Urgent: Protection from toxic pollution
27 April 2017
US citizens: call on Congress not to let the troll kill funds for protecting Americans from toxic pollution.
The petition's author lived in near toxic industry, and both her children got peculiar diseases from that.
Urgent: Stop ads on bigotry site
27 April 2017
Everyone: call on Amazon to stop advertising on the right-wing bigotry site Breitbart.
Amazon does a lot of worse things, which is why I urge people not to do buy from Amazon at all.
American public goods
27 April 2017
"Public Goods" Made America Great And Can Do So Again.
Among public goods, we should count free software and free educational resources.
US government prosecuting 200 protesters
27 April 2017
The US government is prosecuting 200 protesters for the "felony" of participating in a protest where someone broke windows.
Even for those who broke the windows, 10 years in prison is repressive in the extreme.
Troll's executive orders
27 April 2017
Most of the troll's executive orders don't really change anything. They only start a procedure that might possibly change something.
That doesn't make them harmless. The agencies that will carry out these procedures are run by saboteurs appointed by the troll, and they will do their utmost to take advantage of these opportunities for sabotage.
Journalists murdered in Maldive Islands
27 April 2017
Three journalists have been murdered, one by one, in the Maldive Islands.
It goes with the tyranny that was set up after the overthrow of the only elected president, Nasheed. I suspect that oil interests played a role in the coup that overthrew Nasheed, because he campaigned at the global level to curb the greenhouse gas emissions that will eliminate the Maldive Islands.
Neocon neoliberalism
27 April 2017
Trumponomics: Neocon Neoliberalism (and unilateralism) Camouflaged with Anti-Globalization Circus.
Houston's newly elected prosecutor
27 April 2017
Houston's newly elected prosecutor has decided to stop prosecuting possession of marijuana, and to stop keeping people in jail for months for being poor.
New Orleans taking down monuments
27 April 2017
New Orleans is taking down monuments that support the pro-slavery side in the US Civil War.
US race laws studied by Nazi lawyers
27 April 2017
Nazi lawyers studied the US race laws that were designed to keep blacks and Chinese down, as a guide for designing laws to keep Jews down.
The Democratic Party
26 April 2017
Cornel West: give up on the corporate-friendly Democratic Party and start a new one.
I am not sure whether we have a better chance of a progressive victory with or without the Democratic Party.
Japan not protecting bluefin tuna
26 April 2017
Japan is failing to abide by an agreement to protect the survival of bluefin tuna.
Sale of inbox data
26 April 2017
Unroll.me Head 'Heartbroken' That Users Found Out it Sells Their Inbox Data.
The need for late-term abortions
26 April 2017
Three women explain why they needed late-term abortions.
Banning them is terrible cruelty, based on many cases on willful denial of reality. That's faith for you.
"Tax reform"
26 April 2017
What "tax reform" means to SCROTUS, and to the cheater.
Likeliest Outcome of Tax Reform is a Deficit-Financed Tax Cut for the Rich That Will Expire in a Decade.
UK NHS records used for deportation
26 April 2017
In the UK, unauthorized immigrants are afraid to see a doctor lest it lead to deportation.
People living in precarious circumstances should ask themselves, before they make a child, whether it is right to make a child live in precarious circumstances. However, it may be that they can't get reliable birth control or abortions because they fear seeing a doctor.
Callous political plutocracy
26 April 2017
"We scapegoat and impoverish young people while destroying the world we older, luckier ones inherited. As abdications of duty go, this one is absolute."
Consigning most young people to a precarious and painful life results from the callous political plutocracy squeezing on one side while growing global population, global heating, and overusing the world's resources squeeze on the other size.
Humanity can't continue its profligate resource use. But it could, if it tried to, enlist everyone in reducing resource use and reducing the birth rate, while treating everyone as worthy of a decent life.
Unauthorized immigrants
26 April 2017
The troll is planning to prosecute parents that pay to smuggle their children into the US.
Human rights don't include the right to move to the US, or bring someone else to the US. So I have no objection to this plan, in the abstract, as long as it isn't implemented in a cruel way or used to stir up hatred towards immigrants. I expect the troll and his saboteurs to do those things, though.
This issue is completely separate from the issue of how to treat unauthorized immigrants that were brought to the US as children, many years ago. We should offer them citizenship.
Oil firm pulls out of national park
26 April 2017
Canadian Oil Firm Pulls Out of National Park in Peru's Amazon.
Hungry People Last
26 April 2017
When the troll says, "America First", it means "Hungry People Last."
Killer Gorsuch
26 April 2017
Killer Gorsuch voted on the Supreme Court for executing a man immediately rather than examining DNA evidence which could have proved he was innocent.
Criticizing Israel's colonies in Palestine
26 April 2017
The Massachusetts Democratic Party is considering a resolution to criticize Israel's colonies in Palestine as an obstacle to peace between Israel and Palestine. There is a lot of opposition to acknowledging this basic fact.
Troll's bombings
26 April 2017
Trump’s Bombings May Elicit the 'Mother of All Blowback'.
Anti-abortion Democrat
26 April 2017
Should we endorse an anti-abortion Democrat as a replacement for a right-wing Republican?
I probably would not, because I think that abortion rights are very important.
Exxon's request to operate wells in Russia
26 April 2017
The US Treasury denied Exxon's request for permission to operate oil wells in Russia.
Troll's handouts to Wall Street
26 April 2017
The troll has given Wall Street a big handout with three executive orders.
Capture of Australia by British colonists
26 April 2017
British colonists captured Australia in a long slow series of battles, massacres, and hunting aboriginals for sport.
I read in The Other Side of the Frontier, by Henry Reynolds, that colonists would often take the most fertile land in an area for farming or stock raising, and demand the aboriginals live on the rest of the area; but that fertile part was the biggest part of their food supply, so this condemned them to fight or die.
US support for Salafi Arabia
25 April 2017
US 'Deep State' Sold Out Counter-Terrorism to Keep Itself in Business. Basically, weakening al-Qa'ida was subordinated to other interests such as supporting Salafi Arabia.
This is ironic given that the harsh Salafi approach to Islam is what built today's jihadi movement.
People under al-Shabaab control need aid
25 April 2017
The troll has pushed for a new attack against the guerrilla group al-Shabaab. Humanitarian aid organizations warn that this is likely to block aid to the region controlled by al-Shabaab, which is suffering from famine.
Ugandan schoolgirls need menstrual pads
25 April 2017
Activists in Uganda are campaigning for the state to provide menstrual pads to the nation's schoolgirls, many of whom miss school because they can't afford to buy the pads.
One of them has been imprisoned for insulting the president for his refusal. To punish people for insults is a sign of tyranny. (Are you listening, France, Turkey, Russia and others?
Science already politicized
25 April 2017
Science has already been politicized, by those who want to disregard knowledge in favor of fantasy. We who want to pay attention to knowledge must not hold back from campaigning for that.
Female genital mutilation
25 April 2017
Prosecuting female genital mutilation in the US.
Arms merchant sentenced to prison
25 April 2017
An arms merchant who supplied arms to Liberian tyrant Charles Taylor has been sentenced to prison.
Hunters in Malta shoot migrating birds
25 April 2017
Chris Packham made a video recording of hunters in Malta shooting migrating birds, and hunters falsely accused him of physically attacking them.
The hunt in Malta is authorized, but since it endangers some species of birds, Malta must change its policy.
Reaching out to Trump supporters
25 April 2017
Practical advice for how to talk with relatives and friends that support Trump, so that they might start to listen.
ISPs authorized to gouge on prices
25 April 2017
The Saboteur of the FCC, Ajit Pai, has authorized ISPs with no competitors to gouge on prices.
War on painkillers
25 April 2017
Instead of the incoherent war on painkillers, the US should aim for harm reduction.
Untreated pain is part of the harm that we should aim to reduce. And an addiction to pain killers, kept in check by medical attention, is not as bad as continuing agony.
US denies reporters access to bombed zone
25 April 2017
The US denied reporters access to the zone in Afghanistan where it dropped the large conventional bomb. No one can verify any claims about what was or wasn't destroyed.
Even people whose families lived in the area can't get information.
Almost 300 Iraqi and Syrians killed by US Bombs
25 April 2017
Specific reports covered almost 300 civilians killed by US bombs in Iraq and Syria in one week in April. The actual figure is probably several times that.
Orwell's point is valid: we are morally obliged to judge the killing of civilians by the same standards no matter which side does it. Zinn's point about inevitable casualties is also valid, but that doesn't mean that all civilian casualties constitute war crimes. No army can completely avoid killing or wounding civilians; every army has an obligation to make a real effort.
There are reports that the troll has more or less countermanded Obama's precautions in the US military. Perhaps the casualties in April occurred at a higher level than was normal for the past few years.
It may be anachronistic to apply today's standards to use of chemical weapons during and shortly after World War I. While there was a treaty that prohibited them, all the main combatants used them or tried to, and all were targeted with them.
Probe Israel Influence on US Government
25 April 2017
Why not probe Israel's influence in the US government? There's plenty of evidence of it.
Urgent: Stop glorification of war
25 April 2017
Everyone: call on the US media to stop glorifying war and weapons.
Urgent: Oppose "right to work" bill
25 April 2017
US citizens: oppose the misnamed "right to work" bill, intended weaken unions and pave the way for cuts in wages and workers' benefits.
Student loans
25 April 2017
44 million Americans have student loans, and almost half have fallen behind on payments.
One way to fix this problem is to allow people to get rid of those debts through bankruptcy — an option that Republicans eliminated around 15 years ago.
EPA
25 April 2017
Saboteur Pruit has turned the EPA into the Environmental Persecution Agency.
Mississippi swindles single mother
25 April 2017
Welfare for a single mother in Mississippi is a swindle: get $200 of aid, and pay back $2500 a few years later if the father doesn't pay for it. The slide into the trap is made smooth with lies.
Part of the state's job is to help people avoid the situation of having a baby and no money for food. The first step is to teach everyone what that is like, and offer reliable birth control to all.
Sleazy Republican businessman
25 April 2017
A Republican businessman was so sleazy that he squeezed money out of the Republican party.
Troll's "Buy American" policy
25 April 2017
The troll's "Buy American" policy has loopholes to protect Wall Street's profits from manufacturing in other countries.
Ignorance and craving combined
25 April 2017
Bhikkhu Bodhi: in Buddhist terms, global heating denial shows the combined effect of ignorance and craving.
Republican plan to cut off medical coverage
25 April 2017
Two groups of Republicans have agreed on a compromise plan for how to cut off medical coverage for millions of Americans.
Snooping on Bose headphone users
25 April 2017
Users are suing Bose for distributing an app, to set parameters in its headphones, which also snooped on the users' activities.
The suit accuses that this was done without the users' consent. If the fine print of the app said that users gave consent for this, would that make it acceptable? No way! It should be flat-out illegal to design the app to snoop at all.
Dow Chemical lobbying to discard study
25 April 2017
Dow Chemical is lobbying the US government to discard its own study which showed certain pesticides endanger wildlife.
Tax money spent on dirty nuclear plants
25 April 2017
Nuclear power companies are making taxpayers pay to keep dirty nuclear plants running.
The longer a nuclear power plant keeps running, the more dangerous it gets. The environment inside the reactor is corrosive; things change their shape and move, and it is hard to tell what's going on inside. Instead of paying extra to keep these plants running, we pay to build storage and renewable energy capacity.
Use of donations for troll's inauguration
25 April 2017
Companies used donations for the troll's inauguration as a way to obtain changes in laws and regulations.
Gordon Sondland wanted to donate a million dollars to the troll's inauguration, but when people saw his name on the donor list, he said he had changed his mind for ethical reasons. But actually he funnelled the money through four front corporations.
Illegal thug infiltration of protests
25 April 2017
Washington DC thugs illegally infiltrated inauguration protests.
Canada strengthens net neutrality rules
25 April 2017
As US Prepares to Gut Net Neutrality Rules, Canada Strengthens Them.
Antibiotic resistance
25 April 2017
We are at the edge of having antibiotic resistance make surgery dangerous.
North Korea threatened with sanctions
25 April 2017
The UN Security Council has threatened North Korea with sanctions if it continues nuclear testing.
This warning has the support of China, so Mr Kim will find it difficult to defy. It has a chance of succeeding as a diplomatic solution to the problem of North Korea's nuclear weapons.
Poor predictors of terrorist threat
25 April 2017
The [US] Government's Own Data Shows Country of Origin Is a Poor Predictor of Terrorist Threat.
FBI "protecting" Americans
25 April 2017
The FBI is now eagerly protecting Americans from unstable fantasy supporters of PISSI.
There must be hundreds of these. They are not totally harmless; a few of them might someday commit solo terrorist attacks with cars, but the chance any particular one would do so is small.
Although the FBI says it is protecting us from very dangerous people, it does not seem to consider them very dangerous when they are released from prison.
Russia bans Jehovah's Witnesses church
25 April 2017
Russia has banned the Jehovah's Witnesses church, labeling it as "extremist".
The sect has peculiar, unfounded beliefs, and strictly shuns anyone that leaves or is kicked out, but it does not do anything to outsiders that goes beyond minor annoyance. Its members deserve freedom of speech and freedom in religion just as the rest of us do.
"Brittle Masculinity"
25 April 2017
Don't Underestimate the Harm 'Brittle Masculinity' Can Do to the World.
Somehow I never learned that I was supposed to appear strong because I'm male. At least one bad thing I escaped!
Tories moving UK toward one-party state
25 April 2017
The Tories are moving UK step by small step closer to a one-party state.
Public revulsion against Bill O'Reilly
25 April 2017
Organized public revulsion against Bill O'Reilly struck home and compelled Faux News to stop giving him a platform.
The boycott was about his odious conduct towards women he personally met, perhaps dozens, but the main harm he has done to America and the world was through right-wing bullying and falsehood. We need to organize boycotts based on that, without waiting for personal wrongs to emerge.
Congressional staff for sale
25 April 2017
Prosecution for having a drug overdose
25 April 2017
The town of Washington Court House, Ohio, prosecutes people for trumped up crimes when they have a drug overdose.
Somalia's children starving
25 April 2017
Somalia's children today are starving for the debts of the former dictator Siad Barre.
This kind of injustice has happened in many countries. The tendency to insist that dictators' victims pay the dictators' debts is why banksters encourage dictators. Thus, we need to replace it with the principle that loans to dictators are never repaid.
I am looking for people to help webmasters of various sites (not related to me or GNU) make simple but substantial changes in their web sites — for instance, to use the GNU Project's recommended terminology.
Australian PM lacks wisdom and judgment
24 April 2017
The Australian prime minister trusts the "wisdom and judgment" of America's racist bully president.
This should demonstrate to Australia that their prime minister has no wisdom or judgment.
Corbyn
24 April 2017
With Corbyn, Britain has a chance to decide that it is wrong for some people to be so rich, and to demand they give the rest a bigger share.
Making the US #1 in imprisonment
24 April 2017
Many prisoners in Pennsylvania state prisons come from Philadelphia, and many of them are held far away from there. The result is that nobody in their families can afford to visit them.
That makes them less likely to find a way to stay out of prison once they are released.
Forbidding anyone who was ever in prison from visiting a prisoner has the same effect of directing prisoners to become career criminals. It is a reflection of the attitudes that make the US #1 in imprisonment. The US asks, "What might that ex-con do if he visits a prisoner," and not, "What might that prisoner do, after spending the prison term out of contact with family?"
The policy of excluding former prisoners from all but menial work, and from most educational opportunity, also pressures them into a life of crime.
When it's better not to say anything
24 April 2017
If you see something, it's often better not to say anything. How to decide?
Persecuting people who drug themselves
24 April 2017
Persecuting people who drug themselves into insensibility is not a solution for the factors that make them look for a way to do that.
But some of them might die because their friends have learned that taking such people to a hospital is dangerous for them.
Palestinian prisoner hunger strike
24 April 2017
Palestinian prisoner Marwan Barghouti explains the hunger strike he is participating in.
Gush Shalom comments on the trial of Marwan Barghouti.
How Israel punishes prisoners who are sick for participating in the hunger strike.
Renting in Sex
24 April 2017
One effect of expensive rents is that people are invited to pay the rent in sex.
Agreeing to sex as rent is a solution for one person, in the sense that person obtains lodgings for less money. However, when you look at society as a whole, this doesn't make the situation any better. If X obtains lodging this way, some Y becomes homeless.
To improve the housing situation for everyone in the short term, we need either rent control or a lot of new housing construction. A lot of new housing construction will drive rents down while making space for more people. Rent control won't increase the amount of space available, but it will enable all the renters to get food as well as housing.
In the long term, having fewer children will help tremendously.
Israel Disallows Kemal Hawwash To Visit Relatives
24 April 2017
Because Kemal Hawwash has endorsed a boycott of Israeli products, Israel will never again allow him to visit his relatives in Palestine.
The Palestinian campaign for BDS is a nonviolent, political response to the violence of the occupation. Israel's refusal to let its supporters visit Palestine, just like its refusal to let them visit Israel, is a violation of their human rights.
Israel Trial of Palestinian Poet Dareen Tatour
24 April 2017
The absurd trial of Palestinian poet Dareen Tatour.
Arabs in Israel are prosecuted for "incitement" under very loose criteria, while Israelis are never prosecuted, not even for specific death threats.
Old Diet Reanalysis
24 April 2017
Reanalysis of old diet studies casts doubt on the idea that saturated fats lead to heart disease.
This supports the idea that the cause of the increase in heart disease is sugar.
France and Globalization
24 April 2017
A pundit says that the new political division in France is "for globalization" or "against globalization".
I think the crucial point is not to allow globalization to occur in a way that gives business more power over states and people's. That's the kind of globalization we have had.
US Banking Sactions Against Iran
24 April 2017
US banking sanctions against Iran, which were never entirely lifted, are causing UK banks to close the bank accounts of Iranian students in the UK, putting them in financial trouble.
PAT RIOT Act
24 April 2017
ACLU: the PAT RIOT Act was designed to vacuum up Americans' communications so the FBI can find them and read them.
Then the government pretends that only foreign terrorists are being searched.
Apple Forbids Recyclers From Extracting
24 April 2017
Apple forbids recyclers of Apple computers from extracting any usable spare parts from them, by imposing nasty contracts.
Apple's conduct should be forbidden by law so that no company can ever do this.
Urgent: Regulation of natural gas
23 April 2017
US citizens: phone your senators to protect the regulation to limit leaking or frivolously burning natural gas.
The Capitol Switchboard numbers are 202-224-3121, 888-818-6641 and 888-355-3588.
Hate crimes
23 April 2017
Fresno Shooting Decried as Anti-White Hate Crime, But Truth Is Complicated.
It seems that many hate crimes are the outgrowth of "mental health issues that were never properly treated". Most of the culprits choose blacks or women as victims.
Trump congratulates dictator
23 April 2017
Trump to Erdogan: Congrats On Your Dictatorship!
Global heating will help terrorist groups
23 April 2017
Terrorist groups will exploit disasters, and food and water shortages, caused by global heating.
The article calls the disasters "natural", but that is incorrect.
Pentagons denies facts
23 April 2017
The Pentagon denies the facts in order to refuse to acknowledge that it bombed a mosque in Syria.
Troll's business partners in Indonesia
23 April 2017
The troll's business partners in Indonesia are trying to overthrow President Widodo.
Avoiding further "wars of choice"
23 April 2017
The US should change its institutions to avoid further "wars of choice", since they are likely to destroy other countries and could conceivably destroy the US.
The troll is doing exactly what is likely to start another war in the Middle East, exactly what will make it a disaster, and exactly what will make peace impossible.
Is it possible that that is not a coincidence? That some influential interests in the US desire exactly that?
War on painkillers
23 April 2017
The War on Painkillers: Florida has sentenced thousands of old people to long prison terms (basically, life in prison) for selling a handful of painkiller pills.
Thugs encourage treating public harshly
23 April 2017
When thugs lead businesses such as United Airlines to expect the their help in confrontations with the public, they encourage companies to treat the public harshly.
United's policy decision to order Dr Dao off the plane to make room for a pilot was wrong, but it was the thugs that started the violence on that day.
However, at a deeper level, it is the political influence businesses have gained over what should be democracy is the reason that thugs are there encouraging businesses to use thugs to intimidate the public.
Zika in Puerto Rico
23 April 2017
Puerto Rico is covering up the birth defects caused by Zika by piecemeal denial.
Military rule in Thailand
23 April 2017
The military rulers of Thailand have declared that mocking them is a crime.
Freedom of speech includes the right to criticize, offend, insult, even mock anyone (and any group, organization, practice or belief).
Please don't visit Thailand for tourism.
Bias taken on by AIs
23 April 2017
AIs that work by trained neural nets, rather than full understanding, take on bias embodied by the connotations of words that they use.
The only known way to avoid this effect is via human-level intelligence.
Spyware on phones
23 April 2017
Hundreds of thousands of people have installed spyware on the phones of other people they know, to track their movements and actions.
I think it is wrong to do this to your own children. It is like putting them in a prison.
Palestinian prisoners on hunger strike
23 April 2017
Palestinians in prisons in Israel have started a hunger strike to demand that Israel allow them family visits according to its laws.
Holding Palestinians from the West Bank prisoner outside the West Bank (for instance, in Israel) violates the Geneva Conventions.
Right-wing Senator Feinstein
23 April 2017
Right-wing Democratic Senator Feinstein is meeting lots of criticism from progressive constituents for the floppiness of her resistance to SCROTUS.
It's true that one senator can't overcome SCROTUS. All the Democratic senators together sometimes can't stop SCROTUS. But they can stop SCROTUS from passing legislation — and they can contribute to the swell of opinion that will elect a progressive Congress.
Democratic Party centrism
23 April 2017
The Democratic Party Must Finally Abandon Centrism.
When you threaten to transfer back a substantial part of what the rich have taken from the poor, the rich scream as if they were dying. And they claim that we will lose gigantic amounts of (nonexistent) trickledown from them.
Thus, if we fail to make the rich scream, it means we are not trying hard enough to make them share the gains with the rest of us.
Islamists in Jakarta
23 April 2017
Islamists in Jakarta succeeded in stirring up religious vote to defeat the governor of Jakarta.
Even worse, they did this by accusing him of "blasphemy". That was unjust at two levels, since (1) it was false and (2) it is an injustice to make that a crime at all.
Tropical diseases
23 April 2017
We are making great progress towards eliminating various tropical diseases that infect large numbers of poor people.
Along with this, we need to make great progress in reducing the birth rate, or we will increase other replacement afflictions.
Teens and Sexting
23 April 2017
ACLU: Teens Who Engage in 'Sexting' Should Not Be Prosecuted as Sex Offenders.