"Cruelty is as Cruelty Does"

From the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine:

Elon Musk’s Cruel Brain Experiments

Since 2017, Elon Musk’s company Neuralink has subjected animals—including monkeys, pigs, rats, and sheep—to invasive, often deadly brain experiments.

Through 2020, the company paid $1.4 million to the University of California, Davis, to use its facilities, where experimenters removed portions of monkeys’ skulls to implant electrodes in the animals’ brains as part of Neuralink’s development of a “brain-machine interface.” Only in 2022, following a public records lawsuit by the Physicians Committee, did the troubling details of these experiments begin to come to light. The company is still conducting experiments on animals at its facilities in California and Texas.

TAKE ACTION:

act.pcrm.org/v1Qaw_DNoEyoABWfiNGyVw2

FYI: definition of the term “cruelty” from the Merriam-Webster Dictionary:

cru·​el [krü(-ə)l] 

1.    Disposed to inflict pain or suffering

2.    Devoid of human feelings

3.    Deliberately causing or conductive to injury, grief, or pain without mercy

4.    Members of the human species who totally lack compassion or mercy to other living beings

5.    Elon [“EE-lon”] Musk

Rev. William

Two February Events that Might Interest You

Main Street Vegan Podcast: Mark your calendar. A very special episode of Victoria Moran's Main Street Vegan Podcast will air February 22nd when Victoria interviews Wayne Hsuing (wherever your podcasts are available).  Recently released from a jail term for rescuing sick birds from an egg factory and getting them veterinary care, Wayne is a brilliant, thoughtful, courageous, and controversial figure in the animal rights world. Hsiung is a co-founder of The Simple Heart Initiative and previously led the animal rights network Direct Action Everywhere (DxE), which he also co-founded. For more information about Wayne, see Wayne Hsiung - Wikipedia.

The Compassion Consortium also is delighted to share some exciting news about the groundbreaking film, They're Trying to Kill Us. In honor of Black History Month, beginning on February 1, you can watch this film for free on the movie's website, They're Trying to Kill Us.

The Compassion Consortium featured this film for our 2022 February Compassionate Film Talk event. During that event, the film's producers Keegan Kuhn (Cowspiracy and What the Health) and John Lewis (Badass Vegan) spoke eloquently about how the film could shine a light on little known injustices.

The film's focus is to encourage critical thought about justice by highlighting Hip Hop artists and activists who speak about injustice in all its forms. The film addresses food access and food deserts, nutritional, and environmental racism, diet related diseases, racial disparities of disease, government corruption, animal cruelty, climate change and ultimately how the influence of Hip Hop will save the world.

Something Else that Makes me Angry

Another thing that makes me angry - rodent glue traps!

We live in an apartment building in Manhattan, NYC, and occasionally are visited by a small "field mouse". It is just part of wonderful apartment living in NYC. We simply put out a cruelty-free mouse trap, and when they are enticed into the trap, I take them to Central Park and release them.

Amazon.com : Mouse Traps, Humane Mouse Trap, Easy to Set, Mouse Catcher Quick Effective Reusable and Safe for Families -2 Pack : Patio, Lawn & Garden

Some others (far too many, including our apartment building) use "rodent glue traps". I don't know if you are familiar with these, but they are hideously cruel - so cruel that I don't want to describe them for you in detail.

However, finally, someone in Congress is addressing this cruel practice. Congressman Ted Lieu (D-Los Angeles County) has introduced into Congress the "Glue Trap Prohibition Act" - a bill to place a national ban on the possession and use of glue traps to catch rodents. This Act is endorsed by PETA, the Humane Society Legislative Fund, and the Humane Society of the United States.

REP LIEU INTRODUCES BILL TO BAN USE OF GLUE TRAPS | Congressman Ted Lieu (house.gov)

Please support Rep Lieu's Congressional initiative.

BTW, our cousins across the ocean in the United Kingdom, Ireland, and New Zealand have recently banned rodent glue traps.

In the meantime, I guess I will just have to continue surreptitiously crushing these glue traps in our building basement before they can be used.