Who Even Knows Because I Sure Don't

Diné Weaver Venancio Aragón

"From researching historic twill patterns in museum collections to dyeing wool with Kool-Aid, Diné (Navajo) weaver and instructor Venancio Aragón interlocks research and experimentation to expand the visual and technical vocabularies of Diné weaving. Working on the Diné upright loom, Aragón is part of a generation of Diné weavers who reinterpret ancestral knowledge through experimentation, carrying the medium forward on their own terms. As he stated in our interview with him, “I am not a purist.”

Based in Farmington, New Mexico, Aragón is trained in cultural anthropology and Native American and Indigenous studies, currently teaching at Diné College, the Navajo Nation’s tribal college. Before transitioning to full-time weaving and teaching, Aragón worked as an interpretive park ranger at the Mesa Verde, Aztec Ruins, Bandelier, and Petroglyph National Monuments, where he led tours and developed public education initiatives. He was born to the Tó’aheedlíinii (The Water Flow Together People) clan and born for the Naakaii (Mexican people). His maternal grandfather is of the Tsénahabiłnii (Sleeping Rock) clan, and his paternal grandfather is of the Naakaii (Mexican people)."

Making my own post for Reasons.

https://nationalpost.com/news/canada/popular-kosher-restaurant-in-montreal-destroyed-in-arson-attack

https://nationalpost.com/opinion/terry-newman-apparent-arson-attack-triggers-more-fear-for-a-montreal-jewish-neighbourhood

Early Saturday, Nöam, a kosher Jewish restaurant in Montreal’s Côte-des-Neiges neighbourhood was completely destroyed by fire; it is being investigated as a possible arson and the motive has not yet been determined. This same neighbourhood is still reeling from an attack that shut down the entire area just over 40 days ago.

I visited the site of the former restaurant, now burnt to cinders. The mood was sombre.

Nöam is only a four-minute walk from the Hilton where, in late June, Seth Hatfield — a 25-year-old Albertan with grand delusions that capitalism and elites (including Zionists) were the cause of his dating woes — unleashed terror on the same community, resulting in the deaths of Mohamed Lamine Benredouane, a Muslim Montreal police officer, and a Jewish bystander, Michel Mizrahi.

In the short walk between the two locations, I noticed that a large sign memorializing both men lost to the Côte-des-Neiges community had been erected by the Jewish Community Council. As is customary in the Jewish community, it reads: “May their memories be a blessing.”

Upon arrival at Nöam, I noticed a chemical smell, likely an accelerant of some kind. The building Nöam was in also housed another business, which I was told was untouched by the fire.

The Liberal MP for Mount Royal, Anthony Housefather, was on scene when I arrived. I asked him to say a few words about what he thought was happening.

In a recorded interview, he told me that the owners had just put a lot of money into renovations for the restaurant, and called it a “horrific tragedy” for the owners and their customers as well as the entire community.

Housefather told me, “It was clearly an arson attack,” based on the footage he’d seen, and that now the police need to investigate the motive. Housefather said that he also contacted the minister of public safety, Gary Anandasangaree, who he said was in touch with his local counterparts in the area.

Housefather told me that “Montreal police checked out all the cameras in the area,” and that the owners would be adding their footage later Saturday, after Shabbat. Housefather told me, “hopefully, there’ll be very clear footage of the guy who did this, and he should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”

I spoke to the owner of the building, who shared a video with the Post, which appeared to be a recording of surveillance video showing an individual running.

The mayor of the Côte-des-Neiges–Notre-Dame-de-Grâce borough, Stéphanie Valenzuela, posted a message to her Instagram account saying she was concerned about recent incidents in the area, and that members of the community should continue to look out for one another.

It doesn’t mention this is in her message, but, in addition to this apparent arson, early on Friday gunshots were fired in the neighbourhood at around 2:50 a.m. A house on Méridian Ave. near Ponsard Ave. was struck by gunfire. Reportedly, someone was seen at the residence before fleeing the scene.

Let’s hope that, if the Nöam fire was, indeed, an arson, that the courts do not entertain the kind of unbelievable excuse that admitted Montreal arsonist Mohamed Ilyess Akodad gave the court here, that he was unaware that the institution he was setting fire to was a synagogue.

The Jewish community in Montreal will find out whether the judge believed Akodad’s fantastical story, and just how seriously the justice system here takes attacks on the Jewish community when court reconvenes for his sentencing on Sept. 10

"Looking Jewish"

a collage i made of a ton of photos of Jews past and present. our beautiful faces.

Over 50% of trans men and nonbinary people assigned female have experienced sexual assault.

Trans people in the USA are about 3 times more likely than cis women to struggle accessing abortion related healthcare following abortion bans.

Trans and intersex people are at least twice as likely to attempt a self managed abortion than cis women.

And, I don't have a link at hand, but pregnancy has been used as a tool of forced detransition.

Arvin Kheirkhah

A 20 years old young man who was arrested during January protests. He was executed saturday morning (Aug 1st) with the sentence of "Moharebeh" (waging war against God).

In his last conversation with his family he said: "Don't let them forget me. We stood up for the liberation of our homeland. Don't let the path we chose be silenced."

Arvin Jaan, I'm sorry I could not do more for you.

We won't forgive and we surely won't forget.

I think it is super fucking important that the source be easily findable and checkable.

Because Iran is paying for Wikipedia to be scrubbed. My blog isn't scrubbed.

I also archived this article in the Wayback Machine and Archive.is in the event that something happens to the article. Because again, history is being changed in front of our eyes. So.

"dark money": "Dark money" technically refers to untraceable or difficult to trace political donations. AIPAC's donations are all out in the open. It does not in any way fit the literal definition of "dark money". What Mamdani appears to be saying here is that the money itself is "dark" or evil because AIPAC (associated with Israel and Jews) has (metaphorically) touched it.

"single goal, to preserve their power": Mamdani frames AIPAC as uninterested in specific policy or political changes--the usual reason that PACs exist. He accuses them instead of being interested in power for power's sake, which it will use to undermine the health of society. He implies a contrast with himself and the DSA, whose intentions are painted as good and pure and whose goals are implied to to hinge on creating specific political and policy changes, with any interest in gaining power merely a side effect or dirty necessity of achieving such goals. In other words, he is taking an organization that is doing the exact same things that his own organization is doing, and painting it as uniquely evil. Mamdani tends to reserve this kind of rhetoric for organizations associated with Israel and, by extension, Jews.

"turn us against each other"--this accusation makes little sense. AIPAC is an organization focused on American-Israeli relations. It has no interest in tearing apart American society. However, Jews have long been accused of trying to undermine the coherence and well-being of the societies in which they live. It is not a factual statement, but an accusation built on and promoting distrust and scapegoating of Jews.

"moral change"--this statement puts AIPAC in opposition to "moral change" and morality in general. It build on and feeds into centuries of Christian and Muslim antisemitism painting Jews as immoral, scheming, an operatives of the devil.