Arbella Bet-Shlimon
@abshlimon.bsky.social
Historian (Iraq + elsewhere), Assyrian, Seattle | author, City of Black Gold (sup.org/books/middle-east-studies/city-black-gold) | personal account | she/هي/ܗܝ
Reposted by Arbella Bet-Shlimon
Three million people live in Caracas, five million in the metro area. It's one of the densest cities in South America. Remember this in the morning when they try to spin this as anything other than a cold-blooded attack on a major civilian center.
January 3, 2026 at 7:20 AM
Three million people live in Caracas, five million in the metro area. It's one of the densest cities in South America. Remember this in the morning when they try to spin this as anything other than a cold-blooded attack on a major civilian center.
Reposted by Arbella Bet-Shlimon
They would need to have urgent surgical operations to install spines, balls, and moral compasses in them first.
Democratic elected officials will need to unequivocally condemn Trump's illegal and immoral war.
January 3, 2026 at 7:02 AM
They would need to have urgent surgical operations to install spines, balls, and moral compasses in them first.
Mona Damluji’s PIPELINE CINEMA, about the intersections of oil and film (or, as she puts it, the cultural infrastructure of extraction) in Iran and Iraq, is now out as an open access book and you must read it 🛢️📽️📚: luminosoa.org/books/m/10.1...
Pipeline Cinema | University of California Press
<p><i>Pipeline Cinema</i> explores the intertwined histories of documentary film and the oil industry in mid‑twentieth-century Iran and Iraq. Reading against the grain of oil company archives, Mona Da...
luminosoa.org
December 30, 2025 at 11:15 PM
Mona Damluji’s PIPELINE CINEMA, about the intersections of oil and film (or, as she puts it, the cultural infrastructure of extraction) in Iran and Iraq, is now out as an open access book and you must read it 🛢️📽️📚: luminosoa.org/books/m/10.1...
Reposted by Arbella Bet-Shlimon
This was entirely about purging a trans instructor from the school and they succeeded. It was aided by a lot of dumb liberals taking it at face value arguing the minutia of grading rubrics while ignoring the obvious bad faith efforts behind this.
A graduate teaching assistant who gave a University of Oklahoma student a failing grade on a psychology essay will no longer be teaching at the university
Graduate instructor who gave failing grade to Samantha Fulnecky no longer teaching at OU
A graduate teaching assistant who gave a University of Oklahoma student a failing grade on a psychology essay will no longer be teaching at the university.
www.koco.com
December 23, 2025 at 2:14 AM
This was entirely about purging a trans instructor from the school and they succeeded. It was aided by a lot of dumb liberals taking it at face value arguing the minutia of grading rubrics while ignoring the obvious bad faith efforts behind this.
Reposted by Arbella Bet-Shlimon
If we are banning cell phones for kids we need to be talking about banning chatbots for boomers
www.persuasion.community/p/my-chatgpt...
www.persuasion.community/p/my-chatgpt...
December 17, 2025 at 4:38 PM
If we are banning cell phones for kids we need to be talking about banning chatbots for boomers
www.persuasion.community/p/my-chatgpt...
www.persuasion.community/p/my-chatgpt...
Reposted by Arbella Bet-Shlimon
So, El Fasher looks like one of the worst single event atrocities to happen this century so far, but the evidence has come in such a trickle it seems to only now be getting verified
At least 60,000 murdered in Sudanese city, which resembles ‘a slaughterhouse’
Satellite evidence shows extent of paramilitary massacre in El Fasher
www.irishtimes.com
December 13, 2025 at 3:50 AM
So, El Fasher looks like one of the worst single event atrocities to happen this century so far, but the evidence has come in such a trickle it seems to only now be getting verified
Reposted by Arbella Bet-Shlimon
The climate crisis is causing warm rain to fall in December, generating floods while setting up serious summer drought due to the lack of a mountain snowpack
These subtropical air masses that reach the PNW keep getting warmer and wetter as the climate warms as a whole.
Yakima, WA has reached 70 degrees today, the only other 70+ in Dec was 72 on 12/1/2021.
The atmospheric water vapor content is near record highs for Dec, increasing rainfall amounts.
Yakima, WA has reached 70 degrees today, the only other 70+ in Dec was 72 on 12/1/2021.
The atmospheric water vapor content is near record highs for Dec, increasing rainfall amounts.
December 10, 2025 at 10:30 PM
The climate crisis is causing warm rain to fall in December, generating floods while setting up serious summer drought due to the lack of a mountain snowpack
Reposted by Arbella Bet-Shlimon
I feel like you can't really say "war is inevitable" in response to the chants of a country's army when you're literally occupying the territory of that country
December 9, 2025 at 9:06 PM
I feel like you can't really say "war is inevitable" in response to the chants of a country's army when you're literally occupying the territory of that country
Trying to finish an overdue r&r but sidetracked by colleague contacting me for advice because they are dealing with the problem discussed in the article I need to r&r
December 9, 2025 at 8:33 PM
Trying to finish an overdue r&r but sidetracked by colleague contacting me for advice because they are dealing with the problem discussed in the article I need to r&r
Reposted by Arbella Bet-Shlimon
This post (+ the one after it, but starting with this one because context is important) has gotten surprising amounts of attention from folks who think that students are necessarily lazy and malicious.
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In early 2024, I got to speak to Deans from up & down the West Coast of the US & Canada about "AI". I told them that the only value of ChatGPT for university administrators is as a contrast-dye test to show where resources are lacking.
December 9, 2025 at 8:26 PM
This post (+ the one after it, but starting with this one because context is important) has gotten surprising amounts of attention from folks who think that students are necessarily lazy and malicious.
>>
>>
Reposted by Arbella Bet-Shlimon
They're using the confinement box, one of the most horrific methods of CIA torture in the post-9/11 black sites, against migrants now. This is the direct result of the lack of consequences for the architects of the torture program. Either there will be criminal penalties for this or it will expand.
Torture Techniques from CIA Black Sites Were Used at Alligator Alcatraz
Amnesty International, interviewing migrant detainees, identifies use of the confinement box. There can be no denying it is a torture prison
www.forever-wars.com
December 8, 2025 at 9:40 PM
They're using the confinement box, one of the most horrific methods of CIA torture in the post-9/11 black sites, against migrants now. This is the direct result of the lack of consequences for the architects of the torture program. Either there will be criminal penalties for this or it will expand.
Reposted by Arbella Bet-Shlimon
The RSF just attacked a kindergarten, killing at least 33 children in Sudan.
Meanwhile, the Trump Admin. continues to sell arms to the UAE, who are aiding these atrocities.
Imagine if Trump spent as much time trying to stop the killing, as he did getting the UAE to invest in his crypto coin.
Meanwhile, the Trump Admin. continues to sell arms to the UAE, who are aiding these atrocities.
Imagine if Trump spent as much time trying to stop the killing, as he did getting the UAE to invest in his crypto coin.
Sudanese paramilitary drone attack kills 50, including 33 children in Kordofan, doctor group says
A drone attack by Sudanese paramilitary forces has hit a kindergarten in south-central Sudan, killing 50 people, including 33 children, according to a doctors’ group
www.washingtonpost.com
December 6, 2025 at 7:22 PM
The RSF just attacked a kindergarten, killing at least 33 children in Sudan.
Meanwhile, the Trump Admin. continues to sell arms to the UAE, who are aiding these atrocities.
Imagine if Trump spent as much time trying to stop the killing, as he did getting the UAE to invest in his crypto coin.
Meanwhile, the Trump Admin. continues to sell arms to the UAE, who are aiding these atrocities.
Imagine if Trump spent as much time trying to stop the killing, as he did getting the UAE to invest in his crypto coin.
In *sigh* AHA news www.jadaliyya.com/Details/4704...
Palestinian Historians Group Responds to AHA Council Blocking Two Anti-Genocide Resolutions
We, the Palestinian Historians Group, reject the American Historical Association (AHA) Council’s antidemocratic decision on November 26, 2025 to unilaterally deny AHA members the right to vote on the ...
www.jadaliyya.com
December 3, 2025 at 7:36 PM
In *sigh* AHA news www.jadaliyya.com/Details/4704...
Reposted by Arbella Bet-Shlimon
“The math is brutal and the juxtaposition stark: millions for OpenAI while pink slips go out to longtime lecturers. The CSU isn’t investing in education—it’s outsourcing it, paying premium prices for a chatbot many students were already using for free.“
www.currentaffairs.org/news/ai-is-d...
www.currentaffairs.org/news/ai-is-d...
AI is Destroying the University and Learning Itself
Students use AI to write papers, professors use AI to grade them, degrees become meaningless, and tech companies make fortunes. Welcome to the death of higher education.
www.currentaffairs.org
December 3, 2025 at 2:58 AM
“The math is brutal and the juxtaposition stark: millions for OpenAI while pink slips go out to longtime lecturers. The CSU isn’t investing in education—it’s outsourcing it, paying premium prices for a chatbot many students were already using for free.“
www.currentaffairs.org/news/ai-is-d...
www.currentaffairs.org/news/ai-is-d...
Reposted by Arbella Bet-Shlimon
I love how the media just decided to memory-hole the vast, administrator & state-directed, violent suppression of student, faculty, and staff speech about genocide because it simply does not fit with the ingrained narrative of higher education as a woke indoctrination factory.
December 1, 2025 at 8:27 PM
I love how the media just decided to memory-hole the vast, administrator & state-directed, violent suppression of student, faculty, and staff speech about genocide because it simply does not fit with the ingrained narrative of higher education as a woke indoctrination factory.
Reposted by Arbella Bet-Shlimon
Nearly a year after the Assad regime's fall, we spoke to some of the Syrians who have returned home over the past year. The vast majority of returnees are from neighbouring countries; many fewer are returning from Europe. www.thenationalnews.com/news/mena/20...
From exile to rebuilding: the Syrians choosing to return home | The National
After the fall of the Assad regime, a small but determined group from Europe and Turkey are going back to help shape Syria's fragile recovery
www.thenationalnews.com
November 30, 2025 at 2:59 PM
Nearly a year after the Assad regime's fall, we spoke to some of the Syrians who have returned home over the past year. The vast majority of returnees are from neighbouring countries; many fewer are returning from Europe. www.thenationalnews.com/news/mena/20...
Reposted by Arbella Bet-Shlimon
This is terrible. Ursinus College (where my partner works) spent last year planning a reorganization (they’re creating multidisciplinary “hubs”) only for its administration to announce layoffs this semester. I hope this isn’t in the cards for those working at Montclair State
www.wsj.com/opinion/mont...
Another one of my colleagues weighs in on the “restructuring” of our home college. This time in the Wall Street Journal. It’s paywalled, so screenshots to follow.
Another one of my colleagues weighs in on the “restructuring” of our home college. This time in the Wall Street Journal. It’s paywalled, so screenshots to follow.
Opinion | Montclair State’s Inhumanity to the Humanities
Goodbye, English department. Hello, Institute for Complex Systems and Algorithmic Infused Societies.
www.wsj.com
November 17, 2025 at 11:28 PM
This is terrible. Ursinus College (where my partner works) spent last year planning a reorganization (they’re creating multidisciplinary “hubs”) only for its administration to announce layoffs this semester. I hope this isn’t in the cards for those working at Montclair State
Reposted by Arbella Bet-Shlimon
Breaking from us:
As the Trump administration searches for more space to detain immigrants, it is approaching Washington tribes to see if they will participate.
Nisqually Indian Tribe is saying no.
www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news...
As the Trump administration searches for more space to detain immigrants, it is approaching Washington tribes to see if they will participate.
Nisqually Indian Tribe is saying no.
www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news...
ICE looks to WA tribes to house detained immigrants
The Nisqually Indian Tribe says it is turning down a request from ICE to house detained immigrants on tribal land.
www.seattletimes.com
November 15, 2025 at 2:04 AM
Breaking from us:
As the Trump administration searches for more space to detain immigrants, it is approaching Washington tribes to see if they will participate.
Nisqually Indian Tribe is saying no.
www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news...
As the Trump administration searches for more space to detain immigrants, it is approaching Washington tribes to see if they will participate.
Nisqually Indian Tribe is saying no.
www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news...
Reposted by Arbella Bet-Shlimon
UPDATED: Washington state epidemiologist on first human infected with H5N5 bird flu strain, different from H5N1 that has been spreading widely: “This is a severely ill patient.” But officials say no change to public health response or guidance. My story. 1/3
www.washingtonpost.com/health/2025/...
www.washingtonpost.com/health/2025/...
First U.S. case of human bird flu in 9 months confirmed in Washington state
The U.S. has reported its first human case of bird flu since February, with a confirmed infection in Washington state
www.washingtonpost.com
November 15, 2025 at 12:36 AM
UPDATED: Washington state epidemiologist on first human infected with H5N5 bird flu strain, different from H5N1 that has been spreading widely: “This is a severely ill patient.” But officials say no change to public health response or guidance. My story. 1/3
www.washingtonpost.com/health/2025/...
www.washingtonpost.com/health/2025/...
Reposted by Arbella Bet-Shlimon
Texas A&M University System regents will vote Thursday to ban classes on “race” and “gender ideology.”
It's the latest escalation in a statewide conservative push to rid universities of liberal leaning teaching. bit.ly/4nTHlDY
It's the latest escalation in a statewide conservative push to rid universities of liberal leaning teaching. bit.ly/4nTHlDY
November 11, 2025 at 10:45 PM
Texas A&M University System regents will vote Thursday to ban classes on “race” and “gender ideology.”
It's the latest escalation in a statewide conservative push to rid universities of liberal leaning teaching. bit.ly/4nTHlDY
It's the latest escalation in a statewide conservative push to rid universities of liberal leaning teaching. bit.ly/4nTHlDY
Reposted by Arbella Bet-Shlimon
basically every 2024 truism is dead. Trump did not build a lasting multiracial coalition or turn young men into committed Republicans. You don’t need to cave on trans rights to win. The pundits have nothing left to tell you.
November 5, 2025 at 1:57 PM
basically every 2024 truism is dead. Trump did not build a lasting multiracial coalition or turn young men into committed Republicans. You don’t need to cave on trans rights to win. The pundits have nothing left to tell you.
schadenfreude is rarely my thing but I will make an exception for the incoming Third Way meltdown
November 5, 2025 at 2:45 AM
schadenfreude is rarely my thing but I will make an exception for the incoming Third Way meltdown
I saw a kindergartener do the 6-7 in Assyrian (“ishta showa”) complete with hand gestures. This is getting out of control
November 4, 2025 at 9:07 PM
I saw a kindergartener do the 6-7 in Assyrian (“ishta showa”) complete with hand gestures. This is getting out of control
Reposted by Arbella Bet-Shlimon
I have an essay on self-help, the "philosophy" industry, and human finitude in our new issue. As Dylan said of "Tangled Up In Blue," it took me ten years to live and two to write. I hope you enjoy. www.thedriftmag.com/how-i-learne...
October 31, 2025 at 2:00 PM
I have an essay on self-help, the "philosophy" industry, and human finitude in our new issue. As Dylan said of "Tangled Up In Blue," it took me ten years to live and two to write. I hope you enjoy. www.thedriftmag.com/how-i-learne...