Eliza

@eliza2024.bsky.social

Herbs and verbs. ✌️ Anti-fascist, vegan, reader, walker, painter and printmaker, gardener, yogini, cat person but open to dogs. Sex and relationship therapist/Cognitive Behavioural Psychotherapist.

I’m glad the New York Times profiled ⁦‪Hasan Piker,‬⁩ but calling his use of the word genocide to describe Gaza ‘extreme’ is insane. Some of Israel’s top Holocaust scholars are calling it a genocide as are Amnesty & Human Rights Watch. Absurd from NYT. www.nytimes.com/2025/04/27/s...

Hasan Piker: A Progressive Mind in a MAGA Body

Hasan Piker pumps iron, likes weapons and wears pearls. His brand of masculinity has won him many fans online — and has been a useful vehicle for his politics.

nytimes.com

The war wasn't a "civil war"—it was a secessionist rebellion, put down by the American government. Nor was it the "North vs. South"! If anything, it was the "North and West and part of the South vs. another part of the South."

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ICE is putting the immigrants it sweeps up mainly into privately owned prisons. All of those prisons, and the communities where they are located, now have a direct financial incentive in maintaining fascist immigration policy. Awesome dynamic, nothing could possibly go wrong.

Trump’s Immigration Crackdown Hinges on Small Towns Hooked on Private Prisons

Like a growing number of US communities, Torrance County, New Mexico, is convinced its financial survival depends on locking people up.

bloomberg.com

Not pulling an all-nighter for the Michigan Senate race result, but let me say this: The fact that the race is competitive even after the Israel lobby & outside groups spent a staggering $62 million to smear & defeat El-Sayed is alone a reason to celebrate the shift in American political discourse.

Ceuta crisis: EU alarmism backfired

Ceuta crisis: EU alarmism backfired

The alarmist tone of the letter from the 22 heads of government risks further emboldening far-right parties across Europe and beyond, Günter Seufert writes. Günter Seufert is the former Founding Director of the Centre for Applied Turkish Studies at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs. He wrote this op-ed in personal capacity. Only four EU member states – France, Ireland, Luxembourg and Portugal – did not assign the primary responsibility to Spain for the mass crossing of up to 60,000 Moroccans into the Spanish exclave of Ceuta on Sunday, 31 July. The remaining 22 – led by Italy’s Giorgia Meloni and Germany’s Friedrich Merz – signed a sharply worded letter to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. They argued that Spain had created a “pull factor” by “the regularisation of a very large number of irregular migrants,” thereby effectively precipitating the collapse of its own borders in Africa. In their criticism of Spain’s migration policy, European leaders found themselves closely aligned with U.S. President Donald Trump. Writing on Truth Social, Trump warned that scenes like those in Ceuta could also unfold in the United States if Democrats were to return to power. The alarmist tone of the letter from the 22 heads of government risks further emboldening far-right parties across Europe and beyond. From the outset, there were strong indications that the events in Ceuta had been carefully orchestrated. Moroccan border guards appear not only to have turned a blind eye but, in many instances, to have actively facilitated migrants’ passage. Images circulating online show overcrowded buses and trucks heading toward the border. Social media played a central role: newly created accounts, rapidly amassing large followings, disseminated messages promising free entry not only into Ceuta but also onward to mainland Spain and Europe. The episode bears striking resemblance to the migrant surge at the Greek border in February 2020, when Turkey encouraged thousands – primarily from Afghanistan and Iran – to move toward EU territory. At the time, Athens was not held responsible. Nor was Poland blamed in 2021 when migrants from Iraq attempted to cross its border from Belarus in significant numbers. There is a strong likelihood that migrants in Ceuta were similarly instrumentalized for political ends. Morocco has a history of mobilizing large civilian movements. On 6 November 1975, approximately 350,000 unarmed Moroccans marched into Western Sahara, then under Spanish administration; Madrid withdrew a year later. In May 2021, around 8,000 people crossed into Ceuta from Morocco within just two days. That incident followed Spain’s decision to admit the leader of the Polisario Front, which – backed by Algeria – seeks independence for Western Sahara. More recently, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez visited Algiers on 20 July, underscoring Algeria’s importance as a key gas supplier. Yet beyond immediate political developments, Rabat consistently regards Spain’s North African enclaves as integral parts of Morocco. The crisis also has a broader international dimension. Morocco remains one of the United States’ oldest regional allies, and King Mohammed VI maintains close ties with Donald Trump. During Trump’s first term, Morocco became – after the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, and Sudan – the fourth country in the Middle East and North Africa to sign the Abraham Accords, normalizing relations with Israel. Today, Morocco and Israel cooperate closely in security and defense, including arms procurement, joint exercises, and intelligence sharing. By contrast, Sánchez has drawn criticism from both Trump and the Israeli government. He has condemned Israel’s conduct in Gaza, recognized Palestine as a state, and denied the United States access to Spanish airspace for strikes against Iran. Against this backdrop, it is notable that Mario Díaz-Balart, a senior Republican figure in the U.S. Congress, has recently referred to Ceuta and Melilla as part of Morocco – an unprecedented statement from a politician of his standing. By contrast, Sánchez has drawn criticism from both Trump and the Israeli government. He has condemned Israel’s conduct in Gaza, recognized Palestine as a state, and denied the United States access to Spanish airspace for strikes against Iran. On 16 March, the pro-Israeli news website Middle East Forum called on Moroccans to bulldozer the border and enter Ceuta. And most recently, Mario Díaz-Balart, a senior Republican figure in the U.S. Congress, referred to Ceuta and Melilla as part of Morocco—an unprecedented statement from a politician of his standing. In the case Rabat enhances pressure on Madrid, it will obviously enjoy Israel and U.S .support. Caption: Red Cross personnel prepare food donations for migrants in Ceuta, Spain, 03 August 2026. About 2,500 migrants who crossed from Morocco remained in Ceuta, according to Spain’s Government Delegation, with many sleeping rough and relying on humanitarian and community assistance for food as reception facilities remained overwhelmed. EPA/REDUAN

eualive.net

Poor Andrew Husband, Reform UK Leader of Durham Council. He complained to IPSO about the Sunday Times article “Reform council leader's firms went bust with £1.5m in debts”. IPSO ruled the article was accurate. Ouch.

00355-26 Husband v The Sunday Times - IPSO

Andrew Husband complained to the Independent Press Standards Organisation that The Sunday Times breached Clause 1 (Accuracy) and Clause 2 (Privacy) of the Editors’ Code of Practice in an article…

ipso.co.uk

🟢 Agenda de Vox en Gobierno: -Bajar impuestos a los ricos. -Dar "paguitas" a taurinos. -Dar "paguitas" a antiabortistas y negacionistas de la violencia machista. -Despreciar a los trabajadores. -Azuzar el odio hacia migrantes, sobre todo, niños y niñas. www.publico.es/politica/vox...

Vox ya impone su agenda en los gobiernos autonómicos: este es el mapa de los recortes sociales pactados con el PP

Extremadura, Aragón y Comunidad Valenciana ya empiezan a notar las consecuencias de los pactos entre PP y Vox.

publico.es

Funeral en Gaza por los 112 muertos en un ataque israelí de 2023. Pertenecen a dos familias que vivían en una torre residencial destruida. Los cuerpos solo han podido ser rescatados ahora gracias a la ayuda de un buldozer. Murieron más de 300 personas, incluidos 44 niños y 37 mujeres.

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Phang: "Capital One said, 'We don't want the business anymore of the 45th president of the United States, his businesses, his failed sons, and his revocable trust.' So you can imagine -- I am just hypothesizing... but it suggests whatever Capital One uncovered was pretty bad. Makes you wonder..."

Gill: All 100 senators last week passed a non-binding resolution condemning any pardon for Ghislaine Maxwell. They're simultaneously considering confirming the guy who met with her and moved her to a low-security facility as the top cop in the United States. That is so insane to me.

New podcast episode: www.newnarrativesinphilosophy.net/podcast.html Mary Purcell talks with Anik Waldow (U. of Sydney) about the life & philosophy of Marie de Gournay (1565–1645), incl. Gournay’s views on alliances and human flourishing, reason and virtue, self-identity, and intellectual courage.

Podcast

The New Voices podcast consists of conversations about women philosophers and individuals from other groups who have been underrepresented in the history of European and Western philosophy: their...

newnarrativesinphilosophy.net