[ 2020 July - October | 2020 March - June | 2020 July - October | 2020 March - June | 2019 November - February | 2019 July - October | 2019 March - June | 2018 November - February | 2018 July - October | 2018 March - June | 2017 November - February | 2017 July - October | 2017 March - June | 2016 November - February | 2016 July - October | 2016 March - June | 2015 November - February | 2015 July - October | 2015 March - June | 2014 November - February | 2014 July - October | 2014 March - June | 2013 November - February | 2013 July - October | 2013 March - June | 2012 November - February | 2012 July - October | 2012 March - June | 2011 November - February | 2011 July - October | 2011 March - June | 2010 November - February | 2010 July - October | 2010 March - June | 2009 November - February | 2009 July - October | 2009 March - June | 2008 November - February | 2008 July - October | 2008 March - June | 2007 November - February | 2007 July - October | 2007 March - June | 2006 November - February | 2006 July - October | 2006 March - June | 2005 November - February | 2005 July - October | 2005 March - June | 2004 November - February | 2004 July - October | 2004 March - June | 2003 November - February | 2003 July - October | 2003 March - June | 2002 | 2001 | 2000 ]

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

My intention is to make links only to publicly accessible, stable URLs. If you find a link to a page that requires subscription, please report that as you would report any other broken link.

Link Policy

Glossary

28 February 2018 (Urgent: Deregulating banks) US citizens: phone your senators to oppose deregulating banks. The Capitol Switchboard numbers are 202-224-3121, 888-818-6641 and 888-355-3588. Banks get away with too much already. Let's regulate banks so thoroughly that there will be no room for creativity or innovation in them.

28 February 2018 (Koch brothers' successes) The Koch brothers have listed their successes in reshaping the US to serve the very rich.

28 February 2018 (Spying on spouses) It's not just Big Brother and gangsters that spy on people through their portable phones. Violent spouses do it, too.

28 February 2018 (Election security) Election Security Is a High Priority — Until It Comes to Paying for New Voting Machines.

28 February 2018 (Effect of Russian meddling) It is hard to determine whether Russian meddling affected the outcome of the 2016 US election. In today's climate, propaganda does not need to be sophisticated or nuanced to influence Americans.

28 February 2018 (Toxic chemicals in ice) Melting Arctic ice could expose toxic chemicals from the remains of Camp Century.

28 February 2018 (Debate on the internet) An experiment in using reason for debate on the internet.

28 February 2018 (Massacre survivors) Prominent right-wingers are joining in dustraction attacks on the students that survived the recent massacre. (By "dustraction" I mean throwing dust at people to distract from the real issue.)

28 February 2018 (Invasive toads) Poisonous toads from Asia are overrunning Madagascar. They will wipe out many native species if humans can't get rid of them.

28 February 2018 (Pork plant inspections) Unsurprisingly, allowing company staff to do some of the inspection in pork plants makes inspection faster, cheaper, and less effective at preventing possible food poisoning. US meat inspection is generally rushed and shoddy. That suits the meat processors, and they have lobbied hard for it.

28 February 2018 (Sarin gas bombs) Mattis said that the Department of Defense has no evidence proving that Assad dropped sarin gas bombs. This confirms what Seymour Hersch said about the alleged attack in Khan Sheikhoun.

28 February 2018 (Oxfam program for girls) Oxfam has programs that teach girls how they can live without being prostitutes. That's the only effective way to help them. As long as they need the money from prostitution, punishing them or their customers does not help them. For the same reason, I think it is a mistake to fuss about whether Oxfam staff hire some of those prostitutes. It's a distraction from effective help, such as these programs.

28 February 2018 (Plan to arm teachers) To use a gun against a killer, you need military training. The troll's absurd plan for school shootings is to train 20% of US teachers as soldiers. To react quickly, you need frequent drill, too. If you train your response to that point, you might shoot someone rather than take time to think. Thugs do it, so why would teachers be immune?

28 February 2018 (Iona Craig) What it took for independent journalist Iona Craig to find the truth of the effects of a raid in Yemen by Navy Seals.

27 February 2018 (Urgent: Free Toffiq al-Bihani) US citizens: Call on Mattis to free Toffiq al-Bihani, and to end imprisonment without trial. Here's the message I put in. Dear Secretary Mattis, I urge you to immediately transfer Toffiq al-Bihani, who has been imprisoned at Guantánamo without charge or fair trial since 2003. He faces no charges and the US already said there is no reason to keep him in prison. Imprisonment without trial is vicious and the fact that the US practices this is a blot on our country. Secondarily, it inspires hatred which can express itself as terrorism. Justice and human rights demand that the US give each prisoner in Guantanamo a fair trial or release him. Those who are convicted should be treated according to the US constitution, which prohibits cruel and unusual punishment. Those responsible for torture and enforced disappearance must be brought to justice in fair trial. In the name of our country's honor, and the Constitution you have sworn to defend,

27 February 2018 (Human-fighting robot) A US company is already developing a robot to fight with humans.

27 February 2018 (Social reliability score) Although China's social reliability score is set up by the state, a set of private businesses could do the same thing if we don't stop them.

27 February 2018 (Vote-counting machines) Vote-counting machines that use a cellular modem to transmit results are connected by it to the internet, and therefore insecure.

27 February 2018 (Organ transplants) People in Venezuela who have had organ transplants, if they are not rich, can't get the medicines necessary to protect the transplanted organs from their immune systems. People who need kidney dialysis are in trouble too, as many dialysis machines are broken. Contrast this with the US where SCROTUS are trying to cut the funds to pay for these treatments for Americans that are not rich.

27 February 2018 (Lawsuits for reporting flaws) Security investigators and reporters in the US face lawsuits when they report flaws. In the long term, the way to be safe is to insist on software that the users control — free software. This doesn't guarantee no bugs ever, but it means that the users can fix any bugs (and any malicious functionalities!) rather than being at the mercy of the one company that can do it.

27 February 2018 (Methane leaks from fracking) Methane leaks from fracking in Pennsylvania have the same global heating effect as 11 coal-fired power plants. Much of this comes from abandoned wells, which no longer provide any fuel but still leak.

27 February 2018 (Decline of US hegemony) Most of the world won't mourn the end of the period of US hegemony, during which it has launched many wars and overthrown many governments to make the world safe for plutocracy. I take exception to two of the points in the article. First, the "idea that government has direct responsibility for the welfare of its people" does not necessarily mean a communist dictatorship. It could refer to social democracy, such as the New Deal in the US. Second, the brief US attack on Serbia was intended to stop violent ethnic cleansing in Kosovo. I won't argue that this was the only or the best way to do it, but it wasn't bare-faced aggression and it did stop the attacks against Albanian Kosovars. Reducing US world interventions won't necessarily mean peace. Chinese hegemony is not likely to care much about human rights either.

27 February 2018 (Cheapening human life) The resistance to gun control in the US fits in a broader tendency to cheapen human life. Still we should keep in mind that only a powerful minority of Americans oppose stricter gun regulations.

27 February 2018 (US corruption) The US hasn't got a lot of corruption in everyday life, but in bigger things it is as corrupt as can be.

27 February 2018 (Flattening Rohingya villages) The Burmese army is flattening all traces of Rohingya villages that it burned last year.

27 February 2018 (Republicans on gun regulations) Republicans say we don't need gun regulations because dangerously insane people won't be able to buy guns, while opposing measures to block dangerously insane people from buying guns.

27 February 2018 (Armed thug at Stoneman Douglas) The Stoneman Douglas had an armed thug for protection. While the shooting was going on, person took up a position at a door and did not go in. I can't blame per much. To enter a building where someone else is shooting people is rather dangerous. Most likely the thug wasn't trained for that. What this mainly proves is how foolish it is to expect some armed teacher to stop a massacre.

27 February 2018 (Governor's blackmailing) The Republican governor of Missouri faces charges for taking a nude photo of a lover without permission and then trying to blackmail her with it. The aim of his blackmail attempt — not that it makes any ethical difference — was to enforce her silence about their affair.

27 February 2018 (Democratic candidates) The Democratic Party establishment is fighting hard for right-wing Democrat Fletcher against activist Moser. I don't give to Democrat Congressional Campaign Committee. I give to progressive candidates (as far as I can tell) and organizations that support them.

27 February 2018 (Google's AMP plan) AMP is Google's plan to try to pressure web sites to become part of a single empire of the web. Mobile operating systems that support cr…apps are similar in spirit — intended to lead people away from the interoperable web. Javascript does it in another way.

27 February 2018 (Microsoft lawsuit) A number of users are suing Microsoft for forcibly downgrading their computers from Windows 7 to Windows 10. That's one way of protecting yourself from a universal back door. But it provides only a little protection. What you really need to do us switch to GNU/Linux.

27 February 2018 (Patrick Ryan) Surveillance magnate Patrick Ryan wants to run for Congress as a Democrat. With Democrats like these, who needs Republicans?

27 February 2018 (Russian manipulation) Calling Russian manipulation "a new cold war" is somewhat of an exaggeration. It is not necessary for the Russian troll system to be invincible for it to be important enough to condemn, or to prosecute US politicians that collaborated with it.

26 February 2018 (Employees' sex lives) A US appeals court ruled that government agencies can't fire employees over their private sex lives. I hope that the Supreme Court eventually supports this decision, but I am not optimistic. I refuse to criticize anyone for "adultery", because it consists of breaking a promise that many people find almost impossible to keep, and in many cases is bad for them. People make this promise because of social pressure that many do not see a way to resist. Under such circumstances, I refuse to criticize them for breaking it. This is why I refuse to criticize the bully for having affairs with attractive celebrities. The bully is doing tremendous harm to the US and the world. Let's not get distracted from this by peccadilloes.

26 February 2018 (Walmart jobs) Walmart's profits and stock price are rising, so it is eliminating some 10,000 management jobs. I refuse to shop at Walmart in the US; I don't like the way it pays most of its employees so little that they need public assistance.

26 February 2018 (Purpose of education) Measuring education in terms of increased income afterwards is missing the main point of education. We used to acknowledge clearly that the purpose of education was to prepare people to be capable citizens of a democracy. The mere attempt to judge issues of education in narrow economic terms indicates a basic error.

26 February 2018 (Non-native farmed fish) Washington State is in the process of legislating a ban on fish farms that hold non-native fish, because if the fish escape it can cause permanent ecological damage. A Canadian company plans to sue using NAFTA. This is possible due to the ISDS (I Sue Democratic States) provision of NAFTA.

26 February 2018 (Koch questions) Jonathan Smucker asked his congresscritter "how much the Koch brothers are getting in tax cuts and how much they're contributing to your campaign." The congresscritter had him thrown out.

26 February 2018 (Immigration subpoenas) Jordon Dyrdahl-Roberts was a legal secretary in the Montana Department of Labor. When told he would have to work on subpoenas from the US immigration thugs, he immediately quit.

26 February 2018 (Deporting old people) The UK government, as part of its policy of maximum cruelty to immigrants, is trying to squeeze out old people that are legally allowed to live there but haven't got documents to prove it.

26 February 2018 (Union workers under attack) The Concerted Attack On Public Sector Union Workers Is A Coordinated Effort Financed By Wealthy Donors.

26 February 2018 (Veiled racism) Political attacks on immigrants can be a way to veil racism.

26 February 2018 (Bahraini political prisoner) A Bahraini political prisoner has been sentenced to more years in prison for saying that Bahrain tortures political prisoners, and for insulting Salafi Arabia by criticizing its air campaign against Yemen. He's surely right in criticizing that. As for the torture, if he says Bahrain uses torture he surely knows. For either of those statements to be a crime is in itself sufficient to conclude that Bahrain is a repressive, evil state — if we didn't already know that.

26 February 2018 (Glyphosate petition) Monsanto has given Avaaz a subpoena demanding the name and other info of everyone who signed a petition against glyphosate. I used to sign Avaaz petitions, but they started using nonfree Javascript code, at which I decided not to sign or post them. But I have asked someone to check whether it is possible to sign them now.

26 February 2018 (Environmental compensation) International courts are taking small steps toward recognizing environmental degradation as a cause for compensation. Compensation may be sufficient when the total damage is small compared to the wealth of humanity. However, the damage that global heating threatens to do will be so big that compensation is impossible. We must instead prevent it.

26 February 2018 (Plans for North Korea) A Republican US senator told a security conference that the bully was planning to bomb North Korea to try to destroy its nuclear weapons capability.

26 February 2018 (Leaving Gaza) Egypt is allowing selected people to leave Gaza during just four days.

26 February 2018 (Student protests) Florida high school students went to the state capitol to demand gun control. Thousands of students left school to protest. The school superintendent of Needville, Texas, declared he would suspend any students that walk out of school to protest. I hope all the high school students in that district walk out to protest at his office, to show they are not going to be intimidated. If he follows through with the threat to "suspend" them, they can organize a three-day teach-in, where they will learn things that are more important than what is normally taught in school.

26 February 2018 (Pennsylvania judges) Republican Pennsylvania state legislators are seriously planning to impeach most judges of the state's Supreme Court specifically for instating nonbiased legislative districts. Can anything be done to stop them from seizing power?

25 February 2018 (Urgent: Payment to Stormy Daniels) US citizens: call on the Federal Election Commission and the Justice Department to investigate the payment made to Stormy Daniels, which may have violated campaign finance laws.

25 February 2018 (Assad regime) Assad Regime Uses Barrel Bombs and Attacks Hospitals in Rebel-Held Eastern Ghouta.

25 February 2018 (Honduran protester raids) Honduran thugs are raiding homes at night to arrest protesters against election fraud. They have also shot and killed protesters on various occasions.

25 February 2018 (Gun laws) Republicans offer to exchange tiny steps towards gun control for passage of their bill to undermine all states' gun regulations. I don't think it is sufficient to prohibit the sale of certain kinds of guns and accessories. We need to collect them and make them non-functional.

25 February 2018 (Gun control support) US gun owners overwhelmingly support some kinds of gun control regulations.

25 February 2018 (South Australia electricity) South Australia, a state in Australia, will aim to meet 25% of peak electric demand from storage — batteries and pumped hydro power. This goes with a target of 75% total electricity from renewable sources.

25 February 2018 (Florida conspiracy theory) A Florida state representative's staffer promoted a conspiracy theory accusation against the activist students that survived the school shooting.

25 February 2018 (Surveillance in the Philippines) The UK sold surveillance equipment to the Philippines even as Do-dirty had set up death squads.

25 February 2018 (al-Shabaab) A defector reports that al-Shabaab imposes crushing taxes on the people it controls and conscripts 8-year-olds to train them as fanatical soldiers. However, people still think that al-Shabaab courts are honest while government courts are corrupt.

25 February 2018 (Arizona districting) Arizona Republicans have failed three times to defeat the state's independent election districting commission, and failed. Now they are trying again.

25 February 2018 (Social isolation) Since social isolation tends to make people sick, social help can keep people healthy.

25 February 2018 (Sexual harassment) On what is needed to put an end to sexual harassment by men that have power over women's careers.

25 February 2018 (Racism in infrastructure) Since the 1930s, the US has built racism into its infrastructure. Surely the bigot's infrastructure plan will do more of this.

25 February 2018 (Media and war crimes) An analyzed example of how the mainstream media legitimize US war crimes: the New York Times said that the US "stumbled into torture" and that drone attacks that kill civilians merely "go wrong". Dubya pushed hard for use of torture, including finding subordinates to create legalistic excuses for it. As for the drone attacks, the US resists acknowledging that they kill civilians.

25 February 2018 ('Global threats' list) The US military's list of "global threats" doesn't change much: it's always calculated to appear to justify increased spending on every part of the military. It's not clear that the "rogue states" are more rogue than the US, or that the US can't coexist peacefully with them.

25 February 2018 (Crime of rudeness) The UK makes it a crime to say "move your fucking van". I disapprove totally of what she said — she was talking to ambulance crew who had come to take a sick person to a hospital — but the state should not punish people for rude language.

25 February 2018 (Drug prices) A combination of two cheap drugs, important to avoid the dangerous mistake of taking one without the other, has been jacked up in price to the point that patients can't afford it.

24 February 2018 (Urgent: Budget bill amendments) US citizens: phone your congresscritter to oppose budget bill amendments that would allow rich people to put even more money into political campaigns.

24 February 2018 (Arctic sea ice) Arctic sea ice has reached a record low, less than ever in the past 12,000 years or more.

24 February 2018 (Marjory Stoneman Douglas) The school shooting in Florida was in a high school named after journalist Marjory Stoneman Douglas because of her campaigns for women's rights, racial equality and preserving the Everglades.

24 February 2018 (Mink farm) An undercover thug in the UK infiltrated the animal rights group that released minks from cages where they were being bred, and participated in the action. Releasing minks in Britain, where they are a harmful invasive species, was a significant act of ecological sabotage, comparable (though on a much smaller scale) to palm-oil plantations and oil pipelines. However, they were sure to escape some day, just as an oil pipeline is sure to leak from time to time. The root of the problem was breeding minks in a place where they would be dangerous. This should not be allowed.

24 February 2018 (Distraction from domestic violence) For Republicans, the school shooting in Florida was a welcome distraction from condemnation for covering up the domestic violence of White House staff.

24 February 2018 (Drone radio-tracking system) A new radio-tracking system for commercial drones would also potentially force them to land when they reach a prohibited area. I don't know whether this includes a radio back door or not.

24 February 2018 (Palestinian children) Israeli soldiers arrested Palestinian children because they were in the area where someone threw stones.

24 February 2018 (Book store threatened) A book store in the US yielded to violent threats from supporters of Israel, by publishing a statement condemning the Palestinian Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions campaign. Now students opposed to the occupation of Palestine have launched a nonviolent campaign calling on the bookstore to move back to a neutral stance. I think it is wrong to accuse the bookstore of "suppression of literary freedom", but it is clear that that was the aim of those that made the threats.

24 February 2018 (Penalties on journalists) UN Warns Australia Against Imposing "Draconian Penalties" on Journalists. This law could violate a treaty on human rights.

24 February 2018 (E-book setback) E-books have hit a commercial setback. However, not enough of a setback to make our freedom safe. Please help teach others to reject them.

24 February 2018 (More spying on everyone) The US immigration thugs are pushing for more and more spying on everyone. Whatever they get, other agencies will get. Eventually the fourth amendment will be effectively a no-op.

24 February 2018 (Electricity in Puerto Rico) Restoration of electric power in Puerto Rico is held up because subcontractors fail to do their work. I urge Puerto Ricans to do everything possible to convince potential buyers to refuse to buy its power grid. The less it is sold for, the less it will be necessary to pay to seize it back.

24 February 2018 (Forests and trains) The UK government has banned protests in an ancient forest scheduled to be cut down to build a train line. In general I support high-speed trains. They help replace air travel with something much more efficient (as well as pleasant). But the UK needs to get rid of the laws that make it so easy to destroy forests, and so easy to ban protests.

24 February 2018 (Wage theft) "Wage theft is the rule, not the exception, for low-wage workers." In the US, it adds up to 15 billion dollars per year, stolen from the people who can least afford to lose it.

24 February 2018 (Food and drug safety standards) If the UK leaves the EU, businesses and right-wing ideologues are organizing to take advantage of this by adopting the weaker food and drug safety standards of the US.

24 February 2018 (NRA's intent) "After Florida, I see the NRA as nothing less than a terrorist organization." But is that valid? Terrorism is a matter of intent: political influence through threats of violence. Does the NRA do that? Not directly. It doesn't threaten to shoot anyone. However, in an indirect way, maybe it brings this about. The NRA functions as a marketing arm for gun companies. Its program is to make Americans scared of gun crime, so that they will buy guns. Thus, it appears that a higher rate of gun crime is not merely a byproduct of the NRA's activity, but part of its plan. Does that fit the definition of terrorism? I'd say it is on the borderline. In the end, I think it is better not to stretch the word this far. We can condemn an organization for wrongdoing without calling that wrongdoing "terrorism".

24 February 2018 (Cross-partisan discussion) Cross-partisan discussion groups enable Americans to get to know people from the other side of politics.

23 February 2018 (Urgent: Fire LA thug) Everyone: call on Los Angeles to fire the thug that shot a gun at a group of teenagers because they were crossing a lawn.

23 February 2018 (Registered intermediaries) "Registered intermediaries" help young children testify about sexual abuse. In the US, "recovered memory" therapists used to convince vulnerable people that they "remembered" being sexually abused while children — but the abuse had not really happened. Some people were imprisoned for years then exonerated. It might be the case that these "intermediaries" are doing the same thing, some of the time. Or maybe they take care to avoid it. The article does not address the issue.

23 February 2018 (Hostility towards Oxfam) Oxfam faces an inexplicable climate of hostility, in which everything it says is taken as a sign of wrongdoing. You can see this bias when people label this uproar with the terms "sex exploitation" and "sexual abuse". At that point enters the premise that doing business with a sex worker is a wrong that deserves condemnation. Then the attack typically condemns the organization because someone on its staff did this "wrong". If an Oxfam staffer hires a country music band, a genre which I dislike rather strongly, should I say Oxfam has a music exploitation scandal?

23 February 2018 (US war crimes in Afghanistan) Campaigning for the International Criminal Court to investigate US war crimes in Afghanistan, and target the highest leaders responsible — starting with Dubya.

23 February 2018 (Endangered species) Australia has laws for protection of endangered species, but usually it only goes through the motions of trying, or not even that.

23 February 2018 (Syrian Kurds in Afrin) The Syrian Kurds in Afrin have asked Assad to defend them from Turkey. Erdoğan warned Assad that Turkey would attack Assad. And Assad's Russian backers, too? It is very strange for a breakaway part of Syria to ally in effect with Syria (and thus maybe Russia). Even stranger to ally with Syria and the US at the same time. I don't know what to make of this.

23 February 2018 (Temperature study) A study measured temperatures for the past 11,000 years, since the end of the last ice age. It has never been as hot as it is now.

23 February 2018 (Cash propaganda) Look at the propaganda designed to dishearten people about the privacy of cash. It takes a gently derisive tone towards some minor practical inconveniences of tracked digital payments, while suggesting they will soon be solved. The result is to disparage the idea that there is something serious at stake. If you live in Sweden — or any other country — plan in advance to carry cash, and only pay cash in stores. If a store won't take cash, say "I'm going to another store that will." You can easily think of bogus objections, if you are willing to exaggerate — so ignore them instead. If you find yourself without cash one day, don't give up — just do better the next day. And don't use a pay toilet no matter how they want you to pay. It is vicious and cruel to make people pay to use a toilet. I have money, and I could afford to pay, but some people can't. I have boycotted pay toilets for 10 years.

23 February 2018 (New privatized prison) Texas has a new privatized prison, which pretends to be a "treatment program" for ex-cons, except that there is no treatment and prisoners are never released except to die.

23 February 2018 (Preventing massacres) The time to talk about preventing more massacres is March 24. (And before, and after.)

23 February 2018 (Undercover thug resigned) An undercover thug, sent to infiltrate dissidents that opposed fox hunting by pretending to love one of them, fell in love for real and resigned.

23 February 2018 (Animals and the wall) If the bully's wall is built, it would put bison and jaguars in danger in Mexico and the US. 180 already-endangered species would be harmed. Is it possible to make openings that these animals could get through, and watch them closely enough that humans could not get through? Is it possible to make small holes for smaller animals to get through? If this could be done, the wall would be a foolish expenditure but not a cause of extinction.

22 February 2018 (Urgent: Infrastructure privatization) US citizens: tell Congress to reject the bully's privatization of infrastructure plan.

22 February 2018 (UK arms sales) The UK eagerly sells arms to many tyrannical regimes, and the Tory plan for exiting the EU is to sell even more.

22 February 2018 (Nazi Party's strategy) Provoking violent opposition won the Nazi Party more support, which enabled it to take over Germany. This is because the establishment, and the principal media, always gave the left more of its share of the blame. Even if the left did not engage in violence, it was blamed for any real or imaginary violence. The bully's advisors appear to be following the same approach. The article recommends expressing disagreement with Nazis by holding an event far enough away that it will avoid direct confrontation.

22 February 2018 (Mass graves in Burma) The Burmese government is reportedly bulldozing mass graves of Rohingya to cover up the massacres.

22 February 2018 ('Inappropriate' court case) The question of the opaque accusation of "inappropriate" has reach a court. The lawyer of the person thus criticized, Mr Rush, asks how one can defend oneself from such an accusation. Do you say, "I don’t know what it was, but I didn't do it"? Or do you say, "I don’t know what it was, but it wasn't wrong"? This case illustrates the point that it is never legitimate to punish or rebuke someone on the grounds of "inappropriateness". For an accusation to be valid, it has to be concrete. If we knew what Mr Rush was accused of doing, we might say it was wrong. Or we might not. At least we would have a question to think about. But when the accusation says only "inappropriate", we have to reject it.

22 February 2018 (Letter from the Taliban) Here is the letter from the Taliban to the American people, calling for peace negotiations. As you would expect, the letter contains exaggerations and false points that put the Taliban in a better light than it deserves. The US did have some basis for invading Afghanistan: al Qa'ida was based there, with the Taliban's approval. However, the US had not exhausted peaceful ways to deal with that issue. The Taliban had expressed a willingness to discuss expelling al Qa'ida, not long before.

The Taliban did not unite all of Afghanistan — one region in the north resisted. Perhaps this was because of an interethnic dispute.

The Afghan people are not unanimous in support of the Taliban, and I am not convinced that the majority do, though they clearly have substantial support.

The Taliban are hardly entitled to criticize the Afghan state about women's rights. Bad as the government is, the Taliban are even worse.

The Taliban are even more callous about killing civilians than the US.

Any government that calls itself an "Islamic Emirate" is evidently inclined to trample human rights — much like the theocratic Christians of the Republican Party. Despite these errors and distortions, I think the letter presents the situation accurately, overall. The US has no realistic chance of establishing a good government in Afghanistan, and continuing the war ad nauseam cannot be justified. I hope the US has the decency to make peace.

22 February 2018 (Students for gun control) US High school students are mobilizing for gun control, led by those whose friends were shot last week.

22 February 2018 (Protest law in Tasmania) The plutocratist government of Tasmania pledges to enact a new law to repress protests, after the old one was overturned as unconstitutional. Protests are a transient inconvenience. Extinction is forever.

22 February 2018 (Politicians' looks) Women who stand for something more important than fashion should not face arguments about the way they dress. How foolish it is to judge a politician by per looks. I didn't refuse to vote for Hillary Clinton because of her appearance. I didn't vote for Jill Stein because of her appearance. I chose based on their political stands. This applies to male politicians, too. Americans have tended for a long time to elect for the (male) presidential candidate that has better looks. How foolish.

22 February 2018 (Prostitution in Haiti) Oxfam staff in Haiti are accused of threatening a witness to demand silence about their activities with prostitutes. Hiring sex workers is not wrong; it is one of those things that prudes condemn for no good reason, and then try to drag everyone else into condemning too. The danger of retribution by prudes is real and substantial, so the fear of retribution is rational. Sad to say, that fear leads some people to commit real wrongs, such as threatening violence. To illustrate the general point, this used to be the case for homosexuals. It is not wrong to be homosexual or to have homosexual sex, but prudes condemned that for no good reason, and manage to drag society along with that prudery. To be a closeted homosexual was truly dangerous, and they were vulnerable to being blackmailed and coerced into doing real wrongs. That is mostly no longer a problem for homosexuals in liberal countries today, because prudish prejudice against homosexuals no longer receives much open support. Instead we see the new prudish campaign against sex workers and their customers. That too can coerce people into doing real wrongs. You can see the campaign here. The article is incoherent — argument from juxtaposition with derision. The closest it comes to validity is when it points out that Haitians may do sex work because they live in desperate circumstances. It draws the wrong conclusion from that. The problem those Haitians suffer is not sex work as such, it is their desperate poverty. Sex work is one of the ways they cope with it. To help them would mean giving them improved circumstances in which they could easily avoid sex work, if they wish to. The poverty of Haitians was not caused by Oxfam. Rather, it is the result of centuries of oppression: first slavery, then decades of war for independence, then the huge indemnity that France demanded in exchange for Haiti's independence, followed for many decades by tyranny supported or imposed by the US, from the Duvalier family to the presidents that the US selected after the US kicked out Aristide for the second time. To get out of this desperate situation, Haitians need humanitarian aid, such as Oxfam provides, but above all they need self-government that is honest. The prudish article does identify one practice of Oxfam which will tend to cause problems: giving its foreign staff a luxurious villa to live in, and more generally a life of luxury compared with the local people. The problem is not a matter of any specific luxury they might pay for. It is that their lifestyle tends to distance them from the people they have come to serve. That can lead them to look down at the local people and consider their work nothing more than a career to make money from. In effect, they forget the point of their being there. That doesn't automatically cause them to act badly, but tends to lead them in that direction.

22 February 2018 (Facebook for children) When Facebook sought advice about how to offer its dis-service to children, it consulted the experts that it funded, while giving independent analysts too little time to respond to the plan.

22 February 2018 (Microsoft DRM) Reverse-engineers defeated a Microsoft system of DRM (Digital Restrictions Management) for Windows applications. I would cheer for them, except that even once these applications' DRM is removed, they remain proprietary software — you use them at the cost of your freedom. An unauthorized copy of a proprietary program is a rather bad thing, almost as bad as an authorized copy of the same program. To protect your freedom, you need to refuse to run the program. And refuse to run Windows, too. Please don't refer to unauthorized sharing as "piracy". It is propaganda for the enemy.

22 February 2018 (Precautionary principle) Arguing for the precautionary principle: evaluating projects and plans by numerical risk assessment is unscientific, and systematically leads to too much risk. The precautionary principle is easy to apply when "do nothing" is a fine alternative to the project being evaluated. Often that is the case, but it gets more difficult when inaction is dangerous too. Also, it has to be applied with a sense of proportion. Walking downstairs might result in a fall, but it would be absurd to reject a project because implementing it would require someone to walk downstairs.

22 February 2018 (US food assistance) The plan to give poor people one-size-fits-all imposed food packages will be bad for nutrition, inefficient for the government, and a give-away to big food companies. There is no need to worry that Americans receiving food assistance money are splurging it on luxuries. Benefits for the poor in the US have been gradually cut, over the past 20 years, to the point where they can barely get by. Thus they are compelled to find the most inexpensive food.

22 February 2018 (Thugs in US courts) US courts treat thugs as perfect sources of authority when they testify for the prosecution, but when they are sued for violence, they can always get off by pleading ignorance of the law.

22 February 2018 ('Peace through strength') "Peace Through Strength" Is a Racket — an excuse for letting military spending gobble more and more of the US budget. It's not just a theoretical possibility that the Peace Through Strength Doctrine, or PTSD as the article abbreviates it, can encourage real war. Look at how many countries the US is fighting in. That leads to ever more veterans with PTSD from the PTSD.

21 February 2018 (Oklahoma taxes) Oklahoma has cut taxes so much that it can't run schools any more. Teachers have to moonlight at Walmart. Republicans have made it almost impossible to repeal the tax cuts, so the state is trapped on the road to disaster.

21 February 2018 (Second amendment) It was accepted constitutional law that the second amendment did conflict with gun control. Right-wing extremists campaigned for decades to gain enough power to change that. Eliminating gun control, like eliminating abortion and birth control, are not really important to right-wing supporters. Rather, their leaders are expert at using these issues to build communities of supporters who are fanatical about them, and can then be led through them to support right-wing candidates in spite of all other issues and all their real interests.

21 February 2018 (Manipulating Americans) For manipulating Americans, Facebook is the platform of choice. Don't be so easy to manipulate — stop being a used of Facebook!

21 February 2018 (School killer was investigated) A Florida agency investigated the recent school killer, and concluded he wasn't likely to commit an actual crime. Such estimates are inherently fallible. At least they looked at the situation.

21 February 2018 (Medical care in Kentucky) The governor of Kentucky is so hot to deny medical care to poor people that he's willing to spend millions for the decrease in aid.

21 February 2018 (Florida shooter warning) Someone warned the FBI about the Florida shooter, but the Miami office never received the message so it did not investigate him. That appears to have been a mistake. Surely the system can be improved, but there is no way to eliminate mistakes. The FBI may able to prevent some such killings, but it could never prevent them all. A bigger obstacle is that lots of people show the general signs of being possibly murderous, and only a few of them go on to try to kill anyone. So it would take quite a few investigations to prevent one crime. That gets to the point of oppressing lots of people who have not and will not do anything criminal. On the other hand, if we got rid of large magazines, those who decide to kill won't be able to kill so many people. We should also consider following Canada's gun regulations. According to Bowling for Columbine, Canadians can own guns, but there are strict regulations about how to store and carry them, which reduce the use of guns to shoot at people.

21 February 2018 (Leaky pipelines) The bully's "infrastructure" plan proposes to make it hard for people to oppose leaky pipelines that can poison their water supplies.

21 February 2018 (Ajit Pai under investigation) Ajit Pai is under investigation for a conflict of interest for his elimination of the limits on media concentration, apparently intended to allow the right-wing propaganda broadcaster Sinclair to take over many more TV stations.

21 February 2018 (Uber's accounting) Uber is losing a lot of money every year, but we cannot tell how much because it releases only vaguely defined accounting information, insufficient to tell its real losses. This is crucial because it can't keep this up indefinitely. Some day it will have to raise its prices quite a bit. If Uber customers patronize Uber so much now that its competitors disappear before that day, they will regret their actions when the price goes up.

21 February 2018 (Zapatistas) An interview with the Zapatistas of Chiapas.

21 February 2018 (Energy on Balearic Islands) The Balearic Islands want to move fast to renewable energy, but the Spanish state demands to upgrade coal-burning plants instead of shutting them.

21 February 2018 (US voting systems) Some US states are moving toward voting systems that are less vulnerable to digital fraud. What I fear most, in the area of centralized digital election fraud, is not that Russia will do it (though it might try to), but that US politicians will do it.

21 February 2018 (Bill Clinton and the bully) President Clinton was almost removed from office for having sex with Monica Lewinsky. How is it that the bully more or less gets away with it? The article gives good reasons, but I'd like to add one more. Recall that the hardest charge against Bill Clinton was that he lied when he denied having sex with her. Republicans claimed to hold him to a standard of total honesty (which, of course, they did not meet). And he claimed to meet that standard. The bully shows blatant contempt for the truth. As a result, to make a big deal about any one lie of his seems like missing the point. My view is different. I did not criticize Bill Clinton for sex with Lewinsky — I considered it unimportant. I don't believe non-monogamy is wrong. As for lying about extramarital sex, I forgive that because I blame the unjustified pressure society puts on people to be or appear monogamous. I criticized Bill Clinton for things that hurt or endangered millions of Americans, such as "welfare reform." Likewise, I don't care if the bully had sex with models, porn stars, or accountants. I don't care if he paid them not to talk about it, or paid them to talk about it. Those things are unimportant. I condemn the bully for the gross wrongs he commits every day. There is no excuse for those. American theocratic right-wing Christians have got rid of most of the principles that their Christianity used to mean to them. However, a minor correction is called for. Roy Moore did not date children. He dated teenagers.

21 February 2018 (Sea plastic and fracking) The flood of plastics that endangers animals in the sea is tied up with fracking.

21 February 2018 (California college fees) California plans to eliminate fees for public colleges with an estate tax. I am in favor, but this is just a small step towards taxing the rich properly.

21 February 2018 (Easing up on Wells Fargo) Pity the poor sad criminal banksters at Wells Fargo — regulators should ease up on them, says the a big investor in the bank. What about the Americans that are needy, like the 50% that are broke? When will you let up on them, rich guy?

21 February 2018 (Sitting during the pledge) A teacher in the US faces charges for violently dragging a student out of class for not standing up for the Pledge of Allegiance. Students have the right to abstain from the Pledge of Allegiance as part of the US Constitution, which is what Americans' allegiance really ought to be directed towards.

21 February 2018 (Ads or bitcoin mining) Salon magazine offers users two options: view surveillance ads, or mine bitcoin for the magazine. In principle, I do not object to this, provided the implementation respects my privacy and my freedom. But I suspect that the implementation uses nonfree Javascript code. Can someone check that for me?

20 February 2018 (Urgent: Campaign money) US citizens: phone your congresscritter to oppose amendments that would open more channels for the rich to pay for political campaigning. The Johnson Amendment is the law that prohibits churches from campaigning for or against candidates.

20 February 2018 (The right to make links) A federal court's surprise ruling threatens the right to make links.

20 February 2018 (Banning circumcision) Iceland proposes to ban circumcision of baby boys, treating it the same as female genital mutilation. From what I have read, the two practices are not comparable in practice. Female genital mutilation systematically prevents women's sexual pleasure and can lead to life-long medical problems. Circumcision for males is not like that. But there is an argument for allowing boys to make their own decision about circumcision, when they are old enough to decide.

20 February 2018 (Protected land) 15% of the world's land area is protected for wildlife, but that's not enough. To preserve most of the species, we should protect something like 50%. First step: stop increasing the human population.

20 February 2018 (Facebook's VPN service) Facebook has a VPN service, which doesn't respect privacy the way most VPN services do.

20 February 2018 (Gun regulation) A conservative gun owner advocates strict investigations before someone is allowed to own a gun. He turned in his assault rifle to the thugs because he did not want it to be available to anyone. That was well-intentioned, but does that thug department destroy the weapons that people hand in? Or does it sell them? Some US thug departments sell weapons under those circumstances.

20 February 2018 (View of disabled people) UK jobcenters view disabled people with a "culture of disbelief", treating them all as cheaters to be guarded against. Right-wing regimes squeeze poor and disabled people by (1) cutting their support so much that they practically have to cheat to survive, then (2) demonizing them for cheating.

20 February 2018 (Training the school murderer) The Florida school murderer trained with a white-supremacist paramilitary group, said the group's leader. Later he said that his first statement was a mistake, that he had been tricked by right-wing trolls. Who were these trolls, and what was their motive? Were the pranksters opposed to neo-Nazis? Were they neo-Nazis trying to cause trouble for a rival group? Were they neo-Nazis who calculated they would win support for their cause by associating themselves with murder? It worked for PISSI, so maybe they think it will work for them.

20 February 2018 (Facebook in Belgium) Belgium has ruled that some aspects of Facebook data collection are illegal, and ordered Facebook to delete the data or face a large fine. While this is firm compared with the usual levels of regulation of companies nowadays, it is inadequate in recompense because it assumes that deleting the data will entirely undo the wrong to the users. There are two reasons that is not so: Facebook has already had a chance to manipulate and mistreat users by means of that data.

The US government may have collected some of that data, using PAT RIOT Act blanket surveillance powers. If Facebook deletes that data now, that won't make the US delete it.

20 February 2018 (British housing crisis) The British housing crisis is the consequence of Tory ideology and goals. Kicking out the Tories is the first step to taking all the necessary measures to end the problem. Britons, hiss at the Tory government when you vote and you can make it hiss-tory.

20 February 2018 (US border visits) The US border patrol has cut down border visits between US citizens and their relatives who can't enter the US. I share the suspicion that "This has to do with the message of hate that Trump screams out."

20 February 2018 (Visible poverty) Poverty Is Now So Visible That Even the Richest Can See It. I recall a cartoon from the 1980s showing rich people wearing "stealth hats", in the shape of the "stealth bomber", so that they would not see the poverty around them.

20 February 2018 (Energy Star program) The saboteur-in-chief wants to eliminiate the Energy Star efficiency program, which saves energy for a small price. Is this because it gives his hotels a low rating for energy efficiency? Or because he hates the idea of encouraging people to think about saving energy?

20 February 2018 (David Shulgin) The saboteur-in-chief regrets having appointed David Shulgin to head the Veterans' Administration. It seems that Shulgin is qualified, capable, and wants to do a good job. Does this sound like The Onion? Alas, it's true.

20 February 2018 (Pruitt's isolation) Saboteur Pruitt has isolated himself inside the EPA office, with personal security guards (several on duty at every moment). He has given people reason to hate him and he knows it. He said he flies first class because fewer people there disapprove of his sabotage to the environment and the ecosphere. By his lights, though, the side effects of his security are all to the good. A whole floor of the EPA offices for him? With all the staff he has dismissed, there is surely plenty of extra space, and if not, it is an excuse to dismiss more staff. Paying his guards? Use the funds saved by not paying scientists and investigators.

19 February 2018 (Urgent: Coal lobbyist nomination) US citizens: phone senators to oppose the nomination of a coal lobbyist as the second in command of the EPA.

19 February 2018 (School shooter drills) (Satire) New School Shooter Drill Includes Practicing Pleas To Lawmakers To Do Something About This.

19 February 2018 (Student strike) Students at a Houston high school went on strike after thugs arrested one who is an unauthorized immigrant and handed him over for deportation.

19 February 2018 (John Kelly) (Satire) John Kelly Apologizes For Assuming Everyone Would Ignore Abuse Allegations Like They Do In Military.

19 February 2018 (Civilian casualties) There were 10,000 civilian war casualties in Afghanistan in 2017. Is it worth continuing the war at that cost, to keep the Taliban from winning? No one has an idea for how to really defeat them.

19 February 2018 (Stopped deportation) A court stopped the deportation of Syed Ahmed Jamal at the very last minute, but instead of freeing him, the immigration thugs put him in jail.

19 February 2018 (Investigation delays) It is fishy that investigating Kushner and other cronies of the bully for security clearances has taken a whole year. The delays are probably not the fault of the investigators.

19 February 2018 (Sackler family legacy) What should museums do about the wings and rooms named after the Sackler family? It is not entirely fair to compare the Sacklers to drug pushers. Drug pushers know, when they start, what harm they are sure to do. The harm oxycontin has caused was just a possibility when the Sacklers started selling it. Of course, as evidence of harm accumulated, they resisted the conclusion that they were doing something wrong. I suppose they are still resisting it. This is not limited to pharmaceuticals. Think of the Gates Foundation (funded by subjugating people in their computing) and the MIT-Lemelson program (funded by a bequest from a blatant patent troll).

19 February 2018 (Cows in the Netherlands) The Netherlands has so many cows that they can't dispose of the manure safely.

19 February 2018 (Donations to Temer) Brazil's president Temer got donations from companies "linked to slavery". So did many other Brazilian politicians. Some of them actively oppose efforts to stamp out slavery.

19 February 2018 (Accidental nuclear war) Ernest Moniz, former Secretary of Energy, warns that the danger of accidental nuclear war is increasing.

19 February 2018 (Upgrading nuclear bombs) The bully wants to spend billions of dollars to upgrade B61 nuclear bombs which are kept in Europe, even though it is dangerous to have them there.

19 February 2018 (African National Congress) The African National Congress is still full of corruption even though President Zuma is gone.

19 February 2018 (Ethiopia's prime minister) The formerly repressive prime minister of Ethiopia has resigned. Something complicated seems to be going on there.

18 February 2018 (Urgent: Protect wildlife) US citizens: protect wildlife by opposing the bully's infrastructure and budget plans.

18 February 2018 (School shooter) The latest school shooter was a right-wing extremist. This killing could be an act of right-wing terrorism. After a school shooting killed 17 people, Russian bots are supporting the NRA against gun control, and claiming that the killer is associated with Antifa.

18 February 2018 (Internal whistleblowers) The intelligence agencies' inspector general investigated 190 cases in which internal whistleblowers complained of retaliation. Only once did it rule in favor of the whistleblower. Meanwhile, whatever wrongdoing or corruption they reported has probably been ignored. The whistleblowers such as Snowden that tell the public know that reporting the matter internally would be useless and would result in their punishment.

18 February 2018 (Arctic shipping) A tanker is sailing from Korea to France along the Arctic coast of Russia. If this were the principal effect of global heating, we could well celebrate. In fact, though, it warns we are approaching a turning point at which the lack of ice greatly increases the absorption of sunlight in the Arctic.

18 February 2018 (Arguments against immigration) Fallacious arguments often supplied against allowing immigration into the US.

18 February 2018 (Pain treatment) Sessions, as part of the War on Pain Sufferers, said they should take an aspirin and suffer — no matter how bad the pain. Restrictions on opioids are making it difficult for some people to get treatment for their pain. Before crushing people with pain, let's see if the recent diminution in prescribing oxycontin reduces the number of people that get addicted to opioids. I expect to have an operation in a few months. I am terrified of what will happen after I leave the hospital.

18 February 2018 (Quoting racist insults) A professor at Princeton started a discussion in class about racism and racist insults. Students reported him for quoting a racist insult. We can't discuss and think about the issue of racism if we don't dare quote racist statements. I am disappointed that the professor cancelled the course in response to this criticism.

18 February 2018 (Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe) Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, prisoner in Iran, is now a pawn in the hands of the foreign ministry.

18 February 2018 (Methane waste) Administration Moves To Trample Taxpayers, Public Health, And Climate Via Methane Waste Rule Rollback.

18 February 2018 (Google's plans for email) Google wants to put surveillance ads into email, as well as other things that will depend on nonfree software. You can protect yourself with free email readers, because many of them will refuse to run the "dynamic" (i.e., dangerous) material in email messages.

18 February 2018 (Republicans making life difficult) Republicans know that making life difficult for poor people can result in an irrational reaction where they give up on political activity (which lets the Republicans win).

18 February 2018 (Westminster God Show) Results of the Westminster God Show.

18 February 2018 (Exxon's secret) Exxon discovered decades ago that fossil fuels were going to cause global heating, and kept it secret. Several states and cities are suing Exxon for this. Now Exxon is suing them, trying to present itself as the poor little rich kid that merely wanted to get richer.

18 February 2018 (Accused of spying in Iran) Iran's equivalent of Pizzagate: environmentalists studying rare cheetahs have been accused of spying. One of them recently was killed in prison.

18 February 2018 (Invented scandals) With a scandal in the news about some humanitarian aid groups, right-wingers are inventing lots more fake scandals. Why? I think they hate the idea that suffering people deserve some help and that governments can fund it.

18 February 2018 (Zuma resigned) South Africa's super-corrupt president Zuma has resigned.

18 February 2018 (Asylum seeker in solitary) US immigration prison thugs, working for a private company, put an asylum seeker in solitary to punish her for reporting other acts of harassment. They said they would not release her unless she retracted her complaints.

17 February 2018 (Urgent: Texas Republicans' lawsuit) US citizens: Tell Texas Republicans to back off their bogus lawsuit which aims to exclude black Democratic candidates.

17 February 2018 (Fired by the White House) The one and only crime that can get a person fired by the White House is having tried marijuana.

17 February 2018 (Funds for crime victims) The bully's budget proposal takes away funds allotted for victims of crime. The bully thinks they should sign nondisclosure agreements and get their funds from him (or from his lawyer).

18 February 2018 (Homelessness in Britain) A homeless man died next to Parliament in London, effectively a reproach to the Tories that created most of the homelessness in Britain.

18 February 2018 (Canada's medical system) Canada's national medical system covers medical care but not medicines. A million Canadians skipped food or heating to pay for medicine last year, and a larger number skipped medicine because they could not afford it. Still, it's a lot better than the US.

18 February 2018 (Departing staffers) (Satire) White House Now Just Holding Continuous Going-Away Party For Departing Staffers.

18 February 2018 (Immigration thug lawyer) An immigration thug lawyer is charged with using the credit cards of people who were being deported, to defraud them and others.

18 February 2018 (Obstacles in the West Bank) Israel has dozens of ways to try to chase Palestinians out of their villages in the West Bank. It fabricates excuses to create artificial bureaucratic obstacles to normal life.

18 February 2018 (Protests in Ethiopia) Mass Protests Force Ethiopia to Free Opposition Leader. Ethiopia is ruled by a rather nasty dictatorship.

18 February 2018 (Mexico elections) The candidate from one Mexico's main right-wing political party says that the state is spying on him. The candidate of the left-wing PRD says the same. I am not surprised. 20 years ago, Mexican elections were being rigged by altering the final results — maybe they still are.

18 February 2018 (Krill population) Global heating effects, together with fishing for krill, have knocked the krill population down by 80%. Many other animals are impacted, including penguins and whales.

18 February 2018 (Tories and the disabled) Why can't the Tories make their system for cutting support for the disabled work without errors? Because errors contribute to the intended effect of cutting aid to the disabled. I suspect, however, that spending less to help the disabled is a means to another end: demonizing the disabled. Tories don't want the non-disabled people who are likewise suffering to recognize whose fault it is: the Tories and the rich people they serve.

18 February 2018 (Afghanistan negotiation) The Taliban publicly invited the US to start negotiating ending the war in Afghanistan. As long as the situation remains basically unchanged, the US cannot win the war in Afghanistan, any more than the Soviet Union could. It would be better to acknowledge this and stop the useless bloodshed. Much as I condemn the Taliban's Islamist repression, perpetual war is worse.

18 February 2018 (Anti-immigration demands) SCROTUS and the bully say they won't renew DACA unless the law contains their four anti-immigration demands. Now we know that the reason the bully cancelled DACA in the first place was to use those immigrants as hostages to gain these demands. As President Reagan showed us, giving hostage-takers what they want encourages them to take more hostages. Republicans are no less clever than Islamist kidnapers, and no less cruel. To enable their cruelty because they have hostages would surely make things worse. We should not do that. Meanwhile, there is a chance of preserving DACA through court actions.

18 February 2018 (Fracking increase) The Department of Energy predicts that fracking will extract increasing amounts of oil and gas for decades. They might be able to keep increasing this for a few decades, but if they do, there will be no avoiding global heating disaster.

18 February 2018 (Dicamba) The EPA carelessly approved use of the toxic pesticide dicamba on additional crops. It produced blowing clouds of pesticides that damaged other crops, as well as wildlife.

18 February 2018 (Locked in to Apple) Apple devices lock users in solely to Apple services by being incompatible with all other options, ethical or unethical.

16 February 2018 (Urgent: Reject HR 620) US citizens: call on your congresscritter to reject HR 620, which would weaken efforts to make life easier for people with disabilities.

16 February 2018 (Saboteur's budget proposal) The saboteur's budget proposal would transfer billions of dollars from education and health to even more armaments.

16 February 2018 (Puerto Rico suicides) The suicide rate in Puerto Rico increased 50% after last year's hurricane. It would be interesting to study precisely what motivates these people to commit suicide. It could be the difficulty of coping with life with many systems not functioning, penury due to the lack of income, death of friends and relatives, the dread of losing your land and house to banks, or maybe something else I have not thought of.

16 February 2018 (Endocrine disrupting chemicals) An estimate suggests that endocrine disrupting chemicals cause $170 billion damage per year in Europe, considering just the effect on human beings. These chemicals harm wildlife, too.

16 February 2018 (Exporting meat) One additional reason the UK to beware a new business-supremacy treaty with the US: the US will insist on exporting meat that brings antibiotic resistance. The US may demand the usual ISDS (I Sue Democratic States) provision too.

16 February 2018 (Hiding profits in Canada) Canada's easy attitude towards companies whose owners are secret makes it a prime transit site for hiding profits.

16 February 2018 (PFAS chemicals) PFAS chemicals in food packaging and no-stick pans may cause obesity. They are also found in firefighting foam, whose use puts them indirectly into water supplies.

16 February 2018 (Immigrant arrests) US immigration thugs have doubled their rate of arresting (and deporting) immigrants without criminal convictions. Some of those people face charges, of which they might be found guilty or innocent. If they are found guilty, they could be deported for that. If they are found innocent, there will be no particular reason for deporting them. So what's the rush?

16 February 2018 (California housing) California legislators propose to allow tall buildings with dense housing near all major bus lines and train stations. I am completely in favor of this, because overall it will mean cheaper housing and less homelessness. However, it should be joined with stiff taxes on dwellings that are not anyone's primary residence or are the primary residence of considerably fewer people than would normally live there.

16 February 2018 (Defense Logistics Agency) The US Defense Logistics Agency spent almost a billion dollars which it can't document. What to do? Spend even more.

16 February 2018 (Staying in touch) New software will enable people to avoid pressure to stay in touch with other people by having Eliza-like programs do it for them. The humans will be effectively isolated from other humans while their social stand-ins leak their personal data autonomously.

16 February 2018 (Judge in Assange case) The judge that insists on arresting Assange refused to consider the possible plot to deliver him to the US. We know the UK was lying when it claimed publicly to be pursuing Assange on behalf of Sweden while privately telling Sweden not to stop providing the excuse for this.

16 February 2018 (Sanitized history curriculum) Education in the US normally teaches students almost nothing about all the democratic governments that the US overthrew and replaced with repressive regimes. Many of those countries are repressive today. I doubt there would be a jihadi movement if the US had not overthrown Mossadegh.

16 February 2018 (Food assistance) Republicans want to replace part of food assistance with a fixed box of groceries. If this were an option, and provided more food, I think many people would take it. However, treating poor people like dirt is the purpose of this policy. It is meant to intimidate them so that they don't fight for their rights.

16 February 2018 (Faux News) Faux News spread faux claims that a border thug was killed, and that the alleged killers were Mexicans. There is no evidence that the agent was killed at all.

16 February 2018 (Private sexual activities) A US appeals court ruled that governments can't fire employees for private sexual activities in the absence of a work-related reason. I hope the Supreme Court agrees with this.

16 February 2018 (UK asylum system) Whistleblowers in the department that handles asylum claims for the UK say they that some agents hate immigrants and only want to say no. Even those that want to judge cases honestly can't because they are too overworked, Does anyone know how the US compares with this?

16 February 2018 (Agro-forestry) Agro-forestry is being used in many countries to restore forests.

16 February 2018 (US gun sales dropping) US gun sales have dropped so much that gun manufacturers are in trouble. The NRA functions as a marketing and lobbying arm for the gun manufacturers. If they don't have money to give it, the NRA may get much weaker.

16 February 2018 (Assange arrest warrant) A UK court insisted that the UK would arrest Assange if he leaves the Ecuadorian embassy. Even if the judge made this decision "on the merits" of that narrow aspect of the case, due to the context it would be a continuation of the scheme, punishing Assange for the UK government's dishonesty. However, given all the secret machinations, and given that UK judges often uphold such machinations, I so not believe that this ruling was independent. I think the judge is complicit in the same scheme. If that is not true, let him prove it.

16 February 2018 (Newspaper ditches Facebook) A major newspaper in Brazil has stopped publishing via Facebook. The major newspapers of Brazil are right-wing and sometimes publish fake news. My Brazilian friend told me, tongue in cheek, that he thought this decision was because the owners were concerned their articles would be tagged as fake on Facebook. However, Facebook itself is so dangerous that any movement by the media towards rejecting it is cause for applause.

16 February 2018 (The Republican Party) Instead of hammering specifically on the bully and his scandals, Americans should group the bully with his followers, the Republican Party, and focus on the harm they have done and are trying to do.

16 February 2018 (Progressive candidates) Embracing Bold Platforms, Progressives Working to Unseat Corporate Dems Nationwide.

16 February 2018 (Death by deportation) Ricardo Querales faces death by deportation. The antiviral drugs, without which he will die, are not available in Venezuela. It is fundamentally wrong to make it a crime to possess drugs for one's own use. Such charges don't justify deporting someone, let alone jailing someone.

16 February 2018 (Extinction) Australia's disregard is allowing species to go extinct. The disregard is so big that the government is allowing businesses to cut down large areas of wild forest.

16 February 2018 (Apple protests) A campaign of protests targets Apple in France for tax-dodging. Apple is seeking to ban the protests and fine the protesters. It is Apple that deserves to be fined — or rather, taxed.

16 February 2018 (Books portraying racism) A US school district removed To Kill a Mockingbird and Huckleberry Finn from the high school curriculum because they portray racism in its rawness. I don't think anyone is going to find tolerance for racism in To Kill a Mockingbird. It is too long since I read Huckleberry Finn, so I don't have an opinion about it. However, American racists are now so blatant that we may not need books from 50 to 60 years ago to show how ugly racism is.

16 February 2018 (Lissa Lucas) Lissa Lucas came to the West Virginia legislative hearing and was permitted to testify. When she started saying how much money the legislators in the committee had received from fossil fuel interests, they told her to shut up, and dragged her away. Bravo Ms Lucas!

16 February 2018 (Prisoner deaths in Iran) Several prisoners have died recently in Iran, supposedly from suicide, but their families don't believe it was suicide. Suicide can be the best choice for a sane prisoner under certain circumstances, but we cannot assume that Iranian thugs are telling the truth about how those prisoners died, any more than we can trust what US thugs say about how prisoners die.

16 February 2018 (Opioid deaths and marijuana) Legalized medical marijuana reduces deaths from opioid overdose. The easier the access to marijuana, the bigger the effect.

16 February 2018 (Ocean plastic) Even remote areas of the ocean have a substantial presence of plastic microparticles.

16 February 2018 (South and North Korea) South Korea and North Korea are rapidly improving their relationship. This is a very good thing. It will reduce the danger of renewed war (which could now be a nuclear war), and it might eventually lead North Korea to become less of a dictatorship. It could conceivably even lead to reunification of a democratic Korea.

16 February 2018 (Minimum wage) Modest increases in the minimum wage generally cause no loss in jobs. A big increase in the minimum wage can cause a small loss of jobs, but as long as the total wages of all workers increases, a system of tax and redistribution among workers could make up for that. Of course, it would be better to tax the rich as well for this.

16 February 2018 (Bipartisanship) Congress Puts Aside Partisan Differences For Good Of Military Contractors.

16 February 2018 (Assange warrant) Sweden's prosecutors wanted to drop the arrest warrant against Julian Assange in 2013, but UK officials persuaded them to keep it going. In 2011, the Swedish prosecutors were ready to interview Assange in London, but the UK pressured them to hold out for demanding Assange go there. This is two smoking guns — proof that the arrest warrant was part of a political plot.

16 February 2018 (Bigotry in small towns) Crude bigotry against blacks never ended in many small towns in the US, and Republican officials are actively stimulating it and supporting it.

16 February 2018 (Teacher shortage) UK schools are short 30,000 teachers. Since their wages are capped and inflation has eaten into it, people don't want the job.

14 February 2018 (Urgent: Nestle taking water) US citizens: call on the Forest Service to stop Nestle from taking water from public forests. Nestle never got a permit and is defying California water regulations.

14 February 2018 (Trusting corporations) Republicans always look at a poor person as a potential cheater, but they trust corporations blindly.

14 February 2018 (Warrantless wiretaps) Why the minor changes made in FISA section 702 do nothing to protect even US citizens from US government warrantless wiretaps.

14 February 2018 (Kentucky Medicaid) The governor of Kentucky is trying to kick 35,000 people in that state off Medicaid. Kentuckians are suing to block this, so to make them look bad, he calls it out-of-state meddling. Even if that were true, it would be irrelevant — a distraction from the wrong he is doing to them. Republicans constantly manipulate people with distractive non-issues. Sometimes Democrats do it too.

14 February 2018 (Pennsylvania Supreme Court) A Republican legislator in Pennsylvania proposes to impeach the majority of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. This is a scheme to reverse its decision that the Republican gerrymander violates the state constitution. There is nothing Republicans respect enough that they won't crush it to get more power.

14 February 2018 (Equifax documents) "Leaked Equifax documents provided to US Senate reveal that they dumped all our drivers' licenses, too."

14 February 2018 (China's ecological vision) China's President Xi announced a grand vision of an ecological society, and is leading mighty efforts to implement it. Despite my condemnation for China's repression, I have to admire this. Contrast it with the bully that has seized power in the US, who does his best to increase both repression and environmental destruction.

14 February 2018 (Face recognition for trains) China is now using face recognition camera eyeglasses to identify people that are not supposed to be allowed on trains.

14 February 2018 (Apple source code leak) How some secret Apple source code was released that may (we can hope) facilitate jailbreaking. I do not encourage leaking proprietary source code because that would fail to make the source code free software. However, I do not criticize people for doing it. The wrong here was when Apple made that software nonfree — and, even worse, made it a jail. Nonfree programs in general do injustice to their users. By making this software nonfree, Apple got power over users. Apple employs that power to commit further injustice against users, including censorship, DRM, and putting users in jail.

14 February 2018 (Republican control in Ohio) Ohio's reform plan, supposedly meant to eliminate the Republican gerrymander, perpetuates Republican control but disguises it better.

14 February 2018 (Russian trolls on Tumblr) Russian trolls operated on Tumblr to attack Clinton and support Sanders. I object to Russian manipulations of our elections even when they operate in favor of the best candidate and criticize an inferior candidate.

14 February 2018 (Censorship proposals) Watch out for proposals to cure "fake news" through censorship by the powerful (states, or companies). We've seen those before. Charles II was overthrown by a revolution with strong public support in 1678, 3 years after the censorship scheme mentioned in the article. That revolution also ended the book censorship system that was the origin of today's copyright.

14 February 2018 (Polish law on antisemitism) The Polish law banning discussion of antisemitism of Poles during World War II may unleash a wave of antisemitism there.

14 February 2018 (Fascist terrorism in Italy) Fascist terrorism aimed at immigrants has appeared in Italy. The Italian economic suffering is due to the Euro-zone rules applied by banksters. It's awfully convenient for them when Italians blame it instead on powerless immigrants.

14 February 2018 (Campaign against religious prejudice) Yashpal Saxena, whose son was murdered out of religious prejudice, has launched a campaign against religious prejudice.

14 February 2018 (Brazil's president) Brazil's corrupt president has escaped all prosecution due to support from other corrupt politicians.

14 February 2018 (FBI 'assessment') The FBI can do an "assessment" on anyone for the vaguest of reasons, or even on everyone who lives in a certain area, correlating many kinds of data bases including their phone calls and travel.

14 February 2018 (Microplastics) The fashionable thing to put on your skin for carnival in Brazil is … microplastics that will get into the ocean and poison sea animals.

14 February 2018 (Life today and in past ages) The philosophy of the Enlightenment, centered around 1800, survives in today's humanist values. I agree with Pinker that life is better — for most people — in the modern age than it was in past ages. I disagree with his conclusion that bleak expectations are irrational defeatism. Our progress has been going backward in recent decades. This article suggests (I have not read his book) that Pinker does not recognize the harm that plutocracy has done globally since the 1990. Although material progress, in the sense of material riches, continues, the richest few are grabbing nearly all of it. In the US, the poor are worse off and have shorter life expectancy. "Free trade" has put the world's low-paid workers into direct competition, which the rich use against all of them. The rich now control many governments, including the US government. He also does not recognize how increased inequality makes life worse for people, even aside from possible decrease in their own income. Even if we were not undoing our achievements, we could not maintain them for long by continuing our current practices. Global heating, topsoil exhaustion, and population growth ensure that. The issue of sustainability is a rational one. It sounds fine to cite past situations where civilizations invented solutions to their problems, but there were other past situations where they failed and the people died. Future progress may do great things, but it is foolhardy to suppose problems will be corrected. Especially when rich people who don't want them to be corrected dominate the state.

14 February 2018 (Menstrual pads for prisoners) Female prisoners in Arizona don't receive enough menstrual pads, and if they use up the insufficient number, they bleed on their clothing and get punished for that. The legislature is considering a bill to give them the supplies they need, but some male legislators are so patriarchal that they resent even hearing about the subject.

14 February 2018 (State vs city governments) Republicans that control US state governments are systematically reducing the power of city governments to go against plutocratist state policies.

12 February 2018 (Prisoner census count) The US census counts prisoners for the places they are imprisoned, rather than where they live. The effect is to transfer political power from cities to the rural areas where prisons are found. The more prisoners, the more power the Republicans gain from this.

12 February 2018 (Logging and mining) A Republican senator proposes to allow logging and mining in wild "wilderness study areas", untouched regions under consideration for being made national parks.

12 February 2018 (US 'boundary zone') More than half of all Americans live in the "boundary zone" where immigration thugs can stop any person and demand to see per papers. This is oppressive to US citizens, not only to immigrants.

12 February 2018 (Our radical past) Big Business Is Hijacking Our Radical Past. We Must Stop It. The article also reminds us that we must defend the right of violent opposition to violent and unjust authority. We must reject the unfair standard which allows uniformed thugs to crush protesters for even the slightest deviation from politeness. The troll is now trying to put protesters in prison for many years for planning a protest at which others committed minor property damage. In effect, that starts from the assumption that protesting is a crime. It isn't a new thing either. They did it in Chicago in 1886.

12 February 2018 (Public defender strike) Public defenders in Brooklyn went on strike after immigration thugs grabbed a defendant as he left the courtroom. Trials could not proceed without counsel, so their strike had a powerful effect.

12 February 2018 (Fire-extinguishing foam) The US military is replacing toxic fire-extinguishing foam with a slightly different, slightly less toxic fire-extinguishing foam. Non-toxic foams are available, and airports in other countries already use them.

12 February 2018 (Sexual bullying) To fight sexual bullying among coworkers, how about focusing on the bullying aspect, rather than banning sexual relationships entirely?

12 February 2018 (Disaster aid) The US has allocated billions more in aid for Puerto Rico and other places affected by recent local disasters. I would like to believe that this is a good thing, but I have to be skeptical given that Republicans had to approve it. Is the aid for Puerto Rico's power grid simply a handout to the private companies that it will be sold to?

12 February 2018 (Military parades) Pence said that President Kim's latest military parade was a "provocation", but the bully's military parade would be a "celebration". I would guess Kim says the reverse.

12 February 2018 (Insurance loopholes) To stop insurance companies from finding loopholes to drive people into poverty, let's get rid of them and set up a single-player scheme. I wonder why anyone gets medical coverage through Anthem? I suspect that mostly they don't have a choice — that mostly companies choose Anthem for their employees. Under that system, Anthem has no incentive to do a good job for its non-customers. Right now, we have a government agency that makes regulations for insurance companies, which seek clever ways to shaft people through loopholes in those regulations. Having the government agency set the rules directly will give us more accountability over the rules.

12 February 2018 (Winning in November) Democrats can't win in November just by pointing at the bully. They have to stand for something much better than moving back to the older form of plutocracy.

12 February 2018 (Uber and Lyft wages) The low wages paid by Uber and Lyft have driven some cab and limo drivers to suicide. They blame state governments for eliminating cities' power to regulate those companies.

12 February 2018 (Memo rebuttal) The bully refused to allow publication of the Democrats' rebuttal to the Republicans' dishonest memo attacking the Mueller investigation. The Republicans on that committee, headed by Rep. Nunes himself, consult closely with the bully. When they voted to approve release of the Democrats' counter-memo, they surely knew that the bully would block it. I suppose the Democrats anticipated this too. Now they can say, "We can show that's not true, but the bully forbids us to tell you." Unfortunately, that won't influence the bully's supporters much. They don't care that the Nunes memo is dishonest, even incoherent; they believe the conclusion anyway. In effect, the Democrats are helpless against the height of Republican dishonesty and manipulation.

12 February 2018 (Successful companies) Since successful companies owe a lot of their success to public activities such as infrastructure, education, and research, they should have to contribute a substantial part of their income to the public.

12 February 2018 (Reduced EPA enforcement) The Environmental Protection Agency has cut its enforcement actions to about 1/4 the previous rate, and fines are less too. We could call it the Environmental Pushover agency, but I fear the whole truth is even worse than that.

12 February 2018 (Protecting Nazis) Sacramento thugs protected violent Nazis and tried to prosecute anti-fascist counterprotesters that the Nazis stabbed.

12 February 2018 (Cheating) Cheating, in the sense of breaking rules, seems to be becoming more common in the US these days. When a rule benefits society, cheating against it hurts society, but we should not assume that all rules are just and beneficial. When a rule is unjust, disobeying it is virtuous. This includes rules against sharing copies of published works. We should not call that "cheating". We do not want to be treated by doctors that cheated on their exams or in their practice. We do want to live among neighbors that will share with us. There is no reason to wait for a red light to change if you can see that no other cars are moving for a few blocks away. To wait uselessly is a loss for you and benefits nobody; to stop, then proceed with caution, is virtuous under those circumstances.

12 February 2018 (Infiltration of dissidents) The UK investigation of the underground infiltration of dissident movements seems to be a pretense intended as a coverup.

11 February 2018 (Urgent: Liverpool FC sponsor) Everyone: call on the football team Liverpool FC to reject the sponsorship of Chinese company Tibet Water Resources Limited, which is an example of China's exploitation of Tibet.

11 February 2018 (Bail bond campaign donations) US citizens: call on District Attorney Faith Johnson to return campaign donations from bail bond companies. They are a form of corruption because they give her an incentive to demand higher bail for the sake of the companies.

11 February 2018 (DMCA section 1201) It's time for a replay of the triennial farce where the US copyright office invites people to petition for narrow, temporary half-exceptions to the injustice of DMCA section 1201. Granting one of these half-exceptions is always better than not granting it, but every campaign for an exception ought to campaign also for repealing DMCA section 1201.

11 February 2018 (Surveillance orders) EFF: Newly Released Surveillance Orders Show That Even with Individualized Court Oversight, Spying Powers Are Misused.

11 February 2018 (Republicans on deficits and debt) Republicans have stopped saying they object to deficits and debt. They never really did care, it was just an excuse to stop Democrats from helping the non-rich. Now that Republicans can run deficits to feed the rich, they love deficits.

11 February 2018 (File-sharing crimes) A Danish court says it is a crime to tell people how to use file-sharing software. The companies behind the War on Sharing will stop at nothing to impose their divide-and-rule strategy — until we decisively defeat them. We must legalize sharing of copies of any published work, and we must block their legal (EULAs) and technical (DRM) methods for denying people that right.

11 February 2018 (Protecting the climate) It is too late to fart around with half measures for protecting the climate; to save the ecosphere from global heating disaster we need to proceed with all due speed.

11 February 2018 (Rejecting 'smart' phones) A substantial group of people have rejected "smart" phones. Alas, even a non-"smart" phone tracks the user's location — with the phone company and Big Brother, though not directly with other companies — and can be remotely converted into a listening device. That's why I refuse to carry any kind of portable phone. If you own a car, watch out: it may contain a built-in cellular modem that makes it the equivalent of a "smart" phone. Nowadays it may even have a microphone to listen to conversations in the car. But you can probably disconnect it. Wrapping it in aluminum foil may be enough to make it cease to communicate.

11 February 2018 (Al-Hudood) Al-Hudood is the Middle East counterpart of The Onion.

11 February 2018 (Homeschooling) Let's not allow one case of cruelty to interfere with homeschooling. It is usually a good practice, as long as it doesn't cut off the children from other sources of ideas and knowledge.

11 February 2018 (Fleeing Venezuela) Hundreds of thousands of people are fleeing Venezuela because they can't get food. If Venezuela collapses, I fear that the international plutocratic order will be imposed there. It won't be as bad as the current collapse, but it will be as bad as the plutocratic regime that Chavez replaced.

11 February 2018 (Canada and the bully) The planet-roaster government of Canada cheered the election of the bully because it knew he would support fossil fuels and pipelines.

11 February 2018 (US life expectancy) Life expectancy in the US is falling, slowly but steadily, due to increasing discouragement with harder life.

11 February 2018 (Renewable electricity at universities) Students at 65 US universities are campaigning for them to move to 100% renewable electricity, and succeeding with some. This many universities are a drop in the bucket, but when they lead, they may lead many more to follow.

11 February 2018 (Attacking environmental activists) ACLU: 6 ways the US is attacking environmental activists to crush their protests.

11 February 2018 (Opposition party in Bangladesh) Bangladesh is persistently convicting the leaders of the main opposition party for various acts of corruption. I won't claim these convictions are false. Bangladesh is probably very corrupt. It could be that every politician there is corrupt, but these particular politicians are prosecuted for political motives while other equally corrupt politicians are left alone.

11 February 2018 (New forms of voter suppression) Republicans continue planning new forms of voter suppression. This goes with the nationwide gerrymander to implement their policy of "power by hook or by crook."

11 February 2018 (Parental leave plan) The bully wants to offer Americans paid parental leave, at the expense of their own future retirement benefits. Having children is not a necessity of life; it is a luxury. I support efforts to help, encourage and lead people to reproduce less. I do not support this plan. For those who do have children, parental leave is not a luxury — it is a necessity for the good of those children.

11 February 2018 (Negotiation with North Korea) Pence completely rejected the idea of negotiation with North Korea. I don't think the troll cares what actually happens with North Korea. Everything he says and does in regard to North Korea is meant to keep his supporters deluded.

10 February 2018 (Urgent: Shark fins) US citizens: call on Congress to ban the practice of killing sharks and taking only their fins. This is not only wasteful, it also endangers the sharks. If fishermen had to land the whole shark, they couldn't kill so many sharks and the species could recover.

10 February 2018 (Greenhouse gas emissions) The US is doing so little to reduce greenhouse gas emissions that they are now predicted to increase, for a few decades. A few decades from now, the effects of global heating will make emissions decrease, but that will be because disaster is already advanced. The planet roasters believe they can give their descendants an escape from the disaster they are bringing on the rest of the world. The rest of humanity needs to show them that they can't do that; that the only way their descendants can survive is if the rest of humanity does too.

10 February 2018 (Prof accused of terrorism) Stanford University has done nothing to defend a professor from false accusations of terrorism, published by a magazine hosted at Stanford and funded by right-wing billionaire Peter Thiel. I wonder, does he give money to Stanford University? Does anyone know?

10 February 2018 (Hamster at an airport) Spirit airlines told a passenger she could bring her miniature hamster on board — then when she arrived, told her no, so she had to kill it in order to get home. The airline spokesjerk expressed shock that she killed her hamster, pretending that this wasn't compelled by the airline's decision. What else was she supposed to do — remain indefinitely at the airport, effectively homeless? Spend a week going home by bus and miss classes? The airline should have cages for use to keep small animals in the hold, if it doesn't want to carry them in the cabin.

10 February 2018 (John Perry Barlow) The death of John Perry Barlow is a reminder of the time when we thought the internet could bring people freedom. The good that the internet can do is being blocked by censorship and drowned out by intentional lies, while the bad (total surveillance and the War on Sharing) is growing without restraint. If you want freedom, the first step is to build the strength to say "no thanks" when someone offers you convenience in exchange.

10 February 2018 (Data for immigration agency) The US immigration thug agency has asked for access to all the government's secret surveillance data, which supposedly is collected to "protect" us from "terrorists". If we tolerate government collection of data about Americans in general, the government will use it against us in ever increasing ways. We must put an end to this data collection.

10 February 2018 (Raising interest rates) The Federal Reserve has started to raise interest rates, mainly with the purpose of stopping workers from getting raises.

10 February 2018 (UK budget cuts) The UK state is using local governments as "human shields" to pass budget cuts on to the people. It is natural that local governments will raise taxes to fund the activities they must do. This solves the immediate problem, but it is not a fair solution. Local governments can only tax the local inhabitants and local businesses. However, wealthy people and big, profitable businesses are not evenly distributed. In an area where most people are poor, this puts a heavy burden on them. That's why the national government needs to do the taxing, and distribute the money to all the local governments.

10 February 2018 (Death of 'independent contractor') The UK minister called the death of an "independent contractor" a "tragedy". That death was the predictable result of allowing unjust business practices, for which the minister is directly responsible. That is no tragedy, it is an injustice.

10 February 2018 (Limiting Medicaid) The bully wants to limit Medicaid benefits for people with incurable diseases. That means that they will get treatment only until they reach the arbitrary limit; then, I suppose, they will be put out on the street.

10 February 2018 (Bikini baristas) When drive-through cafes employ women wearing only underclothes, is that a form of exploitation that they should be protected from? I don't object to these businesses. What I object to is a society that pays millions of workers so little that some might feel they have no choice but to work in these jobs. People who feel uncomfortable doing them should not have to do them.

10 February 2018 (Hosting fundraisers) Andrew Wheeler, hoping for Senate confirmation as deputy saboteur of the EPA, smoothed the path to committee approval by corrupting two Republican senators.

10 February 2018 (Kenyan opposition exiled) Kenya has forcibly exiled an opposition leader. The accusations that the election was falsified seemed plausible at the time, and these actions make that more likely. They are the actions of someone that wants to be a tyrant.

10 February 2018 (Military parade) The bully wants to be seen as resembling despots that hold military parades. I think the way to oppose this is with a celebration of the peaceful and truly great achievements of the US, such as the Bill of Rights, the New Deal, the Marshall Plan, Social Security, Medicaid, and the Endangered Species Act. Let's oppose cruel and twisted patriotism with benevolent patriotism.

10 February 2018 (Total surveillance system) China's total surveillance system will be used for imposing regimentation on any and all aspects of life. The US is also moving toward a system of total regimentation, in its usual sloppy commercially dominated way, that the state piggybacks on. If you want to resist this, stop using digital payments — pay cash!

9 February 2018 (Urgent: Investigate NRA) US citizens: call on Congress to investigate NRA for funneling Russian money to political campaigns.

9 February 2018 (The Maldives) It is hard to find aspect in the governance of the Maldives that isn't crooked. This is what I fear the Republicans will do to the US.

9 February 2018 (WHO funding) SCROTUS threaten to cut off funding for WHO because it reported that Glyphosate is probably carcinogenic.

9 February 2018 (The Republican Party) The Republican Party considered a sort of group madness that, in advanced stages, disconnects people totally from their loyalty to anything bigger — such as their country or the truth.

9 February 2018 (Limits on Wells Fargo) The US Federal Reserve has imposes punitive limits on Wells Fargo for swindling customers in several ways. I fear that as soon as the the bully's saboteur replaces Janet Yellen, which may be soon, that saboteur will cancel these measures.

9 February 2018 (Lawsuit for Andrew Finch) The family of Andrew Finch, killed by a SWAT thug, is suing the city and the thugs. Sad to say, even if they win, the thug will probably lose nothing since the city will pay the damages. This system protects thugs so thoroughly from accountability that it will hardly ever get them to do anything better.

9 February 2018 (EU data privacy directive) A new EU data privacy directive will limit certain ways that companies intentionally abuse people's data. Companies will still be able to misuse people's data, just not in all of the same ways. For instance, Facebook will still be able to sell targeted advertising aimed at its useds. That doesn't violate these new rules. Also, this directive does nothing to protect people from Big Brother. The directive has no effect on how states in the EU forcibly take the data once companies have collected. The only benefit for dissidents will be if the directive convinces some companies to hold less data about people.

9 February 2018 (Self-checkout machines) The self-checkout machines that replace human sales clerks also encourage shoplifting. Shoplifting in a supermarket is not uniformly wrong. Poor people are morally entitled to steal food to eat, if they can't afford to buy it, and the suffering imposed by the plutocratic state often puts them in that situation. But I hope this convinces the stores to get rid of those machines and hire more human beings. You can join me in helping to make that happen. When I enter the store I pass by those machines and tell the people using them, "If you use those machines, you are putting other Americans out of work. When I realized that I decided to go always to the human sales clerks so that they can stay employed." I do the same thing when I leave. You can do it too.

9 February 2018 (Purging books) Many university libraries are purging books — they will be available only digitally. Since ebooks are typically distributed in an unjust way, I'm afraid some of those injustices will apply to these books.

9 February 2018 (Locking phones away) Requiring participants to lock their portable phones temporarily in bags improves the quality of interaction at gatherings and events, and helps education. It's a step forward, but people should not think this prevents all the harm and wrong portable phones do.

9 February 2018 (Cancelling student debt) Cancelling Americans' student debt is morally imperative to relieve the impossible burden, but there is a secondary reason: it will boost the e