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Reposted by Laila Lalami

Jaweed Kaleem @jaweedkaleem.bsky.social · 18d

BREAKING: A federal judge has ordered Trump to restore $500 million in frozen UCLA NIH grants. The same judge, Rita F. Lin, previously ordered all UCLA NSF grants reinstated. Lin has now nearly entirely reversed Trump's July de-funding of UCLA research: www.latimes.com/california/s...

Federal judge orders Trump to restore $500 million in frozen UCLA medical research grants

A San Francisco-based federal judge on Monday ordered the Trump administration to restore all National Institutes of Health grants to UCLA, roughly $500 million, that the government suspended in July.

www.latimes.com

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Laila Lalami @lailalalami.com · 18d

Wonderful news!

The Washington Post @washingtonpost.com · 18d

Egyptian President Abdel Fatah El-Sisi pardoned the country’s most high-profile political prisoner, the British-Egyptian computer programmer and Arab Spring activist Alaa Abdel Fattah.

Egypt’s president pardons jailed Arab Spring activist Alaa Abdel Fattah

Abdel Fattah was a symbol of the 2011 uprising but was arrested two years later. He has since spent almost all of the past 12 years behind bars.

www.washingtonpost.com

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Laila Lalami @lailalalami.com · 18d

It's a simple equation: it was costlier for the company to lose subscriptions/theme-park/ad revenue than to kowtow to Trump, so it made the decision to bring him back.

Scott Nover @scottnover.bsky.social · 18d

Jimmy Kimmel will return to ABC's airwaves on Tuesday night, per parent company Disney. Kimmel was taken off air for "ill-timed and thus insensitive" comments about the aftermath of Charlie Kirk's shooting, the company said. My latest in @washingtonpost.com:

Disney brings back Jimmy Kimmel, sidelined after Charlie Kirk comments

“Jimmy Kimmel Live!” on ABC was taken off air following backlash from President Donald Trump, FCC Chair Brendan Carr, Nexstar, Sinclair and a bevy of conservative critics.

www.washingtonpost.com

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Reposted by Laila Lalami

David Kaib @davidkaib.bsky.social · 19d

Homan would be such a easy target for an actual opposition party—the architect of a deeply unpopular program who is also cartoonishly corrupt.

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Laila Lalami @lailalalami.com · 20d

And of course the headline downplays what happened. Tom Homan walked into a meeting with undercover FBI agents posing as business executives and accepted $50,000 in exchange for giving them contracts. www.msnbc.com/msnbc/news/t...

Tom Homan was investigated for accepting $50,000 from undercover FBI agents. Trump's DOJ shut it down.

The FBI and Justice officials closed the investigation, which a Justice Department appointee had called a “deep state” probe in early 2025.

www.msnbc.com

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Laila Lalami @lailalalami.com · 20d

You’re telling me that a man whom the FBI has on tape accepting a 50k bribe was not only not prosecuted, but promoted so he could send masked agents to kidnap day laborers on minimum wage. I feel like I’m going insane.

The New York Times @nytimes.com · 20d

Tom Homan, who was later named President Trump’s border chief, was recorded in September 2024 accepting a bag with $50,000 in cash in an undercover FBI investigation, according to people familiar with the case, which was later closed by Trump administration officials.

Trump Justice Dept. Closed Investigation Into Tom Homan for Accepting Bag of Cash

Mr. Homan came under scrutiny after he was said to be recorded last year taking $50,000 in cash from undercover F.B.I. agents.

nyti.ms

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Laila Lalami @lailalalami.com · 20d

Thank you for the suggestion!

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Laila Lalami @lailalalami.com · 20d

This is exactly it. Too many people in the Democratic Party are invested in earning the respect of the other side, rather than their own.

Pat Inverted Vibe Curve Blanchfield @patblanchfield.bsky.social · 20d

the best way to earn the respect of political enemies who think you’re irredeemably immoral scum? well, have you to tried sacrificing your allies to them?

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Laila Lalami @lailalalami.com · 20d

Please stop posting pictures of your kids on Instagram. Just stop.

Aaron Bady @zunguzungu.bsky.social · 20d

I don't know, man, I just don't know.

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Laila Lalami @lailalalami.com · 21d

Next weekend!

Laila Lalami @lailalalami.com · 24d

Next up! If you find yourself in Winston-Salem, come on out to the Bookmarks Festival, where I'll be appearing alongside Deborah Jackson Taffa to discuss 'Dystopian Realities' on Saturday, September 27, 12.15 pm!

Flyer says:

National Book Foundation Presents
Dystopian Realities
Saturday, September 27, 12:15 pm EDT
Winston-Salem, NC

Laila Lalami, 2019 Fiction Finalist.
Deborah Jackson Taffa, 2024 Nonfiction Finalist
Ruth Dickey, Moderator

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Laila Lalami @lailalalami.com · 21d

While we're on the subject of free speech, note that Israel bombed a newspaper complex in Yemen, killing 31 journalists. The pundits who've spent the last few days commenting on political violence will have nothing to say about the wholesale murder of thirty-one of their colleagues.

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Laila Lalami @lailalalami.com · 22d

"But in danger and despair you acquire a faith in miracles; without it you would go under." - Erich Maria Remarque

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Reposted by Laila Lalami

Eileen Clancy 🧿 @clancyny.bsky.social · 22d

Texas Man Indicted Over Series of Violent Threats to Mamdani

Jeremy Fistel said Mamdani should "return to Uganda" before someone shoots him in the head. And, wished his wife and kids killed in front of him.

Investigators tracked the calls to his personal cell and messages to his email account.

‘Deserve to die': Texas man indicted over series of violent threats to Mamdani

New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani faced threats directly to him and to his campaign in June, according to a senior law enforcement official.

www.nbcnewyork.com

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Laila Lalami @lailalalami.com · 23d

Caving in to censorship will only beget more censorship.

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Laila Lalami @lailalalami.com · 23d

The right-wing is treating Kirk's murder like it's 9/11, and proceeding with the same censorship and purge that they used to silence war critics.

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Laila Lalami @lailalalami.com · 23d

I can’t believe I have to defend Jimmy the Sport Guy. (IYKYK)

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Laila Lalami @lailalalami.com · 23d

yeah he’s [redacted]

Reposted by Laila Lalami

Prisonculture @prisonculture.bsky.social · 24d

We don't know what's going to happen so might as well fight for better. That's really my basic political orientation.

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Reposted by Laila Lalami

Kat Abughazaleh @katmabu.bsky.social · 24d

Today, the UN officially designated Israel’s assault on Gaza as a genocide.

As a party to the Genocide Convention, the U.S. has a legal obligation to obey our own laws, stop weapons sales to Israel, and demand a permanent ceasefire.

End the genocide. Ceasefire now.

257. The Commission recommends that all Member States:
(a) Employ all means reasonably available to them to prevent the commission of genocide in the Gaza Strip;
(b) Cease the transfer of arms and other equipment or items, including jet fuel, to the State of Israel or third States where there is reason to suspect their use in military operations that have involved or could involve the commission of genocide;
(c) Ensure individuals and corporations in their territories and within their jurisdiction are not involved in the commission of genocide, aiding and assisting the commission of genocide or incitement to commit genocide and investigate and prosecute those who may be implicated in these crimes under international law;
(d) Facilitate the investigations and domestic proceedings and take action (including imposing sanctions) against the State of Israel and against individuals or corporations that are involved in or facilitating the commission of genocide or incitement to commit genocide;
(e) Cooperate with the investigation of the Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court.
258. The Commission recommends that the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court:
(a) Examine, within its continuing investigation in the Situation in the State of Palestine, the crime of genocide for amendment to existing arrest warrants and addition to future application for arrest warrants;
(b) Examine the involvement of officials mentioned in this report for inclusion as those most responsible for international crimes committed in the occupied Palestinian territory.

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Laila Lalami @lailalalami.com · 24d

“Thirty-one Democrats joined Republicans in voting to restrict judges from having discretion to dole out lighter sentences to young people. Eight voted alongside Republicans to allow 14-year-olds to be charged as adults.”

Adam Rothman enjoys a good sandwich @adamrothman.bsky.social · 24d

No 14-year-old should be tried as an adult. None.
www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/202...

House votes to charge D.C. 14-year-olds as adults

The House also voted to restrict judges from giving lighter sentences to young adults, among 14 D.C. crime-related policy proposals from the GOP.

www.washingtonpost.com

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Reposted by Laila Lalami

Winifred Tylenol Spice Burton @authorwinifred.blacksky.app · 24d

"They're politicians, what are they supposed to do? Literally fight in the streets?"

Unashamed to say this made me cry.

Wrecked @wrecked9n76e.bsky.social · 24d

Karina Villa protecting her constituents by literally running ICE off the streets in West Chicago and yelling to residents to stay inside their homes.

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Laila Lalami @lailalalami.com · 24d

Congratulations to the winners of this year's American Book Awards! 🎉 🎉 🎉 www.beforecolumbusfoundation.com

The 2025 American Book Award Winners

Kaveh Akbar
Martyr!: A Novel (Knopf)
Amy M. Alvarez

Makeshift Altar: Poems (The University Press of Kentucky)

Marie-Helene Bertino
Beautyland: A Novel (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)

Percival Everett
James: A Novel (Doubleday)
Marcela Fuentes
Malas: A Novel (Penguin Books)
Fady Joudah
[...] Poems (Milkweed Editions)
Stacey Levine
Mice 1961 (Verse Chorus Press)
Sarah Lewis

The Unseen Truth: When Race Changed Sight in America (Harvard University Press)

Tomiko and Ryokuyo Matsumoto, and Nancy Matsumoto, Editor
By the Shore of Lake Michigan (UCLA Asian American Studies Center)

Sharon McMahon

The Small and the Mighty: Twelve Unsung Americans Who Changed the
Course of History, from the Founding to the Civil Rights Movement (Thesis)

Claire Messud

This Strange Eventful History: A Novel (W. W. Norton & Company)
Maceo Montoya and Javier O. Huerta
Imaginative Possibilities: Conversations with Twenty-First-Century
Latinx Writers (University of Pittsburgh Press)

m.s. RedCherries
mother (Penguin Books)
Danzy Senna

Colored Television: A Novel (Riverhead Books)
A.B. Spellman, and Lauri Scheyer, Editor

Between the Night and Its Music: New and Selected Poems (Wesleyan University Press)

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Laila Lalami @lailalalami.com · 24d

Next up! If you find yourself in Winston-Salem, come on out to the Bookmarks Festival, where I'll be appearing alongside Deborah Jackson Taffa to discuss 'Dystopian Realities' on Saturday, September 27, 12.15 pm!

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Laila Lalami @lailalalami.com · 24d

Here is what the Trump administration has asked of UCLA. None of this has anything to do with combating antisemitism. It is all about control of the campus and capture of its culture. www.kqed.org/news/1205611...

According to the groups, the Trump administration’s demands include restricting campus protest rights as well as:

unfettered government access to faculty, student and staff data
an official statement that the UC does not recognize transgender identity
a ban on gender inclusive restrooms and locker rooms
the cessation of gender affirming care for minors
an end to diversity scholarships
cooperation with immigration enforcement, which appears to include giving ICE access to UC hospitals
the creation of viewpoint policies for the admission of international students

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Laila Lalami @lailalalami.com · 24d

I've been on the UC faculty for 18 years and can't recall a time when our campuses were under graver threat than now. I'm happy that our faculty associations (across all ten campuses) joined in this suit.

Jaweed Kaleem @jaweedkaleem.bsky.social · 24d

Facing a proposed $1.2-billion fine and severe medical research grant cuts at UCLA, the University of California has not gone head-to-head with Trump in court.

So on Tuesday, groups representing more than 100,000 of its employees did.

www.latimes.com/california/s...

UC employees, not waiting on leaders, sue Trump for 'financial coercion' over UCLA cuts

University of California faculty, students and staff on Tuesday sued President Trump over a $1.2-million penalty against UCLA and federal demands over campus changes. They argued that the actions camp...

www.latimes.com

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