US citizens: phone your senators to oppose the "EARN-IT" bill that would prohibit end-to-end encryption and require most online services to scan, for the government, all material they get from users.

That's what Congress is considering once again, after it was shelved for public opposition in 2020. Now they are trying to rush it.

I think this would require services to require users to run nonfree software in order to use them.

The bill is so extreme that if people communicate through an encrypted service, and then commit a crime, that would be grounds to prosecute the service. Why go off the deep end? I speculate that they figure to drop them (as a "compromise") while keeping the basic outrages.

I found a campaign to contact senators to oppose this bill, but I can't use it or recommend it, because it requires running nonfree Javascript code. Web sites and services should be usable with Javascript disabled.

Why not make an exception and run the nonfree software "for a good cause"? Because once you make that kind of exception, once you allow a pervasive injustice to become part of how you fight other injustices, you've effectively legitimized that one.

Those web sites could have been designed to function even with Javascript disabled, and they should be.

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!

(satire) *Missouri Now Requiring All Residents To Have License, Permit To Operate Doorbell.*

"Stand your ground" laws bring with them a roughly 10% increase in homicides.

They also enable racism. Any shooter can cite this law, but courts are more likely to approve it for white shooters, especially when they shoot blacks.

*"Don’t fool yourself": Billions more needed to protect tropical forests.*

*Dominion Was Never Going to Save Our Democracy From [Faux] News.* Squeezing money out of it was all it wanted.