“We are forced to stay despite the danger, when we defend our land, and we do so peacefully. None of us carries weapons. All of us carry peace and goodness and love.”
These were the words of Father Pierre al-Rahi one day before Israel killed him in Lebanon today on March 9.
Graph showing the trend over time from 2011-2026 on the question: "In the Middle East situation, are your sympathies more with the Israelis or more with the Palestinians?" with the most recent year showing 41% of Americans sympathizing more with Palestinians compared to 37% who sympathize more with Israelis Percentages who say both, say neither or do not have an opinion are not shown
For the first time in 25 years of Gallup polling:
Americans report having more sympathy for Palestinians than Israelis in "the Middle East situation"
As anyone worth listening to on survey design will tell you, this is NOT an informative standalone question--but the trend speaks volumes
Nurul Amin Shah Alam's violent arrest, by police who saw his walking stick as a weapon—and who, like the Border Patrol officers who dumped him, apparently made no attempt to reckon with his disability or his mental state—set off events that ended in his death. www.motherjones.com/mojo-wire/20...
My Facebook feed is suddenly but slowly pushing more anti-Danish content, e.g. Denmark discriminating against English and non-Danish speaking job applicants. In light of the Greenland issue, the timing doesn’t feel accidental.
A new scholarship fund for Palestinian students, led by university faculty and staff here in the U.S. Please share far and wide and encourage colleagues to give generously!
leonardeducation.org/the-palestin...
(HT @nsdoud on X)
New Generative Al Tools Available Gemini Google's generative artificial intelligence (Al) assistant, Gemini, is now available systemwide at the University of Minnesota. Gemini can: • Summarize information • Answer questions • Provide feedback on the tone of your writing • Create stock images • Assist with writing code • Brainstorm ideas
Cool, so the message from UMN to students is that they can use AI to summarize, answer questions, edit writing, and write code. This really doesn’t jibe with the university giving professors autonomy over how we want AI used (or not used) in our courses.
Voici mon article sur Hannah Arendt dans le monde arabe, publié dans le magazine français Philosophie. Vous pouvez également le retrouver sur mon site web.
amroali.com/2025/07/refl...
I have a piece (in French) on Hannah Arendt in the Arab world that has just been published in a special edition of the French philosophy magazine, Philosophie. Unfortunately, it is paywalled, but I'll later publish the English version elsewhere or on my site.
www.philomag.com/philosophes/...
Insane that Israel will be able to compete in the world cup and olympics while systematically murduring every Palestinian athlete.
thanks man, I just tried it and it didn't yield anything, but good to know about this for the future.
هو فين ممكن ألاقي مسلسل 'أهل إسكندرية' بتاع بلال فضل اللي اتمنع في 2014؟ في مكان ممكن أتفرج عليه؟
Next week in Bologna
The Al Saoud Library is a gem of Casablanca. Well-resourced and elegantly situated, it overlooks the ocean, a feature that should be mandatory for all coastal cities. It brings knowledge and nature into quiet harmony.
This is despite passport control being the first point of contact that sets the tone for your journey. Kudos to Oman and its beautiful people.
Passport officer at Muscat airport: "Welcome to Oman, it seems it's your first visit to Oman, hopefully it won't be your last," he said smiling. You see how easily hospitality can be done? This trait is becoming rare at many airports that greet you with frowns & interrogations.
How did we get from "Do not use Wikipedia as a source" to "ask hallucinating chatbot everything"?
All I understood from this is that the Trump administration will be coming soon to the University of Buffalo with knives and pitchforks
Worth noting that a number of universities have now sued over withheld and canceled grants, but no university has yet sued over the arrest, detention, and threatened deportation of its foreign students. www.nytimes.com/2025/04/19/o...
ICE officers are now reportedly required to meet arrest quotas each day, from a few hundred to between 1,200 and 1,500 nationwide. Jonathan Blitzer reports on the mystery of the agency’s unidentifiable arrests.
Unspeakable evil. "Twenty-four hours before she was killed, it was announced that a documentary focusing on Hassouna’s life in Gaza since the Israeli offensive began would be debuted at a French independent film festival that runs parallel to Cannes." www.theguardian.com/world/2025/a...
“You won’t find a new country, won’t find another shore. This city will always pursue you.” - Cavafy #Alexandria
“Overseas arrivals to the US from all origins dropped 11.6% in March, the government data showed”
www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...
Alexandria in an infinite loop 🌊
Brace yourself for public figures to be even smaller and more cowardly than you thought possible, and some neighbors and family, too. (Even if you thought they couldn't disappoint you any more than they have.) But we can't give ground. This is deliberate evil. They're testing how far they can go.
Email from DHS revoking parole, unnamed recipient, received by Nicole Micheroni. Part 1
Email from DHS revoking parole, unknown recipient, received by Nicole Micheroni. Part 2
Some personal news: the Department of Homeland Security has given me, an immigration lawyer born in Newton, Massachusetts, seven days to leave the U.S. Does anyone know if you can get Italian citizenship through great-grandparents?
Florida officials are demanding that universities send lists of all research that faculty/staff have published or publicly shared in the last 6 years, even if it wasn't publicly funded.
It's not clear what they'll do with the lists, but my bet is on nothing good.
www.tampabay.com/news/educati...
38. Once they finally took me to the medical center, the nurse took my temperature. She said "you need to take that thing off your head" and took off my hejab without asking my permission. I told her you can't take off my hejab and she said this is for your health. After a few minutes I put my hejab back on. But they did nothing to treat my asthma and gave me a few ibuprofen. 39. I had a third asthma attack at the Louisiana facility. Again, this happened in the cell and other woman knocked on the window to get the attention of the officers. I was told that the nurse would come to the cell to see me. She took me outside for a short bit and told me that it was all in my mind. She finally took me to the medical center but I was not treated for my difficulty breathing. The nurse left the room and didn't answer my questions 40.I had a fourth asthma attack on Wednesday March gth around noon. I used my inhaler and waited for it to pass. I was in pain and very scared but I didn't ask to go to the medical center because I don't feel that they address my medical needs. 41. I don't feel safe at the medical center because of my prior experiences there. They complain when I go there and speak to me in an insulting and condescending manner. They also write information in my medical records that is not accurate. The doctor and nurses there are rude and uncaring.
NEW: Rümeysa Öztürk says she's had 4 painful asthma attacks in ICE custody, and not only is her asthma going untreated but a nurse tore off her hijab, saying, "You need to take that thing off your head." www.aclum.org/sites/defaul...
One sign that we are living under an authoritarian regime is that a lot of people are acting like they are living under an authoritarian regime.
