Stickers seen around NYC in the days after cops opened fire in the NYC subway, shooting a fellow officer, two bystanders, and an alleged "fair evader" they were attempting to apprehend.
A small comic about Palestine I created to appeal to more passive family and friends
Anyways if you have the money I urge you to donate to Ibraheem Hadi, a Palestinian who contacted me and whom I promised to highlight in relation to this comic:
Title:
"Urgent Relief: Support Ibrahim's Family in Gaza Amidst Devastation"
… Devlin Downs needs your support for Help me and my family to
Otherwise there is always a need for eSims to keep Gazans connected
While we continue to donate to personal evacuation funds, I think it is crucial to keep in mind that these individuals as well as millions more in Gaza are currently actively in need of basic necessities like food, water, shelter, and medical care. Keeping this in mind, and recognising that there is no way to know when the border crossing with Egypt will reopen, I think our attention should also be on raising funds for organisations currently on the ground who will have the widest impact on the lives of Palestinians who are still enduring the genocide in Gaza.
Below are some verified donation links of organisations that are currently providing assistance for the people in Gaza directly:
Food, water, and shelter
Taawon has launched a campaign to provide support in Gaza through food parcels, shopping vouchers, fresh produce, water bottles and shelter tents.
Watermelon Relief is a project initiated and implemented by a group of activists in Gaza, who work to provide aid to displaced families in Gaza through meals, support and activities.
World Food Programme (WFP) managed to provide assistance to more than 1 million people in Gaza in May by delivering food in shelters, makeshift camps and shops.
Life for Gaza is an initiative through which the Municipality of Gaza aims to provide basic necessities for the people of Gaza such as water projects, waste collection and the reconstruction of roads.
Arab Group for the Protection of Nature (APN) is working to plant farmlands in Gaza through their "Revive Gaza Farmlands" project, through which they had already started planting vegetables, fruits and leafy greens in Gaza.
Purchasing eSIMs is one of the only remaining ways to keep Gazans connected with the outside world, to get their stories out or even enable them to call for help after Israeli strikes.
The Sameer Project is a donation based aid initiative that provides tents, cash aid, diapers and formula for displaced families in Gaza.
Care For Gaza is an organisation that works to provide essential aid such as food packages and cash to deliver to displaced families in Gaza.
Palestine Children's Relief Fund, through their "Gaza Relief and Recovery" campaign, plan to provide essential medical supplies and treatments, as well as food and clean water.
The UNRWA has an Emergency Appeal for Gaza, where donations will provide families in Gaza with lifesaving food and water, winter kits and to repair UNRWA shelters.
Mutual Aid for the People of Gaza is a fundraiser managed by Mona in Gaza, who personally purchases and distributes basic supplies including food parcels to families in Gaza.
Help Gaza Children is another grassroots effort operating on the ground in Gaza to support families with food, water and clothing.
Medical care
Palestinian Red Crescent has been on the ground in Palestine since 1968 as part of the Red Cross & Crescent movement. They have had a continuous presence on the ground in Gaza as the main source of medical care and assistance.
Medical Aid for Palestine (MAP) provides medical supplies and supports healthcare services in Gaza.
Doctors Without Borders (MSF) provide medical and humanitarian aid in Palestine and have had their teams on the ground operating from MSF-supported health facilities across Gaza.
Gaza Wound Care is a medical team in a tent in Nuseirat, providing care to children and supporting pregnant women.
Children Not Numbers is an NGO dedicated to providing medical care for the children in Gaza including delivery of medical aid and medical evacuation for children.
Because I needed the reminder and maybe you do too: the best way to deal with political frustration is to do something.
A real and immediate impact you can have that will directly help a Palestinian is to buy an eSIM and send it to [email protected]. This allows Gazans to access mobile data so they can get news out and keep in touch with their friends and family.
If you have never done this before, here is a step by step guide, complete with discount codes. It is slightly technical but still fairly easy (imo, ymmv). If you can't/don't want to buy one directly, you can donate to Crips for eSIMs and they will buy one on your behalf.
You don't have to top up the eSIMs when they get low/run out, but I find it comforting to do so. It means somebody is still alive, and that you've made a hellish experience a tiny bit less terrible.
individual environmentalism gets a lot of flak in the face of corporate pollution but picking up litter makes a significant, noticeable impact. I spend about an hour a week picking up litter from around my dorm complex and I'm literally outpacing my community's litter production. Just an hour a week from one person is enough to offset nearly 200 people's worth of littering.
it would take less than 100 man-hours of labor per week to keep my whole college campus entirely litter-free. If you got two classrooms' worth of people to spend two hours per week each picking up litter, the whole campus would end up spotless and they'd straight up fucking run out of things to pick up.
If you're looking for some way to make a noticeable and positive impact on the world around you, go pick up some litter.
Here's a good video on getting started and what to do. Yes, it's fully legal, just don't trespass on private property. All you need are gloves and a bag.
I've been litter picking in the background of my walks and I've removed several bags of trash from the area. The other day, children were playing in the creek that I litter pick at a lot. They were jumping into the water and swimming, right in the spot where I pulled torn up cans out of the riverbed and where I removed nearly-buried fishing wire that still had hooks on the ends. Just one person with a sharps container made it safer for those kids to go out and have fun.
That was the most direct cause and effect thing I've had with litter picking after just a little while of doing it, but even aside from that it's just. Good to do. It makes your area cleaner and safer and removes plastic from the environment. Plus, people are less likely to litter in clean areas, and litter can not be subconsciously normalized in people's minds in a litter-free area.
It's also fulfilling instant gratification. You get to go out and do something with your hands and then look and see for yourself that an hour or two of picking shit up has made an instant tangible difference in the world.
First of all hard agree on all of this. Every time I go out and pick up litter my mood noticeably skyrockets. The opportunities one encounters in their daily life to make an immediate positive material impact on a social/political issue that concerns them do not come up very often.
But what this post doesn't even mention is the community aspect. Which is possibly my favorite part.
Every single time I go to pick up garbage without fail I have at least one positive interaction with a stranger in my neighborhood. Sometimes small like someone walking past and saying thank you for doing it. But also people sometimes offering to help or even offering a bottle of water. And since I've started doing it I've seen more people in my neighborhood going out with gloves and a bag on a warm evening after school or work. In which case when I see them on my walks I become the kind stranger they meet that day.
So argue all you want about whether picking up litter is actually good for the planet (it is) but there is no question. It is good for your community and it is good for you.
If you want to understand what is going on with sex testing and boxing at the Olympics, boy do I have a podcast for you!
Have you been having tough, complicated, frustrating conversations about the inclusion of women in sports recently? Have friends or family who are repeating talking points about certain Olympic boxers having an "unfair advantage" over other women?
If you want to be able to have smarter, more nuanced and fact based conversations about this stuff, I really do think my most recent project will help.
I spent the last ten years researching sex testing, and all that work culminated into a podcast called TESTED. It's six episodes, and it takes you around the world and back in time to understand where sex testing comes from, how it has shifted over time, and why it won't go away.
I worked really hard on the project, and I really do think that listening will help people be smarter about sex, gender, sports and fairness.
If you listened and want more — including an explainer specifically about Imane Khelif and Lin Yu-Ting and whatever the hell is actually going on with boxing at the Olympics — you can get that by subscribing to the newsletter!
the kids online safety act passed the u.s. senate.
long story short (for anyone who hadn't heard of this before) the kids online safety act, aka kosa, is a bill that will censor online content and resources for lgbtq+ matters, reproductive healthcare, activism (INCLUDING PALESTINE AND LIKELY OTHER CRISES GOING ON LIKE IN CONGO OR SUDAN), mental health, etc. everywhere--its effects likely won't be contained to just america.
today, july 30th, 2024, the senate passed it 91-3. it has officially moved to the house of representatives.
is this a pretty massive setback? yes. do you have every right to be scared, sad, angry, or whatever else about this happening? absolutely. but should you give up hope completely? NO!
even though kosa passed the senate, the house is on break/august recess at the moment. we have around an entire month to get emails, calls, and faxes in to house reps, maybe more depending on when they decide to vote on it.
should it pass the house and get signed into law, we still have a whole 18 months before it actually goes into effect. this is plenty of time for digital rights orgs (e.g. fight for the future, the electronic frontier foundation) and other groups that oppose it to file a lawsuit against it. even if, worst-case scenario, it flies through the house immediately after the recess ends, we can still fight this up to march 2026.
so, yes, remember what's at stake here, but also remember that it's not over yet. we lost a battle, not the war.
below are some resources to learn more about kosa and how to contact your reps (first link) + a page that lets you directly contact progressive house reps, sign an open letter opposing the bill, and view others' testimonies against it (second link):
Call Script on Page 2! Resources For Learning about KOSA 2023: KOSA bill itself: https://www.congress.gov/bill/118th-congress/senate-bill/1
Crips for eSims for Gaza is a collaboration between Jane Shi, Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha, and Alice Wong.
So I've been working with Crips for ESims for Gaza for almost a week now, and I gotta say that if you are able to, I really suggest joining us. I had to customize and set up two Google docs to help keep track of esim purchases, but otherwise it's so easy to do. I streamlined my process of buying a card, screenshotting and storing the receipt, documenting the card information, and sending the QR code off to GazaEsims to about 5 minutes each.
Then every day I just take a few minutes to monitor the Esims and see which one's activated or need topping off. I'm managing close to 30 of em now and tonight I'm gonna push to get that up to 50.
If you're someone like me who doesn't mind managing a few spreadsheets for an hour a day, then I'm begging you to help us convert more of our donations to purchases. Jane and everyone else is so friendly and helpful. The email to reach out to is in the chuffed page above.
And if you're not able to do that, then please donate to our group. $15 can help us buy a single 3GB card and the demand is so high right now.
Crips for eSims for Gaza is a collaboration between Jane Shi, Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha, and Alice Wong.
Today’s donation is going into the collection basket at Crips for eSIMs for Gaza, where those good people gather up the funds we send ‘em, purchase phone eSIMs in bulk, and send the QR codes to Mirna on our behalf. (You can also buy the eSIMs directly from Nomad, Simly, etc and send the QR code to Mirna yourself ~ find out how at gazaesims.com). Just a few dollars can make a difference when combined with several other smaller donations and, hey, we just helped buy an esim with a nice data plan! (Crips for eSIMs also watches the data used on the SIM cards they purchase, and tops them up as needed)
Won’t you please consider matching my donation and help keep Gaza connected?
It's time for the 2024 Comics Worker Survey for Workers in the US!!!!!!!
Pay transparency is crucial to uncovering patterns in pay inequity & learning what publishers and clients can ACTUALLY pay us. Submit your info and encourage your peers to do the same!!!
Submit info HERE
Non-US Comics Worker Surveys are in the works! For now this is for comics workers who live and work in the US. Questions or concerns? Email us at [email protected] and we'll try to respond as quickly as we can.
Want to see 2023's Comics Worker Survey report? Read it here!
Trigger warning for graphic descriptions of injured and dead wildlife.
When a fireworks display occurs near a wild bird roost, the birds simultaneously explode into the night skies in utter panic, which can lead to huge numbers of deaths, usually because these birds either smash their skulls or break their necks as the result of flying into trees, fences, billboards, houses and other solid objects that they cannot see in the gloom and ensuing chaos.
Many of the startled birds who take flight fly at much higher altitudes and for much longer durations than they’re used to to escape the noise, which is energetically costly and physiologically stressful.
Small birds and bats can be knocked from the air and killed by the sonic shock. In 2010, 40 dead sparrows were discovered dead under a roost in a nature reserve after a local fireworks display. The manager of the reserve witnessed a tawny owl fluttering and convulsing on the ground after a particularly loud explosion. It died shortly after.
In Arkansas in 2010, some 5,000 red-winged blackbirds, European starlings, common grackles and brown-headed cowbirds suffered blunt-force trauma after colliding with cars, trees and buildings, an ornithologist from the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission would tell National Geographic.
In 2008, federal officials showed that seabirds in the northern California town of Gualala abandoned their nests after a fireworks show, leaving their eggs vulnerable to predators.
Each year in Austin, Texas, the Congress Bridge bats can be seen fleeing the fireworks display en masse on weather radar, and emergences from their roost diminish noticeably in the days following the Fourth.
In 2018, the Galapagos banned the sale and use of pyrotechnics. According to the BBC, conservationists said that fireworks caused elevated heart rates, trembling and anxiety in many animals.
The threat to wildlife doesn’t stop at startling lights and sounds; fireworks also have the potential of starting wildfires, directly affecting wildlife and destroying essential habitat. Litter from firecrackers, bottle rockets and other explosives can be choking hazards for wildlife and may be toxic if ingested.
So what do you do if you want to watch fireworks responsibly? Experts say municipalities are more likely to be aware of these dangers than private consumers. Their best advice is to stick to the shows put on by professionals and local governments, which tend to follow guidelines put forth by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, among others, about animal safety.
The National Audubon Society offers similar guidelines: “Commercial fireworks are concentrated in one location, rather than in several locations at once, which is what often happens in neighborhoods. This allows birds to take off and land again in a ‘safer’ location rather than continuing to flee noises coming at them from all directions.”
Do you want to know how to help the people of the DRC? Go donate money to focuscongo.com, that's one possibility.
You can also donate physical objects in high demand right now, if you have the $ to pay for international shipping prices, and send to this address [10 Avenue Des Messagers, Quartier Les Volcans, Commune de Goma, Ville de Goma, Province du Nord-Kivu, République Démocratique du Congo]. They need just about everything you use in a day to get by.
Clothing, socks, jackets, coats, (All sizes from infants to adults), purses, tote bags, backpacks.
Blankets, pillows & cases, bed sheets
Shoes, (All sizes!)
Cutlery, pots & pans, plates, cups, mugs (preferably plastic for the cups & plates so they don't break during shipment)
Over the counter medication & med supplies: ibuprofen (Advil), hydrogen peroxide, pain killers, bandages, bandaids, hand sanitizer, acetaminophen (Tylenol), cotton balls, gauze, deworming medication, compression wraps, saline solution, topical pain relief (Icy Hot), hydro-cortisone, detail, anti-funga treatment, surgical tape.
Baby formula, vitamins, water purification tablets, lifestraws, hair care / skin care products, pads & tampons, soap, toothbrushes, toothpaste, wet wipes, baby wipes, diapers.
However! If you are in the U.S., you can send (shoes only) your packages to this address in the U.S. [Exile International, Entrance F. 3534 West End Ave. Nashville, TN 37205, United States] which will ship them to the previously listed address, so it's less cost for you!
And finally, you can also go volunteer with Focus Congo! Fill out the application here, and email them at [email protected], make sure to attach your resumé / CV, so they assign you to work that best suits your capabilities. Foreverjuicebae / juicebaeinthewild is one such volunteer and she posts regularly about the conditions of Congolese people in the DRC.
Please reblog! Likes don't help, reblogs spread the word.
Full transcript and links below the cut. All @ links in the graphics are for instagram
PLEASE CONTACT YOUR REPRESENTATIVES ABOUT THE GENOCIDE IN GAZA!
In the UK, find email templates for contacting Parliament at humantiproject.org
In the US, find email and call templates for contracting Congress at 5calls.org
Americans can also text the White House directly at (302) 404-0880
DONATE eSIMS
Download an eSIM app, select Middle East as the region, purchase an eSIM but do not activate it. Screenshot the eSIM QR code and email it to [email protected]. If your eSIM isn’t activated after 3 weeks, resend the QR code. Keep re-sending every 3 weeks until it’s activated. Share your referral codes with friends to get discounts. Here are my referral codes: MAIA5367 for $3 off Airalo, MB772 for $3 off Simly, MAIA66GF for $3 off Nomad
Airalo charges $39 for 3GB, Simly charges $22 for 3GG, Nomad charges $16 for 3GB
Once your eSIM is activated, you can buy top-up packages to make sure the data doesn’t run out. Follow @ connectinghumanity_ for updates, gazaesims.com for more info
Alternatively, donate to Crips for eSIMs for Gaza, run by a group of disabled activists raising money to buy eSIMs: chuffed.org/project/crips-for-esims-for-gaza
If you need more incentive, @cartoonistcoop is offering art rewards for eSIM receipts. Info here: cartoonist.coop/esims4gaza
DONATE TO GOFUNDMES
Find a list of verified fundraisers, FAQs, and volunteer opportunities at linktr.ee/opolivebranch
Follow @ operationolivebranch on instagram for updates. If choosing a single fundraiser off the list is prohibitive, use gazafunds.com, which spotlights one fundraiser at a time.
CALL FOR ART
Artists can donate posters or coloring pages to @ flyers_for_falastin to add to an international database of free PDFs for use at protests. Requirements:
-a clear message supporting Palestine
-PDF or PNG file
-A4 paper size 8.27x11.69 inches or 21x29.7 cm or 2480 x 3508 pixels at 300 DPI
-include your own username and @ flyers_for_falastin
gazafunds.com - Donate directly to a Palestinian family in urgent need of evacuation, medical attention, food, rebuilding homes/businesses etc. (Spotlights 1 verified gfm at a time so if you don't know who/where to donate to just go here and donate to the one they show you!)
Help provide tents (urgent):
The Sameer Project: Currently providing tents for displaced families in Gaza (emergency bc tents in Rafah are being burned as we speak) (paypal) (gfm)
Food, cash & essentials:
Care for Gaza: Working on the ground in Gaza to distribute food, cash, medicine & other essentials to displaced families. (paypal) (gfm)
Direct Aid for Gaza: also working on the ground in Gaza to distribute food, cash & other daily essential suppliess to displaced families. (paypal) (gfm)
Water:
Gaza Municipality's water project: The official Municipality of Gaza needs help rebuilding the water infrastructure in Gaza City to restore access to clean water and waste management services for the people of Gaza. (This campaign only has a couple of weeks left but it's still only at 15%!)
eSIMs (urgent):
guide to buy & send esims for gaza
crips for esims for gaza: If you don't know how to buy esims or don't have the capacity to manage them (e.g. topping up regularly), this team of volunteers are collecting funds to buy & manage gaza esims regularly
Medical Aid
Palestine Red Crescent Society: Provides emergency medical and ambulance services and humanitarian relief on the ground in Gaza e.g. rescuing and treating the wounded.
STOP. DON'T SCROLL. READ THIS TO SAVE LIVES IN GAZA. Below are some VETTED campaigns to support Gazans. These people have been experiencing an active genocide for almost a full year. Donate and share widely.
(may 27th)
Save a displaced Gazan Family (@ranibra) - Rania is married with five children, her husband needs medical care. She is now responsible to save her children. Help them evacuate.
Support Fahmi and his family (@fahmiakkila) - Fahmi's life has been turned completely upside down, and he now finds himself responsible to save his parents, sisters, & brothers - 7 members.
Save the Maliha family (@dinamaliha) - Dina wants to save her mother, two sisters, and three brothers. The family lost contact with their father when the genocide started. They desperately need to get to Egypt.
Save Firas' family (@firassalemnewacccount @prosolitudeeee) - Firas is a father of two children, a 10-month-old boy and a two-year-old girl, who are in need of safe haven in Egypt.
Help Husam and his family (@husamthaher) - Husam desperately needs to save himself, his wife, and 3 young children.
Help Nader's family to evacuate from Gaza (@nadershoshaa) - Nader and his family, consisting of six members, are currently displaced in the south; help them evacuate and survive.
The Shamaly family wants to survive (@daee571989) - Help save 15 kids and their family, who are living a horrifying active genocide.
Ahmd needs urgent evacuation (@ahmd-iyd) - Ahmd has lost his livelihood to this genocide, and needs funds to help his family evacuate and rebuild their life.
Help evacuate Hani's family (@skatehani) - A dear friend, and a Palestinian skater trying to evacuate 10 members of his family; he has lost his father to injustice.
Help Iman’s family find safety (@imaneyad) - Iman has a family of 7 who need to find safety.
Help save Youssef's family (@bba3lo @mahmoud7878) - Ahmed Baalousha wants to save his wife, his two sons, his daughter, as well as his parents and siblings.
Support Ruba and Amal's family's urgent evacuation (@rubashaban @amalshabn) - Ruba and Amal's family are lacking the basic necessities of life; they have an elderly father who desperately needs to be evacuated for medical care.
Save little Yusuf and his family (@ahmednabubake) - Yusuf is in an intensive care unit fighting for his life in Gaza; he needs urgent evacuation alongside his family.
Help Omar evacuate (@omarsobhi) - Omar is a 20 year old Palestinian student who wants to save himself and his family from this genocide.
Help Belal and his family to evacuate from Gaza (@alaajshaat) - Belal has lost too much to this war and needs to support himself and his family.
Do not scroll past this list without contributing. This list makes it easy for you to find a fundraiser to support. Choose at least one. Your contribution will save lives. If you cannot donate, share these campaigns.
FIND MORE CAMPAIGNS HERE
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