Iron Snowflake

The decades-long fight to shut down Huntingdon Life Sciences may finally have a decisive ending. This is somewhat old news but is not well known: After Fortress dumped HLS under pressure from SHAC and DC-based DARRT, HLS barely survived. They merged in 2015 with two other companies into a new firm called Envigo, with a new lab in Cumberland, Va. In summer 2022, that lab was finally forced to stop their animal testing.

In 2019, PETA broke from their recent pattern of mostly high-profile publicity actions, and returning to their roots slipped an undercover investigator inside Envigo. This basically restarted the entire campaign against HLS from scratch, and the take from the investigation showed the same old torture HLS has always been known for. Enough was enough, and even the US Dept of Justice decided this was too much. Both Federal and state action ensued, ending in a July 2022 settlement in which Envigo surrendered all of their nearly 4,000 beagles and agreed never again to engage in activities requiring an Animal Welfare Act license. The dogs were distributed among a large number of shelters and all were adopted by Sep 1 that year.

It took decades to achieve this result. I, the author of this report, participated myself in anti-HLS protests by DARTT (Defending Animal Rights Today and Tomorrow) whose actions during the 2010 “siege of fortress” played so strong a role in killing HLS’s ability to survive as a standalone business. While HLS’s friends in the UK government succeeded in killing SHAC with a storm of prosecutions and imprisonoments, HLS emerged from that fight like a warship that sunk all their opponents only to end up too shot up to make it home through ocean storms. This led to the 2015 merger that created Envigo, and now Envigo has been forced to shut down their lab and give up the beagles they were torturing. This delayed victory passed unnoticed by many because of the chaos in the United States since 2016, and because Envigo escaped from the name “HLS” with the merger.

The tough, grinding, decades-long campaign of attrition that sank HLS lasted longer than the US war in Afghanistan and much of the time was spent week after week, slugging away with home demos against the same targets. We had to drive off HLS investors and customers faster than we lost fighters to prosecution or burnout.

Anyway, the verdict is now in: SHAC tactics WORK! Animal rights activists won, HLS lost. This is a lesson learned for many later fights such as the current fight in Atlanta against Cop City.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Envigo

On the 8th of September, protesters gathered at Florida’s Supreme Court as arguments were heard in the 15 week abortion ban challenge. The outcome of this case will determine whether DeSantis’s 6 week ban ever goes into effect or not. DeSantis has packed the court, knowing this could undermine his agenda.

Many of the protesters are active in the ballot initiative campaign that if passed will overturn all of Florida’s abortion laws and prevent DeSantis from attempting to bring them back. DeSantis is expected to attempt by all means to cheat and keep this off the ballot, but if he fails a major part of his agenda will be defeated.

Fl State House candidate Bonnie Patterson-James (Polk County) spoke at the rally about having had to have an abortion herself earlier in the race. Bringing this up is a middle finger to her opponent Jennifer Canady, an antiabortion Repugnican known for using taxpayer funds to subsidize fake (“faith-based”) clinics.

A speaker from Louisiana spoke on the importance of FL, where the worst abortion laws have been held up by court challenges. People needing abortions have travelled from as far away as Louisiana for healthcare. As of now, Florida is a crucial strategic location for both sides, as the status quo in Florida greatly weakens the ability of the GOP to enforce abortion bans from Texas all the way to Virginia. From the Virginia line north, New York is the final fallback position for surgical abortion.

In addition, a defeat of the GOP in either the FL Supreme Court or the ballot initiative will be a warning to prosecutors seeking to bring charges against people assisting those needing out of state abortions in ALL of the GOP states. Prosecutors are chomping at the bit to start bringing more cases for this but so far have been mostly but not entirely held back by political and social peace considerations.

On the 7th of September, the Atlanta community sent a “fuck you, Russian warship!” style message to the prosecutors behind the indictments of 61 heroes for opposing the project. They invaded the construction site and locked down to bulldozers while passing motorists honked at a support rally.

This action was a two-part protest, featuring a support rally at the roadside, and a hard lockdown to at least one bulldozer with chains by faith community activists to shut the site down.

This is a real “put up or shut up” moment, and activists just “put up” in a very big way. Check out this written statement from one of today’s five arrestees:

“This is a war happening against protesters”

“If we don’t stand up for our right to protest now, standing up in the future will be vain. Cop City is in the process of being built, and this can only continue if we allow it.”

In other words: no more crap, no more lies, just payback and utterly committed direct action in the face of the most extreme personal risks: Fuck You, Fascist Prosecutor!

atlpresscollective(dot)com/2023/09/07/construction-work-stopped-briefly-as-cop-city-protesters-enter-site/

(Replace (dot) with period to follow link. Youtube embedded there so potential content autoload blocked as a precaution)

On the 5th of September, at a sparsely populated meeting of the Polk County, FL school board, book burners came out of the woodwork. They are working from a script by so-called “Moms4Liberty” in which they find a book with the most “pornographic” passage they can, and read it out of context in school board meetings seeking to get the books banned. One of them even whined about how Polk County is behind many other counties in banning books!

They were countered by LGBTQ speakers, one of whom called them out as the Nazis they are, warned of the danger posed by the GOP’s “Project 2025,” and called out school board member and felon Rick Nolte for his role in recent Fascist proposals before the Board

As part of their “Project Pipes” campaign to shut down Washington Gas instead of giving them a $5 billion subsidy to replace their leaking pipes, Extinction Rebellion DC (XRDC) researched their ownership. On turning over a rock, XRDC uncovered a toxic mess: turns out Washington Gas is owned by Michigan-based AltaGas, an investor in the infamous Mountain Valley Pipeline or MVP.

Looks like XRDC is jousting against a much bigger opponent than they originally suspected! The MVP has been delayed for years by repeated “goal line stands” using heavy-duty civil disobedience and more to buy time for lawsuits to win more delays. Over and over permits have expired or simply been denied. The MVP was supposed to be dead, but Joe Manchin forced Federal permit expedition into the summer debt ceiling budget deal, so back to the trenches go land defenders.

Activists have known for some time where Joe Manchin lives: his “Almost Heaven” houseboat at Washington Marina was the subject of kayak protests and dockside visits back in 2021. At one of them “Masarati Manchin” used his Masarati parked in a garage at the Marina to push his way through early AM protesters.

Now activists know where Washington Gas’s bosses live too-in Michigan not DC, MD, or VA. Details should not be hard to find. Whatever the financial and environmental comparisons of replacing Washington gas’ $5 billion worth of leaking, rusty, and unfit for further use gas pipes vs replacing every gas stove and furnace in DC with electric, there is no question that all the corporate parasites behind the Mountain Valley Pipeline need to be shut down and NOT replaced.

Photographic proof exists but I do not know how to upload photos with the current “block editor,” see https://dcindymedia.org/node/4287 for the screenshot of Altagas’ website

On the 2nd of September, hard Nazi groups Blood Tribe and GDL never made it into Orlando proper, instead terrorizing people in Crane’s Beak Park near their staging area where they left their cars. The walk to Orlando was too much for these “store bought tridents” to consider. Black Lives Matter marches in DC have sometimes walked over 10 miles, neo-Nazi losers apparently are not up for this.

Instead, the hassled the park, then gathered on an I-4 overpass near Orlando (as close as they got) chanting “Sieg Heil” and even “Jews Will Not Replace US,” the chant made infamous by the violent Charlottesville torch march Aug 11 2017. Also they directly threatened our Jewish friends with death, chanting “Jews get the rope,” a variation on their “pedophiles get the rope” which is actually aimed at everyone except strictly cishet folks.

After the highway overpass blustering, the neo-nazi bigots retreated towards their cars, the media in pursuit. They managed to lose the overt media tail with direct threats, but angry bystanders recorded them near their cars, and someone even got a partial Texas tag from one of them.

Video credits Ford Fischer, plus an activist who shot video for my use at Charlottesville (I was still too hot from the Deploraball to deploy there), and finally some of the bystanders the Nazis pissed off. Edited by Iron Snowflake.

On the 1st of September, protesters gathered at the N Orange Ave office of the Orange County area’s state prosecutor. Protesters called out new prosecutor Andrew Bain’s extreme right, racist, transphobic, and homophobic agenda of hate. This agenda is being imposed on Orlando over the objection of voters, who did NOT choose Andrew Bain. It is the Federalist Society and DeSantis who selected (NOT elected) Bain.

On Aug 9, Florida dictator Ron DeSantis “suspended” the Orlando area’s elected reformist prosecutor Monique Worrel. He installed far-right, Federalist Society affiliated judge Andrew Bain as her replacement. A similar outrage in Tampa was directly responsible for the Tampa 5 case in which 5 peaceful protesters on a university campus against one of DeSantis’ bills were charged with major felonies.

People were SURFING on Bayshore Drive in Tampa this afternoon! Actually more like water skiing, but with a surfboard. Hurricane Idalia served Florida a HUGE lemon, so Tampa made lemonade. Both a surfboard and a tube raft were pulled behind 4 wheel drive trucks, plus a pair of ATV’s easily handled the flooding, throwing huge rooster tails as they passed

On Monday the 28th of August, what was to be a commemoration of MLK’s March on Washington in Jacksonville, FL instead turned into a furious protest against Saturday’s murders-and of Fl Governor Ron DeSantis. The Governor is being considered responsible for the shootings. He is being called out for all but soliciting the murders with his steady drumbeat of racist laws and propaganda.

Marchers and speakers called ou DeSantis as a racist, a white supremacist, and an out and out Nazi. While march organizers asked everyone not to engage any counterprotesters or hecklers, not a single Proud Boy or member of any other fascist group other than the cops dared to show up openly.

On Sunday, the 27th of August, Fl Governor Ron DeSantis had the nerve to shot up at a vigil for the three African-Americans murdered by a white nationalist the previous day. He was roundly booed for as one speaker at the Monday August 28 rally described, “offering thoughts and prayers with the same mouth he used to fan the flames of white supremacy.”

On the 26th of August, drag defenders kept a sold-out drag show at Aunt Helen’s in Washington DC safe, defeating an attempt by hatemongering street preachers to invade at least their space if not the venue behind them. Defenders deployed umbrellas to shield families with children from the potentially doxxing cameras of the Christian extremist preachers and their allies.

Near the end of the show, the attackers crossed the street and in what appears to have been a determined attack started pushing and attempting to break the line of defenders. Several umbrellas broke under the assault, but determined defenders held the line. The show was uninterrupted, and all attendees and performers kept safe.

It seems that street preachers and Christian hate cults are playing a major role at least on the East Coast if not nationwide in harassing drag shows and Pride events. It was hate preachers from another “official street preachers” style outfit that showed up on August 13 at an all ages drag event in Lakeland, at St Petersburg, FL Pride, and assaulted a child at Pasco Pride again in Florida.