Notices by Richard Stallman (rms@mastodon.xyz)

[2/2] would feel like not linking to that article.

[1/2] https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/jan/12/note-to-no-10-one-speed-doesnt-fit-all-when-it-comes-to-online-safety

The UK's "internet safety" law makes operating a specialized noncontroversial nonsexual conversation forum dangerously unsafe. One site that supports hundreds of them is closing them all. The way the word "content" is used in that article, as if it were a kind of substance or commodity, fills me with disgust every time I see it. If the issue were not pressing, I

[2/2] magats seek to crush America's spirit of civil solidarity, and uses disasters as an opportunity. Here's an example. The muskrat seeks to drown out serious discussion of policy issues by screaming distraction so loud that most journalists won't disregard it. *[The fascist leaders] crave your attention. Don’t give it to them.* Denounce them once in a while for this, then go back to concentrating on the issues that really matter.

[1/2] https://stallman.org/glossary.html#magat
https://newrepublic.com/article/190034/transcript-trumps-ugly-eruptions-wildfires-hint-darker-story
https://www.politico.com/news/2025/01/08/trump-musk-california-democrats-wildfires-00197080
https://stallman.org/glossary.html#musk
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2025/jan/12/elon-musk-and-the-new-world-order-the-hijacking-of-the-global-conversation
https://stallman.org/glossary.html#trump
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/jan/10/musk-farage-trump-crave-attention-populist-trolling

The

[2/2] Hasina. Atrocities in her name are reported continuing until the very day she fled the country. For an official who makes important decisions to have a close relationship of any kind with an important foreign official is not necessary actual corruption, but the temptation it creates should be considered disqualifying as a conflict of interest. A close relationship of any kind with a decision-maker in a major company should likewise be disqualifying.

[1/2] https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2025/jan/14/who-is-tulip-siddiq-niece-of-deposed-bangladeshi-pm-who-quit-treasury-role
https://stallman.org/archives/2022-nov-feb.html#27_January_2023_(Leadership_protests,_Bangladesh)
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/jan/14/videos-reveal-new-incidents-of-deadly-brutality-by-bangladesh-police

Tulip Siddiq, the UK treasury minister, has resigned because of criticism that her aunt was until recently the president/dictator of Bangladesh, Sheikh

[5/5] of supporting the campaign without opening your computer to unjust (and potentially malicious) software.

[2/5] JavaScript in your browser or are using the LibreJS plug-in. I have done the next step for you: I added `?nowrapper=true' to the end of the campaign URL before posting it above. That should bring you to a page that starts with, "Letter campaigns will not work without javascript!" They indeed won't work without some manual help, but the following simple method seems adequate for many of them, including this one. To start, fill in the personal information answers in the box on the right

[3/5] side of the page. That's how you say who's sending the letter. Then click the "START WRITING" button. That will take you to a page that can't function without nonfree JavaScript code. (To ensure it doesn't function perversely _by running_ that nonfree code, you can enable LibreJS or disable JavaScript.) You can finish sending without that code By editing its URL in the browser's address bar, as follows: First, go to the end and insert `&nowrapper=true'. Then tell the browser to visit

[4/5] that URL. This should give you a version of the page that works without JavaScript. Edit the subject and body of your letter. Finally, click on the "SEND LETTER" button, and you're done. This method seems to work for letter campaigns that send the letters to a fixed list of recipients, the same recipients for every sender. Editing and revisiting the URL is the only additional step needed to bypass the nonfree JavaScript code. I'm sure you'll agree it is a small effort for the result

[1/5] https://actionnetwork.org/letters/meta-reinstate-fact-checking?nowrapper=true

Everyone: call on Meta to resume fact-checking, because facts are not decided by what more people think or whether one view's supporters can intimidate the other views' supporters. Here's how to make the actionnetwork.org letter campaign linked above work without running the site's nonfree JavaScript code. (See https://gnu.org/philosophy/javascript-trap.html.) First, make sure you have deactivated

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jan/12/california-wildfires-housing-price-gouging-scams

*LA officials warn of price gouging as those displaced by fire seek housing.* As fire losses gradually accelerate, they will gradually increase the national shortage of housing.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/jan/15/yoon-suk-yeol-arrest-south-korea-president-impeachment-police-presence-seoul

South Korea's impeached president was arrested, with a big operation that met with only desultory resistance. Perhaps his guards realized that their primary loyalty was owed to the country rather than to him.

https://prospect.org/politics/2025-01-10-opening-dncs-black-box/

The Democratic National Committee does not publish its list of members. It identifies some members but not others. Now the full list has been published with the help of leakers.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/abortion-ban-laws-linked-to-people-leaving-states-research/

The states that ban abortion tend to have harsh policies towards single mothers and their children. Per year, around 150,000 more households move out of these states than move in.

https://act.demandprogress.org/sign/net-neutrality-ruling-2025/?t=1005
https://stallman.orgtel:+12022243121

US citizens: call on Congress to choose the people over Big Telecom - to save Net Neutrality If you phone, please spread the word! Main Switchboard: +1-202-224-3121

https://stallman.org/glossary.html#global%20heating
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/jan/10/warmer-homes-healthier-people-low-carbon-future

Curbing global heating would make life healthier and more comfortable, as well as limiting climate disaster.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/jan/11/venezuela-edmundo-gonzalez-nicolas-maduro-presidential-election

*Venezuelan opposition candidate accuses Nicolás Maduro of coup.*

https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2025/jan/10/ethnically-targeted-violence-raging-sudan-darfur
https://stallman.org/archives/2007-jan-apr.html#17%20March%202007%20(Darfur%20massacres)

Reportedly Sudan has fallen into a race war, with lighter-skinned "Arabs" killing darker skinned "blacks" - though people may also be killed or spared based on specific ethnic groups.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/jan/11/inside-south-korea-president-residence-fortress

The impeached president of South Korea lives in a fortress guarded by his personal guard corps, who won't allow cops in. The parliament wonders how to arrest him. I suggest passing a law to cut off the salaries of his guards. Then they could allow only adequate but boring food in.