Urgent: Fire the official that is stubbornly trying to privatize Medicare
6 March 2022
US citizens: call on Biden to fire the official that is stubbornly trying to privatize Medicare.
Urgent: Pass the College for All Act
6 March 2022
US citizens: call on Congress to Pass the College for All Act.
To sign without running nonfree JavaScript code from the web site, use the Salsalabs workaround.
Urgent: Stop providing weapons to Saudi Arabia
6 March 2022
US citizens: call on Congress to stop providing weapons to Saudi Arabia.
To sign without running nonfree JavaScript code from the web site, use the Salsalabs workaround.
ACLU suing over Texas's persecution
5 March 2022
The ACLU is suing to stop Texas from persecuting parents that enable their transgender children to get puberty-delaying or sex-change medical treatment.
I've learned that such treatment is very effective against depression and suicide among trans youth. So I am very much in favor of making it available.
But I think we need to have an objective way to refer to the treatments we are talking about, one that doesn't incorporate a built-in stance about them. I don't like the term "gender-affirming treatments" because it tries to twist people's arms to approve of them. I'd rather approve of them by my own free choice.
AIG stops insuring coal, tar sands, and Arctic drilling
5 March 2022
*[Insurance company] AIG to Stop Insuring Coal, Tar Sands, and Arctic Drilling.*
We will still have to fight to get them to stop insuring other gas and oil projects.
Last independent news source in Russia shut down
5 March 2022
Putin shut down the last independent news source in Russia, and the staff are trying to flee.
CDC revised guidelines based on one goal
5 March 2022
The CDC's revised mask guidelines are based on just one goal: to prevent hospitals from getting full.
That goal is important, but the CDC has abandoned other important goals, such as reducing the total number of people who eventually get sick, which is the way to reduce the number who eventually develop Long Covid disabilities, and the number who eventually die of the disease.
Calling for a no-first-use nuclear weapon policy
5 March 2022
Calling for the US to adopt a no-first-use policy for nuclear weapons.
Plan to end releasing microplastics
5 March 2022
California's plan to end the release of microplastics into the environment.
Oath Keeper pled guilty
5 March 2022
One of the Oath Keepers pled guilty to seditious conspiracy for 6 Jan 2021.
This will include testifying against the others.
Conflict and climate change
5 March 2022
*If we are concerned about the situation in Ukraine when both nations have access to largely affordable food and water, what is going to happen when water becomes scarce and food prices soar? We can answer this question by looking at our recent past.*
The article is blind to one aspect of the issue: that each country needs to curb its population growth to avoid making the problem even more difficult.
Vile things Trump did to Zelensky and Ukraine
5 March 2022
*Opinion: Five vile things Trump did to Zelensky and Ukraine that you forgot about.*
Cutting Russia from the internet would be a bad idea
5 March 2022
Why it would be a bad idea to cut Russia off from the internet.
Hydropower dams and the increasing aridity
5 March 2022
Increasing aridity in the US southwest is lowering the water level in the lakes behind hydropower dams. A little lower and those dams will cease to generate electricity.
People will use fossil fuels instead, thus speeding the development of more aridity.
Kuwaiti princess and partner targeted "on political grounds"
5 March 2022
*Interpol arrest warrant allegedly targeting Kuwaiti princess and partner "on political grounds".*
History of "economic warfare"
5 March 2022
The history of "economic warfare", a.k.a. trade sanctions, and what they imply.
Border wall breached
5 March 2022
People-smugglers find it easy to make holes in the bullshitter's "impenetrable" wall on the Mexican border.
War crime by another name
5 March 2022
*The Guardian view on Putin's siege tactics in Ukraine: a war crime by another name.*
Calling for a no-first-use nuclear weapon polocy
5 March 2022
Calling for the US to adopt a no-first-use policy for nuclear weapons.
Nuclear power plant attacked
5 March 2022
The Putin forces attacked a Ukrainian nuclear power plant with artillery and hit one of the reactor blocks. (The shelling started a fire in a building at the site, of no crucial importance.)
To reach the plant, soldiers fired at civilians who were blocking the road.
By giving the order to do fire on the plant, Putin risked serious damage to the plant and releasing radioactive materials. That would have endangered people in a wide area, including Ukrainians, Russians who live to the east, and to some extent people in the European countries to the west.
We have to interpret this as a form of threatening a nuclear attack.
This shows a powerful reason not to have nuclear power plants any more.
Mandatory arbitration contracts prohibited
5 March 2022
The US has prohibited mandatory arbitration contracts that require workers to deal with sexual harassment or crimes at work through arbitration instead of going to court.
It is a good first step, but the same needs to be done for other sorts of accusations, and for customers as well.
Avenues of corruption
5 March 2022
The UK must close the avenues of corruption that Russian oligarchs — and other rich people — have taken advantage of.
Plan to end releasing microplasics
5 March 2022
California's plan to end the release of microplastics into the environment.
Harsher sentences
5 March 2022
*In several prominent cases, black people got harsher sentences for unintentional voting errors than whites who committed fraud.*
The article linked to just above displays symbolic bigotry by capitalizing "black" but not "white". (To avoid endorsing bigotry, capitalize both words or neither one.) I object to bigotry, and normally I decline to link to articles which promote it. But I make exceptions for some articles which give important information about racism or the fight to eliminate racism. That article is one of the exceptions.
Urgent: Vacant US diplomat offices
5 March 2022
US citizens: call on Senators Schumer and Menendez to take up the nominees for 50 vacant offices for US diplomats.
Putin forces
4 March 2022
The Russian Army has become the Putin Forces.
Excessive force
4 March 2022
*Former Delaware [thug] charged in two excessive force cases after surveillance video went viral.* He faces a potential sentence of 13 years in prison.
I am very gratified to see prosecution of thugs extend to those whose crimes did not kill anyone.
Biodiversity loss
4 March 2022
*Rich Nations Driving Biodiversity Loss Called to Invest Billions in Developing World.*
Fawlty towers
4 March 2022
Russian media meet Fawlty Towers -- "Don't talk about the war!"
Goth phase
4 March 2022
(satire) *Crows Evolve New Blond Look Concluding 17-Million-Year Goth Phase.*
Carbon emission trading
4 March 2022
One of the flaws of "carbon emission trading" is that speculators enter the trading market. That is causing volatility now in the EU's emission trading market -- the price has fallen, so that it is now cheaper to pollute.
A carefully-designed carbon tax would avoid this problem. It has no room for speculation. Furthermore, it is possible to make a special increase the tax if emissions are not declining fast enough.
Confronting propaganda
4 March 2022
George Monbiot: *We must confront Russian propaganda – even when it comes from those we respect.*
*The argument of the Left should be, that in 2003, other governments did not put enough pressure on the United States over Iraq. Not that it is necessary to exert less pressure on Russia over Ukraine now.*
Shipping cartels
4 March 2022
*Biden Announces "Crackdown" on Profiteering Shipping Cartels to Fight Inflation.*
Encouraging people to go without masks
4 March 2022
Biden (and many state and local officials) have yielded to pressure from fools and assholes, and decided to encourage people in most of the US to go without masks.
As the article says, this policy puts vulnerable people on their own as increasing numbers of people either say, "It's safe now" (the fools), or "Fuck you, I won't go to any trouble to avoid giving you a disease" (the assholes). There are lots of vulnerable people -- I read that in the UK they amount to 1/4 of the population. I have no such figure for the US, but I am one of them.
The Covid transmission rate in Massachusetts has been going down (I don't have access to info about other states), but last week it decreased only 27% -- less than before. How fast it continues to decrease will depend on how much we take precautions, including masks and vaccination. If many Americans stop using masks, the transmission rate will decrease more slowly, and may start increasing again.
Imagine if millions of people got tired of brushing their teeth and decided to stop worrying about the danger of losing them in a few years That's what this seems like to me.
Biden talked about a "test to treat" system. In principle that is good, but how often should you get tested? If you have to take the subway to work several days a week, and/or if you are near other people at work, you could catch Covid-19 any working day. Should you get tested on each working day? Can the system handle that much testing? Can you afford whatever it will cost?
Will low-paid "essential workers" be able to participate in this system?
The treatments available are for preventing severe disease that might lead to death. I have not heard whether they prevent lasting disability. Do we know whether "long Covid" is still a danger, with Omicron? I have seen no info on this, and if we don't know it isn't still a danger we have to presume it is. Long Covid used to be far more common than death, and some forms of it are as bad as death in my estimation. Fatigue all day? Mental disorganization? Losing the sense of taste and smell and finding all food boring or horrible?
I have started talking with people I know about the importance of using N95 masks, and the fact that drug stores are distributing them gratis in the US. Efforts to inform the public have not reached most people. Now that good masks are available, everyone should switch.
Feeding salmon
4 March 2022
* Wealthy nations accused of depriving poorer ones of nutrient-rich food and wasting mackerel, sardine and anchovy stocks -- to feed farmed salmon.*
I don't think there is anything wrong in principle in farming salmon, but we who are wealthier must not starve the poor.
At the same time, every country has an obligation to stabilize its population. If we don't end population growth, it will reduce everyone to poverty. Now that we are hitting global resource limits, no people should imagine that they can have population growth without taking from other people. Humanity must back off from these limits, and the only human way is by a lot fewer births.
Attacking nonwhite refugees
4 March 2022
Right-wing Polish racists attacked nonwhite refugees who had fled Ukraine, and are organizing disinformation falsely accusing refugees of committing crimes, to stir up support for their scapegoating.
Urgent: Pardon everyone convicted for possession of marijuana
3 March 2022
US citizens: call on Biden to pardon everyone convicted for possession of marijuana.
Mixed-race child who looks white
3 March 2022
The mother of a mixed-race child who looks white is suing his school for telling him to think of himself as an "oppressor" because he looks white.
The article linked to just above displays symbolic bigotry by capitalizing "black" but not "white". (To avoid endorsing bigotry, capitalize both words or neither one.) I object to bigotry, and normally I decline to link to articles which promote it. But I make exceptions for some articles which give important information about racism or the fight to eliminate racism. That article is one of the exceptions.
The fact that some would call that boy "black" adds an extra element of irony to the case, but I don't think it changes the issue at all. It's wrong to judge people as guilty based on their race. Whether guilty for being white or guilty for being black, it's wrong.
Meanwhile, Republicans are encouraging a confusion between anti-white bigotry and critical race theory. Let's look at each one and see the difference.
Critical race theory deals with the history of institutions and laws, and how some of them shaped and perpetuated racism. It's important to teach that, and important to learn that, but prejudging individuals is not part of it.
Anti-white bigotry seems to be a perversion of anti-racism. It uses terms such as "white guilt" and "white debt" and teaches that anyone who is white ought to spend per whole life in shame. That isn't critical race theory, so let's not call it that.
A system that forces children into debt is oppression, and that includes "white debt". To be born indebted is like being born enslaved.
When Republicans condemn teaching "critical race theory", and define that term to include "white debt", that is an instance of their general political approach: disinformation.
Private medical treatment in Britain
3 March 2022
The Tories have degraded to the point that 15% of Britons are ready to pay for private medical treatment.
Next step: make the NHS so inadequate that anyone who can afford private treatment will go for that, and the rest will get only the most basic treatment for the easily cured diseases. More or less like the US.
Corrupter trying to abolish NATO
3 March 2022
The corrupter has been close friends with Putin since before being elected, and has been trying to undermine or abolish NATO.
Rebecca Solnit: *It's time to confront the Trump-Putin network.*
I am skeptical of the claim that Wikileaks got the material showing the dishonesty of Clinton and the Democratic National Convention towards Sanders from Russian spies. Assange said that was not so, and I trust him.
However, that was just a side point in the article linked to.
Overall, I think the name "Trumputin" fits what we are dealing with.
Extremist Republicans spoke at white supremacists' event
3 March 2022
Two extremist Republicans in Congress have crossed the Republican Party's line by speaking at a white supremacists' event. Powerful Republican politicians are condemning them.
Repression of Taiwan
3 March 2022
Taiwan became a democracy only in the 1960s. For decades after World War II, it was a repressive dictatorship run by the rulers recently defeated on the mainland. Taiwan is now beginning to examine the repression of that period.
Tests of flammable cladding materials
3 March 2022
The UK government tested flammable cladding materials 15 years before the deadly fire of 2017. Somehow it neglected to take steps to update the fire code to prohibit use of those materials.
The UK government under Tory rule has shown a pervasive tendency to fail in ways that screw individual and let businesses get away with murder. This is one example. Another is the privatized "jobcenters" that default to punishing welfare recipients for any technical violation of the onerous rules.
Policies that tend to shorten lifespans
3 March 2022
Republican officians promote a long list of policies that tend to shorten Americans' lifespans (especially poor Americans and disprivileged groups). It's mostly because they are hand-in-glove with racists, religious fanatics and greedy billionaires.
However, when the wrecker was president they got even worse. Nowadays they support policies that make America more deadly, because that gives their followers a chance to enjoy being jerks.
Lukashenko has become Putin's puppet
3 March 2022
Lukashenko, who has become Putin's puppet, announced that Belarus would retract its pledge not to have nuclear weapons.
Doing this publicly is a way to make it act as a threat. For instance, he could make vague threats against NATO.
In addition, next time the Belarusians try to kick out Lukashenko, he will be able to threaten to nuke Belarus's cities. But I suppose he will not actually do that.
Trumputin canceled the IRBM treaty, with which both the US and Russia agreed not to station intermediate-range ballistic missiles with nuclear warheads in Europe. Would Putin like to reestablish that treaty? If so, it would make sense for the US to demand that Belarus pledge to continue not to have nuclear weapons as part of the treaty.
Has Putin shown a wish to resume that treaty? I have to wonder whether Trumputin canceled it as a favor to Putin — to give him the benefit of getting out of that treaty, while dumping on the US the onus of terminating it.
Torn between two factions
3 March 2022
Ukraine was torn between two factions, the pro-Russian faction and the pro-EU faction. There were a number of Nazis in the latter. But then Ukrainians conclusively rejected both factions, and the Nazis, by voting for President Zelenskiy.
Volodymyr Zelenskiy's surprising career before becoming president of Ukraine: he was a popular comic actor.
Ronald Reagan, the actor turned president, used his acting skills to lull Americans into letting the rich take a bigger fraction, and waiting like a cargo cult for wealth to "trickle down".
Zelenskiy uses his skills to be the best possible leader for a Ukraine under invasion.
Human rights defenders murdered in 2021
3 March 2022
Over 350 human rights defenders were murdered in 2021.
Bringing Putin to justice over Ukraine
3 March 2022
*Could international criminal court bring Putin to justice over Ukraine?*
Probably not — it would take a bolt of luck to be able to arrest him.
Sanctions on Russian oligarchs
3 March 2022
The UK is slowly considering imposing sanctions on Russian oligarchs linked to Putin, giving them time to sell what they own in Russia.
Don't be a Tankie
3 March 2022
*Don't Be a Tankie: How the Left Should Respond to Russia's Invasion of Ukraine.*