Amazon fresh closures
31 January 2026
Amazon is giving up on its surveillance-based stores that require every customer to be tracked. Hooray for the failure of an initiative that tried to expand surveillance! But that still leaves so much surveillance that we need to put an end to.
Bushfires
31 January 2026
*Bushfires in Victoria push threatened species to the brink.*
One kind of human-caused disaster thus tends to cause other kinds.
Urgent: stop Chevron's responsibility evading
31 January 2026
Everyone: call on Tell Chevron’s CEO: Stop evading Chevron’s responsibility for your destruction of Louisiana's coast.
See the instructions for how to sign this letter campaign without running any nonfree JavaScript code--not trivial, but not hard.
Swift bricks
31 January 2026
Scotland has legislated new buildings must include "swift bricks" that provide nesting spaces for swifts.
These special bricks contain a cavity that small birds can nest in. The added cost of construction is minuscule, but business owners think a little more profit is worth destruction of endangered species.
Pretend intelligence office chaos
31 January 2026
People who use Pretend Intelligence for work meetings and job interviews are causing chaos in business. Some of them are trying to use it to compensate for their own lack of ability or knowledge. People who catch on to this learn they cannot be trusted.
Urgent: block big tech data centers
31 January 2026
US citizens: call on your local and state leaders to block Big Tech data centers in your community.
See the instructions for how to sign this letter campaign without running any nonfree JavaScript code--not trivial, but not hard.
LA wildfires and insurance industry
31 January 2026
US homeowners whose homes were destroyed by fire report that some insurance companies seem to be trying to fob them off with much less then the actual value of the destroyed home or what rebuilding would cost.
UK ecosystem collapse
31 January 2026
The UK government tried to cover up its report on ecosystem collapse, after first deleting some of the most frightening parts. (What was not deleted is plenty frightening anyway.)
*"Ecosystem degradation is occurring across all regions. Every critical ecosystem is on a pathway to collapse (irreversible loss of function beyond repair)." This presents a threat to "UK national security and prosperity". It says "the world is already experiencing impacts including crop failures, intensified natural disasters and infectious disease outbreaks. Threats will increase with degradation and intensify with collapse." The results will include geopolitical and economic instability, increased conflict and competition for resources. "It is unlikely the UK would be able to maintain food security if ecosystem collapse drives geopolitical competition for food." It also warns that "conflict and military escalation will become more likely, both within and between states, as groups compete for arable land and food and water resources".*The Starmer government is tossing out environmental protection commitments made by the Tories.
31 January 2026 (Doomsday clock)
The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists advanced the Doomsday Clock
to 85
seconds before midnight.
* The scientists cited risks of nuclear war, the climate crisis,
potential misuse of biotechnology and the increasing use of
[pretend
intelligence and] artificial intelligence without adequate
controls.*
31 January 2026
How drug searches at events increase the danger to participants from drugs.
Last remaining hostage's corpse found
31 January 2026
The corpse of the last remaining hostage was found -- in the Israel-occupied area of Gaza, were HAMAS could not easily search for it.
This demonstrates that Netanyahu was using that corpse as an excuse to continue the occupation and siege, and the killing of Palestinians.
The article does not say who actually found the corpse. I am curious about this because I conjecture that Netanyahu did his best to avoid its being found.
Extreme heat
31 January 2026
Modeling projects that 40% of the world population will face extreme heat by 2050, if the world reaches 2°C of global heating by then.
The article says 41%, but such a prediction cannot be exact enough to justify stating the result with two significant figures. The proper scientific way to state it is 40%.
The study reports that every nation is unprepared for this level of heat, which generally kills some people. However, instead of planning to treat the symptoms in 2050, the wise priority is to curb global heating so that we don't reach that level of danger. The ecological side effects of that much heating (fires, floods, crop failures and hunger, spreading parasites, diseases, extinctions) may be far more dangerous to civilization and humans than the direct effects of high temperatures.
Instagram
31 January 2026
Is presenting your children's lives on Instagram somehow dangerous to them?
This article seems to take for granted an emotional conclusion that makes no sense to me. I just don't get it. Why would being talked about on Instagram hurt a child?
I am not saying it can't do that -- I don't know. But I can't see why the writer expects that result.
I have never seen Instagram, and have never wished to look. I am not interested in gawking at the details of someone else's luxuries or activities. Why waste time on that when there are so many more important or more interesting things to do?
But I know of bad things that Instagram tends to do to anyone.
Connecting to Instagram requires identifying oneself. I don't want anyone to track what I look at. I don't want anyone to track what you look at, either -- such tracking is the foundation for repression.
Another reason is that connecting to Instagram requires running nonfree software (either an app or JavaScript programs sent to our browser). Running them implies surrendering freedom. I refuse to be a zucker, and I hope you won't be one either.
Instagram seems to promote parasocial relationships. I don't want a parasocial relationship with _anyone_, because that strikes me as a kind of self-delusion. If I wish that a certain famous person were my friend, I also wish to remain aware of the reality of the situation. I can't tell you what to do, but I hope you'll focus on reality.
Andy Burnham
31 January 2026
Starmer's appointees have blocked authentic Labour activist Andy Burnham from running for an open seat in Parliament. Evidently his priority for the Labour Party is to ensure it never returns to championing workers and the non-rich, as it was founded to do. He'd rather nail its coffin shut than allow it to win by allowing it to be true to its purpose.
Alex Pretti
31 January 2026
*NRA and pro-gun groups call for "full investigation" into killing of Alex Pretti.*
Any person or group that upholds any right whatsoever _for citizens in general_ will have conflicts with the magat position, which is that magats can do whatever they like to anyone else.
Second amendment
31 January 2026
Gun lovers are up in arms at the statement (by the persecutor's henchman) that thugs are entitled to shoot anyone who has a gun (even if perse doing nothing threatening with it).
The article also says that one of the thugs took Pretti's gun before other thugs shot him. So it seems that thugs are entitled to shoot anyone who had a gun, even if perse has since been disarmed.
I advocate gun control laws, but those who are permitted to carry a gun should not be killed for carrying one as long as they don't threaten anyone.
Israel's corpse search
31 January 2026
Israel has ceased using the last hostage corpse as an excuse to continue the siege of Gaza. It is instead searching for the corpse, which at least is not hurting anyone.
Whether Israel will really end the siege now remains to be seen.
FBI to investigate Minneapolis activists after claim about anti-ICE chats
30 January 2026
A right-wing extremist joined a chat with people discussing how to identify and find deportation thugs, presumed that this was for some illegal plan, informed the henchman in charge of the FBI (who he knows), and the latter eagerly started investigating them in the hopes of finding such a plan.
By contrast, when deportation thugs commit major crimes including murder, federal agencies look aside.
Families of Boat Strike Victims Sue US
30 January 2026
Families of two men killed by a US attack on a small boat are suing the US government.
Minnesota judge summons acting ICE director
30 January 2026
A federal judge in Minnesota ordered the acting head of the deportation thugs to come personally to court and answer questions, since the agency has ignored court orders and questions from the court.
Responding to a surge of unlawful ICE activity in Somerville
30 January 2026
*Responding to the unlawful activities of [deportation thugs] in our community*, not far from where I live.
Urgent: Get Trump’s name off the Kennedy Center
30 January 2026
US citizens: call for removing the name "Trump" from the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.
If you sign, please spread the word!
Urgent: Stop Trump From Gutting Fraud Enforcement
30 January 2026
US citizens: call on Congress to stop the wrecker from abandoning prosecution of fraud so as to persecute immigrants instead.
If you sign, please spread the word!
God Informs Humanity Choking People Meant To Die
29 January 2026
(satire) *God Informs Humanity [that] Choking People [are] Meant To Die.*
What To Know About the bully’s Board Of Peace
29 January 2026
(satire) *What To Know About [the bully]'s Board Of Peace.*
Almost all the 21 countries that signed up for the persecutor's "Board of Peace" are authoritarian.
Paraguay is arguably democratic. I don't know about Armenia, Bulgaria, Kosovo and Mongolia; perhaps they are democratic. Indonesia was democratic but is heading towards military domination.
Chris Madel ends bid for Minnesota governor
29 January 2026
Chris Madel, Republican candidate for governor of Minnesota, has dropped out of the race and simultaneously out of the Republican Party.
He condemned the occupation by marauding thugs as racist and un-American.
The government must act now on biodiversity loss and ecosystem collapse
29 January 2026
Global heating is starting to cause ecosystem collapse, which will tend to make the growing disaster irreversible.
Unless you are pretty old already, this could kill you eventually.
Deport Musk and Melania
29 January 2026
Since the persecutor wants to cancel the naturalization of immigrants who violated US visa rules and subsequently applied falsely for US citizenship, this article directs his attention to two people closely associated with him who did just that: Elon Musk and Melania Trump.
I won't be surprised if he applies the law one way to his friends and followers and another way to everyone else. That is what kings used to do, and he wants to be king.
Urgent: Notes on when a person dies in jail or prison
29 January 2026
US citizens: call on governments to start taking notes about when a person dies while in jail or prison, or otherwise in the power of cops.
EPA mostly abandoned enforcement of limits on pollution
29 January 2026
The EPA has mostly abandoned enforcement of limits on pollution.
Occupation of deportation thugs could lead to occupation by US army
29 January 2026
The occupation of Minnesota by deportation thugs may give way to an occupation by the US army. This could start a civil war.
I don't have high hopes that the occupation forces would lose.
Australia's new hate speech laws
29 January 2026
*Criticism of Benjamin Netanyahu may be an offense under Australia’s new hate speech laws, Greens warn.*
An expert said, *It seems that the implication is criticism of Israel, and the Israeli government, and suggesting it is engaged in genocide or something of that kind, would be enough to at least trigger the start of the process, by satisfying the provisions about inciting racial hatred.* But whether a court would see that as permitted
I oppose the prohibition of so-called "hate speech" because it tends to result in censorship of legitimate political condemnation of politicians that practice of advocate cruel and violent policies — in effect, defending that cruelty and violence, as in the case of Netanyahu.
"Loot box" inside of Pentagon
29 January 2026
A friend pointed out that the "loot box" gambling machine in the Pentagon could introduce things that shouldn't be inside the Pentagon — including surveillance devices and poison traps.
Palestinian describes rape by Israeli prison guards
29 January 2026
Palestinian Sami al-Saei describes being raped by Israeli prison guards.
US president siding with forces of tyranny
29 January 2026
*European leaders who know their continent's history must now see that the US president is siding with the forces of tyranny.*
Deportation thugs claim power to question anyone
29 January 2026
A spokesman for the deportation thugs claimed that, while doing their work, they have the power ask questions of anyone. What they seem to think that means is the power to seize anyone and take per to jail to question per there.
Alex Pretti shot dead by deportation thugs
29 January 2026
Nurse Alex Pretti was shot dead by deportation thugs at a protest as he tried to aid a person they had attacked. They killed him after knocking him down to the ground.
He had been observing the protest, not participating.
The thugs stated that Pretti had a gun, and indeed he did (with a license), but videos show he did not hold it — he was in fact carrying a phone/camera. They must have found it after he was dead, and decided to make it an excuse to falsify justification for the killing.
Mayor Frey exhorts the bully to pull back his thugs and allow peace and tranquility to resume in Minneapolis.
Good on Mayor Frey, but I don't think the bully will change his tune. He creates violence so his henchmen can take advantage of it.
Google [PI] overviews cite YouTube for health queries
29 January 2026
*Google [PI] Overviews cite YouTube more than any medical site for health queries, study suggests.*
Protesters rebuke Target stores
29 January 2026
Protesters rebuke Target stores for allowing deportation thugs to enter for hunting people. That is a choice — the company could decide that they cannot enter without a specific warrant.
Terror by deportation thugs traumatizing schoolchildren
29 January 2026
The terror spread by deportation thugs in Minneapolis is traumatizing schoolchildren. Many don't dare go to school.
ChatGPT store of text is from Grok
29 January 2026
ChatGPT is worse than lacking in intelligence — its store of text comes from Grok, which spouts Nazi propaganda.
Sweden kicking out asylum seekers
29 January 2026
Sweden, pressured by a right-wing extremist party, is kicking out asylum seekers who have been in Sweden for over a decade and have fully integrated into Swedish society.
I wonder how serious a crime must be to serve as grounds for expulsion.
Syrian government and Northeast Syria one-month cease fire
29 January 2026
Syrian government and mostly-Kurdish Northeast Syria have agreed on a one-month cease fire for sending PISSI prisoners to Iraqi prisons.
This is good as far as it goes, but the Syrian government should allow people in Northeast Syria should not be stripped of the rights and social advances that they have fought for.
Gavin Newsom opposes billionaire wealth tax
29 January 2026
One of Gavin Newsom's flaws is that he opposes the billionaire wealth tax.
While the design of California's one-time wealth tax proposal is clever in that a billionaire can't save any money by moving out of the state now, I don't think a once-time wealth tax will do what is needed to make the US start working again. Billionaires' under-taxation has made many aspects of the US work badly.
Bully's "board of peace" is convocation of authoritarian leaders
29 January 2026
The bully's "board of peace" is shaping up to be a convocation of authoritarian leaders, structured to give the bully himself complete dominance over the other members.
The name "board of peace" is no more sincere than most of what the bully says. It seems to be a perverse mockery of the UN, even in its emblem.
US attack on another civilian boat
29 January 2026
The US made a deadly attack on yet another civilian boat, once again choosing to kill on mere suspicion of crime, rather than arrest those accused and put them on trial to determined whether they had really committed that crime.
This is murder, committed by a conspiracy that included all participants from the pilot that fired the weapon through the officers that ordered the mission and up to Hegseth and the persecutor. They all deserve to stand trial.
Texas Black man exonerated 70 years after execution
29 January 2026
*Texas Black man exonerated 70 years after execution in case marked by racial bias.*
A thug fabricated the claim that the murder victim had identified her killer to him, though other witnesses said she was beyond speaking by then. Then other thugs beat a false confession out of him.
The article linked to above displays symbolic bigotry by capitalizing "black" but not "white". (To avoid endorsing bigotry, capitalize both words or neither one.) I denounce bigotry, and normally I will not link to articles that practice it. But I make exceptions for some articles because I consider them important — and I present this comment about them.
Geraldo Lunas Campos killed by thugs while in deportation prison
29 January 2026
The autopsy on Geraldo Lunas Campos ruled that he was killed by the thugs while a prisoner in a deportation prison.
Public claims Mahmoud Khalil supported terrorism
29 January 2026
The Department of Hatred and Suffering publicly claimed that Mahmoud Khalil and other foreign students were "supporting terrorism", but internally admitted that they were only advocating Palestinians' human rights.
How Trump changed ICE and CBP into a fascist secret police
28 January 2026
*How [the persecutor] changed ICE and CBP into a fascist secret police.* It was a matter of changing their targets and priorities.
*This is what fascism looks like — there is no bright line between democracy and autocracy, it's a spectrum, and not all of the country will experience that switch at the same moment in the same way. But let’s be clear: There is a US city living under occupation by fascist presidential secret police right now.*