For current political commentary, see the daily political notes.
Antisocialists: people who advocate a laissez-faire, laissez-mourir state which refuses to help non-rich people, such as by providing medical care or education, or protect them by regulating how businesses treat them. Antisocialists call such programs "socialism".
Those people secondarily defend human rights, such as freedom of speech, and they like to call themselves "libertarians". However, polling them shows that a laissez-faire, laissez-mourir economy is their highest priority, and human rights come second for them. In effect, they try to use our support for human rights to manipulate us into advocating the laissez-mourir economy, by presenting that as a part of human rights.
Using the term "libertarian" for them emphasizes the secondary aspect of their views and paints them as champions of liberty. I choose to emphasize their primary focus by calling them "antisocialists." Let's all call them that.
The state's mission is enabling everyone to have a just, free and decent life, which includes both social programs and defense of human rights.
Bankster: gangster banker. I did not coin this term.
BIBO: BIBO stands for Bias In, Bias Out. This is common in systems that try to judge humans based on inputs which include social biases. Since the prejudices of society are not random, the system's output will reflect them. BIBO occurs in both AI systems and human systems.
Billionaire Polluters: the oil company BP.
Bogus Johnson: That name fits the British politician who in 2019 became prime minister, since he has long been known as a bullshitter, and became even more of a bullshitter recently.
The musk-rat:A billionaire, plutocratist; supporter of the bullshitter; rightwingnut who owns more than a few corporations; CEO of antisocial media platform eX-Twitter.
The bully: another way to refer to the troll.
The bullshitter: another way to refer to the troll.
Business-supremacy treaties: treaties designed to enable businesses to dominate the state. They transfer power from states (which can be more or less democratic) to businesses (which don't try or claim to represent the public). Their proponents call them "free trade" treaties because they want to eliminate necessary regulations as "obstacles to trade". See here for more.
Bush forces: Dubya hijacked the US military for a private war of aggression in Iraq, then tried to manipulate Americans into supporting his war in the name of patriotism and "supporting our troops."
To resist this manipulation, I referred (and still refer) to those hijacked troops as "the Bush forces". They were not "our troops" while privatized in this way. The soldiers may have joined up with the idea of serving their country, but what they were actually serving was Bush.
See also Putin forces.
The cheater: Donald Trump, also known as "the troll".
Climate mayhem: the collection of disastrous changes in climate that will result from global heating. The term "climate change" is to be avoided because it downplays the danger; Dubya's officials ordered US employees to use that term because "warming" might alarm them. Let's not follow their bad lead.
I did not coin this term.
Christianist: Associated with the political ideology that seeks to impose laws or policies on everyone, requiring people to act in accord with Christianity, or to discriminate in favor of Christian people over some or all non-Christian people. By analogy with "Islamist".
Conman: Donald Trump, also known as "the troll".
Corporations United: a more accurate name for the organization for corporations' rights that called itself "Citizens United."
The corrupter: Another name for the troll.
In custody: That is a way of saying "in jail" while denying what that implies for the person in question.
DeMentis: my humorous replacement name for Governor DeSantis of Florida, who in his quest for power distorts reality to make his followers effectively demented, while showing blatant contempt for truth, justice, and the American way. Rather than using his official name, I call him "DeMentis."
Dear Deported Loved Ones: family members that citizens will never see again, as they were sent to far-away countries of origin where they don't know anyone and have never lived as an adult.
Disprivileged Demographic Groups: Demographic groups that are typically or systematically treated worse than most people in the same society.
Disprivileged Groups: Groups of people that are typically or systematically treated worse than most people in the same society.
Dodge-assisting fund: Normally called "donor-advised funds", these financial schemes offer rich people a way to buy what they want, while dodging taxes on that money by labeling it as a donation to charity. We should abolish them.
dooH niboR: Robin Hood in reverse — the practice of taking from the non-rich in order to give to the rich.
Dontcare: The proposed Republican replacement for Obama's medical insurance law. Republicans don't care about the details, but they say, "don't give (medical) care."
Dubya: Second President Bush, who stole his first election in 2000 and his second in 2004. I did not coin this term.
Environmental Poisoning Agency: This is the new name for the EPA. It used to be the Environmental Protection Agency until the conman reversed its mission.
Ex-Twitter: Musk wants us to forget the name Twitter and refer to that site as "X". As a right-wing bullshitter and hate monger, he does not deserve to be catered to. We can mock Musk's demand with auto-negating semi-compliance by calling the site "ex-Twitter".
The "e" at the start of "ex-Twitter" should not be capitalized, except at the start of a sentence, because this "ex" is a kind of modifier, not a part of a name.
Extreme capitalism: Extreme capitalism is a system of capitalism in which rich adjust the laws to give them more and more of the wealth, leaving workers barely surviving (or dying).
Exxon (pronunciation): The name Exxon is properly written with four letters, e-exx-o-n. The letter exx is written like an "x" with an additional, parallel stroke running from lower left to upper right, and it is pronounced like Spanish "j" or Greek chi. When the letter exx is not available, we write that sound with "xx".
The name of the company is properly pronounced like "yexx" (the exclamation of disgust), minus the initial "y", with "on" added.
See for more details.
Faux News: officially "Fox News." I did not coin this term.
Global heating: a more accurate term than "global warming", which suggests something gentle and pleasant, or "climate change", which was imposed by Dubya's officials to support denialism.
Guber: My derogatory name for Uber, because it pays drivers peanuts. "Goobers" is another word for "peanuts".
Heatland Institute: the official name is the "Heartland Institute", but "Heatland" is more accurate for that planet-roaster organization.
Hyperextremist: Extremist even by comparison with most extremists.
For instance, while most Republican congresscritters are extremists, the 20 or so who threatened to wreck the US's credit status if they don't get their demands, thus doing something morally equivalent to terrorism, are extremist even by comparison with the rest. I call them "hyperextremists."
Hypoextremist: Extremist, though a little less so than most extremists.
All Republican now in the House of Representatives are extremists, but a fraction may be a little less rabidly so than the rest. Rather than exaggerate by calling them "moderate," I use the term "hypoextremist" for them.
I Sue Democratic States: ISDS, the provision in many business-supremacy treaties that allows foreign companies to sue the state in a phony court whenever laws interfere with their profits.
Some have criticized this term on the grounds that ISDS clauses are not explicitly limited to targeting democratic states. That is true — but in practice it tends to be democratic states that are targeted. That's because the kind of law that foreign corporations target that way is a kind that tends to be passed in response to popular demand. Most dictators rarely pass laws that would make foreign corporations treat the populace better.
Il Ducino: Silvio Berlusconi, corrupt right-wing ruler of Italy in the early 21st century. Berlusconi was an admirer of Mussolini ("Il Duce"), so for Berlusconi I used the same term with a diminutive added.
The infant: Donald Trump, also known as "the troll".
The Insurrectionist: Donald Trump, also known as "the troll".
Internet of Stings: short for "Internet of Stings, Snoops, Cheats and Telemarketers." Those trying to suck you into it call it the "Internet of Things".
Investors Subjugate Democratic Society: another name for I Sue Democratic States
Magat: A supporter of the corrupter's right-wing fanatical movement, which uses the label "MAGA", which supposedly means "make America great again". Their idea of greatness consists of being so powerful that it can bully vulnerable individuals and other countries.
If we want to make America truly great again, we need to restore the high taxes on the rich that made the US great before. In the 1960s, taxing the rich much more than nowadays, it built the interstate highway system, launched Medicare (socialist medicine for old people), and sent people to the Moon and back, even while fighting the Vietnam war. (Alas, that was misuse of strength in an unjust war based on lies.)
In the 21st century, America has continued to fight unjust wars based on lies (in Iraq, for example), but it no longer has the resources to do the necessary great things such as set up a national medical system, build massive public housing, convert all sectors to clean energy, and establish a system of full public funding for political campaigns.
Nightmayor: A mayor so bad cruel you wish perse were only a bad dream.
Numskull: Donald Trump, also known as "the troll".
Patriarchal murder: as suggested by Naz Shah we should drop the term "honor killing". I think "patriarchal murder" is a fitting replacement. Firstly, because these killings are usually murder — planned in advance. Secondly, because they come from a twisted patriarchal idea of "honor", which treats a woman as property.
perse: short for "person" and pronounced like "person" without the "on".
…phobia: moved to the anti-glossary.
PISSI: the Pseudo-Islamic State of Syria and Iraq. Calling it the "Islamic State" endorses their claim to represent Islam. That claim is dubious, since most Muslims say otherwise; endorsing its claim plays into its hands. Since it stands for a twisted and distorted version of Islam, it is really a pseudo-Islamic state.
Planet roasters: the people and groups that push for government policies that perpetuate global heating), usually for their own selfish interest such as financial gains.
Plutocratist: Politicians that work for and represent moneyed interests, whether individuals or corporations. In the US, nearly all Republicans support the rich on nearly all issues, except when the wrecker's supporters compel them to endorse his coup preparations. Most Democrats are plutocratists too, except when their voters pressure them really hard to adopt the popular progressive policies.
Plutocracy means rule by the rich. A plutocratist is someone who advocates or supports rule by the rich. In the US, non-progressive Democrats are in practical terms plutocratists, and Republicans used to be, but the wrecker has converted them into fascists.
Police officer: A person who works in a thug department but refuses to act like a thug: who not only refrains from physically attacking prisoners and innocent people or making false accusation against them, but also refuses to support false accusations made against them by thugs.
Prime Monster: My humorous distortion of "prime minister." The UK's last few prime ministers have been monsters.
President Do-dirty: the president of the Philippines, whose legal name is Duterte, but my name fits him better. He boasts of ordering thugs to kill thousands of people and even participating personally in the murders. The victims are supposedly drug dealers, but when they aren't, the death squads plant evidence to make them appear to be such.
Presidente Horrible: former president Álvaro Uribe of Colombia, who was associated with the country's worst gangsters/terrorists, the right-wing paramilitaries. In Spanish, "Horrible" sounds close enough to "Uribe" for "Álvaro Horrible" to be funny.
Putin forces: Putin hijacked the Russian military for a private war of aggression in Ukraine and hopes to manipulate Russians into supporting his war in the name of patriotism.
To resist this manipulation, I refer to those hijacked troops as "the Putin forces". Some of the soldiers — those who joined voluntarily — may have joined up with the idea of serving their country, but what they are actually serving is Putin.
See also Bush forces.
QAnonsense: The particular category of bullshit that makes up the QAnon conspiracy theory variants. One of the principal myth motifs used in QAnonsense is a repackaging of an antisemitic disinformation campaign started in 1902.
Repression forces: When a country's forces of control carry out repression, we should not help them cover that up by calling them "security forces". So in those cases I call them "repression forces". "Security" for the state against the people is not security for the country.
Ripper: Another name for Trump. Article explaining ripper.
Saboteur: The troll places in charge of each cabinet department a saboteur whose job is to make it do the opposite of its proper mission. For instance, there is the Saboteur of the Treasury, the Saboteur of the Interior, the Saboteur of Health and Human Services, the Saboteur of Energy, and the Saboteur of Education. The heads of individual agencies do not have the formal title of Saboteur, but they are informally addressed as Saboteur so-and-so.
Saboteur-in-chief: another name for Trump.
Salafi Arabia: Saudi Arabia's form of Islam, Salafism, is poisonously opposed to human rights. The Saudi monarchy actively funds the spread of Salafism everywhere there are Muslims. To call attention to this, I refer to the country as Salafi Arabia.
Salivation Army: An organization of dogs that ring bells and recruit other dogs to respond to ringing. It was founded by Pavlov's dog.
Salivini: My name for Italian quasi-fascist Matteo Salvini, who salivated over opportunities to display barbaric cruelty towards the weak and call it "strength".
SCROTUS: S… Congressional Republicans Of The United States. I find the "…OTUS" abbreviations for public officials' offices abominable. I use "SCROTUS" to criticize those terms as well as the Republicans in Congress.
I've used the acronym "SCROTUS" with the following meanings.
SCROTUS (1): Sleazy Congressional Republicans Of The United States. Remember when the worst thing about Republican officials was that they were corrupt and favored the rich, and rigged elections behind the scenes?
SCROTUS (2): Scoundrelly Congressional Republicans Of The United States. This refers to Republican officials that show contempt for the idea of truth.
SCROTUS (3): Seditious Congressional Republicans Of The United States. This refers to Republican officials that advocate fascism: they support overthrowing democracy or discarding the US Constitution.
Stumblr: Formerly known as Tumblr before its ham-handed imposition of censorship of everything sexy.
Sweatshop service economy: Expresses the nature of such work more clearly than "gig economy".
This Treaty Is Plutocratic: the TTIP (a business-supremacy treaty).
Testilying: Making false accusations against citizens which is standard practice for thugs, which is why some of them coined the term "testilying" to describe what they do in court.
Thugs: the armed, usually uniformed marauders that attack protesters and blacks, and make false accusations against them.
Usually only a few thugs commit the physical violence, but when one thug makes a false accusation, the rest lie to support it. That's why they deserve the term "thugs" as a group. They are so habituated to perjury that they have their own word for it: "testilying".
A few members of thug departments are upright and refuse to support the others' lies. They are the honorable exceptions, and I express my respect for them by calling them "police officers".
Tony B'liar: Tony Blair, the prime minister of the UK who joined with Dubya in starting a war with Iraq based on lies. British protesters coined this term, and I picked it up because I love it.
Treacherous Plutocratic Poison: the TPP (a business-supremacy treaty).
The troll: Donald Trump. He gets off on seeing everyone use his name, so we can deny him satisfaction by not using it.
Trumpery: statements that are phony or deceptive, such as Donald Trump would typically say. I did not coin this word — it has existed for centuries, waiting for a politician whose name and actions match it.
Theater of Security Agency: the TSA. It is not very effective at real security, but it puts on a good show.
Laissez-faire, laissez-mourir capitalism: Laissez-faire, laissez-mourir capitalism is a social system in which anyone who doesn't make enough money to pay for the requisites of survival is told, "Die, then."
This philosophy is promoted by the rich, to justify an economic system of extreme capitalism, in which the rich adjust the laws to give them more and more of the wealth, leaving workers barely surviving (or dying).
Unkinder Morgan pipeline: The pipeline for exporting tar sands oil that Kinder Morgan was trying to build from Alberta to Vancouver. When activists made that impossible, Trudeau paid billions of Canada's money to buy the dead project, aiming to force it through.
Useds of Facebook: People may think they use Facebook, but really Facebook uses them. So I call them "useds" of Facebook.
The war-lover: Another name for the troll.
The wrecker: Another name for the troll. I am thinking of the wreckers that used to build bonfires somewhat inland of the shore, so as to lure ships onto rocks and then pillage them.
Xi-ple: The Chinese variant of Sheeple (people that can be led like sheep). The X in Xi sounds somewhat like sh in English. (In fact, it is very similar to the consonant in German "ich".)
zucker: someone who is used by Facebook. Don't be a zucker!
Copyright (c) 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2022 Richard Stallman
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