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.
I travelled to London on Monday to protest with Just Stop Oil (JSO). It was supposed to be the last day of their month of October actions and so it was my last opportunity to participate and show solidarity with them. I didn’t know at the time that JSO activists had targeted MI5, Bank of England and News Corp that day. They then had a 32nd day of action on the first of November that targeted Downing Street. I had wanted to join them from the start of October but simply wasn’t able to for weeks because of commitments involving an elderly person needing support.
I arrived at about 11.30, half an hour later than JSO’s meeting time. I was very pleased to find them near the Department of Defence opposite Downing Street. I was worried that I might not find them and would be wasting hours wandering around London until I could catch my booked coach back.
There were about 35 of us from all over the UK. Ages were from late teens and I would say about 70% like me fifty or over, some able to be there because they were retired and still fit. There were about three wearing Christian dog-collars. I recognised one from an image of him used on this blog before.
A Just Stop Oil participant getting arrested at Kingsbury oil terminal. A JSO / Vladamir Morozov image.
I’m going to end this quickly because I’m suffering from a temporary health condition (Baker’s cysts) that causes a lot of pain. My reasoning is affected because of the pain and the painkillers that I’m taking.
JSO activists have no choice but to cause disruption. The climate crisis is a huge, real and immediate crisis.
JSO are very concerned with the safety of their participants. Marches are stewarded very well.
There is a choice to get arrested or not. JSO know the boundaries, how far they can push it until they are arrested. I was marching in the area around Parliament. Although there were arrests, those arrested were willing to be arrested.
Leafleting for JSO is challenging because you meet people who have a go at you.
JSO were not keen on letting me have the megaphone because they didn’t know me and didn’t know what I was going to say in the presence of many police officers.
There is a policy of getting out of the way of emergency vehicles despite what Mayor of London Sadiq Khan and others claim.
Just Stop Oil’s Phoebe Plummer who threw soup on Vincent van Gogh’s Sunflowers at the National Gallery in London. The painting is undamaged because it was behind glass.
The Green Party co-leader Carla Denyer calls on UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak to show real leadership saying
“Global leadership must begin at home and we need to see a clear commitment from this government to keep fossil fuels in the ground. This means ditching oil, coal and gas for good in favour of renewables and a nationwide programme of home insulation to cut both emissions and energy bills.
With the UN warning that there is no credible pathway to keeping temperatures within the 1.5C limit, this year’s COP negotiations are more important than ever. The UN says that only an urgent transformation of society and our economy can avoid disastrous climate impacts. We need the UK government to rise to this challenge, show global leadership and help create a more secure and sustainable society and economy at home and abroad.”
