lemy.lol

A robot dog with the head of Elon Musk that was part of an art installation at Miami Art Basel in December was seen prancing around San Francisco on Wednesday, as part of a promo for an upcoming art show.

The conversion of half of my garage into a workshop is going well!

cross-posted from: https://news.abolish.capital/post/41175

More than 500 New Yorkers gathered for an "emergency Passover Seder" outside the office of New York City comptroller Mark Levine on Wednesday, where they called for him to divest the city's pension fund from bonds tied to Israel.

The city's former comptroller, Brad Lander, chose not to renew the nearly $40 million worth of investments in 2023. But in January, Levine reversed course, announcing plans to resume investment in the bonds, describing them as sound assets.

After Israel helped pressure the US to launch a war against Iran and began a new invasion of Lebanon—campaigns that have collectively killed more than 3,000 people—the city's chief fiscal officer is facing renewed pressure to stop what Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) described as a "plan to fund Israeli bombs with city pensions."i

Protesters with the group stood outside the comptroller's office holding signs reading "Apartheid is chametz" and "Genocide is a bad investment."

"Passover, our festival of liberation, compels us to ensure that our city’s funds do not underwrite the Israeli government carrying out genocide in Gaza, enabling rampant settler violence in the West Bank, bombing Iran, and destroying entire villages in Southern Lebanon," said Jay Saper, an activist with JVP who works as a children's teacher and Yiddish translator. "Comptroller Levine’s plan goes against the will of New Yorkers who do not want our city's money to be used to fund genocide and war."

Levine took office in January after Lander left the post to challenge Democratic Rep. Dan Goldman for his seat representing New York's 10th congressional district.

Mayor Zohran Mamdani has been a vocal opponent of using any city funds to support Israel. But while he has publicly pushed back against the decision to resume purchasing Israeli bonds, he lacks the power, as mayor, to personally overrule it.

"I don’t think we should purchase Israel bonds,” Mamdani said in January. “We don’t purchase bonds for any other sovereign nation’s debt, and the comptroller has also made his position clear, and I continue to stand by mine.”

Though Levine has expressed strong support for Israel, saying he has "very deep personal ties" to the country, the attendees at Wednesday's Seder said the money spent on Israeli bonds could be better used to help New Yorkers.

"New Yorkers deserve to have their city funds in bonds that prioritize financial stability, accountability, and the long-term security for city workers," said New York City Public Advocate Jumaane Williams. "They should invest in life and the livelihoods of our communities, not the complete opposite. We cannot go backward to something financially unstable and, more importantly, morally bankrupt."

Last year's JVP Seder was held to call for the release of Columbia student Mahmoud Khalil, who was imprisoned by immigration agents and threatened with deportation by the Trump administration for activism on campus against Israel's genocide in Gaza. More than 100 JVP activists were arrested after occupying Trump Tower in Manhattan to demand his freedom last spring.

This year, Khalil—released from detention after a judge's order last June—was in attendance at the Seder.

“Just as you prayed for my freedom last year, today let us all pray together that by next Seder the Israeli genocide will have ended,” said Khalil.

Your browser does not support the video tag. (Video by Jewish Voice for Peace)

The Seder comes amid a public reckoning for Israel, including among many American Jews. A Pew Research poll released on Tuesday found that an unprecedented 60% of American adults view Israel negatively, compared to just 37% who view it positively.

A majority of American Jews have expressed disapproval of the war launched by President Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu in Iran. Meanwhile, a poll last year found that around 4 in 10 American Jews believed Israel's actions in Gaza constituted genocide.

Rabbi Abby Stein of the Jewish Voice for Peace Rabbinic Council said the hundreds of Jewish people in attendance on Wednesday were “reclaiming our beautiful, ancient liberation holiday from those who would weaponize it, and Judaism itself, as tools of colonialism and supremacy—ideas that have been historically, and are, the opposite of what Judaism is and should be."

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Streisand

EDIT: Added CW

CW: SA

Astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti on the ISS

Artist: Phaego | pixiv | danbooru

Full quality: .jpg 3 MB (2000 × 3556)

cross-posted from: https://news.abolish.capital/post/41147

Fresh demands for a total arms embargo against Israel emerged Wednesday as the country's devastating onslaught in Lebanon—leveling apartment buildings and killing more than 250 people—threatened to derail tenuous progress toward a deal to end the US-Israeli war on Iran.

"The United States and all other countries need to cut off weapons to Israel immediately," said Dylan Williams, vice president for government affairs at the US-based Center for International Policy. "Full arms embargo."

Avi Lewis, leader of Canada's New Democratic Party, wrote on social media that "Canada must bring sanctions against Israel, cancel the Canada-Israel free trade agreement, implement a real two-way arms embargo, and use every diplomatic and economic tool at our disposal to rein in Israel."

"US-Israeli impunity has shredded the international order," he added. "Canada should lead in rebuilding it."

US Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) said Wednesday that he "will be offering a resolution to stop US military aid to Israel" when Congress returns to session next week. The US is Israel's chief arms supplier; recent data shows that 99% of Israel's weapons imports are from the US and Germany.

Israel launched its barrage of airstrikes on Lebanon, including busy areas in central Beirut, just hours after US President Donald Trump, Iranian leaders, and Pakistani mediators announced a two-week ceasefire agreement aimed at providing space for a lasting resolution to the war that the US and Israel launched in late February.

Pakistan's prime minister said explicitly that Lebanon was part of the ceasefire agreement, but the Trump White House and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu insisted the country was excluded, prompting fury in Iran.

"If this isn’t yet another case of the US early reneging, then what is it?" asked Esmaeil Baqaei, a spokesperson for Iran's Foreign Ministry.

US Vice President JD Vance claimed Wednesday that there was a "legitimate misunderstanding" about the terms of the ceasefire, saying the Iranians "thought that the ceasefire included Lebanon and it just didn't."

"That said, the Israelis have actually offered to check themselves a little bit in Lebanon because they want to make sure that our negotiation is successful," Vance said.

More Israeli airstrikes were reported in Beirut as Vance made his comments.

More Israeli airstrikes in Beirut #Lebanon just as VP Vance says Israel will show restraint. “Israelis have actually offered to check themselves a little bit in Lebanon …to make sure that our negotiation is successful.”
This is in sheyyah area tonight pic.twitter.com/F4ZFrlKS52
— Joyce Karam (@Joyce_Karam) April 9, 2026

Israel's assault on Wednesday marked the deadliest day for Lebanon during the latest round of bombing, which began days after the US and Israel launched their war on Iran. Lebanon held a national day of mourning on Thursday as rescue efforts continued across the country.

One woman, identified as Haniya Faraj, told The New York Times that nine of her relatives were wounded in an Israeli attack on a neighborhood in central Beirut.

“I don’t know if there are more, my head is about to explode," she said. "I can’t reach all my family members."

The Associated Press reported that its journalists "saw charred bodies in vehicles and on the ground at one of Beirut’s busiest intersections in the central Corniche al Mazraa neighborhood, a mixed commercial and residential area. Using forklifts, rescue workers removed smoldering debris and sifted through ruins for survivors."

Heba Morayef, Amnesty International's regional director for the Middle East and North Africa, said in a statement that the Israeli government "has an appalling track record of carrying out unlawful attacks in Lebanon and displaying a callous disregard for civilian life, fueled by the impunity Israeli officials feel they enjoy."

"These attacks are a reminder that states must immediately halt the transfer of arms and weapons to Israel, given the overriding risk that they will be used to commit serious violations of international humanitarian law," said Morayef.

European leaders, including French President Emmanuel Macron and Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, condemned Israel's massive bombardment of Lebanon and reiterated that the country must be included in the ceasefire agreement.

"We condemn these strikes in the strongest possible terms," said Macron. "They pose a direct threat to the sustainability of the ceasefire that has just been reached. Lebanon must be fully covered by it."

Sánchez, who has vocally condemned the Iran war from the start as illegal and immoral, went further, urging the European Union to "suspend its Association Agreement with Israel."

"There must be no impunity for these criminal acts," said Sánchez.

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