Richard Stallman's Political Notes

Urgent: Block proposed autocratic grant rule

Thu, 06 Aug 2026 02:37:37 +0000

US citizens: call on Congress to block the proposed autocratic grant rule, protect scientific independence, and stop political appointees from turning federal funding into an ideological loyalty test.

US citizens: Join with this campaign to address this issue.

To phone your congresscritter about this, the main switchboard is +1-202-224-3121.

Please spread the word.

Urgent: Thank New York Times

Thu, 06 Aug 2026 02:37:37 +0000

US citizens: Thank the New York Times for Fighting Back against the magats' subpoenas against journalism.

Urgent: Keep DACA going

Thu, 06 Aug 2026 02:37:36 +0000

US citizens: call on Tell Congress: vote to keep DACA going so that people who grew up in the US can stay here.

See the instructions for how to sign this letter campaign without running any nonfree JavaScript code--not trivial, but not hard.

US citizens: Join with this campaign to address this issue.

To phone your congresscritter about this, the main switchboard is +1-202-224-3121.

Please spread the word.

Urgent: Release money appropriated by Congress for public transit

Thu, 06 Aug 2026 02:37:36 +0000

US citizens: call on the Dept of Transportation to release the billions of dollars already appropriated by Congress for public transit projects.

See the instructions for how to sign this letter campaign without running any nonfree JavaScript code--not trivial, but not hard.

Urgent: Media coverage of bully's Department of Injustice

Thu, 06 Aug 2026 02:37:36 +0000

US citizens: call on news media to cover the bully's Department of Injustice as a rule of law crisis.

Urgent: Call on Congress to end corrupter's tax breaks

Thu, 06 Aug 2026 02:37:36 +0000

US citizens: call on Congress to end the corrupter's tax breaks for millionaires, billionaires, and big corporations.

Take action.

Global heating effects in Europe

Tue, 04 Aug 2026 08:37:35 +0000

Global heating is making winters wetter and summers drier and hotter in Europe. In addition to wildfires, and early death of humans from their smoke, frequent severe droughts will cause agricultural failures.

The recent European heat wave is estimated to have killed 20,000 people. What should we call the people who want to kill tens of thousands for their profit?

Urgent: Stop healthcare heist

Tue, 04 Aug 2026 02:37:40 +0000

US citizens: call on your congresscritter and senators to stop the healthcare heist, reverse Medicaid cuts.

Take action at action network.

See the instructions for how to sign this letter campaign without running any nonfree JavaScript code--not trivial, but not hard.

European heat wave dried up rivers

Tue, 04 Aug 2026 02:37:40 +0000

The European heat wave and drought have dried up rivers, cutting off shipping of freight.

In addition, nuclear power plants are shutting down for lack of cooling water. They are too expensive to be economically feasible.

Most of the alleged fraud in US medical funding comes from corporations

Tue, 04 Aug 2026 02:37:39 +0000

An inspector general's report found that most of the alleged fraud in US government medical funding comes from corporations, not from the immigrants that magats try to blame.

Experts on immigrant rights and healthcare say the administration is using immigrants as a scapegoat for systemic fraud in the healthcare system that can be attributed to corporate greed, while shielding actual bad actors who profit from a broken system.

New York court where children face deportation

Tue, 04 Aug 2026 02:37:39 +0000

Inside the New York court where children face deportation without access to attorneys.

This implies an unfair trial. But then, it is not a real trial, and the judge is not a real judge.

LLMs are pushing certain people into delusion and psychosis

Tue, 04 Aug 2026 02:37:39 +0000

LLMs are just the thing to push certain people into delusions and psychosis.

I suspect that referring to them by the term "AI" facilitates this effect.

How do we protect children from addiction to [anti]social media

Tue, 04 Aug 2026 02:37:39 +0000

Robert Reich: How Do We Protect Children from Becoming Addicted to [Anti]Social Media?

I agree with several of the proposed methods, but not entirely with one of them -- to ban people under 16 years old from using antisocial media. That sounds simple and harmless, but the methods that can tell who is under 16 years old tend to identify people, and that is a danger in its own right.

I propose prohibing platforms from operating any recommendation engines or suggesting the use of any particular ones.

Taylor Swift Sues Ella Langley

Mon, 03 Aug 2026 02:39:45 +0000

(satire) *Taylor Swift Sues Ella Langley For Bangs Infringement.*

The serious point of this news parody is that the system of copyright, transformed by massive duplication technology into a system of oppressive extraction, inspires attempts to put legal monopolies on every aspect of human behavior.

Trump's grudge against Comey

Mon, 03 Aug 2026 02:39:44 +0000

The persecutor has a grudge against James Comey, so his ultraloyal servants go to great lengths of distortion to imagine in Comey's actions some sort of violent threats.

Send paramedics not police

Mon, 03 Aug 2026 02:39:43 +0000

*[New South Wales] to send paramedics not police to some mental health emergencies after multiple deaths.*

The people who advocated this in the US called it "defund the police". I was in favor of the change, but criticized that slogan for being offputting.

The hidden upward redistribution

Mon, 03 Aug 2026 02:39:43 +0000

Robert Reich: How big US businesses profiteer from the wrecker's war with Iran and his arbitrary tariffs. They are bad for Americans in general, but great for billionaires.

Americans die younger

Mon, 03 Aug 2026 02:39:42 +0000

Americans die younger on the average than Europeans -- looking at the causes of this.

Europe's fires causes

Mon, 03 Aug 2026 02:39:41 +0000

The main cause of Europe's record-breaking fires is global heating, due mainly to burning too much fossil fuel.

Scientists have identified a secondary cause: people's abandoning many of the old farms, which have since been overgrown by wild vegetation.

If [the saboteur in chief]'s war on the climate is not met with strong resistance, things will only get worse.

The EU could, if it insists, impose fuel use taxes on both ships and planes traveling between the EU and elsewhere. For ships, the goal would be to increase their efficiency. For planes, partly to discourage their use.

Minimum wage misconceptions

Mon, 03 Aug 2026 02:39:41 +0000

*Debunking the 7 most common minimum wage misconceptions.*

PISSI

Mon, 03 Aug 2026 02:39:41 +0000

Some sort of residue of PISSI is inspiring terrorist plots in various countries.

Industrial chicken farming consequences

Mon, 03 Aug 2026 02:39:39 +0000

*Industrial chicken farming accelerating spread of diarrhoea bacteria, study finds.*

Cars as surveillance systems

Mon, 03 Aug 2026 02:39:38 +0000

Congress is considering whether to change or cancel a requirement that all new cars surveil their drivers so as to block the car from starting if a Supposed Intelligence system judges the driver to be drunk.

The existing law does not require protecting the data thoroughly against other uses, so this system will surely act as surveillance.

Even worse, these systems can misjudge a driver who is terrified (and trying to flee a real danger) as drunk. False positives can happen randomly, too.

India's Cockroach protesters jailed

Mon, 03 Aug 2026 02:39:37 +0000

*India's youth-led Cockroach movement demands [jailed] protesters be released.*

Safety traded for warmer relations

Mon, 03 Aug 2026 02:39:36 +0000

*Activists under threat from Beijing are facing strange difficulties with UK immigration. Our safety must not be traded for warmer relations with China.*

Iranian prisoners hunger strike

Mon, 03 Aug 2026 02:39:35 +0000

Prisoners in Iran have launched a mass hunger strike against the large number of executions, and also about denial of medical care to prisoners.

Wildfires harm

Mon, 03 Aug 2026 02:39:34 +0000

The medical harm done by wildfires can last for years, perhaps for a whole (shortened) lifetime.

Anthony Fauci

Mon, 03 Aug 2026 02:39:33 +0000

Republicans have compelled Anthony Fauci to testify in Congress to respond to fabricated accusations.

Republicans had, and have, ulterior political motives to condemn US government officials in charge of public health measures. One motive is to cast Democrats' appointees as criminals. Another is to cancel those measures, which often involve regulations that limit the profits of big businesses.

Climate crimes prosecution

Mon, 03 Aug 2026 02:39:32 +0000

*It's time to prosecute climate crimes – with laws that already exist.*

Noise pollution

Mon, 03 Aug 2026 02:39:31 +0000

More road noise correlates with more Parkinson's disease. This does not prove that the higher level of road noise contributes to causing Parkinson's disease.

ICE healthcare violations

Mon, 03 Aug 2026 02:39:30 +0000

*Court-appointed investigator finds [biggest deportation prison in California] failed to comply with judge's order to provide adequate [medical care] [to the prisoners]*.

This prison is privatized. A private prison company can increase its profits by skimping on medical care; thus, using privatized prisons tends to increase the illnesses and deaths among prisoners. This is one of the reasons why privatized prisons should be prohibited.

Ebay executives harassed people

Mon, 03 Aug 2026 02:39:29 +0000

Some top executives of Ebay harassed people who published criticism of Ebay. The company had to pay 55 million dollars for this misconduct.

AI errors in military

Mon, 03 Aug 2026 02:39:29 +0000

Kevin T Baker explains how the pressure to automate and accelerate US military target selection (ultimately using a Possible Intelligence system called "Maven") has made it easier to make mistakes, and harder to notice and prevent a possible mistake.

The bombing of the Iranian girls' school was decided by that process.

Food companies easier to collapse

Mon, 03 Aug 2026 02:39:28 +0000

George Monbiot warns that the mergers of so many food companies have produced a business system that is susceptible to economic collapse. The collapse could be triggered by large shocks of various kinds, perhaps political or environmental, but the collapse would make the consequences far worse.

Nutrition food declining

Mon, 03 Aug 2026 02:39:28 +0000

Something is causing many agricultural plants to produce fewer nutrients (except perhaps for sugar and starch).

Ukraine warehouse strikes

Mon, 03 Aug 2026 02:39:27 +0000

Ukraine is bombing warehouses of the online store Wildberries, which contain mostly civilian merchandise, but also some military gear and drone parts. Destroying them ruins the small businesses that are selling throught that company.

Wildberries' involvement in military logistics justifies attacking it, but it would be better to direct Russians' ire at Putin, not at Ukraine.

I suggest that Ukraine declare a moratorium on attacking Wildberries warehouses, with a deadline for sellers of non-military products to retrieve their property from them, after which Ukraine would resume bombing them.

Fema disaster aid

Mon, 03 Aug 2026 02:39:26 +0000

*Two dozen states sue [the monster] for politicizing Fema disaster aid.*

Forced labor in the US

Mon, 03 Aug 2026 02:39:25 +0000

If the persecutor really cared about forced labor, he would look at the US – rather than slap more tariffs on the world.

Rivers in France drying up

Mon, 03 Aug 2026 02:39:24 +0000

Some rivers in France are drying up. Newly hatched salmon and trout need to get to the ocean, but there isn't enough water for them to make it. So humans are helping them.

India's Cockroach protest

Mon, 03 Aug 2026 02:39:23 +0000

India's Cockroach protest movement has won a concession from Modi.

The next question is whether it can organize to maintain its strength.

Global maritime war

Mon, 03 Aug 2026 02:39:23 +0000

Around the world, disputes about control over various areas of seas are drifting away from following long-established rules, and towards war.

Fires in Europe

Mon, 03 Aug 2026 02:39:23 +0000

Large fires in France and Spain are approaching major cities.

If we don't get serious about curbing global heating, it will reach a point where major cities are lost. Keeping up with global heating is a losing game -- the only way to triumph over it is to stop feeding it.

US surveillance pricing bans

Mon, 03 Aug 2026 02:39:22 +0000

Three US states have banned surveillance pricing. The latest is New Jersey.

Since I buy anonymously and pay cash, I can't be touched by surveillance pricing -- with one exception: airline tickets, which can't be anonymous. I wonder, will New Jersey's law apply to flights from Newark Airport?

Parthenon marbles

Mon, 03 Aug 2026 02:39:20 +0000

Arguing against returning to Greece the marble statues that were saved from the damaging environment of the Parthenon.

US chaos

Mon, 03 Aug 2026 02:39:20 +0000

* New tariffs, gas price rises, the deaths of thousands, insecurity … We’re living at the whim of one capricious, vain, easily bored man and his gang of stooges.*

I like to refer to him as "the corrupter" and "the persecutor", but what this article shows best is his other face, "the bullshitter".

Scheme to fuel corruption

Mon, 03 Aug 2026 02:39:19 +0000

Robert Reich: The corrupter's new scheme to fuel corruption in the stock market would bring in millions or billions to him and his family by giving preferential information to those who pay him.

Urgent: pass paid leave

Mon, 03 Aug 2026 02:39:18 +0000

US citizens: call on your congresscritter and senators to pass paid leave for working people.

Check this action.

See the instructions for how to sign this letter campaign without running any nonfree JavaScript code--not trivial, but not hard.

Urgent: thank the media

Mon, 03 Aug 2026 02:39:18 +0000

US citizens: Thank some of the major media for refusing to broadcast the blusterer's lies and threats.

Check this action.

Please spread the word.

Urgent: stop attack to press

Mon, 03 Aug 2026 02:39:16 +0000

US citizens: call on news media to cover the monster's subpoenas against reporters and their families as an attack on the first amendment, part of a campaign of attacks against journalism.

Check this action.

Please spread the word.

Urgent: protect free elections

Mon, 03 Aug 2026 02:39:08 +0000

US citizens: call on your senators to protect free elections by voting NO on the perversely named "SAVE America" Act.

Check this action.

See the instructions for how to sign this letter campaign without running any nonfree JavaScript code--not trivial, but not hard.