Shaya

The Savor of Memory - MERIP Laleh Khalili draws on memories from childhood, her experience of leaving Iran and her ongoing interest in cooking to review a series of classic and contemporary Iranian cookbooks. Through them she re...

crossed @lalehkhalili.bsky.social's MERIP review of Iranian cookbooks by luck recently and have been enjoying it.

Does anyone know where to find Roza Montazami's book? I have looked for ages. We used to have a photocopied version of it growing up merip.org/2021/02/the-...

Gazans Make Diesel From Plastic Amid Genocide - UNICORN RIOT With no diesel allowed into Gaza, citizens are successfully converting plastic into diesel and gasoline to be used for transportation.

“I, of course, deal with the dust and smoke & the burning...this all goes into your lungs & makes you cough all night. It’s exhausting. It wears you out completely. The work is tough—not easy. It’s fire & we all got burned here. We’ve all been burned by this fire.”

unicornriot.ninja/2025/gazans-...

Gazans Make Diesel From Plastic Amid Genocide - UNICORN RIOT With no diesel allowed into Gaza, citizens are successfully converting plastic into diesel and gasoline to be used for transportation.

NEW: Gazans Make Diesel From Plastic Amid Genocide

With the US-backed genocide of Palestinians in Gaza continuing unabated & the border crossings closed by Israel, the ingenuity & resolve of Gazans continues to shine amid the ethnic cleansing being waged on them.

unicornriot.ninja/2025/gazans-...

a rainbow and a star with the words be who you know ALT: a rainbow and a star with the words be who you know

Diddy’s ny prosecutor is James Comey’s daughter

Trump turns Iran strike intel into loyalty test ‘Severely damaged.’ The CIA assesses that “Iran’s nuclear program has been severely damaged by the recent, targeted strikes,” CIA Director John Ratcliffe said.

New from me: Trump turns intel on US strikes on Iran into loyalty test

open.substack.com/pub/diplomat...

“Maybe you would feel better about your city if you relaxed a bit and smiled more” 🏆

Iran’s estimated casualties during the Iran-Iraq war, an eight-year land war, was believed to be a million or more lives lost

This is one yardstick of likelihood of surrender

front row, as ever

tfw your only hope is the angry old men clinging to power have gotten this out of their systems.

interesting to see the aircraft still in the skies over the middle east -- if you filter for military planes you'll see a lear jet from Riyadh heading toward Europe, a Hungarian airbus over Turkey now, a UK airbus from Cyprus heading toward Oman... globe.airplanes.live?icao=71021d

Israeli accents on CNN, Arab accents on BBC

Bibi's congratulations-on-bombing-Iran speech is such a good insight into what convinced Trump to do this. The endless flattery. The appeal to vanity of being the biggest and greatest.

"What a remarkable turn this is" the chaos-dazzled newscaster's say, again and again

An early failure to fully acknowledge devastation in Iran, what casualty or damage may have happened; Trump calls the offensive spectacular. What can he report? When or if will there be reporters on the ground there, would it even be safe to send them?

Interesting to see the spin even in the earliest understandings of what has happened.

Trump is gaining early praise for "offering an offramp" in his speech after bombing three Iranian sites, including one near(? in?) the major city of Isfahan and its many UNESCO heritage sites.

‘Justice Will Prevail,’ Mahmoud Khalil Says as He Goes Free on Bail

"Once you enter there, you see a different reality, just a different reality about this country."
www.nytimes.com/2025/06/20/n...

This is not normal. What is normal is the sweet grandma who walks past every day, singing to a baby in a stroller. Teenagers laughing and skating by. The helado woman who rides a cart past with a tune playing. Life. Normal, wonderful life in LA.

i heard someone calling out on a megaphone from a passing car “la migra! la migra! Ice is coming! Ice is coming” and then, several times over the course of the day saw American-made cars, black Chargers drive past with men in black clothes leaning forward to, apparently, spot people on my street

ICE believes it will never face accountability again The Trump administration is letting an unaccountable secret police form at the heart of our democracy.

"ICE in just a few weeks has transformed itself into the closest thing that the US has ever had to a 'secret police,' with more seemingly culturally in common with the Klan nightriders of Reconstruction than their federal agency brethren like the FBI or ATF."
www.doomsdayscenario.co/p/ice-believ...

New York Times: ICE Imposes New Rules on Congressional Visits The policy specifies that ICE field offices are not subject to an existing federal law that allows members of Congress to make unannounced oversight visits to immigration facilities that “detain or otherwise house aliens.”

To be really clear: The reason members of Congress can't just walk right in is because of the guns. Armed DHS personnel won't allow entry. In other words, DHS is using armed force to *break* laws.

Democrats need to wrap their minds around that. Accept that the frog is boiled.

Jkjk i started in high school so… decades!

I got obsessed with closed forms recently too—such a satisfying process!! And the handles are definitely a crapshoot sometimes but i love how expressive they can be

The aughts are back and we need to be ready for this rerun.

Expect stunts. Remember Powell taking yellowcake to the UN??

Expect massive “errors” and shortcomings of critical reporting. ie Judith Miller dragging the country to war on the front page of the NYT.

They’re just saying the same thing they ever did, but with bombs. And apparently maybe bamboozling or buying their lone, indefatigable ally.

The idea that this is about nuclear weapons is unsupported, and likely false. If that were the case, why not go to the global community? Make a case. Present evidence to the UN that is real—not just thunderous and repeatedly disproven claims from the podium dating back to the 90s.

Anyone saying they’re bombing for peace, and there are plenty of historic examples, neither achieves peace nor really wants it

Same goes for freedom.

Let’s call that for what it is. A part of a basic PR campaign to promote positive views while advancing violence. A well-worn tactic.

holy shit, blessed by LA royalty!!

Really nice! Did you trim in to cut the lip or did u throw two pieces?

My favorite things about LA! I had my bestie visit from back east, during a heat wave (and she hates the heat) and i felt so bad—it’s rarely hot around the clock!