Maaza Mengiste
@maazamengiste.bsky.social
Writes many words: Beneath the Lion's Gaze, The Shadow King, & the next one.
Believes in film: mostly Tri-X, sometimes Portra.
There's something out there, and it is us.
Believes in film: mostly Tri-X, sometimes Portra.
There's something out there, and it is us.
Reposted by Maaza Mengiste
🚨🚨🚨If you live anywhere in the greater Chicago area…ICE will start using Great Lakes Naval Station as a command center for their “enforcement” operations across Chicago on Sept 5. The base isn’t in the city or Cook County. It’s north, in Lake County. Expect raids across entire the metropolitan area.
September 2, 2025 at 12:28 AM
Reposted by Maaza Mengiste
Good morning! I'm in Uganda to visit family and friends.
But depending on your perspective, don't worry or I'm sorry: I'll be back by the end of the month.
See you soon, NYC.
But depending on your perspective, don't worry or I'm sorry: I'll be back by the end of the month.
See you soon, NYC.
July 20, 2025 at 2:37 PM
Good morning! I'm in Uganda to visit family and friends.
But depending on your perspective, don't worry or I'm sorry: I'll be back by the end of the month.
See you soon, NYC.
But depending on your perspective, don't worry or I'm sorry: I'll be back by the end of the month.
See you soon, NYC.
Reposted by Maaza Mengiste
There exists no mathematical universe where people in the US without a visa contribute more than 2% of the total violent crime in the United States. It's in no way proportionate to the violence of ICE in our communities.
This is all lies.
This is all lies.
Kristi Noem: "Remember what our streets were like under the last administration. How dangerous it was. President Trump and these ICE officers are going after murders and rapists."
July 10, 2025 at 2:19 PM
There exists no mathematical universe where people in the US without a visa contribute more than 2% of the total violent crime in the United States. It's in no way proportionate to the violence of ICE in our communities.
This is all lies.
This is all lies.
Hello 👋🏾
And the slow enunciation while shouting their compliment in my ear.
And the slow enunciation while shouting their compliment in my ear.
To be fair are you even an African living in or visiting Europe or North America if you have not had this same interaction multiple times 🤔
Personally I have lost count how many times I've been told same 🤷🏽♀️. I take it as a compliment and move on.
www.theguardian.com/us-news/vide...
Personally I have lost count how many times I've been told same 🤷🏽♀️. I take it as a compliment and move on.
www.theguardian.com/us-news/vide...
Awkward silence after Trump praises English of Liberian president – video
The Liberian president was asked by Trump where he had been educated
www.theguardian.com
July 10, 2025 at 1:22 PM
Hello 👋🏾
And the slow enunciation while shouting their compliment in my ear.
And the slow enunciation while shouting their compliment in my ear.
Do children have a right to exist?
Do human beings have a right to eat without bomb strikes?
Do people have a right not to be starved?
Do human beings have a right to eat without bomb strikes?
Do people have a right not to be starved?
Gaza began its day with the heartbreaking news of a direct strike on a line of children waiting for nutritional supplements in Deir al-Balah.
Their small bodies collapsed onto the pavement, and they were taken away on a donkey cart.
Their souls departed before the distribution even began.
Their small bodies collapsed onto the pavement, and they were taken away on a donkey cart.
Their souls departed before the distribution even began.
July 10, 2025 at 1:20 PM
Do children have a right to exist?
Do human beings have a right to eat without bomb strikes?
Do people have a right not to be starved?
Do human beings have a right to eat without bomb strikes?
Do people have a right not to be starved?
Reposted by Maaza Mengiste
With the updated RCV totals just released by the Board of Elections, our campaign has officially earned the most total votes in a primary in New York City history.
July 8, 2025 at 6:32 PM
With the updated RCV totals just released by the Board of Elections, our campaign has officially earned the most total votes in a primary in New York City history.
Reposted by Maaza Mengiste
Although it was well known by July 4 and 5 that the floods were catastrophic, Ted Cruz remained in Greece, sightseeing at, among other places, the Parthenon. “As he walked past us, I simply said, ’20 kids dead in Texas and you take a vacation?’”
Cruz Seen Vacationing in Greece After Deaths Recorded in Texas Floods
One witness confronted Cruz at the Parthenon, asking, “20 kids dead in Texas and you take a vacation?”…
truthout.org
July 8, 2025 at 4:03 PM
Although it was well known by July 4 and 5 that the floods were catastrophic, Ted Cruz remained in Greece, sightseeing at, among other places, the Parthenon. “As he walked past us, I simply said, ’20 kids dead in Texas and you take a vacation?’”
Reposted by Maaza Mengiste
a couple of hours before my keynote, I went through an intense negotiation with the organisers (for over a hour) where we went through my slides and had to remove anything that mentions 'Palestine' 'Israel' and replace 'genocide' with 'war crimes'
1/
1/
my keynote happening in a few mins. registration here to stream it
aiforgood.itu.int/summit25/reg...
aiforgood.itu.int/summit25/reg...
July 8, 2025 at 9:58 AM
a couple of hours before my keynote, I went through an intense negotiation with the organisers (for over a hour) where we went through my slides and had to remove anything that mentions 'Palestine' 'Israel' and replace 'genocide' with 'war crimes'
1/
1/
Do children have a right to exist without being burned alive?
Do women, and men, and teenagers have a right to fall asleep without being bombed?
Do people have a right to food without being shot by tanks and drones and mercenaries and soldiers?
Do human beings have a right to exist?
Do women, and men, and teenagers have a right to fall asleep without being bombed?
Do people have a right to food without being shot by tanks and drones and mercenaries and soldiers?
Do human beings have a right to exist?
July 8, 2025 at 3:41 PM
Do children have a right to exist without being burned alive?
Do women, and men, and teenagers have a right to fall asleep without being bombed?
Do people have a right to food without being shot by tanks and drones and mercenaries and soldiers?
Do human beings have a right to exist?
Do women, and men, and teenagers have a right to fall asleep without being bombed?
Do people have a right to food without being shot by tanks and drones and mercenaries and soldiers?
Do human beings have a right to exist?
Years before Auschwitz, there was Dachau and while the Nazis were jailing and torturing their enemies, Hitler was talking about peace and not wanting any wars. As he invaded the Rhineland and shut down newspapers and clamped down on society, he was telling Germans he would keep them safe.
Don’t call it ‘Alligator Alcatraz.’ Call it a concentration camp.
This facility’s purpose fits the classic model, and its existence points to serious dangers ahead for the country.
This facility’s purpose fits the classic model, and its existence points to serious dangers ahead for the country.
Opinion | Don’t call it ‘Alligator Alcatraz.’ Call it a concentration camp.
This facility’s purpose fits the classic model, and its existence points to serious dangers ahead for the country.
www.msnbc.com
July 5, 2025 at 6:59 PM
Years before Auschwitz, there was Dachau and while the Nazis were jailing and torturing their enemies, Hitler was talking about peace and not wanting any wars. As he invaded the Rhineland and shut down newspapers and clamped down on society, he was telling Germans he would keep them safe.
This is an attack on education and health, on knowledge and well-being, on the ability to think for yourself and have the strength to resist fascism. It is an effort to destroy your interior and private life beginning with your public access to specific freedoms and rights.
Trump is destroying education in the US a thousand different ways: cutting funding for NSF and NIH; withholding funds from Columbia, Harvard, etc.; taxing endowments; and now limiting student loans for graduate and professional school.
The Big Beautiful Bill has important new limits on graduate student and professional school student loans from the US government—of particular importance at law schools, a $50K per year borrowing limit (w/$200k cap), starting in the summer of 2026. The key text is in the screenshots below.
July 5, 2025 at 6:28 PM
This is an attack on education and health, on knowledge and well-being, on the ability to think for yourself and have the strength to resist fascism. It is an effort to destroy your interior and private life beginning with your public access to specific freedoms and rights.
Reposted by Maaza Mengiste
BREAKING: Judge issues administrative stay stopping South Sudan deportations.
An administrative stay on Friday morning blocks the Trump administration's efforts for now. A hearing is ongoing in D.C. this Fourth of July.
Read the new habeas petition at Law Dork.
An administrative stay on Friday morning blocks the Trump administration's efforts for now. A hearing is ongoing in D.C. this Fourth of July.
Read the new habeas petition at Law Dork.
Breaking: Judge issues administrative stay stopping South Sudan deportations
An administrative stay on Friday morning blocks the Trump administration's efforts for now. A hearing is ongoing in D.C. this Fourth of July. Read the new claims at Law Dork
www.lawdork.com
July 4, 2025 at 5:15 PM
BREAKING: Judge issues administrative stay stopping South Sudan deportations.
An administrative stay on Friday morning blocks the Trump administration's efforts for now. A hearing is ongoing in D.C. this Fourth of July.
Read the new habeas petition at Law Dork.
An administrative stay on Friday morning blocks the Trump administration's efforts for now. A hearing is ongoing in D.C. this Fourth of July.
Read the new habeas petition at Law Dork.
Reposted by Maaza Mengiste
Nobody has covered this, but this #GradPLUS cap is going to cause some #medicalschool to close, including some that just opened. I'm thinking schools in more rural areas, like satellite campuses of Michigan State and Medical College of Wisconsin in northern MI or central WI
Starting June 30th 2026 medical school student loans will be capped at $50k per year and $200k total. This is going to leave a lot of great applicants behind with only fairly wealthy kids able to attend even if less qualified.
July 4, 2025 at 1:00 PM
Nobody has covered this, but this #GradPLUS cap is going to cause some #medicalschool to close, including some that just opened. I'm thinking schools in more rural areas, like satellite campuses of Michigan State and Medical College of Wisconsin in northern MI or central WI
Reposted by Maaza Mengiste
I don’t think anyone is prepared for what they just did w/ ICE.
This is not a simple budget increase. It is an explosion - making ICE bigger than the FBI, US Bureau of Prisons, DEA,& others combined.
It is setting up to make what’s happening now look like child’s play. And people are disappearing.
This is not a simple budget increase. It is an explosion - making ICE bigger than the FBI, US Bureau of Prisons, DEA,& others combined.
It is setting up to make what’s happening now look like child’s play. And people are disappearing.
July 3, 2025 at 6:58 PM
I don’t think anyone is prepared for what they just did w/ ICE.
This is not a simple budget increase. It is an explosion - making ICE bigger than the FBI, US Bureau of Prisons, DEA,& others combined.
It is setting up to make what’s happening now look like child’s play. And people are disappearing.
This is not a simple budget increase. It is an explosion - making ICE bigger than the FBI, US Bureau of Prisons, DEA,& others combined.
It is setting up to make what’s happening now look like child’s play. And people are disappearing.
Reposted by Maaza Mengiste
I had to read this twice to believe it...Meloni, who ran for office on an anti-immigration platform, has now announced plans to let in hundreds of thousands of immigrants, in order to deal with the Italian labor shortage
www.reuters.com/world/italy-...
www.reuters.com/world/italy-...
Italy to issue half million non-EU work visas over next three years
The move is part of a strategy to expand legal immigration channels in response to labor shortages.
www.reuters.com
July 3, 2025 at 1:12 PM
I had to read this twice to believe it...Meloni, who ran for office on an anti-immigration platform, has now announced plans to let in hundreds of thousands of immigrants, in order to deal with the Italian labor shortage
www.reuters.com/world/italy-...
www.reuters.com/world/italy-...
Reposted by Maaza Mengiste
BREAKING: Zeteo has released, globally, the film the BBC so controversially refused to air.
"Gaza: Doctors Under Attack" is now available to watch in full at gazadoctors.film and zeteo.com.
Here's the trailer:
"Gaza: Doctors Under Attack" is now available to watch in full at gazadoctors.film and zeteo.com.
Here's the trailer:
July 2, 2025 at 9:11 PM
BREAKING: Zeteo has released, globally, the film the BBC so controversially refused to air.
"Gaza: Doctors Under Attack" is now available to watch in full at gazadoctors.film and zeteo.com.
Here's the trailer:
"Gaza: Doctors Under Attack" is now available to watch in full at gazadoctors.film and zeteo.com.
Here's the trailer:
Reposted by Maaza Mengiste
Everyone thinks of 1944 auschwitz and not 1933 Dachau. It didn't start as extermination camps. It's a process to get there and one the Trump administration is starting now.
I have no doubt that Laura Loomer would be wearing a Nazi arm band in 1930s Germany.
But that does not make this concentration camp (or if you prefer, gulag) into an extermination camp.
It diminishes what happened at Auschwitz.
But that does not make this concentration camp (or if you prefer, gulag) into an extermination camp.
It diminishes what happened at Auschwitz.
July 2, 2025 at 8:07 PM
Everyone thinks of 1944 auschwitz and not 1933 Dachau. It didn't start as extermination camps. It's a process to get there and one the Trump administration is starting now.
Reposted by Maaza Mengiste
The alarm is real but $200 billion is not correct.
The bill gives $170.7 billion in immigration-related funding to be spent through Sept. 30, 2029, of which $75 billion goes directly to ICE, including $45 billion for detention. A $3.5 billion fund to states could be used for some detention too.
The bill gives $170.7 billion in immigration-related funding to be spent through Sept. 30, 2029, of which $75 billion goes directly to ICE, including $45 billion for detention. A $3.5 billion fund to states could be used for some detention too.
July 2, 2025 at 1:13 PM
The alarm is real but $200 billion is not correct.
The bill gives $170.7 billion in immigration-related funding to be spent through Sept. 30, 2029, of which $75 billion goes directly to ICE, including $45 billion for detention. A $3.5 billion fund to states could be used for some detention too.
The bill gives $170.7 billion in immigration-related funding to be spent through Sept. 30, 2029, of which $75 billion goes directly to ICE, including $45 billion for detention. A $3.5 billion fund to states could be used for some detention too.
Reposted by Maaza Mengiste
AOC: Trump has insisted that this bill does not cut Medicaid. He has also said he doesn’t think I’m a smart person. It doesn’t take a smart person to know when you are being lied to. President Trump, you are either being lied to, or you are lying to the American people.
July 2, 2025 at 3:40 PM
AOC: Trump has insisted that this bill does not cut Medicaid. He has also said he doesn’t think I’m a smart person. It doesn’t take a smart person to know when you are being lied to. President Trump, you are either being lied to, or you are lying to the American people.
Reposted by Maaza Mengiste
Chance that this guy—who onJan 6 told other rioters who were attacking law enforcement officers, “Kill ’em! Kill ’em! Kill ’em!”—could get a security clearance in normal times:
Zero.
Pardoned Jan. 6 Rioter Who Threatened Police Joins Justice Dept. www.nytimes.com/2025/07/01/u...
Zero.
Pardoned Jan. 6 Rioter Who Threatened Police Joins Justice Dept. www.nytimes.com/2025/07/01/u...
Pardoned Jan. 6 Rioter Who Threatened Police Joins Justice Dept.
www.nytimes.com
July 2, 2025 at 4:37 AM
Chance that this guy—who onJan 6 told other rioters who were attacking law enforcement officers, “Kill ’em! Kill ’em! Kill ’em!”—could get a security clearance in normal times:
Zero.
Pardoned Jan. 6 Rioter Who Threatened Police Joins Justice Dept. www.nytimes.com/2025/07/01/u...
Zero.
Pardoned Jan. 6 Rioter Who Threatened Police Joins Justice Dept. www.nytimes.com/2025/07/01/u...
Blood money.
Someone I knew, like another sibling/son in our family, was a pilot on one of those flights. Boeing lied from beginning, using racist arguments. Repugnant.
Boeing negligence killed people, flight after flight. Lie after lie.
Someone I knew, like another sibling/son in our family, was a pilot on one of those flights. Boeing lied from beginning, using racist arguments. Repugnant.
Boeing negligence killed people, flight after flight. Lie after lie.
BREAKING: Justice Department and Boeing reach a deal allowing the airplane giant to avoid prosecution over 737 Max crashes.
Justice Department reaches deal to allow Boeing to avoid prosecution over 737 Max crashes
The Justice Department has reached a deal with Boeing that will allow the company to avoid criminal prosecution for allegedly misleading U.S. regulators about the 737 Max jetliner before two of the planes crashed and killed 346 people.
bit.ly
May 23, 2025 at 7:20 PM
Blood money.
Someone I knew, like another sibling/son in our family, was a pilot on one of those flights. Boeing lied from beginning, using racist arguments. Repugnant.
Boeing negligence killed people, flight after flight. Lie after lie.
Someone I knew, like another sibling/son in our family, was a pilot on one of those flights. Boeing lied from beginning, using racist arguments. Repugnant.
Boeing negligence killed people, flight after flight. Lie after lie.
“Is all this horror for us?” Abu Sultan muses. “It’s hard to believe that all this firepower in the sky is reserved for civilian families whose only concern is to save their children from bombardment and feed them so they don’t die of hunger.”
Israel announced the initial phase of “Gideon’s chariots,” the expanded ground invasion to permanently “conquer” Gaza, amid reports that Trump reneged on his deal with Hamas to lift the blockade, and will reportedly expel 1 million Gazans to Libya.
mondoweiss.net/2025/05/isra...
mondoweiss.net/2025/05/isra...
Israel just launched its offensive to permanently ‘conquer’ Gaza as Trump’s Arab Gulf tour wraps up
Israel announced the initial phase of “Gideon’s chariots,” the expanded ground invasion to permanently “conquer” Gaza, amid reports that Trump reneged on his deal with Hamas to lift the blockade, and…
mondoweiss.net
May 19, 2025 at 11:44 AM
“Is all this horror for us?” Abu Sultan muses. “It’s hard to believe that all this firepower in the sky is reserved for civilian families whose only concern is to save their children from bombardment and feed them so they don’t die of hunger.”