Derek Simmers

Illustrator person. Also murals.
(he/him)

[Séamus Malekafzali @Seamus_Malek]

This pain this man has suffered over the past three months is beyond the comprehension of so many of us. And yet journalists in the West do not mention him, the sacrifices he has made, and who is targeting him to prevent him from bringing people the truth.https://t.co/jfId2HEGoz

[Caitlin Johnstone @caitoz]

One of the most destructive ideas in modern times is this notion that it’s fine and appropriate for governments to act like monsters whenever anything bad happens to their country. We saw it happen with the United States after 9/11, and we’re seeing it now with Israel.

Dropping military explosives on children is just as wrong now as it was on October 6th. Wars of aggression were just as wrong on September 12th 2001 as they were on September 10th. But there’s this idiotic belief in mainstream culture that a nation experiencing a traumatic event means it gets to go on a murderous rampage until it feels better.

As soon as the Hamas attack occurred we were inundated with messaging from the western political/media class which conveyed the idea that because something bad happened to Israel, Israel now gets to do a little genocide, as a treat. This is stupid nonsense, and should be rejected by all thinking people.

No other aspect of human life works like this. A normal guy isn’t permitted to go on a shooting spree at his wife’s workplace just because she cheated on him with Kyle from marketing. He’s not even allowed to be mean to customers at work or he’ll get fired. The rules don’t stop applying to normal people just because something bad happened to them; only when we’re thinking about the giant power conglomerates known as governments is this sloppy thinking ever taken seriously.

In fact, in other aspects of life we understand that after a traumatic event it’s actually important to protect our friends and loved ones from making bad decisions in the emotional heat of the moment. You wouldn’t let your sister get an ugly face tattoo after a nasty breakup. If you saw your friend stumbling around with his car keys in one hand and a bottle in the other after losing his job, you wouldn’t tell him you stand with him and support whatever it is he’s getting ready to do. You’d understand that people can make unwise decisions after something bad happens to them, and you’d do what you can to help steer them away from it.

But when we extend our thinking out to the world’s deadliest military forces — precisely the things toward which we should be most careful about bad decision-making — all that goes out the window. All of a sudden “You’re either with us or against us” is framed as a perfectly sound and reasonable position to have on issues like multiple full-scale ground invasions, and if you don’t “Stand with Israel” while it bombs Gaza, Lebanon and Syria that means you’re an evil terrorist supporter who probably hates Jews.

The death toll from Israel’s bombing campaign in Gaza has already more than doubled the death toll from the Hamas attack, and we can expect it to keep multiplying because there’s no meaningful opposition to the bloodshed. The United States, who as an indispensable backer of Israel could end all this with a word, has refused to draw a single red line on what Israel may or may not do if it wishes to retain US support — even its indiscriminate use of white phosphorus, which violates international humanitarian law. War crimes are being committed not just openly but announced in advance as Tel Aviv commits itself to the collective punishment of Palestinians with a complete siege of Gaza, and Israel’s allies have no objection to this.

And it’s pretty bad in the general western public as well. Because of the frenetic propaganda campaign by the western press in the wake of the Hamas attack, a new CNN poll finds that half of Americans have been successfully convinced that because something bad happened to Israel, Israel is “fully justified” in raining hellfire on a giant concentration camp in which half the population are children.

The moments after a scary and traumatizing event are the very moments we should be most vigilant against abuses by the nation affected by it. Instead we’re doing the exact opposite as a society and silently agreeing that certain nations get a hall pass on war crimes and mass murder whenever something bad happens to them. At the exact time when the light of wisdom needs to be shining at its very brightest, we’re allowing it to be flushed down the toilet.

And now as anti-war voices like Trita Parsi, Branko Marcetic and Connor Echols have noted, we’re looking at a conflict that could easily escalate and expand to include other nations in the middle east and the US alliance. All because the world decided that we are now on a temporary holiday away from reason and compassion.

This needs to stop. We need to be thinking rationally not just about the current violence but the factors which gave rise to it. That means taking a full accounting of the apartheid abuses which gave rise to Hamas and the Palestinian resistance, ending those abuses and righting the wrongs. It means negotiations. It means diplomacy. It means reparations. It means making concessions. It means sitting down and talking. It means acknowledging the problem so that it can be fixed.

And all of this can be avoided for as long as Israel and its allies want to strut about huffing about how they have special license to kill Palestinians now because blah blah victim story. At this point in history, just as after 9/11, war looks so very, very easy and peace looks so very, very difficult. But it’s at these exact moments that we need to be pushing hardest for peace, because this is when it actually matters.

This is where the rubber meets the road, folks. This is where the real work of creating a healthy world takes place.

[Sam Knowlton @samdknowlton]

This abandoned mine site went from a barren wasteland to a verdant ecosystem teeming with soil and plant life within a year.

How? The intelligent use of cattle.

Mine tailings are the rocky waste materials left over from processing metal ores. Without elaborate and expensive reclamation efforts, mine tailings can remain bare and lifeless for decades. The typical reclamation process is expensive, requires heavy machinery, grueling manual labor, and often results in lackluster revegetation.

Enrique Guerrero, a cattle rancher from Chihuahua, MX, decided to take a different approach in hopes of restoring the lifeless mine tailings to a functional ecosystem.

After some terracing and seeding, Enrique began ultra-high density grazing on the mine site. He eventually reached a density of 2,500 cattle per hectare, rotating them through the site in quick intervals.

In less than a year, the entire site was carpeted with perennial grasses and forbs, with a total of 44 species. The forage attracted deer, wild turkeys, mountain lions, numerous birds, and dung beetles.

Standard reclamation efforts cost at least $10,000 per hectare and require trucking in massive amounts of compost, fertilizers and amendments. Despite these efforts, the results are frequently underwhelming, with a mere 40% survival rate for seeded plants considered a success.

Enrique's approach cost $6,000 per hectare, and required only cattle, seed, corn stalks, hay, and supplementary feed. The result was rapid regeneration of the site's topsoil and complete revegetation of what would otherwise be a defunct moonscape.

While using cattle for land regeneration is not universally applicable, it opens the door for innovative solutions in managing the nearly 40,000 abandoned mine sites in the US alone.

[David Meyers @DavidMeyers6]

"Show up for 'Rally for ODSP!' April 25th 2023. 11am to 1pm. Queens Park. Disability Without Poverty is hosting with us and providing ASL services. We are grateful! Hope to see you there!" Post by organizers @ODSPAction @ODCoalition. #RaiseTheRates #EndDisabilityPoverty #ONpoli

[CathyCrowe @cathycrowe.bsky.social 🇨🇦 @cathyacrowe]

Please sign and share. #HealthForAll

https://t.co/lvcDPT3hOc

[Diana Chan McNally @DianaCMcNally]

Horrifying: @fordnation's Ministry of Health is ending renumeration for physicians who treat extremely vulnerable people who are uninsured, which includes undocumented and many unhoused people. This is telling physicians to treat people for free, or else don't treat them at all.

[CBC News @CBCNews]

Ontario is winding down a pandemic-era program that gave uninsured patients in the province access to medically necessary care in hospitals. https://t.co/7121Nn1Ag6

[The Breakdown @TheBreakdownAB]

“The largest recorded earthquake in Alberta's history was not a natural event, but most likely caused by disposal of oilsands wastewater, new research has concluded.”

Here we thought it was Smith introducing the Sovereignty Act…

#abpoli #ableg #cdnpoli https://t.co/jjYbJixlGS

[Derek Simmers @DerekSimmers]

This was a fun one :)

[Homes First @Homes_First]

Our residents were a huge part of designing our community room mural at our Lawrence shelter. Now they can sit back and enjoy a view of the Scarborough Bluffs from the comfort of home. Check out it out! #mural #torontoart #scarboroughbluffs #yyz

Project lead: @DerekSimmers

[Brent Toderian @BrentToderian]

“It costs, on average, $55,000 annually for social & health services for one homeless individual. According to study data, the project saved the shelter system approximately $8,100 per person for a total of roughly $405,000 over one year for all 50.” https://t.co/zpue15Z994

[Kate Beaton @beatonna]

Jesus Christ. There has been a tailings pond leak from the Kearl Lake project into the water near Fort Chipewyan First Nation for NINE MONTHS and the people weren't even informed. These corporations are criminals, murderers, they knowingly dump carcinogens https://t.co/uoZ7viactC

[Chief Jeff Copenace @ChiefCopenace]

Pls Retweet Video. ❤

First Mining Gold @FirstMining: You are Trespassing!

These are Anishinaabe Lands + Waters. ❤ We stand against you.

Our Elders have directed us to Protect the Water for all future generations, for all First Nations and our neighbors.

#PDAC2023 @the_PDAC

[Prem Thakker @prem_thakker]

I spoke with the people of East Palestine, Ohio.
The government's deference to Norfolk Southern has left people lost, relying on each other instead. They have alarming symptoms. Their pets are dying. Some are even packing up to leave a place they love.
https://t.co/M1YEUMzbBW

[Brenda ❤️ on bluesky @brendapotterr.bsky.social @Brendapotterr]

🎄Christmas Miracle… This will cover EVERYONE for Xmas Dinner&Gifts

🙏$2,500 Donation Match for Xmas Turkey Dinners!

🚨Need $1,770 to reach goal

🙏$4,000 Donation Match for Xmas Gift Giving Help

🚨Need $2,170 to reach goal

DM or PayPal/etransfer
[email protected]

[angiehocking @angmosh]

Freezing rain=dangerous! Shelters full, warming centres not open. Ppl will camp under trees that become heavy w ice. They will get sick & fill overloaded hospitals. They will freeze 2 death. But instead we close shelterhotels & not open new warming centres? @cityoftoronto act NOW

[Brenda ❤️ on bluesky @brendapotterr.bsky.social @Brendapotterr]

🎄147 families need a Christmas

Please buy a family a Christmas🙏

🚨Christmas Turkey Dinner
142 families
🙏$30-$50

🚨Christmas Gift Giving Help
147 families
🙏$50-$100 with kids

DM or PayPal/etransfer
[email protected]

[hoody hoo @_hudahassan]

what is your government telling you about the value of _your_ life when it is easier to ask for help with dying than it is to get housing, social services, medical relief, etc?

[angiehocking @angmosh]

A short story of how the City of Toronto is abandoning the homeless, in screenshots.

[Derek Simmers @DerekSimmers]

Why don't the feds support unhoused women, trans people and migrants who are disproportionately 'hidden homeless'? We need rent subsidies and we need them now! Take action on the shelter crisis.@JustinTrudeau @cafreeland @jyduclos @BillBlair @HonAhmedHussen #ShelterCrisisTO

[Don’t Boo…Revolt! @BreeNewsome]

Under capitalism, a “good economy” is one that’s generating profits for the owner class. It has little to do with conditions for the average person. The economy is “good” b/c they kept generating profits even as a million people died & many lost their homes.