not posting about what’s going on in i/p, but I am a Jew from Pittsburgh, and I’m thinking about how in the aftermath of the shooting at Tree of Life—where eleven people I knew personally were murdered by a white supremicist—I saw people on this website asking if anyone knew if the murder victims were zionists because if they were, it was inappropriate to mourn them. as if their lives only mattered if they were Good Jews TM.

the fifth anniversary of the shooting is on Friday, and on top of everything else happening right now, that’s something that is really sticking around my mind.

For the record, the man accused in the shooting of the three Palestinian men was NOT JEWISH.

Please do not allow this terrible event to contribute to antisemitism or retaliatory Islamophobic violence.

James J. Eaton, the accused, is a white Christian man whose mother thought he was decorating a Christmas tree she gave him at the time of the shooting.

Many of us—Jews/Muslims/Israelis/Palestinians/Arabs—have been BEGGING those who claim to be our allies to dispense with violence and violent rhetoric against all of our communities precisely because we all know that these kinds of things happen as a result.

When I say that the rhetoric and tone you use online and the dogwhistles you espouse thoughtlessly can get people killed, this is what I’m talking about.

We all know that you want to be on the “right” side of history. But you have to want peace for all MORE than you want the self righteously fulfilling feeling of being right. This is not a game. People in your country are dying because people who claim to want to help are hurting everyone instead.

The only sides in this conflict are peace vs war, love vs hate. We must all be united in our desire for peace, not by our (self-proclaimed)“righteous” fury.

If you are demonizing Israel and Israelis and Jews or Muslims and Arabs and Palestinians, you are not only on the wrong side. You are not even on a side that can possibly be right.

Your personal political identity is irrelevant. Being a leftist/liberal/progressive doesn’t mean you’re immune to being hateful and Islamophobic and antisemitic. Being right wing/conservative doesn’t meant you are, either.

So, once again, I’m BEGGING YOU ALL: please tone down your rhetoric. Learn what dog whistles affect all parties in this conflict and then stop using them. Elevate the voices of people working for peace, not victory. And spend more time learning from those more familiar with the conflict than you do from those speaking most loudly about it.

And for the love of G-d. Please learn to interrogate a source for credibility before sharing it.

Lego Batman shot and killed me.

the texas shooting boils my blood because there were cops outside the school who were supposed to be protecting the students inside, and the shooter was inside the school for FORTY MINUTES while parents were at the school begging to be let in to try to save their children and. they. did. nothing.

The cops just let this person murder 18 (???) schoolchildren like ????

The CRTC has launched a public consultation on whether to ban Fox News from Canadian airwaves after a complaint over incendiary comments made about LGBTQ2 people on the right-wing American network.

The broadcast regulator posted the notice on its website Wednesday, saying it is accepting comments from interested parties and the public until June 2.

Egale Canada, a Toronto-based LGBTQ2 advocacy group, urged the CRTC to hold the consultation in an April 4 open letter that cited “false and horrifying claims” about transgender people made by then-host Tucker Carlson during a March 28 broadcast.

“This programming is in clear violation of Canadian broadcasting standards and has no place on Canadian broadcasting networks,” Egale’s executive director Helen Kennedy wrote.

Carlson was fired from Fox News last week, but a spokesperson for Egale told Global News it remains “committed to the call” to remove the channel from Canadian airwaves, citing anti-LGBTQ2 rhetoric made by other hosts at the network. [...]

Note from the poster @el-shab-hussein: This post presents the reason Tucker Carlson was fired, for reader context.

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Tagging: @politicsofcanada

today i will wear my white button down

Mechtober Day 1: The Starship Aurora

How The Aurora Was Won goes hard fr. Top tier Jonny moment.

A Southern California business owner was shot and killed Friday by a man who objected to an LGBTQ+ Pride flag displayed at her clothing store, officials said.

America, 2023.

Frankly, I'm shocked to read that the cops gave the killer a bullet and not a trophy. Fuck the police but good shot.

(Yes, I am absolutely furious.)

It's not a popular statement to make, but I am grateful for all of the people who call themselves our allies and show up when it matters. I am grateful for the life that Laura Ann Carleton lived, for her commitment to being a visible ally in her community, and I am outraged that her life was cut short.

But I do have to say this:

I am also angry that the death of a cishet ally is already receiving more public outrage than the wave of transphobia that has been taking place in this country this year. I am angry because the death of an ally is already getting more media attention than the innumerable acts of violence committed against queer and trans people every day in this country ever will.

We are in a critical and dangerous time for queer and trans rights, for the safety of queer and trans people, and for freedom of expression in general.

Allies? Speak up.

And, conservatives? Anti-queer Christians? Trans-exclusionary feminists? I don't want to hear your pointless platitudes. I'm not interested in your "thoughts and prayers" or your preaching about how "violence is never the answer". You're complicit in these acts of violence against the LGBTQIA community and against our allies. Own your shit and be fucking silent.

some concept for my shortbox fair 2023 comic!! If you love gay women who suck you’re gonna love this one

welcoem to my blog where we draw people looking at each other

(illustrations for chapters 36, 38, and 40 of @chrisis-averted's Rewind. Reset. Rewrite. link in replies!)

found in the wild

😳

Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge 3/? - To The End

Part 1 - Part 2

When your faustian pact's first killing spree suddenly hits too close to home

Ted Cruz drinking a Diet Pepsi and shrugging at her when she showed him a picture of her daughter in her coffin is the most Ted Cruz thing ever.

WHAT. IS. GOING. ON???

also, re: mutual aid and preparedness in case of things taking a turn for the worse, i'm still not entirely sure of my opinion on this, but there is this idea that you should have a gun "to protect yourself" in a worst-case scenario. and I feel it is influenced a lot by USAmerican gun culture and possibly even the USAmerican gun lobby, and it should be questioned.

Like...a gun you have in your house is more likely to harm you or your family than protect them. It's ghastly enough that mass shootings are a regular thing in the USA, but accidental gun deaths are also absolutely rampant because American gun culture promotes this idea that you should carry a gun all the time for self-defense and that shooting sports are fun and teach kids important skills and that guns themselves are fun to buy and talk about and use and that guns make you free and safe and empowered.

It isn't prominent in the news, but in this country there is an incident of a child younger than 8 shooting and killing a member of their family like once a week. literal toddlers killing one of their parents or siblings because they got ahold of a gun is something that happens regularly.

PANAMA CITY - Two people died Tuesday while participating in a third week of protests against a controversial government mining contract in Panama, officials confirmed. One person was arrested in connection with the incident, Panama's attorney general said on the social network X, formerly Twitter. Officials did not say how the demonstrators died while blocking a road in the east of the country, but local reports suggested they were shot by a driver attempting to get past the protest. A video circulating on social media appeared to show the alleged attacker carrying a gun and removing a tire from the road blockade, while a body lies on the road nearby. The deaths followed local reports that a demonstrator was run over and killed Nov. 1 by a foreigner attempting to cross a roadblock during a protest in the west of the country.

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Tagging @allthegeopolitics