Kavitha Rajagopalan

West valley sushi shop owner released from ICE detention after eight months A federal judge has granted Kelly Yu temporary freedom after she filed a habius corpus petition.

"Her release follows months of advocacy from community members and political leaders of both parties.

Yu has operated her two West Valley restaurants for years, building a reputation for greeting customers with humor and kindness. She has no criminal record."

www.12news.com/article/news...

Southern Syria: Debris from an intercepted missile fell in the airspace of the city of Al-Salam in Quneitra, without causing any casualties.

Really can't be left unacknowledged that every single state in the region that houses US military personnel, except for maybe two, do so against the will of the supermajority of their own public's opinion but it does not matter because most of these states are US backed dictatorships.

Young Baltimore writers share their favorite literary spaces in the city CHARM (Ryan Scott, 8th grader at ConneXions: A Community Based Arts School)  CHARM, the voice of Baltimore, the voice of youth When you’re there, tasks feel complete, like the stars in the night. Work...

Something lovely in a rough day.

baltimorebeat.com/young-baltim...

I was born in an Iranian prison. My parents were held in their jails. My uncles lie in their mass graves. Nothing you can tell me about the crimes of the Iranian regime that I haven't lived in blood and bone. That doesn't mean I want my people bombed, maimed, killed, their homes in ruins. If your vision of liberation comes only through the destruction of innocent lives, then it's not freedom you're after. Sahar Delijani, Iranian author

I am pro Iranian people. I stand with them against their own government’s repression AND against the imperial violence in the form of bombs dropped from the sky from Israel & the US who have already killed hundreds.

I support neither imperialism or dictatorship.

Sahar Delijani said it best:

This article made me physically sick. I couldn’t sleep. “Xx will suggest pussy doctor”

It's a small point as we contend with the obliteration of international law and the waning of values-driven policy, but it's a bit insane to stop and realize that all of this is happening in what's meant to be the holiest month of the year.

3 U.S. service members killed, military says Three U.S. service members were killed and five were seriously wounded as part of Operation Epic Fury, U.S.

“Three U.S. service members were killed and five were seriously wounded as part of Operation Epic Fury, U.S. Central Command said today.” www.nbcnews.com/world/iran/l...

One nice example of generative slop degrading quality is in auto captions for social media vids

Speech to text is getting MASSIVELY worse as it becomes more and more generative, and often it completely changes the meaning on insta, tiktok etc. That gets worse as companies squeeze compute and power

The people outside of a country that they left for whatever reasons should not be listened to over the people who still live in said country. *Exile* politics is always fraught. Exiles have self-interests like everyone else.

James Baldwin said, “We are a racist society, racist to the very marrow, and we are fighting a racist war... My own condition, as a black man in America, tells me what Americans really feel and really want, and tells me who they really are. And, therefore, every bombed village is my hometown.”

San Juan Street Art (phtos)

I’ve posted some photos I got of street art in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Take a look!

Obama made a generation of children literally afraid of the sky and gave them panic attacks when the weather was good

“All that I ask is that you lie to us. We don’t need much. We can work with any old bullshit. Just give us something to pretend to believe in.”

Can we please lay to rest the claim that this administration is inept? They know the violence they’re doing and the harm they're inflicting.

I was invited to participate in an international #poetry festival in #India, Sansaar, yet was unable to attend because my visa was denied…

I am grateful that my poems found their way there, virtually.

Video is below:

youtu.be/JEMqK5jw0pk

#booksky #writingcommunity

Iran's Supreme Leader Is Dead, but Its People Remain in Peril The series of strikes began in broad daylight just before 10 a.m. in Iran. Videos posted to social media showed that the Ministry of Intelligence building in Tehran was hit, along with a potential mis...

NEW: "The murderer of our dreams died." Iran is at a crossroads as it grapples with the death of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. @ntabrizy.bsky.social reports for @newlinesmag.bsky.social . newlinesmag.com/running-note...

*protecting your personal peace* is not the important thing when your country is murdering people across the world. please be serious.

Iranian state media confirms Khamenei has been killed.

That was never the hard part. Iran has had a succession plan for years now. The guy was in his 80s; no one was under the illusion he would live forever.

Feels like the moment when Bush posed with the mission accomplished sign behind him.

"The Islamists oppose women getting an education," I mutter, as I aim my missile at the girls school

The Central Fire of the Iroquois A comprehensive history of the Native American community at the heart of the HaudenosauneeThe people of the Onondaga Nation have lived in central New York St...

Our release date is still seven months away, but my book is now up on the Yale website. Grateful to so many people who helped make this possible.

yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300...

Pakistan’s brutal deportation of Afghans widens to target registered migrants and refugees Hundreds of thousands of Afghans in Pakistan face forcible deportation even after they were officially registered – including women, journalists and others especially vulnerable to repression by Afghanistan’s Taliban government

Airstrikes by Pakistan in Nangarhar and Paktika provinces of Afghanistan have reportedly killed at least 18 people, including women and children. Our report examines how security-driven policies and deteriorating relations are upending the lives of registered migrants.
https://ow.ly/6JCF50YkbZL

Somebody give the brother a webby!

I can't get over this number: in 2007, there were 360,000 newspaper jobs. Now, there are 80,000. "My local paper sucked!" Sure. What sucks even more? The void. "I get all my news from the Guardian!" No, the Guardian doesn't report on your town council, your school board, local cops.

Local zoning is the way! A lot of these are being stopped or stalled by neighborhood organizing.

These warehouses often need to be purchased, permitted, approved for occupancy and specs. Each one of those steps can be interrupted.

Ppl are pressuring corps not to sell, counties to deny permits, etc

Opinion | What Exactly Is a ‘Concentration Camp’?

"Always, always, always concentration camps are an end run around the existing legal system. These people that are getting rounded up because whoever’s in power wants to do something that they can’t do using the letter of the law..."

www.nytimes.com/2026/02/21/o...

Yeah it’s gotten really bad again. For girls too.

So many levels of dehumanization here. I say this as a survivor of abuse by my uncle. He’s not using his power to protect her as a human. He’s using it to retain access to his object. Purity culture (which fascism is) “protects”women so their protectors can have unfettered access.

CBP supervisor accused of harboring immigrant who’s also his girlfriend and niece A U.S. Customs and Border Protection supervisor is facing federal charges over allegations he harbored an immigrant living in the country illegally, according to a news release. Court documents state ...

A Customs and Border Protection supervisor from Laredo, Texas has been charged with harboring his undocumented girlfriend, who also happens to be his niece.

Records describe Andres Wilkinson, 52, as having a romantic relationship with the woman — who is also his brother's adult daughter.