Volcanic eruptions from melting glaciers
10 July 2025
Melting ice encourages volcanoes underneath to erupt. Oops!
Varroa mites killing honeybees
10 July 2025
60% of Honeybees in the US died last winter, killed by he varroa mites which spread various diseases among the bees.
ICC warrant for Taliban leader
10 July 2025
*ICC issues warrant for Taliban's supreme leader for persecution of women.*
Hooray! Even though it isn't likely that he will be arrested and brought to the court for trial, this will still have good effects on the world.
Swedish PM tracked by surveillance app
10 July 2025
The security detail for the prime minister of Sweden ran and rode their bikes to and from work shifts, and allowed a personal surveillance app to track them. This allowed the public to track the prime minister's movements.
I gather that publishing where users run or ride is a documented feature, not a bug or a documented malfeature. If humans were infallible, the fault would be entirely on the guards who used it. But since humans are fallible, the system is at fault also.
Don't be a sap,
Avoid the app!
Trump's antisemitic slurs
10 July 2025
Just as the bully's followers are attacking anyone that they can describe as antisemitic, the bully himself uttered an indisputably antisemitic slur. Can he be deported for that?
Palestine Action activists arrested
10 July 2025
Britain's repression of protest becomes more vicious, as we might expect. 20 protesters face prosecution and perhaps 14 years in prison for carrying signs stating support for the banned "terrorist" organization, Palestine Action.
The declaration that Palestine Action is a terrorist organization declares an absurd (and false) exaggeration to be true. The prosecution of the sign-carriers, if that goes ahead, will use that false "truth" for tyranny, and threaten even more tyranny.
I expect that the judge will forbid any discussion, in the trial, of whether Palestine Action really is terrorist -- to insist that the declaration replaces the truth.
Overcoming magat attacks
10 July 2025
Advice to protesters on how to overcome the magats' usual attacks and build a movement that goes beyond protest.
Although I am not an expert, it seems rational to me.
Eran Zelnik
10 July 2025
US citizen and Israeli citizen Eran Zelnik: *I’m a Jewish Israeli in the US standing up for Palestine. By [the fascist leader's] logic, I’m a terror supporter.*
He compares the current US regime in detail to the Nazi regime that his grandparents fled, and then asks Kash Patel (head of the FBI), "Do you want to arrest me?"
Ranked choice voting
10 July 2025
NYC's Democratic primary demonstrated the superiority of ranked choice voting.
Google's EU antitrust complaint over "AI" overviews
10 July 2025
The EU is investigating whether Google Search's "AI" Overviews are anticompetitive.
Weaponization working group
9 July 2025
* A former FBI agent who allegedly shouted "kill ’em!" at law enforcement during the [109]January 6 insurrection is now advising a "weaponization working group" in the "justice department".
Genetic evidence air pollution provokes lung cancer
9 July 2025
Genetic evidence that air pollution provokes development of lung cancer — and faster aging of telomeres.
Canada considering dangerous immigration and surveillance bill
9 July 2025
Canada is considering a cruel and dangerous immigration and surveillance bill.
The immigration part would permit officials to cancel visas arbitrarily and ban arbitrarily any pathway for people to reach Canada to ask for admission. No appeal is allowed.
Furthermore, people arriving across the border where there is no crossing point would have just two weeks to apply for asylum. What does such harshness serve/
The immigration minister has admitted that all this is a surrender to pressure from the bully.
The surveillance part would make it easier for cops and prosecutors to get access to people's communication metadata without a warrant. It includes an almost unlimited exceptions for emergencies; perhaps it would be acceptable if it stated more concrete limits, or if it prohibited the state from retaining such surveillance data more than 2 weeks if it has not by then obtained a warrant covering that same data.
EU abandoning leadership in curbing greenhouse gas emissions
9 July 2025
The EU seems to be abandoning its leadership in curbing greenhouse gas emissions.
Expelling of ancestrally Napali minority group
9 July 2025
Bhutan expelled 100,000 members of an ancestrally Nepali minority group into India, They went to refugee camps in Nepal. Many were later allowed to move to other countries including the US. Some have been deported from the US for various alleged crimes, but the US doesn't check that Bhutan will allow them entry (it does not). So they go to Nepal, but the refugee camp won't let them return, and Nepal does not believe, or does not care, that they formerly lived there.
Now Nepal insists on deporting them to Bhutan, and officials seem unwilling to face the fact that Bhutan won't allow them in.
Court ordered Ward Sakeik not be deported
9 July 2025
A court ordered that Ward Sakeik not be deported, and deportation thugs tried to deport her anyway.
Droughts worldwide pushing people towards starvation
9 July 2025
*Droughts worldwide pushing [around 100 million people] towards starvation, says report.*
This looks like the beginning of what we know global heating will produce: a permanent inability for some regions to sustain their current populations. To stabilize the population of endangered regions with birth control and abortion is urgent, if we want to prevent megadeaths from doing so.
The article's actual title said "tens of millions", but those words are misleading since the article's text says "more than 90 million". In the absence of a basis to know it is closer to 90 than to 100, the best rough approximation is 100 million.
BBC on facts on Israel's war crimes
9 July 2025
Many BBC journalists rebuke the BBC for refusing to present the facts that would shed a critical light on Israel's war crimes. For instance, its refusal to show the documentary Gaza: Doctors Under Attack, which it had commissioned, apparently because of the truth that that documentary would demonstrate.
Another pertinent issue:
I am obliged to point out that authorized distribution of BBC video
programs on the internet is wrapped in DRM, which is
an
injustice in
itself.
The article talks about other channels that distributed the documentary in the UK, after the BBC finally rejected it. I suppose that their internet distribution is afflicted with DRM too, meaning no less subjugatory.
I hope you will join me in refusing to use anything that imposes DRM on published works. Let's make DRM a felony!
However, you can find textual explanation of the same facts in https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cy0xp969n69o and https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/apr/24/new-details-on-killing-of-paramedics-in-gaza-appear-to-contradict-idf-account
Mamdani connects climate policy to his affordability agenda
9 July 2025
*How Mamdani connects climate policy to his affordability agenda as he runs for New York mayor.*
Daily Kos notified as being under investigation by US government
9 July 2025
Daily Kos, the organization, has been notified that the US government is investigating it for un-magat activities, but with no specifics about why. Here it explores what the alleged grounds might be.
Climate change reports removed from US government sites
9 July 2025
*Key climate change reports removed from US government websites.*
The wrecker is not merely uncooperative with efforts to curb fossil fuel; he seems to be doing everything possible to ensure global gigadeaths.
UK universities trying to get year-long protest bans
9 July 2025
UK universities are getting advice from a specialist law firm on how to obtain year-long protest bans.
Cardiff University obtained a ban his way. Other universities that registered for the webinar include Reading, Exeter, Northumbria, Hertfordshire, Birkbeck, Bath Spa and Liverpool John Moores
If you are or were a student at one of them, you might want to inform the university that this or other opposition to traditional political freedom puts you off any will to donate to that university.
Bill to stop charities funding Israeli settlers
9 July 2025
*New York lawmakers [including Zohran Mamdani] relaunch bill to stop charities funding Israeli settlers.* The bill would also prohibit donations to Israeli military units operating in Gaza.
About the "donations" in question.
Mamdani is currently a member of the state assembly, and is the Democratic nominee for mayor of NYC.
Mackerel in Northeast Atlantic are overfished
9 July 2025
Mackerel in the Northeast Atlantic are overfished, and numbers are shrinking.
Datacentres to take water from driest areas
9 July 2025
*Big tech's new datacentres will take water from the world’s driest areas.*
A government that considers people important will prohibit the operation of a data center if there is a shortage of water in the region when it is operating.
Greenpeace suing pipeline company
9 July 2025
Greenpeace is suing the pipeline company Energy Transfer under the EU's anti-SLAPP directive
The lawsuit against Greenpeace clearly is a SLAPP. It was meant to distract attention from the danger of river-polluting pipeline leaks, the broader danger of deadly floods and fires, and the longer-term danger of collapse of civilization from global heating.
i wonder how an EU court has jurisdiction over it, though. The protests were in he US, the SLAPP lawsuit is in the US, and Energy Transfer is in the US.
Some US states have anti-SLAPP laws, but North Dakota is rather right-wing so it probably does not have one.
US deportation thugs' rules and procedures
9 July 2025
The US deportation thugs have rules and procedures that systematically result, occasionally, in jailing US citizens and even deporting US citizens. Part of the cause is racial profiling, but fixing the operational rules would prevent most of these.
UK pressuring tax havens
9 July 2025
The UK has been pressuring various mostly autonomous colonies which are tax havens for decades to keep track of corporate profits that flow through them to anonymous owners, but it isn't pressing hard enough to make them change anything.
Ralph Nader presents the wrecker's three overall goals
9 July 2025
Ralph Nader presents the wrecker's three overall goals — riches, vengeance, and permanent plutocracy — and relates them to his specific acts of destruction.
I think that the word "vengeance" is not adequate for the second of these goals. Its targets are not limited to personal rivals or enemies; he aims to crush everyone who was on the other side, politically, and support those who were on his side.
Social Security Administration propaganda letter
9 July 2025
The Social Security Administration sent (some) recipients a letter whose only purpose was propaganda to praise the Big Bad Bill.
Part of the claimed benefits were false, of course. Never suppose that magats are telling the truth.
Urgent: Reject calls for Article V convention
8 July 2025
US citizens: call on state legislators to reject any calls for an Article V convention.
If you phone, please spread the word! Main Switchboard: +1-202-224-3121
Urgent: Protect journalists covering LA protests
8 July 2025
US citizens: call on California Attorney General Rob Bonta to protect journalists covering the LA protests.
Applicants for student visa must set antisocial media to "public"
8 July 2025
The US now demands that applicants for a student visa set their antisocial media profiles' visibility to "public". This means that *those who wanted to study in the U.S. to flee authoritarian governments abroad will have to make their social media public to those same governments to study here.*
Crops unharvested at California farms
8 July 2025
*[Deportation thug] raids leave crops unharvested at California farms: "We need the labor."*
Beyond the obvious irony of this, I note that the wrecker hates California and seems to look for any way to cause harm there. This may part of the purpose of the raids, rather than collateral damage.
Mamdani's margin of victory over Cuomo
8 July 2025
Mamdani's margin of victory over Cuomo was 12% — Cuomo was not even close.
Campaign to cancel citizenship of naturalized citizens
8 July 2025
The persecutor has ordered a sweeping campaign to try to cancel the citizenship of naturalized citizens. One of the possible grounds, lack of "good moral character", could be stretched out of all recognition by partisan judges. Even when the victim has a good chance of winning, perse may lack the funds for a lawyer.
Magats plan to try to strip Mamdani of US citizenship to stop him from winning the mayoral election. This would take a lot of stretching plus a double standard.
Is it required that the mayor of NYC be a US citizen?
Israel confiscating supplies from doctors visiting Gaza
8 July 2025
Israel confiscates supplies from doctors visiting Gaza. When volunteer doctors try to visit Gaza, Israel confiscates items such as baby food and surgical equipment. It is also very fussy about whether a doctor is allowed in.
In particular, doctors who talk to the media after they leave Gaza are blocked from visiting Gaza again — blocked at nearly the last minute, so there is no chance to find replacements for them.
This reduces the number of doctors in Gaza, and interferes with main remaining channel for news reporting coming from people who don't live in Gaza.
Action needed on Orbán's suppression of human rights
8 July 2025
The EU needs to act to thwart Orbán's suppression of human rights in Hungary. He targeted the queer minority first, to prove that no one's rights are safe in Hungary; soon he will extend that suppression to all dissent.
Estimated deaths from abolition of USAID
8 July 2025
The abolition of USAID is estimated to be likely to kill 14 million people by 2030.
Saboteur in chief's cuts to the weather bureau
8 July 2025
The saboteur in chief's cuts to the weather bureau forced it to shut down at night, and reduced the available data to compute forecasts from. This interfered with forecasting tornadoes and flash floods.
Tracking sea ice for global heating
8 July 2025
*Tracking sea ice is "early warning system" for global heating — but US halt to data sharing will make it harder, scientists warn.*
Enemy of trust and enemy of empathy
8 July 2025
While the bullshitter is the enemy of trust, the muskrat is the enemy of empathy.
What the Democrats can learn from Zohran Mamdani
8 July 2025
*Here’s what the Democrats can learn from Zohran Mamdani.* An active supporter reports on what she heard from voters as she canvassed for him.
Lead air pollution connection to killers
8 July 2025
Arguing that the enormous level of lead air pollution in Tacoma, Washington, was responsible for the cluster of several killers who grew up there.
UK government considering more facial recognition
8 July 2025
The UK government is considering more facial recognition in public places.
Also robot prison guards, and implanting tracking devices in people's bodies.
Name big storms after fossil fuel companies
8 July 2025
Idea: name big storms after fossil fuel companies and manufacturers of SUVs.
The article focuses on Britain, but the idea makes sense globally.
PFAS in water in small part of France
8 July 2025
After a long delay, people in a small part of France received an official order for certain vulnerable people should avoid drinking tap water, due to presence of PFAS in the water supply.
The warning focused on babies, pregnant women and the immunocompromised. That decision is based on caution, which has some rational basis. But actually, no one knows how much harm various PFAS are likely to do to those people, or to other people. We have reasons to think they might do harm, but we don't know. There are hundreds of different PFAS, and no one knows what effects each one might have.
Collecting statistics on exposure to each one, and on the medical problems that develop at various exposure levels, is likely to take decades.
Prisoners moved from bombed Evin prison
8 July 2025
When Israel bombed Evin prison, used by Iran for political prisoners, some of them were killed. Afterward, Iran moved many others to other prisons where conditions are more painful.
Iran's government is not necessarily doing that to punish the prisoners. It seems to be working to improve some.
But Iran's government it entirely and solely to blame for imprisoning people for demanding human rights. Just as the US government is when, it jails people for protests.
Mamdani's proposal for city-run grocery stores
8 July 2025
Mamdani's proposal for city-run grocery stores will provide a place to buy groceries, including fresh produce, in the parts of New York City which now have none.