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Glossary

31 August 2019 (Revealing bulletproof vests) (satire) "We’ve been seeing some students wearing revealing bulletproof vests, so I just wanted to remind all you ladies that your kevlar must cover all your vital organs," …

31 August 2019 (Subsidized rent) Santa Monica subsidizes the rent for some of the old people who live there. This is better than not doing so, but it has a drawback: it is a private subsidy for landlords, and as rents increase, the subsidy will increase too. It would be better to build public housing, which means that the state makes the investment and gets the profit, but less profit, because this will expand the housing supply.

30 August 2019 (Urgent: DoorDash tips) In the US: call on DoorDash to stop confiscating workers' tips. You can also ask the restaurant, before you order takeout, "Do you use DoorDash for deliveries?" If it does, say "I will order somewhere else." If you sign, please spread the word!

30 August 2019 (FBI search list) Journalist Dave Lindorff has been put on an FBI-controlled list for an extra search when he boards a plane to the US. He knows this because a British official told him — the FBI won't confirm it. Fortunately for him, his harassment is minor: the usual quick explosives test, when he flies to the US. For others, it results in substantial harassment. The fact that a journalist is on the list suggests this is all politically motivated.

30 August 2019 (Amazon deforestation) Brazilian Amazon deforestation Surges to Break August Records.

30 August 2019 (Private social credit system) Private companies including Uber, Airbnb and WhatsApp are building a private social credit system, in which anyone can be banned arbitrarily from the very dis-services that people say they "can't live without". If a bar or restaurant insisted on knowing who I am before letting me in, I'd leave pre-emptively.

30 August 2019 (Google's browser dominance) Google uses its dominance over browsers to defend its ad business. This exactly what antitrust law was designed to deal with. It suggests that breaking up Google would do some good. It would not go far enough, however, because it would not put an end to surveillance capitalism.

30 August 2019 (Money for Amazon fires) Burner Bolsonaro rejected the 20 million dollars to help put out fires in the Amazon, not for being too little, but for being too much. (More than zero is too much.) The latest idiotic distraction is to call this "colonialism". The Brazilian government claims the power to burn every tree in Brazil.

30 August 2019 (The next G7) "We need to cancel the next G7. Let's resume them when Trump is gone." The point of the G7 meetings is cooperation (even if only partial) among the most powerful countries. The bullshitter has no interest in that. It is useless to make a deal with him, since he may break it the next day or the next month. He will attend the meeting only to sow discord — he is the drama queen that would be king. Why make an opportunity for him?

30 August 2019 (Koch brothers campaigns) The Koch brothers funded organized campaigns to block construction of public transport in various cities across the US. Less public transit means they sell more oil. In a few decades, it means a bigger disaster with a bigger chance of killing you.

30 August 2019 (Vaping and recycling) Vaping's Other Problem: Are E-Cigarettes Creating a Recycling Disaster? There is an obvious solution: impose a deposit that is high enough to discourage one-time use.

30 August 2019 (Urgent: Domestic Workers Bill of Rights) US citizens: call on Congress to support the Domestic Workers Bill of Rights Act. The article brings up race in a way that is not truly pertinent. The US society of extreme inequality dumps injustice on the poor, and due to racism and other forms of prejudice, members of disprivileged groups are more likely to be poor. Therefore, many unrelated injustices hit them harder, including the mistreatment of domestic workers. But we don't need to refer to that to justify this bill, because it is a simple matter of right and wrong. Domestic workers deserve justice regardless of their demographics and regardless of whether they suffer from prejudice.

30 August 2019 (Urgent: Media coverage of Amazon fires) US citizens: call on media to cover the fires in the Amazon as much as they covered the fire in Notre Dame cathedral.

30 August 2019 (Stretching the term "autism") The term "autism" has been stretched so far that it is incoherent: to stretch from the mild abnormalities or Asperger's syndrome to mentally crippling disabilities. It may be the case that they all result from the same biological cause — does science know? But even if so, we can distinguish them for moral, social and legal purposes.

30 August 2019 (Regulation on face recognition) The EU is considering a weak regulation on face recognition. All it would do is give people the right to be informed when their face was recognized — and not always even that. This by itself would not protect society from massive surveillance, but the information obtained could aid campaigns to do that.

30 August 2019 (Bogus Johnson acting like monarch) Bogus Johnson has openly told Parliament it has no authority over what he does. He is trying to act the absolute monarch. The last time someone tried that, Parliament had him executed. The death penalty is wrong, but Parliament could sentence Johnson to life in prison.

30 August 2019 (Chinese expat writer Yang Hengjun is being investigated for spying) Chinese expat writer Yang Hengjun is being investigated for spying. More precisely, with "committing espionage crimes", which could mean anything that China wants us to think of as if it were spying. Tyrannical governments often are very secretive and may consider ordinary journalism, picking up information from the public, as spying.

30 August 2019 (US Forest Disservice) The US Forest Disservice proposes to eliminate environmental disclosure and public comment for over 90% of its decisions about permitting roads and exploitation in national forests. It would be able to trash any amount of forest land provided it does so in medium-size chunks.

30 August 2019 (The cruel structure of the gig economy) The cruel structure of the gig economy — or service sweatshop economy — is illustrated by a British family about to become homeless, after the breadwinner died because he didn't dare skip work to see a doctor.

30 August 2019 (Global aircraft production down after Boeing crashes) Aircraft Production Down 24% Globally after Boeing 737 Max Crashes. Each airplane contributes greatly to global heating. If this downturn means less flying in the future, that will be a good thing. But we cannot leave that to chance — we need a tax to make sure it happens.

30 August 2019 (US banking and tax regulations) US banking and tax regulations are ruining the lives of hundreds of thousands of people in other countries, who were born while their mothers visited the US and thus have US citizenship but were not aware of that. The US should exempt foreign citizens who have not, in the past 10 years or since reaching adulthood, done anything to assert or acknowledge a connection to the US. However, in the mean time, other countries should protect their citizens.

29 August 2019 (Correction on Gun Control Note) In 2018 I thought I understood an article to say that military-style rifles make wounds that are more likely to kill or maim than ordinary hunting rifles. I posted about that, and referred back to it several times. Later it was pointed out to me that the article was really comparing rifles to handguns. This led me to change my conclusions, so I have changed that 2018 political note.

28 August 2019 (Urgent: Election security reform) US citizens: call on Congress not to let Mitch McConnell block election security reform. If you sign, please spread the word!

28 August 2019 (Urgent: Oppose racial discrimination) US citizens: oppose allowing use of algorithms to implement racial discrimination in housing. If you sign, please spread the word!

28 August 2019 (Oil extractors) Oil extractors want big subsidies to drill in deep waters off Australia's south coast, and risk a big spill. There will be no risk about the contribution to global disaster, however. That will be a certainty.

28 August 2019 (Lead in Newark water supply) The lead in the water supply of Newark, New Jersey, is due to corroded pipes. They need to be replaced. In the mean time, the city is providing residents with water filters.

28 August 2019 (Nauru) Nauru bars the foreign press, but it has enough democracy that leading politicians can lose elections.

28 August 2019 ("Centrist" Democrats) Plutocratist "centrist" Democrats could lose the next election. They could also kill you, some decades down the line.

28 August 2019 (Flawed voting machines) "Express Vote", a system that US states are buying in 2019, has two big flaws: the ballots are marked by computer with bar codes (and the voter is required to trust that computer isn't cheating), and even so the scanner can't read them all correctly. A court prohibited the use of Georgia's voting machines, which make no paper ballots at all. I hope Georgia won't switch to "Express Vote".

28 August 2019 (A world without David Koch) (satire) "I don’t want to keep living in a world without David Koch," said former Wisconsin governor Scott Walker, one amongst a throng of weeping Republicans including Mike Pence, Ted Cruz, Rick Scott, and Mitt Romney…

28 August 2019 (Gas export plant in Mozambique) The US Export-Import Bank has resumed financing increased CO 2 emissions with a gas export plant in Mozambique. Plutocratist "centrist" Democrats joined with Republicans (always plutocratists) to restart that organization. The secondary argument that Mozambique might itself have a use for burning that gas rather than exporting it is an example of obsolete thinking. Where that gas might be burnt is a side issue; to reduce global disaster, which will fall on Mozambique along with everywhere else, we must keep fossil fuels in the ground.

27 August 2019 (The Israel Project) The Israel Project, which did dirty tricks against US organizations that opposed Israel's treatment of Palestinians, has shut down. The proximate cause is that it ran out of money, but I wonder whether its supporters have moved to a new organization which has not yet acquired a bad reputation.

27 August 2019 (Assad intends to conquer all of Syria) Assad stated he intends to conquer all of Syria. That includes Idlib, now ruled by Islamists but inhabited by millions of Syrian civilians that would not be safe in Assad's hands. It also includes Rojava. If Rojava has no ally to rely on, it cannot resist forever.

27 August 2019 (UK consulate jailed by China) Simon Cheng, employee of the British consulate in Hong Kong, has been released by China after being jailed with no announcement. It is absurd to jail someone for hiring prostitutes, but when China wants to use someone as a pawn, it will make up any sort of excuse.

27 August 2019 (Total repression imposed on Biarritz) A meeting of the G7 ministers in Biarritz has been the occasion to impose total repression on that town.

27 August 2019 (Lead in Newmark, New Jersey water) Newark, New Jersey, has a problem with lead in the water. This should not be an excuse to take control of the city's water permanently away from the city.

27 August 2019 (Me-too frenzy) In "me-too" frenzy, crossed signals about sex can easily be inflated into "rape". If people rush to judgment, in an informal way, that can destroy a man's career without any trial in which to clear his name.

27 August 2019 (Racist bias in danger of being extended to Jewish roles) The racist bias that presents itself as opposition to "cultural appropriation" is in danger of being extended to roles that are Jews. I can understand the argument that actors from visually distinctive ethnic groups should be chosen for roles of those groups because they tend to be excluded from other roles. But now that so many old plays are being redone with women in male roles, why couldn't we have non-Caucasian actors in Caucasian roles too? That issue does not apply to Jews, because Jews have not, in general, been excluded from roles that are not defined as Jewish. Nobody suggested that Zero Mostel should not play Pseudolus on the grounds that that character was a Roman. That sort of nonsense might happen in the future if the idea that Jewish parts go with Jewish actors catches on.

27 August 2019 (US legal system isn't effective at fair trials) The US legal system is not effective at giving everyone a fair trial. When the US gets desperate about punishing a certain group, it has a tendency to railroad some of them. Hamid Hayat was convicted falsely of being part of a "terror network" that didn't exist at all.

27 August 2019 (University reparations for slave money) Glasgow University will dedicate 20 million pounds to research on development, in conjunction with a university in Jamaica, as reparations for donated money obtained from slavery. I support reparations for slavery (and, in the US, for the century-long subsequent legal discrimination against blacks). The reparations should be designed to correct the self-perpetuating damage that is now inflicted on the descendants of those who were legally discriminated against I don't know what would be effective at making a long-term change, but I think it needs to be done at the level of society, not just by universities.

27 August 2019 (Australia wants refugees in prison) The Australian government put hundreds of refugees into prison in its client state, Nauru. When they get sick, Australia wants to keep them there till they die.

26 August 2019 (Urgent: Stop DNA testing of refugee families) US citizens: call on the deportation thugs to stop DNA testing of refugee families. It is an unjust surveillance system, and not necessary for keeping the family together. If you sign, please spread the word!

26 August 2019 (Turkey forcing refugees back to Syria) Turkey is forcing Syrian refugees back to Syria — even queer Syrians who could be murdered when sent back to Idlib, ruled by Islamist rebels. I wonder if they would be any safer in Assad's territory.

26 August 2019 (Comedian Samantha Kureya) Comedian Samantha Kureya, who satirizes the tyrannical Zimbabwean regime, was grabbed by armed men, beaten, and made to drink sewage (dangerous to health). Adding insult to injury, they also stripped her.

26 August 2019 (Bogus Johnson's lies) Bogus Johnson and his pro-rogue supporters keep lying to the British about imaginary concessions that the EU will supposedly offer, any day now. I think I know what Bogus Johnson intends: to get the UK out of the EU through any lies necessary, so as to force it into a much worse set of business-supremacy treaties with predatory governments such as the US and China.

26 August 2019 (Koch brothers) One of the Koch brothers will no longer harm the world. Those who inherit his wealth might be just as bad, or might be better.

26 August 2019 (Amazon rainforest fires) Amazon Rainforest Fires: Global Leaders Urged to Divert Brazil from 'Suicide' Path.

26 August 2019 (Monsanto) Monsanto lobbied Congress to pressure regulatory agencies to go easy on Roundup. When the International Agency for Research on Cancer declined to do so, Monsanto organized a campaign to cut its funding.

26 August 2019 (America's gun violence problem) A real solution to America's gun violence problem goes beyond regulations on buying guns. We need to have a lot fewer guns, and more control over where they are. Michael Moore, in Bowling for Columbine, reported that Canada has strict safety regulations on handling a gun when taking it out of the house. That might be a good idea.

26 August 2019 (Urgent: Amazon forest destruction) US citizens: call on BlackRock to stop financing destruction of the Amazon forest. If you sign, please spread the word!

26 August 2019 (Internet in New Guinea) Indonesia says that its colony in New Guinea has "returned to normal", but "no internet connection" isn't normal there.

26 August 2019 (Alaska changing) Alaska used to be cold. There, as in many other places, global heating has caused a permanent change in life. Global heating denial must give way to global heating Denali.

26 August 2019 (Climate debate) The Democratic National Committee didn't approve a climate debate, but did decide to let candidates join to hold other non-DNC debates.

26 August 2019 (Interdimensional immigration prison) (satire) The US deportation thugs are opening an interdimensional immigration prison so they can store any number of prisoners. It will also have the capability to drop prisoners into a black hole.

26 August 2019 (Google searches) Google is using its monopoly power to drive searchers to Google disservices. Less than half of Google searches result in a visit to a non-Google site. I can't access Google search: I browse through Tor, with LibreJS blocking nontrivial nonfree Javascript code, and google.com blocks such access. I find that unfortunate, because sometimes Google searches used to find interesting things I did not find in duckduckgo.com/html. But I won't accept either of those two tracking mechanisms, so bye bye Google search.

26 August 2019 (DRM and the DMCA) DRM is still evil, and the DMCA is still unjust. More about the injustice of Digital Restrictions Management. Nowadays, a cable box is malware in more than one way. It still does DRM, but nowadays it snoops on people too. I refuse to tolerate this injustice, so I do not have a cable box.

26 August 2019 (Informal land titles) Blacks and indigenous Americans often have informal title to their land, and this has been used in the US to alienate their land. Senator Warren has proposed a plan to help them formally clarify the title.

26 August 2019 (Fighting a class war) Sanders dares to say that the rich people of the US have been fighting, and winning, a class war.

25 August 2019 (Diplomacy with Iran) Iran has jailed another Iranian citizen who works for the UK government. I feel for Tyson, and for Amiri; but when he demands that the British government do something to free Amiri, he mistakes the UK for the great power that it once was. Bogus Johnson tried demanding that Iran free Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, and Iran responded with "You can't make me, nyah nyah!" Her husband also wants to meet with officials to demand they "do something" more. But that would be futile again. Imprisoning people as pawns is cruel and unjust, when Iran does it and when China does it. But there is nothing the UK can do to prevent it. The only way the UK government could help free Amiri is with quiet, slow diplomacy. But first the UK should stop supporting the conman's plans for war with Iran.

25 August 2019 (Global heating) It has become so hot in the UK that a cycad can reproduce there.

25 August 2019 (Hunting intrusive pythons in Florida) Hunting intrusive pythons is becoming a passionate hobby for some in Florida. It behooves us to think of protecting the Everglades from being inundated, too.

25 August 2019 (E-cigarettes) Use of e-cigarettes does not lead Americans to smoke. On the contrary, a lot fewer Americans smoke now than in 2002.

23 August 2019 (Censorship) When Antifa demands government censorship of right-wing extremists, it goes too far. We all depend on the freedom to state our political views. We who oppose right-wing extremists must fight against government censorship, because if government censorship is allowed, we will be the first to be stopped from speaking.

23 August 2019 (Urgent: Eliminate abortion gag rules) US citizens: call on the Senate to eliminate the domestic and global abortion gag rules. If you sign, please spread the word!

23 August 2019 (Israeli army destroys water tank) The Israeli Army destroyed a water tank used by Palestinians in the Jordan Valley for irrigation. Israel is trying to chase them out, so it never gives permission to build anything, not even a water tank. This policy made the water tank "unauthorized", which was an excuse to destroy it.

23 August 2019 (Microsoft snoops on recordings of users) Microsoft recorded users of Xboxes and had human workers listen to the recordings. Morally I see no difference between having human workers listen and having speech-recognition systems listen. Both intrude on privacy.

23 August 2019 (Review of anarchism) A review of anarchism. A hundred years ago, there were anarchist societies on Earth, places where there was no state, no government. But that did not in all cases mean that everyone was equal. In some peoples in Melanesia, the men who were most politically adroit gained a kind of political power by drawing other men into client relationships with them. Those who had many clients were called "big men", and sometimes they would lead their clients to fight the clients of other big men. The fighting continued until European colonial states made them stop. "Big men" continued to exist, but they were limited to peaceful means in their competition for power. I feel an attraction to anarchy, but I do not endorse anarchism because there are many jobs we need the state to do.

23 August 2019 (Tuvalu and Australia) A message of hope: Australians could yet succeed in stopping their government from wiping out Tuvalu and then Australia. If peaceful means do not succeed in preventing the murder of billions, violent means will be justified. Given that Australia's present course of action will predictably kill tens of millions of people (that would be Australia's share of the billions), destroying Australia's fossil fuel facilities should be legally justified under the principle of necessity (to prevent a worse crime). Since the operation of Australia's fossil fuel facilities and shipping will contribute to making many lands uninhabitable, including Tuvalu, they are in effect weapons of mass destruction. Perhaps Tuvalu should declare war on Australia and send commandos to destroy those facilities and sink the coal ships.

23 August 2019 (Bully cancels trip to Denmark) The bully said he wanted to buy Greenland from Denmark. When Denmark refused to sell, he cancelled a coming trip there, as punishment to Denmark. I suppose Danes feel relieved rather than punished. This is not the first time the US demanded to buy another country's territory. In 1845 the US asked to buy a part of Mexico. When Mexico refused, the US Army fought its way to Mexico City and occupied it until Mexico's government agreed to the sale. Henry David Thoreau famously went to jail rather than pay tax for that war of aggression. The treaty promised that Mexicans in the transferred territory could keep speaking Spanish.

22 August 2019 (Building irrational anti-semitism) The bully accused American Jews of "disloyalty" — disloyalty to what, one wonders — for being loyal Americans and voting for the Democrats who (more or less) support their views of what is good for the US, instead of supporting his right-wing extremist flunky, Netanyahu. I think his aim is to build up the irrational anti-semitism which is one of the bases of his support, and an illogical reason is as effective as a logical one.

22 August 2019 (Deportations from Australia) Australia is following the example of the US, in deporting people to places where they have not been since infancy, don't know anyone, and don't speak the language.

22 August 2019 (Arrest of would-be mass shooters) Six would-be mass shooters have been arrested in the US in just two weeks. Although these people appear feckless, I think they posed somewhat of a real threat -- more so than the Walter Mitty-ish would-be Islamist terrorists that the FBI used to arrest. Here is why. Those people dreamed of making a bomb, but would never have been in a position to make one without help from FBI "informants" — thus, they were not really capable of hurting anyone. In addition, sometimes those "informants" persuaded people who were reluctant to get involved at all. It appears that these people wanted to use guns, which maybe they could have obtained, and they announced the plans on their own.

22 August 2019 (China) China says it makes two commitments: to healthy life and the wild, and to economic growth, In practice, the latter takes priority. Neither China nor the US can easily escape from the trap of extreme capitalism.

22 August 2019 (Business supremacy treaties) A UK mining company used an ISDS treaty to force Armenia to allow a gold mine that threatens the country's main water supply: Lake Sevan. Armenia is rather arid to begin with. ISDS stands for "I Sue Democratic States", and it is one of the ways business subjugate the governments that are supposed to be democratic.

22 August 2019 (US deportation prisons) A class-action lawsuit accuses US deportation prisons of failing to provide basic medical care, and sometimes even food.

22 August 2019 (US children and teenagers) US children and teenagers today are more often depressed, more often anxious, and more often suicidal. It may be because their lives are regimented and isolated all the time, like living in a reeducation camp.

22 August 2019 (US missile testing) The US has already tested a missile banned by the 1987 intermediate-range missile treaty which the numskull just cancelled.

22 August 2019 (Open Arms rescue ship) Spain is sending a ship to take the refugees off the Open Arms rescue ship that Salvini forced to stay at sea.

22 August 2019 (Carbon offsetting) "Carbon offsetting" sounds simple, but planting a tree is not guaranteed to sequester carbon later. That will happen only if the tree grows large. But it might die instead. The tree might be cut down. It might burn in a wildfire. It might die because the region becomes arid. It might be killed by a tropical parasite that moves into the area because it is hotter.

22 August 2019 (Moscow internet voting) The Moscow city government will allow internet voting, and the system is easy to crack. That election will be garbage.

22 August 2019 (UK consulate employee in Hong Kong) China has jailed an employee of the UK consulate in Hong Kong, and is holding him incommunicado. It is not safe to visit China. You could be used as a pawn to punish your country.

21 August 2019 (Campaign to ban killer robots) The campaign to ban killer robots is being held back by the US, Russia, and some other less powerful countries.

21 August 2019 (Voting machines) Voting machines still in use in US elections are vulnerable to cracking.

21 August 2019 (Rejection of "shareholders above all") Many large US corporations have officially rejected the evil principle of "shareholders above all else in the world." Arguably, what they do in practice isn't maximizing the return to shareholders, but maximizing the CEOs' pay. Nonetheless, the rejection of that supposed obligation will be of help politically.

20 August 2019 (Property tax rate) California Is Headed Toward a Titanic Battle Over Raising Property Taxes (for commercial real estate only, not for homes). I'm in favor of this, but I suggest also establishing a progressive tax rate for property taxes. There is no reason to limit the tax rate on mansions to the same percentage as the tax rate on ordinary homes.

20 August 2019 (Marvel chairman supports Orange Skull) Art Spiegelman wanted to compare the Red Skull, Captain America's enemy decades ago, to the Orange Skull that threatens America today, in his introduction to a book about the first decade of Marvel Comics. But the chairman of Marvel is a big supporter of the conman, and demanded Spiegelman remove it. So Spiegelman published his introduction elsewhere.

20 August 2019 (The refugees on Manus Island) The last 120 remaining refugees dumped by Australia on Manus Island will be permitted to move to the capital of Papua New Guinea. In a city they may have a better chance to fit in and avoid being noticed in unpleasant ways.

20 August 2019 (Bombing Idlib into rubble) Assad's forces and Russian forces are bombing Idlib into rubble, advancing in a wave behind which is a desert. No civilians wait to be captured.

20 August 2019 (NYC has fired thug) New York City has fired the thug that put Eric Garner in a choke-hold and thus killed him. It should not have taken years to do this.

20 August 2019 (Salvini is keeping refugees at sea) Salvini is keeping a hundred refugees, rescued at sea, bottled up for weeks on a ship where they have no room to walk. None of the refugees would stay in Italy — they already have invitations to other EU countries. But that does not deter Salivini's sadism: he hurts them because he can, to demonstrate his strength, fascist style. We know the recipe: pick some people too weak to defend themselves, call them a menace, and vent sadism at them. If they die, that proves Salvini's worthiness to rule and wreak more suffering.

20 August 2019 (The land of farmers) US government policies, compared with racist voting restrictions, took away the land of a million black farmers, especially from 1950 to 1969. Under Reagan, most US family farms (even those owned by whites) were wiped out by luring owners to take loans they could not pay back.

20 August 2019 (Biden's lack of excitement) Perhaps the US voters prefer Biden because of his lack of excitement. If so, how sad and how foolish, because he won't do anything to restrain the plutocrats, not push hard enough to save us from global heating disaster. If he is nominated, I will vote Green. I'd rather vote for a good candidate that loses than a useless candidate that wins.

20 August 2019 (Mercy killer sentenced to thirteen years) Donna Green asked her boyfriend, Robert Ronald Cooper, to give her a fatal dose of heroin to end her painful illness. He did so, and has been sentenced to 13 years in prison. Given the other stated circumstances, I could understand doubting his assertion that she requested this. But supposing she did so, he does not deserve to punished at all for helping her escape that pain.

20 August 2019 (China is deploying robot judges) Reportedly China is deploying robot judges. I suppose text-to-speech is sufficient for announcing a verdict that was decided in advance.

20 August 2019 (Iranian oil tanker now freed) The Iranian oil tanker seized by Gibraltar is free to leave. The question now is whether the US will seize it on the high seas.

20 August 2019 (Deceptive abortion clinics) The deceptive "crisis pregnancy centers" that pretend to be abortion clinics use a loophole to get listed in Google searches without any indication to the user that they are not real abortion clinics.

20 August 2019 (Investigation of professor Sheck dropped) The New School has dropped its investigation of Professor Sheck. Her alleged wrong was to quote author James Baldwin correctly.

20 August 2019 (Protests against Bolsonaro) The mainstream media are downplaying large protests against Bolsonaro.

20 August 2019 (North Sea cod crashing again) The cod in the North Sea recovered when given protection, but now they are crashing again. The water there may now be too warm for them.

20 August 2019 (Bernie Sanders's plans) Sanders stated his plans for the criminal justice system: eliminating cash bail, shortening sentences, legalizing marijuana, ending the death penalty, and banning government use of face recognition. I basically support these plans. Naturally I don't agree with them 100%, but they would be a great step forward. We need to prohibit most use of face recognition regardless of what entity is doing it. I might permit use of face recognition in narrow circumstances, one of them being under a specific court order to look for specified persons in a specified area.

20 August 2019 (Papuan independence protesters arrested) Indonesia has arrested 43 Papuan independence protesters for nothing more than throwing the Indonesian flag into a sewer. Conservative minds want to demand "respect" and punish people for not giving it. This is morally misguided: to get respect, you must earn it, and that goes for states as well as people.

19 August 2019 (Very urgent: Real climate debate by DNC) US citizens: call your representative in the Democratic National Committee and say you want a real climate debate. When you enter your zip code, it should show you a number to call.

19 August 2019 (Urgent: Support H.R. 3222) US citizens: call on Congress to pass the No Federal Funds for Public Charge Act (H.R. 3222). This would prevent implementation of the cruel bastard's rule change that is designed to block low-income Americans from bringing their spouses and children to the US.

19 August 2019 (Tuvalu's global heating presentations) Tuvalu's presentations about global heating disaster failed to penetrate the closed eyes of Australian politicians, but did spoil their pretense of reaching out in friendship to the Pacific island nations.

19 August 2019 (Biometric ID) Is your bank pressuring you to use biometric ID? If so, please write to rms at gnu dot org. It could be useful if you document what is happening.

18 August 2019 (Goodyear workers underpaid in Mexico) "They (unionized Goodyear workers) are not mad at the workers in Mexico. They are mad that Goodyear went down there and underpaid those workers. They are mad that Goodyear is taking our work and moving it there."

18 August 2019 (Crippled Apple devices) When Apple suspects a user of fraud, it judges the case secretly and presents the verdict as a fait accompli. The punishment to a user found guilty is being cut off for life, which more-or-less cripples the user's Apple devices forever. There is no appeal.

18 August 2019 (Mauna Kea telescope) Hawaiians say that blocking construction of a telescope is fighting "corporate culture". Notice the words "it is said" which the article used to cast doubt on the practical reasons to put the telescope there, while saying nothing about what they are. Some obvious reasons why Mauna Kea is an unusually good place to put the world's biggest telescope: Mauna Kea is high (better seeing conditions); the air is clean (better seeing conditions); there is very little light pollution (fainter objects are visible); it is fairly close to the equator (can view nearly all the sky); there is already a good road down to facilities not far away (makes construction cheaper). Blocking the telescope would do no actual good for Hawaiians and would be a loss for all humanity.

18 August 2019 (Moderate orc voter) (satire) We Need a Wizard Who Can Appeal to the Moderate Orc Voter.

18 August 2019 (Protest in Melbourne) There was a protest in favor of democracy in Hong Kong in Melbourne, Australia. State-managed Chinese social media stirred up a lot of young Chinese expats to rally against them. A physical tussle developed. The article does not say, but I expect that the supporters of China started the tussle. Propaganda has taught them that the cause of China's power is sacred and that anyone who questions it is evil. Many Chinese students go to Australia, and China has a history of using them for political intimidation in Australia. It is important to develop systematic ways to expose students from China to other values while they are in Australia. One idea that occurs to me is to have a kiosk which can tell people whether their mobile phones, which they have "switched off", are really off. It would be interesting to tell students from China whether China is snooping on the conversations around them. It would be interesting for everyone else that carries a Stalin's Dream device, too.

18 August 2019 (Bringing relatives to the US) The bully's latest act of contempt for the non-rich is to forbid them from bringing spouses or relatives to the US. Ironically, the effect of this is much worse because of the decreasing real wages that employers in the US have been permitted to pay.

17 August 2019 (Snooper wants to extend "USA Freedom Act") The snooper wants to extend the "USA Freedom Act", which gave the NSA power to spy on Americans. Meanwhile, the rest of the U SAP AT Riot Act was already made permanent, but we need to get rid of it.

17 August 2019 (Epstein Guards) (satire) Epstein Guards Placed On Disciplinary Leave For Allowing Selves To Be Distracted By Mischievous Monkey That Stole Key Ring.

17 August 2019 (Slavery in Virginia starting in 1619) Many articles are being published which describe slavery in Virginia as starting in 1619. In fact, the Africans arriving then were indentured, like many of the white settlers. It was several decades later that this was replaced with slavery and racism. Being indentured was rotten, but still left some minimal rights, and the indenture ended after specified term of years.

17 August 2019 (White supremacism seeping into ALEC) White supremacism is seeping into ALEC. I don't think racism is any part of ALEC's mission. ALEC is a dooH niboR campaign and focuses 100% on promoting class injustice. But it's impossible nowadays to package lots of Republican plutocratists without finding crumbs of white supremacism mixed in.

17 August 2019 (Right to change our minds) "Social media must not rob us of the right to change our minds." That is what Twitter does. I refuse to be part of a "tribe" of people who have to agree. I hope to persuade you of various views, but I don't want to lead a tribe in which people would be compelled to follow my views.

17 August 2019 (Cut off donations to protect the Amazon forest) Germany and Norway have cut off donations to a Brazilian fund that is supposed to be used to protect the Amazon forest. Bolsonaro has undermined the activity this was supposed to support.

17 August 2019 (Buenos Aires Judge Bans Delivery Apps) Buenos Aires Judge Bans Delivery Apps After Road Accidents Spike. The company PR department said its first priority is the health of its couriers, but the dispatcher was evidently taught to value the product more. How can we interpret this contradiction? I suspect that the dispatcher was taught the company's real values by the real pressures placed on per. Nothing teaches managers to avoid work accidents like making the company pay for them. That's what worker's compensation is for. But the piecework sweatshop economy makes the workers "independent contractors", so they don't get workers' compensation. Change that, and the companies may learn to truly value the workers' health.

17 August 2019 (The Pacific Island Forum) The Pacific Island Forum almost failed to reach any agreement on a communique, because of the dispute between some countries threatened by global heating and the planet roasters of Australia. After many hours they reached a compromise which calls for some action — but which Australia will not heed. I think it was a strategic mistake to compromise with Australia. These callous right-wingers will continue working for disaster no matter what they say. It would have been better for the event to split and make a statement condemning Australia (and China, and the US, etc.).

17 August 2019 (US congress members blocked from Israel) Netanyahu decided not to allow Rep. Omar and Rep. Tlaib to lead a tour of members of Congress to Palestine. This has earned him a lot of criticism already. But I think he has become a supporter of his fellow right-wing extremist, the bully, and does not care about alienating Democratic US Jews.

17 August 2019 (Searching with out suspicion) In the UK as in the US, searching people on the street with no specific suspicion does little to reduce street crime, but it's a great way to harass minority groups and make them resentful. No wonder Bogus Johnson wants to do more of it.

17 August 2019 (Treating racial slurs as unutterable taboos) Americans who oppose racism are going nuts, and treating racial slurs as unutterable taboos, rather than the insults that they are. Even to quote a use of the taboo word, regardless of why, unleashes condemnation. In fear of that taboo, a famous writers' famous quotation was altered and missed its intended point, and a professor is being investigated for calling attention to that. I urge people to familiarize themselves with the difference between using a word and mentioning it. I don't use racial slurs, because I don't want to insult people, but it is impossible to discuss racism clearly without mentioning (talking about) those slurs. Likewise, I never use the term "intellectual property", but I mention it to say why it spreads confusion.

17 August 2019 (Destruction of oceans has doubled) Humanity's Destruction of Oceans Nearly Doubled Over a Decade, Scientists Warn, and Could Double Again Without Urgent Action.

17 August 2019 (Ryan Twyman) A gang of LA thugs came up suddenly at Ryan Twyman as he was sitting in his car, and quickly began shooting. Then they harassed his family.

16 August 2019 (US history against Hispanics) The US has a long history of violence against Hispanics; initially Mexicans.

16 August 2019 (Free movement of plant diseases) "Free movement of goods" includes free movement of plant diseases. Many species of trees will be wiped out in many countries.

16 August 2019 (India's plan to declare Muslims stateless) India is requiring Bengali-speaking inhabitants of Assam to prove their ancestors lived in Assam before 1971, or face being declared stateless. Many of them are illiterate and can't understand the documents they need to search for. If they can't prove they are descended from Indian citizens at that time, they will be presumed stateless. This seems to be a scheme to eliminate Muslim citizens from India.

16 August 2019 (Urgent: Accountability for poisoning people) US citizens: call on Congress to hold corporations accountable for knowingly poisoning Americans with per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances.

16 August 2019 (Urgent: Block fossil fuel developments) US citizens: call on California governor Newsom to block all new fossil fuel developments and cut back use of existing fossil fuel facilities.

16 August 2019 (Muzzle velocities) When I posted that assault weapons should be banned because they fire with higher muzzle velocities, and therefore the wounds they cause are more grievous and more likely to be fatal, I misinterpreted the article I was referring to. This was pointed out to me by a reader. The comparison actually described by the surgeon was between high-powered rifles and handguns. The point is that all high-powered rifles produce wounds that are more harmful and more likely to kill, than the wounds made by handguns. This means I need to change the conclusions I drew. My revised conclusion is that we should require high-powered rifles owned by the public to be designed to hold a small number of rounds, contained in a fixed part of the rifle rather than in a magazine that can be quickly replaced.

15 August 2019 (The free software movement) By these criteria for effective altruism, the free software movement is a good choice to have a high impact. Their criteria are Great in scale (it affects many people’s lives, by a great amount)

Highly neglected (few other people are working on addressing the problem), and

Highly solvable (additional resources will do a great deal to address it). Is the free software cause "highly neglected"? Thousands of people are working on developing free programs, but most of them call the the programs "open source" and are not thinking about the injustice of nonfree software. So they don't look for projects that could enable many users to escape from some nonfree software.

24 July 2019 (Weak "data protection" laws) Google and Facebook are campaigning for the US to adopt the sort of weak "data protection" laws that won't hamper surveillance capitalism much. The concept of "ambient privacy" refers to what I have campaigned for years to protect: not having data collected about you.

24 July 2019 (Domestic abuse) "Today, we know that that the techniques common to domestic abuse match those used by practically anyone who trades in captivity: kidnappers, hostage-takers, pimps, cult leaders."

24 July 2019 (Live expectancy of wealthy vs poor) In a wealthy neighborhood of Chicago, the life expectancy is 90. In a poor neighborhood, it is 60. In other words, the plutocratic trickle-down that condemns people to poverty also condemns them to death. The Chinese economic system serves Chinese people better than America's system serves Americans. I disagree with one point: the article says not to blame US corporations for taking advantage of this system. Their political influence, their money, changed our system so that it serves them rather than us. They deserve to be blamed for that. But even a corporation that done nothing beyond taking advantage of laws in ways that harm people still deserves our condemnation. "We are not violating laws" is not a defense for spreading suffering. The condemnation will provide the impetus to make them stop.

24 July 2019 (Urgent:_call_on_CNN) Everyone: call on CNN to add a progressive questioner in the Democratic debates.

If you call, please spread the word!

24 July 2019 (Republican_anti-sexuality) Some male Republican politicians say they refuse to meet privately with female reporters. Aside from promoting anti-sexuality, this can harm women's careers. Shouldn't they impose the same requirement on male reporters, for the same reason? There is no telling what two men might get up to in private.

24 July 2019 (Legality_of_vegetable_names) On the legality of calling a vegetable product by names that imply meat. I think the term "veggie burger" is legitimate. There are many kinds of "burgers", so the term does not imply any specific ingredient. I think it's the same for "sausage" &mdash sausages also can have many kinds of ingredients. However, it should be illegal to use the words "meat" or "beef" to name a product which isn't made (respectively) from meat, or from beef.

24 July 2019 (Anonymizing_data_isn't_anonymous) A general demonstration that anonymizing data is ineffective for protecting privacy.

24 July 2019 (Boris_Johnson's _Iran_decision) In dealing with Iran, Boris Johnson will have to choose between two conflicting pressures: the interests of his country, and demands of the bully. The bully wants the UK to be in conflict with Iran; specifically, to hold Iran's tanker no matter how Iran retaliates. The UK's interest is to make a deal and free both tankers. I expect that Johnson values the bully's backing more, so I predict he will not exchange the two ships.

24 July 2019 (Burning_the_Amazon_rainforest) As the city of Manaus grows, people are constantly burning off part of the Amazon rainforest in order to make space for houses.

24 July 2019 (Abandoned_oil_ship) An oil storage and transfer ship, moored off the coast of Yemen, has been sitting unused and unmaintained since 2015. It could leak much more than the Big Spill. It could also explode.

24 July 2019 (Australian_thugs) Australian thugs arrested French documentalists who were filming a protest against the planned new Adani coal mine. If global heating disaster kills billions of people, this mine's contribution will amount to thousands. The principle of necessity would justify sabotaging the mine to prevent it from killing those thousands.

24 July 2019 (Teachers_stress) The UK's department of education did a survey to see what was causing stress and extended work hours for teachers. It discovered that its inspections were responsible.

24 July 2019 (US_troops_in_Salafi_Arabia) Sending US troops to Salafi Arabia will strengthen the recruiting of jihadist groups, including al Qa'ida and PISSI. If there were a real need to send troops there, I would not encourage being dissuaded by something like this. But since there is no reason to send them, we should recognize that this is an additional reason not to send them.

24 July 2019 (England_hospitals'_parking_lots) Hospitals in England have contracted out their parking lots to companies whose business model is to trick and trap drivers, using rules that are opaque or impossible in practice to follow. Even the staff get gouged. Laws should require that any parking enforcement contracts require giving the institution power to (1) forgive anyone's charges and (2) limit the fees.

24 July 2019 (Scientific_data_mining) The scientific publishers are opposed even to data-mining the corpus of scientific literature. I will be glad if Carl Malamud's hack succeeds, but let's not be distracted by it. The most important use of the scientific literature is exactly what he will take care not to make possible: to read it. Sci-Hub, by contrast, does achieve that. Thus, I admire Sci-Hub more.

23 July 2019 (Secret_911_Recordings) Many US states protect thugs and other emergency responders by keeping emergency calls secret &mdash even when the caller has died. The relatives can't find out what happened.

23 July 2019 (UK_Censorship) The UK government censorship/surveillance program which is supposed to prevent terrorism represses students and studies in UK universities. You don't need to come anywhere near wishing to commit violence before the program threatens you or blocks an event. Now, for where I disagree with the article. Sad to say, student anti-racism also aims in that direction. It is not backed by state power, so it does not threaten individuals, but if it prevents events from being held, that amounts to censorship. The UK government, while imposing its law-backed censorship, is hardly in a position to sincerely defend freedom of speech on campus.

23 July 2019 (French_Thugs_and_Extinction_Rebellion) French thugs used pepper spray on Extinction Rebellion protesters who were sitting on a bridge in Paris. The heat wave has made some French people understand what global heating disaster means. Protests will spread the awareness.

23 July 2019 (Tips_For_Staying_Civil_While_Debating_Child_Prisons.) Tips For Staying Civil While Debating Child Prisons. Most of the imprisoned immigrants are adolescents rather than children. But they do include children, too. Let's remember that imprisoning teenagers who are not threatening anyone is roughly equally bad.

23 July 2019 (Consumer_Paralysis) Inducing Consumer Paralysis: How Retailers Bury Customers in an Avalanche of Choice. One additional source of complication is when you can't choose each option independently, only a combination. If there are 10 two-way choices to make, there are in principle 1024 combinations. If companies offer just 30 different combinations, you will be overwhelmed with options, of which probably none is what you really want. With free software, you could make each choice the way you like, so it will be simple rather than overwhelming.

23 July 2019 (Future_Elite) It would be good to change the system so that the children of the elite don't have a near-lock on becoming the future elite. That alone cannot do enough. There is no way that most people can become elite. We need to make sure that non-elite people have a decent life.

23 July 2019 (Punished_for_Saving_Refugees) Captain Rackete of the Sea-Watch 3 brought refugees rescued at sea into an Italian port, and faces the possibility of 10 years in prison for this. She says her decision was necessary, and that bringing the refugees back to Libya (a country at war) was illegal too.

23 July 2019 (Republican_Violence) Oregon's Republican senators threatened violence and mobilized violent supporters to protest, to kill the climate protection bill. This illustrates Republicans' basic attitude towards the American people. They want to take power and hold it, by intimidation, violence, or any other means.

23 July 2019 (Internet_Trust) The internet is increasingly a low-trust society &mdash based on an assumption of pervasive fraud. This can lead to autocracy, in this case dominion by big companies that erase freedom. This is an additional reason to stay away from the dis-services where these frauds abound.

23 July 2019 (Green_New_Deal) If you think about the cost of not doing the Green New Deal, you see we can afford it. It is an investment in survival.

23 July 2019 (German_Extremists_Kill_List) Right-wing German extremists assembled a list of politicians and activists to kill, based on data obtained from thugs and the military.

23 July 2019 (UK_Planet_Roasters'_Victory) In a victory for planet-roasting, protesters in the UK were convicted of violating an anti-protest injunction set up to protect a fracking company. The protesters were attempting to save the lives of the people that fracking would kill a few decades from now. The judge will pressure them to say they were sorry for this. They should refuse to apologize for protecting the ecosphere. The only thing they should be sorry about is that they did not succeed.

23 July 2019 (Pride_Capitalism_in_Disguise) LGBTQ+ Pride celebrations today are "rainbow-branded capitalism": instead of liberation, they demand for queers the same strictures that most straights suffer under.

23 July 2019 (China_Paying_for_Personal_Data) In China, companies actually pay people (with household goods) for personal data to train AIs. Is this any better than what happens now in the US? I don't think so. A little pay cannot compensate for the loss anonymity cause by the spying and control that the AIs will enable.

23 July 2019 (Phones_in_Schools) "You can't enforce a ban on mobile phones in the classroom &mdash we should teach kids to hate them instead." I am doing my part &mdash please join me.

23 July 2019 (Jamal_Khashoggi's_Warning) Jamal Khashoggi warned Moroccan journalist Taoufik Bouachrine that he was a target too. Bouachrine was subsequently jailed on political charges.

23 July 2019 (Increase_in_Abortions) Ironically, the US global campaign against talking about abortion has led to a big increase in abortions in some African countries. That results from an increase in the pregnancy rate. Sad to say, not all the unintended additional pregnancies will be terminated. Some will lead soon to an increase in unintended births, which will lead in a couple of decades to an increase in unintended deaths.

23 July 2019 (Businesses_now_blocking_FOIA) The Supreme Court gave businesses the power to block FOIA requests for information about what they are doing in government contracts. Since trade secrecy is generally harmful to society, we need to move in the opposite direction: to reduce the power of business to impose secrecy when that harms society or community in any way.

23 July 2019 (Warren's_Election_Reform) Senator Warren's plan to reform elections is aimed at securing elections from rigging and theft, and removing obstacles to voting, At the general level described in the article, it looks good to me. On some issues, the details may be crucial.

23 July 2019 (London_Thugs_Pay) The London thug department has been forced to pay compensation to anti-fascist protesters that it besieged for hours on the street, then arrested.

23 July 2019 (Facebook_Crypto currency) Facebook's proposed currency is marketed as "decentralization" but actually it is an attempt to supplant banks with a system under complete centralized private control. The name "libra" refers to a unit of weight (a pound), but I expect it was chosen for its false association with "libre". It has nothing to do with freedom, though; it would create a system of unitary power rather than a system of freedom. The name is a fib. How about calling it "Fib-Lib"?

23 July 2019 (Palestine_Biometrics) Fingerprint and face scanning makes the occupation of Palestine less inconvenient, but more oppressive.

23 July 2019 (Oil_and_Gas_industry) "Stop obsessing over your environmental 'sins.' Fight the oil and gas industry instead." I agree, as regards personal consumption. However, working to construct fossil fuel facilities does a specially concentrated form of harm. I don't think that you can justify oil drilling in the name of "feeding your family", because global heating is already causing tens of thousands of American families to become destitute, and any wells you drill will make that worse in the future. The first way to fight the oil and gas industry is to stop working for it.

23 July 2019 (Candidate_Israel_Criticism) Only Sanders and Buttigieg, of the well-known presidential candidates, dared to criticize Israel's treatment of Palestinians.

23 July 2019 (Instagram_Influence) The madness of people influenced by Instagram is causing trouble for the rest of us. The simplest way to stop Instagram from annoying your life is to stop using it and stop paying attention to it6.

23 July 2019 (Self_Driving_cars) The (so-called) Self-Driving Car Is a Surveillance Tool. I say "so-called" because remote-drive software has already been developed, Unless you own the car and the software that controls it is free/libre, you cannot ever be confident that it is driving itself rather than being driven under someone else's control.

23 July 2019 (Aggression_Detection) "Aggression detector" systems for schools throw an alarm whenever someone's voice sounds "stressed". Even if the system were entirely accurate, attempting to use it would make people more stressed. Only a tiny fraction of these events represent people who are about to attack someone. In the rest of the cases, bothering them will only make their lives more miserable and more stressed. Suppose you are a teacher or school principal. How could use use these data without making the school worse? You can't. So don't use it.

23 July 2019 (Tashif Turner) US thugs will hunt desperately for an excuse to arrest someone. Chicago artist Tashif Turner had a permit to paint a mural, but he didn't have it with him, so they arrested him. But it gets worse.

23 July 2019 (UK_Visa_Discrimination) The head of a department of Unesco has decided not to hold conferences in the UK any more. It is too hard for even sponsored participants to get a visa to attend.

23 July 2019 (Insulin_Murder) Extension of patenting, together with general encouragement of greed, has made insulin so expensive in the US that American diabetics have to skimp on everything else &mdash and even then they may die from not being able to buy insulin. It amounts to murder.

23 July 2019 (Manus_Island_Refugee) The refugee who tried to kill himself by fire in Manus Island will face charges leading to life imprisonment in a smaller prison. Those who imprisoned him in Papua New Guinea and those who denied him medical treatment should be considered responsible for his "crime", which is not as grave as theirs.

23 July 2019 (Thug's_Facebook_Posts) Some US thugs are being investigated and may be fired because of fomenting violence on Facebook. Cops are supposed to be police officers, not thugs. Firing them for statements that contradict the mission of their profession is right and proper.

23 July 2019 (Companies'_Facebook ) An Australian court ruled that companies are negligent in permitting "defamatory" comments to be posted on their Facebook pages. Facebook does not give the companies any authority to moderate the comments, so the only way they can comply is by setting up a filter which rejects all comments. This is ridiculous.

23 July 2019 (Congo Population) Population is reaching crunch point in the Congo. The Pygmies, who lived there before, demand to cut down the forest that lowland gorillas live in. As the world's human population bloats, there won't be enough land for everyone. People will get desperate, and try to hang on a little longer by destroying forests, farming land that isn't suitable, catching the last few fish, and so on. But that won't do more than postpone the end. The human population will eventually be limited &mdash after everything else is gone. We need to limit the human population earlier, before that destruction occurs.

22 July 2019 (Urgent: Ban use of face surveillance) US citizens: call on Massachusetts to ban government use of face surveillance. Background information. Since this bill would only apply to government use of face recognition, it addresses only part of the problem. But that's a good start. If you sign, please spread the word!

22 July 2019 (EU considers broad censorship system) The EU is considering a broad system of censorship to apply to all internet sites and services; even to ISPs. It would that the European internet becomes like the Chinese internet.

22 July 2019 (The Cambridge Analytica scandal) "Cambridge Analytica may have become the byword for a scandal, but it's not entirely clear that anyone knows exactly what that scandal is." To try to prevent election manipulation using systems that profile people is difficult. It requires outthinking the people who are looking for clever ways to use the databases to achieve their goals. Preventing it by prohibiting data collection and profiling would be more reliable. If a database does not exist, there is no clever way to use it to undermine society.

22 July 2019 (Oklahoma suing Johnson & Johnson) Oklahoma is suing Johnson & Johnson for aggressively promoting sales of fentanyl. I think it is wrong to aggressively promote sales of any medical treatment. We must establish that corporations are not entitled to human rights, so that they can't claim they have a "human right" to publicize medicines. But the issue goes beyond advertising. We must require drug companies to include "serving patients" alongside "making money" as their responsibilities, and require participation of patient representatives in business decisions about medicines.

22 July 2019 (Tiffany Cabán) Tiffany Cabán, running for district attorney in Queens, New York, will not prosecute sex workers or their customers, and will not put poor people in jail for months awaiting trial by demanding bail money.

22 July 2019 (Urgent: Estate tax) US citizens: call on Congress to raise the estate tax. This is a way to tax the ultra-wealthy more. If you sign, please spread the word!

22 July 2019 (Australian elite) Australia's denialist voters have been bamboozled into thinking they are resisting an elite that is gratuitously forcing change on them. They don't understand that they are helping the real elite, the planet-roaster plutocrats, arrange to murder their grandchildren. But the grandchildren know this.

22 July 2019 (Offshore oil drilling) The House of Representatives put amendments into a funding bill that would block new offshore oil drilling. This is very important to do.

22 July 2019 (US border guards) Reporter Seth Harp describes how US border guards threatened to keep him in the airport indefinitely until he let them search through his phone and laptop. They lied to him sometimes, and one threatened repeatedly to kill him and lie as an excuse. I hope he is not using that phone and laptop any more. They could contain key loggers. In my personal experience, the border guards that give me the most hassle are those of Canada. A Canadian border agent, which appeared human but was apparently a robot, demanded I say what I would do when I returned to the US, while threatening to send me to the US (but not the US city I was connecting for). Once in the 90s a couple of US customs agents decided to harass me by searching my luggage, slowly. As I was not in a hurry and had only permitted goods to import, I responded by taking a friendly tone and complying with utmost diligence and care, which required me to go even more slowly than they did. Eventually they realized that their harassment tactic had backfired, so they finished the search quickly.

22 July 2019 (US soldier conscription) For the US to defeat Iran, it would need to conscript soldiers. If you are a young man, or a teenager, it is time to start organizing draft resistance now!

22 July 2019 (Concentration camps) Jewish Human Rights Scholar: Yes, America Has Built Concentration Camps. And it is not surprising that some of the prisoners in them have died as a result of the systematic mistreatment. The term "concentration camp" was initially used as a euphemism for prisons into which colonial powers (Spain, the US, and Germany) and conquerors (including the UK) forced a civilian population which was sheltering and aiding rebels. Killing them was not the specific intention, but in many of these camps the general mistreatment and lack of medical care killed substantial numbers of the prisoners. This is what the US is doing now to unauthorized immigrants. The Nazis built political prisons which were referred to as "concentration camps". Initially they did not murder prisoners outright but systematically worked prisoners to death. Later the Nazis began directly murdering large numbers of Jews (and others) in some of these camps. Thus, the term became associated with outright mass murder. The writer of that article believes that massive imprisonment is the penultimate step on the road to genocide. This may be right, because the conditions that lead to setting up such camps generate hatred. The thugs running US concentration camps hate the unauthorized immigrants. It wouldn't take much to loose the demons in them.

22 July 2019 (Psychiatrists 'in the network') Blue Cross / Blue Shield offers subscribers a list of psychiatrists who are "in the network", but only a few of them will actually accept a new patient covered by insurance. Many of the phone numbers don't even work any more. Many other insurance plans are equally bad, and it affects other medical specialties, not just psychiatrists. There is evidence that insurance companies keep the errors intentionally to discourage patients from getting care, and thus reduce what they have to pay for.

22 July 2019 (KPMG) One of the Big Four accounting companies, KPMG, has been caught cheating. Specifically, its executives cheated on ethics exams. To shut down that company would leave only three companies to choose from. We need to do the opposite: make KPMG split up — and the others, too. We need to make them so numerous that we can shut them when necessary.

22 July 2019 (Net neutrality regulations) None of the predicted "benefits" of ending the FCC's network neutrality regulations has actually occurred. When businesses claim that deregulating them will lead to benefits, they are asking the public to give them something on credit, without even a commitment to pay it back. Businesses often cheat on their commitments, so how likely are they to keep a non-commitment? The proper response to any such a proposal is, "And if that doesn't happen, then what?" Followed by, "Let's make the deregulation provisional, to be terminated automatically if any of the following problems occurs…"

22 July 2019 (Facebook video moderators) Facebook treats the video moderators like shit. And that's in addition to the depression they feel from watching the videos. The article gives no evidence that Utley's death was caused by his job, but the way the managers treated it is despicable even if they did not cause it. Naturally, these workers are subcontracted, so that Facebook can deny responsibility for how they are treated. But Facebook is in fact responsible: it demands contractors offer a low price, which they achieve by treating the workers like shit. We need laws to hold companies like Facebook responsible for the treatment of indirect workers, and give them employee rights such as sick leave. It should be a felony for employees of a company to ask a worker to sign a nondisclosure agreement covering any aspect of the working conditions, benefits, or pay.

22 July 2019 (British citizenship) Tories are gradually resolving the artificial problems they have created for people that moved to Britain decades ago with citizenship but can't prove it — by waiting for them to die. In a few years, there may be no problem left. The reason they can't prove their citizenship is that Tories deleted the government data base which would have proved it. In recognition of its own fault, the British government ought to give them the benefit of the doubt.

21 July 2019 (Tax incentives for leveraged buyouts) In support of Senator Warren's bill to cut off tax incentives for leveraged buyouts. I disagree with part of the argument — namely, arguing from efficiency as the primary goal. There are other important goals, such as avoiding concentration of whatever industry. These other goals strengthen the case for this law.

21 July 2019 (Charter of the Trump Organization) The State of New York should dissolve the charter of the Trump Organization for its persistent history of crime.

20 July 2019 (The hate-spewer's own country) The hate-spewer should go home to his country, but where is that? I think his country of origin is the one located, mythically, straight down from wherever you are.

20 July 2019 (Iran seizes oil tanker) Iran has seized an oil tanker. Now I suppose it will suggest to the UK an exchange of captured ships. I have not seen any explanation of why the EU's refusal to trade with Syria would have anything to do with Iran's trade with Syria. Syria, Assad's empire, is an ally to be ashamed of, but not worse than the US's ally, Salafi Arabia.

20 July 2019 (Yang Hengjun imprisoned in China) Chinese expat writer Yang Hengjun has been made a political prisoner in China. He is accused of "crimes" which are bullshit excuses for political persecution, comparable to the US charges against Julian Assange and Edward Snowden. However, China nowadays applies its repression far more broadly; mere opinions are enough. This is why I decided, a few years ago, not to go to China any more.

20 July 2019 (Privatized state surveillance) The most egregious aspects of Palantir's privatized state surveillance of just about everyone.

20 July 2019 (Boris Johnson's support for the EU) Boris Johnson, who stands to become the next prime minister of the UK, wrote privately that he was in favor of keeping the UK in the EU. A year later he supported the dishonest campaign to take it out.

20 July 2019 (Europe must defend Taiwan) Hong Kong showed China is a threat to democracy. Now Europe must defend Taiwan.

19 July 2019 (Expulsion of bigots) There is a proposal to require expulsion of any member of the Labour Party if there is clear evidence that the member is bigoted. The title of the article is misleading -- mere accusation would not require expulsion. There would have to be "irrefutable evidence." I am in favor of this rule. I don't think that parties should tolerate bigotry against any group, and that includes Jews. The Republican Party should adopt the same rule. What I disagree with is the party's decision to adopt a controversial criterion for judging anti-semitism, which was designed to shift the boundary that separates criticism of Israel from anti-semitism.

19 July 2019 (Urgent: Fossil fuel divestment) US citizens: call on Harvard to divest from fossil fuels. If you sign, please spread the word!

19 July 2019 (Extinction denialism) Extinction denialism: right-wing politicians undercount actual extinctions in order to block policies to prevent future extinctions. This reminds me of the way right-wing politicians cited Iraq Body Count to undercount the number of Iraqi war dead from Dubya's occupation of Iraq. Iraq Body Count did (does?) a valuable job by making a list of the identified, reported deaths, but using that to estimate the total will obviously give a low result. I think Iraq Body Count ought to make a prominent statement to this effect. Maybe the IUCN Red List should do likewise. In the case of extinction, we cannot detect the extinction of species whose existence we have not yet recognized. These could number in the millions.

19 July 2019 (Extinction Rebellion die-in) Extinction Rebellion held a die-in in front of the New York Times, demanding the newspaper do justice to the danger.

19 July 2019 (Palestinian deal) The conman's "deal of the century" for Palestinians includes a lot of money to be paid to Palestinians in the future. In other words, he's asking the Palestinians to give him something on credit. You'd have to be nuts to give the trumpets anything on credit. Remember the building contractor that did work on a Trump building, and was still suing to get paid for it when the conman was inaugurated? He was not the only one.

19 July 2019 (Getting paid for data) Evgeny Morozov agrees that getting paid for data by Facebook will not compensate for the damage done by the power Facebook gets by having that data. The idea that "you should own your data" is too weak a foundation to resist the systematic manufacture of consent. It puts each person in the position of negotiating a deal with various giants — exactly the way the giants want it. Instead of negotiating individually with them, we need to join together and pass laws that stop them from snooping on us.

19 July 2019 (Iran and the bully) Iran is talking and acting tough, in response to damaging economic warfare. The bully and his men condemn this as inexplicable aggression. Several years ago I reported on how Israel used the same propaganda ploy against Hamas in Gaza. In a cycle of attacks by both sides, Israel described Israeli bombing as "retaliation" and Hamas missiles as "aggression". At that time, it was noticeable that it was generally Israel that broke the truce. That does not seem to be the case in the past year, though.

19 July 2019 (Surveillance and persecution) Yuval Harari: Pervasive digital surveillance will offer numerous ways to determine who is homosexual — or even has an unconscious leaning that way — for the sake of persecution. Likewise for any other quirks that people could be mistreated for. If you belong to some group that is targeted — blacks, Palestinians, animal rights campaigners, whatever it — the secret police of your country won't hesitate to use your quirk to force you into informing. This is another reason we must stop systems from collecting data about people. Make or sell TVs that reports on people? Go to prison! Put up a camera that identifies people? Go to prison!

19 July 2019 (Eliminating private prisons) Senator Warren proposes to eliminate private prisons completely in the US, including immigration prisons. She also plans to ban gouging prisoners for products and services. What I like best is that she endorses the idea that certain areas of activity should be off limits to profitmaking businesses. It is not yet the idea that government services should never be privatized.

19 July 2019 (Attacking the idea of truth) Today powerful tyrants don't merely lie. They attack the idea that there is such a thing as truth. What made life under the rule of Stalin and Mao so terrifying was that no lie was too much for them. The truth of your innocence meant nothing to them if they found it useful to proclaim you guilty. Today's cruel liars, including the conman, are no better. Let's compare them with the plutocrats and planet roasters. They don't mind lying, and they lie constantly about their opponents. But they do not attack the very idea of truth.

19 July 2019 (Refugees in France) Hundreds, maybe thousands, of refugees are living in France near Calais and Dunkirk. Thugs regularly chase them around, steal and destroy their tents, break their water vessels, and poison their food with tear gas.

17 July 2019 (Royal Shakespeare Company's links to BP) "With its links to BP, I can't stay in the Royal Shakespeare Company."

17 July 2019 (Threat of censorship in France) Now that France threatens a 24 hour censorship deadline for deleting articles, some politicians are trying to include revealing how farms treat animals. The tendency of governments to label animal rights activism as "terrorism" has been observed in the US, and the UK. It seems to be a natural progression. So whenever you think about a proposed "antiterrorism law", remember that animal rights activists may be included too. I do not advocate animal rights below a low level. I do advocate freedom of speech for those that advocate more (or less) animal rights than I do.

17 July 2019 (Nonfree software) The EFF has alerted the public to a particular of variety of malicious functionality of nonfree software: artificial restrictions on interoperability. This is useful, but it would have been more insightful to mention that the underlying cause: proprietary (nonfree) software. Proprietary software tends to be malicious in various other ways.

17 July 2019 (Empty federal government positions) The bullshitter doesn't want anyone in the federal government to correct his lies. Over 85% of the federal government positions that have to do with science are now empty.

17 July 2019 (Detroit thugs impose face recognition) The Detroit Police Commission excluded one commissioner from some of its meetings where it decided to impose face recognition on the public. He came to an open meeting and tried to condemn this, and the thugs arrested him. Thus tyranny marches on, imposing the tools for more tyranny.

17 July 2019 (Bottles of novichok) Charlie Rowley, suffers permanent neural damage from the novichok which killed his girlfriend. He says that the bottle he found was packaged in hard plastic and is surely not the same bottle of novichok that was used to poison the Skripals.

17 July 2019 (Manus Island refugee prison) A refugee imprisoned by Australia on Manus Island has been denied medical treatment for a long time. He set himself on fire in his room. His action seems to me as rational as any other option, under the circumstances. I suppose he hoped he would die, but so far he is still alive. Maybe now they will give him medical treatment.

17 July 2019 (Leaks say bully approved bombing) Leaks say the bully approved bombing of Iran, then cancelled it at the last moment. We can't presume any of this is true. The bullshitter uses bombastic threats as a style of diplomacy. Maybe he told the troops to get ready to attack as a form of theater, intending to cancel it. Or perhaps that never happened and some flunkies were ordered to "leak" a false story. Either way, this was better than launching a real attack.

17 July 2019 (Ballot boxes in supermarkets) New Zealand will put ballot boxes in supermarkets so people can vote more conveniently. It is good to make voting more convenient, all else being equal, but that is not the most important issue at stake. Is it feasible to prevent election-rigging via ballot boxes in a "crowded shop"? Will it be feasible to have poll watchers from all parties at each supermarket?

17 July 2019 (Personal data collections) Assigning a monetary "value" to collecting data about you would not substitute for privacy. The monetary income of selling and renting that data is not a measure of the harm done to you by collecting it. It also completely ignores the consequences of making the data available to the state.

17 July 2019 (People throw their freedom away) Swedes Are Getting Implants in Their Hands to Replace Cash, Credit Cards. It is hard to protect the freedom of people who are desperate to throw their freedom away.

17 July 2019 (Extinction rebellion protests) Extinction Rebellion Protests Block Traffic in Five UK Cities. Each city has a theme: rising sea levels, floods, wildfires, crop failures and extreme weather.

17 July 2019 (Rising oceans) Seawalls to Protect US Against Rising Oceans Could Cost $416bn by 2040. That spending would be as futile as trying to bail the water out of the ocean. By 2070 we would need to spend another 400 billion, or perhaps another 800 billion or 2 trillion, because (1) the cost of each cm of sea wall increases as it gets taller and (2) sea-level rise will accelerate with time. We can't afford to cure this problem. The only remedy we can afford is to prevent it.

17 July 2019 (Deepfakes) Deepfakes are already being used in political manipulation. The success of the bullshitter, and Republicans who pressure each other to believe even obvious lies, has made the US more vulnerable to them. The hypothetical deepfake described at the end of the article goes only a little beyond what the bullshitter has already hinted at. It would not surprise me if he really said that, before the 2020 election. By lying repeatedly about his past statements, he has prepared a situation in which we would be unable to tell if such a video is true or fake. I think this is precisely his intention.

17 July 2019 (Town replaces public transit with Uber) In one town in Canada, Uber has advanced towards its goal of eliminating other transport options. The town has eliminated its own public transit, replacing it with being spied on by nonfree software.

17 July 2019 (GOP Medicaid work requirements) Study Confirms GOP Medicaid Work Requirements Succeeded in Taking Away People's Healthcare, But Did Nothing to Boost Employment. At a time when life is such a struggle for the poor, poor people all try to get work. The question is whether they can get enough work, and fit it into life alongside sleep and commuting.

16 July 2019 (The surveillance state) What Love Island Can Tell Us About the Surveillance State.

16 July 2019 (US suicide rate) The US suicide rate has been rising for years, especially among rural men with less education and less income. The full cause is not evident, but the widespread gun ownership in the US could be one factor. However, the industrial non-policy that allows devastating decline in many rural areas could also be responsible.

16 July 2019 (Elected Palestinians face thug violence) Palestinians who are Israeli citizens can run for parliament, but if elected they still face violence from thugs who cover it up with lies. Also described in the article is how Israeli soldiers murdered a Palestinian driver by blocking paramedics from stopping his bleeding. Israeli soldiers have done this before. Tarek Loubani reports that he saw this happen to a wounded medic at a Gaza protest: a sniper wounded him, then snipers kept shooting near him to stop other medics treating him. Eventually the wounded medic bled to death.

16 July 2019 (Israelis and Palestinians) The only path to reconciliation (in whatever form) between Israelis and Palestinians is to have an independent Palestinian state. It is not a mere "solution", it is a necessary first step to an end to military occupation.

16 July 2019 (School meals) Many public schools in the US publicly humiliate children whose families have not paid for school lunch. No family should have to pay for school meals, unless perhaps one so wealthy that the fee is nothing to it. The cost should be paid out of general tax revenue, funded by a progressive income tax, so that the poor don't have to pay anything. However, I see a deeper and bigger issue here: how can we teach children from poor families not to feel ashamed of this? Children are not responsible for their families' fortunes, but even the adults should not feel ashamed of getting bad breaks.

16 July 2019 (Arctic permafrost thawing) Scientists Shocked by Arctic Permafrost Thawing 70 Years Sooner Than Predicted. They found that the whole landscape was melting.

16 July 2019 (Being less punitive) Newly elected Massachusetts District Attorney Rachael Rollins is trying to provide better justice by being less punitive in some cases. We can't evaluate the effect of this by looking at specific cases. It can only be judged as an aggregate.

16 July 2019 (Enemy of Hong Kong) The head of Hong Kong's puppet government has apologized for the extradition bill, and said she would not try to push it again before July 2020, but refuses to go promise not to bring it back after that. One must suspect that she plans to try again later next year. Having chosen to serve China, she will not have a change of heart. She will remain the enemy of Hong Kong.

16 July 2019 (Republican power against public will) In many of the states where Republicans are banning abortion, the voting public does not support them and did not vote for them. They hold power via gerrymandering, against the public will.

16 July 2019 (Elizabeth Warren) Warren's many good domestic policy plans have won her more support. As I've read articles about Warren's plans, I have agreed with them, more or less. They show me that she is progressive and will fight the plutocrats. Sanders is also a progressive and has fought the plutocrats for decades. If we elect him, there will be no lack of good plans. What we may not have is enough progressives in Congress to enact them. Sanders is dedicating his efforts to boosting their campaigns. Moreover, Sanders rejects US wars, and the crimes of US allies, in a way that Warren has not. I support Sanders. I would settle for Warren.

16 July 2019 (Ban on use of human fetal tissue) The saboteur-in-chief has attacked medical research by banning use of human fetal tissue. Sooner or later, you will develop a disease that today is fatal. Will it still be fatal when you get it? Understanding and curing some diseases depends on fetal tissue research. Forbidding that research could be your death.

16 July 2019 (Fossil fuel facilities) The Environmental Poisoning Agency is moving to strip states of the authority to block pipelines and other fossil fuel facilities. Each fossil fuel facility creates an investor that has a giant stake in continue to operate it, thus continue destroying the ecosphere. To survive, we will have to eliminate their legal right not to lose this investment. As Study Shows Methane Emissions 'Vastly Underestimated,' Warnings That US Fracked Gas Export Bonanza Imperils Planetary Stability. Carbon Emissions from Energy Industry Rise at Fastest Rate Since 2011. "The process of corporate plunder in the global mining industry is severely aggravating social and economic inequalities across the planet."

16 July 2019 (Refugee homes in Syria) Assad Demolishes Refugee Homes to Tighten Grip on Rebel Strongholds. Former rebels don't dare return home — many of them will be tortured.

16 July 2019 (US Coast Guard searches) "Under this policy, the [US] Coast Guard stops boats in international waters, searches them and their crew for drugs, destroys boats, and detains crew members for prolonged periods of time in inhumane conditions, regardless of whether any drugs are found aboard."

16 July 2019 (Tanker attack) The Japanese shipping company says its tanker was attacked by a missile, not a mine. This does not conclusively say who attacked the ship. Perhaps some ally of the conman did it, to add to the military threats and economic warfare we know about. Or perhaps Iran did it in response to those military threats and economic warfare. Either way, the US is the aggressor overall.

16 July 2019 (Wealthiest and poorest Americans) Since 1989, the wealthiest 1% of Americans have gained 21 trillion dollars, while the poorest 50% have lost almost 1 trillion. The poorest 50% amount to roughly 150 million people, which means that their loss averages roughly 6000 dollars each.

16 July 2019 (Facebook payment system) Facebook's new payment system will try to seize total surveillance and control of monetary transactions. Using this would be even worse than using a credit card.

16 July 2019 (Deep fake videos) Deep fake videos will aid the bullshitters that aim to eliminate the idea that the truth matters, by burying the truth under heaps of contradictory lies.

16 July 2019 (Environmental footprints) 700 large companies are under pressure to stop concealing their environmental footprint.

16 July 2019 (Platform censorship) The pressure on platforms to censor certain points of view is spilling over inevitably into broader censorship.

15 July 2019 (Urgent: Abolish ICE) US citizens: call on Congress to abolish the deportation thug department, ICE. If you sign, please spread the word!

15 July 2019 (Urgent: Bullshitter's tax returns) US citizens: call on Rep. Neal to get the bullshitter's tax returns form New York State. If you sign, please spread the word!

15 July 2019 (Touch-screen ballot-printers) The State of Georgia is replacing its voting machines, but plans to go against security recommendations and buy touch-screen ballot-printers.

15 July 2019 (Making Africa self-sufficient in food) Arguing that a one-time expenditure of 5 billion dollars could make Africa self-sufficient in food. To make that benefit last, assuming a stable climate, requires ending population growth in Africa. That would cost money, but there may be other obstacles — religious — that money alone might not easily address. To make this solution lasting we need to curb global heating.

15 July 2019 (Australia's cruelty to refugees) Australia's exaggerated cruelty to refugees is driving them to suicide. I expect that Australian politicians are celebrate every suicide attempt as proof of success.

15 July 2019 (Urgent: Resignation of US border thug head) Everyone: demand that the head of the US border thugs resign for promoting bigotry (and hatred towards immigrants). I oppose prudery, so I reject the idea that there is something necessarily wrong with "vulgar jokes." Those particular jokes may have been nasty for some other reason. By contrast, hostility towards immigrants is clearly unacceptable from anyone that works in government agencies that deal with immigrants. If you sign, please spread the word!

15 July 2019 (Urgent: Drop deportation thug contracts) Everyone: call on Palantir to drop its contracts with the US deportation thug agency. If you sign, please spread the word!

15 July 2019 (Chernobyl) Many civilians who lived near or visited Chernobyl after the explosion died from illnesses that can plausibly be attributed to radioactive fallout. No one investigated, so there is no established count, and those in favor of nuclear power can still claim it never hurt anyone but the workers. Some still try to argue that we need to build new nuclear power plants to avoid global heating disaster. This is bogus because it would be far cheaper to build renewable generation.

15 July 2019 (Department of Agriculture) The staff of to Department of Agriculture research agencies believe that moving the agencies out of Washington is a way of sabotaging them.

14 July 2019 (Urgent: Housing assistance) US citizens: call on the Department of Housing and Urban Development not to restrict housing assistance. Here's the text I sent: I call on the Department of Housing and Urban Development not to tighten eligibility for housing assistance. When some of the people in a family are US citizens, it is entirely legitimate to support housing for family. There is no justification for putting those citizens out on the street or breaking up their families. A great country shows its greatness through compassion.

14 July 2019 (Urgent: 'Black identity extremism') US citizens: call on the FBI to stop pretending there is such a thing as "black identity extremism". This phantom threat distracts attention from the real threat of white identity extremism. I focus my politics on issues, not on identity. If you sign, please spread the word!

14 July 2019 (Rescuing drowning refugees) Salvini has imposed a fine of 50,000 euros on organizations that rescue drowning refugees and bring them to Italy.

14 July 2019 (Climate emergency) Pope Francis Declares 'Climate Emergency' And Urges Action to avoid “a brutal act of injustice toward the poor and future generations.”

14 July 2019 (US 'social credit' system) Making loan decisions based on tracking people's online activity constitutes linking up the US "social credit" system. The injustice of this goes far beyond indirect race or gender bias.

14 July 2019 (Glenn Greenwald) Glenn Greenwald exposed the corrupt intentions behind the prosecution of Lula. Now he is receiving death threats and a threat from the state to deport him. Greenwald lives in Brazil and is married to an elected official.

14 July 2019 (Young adult books) The "young adult" book category is consuming itself with censorship demands. Many books have been withdrawn or cancelled in response to pressure campaigns accusing the authors of various sorts of "insensitivity" or "cultural appropriation". The critics demand authors portray every minority in a "sensitive" way. Is there anyone in the world that can do this? Any given human being belongs only to a few groups. An author will have to play safe by assigning every character to the groups perse belongs to. But this would trigger condemnation for a lack of diversity. It looks like young adult books will have to be written by committees that can provide sensitive treatment of many different intersections of minority groups. The publisher would apply for a sensitivity certification from the Sensitivity Authority, which might demand changes. Then it would direct readers to send their complaints to the SA if they think its evaluation standards ought to be changed. I have decided to oppose all campaigns that demand publishers withdraw a book, or a contribution to a book — regardless of what reasons are cited. Demanding censorship of books is in itself destructive. Even if the name presented on the book as author were "Donald Trump", I would not demand the publisher withdraw it.

14 July 2019 (Climate blindness) Climate blindness: Canadian west coast indigenous tribes are opposing a tar sands pipeline, but cite only its local dangers while ignoring its global danger. Meanwhile, not far away, Alaska has had record heat this spring and its permafrost is melting. To avoid disaster is getting harder and harder. The melting permafrost also poses a short-term local threat, but we should not be distracted by that.

14 July 2019 (Hong Kong surveillance) Hong Kong demonstrates how surveillance tech threatens democracy. It CAN happen here; indeed, it is already happening, just not to this extent. We, in countries that allow some space for public opinion, must demand an end to the systems that track people.

14 July 2019 (Charter school profits) Charter schools are very profitable, partly due to scamming the taxpayer. They use these profits to lobby against efforts to curb charter schools. I think we should eliminate charter schools entirely so that they won't have a lobby any more.

13 July 2019 (Do-dirty's death squads) The UN Human Rights Council will investigate Philippine president Do-dirty's death squads, which are accused of killing 27,000 people.

13 July 2019 (Measles vaccination) Measles has killed almost 2000 people in the DR Congo in the past 6 months, due to many who are unvaccinated.

13 July 2019 (Hong Kong) "The extradition bill might be ‘dead’ but in Hong Kong, we cannot afford to back down." The reluctance of China's chief agent to officially withdraw the bill has to inspire suspicion.

13 July 2019 (Greenpeace protesters on oil rig arrested) The Greenpeace protesters on an oil rig in the North Sea were arrested. The thugs make an exaggerated fuss about the danger (to a few volunteers) of holding a protest at sea. This is an excuse to ignore the big threat to safety: the oil well that that rig is going to drill. They should arrest the would-be mass murderers at BP.

13 July 2019 (US economic warfare) Juan Cole said that mines that damaged oil tankers could have been planted by Houthis. I don't think that the bullshitter or his allies would hesitate to make a false flag attack. If someone published a leak as evidence of this, they would only call that "fake news" and prosecute the leaker. However, Cole thinks it is possible the attack was done by Iran. Here's a writer who considers it a natural result to US economic warfare.

13 July 2019 (The GDPR) An AI booster claims that the GDPR is significantly limiting businesses' collection and use of personal data. The effects described in the article are beneficial for privacy, and maybe Europe is falling behind China in setting up totalitarian surveillance. But that is not to make people safe.

7 July 2019 (Glenn Greenwald) Glenn Greenwald published evidence that former judge Sérgio Moro corruptly targeted Lula. Now Moro in his new position as minister has ordered a criminal investigation of Greenwald. I would be surprised if Greenwald had really committed a serious crime. So I expect this is meant as intimidation or revenge.

7 July 2019 (The conman's tax returns) House Democrats have sued to demand copies of the conman's tax returns. I fear that the Republican-chosen Supreme Court will defend the other Republicans.

7 July 2019 (Eliminating patents on medicines) Eliminating patents on medicines would do a lot to make medicines cheaper in the US, but even the most progressive candidates are not talking about it. I have not seen how Baker proposes to do something similar to copyleft in the domain of patents. When I've looked at this, I found no way to do it. Basically, copyright law and patent law are so different that it is a mistake to try to generalize from one to the other. However, if he has a good idea, I hope I get to see it.

7 July 2019 (Defending Earth's climate) There isn't time left for a meek approach to defending the Earth's climate. I am in favor of the measures described, including establishing legal requirements to preserve natural ecosystems and the conditions they depend on. However, to say that they have legal rights is conceptually incoherent. Only a being capable of wanting and deciding can have rights, because exercising rights is a matter of wanting and deciding.

6 July 2019 (Urgent: Private prison tax breaks) US citizens: call on Congress to exclude private prisons from the REIT tax break. If you sign, please spread the word!

6 July 2019 (Fantasy terrorist) It looks like the FBI has caught another fantasy terrorist. The article does not say, but it sounds like he bought arms illegally that were offered to him under the auspices of the FBI. I can't be certain, but I suspect he would never have been a real threat without FBI help. In some such cases, state informants have spent months persuading the accused person to undertake the fantasy act of terrorism. Those people would not even have wanted to commit terrorism if not for the activities of state agents. These activities give the impression of protecting the public, but they don't really do that.

6 July 2019 (CIA chief) WSJ Says CIA Chief Wouldn't Do Anything 'Inappropriate' — Despite Record of Torture and Coverup. "Inappropriat