#ajp action

[intricatecakes]

usamericans i am once again asking you to contact your representatives

AJP has a prefilled email form, just drop in your info (yes it needs your full mailing address) and it'll auto fill with your reps

or you can handwrite it and mail it, the address is:

The Honorable [your rep's name here], U.S. House of Representatives, Washington, DC 20515 (replace "HoP" with "Senate" if they're a senator)

you can also read aloud from the form if you want to call your reps directly, again the line to the Capitol switchboard is 202-224-3121 your voice DOES matter, please use it and speak up

[eretzyisrael]

BY PARK MACDOUGALD

The “movement,” in turn, while it recruits from among students and other self-motivated radicals willing to put their bodies on the line, relies heavily on the funding of progressive donors and nonprofits connected to the upper reaches of the Democratic Party. Take the epicenter of the nationwide protest movement, Columbia University. According to reporting in the New York Post, the Columbia encampment was principally organized by three groups: Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP), and Within Our Lifetime (WOL). Let’s take each in turn.

JVP is, in essence, the “Jewish”-branch of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement, backed by the usual big-money progressive donors—including some, like the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, that were instrumental in selling Obama’s Iran Deal to the public. JVP and its affiliated political action arm, JVP Action, have received at least $650,000 from various branches of George Soros’ philanthropic empire since 2017, $441,510 from the Kaphan Foundation (founded by early Amazon employee Sheldon Kaphan), $340,000 from the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, and smaller amounts from progressive donors such as the Quitiplas Foundation, according to reporting from the New York Post and NGO Monitor, a pro-Israel research institute. JVP has also received nearly $1.5 million from various donor-advised funds—which allow wealthy clients to give anonymously through their financial institutions—run through the charitable giving arms of Fidelity Investments, Charles Schwab, Morgan Stanley, Vanguard, and TIAA, according to NGO Monitor’s review of those institutions’ tax documents.

SJP, by contrast, is an outgrowth of the Islamist networks dissolved during the U.S. government’s prosecution of the Holy Land Foundation (HLF) and related charities for fundraising for Hamas. SJP is a subsidiary of an organization called American Muslims for Palestine (AMP); SJP in fact has no “formal corporate structure of its own but operates as AMP’s campus brand,” according to a lawsuit filed last week against AJP Educational Fund, the parent nonprofit of AMP. Both AMP and SJP were founded by the same man, Hatem Bazian, a Palestinian academic who formerly fundraised for KindHearts, an Islamic charity dissolved in 2012 pursuant to a settlement with the U.S. Treasury, which froze the group’s assets for fundraising for Hamas (KindHearts did not admit wrongdoing in the settlement). And several of AMP’s senior leaders are former fundraisers for HLF and related charities, according to November congressional testimony from former U.S. Treasury official Jonathan Schanzer. An ongoing federal lawsuit by the family of David Boim, an American teenager killed in a Hamas terrorist attack in 1996, goes so far as to allege that AMP is a “disguised continuance” and “legal alter-ego” of the Islamic Association for Palestine, was founded with startup money from current Hamas official Musa Abu Marzook and dissolved alongside HLF. AMP has denied it is a continuation of IAP.

Today, however, National SJP is legally a “fiscal sponsorship” of another nonprofit: a White Plains, New York, 501(c)(3) called the WESPAC Foundation. A fiscal sponsorship is a legal arrangement in which a larger nonprofit “sponsors” a smaller group, essentially lending it the sponsor’s tax-exempt status and providing back-office support in exchange for fees and influence over the sponsorship’s operations. For legal and tax purposes, the sponsor and the sponsorship are the same entity, meaning that the sponsorship is relieved of the requirement to independently disclose its donors or file a Form 990 with the IRS. This makes fiscal sponsorships a “convenient way to mask links between donors and controversial causes,” according to the Capital Research Center. Donors, in other words, can effectively use nonprofits such as WESPAC to obscure their direct connections to controversial causes.

Something of the sort appears to be happening with WESPAC. Run by the market researcher Howard Horowitz, WESPAC reveals very little about its donors, although scattered reporting and public disclosures suggest that the group is used as a pass-through between larger institutions and pro-Palestinian radicals. Since 2006, for instance, WESPAC has received more than half a million in donations from the Elias Foundation, a family foundation run by the private equity investor James Mann and his wife. WESPAC has also received smaller amounts from Grassroots International (an “environmental” group heavily funded by Thousand Currents), the Sparkplug Foundation (a far-left group funded by the Wall Street fortune of Felice and Yoram Gelman), and the Bafrayung Fund, run by Rachel Gelman, an heir to the Levi Strauss fortune and the sister of Democratic Rep. Dan Goldman. (A self-described “abolitionist,” Gelman was featured in a 2020 New York Times feature��on “The Rich Kids Who Want to Tear Down Capitalism.”) In 2022, WESPAC also received $97,000 from the Tides Foundation, the grant-making arm of the Tides Nexus.

WESPAC, however, is not merely the fiscal sponsor of the Hamas-linked SJP but also the fiscal sponsor of the third group involved in organizing the Columbia protests, Within Our Lifetime (WOL), formerly known as New York City SJP. Founded by the Palestinian American lawyer Nerdeen Kiswani, a former activist with the Hunter College and CUNY chapters of SJP, WOL has emerged over the past seven months as perhaps the most notorious antisemitic group in the country, and has been banned from Facebook and Instagram for glorifying Hamas. A full list of the group’s provocations would take thousands of words, but it has been the central organizing force in the series of “Flood”-themed protests in New York City since Oct. 7, including multiple bridge and highway blockades, a November riot at Grand Central Station, the vandalism of the New York Public Library, and protests at the Rockefeller Center Christmas-tree lighting. In addition to their confrontational tactics, WOL-led protests tend to have a few other hallmarks. These include eliminationist rhetoric directed at the Jewish state—such as Arabic chants of “strike, strike, Tel Aviv”; the prominent display of Hezbollah flags and other insignia of explicitly Islamist resistance; the presence of masked Arab street muscle; and the antisemitic intimidation of counterprotesters by said masked Arab street muscle.

WOL’s role appears to be that of shock troops, akin to the role played by black block militants on the anarchist side of the ledger. WOL is, however, connected to more seemingly “mainstream” elements of the anti-Israel movement. Abdullah Akl, a prominent WOL leader—indeed, the man leading the “strike Tel Aviv” chants in the video linked above—is also listed as a “field organizer” on the website of MPower Change, the “advocacy project” led by Linda Sarsour. MPower Change, in turn, is a fiscal sponsorship of NEO Philanthropy, another large progressive clearinghouse. NEO Philanthropy and its 501(c)(4) “sister,” NEO Philanthropy Action Fund, have received more than $37 million from Soros’ Open Society Foundations since 2021 alone, as well as substantial funding from the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, the Ford Foundation, and the Tides Foundation.

[ohello0]

AID IN THE FIGHT FOR PALESTINIAN LIBERATION U.S. BASED RESOURCES

1. FIND A PROTEST NEAR YOU (this protest finder is great but still check on smaller local orgs for any additional actions near you)

2. CONTACT YOUR REPS TO URGE A CEASEFIRE AND GET HUMANITARIAN AID TO GAZA

The links below each contain templates and instructions as well as help you find your Representative/Senator to send a call or email to

CALL

JVP = Jewish Voice for Peace (this is spoken from a Jewish perspective eg “I am Jewish and I am calling for…”)

USCPR = US Campaign for Palestinian Rights (spoken from a general perspective)

EMAIL

JVP (Jewish perspective)

USCPR (general perspective)

AJP = Adalah Justice Project (spoken from the general perspective)

If you’re seeing this and going “a ceasefire is not enough we need to ask for more!” I get it and many are on the same page but no aid can reach Gaza and the occupation will not end if Israel doesn’t stop the shelling first. The USCPR templates call for stopping military funding and weapon supplying to Israel as well but this can be added to any template you choose.

It’s best to get calls in earlier in the day and switch up the subject on the email to decrease the chance of spam filtering. Best of luck 🫡

[many-worlds]

Hi everyone, urgent action is needed to stop the Israeli genocide in Palestine. Please use the following links to email and call your Member of Congress and demand an immediate ceasefire and humanitarian assistance for Gaza. It took me less than 10 minutes to do these. You cannot do them too much.

1. Tell Congress: Stop fueling the Gaza genocide. | Adalah Justice Project

🔗 Link: https://actionnetwork.org/letters/urgent-stop-the-genocidal-bombing-of-gaza?source=mc_email 

2. Tell Congress: Open humanitarian access to Gaza now! | AFSC

🔗 Link: https://afsc.org/action/tell-congress-open-humanitarian-access-gaza-now 

3. Call Congress: Stop the Gaza Genocide | USCPR

🔗 Link: https://uscpr.org/GazaCall [call your 3 most important legislators in less than 5 minutes]

4. CALL ON CONGRESS TO DEMAND AN IMMEDIATE CEASEFIRE IN GAZA | AJP Action

🔗 Link: https://palestine.salsalabs.org/gazaceasefire/index.html 

5. Email Congress: Stop Funding the Gaza Genocide | USCPR

🔗 Link: https://uscpr.org/StopMassacres 

6. Call Now: Stop Genocide Against Palestinians in Gaza | Jewish Voice for Peace

🔗 Link: https://www.jewishvoiceforpeace.org/resource/urgent-tell-congress-to-stop-fueling-violence/#

Your voice can make a difference. Thank you for taking action.

[plethoraworldatlas]

In the weeks leading up to President Biden's withdrawal from the presidential race, most of the editorial boards, party activists, and elected officials calling for him to end his reelection campaign focused on only one issue: age.

But there was another reason President Biden needed to drop out: Gaza.

Long before President Biden's debate meltdown sparked panic in the Democratic establishment, his support for the Israeli government's war in Gaza sparked outrage in the Democratic base, where 56 percent of the party's supporters have described the war as a genocide.

At least half a million Democratic voters protested President Biden's support for the Gaza genocide by voting uncommitted or submitting blank ballots during the presidential primaries earlier this year, including over 100,000 people in Michigan, 88,000 in North Carolina and 46,000 in Minnesota.

Over 1 in 5 Democrats or independents in key swing states said they were less likely to vote for President Biden due to the war, according to a YouGov-AJP-Action poll in May. Over a quarter of those voters said that an immediate and lasting ceasefire, full entry of humanitarian aid to Gaza, and conditions on military aid for Israel’s war were the minimum policy changes needed to secure or solidify their votes for Biden.

Many Democratic voters were alienated even more by President Biden's failure to call out reports of anti-Palestinian racism and Islamophobic violence with the same fervor he uses to call out reports of antisemitic rhetoric, as well as his criticism of the diverse, overwhelmingly peaceful student protests on college campuses.

Frustrated voters included Muslim Americans, Arab Americans, Black Americans, young people and others who helped carry him to victory in 2020. If those voters ended up supporting third party candidates or boycotting the presidential race altogether in November—as some promised to do if Biden remained on the ticket and did not change course—they could have easily tipped the results in Michigan and other key swing states.

Now that President Biden has withdrawn from the presidential race, Vice President Kamala Harris has a chance to turn the page, chart a new course, and win back those voters, including American Muslims.

That's what our coalition of American Muslim political organizations is calling on her to do.

Vice President Harris has already neutralized the concerns of voters worried about President Biden's age. Now she must address the concerns of voters who opposed his support for the war on Gaza.

Many American Muslims are open to supporting Vice President Harris if she distances herself from President Biden's Gaza policy, respectfully engages with all of our community leaders, picks a vice presidential nominee who does not have a history of explicit hostility towards our community like Governor Josh Shapiro, and commits to concrete policy proposals that would stop the genocide, end the broader occupation of the Palestinian people, and establish a just peace.

Taking these steps will set her apart from not only President Biden, but also from President Trump.

Most American Muslims do not want Donald Trump to return to office for perhaps obvious reasons. The former president has made it clear that he plans to round up undocumented immigrants as part of the largest mass deportation in American history, reinstate the Muslim Ban, stack the federal civil service with political loyalists, and pursue a foreign policy just as or even more, immoral than President Biden’s foreign policy.

...

Vice President Harris now has the opportunity to contrast herself with Trump on this issue in ways President Biden could not. She has already built up some goodwill in the American Muslim community by using a noticeably more humane tone when discussing Palestinian suffering compared to others in the administration.

[omgnia]

Links to templates for contacting US Congress re: genocide of Palestinians

Tell Congress: Stop fueling the Gaza genocide. | Adalah Justice Project

🔗 Link: https://actionnetwork.org/letters/urgent-stop-the-genocidal-bombing-of-gaza?source=mc_email 

Tell Congress: Open humanitarian access to Gaza now! | AFSC

🔗 Link: https://afsc.org/action/tell-congress-open-humanitarian-access-gaza-now 

Call Congress: Stop the Gaza Genocide | USCPR

🔗 Link: https://uscpr.org/GazaCall 

CALL ON CONGRESS TO DEMAND AN IMMEDIATE CEASEFIRE IN GAZA | AJP Action

🔗 Link: https://palestine.salsalabs.org/gazaceasefire/index.html 

Email Congress: Stop Funding the Gaza Genocide | USCPR

🔗 Link: https://uscpr.org/StopMassacres 

Call Now: Stop Genocide Against Palestinians in Gaza | Jewish Voice for Peace

🔗 Link: https://www.jewishvoiceforpeace.org/resource/urgent-tell-congress-to-stop-fueling-violence/#

[axvoter]

Blatantly Partisan Party Review II (Victoria 2022): Animal Justice Party

Prior reviews: federal 2013, VIC 2014, federal 2016, VIC 2018, NSW 2019, federal 2019, federal 2022

What I said before: “If you are a vegan and passionate about animal rights, you will feel a strong affinity with this party’s platform. If you enjoy dairy or meat, as I do, you will be somewhat less enamoured with it.” (VIC 2018 review)

What I think this year: AJP have one Legislative Councillor seeking re-election, Andy Meddick in Western Victoria. He was a beneficiary of the distorting effects of preference harvesting under Group Ticket Voting, winning a seat off less than 2.8% of the vote while the Greens (7.5%) missed out. But it turns out that AJP have recognised how anti-democratic this system is and pulled off a hilarious sting on "preference whisperer" Glenn Druery and his alliance of parties. They all hoped to funnel preferences to chosen individuals in each region—and the AJP made a show of negotiating with them, securing their support, but submitted a completely different and more ideologically appropriate ticket. They are now calling for the abolition of GTV in favour of a more proportional upper house.

Meddick's parliamentary experience, and that of his counterparts in NSW's upper house (elected via a genuinely representative method), has really helped the AJP mature as a party. I don't just mean this in terms of the sort of canny political machinations that foiled Druery. They are starting to expand beyond being a single-issue party, particularly content about gender equality and more women in politics, though most policies continue to revolve around animal rights. So, yes, AJP are taking to this election the sort of policy platform that you would expect.

One of AJP's most significant proposals is for “Veticare” to cover veterinary bills. Their policies for greater wildlife protections have a major goal of banning duck shooting in Victoria, to bring it into line with some other states. Protests against duck shooting have been a prominent front for Victoria’s animal rights activists in recent years. Indeed, opposition to duck shooting is so important for the AJP this year that they ran a stunt with “Danielle Duck” announced as their candidate for Mulgrave, the same seat as Daniel Andrews. This "native wood duck, hard working mother and long time Mulgrave local" is still listed on AJP's website at the time of writing, but you cannot run an animal as a candidate, so the person who is actually standing for the AJP in Mulgrave is a chap called David Mould.

To some extent, your support for the AJP will fluctuate depending on how you feel about veganism—they even ask their candidates to commit to a vegan diet. Their policies for agriculture and climate basically want to replace livestock farming with cultivation of plant-based proteins. It is very narrow stuff when climate change requires sophisticated policies and wide-ranging action; nobody’s pet issue will be a magic wand.

My other major issue with the AJP is that their policies are very weak on introduced species. This election does not appear to be the election where they resolve the tension between their unwillingness to harm any animal and the serious damage that introduced species inflict on ecosystems. For instance, they still want to ban brumby culls despite the havoc these wild horses create for native species in the high country.

You might wonder if the presence of the AJP and the Companions & Pets Party on the ballot suggests a split in the animal rights movement. Quite the contrary: the Companions & Pets Party is actually a front for supporters of the racing industry, dog breeders, and other forms of animal exploitation. They are the opposite of the AJP.

My recommendation: Give the Animal Justice Party a middling to decent preference. Remember to vote below the line on the large ballot for the Legislative Council so that your preference goes where you want it to go; all ballots with 5 or more preferences marked below the line are valid votes.

Website: https://vic.animaljusticeparty.org/elections

[savikalpasciences]

Savikalpa and AJP hosted a close combat , action - packed Jiu-Jitsu championship where beginners and professionals were all welcome.

[evillordzog]

Community Cats need Exemption to Save Lives - Please Submit to Engage Victoria by 25th March

2 Mar 2024

Animal Justice Party have released a Guide for submissions to the draft 'Animal Care and Protection Act', and the date has been extended to 25th of March 2024. Victoria needs exemption from ‘abandonment' - to save the lives of Community Cats.   There are two parts for submissions - one on the draft text, and one on the Regulations.  Please ask for this Exemption in both: Part 3 Division 2, 21 (1)(d) 'person abandons the animal' : Exemption for Trap Neuter Return and Return to Field programs when run by trained/qualified authorised officers, or specialists in cat management.

AJP Guide: https://assets.nationbuilder.com/animaljusticeparty/pages/2702/attachments/original/1709183925/AJP_Guide_to_Animal_Care_and_Protection_Bill_and_its_supporting_regulations.pdf?1709183925                                                                   Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y3bJX8dWsqA

Only individual submissions to Engage Victoria help. (signatures on petitions are rejected)

AJP says we need to submit in both parts: Upload your document (as the online form can delete sections); and also fill-in the Regulations Survey. Document submissions can only challenge the Act wording.  We can only comment on the Act in the Regulations. 

An animal lawyer points out that this Act recognizes animal sentience, but then gives industries’ exemption for cruel acts - meaning that animals have no legal ‘protection’, no ‘care’.   This draft Act gives animal industries of hunting, killing, racing, and maiming: exemptions - and these actions cannot then be challenged in court. 

We need the animal industry ‘exemptions’ and ‘exceptions’ of cruelty offences (wounding, torturing, tormenting, terrifying, starving, killing) to be removed.  That ‘use’ of animals be removed or re-worded to acknowledge sentience - and welfare.  To instead specify acts that should never be allowable, and specifically never licenced.  

We need many submissions - at shortest, please add to Part 3 Division 2, 21 (1)(d) an Exemption for Trap Neuter Return programs; and ask to remove all the cruelty animal-industry exemptions.   Please make individual submissions in your own name, words, and experience, using AJP’s Guide -  including the Exemption for Trap Neuter Return. 

Scientific evidence from the Australian Pet Foundation is not being followed - please refer to this in submissions, the Act requires ‘best available scientific evidence’:

Community Cat Programs work to save both cats and wildlife, and at much lower cost: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PQbK3R36Xjg  https://petwelfare.org.au/2022/08/31/australian-pet-welfare-foundation-position-statement-on-cat-containment/  

24-hr cat curfews fail Victoria, and have failed in Casey and Yarra Ranges: https://petwelfare.org.au/2022/09/02/key-issues-to-consider-related-to-mandated-24-7-cat-containment/  

Way to prevent killing and lower pound intake: https://theconversation.com/australian-shelters-and-pounds-kill-50-000-mostly-healthy-cats-and-kittens-in-a-year-theres-a-way-to-prevent-this-pointless-killing-201947   Full scientific article: https://www.mdpi.com/2076-2615/13/11/1771 

Australian Pet Welfare Foundation evidence shows that mandated containment results in farming kittens to kill - kitten-farming.  Science shows that 24-hr cat curfews do not work, and fail to save wildlife - and cost the community much more (six times plus) for greater trapping and killing. 

The Minister, in May 2022, announced this revised Victorian Act as part of ‘a 10-year state-wide cat-management strategy’.  ACT changed their animal Act then, in 2021, enacted statewide lifetime cat curfew with enforcement fines of $1600 if a cat steps past its property-line.  ACT’s Act recognised animal sentience, then enforced greater cruelty and inequity upon cats and carers.  Victoria also announced cat containment grants, re‘education’ of cat-owners, ‘RSPCA key role’ (Victoria’s high contract-killer of cats) and 2023’s voluntary, open-worldwide, Pet Census asking questions on only one species of pet - collecting skewed data. 

Local Councils are not using the ‘best available scientific evidence’ on cats when developing their Domestic Animal Management Plans.  Local Councils enact 24-hr cat curfews, not evidence-based, instead using misinformation, and personal opinion, as ‘politically popular’.  Often there is no community consultation on 24-hr cat curfews that adheres to the Local Government Act.  Local Councils cause community division, inequity, enable hate-speech towards felines, and abet cat cruelty by encouraging ‘free cat traps’ - rising the homeless cat population, rising euthanasia, and harming community health. 

I now have to write a different draft for Knox AdvoCats given the new AJP info. 

Comments: 

Homeless cats, ‘community’ and ‘stray’, are not ‘feral’.  ‘Cats should be categorised based on how and where they live. APWF recommends that cats should be recognised as feral or domestic, consistent with the RSPCA’s Best Practice Domestic Cat Management (2018). …consistent with the 2015 TAP, which classified cats as feral, stray, or domestic. …stray cats … live in and around where humans live or frequent should not be considered feral cats. …Sociability and adoptability cannot be judged in a highly stressful environment, such as in a trap cage; frightened pet cats may display more aggressive behaviours towards humans than truly feral cats (Slater 2013; Jacobson 2022). …5 days, and up to 14 days or longer, are required for many pet cats to habituate to a new environment and for accurate assessment of sociability.’ 

Authorised officers 'seizure' and 'disposal' of animals needs greater oversight. Currently officers are ‘authorised’ without training - just by written request, with photo, from their manager to the Minister.  Please require Victoria animal officers to undertake necessary training before authorising.  Please require 'expert' evaluation on seized animals by veterinary psychiatrists and postgraduate animal specialists.

What is Victoria doing to lessen pound intake and euthanasia?  ‘Victoria had the highest total number of admissions’ of cats - 52,893.  Victoria and New South Wales … having the highest total number of cats euthanized’ (14664 and 14464)  https://www.mdpi.com/2076-2615/13/11/1771 Some animals used for scientific purposes for Primary Industries are also obtained out of Council pounds.  

All traps are inhumane, licence must be clearly specified. refer to page20 AJP Guide.

page 31 Part 3—Care requirements. 17, 3d: the best available scientific evidence relating to the animal's species.  Local Councils have not followed the best available scientific evidence on cats - regarding population control methods that work, and vets concern about contained-cat diseases such as Feline Lower Urinary Tract Disease.

Cat containment can hide more cruelty, and make it less likely to be reported, keeping cats out of sight and out of mind, as silent sufferers, and an easy target for populist hate speech and false blame.  More felines, females, as lesser-deserving of freedom outside, of public socialisation, jumping, walks, running, parks, friendships, at risk of domestic abuse?

Locking cats in Shed or Garage as Vic Agriculture, and Knox Council, advised can cause stress, harm, cold - can endanger cat welfare.  Contained cats that are not seen are less likely to be reported on by neighbours, including instances of tethering to a clothesline, starving, tormenting, trapping, killing, offences being hidden in house and backyards, unseen, and unreported by neighbours.

Code of Practice for the Private Keeping of Cats pages 34-35. Also add that Local Councils making 24-hr cat curfews are killing more cats and wildlife.  Refer to the failure in Casey and Yarra Ranges.  The six-times greater cost of trapping and killing.  That Local Councils with mandated cat containment raise stray cat numbers, that science shows are ‘farming kittens’ to kill.   

Code of Practice for the Private Keeping of Dogs pages 36-37

Page 72-74 Division 2 63— Although it is ‘an offence to not use an animal in the demonstration of any product, device’.  65 (b)(i) then makes exemption for ‘uses the animal for the purpose of hunting, taking, killing’ (d) (ii) an approved industry arrangement. page 85 (a) (i) administers the substance for the purpose of controlling pest animals, and (c) (i) hunting, killing. The ‘Felixer’ is named explicity for cats, and shoots 1080 poison that also torturously kills pet dogs, dingo pups, Wedge-tailed eagles, native marsupials and poisons habitat.  There is no 1080 anti-dote.  Victoria regularly lays 1080 poison in fox baits.  We need to ban 1080 poison, and to prevent the Felixer from ever being used in Victoria.

Heritable defects: pages 27-28  

Code of Practice for the Welfare of Horses pages 39-40

Code of Practice for the Welfare of Wildlife during Rehabilitation page 46

Victorian Local Councils have enacted high-cost 24-hr cat curfews which kill more kittens, cats, and wildlife - while spreading public misinformation of ‘save’ ‘protect’ ‘care’; not making evidence-based decisions, instead using ‘personal opinion’ as ‘politically popular’ against felines, and females.  

24-hr cat curfews divide communities, create inequity, remove living well from cat-owners, enable hate-speech, fail to save wildlife, target renters and the elderly with high fines, and cost all residents six times more for trapping and killing. Councils offer ‘free traps’, encourage reporting on neighbours without a written statement or being identified - removing cat-owners right to fair legal defence, raise the community mental health costs, and place shelter-workers at suicide-risk. 

Please fill in the Regulations Survey, and Submission by the 25th of March. This Act replaces The Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act.  How is ‘cat containment’ caging cats, legislating cruelty - ‘care and protection’?   https://engage.vic.gov.au/new-animal-welfare-act-victoria

Please submit before Victoria begins changing animal laws.  

[sbknews]

Venhill 2023 Off-Road Catalogue

A one-stop shop for high quality British-made control cables and hydraulic hoses for off-roaders.  Motorcycle control specialists Venhill have updated their off-road catalogue for 2023, with hundreds of new cable and hose applications added to the must-have manual for dirt-bike riders. A one-stop shop for high quality hydraulic brake lines and control cables, Venhill’s catalogue covers the major names and specialist off-road brands - from AJP to Yamaha - and from classic twinshock motocross, trials and dirt bikes from the 1970s right through to the latest MY23 models. Additions for this year include Clutch Cable Kits for 1976-1986 models of Yamaha’s iconic Dakar-winning XT500; Rear Brake Hose Kits for the latest generation of Honda CRF450R, WE and RX; plus new Throttle Cable Kits for KTM and Husky two-strokes, including the 2021-2022 KTM SX 125, 150 and 250cc models, and the 2021-on Husqvarna TC125 and 250. Developed and precision made in their UK factory, Venhill control cables and hydraulic hoses are trusted by some of the World’s leading MX teams like World Champion Jacky Martens’ JM Honda Racing and Big Van World MTX Kawasaki.

Venhill’s Powerhose Plus brake lines feature a DuPont® Teflon® core for improved heat resistance, more efficient fluid flow and increased braking force. They’re wrapped in a marine-grade stainless braid and bonded PVC jacket for protection and use threaded swivel fittings for zero-twist positioning. Refined since their introduction in 1993, Venhill’s Featherlight clutch and throttle cables deliver improved performance and durability along with smoother action.Each one features marine-grade stainless steel inner wire and a 'teflon' PTFE liner for minimum friction and a lighter action.  They’re also ‘Bird-caged' – a special process applied to the end of the inner wire, which allows solder to penetrate the weave of the cable, making the bond with the nipple much stronger. Free to download from Venhill’s website, the updated catalogue is designed for quick and easy use, with all bikes listed alphabetically along with corresponding Vehill part numbers for fuss-free ordering online or by phone. Download a copy at www.venhill.co.uk/application-downloads/ Visit the Venhill site for further details www.venhill.co.uk For more aftermarket news check out our dedicated page Venhill Latest News To order Venhill cables or hoses, with or without additional length, visit www.venhill.co.uk

Read the full article

[katiehuerteruncensored]

URGENT Action Alert: The colonial Israeli regime is planning to expel 1,000+ Palestinian people from their homes in Masafer Yatta soon. Take Action now to #DefendMasaferYatta! Less than a week after Israel’s most far-right extremist government has come to power, Palestinians in Masafer Yatta in the occupied West Bank are under immediate threat of home demolitions and displacement from their land by Israel. The previous Israeli government had already been demolishing their homes and schools, laying the groundwork for what would be the largest forced displacement of Palestinians since 1967. Over the last few days, Israeli soldiers have acted on these threats, demolishing over half a dozen homes and structures in Masafer Yatta in a deeply disturbing escalation against Palestinian residents there. AJP Action once again calls on Congress to act immediately to halt these displacements, and to demand that the State Department rebuke Israel for any escalation of its crimes against Palestinian civilians living under illegal Israeli occupation. It is high time for the US to condition its military funding to Israel with respect to human rights and international law. Israel’s demolition of Palestinian homes and businesses constitutes a war crime under international humanitarian law, specifically the Fourth Geneva Convention which cites “extensive destruction and appropriation of property” and “unlawful deportation or transfer” as grave breaches of international law. Israel’s actions are subject to criminal liability, and the legal concept of universal jurisdiction obligates State Parties to the Fourth Geneva Convention to arrest and prosecute those responsible for grave breaches of the Convention. Take action today against injustice and stand for Palestine! https://palestine.salsalabs.org/masafaryattajan2023/index.html?eType=EmailBlastContent&eId=18d874d3-fd8c-47a8-b61a-b8d9f8694f0e (at Yatta) https://www.instagram.com/p/CnON143M8wW/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[ravnlghtft]

[catilinas]

i know your focus is latin, but do you have any favorite articles/scholarship on the iliad you'd recommend? you seem to know a lot about it, and pairing those with the text worked great for me with the odyssey, but for iliad specific texts i don't know where to start 😳 thanks either way!

hellooo i am going to copy and paste the iliad section of the bibliography from the module i took on epic poetry. i havent read Everything on here but it was intended to be Introductory so it should help! bolded is stuff that i remember being Extra Good

AUSTIN, N. (1994), Helen of Troy and her shameless phantom, Ithaca.

CAIRNS, D., ed. (2002), Oxford Readings in Homer’s Iliad, Oxford.

COLLINS, C., Studies in Characterisation in the Iliad, Frankfurt.

CROTTY, K. (1994), The Poetics of Supplication, Ithaca.

EDWARDS, M. (1987), Homer: Poet of the Iliad, Baltimore.

LYNN-GEORGE, M. (1987), Epos: Word, Narrative and the Iliad, Basingstoke.

MACLEOD, C. (1980), Iliad 24: A Commentary, Cambridge. [Introduction]

MUELLNER, L. (1996), The Wrath of Achilles, Ithaca.

NAGY, G. (1975),.The Best of the Achaeans: Concepts of the Hero in Archaic Greek Poetry, Baltimore.

POSTLETHWAITE, N. (2000) Homer’s Iliad. A Commentary on the Translation of Richmond Lattimore, Exeter.

RABEL, R. (1990), ‘Apollo as a model for Achilles in the Iliad’, AJP 111, 429-40.

REDFIELD, J. (1994), Nature and Culture in the Iliad, 2nd edn, Durham NC.

SLATKIN, L. (1991), The Power of Thetis: Allusion and Interpretation in the Iliad, Berkeley.

SCHEIN, S. (1984), The Mortal Hero: An Introduction to Homer’s Iliad, Berkeley.

SCULLY, S. (1990), Homer and the Sacred City, Ithaca.

SEGAL, C. (1970), The Theme of Mutilation of the Corpse in the Iliad, Oxford.

SILK, M. (1987), Homer: the Iliad, Cambridge.

TAPLIN, O. (1992), Homeric Soundings, Oxford.

VIVANTE, P. (1991), The Iliad: Action as Poetry, Boston.

WILLCOCK, M. (1976) A Companion to the Iliad Based on the Translation by Richmond Lattimore, Chicago.

WILSON, D. (2002), Ransom, Revenge and Heroic Identity in the Iliad, Cambridge.

ZANKER, G. (1994), The Heart of Achilles, Ann Arbor.

also not on this list but useful / personal faves are

the blackwell companion to ancient epic - j.m. foley (ed.) and particularly nagy's chapter on epic heroism (also this book can be found online. eye emoji)

in fact it's always a good idea to check various brill/cambridge/blackwell companions to [topic] bcs they Exist to give you a cool and scholarly introduction!

the language of achilles - adam parry. hhhhhhhhhhhh. i die

[plethoraworldatlas]

Wednesday, May 1, 2024 — New York, NY — Last night, Columbia University students were ambushed by hundreds of New York Police Department officers in a surprise attack on the student encampment calling for divestment from Israeli apartheid and genocidal warfare. 

Over a hundred students were arrested as police used ladders to climb into a university building, “pushed protesters to the ground and slammed them with metal barricades.” One student was thrown down a flight of stairs, according to video footage, as hundreds more called for the police to stand down. The NYPD Strategic Response Group marched on students with riot gear and broke into university buildings—at the request of the university President Minouche Shafik. 

The NYPD wreaked terror on Columbia’s student body last night. They violently dispersed protestors and have been invited by Shafik to occupy the campus through graduation to ensure no protest tents are set up on the campus’s public spaces again. 

“We have never seen more lawlessness in recent months than when Columbia University deployed droves of law enforcement on their own students who have for weeks exercised their First Amendment rights—and rights as students—to demand that investments in Israel’s war machine end immediately amid the genocide of over 34,000 Palestinians in Gaza,” said Dr. Osama Abu Irshaid, Executive Director of Americans for Justice in Palestine Action.

AJP Action condemns Columbia University’s abdication of its responsibility to student rights and student safety. University leaders have a responsibility to uphold academic freedom, including students’ constitutionally-protected right to protest. 

We call on the Department of Education to investigate Columbia University’s collaboration with the NYPD to attack students despite documentation of students’ consistently peaceful protests. The attacks have disparate impacts on Palestinian, Muslim, and other students of color on campus and endangers all students for exercising their rights. This follows a trend across the country. At least one Muslim student at Arizona State University was handcuffed by police last night as well before officers ripped her hijab off; she was seated and did not resist arrest. 

Not only has Columbia University failed to protect its Palestinian, Arab, and Muslim students in particular, it has allowed all Palestine solidarity activists in its community to be subject to public doxxing and attacks by faculty, staff, members of foreign militaries, and elected officials alike. The university has testified against these students in Congress and mischaracterized their peaceful protests in order to repress views unpopular with major donors and pro-Israel Members of Congress.

AJP Action expresses staunch support for the students and their demands—along with the demands and rights of students across the country: at UCLA, Yale, University of Minnesota, University of Texas, University of Wisconsin - Madison, and at dozens more campuses that have been attacked by law enforcement at the behest of university leadership. We also call on President Biden to condemn attacks on students and heed the popular movement to end support for Israel’s war in Gaza and to pursue diplomatic pathways to peace. 

As students seek legal action for the attacks yesterday, we stand by them and bear witness to the clear violations of their democratic rights and the widespread attacks on the integrity of higher education institutions in the U.S.