California lawmakers could soon ban the declawing of cats solely for the convenience of humans, advancing a bill on Thursday to halt what animal rights activists say is a painful procedure used primarily to prevent torn furniture and scratched skin.

Claws on cats grow from the bone, not skin. Removing them sometimes requires amputating bones, while other procedures sever tendons to prevent a cat from extending its claws.

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Animal rights activists have long said declawing is inhumane when done solely for the benefit of humans, arguing the procedure is painful, leaves the animal defenseless and can cause other health problems.

The American Veterinary Medical Association “discourages declawing as an elective procedure," saying it is not medically necessary in most cases. But the association says it is sometimes necessary “when a cat's excessive or inappropriate scratching behavior causes an unacceptable risk of injury or remains destructive."

The bill that passed the state Assembly on Thursday would ban declawing except for a medically necessary purpose of addressing a recurring infection, disease, injury or abnormal condition that affects the cat's health. The bill specifically bans declawing “for a cosmetic or aesthetic purpose or to make the cat more convenient to keep or handle.”

The California Veterinary Medical Association says that ignores situations where cat owners are “taking blood thinners, receiving immunosuppression drugs, or other persons whose health would be endangered by a severe scratch.”

In a letter to lawmakers, the association wrote that the veterinary industry has “appropriately regulated itself regarding this procedure over the years, and continues to do so in a thoughtful and compassionate manner.”

The bill now heads to the state Senate.

New York was the first state to ban the procedure in 2019, followed by Maryland earlier this year. This is at least the fourth time California lawmakers have tried to ban declawing since 2018. All of the previous attempts failed.

Eight California cities — including Los Angeles and San Francisco — ban declawing. In 2008, California lawmakers passed a law that would have stopped local governments from banning declawing. But the bill never became law because then Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger vetoed it.

Thursday, a majority of lawmakers in the California Assembly appeared eager to ban the procedure statewide. Democratic Assemblywoman Wendy Carrillo, the author of the bill, quoted primatologist Jane Goodall in saying that “cruelty is the worst of human sins.”

Democratic Assemblymember Alex Lee talked about his cat, Soba, saying it would be “heartbreaking to know cats like her would be declawed.”

“If a cat has essentially their finger bones taken out, their only defense becomes their teeth,” Lee said. “And having had many loving bites from my cat, I would rather be scratched than bitten by my own cat.”

After the Capitol insurrection, major social media and web hosting platforms that provide the tools for them to stay online, like Amazon Web Services, made substantial efforts to eradicate domestic violent extremists and conspiracy groups like QAnon from their platforms.

AWS removed far-right social media space Parler from its services, causing it to go temporarily offline. 

Since then, many of these far-right groups have jumped to online spaces like Gab.

These alternative hosting companies hold terms of service that allow hate speech and other unfavorable content to flourish on their platforms. 

The most well-known of these alternative hosting sites is Epik, backed by CEO Rob Monster, who over the years has provided services to several hate-speech-filled message boards like neo-Nazi site The Daily Stormer and 8chan. 

 

In some cases, Epik has stepped in to provide these services after far-right spaces were dropped by their original web hosting providers. 

For example, after it was revealed that the perpetrator of the Pittsburgh synagogue shooting used Gab to post hate speech, the site was subsequently dropped by GoDaddy. Still, Epik stepped in to provide domain hosting services so Gab could stay online.

After being dropped by AWS, it also stepped in to provide Parler with domain hosting services. 

"What we're seeing now is some of the more reputable companies saying that we're not going to be a part of that, we're not going to let our systems be abused," said Bret Schafer, Media, and Digital Disinformation Fellow at the Alliance for Securing Democracy. "There is a huge ecosystem that allows disinformation to be monetized, and I think the more reputable companies are seeing this as a challenge to their business."

Jack Bratich, author and Rutgers University professor, said one worry he has about the pairing of companies like Epik and Gab is that it not only makes these companies financially dependent on each other, it also allows them to push different potentially dangerous ideologies even further. 

"I think there's something bigger going on socially and culturally around these media platforms... that expands beyond both the financial incentives," Bratich said. "This is tied to a kind of development of a kind of Christian nationalism and a desire for a kind of a theocracy in the U.S. People like [Rob] Monster, who owns Epik, have been pretty forthcoming about that."

Tyler Adkisson at Newsy first reported this story.

MIDDLETOWN, Ohio — An investigator hired by the Land of Illusions Water Park in Butler County said no laws were broken or regulations violated when 14-year-old Mykiara Jones died after being pulled from the water July 20.

Witnesses at the scene paint a dramatic picture of the incident.

“It just felt very chaotic that there wasn’t a procedure,” said Kristen Grossman, who witnessed the scene that day. “A standard kit that comes out to help with the search like this one.”

The report by Dan Wood of Industrial Safety Services said: “Land of Illusion follows all applicable Federal, State, and local laws and regulations and in many areas has policies, practices and procedures that exceed the requirements of those regulations.”

But there are questions about how the park is regulated. Ohio State Representative Thomas Hall, who lives near the park, told the Journal-News a loophole allows the water park to operate without state regulations. Officials don’t oversee the park because it’s a pond.

Hall said he’s working to change the way ponds are governed.

“It was pure chaos when we were in the water. When the lifeguard did come over, he was yelling, trying to get other lifeguards,” Grossman said. “It took time, but we were asking for things. They didn’t have goggles on them. Paddles. Things that we can use to help with the search.”

Butler County Sheriff Richard Jones said he’s investigating complaints about the park including not having certified lifeguards, life vest rules not being enforced, and no rescue equipment.

The report recommends the park get underwater technology that detects non-movement and emergencies, employing trained underwater divers and dive equipment on site as well as a jet ski.

The Ohio Department of Agriculture accused the park of operating an unlicensed inflatable on the grounds. Land of Illusion has 30 days to respond and a right to a hearing. If found to be in violation, it could face a $500 fine.