Omair Ahmad

If one blames the Jew for not having been ennobled by oppression, one is not indicting the single figure of the Jew but the entire human race, and one is also making a quite breathtaking claim for oneself. I know that my own oppression did not ennoble me, not even when I thought of myself as a practicing Christian. I also know that if today I refuse to hate Jews, or anybody else, it is because I know how it feels to be hated. I learned this from Christians, and I ceased to practice what the Christians practiced.

I think often of this one Baldwin paragraph, not specifically because of Jewish contexts but because of the assumptions that are often made about what oppression does to anyone

archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes....

The candy heir vs. chocolate skimpflation The grandson of the Reese's Peanut Butter Cups creator has launched a campaign against The Hershey Company, which owns the Reese's brand. He wants them to stop skimping on ingredients.

Even the grandson of the Reese's candy guy thinks their candy sucks now lol.

I’m having that classic “What books would you get around to reading if you were stuck in a bomb shelter for days” conversation with a guy who’s stuck in a bomb shelter for days in Iran and likely will be stuck for more. My theory was Roberto Bolaño or Proust. His reality is:

I’m holding my copy of MYTHOPEDIA by Adrienne Mayor

If you love myths and love reading about the natural world, I highly recommend MYTHOPEDIA by Adrienne Mayor. Organized A to Z, it explores natural phenomena all over the world and related the myths and folklore.

he genuinely posts about Zohran as if he's his Marxist son

To be fair to Trump, he absolutely did not expect this.

He assumed he'd do a repeat of the last bombing (but BIGGER), Iran would pull its punches and he'd be a hero on Faux News.

He didn't expect a fight and is totally unprepared for it.

I told you so

forward.com/opinion/4316...

religiondispatches.org/2019/09/23/t...

Is AIPAC money in politics bad? Yes. But the Christian Right's money, power, and influence is far bigger, and they just can't wait to get Armageddon going

If you, as a social scientist, believe that AI is now a better social scientist than you, then (a) you’re probably right, and (b) sure sounds like a skill issue, y’know?

It's worth noting that Israeli Jewish leaders & American Christian Nationalist leaders are cynically using each other in the sure knowledge that the other believes nonsense & can thus be instrumentalized toward specific ends. There will be no 2nd Coming & Israel cannot shape the region as it wishes.

Before Trump Bombed Iran, Pentagon Slashed Teams Meant to Limit Civilian Casualties The U.S. has "no stupid rules of engagement," Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Monday.

NEW― Sources familiar with US policies on civilian casualties are deeply worried about the possible toll of Trump's war on Iran
-Key Pentagon teams focused on civilians have been slashed+reassigned (even at CENTCOM)
-Israel role raising fears of Gaza-style impunity
www.huffpost.com/entry/trump-...

Today is the day Donald Trump truly became a Reagan Republican.

Israel has not “dragged the United Stares into war.”
An elite faction of the United States that identifies intensely with the interests of Israel has, with the complaisance of other factions, launched an aggressive war.
Israel figures heavily into Washington’s motives but the difference matters.

There are many reasons why Iran wont be sovereign if this government falls. One of those reasons is the persistent Western belief that we are subhuman and cannot be trusted to govern ourselves. A theme that goes back at least 200 years.

I have watched bureaucrats from past administrations, Republican and Democrats, describe Iranians and inherently inclined towards dominations, as untrustworthy, deceitful, and mendacious. I have heard us described as incompetent and uncivilized.

As I have glued to news over the last few days, I am reminded of the depths of US hatred of Iran and Iranians are. This is not about the current govt. It's a hatred towards Iranians themselves. About our "culture" and supposedly universal "personality." /n

Yanar Mohammed, a leading Iraqi feminist and co‑founder of the Organisation of Women’s Freedom in Iraq, was assassinated outside her home in Baghdad on March 2, 2026.

For more than two decades, Yanar was one of Iraq’s most courageous advocates for women’s rights.

Military Commander Tells Troops Bombing Iran Is ‘Part Of God’s Divine Plan’ One commander had a “big grin” on his face while saying Donald Trump “has been anointed by Jesus to light the signal fire in Iran," a service member said.

"'We started getting calls Saturday from people saying their commanders were jubilant about [Trump's Iran war] & trying to tell people, ‘It’s all part of God’s plan'

Complaints from >3 dozen units in ~30 different military installations

@brandibuchman.bsky.social:
www.huffpost.com/entry/troops...

"No matter how crude or clumsy Trump may be in forcing his will upon the world, his grandiose and murderous entitlement is directly continuous with his predecessors’."

ngl I think this is at least neck and neck with Man Cereal

A North Dakota judge ordered @greenpeace.org to pay $345 million in damages to the pipeline company Energy Transfer caused by protest actions in 2016/17.

This is a textbook #SLAPP – a strategic lawsuit against public participation, designed to silence dissent through crushing legal costs.

A 🧵

same goes for platner fans, who have been on a tear blocking me since i started pointing out his nazi connections

every single person who considers themselves left of center and finds themselves handing it to marjorie taylor greene right now is at best being a putz and at worse are an indication of how easily left-populism can be co-opted

Looking forward to reading this.

Gopal's "No Good Men Among the Living" was one of the best books on the Afghanistan war, detailed, thoroughly researched, humane, and beautifully written.

"Resistance to Western pressure has defined Iranian nationalism for more than a century, and remains one of the few cards the otherwise unpopular regime has left to play."

To all who celebrate: may your Purim celebration be full of joy, courage, and resilience. Chag Purim Sameach!

Long-ish thread on how the Trump administration has kneecapped the US military's three overwhelming advantages (intelligence, munitions, and logistics) in its current war with Iran.

I have seen a lot of cursed stuff in my time in academia but this is among the *most* cursed.
Grammarly is generating miniature LLMs based on academic work so that users can have their writing ‘reviewed’ by experts like David Abulafia, who died less than two months ago.

I guess it's hard to question people when you're on your knees. 🤷🏿‍♂️

To be fair, they first reported KSA and Israel, now it's just Israel, either way it's stenography, not journalism.