https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/aug/17/top-album-releases-linked-to-rise-in-fatal-crashes-as-distracted-drivers-access-music

* Harvard study finds traffic fatalities increase by 15% on release dates [of major music albums] compared with similar days either side.*

[2/2] wrecker has decided to distance the US from South Korea and cozy up to Dictator Kim in North Korea. This is disappointing, of course, but not surprising. He often prefers dictators to democracies. He has tried to cozy up to Putin, Chairman Xi, Orbán, Crown Prince Bone Saw, and Modi.

[1/2] https://stallman.org/glossary.html#wrecker
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/aug/17/first-thing-trump-cuts-us-south-korea-military-drills-relationship-kim-jong-un
https://stallman.org/archives/2016-may-aug.html#26_June_2016_(Putin)
https://stallman.org/archives/2013-sep-dec.html#05_October_2013_(Xi_Jinping_stricter_and_nastier_tyrant_than_previous_one)
https://stallman.org/archives/2018-jul-oct.html#17_August_2018_(Hungarian_media)
https://stallman.org/archives/2021-mar-jun.html#4_March_2021_(Complaint_against_Prince_Bone_Saw)
https://stallman.org/archives/2014-may-aug.html#14_June_2014_(Indian_students_arrested)

The

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/aug/18/3m-knew-for-more-than-50-years-that-its-products-could-harm-humans-australian-government-alleges-in-court-documents

*3M knew for more than 50 years that its [firefighting] products could harm humans, Australian government alleges in court documents.* These products are made with PFAS.

https://powerthepolls.org

US citizens: sign up to be a poll worker for your city's election.

[2/2] congresscritter about this, the main switchboard is +1-202-224-3121. Please spread the word.

[1/2] https://actionnetwork.org/letters/tell-congress-tariff-refunds-belong-to-working-families?nowrapper=true
https://stallman.org/actionnetwork-letter-instructions.html

US citizens: call on your congresscritter and senators to direct tariff refunds to consumers who paid them. 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

[2/2] the threat of food shortages for many years. Sooner than you expect, every year will be at least this bad - unless we give the planet roasters a knock-out blow, so they can't stop us from preventing that disastrous future.

[1/2] https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/aug/17/european-farmers-unprecedented-crisis-successive-heatwaves
https://stallman.org/glossary.html#global%20heating
https://stallman.org/archives/2012-may-aug.html#29_July_2012_(Ozone_layer_endangered)
https://stallman.org/glossary.html#planet

The record hot summer has caused a disastrous crop failure in Europe. Both vegetables and grains are affected; in some crops, the loss is over 50%. Global heating is accelerating, and I've covered

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/aug/17/finland-halts-deportation-russian-family-opposed-ukraine-invasion

*Finland halts deportation of Russian family who "risked everything" to oppose Ukraine invasion.* What shocks me is that Finnish intelligence acted unaware of the reasons why the Belovs deserved protection. If it was truly ignorant, it was incompetent. If it disregarded the reasons, it was vicious. Which one was it?

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/aug/17/the-decent-way-for-countries-to-engage-with-the-taliban

A suggestion for countries that wish to negotiate with the Taliban: insist on sending a delegation composed of women, and insist that the Taliban do likewise.

[2/2] +1-202-224-3121. Please spread the word.

[1/2] https://actionnetwork.org/letters/rein-in-sec-deregulation?nowrapper=true
https://stallman.org/actionnetwork-letter-instructions.html

US citizens: call on your congresscritter and senators to oppose SEC deregulation. 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

[2/3] surveillance to specified places and time intervals. It is not enough to ban contracts with Flock. The issue is not limited to that one company. The issue is the danger of Orwellian surveillance and tracking, and the repression they make possible. As shown by recent deportation practices, we must not allow systems to operate which track the movements of people in general. When and where recognition cameras are authorized, they should not allow remote access to their records. Rather,

[1/3] https://actionnetwork.org/letters/ban-local-flock-contracts?nowrapper=true
https://stallman.org/actionnetwork-letter-instructions.html

US citizens: call on your state officials to limit Orwellian monitoring systems in order to protect everyone's freedom. Here is what I wrote: I urge you to pass legislation prohibiting governments and agencies in our state from setting up cameras that identify and record individual people or vehicles, except based on a warrant limited this

[3/3] someone should have to go to the camera itself to retrieve its list of identifications and date/times. For investigating a serious crime, we can afford that. For our safety, it should not be feasible to get each cameras records for every day, or every month. Please see https://gnu.org/philosophy/surveillance-vs-democracy.html. Sincerely, See the instructions for how to sign this letter campaign without running any nonfree JavaScript code--not trivial, but not hard.

https://stallman.org/glossary.html#trump
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2026/aug/15/trump-big-beautiful-bill-millionaires

The wrecker's tax big cuts were not just for billionaires. They also gave a handout to multimillionaires. As usual, at the expense of everyone else in the US.

https://stallman.org/glossary.html#trump
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/aug/14/trump-administration-investigate-progressive-groups

*[The persecutor]'s spying on leftwing groups recalls J Edgar Hoover’s Cointelpro.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/aug/13/asia-heatwave-south-korea-potatoes-boil-ground-record-heat-hong-kong-japan

*Potatoes "boil" in the ground as record heatwave sweeps across swathes of Asia.*

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2026/aug/15/westminster-council-threatens-charing-cross-soup-kitchen-with-closure

A Tory-run local council in London wants to shut down soup kitchens because the area around "is not safe".