Corporate Ventriloquism Corporate ventriloquism is a rhetorical process by which companies transmit messages through other entities, usually of their own creation, to construct and animate an alternative ethos, voice, or identity that advances their interests. Some companies have used corporate ventriloquism to advance their agendas through support for community organizations. Ventriloquism Companies may create front groups and information campaigns, but also leverage corporate social responsibility strategies that invest in community development. Such strategies have been used for decades as a means for industry actors to underscore their legitimacy and to shore up the perception that they are positive social contributors to the environments in which they operate. Research has shown how extractive industries such as coal have invested heavily in local communities to sow solidarity and support for the industry. Material investments such as parks, community centers, sponsored events (concerts, car shows, etc.), and museums are not only a means of winning support through material investment in communities (a form of philanthropy or bribery), but also of symbolically “branding” the community and of making it more difficult for the community to oppose industry goals. Similarly, investor-owned utilities sponsor sports stadiums and museums—branding efforts that double as philanthropy—in their efforts to effectively blur the line between public and private interests.

I have not actually read the new climate obstruction book yet but my mate sent me this really excellent extract

www.routledge.com/Climate-Obst...

This is why we fund scientists to study things like oyster slobber even if you don’t think it sounds important

The asteroid cannot come fast enough. We can't have a long radio news bulletin at 7.45 am in the morning (that had run since 1939) because money but this is cool I guess.

Single frame. Image: horizon line, river of red flows from left to right; PM Albanese stands beside looking. Text from above left: “The 1948 UN Genocide Convention, adopted in the wake of the mass murder of Jews by Nazi Germany, requires all countries to act to prevent and stop genocide. The world’s biggest academic association of genocide scholars has passed a resolution, with 86% declaring Israel’s policies and actions in Gaza to be genocide. Where is our red line?”

Red line.
My @smh @theage cartoon.

There has to be a reckoning as the govt gas-lights the nation on environmental damage...which will be irreversible at some point

'Revolving door' between politics and lobbying rings transparency alarm bell Lobbying has become big business, with around 727 lobbyists registered in the national capital, more than three times the number of elected officials sitting in parliament.

This is how broken our lobbying laws are.

Every resources minister since 2001 went on to work for fossil fuel companies & 8 ex-ministers & senior advisers now lobby for gambling💰

It's time for complete reform of lobbying rules + independent watchdog.
www.abc.net.au/news/2025-08...

Incredible facts about Barrow Island There is no public access to Barrow Island as it is listed as a Class A Nature Reserve. It is home to 24 species and subspecies found nowhere else on Earth. Barrow Island is home to Boodie Cave, which is one of Australia's oldest archaeological sites and contains evidence of humans from 46,200 to 51,100 years ago. US energy giant Chevron was permitted to build its $54 billion Greater Gorgon gas extraction project on the island.

From a story about a new species of pseudoscorpion, this sort of highlighted the management of Australia in a nutshell

au.news.yahoo.com/incredible-p...

Letter of the day (in the Times)

The war in Gaza has killed 186 journalists as of Aug 11, 2025. This is the highest number ever recorded in any war. 🚨

It is more than the total journalists killed in World War I, World War II, Vietnam, the Yugoslav Wars, and Afghanistan combined. ⚖️📸💔

#HumanRights #PressFreedom

Twenty-five years ago, on this day, August 9, 2000, The Federal Government is set to announce a new national strategy on greenhouse gases after a Cabinet subcommittee resolved key issues this week. At a three-hour meeting on Wednesday [9th August], the Cabinet subcommittee on greenhouse agreed on a broad national greenhouse strategy, which would subsume ministerial wrangling over how individual industries such as liquefied natural gas should be affected by future government greenhouse decisions. Taylor, L. 2000. Government set to unveil greenhouse strategy. Australian Financial Review, 11 August. P 15. The amount of carbon dioxide in the air was 369ppm. As of 2025, when this post was published, it is 430ppm. This matters because the more carbon dioxide in the air, the more heat gets trapped. The more heat, the more extreme weather events. You can make it more complicated than that if you want, but really, it’s not. Fwiw, I have a tattoo of the Keeling Curve on my left forearm.

August 9, 2000 – a new Greenhouse Strategy – including on LNG. Yeah, yeah sure.

allouryesterdays.info/2025/08/08/a...

Mo Salah is asking the right questions

Australia strongly rejects Israel's plan to seize Gaza City The foreign ministers of Australia, Germany, Italy, New Zealand and the United Kingdom say this decision will "risk violating international humanitarian law".

Words have had no effect.
Sanctions now. Travel restrictions - against all members of the government and IDF, and their families. Freeze assets and all trade. Kick out diplomats. Enforce ICC findings. Pressure Israel’s active supporters. Anything but this.

Love moments like this. Public Enemy meets Mavis Staples ❤️

Al Jazeera Media Network urgently calls upon the journalistic community, press freedom organisations, and relevant legal bodies to take decisive action to halt the forced starvation and crimes against journalists and media professionals in Gaza.

Mehreen Faruqi sanctioned for Gaza sign protest as Greens senator accused of ‘street theatre’ Greens deputy leader banned from taking part in any overseas parliamentary delegations for the remainder of the 48th parliament

After many months of ho-hummng her way through a brazen genocide, Wong moves a motion to sanction Mehreen Faruqi for holding up a protest sign.

www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...

Faruqui is right: past time for Labor to do, not just say. What is happening in Gaza is so obscene a “progressive” government must step up. What line has to be crossed before Labor do, rather than say something? What is Albanese waiting for? What’s the line? How much worse does it have to get?

Scott Westerfeld @ScottWesterfeld Plot idea: 97% of the world's scientists contrive an environmental crisis, but are exposed by a plucky band of billionaires & oil companies. 11:27 AM · Mar 21, 2014

shame on me for missing the 10yr anniversary of the best climate social posts ever

By @scottwesterfeld.bsky.social -->

Chumps and Champs

Who're the fossil fuel corps playing the sponsorship/patronage card in Australia?

Check out Penny Tangey's @pennytangey.bsky.social incredible Australian database of fossil fuel Chumps, Champs & Changers

docs.google.com/spreadsheets...

My inescapable conclusion has become that Israel is committing genocide against the Palestinian people. Having grown up in a Zionist home, lived the first half of my life in Israel, served in the I.D.F. as a soldier and officer and spent most of my career researching and writing on war crimes and the Holocaust, this was a painful conclusion to reach, and one that I resisted as long as I could. But I have been teaching classes on genocide for a quarter of a century. I can recognize one when I see one. This is not just my conclusion. A growing number of experts in genocide studies and international law have concluded that Israel’s actions in Gaza can only be defined as genocide.

"I have been teaching classes on genocide for a quarter of a century. I can recognize one when I see one."

Omar Bartov, professor of Holocaust and genocide studies at Brown University.

archive.ph/0dpn2

Somebody needs to have a stern word with the oceans about the importance of gas as a transition fuel.

Unreasonable to expect Labor to just stop approving new coal mines in their first two terms now.

The Bonaparte Carbon Capture and Storage Project, located offshore northwest of Darwin, will support emissions reductions in hard-to-abate sectors such as metal and chemical refining. The project will potentially enable the development of low-carbon industries in the region, creating 370 construction jobs and 40 ongoing positions.

In 2022, INPEX acquired a 53 percent interest in the G-7-AP (Bonaparte) greenhouse gas assessment block off the northwestern coast of the Northern Territory of Australia. Viability assessment of safely and permanently storing carbon dioxide (CO2) deep underground is currently underway and if successful, injection is scheduled to commence from 2030. Given this acreage is expected to have a high CO2 storage capacity, we are considering accepting CO2 from both Ichthys LNG and third parties. We are committed to contributing to the realization of a low-emissions CCUS Hub* led by the Northern Territory Government, among other initiatives.

Extra-dodgy: the Albanese government claims it's to be used for "hard to abate" sectors, specifically 'metal and chemical refining'

Their OWN WEBSITE directly admits it'll be used as part of a massive fossil gas extraction project (Ichthys).

www.inpex.com/english/busi...

Wowwwwwwweeee this is some bad shit

Funny how the US has basically the government of Iran now: Supreme Leader who rules by decree, priestly council with token opposition that decides whether the decisions are okay or not on arcane scriptural grounds, and completely ceremonial legislature

Dear @albomp.bsky.social
cc @senatorwong.bsky.social
Thoughts? Let me guess: you're "deeply concerned". Israel is committing genocide in Gaza. Israeli soldiers admit to murdering unarmed civilians. The Australian Govt must condemn this and introduce sanctions. #auspol #IsraeliWarCrimes #GazaGenocide

The UN, international rules based order is pretty much done. And Australia’s govt said not a word of compliant.

Might is right.

Albanese has not grasped that China, North Korea, Russia and anyone else can now claim the precedent of the Iran Bombing as justification for “pre-emptive” attacks.

Though I absolutely love that the ABC is only selling the Classic100 as a compact disc boxset, and know their primary demographic are old enough to own CD players. :)

I’m loving the #classic100 music, musicians and out-take interviewees, but cringing at the ABC’s two synthetic “compere-bots”.

Reuters reporting that UN experts say Israel is committing the atrocity crime of extermination

At the end of this Instagrammed infanticide the ABC will be able to say it didn't know, it was distracted making 17 million pieces of content about a beef Wellington