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Richard Stallman's Political Notes

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Inequality pervades the US "justice" system

mardi 8 avril 2014 à 14:00

Inequality pervades the US "justice" system — compare the rich man who avoided prison for molesting his children with the homeless woman who was jailed for leaving her kids in a car during a job interview.

Shell and Rio Tinto human right violations

mardi 8 avril 2014 à 14:00

Shell and Rio Tinto asked the UK government to help them defeat accusations of human rights violations.

USAID subversion

mardi 8 avril 2014 à 14:00

USAID subversion has targeted Venezuela and Bolivia, as well as Cuba.

Prosecuting Donald Rumsfeld

mardi 8 avril 2014 à 14:00

The case for prosecuting Donald Rumsfeld.

Using cocaine while pregnant

mardi 8 avril 2014 à 14:00

A woman in Mississippi no longer faces murder charges for using cocaine while pregnant — only 20 years in prison for manslaughter.

When a fetus does not develop into a human being, no existent human being has been hurt, except perhaps the parents who may be disappointed. It is absurd to punish this woman for possibly disappointing herself.

When, however, the fetus does become a human being, anything that was done to the fetus that results in a damaged human being is a real wrong to a real person. Pregnant women should not take drugs that might have this effect. (I don't know whether that woman's cocaine use was really likely to cause any harm — it might depend on when in pregnancy she used it.)

However, imprisoning women for this, even if it is for less than 20 years, is not a good way to discourage such practices.