I am proposing this as a serious question. Please let me know if you have any serious suggestions.
Very unfortunately it appears that our thick as mince Home Secretary is censoring comments except on the shit article. I’ll be watching for suggestions there and elsewhere. dizzy@ …
ed: +-1
5/11/22 Looks like I’m going to get some help with this – which I am so grateful for. Please confirm
5/11/22 Disabling comments on this blog is an extreme measure affecting far more people than myself only. Freedom of expression and participation in the democratic process is denied to all those who wish to comment.
My website stats are also censored.
It is difficult to regard this as anything other than a deliberate stifling of political debate in opposition to the current government. It is in fact a silencing of all political debate since comments are permitted on the basis that they are relevent and do not include advertising only. The one or two comments that get through are generally critical of the left or me.
I remind civil servants e.g. GCHQ and MI5, that they should behave impartially.
23: 30ish ed: I request that you reassess restrictions applied to this blog that discusses political issues.
Produced by the director of “Don’t Look Up,” the ad assures viewers Chevron has “billions and billions of dollars to pay for this commercial time, this cheesy footage, and this bullshit music.”
Republished. Common Dreams‘ work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
Over images typical of fossil fuel company ads that have been accused of “greenwashing” their practices, a new viral video explains that oil giant Chevron is “actively murdering” people across the globe as it continues to extract fossil fuels despite warnings from climate and energy experts alike.
“We at Chevron believe there is nothing more precious than life,” the voiceover says over footage of a newborn baby and mother. “And the most precious life of all is the dead kind, that has been compressed for hundreds of millions of years under massive rocks until it magically becomes oil.”
The parody ad, which was released Thursday, goes on to show a wind power farm, a child’s birthday party, marine life, and a picturesque image of an oil rig at sunset as the narration explains that the oil it refines and sells as gasoline makes it possible for “a cool-ass tank” to “crush a clay hut” and an airplane to “take a businessman 3,000 miles to have dinner with someone, or whatever, all the while releasing greenhouse gases that are transforming the planet right this second.”
Watch:
While the images displayed continue to show an idealized image of families, pets, and nature, viewers are assured that “we at Chevron straight-up don’t give a single fuck about you, your weird children, or your stupid, ratty-ass dog.”
The company also has “billions and billions of dollars,” the narrator says, “to pay for this commercial time, this cheesy footage, and this bullshit music, all so you’ll be lulled into a catatonic state that makes you forget one singular fact: Chevron is actively murdering you every day.”
The fake ad was released weeks after the U.K.-based group InfluenceMap revealed that the five largest fossil fuel companies—Chevron, BP, ExxonMobil, Shell, and TotalEnergies—spend a cumulative $750 million per year on public relations campaigns to make the corporations seem committed to climate action, while spending just 12% of their capital expenditures on low-carbon activities.
The parody, which was produced by film director Adam McKay, amounted to a “surprisingly honest” advertisement for Chevron, said the Climate Ad Project.
“Normally I’m anti-fossil fuel advertising, but this one should be watched by everyone on the planet,” said Jamie Henn, director of Fossil Free Media, which supports the movement to end fossil fuels by pushing back against industry propaganda.
Along with the video, McKay, who directed the climate crisis-themed satire Don’t Look Up last year, posted several doctored images of news coverage of Hurricane Ian, which killed at least 21 people when it devastated parts of Florida this week.
The images showed news outlets labeling the storm Hurricane Chevron, Hurricane Exxon, and Hurricane Shell, referring to scientists’ warnings that the continued extraction of fossil fuel is intensifying extreme weather events.
Republished. Common Dreams‘ work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
Right-wing papers were wrong to claim climate activists on the Dartford Crossing delayed paramedics responding to a fatal crash, the ambulance service has said.
The Sun and the Daily Mail accused two Just Stop Oil protesters who shut down the Queen Elizabeth II Bridge for two days from Monday 17 October of preventing ambulances from quickly responding to an incident on the M20 in which two women died.
Both papers reported that disruption caused by the protest meant ambulances were delayed in arriving at the scene.
But that claim has now been rubbished by the South East Coast Ambulance Service.
Mayor of London Sadiq Khan – who is under-fire for he and his team’s estimated 360,000 airmiles – has told eco-conference delegates to ‘redouble their efforts’.
Mayor Khan, 52, talking at the C40 World Mayors Summit in Buenos Aires told the audience more needed to be done.
…
He went on to confuse delegates bizarrely claiming credit for the ousting of Liz Truss as PM.
He then paused for applause but was forced to shrug as only a handful of people clapped.
Mr Khan added: ‘I’ve heard the news that my political opponent, the Conservative Prime Minister of the UK, has resigned.
‘Had I know that organising this summit could lead to the resignation of the UK prime minister, I’d have organised this sooner.’
…
I can assure you that Sadiq Khan was NOT responsible for dispatching short-lived UK prime minister Liz Truss since I know who was responsible. I most definately do not make such a bizarre claim.
[It has been announced that UK prime minister Rishi Sunak will be attending the COP27 summit since this article was published.]
King Charles will host a reception for key COP27 figures at Buckingham Palace on Friday, [today] despite not attending the conference himself.
…
The reception will bring together over 200 international business leaders, decision makers and NGOs (non-governmental organisations) to mark the end of the United Kingdom’s presidency of COP26 and look ahead to the COP27 summit in Sharm el-Sheikh.
…
The reception has been organised to facilitate discussion of sustainable growth, progress made since COP26 in Glasgow and collective and continued efforts to tackle climate change.
The King has attended the UN climate conference for a number of years and delivered one of the keynote speeches at the opening ceremony for COP26 in Glasgow.
