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ben-j-amin.bsky.social
Benjamin Nolan (official account)
@ben-j-amin.bsky.social
150 followers 230 following 160 posts
Toronto. Land Back. Free Palestine.
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ben-j-amin.bsky.social
Wrote a thing. I think it breaks some news about the scope of police violence/excess against Palestine solidarity protesters in Toronto.

48+ protester brain injuries since Jan 2024.

Zero convictions from over 130 protester arrests.
thegrindto.bsky.social The Grind @thegrindto.bsky.social · Aug 15
NEW: Police Chief Plays Loose with the Truth on Radio Call-in Show

Toronto’s chief of police got grilled on excessive use of force at Palestine solidarity protests, and he defended the police breaking people’s bones and inflicting concussions.
Police Chief Plays Loose with the Truth on Radio Call-in Show
Toronto’s chief of police took listener calls live on NEWSTALK 1010. He got grilled on excessive use of force at Palestine solidarity protests, and he defended the police breaking people’s bones and…
www.thegrindmag.ca
August 15, 2025 at 8:08 PM
Reposted by Benjamin Nolan (official account)
dgrdon.bsky.social
Wow, another update to the Therme Ontario Place scandal, this time in the NYT. Despite Therme's claims of running multiple spas around the world, it only operate one, in Romania. It benefits from being confused with a totally different company also called Therme, which runs spas in Germany.
Two logos for companies called Therme. Both have illustrations of a woman standing on a shell, covering their breasts. One is more watercolour (left) and the other more blue and made using graphic design software (right).
April 16, 2025 at 1:32 PM
Reposted by Benjamin Nolan (official account)
nkalamb.bsky.social
A Michigan lawyer and US citizen was detained by CBP for *representing* a student anti-genocide protester.

www.freep.com/story/news/l...
A lawyer's spring break trip to the Dominican Republic with his family ended on a troubling note at Detroit Metro Airport on Sunday: He was detained by federal agents, questioned about his clients, and asked to give up his cellphone, he says. But Dearborn attorney Amir Makled, who is representing a pro-Palestinian demonstrator who was arrested at the University of Michigan last year, stood his ground. He didn't give up his phone.
April 8, 2025 at 10:48 AM
Reposted by Benjamin Nolan (official account)
benwritesthings.bsky.social
they hate our beef because our beef is beautiful and theirs is weak
April 3, 2025 at 7:31 AM
ben-j-amin.bsky.social
A fun exercise would be to apply the demographic reasoning used to calculate the Ukrainian nationalists' 7-10 million Holodomor death counts to Gaza post-blockade
April 1, 2025 at 5:23 PM
ben-j-amin.bsky.social
Hey @nolore.bsky.social

Was curious about this framing. Seems to elide the fact that the Israeli military was responsible for a significant portion of those casualties and also to tacitly affirm the false narrative that insists on positing the al-Aqsa flood as THE instigating action

1/2
April 1, 2025 at 4:53 PM
ben-j-amin.bsky.social
NBD just prominent liberal establishment member, Chrétien confidant, and legacy media columnist Warren Kinsella calling for exactly the same kind of forced deportations of anti-genocide protesters as is currently being pursued by the Trump admin
April 1, 2025 at 2:32 PM
ben-j-amin.bsky.social
Lol at the @NDP for leaving the door wide open for a right-wing central banker to outflank them from the left on housing

nhc-cnl.ca/publications...
National Housing Council - Shaping the future of housing in Canada through inclusion and participation
nhc-cnl.ca
March 31, 2025 at 8:02 PM
ben-j-amin.bsky.social
Has anyone noted the way Giora Eiland's so-called General's Plan to starve Gaza (which by all appearances has been Israeli policy) echoes and seems prima facie to have been modeled on Herbert Backe's 1941 GeneralPlan Ost?
March 31, 2025 at 7:04 PM
ben-j-amin.bsky.social
Calling Timothy Snyder's move to Toronto a "brain drain" is something.

Sorry America on the drop of your rate of laundering Nazi historiography...
March 26, 2025 at 6:07 PM
ben-j-amin.bsky.social
Trump's gonna get an aircraft carrier sunk
March 26, 2025 at 12:36 PM
ben-j-amin.bsky.social
Very CBC of the CBC vote compass to ask no questions either about the housing affordability crisis or about Canada's continued support for the genocide in Palestine

Anyway, here are my leader evaluations
March 25, 2025 at 8:32 PM
Reposted by Benjamin Nolan (official account)
leftylabourtech.bsky.social
As Israel murders 400 Palestinians in a single day in Gaza, Zionist lobby group B'nai Brith Canada successfully lobbied #Belleville Public Library to cancel a presentation by Canadian medical Dr. Yipeng Ge on the horrific state of healthcare in Gaza. Disgusting.
March 19, 2025 at 4:09 AM
Reposted by Benjamin Nolan (official account)
rondeibert.bsky.social
Ontario police 🇨🇦 have been linked to a spyware company that makes it easy to hack into phones. They owe us some explanations

@justinling.ca reports 👇
www.thestar.com/opinion/cont...
Justin Ling: Ontario police have been linked to a spyware company that makes it easy to hack into phones. They owe us some explanations
Spyware made by the company Paragon has been implicated in the surveillance of activists and journalists.
www.thestar.com
March 19, 2025 at 3:33 PM
Reposted by Benjamin Nolan (official account)
seamus-malekafzali.com
The PFLP issues a statement calling upon university students in the West to "immediately take to the streets" for Gaza and "besiege the White House and the Pentagon" to intensify pressure on the American government.
March 18, 2025 at 8:32 PM
Reposted by Benjamin Nolan (official account)
fucktheory.bsky.social
What the actual fuck
lebassett.bsky.social Laura Bassett @lebassett.bsky.social · Mar 18
From a source: “Just had a co-presenter for a buildings research conference bow out. She’s a dual citizen and the FBI came knocking to ask her about her involvement in coauthoring chunks of the Paris Agreement.

Climate science is being literally (and I mean literally) criminalized.”
March 18, 2025 at 6:19 PM
ben-j-amin.bsky.social
1952 write-up/analysis by the UE of the McCarthy era law Rubio has been citing in his deportation orders, preserved by Du Bois in his papers

credo.library.umass.edu/view/full/mu...
Summary analysis of Walter Mc-Carran immigration and naturalization act of 1952, December 5, 1952
credo.library.umass.edu
March 18, 2025 at 5:11 PM
Reposted by Benjamin Nolan (official account)
unfinishedlines.club
"It’s difficult to disagree with the American union’s characterization of neoliberal free trade. But by lending support to Trump’s tariffs rather than organizing an internationalist response with unions and workers from Canada as well as Mexico, the UAW is treading a dangerous path"
North American Auto Unions Clash Over Trump’s Tariffs
By supporting Trump’s tariffs rather than organizing an internationalist response, the United Auto Workers is treading a dangerous path.
www.readthemaple.com
March 17, 2025 at 6:07 PM
Reposted by Benjamin Nolan (official account)
josephcox.bsky.social
New: we've obtained a leaked list of the more than 200 sites, services, apps an ICE surveillance contractor monitors. Bluesky, OnlyFans, many more. Used to track targets. Highly relevant with the arrest of Mahmoud Khalil by ICE. We've published the full list here: www.404media.co/the-200-site...
The 200+ Sites an ICE Surveillance Contractor is Monitoring
404 Media has obtained the list of sites and services that ICE contractor ShadowDragon pulls data from. ShadowDragon sources data from all over the web and lets government analysts easily search it an...
www.404media.co
March 12, 2025 at 1:02 PM
Reposted by Benjamin Nolan (official account)
erinbiba.bsky.social
Oh my god look a Democrat actually DOING SOMETHING.

This man is running for mayor and this kind of energy for social justice is 👀
premthakker.bsky.social Prem Thakker ツ @premthakker.bsky.social · Mar 12
Wow. Watch this from Zohran Mamdani. It looks like the exact "fight" and "conviction" people are hopelessly asking for from the people in charge of the Democratic party:
March 12, 2025 at 7:41 PM
Reposted by Benjamin Nolan (official account)
elivalley.bsky.social
Once again the most antisemitic presidency in generations, an administration with *actual Nazis* on staff, is determining which Jews are Jewish and which are degenerates (hint: the latter = the vast majority of American Jews)—with the added bonus of using "Palestinian" as a slur.
justinbaragona.bsky.social Justin Baragona @justinbaragona.bsky.social · Mar 12
Donald Trump: "Schumer is a Palestinian as far as I am concerned. He has become a Palestinian. He used to be Jewish. He is not Jewish anymore. He is a Palestinian."
March 12, 2025 at 8:16 PM
Reposted by Benjamin Nolan (official account)
pattymo.com
New “Sell Your Car” flyer image just dropped
Elon and Trump in front of the White House after doing their little Tesla infomercial
March 11, 2025 at 8:19 PM
Reposted by Benjamin Nolan (official account)
nycsouthpaw.bsky.social
Mahmoud Khalil’s counsel has filed a motion to compel his return to New York. www.documentcloud.org/documents/25...
FACTUAL BACKGROUND A. Background Mahmoud Khalil is Palestinian, but he was born and raised in Syria because his grandparents were forcibly removed from their ancestral home in Tiberias, Palestine? Since the war in Syria, his family was again displaced and are now dispersed throughout Europe and West Asia. Mr. Khalil entered the United States on a student visa in or around December 2022 in order to pursue a Master's degree in Public Administration from Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs ("SIPA"). Mr. Khalil completed his program in December 2024, and has an anticipated graduation date of May 2025. Mr. Khalil married his U.S. citizen wife on November 16, 2023. He became a lawful permanent resident in 2024. Mr. Khalil and his wife are expecting their first child together next month, sometime in April 2025. While Mr. Khalil's habeas corpus petition employed redacted initials instead of his name, the publicity urrounding his ordeal over the past two days, along with public statements by U.S. government officials identifyin him, foreclose the possibility of proceeding anonymously. 3 Case 1:25-Cv-01935-JMF Document 11 Filed 03/10/25 Page 5 of 13 B. Student Activism and Speech on Matters of Public Concern As a Palestinian, Mr. Khalil has felt compelled to be an outspoken advocate for the human rights of Palestinians, including on the campus of Columbia University. He is committed to calling on the rest of the world to protect the rights of Palestinians under international law and to stop enabling violence against Palestinians. Additionally, Mr. Khalil has been a mediator and negotiator, facilitating dialogue between Columbia University's administration and its students. In this role, he has advocated on behalf of his peers to be treated humanely and fairly by the university. This role has placed him in the public eye, particularly through numerous interviews with national media outlets. Speech regarding international law, the obligations that the United States and Columbia University have under that law, the human rights of the Palestinian people, and related matters are all topics of public concern clearly protected by the First Amendment. C. Unlawful Arrest by the Department of Homeland Security On the evening of Saturday, March 8, 2025, at approximately 8:30 p.m., Mr. Khalil and his wife were returning to their Columbia University apartment from a friend's home. When they arrived at their apartment building, Mr. Khalil and his wife were approached by approximately four people who were dressed in plain clothes. All of them entered the lobby of the apartment building, which is owned and operated by Columbia University. See Ex. 1, Declaration of Amy Greer ("Greer Decl.") at 14. When the people approached Mr. Khalil and his wife, they asked: "Are you Mahmoud Khalil?" When Mr. Khalil answered in the affirmative, the men identified themselves as being with the Department of Homeland Security and stated that they had to take Mr. Khalil into custody. The agents told Mr. Khalil's wife to go up to her apartment, and that if she would not leave Mr. Khalil's wife retrieved his immigration documents to show the DHS agents that Mr. Khalil is a lawful permanent resident. She handed the documents to an agent, who was talking to someone on the phone. The agent looked confused when he saw the documents and said: "He has a green card." Mr. Khalil's wife heard the agent repeat that they were ordered to bring Mr. Khalil in anyway. While Mr. Khalil's wife went to their apartment, Mr. Khalil was able to place a call to his attorney, Amy Greer. Greer Decl. at 11 4-5. Attorney Greer advised Mr. Khalil to ask if the DHS agent had a warrant, and the agent advised that they did. Attorney Greer then heard a voice tell Mr. Khalil to hand over the phone. Attorney Greer identified herself as Mr. Khalil's attorney and asked who she was speaking with. The agent identified himself as Special Agent Elvin Hernandez of Homeland Security Investigations. Id. at 1 4. Attorney Greer asked if Agent Hernandez had a warrant, and he answered in the affirmative, stating that Mr. Khalil's student visa had been revoked by the U.S. Department of State and therefore they were detaining him. Id. Attorney Greer advised Agent Hernandez that Mr. Khalil is a lawful permanent resident and has the right to due process. Id. at 1 5. Agent Hernandez responded that the Department of State had revoked Mr. Khalil's green card,? too, and that he would be brought in front of an immigration judge and hung up the phone. Id. The agents then handcuffed Mr. Khalil and brought him outside where there were multiple vehicles waiting. Mr. Khalil's wife asked for the names of the agents, their contact information, and how to reach them to follow up on her husband's detention, but they only advised her that Mr. Khalil would be taken to 26 Federal Plaza (in Manhattan), and otherwise refused to speak with 3 Counsel is unaware of any provision in law that would allow the Department of State to rescind or revoke her. Id. at 1 6. They left her no business card or any information at all as to how to find out where her husband was to be taken, on what grounds, or who she can contact. Id. at 1 7. D. The Habeas Corpus Petition Filed in this Court Challenging the Legality of Detention Under the law of this Circuit, it would be unconstitutional for Respondents to have imposed punitive immigration consequences on Mr. Khalil, such as detention and removal, as they appear to have done, in retaliation for Mr. Khalil's constitutionally protected speech and advocacy. See Ragbir v. Homan, 923 F.3d 53, 78 (2d Cir. 2019), cert, granted, judgment vacated on other grounds sub nom. Pham v. Ragbir, 141 S. Ct. 227 (2020). Counsel filed the instant habeas corpus petition on Mr. Khalil's behalf on March 9, 2025, at 4:41 a.m. ECF No. 1. The urgently-filed petition challenged his detention as unlawful and sought an order from this Court for his release. The petition lodged jurisdiction with this Court.ª On March 9, 2025, at 4:29 a.m., counsel checked the ICE online detainee locator, which indicated that Mr. Khalil was in New York. Id. at 1 10. At 8:30 a.m., counsel once again checked the ICE online detainee locator, which indicated that Mr. Khalil was still in New York. Id. After multiple emails to ICE to attempt to reach Mr. Khalil, at 1:47 p.m., counsel was informed that Mr. Khalil was in the process of being transferred to a detention facility within the New Orleans ERO Field Office. Id. at 1 12. Counsel reached out to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York, who confirmed that Mr. Khalil was en route to Louisiana. Id. at 1 13. Counsel requested Mr. Khalil's immediate return, but was told that ICE would not consent to his return absent a court order. When Mr. Khalil's counsel attempted to schedule a telephone call with Mr. Khalil—a process that typically occurs the same day or the next day here in New Mr. Khalil's habeas corpus petition was filed urgently and counsel pla…
March 10, 2025 at 9:57 PM
Reposted by Benjamin Nolan (official account)
abrightgreencity.bsky.social
People can tell when you are actually in solidarity with them & when you are simply playing optics games.

If you were actually serious about power, you would be building solidarity.

You can not build solidarity with people & abandon them at the same time.

You stand with trans folk or you don't
koryk.bsky.social Indoor Garden Guy @koryk.bsky.social · Mar 10
I’m not, clearly. Your real enemies aren’t liberals trying to find the best way to regain power in this right-leaning country to protect minority rights.
March 10, 2025 at 7:22 PM