#American Hospitality Solutions

[thedoorbutlerdoorstop]

DJMCW Hotel Supplies LLC

Website: https://www.thedoorbutlerdoorstop.com

Address: Rochester, New York, United States

DJMCW Hotel Supplies LLC, based in Rochester, NY, specializes in providing innovative solutions to the hospitality industry. Founded by David McWhinney, a veteran with over 20 years of experience in hospitality, the company addresses common challenges faced by hotel facilities. Their flagship products include The Door Butler doorstop™ and The Bed Butler, an alternative to pillow straps for mobile sleepers. These products, patented and made in the USA, are designed to enhance the efficiency, safety, and elegance of hotel operations. DJMCW Hotel Supplies is committed to offering practical solutions that have been tested and proven across various hotel departments in the United States and beyond.

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/djmcwllc/

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[slyandthefamilybook]

since we now know that all those "my blog is safe for Jewish people" posts are bullshit, here are some Jewish organizations you can donate to if you actually want to prove you support Jews. put up or shut up

FIGHTING HUNGER

Masbia - Kosher soup kitchens in New York

MAZON - Practices and promotes a multifaceted approach to hunger relief, recognizing the importance of responding to hungry peoples' immediate need for nutrition and sustenance while also working to advance long-term solutions

Tomchei Shabbos - Provides food and other supplies so that poor Jews can celebrate the Sabbath and the Jewish holidays

FINANCIAL AID

Ahavas Yisrael - Providing aid for low-income Jews in Baltimore

Hebrew Free Loan Society - Provides interest-free loans to low-income Jews in New York and more

GLOBAL AID

American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee - Offers aid to Jewish populations in Central and Eastern Europe as well as in the Middle East through a network of social and community assistance programs. In addition, the JDC contributes millions of dollars in disaster relief and development assistance to non-Jewish communities

American Jewish World Service - Fighting poverty and advancing human rights around the world

Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society - Providing aid to immigrants and refugees around the world

Jewish World Watch - Dedicated to fighting genocides around the world

MEDICAL AID

Sharsheret - Support for cancer patients, especially breast cancer

SOCIAL SERVICES

The Aleph Institute - Provides support and supplies for Jews in prison and their families, and helps Jewish convicts reintegrate into society

Bet Tzedek - Free legal services in LA

Bikur Cholim - Providing support including kosher food for Jews who have been hospitalized in the US, Australia, Canada, Brazil, and Israel

Blue Card Fund - Critical aid for holocaust survivors

Chai Lifeline - An org that's very close to my heart. They help families with members with disabilities in Baltimore

Chana - Support network for Jews in Baltimore facing domestic violence, sexual abuse, and elder abuse

Community Alliance for Jewish-Affiliated Cemetaries - Care of abandoned and at-risk Jewish cemetaries

Crown Heights Central Jewish Community Council - Provides services to community residents including assistance to the elderly, housing, employment and job training, youth services, and a food bank

Hands On Tzedakah - Supports essential safety-net programs addressing hunger, poverty, health care and disaster relief, as well as scholarship support to students in need

Hebrew Free Burial Association

Jewish Board of Family and Children's Services - Programs include early childhood and learning, children and adolescent services, mental health outpatient clinics for teenagers, people living with developmental disabilities, adults living with mental illness, domestic violence and preventive services, housing, Jewish community services, counseling, volunteering, and professional and leadership development

Jewish Caring Network - Providing aid for families facing serious illnesses

Jewish Family Service - Food security, housing stability, mental health counseling, aging care, employment support, refugee resettlement, chaplaincy, and disability services

Jewish Relief Agency - Serving low-income families in Philadelphia

Jewish Social Services Agency - Supporting people’s mental health, helping people with disabilities find meaningful jobs, caring for older adults so they can safely age at home, and offering dignity and comfort to hospice patients

Jewish Women's Foundation Metropolitan Chicago - Aiding Jewish women in Chicago

Metropolitan Council on Jewish Poverty - Crisis intervention and family violence services, housing development funds, food programs, career services, and home services

Misaskim - Jewish death and burial services

Our Place - Mentoring troubled Jewish adolescents and to bring awareness of substance abuse to teens and children

Tiferes Golda - Special education for Jewish girls in Baltimore

Yachad - Support for Jews with disabilities

[funkopersonal]

Im quite literally so done with this shit. i keep on going back and forth between hiding all the i/p related tags, but then I realize that its seeped EVERYWHERE. It's in the motherhood tag, and jewish history tag, and everything else. I can't fucking escape it. I opened tiktok yesterday to see one of my favorite characters (iron man) weaponized to support the one group that wants to see me dead, the user saying that iron man would support palestine, and be an antizionist because he "spoke out against the public" and he wasn't like the sheep. It frustrates me to no end this horrible cycle of fucking misinformation that exists.

As a Gen Z, I simply do not understand how its reached this point? I can't even write all my feelings and information about how shitty this is in a single sitting because 1) it'd be too long and 2) my joints wont let me write that long. But how did it reach this point?

How did it reach the point where jewish/isreali stores are fucking marked to notify the public. Their windows are being broken and the stores are being robbed. How did it reach the point where jewish students on some campuses are told to stay home? how they're harassed out of specific areas, and campuses have been made unsafe? How did it reach the point that people literally have written "I ♡ Houthis & Hamas" and "no mercy for Jews."? How did it reach the point that there are nazi symbols, and hanging deadmans, and communist symbols being drawn on college campuses? How is it possible that students are calling for the end of jewish student unions and hillel international on campus? that'd be like calling for the end of the fucking muslim student organization, or disbanding an african-american affinity group. Which would never be acceptable, but apparently its fine when its jews.

I'm sick and tired of all the horrible conditions of palestenian cities being blamed on israel. Palestine is its own country. They had their own government until they elected Hamas to lead them. Hamas, who diverted all their funds to the military. Hamas, who uses hospitals and public spaces as their bases. Hamas, who built miitary tunnels under cities so that when they're invaded, the cities will collapse on itself. Hamas, who steals all humanitarian aid from its citizens. Hamas, who controls palestenian media and teaches hatred to its children. Hamas, who wants their citizens to become martyrs for their country, to die for their goal. Hamas, whose number one goal is to eradicate all jews. Hamas, who denies the existence of the holocaust. Hamas, who enlists children as soldiers and suicide bombers. Hamas, who has has never expressed an interest in a 2 state solution.

Is this the organization you consider freedom fighters? because i dont think they should ever, in any context, be called that. Hamas is nothing but terrorists.

Yes, the deaths and treatment of palestenian citizens is horrible. but no, this is not a genocide. Israel is trying to rid them of Hamas, because quite literally, no country should ever be forced to live in "harmony" with a terrorist group. Especially one who denies their existence and actively wants to kill them all. Israel has been letting palestenians get jobs in the country, has let palestine use their resources and water, all for years. They've let hamas continously bomb them, they've gotten used to a life of bomb shelters in every residence. Hamas has done nothing but crippled their country's own economy and society.

None of the surrounding coutnries want to let in palestenians, or live with palestenians. Egypt wants to annex Gaza, and Jordan wants the West Bank. In fact, they did own that land for a part of history! Yet Israel has let palestenians govern themselves for years, even when Hamas originally came into power, they didn't interfere. Not until they were provoked.

Yes, Israel has flaws. But welcome to the fucking real world, princess. Every country has flaws. Even America, you dipshits. This is not a little fandom for you to play sides on. its not some fictional world that has a black and white solution. Yes theres going to be deaths, just like in any other WAR. But you really can't call for the destruction of a country on the basis that they're trying to make sure they're allowed to stay a country? Because guess what honey bunchkins? "from the river to the sea" really doesn't mean what you think it does. It just means that you want to kill all jews, or at best, forcefully remove them and scatter them around the middle east. (to countries that have killed them in swaths in the past. To countries that have emprisoned jews for helping others escape. To countries that avidly hate jews and want them dead). I don't understand how that would mean peace in any way shape or form?

Not only that, but half of "protestors" and "activists" for palestine, haven't even done basic research. They dont know what river or sea theyre talking about. They dont know that "palestine" was not a palestenian state in 1948, but it was instead a BRITISH MANDATE, that was NOT fully occupied by palestenians. In fact, "palestenians" weren't a thing. Palestenians are just muslims and arabs from countries like syria, who lived alongside jews and christians in the same land (which was largely uninhabited for the most part). Yeah, you heard me right.

Honestly my thoughts on this issue are so scattered its so hard to make a solid points when I can just keep on going forever.

Fact is, Israel deserves to be a country. No one should be supporting Hamas. Everyone should be supporting the eradication of Hamas (and I mean Hamas not palestenian citizens). I don't get how these are debated, and seriously don't understand how citizens of america are so quick to support a terrorist group, to resort to antisemitism.

Im so done with this all. I cant believe we have to tell you gentiles that stoning a 13-year old kid for being jewish is horrible. That throwing a brick through an israeli-owned cafe in New York is horrible. That students not being able to be on campuses because of their religion or ethnicity is horrible.

This has to end.

Do your research, or don't speak (and terrorist-controlled propoganda channels don't count).

[reasonsforhope]

Note: Reasons to Be Cheerful has had weirdly huge formatting issues for the past six or so months, so if that version is a mess, this link should work better.

"Florida Power & Light Company (FPL), the Sunshine State’s largest power utility, employs all the people you might expect: electricians, lineworkers, mechanical engineers — and a few you might not. For over 40 years, the company has kept a team of wildlife biologists on staff. Their task? Monitoring the giant carnivorous reptiles that reside in one of the state’s nuclear power plants. 

Saving the American Crocodile

What sounds like a low-budget creature feature is actually a wildly successful conservation story. It goes like this: In 1975, the shy and reclusive American crocodile was facing extinction. Over-hunting and habitat decline caused by encroaching development had pushed its numbers to a record low. By 1975, when it was listed as endangered under the Endangered Species Act, there were only 200 to 300 left. 

Three years later, in 1978, workers at the Turkey Point nuclear power plant in Homestead, Florida happened upon something that must have made them gasp: a crocodile nest along one of the plant’s 5,900-acre “cooling canals.” Rather than drive the crocs away — perhaps the easiest solution — FPL hired a team of biologists and implemented a Crocodile Management Plan. Its goal was unconventional: provide a suitable habitat for the crocs within the workings of the nuclear power plant, allowing both to coexist.  

Over the course of the next 30 years, FPL’s wildlife biologists monitored nests, tagged hatchlings and generally created a hospitable environment for the reptiles. As it turned out, the plant’s cooling canals provided an ideal habitat: drained earth that never floods on which to lay eggs directly adjacent to water. Over the years, more and more crocs made the cooling canals home. By 1985, the nests at Turkey Point were responsible for 10 percent of American crocodile hatchlings in South Florida. In 2007, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service downgraded the American crocodile’s status from endangered to threatened, singling out FPL for its efforts. 

The program continues to this day. To date, biologists have tagged some 7,000 babies born at the plant. In 2021, there were a record-setting 565 crocodile hatchlings at the Turkey Point facility. 

"Reconciliation Ecology"

Turkey Point’s efforts are an example of what is known in the conservation world as “reconciliation ecology.” Rather than create separate areas where nature or animals can thrive in isolation from humans, reconciliation ecology suggests that we can blend the rich natural world with the world of human activity. Michael Rosenzweig, an emeritus professor of ecology and evolutionary biology at the University of Arizona, was a leading force in establishing this concept. The author of Win-Win Ecology: How the Earth’s Species can Survive in the Midst of Human Enterprise, Rosenzweig has pointed out that although human encroachment has typically been considered a threat to biodiversity, the notion that the world must be either “holy” or “profane,” ecologically speaking, is simply not true.  

“In addition to its primary value as a conservation tool, reconciliation ecology offers a valuable social byproduct,” writes Rosenzweig in his first chapter. “It promises to reduce the endless bickering and legal wrangling that characterize environmental issues today.”

-via Reasons to Be Cheerful, May 5, 2022. Article continues below. All headings added by me for added readability.

Dr. Madhusudan Katti, an associate professor in the Department of Forestry and Environmental Resources at North Carolina State University, was inspired by Rosenzweig when he did his postdoc at Arizona State. Katti has now been in the field of reconciliation ecology for two decades and teaches classes on the subject. “To me it’s finding solutions to reconciling human development with biodiversity conservation,” Katti says.

This common ground between development and conservation can be consciously planned, like FPL managing a crocodile habitat at a nuclear power plant or the state-sponsored vertical gardens and commercial farms on high-rise buildings in Singapore. Other examples include the restoration of the coral reef around an undersea restaurant in Eilat, Israel, or recent legislation in New York City requiring patterned glass on high-rise buildings, making windows more visible to migratory birds. Other planned examples of reconciliation ecology can be more individually scaled: a rooftop garden in an urban setting, modifying your garden to earn a “backyard bird habitat” certification from the Audubon Society, or even just mowing your lawn less often...

Reconciliation Ecology: Nature's Already Doing It Without Us

But there are countless examples of “accidental” incidents of reconciliation ecology, as well. One of Katti’s favorites is the kit fox of California’s San Joaquin Valley. “The kit fox was one of the very first species listed on the Endangered Species Act,” Katti says. Its decline was caused by habitat loss through agricultural and industrial development, as well as the extermination of the gray wolf population, which led to an increase in coyotes. So kit foxes adapted and moved to new habitats. One of these was the city of Bakersfield, California.

“Bakersfield, surrounded by oil pumps, would be the last place you’d expect to find an endangered species,” Katti says. But researchers think kit foxes have migrated to Bakersfield because they actually have more protection there from predators like coyotes and bobcats. “The kit foxes have figured out that if they can tolerate the human disturbance and live with people, then they are safer from all these other predators,” he says. 

Living in the city has led to some interesting behavioral changes. In the wild, for instance, a female kit fox gives birth to her young and raises them by herself in a den. But in the city, researchers have observed multiple females raising their litters together in the same den. “It’s like a form of cooperative breeding,” Katti says. “That wouldn’t happen in the wild.” ...

The Big Picture: How We Think about Conservation

Reconciliation Ecology isn’t just we humans welcoming animals like crocodiles and foxes into our environments, though. It’s also living with nature in a way that most Western societies haven’t done since the Enlightenment. “In recent years, there’s been a recognition that the ‘fortress conservation’ model — keeping nature separated from humans and not thinking of or valuing human-inhabited landscapes — those ideas are outdated,” says Katti.

In fact, in Katti’s classes on reconciliation ecology, he embraces the notion of reconnecting people with their land if they have been unjustly separated from it. “The term reconciliation also applies to all the colonial legacies where both nature and people have been harmed,” Katti says. “For Indigenous communities, the harm done to ecosystems, it’s happened together. So you can talk about addressing both. That’s where a lot of my thinking is at the moment.” 

A hopeful version of this sort of reconciliation is happening in California where colleagues of Katti’s who are tribal members are re-introducing “tribal burns” in some areas. Controlled burns have been a part of many Indigenous cultures for millenia, both as a way to prevent devastating forest fires, but also to encourage the growth of certain plants like hazel that are used for basket-weaving and other crafts. 

“The notion that people don’t belong there and ‘let nature take care of itself’ doesn’t really work,” Katti says. “That’s the legacy of Western European Enlightenment thinking — a divide between human and nature. That is a real faulty view of nature. People have been part of the ecosystem forever.”

-via Reasons to Be Cheerful, May 5, 2022

[fullhalalalchemist]

🚨🚨🚨URGENT PLEASE READ AND REBLOG

dec 13, 2022

we literally have just a few days to act. the senate is debating about putting KOSA, the Kids Online Safety Act, into the omnibus spending bill. if it is added, it WILL pass. despite the title and content of the bill seeming to be about protecting kids, we know everytime someone claims they are "saving the children" they have more sinister goals

which is why Senator Blumenthal is working with one of the biggest transphobes in the senate, Marsha Blackburn, to force this bill through, and claiming they are listening to LGBT voices when they are blatantly ignoring us.

essentially this bill gives every state attorney generals the power to remove anything they deem 'harmful' to kids online. you can see how a state like Texas or Florida would run with that, yes? it also forces you to upload your government ID online to access the internet. the bill will create a 'commission' led by handpicked members of the govt to oversee what is and isn't allowed online. it will lead to mass censorship of anything related to race or LGBT content. in a post-Roe world too? say goodbye to any abortion/sex-related info.

they are doing a shit ton of PR for this, including claiming they are listening to LGBT voices. i mean just look.

two weeks ago, 90+ human rights, LGBT, and tech orgs signed onto an open letter telling Senators NOT to pass this bill. in response, over 230 orgs led by the American Psychological Association signed a letter urging senators to. it's really fucking bad. like i can't sleep because of this. i didn't expect this to happen. we really really need people to speak up.

if this bill goes through it will literally kill off the internet as we know it

sign the open letter and petitions against KOSA here

the best way to fight against this bill is to call these specific senators (if you have dem senators, call them too)

nancy pelosi (202) 225-4965 roger wicker (202) 224-6253 chuck schumer (202) 224-6542 maria cantwell (202) 224-3441

call script below:

For Wicker only:

I'm calling because I'm asking the Senator to vote no on KOSA S.3663 from being added to the omnibus and being put through the Senate. The re-released text of the bill is still not adequate enough, and it's being rushed. This bill does not belong in an omnibus anyway. As a Gen Z, I also want to protect kids. I've been there. But this language is not ready yet. It should not move forward at all.

Hello Senator __:

My name is _, and I strongly urge you to oppose the dangerously misguided KOSA bill from being added to the omnibus spending bill. Bills like this should not be included in spending bills. Over 90 human rights and LGBT organizations have spoken out against this bill.

KOSA gives state attorney generals full power to sue any website if they see it has anything that is “inappropriate for children”'. For the past year, Republicans claimed everything LGBT is “grooming” children and we ended up with a shooting in Colorado and bomb threats sent to hospitals, NO senator should support a bill with vague phrasing like this. Before that, they successful removed books on race due to "CRT". This gives them a pass to do this to the entire internet. KOSA will only lead to more harm towards minorities and LGBT youth across the nation by censoring everything online.

The Heritage Foundation said they will use KOSA to target LGBT kids, specifically trans kids. In a post-Roe world, they will even use KOSA to censor resources on abortion. Anything they dislike will be targeted.

A bill this huge and this impactful should not be added to any spending bill. Even if it was a small bill, it has nothing to do with the omnibus spending bill and shouldn't be added at ALL. It needs more time being discussed. There should be hearings on it as well

We all care about kids mental health. We all want to hold Big Tech accountable, but this is NOT it. This will give Big Tech more power while taking away resources from the most vulnerable children. It is not the solution.

Please, do NOT support this bill. Do the right thing, and VOTE NO on KOSA.

[bamgyw]

right, so he won.

we tend to be cynical and laugh him off, but it’s so painfully clear and scary how this ignorant fucking narcissist cosplaying as the poor man's idea of a wealthy man could become president of the united states—not once, but twice.

a man who seems barely literate, whose statements have been nothing but blatant, poorly constructed lies, yet he’s secured power. again. and while i can’t fully predict the implications, i know they don’t look good.

i fear for american citizens trapped in a dystopian neoliberal state where food is made of plastic and a lack of money can cost you your life on a hospital gurney.

i fear for europe, also scarred by fascism and blindly following the united states. every week for the past year, our prime ministers have appeared on television, warning us to prepare to defend our values in coming wars, most, if not all of which, are initiated by the u.s.

i fear for the palestinian people, undergoing a fucking genocide at the hands of israel—a state powered by the immense machinery of the american arms industry. if the u.s. withdrew its support, israel would be forced to stop. they're nothing. a flimsy geopolitical construct fuelled by pure evil. but like israel, the united states is a settler colony, built on the displacement, massacre, and erasure of the people who originally lived there. they both justify their actions as a divine mission for the land they claim was promised by god. imperialistic bullshit.

i fear that palestinians have lost their last glimmer of hope and the faint promise of a two-state solution that even kamala harris claimed to defend. flawed and half-hearted as it was, it at least held the possibility of a ceasefire.

i fear for trans and racialized people in the united states, who have become primary targets of brutal, baseless hate speech, a rhetoric now normalized among more than half the american electorate.

i’m not going to take the easy route—the classist one—and say that a bunch of uneducated rednecks voted for another uneducated redneck.

truth is, we’re living in unsafe times, and that fear makes us vulnerable to hoaxes, propaganda, and manipulation. education was supposed to be the antidote—the tool to help us see when politicians are lying, when a vulnerable group is scapegoated for society’s problems. and yet, here we are, repeating history. it’s been less than a century since world war II, and a fascist has been voted into power.

i don’t know why i felt the need to go off on this tangent, but this issue is global, and it’s genuinely terrifying. i don’t trust our politicians. it feels like being abandoned by a parent—the state, which is supposed to protect us, leaving us to fend for ourselves. we've seen that with hurricane milton, with the floods in valencia.

many of us have never had to experience extreme poverty or coexist with death, so it’s easy and fun to live blissfully unaware. but we’d better hope it stays that way. and i also hope that instead of letting our fear turn into paralyzing anxiety, we can make the effort of turning it into determined, militant anger.

and yeah… that’s about it, i think. there’s a lot i haven’t mentioned, a lot of people, a lot of rights lost today. but i haven’t slept. i’m really tired. gonna sleep bye.

[theambitiouswoman]

How To Spot Opportunities

Opportunities are all around us, waiting to be recognized and seized. In conversation, in something you see, even in your own thoughts. Learning how to spot opportunities can lead you to growth and success. People often tend to overlook them, believing that they only come to certain people. The truth is that opportunities are available to everyone. We just need to change our perspective and learn how to identify them.

The Mindset:

Openness to Possibilities: Adopt a mindset that looks for possibilities in any situation. Instead of focusing solely on obstacles, view every challenge as an opportunity to innovate and grow. This shift in perspective opens the door to potential breakthroughs.

Adaptability: Being flexible and adaptable is key to spotting opportunities. Embrace change and be willing to venture outside your comfort zone. Adaptability helps you see potential where others might only see disruptions.

Positive Attitude: A positive attitude can work wonders in identifying opportunities. When you maintain optimism, you're more likely to recognize the silver lining in challenging circumstances, leading to the discovery of new pathways.

Always Learning: Embrace a curious mindset. Continuing to learn exposes you to new ideas and helps you stay ahead in a rapidly changing world, enabling you to recognize emerging opportunities before others do.

Examples of Spotting Opportunities:

The Airbnb Story: In 2008, two struggling entrepreneurs, Brian Chesky and Joe Gebbia, saw a unique opportunity in the midst of a sold-out conference in their city. With hotels fully booked, they decided to rent out air mattresses in their living room, turning their apartment into an "air bed and breakfast." This marked the inception of Airbnb, which has since become a multi-billion dollar global enterprise, disrupting the hospitality industry.

From Hobby to Empire: Many successful businesses have started as hobbies. For example, Dov Charney, the founder of American Apparel, began making simple t-shirts for himself. When people showed interest in his designs, he realized the opportunity to create a clothing brand that offered stylish basics, catapulting his hobby into a thriving fashion empire.

Turning Failure into Success: Walt Disney's first animation studio went bankrupt. While many would have given up, Disney saw an opportunity to learn from his mistakes and create a new, revolutionary entertainment venture. The result? The birth of Mickey Mouse and the eventual establishment of the global Disney empire.

Networking: Opportunities often lie within our social circles. A chance encounter at a networking event led to the founding of YouTube when Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim connected with early PayPal employees who provided funding for their video-sharing platform.

You can train yourself to spot opportunities in the most unexpected places. The examples shared above show that success often comes from recognizing potential in everyday situations.

How to train your mind to spot opportunities:

1. Actively Listen: Listen to what the other person is saying. Avoid interrupting or preoccupying your mind with what you will say next. Paying full attention allows you to pick up on cues, insights, and potential areas of mutual interest.

2. Identify Pain Points: While you are listening, look for challenges or frustrations the other person may mention.These pain points could represent opportunities for you to provide a solution or offer assistance.

3. Explore people's Interests: Discover the other person's passions and interests. You might find common ground, or their interests might spark ideas for potential collaborations or projects.

4. Ask Questions: Ask open-ended questions that encourage the other person to share more about themselves and their goals. Ask them about their aspirations and how they plan to achieve them. Seeing how people arrive from one point to another will better help you exercise your minds and use problem solving strategies as a way of looking at things moving forward.

5. Be Curious: Approach conversations with a curious and open mindset. Be receptive to new ideas and different perspectives.

6. Networking: Use conversations as an opportunity to network and build relationships. Meaningful connections often lead to new opportunities down the road, whether it's a job opportunity, collabs, or a chance to participate in new projects.

7. Body Language: Pay attention to non-verbal cues and body language. Sometimes, opportunities can be inferred from the other person's gestures, expressions, or tone of voice.

8. Problem-Solving and Offering Help: If the conversation veers towards a problem the other person is facing, think about how you might be able to help.

9. Be Proactive: Don't be afraid to share your own aspirations and ideas during the conversation. Sometimes, expressing your interests and goals can lead you to opportunities when the other person sees potential in working with you in some capacity.

10. Following-Up and Staying Connected: After a productive conversation, make an effort to follow up and stay connected. This can potentially lead to more opportunities as you continue to build a better relationship with the other person.

[dandelionsresilience]

Good News - August 1-7

Like these weekly compilations? Tip me at $kaybarr1735 or check out my new(ly repurposed) Patreon!

1. Zoo hails birth of 'one of world's rarest animals'

“[Jasper] the Persian onager was born to mum Azita after a year-long pregnancy. […] Conservationists at the zoo said there are less than 600 surviving wild onagers[, … which] only survive in two small, protected areas in Iran, a Chester Zoo spokesman said. […] Mike Jordan, animal and plant director at Chester Zoo, […] said Jasper is "doing very well" and added that "mum Azita is doing a fantastic job of nurturing and bonding with her new charge". "He’s full of energy and enjoys playfully kicking up sand as he races around his habitat", Mr Jordan added.”

2. Charity creates 50 community orchards in city

“Community orchards are returning to Birmingham, with the aim of teaching people how to grow their own food and be part of the solution to climate change. […] Once established, the long-term aim is to distribute the produce to those most in need, but local people are also invited to pick the odd bit of fruit. […] By planting trees and plants and encouraging biodiversity back to these areas the charity is also doing its bit to help climate change. They even use locally sourced wood chip which helps to put carbon back into the soil. […T]he hope is that these edible landscapes can also be enjoyed by local people for years to come.”

3. Farmer-led badger vaccination could revolutionize mission to tackle bovine TB

“[… T]he results of a four-year pilot badger vaccination program co-managed between farmers, scientists, and conservationists […] show the percentage of badgers testing positive for bovine tuberculosis (bTB) in the study area dropped from 16% to 0%[….] While most bTB incidents in cattle are caused by transmission between herds, transmission from wild badgers plays a role in the persistence of the disease. […] Blood sampling showed that the proportion of badgers with bTB fell even though overall badger numbers remained high[….]”

4. Every Colorado Anti-Trans Ballot Initiative Fails To Collect Enough Signatures

“Anti-transgender politics are becoming increasingly unpopular in polls. […] A recent LA Times/NORC poll found that 77% of voters believe elected officials use transgender debates to divert attention from more pressing issues. The poll also showed significant opposition to forced outing policies. […] A Gallup poll published in June revealed that while Americans have mixed views on the morality of transitioning, the majority oppose bans on gender-affirming care for trans youth. […] “The fact that they could not get enough signatures, barely half, to be placed on the ballot shows they lack support from everyday voters.”

5. In a fight to save a rare bird, Indigenous communities in Guyana are winning

“The partnership [between Indigenous communities and Smithsonian researchers] sparked a decades-long community-led conservation movement that has protected the red siskin and helped locals reconnect with nature. [… T]he South Rupununi Conservation Society […] established one of the country’s first conservation zones to protect the species, covering 75,000 hectares (185,000 acres) of Indigenous land. […] To plant the seeds of conservation, they’ve implemented an after-school program in more than 16 communities, [introducing children] to ecological research and surveying, and also [teaching] about Indigenous culture and tradition, including fire management skills.”

6. North Adams hospital gets federal designation which pays for health care in rural areas

“[The hospital] received a federal designation on Wednesday that is key to its long-term financial stability. […] The designation pays for staffing regardless of the number of patients[… and] “works to resolve stark inequities in rural and underserved communities as it relates to our nation’s health system."”

7. Andrea Vidaurre: Leading the clean transportation revolution

“Thanks to Vidaurre’s relentless advocacy and strong community support, these regulations introduced the first national standards for train emissions and set a groundbreaking goal for all freight trucks to be zero-emission by 2036. This initiative promises cleaner air for Californians and paves the way for a zero-emission vehicle future across the country. Studies predict these measures will prevent thousands of respiratory illnesses and save countless lives in the coming decades.”

8. Boston announces a new climate resilience office

“Through its Climate Ready Boston initiative, the city has worked to […] design creative adaptation plans with community input[, …] includ[ing] everything from redesigning waterfront parks and planting more trees, to modernizing the city’s underground sewer system[….] The Office of Climate Resilience will be in charge of coordinating work across city departments and with community groups[….]”

9. Combining Green Thumbs and Sustainable Fashion in a Swap Event

“This unique plant and clothing swap event in NSW is championing both environmental and fashion sustainability through native plants and preloved clothing. […] To participate in the plant swap, attendees brought their environmental weeds in a bag to the Council stall and exchanged them for free native plants. […] The event sparked valuable community conversations about the benefits of plant and clothes swaps, the impact of textile waste[, …] support a circular economy and combine a love for nature with practical, eco-friendly practices.”

10. Growing Green Spaces to Protect the Endangered Regent Parrot

“On Schools Tree Day, celebrated on 26 July, students from a local NSW school planted trees and shrubs to create crucial forage habitat for the endangered Regent Parrot, enhancing local biodiversity. […] Approximately 50 [… plants of] native species were chosen for their ecological benefits, helping to attract native birds, bees and butterflies while providing essential habitat and food. […] They [also] raise awareness about the regent parrot, encourage conservation efforts and emphasise the importance of protecting local wildlife. Additionally, conserving [the regent parrot] supports the health of their ecosystem by helping with in [sic] seed dispersal and maintaining plant diversity.”

July 22-28 news here | (all credit for images and written material can be found at the source linked; I don’t claim credit for anything but curating.)

[the-garbanzo-annex-jr]

by Victor Davis Hanson

Scan news accounts of anti-Israel campus and street protestors. Read their demands and manifestos. Collate the confusion after October 7 from the Biden administration.

“Progressive Hamas”: Gay and transgendered student protestors in America would be in mortal danger in Gaza under a fascistic Hamas that has banned homosexual acts and lifestyles. Anyone protesting publicly against Hamas or its allies would be arrested and severely punished.

Women are segregated in most Hamas-run educational institutions. Under the Hamas charter, women are valued mostly as child-bearers. By design, there are almost no women in high positions in business or in government under Hamas.

“Colonists and Settlers”: Students scream that Israelis are “settlers” and “colonists” and sometimes yell at Jewish students to “go back to Poland.”

But the Jewish presence in present-day Israel is deeply rooted in ancient tradition. Dating back at least three millennia, the concept of “Israel” as a distinct Jewish state, situated roughly in its current location, is ingrained in history.

By contrast, the much later Arab invasions of the Byzantine-controlled Levant and their arrival in Palestine occurred about 1800 years after the establishment of a Jewish Israel.

“Two-state Solution”: When student protestors scream “from the river to the sea,” that is not advocacy for a two-state solution. It is a call to eliminate the state of Israel—lying in between the Jordan River and Mediterranean Sea—and its 10 million Jewish and Arab citizens. The Hamas charter is a one-state/no-Israel agenda, which we saw attempted on October 7.

“Occupied Gaza”: Gaza was autonomous. The Israeli border is closed, but so is the Egyptian border. There have not been any Jews in Gaza for nearly two decades.

So on October 7, Gaza was not occupied by Israel. It was under the control of Hamas, designated by the U.S. government as a terrorist organization. After being elected to power in 2006, Hamas cancelled all subsequent elections and ruled as a dictatorship. Gaza forbids Jews from entering Gaza and has driven out most Christians. Israel hosts two million Arabs, both as Israeli citizens and residents.

“Netanyahu is the Problem”: The U.S. and Europe claim that the conservative government of Benjamin Netanyahu is alone behind the Israeli tough response in Gaza. Thus, both the EU and the U.S. are doing their best to undermine or even overthrow the elected Netanyahu administration.

Yet, most Israelis support Netanyahu’s coalition government’s agenda of destroying Hamas in Gaza. There is no evidence that any other alternative Israeli government would do anything differently from the present policies toward Hamas.

“Targeting Civilians”: After murdering nearly 1,200 Israelis on October 7, Hamas scurried back to Gaza and hid in tunnels and bases beneath hospitals, schools, and mosques. Its preplanned strategy was to survive by ensuring Gaza civilians would be killed. Hamas has indiscriminately launched more than 7,000 rockets at Israel, all designed to kill Jewish civilians.

Outside assessors have concluded that Israel has not inadvertently killed a greater ratio of civilians to terrorists compared to most other urban fighting conflicts elsewhere, and perhaps even fewer than American engagements in Mosul and Fallujah.

“Protestors Are Pro-Palestine”: Increasingly, protestors make no distinction between supporting “Palestine” and Hamas. Their chants often echo the original Hamas eliminationist charter and recent genocidal ravings of its leadership. Some protestors wear Hamas logos and wave its flag. Many cheered the Hamas massacre of October 7.

“Anti-Israel Is Not Anti-Semitic”: When protestors scream to Jewish students to “go back to Poland” or call for the “Final Solution,” or assault them or bar them from campus facilities, they do not ask whether they are pro-Israeli. For protestors, anyone identifiable as Jewish becomes a target of their anti-Semitic invective and violence.

“Genocide”: Israel has not tried to wipe out the Palestinian people in the fashion of Hamas’s one-state solution plan for Jews. Before October 7, some 20,000 Gazans a day requested to work in Israel—on the correct expectation of much higher wages and humane treatment.

If Hamas had come out of its tunnels, separated from its impressed civilian shields, released its surviving Israeli hostages, and either openly fought the Israeli Defense Forces or surrendered the organizers of the October 7 massacre, no Gaza civilians would have died.

According to Hamas’s questionable “genocide” figures, roughly 4 percent of the Gazan population died during the Israeli response to October 7. At least a third to almost half of those deaths, according to various international observers, were Hamas terrorists.

“Disproportionate Response”: Iran tried to send 320 missiles and rockets into Israel. Israel replied with three. Hamas launched 7,000 rockets into Israel and slaughtered 1,200 Israelis before the IDF responded in Gaza, often dropping leaflets and sending texts to forewarn citizens.

Israel has been disproportionate only in the effectiveness of its response. Hamas and its Iranian benefactor intended disproportionately to hurt Israel but utterly failed.

So Israel proved to be competent, and Hamas incompetent in their similar efforts to use disproportionate force.

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Jessica Valenti at Abortion, Every Day:

I remember the feeling of hands inside me. Pulling, tugging, moving things aside. My emergency c-section wasn’t painful, but that feeling of being invaded was somehow worse than physical hurt. For years, the thought of the surgery would send me into a PTSD panic, my knees literally buckling and vomit coming up the back of my throat. In my memory, my arms are tied down while I’m being cut—but I know that’s not true. It’s just my brain’s way of making the powerlessness of the moment seem tangible. 

Because I was so early in my pregnancy, just 28 weeks along, doctors had to cut me both horizontally and vertically, making it life-threatening for me to have a vaginal birth in the future and increasing my risk for uterine rupture. I didn’t know it then, but I would never have another child.  So when I see anti-abortion groups blithely suggesting that women with life-threatening pregnancies should be forced into c-sections rather than easier, safer, and less traumatic abortions—it feels personal. Because I chose my medical nightmare; it was necessary to save both my life and my daughter’s. I can’t imagine the horror of going through such a thing unnecessarily, or at 16 weeks pregnant instead of 28. What if my tied-down arms weren’t a post-traumatic illusion, but a legal reality?

For nearly a year, I’ve been tracking this growing strategy: Some of the most powerful anti-abortion organizations in the country are using carefully-worded legislation and seemingly-credible clinical recommendations to codify medical atrocities—pushing doctors to force pregnant women into unnecessary labor and c-sections, even before fetal viability and sometimes even when a fetus has died. Why would anyone do such a thing? The answer is as simple as it is awful: Anti-abortion groups and lawmakers want to prove that abortion is never necessary to save a person’s life. The problem is that they know pregnancy can be deadly, especially in the United States. Rather than admit abortion can be life-saving, their solution is to force doctors to end deadly pregnancies in any other way—even if it means torturing women in the process. 

Anti-abortion lawmakers and activists are so desperate to divorce abortion from health care, they’d prefer to see us dead than allow critically ill women to get care they disagree with.  I mean that literally. This is how they kill us. With the sly shifting of medical standards and surreptitiously-placed legislative language. Because while these people are cruel, they’re certainly not stupid. Anti-abortion extremists know the only way to normalize medical torture is to move quietly and slowly.  After all, dystopias aren’t created in a day. They’re built, law by law and talking point by talking point, through medical regulations, bureaucracy, and fear. From a Supreme Court ruling in Idaho to timid guidance from hospital administrators in Louisiana—anti-abortion groups don’t need to own up to their grim vision when they have others embedding the nightmare bit by bit. 

That’s not to say they haven’t been busy themselves. Using extremist groups with credible-sounding names—like American Association of Pro-Life OBGYNs or the Charlotte Lozier Institute—the anti-abortion movement has carefully disguised radical calls to hurt women as simple scientific recommendations. They’ve inserted the nonsense term ‘maternal fetal separation’ into legislation, court cases and conservative talking points, removing ‘abortion’ in an attempt to further the lie that the procedure is never necessary. They've published papers and trotted out ‘experts’ who claim it’s “medically standard” to force women into c-sections or vaginal labor when their lives are at risk. Again, even when it’s too early for a fetus to survive.

Anti-abortion legislators have done their job too, passing laws that allow their state to define what conditions are life-threatening during pregnancy and the best course of action for doctors. They’ve written mandates that emergency terminations be performed in a way that “provides the best opportunity for the unborn child to survive.” If states must be forced to save women’s lives, it appears, they’ll make sure we suffer greatly for the trouble.  It’s not a coincidence that reports coming out of anti-abortion states show a sharp rise in c-sections. With their license and freedom on the line, doctors and hospitals are falling in line. One Texas OBGYN who was directed to give a septic patient a hysterotomy told researchers, “The morbidity is going to be insane.”

To people who value fetuses above women, that’s a price they’re willing to pay. Indeed, all of this cruelty starts to make morbid sense when you understand that the broader anti-abortion goal goes beyond forced c-sections or redefining medical standards. They are trying to make Americans numb to women suffering and dying during pregnancy. They’re treating it as unpreventable—natural, even—so that voters don’t bat an eye when the maternal mortality numbers skyrocket. 

Jessica Valenti reports on the rise of c-sections post-Roe and dishonest efforts to divorce abortion from healthcare by anti-abortion zealots in her Abortion, Every Day blog.

[sap-woods]

well, why not exactly like south africa? why not like any other arab country where muslims and christians and atheists and hindus live side-by-side just fine? why not like the diverse western nations that finance your state's existence? what exactly about palestinians is so Inherently Evil And Irredeemable (bc that is honestly how you sound) that they would not have the humanity and morality to treat people like people?

it's always the same fear of the day after. white south africans are alive. white american colonisers are fucking thriving. same in australia, in new zealand. immigrants to arab countries lead entire lives there. why not like any of them?

What an exhausting, insulting question... that truly has nothing to do with anything I said. I was speaking about Hamas and leftists who support their aims to dismantle Israel, not the Palestinian people.

I have never said that it’s impossible that Muslims, Christians, Jews, (and Samaritans, Druze, etc.) will live side-by-side. They already do, in Israel. There is discrimination, but they do indeed live side-by-side. What I said was that it will not happen under Hamas rule. Which is an objective fact. The Gaza strip, by the way, is currently 98% Muslim.

I also never said that Palestinians are “inherently evil and irredeemable,” nor did I imply it. You lie in order to paint me, as an Israeli, as hateful. I am not. I spoke only of Hamas. Your conflation of a militant terrorist group with civilians is unfortunate. Hamas has proven time and time again that they do not have the humanity to treat people like people. I said nothing of the Palestinian people.

While I owe you nothing, I'll have you know that I am absolutely in favor of steps towards a peaceful solution and mutual recognition of both nations. I think it is outrageous that there are Palestinian detainees held without charge. I find the number of deaths in Gaza an unacceptable collective punishment. I am supportive of cultural and economic efforts towards reconciliation (e.g., bilingual Arab-Jewish schools and summer camps, joint activism efforts, organizations that promote dialogue and cross-cultural events, shared efforts to help victims of violence, cultural exchange and language learning initiatives). I think the current government is a disaster. I want to see a world where Jews, Christians, and Muslims—and Samaritans, Druze, and Baháʼís—live in peace together in that land. The fact that you saw me saying that Hamas would enact genocide if given the chance (which is true) and interpreted that as me saying Palestinians are “inherently evil” (which I did not say) is truly sad.

The reality is Hamas is not a resistance group. It is an Islamic ultranationalist militaristic dictatorship that has kept its citizens as prisoners by stealing international aid and running military operations to commit war crimes from under schools and hospitals. It is a terrorist group that rapes, murders, and tortures civilians, including children and infants. Peace in the region will not be possible without a demilitarized Gaza. Hamas rule is incompatible with peace. If you support Hamas, you support the violent expulsion or genocide of Israeli Jews from our homeland. You can (and should) be in support of Palestinian self-determination. This belief is also incompatible with support for Hamas. Israeli war crimes do not absolve Hamas's war crimes.

Another thing I find interesting is that you refer to a dismantled Israel as “another Arab country,” and in the same breath claim that Jews would continue to live there. I wonder, was it a coincidence that you failed to list Jews in your list of religions living side-by-side, or are you aware that there are very, very few Jews living in Arab countries today? In case you are unaware, the absence of Jews from the Arabian peninsula, the Mesopotamian region, and North Africa is a result of diasporic Jewish minorities fleeing, being expelled, and/or being ethnically cleansed. Prior to that, they lived with second class status (dhimmis) under Islamic rule. As an Israeli Jew, I cannot set foot in many Arab countries today. Is that your version of coexistence?

And let us be clear: The remaining ethnic minority groups do not live in peace in the Muslim-majority countries of the region. The examples are endless. The genocide of the Yazidis by the Islamic State. The Houthi persecution of Yemenite Jews and Baháʼís. The displaced Christians from the Syrian civil war. The Middle East is rife with examples of radicalized religious extremists being entirely incompatible with coexistence with minority groups.

Yet, in your list of co-existing religions, you picked Hinduism: a minority religion that, while practiced in some Middle Eastern countries, is not indigenous to the region. Perhaps you did this in ignorance. Perhaps it was an attempt to support your point that some immigrants and migrants can indeed lead reasonable lives in Arab countries (e.g., Indian expats in the Emirates or Saudi Arabia), as ethnic minorities with a homeland to return to. Needless to say, it's an irrelevant and feeble attempt to claim that religions currently coexist well in the Muslim-majority countries. As a whole, they do not.

Let's talk about your list of colonizers next. White South Africans being alive has nothing to do with Israel. White people thriving in the USA, Australia, and New Zealand have nothing to do with Israel. Those examples are particularly bizarre anyway, as, excepting South Africa, you’ve picked countries where the colony essentially remained in place and became the ethnic majority. But none of these colonies have anything to do with Israel, because Israel is not a colony.

Jews are indigenous to Israel. We are one of a small number of indigenous Levantine ethnic groups who call that land home. The word colony requires a context we do not have–a colony for what country? What existing country is expanding territory? We are a 4000 year old nation, many of us displaced by the Romans, and who, after 2000 years of oppression and genocide both in the diaspora and in our homeland, won our independence from the occupying force in power at the time: the British. We have nothing to do with European colonizers. You cannot colonize your own homeland.

Again, that does not mean I support the Israeli government or the IDF's actions. I fully believe Palestinians also deserve self-determination in our shared land. Our status does not change the Palestinian story. It does not undo their suffering. The situation in Gaza is untenable and an outrage. Our status does not change the inhumane conditions that Israel, along with other countries (like Egypt) have placed on the population of Gaza.

But Jews being indigenous to the region matters—because the context to understand Israel is not one of colonizer-colonized. Ours is an ethnic conflict in the context independence after a long history of many colonial powers (British, Ottoman, etc.), a wider political context of Arabization and oppression of ethnic/religious minority groups in the entire Middle East, as well as a global context of hatred of Jews and Arabs, and of Western meddling.

It also matters because it highlights the fact that Palestinians are our cousins—both because many Palestinians are likely decedents of Jews, Samaritans, etc. who were Arabized and forcibly converted Islam—but also because the Arabs are our cousins too. It is important to remember that this is an ethnic conflict, and not a situation in which one group can "go home." We have to find a way to coexist. Hamas is not that way.

Is “leading a life,” as you say, enough? Well, we wouldn't be able to, under Hamas. They have made that clear. But even if a Hamas-led state made room for dhimmi-status Jewish Israelis, then no, it would not be enough. (Remember, it is not even enough for many Palestinians who hold Israeli citizenship to live under our state with full rights.) Self-determination is important. Maintenance of language and culture is important. Statehood matters, for both Palestinians and Israelis. I do not believe we are ready for a fully unified state. Perhaps we never will be. But whatever the solution, it is imperative that both people have self-determination in their homeland.

And be it a unified democratic binational state, a single federal government with autonomous cantons/states that govern themselves, a "two states, one homeland" two state confederation, a fully-realized two state solution, or any other solution: the violent—and yes, evil—Hamas regime can play no part.

[prettyboysdontlookatexplosions]

In an age that witnessed considerable support for social improvement, public schools often took center stage. By the 1830s, a chorus of reform-minded people began to sing the praises of free, tax-supported schools: Thaddeus Stevens, later a prominent Republican activist in Pennsylvania; Catharine Beecher, advocate of more educational opportunities for women; Caleb Mills, an evangelical minister who later became Indiana's leading common school advocate; and even notable Southerners, who faced the greatest opposition and whose efforts bore the least fruit. Enthusiasm for social improvement through education flourished. Since the turn of the century, countless pamphlets, speeches, reports, petitions, testimonials, newspaper editorials, books, and articles had promoted the importance of education in a republic. A few dozen educational periodicals also popularized the cause of learning by promoting a class-inclusive school system, especially for white children.

In Philadelphia, New York, and other cities, the editors of workingmen's newspaper - the voice of the skilled artisan minority - despaired over the fate of youth as apprenticeships declined and unskilled factory labor increased; they endorsed instituting a common system and eliminating the stigma attached to free schools. "I think that no such thing as charities should be instituted for the instruction of youth," wrote one articulate worker in the Mechanics' Free Press in Philadelphia in 1828. He favored free schools dependent not on "private charities" but "founded and supported by the government itself." One Ohioan added, "Unless the Common Schools can be made to educate the whole people, the poor as well as the rich, they are not worthy of the support of the patriot or the philanthropist." "Give to education... a clear field and fair play," said a recent immigrant in A Treatise on American Popular Education in 1839, "and your poor houses, lazarettos, and hospitals will stand empty, your prisons and penitentiaries will lack inmates, and the whole country will be filled with wise, industrious, and happy inhabitants. Immorality, vice and crime, disease, misery and poverty, will vanish from our regions, and morality, virtue and fidelity, with health, prosperity, and abundance, will make their permanent home among us.”

Born in an age when millennial ideals, such as universal peace and prosperity following Christ's imminent return to earth, influenced wide sectors of the population, the common schools became a useful barometer of the extensive social changes that transformed the nation before the Civil War. Cities, factories, and foreign immigration generated moral panic and social fears among many northern reformers, whose search for solutions to public ills centered on a more expansive public school system. Reflecting the contradictory passions of the reformers, schools not only favored greater access to literacy and academic study but simultaneously downplayed intellectual achievement by elevating the moral aims of instruction. America's ambivalent attitude toward the life of the mind and scholarship thus found expression in the nation's emerging school system, where character development and moral uplift took precedence even as lifeless instruction in academic subjects predominated. Setting a pattern that long endured, reform-minded citizens increasingly assumed that individual welfare and social progress depended on an extensive network of public schools.

william j. reese, america's public schools from the common school to "no child left behind"

[girlactionfigure]

🇮🇱SRI LANKA TRAVEL WARNING, POLICE DRAMA - Real time from Israel  

ISRAEL REALTIME - Connecting to Israel in Realtime

( VIDEO - The remains of Kfar Kila, a southern Lebanese near-border Hezbollah village that also acted as a major launch site. )

✡️Tonight is SIMCHAT TORAH starts tonight, where we celebrate with the Torah!  Chag Samayach, a joyful holiday!

.. Several rabbis have noted: How can we celebrate when this war started on this holiday last year?  When so many fell, so many remain hostages, so many are fighting and so many have given their lives in our defense?  

They answer: very much in the name of the fallen, in the name of the hostages, in the name of the Jewish people and those who have sacrificed, WE WILL NOT ALLOW THE ENEMY to destroy our holiday, to destroy our joy and celebration.  

AM YISROEL CHAI, the Jewish people live!  We will celebrate, we will win, we will honor their sacrifice.

✡️As a Jewish holy-day, we DO NOT POST news from sundown for 26 hours unless there is a LIFE THREATENING EMERGENCY.

⚠️ISRAEL NATIONAL SECURITY TRAVEL WARNING.. calls on the Israelis to immediately leave the Arugam Bay area and the coastal area in the south and west of Sri Lanka due to terror threat to Israeli tourists, following a warning about a terrorist squad of the Revolutionary Guards mission in the area.

⚠️ HOME FRONT COMMAND - - if you find rocket or drone debris during holiday outdoor activity, DO NOT TOUCH IT - contact Home Front (dial 104) or the Police (dial 100).  The parts may be dangerous or toxic, or be important for security.

♦️LEBANON - TZUR-TYRE.. Civil Defense in Tyre walks the streets of the city and asks citizens through loudspeakers to evacuate immediately.  The Civil Defense closed the entrances to the city of Tyre to prevent entry.  Heavy IDF attacks.

♦️LEBANON - (enemy reports) Dozens of IDF air force attacks on more than 20 villages and towns in Lebanon.

🔹IRANIAN TERROR PROPAGANDA.. a new mural in the center of Tehran: No (Israeli) hostage will be released.

🔹HOUTHIS CLEAR THEIR PORT?  Houthi leader Abdel Malik al Houthi issued an urgent order to the owners of the containers in the port to clear out the Hodediah port, immediately.  ???

🔹GERMANY SAYS.. German Foreign Minister: Israel succeeded in weakening Hezbollah to a great extent, and the task now is to reach an effective diplomatic solution.

🔹US INTEL AIRCRAFT.. The US is operating reconnaissance aircraft in the Persian Gulf to monitor the movements of Iranian surface-to-surface missiles.

🔹US SEC STATE GOES TO SAUDI ARABIA.. from Israel.  Riyadh: The American Secretary of State in Lincoln met with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Saudi Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan, and talked with them about "the developments in Gaza and Lebanon"

▪️ON ISRAEL APPROVING THE NEW COVID VACCINE.. I received significant STRONG negative feedback about the Israel Min. Of Health approving and bringing into the fall vaxx schedule the new COVID vaccine.  It has become ridiculously difficult to determine the facts around COVID vaccines, and I can only advise to consult with a trusted medical professional before taking this vaccine, and there are categories of people who should clearly avoid it such as men under 30.

.. Israel no longer has public COVID testing, COVID (and flu, and both together, and strep - quick test kits are available at pharmacies), so there is no case rate data.

.. The last info I can find on COVID in Israel is 14 cases hospitalized in June, all seniors with other health problems. This is the “from COVID or with COVID” argument, and the article seems to state “with”.

[workersolidarity]

[ 📹 Appalling scenes from Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah, after the Israeli occupation army launched a surprise assault, including occupation helicopters and warplanes which bombed and fired on civilians, on the Central Governate of the Gaza Strip, resulting in the murder of hundreds of Palestinians and wounding hundreds more. ]

🇮🇱⚔️🇵🇸 🚀🏘️💥🚑 🚨

DAY 246: ISRAELI OCCUPATION LAUNCHES SURPRISE ASSAULT ON CENTRAL GAZA KILLING AND WOUNDING HUNDREDS OF PALESTINIANS, "ISRAEL" BLACKLISTED BY UNITED NATIONS FOR CRIMES AGAINST CHILDREN, US REJECTS ARAB PEACE PROPOSAL, OUTLINES ITS OWN DRAFT, FOUR HOSTAGES RECOVERED BY THE OCCUPATION ARMY, CHILDREN IN GAZA FORCED TO WORK AS UNEMPLOYMENT REACHES 80%, MASS MURDER CONTINUES UNABATED

On 246th day of the Israeli occupation's ongoing special genocide operation in the Gaza Strip, the Israeli occupation forces (IOF) committed a total of 5 new massacres of Palestinian families, resulting in the deaths of no less than 70 Palestinian civilians, mostly women and children, while another 150 others were wounded over the previous 24-hours.

It should be noted that as a result of the constant Israeli bombardment of Gaza's healthcare system, infrastructure, residential and commercial buildings, local paramedic and civil defense crews are unable to recover countless hundreds, even thousands, of victims who remain trapped under the rubble, or who's bodies remain strewn across the streets of Gaza.

This leaves the official death toll vastly undercounted as Gaza's healthcare officials are unable to accurately tally those killed and maimed in this genocide, which must be kept in mind when considering the scale of the mass murder.

The American Biden administration is pressuring Arab countries not to present a "far-reaching vision for an Israeli-Palestinian peace settlement" following an end to the Gaza War.

In an article published by the Times of Israel, the English-language newspaper says the Biden administration rejects the Arab proposal, and is instead advancing a more limited framework for a long-term solution to the Israel-Palestine conflict that the newspaper says is "still certain to be rejected by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government."

According to documents leaked by the United States and obtained by the Times of Israel, since the start of 2024, the Biden administration has been leading a "contact group" of high-ranking ministers from Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Qatar, Jordan and the Palestinian Authority (PA) to advance plans for the post-war management of the Gaza Strip.

At the same time, Arab countries have been meeting regularly to coordinate their own post-war vision, independent of the United States, which includes plans for the recognition of the State of Palestine, the establishment of a peacekeeping force in the occupied West Bank and East Al-Quds (Jerusalem), and the arrangement of peace talks between the Israeli occupation authorities and the Palestinian Authority to be completed within two years, resulting in an eventual transfer of control over the West Bank crossings to the PA.

While the United States claims to support a broader two-state solution to the Israel-Palestine conflict, it has determined the Arab proposal "completely unrealistic," according to an anonymous "senior Arab official" quoted by the Times.

Out of concern that rejecting the Arab proposal outright without an alternative could become a political liability, the US State Department has layed out a draft outline for a series of principles to be used as the basis for "continued talks" with America's Middle East partners.

Titled the “Joint statement on principles to support a future of peace for Israelis and Palestinians," the State Dept. proposal was met with approval by the Biden White House, which outlines the following set of principles:

🔸 A call for the international community to support the reconstruction of Gaza, with the opening of crossings into the Strip to ensure an unimpeded flow of aid.

🔸 A rejection of Gaza’s continued governance by Resistance groups. “All terrorist organizations and armed groups must disarm and renounce violence. A disarmament, demobilization, and reintegration mechanism will facilitate this process in Gaza,” the document states.

🔸A full withdrawal of the Israeli occupation army from Gaza without any reduction in its [Gaza's] territory, military occupation or forced displacement of Palestinians, who will be allowed to return to the communities in the enclave they fled from during the war.

🔸 A reunification of Gaza and the West Bank under the Palestinian Authority, which will receive assistance from the international partners during a transitional period after the war until it is ready to fully resume governance in the Strip.

🔸A call for the resumption of final status negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Liberation Organization under the premise that “an enduring end to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and end to the occupation can only be achieved through direct negotiations.”

🔸 Support for an “independent, contiguous, and viable” Palestinian state “on the basis of the June 4, 1967 lines with mutually agreed swaps and a just and agreed solution for Palestinian refugees, as envisioned in the Arab Peace Initiative.” (US President Joe Biden has previously expressed his support for the 1967 lines, but this appears to be the first time that the US is also backing the Arab Peace Initiative. However, the Arab proposal envisions a two-state solution that leads to the Israeli occupation receiving normalized relations with its Arab neighbors, while the US document presents a reverse approach.)

🔸 “The possibility of normalization between Saudi Arabia and other Arab states and Israel with concrete progress toward a two-state solution is a promising avenue to achieving peace, security, and regional integration that will benefit all,”

🔸 A rejection of unilateral actions by both sides, “including the expansion of settlements and outposts and the glorification of terrorism and violence.” The sides are also called to uphold the rule of law and reject incitement by officials and members of the public.

🔸 A call to abide by commitments reached during summits last year in Aqaba and Sharm al-Sheikh, which also rejected the advancement of unilateral actions. The US document also urges the upholding of the status quo at the Temple Mount, “recognizing the deep connection of people of many faiths to Jerusalem and that the boundaries in Jerusalem are subject to final status negotiations.”

🔸 An appeal for the PA to implement far-reaching reforms “focused on good governance, transparency, fighting corruption, education and welfare reform.”

Finally, the US document concludes by saying, "We agree to focus our diplomatic efforts on advancing these principles, setting the conditions for durable peace and security in the region."

Meanwhile, in other news today, June 8th, 2024, the Israeli occupation army was able to recover four Israeli prisoners being held by the Palestinian resistance in Gaza.

According to statement issued by the occupation army, the Zionist forces were able to liberate four prisoners who remain in good health: Noa Argamani (25 years old), Almog Meir (21 years old), Andrei Kozlov (27 years old), and Shlomi Ziv (40 years old).

The statement confirms that "Israeli prisoners were liberated by the Shin Bet and the Special Police Unit from two separate areas in the heart of Nuseirat (Central Gaza Governate).

"The prisoners' health condition is good and they were transferred for medical examinations to Tel Hashomer Hospital," the statement added.

In other news, the United Nations has informed the Israeli occupation that the "State of Israel" has been added to a blacklist of Child Rights violators, as result of its campaign in Gaza, which has caused the deaths of tens of thousands of Palestinian children and babies.

According to a piece published in the Israeli online newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth, or Ynet, the paper writes that "the report accuses Israel of recruiting children as informants. [In] the draft received by Israel a few months ago, the UN blamed Israel for actions that constitute violations of international law regarding harm to children," adding that "allegations were raised about the wide-scale use of bombs in populated areas; imposing a severe siege on Gaza; and allegations that Israel attacked critical infrastructure for humanitarian purposes, including UN facilities, schools, hospitals, water, and sanitation facilities."

Additionally, in an article published by the Palestinian media outlet WAFA News, the media outlet writes that the International Labor Organization (ILO) has warned families in Gaza are now sending their children to work to survive as unemployment in Gaza reaches unprecedented levels, now approaching 80%.

The organization expressed "this unprecedented development and destruction to the Palestinian labor market and the broader economy outside the Gaza Strip and the West Bank" in a new report issued by the group on Friday.

The labor organization's report, published in conjunction with the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, states that the unemployment rate in the Gaza Strip has now reached 79.1%, and further indicated that about one in three Palestinians in the West Bank are unemployed as well.

The group also noted that economic output in the Gaza Strip has fallen by 83.5%, while in the occupied West Bank, economic output has fallen by 22.7%, adding that Palestinian workers are currently experiencing “the most difficult year since 1967,” noting that the situation “has never been this dark before.”

The World Food Programme (WFP) also issued warnings today that 9 out of 10 children in Gaza are suffering from "severe food poverty."

In a series of posts to the social media platform X, the WFP warned that "the hostilities and restrictions imposed on aid have led to the collapse of food and health systems," adding that displaced Palestinian families in Gaza are now in areas suffering from a lack of potable water, medical supplies and fuel, and are also living with limited food aid.

At the same time, the bombing, shelling and mass murder in Gaza continues as the Israeli occupation forces (IOF) ramp up their attacks in central Gaza and across the various axis of the enclave.

According to report in the Palestinian news outlet, SAMA News, and confirmed in reports published by Palestinian news outlets WAFA News and MAAN News, the Israeli occupation army has launched a surprise attack on areas of the Central Gaza Governate.

For more than two hours, the occupation army's artillery forces and warplanes "carried out violent and intense raids on various areas of the Central Governate, west and east of the Nuseirat Camp," resulting in the deaths of 210 Palestinians, and wounding more than 400 others.

The news outlet warned that the dead and wounded are flooding Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, located in Deir al-Balah, in the central Gaza Strip, which has become a "catastrophic and dangerous situation, due to its inability to accommodate such large numbers of martyrs and wounded."

Witnesses stated that Zionist military vehicles "suddenly penetrated the areas east and northwest of the Nuseirat camp, coinciding with violent artillery shelling that targeted large areas of the camp."

Occupation military vehicles also invaded near the Wadi Gaza Bridge on Salah al-Din Road, near the center of the enclave, while expanding its incursion into neighborhoods east of Deir al-Balah, and into the Bureij and Al-Maghazi Camps, while occupation drones buzzed overhead in the Nuseirat Camp, opening fire on anything or anyone "moving on its roads, resulting in hundreds of martyrs and wounded."

According to local medical staff, “The ambulance and emergency system is unable to respond to all calls to transport the wounded from the places that were bombed in the Central Governorate and the Nuseirat camp.”

The medical sources added that dozens of wounded civilians are lying on the floor in Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, while medical teams work to try to save as many lives as possible with the limited and simple capabilities afforded to them.

Simultaneously, as the Zionist army launched incursions into central Gaza, occupation warplanes intensified its raids on Rafah in the south, and Gaza City in the north.

In the early morning hours of Saturday, occupation fighter jets bombed a residential home belonging to the Tafesh family in the Al-Zaytoun neighborhood, southeast of Gaza City, obliterating the citizen's house, murdering at least 4 Palestinian civilians, and wounding another 10 others.

Similarly, another civilian was killed in an occupation airstrike targeting citizen's homes north of Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip.

In another horrific crime against humanity, several Palestinian children were playing in the Al-Zaytoun neighborhood of Gaza City when a Zionist drone dropped a bomb on them, wounding many of the children.

Local medical sources also say that bodies now litter the streets of Rafah, while many of the wounded could not be reached by paramedic crews due to continued Israeli occupation bombing.

The Zionist army also launched attacks on the Kuwait Specialized Hospital in Rafah City, which was previously evacuated of patients and staff, resulting in fires that broke out in large areas of the hospital.

Local civil defense crews also managed to recover the decomposing bodies of two Palestinians from the Abu Afana Junction in the Brazil neighborhood of Rafah.

In another assault, at dawn today, IOF warplanes bombed a residential house belonging to the Muhanna family, in the Sheikh Radwan neighborhood of Gaza City, resulting in the deaths of four civilians and wounding 14 others, the majority of whom were children and women.

The bombing and shelling continued when Zionist fighter jets bombed a civilian residence belonging to the Shaheen family on Block-12 of the Bureij Camp, in the central Gaza Strip, killing 6 Palestinians and wounding a number of others, which coincided with occupation artillery shelling and gunfire from Israeli armored vehicles east of the Bureij Camp.

Zionist forces also targeted several areas of the city of Rafah, with bombing and shelling that targeted the Al-Hashash neighborhood of the Oreiba area, north of the city.

As a result of the Israeli occupation's ongoing special genocide operation in the Gaza Strip, the infinitely rising death toll in Gaza now exceeds 36'801, including over 15'000 children and upwards of 10'000 women, while another 83'680 others have been wounded since the start of the current round of Zionist aggression, beginning with the events of October 7th, 2023.

June 8th, 2024.

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@WorkerSolidarityNews

[the-catboy-minyan]

With respect, how can you call yourself a leftist when you aren't addressing the horrors Israel is committing to Palestine? As a leftist, I'm very quick to shout out about the terrible stuff my country gets up to and am always trying to keep myself educated on that.

because this is a dedicated sideblog to talk about antisemitism, and I explained multiple times that I'm trying to avoid the news due to my mental AND physical health declining rapidly since October 7.

I used to be an activist for Palestine, before you even knew what Palestine is, but where the war first broke I had a friend who became homeless whom I couldn't help, a friend who lost relatives whom I couldn't comfort, my parents were stuck overseas because flights got cancelled and I was forced to take care of my younger siblings by myself as the only adult in the house, and my chronic illness got so bad I ended up in a hospital for a few days (luckily after my parents returned). I lost 2kg, both my parents lost their jobs, I started financially supporting my parents again, my dog died, and I had some unrelated complications at my job that stressed me tf out. I only have so many spoons.

I don't owe you anything, there's a limit to how much I can do, and I seriously need a break. I would gladly return back to protesting when looking at a Palestinian flag would stop reminding me of american protests calling for the final solution and globalization of the intifada, but right now I'm STILL trying to take care of my health, which is not getting much better.

[zvaigzdelasas]

Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi arrived in Saudi Arabia on Saturday to attend a summit on Gaza, making him the first Iranian president to visit the Gulf kingdom in years, after a thaw between the longtime rivals earlier this year saw them restore diplomatic ties.

Raisi was seen greeting Saudi officials after landing at the airport. He donned the traditional Palestinian keffiyeh scarf.

President Ebrahim Raeisi of Iran says the Israeli regime must be brought to justice in international courts over its genocide of the Palestinian people in the besieged Gaza Strip. Raeisi made the remarks while addressing the joint emergency meeting of the Arab League and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) on the issue of Gaza in Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia, on Saturday.[...]

“Now that the international assemblies under the influence of the United States are suffering from indecisiveness, and lack of character and identity, we must take the field.” The president said the Arab and Muslim countries shoulder the responsibility towards the issue of Palestine and the oppressed people of Gaza. Raeisi proposed Iran’s 10 urgent solutions and suggestions for the benefit of the Palestinian nation. The president urged Muslim leaders attending the summit to take a “decisive and swift” decision in favor of Palestinians. Raeisi said the United States and Israel must be obliged to accept an immediate halt to the war machine. The Iranian president gave primacy to the complete lifting of the human blockade of Gaza and immediate and unconditional reopening of the Rafah border crossing in cooperation with Egypt to send humanitarian aid to people in Gaza as Iran’s second proposal.

The president said the pressure exerted by the US and its Western allies is by no means an excuse to close borders. As Iran’s third offer, Raeisi urged Israel’s immediate military withdrawal from Gaza, saying the Gazan territory belongs to Palestinians and not those who act under the command of the US and Israel. He warned all countries, including Muslim nations, to be cautious about any American-Zionist plot under the pretext of ensuring security in Palestine. Raeisi said Iran’s fourth proposal urges all Muslim countries to terminate any political and economic relations with Israel. He said economic sanction, particularly in the energy sector, against the regime must figure high on the agenda. As Iran’s fifth offer, the president called on all Muslim countries to label the Israeli regime’s army a terrorist organization. He stressed the importance of establishing an international court to prosecute the criminal leaders of Israel and the US, particularly those who have played a role in the genocide in Gaza. The president called for the establishment of a special fund for the immediate reconstruction of Gaza with the acceptance of the Muslim countries attending the summit

Referring to an Israeli airstrike on Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital in the besieged Gaza Strip, which killed at least 500 Palestinians, the president said October 18 should be named as the day of genocide and crime against humanity.

If Israel keeps its crimes going in the “unequal war,” Raeisi said, Muslim countries must arm the Palestinian people and help them fight the occupying warmonger. The president undercored the importance of the liberation of Palestine “from the river to the sea” as a permanent and democratic solution.[...]

The president said the US is the main perpetrator and accomplice in Israel’s war crimes in Gaza. Israel is the “illegitimate child of America,” Raiesi said. “It is America that has preferred support it over the sacred lives of thousands of oppressed Palestinian children. By immediately forming its security cabinet in the occupied territories, America encouraged the Zionist regime to carry out criminal operations against the helpless people of Gaza and called it legitimate defense,” the president said. The claim of legitimate defense is “one of the bitter ironies of history, which goes against any established legal rules and international standards,” the president said. He said the US sent its warship to the region to effectively enter the war on behalf of Israel. “The all-out support of the Zionist regime in the UN Security Council and preventing the adoption of a resolution to stop the genocide of Palestinians in Gaza was another service of America to the aggressors, allowing them to conduct war crimes more than ever,” Raeisi stated.

11 Nov 23