Reposted by Shiva BalaghiSaeed Jones @theferocity.bsky.social · 30/09/2026This will be a thread of essays I recommend to students in my creative nonfiction workshop: 17979211
Reposted by Shiva BalaghiRachel Maddow @maddow.bsky.social · 04/10/2026"Among the first to appear before the judge was Angel, a 13-year-old. He had no attorney. “Would you like to request voluntary departure, or should I issue a removal order?” the judge asked “I don’t know,” Angel said, bursting into tears: “I have no one. I have nothing.” www.cnn.com/2026/09/28/p...cnn.comInside the Texas courtroom where toddlers face immigration judges | CNN PoliticsMigrant children as young as 2 are showing up at immigration courts nationwide, many without attorneys, to try make their case to stay in the US and avoid deportation. 44837361872
Reposted by Shiva BalaghiACLU @aclu.org · 05/10/2026• What can I do to safeguard my vote? • What are my rights if I face election interference? • What if bad actors try to disrupt the election? Our experts answered your most pressing questions about the midterms.aclu.orgYour 2026 Midterm Voting Questions AnsweredIs voting by mail still safe? Can the president cancel an election? ACLU experts answer your questions about voting in the 2026 midterms. 3202103
Reposted by Shiva BalaghiSameer Ashar @sameer-ashar.bsky.social · 04/10/2026This is my nephew, please forward to your networks, esp any University of Maryland students. 2016061554
Reposted by Shiva BalaghiThe Guardian @theguardian.com · 02/10/2026The horror of the Cornell rape case is how ordinary it is | Moira Donegantheguardian.comThe horror of the Cornell rape case is how ordinary it is | Moira DoneganMany men rape; many men giggle encouragingly, or shrug indifferently, when their friends rape. Many men rape, and few seem to think that it’s a very big deal 6435135
Reposted by Shiva BalaghiXavier Becerra @xavierbecerra.bsky.social · 01/10/2026Steve Hilton wants to roll back California’s environmental protections and bring back offshore drilling. California should be leading the fight against climate change - not taking us backwards and putting our coast, communities, and future at risk. 1112262
Shiva Balaghi @sbalaghi.bsky.social · 01/10/2026barbaric www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news...nbcnews.com‘It was a mess’: Tennessee fails to execute woman after 2 lethal injectionsChrista Pike’s attorneys said she was being treated at a hospital but her condition is unknown. May Martinez,, the mother of the murdered teenager Colleen Slemmer, called the failed execution “a mess.... 020
Shiva Balaghi @sbalaghi.bsky.social · 30/09/2026California voters, there are 14 propositions on the ballot--from voter ID to healthcare, taxes and housing. Check out CalMatters guide to get a handle on the issues. And mail your ballots early! calmatters.org/california-v...calmatters.orgPropositionsCalifornians will vote on 14 ballot propositions in the November 2026 election, including ones to tax billionaires, require voter ID and speed housing construction. 010
Shiva Balaghi @sbalaghi.bsky.social · 30/09/2026So that $810m in congressionally allocated funding that OMB is rescinding? It includes $70m for Dept of Education's international education programs. Which is a major chunk of the annual funding for IFLE, which oversees Area Studies programs and Fulbright. www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-st... 197
Shiva Balaghi @sbalaghi.bsky.social · 29/09/2026www.bbc.com/news/article...bbc.comFatima Zahra El Mansouri named as Morocco's first female prime ministerHer appointment by the king makes her only the second woman to lead a government in the Arab world. 074
Reposted by Shiva BalaghiThe New Republic @newrepublic.com · 27/09/2026Trump is banning students majoring in degrees that don’t make enough money from taking out college loans. Degrees for social work, art, religious studies, teaching aides, and music will be hit the hardest. trib.al/kQdKbY1trib.alTrump Moves to Cut Off Student Loans for Tons of DegreesUnder a new rule, if your degree doesn’t make enough money, you won’t be able to get a student loan. 164982668
Reposted by Shiva BalaghiTressie McMillan Cottom @tressiemcphd.bsky.social · 24/09/2026Most people have no idea how much international students are the lifeblood of higher education. But they’re about to learn. Sigh. 322236587
Reposted by Shiva BalaghiBrandy Zadrozny @brandyzadrozny.bsky.social · 22/09/2026Bonus for whoever wrote this chyron 133106092482
Reposted by Shiva BalaghiNegin Owliaei @neginowl.bsky.social · 21/09/2026After Bessent’s comments it looks like some of the few airlines that flew in and out of Iran are stopping their service. Just no idea when we’ll see our families again. 053
Shiva Balaghi @sbalaghi.bsky.social · 18/09/2026This is seismic & a bellwether for all public universities. "The University of Texas at Austin will eliminate...African and African diaspora studies; Mexican American and Latina/o studies; women’s and gender studies; and race, indigeneity and migration..." www.insidehighered.com/news/faculty...insidehighered.comUT Austin Axes Several Ethnic, Gender Studies MajorsSome faculty members consider the decision the next step in a broader effort to gut what remains of ethnic and gender studies at the university. 010
Reposted by Shiva BalaghiLisa Diedrich @lisadiedrich.bsky.social · 18/09/2026Public universities have led the way in creating popular ethnic & gender studies programs, which are now being destroyed by aggressively regressive politicians & administrators, not because students aren't interested in these subjects, but because they are. www.texastribune.org/2026/09/17/u...texastribune.orgMajors related to race, gender cut at University of TexasThe University of Texas at Austin rejected a department’s plan to keep the majors, a decision that came without public knowledge, an interim department chair told faculty. 9491214
Reposted by Shiva BalaghiJon Ossoff @ossoff.bsky.social · 17/09/2026We will vote to rebuke him so decisively no president will dare such abuses again for centuries. 28063051499
Reposted by Shiva BalaghiVictor Ray @victorerikray.bsky.social · 16/09/2026Shout out to the student journalists at The Daily Iowan for reporting on the travesty that is Iowa's Center for Intellectual Freedom. With quotes from me dailyiowan.com/2026/09/15/u...dailyiowan.comUncertainty in leadership, curriculum surrounds UI Center for Intellectual FreedomIn the barren walls of his Calvin Hall office, where the Center for Intellectual Freedom resides, interim director and University of Iowa economics professor Luciano de Castro shuffles a stack of pape... 22663233
Reposted by Shiva BalaghiMarisa Kabas @marisakabas.bsky.social · 15/09/2026seeing all these artists sacrifice money for what they believe in is really quite moving. 384000292
Shiva Balaghi @sbalaghi.bsky.social · 11/09/2026Moustafa Bayoumi: "It’s been 25 years since the terrorist attacks of September 11, and during this time Muslim Americans have learned how to live in that dangerous space between other Americans’ fears and their ignorance." www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...theguardian.com9/11 entrenched Islamophobia in US politics. But it doesn’t work the way you think | Moustafa BayoumiAnti-Muslim sentiment is used as a political weapon. Meanwhile, Muslim American leaders are making a difference for all 032
Shiva Balaghi @sbalaghi.bsky.social · 11/09/2026Remembering our beautiful friend Darya Lin, a 32 yo Iranian-Nepalese American, who was having a meeting in WTC on 9/11. She stayed behind to help a pregnant colleague & was lost on 9/11. 160
Shiva Balaghi @sbalaghi.bsky.social · 10/09/2026Our university introduced an AI commons w all kinds of exciting opportunities to use AI for our teaching & research. Yay! Meanwhile, due to a "budget crisis" they've laid off lots of IT staff so work requests are slow + lots of online links (library databases, timesheets, etc) kinda work sometimes. 010
Reposted by Shiva BalaghiNaomi Klein @naomiaklein.bsky.social · 09/09/2026Open AI has hired Chuck Schumer's daughter to help them with government relations. I don’t like it one bit, and this kind of thing is a big part of the reason top Democrats have done such a poor job of turning the Trump family’s far more extreme corruption into an election issue. 11743214
Reposted by Shiva BalaghiJosh Marshall @joshtpm.bsky.social · 09/09/2026Britain’s Sanctions on the West Bank Settlements Are the Right Step Forward talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/brita...talkingpointsmemo.comBritain’s Sanctions on the West Bank Settlements Are the Right Step ForwardOn Tuesday the United Kingdom announced a series of sanctions against Israeli... 1122033
Reposted by Shiva BalaghiSherrilyn Ifill @sifill.bsky.social · 01/09/2026BREAKING: Devastating new report from @humanrightswatch documents the dismantling of civil rights enforcement in the year and a half since Trump took office. “This report documents what was lost and what it is costing the victims of discrimination.” www.hrw.org/report/2026/...hrw.orgRemedies AbandonedThe 112-page report, “Remedies Abandoned: US Civil Rights Enforcement Under the Trump Administration,” documents the administration’s efforts to unravel the work of four key agencies between January 2... 161296730
Reposted by Shiva BalaghiJosh Shepperd @joshshepperd.bsky.social · 31/08/2026I hope y’all see that this will mean the imminent closure of a number of graduate programs. 412051
Reposted by Shiva BalaghiRobert Reich @rbreich.bsky.social · 31/08/2026Target paid its CEO $21.8M last year — 794x the median Target worker's pay of $27,506. Target has also spent $13.9B on stock buybacks since 2019, while remaining among the largest employers of Medicaid and SNAP recipients in America. This is what I mean by a rigged economy. 421106834036
Reposted by Shiva BalaghiLaila Lalami @lailalalami.com · 30/08/2026Newsom, once again trying to shield Edison and his corporate friends from liability. Eaton wildfire survivors stopped him. www.latimes.com/business/sto...latimes.comFacing protests, Newsom drops most of plan limiting utility wildfire liabilitiesIn a late-night deal with lawmakers, Gov. Gavin Newsom agreed to drop his push for legislation that would have shifted more of the cost of utility-sparked wildfires to property insurers, which could h... 0125
Reposted by Shiva BalaghiRyan Goodman @rgoodlaw.bsky.social · 29/08/2026Extraordinary, powerful and heart-wrenching. Active duty Marine Colonel Zach Schmidt, speaking in his personal capacity, about Khalil, an Afghan national whose family helped U.S. forces in Afghanistan. Khalil was deported by the U.S. on Friday to a conflict zone. 38984424235
Reposted by Shiva BalaghiHamed Aleaziz @haleaziz.bsky.social · 29/08/2026NEW: Relative of Afghans Who Helped U.S. Military Is Deported to Africa www.nytimes.com/2026/08/29/u...nytimes.comRelative of Afghans Who Helped U.S. Military Is Deported to AfricaThe Trump administration has deported thousands of immigrants to countries where they have no ties. Dozens were on the latest flight, to the Central African Republic. 11414
Shiva Balaghi @sbalaghi.bsky.social · 29/08/2026Americans: leery of beef because of high prices & recalls Netflix: Martha shows you how to hire a chef to cook asado for 50 of your closest friends on your sprawling Westchester estate 000
Reposted by Shiva BalaghiStacy Fahrenthold @sfahrenthold.bsky.social · 26/08/2026The American Historical Association hired a lobbying firm to help silence member advocacy on Palestine. In this essay, Adam Rzepka covers @historians.org's relationship w/ Thorn Run Partners, its deep ethical conflicts, & the advocacy crisis AHA has thrust upon us. www.chronicle.com/article/a-sc...chronicle.comOpinion | A Scholarly Association’s Secret Washington PlaybookDid the American Historical Association ask a corporate lobbying firm for advice on how to silence its members? 11332196
Reposted by Shiva BalaghiHrag Vartanian @hrag.bsky.social · 28/08/2026This review I published when I was EIC by Dexter Thomas, was the article that made it clear that Kusama anti-Blackness permeated her work, and even more disturbing, the art market was trying to cover it up in all sorts of ways.hyperallergic.comWhat the Art World Doesn't Want You to Know About Yayoi KusamaA new publication tries hard to reinvent Kusama as a champion of racial equity despite her troubling record of anti-Black statements. 12803363
Reposted by Shiva BalaghiSaeed Jones @theferocity.bsky.social · 27/08/2026In her 2002 autobiography, she “writes of the apparent ‘animalistic sex techniques’ of Black people, and what she describes as their ‘distinctive smell’. She describes working with a Black man in a past performance work, with lingering attention paid to her descriptions of his lips and genitals.”artreview.comYayoi Kusama apologizes for historic racismA history of racist comments and descriptions of Black people in the writing of Yayoi Kusama has drawn criticism on the eve of her exhibition at SFMOMA 32576233
Shiva Balaghi @sbalaghi.bsky.social · 27/08/2026Target trying to make sure we keep boycotting them 020
Shiva Balaghi @sbalaghi.bsky.social · 25/08/2026Reminder: The Kennedy Center is THE memorial to President John Fitzgerald Kennedy. 062
Reposted by Shiva BalaghiAlex Zalben @azalben.bsky.social · 25/08/2026Dolly Parton, among a thousand other amazing things she did in her life, gifted over 330 million books to kids through her Imagination Library program. Her passing is a tremendous loss to the world, but you can support the program today to keep it going imaginationlibrary.comimaginationlibrary.comDolly Parton's Imagination Library | USA, UK, IE, CA, AUDolly Parton’s Imagination Library is a book gifting program that mails free books to children from birth until they begin school in participating areas. 45121515978
Shiva Balaghi @sbalaghi.bsky.social · 25/08/2026Was born in Nashville & lived there in my formative years. Dolly Parton was woven into my sense of the world from those early years. She was the epitome of decency & generosity, of fierce determination, & of finding joy in life. May she rest in power and may her memory be a blessing. 0224
Reposted by Shiva BalaghiFrederick Deknatel @freddydeknatel.bsky.social · 21/08/2026"Can new memories of music, dance, and fireworks exploding into color over an ancient, battered city undo, or even weaken, the memory of bombs falling?" Lina Sergie Attar on the triumph of ordinary life in Syria after Assad and why "the normal feels radical." time.com/article/2026...time.comThe Quiet Miracles of Ordinary Life in New Syria"Syria is trying to shake off the past while building a future on unsteady ground, and there are no easy answers on how to move forward after a war that tore the country apart," writes Lina Sergie Att... 032
Reposted by Shiva BalaghiKarl Jacoby @karl-jacoby.bsky.social · 21/08/2026"Columbia is just a shell of what it was": my colleague Marianne Hirsch on Columbia University in the aftermath of its "deal" with the Trump Administration. www.youtube.com/watch?v=LTa5...youtube.comDOJ Whistleblower Confirms "Antisemitism" Probes Against Universities Were Sham InvestigationsYouTube video by Democracy Now! 0107
Shiva Balaghi @sbalaghi.bsky.social · 21/08/2026Read Jafari Sinclaire Allen on Jason Arday. Feel their rage in my bones & am grateful for their erudite historical contextualization of the "apparatus of subjugation." www.thenation.com/article/soci...thenation.comThe Machine That Came for Jason ArdayIt wasn't a scandal but a machine—funded, transatlantic, and still running. 030
Shiva Balaghi @sbalaghi.bsky.social · 15/08/2026Northwestern to close its African Studies program. Founded in 1948, it was the first academic program focused on Africa in the US. An immeasurable loss to US understanding of a critical part of the world. thepurplewire.beehiiv.com/p/scoop-nort...thepurplewire.beehiiv.comSCOOP: Northwestern moves to close Program of African Studies 264
Reposted by Shiva BalaghiOrdinary Notes @hystericalblkns.bsky.social · 14/08/2026Yes. They hounded him to death. Days and days of breathless undoing. Damn them all. 021557
Shiva Balaghi @sbalaghi.bsky.social · 13/08/2026Historian here: Julius de Reuter worked hand in glove w British Empire, creating a monopoly over news. He was paid handsomely by govt to spread news crafted by imperial officials to the Middle East. Queen Victoria named him a baron in recognition of his service to imperialism. 010
Reposted by Shiva BalaghiNoah Shachtman @noahshachtman.bsky.social · 12/08/2026i've been covering national security for decades, on and off. i've never heard of anything like this. www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...theguardian.comUSS Abraham Lincoln sailors tried to jump overboard amid extended deployment – reportsAircraft carrier’s crew in ninth month at sea and has spent record 250 days consecutively without making land 28257922057