Asim Ali
@asimali.bsky.social
American studies prof. Erstwhile economist. Sometime musician. Habitat builder. Pro-bunny. Earthling. Trying to make more darkness. Ⓥ He/him
Reposted by Asim Ali
As I sometimes like to mention, s the only reason you know who Jeffrey Epstein is (that is, if you weren't one of his friends/clients/beneficiaries) is because Ms Brown, below, broke the story of his sweetheart deal to get out of the 2008 trafficking charges.
BREAKING: (Gift) New Epstein emails reveal that Epstein claimed he had kompromat on President Trump. www.miamiherald.com/news/politic...
New Epstein emails claim Trump ‘spent hours’ with victim
Democrats on the House Oversight say the emails provide evidence of a cover-up by the White House
www.miamiherald.com
November 12, 2025 at 5:35 PM
As I sometimes like to mention, s the only reason you know who Jeffrey Epstein is (that is, if you weren't one of his friends/clients/beneficiaries) is because Ms Brown, below, broke the story of his sweetheart deal to get out of the 2008 trafficking charges.
Reposted by Asim Ali
People getting mad at, say, Hmong refugee neighbors, without asking what possessed thousands of them to leave their villages in Laos and move to Minnesota.
Most Americans have little idea what the US has done all over the world. Except for D-Day and the Marshall Plan.
Most Americans have little idea what the US has done all over the world. Except for D-Day and the Marshall Plan.
this is exactly what it has felt like for a long time to try to teach about US imperialism. students just like cannot believe that the CIA has overturned the government in almost every country in Latin America, even though that's not a controversial fact at all.
November 12, 2025 at 5:37 PM
People getting mad at, say, Hmong refugee neighbors, without asking what possessed thousands of them to leave their villages in Laos and move to Minnesota.
Most Americans have little idea what the US has done all over the world. Except for D-Day and the Marshall Plan.
Most Americans have little idea what the US has done all over the world. Except for D-Day and the Marshall Plan.
Reposted by Asim Ali
It is an ironclad law of climate comms that we must absolutely in every case focus on the economics of these actions, only incidentally mention the mass human casualties, and never, ever the natural world.
November 12, 2025 at 2:36 PM
It is an ironclad law of climate comms that we must absolutely in every case focus on the economics of these actions, only incidentally mention the mass human casualties, and never, ever the natural world.
Reposted by Asim Ali
seeing LLMs as "ideology that can pretend to be a person" helps make it clear what "talking to chatbots" accomplishes: Althusserian "interpellation"
I do, of course, have a paragraph from "Why We Fear AI" for this
November 11, 2025 at 9:11 PM
seeing LLMs as "ideology that can pretend to be a person" helps make it clear what "talking to chatbots" accomplishes: Althusserian "interpellation"
Periodic reminder that your government hates you and wants you to have the barest minimum healthcare necessary for you to work yourself to death.
Average healthcare costs in the US:
Giving birth? $18,000
Cancer treatment? $150,000
One month ICU stay? Between 30k and 150k.
That’s not including copays, deductibles, interest and all the other hoops you have to jump through.
Cost in Canada? $0.
Cost in the UK? $0.
Cost in Australia? $0.
Giving birth? $18,000
Cancer treatment? $150,000
One month ICU stay? Between 30k and 150k.
That’s not including copays, deductibles, interest and all the other hoops you have to jump through.
Cost in Canada? $0.
Cost in the UK? $0.
Cost in Australia? $0.
November 12, 2025 at 4:53 AM
Periodic reminder that your government hates you and wants you to have the barest minimum healthcare necessary for you to work yourself to death.
I'm reminded of the 1988 ST:TNG episode "Arsenal of Freedom," in which the Enterprise visits the planet Minos, which was once full of weapons merchants but they're all dead now because their "intelligent" weapons killed them all.
November 12, 2025 at 4:43 AM
I'm reminded of the 1988 ST:TNG episode "Arsenal of Freedom," in which the Enterprise visits the planet Minos, which was once full of weapons merchants but they're all dead now because their "intelligent" weapons killed them all.
Reposted by Asim Ali
Israel has destroyed more than 1,500 buildings in one month of "ceasefire." Gardens, homes, entire neighborhoods turned to dust www.bbc.com/news/article...
Israel has destroyed more than 1,500 buildings in Gaza since ceasefire
Entire neighbourhoods controlled by Israel have been levelled in less than a month, satellite images show.
www.bbc.com
November 12, 2025 at 3:58 AM
Israel has destroyed more than 1,500 buildings in one month of "ceasefire." Gardens, homes, entire neighborhoods turned to dust www.bbc.com/news/article...
Reposted by Asim Ali
They’ve laid off so many people that the government is now getting its economic data from DoorDash.
November 12, 2025 at 1:09 AM
They’ve laid off so many people that the government is now getting its economic data from DoorDash.
Reposted by Asim Ali
⚪️ “They Want to Terrify Palestinians — Then Steal Their Land”
Diana Buttu tells Drop Site the surge in settler attacks is part of a coordinated state-backed effort to seize Palestinian land. “They start going after the farmlands… then set up these outposts backed by the Israeli army. And after...
Diana Buttu tells Drop Site the surge in settler attacks is part of a coordinated state-backed effort to seize Palestinian land. “They start going after the farmlands… then set up these outposts backed by the Israeli army. And after...
November 11, 2025 at 5:44 PM
⚪️ “They Want to Terrify Palestinians — Then Steal Their Land”
Diana Buttu tells Drop Site the surge in settler attacks is part of a coordinated state-backed effort to seize Palestinian land. “They start going after the farmlands… then set up these outposts backed by the Israeli army. And after...
Diana Buttu tells Drop Site the surge in settler attacks is part of a coordinated state-backed effort to seize Palestinian land. “They start going after the farmlands… then set up these outposts backed by the Israeli army. And after...
Reposted by Asim Ali
My theory is that tech bros hate humanities because they've all tried once to impress a girl studding English Lit by talking about a book and they were all laughed at for their complete misreading of the text.
*maximum alpha at 1.25x speed* continuously lives on in my head, unfortunately.
November 11, 2025 at 2:13 AM
My theory is that tech bros hate humanities because they've all tried once to impress a girl studding English Lit by talking about a book and they were all laughed at for their complete misreading of the text.
Reposted by Asim Ali
Good to see my old alma mater doing the right thing.
UC Berkeley
25.11.10 ~5:30pm
25.11.10 ~5:30pm
November 11, 2025 at 3:15 AM
Good to see my old alma mater doing the right thing.
Reposted by Asim Ali
This guy would always set off the alarm:
November 10, 2025 at 2:25 PM
This guy would always set off the alarm:
Reposted by Asim Ali
This article explains how Musk’s ridiculous pay is tied to achieving various benchmarks for Tesla.
So even more so than before, Musk’s money is tied to Tesla.
If Tesla does badly, Musk is hurt.
You know what to do, world.
The shareholders brought this on themselves. #TeslaTakedown
So even more so than before, Musk’s money is tied to Tesla.
If Tesla does badly, Musk is hurt.
You know what to do, world.
The shareholders brought this on themselves. #TeslaTakedown
Tesla says shareholders approve Musk's $1 trillion pay plan with over 75% voting in favor
Tesla shareholders approved CEO Elon Musk's historic pay package at the company's annual shareholders meeting in Austin, Texas.
www.cnbc.com
November 8, 2025 at 7:46 PM
This article explains how Musk’s ridiculous pay is tied to achieving various benchmarks for Tesla.
So even more so than before, Musk’s money is tied to Tesla.
If Tesla does badly, Musk is hurt.
You know what to do, world.
The shareholders brought this on themselves. #TeslaTakedown
So even more so than before, Musk’s money is tied to Tesla.
If Tesla does badly, Musk is hurt.
You know what to do, world.
The shareholders brought this on themselves. #TeslaTakedown
Reposted by Asim Ali
The piece is excellent, but I want to highlight a valuable thought early in it: Literature does not change people. Life events change people. Trauma changes people. Catharsis changes people. Literature provides new mindsets to shape those changes, and outlets through which to choose how to change.
What an amazing essay from the former chair of Africana Studies at Bowdoin. I'll share a few sections in the reply but seriously, read the whole thing. It's all insightful and beautifully written.
lithub.com/maybe-dont-t...
lithub.com/maybe-dont-t...
Maybe Don’t Talk to the New York Times About Zohran Mamdani
It’s remarkable, the people you’ll hear from. Teach for even a little while at an expensive institution—the term they tend to prefer is “elite”—and odds are that eventually someone who was a studen…
lithub.com
November 8, 2025 at 8:53 PM
The piece is excellent, but I want to highlight a valuable thought early in it: Literature does not change people. Life events change people. Trauma changes people. Catharsis changes people. Literature provides new mindsets to shape those changes, and outlets through which to choose how to change.
Reposted by Asim Ali
This captures so well the feeling of trying to do scholarly work right now, to maintain and communicate the joy of it publicly. It feels embarrassing to care so much about the thing itself when all people will do is sort it into two bins, for and against.
November 8, 2025 at 10:51 PM
This captures so well the feeling of trying to do scholarly work right now, to maintain and communicate the joy of it publicly. It feels embarrassing to care so much about the thing itself when all people will do is sort it into two bins, for and against.
And this is why the humanities are under attack:
"I tell my students that when they rely on a machine to do their thinking for them, they miss the opportunity to develop an autonomous self, one capable of independent judgment."
wolfbrown.com/newsletters/...
"I tell my students that when they rely on a machine to do their thinking for them, they miss the opportunity to develop an autonomous self, one capable of independent judgment."
wolfbrown.com/newsletters/...
AI and the Defense of the Humanities - WolfBrown
When I graduated from Harvard and started working, I found myself reflecting on what my education had truly prepared me to do. My most valuable lessons didn’t come from technical training, but from th...
wolfbrown.com
November 8, 2025 at 10:46 PM
And this is why the humanities are under attack:
"I tell my students that when they rely on a machine to do their thinking for them, they miss the opportunity to develop an autonomous self, one capable of independent judgment."
wolfbrown.com/newsletters/...
"I tell my students that when they rely on a machine to do their thinking for them, they miss the opportunity to develop an autonomous self, one capable of independent judgment."
wolfbrown.com/newsletters/...
Yup, I do this all the time.
"It’s the rattle of a person going on and professorially on, quite as if the substance of a discipline, or its intellectual trajectory, or even just the nourishing joy of sustained and serious study, mattered at all to the person he was talking to...."
"It’s the rattle of a person going on and professorially on, quite as if the substance of a discipline, or its intellectual trajectory, or even just the nourishing joy of sustained and serious study, mattered at all to the person he was talking to...."
What an amazing essay from the former chair of Africana Studies at Bowdoin. I'll share a few sections in the reply but seriously, read the whole thing. It's all insightful and beautifully written.
lithub.com/maybe-dont-t...
lithub.com/maybe-dont-t...
Maybe Don’t Talk to the New York Times About Zohran Mamdani
It’s remarkable, the people you’ll hear from. Teach for even a little while at an expensive institution—the term they tend to prefer is “elite”—and odds are that eventually someone who was a studen…
lithub.com
November 8, 2025 at 10:38 PM
Yup, I do this all the time.
"It’s the rattle of a person going on and professorially on, quite as if the substance of a discipline, or its intellectual trajectory, or even just the nourishing joy of sustained and serious study, mattered at all to the person he was talking to...."
"It’s the rattle of a person going on and professorially on, quite as if the substance of a discipline, or its intellectual trajectory, or even just the nourishing joy of sustained and serious study, mattered at all to the person he was talking to...."
Reposted by Asim Ali
Men like this can't imagine a world where their wealth won't automatically buy them access, influence, and power.
Canadian multimillionaire and Shark Tank guy Kevin O'Leary went on TV to say he's upset Zohran won't talk to him: "I and others who invest in real estate have tried to get a meeting to figure out what's rhetoric and what's policy. So far for me it's been crickets."
November 7, 2025 at 10:07 PM
Men like this can't imagine a world where their wealth won't automatically buy them access, influence, and power.
Reposted by Asim Ali
"Israeli settlers were filmed torturing lambs...in the West Bank. Gouged their eyes out. Smashed them with cinder blocks. Beat them to death in front of their mothers. Lambs."
The same settlers are terrorizing the Palestinians and stealing their land.
www.caitlinjohnst.one/p/they-tortu...
The same settlers are terrorizing the Palestinians and stealing their land.
www.caitlinjohnst.one/p/they-tortu...
They Tortured Lambs In The West Bank
Listen to a reading of this article (reading by Tim Foley):
www.caitlinjohnst.one
November 4, 2025 at 6:05 PM
"Israeli settlers were filmed torturing lambs...in the West Bank. Gouged their eyes out. Smashed them with cinder blocks. Beat them to death in front of their mothers. Lambs."
The same settlers are terrorizing the Palestinians and stealing their land.
www.caitlinjohnst.one/p/they-tortu...
The same settlers are terrorizing the Palestinians and stealing their land.
www.caitlinjohnst.one/p/they-tortu...
For some reason I've been thinking about that time Trump lied about Muslims and then when a reporter called him on it, mocked the reporter's disability.
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015...
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015...
New York Times slams 'outrageous' Donald Trump for mocking reporter's disability
Republican front-runner twisted his arms in apparent imitation of Serge Kovaleski’s arthrogryposis as he reiterated controversial 9/11 claims
www.theguardian.com
November 8, 2025 at 1:49 AM
For some reason I've been thinking about that time Trump lied about Muslims and then when a reporter called him on it, mocked the reporter's disability.
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015...
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015...
Reposted by Asim Ali
I fully believe in the corporate death penalty and believe we would be a better world if OpenAI lost its corporate charter and was forcibly dissolved.
www.cnn.com/2025/11/06/u...
www.cnn.com/2025/11/06/u...
ChatGPT encouraged college graduate to commit suicide, family claims in lawsuit against OpenAI | CNN
A 23-year-old man killed himself in Texas after ChatGPT ‘goaded’ him to commit suicide, his family says in a lawsuit.
www.cnn.com
November 7, 2025 at 1:12 AM
I fully believe in the corporate death penalty and believe we would be a better world if OpenAI lost its corporate charter and was forcibly dissolved.
www.cnn.com/2025/11/06/u...
www.cnn.com/2025/11/06/u...
"They're gonna have everything free there for 'em."
I find it interesting that the word "free" has become a conservative dog whistle.
I find it interesting that the word "free" has become a conservative dog whistle.
Tuberville: “We just saw what happened in NY. We lost NY. It will be completely Muslim in 3-4 years. That’s what they want. And it’s going to spread throughout the country.”
November 7, 2025 at 7:00 PM
"They're gonna have everything free there for 'em."
I find it interesting that the word "free" has become a conservative dog whistle.
I find it interesting that the word "free" has become a conservative dog whistle.
Reposted by Asim Ali
Everything is fine, nothing to worry about. Relax. You’re over reacting.
November 7, 2025 at 6:05 PM
Everything is fine, nothing to worry about. Relax. You’re over reacting.
Reposted by Asim Ali
"World's first potential trillionaire has killed 600,000 people, including 400,000 children" is the only headline that anyone should ever read about Elon Musk
One analytical model shows that, as of November 5th, the dismantling of U.S.A.I.D. has already caused the deaths of 600,000 people, two-thirds of them children. https://newyorkermag.visitlink.me/jUzNSc
The Shutdown of U.S.A.I.D. Has Already Killed Hundreds of Thousands
The short documentary “Rovina’s Choice” tells the story of what goes when aid goes.
newyorkermag.visitlink.me
November 7, 2025 at 1:33 AM
"World's first potential trillionaire has killed 600,000 people, including 400,000 children" is the only headline that anyone should ever read about Elon Musk
Reposted by Asim Ali
