Horses Without Carriages International www.horseswithoutcarriages.org

We are very grateful to ETSY for choosing us to be Etsy's Charity of the Month.

Please shop Team EFA and Purchase a Team EFA product that benefits the Coalition to Ban Horse-Drawn Carriages this month. CLICK HERE for items that are available for sale. Please consider purchasing gifts for birthdays, holidays or yourself. A percentage of all purchase goes to our organization for the campaign to ban horse-drawn carriages

"By stalling and not owning this issue you have allowed the Daily News to control the dialogue and negatively influence public opinion, which resulted in unfavorable polling--literally turning the percentages around against us. Before the Daily News began this onslaught, every poll taken consistently showed 75 to 80% of respondents in favor of a ban. This is a consequence of a deliberate campaign of misinformation, all driven by an editorial board that is feeling the sting of political defeat. This newspaper is not your friend and is not the horses' friend. It is using this issue as a metaphor for your progressive agenda. Please understand this. If the Daily News wins on this issue, they will look for others on which to defeat you. Please ban this inhumane and unsafe business now."

Mayor deBlasio and his administration have not handled this issue well. They have "fiddled while Rome burnt." He did not own the issue. He never mentioned the horses who have made press during his first six months in office: Blondie, Spartacus, Ceasar and Pumpkin. We wanted him to address the many bogus criticisms the press threw at him but he ignored them until they got legs of their own. His comments have gone from "But we are going to quickly and aggressively move to make horse carriages no longer a part of the landscape ... They are not humane, they are not appropriate for the year 2014. It's over. So, just watch us do it." said in December 2013 - TO - a statement said just last week: "Now we're going to turn to a series of new priorities, and certainly I've said many times, and I'll say it again: I think we need to ban horse carriages in New York City and we're going to act accordingly," We're working on the details now with the City Council, but clearly there's going to be a legislative process." It's over. So, just watch us do it." VS. I think we need to ban horse carriages in NYC. Mayor deBlasio and his family will be out of the country on vacation for 10 days beginning on the 18th. (horse on hack line; no shade - by Mary Culpepper)

SEND THESE TWO LINKS: Ask them to support a bill to ban horse-drawn carriages -- not a phase out - but an unconditional ban. Ask them for someone's e-mail address in their office (legislative person or chief of staff -- not the general office because that may be deleted) to send these two articles -- the first disputes all the Liam Neeson lies and the second is about a carriage driver who ignored the law last week:

• http://carriagehorsesnyc.blogspot.com/2014/06/liam-lies-and-more-lies.html
• http://nypost.com/2014/07/03/horse-industry-honcho-drove-carriage-illegally-during-heat-suspension/

A supporter of the carriage trade posted this screen print of comments on our Facebook page, No Walk in the Park. We saved and deleted it from the page. As it turns out, these same comments were provided to Josh Robin by the carriage supporters. We think that is very odd AND a set up. The comments are vile and we do not believe they are genuine. We know none of the people and we do not know the origin. I checked with some of other pro carriage ban pages and it did not originate with them either.

We believe these comments are photo shopped or in some way contrived to make us look bad. The drivers and their supporters have been known to make up fake names on Facebook in order to post on our pages since we have banned many of them. If anyone knows any of these people, let us know. We do not condone this kind of behavior. We prefer to fight this issue on its merits - not on gratuitous, nasty comments that have nothing to do with the horses.

Thanks to all of you who have donated to our campaign. It is much appreciated.

After you go through the security check, I suggest you look for the lists mounted on the wall for the defendant's name. It will indicate the location of the trial. See you there!

Mayor deBlasio won the mayoral primary in September but he was not endorsed by any of the local newspapers. The editorial boards in NYC are mostly right wing conservative and were not happy about this. The Daily News began a hatched job on the mayor - ripping into him almost every day - publishing the most bizarre yellow journalism articles filled with lies and exaggerations. Mort Zuckerman had enjoyed privileges at City Hall under Mayor Bloomberg that he expected to continue under a Quinn administration. When it seemed that Mayor deBlasio was serious about banning the horse-drawn carriages, The DN took the lead on this issue going so far as to launch a petition. The editor in chief of the DN is a transplant from Rupurt Murdoch's failed UK paper. Other editorial boards, including the NY Times, NY Post, AM-NY and TV stations like Fox News, NY1, and Pix 11 followed. Many reporters have continued to promote the drivers' lies as their opinions shift into supposedly fact driven articles. The carriage trade hired the infamous anti-animal Cavalry Group to fight this battle for them. This is the anti-animal lobby group that supports puppy mills, horse slaughter and a weakening of animal cruelty laws around the country. The Teamsters have also joined the fray, going against the first pro union mayor in decades - a very foolish action. There's been no fact checking, no investigative journalism and gratuitous dishonesty. Unfortunately, people will often believe what they hear on TV or read in the newspapers without questioning. This is why the media is so powerful. We have been cut out of interviews and ignored. The truth about this inhumane and very unsafe industry is not getting out there.