International Criminal Court, not by a Sudanese court
6 May 2021

One of Sudanese tyrant al-Bashir's lieutenants says he wants to be tried by the International Criminal Court, not by a Sudanese court. He expects the ICC to be less biased.

Bravo to the ICC. The US should cease its campaign to delegitimize the ICC and sign up for it.

Carbon offsetting
6 May 2021

"Carbon offsetting" or climate defense by protecting forests, as it is now done, is a weak scheme. It may do some good, but certainly not enough.

Journalists face murder threats
6 May 2021

Afghan journalists face murder threats from the Taliban, especially those who are women.

The US should offer them all asylum.

Right-wing hatred displays
6 May 2021

Germany is suffering a peak level of right-wing hatred displays.

The figure of 24,000 "attacks" includes mere statements (I will not call this censoring messages merely because I disapprove of what was said) as well as actual violence. The article does not tell us how acts of actual right-wing violence took place last year in Germany. I wish it did. I would expect that that too has increased.

DoJ threatened MIT researchers
6 May 2021

The US Department of Justice, then operating under the control of the wrecker, threatened MIT researchers who had published a statistical demonstration that there was no sign of fraud in Evo Morales's electoral victory, which was followed by the coup in Bolivia.

Colombia protests
6 May 2021

*UN condemns violent repression of Colombia protests after at least 18 die.*

PISSI strength in Iraq
6 May 2021

PISSI is gradually recovering its strength in Iraq.

After the US assisted Rojava in defeating PISSI, the wrecker removed US troops and cooperation and let the remnants survive. That was a foolish move.

Crimes against Belarusian dissidents
6 May 2021

Belarusian dissidents ask for Germany to investigate Lukashenko's crimes against them.

More democracy than Tories allow
6 May 2021

If Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland break away from the United Kingdom, they will have a chance of more democracy than Tories allow (though that will be limited by the European Union, which they would join).

Meanwhile, England, with most of the UK's population, would sink under inescapable Tory dictatorship, with democracy more tenuous each year.

England would have as much chance of restoring democracy as Hungary has. I can't see that as a happy ending.

Treated as criminals
6 May 2021

People who have been trafficked into the UK and forced into crimes are nearly always treated as criminals, not as victims. Parliament decided recently to make it even harder to escape this fate.

Uganda criminalizes homosexuality
6 May 2021

Uganda has reprised an old law imposed by the British Empire which criminalizes homosexuality.

First amendment training
6 May 2021

*Internal NYPD Documents Show Cops Were Sent to Protests With Barely Any First Amendment Training.*

It is complex, organizationally, to choose the personnel for a specific mission based on which trainings they have had. The easy thing to do is train everyone. The next easiest is to have specific units for specific jobs and give those units the training for those jobs.

Lawsuit against the German government
6 May 2021

Several young Germans won a lawsuit against the government for failing to take adequate action against global heating.

Climate targets
5 May 2021

*Rich nations' climate targets will mean global heating of 2.4C — study.*

That's if there are no unexpected positive feedback loops.

1619 Project
5 May 2021

I've discovered that it is possible to view the 1619 Project using IceCat by clicking on the "Reveal Hidden HTML" button that appears at the bottom right corner of the window.

In other graphical web browsers, open the "web developer tools," usually by pressing the F12 key, then switch to the console and run:

(() => {
  Array.from (document.styleSheets).forEach (e => { e.disabled = true; })
  document.querySelectorAll ("*").forEach (e => e.removeAttribute ("style"))
})()

You should paste and run that as a single block. It reveals the contents of the 1619 Project page.

The New York Times ought to use Javascript to make the contents initially invisible — that way, when Javascript is not running, the contents will be visible.

If you know a way to pass that message to the Times, please do so. They might fix this, since it won't be a big change.

Harassing families of people killed
5 May 2021

*LA sheriffs frequently harass families of people they kill, says report.*

Selling fighter-bombers
5 May 2021

France has decided to sell Egypt more fighter-bombers. There are points in that message that seem like bullshit, but I don't understand what's really behind them.

I don't see that human rights are a direct concern regarding fighter jets. The Egyptian military regime is highly repressive, but I don't think fighter jets are very apt, or necessary, for attacking protesters, journalists or bloggers.

I also don't see how terrorism relates to sale of fighter jets. Egypt does have a problem with domestic terrorists, but I don't see how fighter jets are very useful against them.

Killing dissidents with mail bomb
5 May 2021

The Burmese military killed several dissidents with a mail bomb.

Pesticides
5 May 2021

Pesticides are harming the animals that turn dirt into soil, including earthworms and insects.

This is very dangerous.

Racial slurs
5 May 2021

A professor of linguistics explains how (and perhaps why) the US has converted racial slurs into taboos that can't be mentioned, not even to discuss them.

I agree that overt racist attitudes should be "ridiculed and socially punished in general society"; it is wrong to make racial slurs against anyone.

However, that is no reason to put taboos on them. I am opposed to putting taboos on any words, for any reason, because they gratuitously tie society in knots. When the taboo is on a racial slur, it prevents discussion of racism, and famous anti-racist statements cannot be quoted.

The same hypersensitivity does its harmful work when students seeing a picture of George Washington with slaves are "triggered," and lose the ability to think and speak about the significance of the fact that Washington owned slaves.

Progressive democrats gaining power
5 May 2021

How progressive Democrats gained power in the New Mexico state legislature, replacing some plutocratist Democrats.

They had to fight against identity politics. If you choose which candidate to support based on matters of identity, you are asking to be manipulated.

Oil windfall
5 May 2021

A big oil discovery in Namibia offers windfall profits to some of the inhabitants, until global heating destroys their country.

So the people of Namibia have a right to a better life — for a couple of decades — thanks to a little trickle-down from the profits of exploiting a giant oilfield and perhaps destroying civilization?

Of course not! Nobody does! There is no room in the world's carbon budget for any new fossil fuel development, whether it is in California, Namibia, the Mediterranean Sea, or anywhere else.

President Correa of Ecuador asked the wealthy countries to pay Ecuador not to exploit a new oil field. No one took up that deal, but the basic is still a good one. Let's give the people of Namibia a better life in exchange for an agreement to keep that oil forever in the ground.

Of course, we need to structure the deal so that corrupt oligarchs don't swipe the money and put it into secret offshore investments.

Traffic enforcement
5 May 2021

* Removing armed [thugs] from traffic enforcement and turning it over to civilians should be a major goal of the racial justice movement.*

Thugs use minor traffic violations — or possible appearance of one — as pretexts to stop blacks and search their cars. Civilian traffic code enforcers would put an end to this practice.

I contend that the practice violates the fourth amendment regardless of whether racial profiling is used, because an unaggravated moving violation, by itself, is no excuse to search a car.

Hydrofluorocarbons
5 May 2021

The EPA is moving to reduce use of hydrofluorocarbons, which are very powerful greenhouse gases.

Data merging
5 May 2021

There is a campaign to stop Facebook from merging two collections of data about useds: the data about the useds of Facebook itself, and the data about the useds of WhatsApp.

Of course, if Facebook eliminates an internal policy barrier that limits its use of the massive data it collects from its useds, that will make its power to abuse people a little greater. It would be better to prevent that.

But I cannot support this campaign, because doing so would legitimize the injustice those dis-services already do.

Facebook in its current form should not be allowed to exist at all, because much of the data collection it does should be illegal.

Don't be a zucker! Stop letting Facebook and WhatsApp use you!

Biden's surveillance state
5 May 2021

* The Biden administration is reportedly considering teaming up with private companies to monitor American citizens' private online activity and digital communications.*

What creates the opportunity to try this the fact that these companies are already snooping on users' private activities. That in turn is due to people's use of nonfree software which snoops, and online dis-services which snoop.

So-called Israeli dates
5 May 2021

"Israeli" dates are mainly grown in Palestinian territory, and those grown in Israel proper depend on underpaid Palestinian workers.

Will Biden crack down?
5 May 2021

Several plutocratist presidents have found ways to let businesses off the hook for their crimes. Will Biden change directions?

NAFTA glyphosate
5 May 2021

The US is using NAFTA to try to stop Mexico from banning glyphosate.

NAFTA is a business-supremacy treaty, and it used to contain an ISDS clause (I Sue Democratic States) which authorized businesses to sue a country for adopting a law or policy that interferes with their plans.

The bully revised NAFTA, eliminating the power, but another member country can still do so, and that is what the US is threatening to do.

Concerns about the surveillance state
5 May 2021

* We are told by some opponents of the far-right that supporters of equality and civil liberties should not be worried about expansions of U.S. surveillance and counterterrorism capabilities. They are wrong.*

US Covid Vaccine patent
5 May 2021

(satire) *U.S. Vows To Invade Next Country That Asks For Covid Vaccine [patent licenses or trade secrets]*

Even when you're joking, please don't lump together trade secrets and patents as if they were similar!

Columbian tax plan responses
5 May 2021

Colombia's president pulled back the regressive tax plan in response to big protests around the country. However, thugs attacked the protesters.

Tories law proposal
5 May 2021

The Tories are proposing a law to make it so hard to sue the UK government (claiming its policies are illegal) that the government could get away with anything.

New Zealand's China Policy
5 May 2021

New Zealand is proud of taking an "independent" foreign policy towards China: independent of the west, but going along with China in practical terms.

Remote talk on May 10
5 May 2021

On May 10, RMS will give a remote talk for the University of Buckingham Free Speech Society, starting at 7pm UK time.

You can watch the stream here.

Urgent: Gratis college education in public colleges
5 May 2021

US citizens: call for the US to offer gratis college education in public colleges.

To sign without running nonfree JavaScript code from the web site, use the Salsalabs workaround.

Urgent: Cancel college debt
5 May 2021

US citizens: call on Biden to cancel college debt.

Urgent: Texas abortion ban
5 May 2021

Everyone: call on AT&T to speak out against the Texas abortion ban and pledge to stop funding anti-abortion politicians.

Bogus Johnson on keeping the UK economy open
5 May 2021

Bogus Johnson appears to have said, "let the bodies pile high in the thousands," insisting on keeping the UK economy open. (He later changed his mind about that decision, and changed it again, and again, etc.)

Bogus Johnson has evaded scandal after scandal by refusing to take them seriously, but the current scandal about accepting gifts of money and covering them up is constricting around him.

Nonetheless, he continues trying to thwart punishment by ignoring it.

The UK used to hold its ministers accountable with a firm expectation that a minister would resign over any wrongdoing, whether public or personal. The Tories have abolished that expectation by disregarding it, and now they can get away with just about anything. But they are still pushing to destroy every institution that could stop them.

I can imagine them as saying, "If you're a Tory politician, they let you do it." And, as when the bully said it, it's not really true, unless "let you" includes "be too scared to stop you".

Indian government ignored scientists
5 May 2021

The Indian government asked Indian scientists for advice for dealing with Covid-19, but when they said that the variants threatened another wave of illness, the government ignored them.

Outsourcing regulation
5 May 2021

The UK, by outsourcing regulation, has demonstrated that this practice encourages corruption that defeats the regulation, with results that sometimes kill and often ruin people.

Unionizing workers in charter schools
5 May 2021

Unionizing the workers in charter schools prevents some of their usual kinds of exploitation. Is that enough to make them harmless?

Peaceful London protests
5 May 2021

Thousands protested peacefully in London against Tory plans to repress protesters if they cause inconvenience to anyone.

I fear this will not be enough. The Tories figure they will win the next election, with some help from voter suppression, and aside from that they care about nothing and no one.

A thug attacked a teenager
5 May 2021

A thug went mad and attacked a teenager who had surrendered, for not obeying every violent demand.

Last resident of Wollar Australia
5 May 2021

An interview with the last resident of the village of Wollar in Australia. Everyone else has sold per property to Peabody coal mining.

If the new use of the town's land was something necessary for Australia and the world to survive, I would say that what has happened in Wollar was not so bad. At least people are getting bought out and they can move to other communities.

But given that mining more coal is death, the state should not have permitted a new coal mine at all. Laws should prohibit new coal mines.

Republican election sabotage bills
5 May 2021

Republican election sabotage bills go beyond making it inconvenient to vote (especially for Democrats). They propose to allow poll watchers to look at people's ballots (and see how they are voting), harass voters, even try to disqualify voters.

Republican officials would judge the challenges and there is no reason to expect them to try to judge in a non-partisan or fair manner.

Data that cars record
5 May 2021

Cars record everything that happens in them, even opening doors and windows. If you connect a phone to one, it gets lots of data from the phone, and stores them permanently too.

In the US, various government agencies can get this data out of the car. However, it's not just the government. Surely the car manufacturer gets it too, and can sell it.

I wonder whether all this data enables the government, and the car manufacturer, to track the car's movements by dead reckoning if the GPS antenna is covered.

We need laws to tightly restrict what data a car can record.

Intention to privatize UK public schools
5 May 2021

The Tory government has stated the intention to privatize all public schools in the UK.

Privatization would result in paying teachers less, spending less on education, and providing profit to the operators. In addition, the privatized schools could get away with disregarding educational needs, even kicking out students because they cost more money, perhaps leaving them with no school that will admit them.

Big Pharma doesn't want Medicare
5 May 2021

Bernie Sanders: *Big Pharma doesn’t want us to expand Medicare. We have to fight them.*

Children who catch Covid-19
5 May 2021

Children who catch Covid-19, even without symptoms, have a significant chance of ending up with lasting pain and disability.

Putting aside the gratuitous disrespect reported for some doctors, there is, in fact, nothing that medicine can do for those people now. No one has any idea what might help. Maybe research will discover treatments in the future, but there is no guarantee.

This is a fate worse than death. I suppose some of those children wish for death. If they don't now, they may start in a year or several years. But it may take them years to attain that wish.

To prevent this horrible fate, we need to eradicate Covid-19, from our countries and from the whole world. That means a large fraction of the population must be vaccinated.

We cannot allow perverse cults to stand in the way.

UK's fines for violating Covid-19 suppression rules
5 May 2021

The UK's fines for violating Covid-19-suppression rules fell most heavily on disprivileged racial groups.

I think it would be interesting to study the importance of various factors in producing that result, including these:

Bias, conscious or unconscious, on the part of those issuing the fines, so that whites get fined less often for the same behavior.
people in disprivileged racial groups need more often to go somewhere physically and meet with someone.
people in disprivileged racial groups are less likely to have a private outdoor space where meeting someone else was permitted.
people in disprivileged racial groups tend to be poorer.

Green Party in Germany
5 May 2021

Polls suggest that the Green Party may be Germany's strongest party after the next election. That would be truly revolutionary.

So don't say, "Colorless Green ideas sleep furiously." They are not colorless, and they are not sleeping any more.

Covid-19 vaccination in Hong Kong
5 May 2021

Hong Kong plans to require foreign domestic workers to get Covid-19 vaccination.

Each domestic worker works in close proximity to a family, over long periods of time. If the worker catches Covid-19, person is very likely to transmit it to that family. Therefore, the worker should be vaccinated.

Perhaps people who work in stores and deal with the public should also have to be vaccinated. A store worker rarely spends even 5 minutes near one customer, but one infected worker in a store for hours can fill the store with virus and several people could catch Covid-19 from that.

The likelihood of this depends on the store's ventilation system. It also depends on whether customers keep wearing masks when in a store.

The only sort of exception that, for ethical reasons, needs to exist is for those who, for medical reasons, cannot be vaccinated. Hong Kong says it will offer that exception.

Aside from those people, anyone who feels discriminated against by this policy has a simple solution at hand: get vaccinated. It's the right thing to do and the safe thing to do. Humanity needs to eradicate Covid-19, and this is the way. Stop complaining, and get vaccinated!

However, for the time being, many people don't have the option of getting vaccinated, because they live in places where little or no vaccine is available. It would be proper for a country that has money to burn, such as Hong Kong (i.e., China), to offer people admitted with work visas vaccination before or after arrival, if they are coming from one of those places.

Singapore is using a disco ad to encourage people to get vaccinated.

Stopping Australian citizens returning from India
5 May 2021

Australia's chief medical officer talks about the need to stop citizens from returning from India while getting the quarantine system ready to cope with the extremely contagious virus variant now spreading there.

I think this is legitimate as long as they work fast and get this over quickly.

Rare South African plants
5 May 2021

Poaching rare plants in a South African desert is likely to wipe them out, and if it doesn't, global heating effects can do it.

Chickenpox vaccine
4 May 2021

Complex and subtle factors have to be weighed to determine whether use of the chickenpox vaccine is desirable. One factor is whether everyone will agree to be vaccinated.

Funeral
4 May 2021

Funeral for a glacier.

Radiation attack
4 May 2021

Evidence that some sort of directed radiation attack was made against US personnel in the 1990s.

Redirect harmful subsidies
4 May 2021

*Redirect harmful subsidies to benefit the planet, UN urges governments.*

Witchcraft
4 May 2021

Witchcraft accusations in New Guinea: is it correct to call this a "highly modern phenomenon" and say it is not a practice from "ages past"?

I think that is a false choice, and that it is part one and part the other.

It may be true that an accusation of witchcraft nowadays typically results from conflicts related to modern society and the precarious economy. I have no reason to doubt that. It would result from whatever tends to cause strong conflict.

However, the choice to handle the conflict by accusing someone of witchcraft surely comes out of cruel traditions, and so does the choice to deal with that accusation by torturing the alleged witch.

The fact that in some regions it is usually males that are accused of witchcraft, while in other regions usually females are accused, supports the idea that the traditional culture of each region is responsible. New Guinea traditional cultures varied greatly in their customs and religious beliefs, including their beliefs about witchcraft.

Whatever the explanation, the idea of witchcraft is a plague of irrationality that leads to persecution of many innocent people.

One thing secular humanists do, in many countries, is campaign for an end to persecution of "witches". I see articles about this occasionally in the secular humanist magazine, Free Inquiry.

Glacial lakes
4 May 2021

*Glacial lakes threaten millions with flooding as planet heats up.*

Transmitting Covid-19
4 May 2021

Getting a Covid-19 vaccination greatly reduces the chance of your transmitting Covid-19 to anyone else.

Please get vaccinated as soon as you can.

False figures of Covid-19 deaths
4 May 2021

India is giving false figures for the number of people killed by Covid-19, reporting only half as many deaths as the number of bodies that were cremated.

In the US we have seen governments falsify Covid-19 statistics in Florida and New York State.

Reinstating Covid-19 restrictions
4 May 2021

Oregon has reinstated restrictions to prevent spread of Covid-19, based on projections that this would avoid hundreds of deaths from Covid-19.

How about conditioning reopening in each area on the fraction of residents who have been vaccinated?

Shooting protesters
4 May 2021

Chad's military shot protesters who were criticizing Chad's military rulers — which include the son of the recently deceased former dictator.

Evidence-Free Destruction of Reputations
4 May 2021

Glenn Greenwald: *The Left Continues to Destroy Itself and Others With Evidence-Free Destruction of Reputations.*

Denuclearization
4 May 2021

Biden says that he continues to push for "denuclearization" of North Korea, which is an impossible goal. Kim has learned that nuclear weapons are the way to protect his dictatorial power, and will not consider giving up that protection.

Concealing pipeline assurance company
4 May 2021

Canada has obtained new insurance coverage for the planet-roasting Trans Mountain pipeline, and is concealing which insurance companies are providing the coverage.

This is a reaction to the pressure already placed on insurance companies to stop insuring fossil fuel projects.

Canada's government takes a planet-roaster stance, and what we see here is how far it will go to continue destroying civilization's future.

New York Times 1619 project
4 May 2021

Some Republicans object to the New York Times' 1619 project, about the history of slavery in the US, claiming that it is wrong to call attention to the country's flaws.

Since some of these flaws continue to cause injustice today, I believe as a general principle that we should pay attention to them, not cover them up. Therefore, I would like to look at the 1619 Project and see what it says.

I am blocked from doing so because its web site insists on running nonfree software (written in Javascript) in my browser. Since I don't allow anyone to do that to me, the site shows me a blank window.

Does anyone know of another way I can look at that material? Perhaps a way that is not "interactive"?

Because of that injustice in the site's infrastructure, I must urge everyone to decline to visit that site, unless and until they fix it to be accessible from the Free World. I hope that school curriculum will likewise refuse to suggest the site as a resource until it has been fixed.

I hope that they fix it soon, to make the material available for viewing from the Free World. But we will need to press them to do it.

Does anyone know where we should direct the pressure?

For the People Act
4 May 2021

*How the For the People Act [would blunt] New Florida Voting Restrictions.*

How to trigger you
3 May 2021

Delete your social media accounts, because sooner or later the algorithm will figure out how to trigger you and start changing you so you can't get away.

Study pressure
3 May 2021

Pressure for people to study for careers in science and technology is leading universities to stop teaching history.

COVID vaccine
3 May 2021

*Who's Controlling the COVID Vaccine: 10 Myths and Misdirections.*

I posted this link because overall the points are valid. However, talking about the concept of "intellectual property" inevitably spreads confusion through over generalization and putting scare quotes around the term does nothing to undo that confusion. Each use of that term inherently misinforms.

The way to avoid that misinformation is to talk about patents and about trade secrecy as two separate issues which are legally unrelated.

Thugs and military weapons
3 May 2021

Win Without War's campaign to end the arming of US thug departments with military weapons.

Democracy and repression
3 May 2021

The world struggle between democracy and repression has been going oppression's way for ten years. The influence of repressive powers, China and Russia plays an important role, and so do the supporters of the bullshitter.

The existence of a powerful antidemocratic party in the US undermines its influence for democracy in several ways: it makes the US a disappointing example of democracy's functioning; it encourages repressive and aggressive US policies, which set bad examples themselves; its support for plutocracy weakens the US and thus undermines its ability to do anything inspiring.

Right to take and publish photos
3 May 2021

The right to take and publish photos in public places is under threat from another direction: in the UK, some campaign to criminalize photos of breast-feeding in public.

I sympathize with Ms Creasy's feeling of disgust, but we should not be led into supporting a dangerous law by a feeling alone.

The right to take and publish photos is already threatened on several fronts. Some US states have adopted "ag gag" bills that criminalize publishing pictures of farms' treatment of animals. Some countries, including Spain, criminalize publishing photos of thugs committing acts of violence, under vague and stretchable conditions. And many countries restrict photos that include buildings whose architecture is copyrighted, even in the background.

To combat these threats, we need to insist on a simple and general principle: wherever you have the right to be, you have the right to photograph anything that you can see, and to show the photograph to others.

Those who wish to breast-feed in public and avoid others' looking at or photographing their breasts have an easy way to prevent this: wear (or don at the moment of need) a garment that can be arrayed to block the view. This can achieve the goal more reliably than the proposed law, while not putting anyone's rights in question.

Extinction Rebellion protests
3 May 2021

Extinction Rebellion organized highly visible protests in London, in many cases blocking the travel of cars which are mostly using fossil fuels.

The four factors of the apocalypse:
global heating, global hating,
global eating, global mating.

Anti-Protest Laws
3 May 2021

*Dangerous Republican Anti-Protest Laws Grant Drivers License to Kill.*

Right-wing extremism on the rise
3 May 2021

*Right-Wing Extremism Is on the Rise in Israel.*

It is ironic in the extreme to see that a party with views comparable to Nazis is so powerful in Israel that it may soon be in government.

Tax proposals
3 May 2021

Comparing Biden's tax proposals with what FDR actually did.

Biden's plan goes further in regard to capital gains, though in some others it does not go as far.

Ralph Nader: we must make Congress raise the taxes on rich businesses and rich people.

Urgent: reduce drug prices
3 May 2021

US citizens: call on Congress to reduce drug prices this year.

Sale tax
3 May 2021

Thousands are protesting in Bogotá against a plan by the right-wing government to institute a sales tax.

A sales tax is a very regressive method, so this plan is designed to hurt the poor and spare the rich. So I support the protesters.

Mining companies
3 May 2021

Pedro Castillo, Socialist, says that as president of Peru he would make mining companies "70% of the profits in Peru".

Charged for letting violent protesters in
3 May 2021

*Republican [state representative] who let violent protesters into Oregon state capitol is charged.*

Interfering with some kind of tracking
3 May 2021

Apple takes a step to interfere with some kinds of tracking of users.

If Apple's operating were free/libre, public-spirited hackers would already have released a modified version which had the defaults set to protect privacy. You could get the benefit of these modifications without having to work on them yourself.

End profit-based decisions on fossil fuels
2 May 2021

Proposing to end the profit-based decisions on whether to invest in fossil fuel infrastructure.

West Antarctic ice sheet
2 May 2021

The West Antarctic ice sheet could start to break up within this decade. If it does, it will eventually raise sea level by an additional two feet. I don't know how long it would take for that extra sea level rise to occur.

UK undercover thugs
2 May 2021

UK undercover thugs that infiltrated peaceful political groups lied about their activities to justify continuing to spy on them. This according to former minister Peter Hain, who participated in a political campaign to end apartheid in South Africa and thereby became one of the targets for this spying.

He charges that the choice to infiltrate that movement was made for political reasons: the government supported South Africa and therefore opposed pressure against apartheid.

UK police officers convicted
2 May 2021

*Four [UK] police officers have been convicted after one of them beat up a member of the public and the others helped him to cover it up.*

Latest round of US relief checks
2 May 2021

The latest round of relief checks sent to US taxpayers made a big, though temporary, dent in overall poverty in the US..

Making this permanent would convert it into a form of universal basic income.

The popularity of extra support to Americans suggests it might be politically possible to lift all children in the US out of poverty.

Border-crossing children
2 May 2021

The US border thugs are now quickly transferring border-crossing children to long-term shelters run by the Department of Health and Human Services. Far fewer children are in the first-level camps at any time. This is how the system is supposed to work.

It is still necessary for journalists to look at the conditions in those shelters, and in the first-level camps.

Climate defense activism
2 May 2021

Climate defense activism, shared, can give people a feeling of joy to cope with the external disasters.

Former Louisiana thug faces charges
2 May 2021

A former Louisiana thug faces state and federal charges for attacking and injuring a man he was arresting, with no legitimate reason.

If we weed out the violent thugs for crimes that are not fatal, we may be able to avoid most of the killings that some of them would have gone on to commit.

Free childcare
2 May 2021

*Free childcare equals class warfare, say Republicans.* I agree, and it's time the non-rich fought back — let's march! Children should grow up with less stress.

US prescription drug prices
2 May 2021

*Study Commissioned by Sanders Shows US Pays 2 to 4 Times More for Prescription Drugs Than Other Nations.*

US laws provide a handout to pharma companies by restricting the practice of buying prescription drugs at retail price in other countries and selling them to Americans to fill their prescriptions. That allows pharma companies to charge a higher price in the US than anywhere else in the world.

Increase in military spending
2 May 2021

The world's major powers increased their military spending substantially in 2020.

Australians stuck in India
2 May 2021

Australia has made it a crime for Australians stuck in India to return home. They face imprisonment, and ruinous fines.

Many of them have been stuck in India for a year trying to get a flight home. The seats available were few and expensive.

Climate scientists are seeing hope
2 May 2021

Rebecca Solnit: climate scientists are starting to see hope that we will do what is necessary, as fast as is necessary, to avoid climate disaster.

But we are not on a course for safety yet. We need to fight for this. The new hope is that, by fighting, we can win.

Theocratic populism
2 May 2021

India's encounter with theocratic populism is much like that in the US.

Indian politicians threaten criminal charges against people that report the shortage of oxygen.

I am disappointed that the article propagates a claim about the emperor Nero that may be a lie concocted by his enemies.

Bolsonaro may face impeachment
2 May 2021

Bolsonaro may face impeachment and prosecution for almost half a million Brazilians that his policies caused to die.

Defending rights of wetlands
2 May 2021

A lawsuit in Florida attempts to defend the rights of some wetlands.

I may well agree that the construction of that housing should be stopped. Aside from the threat to the wetlands, it sounds like the construction is too close to sea level and likely to be flooded in a few decades. I suspect that someone is being swindled. No one should build anything in lowland areas of Florida.

However, the idea that the wetlands "have rights" seems like a kludge. Philosophically, only a being that can have desires and make choices can have rights. I would rather achieve the same result — blocking bad development — in a conceptually coherent way.

England reducing toxic particulate pollution
2 May 2021

England has restricted burning coal and wood inside houses, to reduce toxic particulate pollution.

Taliban deal with the US
2 May 2021

The Taliban made a deal with the US to protect US and other western forces in Afghanistan, until their planned departure on May 1, from other Islamist groups.

This follows the Taliban's pattern. In 2001, the Taliban offered to kick out al-Qa'ida for the sake of peace with the US. Too bad Dubya was not interested.