I don't think their death is any loss to the world, but I worry about
where the rebels got their arms — and what that will mean if the
rebels win.
An anti-sharing group used a musician's work commercially and persistently
resisted paying him.
This group no doubt says that sharing music is theft because the
musicians don't get any money. (Not mentioning that in most cases
they wouldn't get any money if you bought their records.)
Everyone: support Peter Sunde's petition
for a pardon.
AT&T attacks network neutrality by trying to charge
specially for use of a particular communications application.
The FCC's network neutrality code is too weak, and anyway it makes a
special exception to be even weaker for cell phone networks.
True network neutrality means ISPs should not monitor or filter
your traffic unless it breaks the network.
Human Rights Watch: Iraq's
Cybercrimes Law Violates Free Speech.
This shows what sort of freedom Dubya gave Iraq.
A Saudi web site editor faces charges for allowing
public debate.
A doctor who was visiting Pakistan to give polio vaccination was shot,
apparently
by an Islamist fanatic.
The Pakistani Taliban are effectively holding thousands of children of
their own people hostage to demand an end to drone attacks. Whatever
one thinks of these drone attacks, and the US' policies that may
amount to war crimes, it
can't justify this.
Christian fanatics in Britain are denying
other children access to vaccination. They make the ridiculous
claim that their students don't have sex.
For typical Americans, actually reading privacy policies of web sites
they use in a year would take 76
work days.
It is not a problem for me. I almost never read any of these privacy
policies, because even when they seem to say the company won't do
something, it has a subtle loophole. Meanwhile, the US government can
collect all the data with the U SAP AT RIOT act. So I just assume every
privacy policy says, "We will use your data in ways you don't like."
I maintain my privacy by generally not giving any personal information
to web sites I visit.
The main exception is when I want to identify myself to the public,
such as by posting a comment. I don't want privacy for the comment I
post.
US citizens: phone your congresscritter to support amendments to
reduce military spending — such as Barbara Lee's amendment
— then vote against the spending bill.
You can also support a somewhat weaker amendment to reduce military
spending through this page.
The Capitol Switchboard numbers are 202-224-3121, 888-818-6641
and 888-355-3588.
For decades, Israel's governments have used the occupation and
"security" as cover for right-wing policies that impoverish most
Israelis.
They don't suffer as much as Palestinians, but still, it shows that
the occupation of Palestine by Israel is accompanied by the occupation
of Israel by the rich.
The Israeli wall was supposedly for the sake of "security",
but if security had been the real goal, Israel could have built it on
the frontier. Court cases and other evidence prove its real goal was
annexation all along.
Israelis were arrested for painting
over (erasing) racist "price tag" threats against Palestinians.
The occupation and its effects are turning the Israeli government into
systematic dishonesty, twisting laws into tools for political bias.
There are some exceptions, though. Nathan-Zada should have been
prosecuted for murder, not lynched, and the prosecution of those who
lynched him is the right thing to do, even though perhaps it is being
done for the wrong reasons.
Israeli soldiers locked up the market of Hebron and used
percussion grenades to push the people around in it, and inside
homes as well.
Israel announced it will
release the speaker of the Palestinian parliament from
imprisonment without trial.
However, another member of parliament was just arrested.
Israel promised the US 10 years ago to demolish the unauthorized
settlement "outpost" of Givat Sal'it, but now it is planning
to extend it instead.
I think this is one reflection of the general fact that Obama is more
subservient to the Israeli government than Dubya was. Dubya could openly
say no to Israel; Obama does not dare.
The government has also restored financial subsidies to some of these
colonies that it
had pledged to withdraw.
US citizens: call on the EPA not to make an exception to air pollution
rules for Shell's
drilling in Arctic waters.
Apparently Shell has been lying to the EPA for 2 years, planning
to get an exception at the last minute.
Israel makes deals but doesn't keep them. It promised to allow family
visits for prisoners from Gaza, but it only allows them for 25
prisoners, "experimentally".
And they can't see their children.
The 2012 Olympic Committee's web site claims that you're not allowed
to link to their site if you say something unkind about them. This
has inspired lots of creative
defiance.
It is unfortunate that the writers of this site use the sloppy term
"intellectual property" to describe this.
The Olympics impose a wide range of harmful policies,
which is why I urge people in Madrid, Tokyo and Istanbul
to organize against holding the 2020 Olympics there.
Some (not all) of these policies concern one of the dozen-odd
unrelated laws that some people speak of as "intellectual
property"; but it is misleading to lump them together using that
term. For instance, this link policy is not based on any of those
laws. (Or any existing law, for that matter.)
The only thing these policies have in common is the Olympics.
Israeli politicians are talking about annexation
of the West Bank.
A government-sponsored report even denies that the
West Bank is occupied by Israel and that Palestinians have a right
to their land.
What would then happen to Palestinians? Would they be given Israeli
citizenship, or exiled from their homes?
Perhaps this article
shows the answer: Israeli soldiers have joined openly in the
practice of destroying Palestinian farms, which formerly the colonists
in the "settlements" did (though the state did nothing to stop them).
And when the UN provides tents to Palestinian families whose houses
Israel has demolished, Israel
calls this "illegal construction".
Israelis
were arrested for painting over (erasing) racist slogans
threatening violence against Palestinians.
For the sake of kicking Palestinians out of the West Bank, the Israeli
government is converting rule of law into rule of the bully.
The European Parliament condemned this and warned sanctions may follow.
What a contrast with Obama.
The War on Drugs has crushed millions of people's lives but failed to
block the entry of illegal drugs; however, American drug users are
mostly switching to prescription drugs, rendering the War on Drugs irrelevant
as well as ineffective.
I'm afraid this will mean a War on the Hurt. Americans who suffer
from pain already sometimes have trouble getting medicine to treat it, thanks to the first
campaign against the Hurt. It will get worse. Meanwhile, those who
suffer from chronic pain will meet with systematic suspicion. The US
government already practices torture; why not torture them too?
A person can decide not to use cocaine and heroin, but nobody can
decide not to get injured. Nobody can decide not to need surgery.
Nobody can decide not to develop a chronic pain condition. We
Americans must organize now to block the War on the Hurt before it
tortures us.
Indian fishermen, whose boat a US naval ship fired at, say they were
given
no warning.
In the US: tell Verizon to respect users' freedom of speech, not censor
them.
US citizens: Tell the NOAA not to allow an oil survey that would be
done using airguns in the sea, which would injure whales with
their loud noises.
We can't afford to burn that oil anyway, so there is no point looking
for it.
Call on Israel to release Akram Rikhawi, Samer al-Barq and Hassan
Safadi, who are on hunger strike against
imprisonment without trial.
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Republicans — including state governors — attack Obama for giving states more leeway to provide aid to poor families.
This demonstrates that the Republicans' goal is to be cruel to the poor, and their arguments about states' rights are just an excuse.
The Gates Foundation is funding the development of patented GMOs for Africa, which would make African farmers dependent, if they could afford them at all.
A UK minister plans to veto a court decision in favor of publishing one of the memos where Dubya and B'liar talked about attacking Iraq.
A judge banned a BBC program which presents rioters' own statements and
did not say why.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-27 because the old link was broken.]
Four Biggest Government Spending Myths Debunked.
France will restore the tax on companies that have workers work overtime, to push them to hire more employees instead.
I think this policy makes sense. The fact that Sarkozy cancelled it is also suggestive that it was a good policy before, since his goal was to help companies and weaken workers.
The UK government approved three schools that plan to teach creationism.
Youth in Malian towns ruled by Islamist extremists are starting counter-rebellions.
HSBC admits letting Mexican drug traffickers launder billions of dollars.
I've read that many banks do this, because that's the only way they can get enough money to stay afloat. Thus, if we end the War on Drugs, as we need to do, we will take the banksters down a peg too.
The European Union will push for
"open access" scientific publishing.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-27 because the old link was broken.]
I hope that they don't omit the crucial requirement of allowing redistribution and reuse of scholarly articles. That was part of the definition of "open access" in the Budapest Open Access Initiative, but more recent discussion often forgets this point since the word "access" encourages focusing on the secondary question of who can get the articles from the publisher's own site.
Now that squatting in abandoned buildings is a crime in the UK, young
people who reject a life of rent and debt are trying to squat
on land and farm it.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-27 because the old link was broken.]
The US is setting up dozens of small military bases around the world, each one prepared to expand in a hurry.
They are supposed to prepare for the wars that they might provoke.
A Romney campaign ad was censored by a bogus copyright claim.
Apps and web sites are designed to be addictive — society should recognize this as a problem to be corrected.
The problem goes deeper than he recognizes, since nonfree software is part of it.
Technology as such is not the cause of widespread poverty and unemployment in developed countries. Rather, the rich set political policies that took advantage of technological changes to divert wealth and power to the rich.
Syrian rebels have taken parts of Damascus and are holding them against Assad's army.
This makes it clear that the rebels have received lots of arms from outside. I wonder which rebel faction they are — Salafists supported by Saudi Arabia?
The American public want to cut military spending.
Republican politicians, however, are horrified by the idea. Is that because of the money they get from the military-industrial complex that a general, subsequently a Republican president, warned us about?
The Brand Police are crawling over London, and may even restrict the clothing that spectators wear.
I think the people who wear clothes with commercial messages (or even prominent brand insignia) are suckers, and their doing so increases the power of these brands, which is socially harmful. However, banning some of this in one place for branding reasons is hardly the way to oppose the power of brands.
Terms such as "abortion" and "morning after pill" play into the hands of the opponents of abortion rights.
I think the point is valid, but the article doesn't suggest an alternative to "abortion". (It sometimes uses the term "development prevention", which could be seen as an implicit suggestion of that term, but that doesn't seem like a very good term.) Any suggestions?
I also agree with the point that the "consumer frame" is not effective for defending people's rights.
New York thugs confiscate condemns from prostitutes, and prosecutors cite them as evidence. This has the effect of pressuring prostitutes to risk getting and transmitting HIV.
Prostitution ought to be legalized anyway. There is no excuse for banning it, and the ban only does harm.
ACLU: Your Boss Shouldn't Read Your Email.
I should add, neither should the state (whether it is your boss or not).
Democrats are hypocrites on outsourcing.
However, Romney says he wants to make it even worse.
The first article's specific points are valid and well stated, but I disagree with some background assumptions. For instance, the article equates "capitalism" to the present system in which business dominates government (i.e., the empire of the megacorporations). The US in the 60s and 70s was capitalist, but business did not dominate government as it does now. As a result, many laws were passed to do what the people wanted over the opposition of big business. That was democracy at work, which is what we now lack.
Thus, what I seek is not "an alternative to capitalism" but rather restoration of democracy (along with capitalism).
This is why I support Jill Stein for president.
A former Barclays executive says former CEO Diamond (who was in a lesser executive role at the time) ordered him to falsify the Libor information, and that Diamond said he was asked by the Bank of England.
Greenpeace activists protesting Shell's dangerous plans to drill for oil in the Arctic Ocean have shut down Shell gas stations in London and Edinburgh.
Genetically modified mosquitos, whose children do not develop to adulthood (because they can't get tetracycline), could wipe out dengue fever.
I think the approach is basically legitimate, and if the use of the antibiotic tetracycline in livestock might enable a few of these modified mosquitos to survive one generation, that can be prevented through something that is necessary anyway: to ban the widespread use of antibiotics in livestock.
However, the company should be required to release any and all information about these mosquitos that is considered relevant to public health.
2/3 of the citizens who asked to speak in a meeting in Sendai (damaged
by the tsunami) opposed nuclear power. Of the 9 chosen to speak, one was an
employee of TEPCO.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-27 because the old link was broken.]
Such coincidences happen, but I wonder what fraction of the speakers reflected the general attitude of the applicants.
Over 100,000 protested in Tokyo against restarting nuclear reactors.
Tens of thousands protest
weekly outside the home of Japan's prime minister.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-27 because the old link was broken.]
UK budget cuts included planned flood defenses; the result is millions in damage that was avoidable.
The budget cuts were a misguided policy in general, since they have caused worse recession, and the jobs that were not done are often important (as in this case).
Although Apple has joined EPEAT again, it does not cover the iThings — only the Macintosh.
Kindness releases oxytocin, which feels good and encourages kindness.
This suggests that my proposal for making it easy to send voluntary small payments to artists will work well.
The US gets more and more involved with the coup-installed regime in Honduras, supposedly for the "war on drugs", and now that regime plans to follow Mexico's bloody path.
According to http://quotha.net/node/2292,
there is no need for US government to hunt narcotraffickers at night
in the countryside. It need only look at the elites behind the
coup-installed government.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-27 because the old link was broken.]
The FDA systematically spied on its scientists who were complaining to Congress about abuses in the FDA.
Jill Stein debated Romney once, and did very well. But she won't be in the presidential debates, because they have been rigged by the Republican and Democratic parties to exclude all other candidates.
In the corporate media, supporters of the Keystone XL pipeline are more visible than the critics.
The reason surely has something to do with the ads from the oil companies.
"It's not my phone, it's my tracker."
This is part of why I refuse to carry one.
Israel wants to block the UN agency that helps
Palestinians construct village facilities in the areas where
Israel doesn't want them to have any such.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-27 because the old link was broken.]
Secular Tuareg rebels are making overtures to the government of Mali
by saying they only want internal autonomy.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-27 because the old link was broken.]
A UK man forcibly removed from his home by thugs, apparently acting without legal authorization, has launched a private prosecution against them.
Bei Bei Shuai, who faces murder charges from theocratic officials for trying to commit suicide while pregnant, faces a further injustice: prosecutors are trying to punish her lawyer for requesting funds for her defense.
Who Decided? How Did the U.S. Military Get Into Africa.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-27 because the old link was broken.]
US citizens: if your congresscritter is on the House Judiciary Committee, tell him that Lamar Smith's "IP attaché" bill is a bad thing.
"Intellectual property" spreads confusion by lumping together a dozen unrelated laws. To be "for intellectual property" or "against intellectual property" is a foolish overgeneralization, and this bill is based on precisely such a foolish position.
The Capitol Switchboard numbers are 202-224-3121, 888-818-6641 and 888-355-3588.
Peter Sunde explains how Sweden pressed charges against the Pirate Bay under the orders of the US, and then he was convicted of "crimes" that were not crimes, by judges with corrupt ties to the copyright industry.
I am not sure whether advertising-supported unauthorized redistribution ought to be legal; I think of it as a borderline case. However, legal nonsense like this is intolerable. Swedes should demand that their government respect the rights of the citizens of Sweden.
If that means declaring independence from the WTO, so much the better. The WTO is a murderous organization and must be destroyed.
The dishonesty and subservience to the US in this case gives more reason to think that Sweden plans similar dishonesty with Julian Assange as well.
NRA threatens to use unidentified political ads against senators who vote to limit unidentified political ads.
By explicitly endorsing the Corporations United decision [spelling intentional], the NRA has set itself against the vast majority of Americans.
Pfizer stubbornly continues funding the Heatland institute [spelling intentional] even though it pretends that tobacco is not dangerous.
The people killed in Tremseh, Syria, may have been opposition fighters rather than civilians.
Rahm Emanuel is using Chicago's budget shortfall as an opportunity to privatize public schools and destroy the teachers' union.
The Spanish government, under pressure for deficit reduction when what Spain needs is the opposite, felt compelled to raise taxes. So it raised the value-added tax, which falls mainly on the poor, rather than the income tax on the rich.
ALEC, the US corporate lobbying organization, is pressuring some other countries not to take steps against cigarette marketing.
If the WTO indeed opposes these plans, that is yet another way that the WTO is a murderer and one of hundreds of reasons it must be terminated.
As for whether this plan would reduce smoking, that is a good question, but we should not trust anything the tobacco companies (or their stooges) say about the question. On the contrary, if they seriously object to the plan, that suggests it might be effective. If they really believed it would backfire and help them, they would not really try to block it.
UK thugs fabricated testimony to justify arresting and holding Rizwaan Sabir, a graduate student, for documents he had obtained for his research (he was studying al Qa'ida).
Thugs will be thugs, but the crucial point is that the charge they tried to frame Sabir on is an unjust law which effectively makes it a crime to be suspect.
A scientist's 90-minute theatrical presentation focuses on the damage that having 10 billion humans on Earth is likely to do.
We need to prevent this from happening. One method that will help is by paying women under 25 to get sterilized.
The fundamental problem of the "IP Attaché Act" is that it is based on the confusion embodied in the term "intellectual property".
However, its details are bad too.
Facebook and other chat sites use adaptive monitoring to try to stop adults from meeting teenagers for sex.
Normal teenagers don't use the net to talk with adult strangers. They mostly talk with people they know. Thus, the teenagers that an adult could pick up in a network chat are disturbed (probably due to family problems) and would like to meet adult strangers, one way or another.
It hurts to live in a disfunctional family. I am not saying we shouldn't care about these teenagers' well-being, but rather that helping them requires addressing these family problems. Even better, preventing them — for instance, correcting the right-wing government policies that cause material problems, and therefore stress, for many US families would help a lot. Reducing the hysteria about the danger of the Internet might help too.
Attempts to stop these teenagers from meeting someone to have a sexual adventure with are misguided since they don't address the underlying problem. They probably won't even be effective: if those teenagers can't flirt with adults in one way, they will do another way.
Wikileaks reveals that the US PR firm Brown Lloyd James continued
offering Assad advice about improving his image through at
least May 2011.
Will the NRA Kill a Global Arms
Trade Treaty?
A powerful solar storm in 1921 destroyed substantial parts of the
world's telephone networks. No subsequent storm has been so powerful,
but there will surely be another someday.
If a similar storm occurred now, it could destroy large parts of the
power grid, destruction that would take a long time to reconstruct.
Furthermore, nuclear power plants whose electronics are damaged by the
storm could have meltdowns when their backup generators run out of
fuel.
New Legislation Would Give Public Full Access to Congressional Reports.
Citing the goal of "protecting children" (which shuts off the brain of
many adults), Washington and Tennessee have laws making it a crime for
a site to let users publish an advertisement for prostitution that
"depicts a minor" (whether the site knows this or not).
This law would require the same sort of massive vetting for all
user-posted material that China
recently imposed on online video.
If states want to put an end to advertisement of child prostitution,
there is no need to smash the Internet — a few undercover agents
could easily arrest the pimps.
Even "free" countries prosecute "insulting" the head of state.
Freedom of speech includes the freedom to insult anyone.
The Facebook "privacy settlement" about using its users' faces in ads
is so weakly written that it may not really
allow users to opt out.
However, some public interest groups that approve it will get substantial
funds (substantial for them, not for Facebook).
Witnesses in Tremseh say they were attacked by the Syrian
army and the Shabiha thugs.
Freedom = Censorship? That's what Verizon says.
Stores in some US states will be allowed to charge
extra for credit card purchases.
I hope this encourages more people to use cash.
A suicide bomber attacked a wedding party in Afghanistan, killing a member of parliament as well as officers and
politicians.
I suppose relatives and other invitees were killed too.
The Syrian opposition generates fake photos and videos of supposed atrocities.
US citizens: tell the senate to
make military health care cover abortions for soldiers that are raped.
The people most quoted on behalf of the Syrian opposition have long-standing close relationships
with Western institutions that have sought for years to get rid of
Assad.
Oman has imprisoned bloggers for insulting
the king.
Apple reversed its decision to drop the environmental standard EPEAT. The
article does not make it clear whether Apple will stop gluing the
batteries into iThings. I gather that EPEAT requires this, but I
can't tell whether Apple has decided to comply with the requirement or
whether EPEAT has made an exception for Apple.
The DISCLOSE Act's delicate balance:
protecting private citizens' anonymity while informing the public
about election money laundering.
Cheney hosted a fund-raising event for Romney, but reporters were
forbidden to photograph them together — Romney hopes to block the fact that they are associating
from reaching most Americans' attention.
It would be honest to take separate photos of the two of them at
the even and publish them side by side, along with the news that a
photo of the two together was banned.
And maybe someone who was there defied this order and took such a
photo anyway.
Sabu Williams tried to register voters in Florida on behalf of the
NAACP, and was threatened with
prosecution under Florida's voter suppression laws.
An Alabama judge ordered an end to the practice of jailing poor people for not paying fees in his town.
They were charged additional fees for being jailed, which meant
that they might never get out. The judge said that you could call it
"debtor's prison" but it really is an extortion racket.
Progressive organizations and others oppose the "sequestration" for spending on
civilian programs.
This is the cut that was agreed on as part of the law that set up the
supercommittee, because the supercommittee did not reach an
agreement. Since Republicans have already proposed to overturn the
military cuts, there is no reason to stand by the other cuts.
There is no reason to undo the "sequestration" for military spending,
because that has increased tremendously in the past 6
years.
Ethiopian journalists and opposition figures were sentenced to life in
prison for “conspiring with
rebels”.
This reminds me of the US government's accusation that Bradley Manning
"aided the enemy" by informing us about what our government was doing.
The Ethiopian government acts as a proxy army for the US and has full
US government support. No wonder they use the same forms of
dishonesty.
The US State Department says that the May 11 killers in Honduras were
the responsibility of the Honduran thugs and mercenaries involved, and
that the DEA agents were only their "advisors". However, the US
ambassador there said that those Hondurans under direct DEA
command. “They basically work for the DEA.”
The government in Honduras was installed by a military coup and represses journalists
and dissidents.
The presence of the DEA in Honduras is fishy in the first place,
since, according to these
writers, the main narcotraffickers are the elites that are behind
the new government.
Naturally the regime has the full support of the US, which may have
helped organize the coup in the first place. A state like this has no
moral legitimacy.
Secular Tuareg rebels couldn't stand rule by al Qa'ida, and split
with them, but al Qa'ida defeated them and took
total control of northern Mali.
Muslims and Christians are lobbying to overturn a German court decision that circumcision of babies
violates their rights.
I tend to agree that it is better to let them grow up and decide
for themselves, but I don't have a strong position on the issue.
The UK government plans to wipe out habeas corpus with secret courts, so that anyone could be arrested and
jailed at length, and not told why.
UN monitors confirm Syria used tanks and helicopters against the
town of Tremseh just before a massacre in the
town.
They saw this from a distance, but the Syrian army did not allow them
to enter the town to investigate the massacre.
Ask Romney: what are you hiding in the income tax returns you have not
released?
Here's background on the apparent conflict
between what Romney says to the public and what he said in testimony.
Response to Emily -- the NPR music intern.
Mexico's militarized war on drugs has resulted in more
violence.
Facebook sends political messages as coming from people who have clicked Like buttons.
Facebook recently settled a lawsuit, promising to stop a very similar
practice involving ads, but these political messages are not
considered "ads" and Facebook continues to send them.
A science writer who was sued for libel writes about his experience.
A class action suit targets copyright trolls.
US citizens: sign this emergency petition to the senate to
support the DISCLOSE act.
US officials try to justify secret assassination policy. Here are refutations of
their arguments.
US citizens: phone your congresscritter to support regulations against
business abuses. Also sign this petition.
The Capitol Switchboard numbers are 202-224-3121,
888-818-6641 and 888-355-3588.
The wear in the San Onofre nuclear power plant is much worse than we
previously knew.
The European Commission bureaucrats seem inclined to push the rejected
ACTA provisions in the proposed treaty with Canada.
The current Canadian government is a complete sellout to business, and
inclined to harm the public interest in several different areas
including copyright.
Foreign "investment" to Haiti does no good for Haitians; it is an investment in
extraction.
Part II.
Iranian exile Yashar Khameneh posted text and drawings that criticize
a historical Imam. Thugs in Iran took his father hostage, and threaten
to execute him unless Yashar Khameneh takes down the page.
It is a good thing that Khameneh cannot do that. I hope his father is
not killed, but if the thugs gained their goal through this threat,
that would be a defeat for freedom in Iran.
The basic principle for dealing with hostage-takers is not to give
them what they want. President Reagan betrayed his country by selling
arms to Iran in exchange for release of hostages in
Lebanon. Naturally, the effect was to encourage them to take more
hostages. Taking down this page would have a similar effect.
Wall Street's crimes in 2008 may be impossible to punish due to the
statute of limitations, if the SEC does not act soon.
Of course, the failure to prosecute them so far was Dubya's choice
and then Obama's choice.
Global Fight for Natural Resources 'Has Only Just Begun,' say Experts.
I wish we could change US laws so that businesses have an incentive to
hire workers to replace some material resources.
More information about the Iceland court case about
Visa payments to Wikileaks.
For Datacell, this is not just a business issue (though the cutoff of
payment from its other customers caused damage to the business). The
head of Datacell supports Wikileaks as an ethical cause, which is why
he did not solve his own problem by abandoning Wikileaks.
Mexico's government signed ACTA even though its senate already voted to oppose it.
I got mail from a Mexican saying that the president hopes that the
new senators, to be elected, will ratify ACTA even though the present
senators oppose it.
Another bankster crime: charging higher interest rates to minority
groups.
Almost 6 million US citizens can't vote because of felony convictions. A
substantial fraction of these people were imprisoned for possession of
small amounts of drugs. Members of minority groups are much more
likely to be arrested and charged for this. Thus, one byproduct of
the "War on Drugs" is to systematically disenfranchise people from
minority groups.
Thugs in Madrid shot protesters at random with rubber bullets, injuring children and journalists as well as
protesters.
PayPal has appointed itself a copyright enforcer by imposing restrictive conditions
on sites it can pay.
We need online payments from which nobody can be excluded under any
conditions, just as nobody can be excluded from use of cash.
The US and France are trying to pressure the Palestinian Authority
into not exhuming Yasser Arafat's body to test for
polonium poisoning.
Congress wants to prosecute journalists who
publish leaks.
Iraq's new censorship law carries life imprisonment as a penalty for
vaguely defined crimes.
Indian Internet censorship restricts users in Oman too. They are also
restricted by Oman's Internet censorship.
Mobile phone users don't know how much information the phones collect,
nor how
vulnerable they are to its being collected by or transmitted to
others.
Australia plans total Internet surveillance a la
NSA, and perhaps imprisoning people that don't hand over
encryption keys (as in the
UK). Falkvinge suggests that the UK could imprison you for having
photos or astronomical data, if the state chooses to claim they
contain steganographic messages and demand you provide the key to extract
them.
Illegal Ivory Bust Shows Growing U.S. Appetite for
Elephant Tusks.
Many US states have imposed pointless restrictions on abortion for the
sole purpose of making abortion difficult.
Right-wingers often make the absurd claim that Liberal regulations on
business are meant to interfere with business (rather than protect
workers, customers and the environment). Why would they imagine such
dishonesty? Because that's the way they do things.
Obama has extended health insurance to seasonal fire
fighters.
This step, in itself, is a good thing, but what we really need is
universal health care not connected with employment. Obama didn't dare
speak in favor of that.
Meanwhile, Republicans are trying again to repeal
Obama's health care law, which is a step in the wrong direction.
A court in Iceland ordered the local Visa and Mastercard processing
company to resume processing payments to Wikileaks, but it is not clear
whether this will result in allowing people to actually send money to
Wikileaks.
US citizens: phone your senators and ask them to send you a copy of
the draft TPP text. Also send them mail through this
page.
The Capitol Switchboard numbers are 202-224-3121,
888-818-6641 and 888-355-3588.
A charge against Bradley Manning is being interpreted with a looser criterion than the same charge against
prisoners in Guantanamo.
The deforestation that has already occurred in the Amazon is
expected to cause the extinction of a number of species of animals
because their habitat is now
insufficient.
Worse, in a few decades the rain will be insufficient, and what's left
of the forest will burn up just as the dead pine forests in the
western US are burning now. (These trees are dead because global
heating has allowed pine borers to survive where formerly they could
not.)
Obama is attacking state-approved
medical marijuana dispensaries just as Bush did.
The Pain in Spain Falls Mainly on
the Plain (Folk).
The Olympic Games are a publicly subsidized corporate-controlled
lockdown, but with major changes they could be something more.
Everyone: Call on the EU to prosecute the banksters for
lying for Libor.
The Mujahideen-e Khalq get very different treatment from al Qa'ida,
because the US apparently considers them “our
terrorists.”
As stated before, to label a group as "terrorist" and ban it by
administrative fiat is an attack on freedom of association. If there
is evidence that a group is planning terrorism, put it on trial!
US citizens: Sign this petition calling
on Romney to publish his tax returns.
China requires Internet sites to pre-censor
all videos.
US citizens: sign this petition to Obama not
to let Israel attack Iran.
US citizens: tell Democrats to support medicare for all.
The US is about to deploy lasers that can detect tiny amounts of various substances, such as
traces of explosives, traces of marijuana, or traces of hormones in
your body.
I suspect these can also identify and track people by the spectrum of
chemicals around them.
Lamar Smith tried to sneak one
provision of SOPA into another law.
The provision would involve putting dedicated personnel US embassies
to pressure other countries in favor of "intellectual property". Or
perhaps only in favor of copyright — by using the vague term
"intellectual property", the article fails to say what range of issues
this job would cover. However, we can tell it includes some bad
things.
Geithner, the "banksters' man in Washington", knew about the
manipulation of Libor in 2008 and did nothing.
45% of US mortgages are tied to the Libor rate, and were therefore
affected directly by this manipulation.
NOAA: the record-breaking drought in Texas last year can only be due
to global heating.
Obama and Congress give full support to Big Pharma's patents against life-saving compulsory
licenses in poor countries.
US court ruled that people operating wifi networks without passwords
are not
responsible for others' copyright infringement.
However, I fear that the unofficial persecution arranged by Obama will not pay attention to
rights like these.
A 2010 oil spill, the most expensive pipeline rupture in US history
and not cleaned up yet, was due to a company
policy of disregarding safety. This demonstrates that US
regulation of pipelines is too weak to depend on. The same will
surely be true for the Keystone XL pipeline.
If the individuals responsible were prosecuted and imprisoned,
including executives that pushed for cost savings and didn't insist on
maintaining safety standards, this sort of accident would not happen.
Americans United for Separation of Church and State reports how charter schools in
Texas use public funds to teach religion.
Seattle thugs broke down the door of some dissidents' apartment
— without asking
them to open it — and seized booklets that said "anarchist",
as well as a hoodie. It seems they did not find the goggles and gas
masks they were looking for, but if they had, so what? These things
are not useful for hurting anyone. What they are good for is
protesting despite state attempts to crush democracy. A state that
treats these as suspect treats the people as an enemy.
The science cuts in Canada include agencies that measure global heating and water pollution
— the perfect gift for oil companies.
Chevron refused to evacuate workers from a marine gas drilling
platform, keeping them on board until the explosion they expected killed some of them.
Portugal Doctors Strike over Budget Cuts.
Another nail in ACTA's coffin: Bulgaria suspended ratification.
Russia has adopted a law for Internet filtering, using “child pornography” as an excuse.
"Child pornography" is an ideal excuse for censorship, which is
nastier than works someone might want to censor. Here is an interview
with a blogger about the danger of this scheme.
Russian Wikipedia blacked out its site
as a protest.
Everyone: contact the UK home Secretary, Theresa May, to oppose the
extradition of Richard O'Dwyer.
email:
mayt@parliament.uk
The US wants to prosecute O'Dwyer for running a site with links to copyright-infringing torrents.
Thousands of coal miners are protesting in Madrid against
plans to shut the mines.
Someone in Spain told me that the miners demand is not necessarily
to keep the mines running (which seems like a waste) — some
other kind of work for their towns would satisfy them too. However,
the Spanish state is determined to dump more people into poverty so
that the banksters won't lose anything.
A Syrian diplomat has defected.
He is a Sunni, so this tends to confirm the sectarian form that
Syrian opposition has taken.
Religious extremists in the Israeli army, encouraged for years by
the state, implicitly
threaten mutiny if the state tries to undo the extremists'
colonies in the West Bank.
Melynda Gates decided to champion access
to birth control.
This is a truly worthy cause. I have more respect for her than for
the Gates foundation in general, whose "philanthropy" includes
"donating" Windows licenses.
The biotech industry is "helping" US science teachers teach children
that GMOs do not raise any issue to be concerned about.
Bankster economists describe Ireland as having brilliant prospects
and Argentina as a disaster zone — the exact opposite of the
truth.
Argentina has blocked its citizens from getting foreign currency,
or taking it out of Argentina. This is a pain for my friends, but it
might make the country less vulnerable to being emptied out by the
rich.
Tell
the EPA to heed its scientific assessment and not allow the Pebble
Mine.
Verizon claims that arbitrarily
blocking or discriminating between network sites is its "editorial
freedom".
The current US Supreme Court is so twisted it might even agree.
US citizens: phone your congresscritter to support continued
funding of the Land and Water Conservation Fund. Also send a message
through this
page.
The Capitol Switchboard numbers are 202-224-3121,
888-818-6641 and 888-355-3588.
Both Israeli soldiers
and "settlers" have recently attacked Palestinian children.
Leaders of The Freedom Theater have been imprisoned
without charges by Israel and by the Palestinian Authority.
Under Israeli military rule, all Palestinian political parties are
illegal and carrying a Palestinian flag is illegal. Arrested
Palestinians have trouble seeing a lawyer and may not get a trial.
The Palestinian
Authority cooperates with Israel to arrest Palestinians thousands
of times a year. In effect, it is a security subcontractor for the
occupation.
Lamar Smith Looking To Sneak Through SOPA In Bits & Pieces,
Starting With Expanding Hollywood's
Global Police Force.
Thailand has pardoned an American who was convicted
of criticizing the king, hoping we will forget that this law is
still in effect and other people remain in prison.
The NSA's warrantless wiretapping is a crime, not
a state secret.
A Taliban leader says that "al Qa'ida is a plague" and that the
Taliban will have to negotiate
in order to have some political power in Afghanistan.
He represents one viewpoint within the Taliban; others are more
rejectionist.
One interesting side point in the article is that the US
assassination of Taliban leaders has brought about their replacement
with new leaders who are more radical. This could be because they are
younger and have less experience and maturity. Thus, it could be that
the US's tactics make a negotiated solution impossible.
Part of the US government may have wanted this result so as to
assure it could continue fighting in Afghanistan forever.
Americans are learning not
to trust TV news.
I hope they also learn not to trust TV political ads.
US citizens: tell the FDA to get rid of the "preventive"
loophole for feeding antibiotics to cattle.
With that loophole, the FDA's proposed regulation would fail to do
the job.
Massachusetts homeowners: phone Senator Brown to support mortgage
relief. Also sign this
petition.
I can't sign it since I am not a homeowner.
The Capitol Switchboard numbers are 202-224-3121,
888-818-6641 and 888-355-3588.
New York thugs who felt in the mood to hurt someone arrested a
couple for dancing in the subway. They were attacked, handcuffed, and
charged with "impeding the flow of traffic" although there was just
about nobody around to impede.
To be fair to the thugs, one of the couple also began to record
what the thugs were doing and saying. Thugs go crazy when people
exercise their rights.
Uruguay's President Mujica proposes to legalize
marijuana.
He does not propose to end prohibition on the other common illegal
drugs, but at least this is a start towards ending the futile and
devastating "War on Drugs".
The US officials campaigning to remove the Mujaheddin-e Khalq from
the official "terrorist list" may be breaking US law by representing a
foreign organization without
registering as its agents.
The US tactic of firing a drone bomb against the rescuers who aid
the victims of the first bomb has been categorized
by a UN official as a war crime.
This tactic was practiced by al Qa'ida in Iraq; I guess the US
copied it from them.
Swedish prosecutors are unable to explain why they
won't question Assange in London.
Families can't "Have It All", but paid maternity leave, denied only
by the US and
a few poor countries, would help them get closer.
Climate scientists have been able to link some recent extreme
weather events directly
to global heating.
Spain has been ordered to lay out a clear plan to impose further suffering on the poor, in order to get money to bail out the banksters.
It ought to wipe out the banksters in order to help the poor.
Bankrupting a few banks and compensating the insured depositors
would be a great victory.
UK
policies threaten to turn the squeezed middle class against the
poor.
I think that is no surprise to those who craft these policies: the
banksters and their political servants. They must be chuckling over
the idea that two groups of victims will turn on each other, rather
than unite and evict the banksters from the City of London.
Mahmoud Sarsak was freed
from imprisonment without trial and is back in Gaza.
Israeli claims that Sarsak is part of Islamic Jihad. That is
irrelevant to the issue, because imprisonment without trial by a state
is more dangerous to human rights than anything an underground group
could possibly do. If he has helped commit acts of civil violence, or
war crimes, Israel could try him for those. However, Israel's own war
crimes need to be prosecuted too.
The UK has made "intellectual property" an excuse to strip away a
basic human right — against self-incrimination.
"Intellectual property" is a generalization about laws that have
nothing in common, in practice — except when laws like this
create something bad that they have in common. Making policy in terms
of "intellectual property", like using that term in your thoughts,
tends to lead to bad results and this is a prime example.
Many nonfree mobile phone applications show ads that collect
information about the user.
The article calls these apps "free", but it must mean
gratis, since free programs would be fixed by their users not
to do malicious things like this.
Everyone: Tell American Airlines, stop squashing your employees'
right to vote.
US coal miners are getting black lung disease again, and even
younger than before, thanks to a widespread disregard
for safety standards.
Republicans are blocking
corrective action.
Dust safety standards are not
the only ones that coal mines disregard.
US citizens: call
on the EPA to regulate soot emissions, which cause asthma and
sometimes death.
A Bahraini dissident has been imprisoned for “insulting”
people in a political message.
The US has supported the Bahraini state through a year of
repression.
Nitrogen compounds from power plants are changing the vegetation in
Rocky Mountain National Park, which will be irreversible
if some species become locally extinct.
This can kill the trout, too.
The cost of the F-35 fighter has almost
doubled since the project was started, but US politicians haven't
the guts to cancel it.
US military power is so far above the rest of the world that this
project would be misuse of the funds even at the original price. And
that's not to raise the question of whether US military power is a
good thing or a bad thing.
How Big Music Threatened Startups and Killed
Innovation.
The European Commission is trying to use a free
exploitation treaty with Canada to impose on Europe conditions
comparable to ACTA.
The article is unnecessarily vague through use of the term
"intellectual property enforcement". That term refers to a dozen or
so unrelated
laws, and ACTA was only concerned with two of them (copyright and
trademark). So what are they trying to put in this treaty? Provisions
about copyright and trademark? Provisions about several of those
laws? About all of them? It would have been so easy to make the
article clear, if only Geist had not fallen for the chicness of
"intellectual property".
Of course, Europe should reject this treaty too. Will the European
Parliament have a chance to vote on it?
But this is not the only reason. This treaty will be bad because
“free
trade” treaties undermine democracy.
Indian soldiers disappeared 8000 Kashmiris, sometimes for no reason
except to collect a bounty from the government. Parvez Imroz traced
them to unmarked
graves.
India also practices imprisonment without trial, much like the US,
as well as torture that goes as far as cutting off people's limbs. All
this rather than permit the referendum India promised Kashmir at the
time of independence.
The UK banks spent around $150 million on lobbying last year. What
laws did they buy?
Canadian scientists will march in Ottawa to protest
the government's ideological attacks on environmental protection
and research.
Ocean acidification due to CO2 is hurting sea life
faster than expected because the CO2 is concentrated
in the upper levels of the ocean.
2000 scientists warn that urgent
action is needed to save coral.
A large fraction of sea life depends on coral reefs, and millions
of people depend on them for food. The loss of these reefs would lead
to massive extinction as well as lots of human deaths.
Despite heavy rain, groundwater in parts of England is still lower
than normal, and another
dry winter could cause drought again.
The UK is considering destroying plutonium in
nuclear reactors.
These reactors resemble the former proposed breeder reactors in
using liquid sodium instead of water as a coolant. This seems very
dangerous to me. Liquid sodium is highly reactive. If pipes break
and it escapes, it can cause a lot more damage, and make areas of the
reactor inaccessible for chemical reasons.
Tourist resort hotels in certain places are sucking up water, leaving
local people in scarcity.
The less
Islamist candidate has won the Libyan election, but then publicly
denied that his party is secular.
Taliban publicly murdered a woman they accused
of adultery in a town very near Kabul. However, Karzai's
government doesn't care much about women's rights either. To prolong
the war in hope of preventing this oppression is futile, and does more
harm than good.
Perhaps the only way to prevent the oppression of women in
Afghanistan is to give them a way to sterilize themselves so that they
can't be used to make more women.
It might do some good to arm Afghan women so they can kill men who
oppress women.
Afghanistan aid pledges hide rehashed
promises and familiar corruption fears.
US companies secretly funnel millions of dollars through
tax-exempt organizations that use the money for campaign ads that
pretend not to be campaign ads.
Putin is considering imprisonment
for libel, a injustice found in many countries including
France.
The US must respond to the Lie-bor fraud by reregulating and
splitting up the big banks — so they can't collude to do
this again.
Foreign
investment means more suffering, pain & death in Haiti.
If Haiti were an Arab country, its citizens would know how to make
the foreigners get out.
The people of Cajamarca condemn President Humala of Peru for using
a "state of emergency" to support a foreign
mining company that threatens to poison their water.
Education in the US is a lifetime
investment — for whoever provides student loans.
US cell phone companies receive over
a million government requests per year for cell phone tracking
data.
Scientologists want to get statements
critical of Scientology taken down by reporting them as abuse.
Global heating is visible in long term trends: the fire season in
the western US is 78 days longer
than it was in 1986.
The smoke from these fires is highly toxic, so they will kill
people over coming years through disease, in addition to the people
who die fighting these fires.
US citizens: support
the Voter Empowerment Act.
Here's more
information about it.
Jewish Voice for Peace reports on progress in the campaign
for divestment from companies that are associated with the Israeli
occupation of Palestine.
In the name of "protecting children", Orange blocks
access to all blogs.
This concept of "protecting children" is fundamentally
misguided. What children really need protection from is abuse and
poverty.
The requirement for a bachelor's degree for many jobs in the US has
turned into a system
of squeezing money out of the poor.
This article announces an ebook, but if you consider buying it,
first think about whether it is ethical.
An interview with the lawyer for Suleiman Abdallah, who was handed
over to the US in Africa for 5
years of torture in Afghanistan.
The new CIA base in Mogadishu is suspected of being a secret
prison.
Thousands have marched in Pakistan against
use of Pakistan for shipping supplies to NATO in Afghanistan.
Voter ID Laws Could
Block Thousands From Voting.
A strong
movement against Walmart is developing in the US.
A US court validated the EPA's decision to limit CO2
pollution and rejected
the denialists' arguments.
Morsi defied Egypt's generals by ordering
parliament to reconvene.
Some Italian thugs have been
convicted of falsifying evidence to protect their colleagues from
jail for their attack on sleeping protesters in Genoa.
The USPTO helps mislead Congress for
the sake of Big Pharma. Endocrine disruptors are present in
many products, and can cause horrible birth defects.
How peculiar that Republicans are not interested in protecting
fetuses from this.
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UK phone: 020 7219 5206
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Christian fanatics are trying to push into Texas regulations some abortion restrictions that they failed to pass as legislation.
The term "fanatics" is justified because they are happy to kill women for their irrational campaign to ensure more people are born.
A very quiet company called Journatic farms out local newspaper
articles in the US to workers in the Philippines, who hardly write
English.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-27 because the old link was broken.]
They can't interview anyone, they can can only rehash press releases.
Journatic appears to be the journalistic equivalent of Walmart.
Big US banks are also involved in the Libor manipulation crime.
US citizens (and maybe everyone else): call on China not to
persecute
Chen Kegui and other relatives of Chen Guancheng.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-27 because the old link was broken.]
Abandoned Walmart Recycled As Public Library.
Due to insufficient practical inspection, clothing often contains illegal toxic chemicals.
What we need is more frequent inspection; and manufacturers should be taxed to pay for it.
How international debt collection, food speculation and global heating
are spreading
poverty around the world.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-27 because the old link was broken.]
Citizens of Massachusetts: support ACLU-endorsed voting and registration reform.
Many Internet companies show their contempt for users by giving them no way to phone and talk to a human being.
New York City proposes to turn its star research library into a big Internet cafe.
Libya's elections were held successfully in nearly all the country, but armed opposition groups in Benghazi prevented some voting in a complaint about the distribution of seats in parliament.
It would be interesting to evaluate the system against usual objective criteria for allocating seats, to see who is right on that question.
Uri Avnery: Sharon had Arafat poisoned because Arafat could have led Palestine to make peace with Israel.
The Israeli state deserves to be punished for this assassination, and the ideal punishment would be to compel it to end the occupation of Palestine and make peace.
A whistleblower says that Barclays Bank's executives must have been told about interest-rate fixing.
The UK public responds by moving money to smaller institutions.
However, the response that is needed is to prosecute everyone who played any part, as well as the banks themselves. The resulting opportunity must be used to weaken them and take away their political power.
Women's rights are in danger around the world, as supposed non-right-wing world leaders failed to stand up against religious extremists.
England's drought has been ended by very heavy rains, causing widespread flooding.
This isn't the first flooding episode in the past month or two.
It is nice to have water available, but keep in mind that global heating is predicted to produce, in some areas, both droughts and floods.
Companies are driving Guatemalan farmers off their land to grow sugar cane for biofuel.
This demonstrates that the government of Guatemala has betrayed its people. However, it also shows the absurdity of growing crops for biofuel.
Biofuel is a valid approach only if it can be made without the use of farmland or farm inputs.
Apple has begun disregarding environmental standards for recyclability.
It appears Facebook spontaneously sends phone messages to people in India who have had no connection with Facebook. This user is trying to find out why.
Texas Republicans oppose teaching critical thinking, because that could lead students to question their "fixed beliefs".
Republicans' war on workers includes ending Federal unemployment benefits.
With thousands of expendable surveillance drones the size of maple
seeds, governments and criminals will be able to observe
just about everything people do.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-27 because the old link was broken.]
5 Ways Republicans Have Sabotaged Job Growth.
A true and courageous Democrat would have made the Republicans pay for this, but what we have is Obama, who is more of a Republican himself.
The EU is considering a directive to permit some use of "orphan
works", but as this article explains, the details are badly designed
and it will do more harm
than good.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-27 because the old link was broken.]
The article ends by describing it as a "missed opportunity", which seems inexplicably weak as a summary of the article's specific points.
US trade sanctions against Iran have nothing to do with uranium negotiations, since a nuclear agreement with Iran would not end the sanctions.
Is it rational to use trade sanctions to achieve regime change in Iran? Iran is ruled by a peculiar tyranny that allows a little limited democracy. (That's what the US seems to be heading towards.)
A few years ago, many Iranians wanted to change their brutal regime. They protested but their protests were brutally crushed, much like those in the US last year. Can hurting them with sanctions enable them to succeed? That is not plausible. In addition, since these sanctions are imposed by the US, they could easily lead many Iranians to direct their anger at the US instead of at the Iranian regime.
US policy on Iran is simply stupid, in terms of US interests or stated US goals. It only makes sense in terms of the Israeli hawks' lobby.
Despite the attack on a student occupation protest, Guatemalans continue to oppose privatization of education.
House Farm Bill Would Kick Millions Of People Off Food Stamps.
A deep drought has destroyed much of the US wheat crop and may destroy the corn crop too.
I suspect this is a consequence of global heating. Of course, global heating by itself does not directly cause a drought in any given year, but it makes droughts more likely in many areas. It also makes floods more likely in many areas.
Burma has arrested student leaders pre-emptively because protests might occur.
US citizens: call
on the Bureau of Land Management to regulate fracking as tightly
as possible.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-27 because the old link was broken.]
In my message I pointed out that fracking causes forest fires (by way of global heating).
The consequences of treating a fetus as a person in Ireland.
US citizens: phone your congresscritter and call for action to stop global heating. Also send mail using this page.
The Capitol Switchboard numbers are 202-224-3121, 888-818-6641 and 888-355-3588.
Everyone: write
to New York Governor Cuomo and call on him not to allow fracking.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-27 because the old link was broken.]
Facebook deleted a statement by a human rights group, then said that was a mistake.
That Facebook invited the group to post the statement again — instead of undoing the deletion — demonstrates arrogance.
However, the problem here goes deeper. It is not good for human rights groups (or anyone's) statements to be posted using a platform where statements are censored.
A video shows US troops in Afghanistan singing before launching a bomb at possible Taliban fighters.
It seems there was good reason to think those men were fighters; digging in the middle of a road is not a very common activity for noncombatants. However, singing before killing people (even enemy soldiers) indicates dehumanisation of them, and that is not a good thing.
In the US: participate in anti-fracking protests in DC.
India has adopted a policy of distributing generic drugs, thwarting Big Pharma.
Republicans and Democrats argue over who is responsible for continued high unemployment in the US.
They both are. It takes more than just time to address the unemployment problem. It takes appropriate policies, such as government spending to stimulate the economy, and protecting workers' rights. Moving spending from the military field (where it generates proportionally fewer jobs) to other fields also helps.
Obama did stimulate the economy in 2008, and it helped. However, Republicans in Congress blocked further stimulus after that, and in 2011 Obama joined them by adopting the twisted goal of deficit reduction. Thus, the wrong started among the Republicans but covers both.
The UK is considering prosecution of the bank traders that manipulated interest rates.
I hope they will look for evidence that higher management knew about this practice.
Neighboring countries are sending 5000 troops to Mali to fight the Islamist rebellion in the north.
That rebellion ought to be defeated, but this intervention is likely to fail unless it is maintains the support of the inhabitants of that region. That will not be easy.
A mother in Phoenix, Arizona, was arrested for giving a tiny amount of beer to her child.
Cisco says it is undoing its attempt to push users into remote management of their routers.
However, if the firmware in a router can be updated, that means it is software installed on your computer and you should replace it with free software.
Does anyone know whether the current CISCO routers can be used with software loads that are free?
US citizens: tell the Senate to pass a law to prevent human trafficking of employees for US contractors.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-27 because the old link was broken.]
Also phone your senators' offices.
The Capitol Switchboard numbers are 202-224-3121, 888-818-6641 and 888-355-3588.
California has prohibited fraudulent and abusive foreclosures.
Drones that use GPS to navigate can be
hijacked by spoofing GPS
transmissions.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-27 because the old link was broken.]
This won't protect people's human rights if governments start using drones to surveil everyone's movements. We have to hope it helps to prevent that.
Carbon capture and storage causes small earthquakes. Even though these are mostly harmless, they might let the carbon back into the atmosphere.
US corporate media are bending over backwards not to talk about global heating when covering the giant fires.
Louisiana legislators want to provide state money to Christian schools, but not to Islamic schools.
No religion should get state funds of any kind, not directly and not indirectly.
US initiatives to declare fetuses "persons" have failed.
US officials including congresscritters got special discount mortgages from Countrywide.
Ron Paul and Rand Paul launched an initiative against government network neutrality regulations, and condemning campaigns in the name of the public domain.
We could have honest Internet access without such regulations if all Americans could choose between many ISPs. However, the only way most US Internet users could have a choice between many competing ISPs would be through government regulation.
Meanwhile, the idea that the government should be less involved in copyright issues is absurd. Copyright on published works is a federal law. Whatever copyright policies the US has will inevitably be chosen by the US government, except when it invites some international organization to deny the US the choice.
The UN Human Rights Council resolved that human rights should apply on
the Internet
the same as off the Internet.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-27 because the old link was broken.]
India's government showed its true allegiance by voting against this.
US law allows patents on drugs to be extended simply by doing an experiment on some other possible use of the drug.
Please don't fall into the bad habit of describing what patents do as "protection" — that is propaganda in favor of patents.
SELEX (Italian) and Intracom (Greek) worked around trade sanctions to finish a network project in Syria, according to Wilileaks documents.
Genetic engineering scientists report on the dangers, lack of testing, and ineffectiveness of genetically modified foods.
Most scientists in this field have a direct financial interest in the success of GMOs, and therefore cannot be relied on to honestly evaluate their possible drawbacks. Contrast this with global heating: few climate scientists would profit individually by ending global heating, but some global heating deniers have been paid by oil companies.
In addition to possible biological effects, GMOs covered by patents spread legal pollution.
Bahraini thugs attacked Zainab al-Khawaja with tear gas canisters and stun bombs, injuring her.
This trick has been used by Israeli thugs to injure nonviolent protesters, but it is just as deceitful when anyone else does it.
Delhi police came to arrest rationalist leader Sanal Edamaruku for
criticizing the Catholic Church.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-27 because the old link was broken.]
Judge Posner threw out a patent case between Apple and Motorola, and recognizes that patents in software (and other fields) are often abused and might be a mistaken policy.
Angola is holding an election, and arresting large numbers of protesters.
TEPCO shareholders are suing to demand that TEPCO preserve
recordings of videoconferences in which
it discussed the Fukushima meltdown.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-27 because the old link was broken.]
It is amazing that TEPCO was able to stymie the Japanese government investigations on such absurd grounds as privacy of the people working for TEPCO. I wonder if that conceals another scandal.
Washington's Militarized Mindset.
New York City's electric company locked out its workers during the heat wave, demanding givebacks.
If you live in New York City and you're unemployed, why not offer to join them on the picket line?
Two Syrian generals defected from the regime.
Wikileaks Publishes the 'Syrian Files'.
I am hearted to see that Wikileaks is again fulfilling its mission.
An expert panel concluded that the Fukushima disaster was the result of "collusion" between the government, the regulators, and TEPCO.
More about this. The report is quite scathing.
Uri Avnery warned that Israel might assassinate Arafat.
A US official told Birgitta Jónsdóttir that the US has no wish to prosecute her or question her "involuntarily", but there is evidence suggesting this is not true.
Evidence that the US is looking to prosecute Julian Assange and others in Wikileaks.
The US Army admits it is investigating
the Bradley Manning Support Group.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-27 because the old link was broken.]
This group was formed after Bradley Manning was arrested to provide him with moral and legal support. Since when is that a crime?
The US urgently needs to regulate
the use of drone aircraft for spying on Americans.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-27 because the old link was broken.]
The claims that Iran is testing components of nuclear weapons at Parchin are self-contradictory and make no sense.
This looks disturbingly like the lies the Bushmen told in order to justify the conquest of Iraq.
In Mexico's presidential election, over 1/4 of the voters say they encountered coercion or vote-buying.
The EU's highest court ruled that purchasers of proprietary software have a right to resell their copies.
This does not make proprietary software acceptable. Software users deserve the right to change the program and to redistribute copies. However, I wonder if the court would make the same decision about the EULAs of ebooks. That would be a major victory. I also wonder whether the court would allow publishers to make a monkey out of that decision by means of DRM.
New York thugs printed up a "wanted" flyer about some people that often videotape the thugs searching passersby for being Black.
5 Shady Financial Tactics Employed By Mitt Romney.
Barclays Bank accuses the former Labour government officials of asking it to lie to manipulate interest rates. Those officials deny this.
We cannot count on banksters or ministers to tell the truth, so these conflicting statements are more reason for the most thorough possible inquiry. But which kind of inquiry is that?
Maybe both. Maybe there should be a quick parliamentary inquiry into manipulation of the libor rate, and a longer and broader judge-led inquiry into the banksters in general.
Mass
protests in the Chinese city of Shifang put an end to a metals
plant project that they feared would poison them.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-27 because the old link was broken.]
Will Americans have the strength to protest in such numbers against the Keystone XL pipeline, that is likely to poison people who live near it, then help fry our planet?
As capitalism veers towards fascism, marxism is experiencing a comeback in Europe.
The article creates a phony appearance of irony by saying that the workers are keeping capitalism afloat. Actually the governments that serve the banksters are doing this, by exploiting the workers.
We must not forget the lessons of communist tyranny, that the "dictatorship of the proletariat" turned out to be the corrupt dictatorship of the party leaders; however, if we firmly insist on democracy, a marxist perspective might help put an end to fascism.
US phone companies have convinced (paid?) 20 states to deregulate phone service.
Now in some places you can't get a phone line, or perhaps would have to pay a thousand dollars a year for one.
Michael Luick-Thrams has emigrated to Germany from the US because
he sees
no hope of restoring democracy in the US.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-27 because the old link was broken.]
6 beach lifeguards were fired in Florida because they said they would save a drowning person outside the area which their job covers.
Any lifeguard who obeyed the policy would have to spend the rest of his life thinking about how he let someone drown. Perhaps this company should add "psychopath" to the job requirements.
The argument about liability is ridiculous; there is no reason to hold the company liable if a lifeguard tries and fails to save someone that wasn't the company's responsibility. However, if use of a subcontractors to hire lifeguards creates this problem, that is a good reason to ban the use of subcontractors to hire lifeguards.
Argentina is prosecuting the leaders of the army's baby-theft ring, which took the babies of female dissidents that they murdered, and gave them to right-wing families.
Only some 20% of these babies have been identified.
Some climate scientists warn that the June US heat wave is a picture of the future.
What used to be "extreme" still doesn't happen most of the time, but it is no longer unusual. It is becoming part of "normal".
In 20 years, these events will be frequent, and far worse events will no longer be unusual.
Of course, global heating doesn't explain why a heat wave happened at the end of June this year, or why it did not happen one week earlier or later. That is the randomness of the weather. Rather, global heating skews the probabilities so that heat waves happen more often.
The crucial question is not, "Was this event caused directly by global heating?" but rather, "Of the last 10 weather-related disasters (floods, droughts, fires, big storms), what fraction of the damage probably wouldn't have occurred without global heating?"
Many e-readers spy on their users and report.
Some notes on US independence day.
Thinking about the US, in which elections are more or less legally for sale to companies, I have to wonder whether anything but a moving dead body remains of the United States of America.
A Syrian TV news anchor has defected and said that his job was to report falsehoods.
Rather than shafting the non-rich, France plans to tax the rich and the
corporations to reduce its deficit.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-27 because the old link was broken.]
If you're going to reduce a deficit, this is the right way. However, the time for a state to reduce its deficit is when the economy is growing, as President Clinton did (he gave the US a budget surplus). A recession calls for deficit spending.
Alas, the Euro mechanism doesn't allow deficit spending when it is needed.
Americans must fight once again against national ID cards.
The National Body for the Reform of Information and Communication, in
Tunisia, has given up, saying
that the state has taken up censorship and disinformation once again.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-27 because the old link was broken.]
The Japanese government is restarting nuclear reactors even though 70% of Japanese say no.
In this regard, it has come to resemble the US government, which practices numerous right-wing policies that most Americans oppose.
Peru declared a state of emergency in regions where local people are fighting against potentially toxic mining projects.
If people could rely on their governments to prevent these mines from poisoning water supplies, there would be no need to oppose the mines. But few governments are strong enough, and honest enough, to stop the mines from risking other people's lives and health.
Attempts to use US courts to limit required coverage of birth control have been defeated.
Poor people in the US are directed by courts into decades of punishment as a result of debts they cannot pay.
Why the Twitter subpoena decision disrespects civil liberties.
The European Parliament rejected ACTA, which is now effectively dead.
ACTA was an attempt to impose nasty restrictions on Europe and other countries in the name of “free trade”, which is a swindle in general.
This is an important victory, but it's a defensive victory. The people have not gained ground, only avoided losing ground.
Moreover, one defensive victory does not mean the threat is gone. The US continues to negotiate the TPP, which is far worse than ACTA, with other governments that want to give business increased control over their countries.
Defense is not enough. We need to roll back the existing "free trade" treaties that the empire of the megacorporations is based on. We need to deny businesses the chance to argue, "If you regulate us, we will move."
Feeding soybeans to farmed fish shares the harmful effects of feeding them to farmed animals.
US citizens: call on the EPA to block a giant proposed mine in Alaska from polluting surrounding waterways with toxic waste.
US citizens: call on the NOAA to protect bluefin tuna fully and carefully.
Recent Cisco routers have a universal back door allowing Cisco to forcibly change the software. The back door is active even if the user says "no" to "auto-upgrade".
That's in addition to spying on users and threatening to restrict them.
There are routers that can run free software. Replacing the software is the way to be safe from this.
For Americans who still have jobs, the stress of job insecurity is making them sick.
Joseph Stiglitz says, “Send bankers to jail.”
Apple practices planned obsolescence for the iBad — in just two years.
Did the US intentionally permit guns to be sold and brought to Mexico?
Maybe not. Another report says that, thanks to Arizona's weak gun laws, nothing
could be done.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-27 because the old link was broken.]
Everyone: call on Israel to free Palestinians imprisoned without trial.
A New York court ruled Twitter must hand over most of Malcolm Harris' data without a search warrant.
Baljit Singh, a Sikh from Afghanistan, was denied asylum in the UK and deported to Afghanistan. There he was imprisoned, in effect for being a Sikh rather than a Muslim.
Israel wants to build the annexation wall through agricultural terraces in use since Roman times.
Israel arrests one or two Palestinian children every day, and treats them very harshly, violating the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.
Israel also threatens the relatives of Palestinians prisoners. The
Bush forces did that in Iraq.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-13 because the old link was broken.]
Former Israeli soldiers talk about the cruelty they inflicted on
helpless Palestinians, or that others in their units inflicted.
[Reference updated on 2018-05-13 because the old link was broken.]
The Israeli Border Patrol is reputed to be the cruelest of the
cruel. One officer kicked a Palestinian boy who was being held by
another officer.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-27 because the old link was broken.]
Israel has released five members of the Palestinian Parliament from prison.
However, 22 of them remain imprisoned.
How Israel denies Palestinians access to most of the West Bank's scarce water.
Israel plans to build a military academy in disputed Palestinian land near the Mount of Olives.
Everyone: call on the government of Israel not to demolish the Palestinian village of Susiya.
More about the repeated expulsions of these people from their homes.
The US and Iran are playing brinkmanship for war.
What the US has not done is offer Iran real concessions (such as lifting of oil sanctions) if Iran makes a real concession on uranium enrichment.
GlaxoSmithKline has been fined for bribing doctors to prescribe its products.
Will the individuals responsible be prosecuted?
Yasser Arafat was poisoned with radioactive polonium.
US citizens: call on Congress to give health insurance to the
people fighting the giant fires in the West.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-27 because the old link was broken.]
US schools cite the imaginary Loch Ness monster to disprove evolution
— and the
state of Louisiana pays for it.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-27 because the old link was broken.]
I guess one myth deserves another.
Facebook settled a lawsuit by promising users will be able to reject use of their names and photos in ads shown to other users.
However, since this is "opt-out", by default users will still be exploited.
Several Palestinians imprisoned without trial in Israel are on hunger strike, and some of them are nearing death.
The Japanese legal system ensures that those who had to evacuate due to the Fukushima meltdowns will not be compensated.
Everyone: Tell Clinton that amending the old, inadequate environmental
impact statement for the Keystone XL pipeline is not adequate.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-27 because the old link was broken.]
Sad to say, Obama is not just failing to confront the issue of global heating, he is going all-out to pour tar sand oil on the fire.
The Japan Nuclear Energy Safety Organization planned a nuclear
emergency drill, but excluded serious scenarios such as a meltdown
because they might make the public worry.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-27 because the old link was broken.]
This attitude — the public shouldn't worry about nuclear power — seems to prepare the road for accidents to occur.
(The planned drill was never held; the article doesn't say why.)
US citizens: call on Alabama Public TV not to broadcast right wing
disinformation.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-27 because the old link was broken.]
The prediction of peak oil has proved false, because high oil prices have made available so much inefficient oil that burning it is disaster.
Why aren't we all looking for ways to escape from the burning planet while the "authorities" do nothing?
Unfortunately, it is because none of us can escape. There is no way to save yourself from catastrophe on your own. Even a group can't do much.
We are all in one boat and we know it. Either we solve this problem together or the catastrophe will hit us all. The only actions that have a chance of success are those that could strip away the dominion of the fossil fuel companies over our governments. Any of those is a long shot too. Perhaps Americans need set themselves on fire near the White House; it could spark off a revolt, as in Tunisia.
Cancel ALEC's tax exemption, says the a former IRS enforcer of tax exemptions.
Facebook has automatically pushed users' @facebook.com email addresses (which they never asked for) into the contact lists in other people's phones.
The lesson here is that it is a fundamental mistake to trust a company such as Facebook to give anyone data about you. It will give them the data it wants them to have, not the data you want to give them.
A waste incinerator in Delhi that generates electricity threatens to end the livelihoods of 400 workers that manually sort garbage.
The horrible life of picking through garbage is better than what they had in rural India. Indeed, one of them manages to support several children on his small income.
Perhaps India needs a one-child-per-family law.
Canada's government is attacking environmental protection along a broad front.
It resembles what Republicans have tried to do in the US Congress.
Many cities in the US had record high temperatures, and it's only June.
The banks swindled around $30,000 per person from the UK, while doing very little to support the economy that they parasitize. The taxes they paid in a decade were wiped out by the cost of bailing them out.
I agree that the UK's goal must be how to stop them from doing this in the future. (The same goes for the US, except that our officials are so quietly servile that they don't intend to think about it.) When banksters say, "If you regulate us, we will move elsewhere," the response should be, "How soon can you be gone?"
Human Rights Watch concludes that Assad's regime in Syria systematically practices torture.
If we can make Syria stop, maybe we can make the US stop.
Illinois has banned the sale of shark fin, in an attempt to protect sharks. Several other US states have banned it too, notably Hawaii which has a significant Chinese population.
Shark fin isn't exactly a "delicacy"; that word implies that people appreciate it for the sensation of eating it. Rather, it is a form of conspicuous consumption; when you hold a banquet, you serve shark's fin soup to show you were willing to spend that much.
To end the killing of sharks for their fins we need more action to change this part of Chinese culture. In principle, anything else equally expensive could do the job — it is not crucial that it depend on a scarce resource from scarce animals.
Global heating threatens leatherback sea turtles, which are already endangered.
Sri Lanka's tyrannical president shut down two web sites for criticizing the government.
It looks like the murder of a famous editor was not enough to convince Sri Lankans to stop resisting.
The Declaration of Internet Freedom is well-intentioned but insufficiently specific.
Apple persists in disregarding the widespread blatant abuse of the workers that build its products.
Sweatshops are good for Foxconn (and for Apple), but not for workers.
Personal attacks against Julian Assange are used to distract attention
from the heroic achievements of Wikileaks.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-27 because the old link was broken.]
Ironically, this article itself exaggerates criticism of Assange by stating that the allegations against him consist of "rape" — they do not.
Many European countries signed an agreement for unlimited bank bailouts.
That means the banksters can take the wildest risks, knowing that the profits will be theirs but the losses will fall on the public.
What the Anglos did to the Amerindians in the 1800s, the 1% are now doing to all Americans.
Some Outrageous Facts about Inequality (in the US).
A bill in Congress would allow planting GMO crops if approvals are appealed in court.
The last broadened Israeli coalition includes a party that opposes attacking Iran. Mofaz, leader of Kadima, says that making peace with Palestine is more important than Iran.
The TPP would restrict US law to the point it can be considered a corporate coup d'etat.
Back-door subsidies from the US and states to big banks.
They prey on the the poor, the unemployed, the foreclosed.
Hundreds of thousands protested for democracy in Hong Kong, as another nondemocratically selected executive was sworn in by the president of China.
US research into the effects of radiation on humans and other life is
corrupted by coming from the agency that supports nuclear power. And
the US government is surreptitiously raising various standards for how much
radiation is acceptable.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-27 because the old link was broken.]
When a research contract at MIT studies the "difficulties in gainingthe broad social acceptance" of nuclear power, I'd say that
goes beyond the bounds of what universities should do. The project's
abstract clearly shows that the
goal is to convince the public to accept nuclear power.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-27 because the old link was broken.]
How the Barclays bank fraud worked — and how the psychology of power enabled traders to "seduce" other staff into giving false data to state regulators.
It is clear that each of the participants was consciously participating in fraud. Every single one should be prosecuted.
The UK set up a special court to try the large number of rioters and their small thefts. Maybe it needs a special court to expeditiously try all the banksters who committed these frauds.
More broadly, this suggests lessons for laws and regulations about how banks operate: structure them so that opportunities for such fraud do not arise.
The US is the world's defender of the right to sell arms to states that violate human rights.
Thus, the US does occasionally defend rights!
The Swiss village of Guttannen is threatened by mudslides due to global heating.
Sea Shepherd's statement about bogus accusations from Costa Rica
against Watson, the
head of Sea Shepherd.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-27 because the old link was broken.]
UN troops tried to invade the State University of Haiti, but students closed the gates on them.
The reasons the troops gave make no sense, so maybe they were not the real reasons.
10,000 protested Wal-Mart in Los Angeles.
Thousands continued protests in Israel against running the economy only for the rich.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-27 because the old link was broken.]
The US government secretly offered loan guarantees for construction of new nuclear power plants.
Lucy Lawless talks about risking 3 years in prison by peacefully protesting against Shell's oil drilling in the Arctic.
Now the US Coast Guard has established a "no protest" exclusion zone around a Shell oil rig in the Arctic.
Obama is determined to make sure that nothing can divert the Earth from the road to disaster. We need a president who works for human beings, not for the oil companies.
Jill Stein for president!
WIPO is setting up a treaty to give actors and musicians something like a copyright only stronger.
It carries DMCA-like rules to censor software.
I agree with the writer on the substance, but must point that the article suffers from using "intellectual property" and "copyright" interchangeably.
It is nearly impossible to use the term “intellectual property” without falling into error, and it is misguided to try, since its use plays into the hands of those who would impose treaties like this.
President Carter rebukes the US government for turning against human rights.
The UK has a policy of rather brutally pushing people on unemployment benefit to look for work, which goes as far as requiring them to work for no pay. It seems that the real goal is excuses to cut off people's unemployment benefit.
It is obvious a priori that a scheme to push unemployed people to seek work when the problem is a lack of jobs can't be a serious attempt to address the problem. Now we can see what it is really meant to do.
Islamist extremists in Mali destroyed old shrines belonging to a different Islamic sect.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-27 because the old link was broken.]
Dishonest UK banks are being sued by the stockbroker company Charles Schwab.
The EU recognizes that "smart meters" for electricity usage can be a threat to privacy.
South Carolina joins other states in banning cities from providing municipal broadband.
The state government is working for companies against the people of the state.
Everyone: Call on Bahrain to drop charges against the 11-year-old "protester" who faces imprisonment.
Online activists risk torture to challenge Beijing.
Global heating deniers say they will repeal Australia's carbon tax because it would be "a wrecking ball through the economy".
Before they use the term "wrecking ball", they should look at what global heating is doing to the US now, then imagine it twice as bad in 20 years. Then they should remember last year's floods.
Labour proposes to gradually renationalize the UK railroads so as to knock fairs down.
The privatization was a handout to business, and never served the public interest. Although in some cases there are competing train companies for the same journey, the effective competition is not enough to result in benefit to the passengers.
If B'liar hadn't been a right-winger in disguise, he would have nationalized the railroads.
The TPP would be America's fire-sale to foreign companies. It would be just as bad for the people in all the other countries that sign it.
Working conditions at Apple's other Chinese suppliers are even worse than in Foxconn.
Why Scalia should resign from the Supreme Court.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-27 because the old link was broken.]
He might be impeached if Congress were not on the same payroll as him.
Uri Avnery: Thugs in Tel Aviv violently attacked protesters because years of repression of Palestinians has trained them that way.
US citizens: call on Senator Rockefeller to hold hearings to investigate Rupert Murdoch for bribery and wiretapping.
Fires have been set in Sumatra to clear out forests for palm oil plantations.
There are some commodities whose importation needs to be limited or even banned because their production or extraction causes so much harm.
The debate about fracking mostly ignores what it will do to global heating.
The large US fires are the result of several effects of global heating
all working together.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-27 because the old link was broken.]
Record hurricanes, record heat, record fires: this is what global heating looks like — in the early stages.
Next year might not be as bad. In 10 years, every year will be worse than this.
Meanwhile, Obama and Romney pretend special nothing is happening. Obama visited Colorado Springs and was reportedly shocked by the devastation of the fire, but apparently said nothing about global heating.
Threatening the band Pussy Riot with imprisonment is backfiring against Putin.
In Southampton, New York: protest the Romney fund-raiser set
up by the Koch brothers.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-27 because the old link was broken.]
Londoners will march to protest the Olympic Games, then hold "family-friendly People's Games".
If you live in Madrid, Tokyo or Istanbul, organize now to prevent your city from holding the Olympic Games in 2020. Don't wait for the decision to be made.
US citizens: call your congresscritter to stop aid to the military and
thugs of Honduras, and to suspend operations at the School of the
Americas. Also send a message via this page.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-27 because the old link was broken.]
The Capitol Switchboard numbers are 202-224-3121, 888-818-6641 and 888-355-3588.
New Cisco "smart" routers seem to have a back door for Cisco to
remotely install "upgrades". Users were freaked that Cisco seemed to
say it would monitor users' connections.
[Reference updated on 2018-02-27 because the old link was broken.]
Cisco says that was an erroneous statement, but even if this is true, that doesn't make it rational to use these routers. The software in these routers is nonfree, and if Cisco can remotely change it, we cannot overlook it.
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