The People's Record

An ongoing chronicle of communities of resistance around the world: anti-racism, anti-zionism, anti-imperialism, the Arab Spring, anti-austerity protests in Greece and across Europe, student movements all around the world, the Occupy Movement, anti-capitalist movements, anarchist movements, socialist movements, leftist communities and other relevant international news.

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Daily Kos: The traditional media’s shoddy reporting on the Keystone XL pipeline is no surprise
April 21, 2013

It’s no secret that the traditional media have done a horrendous job on climate change, ignoring it or misreporting it, even in the face of an overwhelming scientific consensus, and even as the real world impacts continue and accelerate. In 2012, coverage of climate change dropped to a four year low on the Sunday talk shows, with not one person quoted being an actual scientist. Of course, when the science is so convincing, it’s difficult for the traditional media to play their usual game of creating false debates where there aren’t any real ones. On broadcast television, overall, coverage of climate change has plummeted, while newspaper coverage was no better, with climate deniers receiving more attention in the United States and the United Kingdom than in other countries, regardless of the ideological leanings of the specific papers. Which is to be expected, particularly given that the climate change deniers are so well-funded.

So, with President Obama soon to make a decision on the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline, it is no surprise to learn that the traditional media once again are living up to their horrendous standards. Media Matters has the story:

Television outlets overlooked the threat of Keystone XL to the sensitive ecosystems along the pipeline route, mentioning the risk of a spill in just 20 percent of coverage since Election Day, November 6, 2012. Meanwhile, 43 percent of television coverage promoted the jobs benefits of the pipeline, and 27 percent incorrectly suggested it would reduce our dependence on Middle East oil.

And making it even worse is that the supposed jobs benefits themselves are wildly overstated. As I wrote last month, regarding the State Department’s shamefully dishonest Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement on the pipeline:

The earlier Environmental Impact Statement estimated no more than 500 to 900 local jobs would be created throughout the entire construction throughout the entire region, and the new SEIS estimates no more than a few dozen permanent jobs, once the pipeline has been built. A 2011 study by the Cornell Global Labor Institute found that Keystone may actually destroy more jobs than it creates, and of course neither the fossil fuels industries, nor apparently the State Department that outsourced the SEIS to the fossil fuels industry, seems to care that the pipeline will damage the economy, overall.

So, of course the traditional media coverage would focus their coverage on what the dishonest supporters of Keystone want them to focus on, despite of its dishonesty. And as the Media Matters report explains, even though a tar sands pipeline recently ruptured in Arkansas, dumping thousands of gallons of oil into a residential neighborhood and wilderness area, the media coverage of Keystone did not then increase its discussion of spill risks, and the coverage by ABC, CBS and Fox didn’t even bother to mention that Keystone would carry the same type of heavy crude. And of course, both Murdoch-owned Fox and the Wall Street Journal minimized the pipeline’s climate impact, hardly ever mentioning it, and at times flat out dismissing it. On Fox, 76 percent of those quoted support the pipeline, and only 13 percent oppose it, and not one of the politicians quoted or hosted by Fox— only one of whom, other than the president, is a Democrat—opposed it.

As for the overall reporting on Keystone’s impact on climate change? Media Matters:

Scientists accounted for less than 1 percent of those hosted or quoted by TV outlets and less than 4 percent of those quoted by the major papers. CNN was the only television outlet to quote a scientist about the pipeline, and it was Patrick Michaels — a prominent climate contrarian who receives funding from the oil industry. The Los Angeles Times, USA Today and the Wall Street Journal did not quote a single scientist.

That might just be because so many prominent climate scientists oppose the pipeline, including John Abraham, David Archer, Jason Box, Ken Caldeira, James Hansen, John Harte, Ralph Keeling, Michael MacCracken, Michael Mann, James McCarthy, Michael Oppenheimer, Mauri Pelto, Raymond Pierrehumbert, Alan Robock, Terry Root, Ted Scambos, Richard Somerville and George Woodwell. As usual, the problem with traditional media coverage of anything related to climate change is that science is subjugated to the false political narrative that creates debates and controversies where there aren’t any.

If the traditional media were professional and honorable, they would research and report facts, as accurately as possible. On questions of science, they would talk to scientists. When talking to scientists, they would not give equal or even more time to those whose opinions are in a teeny tiny minority. But on climate issues, the traditional media are not professional and honorable, they almost never talk to scientists, and when they do talk to scientists they give wildly disproportionate coverage to the opinions of those who are so marginal and discredited as to be no better than flat-Earthers.

Appropriately and with great timing, this year’s Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting went not to any traditional media outlet, but to the online site InsideClimate News, “for their rigorous reports on flawed regulation of the nation’s oil pipelines, focusing on potential ecological dangers posed by diluted bitumen (or ‘dilbit’), a controversial form of oil.” InsideClimate has an entire page dedicated to Keystone, tar sands, and oil sands. The information is plentiful, even if the traditional media choose to ignore or distort it.

What should be good news is that the decision on Keystone lies in the hands of one man, and he is smart enough and diligent enough to be able to learn and act on the facts. It is up to him. There are no excuses. He can and must do the right thing, even when so many of the usual won’t.

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captainkiryu: peacewillfindyou: thank you. too bad we waste tax money on dipshits who dropped out of high school instead of putting into education -_- Yeah, that’s the problem. We spend too much money on poor people, those scum in our society who are personally, psychologically, emotionally, financially & socially distressed, and we just give EVERYTHING away to people whose personal conditions are so terrible that they give up any chance of earning a living wage (or at least one that doesn’t involve breaking or selling their own body) all so that those greedy bastards can live a life of poverty & incarceration and be subjected to dehumanizing comments like yours. Our problems definitely aren’t because we spend too much money creating “criminals” with policiies that systemically target people of color and our problems definitely aren’t because the U.S. spends more money on their imperial wars of terror than the whole rest of the world combined spends on their militaries: see infographs here. And our problems certainly aren’t created by a system in which corporations have more freedom & power in our democracy than ordinary citizens and happily use that power to line their own pockets & leave everyone else dis-empowered with scraps to fight over. Nope - it’s the fault of “dipshits” who drop out of school. The nerve of those people, being poor & feeling inadequate!  Jerk.

captainkiryu:

peacewillfindyou:

thank you.

too bad we waste tax money on dipshits who dropped out of high school instead of putting into education

-_- Yeah, that’s the problem.

We spend too much money on poor people, those scum in our society who are personally, psychologically, emotionally, financially & socially distressed, and we just give EVERYTHING away to people whose personal conditions are so terrible that they give up any chance of earning a living wage (or at least one that doesn’t involve breaking or selling their own body) all so that those greedy bastards can live a life of poverty & incarceration and be subjected to dehumanizing comments like yours.

Our problems definitely aren’t because we spend too much money creating “criminals” with policiies that systemically target people of color and our problems definitely aren’t because the U.S. spends more money on their imperial wars of terror than the whole rest of the world combined spends on their militaries: see infographs here.

And our problems certainly aren’t created by a system in which corporations have more freedom & power in our democracy than ordinary citizens and happily use that power to line their own pockets & leave everyone else dis-empowered with scraps to fight over.

Nope - it’s the fault of “dipshits” who drop out of school. The nerve of those people, being poor & feeling inadequate! 

Jerk.

(Source: thepeoplesrecord)

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April 3, 2013 

From Adbusters (who published the initial call to Occupy Wall Street along similar lines to this, which ended up igniting a sprawling protest movement that spawned scaled-up political consciousness & protest culture. Let’s hope this can catch on!):

Hey all you wild spirits out there,

Here is how the Global Spring begins:

A few lone wolves among us start pasting posters in and around Goldman Sachs HQ at 200 West Street, Manhattan, New York. Groups of two or three turn up and hand out leaflets at their branch office at Maria de Molina 6-5a, Madrid, Spain. People start gathering and having fun outside Goldman’s offices in 50 cities…

Then … on Thursday May 23, when Goldman Sachs holds its annual shareholders meeting at 222 South Main Street, Salt Lake City, Utah, 500 people turn up and solidarity games are held across the world. It gets serious when thousands start playing on September 17 in front of Goldman’s branches in Los Angeles, Toronto, Moscow, London, Buenos Aires, Melbourne, Beijing, Mexico City. The media picks up on this fledgling global revolt…

And, one fine day, the whole thing suddenly catches fire … #GOLDMAN becomes a rallying cry for people everywhere to rise up against the financial fraudsters who have been fucking around with our lives for far too long.

When the moment is ripe, all it takes is a spark.

for the wild, Kono Matsu / kono@adbusters.org Culture Jammers HQ

P.S. Find teammates and Goldman Sachs locations at meetup.com/goldman

Catch up on the gameplay thus far, here.

—

Printable flyers available in many languages on the adbusters site. It seems to be down right now, hopefully due to excessive traffic and not due to problematic government agencies. In the mean time, don’t let that stop the spreading of this idea, reblog now!

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I’ve posted most of this list before, but I’m happy to share it again, with a few additions. A list of good leftist/politically-conscious blogs on Tumblr… Almost exclusively news & conscious politics: http://fuckyeahmarxismleninism.tumblr.com http://socialistorganizer.tumblr.com/ http://the-uncensored-she.tumblr.com/ http://anarcho-queer.tumblr.com/ http://sans-nuage.tumblr.com/ http://sinidentidades.tumblr.com/ http://disciplesofmalcom.tumblr.com http://canadian-communist.tumblr.com/ http://randomactsofchaos.tumblr.com/ http://amodernmanifesto.tumblr.com/ http://rebeltranscripts.tumblr.com/ http://socialismartnature.tumblr.com/ http://leftskewed.tumblr.com/ http://cognitivedissonance.tumblr.com http://anarchistpeopleofcolor.tumblr.com http://dentonsocialists.tumblr.com  Blend of political & personal: http://nitanahkohe.tumblr.com/ http://socialistexan.tumblr.com http://youngbadmanbrown.tumblr.com/ http://blackraincloud.tumblr.com/ http://crookedthinking95.tumblr.com http://tranqualizer.tumblr.com/ http://afellowmartian.tumblr.com/ http://pragnacious.tumblr.com Movement/fraction/specific-activism focused: http://democracyatwork.tumblr.com/ http://oppression-and-feminism.tumblr.com/ http://justice4janitors.tumblr.com/ http://chileanstudentmovement.tumblr.com/ (inactive for a few months now) http://wearethe1in3.tumblr.com/  (inactive for quite a bit but could still use submissions & is generally a good idea) — — — I know this could be infinitely longer. I know I left some good ones (that I probably follow & read and others that I don’t) out. This would be a great starting point though if you’re new to tumblr and/or socially-conscious news & politics and want some great blogs to follow to stay informed & learn. These blogs make tumblr a better place. <3 And if I forgot you, I’m sorry. Please add other great blogs in the same vein as these when you reblog. :D

I’ve posted most of this list before, but I’m happy to share it again, with a few additions.

A list of good leftist/politically-conscious blogs on Tumblr…

Almost exclusively news & conscious politics:

 Blend of political & personal:

Movement/fraction/specific-activism focused:

— — —

I know this could be infinitely longer. I know I left some good ones (that I probably follow & read and others that I don’t) out.

This would be a great starting point though if you’re new to tumblr and/or socially-conscious news & politics and want some great blogs to follow to stay informed & learn. These blogs make tumblr a better place. <3

And if I forgot you, I’m sorry. Please add other great blogs in the same vein as these when you reblog. :D

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I&#8217;m not exactly sure, but I’ll do my best to offer a starting place.  I really don&#8217;t claim to be an expert so if I&#8217;m listing these areas and readers out there are like &#8216;WHAT?! I KNOW SOME GREAT BLOGS ABOUT THAT?!&#8217; just reblog and list them and I will be really appreciative. But in terms of news, I think domestic politics in pretty much all Western countries, and large segments of the Middle East are pretty well documented on Tumblr (and often on this blog). We (The People’s Record) don’t do a near complete enough job covering internal domestic politics in Central America, South America, East &amp; South-East Asia, or Africa. We also don’t do a good enough job covering indigenous issues, throughout the world and particularly in the above mentioned places. In terms of analysis, I personally see a lack in/would like to see more blogs or even get some people writing columns for The People’s Record that: Compare &amp; discuss the differences between various tendencies in revolutionary politics: Trotskyists vs Maoists vs anarcho-syndicalists, etc. Something fair minded and critical of all the tendencies (since none has technically liberated us from capitalism or imperialism or ended colonialism yet). But I think a thoughtful blog or column about that would be really helpful, I’ve been thinking about writing one myself but I’m concerned I would start and then not finish, lol. It would be cool to see a blog just dedicated to co-ops, cooperatively run economies, anarcho-syndicalism and democratic workplaces International news blogs and/or a column representing/covering perspectives of international happenings from non-Western points-of-view. Like, what’s being said about India in the Chilean media, or how is the first female president of South Korea being received across the South-African blogosphere, for instance.  I’d like to see a blog and/or column focused on ‘what capitalism does’ to various aspects of society: like medical care, law enforcement, Lastly, something that dares to speculate/discuss/inspire-discussions about the particular forms a new world might take, how we might alternatively structure society, what could it look like – would we want to get rid of all the concrete as the anarchist chant goes: ‘Whose streets? No streets. Tear down the concrete.’ How would that work? Would we try and build large-scale rails for transportation? How might new technologies be utilized to make a new world more possible, (a tech focused/leftist/radical/revolutionary blog might be really cool) etc? Add your own to the list, Tumblr. And if anyone wants to write about any of this (or anything along these lines) for The People’s Record in a regular column or even just post about this stuff regularly for us to reblog, send us an email: thepeoplesrec@gmail.com If we haven’t gotten back to you yet, that’s because we are terrible slackers and not because we don’t want to work with you. We will be catching up on those messages shortly. We’re trying to compile a list so that we can transition into a larger team in the most efficient way possible. 

I’m not exactly sure, but I’ll do my best to offer a starting place. 

I really don’t claim to be an expert so if I’m listing these areas and readers out there are like ‘WHAT?! I KNOW SOME GREAT BLOGS ABOUT THAT?!’ just reblog and list them and I will be really appreciative.

  1. But in terms of news, I think domestic politics in pretty much all Western countries, and large segments of the Middle East are pretty well documented on Tumblr (and often on this blog). We (The People’s Record) don’t do a near complete enough job covering internal domestic politics in Central America, South America, East & South-East Asia, or Africa.
  2. We also don’t do a good enough job covering indigenous issues, throughout the world and particularly in the above mentioned places.
  3. In terms of analysis, I personally see a lack in/would like to see more blogs or even get some people writing columns for The People’s Record that:
  4. Compare & discuss the differences between various tendencies in revolutionary politics: Trotskyists vs Maoists vs anarcho-syndicalists, etc. Something fair minded and critical of all the tendencies (since none has technically liberated us from capitalism or imperialism or ended colonialism yet). But I think a thoughtful blog or column about that would be really helpful, I’ve been thinking about writing one myself but I’m concerned I would start and then not finish, lol.
  5. It would be cool to see a blog just dedicated to co-ops, cooperatively run economies, anarcho-syndicalism and democratic workplaces
  6. International news blogs and/or a column representing/covering perspectives of international happenings from non-Western points-of-view. Like, what’s being said about India in the Chilean media, or how is the first female president of South Korea being received across the South-African blogosphere, for instance.
  7.  I’d like to see a blog and/or column focused on ‘what capitalism does’ to various aspects of society: like medical care, law enforcement,
  8. Lastly, something that dares to speculate/discuss/inspire-discussions about the particular forms a new world might take, how we might alternatively structure society, what could it look like – would we want to get rid of all the concrete as the anarchist chant goes: ‘Whose streets? No streets. Tear down the concrete.’ How would that work? Would we try and build large-scale rails for transportation? How might new technologies be utilized to make a new world more possible, (a tech focused/leftist/radical/revolutionary blog might be really cool) etc?

Add your own to the list, Tumblr. And if anyone wants to write about any of this (or anything along these lines) for The People’s Record in a regular column or even just post about this stuff regularly for us to reblog, send us an email: thepeoplesrec@gmail.com

If we haven’t gotten back to you yet, that’s because we are terrible slackers and not because we don’t want to work with you. We will be catching up on those messages shortly. We’re trying to compile a list so that we can transition into a larger team in the most efficient way possible. 

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President Obama’s recent signing of cyber security executive order seems to be a response to Anonymous, not China
February 25, 2013

Last Tuesday, President Obama signed a new executive order seeking to give the executive branch more power over curbing cyber-security threats, calling it a move to protect against “America’s enemies.”

Although many news outlets are running with stories claiming the new plan was a response to hacking from China, it would appear, at least, that it was also a response to recent hacks to government websites by hacktivist group Anonymous.

At the time of this publication, two government sites, ussc.gov and miep.uscourts.gov, are met with “502 Bad Gateway” errors and cannot be accessed.

Anonymous also successfully hacked the Federal Reserve website.

The hacks are part of “Operation Last Resort,” a response to the death of “Internet freedom” activist Aaron Swartz and a demand for judicial reform. Swartz’s family and friends believe his suicide came as a result of legal pressure that did not fit his crime of downloading academic articles he had legal access to.

It appears Anonymous has not been fazed by Pres. Obama’s new cyber-security executive order.

Shortly after signing, Anonymous successfully hacked Goldman Sachs, leaking sensitive information such as names, addresses and bank account information.

Then, again, last week, the State Department’s website was successfully taken offline. In a Tweet, Anonymous asserted the attack was part of the ongoing Operation Last Resort.

The president is urging Congress to take legislative steps to put restrictions on the Internet, something Aaron Swartz was a champion at preventing.

His organization Demand Progress significantly aided in stopping last year’s SOPA, PIPA and CISPA bills many felt would spell the end to online privacy and Internet freedom. It seems that Anonymous is continuing the fight through the operation dedicated to him.

Emilie Rensink writes about civil liberties, counter-terrorism, cyber-security and political activism. Subscribe to get her articles delivered to your inbox.

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A FEW AMAZING BLOGS&#8230; Almost exclusively news &amp; conscious politics: http://fuckyeahmarxismleninism.tumblr.com http://socialistorganizer.tumblr.com/ http://the-uncensored-she.tumblr.com/ http://anarcho-queer.tumblr.com/ http://sans-nuage.tumblr.com/ http://sinidentidades.tumblr.com/ http://canadian-communist.tumblr.com/ http://randomactsofchaos.tumblr.com/ http://rebeltranscripts.tumblr.com/ http://socialismartnature.tumblr.com/ http://leftskewed.tumblr.com/  Blend of political &amp; personal: http://nitanahkohe.tumblr.com/ http://youngbadmanbrown.tumblr.com/ http://blackraincloud.tumblr.com/ http://tranqualizer.tumblr.com/ http://afellowmartian.tumblr.com/ http://share.biyuti.com/  Movement/specific-activism focused: http://democracyatwork.tumblr.com/ http://oppression-and-feminism.tumblr.com/ http://justice4janitors.tumblr.com/ http://chileanstudentmovement.tumblr.com/ (inactive for a few months now) http://wearethe1in3.tumblr.com/  (inactive for quite a bit but could still use submissions &amp; is generally a good idea) &#8212; &#8212; &#8212; I know this could be infinitely longer. I know I left some good ones (that I probably follow &amp; read and others that I don&#8217;t) out. This would be a great starting point though if you&#8217;re new to tumblr and/or socially-conscious news &amp; politics and want some great blogs to follow to stay informed &amp; learn. These blogs make tumblr a better place. &lt;3 And if I forgot you, I&#8217;m sorry. Please add other great blogs in the same vein as these when you reblog. :D

A FEW AMAZING BLOGS…

Almost exclusively news & conscious politics:

 Blend of political & personal:

 Movement/specific-activism focused:

— — —

I know this could be infinitely longer. I know I left some good ones (that I probably follow & read and others that I don’t) out.

This would be a great starting point though if you’re new to tumblr and/or socially-conscious news & politics and want some great blogs to follow to stay informed & learn. These blogs make tumblr a better place. <3

And if I forgot you, I’m sorry. Please add other great blogs in the same vein as these when you reblog. :D

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Tens of thousands take to the streets of Spain today to resist austerity!

July 19, 2012

Demonstrators protest against austerity measures announced by the Spanish government in Madrid, Spain, on Thursday July 19, 2012. Concerns over Spain’s attempts to restore market confidence in its economy resurfaced Thursday after a bond auction went poorly and its borrowing costs edged higher, even as the country’s Parliament passed the latest round of harsh austerity measures designed to cut its bloated deficit.

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