US citizens: phone your congresscritter to oppose any federal bill to "get tough on crime."

I've seen an email that specifically mentioned the danger of laws that would offer additional funds for hiring cops, or punish local governments for prioritizing gentle and helpful ways of reducing crime, such as housing, violence prevention and jobs, rather than policing and incarceration.

You can mention those points in your phone call, if you wish.

I got this from a petition which I cannot sign or recommend, even though I agree with what it says, because signing requires running nonfree Javascript code.

The Capitol Switchboard numbers are 202-224-3121, 888-818-6641 and 888-355-3588.

US citizens: call on P&G's investors to vote Angela Braly and James McNerney out of the board.

Uber and Lyft are fighting with their drivers about how drivers can specify which kinds of rides they will take — and whether company control over this means the drivers are not independent contractors.

Meanwhile, the companies hope the public will vote to let the companies exploit the drivers. The customers are invited to assume that more exploitation must mean lower fares — but even if that were true, would it be just?

Sad to say, there is no motion in the direction of preserving customers' anonymity or respecting their software freedom.

How can you love any artistic work, if discovering an alleged or real bad aspect of its author makes you feel disgust for it?

*Taliban say Afghan women health service staff should go back to work.*

I'm sure they will still deny women the rights they deserve, but it may not be much worse than the previous government of Afghanistan.