Sending warm wishes for peace and joy to Muslims around the world as they begin observing this holy month. Ramadan Mubarak!

Tonight's viewing. 🎥🎬 @moremovies.co.uk @letterboxd.social via Amazon Prime Video

The history of warfare and military systems in pre-colonial Africa is incredibly complex and quite unlike the spontaneous and short-lived affairs often found in anthropological literature or Hollywood depictions (which are inaccurate even for most European military history). @rhaplord.bsky.social

"A renewable energy hub is a site where old coal infrastructure is reused to generate clean energy, store power and support new industries. This creates jobs and makes the most of existing roads, rail and electricity networks." @theconversation.com

"Cameroon, where 93-year-old President Paul Biya has ruled since 1982, is the latest of at least seven African nations to receive deported third-country nationals in a deal with the U.S." @apnews.com

"That constitutional violation is further deepened by the manifest intention not to hold a referendum, notwithstanding the constitution's entrenched safeguards against unilateral alteration of the democratic tenure framework." @reuters.com

"We are continuing the revolution of settlement and strengthening our hold across all parts of our land," said far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich. @reuters.com

Rest in Peace, Mr. Jackson. @nytimes.com

Tonight's viewing. @frontlinepbs.bsky.social @pbs.org

Frederick Wiseman, American documentary filmmaker, dies at 96 reut.rs/4aABJtQ

Rest in Peace. @variety.com

Tonight's viewing. 🎥🎬 It's scary how spot-on this movie is. @moremovies.co.uk @letterboxd.social @tcmtv.bsky.social

"Playing politics with the idea of fraudulent voters and stolen elections comes at a real cost to American confidence in our elections. It’s an affront to our democracy and to all those who work to deliver free and fair elections. It’s also an ominous sign for where things may be heading this year."

Happy VD!

Tonight's viewing. 🎥🎬 @pbs.org

A massive star in the nearby Andromeda galaxy has simply disappeared. Some astronomers believe that it's collapsed in on itself and formed a black hole. n.pr/4aomsxr

Rest in Peace. via @variety.com

Toshiro Mifune is a man's man. That is all.

Tonight's viewing. 🎥🎬🎶 @moremovies.co.uk @letterboxd.social via Amazon Prime Video

If Bad Bunny can cover the history of Puerto Rico, colonialism, transatlantic slavery, hemispheric consciousness, as well as contemporary life and politics in under 14 minutes, you can do your 15- or 20-minute conference presentation with time to spare.

An immigration court dropped its case against Turkish graduate student Rumeysa Ozturk, a little less than a year after federal agents arrested her on a street near Tufts University

"The fiscal surplus from all immigrants from 1994 to 2023 was $14.5 trillion, compared with a deficit of $48 trillion without immigrants. That means that immigrants cut deficits by nearly a third in real terms over the last three decades." @cato.org

Terrified Conservatives Lose Ability To Speak English After Exposure To Bad Bunny Performance https://theonion.com/terrified-conservatives-lose-ability-to-speak-english-after-exposure-to-bad-bunny-performance-dios-mio-cry-millions-of-panicking-republicans/

The Crisis of the West in the Twenty-First Century: Culture, Power, and the Loss of Meaning Melvin Cody via Academia.com

Tonight's viewing. 🎥🎬 @moremovies.co.uk @letterboxd.social via YouTube Movies

“Iran’s currency collapse — which has accelerated amid fears of war and an unending standoff with the U.S. and Europe — has driven people deeper into a frenzy to acquire as much gold as possible, as the national currency continues to wither.”

HRW documents Turkey’s authoritarian trajectory in 2025 www.turkishminute.com/2026/02/05/h...

They have made clear that it was never just about illegal immigration: they hate all immigrants.

AI Chatbot That Only Responds ‘Huh’ Valued At $200 Billion https://theonion.com/ai-chatbot-that-only-responds-huh-valued-at-200-billion/

"The machines aren’t just coming for your jobs. Now, they want your bodies as well." @futurism.com

"The idea that the United States needs international elections observers is neither radical, nor an observation made of recent events and political partisanship." @msentropy.bsky.social via Substack

Roger Ebert on cinema and empathy. 🎥🎬💯 @moremovies.co.uk

What's your favorite Girl Scout Cookie? 🍪

A new addition to my Amazon Kindle library. Written by one of the very few living political leaders I genuinely respect and draw inspiration from.

“The present Syrian government is neither interested in hegemony over Lebanon nor is it interfering in our internal affairs.” @apnews.com

Ehud Barak also appears to disparage Jews who arrived from Arab and Muslim countries after the creation of Israel in 1948, saying Israel can now be 'selective' @middleeasteye-rss.bsky.social

"Taken together, the deals show that Qatar, Turkey and Saudi Arabia are playing an outsized role in Syria’s reconstruction, with the US’s backing." @middleeasteye-rss.bsky.social

Maya Deren was a remarkable filmmaker.

“I used to think, If homework is watching a movie, that is the best homework ever,” Craig Erpelding, a film professor at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, told me. “But students will not do it.” @moremovies.co.uk 👀 @theatlantic.com

"But when the rebellion broke out against the elder Gaddafi’s ‍long rule in 2011, Saif al-Islam Gaddafi immediately chose family and clan loyalties, becoming an architect of the brutal crackdown on dissidents, whom he called rats." @aljazeera.com

Floored by this story. A man wrote a pollite email to a federal prosecutor objecting to the deportation of an Afghan seeking asylum. DHS responded with an administrative warrant to get the man's info from Google, then visited his home to intimidate him.

Tonight's viewing. 🎬🎥 @moremovies.co.uk @letterboxd.social via YouTubeMovies