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Each political note has its own anchor in case you want to link to it.

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Link Policy

31 December 2013 (Thug infiltrators threatened nonviolent Occupy Austin protesters) Thug infiltrators tried to get Occupy Austin protesters to commit violence, but the protesters firmly refused. So the infiltrators gave them "lockboxes" — basically tools to strap themselves together for a sit-in so that removing them would be more work — then accused them of a felony, "possessing a criminal instrument", even though legally lockboxes don't qualify. Next time you think about how Putin threatens nonviolent protesters with years in prison, remember that the US does it too. The charges about the lockboxes were eventually dropped. It's not clear whether the court ultimately acknowledged that it is absurd to call lockboxes a "criminal instrument".

31 December 2013 (UK takes another step towards making NHS nonfunctional) The UK government has taken another substantial step towards making the National Health Service nonfunctional. If the Labour party still stood for the non-rich, this taste of what the rich do in power would give it every chance of winning again.

31 December 2013 (44 Iraqi Sunni MPs resign in protest) 44 Iraqi Sunni MPs resigned in protest of state attacks against Sunni nonviolent protesters and the home of an MP. Iraq has been unable to establish a state that can hold the sects together peacefully. I think that can only lead to more war.

31 December 2013 (Using one criminal as the excuse to punish all poor families) President Reagan's "welfare queen" was a real woman whose life was crime after crime against most everyone she came in contact with. Her frauds against the welfare system were illegal already. She was sentenced to prison for some of these frauds, and it looks like she deserved it. However, Reagan and Clinton used her as the excuse to punish all poor families in America, and they did not deserve this punishment. It is important to reduce the rate of births by teenagers, but instead of doing this the cruel Conservative way, which consists of pushing poor people's children into worse poverty, let's do it the kind Progressive way: offer taxpayer-funded reliable birth control to every teenager.

31 December 2013 (South Dakota tax haven for the rich) South Dakota is a tax haven for any rich person that sets up a trust there.

30 December 2013 (Federal judge rules that violation of 4th amendment is lawful) A federal judge ruled that the NSA's collection of phone records is lawful. This directly contradicts another judge who ruled it was an Orwellian violation of 4th amendment. Either or both could be overruled on appeal. The reference to the September 2001 attacks is mistaken, because we know for a fact that phone surveillance would not have been necessary for preventing the attacks if the US government had been paying attention. The US government had various warnings, including the flight student that wasn't interested in learning to land the plane, but ignored them. Dubya had told the FBI to reduce the resources into counterterrorism. It is also irrelevant as a reason. If the state were allowed to monitor everything and search everything, it could prevent many kinds of crimes, as well as many kinds of dissent and whistleblowing, but that doesn't invalidate the 4th amendment.

30 December 2013 (Cigarettes in plain paper packs encourage quitting) Psychological evidence shows that plain paper packs, not covered by "cool" branding, make cigarettes less attractive and encourage quitting.

[Reference updated on 2018-03-12 because the old link was broken.] That is supported by a study in Australia which compared smokers that got plain packs with smokers using the same cigarette brands in attractive packs. There is no direct evidence yet about whether it reduces cigarette consumption. That would take more time. However, it is unlikely to hurt.

30 December 2013 (The UK censorship filter) The UK censorship filter blocks more than porn. It blocks access to sex education sites, even help-lines. It also blocks many free software sites, and even amnesty.org. These schemes always make mistakes, and this is proof that that continues to happen. But let's not be distracted by the mistakes. Even if they could fix all the mistakes, which they can't, that would not make censorship acceptable. Fixing 90% of the mistakes, which maybe they could do, would not make it acceptable either. Down with censorship and the tyrannical rulers that impose it!

30 December 2013 (Arrest of Al Jazeera correspondents in Egypt) Al Jazeera correspondents in Egypt have been arrested for interviewing members of the Muslim Brotherhood. When a government accuses someone of publishing "false news", or says it is illegal to interview someone because he's been declared a terrorist (or even convicted in a fair trial of a terrorist act), that's manifest tyranny. The US-backed government of Yemen did something similar to Abdulelah Haidar Shaye, imprisoning him at Obama's request for interviewing people in al Qa'ida.

30 December 2013 (SD cards have processors whose programs can be changed) SD cards (and other memories) have processors whose programs can be changed. If it is normal to change that software — for instance, if users are sometimes given upgrades — then it is an injustice that these programs are proprietary. However, even if it is not normal to change that software, this is a dangerous vulnerability to viruses, the NSA, etc.

29 December 2013 (Right wing gets Americans to curse gov't rather than recapture it) Many Americans have been led to believe that the prime culprit of the financial crisis was the government, rather than the banksters. The right wing strategy is, after each thing they do to hurt Americans, to get Americans to curse the government for it, rather than recapture the government and use it for democracy. This article makes a common mistake in its rhetoric: it says that "we" have done some foolish thing, in a way that implies we have all participated in it. That's not only unfair, it is also defeatist.

29 December 2013 (Arrest of air passenger for carrying flash cards for learning Arabic) A judge ruled that the FBI was allowed to arrest an air passenger for no reason other than carrying flash cards for learning Arabic. Is studying Arabic more suspect than already knowing how to speak Arabic? If not, then how about arresting people only for knowing Arabic?

28 December 2013 (UK started charging non-citizens for births and antenatal care) The UK has started charging non-citizens for births and antenatal care, so women who can't afford this give birth at home without aid. The financial "savings" achieved this way will lead to bigger financial costs, as well as injuries and deaths. That's part of the goal: to accustom more people to poverty. Once this is the norm for immigrants, it will be applied to Britons.

28 December 2013 (Many internet sites are requiring commenters to identify themselves) Many internet sites are requiring commenters to identify themselves. I am happy to post comments under my name, but I can afford to because I am in a pretty safe position. I don't have to fear that I will be fired if my boss does not like what I say.

28 December 2013 (If Snowden were tried in the US) If Snowden were tried in the US, all evidence about the good he has done for the country, or intended to do, would be inadmissible.

28 December 2013 (To exploit or be exploited) Plutocracy leaves most Americans with two choices: to exploit or be exploited. Even so, you can still campaign for progressives against the illegitimate plutocratic government.

28 December 2013 (Tracking of commercial e-book users) Some of the things that e-book stores have learned by tracking the suckers that use commercial e-books. Don't be a sucker — reject these malicious products. Insist on using only e-books that respect your freedom as much as ordinary printed books.

27 December 2013 (Yasser Arafat) The French and Russian teams that examined Yasser Arafat's remains say he was not poisoned with polonium-210. These reports contradict the findings of the Swiss team. The French team found polonium-210 and said it was of "natural origin", which does not make sense, as polonium is exceedingly rare and found only in uranium ore.

27 December 2013 (Ukrainian journalist maimed) A journalist in Ukraine was pulled out of her car and maimed by unknown men after accusing a minister of corruption. That minister is probably in charge of the thugs, and people accuse him of sending thugs to carry out this attack.

26 December 2013 (Pharmaceutical Extortion: Pay Up, or Die) Pharmaceutical Extortion: Pay Up, or Die. The root of this injustice is patent law, combined with the failure of the US to do what other advanced governments do: directly negotiate the price of pharmaceuticals. In addition, all countries must remove the funding of studies of drug effects from the hands of the drug companies, since they corrupt the results.

26 December 2013 (Egyptian gov't declares Muslim Brotherhood a "terrorist group") The Egyptian government declared the Muslim Brotherhood a "terrorist group", an excuse to say every member is a criminal. Declaring groups "terrorist" without a trial is a gross violation of human rights. The US must cease this practice to set an example of respect for human rights; if it does not, other countries such as Egypt will surely take inspiration from the US' bad example.

26 December 2013 (Prisoners in Bagram have no right to habeas corpus) A US court ruled that prisoners in Bagram in Afghanistan have no right to habeas corpus. It is legitimate to capture enemy soldiers and hold them as prisoners of war. (If this were not allowed, prisoners would instead be shot.) Being a prisoner of war is not punishment for a crime, and no trial is needed. Of course, prisoners of war do have rights, and torture violates them. However, the 2010 decision, about people kidnaped in other countries where the US was not at war, and then transported to Afghanistan just to hold them in prison, was wrong. Those cases are exactly like Guantanamo.

25 December 2013 (Computer manufacturers keeping repair manuals secret) Many computer manufacturers have adopted a new way of subjugating users: keeping the repair manuals secret. Unfortunately, the iFixit manuals are not free. The article says they are, but it means they are gratis. I tried to convince Kyle Wiens to release them under a free license, but failed. I hope he will change his mind.

25 December 2013 (Turkish thugs torture man mistaken for a protester) Hakan Yaman was tortured by Turkish thugs who mistook him for a protester. (Not that it would have been justified to torture a real protester.) They gouged out an eye and threw him in a fire: attempted premeditated murder. The government is has been unable to find the thugs who were responsible. Perhaps it has not tried very hard. This case is among the most extreme, among the general repression of the protesters.

25 December 2013 (US Export-Import Bank to fund project likely to damage environment) The US Export-Import Bank is planning to fund a project in Australia that is likely to damage the surrounding environment, but the environmental impact study ducked the question.

24 December 2013 (Former BP geologist says Peak Oil reached) A former BP geologist says that we have reached Peak Oil, and that the rate of oil extraction will decline from now on. Whether this is a bad thing depends on how humanity reacts to it. The high price of oil reduces demand: Americans drive less, nowadays, than they did when oil was cheaper. The high price of oil encourages investment in other energy sources — some renewable (solar, wind, geothermal) and some polluting (coal, fracking, nuclear). If only our governments pushed for renewable energy rather than polluting energy. We could use a lot less energy for heating and for transport if we pushed harder to achieve that. Amory Lovins showed years ago that a small fraction of what we now use could do the job. And mass transit uses a lot less energy than travel by car. The extent of economic inequality in the US is so great that our main need is not increased production of things, but rather a way for everyone to get a share. If the US produced only half as much, we would get along ok if the poor got a bigger share.

24 December 2013 (Violent Islamists in Egypt bomb municipal thug office) Violent Islamists in Egypt carried out a car bombing against a municipal thug office. There have been a series of such attacks. It is clear that they are inspired by the violent suppression of the Muslim Brotherhood.

24 December 2013 (Netanyahu admits he does not want peace with Palestine) Extra, extra! Netanyahu admits he doesn't want peace with Palestine! He did not say it in so many words, but that's the inescapable implication. For Israel to demand release of an American who spied for Israel — or any other unrelated concession — says, "Peace isn't something we seek, just something we might do for the US in exchange for something we want."

24 December 2013 (Supporters of Israel's occupation pressuring US universities) Supporters of Israel's occupation of Palestine are pressuring US universities to boycott the American Studies Association. Meanwhile, members of the association are receiving hate mail. This demonstrates the courage required in the US today to oppose that pressure group. I am sure the ASA will not yield to this pressure, but what happens to the ASA will influence others. Thus, it is important to urge universities not to cease their support for the ASA.

24 December 2013 (Australia approves destruction of wildlife reserve) Australia has approved a coal mine that will destroy a wildlife reserve, replacing it with "offsets" that are just an excuse to proceed.

24 December 2013 (Obama may be operating under fear of threats from CIA) Obama may be operating under fear of threats from the CIA. The appointment of Dulles to the Warren Commission is extremely suspect because there is no other plausible reason for it except to enable him to cover things up.

24 December 2013 (Afghanistan imposing biometric ID cards) Afghanistan is imposing biometric ID cards. As a temporary measure for the war with the Taliban, they could be excuses. Such circumstances justify measures that normally must be condemned. But they will surely be meant as permanent.

24 December 2013 (Debt costs the Philippines far more than typhoon Haiyan) Debt costs the Philippines far more than typhoon Haiyan. Many of these loans represent the corruption. The "aid" for rebuilding often consists of more loans. The Philippines should decide that these loans were predatory and therefore don't have to be repaid. The predatory lenders should be taught a lesson by losing their money.

23 December 2013 (Canned voice recordings used by telemarketers) Many telemarketer calls use canned voice recordings, and a human selects which response to give next. I don't see telemarketing as particularly bad, just wasteful and annoying. I have never bought anything from a telemarketer, and I don't let the call go on for more than a few seconds, because I don't want to spend my time on them. It is useful to train yourself out of applying normal ideas of politeness — for instance, that it is rude to hang up on someone — to a commercially-motivated call from a stranger. I think it might be good to legally require telemarketing calls to start by playing a recording that says, "Stay on the line if you wish to talk with a telemarketer."

23 December 2013 (Customer anonymity) The Consumer Finance Protection Board receives anonimized credit card purchase data from a company; that company gets it with names, which might facilitate misuse of the data. Of course, the underlying problem is that the banks and the stores get to identify their customers when they pay by credit card. Thus, it is better to use an ATM to withdraw money and pay cash.

23 December 2013 (Surveillance cameras with audio recording on buses & trains) Surveillance cameras which record audio are being put on buses & trains. The TSA is funding this. Here are the specs on some bus camera and microphone systems. There is no possible excuse for microphones in buses. The arguments in favor are arguments for listening to everyone everywhere. It's not just the NSA. These systems must be removed and banned.

23 December 2013 (Domestic violence in England) A study in which researchers interviewed people at home found that the rate of domestic violence in England is substantially more than was known. Many are afraid to tell anyone what is happening to them.

22 December 2013 (Flaw in Obama's health care law) One flaw in Obama's health care law is that, for many people in the lower middle class, it doesn't make health care affordable. This is no surprise, however. The law was designed to offer medical coverage to many of the uninsured poor, while catering to medical insurance companies. To reduce costs for others would have required the public option and big savings would have required a single payer plan.

22 December 2013 (US govt aims to radically advance facial recognition software) The US government is aiming to radically advance facial recognition software. If that is used against journalists and protesters, it will be curtains for democracy.

22 December 2013 (Morsi trial) Morsi now faces absurd charges of conspiring with Hamas and Hezbollah.

[Reference updated on 2018-03-12 because the old link was broken.] The Muslim Brotherhood is a Sunni theocratist group. Hezbollah is a Shi'ite group, militant but more concerned with defending Shi'ites' political interests than with religion. The idea that they would work together is as ridiculous as the idea that Saddam Hussein and al Qa'ida would work together — but Dubya found it useful to claim they did. As for the charges of escaping from prison, at that time state agents went around arresting (and sometimes killing) people for political reasons. Zero-tolerance for escapes, and immunity for the captors, is hardly justice.

22 December 2013 (Kansas restricts speech by professors in state universities) Kansas says state universities can fire professors for saying anything the university administration says is "contrary to the best interest of the university".

22 December 2013 (Oakland installs surveillance system to suppress protests) Oakland installed a combined surveillance system, supposedly to fight "crime", but its operators were only interested in suppressing protests. The ACLU is making a mistake by using timid words like "troubling" to describe this. This surveillance is un-American tyranny, and any the community should demand shutting it down.

21 December 2013 (UK judge quashed Libyan dissident Belhaj's lawsuit) A UK judge quashed Libyan dissident Belhaj's lawsuit, saying that the he had a valid case against the UK for handing him to Gaddafi's men, but that this was unimportant compared with sucking up to the US.

21 December 2013 (A former prosecutor couldn't get NYC thugs to arrest him) A former prosecutor found that he couldn't get NYC thugs to arrest him for minor crimes, apparently because he's white. They just ignored his crimes. Once he finally got himself arrested, for spray-painting on city hall, the prosecutors demanded outrageous and unusual punishments, even violating standard penal policies, apparently out of pure spite.

21 December 2013 (Tax meat) Tax meat to discourage its global heating contribution. Most Americans would live longer if they ate less meat.

21 December 2013 (Jesus & Mo t-shirts do not have to be censored) The London School of Economics has concluded that Jesus & Mo t-shirts do not have to be censored. UK law goes too far in prohibiting expressions of opinion. If it is even plausible that pictures of Mohammad are illegal on the grounds that someone might take offense, freedom of speech is too weak.

21 December 2013 (West must not ignore message that its wars stir up hatred) The West must not ignore the repeated messages that its wars stir up hatred. There are two ways to consider terrorist attacks such as those in New York in 2001 and in London in 2005: as crimes or as war. To consider them as crimes means responding by hunting and prosecuting the perpetrators — not by launching wars. If we view the issue in terms of crime, the attack on Rigby was a crime too and prosecuting its perpetrators was legitimate. However, invading Iraq was not legitimate and we have a duty to prosecute those responsible. On the other hand, if we consider those terrorist attacks as war and say they justify war in response, the enemy can say the same. Viewed as war, the killing of Rigby was an attack by a guerrilla force on a military target. The US has committed plenty of war crimes, and so have the Taliban and its supporters, but attacking Rigby wasn't one. We can't have it both ways.

21 December 2013 (Mother writes about joining anti-fracking protest) A mother writes about joining an anti-fracking protest because of the threat to her children's lives from future global heating. If you are a young person today, there is considerable danger you will be killed by global heating — not soon, of course, but when it reaches the point where millions are starving, and fighting over food, globalized supply chains could break down, which would make a lot of technology and industry stop working world-wide. We can't predict what will happen, as there are too many imponderables. Maybe some lucky surprise will avert the disaster, but do you want to bet your life on that? If we are to avoid it, we have to curb the greenhouse gas emission now.

21 December 2013 (The NDAA) This year's NDAA makes progress on two issues: prosecution of rapists in the military, and releasing prisoners from Guantanamo. Can anyone find out what has happened with the most un-American part of the NDAA, the provision that allows the military to imprison anyone without trial if the person is accused of being a "terrorist"?

21 December 2013 (Netanyahu's "security concerns" obsolete and irrelevant) Uri Avnery: Netanyahu's "security concerns" about the Jordan valley are obsolete and militarily irrelevant; their only purpose is to provide an excuse not to make peace. If Kerry could satisfy Netanyahu on this issue, Netanyahu would fall back on the next excuse.

21 December 2013 (Israeli soldiers shackle Palestinian children) Israeli soldiers shackled Palestinian children aged 6 to 9 who were playing with burning tires and asbestos. Burning tires makes fumes, and I suspect breathing them is not good for children. Asbestos is quite toxic. However, that was no reason to shackle the children.

21 December 2013 (The commercial version of Christmas) Christian extremists say that secularists are fighting a "war on Christmas", but the real War on Christmas is the one waged by business. Speaking as a secularist, I am not fighting a war on Christmas. I have no conflict with what Christians do for Christmas, as long as they don't try to get the government to promote their religion above my nonreligion. What I strongly resent is the commercial version of Christmas, which blares out at me in every store.

21 December 2013 (People who get trafficked into the UK get prosecuted rather than helped) People who get trafficked into the UK and then forced into growing marijuana get prosecuted rather than helped. This particular problem is ultimately the state's fault, since the right approach to growing marijuana is to legalize it. However, that would not eliminate the issue of trafficking; that needs to be addressed by itself.

21 December 2013 (Most Americans say it was a mistake to invade Afghanistan) A poll finds most Americans say it was a mistake to invade Afghanistan and want US troops removed faster. I am not sure it was a mistake. The results were good in the beginning, and if Bush had not invaded Iraq, perhaps things would have turned out well in Afghanistan. However, things are totally screwed now in Afghanistan and the US is not achieving much by keeping the fighting going.

21 December 2013 (The idea of childhood has been swept away by fear) "Zero tolerance" means the idea of childhood has been swept away by fear. The first step toward obsessive fear was when parents started thinking that children could never be left alone. I remember how happy I was, when I was 8 or so, during those periods when I was home and I could read without being annoyed by my mother. Meanwhile, no one freaked out about the fact that I, and the other students in my school, walked to school and back on the sidewalks of Manhattan.

21 December 2013 (High speed trains in Europe are expensive) High speed trains in Europe are so expensive that, for long distances, they push most travelers to flying. I general prefer to travel by train if it is feasible, partly because I don't have to identify myself, and also partly because, with my luggage, "low-cost" airlines are not cheap.

21 December 2013 (Why Taser Is Paying Millions in Secret 'Suspect Injury Or Death' Settlements) Why Taser Is Paying Millions in Secret 'Suspect Injury Or Death' Settlements. When Does "Less Lethal" Actually Mean "Deadly"? Being tased is surely less dangerous than being hit with a bullet. If we think of tasing as a substitute for shooting, tasing probably results in less harm. But if tasers encourage people to shoot, on the basis that they are safe, tasers could result in more harm.

20 December 2013 (The political dominance of business in Asia) Three different disasters in Asia come from the same cause: the political dominance of business. To change this, we should abolish the institutions such as the WTO that cement their power.

20 December 2013 (UK gov't won't allow investigation of Alexander Litvinenko's death) The coroner in charge of investigating the death of Alexander Litvinenko says that the government won't allow him to investigate properly whether Russian agents murdered Litvinenko. If someone were accused of the murder, that person would deserve a fair trial, being considered innocent until proven guilty. However, for these political purposes, we can presume the Russian state is guilty.

20 December 2013 (Maoist dissidents killing perpetrators of pogrom against Dalits) The Indian state has not punished the perpetrators of a pogrom against Dalits, so the Maoist dissidents are killing them. Buddhism in India, by Gail Omvedt, argues that Dalits are the descendants of India's Buddhists, from the time when the nobles suppressed Buddhism.

20 December 2013 (Aborted inquiry into UK rendition of Libyan dissidents) An aborted inquiry into UK rendition of Libyan dissidents to Gaddafi's hands says there is a case to be investigated.

20 December 2013 (The "unemployment rate") Republicans' method for reducing the unemployment rate is to cut unemployment benefits. In North Carolina, this made 77,000 people give up looking for work, so they are not longer counted in the "unemployment rate". It is a mistake to judge the success or failure of government policies by the official unemployment rate. The real measure of unemployment is number of people who are of working age but not working or in school, and not independently wealthy.

20 December 2013 (Cows in the US fed litter from chicken cages) Cows in the US are fed litter from chicken cages, and that includes beef. This creates a danger of spreading mad cow disease.

20 December 2013 (The Environmental Defenders Office in Australia) One of the missions of the Environmental Defenders Office in Australia is to make governments implement legal requirements to protect endangered species. Officials, perhaps in bed with mining or logging interests, seem to wish to let these species be wiped out.

20 December 2013 ($600,000 fine for distributing movie through torrent site) A Swedish man was fined $600,000 for distributing a movie through a torrent site. The copyright industry wants to imprison people for this. It is part of the War on Sharing, which we must put an end to.

20 December 2013 (Most Americans want gov't to reduce economic inequality) Most Americans want the government to reduce economic inequality. Though the plutocrats have failed to convince most Americans, they still have other strategies to prevent Americans from exercising control over the state.

20 December 2013 (Senator Warren's push to increase Social Security) Senator Warren's push to increase Social Security seems to have made it politically impossible to cut Social Security. This was very important, but we also need to increase government revenue by increasing taxes on the rich and on businesses. Also, while we are in a recession, we need deficit spending.

19 December 2013 (TAFTA threatens to give businesses increased power) TAFTA, the proposed business deregulation treaty for the US and Europe, threatens to give many businesses increased power. For instance, it could blow away the just-established Volcker Rule, ban labeling of GMOs, make medicines more expensive, and stop countries from protecting data from spying by other countries. TAFTA stands for "Turn All Freedom To Ashes".

19 December 2013 (The latest censorship proposal) The latest censorship proposal: ban saying that someone is fat. Once you accept in principle the idea of forbidding some sort of insult, there is no natural stopping point; any statement that might hurt someone's feelings is likely to be banned. I do not feel offended when people call me "fat", if they do not mean it as an insult, since it is undeniably true. If someone does mean it as an insult, that indicates a mental confusion on that person's part. Being fat is not an ethical failing. It is amazing that Ms Lawrence is so sensitive to insults to her appearance — as if Einstein felt crushed if anyone said he was stupid. This bespeaks an inner insecurity that disregards objective reality. That insecurity is her real problem, not the insults.

19 December 2013 (The Rightwing Attack on Our Solar Future) Let the Sun Shine In: The Rightwing Attack on Our Solar Future. It's perfectly logical: someone who wants to sell as much fossil fuel as possible, and cares nothing about the rest of the world, would try to discourage, even prohibit installation of solar generators.

19 December 2013 (UK gov't has rejected EU funds for food banks) The UK government has rejected EU funds for food banks. After working so hard to make Britons so poor they cannot afford food, why would the government let the EU help them escape? That would spoil everything!

19 December 2013 (Urgent: Diplomacy with Iran) US citizens: phone your senators at 202-224-3121 and say, no new sanctions against Iran — give diplomacy a chance.

19 December 2013 (The US-Ecuador investment treaty) The arrogant international "tribunal" set up by a US-Ecuador investment treaty has already twisted the law and the treaty to make excuses to declare Chevron the winner against Ecuadorians. I wonder why Ecuador has not withdrawn from this treaty. Even if the treaty should not properly apply to this case at all, other cases will arise in the future. The treaty can do no good, only harm.

19 December 2013 (Australia to imprison refugees on accusation, without trial) Australia plans to imprison refugees on accusation, without trial, by requiring them to sign a "code of conduct" in which they promise not to commit crimes. This means that if they are accused of crimes, rather than trying them like anyone else, functionaries can decide they have "violated the code of conduct," cancel their visas, and imprison them right away. Meanwhile, the government has changed another "code of conduct", for ministers, to allow them to own stock in businesses. Since these ministers were chosen to serve the interest of business anyway, if they have another personal reason to do that it might change nothing.

19 December 2013 (Palm scanners in schools) Schools in Puyallup, WA, are installing palm scanners for students to identify themselves with. I think palm scanners are much less bad than fingerprint scanners, because people don't leave palmprints on everything they touch. Perhaps the palm scanners are ok, if the state can't get any personal data from them.

19 December 2013 (Boycott of Israeli academic institutions) The members of the American Studies Association have approved the boycott of Israeli academic institutions. Palestinians call for this boycott because Israeli universities have direct connections with the occupation of Palestine.

18 December 2013 (Libyan dissident imprisoned without trial in the UK) Libyan dissident Ziad Hashem was imprisoned without trial in the UK, apparently based on information that Libyan torturers extracted from Abd-el-Hakim Belhaj after the UK and US delivered him to them. If extraditing Abd-el-Hakim Belhaj secretly without the usual hearings was "approved by ministers", it demonstrates that that is insufficient as a safeguard.

18 December 2013 (Los Angeles Airport shooter has been accused of "terrorism") The Los Angeles Airport shooter has been accused of "terrorism". This attack does seem to be premeditated murder, but I think it is stretching the term "terrorism" to apply it here. Stretching strong words such as "terrorism" is a form of inflation that devalues them.

18 December 2013 (Vocational school gave radio transmitter tags to students and staff) A vocational school in the UK gave radio transmitter tags to its students and staff for several years without telling them. I think it is misleading to call these "RFIDs" because what they do is very different. Their signals show exactly where the wearer is located.

18 December 2013 (Lawsuit against NSA bulk collection) A lawsuit against NSA bulk collection of phone records has more or less won at the trial court level. The judge issued a preliminary injunction ordering the NSA to stop collecting this metadata. However, it's not really in effect because it will be appealed. I expect this case to go to the Supreme Court before anything really happens.

18 December 2013 (FDA will move to ban anti-bacterial soaps) The FDA will move to ban anti-bacterial soaps unless they demonstrate health benefits. The bactericides can cause harm, and there is a possibility that the killing of bacteria may lead indirectly to the spread of asthma because people's immune systems don't get trained as they should be.

18 December 2013 (Indian diplomat in the US faces criminal charges) An Indian diplomat in the US faces criminal charges for paying a domestic servant less than the minimum wage and lying about it in her visa application. The servant is also Indian. Indians should cheer that the US is doing something to protect poor Indians from exploitation by the Indian elite. Reportedly it is a long time since an Indian diplomat was arrested. It has probably been an even longer time since Indian servants' wages were protected in this way. The strip search seems excessive, however, for the nature of the accusation.

18 December 2013 (Senator Warren's bill) Senator Warren's bill would stop employers from discriminating (in effect) against poor people. This bill would be a change for the better, but we also need to make more jobs, which calls for increased government spending. I'm sure Senator Warren is in favor of that too.

18 December 2013 (50 sailors on US navy ship have got cancer) 50 sailors on a US navy ship that brought aid to the Fukushima area have got cancer, and are suing TEPCO. The ship carries around 3000 sailors. For 50 of those healthy adults, mostly in their 20s, to get cancer in under 3 years is amazing. The ship is named after President Reagan, and his name should not be mentioned without reminding people how he harmed the US. He gave arms to terrorists in Lebanon to ransom hostages, to get funds to illegally fund terrorists in Nicaragua. He also launched the campaign to impoverish most Americans, which continues to this day. His supporters called him the Great Communicator, but Great Swindler would fit better.

18 December 2013 (JROTC) JROTC uses lots of money to convince American teenagers to join the army. It's instead of teaching them American history.

17 December 2013 (Admiration of Nelson Mandela's life) Nelson Mandela's funeral has finished, after serving to illustrate the political issues of today's South Africa and how the US helped the apartheid state to capture him. I admire Mandela's fight for freedom, and his personal courage, as much as before, and I reject the idea that he'd have to be perfect to deserve our admiration. However, I am disappointed with the fuss that people make about his death. Why fetishize a corpse that used to be the body of a great person? A dead body is not a person anymore. It's not Mandela's corpse that deserves our admiration, but rather his life.

16 December 2013 (Amazon cut off access for Christmas) Amazon "sold" someone Disney Christmas videos, but not physical copies; subsequently Amazon, at Disney's command, cut off access for Christmas. This demonstrates why we should not trust remote hosting disservices. Insist on having your own copy which is yours.

16 December 2013 (Fighting in Syria as proxy war between Saudi Arabia and Iran) Viewing the fighting in Syria as a proxy war between Saudi Arabia and Iran. I don't think Saudi Arabia is likely to use its influence to hold back Islamist extremists, since it has spent years funding and supplying them. There have been reports about this all along, and the US government must have know about this. The US ignored the Saudi connection as al-Qa'ida, boosted by Saudi money, took over the Syrian resistance to Iran's friend. What kind of strategy was that?

16 December 2013 ("Affluenza") "Affluenza" is a new excuse for letting wealthy people escape punishment for crimes such as vehicular homicide. I doubt whether a 20-year prison sentence is the best way to teach a 16-year-old not to drive while drugged and drunk. However, I agree with the article that, whatever society's best response is, the culprits should not be allowed to pay their way to more favorable treatment.

16 December 2013 (The ANC abandoned its plans for socialism) The ANC, on abolishing apartheid, abandoned its plans for socialism to share the wealth with the impoverished. Did Mandela have a choice? I don't advocate a Communism that would abolish private property and business. However, the decision to have private business still leaves a wide range of possible societies. Cruel societies such as today's US and Mexico are one option, but today's Scandinavia is also an option. Some socialist elements can make society much better for the non-rich while most work continues to be done by private businesses.

16 December 2013 (Ukraine is split) Ukraine is split between a European-leaning western part that was and a Russian-leaning eastern part. The split mainly derives from the partition of Poland in the late 1700s, when the Russian empire took the eastern part and the Austrian empire took the western part. However, the eastern part was under Mongol rule for centuries before Poland took it.

15 December 2013 (The practice of making computers to last a short time) The practice of making computers to last a short time and be replaced tremendously increases the quantity of toxic e-waste. This also increases the demand for certain minerals to the point that armies fight over mines in Africa. Banning the shipment of e-waste to poor countries is proving ineffective. Requiring a 3-year warranty for every computer sold might do a better job. Many of the purchasers would demand warranty service, so the manufacturers would have to make their products cheaper to repair. In addition, a lot of the waste would end up in the hands of authorized service agents. Regulating its disposal by them would be easier.

15 December 2013 (The next threat from Facebook) The next threat from Facebook: using AI to figure out more about you. If you refuse to be one of Facebook's useds and tell the AI about yourself, it will do what it can with the data it gets from Facebook surveillance — plus what other people tell it about you.

15 December 2013 (Freedom of political speech widely threatened across Europe) Freedom of political speech is widely threatened across Europe. For instance, Spain is now considering a law to make it a crime to "insult Spain". This is not to mention the censorship of specific views in many countries.

15 December 2013 ("Terminator" seeds) Brazil may allow use of "terminator" seeds (biological restrictions management or BRM).

15 December 2013 (Amnesty for Snowden) Some NSA officials said they would consider amnesty for Snowden if he stops revealing secrets. This seems to be pure PR. They know that Snowden is no longer revealing any US secrets. He no longer has any! Before going to Russia, he divested himself of all copies so the data would not fall into Russian hands. Journalists have the data now. Thus, what the NSA officials really proposes is to make Snowden a hostage to make the journalists stop publishing.

15 December 2013 (ISPs in Venezuela ordered to censor access to sites that publish black market exchange rate) ISPs in Venezuela have been ordered to censor access to sites that publish the black market exchange rate between dollars and bolivars. This is stupid as well as wrong. However, when judging the policy, keep in mind that many countries have similar (and equally wrong) policies, including quite a few in Europe. Price controls tend to cause shortages, so they are generally an unwise policy. But they are not unjust like censorship.

15 December 2013 (Schools put students' personal data at risk) Schools put students' personal data at risk by entrusting them to companies. No matter what these companies might put in their contracts, centralizing data from schools in one company inherently makes them more vulnerable. In addition, these technologies increase the amount of data collection about a student. The student's data should be kept on a physical memory that is the student's property, on loan to the school. Teachers should be allowed to look at the data when there is a valid reason, and the physical memory should be wiped after the term, leaving nothing but the grades.

15 December 2013 (US schools routinely terrify and traumatize kids) US schools routinely terrify and traumatize kids in the name of protecting them from terror and trauma. If we banned large magazines and guns that repeat at a high rate, much of the problem will go away. I fear that these lockdowns will teach many children to think in the direction of shooting a lot of people, in school or elsewhere. When that's what you know (or think you know), you will think of that.

15 December 2013 (Workers vulnerable to being replaced by machine) Companies have pushed workers to act like machines, which makes them very vulnerable to being replaced by a machine. I think there is some truth in this article. At the same time, the approach it recommends won't put millions of long-term-employed back to work. If society does not need these people to work, it must offer them good lives anyway. It is incoherent to say "If you don't work, you don't eat" and "There is no work for you" at the same time.

15 December 2013 (The UK's cruel cuts) The UK's cruel cuts force many poor Britons to live on 3 dollars a day for food. It is no surprise that these policies have not helped people find work. That was never a real goal, just an excuse to hurt people. The reason these people are unemployed is that there are no jobs for them, and that is due to the spending cuts.

15 December 2013 (Illegal gold mining is driving deforestation in Peru) Illegal gold mining is driving deforestation in Peru. I think such phenomena demonstrate the importance of sharply cutting the birth rate. People will find ways to get money through extraction, especially if they have little other opportunity.

14 December 2013 (500 prominent writers published manifesto for restoring privacy) 500 prominent writers have published a manifesto for restoring privacy by curbing digital surveillance. I agree with their manifesto, because it doesn't insist narrowly that the solution consists of limiting state access to massive dossiers while continuing to accumulate them. It took me a while to find a place to refer to it, because the reference I saw was to a page I could not even view, on change.org. When I tried to view that page, all I got was a brief message saying the site requires Javascript and cookies even to see a page. In addition, they ask people to endorse the statement on change.org. I won't do that, or refer others to that, because of the requirement for nonfree Javascript software. So I am stating my agreement here.

14 December 2013 (Victoria will legalize sexting by teenagers) Victoria (a state in Australia) will legalize sexting by teenagers but only in narrow age bands. This is a step forward but not enough. No one should be punished for sexting, and the recipient of the sext shouldn't be punished either. The law will also ban sending nude photos of someone else without that person's consent. That part seems ok to me.

13 December 2013 (Plastic in the Pacific Ocean) A researcher studying plastic in the Pacific Ocean found that plastic has a larger presence than living organisms. It turns out to be difficult to count the plastic in the ocean, and difficult to filter it out without catching the plankton.

13 December 2013 (Unarmed man charged with shooting people) An unarmed man who did nothing worse than walk into the street has been charged with shooting people — who in fact were shot by the thugs. To hold the criminal responsible for the consequences of the crime is valid when the crime is comparably grave. For instance, Dubya and B'liar should be held responsible for all the killings in Iraq caused by their invasion, including the killings carried out by the Sunni and Shi'ite militias as well as by the Bush forces. However, putting a hand in a pocket is hardly grave enough to justify blaming anyone for other people's shootings. In addition, it gives the shooters immunity, which encourages them to shoot again.

13 December 2013 (New Zealand border thugs) New Zealand border thugs took all of Samual Blackman's computers and disk drives. They kept him incommunicado, and demanded he give them his passwords. Blackman suspected this was because he went to a meeting in London about massive surveillance. The thugs said it is for some kind of censorship. We should not assume they told the truth, but if they did, that is no better. Censorship is evil too.

13 December 2013 (Protesters that interfere with business) Today's law in Australia (and the US) would have made it a crime to send funds to "terrorists" such as Nelson Mandela, and maybe even to teach anti-apartheid activists how to use a photocopier. But that's not enough for right-wing politicians, who want to imprison protesters that interfere with business. I guess those right-wing politicians support Putin's plans to imprison Greenpeace protesters. It is a fundamental injustice to allow functionaries to label a group as "terrorist" without putting the group on trial and convicting it of that crime.

12 December 2013 (A&TT offers discount in exchange for snooping on users) AT&T offers a discount on broadband in exchange for snooping on users' browsing. Another way to put it is, even a shadow of privacy costs extra. I think this demonstrates the fallacy trying to address the problem of surveillance by saying users "own" the personal data that companies want. Companies have so much clout that they can get people to "sell" nearly anything — especially with mass unemployment and falling wages making people desperate.

12 December 2013 (Cookie used by Google to track users also used by the NSA) Google uses a third-party cookie to track users from one site to another. The NSA looks at the same cookie to do the same job. It's wrong for the NSA to track people in general, and wrong for Google to do it. We need to change browsers so they do not cooperate with this. GNU IceCat blocks most third-party material in web pages. As for the cooperation that the NSA gets from portable phone apps, you should accept nothing less from proprietary software.

12 December 2013 (Fraudulent food an organized crime practice in the UK) Fraudulent food is a widespread organized crime practice in the UK. I attribute it to the deregulation that makes it easy to change the supply chain frequently.

12 December 2013 (Shareholders sue Aetna) Aetna shareholders have sued the company for misleading them about its political spending.

12 December 2013 (Doctor that helped the US find Osama bin Laden) The Pakistani doctor that helped the US find Osama bin Laden faces repeated bogus accusations, and his defense lawyer has been driven into exile by death threats. To use a vaccination program as a front for a manhunt was extremely harmful because it fed suspicion of vaccination programs. This has impeded the eradication of polio. However, that doesn't make these bogus charges valid.

12 December 2013 (Repeatedly watching TV coverage of a bombing) Repeatedly watching TV coverage of a bombing can cause more stress than witnessing the bombing. I know someone in California who was so traumatized by watching coverage of the Sep 2001 attacks as to become afraid to go outside. That morning I made an intentional decision not to watch the coverage. It would have been both boring and anxiety-producing; all in all, I preferred to work on an article talking about the danger of sacrificing our freedom for "security".

12 December 2013 (Saudi Arabia has expelled a million foreign workers) Saudi Arabia has expelled a million foreign workers, treating them horribly. To tighten rules for allowing foreign workers, and expel some, is not in itself wrong. To kill them, or even to physically abuse them, is not excused by the decision to expel them. Denying them the chance to sell their property is also wrong.

12 December 2013 (Thugs attacked protesters in Ukraine) Thugs attacked protesters in Ukraine. The proposed deal with the EU might have traps in it. However, being dominated by Russia is very bad, and rejecting that does not require submission to the EU's temptation.

12 December 2013 (Uruguay has legalized regulated sale of marijuana) Uruguay has legalized regulated sale of marijuana, but the people may not support it. Marijuana is not addictive like tobacco and alcohol; ceasing use of marijuana does not cause withdrawal symptoms.

11 December 2013 (British man being prosecuted for sex with teenager) A British man is being prosecuted for having sex with a teenager who said she was having voluntary sex with him and asked please don't prosecute him. His defense, as reported here, would be vile if anyone were likely to believe it. Since no one could take it seriously, I can't condemn him for saying it, but I don't see what the point is. Overall, this is another example of "protecting" "children" in a way that does nothing but harm to everyone involved. They will probably say that he "raped" her.

11 December 2013 (Australian gov't trying to intimidate public broadcasting organization) The Australian government is trying to intimidate the Australian public broadcasting organization ABC so it won't publish news such as that Australia was spying on Indonesia. The accusation of "cannibalizing local media" might be true, but if so, the solution is not what the right-wing government would want to do.

11 December 2013 (Urgent: Renew credits for renewable energy) US citizens: call on your senators to renew credits for renewable energy. You might as well call on them at the same time to cut subsidies for fossil fuels and nuclear energy.

11 December 2013 ("Corporate social responsibility") "Corporate social responsibility" practices can psychologically influence executives to adopt antisocial policies feeling that they already did their good deed for the year. One study is not enough to prove this is true, but if it is, it suggests that we need to tax companies more to pay for social needs rather than inviting companies to make donations.

11 December 2013 (Urgent: Oppose any new sanctions on Iran) US citizens: phone your congresscritter and say you oppose any new sanctions on Iran now — give diplomacy a chance! Then report your call. The Capitol Switchboard numbers are 202-224-3121, 888-818-6641 and 888-355-3588.

09 December 2013 (Edward Snowden wins Guardian's person of the year election) Edward Snowden won the Guardian's person of the year election. When I talk about surveillance in my speeches, I call for "three cheers for Edward Snowden." You might think this is superfluous because everyone knows that he deserves our admiration. Not so! US politicians (especially those that support massive surveillance) continue trying to demonize Snowden. We have to defeat them, and the way to do it is by showing our views.

09 December 2013 (Senator Warren proposes ways to increase Social Security) Senator Warren rejected the idea of formulating the issue of Social Security in terms of how much to cut, and proposed ways to fund increasing it. Cutting social security is a right-wing idea that most Americans reject. Please don't grant it a sort of legitimacy by calling it the "center". It is only "central" between the two right-wing major parties.

09 December 2013 (European Parliament wants to talk with Snowden by video) The European Parliament wants to talk with Snowden by video. I am surprised that Snowden is willing to do this. A couple of months ago, he refused to speak remotely with the German Parliament; he insisted on getting a safe-conduct to go there.

09 December 2013 (Radioactive material leaking from Fukushima meltdown will kill people) The radioactive material leaking from the Fukushima meltdowns will kill people, including an estimated 800 eventual deaths (not soon) from eating contaminated fish.

[Reference updated on 2018-03-12 because the old link was broken.] This is 800 out of the millions who are likely to eat some of that fish. 800 deaths is a large number to result from a single accident. It is important to try to stop more radiative material from leaking into the ocean from Fukushima, since that as it continues leaking, it could kill more hundreds. On the other hand, the danger to any individual from these leaks is minuscule; there is no point taking any trouble to make sure you never eat even a little of that fish.

09 December 2013 (Urgent: Ban menthol cigarettes) US citizens: call on the FDA to ban menthol cigarettes. Menthol in cigarettes encourages people to start smoking.

08 December 2013 (American Library Association denounces NSA surveillance) The American Library Association has denounced NSA surveillance. I think libraries should adopt a system that makes it difficult for the library to find out who has borrowed a book unless the book becomes overdue.

08 December 2013 (Violent porn should not be censored) We're supposed to be concerned about anonymous web sites because some of them distribute violent porn. I don't want to watch violent porn, or violent non-porn, but neither should be censored. However, if a business sells videos of real rapes or other real crimes and pays or rewards those who commit the crimes, the business participates in those crimes. That is valid grounds for prosecution. I am surprised that the credit card payments can't be used to trace the business that runs the site.

08 December 2013 (Nelson Mandela's life falsified by mainstream media) Mainstream media commemorations of Nelson Mandela's life often falsify him, pretending that he stood for nonviolent resistance. Mandela was right: nonviolence is not the only ethical way to resist oppression. Those oppressed with violence are entitled to fight back with violence. Of course, the founding fathers of the United States said the same thing about resistance to British oppression. Here Mandela explains the ANC's motives for adopting first sabotage, then guerrilla warfare. Chief among them was that the state's crackdown on dissent had closed off the possibility of nonviolent resistance.

08 December 2013 (Large leak at uranium mine in Australia) A large leak at a uranium mine in Australia has been contained — for now.

08 December 2013 (Urgent: Extend unemployment insurance) US citizens: phone your congresscritter and say, "Don't play Scrooge — extend unemployment insurance." Also sign this petition.

[Reference updated on 2018-03-12 because the old link was broken.] The Capitol Switchboard numbers are 202-224-3121, 888-818-6641 and 888-355-3588.

08 December 2013 (Barbie dolls) Barbie dolls have changed: now all their outfits are hypersexy.

07 December 2013 (John F Kennedy Jr. killed by a bomb in his plane?) This site alleges that John F Kennedy Jr. was killed by a bomb in his plane, which was followed by a US government coverup effort, and alleges this was done by Israeli secret agents because he was about to publish secrets of their involvement in the assassination of Israeli Premier Rabin.

[Reference updated on 2018-03-12 because the old link was broken.] This extraordinary claim requires extraordinary proof, and this article isn't enough. So I am not convinced this claim is true. But I think it is not immediately dismissable. To verify the truth of the facts cited would be a lot of work. I don't have time to do that. Thus I have decided to point readers at his report without saying I believe any of it.

07 December 2013 (Geoengineering could lead to war) Geoengineering could lead to war between countries that have different needs for how to engineer the Earth's climate. Any geoengineering method that aims to affect temperature directly will not do anything to stop ocean acidification due to dissolved CO2. This threatens to destroy all coral reefs, along with all the other species that depend on coral reefs. The result could easily be the loss of most of the sea food that a billion humans depend on. In experiments, CO2 affected the behavior of some species of fish too — they ceased to hide from predators. That could wipe them out.

07 December 2013 (Pakistani anti-drone protesters blocked US supplies to Afghanistan) Pakistani anti-drone protesters have blocked US supplies to Afghanistan for 10 days. They say they will continue until the US stops the drone attacks. As weapons of war, drones are not very different from bombers with human crews. Drones raise a special issue when they are used away from battlefields, in countries where the US says it is not fighting — Pakistan, for instance. In these cases, they more resemble death squads or terror campaigns than a war.

07 December 2013 (Urgent: Cut the military budget) US citizens: phone your senators and urge them to cut the military budget. Also sign this petition. The Capitol Switchboard numbers are 202-224-3121, 888-818-6641 and 888-355-3588.

07 December 2013 (Another apology that deserves an apology) Another apology that deserves an apology: Martin Bashir's apology for what he said about Sarah Palin. Bashir said that if anyone deserved the punishments that slaves received, it would be Ms Palin. The use of "deserved" indicates a counterfactual: Bashir explicitly avoided saying that she, or anyone, deserves those punishments. He was criticized wrongly for a palinode that was entirely justified.

06 December 2013 (US gov't lies in court about use of no-fly list to block witness) Rahinah Ibrahim's daughter, who is a US citizen, was supposed to go to the US and testify as a witness in Ms Ibrahim's lawsuit. The US government blocked her return by putting her on the no-fly list, then lied about it in court. This article says that the list Rahinah is suing to be removed from is the no-fly list. The government's lawyers are claiming that the government can exclude "secret" information from the case even if it has been published. We've seen this contempt for reality in the Obama regime's attitude towards secrets revealed by Wikileaks and Snowden. Over and over we see that US government agents are willing to lie to achieve their missions. Some lie to Congress, while others lie in court. These lawyers should be disbarred, just as Clapper should be jailed for contempt of Congress.

06 December 2013 (Bloggers arrested in Iran) Five bloggers have been arrested in Iran for publishing criticism of the theocratic tyranny.

05 December 2013 (GMO corn and cancer) After the journal Food and Chemical Toxicology published a paper reporting that GMO corn caused cancer in rats, it hired a new editor who used to work for Monsanto, and he retracted the paper. The article links to change.org, which is unfortunate since you can't sign an article there except by running a nonfree program. The same with links to vimeo.

05 December 2013 (Marijuana Legalization Plan) Uruguayan President Asks for World to Support His Marijuana Legalization Plan. States should withdraw from that 1961 UN treaty.

05 December 2013 (Urgent: Call on Obama to support reform of the ECPA) US citizens: sign this petition calling on Obama to support reform of the ECPA to require the government to get a warrant to examine people's email.

[Reference updated on 2018-03-12 because the old link was broken.] This is a fairly small change: under current law, the warrant is needed for recent emails (those that arrived in the last 6 months), but not needed for emails that have remained for longer.

05 December 2013 (Urgent: Publish names of Third Way's financial sponsors) Everyone with a relation to the US: tell Third Way to publish the names of its financial sponsors, so we know the origin of its "advice" to Democrats not to be real Democrats like Elizabeth Warren.

05 December 2013 (Scandals revealed by ALEC leak) Scandals revealed by the ALEC leak: The organization's choice of issues to focus on is determined by how much business money various issues bring in.

It claims to have grown while in fact it has lost membership.

It is changing its legal status, with a new name, hoping to lure companies back and escape charges of violating tax laws.

05 December 2013 (NSA collects 5 billion cell phone locations per day) The NSA collects 5 billion cell phone locations per day, from hundreds of millions of phones. The NSA uses this to determine when people meet each other physically. Thus, if you are going to a meeting, take the batteries out of your phone well before you get to it, as a courtesy to those you will meet with. Here are some significant conclusions. We did not know that the NSA was tracking phones world-wide, but we have known all along that they were being tracked by phone companies, and the governments that control them, and often by Apple and Google too. That's already unacceptable. I have never "connected to our modern communication system" because I refused to be tracked. I have refused for 15 years now. This does not require me to "live in a cave". In my travels, if I need to make a call in a train or on the street, I ask whoever is there to call for me.

05 December 2013 (Ads tuned based on people's emotional state) The next "advance" in exploiting people through their computers: ads tuned based on people's emotional state. These ads are typically shown by software and services that are malicious in other ways — for example, a game server that monitors you might also show ads based on figuring out when you are vulnerable, or a car might monitor your emotional state using proprietary software you can't change.

05 December 2013 (Devastation of large animals in the Sahara) Large animals in the Sahara has been devastated — many are extinct or remain in only a small part of their former range.

05 December 2013 (Detroit allowed to declare bankruptcy) Detroit has been allowed to declare bankruptcy. This is likely to mean drastic pension cuts for present and former city workers.

05 December 2013 (Surveillance in subways and City Colleges of Chicago) Chicago's subways make it very expensive not to be spied on, and the City Colleges of Chicago demand biometric ID from the staff. I would be willing to use a biometric system to get my pay, if it tested some part of my body other than my finger tips.

05 December 2013 (Traceability requirements for meat in Europe) The French government says that the EU, supported by the UK, are blocking stricter traceability requirements for meat.

05 December 2013 (Ethical questions for custodians of the natural world) Ethical questions for custodians of the natural world. I don't think that animals in general have a right to life — not even whales. I don't think, for instance, that we have a duty to stop orcas (one type of whale) from killing other whales as we would protect humans from being killed. I don't think we have a duty to stop chimps from killing other chimps. But it is important to prevent the loss of species and ecosystems, because that is an irrecoverable loss.

04 December 2013 (Urgent: End the sequester) US citizens: phone your congresscritter to end the sequester which is killing more jobs every year. The Capitol Switchboard numbers are 202-224-3121, 888-818-6641 and 888-355-3588.

04 December 2013 (Urgent: Require public companies to disclose political spending) US citizens: Once again, tell the SEC to move forward with requiring public companies to disclose political spending. The SEC said it would do this, then quietly dropped it.

04 December 2013 (Noam Chomsky: America Hates Its Poor) Noam Chomsky: America Hates Its Poor. He explains how the "tea party" idea that "We want the government off our backs" is used to distract working-class Americans from organizing for Liberal (social-democratic) that they favor when asked.

04 December 2013 (Australian gov't stops giving visas to asylum seekers) The government of Australia wants to give refugees arriving by boat temporary visas instead of permanent visas, but since the opposition blocked the law to make this change, the government has decided arbitrarily not to give visas to asylum seekers at all. In effect, it is holding recognized refugees hostage to ram through that law.

04 December 2013 (Scientists expect greater sea level rise than IPCC predicts) A survey of climate scientists suggests most expect sea level rise to be more than the IPCC predicted. How much sea level rises will depend on unknown aspects of global heating but also on how much greenhouse gas we emit.

04 December 2013 (Catholic hospitals in the US endanger womens' lives) Catholic hospitals in the US endanger womens' lives rather than abort pregnancies. Even more absurdly (I won't say "worse", since it isn't actually worse), they do this if the fetus is doomed anyway. Hospitals should be required to provide all services including abortion, and if the Catholic Church doesn't like that, it should sell the hospitals.

04 December 2013 (Leader of protesters in Thailand) The leader of protesters in Thailand demanded that six TV channels cease broadcasting government statements and broadcast only his side. This suggests that these "protesters" think they have a lot of power behind them. This is not a popular protest movement even if it looks like one.

04 December 2013 (Tortured by US agents while held in a secret prison) The European Court of Human Rights is considering the case of two prisoners in Guantanamo who accuse they were tortured in Poland by US agents while held in a secret prison. The US does not allow these prisoners to testify. It should try them or release them. Maybe they are guilty of crimes, but so is the US in torturing them.

04 December 2013 (French team says Arafat was not poisoned) A French team says Arafat was not poisoned, disagreeing with the Swiss team that found radioactive Polonium that implied he was murdered. This disagreement begs for further investigation to discover the reason for it.

04 December 2013 (Australia arrested former official who was going to be a witness at the Hague) Australia arrested a former official who was going to be a witness at the Hague, and raided his lawyer's office for legal documents. The case concerns Australian spying during negotiations with East Timor for a treaty over fossil fuels. The witness was going to prove that Australia bugged the Timorese negotiating team. Apparently the current Australian government is so subservient to fossil fuel interests that it will trash traditional civil liberties for them. The court should regard the witness's claims as proven conclusively by his arrest. That will serve the cause of justice in this case. Repairing the damage to civil liberties in Australia will take rather more.

03 December 2013 (Failure of the Warsaw climate negotiations) Intense business lobbying — for false solutions or just against real ones — helped make the Warsaw climate negotiations a failure. It's too bad the report uses the nebulous term "intellectual property". I suppose the companies reported on used that term, because the confusion it spreads serves their purposes; those who oppose them would do well to pull that veil aside.

03 December 2013 (Mood sweater) A new sweater changes color depending on the wearer's feelings. Imagine wearing this sweater while playing poker. Now imagine hacking one to show whatever color you tell it color to show, and wearing it while playing poker.

03 December 2013 (Denmark offers child care to all young children) Denmark offers child care to all young children, and it isn't overprotective. American children used to organize their own play, too. They didn't need help from adults.

03 December 2013 (Measuring success by material things) A study reports people who measure success by material things fall into a "loneliness loop" and then have trouble coping with reverses.

03 December 2013 (Urgent: Tax benefit for renewable energy projects) US citizens: support the bill to allow renewable energy projects a sort of tax benefit available to fossil fuel projects. For more info. We should withdraw this form of public assistance for fossil fuel projects, because they must be discouraged.

03 December 2013 (US pressure for Japan to continue using nuclear plants) Nikkei Shimbun reported that US pressure for Japan to continue using nuclear power plants came from Obama himself. I don't think we need to worry about occasionally eating seafood caught near Fukushima. The level of radioactive material in it is small compared with the radiation we are normally exposed to.

03 December 2013 (US gov't persistently treats journalists as terrorists) The US government has a persistent habit of treating journalists as terrorists, and refused to promise not to prosecute journalist for publishing interviews with terrorists.

03 December 2013 (Small pieces of plastic harming sea life) Small pieces of plastic in the ocean are harming worms that are food for many other species. Pieces 5mm in size shouldn't be called "microplastics". Perhaps some pieces are small enough to deserve that name. Once the worms have a low level of toxins, the animals that eat the worms will accumulate higher levels, and the animals that eat those will get even higher levels. The same thing happens with mercury, which is why tuna have so much mercury that they are dangerous for humans to eat.

02 December 2013 (Programs that recognize facial expression) A new threat to your privacy: programs to recognize facial expression. If the program that recognizes expressions does not record the video, that doesn't make it ok. Indeed, another program might run at the same time to do that.

02 December 2013 (Population of migrating monarch butterflies plummets) The population of migrating monarch butterflies has plummeted from 60 million last year (already a record low) to a few million. This is because US agriculture has dropped conservation as a priority and switched to new pesticides.

02 December 2013 (Canada approves producing GMO salmon eggs in quantity) Canada approved producing GMO salmon eggs in quantity. I don't think it is likely these salmon would hurt people that eat them. Their danger is to wild salmon. Maybe these are safe for the environment if raised in Panama. But fish eggs and young fish can drift a long way in the ocean. They would be much safer if they were engineered to be sterile. When there's a small chance of a big and irreparable harm, we need multiple lines of defense, each of which ought to be sufficient by itself.

01 December 2013 (Urgent: Block proposed giant oil terminal in Washington state) Everyone: call on the governor of Washington to block a proposed giant oil terminal. Shipping the oil, by train and ship, would endanger the Columbia River and cities including Spokane and Vancouver. Burning the oil would endanger everyone in the world.

01 December 2013 (Autonomous killer robots) Current US robotics research turns out to be just what's needed for autonomous killer robots.

01 December 2013 (Accusation of election fraud in Honduras) Xiomara Castro accused election fraud in Honduras, which seems plausible given that 30% of the registered voters were invalid and that the difference between her percentage and the establishment candidate's percentage was less than 30%. What did the exit polls say?

01 December 2013 (France punishing clients of prostitutes) France has copied Sweden's harmful policy of punishing the clients of prostitutes. I am not surprised that this law repression prostitution, but that is no help to those who choose (or might have chosen) to become prostitutes. It could discourage human trafficking that forces people to become prostitutes, but there are other ways to do that: (1) interviewing possibly trafficked immigrants in private in their own languages as they enter the country, (2) giving them advice on how to get help if they find they have been enslaved, and (3) visiting them once or twice a year for a private conversation to ask and check whether they have been enslaved. It appears that these methods have not been tried. Helping those who wish to leave prostitution is a good thing, but doesn't excuse the rest.

01 December 2013 (Anti-gov't rallies fighting with gov't supporters in Thailand) In Thailand, anti-government mass rallies have started fighting with mass groups of government supporters. The anti-government crowds have seized various government buildings, one after another.

01 December 2013 (Giant conglomerate buys 40,000 houses across the US) A giant conglomerate, Blackstone, has bought 40,000 houses across the US, using money obtained from a wacky new financial instrument. The housing subsidiary, "Invitation Homes", bullies renters for "late fees" when it makes a mistake collecting their rents. Many companies do this nowadays. It should be a felony to ask for any sort of extra fee from someone who has a contract for service. If the new financial instrument goes belly-up, the company could fail. That could knock 40,000 US families out of their rented homes all at once.

01 December 2013 (The US gov't has been robbed) Government in the US hasn't gone broke by spending too much. Rather, it has been robbed — by business.

01 December 2013 (Citizens charged with "unlawful assembly" in Papua New Guinea) Visiting activists from West Papua were not arrested at the independence rally in Papua New Guinea, but three citizens of Papua New Guinea were charged with "unlawful assembly". Charging anyone with "unlawful assembly" is a crime by the state. Of course, it is possible for protesters to do things which are properly prohibited. But assembling, as such, must not be prohibited.

01 December 2013 (Company sues for trademark infringement in search engine) The cosmetics company Lush, which refuses to sell through Amazon, has sued Amazon for trademark infringement because searching for "lush" there finds other products. I sympathize with Lush's motivation, but I think it is wrong on this case. "Lush" is an English word and everyone has the right to use it as such. If Amazon's search facility searches for any English word, it would be wrong to ban this one as an exception. However, I see no harm in requiring Amazon to present a clear statement that these products are not made by Lush, and that Lush does not sell through Amazon. In directory.fsf.org, if you search for names of nonfree programs, we don't show them (they don't qualify to be listed); instead we show their free counterparts. It would be unfortunate if we were banned from doing this. I think Lush is more entitled to prevail in regard to Amazon's adwords articles. The use of the vague term "intellectual property" where "trademark" would have been clearer added avoidable confusion to the article. See http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/not-ipr.html for why that term spreads confusion. See stallman.org/amazon.html for many other reasons to refuse to buy from Amazon. See stallman.org/ebooks.pdf for why the Kindle and Kindle ebooks are an attack on your freedom.

01 December 2013 (Another form of antibiotic-resistant bacteria found in poultry) Another form of antibiotic-resistant bacteria has been found on poultry. Even though this strain is not very dangerous to humans, the next one might be. Have we got our eyes shut towards dangerous business practices?

01 December 2013 (Venezuelan president given powers to legislate by decree) The Venezuelan congress voted President Maduro powers to legislate by decree on economic matters. This is in accord with the constitution, but that doesn't mean it is a good idea. Price controls tend to cause shortages, and Venezuela already has shortages. I feel no sympathy for store owners that gouge, but preventing future gouging requires changing the system that generates the gouging. The corruption accusations against Asambleadora Aranguren are not inherently implausible, but this still seems fishy. The alleged corruption took place before she ran for election as a supporter of Chavez. However, the accusations were made in September 2013, after she had switched parties, and when her vote became inconvenient. It is proper to take action against corrupt legislators, but it should be done in an unbiased way, not selectively based on their politics.

01 December 2013 (British Red Cross launches food drive for hungry Britons) The British Red Cross is launching a food drive for hungry Britons, for the first time since World War II. 1/4 of the population has had trouble getting enough food this year, due to the poverty that the government has inflicted.

01 December 2013 (Behavior pattern in Canadian women helps men dominate them) A behavior pattern found in Canadian women helps men dominate them. The article errs when claiming the experiment described is proof that this behavior pattern is "hard-wired". The experiment does not tell us whether it is neurological or cultural.

01 December 2013 (UK gov't offers to abolish taxes meant for energy efficiency) The UK government asked UK energy companies to keep prices stable for a while (through the next election) in exchange for the abolition of taxes meant to pay for energy efficiency. In other words, the ruling parties want to give the public a short-term pleasure (cheap energy for the moment) in order to avoid investing in the country's future.

01 December 2013 (US bomb kills civilians in Afghanistan) A US bomb killed civilians in Afghanistan, and Karzai demands greater efforts to avoid such casualties. Accidentally hitting civilians is an inevitable part of war: bombs do miss, even despite the best attempts to hit the target. Thus, this event is not a war crime. I wish, however, that the US made the best possible efforts to avoid killing civilians and that it owned up to civilian casualties when they occur. It does not.

01 December 2013 (Criminal charges against UK protester who called MP a "coward") A protester in the UK faced criminal charges for calling the MP behind the anti-squatting law a "coward". The fact that such charges could even be brought demonstrates that the UK does not respect freedom of speech. I don't know whether that MP is a coward, but it is clear that he is cruel and chooses to make the poor suffer. Which, in my book, is much worse than being a coward.

01 December 2013 (Dominican Republic receives gay US ambassador) The US sent the Dominican Republic an ambassador who is gay and in a same-sex marriage. Around 20 years ago the US sent a black ambassador to South Africa, which was surely intended as rebuke to racism. I don't know whether this choice was meant as a rebuke to bigotry; it might be he was promoted due to merit and given the next available country. In either case, now that religious bigots are demanding that the US accede to their bigotry, it must not do so. Bigotry is not the sort of "local custom" that deserves respect.

01 December 2013 (Nonfree software in cars) The battery for the Zoe electric car has to be rented, and when the rental contract runs out, the battery can be disabled by remote control. Cars are full of nonfree software, and it is common for nonfree software to be malware.

01 December 2013 (LA plans to ban giving food to homeless people from a truck) Los Angeles finds homeless people unsightly and plans to ban giving them food from a truck. If it bothers you that there are homeless people in your neighborhood, remember that their lives are much more unpleasant and dangerous than yours. The reason they look unsightly is that they don't have much money and they have no place to keep clothing while not wearing it. If they defecate in the street, they surely feel rather uncomfortable doing so, but they have no practical choice. The excuses that these anticompassionate people give are full of holes so obvious you have to shut your eyes to fail to see them. If the neighborhood homeowners are annoyed that the homeless people don't have a proper place to defecate, they should set up a toilet. If they are annoyed that the homeless people sleep in the bushes, they should set up a camping space.

01 December 2013 (NSA obtains embarrassing information to discredit or blackmail people) The NSA obtained embarrassing information against "radicalizers" so as to discredit or blackmail them. If these techniques are applied to foreign enemies of the American nation, I could not criticize it. But they can just as well be applied to Americans, and to democratic political activists of other countries, at which point the practice resembles J. Edgar Hoover's blackmail (which focused on US politicians).

01 December 2013 (Proposed African "cybersecurity" treaty) A proposed African "cybersecurity" treaty could turn into censorship.

30 November 2013 (Persistent, repeated harassment by thugs) Alex Saleh installed a video camera in his store to protect his customers and staff from persistent, repeated harassment by thugs. One of Saleh's employees was arrested 62 times for "trespassing" in Saleh's store.

30 November 2013 (Microsoft's competitive staff ranking) After the Gates Foundation pushed Microsoft's competitive staff ranking system on US public schools, Microsoft has abandoned it, concluding it was harmful to rank the staff. I don't think the US politicians who imposed this system will regret it. They don't want public schools to achieve anything; they just want to spend less on them and destroy teachers' unions.

30 November 2013 (Women attacked with acid) Two British women who went to Zanzibar to teach English as volunteers were attacked with acid, apparently by a stranger. Since it seems the attacker did not know them personally and did not rob them, only an ideological motive remains. I suspect it was motivated by hostility to foreigners, or to women not dressed as strict Muslims.

28 November 2013 (Possible prosecution of Julian Assange) Regarding the possible prosecution of Julian Assange, the Obama regime is trying to have it both ways: on the one hand, spreading rumors that Assange is "unlikely" to be prosecuted; on the other, keeping the prosecution option open. The nastiest part is when people condemn Assange for prudently refusing to bet the rest of his life on the truth these rumors.

28 November 2013 (UK Internet censorship will cover some political views) UK Internet censorship will cover some political views. I don't like those views much either, but freedom of speech means the freedom to say things that you and I and the UK government don't like. I wonder how long it will take before the UK blocks access to stallman.org.

28 November 2013 (Journalist Kostas Vaxevanis acquitted) Greek journalist Kostas Vaxevanis, prosecuted for publishing a list of suspected tax evaders, has been acquitted.

28 November 2013 (Requirement for ID to connect to the Internet) A broad coalition opposes the requirement to demand ID from everyone that connects to the Internet in Ecuador. The wording of the law would require you to record the ID and make a video even if you let someone use your network at home. I campaigned against this measure when I was in Ecuador in October. But this is the first I heard that Peru had adopted this nasty law. I will have to think twice before going there again.

28 November 2013 (The absurdity of considering human rights for companies) The Supreme Court plans to consider a case in which a company's owners claim that paying for health care that covers birth control violates their religious freedom. I fear that this Supreme Court will rule for that company. It has granted companies absurd "human" rights on other questions.

28 November 2013 (Belgium on track to approve voluntary euthanasia with no age limit) Belgium is on track to approve voluntary euthanasia with no age limit.

[Reference updated on 2018-03-12 because the old link was broken.] I am in favor of this. The safeguards must be quite careful so that children are not pressured into a decision they are not sure they want. If we can allow minors the choice of dying, it is ridiculous to deny them the far less drastic choice of having sex. That too should be permitted, with suitable safeguards; for instance, that the minor would declare in advance an intention to start having sex.

28 November 2013 (79 Egyptian secular dissidents arrested) 79 Egyptian secular dissidents have been arrested under the new ban on protests. Ever since the massacres of Morsi supporters protesting on the street, it has increasingly appeared that the military was taking Egypt towards another military dictatorship.

28 November 2013 (Investigation into assassination of Alexander Litvinenko silenced) The UK government has finally silenced the investigation into the assassination of Alexander Litvinenko.

28 November 2013 (Drone Weapons) The US, in pushing development drone weapons, is failing to consider what will result when its enemies have drones too.

28 November 2013 (Help Real Children) Rather than censorship, the way to end abuse of real children is with social workers that help real children. Since poverty often brings out the worst in people, ending austerity would help a lot too.

27 November 2013 (Urgent: Rebuke US Airways) Everyone: rebuke US Airways for kicking a blind man and service dog off a flight.

[Reference updated on 2018-03-12 because the old link was broken.] If you've flown a while, you know that flight crew can act like little tyrants when they take it into their heads to push passengers around, and that when they say he was "disruptive", that is an exaggerated way to say "He talked back to us."

27 November 2013 (Pressure in Wall Street to deceive customers) A former Wall Street mathematician describes how his job was to invent complex financial instruments so as to dupe customers, and all managers participated in the pressure to be more deceptive than the competition.

27 November 2013 (Anti-protest laws threaten democracy) From Quebec to Spain, anti-protest laws are threatening true democracy. The more government becomes a mechanism for control by the plutocrats, the less it can tolerate protest or democracy.

27 November 2013 (Assad to negotiate with his Syrian enemies) Assad and his Syrian enemies will have negotiations. It will not be easy to find anything they can agree on. Meanwhile, the goal of the original protesters, a secular democracy, has been completely ruined by Assad and Saudi proxies.

27 November 2013 (Pointless consumption) The wealthier the country, the less its people care how they treat the natural world — perhaps because of the industry of pointless consumption.

27 November 2013 (Thug proved to have lied) A thug who is proved to have lied, claiming he heard Andrew Mitchell call another thug a "pleb", will face prosecution. Thugs often lie to put someone in the wrong; they think they are privileged to do so. I am glad that they get prosecuted when they do this to a powerful politician. I wish they got prosecuted when they do this to other people.

27 November 2013 (US banks threaten to charge for savings accounts) US banks threaten to charge for savings accounts because interest rates are so low. Why are they so low? To promote "economic growth" of the sort that benefits companies but not workers. The effective way to promote true economic growth is with deficit spending, but Republicans have blocked this since 2010, so the Federal Reserve uses "quantitative easing" as a substitute that doesn't quite work.

27 November 2013 (Global heating refugee denied asylum) Ioane Teitiota, from Kiribati, was denied asylum in New Zealand as a global heating refugee.

[Reference updated on 2018-03-12 because the old link was broken.] He asked for asylum because his home is certain to become uninhabitable due to rising sea level. The court denies the danger. It is clear that he is probably safe in Kiribati this year and next year. It is equally clear that they will be inundated. Reportedly growth of coral is enlarging some of the islands at present. However, in a few decades the coral will be killed by ocean acidification, and the islands won't be able to grow after that. Will people be accepted as climate refugees when inundation gets closer? What about the millions who live at low elevations in Bangladesh?

27 November 2013 (Prisoners in Guantanamo) Prisoners in Guantanamo can get out, if they have strong enough al Qa'ida ties, by turning informer. On the other hand, if you were captured for being in the wrong place at the wrong time, you may never get out.

[Reference updated on 2018-03-12 because the old link was broken.] I have no objection to infiltrating al Qa'ida. Unlike the dissident movements that the thugs usually infiltrate, al Qa'ida supports neither human rights nor democracy. What does bother me is that this might be part of the motive for the oppressive practice of imprisoning people indefinitely without a trial.

26 November 2013 (UK gov't wiped out offshore windfarm project) The UK government wiped out a large offshore windfarm project by talking about cancelling previously promised subsidies. I don't think this is a stumble, and I don't think the UK government's ambitions run in the green direction at all. It has given plenty of signs that it is subservient to the fossil fuel companies. I think it did this to keep fossil fuel use high.

26 November 2013 (UK visa law) UK visa law leads directly to slavery for immigrant domestic workers. Why pass a law that is so obviously unjust? Who would ask for such a law? Evidently the people wealthy enough to employ live-in servants. In other words, plutocrats legalized domestic slavery in the UK.

26 November 2013 (Deaths from AIDS) Deaths from AIDS have gone down, except in teenagers. I have a hunch that prudish attitudes contribute to this.

25 November 2013 (New passport) I just got a new passport. It came with a brochure whose front page says, "With Your U.S. Passport, the World Is Yours." What a claim!

25 November 2013 (Nonviolent protesters face charges carrying a year in prison) Nonviolent protesters against the JP Morgan Chase bank face charges in the US carrying a year in prison. Their protest criticized the company for bankrolling massive environmental damage that is going to kill thousands, maybe millions of people. Of the forecast of a hundred million human casualties from global heating by 2030, to be followed by larger numbers afterward, surely JP Morgan Chase will be responsible for at least 1%. We see increased repression of environmental protesters, in the US as in Russia. I predict it will increase steadily, because the fossil fuel companies will demand ever more repression to keep a lid on the people who see the current system is going to kill them.

25 November 2013 (High and stable carbon price needed to avert disaster) A high and stable carbon price is needed to avert disaster. I will go further and assert that this must be implemented via a carbon tax. A cap-and-trade system is easy to game.

25 November 2013 (Myths about retail jobs) Correcting myths about retail jobs. Now imagine what these people will do if they are replaced by automated sales machines. Beg on the street? That is why I refuse to use those machines, and call on other customers to refuse too. Technology is not the main cause of increased poverty in the US. Mostly it is due to policies that favor the rich. Nonetheless, eliminating millions of jobs through technology will add to the problem. The US does not need more efficiency, it needs to support everyone better.

25 November 2013 (Antibiotic-resistant bladder infections) Antibiotic-resistant bladder infections are linked to bacteria found in chicken treated with antibiotics. We must end the regular use of antibiotics in farm animals, and if the result is to make meat more expensive, we'll probably eat a more healthful diet.

25 November 2013 (Revenge porn) A crusader writes about her experience fighting and defeating a revenge porn site. Revenge porn achieves its intended effect because of a neurotic taboo against nudity. Why fire someone for making a nude photo that gets posted by someone else? Why fire someone for making a nude photo and intentionally posting it? Why fire someone for stripping in a bar, or in Central Park? It is all gratuitous cruelty, and that cruelty makes Moore's cruelty possible. In effect, his activities are part of the harm done by the taboo. We could make it illegal to fire people such as Jill the teacher. That would be better than nothing. However, the real solution is not at the legal level. Rather, we need to get over the nudity taboo, so that nobody thinks of firing such people. Facebook could do something good for society (for a change) if it required each of its users to post a nude selfie. After a few months of that, revenge porn would no longer succeed in bothering anyone. Victims would say, "Oh, you're going to post another nude photo of me? Please tell me the URL so I can link to it." The Hunter Moores of the world would have to search for some other way to harass people. The wrong of the taboo does not excuse revenge porn — or any company that argues, "What we're doing is lawful, and you can't criticize us for anything that's lawful and profitable." Yes we can! That the nastiness is lawful is no excuse, ethically. In general, someone who exploits a flaw in a system to hurt people is responsible for his actions, and the system is also responsible if it could be better.

25 November 2013 (United Airlines wants confidentiality agreement after nearly killing passenger's dog) United Airlines, after nearly killing a woman's dog, offered to pay the vet bill, but only if she signs a confidentiality agreement. I flew on United a few days ago. Before the usual safety announcement there was an ad showing staff (or perhaps actors) talking about how good service was their priority. I didn't pay it much attention, but it occurred to me for a moment to think, "Don't tell us — show us!" I think there should be a law invalidating any confidentiality commitment made to a business by a client.

25 November 2013 (Unfinished spy feature in LG Smart TV to be removed) LG said its Smart TV was sending back filenames found on USB drives as part of an unfinished feature to search for other things "you might also like". We are fortunate it was not finished, or they would have presented it as a reason not to remove the feature.

25 November 2013 (Poverty makes it hard to do things perceived to be easy) A poor person in the US explains how poverty makes it hard and expensive to do things middle class people think ought to be easy and cheap.

25 November 2013 (The carbon bubble) Companies with valuations based on the carbon bubble must warn investors.

24 November 2013 (Interim agreement limiting Iran's uranium enrichment) The US and Iran have made an interim agreement limiting Iran's uranium enrichment. The deal calls for diluting Iran's 20%-enriched uranium, which would put any possible nuclear weapon further away. Netanyahu hates this deal, for understandable reasons: it will deny him the chance to get the US and Iran into war, and he will no longer be able to cite Iran to distract attention from the occupation of Palestine.

24 November 2013 (UK took charity funds and spent it on Olympic Park) The UK took money from funds for normally local charities and spent it on the Olympic Park. At the time, the government promised to make up the loss, but it seems to be breaking that promise. The Olympic Games leave behind debt, surveillance and repression; if there is a proposal to hold them in your city, organize now to push them away.

24 November 2013 (South African thugs who massacred striking miners) There is evidence that the South African thugs who massacred striking miners had met with the mine management and made a plan to break the strike. This was designed to promote an ANC-associated union and block the acceptance of an independent and more vigorous u