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The $100 Billion Offshore Wind Industry Has a Whale Problem
by Gunnar Larson 05 Mar '23

05 Mar '23

The $100 Billion Offshore Wind Industry Has a Whale Problem https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-02-18/why-are-whales-dying-in-…

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Ukraine located feminists call for elementary solidarity & support
by professor rat 05 Mar '23

05 Mar '23

"We feminists from Ukraine, call on feminists around the world to stand in solidarity with the resistance movement of the Ukrainian people against the predatory, imperialist war unleashed by the Russian Federation... "The authors of the 'Feminist Resistance Against War' manifesto deny Ukrainian women this right to resistance, which constitutes a basic act of self-defense of the oppressed... "Abstract pacifism which condemns all sides in the war leads to irresponsible solutions in practice. We insist on the essential difference between violence as a means of oppression and as a legitimate means of self-defence."

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Cryptocurrency: Blockchains As Global Code Repositories?
by grarpamp 05 Mar '23

05 Mar '23

Any blockchain, graph, etc based networks designed for use as global code repositories in operation yet?

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Prescient " High Times " article on anarchism
by professor rat 04 Mar '23

04 Mar '23

" Bombs and Utopia " - the prophet stoned https://www.wolfgangs.com/vintage-adult-magazines/high-times/vintage-adult-… I actually still have a copy of this! Is she ripe yet? The little peach? Please don’t shoot me Mr Po-lice-man!

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Police targeting journalists is like Green on Blue violence
by professor rat 04 Mar '23

04 Mar '23

In any large military-entertainment-complex the media are precisely half the problem. Influential list founder consensus held that - where first amendment free-speech rights were respected - no journalist privilege was required. Its also an anarchist tenet that political-economy doesn't require technocrats or specialists of any kind. Most journalists routinely lie about most anarchists and its impossible to help them understand anarchism since their entire identity and way-of-being-in-the-world demands they don't understand it. Show me a journalist that comforts the afflicted and afflicts the comfortable and I'll show you an unrepresentative outlier. And an endangered species. With all this understood as concrete empirical fact let us welcome reports of ' Blue on Green " violence and , indeed, let us help instigate such activities. Hang the last cop with the guts of the last journalist! If anarchist history has taught us anything its that any journalist can be killed. EIN REICH - EIN VOLK - EIN MEDIA go fuck yourself

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Adam Back the arch-carpetbagger cypherpunk?
by professor rat 04 Mar '23

04 Mar '23

Hey, don't just listen to me on this! ercwl · Feb 26 Can’t believe blockstream built a sidechain for multisig-pegged bitcoin and trusted assets but still were like ”no block times can’t be any faster than 1 minute and we can’t allow the TPS to get high and decent privacy or basic smart contract functionality is still too dangerous” <<< Reposts not endorsements of exposing frauds in the cryptoanarchist space

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Bram Cohen's Dracula
by professor rat 04 Mar '23

04 Mar '23

Utility coin for bittorrents-type, well . . . utility. Also wards off vampires. bramcohen · Mar 1 Bitcoin Script is clearly inferior to Chialisp in every way <<< CHIA coin a BUY https://twitter.com/bramcohen?ref_src=twsrc^google|twcamp^serp|twgr^author Reposts not shameless plugs for serious cryptocurrency contenders

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Strong AI on Bittorrent reported
by professor rat 04 Mar '23

04 Mar '23

>> You know, I tweeted this a few weeks ago — and lo and behold, we already have an LLM on Bittorrent! Seems decentralized AI may have legs after all… Quote Tweet Balaji @balajis · Feb 4 AI is like a gun skittering on the ground. And three parties are scrambling to pick it up. We have woke AI. We have CCP AI. And if we’re lucky, we’ll have decentralized free AI. The PirateBay, Bitcoin, Bittorrent-like AI. Perhaps we can build tech that could facilitate that… <<< Reposts not endorsements of garbage police-states in cyberspace - ' Netstates '

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Fwd: Bodycam footage shows police targeted journalists
by fuzzyTew 04 Mar '23

04 Mar '23

---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Freedom of the Press Foundation <newsletter(a)freedom.press> Date: Fri, 3 Mar 2023 20:32:35 +0000 Subject: Bodycam footage shows police targeted journalists To: fuzzytew(a)gmail.com Florida continues its anti-speech crusade View this email in your browser (https://mailchi.mp/freedom.press/bodycam-footage-shows-police-targeted-jour…) Dear friend of press freedom, Here are some of the most important stories we’re following from the U.S. and around the world. If you enjoy reading this newsletter, please forward it to friends and family. If someone has forwarded you this newsletter, please subscribe here (https://freedom.press/subscribe/) . Courtesy of Veronica Coit/Asheville Blade Body camera footage released this week (https://freedom.press/news/bodycam-footage-confirms-asheville-police-target…) following a court petition filed by Freedom of the Press Foundation (FPF) reveals that Asheville, North Carolina, police targeted journalists for recording them during a homeless encampment sweep in 2021. An officer can be heard telling his colleagues to arrest journalists first, before protesters and residents of the encampment, “because they’re videotaping.” Police then proceed to handcuff Asheville Blade journalists Matilda Bliss and Veronica Coit, despite both of them repeatedly explaining that they are members of the press. They’re charged with trespassing for reporting from the public park shortly after its closing time. Bliss and Coit were not charged with endangering or obstructing anyone and the video confirms that they recorded from a distance and did not impede police. Nonetheless, the Buncombe County district attorney continues prosecuting them. After repeated continuances, their case is scheduled for trial (https://wlos.com/news/local/city-moves-forward-with-trial-plans-for-journal…) on April 19. We told the Asheville Citizen Times (https://www.citizen-times.com/story/news/local/2023/02/27/watch-now-ashevil…) “it’s disturbing and striking that Asheville, which markets itself as this progressive oasis in the South, wants to distinguish itself as the place where journalists are tried for doing their jobs at a public park.” Other cities, like Phoenix and East Palestine, Ohio, have dropped charges shortly after arresting journalists. We explained in a press release that (https://freedom.press/news/bodycam-footage-confirms-asheville-police-target…) “it’s bad enough when rogue officers arrest journalists but the ongoing prosecution means the mayor, city council and District Attorney all endorse these unconstitutional arrests.” ** Florida continues its assault on the First Amendment ------------------------------------------------------------ Last week Florida legislators introduced a bill, vocally supported by Gov. Ron DeSantis, that would open the floodgates (https://www.politico.com/news/2023/02/23/florida-gop-desantis-proposal-sue-…) for retaliatory defamation lawsuits by the wealthy and powerful against their critics. Then this week, the same state senator who carried DeSantis’ water on that anti-press bill proposed new legislation that would require “bloggers” who are compensated for their content to register with the state if they write about “the Governor, the Lieutenant Governor, a Cabinet officer, or any member of the Legislature.” They’d need to disclose the amount and source of their compensation for each article. It’s a flagrantly unconstitutional content-based restriction on speech that treats critics of elected officials like sex offenders so the government can maintain a blacklist of its detractors. DeSantis has previously sought to frame his attacks on the press as necessary to save “the little guys” from large media conglomerates. That was always nonsense (https://www.tampabay.com/opinion/2023/02/15/gov-desantis-hides-behind-littl…) , and now his allies in the legislature are coming directly after the “little guys” themselves. Either DeSantis will denounce this fascist bill immediately or it’s exactly what he intended all along. ** FPF demands NC court lift gag order, unseal documents ------------------------------------------------------------ A federal judge in North Carolina entered an order (https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/judge-bars-media-from-publishi…) sealing court records in an expelled UNC student’s lawsuit against the university. Not only that, the judge ordered the defendant not to disclose any information about the case and to inform unnamed media outlets that they’re prohibited from reporting on it. We joined the ACLU of North Carolina and Prof. Eugene Volokh in moving the court (https://reason.com/volokh/2023/02/28/aclu-of-n-c-free-press-foundation-and-…) to lift the seal and the unconstitutional gag order, following a joint request from the parties. The court lifted the gag order the day after we filed, but the filings that would explain the reasons for entering it in the first place remain sealed. The public is entitled to know what persuaded a federal judge to enter a fundamentally unconstitutional prior restraint on the press. ** Daniel Ellsberg’s message following cancer diagnosis ------------------------------------------------------------ Our co-founder, our stalwart board member since 2012, our hero, Daniel Ellsberg, eloquently wrote (https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/daniel-ellsberg-pentagon-papers) about how he is facing terminal cancer and discussed his ambitious plans for his final months: “I work better under a deadline. It turns out that I live better under a deadline!” He reflected on expecting, after copying the Pentagon Papers in 1969, that he would spend his life behind bars. Instead, he was able to devote the decades since to “doing everything I could think of to alert the world to the perils of nuclear war.” That’s not to mention his vocal advocacy for the First Amendment rights of whistleblowers (https://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-us-canada-63832899) . He concluded that "my wish for you, my friends, is that at the end of your days you will feel as much joy and gratitude as I do now." ** What we’re reading ------------------------------------------------------------ Man charged in the shooting death of Spectrum News reporter (https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/spectrum-news-13-reporter-kill…) : A man has now been charged with first-degree murder for last week’s shooting death of Spectrum News 13 reporter Dylan Lyons and attempted first-degree murder of photojournalist Jesse Walden. Keith Moses was also charged with the murder that Lyons and Walden were reporting on when they were shot as well as murder, attempted murder and armed burglary in connection with another shooting that left a woman wounded and killed her 9-year-old daughter. Collateral murder and the persecution of Julian Assange (https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/collateral-murder-julian-assange?link_…) : “The effects on the First Amendment and press freedom will be severe if Julian Assange is extradited and successfully prosecuted. His persecution and torture already serve as a warning to journalists worldwide. And morally, Julian Assange’s imprisonment obstructs any reckoning we in the U.S. must do to contend with our wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and their victims.” DeSantis ‘review’ of public records can add months of delays, newly uncovered log reveals (https://www.clickorlando.com/news/politics/2023/02/28/desantis-review-of-pu…) : Various Florida agencies forward requested public records to the governor’s office for review before releasing them to citizens and journalists, adding weeks and months of delay. That means that at the same time he’s proposing unconstitutional legislation to crack down on reporters using anonymous sources, DeSantis is creating unnecessary bottlenecks to prevent them from accessing official sources. Apparently he’d prefer journalists don’t report on the government at all. Plenty politicians agree — hence, the First Amendment. ** New Digital Security Digest newsletter ------------------------------------------------------------ FPF has a new weekly newsletter on digital security and journalism! It’ll be a short update on digital security news, what you can do about it, and other news from our team. Subscribe here (https://freedom.press/training/digisec-subscribe/) . ** Freedom of the Press Foundation is hiring ------------------------------------------------------------ FPF is thrilled to be hiring for two important roles (https://freedom.press/jobs/?gh_src=0e756c475us) . Please apply by March 10 if you’re interested, or forward to anyone you know who wants to make a real impact in the fight for press freedoms. Deputy Director of Advocacy We’re seeking a deputy director of advocacy to help lead our efforts to protect the rights of journalists and whistleblowers. The role includes plenty of writing (perfect for current or former journalists) as well as organizing advocacy campaigns to protect journalists and whistleblowers at both the national and local levels. Apply here (https://grnh.se/408aa9ce5us) . Deputy Editor We’re also looking for a deputy editor to help further our impact through editing and engagement. The deputy editor will work across FPF with our advocacy, digital security and U.S. Press Freedom Tracker teams as we defend press freedom worldwide. Apply here (https://grnh.se/26ebb38b5us) . — Seth Stern, Director of Advocacy https://twitter.com/freedomofpress https://www.facebook.com/FreedomOfThePressFoundation/ https://freedom.press/ ============================================================ Copyright © 2023 Freedom of the Press Foundation, All rights reserved. You are receiving this email because you opted in via our website. Our mailing address is: Freedom of the Press Foundation 49 Flatbush Ave, #1017 Brooklyn, NY 11217 USA Want to change how you receive these emails? You can ** update your preferences (https://press.us6.list-manage.com/profile?u=19b87eae477821267dea69438&id=c8…) or ** unsubscribe from this list (https://press.us6.list-manage.com/unsubscribe?u=19b87eae477821267dea69438&i…) .

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Indian Whalers On Long Island, 1669-1746
by Gunnar Larson 04 Mar '23

04 Mar '23

Abstract: From circa 1650 to the mid-eighteenth century, Native Americans were recruited by English company owners on Long Island to hunt whales along its south shore. Whale oil profits became the region’s main economic force in the global market. The “whale design,” as it was called, was characterized by a fierce competition among companies for Indian whalers. By reconstructing the careers of several Native whalers based on their extant employment contracts, this paper reveals changing patterns of labor negotiations and methods of payment. As English companies consolidated their monopolistic control over the “whale design,” however, they sought to minimize the Indians’ sphere of influence and bargaining power. Although some Indians tried to improve their situations, even to the extent of forming an independent Native whaling company, they faced diminished prospects due to growing contract enforcement and the gradual standardization of punitive labor practices. As their communities were dispossessed of their land, they looked to the sea for new opportunities, only to find themselves deeply enmeshed in debt. Keywords: whaling, whale oil, baleen, contracts, lay system, debt peonage, Indian whalers, right whales, Long Island, Algonquian, Native American Conclusion The whale was held in awe by the Native peoples of Long Island, who sacrificed its fins and tails in their rituals. Along with all the living creatures in their environment, the whale shared a spiritual essence that united human and animal beings. There was a concern for balance in nature that was expressed in rituals honoring the spirits of animals taken by the hunters. For the Europeans, however, the animals were commodities to be exploited for commercial gain. The fur trade, for example, almost wiped out the beaver population in the Northeast. The same fate befell the North Atlantic right whale during the latter half of the seventeenth century. The English also commodified the land. Land alienation on Long Island, beginning with the English arrival, was nearly complete by the end of the seventeenth century. In 1703 the last major acquisitions of their tribal lands were confirmed by the Shinnecocks and the Montauketts. The loss of their traditional hunting, gathering, and planting grounds gave them little choice but to enter the English economy. Many Indians found employment building fences and tending livestock and cultivating colonial gardens on the very spaces where they once hunted deer, gathered plants and harvested corn. Whaling, for a brief moment in time, provided some Indians with the opportunity to bargain competitively with English employers who eagerly sought their services. The Indians possessed the skills, experience, and courage required to successfully hunt whales in open boats during the winter months. The English companies recruited the Indians for their crews with offers of metal tools, clothing, shoes, kettles, and alcohol. These goods, carried back to the villages by the whalers, stimulated significant changes in material culture that undoubtedly made life easier and more comfortable. There was a dark side. Richard White, in his classic study on patterns of dependency noted that the credit system and the traffic in alcohol were “the two great banes of the Indian trade.” This “credit-liquor combination,” said White, loosened cultural restraints and undermined their resistance to English control over their labor.[80] Artor’s experience supports White’s conclusions. Artor’s indenture forced him to become even more dependent on the English economy. Although patterns of dependency emerged, there were also important aspects of traditional culture that survived, including religious concepts, family and kinship systems, and relationships with the natural environment. The whalers did not surrender passively to the oppressive labor system. They had a unique set of skills and experiences that gave them leverage in negotiating with the English company owners. Although their attempt to launch an Indian-owned company failed, they found other means to protect their interests by comparing the terms of their contracts, frequently changing companies and playing one owner against another. The Native peoples of Long Island played a formative role in the history of an iconic American institution. They were there at the beginning. The shore whaling companies depended on the Indian crews for a successful whale design. They were the first American commercial whalers, a legacy that has often been overlooked. Their descendants, David and Hugh Jacob, were among many Native Americans from Long Island who were recruited by whaling captains in the nineteenth century to hunt whales across the globe.

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