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24 September 2020 (Plotting violence ahead of rallies) *Revealed: pro-Trump activists plotted violence ahead of Portland rallies.* *Patriots Coalition members suggested political assassinations and said ‘laws will be broken, people will get hurt’, leaked chats show.* We all suspected this, but we could not be sure. Now we know that the bully's supporters are a criminal gang.

24 September 2020 (2C of global heating) After 2C of global heating, Antarctic ice melt would raise sea level 2.7 meters. That would be in addition to the effects of melting in Greenland and the expansion of the ocean due to its own heating. I don't know what the total would be.

24 September 2020 (Weird burning sensation) (satire) *Earth reportedly expressed hope Tuesday that a weird burning sensation was nothing serious.*

24 September 2020 (Sandwich method) (satire) *… Xi Jinping jailed Chinese real estate tycoon Ren Zhiqiang Tuesday for failing to use the sandwich method of constructive criticism when condemning him.*

24 September 2020 (Amnesty denied access) Amnesty International rebukes the UK for denying it access to monitor Assange's extradition hearing. If it were not for Craig Murray's coverage, the hearing would be effectively secret. This is what we expect from outright tyrannies such as China, but apparently the UK is approaching the same level of decay.

24 September 2020 (Derecognizing journalists) Hong Kong's puppet government has derecognized most journalists, as a preparatory step for repression. Remember this if politicians in your country try to impose rules about who is a journalist and who is not. For instance, if they claim that Julian Assange is not a journalist.

24 September 2020 (QAnon orphans) *The QAnon orphans: people who have lost loved ones to conspiracy theories.* Cults like these used to be run as businesses: Scientology, and the Moonies. As far as I know, there is no one business profiting off QAnon. But with so many credulous people, I'm sure there are people with plans to profit off exploiting them in a tight, cult-like way.

24 September 2020 (Door-to-door at JPMorgan) (satire) *As the Democratic presidential nominee ramped up his in-person efforts to get out the vote, members of the Joe Biden campaign reportedly went door-to-door Tuesday in the JPMorgan Chase headquarters.*

24 September 2020 (Coronavirus inflicts American deaths equivalent to a 9/11 every few days) * Coronavirus inflicts American deaths equivalent to a 9/11 every few days, but [the wrecker] and his allies seem blithely unconcerned.* Republicans don't care if other people die, but in 2001 they had a chance to gain by making a fuss about some Americans who died. Whereas today they have a chance to gain by pretending it isn't happening.

24 September 2020 (EU greenhouse gases from livestock) *Greenpeace says [the EU] must get a grip on reducing greenhouse gases from livestock or risk missing Paris agreement targets.*

24 September 2020 (Austin, Texas voted to cut the thug department's budget) Austin, Texas, voted to cut the thug department's budget. Texas Governor Abbott threatens to cut Austin's taxes as a punishment for this, and put the city's thug department under the control of the lawless and cruel state thug department. The article starts by describing how the state thugs attacked Lauren Mestas. Her car had slogans such as FUCK THESE RACIST POLICE, and "all cops are bastards." A thug was so offended by this that he believed he was entitled to bring many thugs to point guns at her, then force her out of the car, which they ruined ‐ demonstrating that at least Texas state cops are bastards.

24 September 2020 (Counting valid postal ballots) The cheater hopes courts will stop states from counting valid postal ballots that arrive after election day. By itself, this is merely unfair. But when combined with DeJoy's efforts to delay mail, it adds up to sabotage.

23 September 2020 (Adjunct professors) Covid-19 has made adjunct professors even more likely to be junct. They also fear losing their medical insurance, although many of them already have none. If they get sick, they can be fired rather than treated. They would not have that danger if the US had a national medical system. In general, a national medical system can encourage hiring workers because the state can fund their medical treatment by taxing profits rather than taxing employment.

23 September 2020 (Cat and mouse) Matthew Carney recounts more of the Chinese psychological game of cat and mouse, threatening him and his family. You may have a mission to do in China which is so important that you take the risk of being thrown in prison for political reasons. But don't bring your family with you!

23 September 2020 (Covid-19 and aerosols) The CDC posted notice that Covid-19 can be spread via aerosols. Then, a few days later, it deleted that notice. Can anyone find the evidence about spread via aerosols?

23 September 2020 (Climate emergency is a crime) *The Climate Emergency Isn't Just a Crisis, It's a Crime.* The fossil fuel companies are the mobsters that organized the crime. Clean energy makes more jobs than dirty energy, but "creating jobs" is used as an excuse for subsidizing the latter. A heavily subsidized Shell plant is an example of this. I have to point out, though, that employment is a secondary consideration when the survival of civilization and the ecosphere is at stake. What would be the sense in paying people to poison our future, even if it did make lots of jobs? It would be better to create jobs by paying them to move a big pile of gravel from one lot to another, with shovels. At least that work wouldn't do any harm.

23 September 2020 (Control of state legislatures) Republicans put a lot of effort, 10 years ago, into winning control of state legislatures so they could gerrymander subsequent elections. Democrats need to win them back.

23 September 2020 (Tuning distancing rules) Bogus Johnson has tuned the distancing rules for the UK, hoping this will stop the rapid growth in Covid-19 cases. Experience with him suggests that he has no solid basis to think that it will do so. I don't have a solid basis to think it won't, but since tuning has been insufficient in many other places, I predict it will be insufficient this time too.

23 September 2020 (Paying fines of ex-cons) Bloomberg is paying the fines for 31,000 Florida ex-cons so that they will be able to vote this year. It should not be forgotten that the Florida election was not actually close. It appeared to be so after Republicans disenfranchised around 50,000 voters, chosen systematically in a way that ensured most of them would be black and therefore probably Democrats.

23 September 2020 (Tasing sleeping man) Australian thugs found a man drunk and asleep, so they pepper-sprayed and tased him to wake him up. Then they made false charges against him. So far, so usual. Except that he was a famous professional rugby player and there is a video of what they did to him. The thug commissioner seems to have a great capacity to sympathize with thugs, but insufficient sympathy for everyone else. I was surprised that his list of ways to deal with the situation did not include having four people pick him up, each holding one limb. That doesn't generally hurt, and he might have stayed asleep.

23 September 2020 (Exporting castes) Many upper-caste Indian engineers have moved to the US. Alas, they have brought caste prejudice with them. The Indian I admire most is Dr Ambedkar, who was the leader of the Dalits. I urge people to read a biography of him. The one I read was Ambedkar — Toward an Enlightened India, by Gail Omvedt. Please do not buy this (or anything) from Amazon! At the end of his life, Ambedkar developed a rationalist form of Buddhism which he called Navayana. Jai Bhim!

22 September 2020 (UK woman fired from her job at a school for posting same-sex marriage disapproval) A woman in the UK was fired from her job at a school for posting, elsewhere, a statement disapproving of same-sex marriage. I disagree with her views, but we must respect her right to state them. Her employer should have to respect that, too. As it happens, she made the statement based on her religion, but that should make no difference. An Atheist should also have the same right to state those views, or other views, as a religious believer.

22 September 2020 (Funders of the State Policy Network) The State Policy Network aims at *crushing unions, promoting fossil fuels and undermining climate science, eliminating regulations and cutting taxes, privatizing education, stopping Medicaid expansion, and hiding the identities of political donors.* Now we know 100 of its funders. It would be useful to develop a consumer boycott list based on this information.

22 September 2020 (Cyprus blocked the EU from putting sanctions on Belarus) Cyprus blocked the EU from putting sanctions on Belarus, using the issue as a pawn. Cyprus demands the EU take its side in the dispute about which country will get to extract fossil fuel from the Mediterranean Sea and convert it into planet-roasting greenhouse gas. It seems that the EU does not recognize that it must never be done. Why not? There are many low-lying coastal cities in Turkey, which will be inundated by global heating. I don't think Turks want them to be flooded. Don't they realize?

22 September 2020 (Half of the world's known oil reserves will never be used) BP has confirmed that half the world's known oil reserves will never be used and are worthless. This article speculates about political consequences. The article also talks about reviving carbon capture, but that technology was only hypothetical. If it is ever made to work, let's do it, but don't pretend it is available technology. The plan to make hydrogen from methane is misguided. Methane wells leak lots of methane. Transporting methane leaks too. To add to that, making hydrogen from natural gas releases CO2! That is a bad way to make hydrogen. As for the idea that there is something wasteful about using green electricity to make hydrogen, that would make sense if we were hitting a limit on supply of solar and wind energy. The real limit is how much of those facilities we build, and we can ramp that up. Meanwhile, how come Greece, Cyprus and Turkey are still fighting about possible oil reserves under the sea? Have they not grasped this news? Or is there something not known to me, nor described in the article, which makes those new undersea reserves worth something despite all the other known reserves that won't be used?

22 September 2020 (Yelp is screwing over restaurants) *Yelp is Screwing Over Restaurants By Quietly Replacing Their Phone Numbers.* The phone numbers add tracking before connecting to a restaurant, so that Grubhub can bill for a marketing fee.

22 September 2020 (Fight against monopolies and tax havens) The global fight against monopolies and tax havens is picking up. The article also reminds us that the fight against excessive market concentration is not limited to blocking mergers and breaking up large companies. Though we need to do a lot of that, and my tax proposal can help.

22 September 2020 (Right-wing scapegoating parties) Right-wing scapegoating parties are doing very well against plutocratist parties, since plutocratists around the world have crushed and silenced the left.

22 September 2020 (Republicans aren't hypocrites) *Republicans Aren't Hypocrites.* To be a hypocrite, you have to stand for principles. According to this article, Republicans are cynics that don't care about any political positions, except as ways to give their supporters enemies to win victories over.

22 September 2020 (Offending China with reporting on repression) In 2018, China threatened to imprison Australian journalist Matthew Carney, and his wife, and their teenage daughter — separately — for a fabricated visa crime, for offending China with his reporting on repression. Carney kept silent about this until now for the safety of other Australian journalists. Both the US and China have imprisoned whole families, often separating children and teenagers from their parents. I don't know which country does this more often. There are not very many foreign journalists in China but there are millions of Uighurs. Another similarity is that both countries do this as part of a campaign to attack truth. But the US does not do this to foreign journalists. It is trying to imprison Julian Assange, which is evil, but it is not trying to imprison his mate and their children.

22 September 2020 (Meet the doomers) *Meet the doomers: why some young US voters have given up hope on climate.* I agree with their estimation of our future. But they are wrong to give up the fight because of the situation. They are right that avoiding disaster calls for big national efforts which current governments refuse to do. (I call them "planet roasters" because of that refusal.) And it is too late to fully avoid the disaster. But it is not too late to avoid part of the disaster. If 20% of species go extinct, instead of 50%, that will be a great conservation achievement. If heating kills 8 billion people in this century rather that 11 billion, that will mean saving 3 billion human lives. Whatever we achieve in preservation of democracy and human rights will also make a lasting difference, if civilization survives. Fortunately, some of the young people are not giving up. Whatever universities do by 2030, or by 2050, will not make a big difference directly. But pressuring universities into rapid action can lead to broader actions that are bigger.

22 September 2020 (Immigrant rights groups urge senators to block Iris Lan's nomination) *Immigrant rights groups urge New York senators to block Iris Lan’s nomination to serve as a federal judge in the southern district.* I hope they can do so, but Republicans have already disregarded that traditional Senate practice.

22 September 2020 (Australia's mining companies destroying ancient sites) Australia's laws give mining companies great license to destroy ancient sites with their mines. One might think they were designed to do that. I am not persuaded by the "sacred site" argument, because no religion deserves special deference from people who are not its adherents. Every church is someone's "sacred site", but that should not protect all churches from eminent domain and demolition. (For the same reason, I do not call priests "father".) What we owe to other people's religions, in general, is to respect people's right to practice their religions. What is special about these sites is not that someone's religion calls them "sacred," but that they are irreplaceable relics from humanity's past. That applies to some churches and other religious buildings and objects, too. Typically those are already protected, except that sometimes fanatical religion attacks them.

22 September 2020 (The QAnon fantasy) The QAnon fantasy enables right-wing believers to feel they are protecting innocent children. Alas, the protect those children from a fantasy danger which distracts people from the real source of real sexual abuse. The QAnon fantasy resembles a cancer in the body of knowledge. Just as cancer cells have become disconnected from the rules and needs of the body they are supposed to be part of, QAnonsense beliefs are disconnected from the body of real knowledge and real society's real needs. Whatever variant appeals more to the susceptible, will spread. This jamming together of conspiracies reminds me of a great work of fiction from the 1970s: the Illuminatus trilogy. It presents a fictional world in which every well-known conspiracy theory of the day is posited as true, and weaves them together by inventing connections that are literally consistent but shockingly implausible. For instance, three assassins had separately gone to Dallas to shoot President Kennedy, and the agent who was there to save Kennedy — John Dillinger — decided he couldn't possibly stop all three, except by shooting Kennedy before they did. Completely preposterous, but it wasn't meant to be believed. What was delightful absurdity as fiction in Illuminatus becomes a dangerous delusion when taken seriously by the credulous.

22 September 2020 (Two expert witnesses in Assange's hearing) On the testimony of two expert witnesses in Assange's hearing. Clive Stafford Smith, a lawyer who defends the rights of people faced with torture and assassination by the US government and campaigns against those activities, testified about cases that had been helped Wikileaks releases, and about how US trials about publication of secrets really work, and explained that the indictment included a charge of "conspiracy" for which everything Wikileaks released, which had come from Manning, would be pertinent. One thing that amazed me was his assertion that Obama had decided not to prosecute Assange. This amazed me because Obama certainly did not call off the teams that were keeping him bottled up in the Ecuadorian embassy. It has been thoroughly established that Sweden and the UK were manipulating the Swedish charges rather than trying honestly to pursue them. Mark Feldstein, an expert on journalistic practices, testified about how journalists ask source for leaks of secrets and how they protect the leakers. He said that the things Assange is accused of doing were standard practice. The witnesses had prepared based on the old indictment and have been denied a chance to study the new one carefully, as described in a previous report.

22 September 2020 (Shutting down gangs outside cities) UK cops report that they have learned how to shut down the gangs that sell cocaine and heroin outside cities. I congratulate them, because cocaine and heroin are dangerous, but this focus on the punitive approach can't ever stop the sale of those drugs. As the article recognizes, someone else will always show up to sell them. What will make those drugs nearly disappear is to adopt a more intelligent approach — the one that works in the Netherlands and in Portugal. This approach is for the national medical system to let addicts register, then give them drugs of reliable purity to use, and safe places to use them. When the main buyers are not buying from private sellers, most of the market will disappear, and so will the private selling.

22 September 2020 (Double CO2 emissions) *World's richest 1% cause double CO2 emissions of poorest 50%, says Oxfam.* However, I disagree with the recommendations. Instead of "using the carbon budget for the best," we must use as little of it as possible. When we speak of the carbon budget, we are making an estimate of how much more emissions we can make before a certain level of disaster. We don't know exactly how much, and more emissions means a worse disaster. It is valid to say, "If we emit considerably more than the carbon budget, we will make life horrible." It is not valid to say, "If we emit a little less than the carbon budget, we will be ok." If we could be certain, absolutely certain, that we had done enough to avoid disaster, perhaps at that point we could switch to the goal of helping the poor. But since disaster is already starting, it is pretty clear we have already failed to do enough. So we must do the most we can. *The climate crisis will sweep away my country if the world doesn't keep its promises.* What we have to do for the people of many regions that are threatened — many of whom are among the poorest 50% — is cut emissions ASAP.

22 September 2020 (Thugs dox) Activists doxed 1,000 Belarusian thugs. We don't know from the information in the article whether they are hackers. We also don't know whether they are crackers — we don't know whether they had to break computer security to get the data. But I can say with certainty that they struck a good blow against Lukashenko's tyranny. Doxing someone is like a kind of violence. Ordinarily, it is bad to do violence to others, but there are situations where it is justified. When the thugs are carrying out violent repression of dissidents, it is justified for dissidents to respond with counter-violence. It may or may not be a good tactic. In this case, because doxing is a warning rather than actual physical harm, I think it is a good tactic.

22 September 2020 (Saudi nuclear bomb) (satire) *U.S. officials told reporters Thursday they were hurt that Saudi Arabia would try to develop its own nuclear weapon rather than just asking nicely for one from America.*

22 September 2020 (Prisoners and wildfires) California hires lots of prisoners to help fight wildfires. But it is hard for ex-prisoners to get a job to do this: fire departments exclude them because of their prison record.

22 September 2020 (Advice to BP) Advice to BP (Billionaire Polluters) if it is serious about transitioning to green energy. Many oil companies are going bankrupt, and the rest face a dim future. We can count on them to try to extract every last dollar from their operations, leaving nothing to pay for the sealing of their wells. We need to pass laws to collect a substantial well-sealing tax which will go into a fund to seal old wells.

22 September 2020 (Giving away control to Corporations) Ralph Nader: *Why Do Americans Give Away So Much Control to Corporations?* I disagree with Nader on one point. The problem with giving personal information to companies is not that they get it without paying. It is that they get it at all. Simply having the data and using them gives them power over people. So don't be distracted by the proposals to make them pay for the data, one way or another; they don't go far enough.

22 September 2020 (One way or the other) Most of the US is in the zones to be affected by climate disaster, one way or another. If you don't get fires, or water shortage, you get hurricanes or torrential raines. Here's a map.

22 September 2020 (Education in prisons) Lori Loughlin will serve her prison sentence in a prison near her new home. The prison has many educational programs, including creative skills and job skills. All prisons should offer such lessons. That is called "rehabilitation" — a concept American prisons used to practice, but forgot about under Reagan's spirit of cruelty. Lori Loughlin does not need to learn a new trade, but many prisoners do, and it can be the opportunity to change from a life of crime to a life as a good citizen. Is it silly to teach arts, including music? Some prisoners can make an emotional contact with an art and see that there is something in life other than what you can get for yourself. What bothers me is not that Ms Loughlin's prison has these things. It is that so many prisons don't. It would be fair to make wealthy prisoners pay for participating in these programs — but that is dangerous, because it might lead to charging poor prisoners for participating in them. That we must not do!

22 September 2020 (Prosecution of soldiers) Bogus Johnson is proposing to create three new obstacles against prosecuting UK soldiers for war crimes including torture. Fortunately the International Criminal Court will be able to prosecute them if the British government does not try. No army is immune to the temptation to vent anger through war crimes. If a country protects its own soldiers from charges, it in effect encourages war crimes. The world is full of bad examples; the UK has been a good example until now.

22 September 2020 (Bringing back normal) *A Biden victory cannot bring normal back.* Even if it could, that would hardly be desirable except in contrast to the present. The old "normal" was pretty bad for most Americans, and climate mayhem is making it rapidly worse. The article uses the non-US definition of "liberalism", meaning deregulation of business. In the US, "liberalism" is the term we have used for many decades for the agenda now more often called "progressive". Medical care for all has been a liberal program since the New Deal. Likewise workers' rights, and support for the poor. By the 1960s it included racial equality. By the 70s, it included women's equality, gay rights, and eliminating pollution. Why, I wonder, does anyone think to define the term "liberal" to refer to self-styled "centrists" such as right-wing Democrats?

21 September 2020 (Promotion) The UK government has replaced promotion of the most capable with promotion of the most politically loyal. Michael Young, in The Rise of the Meritocracy, was perceptive. He saw that if society offered enough social mobility for capable people to get out of the working class won their own, that would leave the remaining workers with no one capable enough to organize them to stand up for their rights. We must educate and promote capable people anyway, because the alternative is to let the incapable run things — but we must somehow prevent this from resulting in telling the less "meritorious" to suffer low pay and a life of hardship.

21 September 2020 (Wetland fires and drought) *Brazilian wetlands fires started by humans and worsened by drought.* The people who set the fires are criminals who wanted to replace the wetlands with cattle ranching. Due to the drought, the large Pantanal wetland is not wet now.

21 September 2020 (Protecting buildings from fire) California could protect its buildings from fire with requirements for careful precautions. More frequent fires outside the cities might result in less intense fires.

21 September 2020 (Ending lockdowns too soon) Warning Latin America not to end lockdowns too soon. The US, and then Europe, have shown that this is likely to mean a new outbreak of Covid-19. England has been trying to restrain the spread of Covid-19 with local restrictions, and being rather rigid about them, but it is not working. I think the country needs nationwide measures. However, they don't need to be absolutely rigid. The UK's approach strikes me like measuring the distance between two people and fining them if is only 198 cm instead of 200 cm.

21 September 2020 (AI on body cameras) Using AI recognition systems on body cameras could be a powerful system for teaching thugs to be less brutal. However, it could also be a powerful system for repression of everyone that comes into range of the camera. To make body cameras serve and protect the people, rather than repress the people, we need to make sure that they capture video and audio when they should, and not when they shouldn't. I've made a technical proposal for part of that, but we also need proper laws about publishing the videos. As for the idea that live monitoring of the video could enable a deescalation specialist to intervene and prevent a killing, that might have saved George Floyd. But many killings by thugs occur when thugs react without taking even a second to think. There would be no time to intervene, either. Meanwhile, the live transmission would imply transmitting the video all the time, which is wrong because most of the time the video should not be saved at all.

21 September 2020 (Smoke from wildfires) The smoke from wildfires, when breathed by pregnant women, causes lasting harm to their fetuses in later life. In some US states, women could be prosecuted for breathing the smoke. Perhaps millions of women would commit this "crime". One could imagine prosecuting oil companies too, but the right-wing officials in those states don't want to go after oil companies, only women.

20 September 2020 (Alexei Navalny recovery) Alexei Navalny is making a good recovery. However, one thing makes me worry that his brain has been injured: a perverse inclination to use Instagram. ;-{.

20 September 2020 (Climate system's tipping points) We don't know where the climate system's tipping points are, but if one tips, it could tip others. Or it could block others. It's like playing a pinball game with Earth as the ball.

20 September 2020 (Biden's Michigan campaign organization) Biden seems to have no presencial campaign organization in Michigan. I wonder if this is because rational people are scared to go there, and especially scared to approach lots of strangers there. Meanwhile, the wrecker has taught his followers a delusion of invulnerability. They don't feel inhibitions about meeting people on the street to reinforce their rejection of masks. In effect, the wrecker has found a way to arrange that Republicans can do real canvassing and campaigning, while his rational opponents know it is not safe.

20 September 2020 (Rights of voters' postal ballots in New York State) New York State agreed to a court settlement which protects the rights of voters that sent in postal ballots against unjust rejection of their ballots. Which states have not done this?

20 September 2020 (One-sided patriotic propaganda) The bullshitter wants to turn US history teaching into one-sided patriotic propaganda. To a large extent, that's what US history teaching has tended to be: justifying actions of the US in conflict with other countries, and the winners in domestic disputes, with the exception of the Civil War: the supporters of the Confederacy perversely gained the upper hand about reconstruction. However, it wasn't totally one-sided in the 60s. You could see that the indigenous people were cheated. Slavery was condemned. We see a similar practice of propaganda history in China. (satire) *Trump Signs Executive Order Establishing ‘1946 Commission’ To Teach How America Started At President’s Birth.*

20 September 2020 ((satire) Powerful gale has overwhelmed our electoral system) (satire) *With 30% of the U.S. electorate currently stumbling through the streets in pursuit of their ballots and shouting, ‘Wait, come back!’ we fear this sudden, powerful gale has overwhelmed our electoral system.*

20 September 2020 (Urgent: Reject Chad Wolf as head of the Department of Harshness and Sadism) US citizens: call on your senators to reject Chad Wolf as head of the Department of Harshness and Sadism. He is too apt for harshness and sadism to be entrusted with official authority over it. The Capitol Switchboard numbers are 202-224-3121, 888-818-6641 and 888-355-3588. If you call please spread the word!

19 September 2020 (Julian Assange's hearing has resumed) Julian Assange's hearing has resumed, and Craig Murray is covering it as before. I was unable to post these before because I was overloaded writing a long article. Murray reports that Keir Starmer, the tame new head of the Labour Party, condemns Extinction Rebellion as a threat to the free press for blocking right-wing newspaper trucks one morning, but says nothing when the free press is truly threatened. In the first day of the resumed hearing, Assange saw for the first time the totally new charges, which his lawyers saw only in the past few weeks and had been unable to show him in prison. They had a discussion about them and asked for an adjournment to gather evidence. The judge refused this. The defense will not be allowed to call witnesses except the ones it chose for the old charges. This continues what we have seen all along: the rules of justice twisted over and over to assure a politically pre-decided outcome. This is not as obvious a show trial as the ones Stalin held, but it is substantively similar. Organizations such as Amnesty and Reporters without Borders had to fight for a chance to view the hearing, so strong were the efforts to prevent public monitoring of the treacherous proceedings.

19 September 2020 (Salafi Arabia uranium deposits) Salafi Arabia has possible large uranium deposits. Now that fission power is effectively obsolete, the only reason the country would be interested is to make nuclear weapons. It would be natural to propose a nuclear disarmament treaty for Salafi Arabia and Iran — and perhaps Israel too.

19 September 2020 (Learning from the Corbyn era) *Only an honest conversation about the Corbyn era will help us learn from it.*

19 September 2020 (Freedom of speech in Hong Kong) When Hong Kong was a British colony, Britain did not respect freedom of speech there. Now that it is a Chinese colony, it is China that doesn't respect freedom of speech there, but it finds the old British law against "sedition" handy for jailing dissidents.

19 September 2020 (Australia too, has seen red skies) *Dear America, we too have seen red skies in Australia and we can tell you what happens next.* It is not too late to bring about a small disaster instead of the big one humanity is heading for.

19 September 2020 ((satire) Apple watch rabbit-ear antenna) (satire) *Apple announced Wednesday that its new smart watch would feature a rabbit-ear antenna capable of picking up five or more television channels in the area where a user lives.*

19 September 2020 (Hydrogen fuel for vehicles generated by solar energy) Scotland will use solar electricity to generate hydrogen as fuel for vehicles. One convenient thing is that it doesn't matter that there are times when there is no light to make hydrogen with. If you make hydrogen at a high rate when there is light, you have enough for the rest of the time too.

19 September 2020 (Children's privacy rules and rights) *The shift to online schooling is running roughshod over children's privacy rules and rights,* which were inadequate to start with. The article is concerned that wealthier schools will choose systems that "protect" privacy "better" whereas impecunious schools will have to use systems that protect privacy less. That would be a real danger, if some of these systems did protect privacy. In practice, none of these systems give much protection. Whatever data a company collects is already on the road to being misused. The only effective protection for privacy is not to put the data in a database.

19 September 2020 (Certification of elections in some states) Greg Palast: Republicans may be planning to refuse to certify the elections in some states, using uncounted postal ballots as an excuse. Use early voting instead of postal voting. That is what I did for the Massachusetts primary on Sept 1, and that is what I plan to do for the general election too.

19 September 2020 (Covid-19 recovery for reduction of greenhouse emissions) Some US cities have plans to use the recovery from the Covid-19 depression to reduce local greenhouse emissions. Every little bit helps, but we need more than local improvements to avoid most of the climate disaster.

19 September 2020 (Multistory pig farms) China is moving to giant multistory pig farms, isolated from the outside, so as to stop transmission of diseases.

19 September 2020 (CDC published weak recommendations for Covid-19 tests) The CDC published the weak recommendations for who should get a Covid-19 test over the objections of its scientists. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/sep/18/cdc-guidelines-coronavirus-testing-published-despite-objection-scientists

19 September 2020 (Bill prohibiting discrimination against pregnant workers) The House of Representatives passed a bill prohibiting discrimination against pregnant workers, and requiring employers to make reasonable accommodations so a pregnant worker can keep working. There is no chance that the Republicans who control the Senate will agree to this, but passing the bill is useful as political pressure.

19 September 2020 (Oil-and-plastic companies blocking efforts to reduce plastic pollution) How the oil-and-plastic companies have organized world-wide to block efforts to reduce plastic pollution. This is yet another facet of the harm done by plutocratic rule.

19 September 2020 (Belarus protesters are pulling the masks off thugs) Belarus protesters are pulling the masks off thugs to identify them. This seems to dissuade them from violence. It is an interesting reversal, to use face recognition against the servants if a tyrant. I think it is justified in that situation, This suggests to me that the thugs of Belarus are just barely clinging to obedience to Lukashenko, and that at any moment they could snap.

19 September 2020 (Global coalition against China's aggression) *Taiwan calls for global coalition against China's aggression as US official flies in.* I think it would be interesting for several important countries to open diplomatic relations with Taiwan, and let China break relations or keep relations, however it wishes. After a few years, I believe, China would decide that it needs the diplomatic relations more than it needs to show aggression against Taiwan.

18 September 2020 (Thugs arresting and killing a man) Indian thugs in Kashmir arrested a man, then tortured him and killed him. (Of coure, they deny this.) This triggered protests, much as it does in the US. It appears that the repression of Kashmir in general is not as severe as it was some months ago: the internet is not shut off all the time any more, only sometimes.

18 September 2020 (Recording information about video recommendations) * Extension on Firefox browser will allow users to record information about videos recommended by [youtube].* The aim is to figure out why youtube's recommendation algorithm recommends noisome videos.

18 September 2020 (60 more naval ships) The US military-industrial complex proposes to build 60 additional naval ships, because a navy that China could catch up with in decades is not considered sufficient. That does not seem logical to me. China's approach to taking over the South China Sea is to build airfields on small islands and reefs. Ships are much more vulnerable than those airfields. It seems to me that the US would find it more effective, as well as cheaper, to help its regional allies build more such airfields.

18 September 2020 (Forced hysterectomies) A whistleblower reports that a privatized immigration prison carried out hysterectomies by force against prisoners. One of the reasons we must abolish privatized prisons is that it is harder to hold them accountable for any sort of cruel, degrading, injurious or even fatal conduct. Even when people have been convicted of a crime — which these prisoners mostly have not been — that does not excuse such treatment of them.

18 September 2020 (Prosecuted for mocking dead sultans) A dissident journalist in Turkey is being prosecuted for mocking medieval Ottoman sultans. I doubt the statement that they were from the 13th century, since the first Ottoman prince, Osman, did not become the ruler of a principality until 1299. It is more likely that they were from the 14th or 15th centuries. It should not be a crime to insult a deceased person, or a living person — or anyone or anything. Such laws are repressive.

18 September 2020 (Sanctions) The US government is pretending that sanctions against Iran, ended by virtue of US rejection of the non-nuclear deal, will come back into force on Sep 20. This could be meant as an excuse for the wrecker to launch a war to "enforce the sanctions", to manipulate the election. Will Iran's rulers have the self-discipline to refrain from retaliation until after November 3 so as to refuse to help the wrecker?

18 September 2020 (Crime of going limp) A UK thug called for making it a crime to go limp when arrested. It makes me think of Israel fining Palestinians for not demolishing their own houses.

17 September 2020 (Threat to national security) For the US, global heating is a big threat to national security. What does that make the planet-roasters? And the wrecker? Of course, global heating is a threat to the national security of many other countries. Some are sure to be destroyed entirely by it.

17 September 2020 (Policies following the polls) It is a mistake for a political party to adopt policies following the polls. Of course, it is even worse to adopt policies following the rich people's donations as "centrist" Democrats do. A party must have values and come to conclusions.

17 September 2020 (Herd mentality) The wrecker said that Covid-19 could be stopped by 'herd mentality'. He sure tries to inculcate a herd mentality into his followers; if that could stop Covid-19, we would see less infection, rather than more, in places he holds rallies.

17 September 2020 (Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument) The wrecker's campaign to build a wall has covered only a fraction of the border with Mexico, but that was enough to wreck Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument. It can never be restored.

17 September 2020 (Childfree) Women state their feelings about being childfree (or, in a few cases, about having children).

17 September 2020 (Calling victims terrorists) Netanyahu stated that Israeli thugs murdered a Palestinian, then falsely called him a "terrorist" to justify the murder. He went so far as to apologize to the victim's family. Netanyahu is, as a general matter, an unprincipled corrupt greedy bastard. The article suggests that he made these true admissions about the murder as a way to deny his share of the responsibility.

17 September 2020 (Worse place to live) The beginnings of climate disaster will make many parts of the US worse places to live. Over time, half the population will be affected. Millions will need to move, but to where? The government should not pay so people can bullheadedly remain in land that is becoming uninhabitable, but it should help the people who become trapped in houses that are becoming unsalable, enabling them to move elsewhere.

17 September 2020 (Planned nuclear power) The exploding price of a planned nuclear power plant in the UK has made the manufacturer cancel it. However, the UK has promised unbounded subsidy to the builder of its first new nuclear power plant, so that one won't be cancelled by expense. But cancelled it must be, to free up funds to build wind farms instead.

16 September 2020 (Plastics recycling) Oil companies (which are also plastic companies) have worked hard for decades to make the public think that used plastic products would be recycled if we handed them in, knowing this was not true, so that we would buy and discard plastic without hesitation. Most of what we hand in goes into landfill because recycling it is not feasible. Did they know, decades ago, that plastic products would damage wild animals and ecosystems? Perhaps not. (It would be interesting to investigate what they knew about this and when.) In any case, we know it now. We must reduce drastically the amount of plastic waste that does not in fact get recycled, so we do not leave our planet full of toxin dispensers.

16 September 2020 (Physicians for Human Rights calls for banning rubber-coated hard bullets) Physicians for Human Rights calls for banning the use of rubber-coated hard bullets against protesters, citing 115 instances of protesters that suffered grave head wounds from them. It is against the rules to fire those bullets at people's heads, but it is clear that they often do it anyway. Perhaps some of them were firing wildly. Others, I suppose, hit protesters' heads intentionally. Many thugs are right-wing extremists, and if they see opportunities to maim protesters and not be punished, they may go for it eagerly.

16 September 2020 (Last independent radio station and theater in Hungary) Orbán is moving to take control of the last radio station and last theater in Hungary which are independent of state power.

16 September 2020 (Pandemic makes struggling Britons visible) *Millions in Britain have struggled for years. Only in a pandemic are they seen.* I have a hunch that, for Bogus Johnson, starving the poor is not an ideological commitment, merely a consequence of enriching the rich.

16 September 2020 (Hong Kongers tried to separate from China) 12 Hong Kongers tried to separate themselves from China in a boat, but Chinese forces caught them and China will prosecute them — perhaps for "separatism" — in a bogus trial. The very idea of stopping citizens from leaving a country is a form of tyranny which Communist governments were well known for. In the 1980s, the Soviet Union charged a ransom giving a Jew permission to emigrate. In earlier decades, it was very difficult for anyone to get permission to leave the Soviet Empire. Since 2000, millions of Chinese were allowed to travel for tourism. but I would guess that China never completely dropped the practice of forbidding some people from leaving.

16 September 2020 (Fossil fuel demand) Billionaire Polluters say that demand for fossil fuels will not increase. What is not certain is when it will start to decrease. That detail is tremendously important. Bigger fires are coming soon to a forest near you, and if you'd prefer to have them only a little bigger rather than much bigger, you'd be wise to help make sure the demand declines fast.

16 September 2020 (American Academy of Arts' past participation in racism) The American Academy of Arts and Sciences' commits to working to undo the effects of its past participation in racism. The academy's present leaders are not guilty for actions that happened before they were born, but the responsibility to undo the continuing effects of those actions falls to them nonetheless. This is the same reasoning which led me to conclude, in 2014, that the United States, acting for today's Americans, should pay compensation to the descendants of those who were denied equal legal rights under the systems of slavery and segregation.

16 September 2020 ((satire) Body camera shut off out of respect) (satire) *… NYPD police officer Tom Sloane reportedly shut off his body camera early Monday morning out of respect for his dying victim.* *The NYPD added that it seemed exploitative to publicize the man’s death because that would be what people remembered about him, so the department was refraining from releasing any details about the incident to respect his privacy.*

16 September 2020 (Surveillance power extension) The ACLU and other organizations called on Congress not to extend surveillance powers by slipping that into a rider in a continuing resolution or other "must-pass" uncontroversial bill.

16 September 2020 (Covid-19 death cult) The wrecker is still actively spreading Covid-19 to his death cult, and now we have proof that he is knowingly lying to them when he denies the danger. Don't be distracted into disputes about when Bob Woodward really ought to have published this fact. It is a side issue, and it is being raised as a distraction. I see no reason to assume his news would have had more impact in May or July than it has now.

16 September 2020 (Global heating denialist at NOAA) The saboteur in chief has appointed a global heating denialist to the management team at NOAA, in charge of climate research there. One of the practices used to shelter denialists is calling them "skeptics". CNN's article does this, but please don't repeat that practice. To be a skeptic means that one is not convinced and wants to do more investigation to determine what is happening. By contrast, Legatos is denying what is well established. He is no "skeptic", he is a denialist. In general, skepticism is a wise and useful attitude towards claims until they are demonstrated, but it can be carried too far. For instance, there are times when skepticism about an approaching danger must be set aside. When it is time to join the bucket brigade to put out a fire, objecting that there is no proof this fire can spread is not an acceptable excuse for refusing to help put it out.

16 September 2020 (Undermining own emissions-cutting targets) The EU has decided to undermine its own 2030 emissions-cutting targets by counting estimated carbon sinks against the emissions. This is the same error as trying to plan in terms of "net" emissions (emissions minus absorptions). Any future greenhouse gas absorption is conjectural. Trees won't remove CO2 from the air if they burn up.

16 September 2020 (Net zero emissions by 2050) A giant consortium of investors has demanded companies get on course to achieve "net zero" emissions by 2050. The firmness is admirable, but they need to demand more. 2050 is too late a target, and measuring by "net" emissions tends to underestimate emissions.

16 September 2020 (Invalidly held in prison) Ronnie Long was convicted of rape in 1976 because prosecutors manipulated evidence and hid evidence. Nonetheless, he is being held in prison to await a new trial, which could take a months or years. An invalid conviction is no grounds to imprison someone, so invalidation of a conviction should invalidate the sentence too.

16 September 2020 (Self-contradiction as a tool) Right-wing bullshitters in Oregon are fabricating claims that "antifa" arsonists started the fires, then in imitation of the bullshitter, denying that that is what they said. For them, self-contradiction is a tool.

16 September 2020 (All seeing car) A car with cameras looking in all directions could in principle avoid all collisions. It could also give the state, or Clearview AI, a chance to identify all other cars and people it passes near. We must make sure that only highly processed data gets out of the video processor.

15 September 2020 (Political surveillance) Whistleblower Christopher Pyle, starting with an article in 1970, reported on how the US Army was systematically tracking Americans' civic engagement — not limited to actual dissent — and won the political support to shut it down completely. He was able to do this because Americans at the time recognized the danger of tracking and surveillance. Legislators recognized it because they came from a people that recognized it. It's up to us to lead the development of a people that detests tracking and surveillance. Otherwise the people and legislators of the future will fail to shut down the dangerous systems of the future.

15 September 2020 (Forbidden protest) Thugs in Melbourne arrested peaceful protesters (though some of them threw fruit), saying that protest is forbidden. The hell you say, Australia! A government which forbids protest is tyranny. Not that repression is unusual in Australia, the country which paid Nauru to hold Australia's immigration prison and then to abolish freedom of the press so that journalists could not reach the prison. As long as the protesters wore masks and maintained distance, they were entitled to protest. Defending their right to protest does not mean I support their protest. Some of them reportedly are QAnon fantasists. That fantasy, which mutates as fast as HIV-1, is too incoherent to support a serious inquiry of whether "it" is true, because "it" would be different next week. I wish they were displaying their steadfastness for a good cause.

15 September 2020 (Fusion center) The US railroad industry has its own fusion center, with an information track leading straight to various government departments that can repress potential protesters. It can target even people that only criticize for investigation, and thugs might subsequently forget that they are only writing. Reporter Justin Mikulka was painted as a criminal by association because what he wrote might inspire protests which could perhaps be illegal. The "fusion centers" facilitate repression, so if we don't get rid of them, we must stop them from being used for repression.

15 September 2020 (Youtube recommendations) It is useful to recall that four years ago YouTube's recommendation algorithm recommended pro-bullshitter videos far more often than pro-Clinton videos. This does not prove that the algorithm was intentionally designed for that result. Perhaps they were; but we know that right-wingers have learned how to manipulate recommendation algorithms; perhaps these results are a reflection of that. We know that they do not reflect a majority preference for the bullshitter, since he lost the popular vote. Google's response amounts to, "Do not try to judge our actions without the full information that we won't let you have."

15 September 2020 (Australian Green Party supports Facebook and Google Pay if it extends journalism) The Australian Green Party will support making Facebook and Google pay to redistribute journalistic articles if the plan is extended to cover more sources of journalism. I am very much in favor of this, as I expect that it will pry loose those companies' influence over what news people access. There are some sorts of works that I believe should be free. But that doesn't apply to news articles. I think individuals such as you and me should be free to redistribute exact copies, but I don't think that companies such as Google and Facebook are entitled to that right. Thus, I see nothing immoral about such a tax. It is a pragmatic question and nothing more.

15 September 2020 (Modi has chosen to play identity politics) *Rather than rebuild the social fabric of his country during the coronavirus-driven economic slump, Narendra Modi has chosen to play identity politics.* Modi is a hater-divider-scapegoater, in the same mold as the bully in the US and Bolsonaro in Brazil.

15 September 2020 (Portland's ban on business use of face recognition) Portland's ban on business use of face recognition covers business premises which offer goods or services to the public. I don't think this has any effect on Clearview AI, which is unfortunate since that is face recognition's most dangerous face.

15 September 2020 (Households suffered serious economic hardship) 54% of Americans households with incomes under $100,000 have suffered serious economic hardship since March. Dr Fauci says life will not be back to normal until a year from now, even if a vaccine is ready early next year. Only after many people receive the vaccine can we start to determine how long its effect lasts.

15 September 2020 (Australians want power to block destruction of ancient sites) Indigenous Australians demand rules giving them the power to block destruction of ancient indigenous people's sites. If their demands are granted, they will probably preserve most of these ancient sites, and that is good. But not necessarily all of them. The "traditional owners" of a site would have the power to permit destroying it, and sometimes they would do so. These archaeological sites are important records of human history, all the more important because few other sites are so old. The most important thing to do with them is study them, and that should take precedence over all other use. No one, capitalist or indigenous, should be allowed to destroy them. If they indigenous groups agree to protect the sites and cooperate with carefully planned scientific investigation, I would support giving them full authority over all other aspects of use of these sites.

15 September 2020 (Denial of legal recourse to the prisoners in Guantanamo) The Court of Appeals of the DC circuit continues doing its utmost to deny all legal recourse to the prisoners in Guantanamo. The US owes each prisoner either a fair trial or release from prison. If the US cannot do so, because by torturing them it eliminated the possibility of a fair trial, the US should release them and then think about avoiding such a foolish actions in the future. Arguments about expediency cannot override those rights — but I think they lead to the opposite conclusion. Freeing the prisoners would end a practice that motivates some people to hate the US.

15 September 2020 ((satire) Peering through windows of wealthier classmates) (satire) *… Public Schools encouraged students without internet access Friday to attend remotely by peering through the home windows of wealthier classmates.* There is an extra level of irony here that the authors are not aware of. Zoom is proprietary malware, and it surveils the users. You can protect yourself by not actually running Zoom or being seen by it in a camera. I have suggested finding a classmate who will record the video presentation, perhaps by pointing another camera at it, and send you the recording as a file. Looking through per window would also do the job, thought it would be less convenient.

15 September 2020 (Use of paramilitary forces to suppress protest) *"One can draw a direct line between the [wrecker's] use of paramilitary forces to suppress protest domestically, and the tendency of security forces [sic] in foreign countries to violently suppress their own citizenry — security forces that for years have been backed, funded, trained, and armed by the United States government."* Meanwhile, the wrecker threatens to crush protesting Americans who might disbelieve the claim, that he will surely make, to have won the election.

15 September 2020 (Objection to criticizing racism) People who condemned anti-racist gestures by pro sports players cited various details as objectionable, but now those excuses have been stripped away. What those people object to is criticizing racism.

14 September 2020 (Fires in Oregon) There are large fires in Oregon; people are evacuating from places near Portland. 1/10 of the state's population has evacuated. That region is famous for having lots of rain. That the climate has dried up enough for it to have forest fires is shocking.

14 September 2020 (Thugs running amok) Thugs in Bogotá have run amok. First they killed Javier Ordóñez by tasing him repeatedly while they were holding him down. This inspired protests in many cities, and the thugs attacked the protesters.

14 September 2020 (Ex-cons votes) Republican judges in the 11th circuit federal appeals court approved Florida Republicans' scheme to block around 700,000 ex-cons from voting. The Supreme Court might reverse this, but if it does not, I urge those people to to move to a state where their votes can do some good.

14 September 2020 (Ban of face recognition) Portland, Oregon, has banned use of face recognition by businesses. I think this is the first such law in the US, and perhaps in the world. Since the article quotes people as relating this to racial discrimination, I wish to comment on that. Racial discrimination is wrong, and tracking people is wrong, but it is a mistake to relate the two issues too much. If you think that tracking people is wrong specifically because it enables discrimination, that means you are missing the threat of tracking in itself: that it is the base for repression. To avert repression, we need to ban tracking regardless of whether it is used for discrimination.

14 September 2020 (Releasing the vaccine) (satire) *… the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention was reportedly ordered Thursday to incinerate hundreds of screaming, boil-riddled test subjects before widely releasing the vaccine.*

14 September 2020 (Cartoons) I'm looking for a volunteer cartoonist to draw a few cartoons per year. Please send me email if you want to do this for me.

14 September 2020 (Policy changes) The wrecker continues ordering policy changes to undermine Americans' safety: legal, economic and physical.

14 September 2020 (Influence of big money) Connecticut's public campaign funding system (for state offices) has been a big success. It has reduced the influence of big money. Massachusetts adopted a similar system decades ago by initiative petition, but the legislators repealed it. We voted for the public funding system again by initiative petition, and the legislators repealed it again. Why anyone voted to reelect any legislator who had eliminated the system, I cannot comprehend, but people did.

12 September 2020 (Transformational Action) *With World Closing in on Paris Warming Limit, UN Report Makes Case for 'Transformational Action' to Remake Global Economy.* The predicted climate disaster is already starting. What should we do? The article's title is a gross understatement. The California megafires are not our "wakeup call". They are our "The meeting is already starting and you're still in bed???" call. If this were a job, humanity would be fired. I wonder why the understated term "climate change" is becoming fashionable again.

12 September 2020 (Toll highways in Florida) Florida's Republican government proposes to build 300 miles of unneeded toll highways through vulnerable ecosystems so that people can burn more fossil fuels. The plan will succeed in providing income to construction companies, filling the air with more CO2, and provide an excuse to leave poor people without food, housing or medical care. This is the epitome of Republican Party philosophy.

12 September 2020 (Uber and Lyft put a referendum on the ballot in California) Uber and Lyft have put a referendum on the ballot in California to define their drivers a new legal status combining the worst aspects of being an employee with the worst aspects of independent contracting. The article also describes other deceptive tricks that they are using. This is in addition to making customers identify themselves and run nonfree software,

12 September 2020 (False reports of fires in Oregon being set by Antifacists) Right-wing bullshitters spread the bullshit that Oregon's forest fires were set by Antifascist activists, so others are calling 9-1-1 with false reports about this. A friend suggested to me that we should say "Antifascist" rather than "Antifa", because the latter looks like a name that could refer to anything and many people don't know it is short for "Antifascist".

12 September 2020 (Heart problems in children that catch Covid-19) A considerable number of children that catch Covid-19 develop heart problems that may last life-long. I cannot tell from the article what fraction of children that catch Covid-19 go on to develop MIS-C. I don't think their sample was random. But whatever the fraction is, this is a good reason to try to keep children from catching it.

12 September 2020 (Charged cost of COVID-19 antibody test) *A Doctor Went to His Own Employer for a COVID-19 Antibody Test. It Cost his insurance company $10,984.* The materials for the test cost 8 dollars. The labor? Surely not more than $100.

12 September 2020 (Elimination of safety standards in meat processing plants) In 1905, an exposé convinced the US public to demand better safety standards in meat processing plants. This plus unions give the workers good pay and safe practices. Now, after a 50-year lobbying campaign, the companies have eliminated both.

12 September 2020 (If you can't afford medical coverage, tough on you) A Republican senator's staffer told a constituent with cancer that buying medical coverage is just like buying a shirt — if you can't afford it, tough on you. That is the way the US medical system operates, and it shows why we need a national medical system that won't charge people for medical treatment.

12 September 2020 (Trump administration officials seeking to privatize public lands) *Numerous high-ranking Trump administration officials in the U.S. Department of the Interior are connected to right-wing anti-environmental think tanks and legal groups funded by corporate interests and wealthy individuals seeking to privatize public lands.*

12 September 2020 (Examination of living in harmony with nature) *Warning of More Pandemics to Come, Public Health Experts Urge Collective Examination of What it Means to Live in 'Harmony with Nature'.* Most terrorists would hesitate before releasing a disease that was likely to kill their own side as well as the enemy. But bats, unknowingly spreading a virus that can affect humans, won't be held back by any sort of conscious consideration.

12 September 2020 (The wrecker could destroy social security) The head of Social Security Works says that the wrecker really could single-handedly destroy Social Security if he is reelected. Unless 2/3 of the House and the Senate pass a law to override or compensate for his actions.

12 September 2020 (California prop 22) California voters: vote no on prop 22, the Uber exploitation exception.

12 September 2020 (Social media posts that could be evidence) Human Rights Watch: *Social media platforms are taking down online content they consider terrorist, violently extremist, or hateful in a way that prevents its potential use to investigate serious crimes, including war crimes.*

12 September 2020 (THRIVE resolution states) The THRIVE resolution states support for something similar to the Green New Deal. Can anyone show me how it compares with previous forms of the Green New Deal? In particular, it could be only a part of the Green New Deal proposal. However, it could also be bigger.

12 September 2020 (The most dangerous phase of the US Covid-19 crisis) *The most dangerous phase of the US Covid-19 crisis may be yet to come.* It should be pointed out that the "bipartisanship" of the "CARES" Act gave some help to poor and unemployed Americans, but a lot more help to big companies that ought to pay more tax. That was saving poor people for the short term and screwing them for the long term.

12 September 2020 (Sentencing in Massachusetts is subject to systemic racism) The Chief Justice of Massachusetts ordered a study of patterns of sentencing, and it found clear evidence of racial bias. Since the study controlled for other pertinent variables, there is no doubt about the conclusion: sentencing in Massachusetts is subject to systemic racism. That the study was ordered by the state's highest judge gives me hope it will lead to considered action to reduce the injustice. The article uses bigoted language ("white" and "Black"), and ordinarily I decline to publicize such articles. But the substance of this article is so important that I decided to link to it anyway. Please join me in pushing against intentional bigotry in journalism. If you read stallman.org, I trust you already support the campaign to eradicate racism against blacks.

12 September 2020 (The USPS governing board is satisfied with DeJoy) The USPS governing board is 100% satisfied with DeJoy, both his sabotage of the USPS and the fund-raising crimes he committed before in support of Republicans. What they are saying is that they are loyal members of the bullshit party.

12 September 2020 (South Australia ban on single-use plastic) South Australia will ban many kinds of single-use plastic items. This is good, but it is crucial to take action on fishing nets discarded at sea. One idea would be to charge a large deposit for them when selling them. Large enough that no fishing boat operator would dream of failing to turn in a ruined net.

12 September 2020 (Tories plan to lick Covid-19) The Tories plan to lick Covid-19 by applying hypothetical testing technology which they will try to develop. Meanwhile, the Tory minister in charge tells asymptomatic people they cannot have a test. Doesn't he know that asymptomatic people can transmit Covid-19? A few years ago the Tories said, as they eliminated incentives to install home solar power, that they would lick global heating with hypothetical carbon capture technology. That technology still has not been developed, and people rarely talk about it any more. I think carbon capture and storage was a distraction technique — and it seems to have been successful, since we still are not taking adequate measures to curb greenhouse gas emissions.

12 September 2020 (The FBI strains to entrap lonely men) The FBI strains to entrap lonely men into planning to meet imaginary women who have given contradictory ideas about their age. A few years ago it was targeting "terrorists" who had to be persuaded to agree to participate in a fictitious plan of violence they could never have arranged on their own. What these two schemes have in common is that they are opportunities to pretend to protect people from dangers that are entirely imaginary.

12 September 2020 (Boris Johnson's 'oven-ready' Brexit) *Boris Johnson's 'oven-ready' Brexit had a secret footnote: we'll rehash it later.* It is clear now that Bogus Johnson was lying to everyone all along about his plans for taking the UK out of the EU. Now that the Irish Republic has thrown off the legal dominion of Catholic sexual repression, there is no reason for Northern Ireland not to join the Irish Republic. That would eliminate the insoluble problems that Northern Ireland causes for UK-EU trade relations.

12 September 2020 (Maria Kolesnikova (Belarus opposition leader)) *Maria Kolesnikova (Belarus opposition leader) says she was told she would be leaving country ‘alive or in bits’.* However, they were not in fact ready to go so far; she defied them and they did not kill her.

12 September 2020 (Global heating disaster in California) Global heating disaster has turned life in California into fear and sickness. No one can escape the harm.

12 September 2020 (Exiting the EU with no agreement) Bogus Johnson has made it clear he wants the UK to exit the EU with no agreement. This explains why there has been very little progress towards a deal: he was only pretending to seek a deal. This was an enormous lie to Britons, from a man with a history of lying.

12 September 2020 (Tories wanted to fine people for sleeping in doorways) Tories wanted to pass town laws to fine people for sleeping in doorways. It is bad to have people sleeping in doorways that people will need to go through. But why would anyone do that? Lack of any better shelter, I'd expect. The town should provide poor people with decent places to sleep, places that will not be bad for others, or for them. How about if they can also spend the day in their homes? However, Tories are in favor of government handouts to make sure somewhat wealthy people lose no luxuries due to the economic crisis.

12 September 2020 (The wrecker played down the coronavirus threat) *The wrecker knew the extent of the deadly coronavirus threat in February but intentionally misled the public by deciding to "play it down", according to interviews recorded by Bob Woodward.*

12 September 2020 (Warm ocean water eroding the Thwaites glacier in the Antarctic) *British scientists have mapped cavities half the size of the Grand Canyon that are allowing warm ocean water to erode the vast Thwaites glacier in the Antarctic, accelerating the rise of sea levels across the world.* I think as-yet-undiscovered mechanisms will tend to encourage the movement towards thermal equilibrium rather than retard it. If you live in a low-lying city, and you are young, don't expect it to remain.

12 September 2020 (Brian Murphy filed a whistleblower complaint denouncing DHS) Brian Murphy accuses the trumpets running the DHS of ordering him to fabricate intelligence, and suppress other intelligence, so as to mislead the public. Eventually they demoted him for refusing, and he has filed a whistleblower complaint denouncing them. I believe he is sincere, because filing a complaint is a serious matter. I am curious what his job title was — the article does not say. In general, I agree that China is a bigger threat to world freedom than Russia. Whether that means Xi threatens the US election more than Putin, I have no idea. But it is clear that rich Americans threaten the US election more than any foreign country. However, those are all side issues for this. What we see is that the corrupter is corrupting US government agencies, and the trumpets who run them are lying to congress. They should go to prison for that.

11 September 2020 (Credit score) (satire) *Equifax assured her that a recent drop in her credit score was unrelated to anything. “While your credit score is significantly lower now, we just want to you to keep in mind that you had absolutely no control over it.”*

11 September 2020 (Booby traps against protesters) B'tselem: Israeli soldiers planted explosive booby traps at places where the children of the Palestinian town of Kufr Qaddum often play, and where people gather for their weekly nonviolent protests. This is perhaps the most shocking form of Israeli violence against protesters, but soldiers have attacked protesters many times occasionally kill them.

11 September 2020 (National medical system) It would be awfully ironic if the wrecker won the election for real by saying he would implement a national medical system. It would be even more ironic when, after election day, he turned against the idea again. That is just like him.

11 September 2020 (METI) (satire) *hellip;aliens pointedly avoiding METI transmissions confirmed Wednesday that they really thought Earth’s scientists would’ve taken the hint by now.*

11 September 2020 (Interns) (satire) *…the Lord God Almighty confirmed Wednesday that He had selected a new class of interns for the fall.*

11 September 2020 (Forbidding foreign reporters) It appears Chairman Xi has decided to cease allowing foreign reporters in China. Concealing dirty secrets that the reporters might get wind of is more important than the benefit of cooperating with foreign press. It might be interesting to set up a treaty imposing tariffs on the exports the countries that repress the foreign press.

11 September 2020 (More unequal than Victorian times) *Covid risks making [UK] society more unequal than since early Victorian times.* Tory cuts to the NHS and other programs that give poor people a decent life began the process.

10 September 2020 (California fires) *Thousands displaced by the [big 2018 California] fire have not returned to the communities devastated by it. It’s a scenario that will repeat as fire risk intensifies.* If I lived in California with a forest nearby, I'd be looking to move away. I wouldn't wait for a fire to burn my house.

10 September 2020 (Hate and love of testing) *Why Does [the wrecker] Hate COVID Testing But Love Standardized Testing [of students]?* I think it is a rational decision. He desires the election chaos that spreading Covid-19 could bring. Cancelling standardized tests won't create chaos at all, let alone chaos that he can profit from.

10 September 2020 (Pledge for vaccine) Some pharma companies have pledged not to ask for approval of a vaccine without success in a phase 3 blind trial, even though the wrecker wants them to.

10 September 2020 (Waiting to build school correctly) (satire) *… inhabitants of a rural Kenyan village confirmed Tuesday that they were waiting for a group of eager but unskilled American volunteers to leave so they could rebuild their school correctly.*

10 September 2020 (Sturgis Motorcycle Rally Covid-19 cases) The Sturgis Motorcycle Rally indirectly led to 260,000 cases of Covid-19, which is likely to include at least hundreds of deaths. Gratuitous foolish disease spreading on subsequent occasions must have contributed.

10 September 2020 (How the World Bank rates every country) The World Bank rates every country on the "ease of doing business", which turns out to mean the "ease of big foreign companies' muscling in."

10 September 2020 (EU deaths caused by environmental pollution) 13% of deaths in the EU are caused by environmental pollution. It could be worse in the US, where the environmental standards are weaker and enforcement is not very good either.

10 September 2020 (Covid-19 is intensifying famines) Covid-19 is intensifying famines in many parts of the world. The UN predicts that around 265 million people will be on the brink of statement by the end of this year.

10 September 2020 (Australian scientists' warnings about environmental damage) Hundreds of Australian scientists say that the government and businesses are gagging them when they try to warn about coming damage to the environment, and altering their writing, effectively putting lies in their mouths.

10 September 2020 (The Rochester thug department chief) The Rochester thug department chief and his deputy have resigned. That's progress, but their replacements must act, with the city's firm support, to curb the violence and lies of thugs. This would be a good time to shift jobs other than confronting real criminals to other departments.

10 September 2020 (California's megafires) California's megafires have burned over 3100 square miles, which is more than 2% of California's land area. And the fire season still has months to run. 20 years from now, the average year will be like this year. A bad year will be far worse.

10 September 2020 (Evidence to prosecute Purdue Pharma) In 2006, the US government had evidence to prosecute Purdue Pharma, but it did not. We don't know why not.

10 September 2020 (Charges of journalism) Two Australian journalists in China were barred from leaving until they answered questions about a third Australian journalist who is in some sort of jail and being investigated for charges of journalism. Governments that are highly repressive and secretive tend to be quick to equate asking nosy questions with spying. Of course, asking nosy questions is the job of a good journalist, The US government has been becoming more repressive and secretive in recent decades, and we see the effects of that in the prosecution of Julian Assange.

9 September 2020 (Remote school to prison pipeline) Remote school does not protect children from the school-to-prison pipeline. Colorado school officials suspended a child for playing with a nerf gun (a harmless toy which does not look like a real gun) while visible on camera, then sent a thug to his house. It's not that the officials are unable to tell the difference between a real gun and a nerf gun. It's not that they can't tell the difference between having a gun near you and seeing one on TV. It is much worse than that: they have been convinced that it is their job to ignore the difference. This is much worse, because it can become far more widespread. We can expect that not more than a handful of school officials would lose track of the difference between reality and a picture; but if someone teaches them to ignore the difference, they could all do it! The article presents this as a matter of racism. The child is black, and the parents assume the officials acted insanely because of that. Perhaps they did, but the article does not present evidence for that. Maybe they would have been insanely cruel to any child, regardless of race. Let's hope these parents sue the pants off them, so they and other school officials will learn not to do this to any child, ever.

9 September 2020 (War on Terror) *'Horrifically Catastrophic': Report Finds So-Called US War on Terror Has Displaced as Many as 59 Million People.* On the other hand, it might be as few as 37 million people — which is still a global calamity.

9 September 2020 (Carbon capture) *Rise in carbon capture as global warming speeds growth of forests would be negated by earlier deaths, say scientists.* I wonder if we could counteract that by cutting down those trees while they are large, then somehow preserving the wood from decay. But that is a far-fetched idea, and if it doesn't work, we must stop letting companies distract us with "carbon offsets" and "net carbon emissions" and accept no substitute for less emission.

9 September 2020 (The Real Hoax) *The Real 'Hoax' in America Is Record Wall Street Profits as Nation's Jobless Millions Cannot Afford Rent.* Rage is building. But Republicans fool the enraged public into directing their rage against masks and disease-prevention precautions, instead of the proper targets: the plutocrats and the politicians that serve them.

9 September 2020 (Unprofitable even in the short term) The fossil fuel industry, deadly in the long term, is unprofitable overall even in the short term. However, the big fossil fuel companies are not hurting enough to shut down. If they are not making profits in the way we were taught to think of business as making profits, I suspect they are running something we would consider a scam if we knew about it.

9 September 2020 (Barring Amnesty International from Assange hearing) The UK barred Amnesty International and other human rights groups from monitoring Julian Assange's extradition hearing. The UK government now believes it can get away with all sorts of repression and anti democratic behavior. I hope it is mistaken.

9 September 2020 (Constant pain) Jacob Blake describes his life as constant pain. Every movement hurts. I hope it gets less painful as his wounds heal.

9 September 2020 (Dejoy investigations) Postmaster Dejoy faces investigation in North Carolina for the crime of passing campaign contributions through intermediaries. The wrecker cannot pardon him from state charges and his flunky in charge of the "Justice Department" cannot call off the investigation. However, I don't see how this investigation could make Dejoy undo the harm he has done to mail delivery. I doubt he could even be charged before election day. Firing him would not help either, because he is not an individual criminal loner. He is part of a shameless political machine. If he were gone, the wrecker would put in another hatchet man to finish the job.

9 September 2020 (Landlords will install Alexa listening devices) Landlords will install Alexa listening devices and claim that entitles them to a higher rent. I think the crucial question is whether the tenants can physically disconnect it. Alexa for Residential will help people (including landlords) snoop on each other. How about passing laws that forbid landlords from requiring tenants to tolerate microphones or cameras inside the property they rent? Requiring tenants to use an "online portal" (which is likely to require running nonfree Javascript software and could make tenants sign away their rights) should be forbidden as well.

9 September 2020 (Assange extradition hearing) Assange's lawyers charge that the US replaced the indictment trying to disguise the invalidity of the extradition request. They also complain about being denied the opportunity to meet with their client.

9 September 2020 (Australia plans to reduce environmental protections) Australia's extractivist government plans to reduce environmental protections to permit more mining. Conservationists ask UNESCO to object since the change would imperil world heritage sites.

9 September 2020 (China has been working to do away with Tibetan culture) China has been working for 80 years to do away with Tibetan culture. The methods developed in repression of the Uighurs may now be used to sinicize Tibetans. It's making me sinical about China's intentions ;-}. It is true that Tibet was a feudal society in 1950. But ending feudalism did not have to be followed by assimilation, and forced inclusion in an even worse system of government. China could have ended the feudalism and left Tibetans mostly alone, and come out admired.

9 September 2020 (A Tennessee thug faces criminal charges) A Tennessee thug faces criminal charges for attacking Andrew Golden, who was making a video of a traffic stop from a safe distance. The thug should be charged with reckless endangerment for breathing, maskless, in Golden's face with no justification.

9 September 2020 (To understand the bullshitter) Matt Taibbi: To understand the bullshitter, think if him as a salesman who sells the experience of being sold to. Just what he says he is selling makes no difference to him. The Democratic Party can't make a serious response because it has no serious response to America's problems, and its attempts to respond play into the bullshitter's hands. I am no expert, but I think we should ignore his outrageous verbal provocations, and focus on the real harm he does, and the good we can do.

8 September 2020 (Anti right to repair FUD) Car companies are spreading FUD to try to defeat the Massachusetts right to repair initiative. The truly dangerous data predators are the car companies themselves. But you can block them, and anyone else that wants to track your car, by converting it into a disconnected car. Disconnect (or cover with metal foil) its cellular antenna and its GPS antenna. If warranty considerations would preclude turning off the antennas, get a car that's out of warranty. And do vote for the right-to-repair initiative if you live in Massachusetts. Next step: require cars to let the owner control what data to collect and/or make available to anyone. Ultimately, the computers in the car that can communicate sensitive data, or allow installation of different versions of software, should run exclusively free software and the owner should be able to install modified versions.

8 September 2020 (Hedge fund) Hedge fund and private equity "investments" turn out to be rip-offs for the investors. What private equity "invests" in is trashing companies and jobs. If our government were not under the thumb of the billionaires that run these "investments", we would prohibit them.

8 September 2020 (Bringing back imperialism) Erdoğan is trying to bring back Turkish imperialism as well as Islamism. It is a danger, but mainly in the long term. One exception: the discovery of large natural gas reserves is always terrifying, because someone might extract them and burn them. We can hope that international tensions will keep the gas in the ground, but it would more reliable to sign an agreement to that effect.

8 September 2020 (45 kills a year) Thugs in Los Angeles county kill around 45 people a year, and they're on track to do it again this year. Often they shoot people for running away, which means implies that the victims were not threatening them and there was no need to shoot them. I'm in favor of defunding the sheriff's department. There is little chance of reforming the brutal culture of such an organization while keeping the same personnel. LA county needs some sort of law enforcement, but it should be restructured. Perhaps one department to enforce traffic codes and that's all, and another to respond when people need practical or medical help. A smaller police department could be called only to deal with dangerous crime. It seems more efficient to have the same personnel do all sorts of jobs, but it is asking for trouble.

8 September 2020 (About Michael Reinoehl) About Michael Reinoehl, armed Black Lives Matter protester who killed one of a violent right-wing group that attacked a protest. We can't take for granted that the statements by cops are accurate. Did he really pull a gun when cops tried to arrest him? It is the sort of thing thugs frequently fabricate, but it might be true. He may have committed "suicide by cop". I believe Reinoehl's statement that his intention on various circumstances was to protect people, but I won't take for granted that the specifics he states are accurate. Was Danielson trying to stab a BLM protester? IANAL, but I suppose that would have made killing him justifiable. I hope that we find out the truth.

8 September 2020 (Freedom of expression and databases) Clearview AI argues, stretching the idea of freedom of expression, that it includes the right to make a database of photos of millions of people and systematically recognize people against it. This article argues the contrary.

8 September 2020 (Prioritizing creditors) The US is being crushed by the decision to prioritize creditors (particularly large, powerful creditors) over the rest of society. We need a debt jubilee.

8 September 2020 (Plea deal) A prosecutor in Louisville offered Breonna Taylor's ex, accused of drug trafficking, a plea deal in which he would say that she was involved in the transaction. Now the prosecutor argues that since the offer was made during negotiations, and was not the final plea deal offer, we should imagine that it never happened.

7 September 2020 (Felony of incitement) When the wrecker called on his supporters to try to vote twice, which is a felony, he committed the felony of incitement.

7 September 2020 (More protection of nature) The Democratic Party calls for more protection of nature, but does not talk about giving nature "rights". I am in favor of more legal protections of nature — more, I expect, than the Democratic Party advocates, However, it does not make sense to attribute "rights" to anything that doesn't have a will with which to decide how to exercise them. Rather than describe legal protections of nature using a blatant absurdity, we should describe them as what they are: protections for something we consider important.

7 September 2020 (Republican democrats) "Centrist" Democrats made a big fuss when the Republican former governor of Michigan endorsed Biden. For me, it shows how close Biden is to being a pre-conman Republican. One way to convince the wrecker to accept defeat could be to convince Putin to offer him asylum in Russia. But once he is gone, we will still need to restore democratic elections. The article describes three changes: eliminating the electoral college, ending voter suppression and gerrymandering, and breaking through the two-party system that gives us the choice of moderate right wing vs extreme right wing. The author proposes that the peoples of other countries dominated by the US should have some say in the US government. I agree there is a problem to be fixed, but I don't think the US government can play, simultaneously, the two roles of most-of-the-world government and government of one country.

7 September 2020 (Election results) Sanders states what the US needs to do to prepare in advance to confront the wrecker if he tries to deny or disregard the election result. The problem is, these preparation steps are a wish, not a plan. In states controlled by Republicans, they have a history of voter suppression. They won't do what needs to be done. The mainstream media may not want to help. Facebook may have made a deal with the wrecker. That leaves only step 4 which can be carried out by people (Congressional Democrats) that probably want to do it.

7 September 2020 (False equivalence) FAIR: The Washington Post paired frequent right-wing violence against BLM with barely any violence by BLM supporters to construct a false equivalence.

7 September 2020 (Attack on the free press) Extinction Rebellion rejects the charge that its one-day blockade of several right-wing British newspapers, all owned by one company, was "an attack on the free press." Basically, a press dominated by one company which covers up the most important information is effectively not a free press to begin with.

7 September 2020 (Political ads) Facebook has banned political ads for the week before election day. That has a good side, but it includes the ads by state election officials which tell people where and how to vote. Facebook could run those announcements gratis; then they would not be ads.

7 September 2020 (Navalny poisoning) *Navalny poisoning forces Merkel's party to ask: how do we hit back at Putin?* Here's a suggestion: switch to renewable energy as fast as possible. It's vitally necessary anyway, and it will eliminate demand for Russia's key exports (fossil fuels).

7 September 2020 (UK thugs arrest extinction rebellion protesters) UK thugs arrested over 500 Extinction Rebellion protesters in London. The excuse in many cases was Covid-19. Of course, protesters must take care not to spread Covid-19, but did they really fail to do that? I expect Extinction Rebellion to be very careful about health. One of their protests was blocking delivery of Murdoch's right-wing denialist almost-monopoly newspapers. This has been labeled an "attack on the free press". If they kept it up for a long time, I would agree, but they did it for just one day.

7 September 2020 (Australia rapidly building renewable electric generation) Australia has been rapidly building renewable electric generation and large batteries for storage. However, it is not encouraging any new investment. I wonder if this is due to the current planet-roaster government which came in a few years ago.

7 September 2020 (The bully is trying to put an end to any antiracism training) The bully is trying to put an end to any antiracism training that presents the idea that the United States or any race or ethnicity is "inherently racist or evil." I would object to training people in those ideas, but does that ever happen? A priori, it seems unlikely. It is undeniably true that racism systematically gives whites a certain advantage over blacks in our society. It is the converse of the disadvantage that racism systematically imposes on blacks. To recognize this does not assert that whites are evil.

7 September 2020 (Republicans are sending disinformation about Democratic candidates) Republicans are sending disinformation about Democratic candidates including fake images, along with applications for postal ballots.

7 September 2020 (A strained excuse to shut down Stars and Stripes) The bully's henchman has found a strained excuse to shut down Stars and Stripes, an editorially-independent newspaper for military personnel and others. This is going to anger veterans, just when they are angry at being called "losers" and "suckers."

7 September 2020 (Conspiracy-theorists held a protest in Melbourne) Conspiracy-theorists held a protest in Melbourne, and did not wear masks. They are entitled to the right to protest, even in an idiotic cause. They are not entitled to the right to spread disease. For intentionally doing that, they deserved to be arrested.

7 September 2020 (93% of Black Lives Matter demonstrations) *93% of [Black Lives Matter] demonstrations have involved no serious harm to people or property.* The 7% exceptions play into right-wing hands. Nearly all the protesters know what to do. Can they organize to lead the rest?

7 September 2020 (Coronavirus is likely to remain at high levels into the winter) The US is still failing to manage Coronavirus properly and therefore the disease is likely to remain at high levels into the winter. You can help retail workers remain employed by rejecting on-line orders and delivery. A job in a store is a better job than a gig-economy job delivering packages.

6 September 2020 (Rochester thugs suffocated Daniel Prude) Rochester thugs suffocated Daniel Prude by putting a hood over his face and pushing it into the ground. Then they lied about it. I can understand the need for the spit hood, but there was no need to shove his face down. And no possible excuse for lying. I think the chief of the thug department deserves to be fired if he asserted those lies were valid. People protested peacefully about the killing, and the thugs attacked them violently for no apparent reason.

6 September 2020 (Republicans suing to stop large numbers of postal ballots) Republicans are suing many states to try to stop them from sending out large numbers of postal ballots. Even if they lose the lawsuits, they will delay sending out the ballots. With that on one side and post office sabotage on the other, they can cause ballots not to be counted.

6 September 2020 (Proposed system to replace today's capitalism) Varoufakis has proposed a system to replace today's capitalism. It still uses markets for goods and services, but workers are always co-owners as every enterprise is a cooperative. I don't understand how the levies on countries for having an imbalance of trade or payments would function. If this is meant to pressure countries not to have imbalances, what could they do to avoid them? I am also worried by the idea that people would make all their payments using central bank accounts — because that implies tracking, which is dangerous. And I am not convinced that the 5% flat tax on business income would bring in enough funds for the state to do its many jobs. Perhaps I would see these are not real problems if I understood better. Perhaps some details could be changed. In any case, it is an interesting area to explore.

6 September 2020 (Wrecker has cut down payments for oil and gas extracted) One of the planet-roasting policies that the US has maintained for decades is allowing oil and gas extractors to pay only a small amount for what they extract. That was always bad. But the wrecker has cut down the payments to nearly zero for hundreds of wells.

6 September 2020 (Hong Kong security law may break international law) Seven UN special rapporteurs say, *Hong Kong security law 'may break international laws'.* It conflicts with treaties that China has signed. This can have an effect on China but only if other countries condition some decisions on this. I would expect that the lawless behavior of uniformed US thugs violates some treaties. And what about Guantanamo. and wars of aggression? Not that one country's wrongs excuse another country's wrongs — but would be easier to enforce the treaties if breaking them were unusual and unaccepted.

6 September 2020 (Greystone Nursing Homes) *Greystone Nursing Homes, Whose Executives Gave $800,000 to Trump, Are Epicenters of Covid-19 Deaths.* Businesses that pay off officials expect something specific in return. Perhaps in this case it is permission to cut corners on safety.

6 September 2020 (An Australian warns Britain about Tony Abbott) An Australian warns Britain about engaging Australian buffoon Tony Abbott as trade negotiator. I think Abbott could do worse than fail, though. He would be excellent at giving the conman whatever he wants, and lauding it. Johnson makes mistakes, but I think he knows what Abbott will do, and that is what he wants. I wish I had confidence that Biden would protect the US (and the UK) from that bad business-supremacy treaty but Obama would not.

6 September 2020 (Republican congresscritter who fanatically defends the right to carry guns) A Republican congresscritter who fanatically defends the right to carry guns says he would shoot any blacks that carry guns at a protest. Does this mean he advocates the right to carry guns only for whites? Does he now believe that guns should be prohibited at demonstrations? I'm in favor of that, as long as it applies to everyone.

6 September 2020 (Antiwar Candidate) *Joe Biden, Don’t Let Donald Trump Run as the Antiwar Candidate!*

4 September 2020 (Foreign workers in Dubai being left to starve) Foreign workers in Dubai who have lost their jobs are being left to starve. The recently announced policy change would allow foreign workers to quit their jobs, and get new work or depart. That is a good thing, but it does not help those who can't find new work, and can't afford to depart. The UK does something similar to unauthorized foreign workers: they have to beg for food and shelter.

4 September 2020 (Operation Condor) Prosecutors increasingly pursue the surviving perpetrators of the international terrorist plot known as Operation Condor, a conspiracy of dictators in South America that operated with the support of the US.

4 September 2020 (French thugs act with impunity) *Undercover journalist Valentin Gendrot describes culture where [Fr