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RSS site feed for the most recent political notes and new material.

This is the personal web site of Richard Stallman.
The views expressed here are my personal views, not those of the Free Software Foundation or the GNU Project.
For the sake of separation, this site has always been hosted elsewhere and managed separately.

If you want to send me GPG-encrypted mail, do not trust key servers! Some of them have phony keys under my name and email address, made by someone else as a trick. See gpg.html for my real key.

Don't watch TV coverage of Covid-19!

Our next rally for Julian Assange is Saturday, March 4 at 11:30 to 12:30pm. We will gather at Park St. Station on the Boston Common to speak out for Assange and gather signatures on our petition to our senators.
(See how the media failed Julian Assange at Harper's Magazine.)

Canadians: I suggest you seek election advice at a local chapter of a group that pushes to curb global heating and has the courage to say, "Canada should stop exporting fossil fuel." It will at least use the right goals to suggest who to vote for in your area.

Join a Friday climate strike.

That page is made by scraping Fridays for Future so you can get the information without running any Javascript code. I would be very glad if they made the information on their own site accessible from the Free World; then we could simply refer people to their site and do without the scraping etc.

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.

Please join the Free Software Foundation to support its work for your freedom.

"They" is plural — for singular antecedents, use singular gender-neutral pronouns.

Link Policy

The largest part of the site is the political notes, and they are typically updated every day.

Civil Liberties Minute:

[America Means Civil Liberties / Patriotism Means Protecting 
             Them / www.aclu.org/safefree ]
graphic by Susan Henson
Americans, you may wish to copy this icon to your own page, as a way of showing what patriotism means to you.

Upcoming talks

Urgent action items

Recording of Guantanamero

Listen to the recording of Guantanamero, a protest song written in Spanish. The recording is in Ogg Vorbis format. To install an Ogg Vorbis player, see the FSF's Ogg Players page.

There Ought to Be a Law

More items where there ought to be a law.

Quotes

Here are some quotations that I particularly like.

Most recent Political Notes and News Items

(RSS Feed)

Urgent: Appoint Kyrsten Sinema ambassador to Italy
1 April 2023

US citizens: call on Biden to appoint Kyrsten Sinema ambassador to Italy.

The proposal is ironic but I think it is seriously proposed.

Urgent: Automate marijuana pardon applications
1 April 2023

US citizens: call on Attorney General Garland to automate marijuana pardon applications.

Urgent: Reject plan to replace income tax with big sales tax
1 April 2023

US citizens: call on Congress to reject the Republican plan to replace income tax with a big sales tax.

The result of that change would be to tax wealthy people much less and tax poor people a lot more. This is what sales taxes always do; we should get rid of them. The Capitol Switchboard numbers are +1-202-224-3121, +1-888-818-6641 and +1-888-355-3588.

If you phone, please spread the word!

Fact-checks on Trump bad for Fox News
1 April 2023

*Angry Fox News chief said [in 2020 that] fact-checks of Trump’s election lies "bad for business."*

Murderer as aide to Rep. Gaetz
1 April 2023

Rep. Gaetz hired a convicted murderer as an aide. But not just any murder — that one murdered a prisoner of war in Afghanistan.

I expect that this was no coincidence — that Gaetz did this to demonstrate his support for political murder.

Tories' law to punish refugees
1 April 2023

The Tories' planned law to punish refugees will especially punish those who have been enslaved and trafficked.

Bullshitter indicted
1 April 2023

The bullshitter has been indicted for secret payments to Stormy Daniels.

I think that paying her, as such, was not a crime. I think the crime was using campaign funds for this personal purpose, but I wish that were made clear.

Robert Reich rebuts the ways the wrecker will claim that it was unfair to indict him.

Comparing the US and other democracies in regard to how they treat criminal accusations against former presidents.

Trump appointees weaken EPA assessment of PFAs
1 April 2023

*Trump appointees interfered to weaken EPA assessment of [a type of PFAS].*

Biden reversed the damage they had done, but they remain in positions of authority in the EPA.

Radical replacement of London thug department
1 April 2023

Calling for radical replacement of the London thug department.

Urgent: Climate Emergency
1 April 2023

US citizens: call on Biden to declare a climate emergency now. This would give him powers he could use effectively without Congress.

The White House comments lines are +1-202-456-1111 and (TTY/TDD) +1-202-456-6213.

If you phone, please spread the word!

Urgent: Neonicotinoids
1 April 2023

US citizens: call on Bayer to stop manufacturing neonicotinoids.

Urgent: Executive accountability
1 April 2023

US citizens: call on the Biden administration to hold Silicon Valley Bank executives accountable — to claw back some of their profits from its failure.

The White House comments lines are +1-202-456-1111 and (TTY/TDD) +1-202-456-6213.

If you phone, please spread the word!

Distinguishing misinformation, Finland
1 April 2023

Finland's schools systematically teach how to identify misinformation and ungrounded accusations of conspiracy.

I think this would be wise to adopt everywhere.

Data collection, principles
1 April 2023

TikTok's intense collection of data about each user is a threat to Americans and to US national security. As EPIC points out, TikTok is far from the only such.

The same is true for many other "social media" platforms, and school education programs, and other proprietary programs. If you can't modify the program to send whatever made-up data you want to send, instead of true facts about you, it is not safe to use.

The ADPPA bill that EPIC recommends would reduce the existing massive internet surveillance, but it starts with the usual mistake: systems can collect data that is "reasonably necessary and proportionate to provide or maintain a product or service". That is too lax and will fail to protect privacy.

My article, linked above, provides a key test. Does the rule prohibit systems that charge for parking which make every driver enter per car's license plate number? That practice is dangerous surveillance; any law that fails to prohibit it is too weak.

The ADPPA's stricter rule for children and teenagers should apply to everyone, but even that could be interpreted in a way that is too weak. We can be sure companies will press for the weak interpretation. This requirement must be bulletproof.

Restorative justice
1 April 2023

Will we open our eyes to the past and its implications, or drown them out by shouting?

*The campaign to "protect our [British] history," in other words, is about protecting the past from historians — and protecting the present from dangerous new ideas about how we got here. Because when an organisation like the Guardian researches its own historical links to transatlantic slavery — and then apologises and embarks on a substantial project of restorative justice — the newspaper is not primarily presenting a different past, but its ambition for a different present.*

The article linked to just above displays symbolic bigotry by capitalizing "black" but not "white". (To avoid endorsing bigotry, capitalize both words or neither one.) I denounce bigotry, and normally I will not link to articles that promote it. But I make exceptions for some articles that I consider particularly important, such as the one linked to above.

Wisconsin school district bans Miley Cyrus-Dolly Parton duet with ‘rainbow’ in title
31 March 2023

Right-wing fanatics in Wisconsin ordered a first-grade class not to sing the song Rainbow land.

The song's words advocate tolerance instead of hate in a very general way, but the word "rainbow" was more than the censors could stand for.

Opinion: The cruel twist that harms women in the military
31 March 2023

The Pentagon should include, in its planning for where to put military bases, the predictable extra cost of putting the base in a state which prohibits abortion.

I'd go further. I'd suggest a policy of actively restationing units and activities from abortion-restricting states to abortion-tolerant states, with a goal of moving moving nearly all to the latter in 10 years.

The CHIPS Act: What it means for the semiconductor ecosystem
31 March 2023

The CHIPS act is intended to discourage US semiconductor companies from outsourcing of chip manufacturing to hostile countries such as China. A look at the details of how it is supposed to achieve this shows the weakness and timidity of the US government in dealing with any sort of big business.

The US government hasn't got the gumption to prohibit US companies from doing things that put the nation in danger, or even to penalize them to discourage doing so. The best it can manage is to offer subsidies if they avoid those actions.

For this reason and many others, making America great again starts with slapping down the businesses that think they own it.

Here's the White House statement lauding the law.

What the Oil Companies Really Knew, Part 2
31 March 2023

Exxon scientists in the 1970s and 1980s presented executives with a fairly accurate projection of what global heating caused by fossil fuels might do to the world in a few decades. But they presented it as a possibility;

with all the gaps in the scientific knowledge of that time, they could not determine whether those things would really happen.

By around 2000, the science had resolved the uncertainty and fossil-fuel executives could not honestly deny the damage they were going to cause.

(satire) Prisoner Given 10 Extra Years For Good Behavior To Serve As Role Model For Fellow Inmates
31 March 2023

(satire) *Prisoner Given 10 Extra Years For Good Behavior To Serve As Role Model For Fellow Inmates.*


The four factors of the apocalypse:
   global heating, global hating,
   global eating, global mating.


[More Cartoons]


Not f'd. You won't find us on Facebook

Copy this button (courtesy of R.Siddharth) to express your rejection of Facebook.


Support the Green Party



Republican Election Rigging Tactics



Evoting



The Olympics



Why everyone has a reason to fear massive surveillance



Churchandstate.org.uk


E-books

Non-oppressive Commercial E-books


Don't use Facebook

Facebook's face recognition demonstrates a threat to everyone's privacy. I therefore ask people not to put photos of me on Facebook; you can do likewise.

Of course, Facebook is bad for many other reasons as well.


Boycott Harry Potter Books, Movies, etc.



Internet Music EULAS



Business Supremacy Treaties



Countries to Stay Away From



No national identity cards

I'd like to make a list of countries that do not require a national identity card, and have no plans to adopt one. If you live in or have confirmed knowledge of such a country, please send email to rms at gnu.org.

Here's my list of countries with no national ID cards and no plans for one: Australia, Canada, New Zealand, UK. Australia's previous government tried to institute national ID cards, but the Labor government dropped the plan.

India has mostly finished imposing a national biometric ID number in a grand act of oppression.

Switzerland has national ID cards which are optional, but they or some other government ID card are needed for some purposes.

Iceland doesn't have ID cards as such, but they have ID numbers that citizens are forced to use frequently. For example, the national ID number is often required to rent a video or use a gym.

Denmark issues non-photo ID cards with a "person number", and many services use this card to identify people.

Norway will impose a national biometric ID card.

Ireland - national ID card by stealth.

ACLU: the five dangers of national ID cards.

Wikipedia has a list of identity card policies by country.


Borders

Stay away from certain countries because of their bad immigration policies.


Flight connections

Avoid flight connections in these airports because of their treatment of passengers.


The Lifelong Activist

People often ask how I manage to continue devoting myself to progressive activism (such as the free software movement) for years without burning out. The best way I can answer is by recommending a book, The Lifelong Activist by Hillary Rettig.

I disagree with the book on one theoretical point in the last part of the book: we shouldn't think of political activism as being marketing and sales, because those terms refer to business, and politics is something much more important than mere business. However, this doesn't diminish the value of the book's practical advice about borrowing techniques from marketing and sales.

Disclosure: I am friends with the author.


Bob Chassell

Writing (mostly science fiction) by my friend Bob Chassell who recently died.


Solidarity Economy and Free Software

Personal Declaration of Richard Stallman and Euclides Mance on Solidarity Economy and Free Software.


Falkvinge articles

I have reposted some of Rick Falkvinge's articles. As posted on his site, you can't see them in a browser without running some nonfree Javascript code which is apparently non-free. These versions show the same text, without the obstacle.


Long-term action items


Political Articles

These are my political articles that are not related to the GNU operating system or free software. For GNU-related articles, see the GNU philosophy directory. You can also order copies of my book, Free Software, Free Society, 3rd edition', signed or not signed.

Political notes

"Those who profess to favor freedom, yet depreciate agitation, are men who want crops without plowing up the ground. They want rain without thunder and lightning. They want the ocean without the awful roar of its many waters. This struggle may be a moral one; or it may be a physical one; or it may be both moral and physical; but it must be a struggle. Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will."

Here are notes about various issues I care about, usually with links to more information. The current notes are here. For all previous notes, see this page.

See this page for information on efforts to maintain links in the political notes.

Political notes about the 2001 G8 summit in Genoa, Italy are being archived on their own page.

Media/Press/Bios

Richard Stallman's bio and publicity photos, and other things of interest to the press, have been moved to a separate page.

Travel experiences

Photos about my travels

Scientific Links


Some humor

The berry torture.

The Free Software Song, by Richard M. Stallman. You can listen to a performance of the song: Free Software Song performed by Thor Here is a variant of this song called "The Free Firmware Song".

A song parody, Colors of the Lisp, by Jefferson Carpenter.

Earth under attack from planet Koch.

On doxing, and how to spell it.

Futon Physics

A Spanish cartoon: La Ruleta Española. thumbnail

The Night before M-x-mas

Here I am wearing my "power tie".

Wine snobs get their comeuppance.

Here I am struggling to open a bottle of water.

My application to an join Marian Henley's ex-boyfriends list.

My funny poetry and song parodies.

My Cartoons

My Puns in English (Little Leaguer, August 2019).

My Puns in Spanish (New pun: Apostasía April 2019)

My Puns in French (New pun: Microsoft à l'école July 2019)

My Puns in Portuguese

My Puns in Italian (New pun: Quale pesce fa starnutire? New 10/2018)

My Puns in German (New 02/2016)

Linguistic Swifties (Now with: Wintu, Penutian, Cochiti, Taos, and Towa.)

I am a
     Saint In the Church Of Emacs --Saint IGNUcius-- The Church of Emacs will soon be officially listed by at least one person as his religion for census purposes.

There are no godfathers in the Church of Emacs, since there are no gods, but you can be someone's editorfather.

Stallman Does Dallas: "I have to warn you that Texans have been known to have an adverse reaction to my personality…"

The Dalai Lama today announced the official release of Yellow Hat GNU/Linux.

Pre-Zen Studies.

I found a funny song about the Mickey Mouse Copyright Act (officially the Sonny Bono Copyright Act) which extended copyright retroactively by 20 years on works made as early as the 1920s.

If you are a geek and read Spanish, you will love Raulito el Friki, who said "Hello, world!" immediately after he was born. Here's an archive of this now-defunct comic strip.

Sleeping with Stallman at MIT.

Un malentendido gracioso.

ESR's favorite programming language: Objectivist C.

American Extremists

My Small Mouth

The huns and the writs.

No Kludges in Cluj (June 2014)

Hammer into Anvil

Fiction

Made for You (December 2012) (local copy) Esperanto translation

A science fiction story: Jinnetic Engineering (in Portuguese, Farsi, Spanish, Armenian, Russian, French, and Italian).

The Right to Read

Books

My book of essays about the philosophy of Software Freedom, is available from the GNU Press.

Stallman on Love

Love and Dance

My Childhood Sweetheart

Made for You

My Former Personal Ad

Non-Political Articles

Am I Doctor Stallman?

Avec des chapeaux French song parody.

My radio program of Music from Georgia, originally broadcast on WUOG in Athens, Georgia on Oct 13, 2014.

Resolving the trolley problem

Quantum Theory and Abortion Rights

A proposal for gender neutrality in Spanish, suitable for both speech and writing.

Origin of the POSIX name.

On Hacking: In June 2000, while visiting Korea, I did a fun hack that clearly illustrates the original and true meaning of the word "hacker".

My Childhood Sweetheart

Love and Dance

Predicting the attack on Pearl Harbor

Certificate of confusion

Links

Thanks

I would like to thank:


Please send comments on these web pages to rms at gnu period org.

Copyright © 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023 Richard Stallman
Verbatim copying and redistribution of this entire page are permitted provided this notice is preserved.
Verbatim copying and redistribution of any of the photos in the photos subdirectory is permitted under the Creative Commons Noderivs license version 3.0 or later. You can copy and redistribute the photo of me playing music to the butterfly under the Creative Commons Noderivs Nocommercial license version 3.0 or later. Any other photos of me in this (the toplevel) directory may be copied and redistributed under the Creative Commons Noderivs license version 3.0