Laila Lalami+

It was never about crime, it was never about "illegal" immigration, it was alway

It was never about crime, it was never about "illegal" immigration, it was always an attempt (in a long list of similar attempts) to prop up a specific racial hierarchy.

Okay, this is concise!

Okay, this is concise!

Aww. Happy anniversary!

Aww. Happy anniversary!

Glad to hear you're enjoying it!

Glad to hear you're enjoying it!

What an artist. But more than that, what a life. May we all live to do as much g

What an artist. But more than that, what a life. May we all live to do as much good and to be missed the way she will be.

Another DSA win in Florida? Can't wait for the articles tomorrow telling us the

Another DSA win in Florida? Can't wait for the articles tomorrow telling us the movement is anemic, actually, and will fade away on its own.

Anyone remember Park 51? Michele Bachman? David Yerushalmi? The calls for anti-s

Anyone remember Park 51? Michele Bachman? David Yerushalmi? The calls for anti-sharia legislation that accomplished nothing in the 2010s, other than sending more bigots to Congress? Yeah.

They set up a WHAT?

They set up a WHAT?

Gajdusek didn't "raise" dozens of boys, nor did he just "live" with them, as you

Gajdusek didn't "raise" dozens of boys, nor did he just "live" with them, as your teaser and headline suggest. Under cover of NIH research, he adopted, exploited and sexually abused 36 vulnerable children, including this man whose picture you're using to illustrate this story.

The racial coding here is barely coded. This man was fine with deportations unti

The racial coding here is barely coded. This man was fine with deportations until his own wife was detained. Despite all the evidence in the news, the videos on TikTok, the witness statements, many many many people think (like him) that ICE won't touch their families. www.nytimes.com/2026/08/16/u...

Mob rule claims another life.

Mob rule claims another life.

Oh, how nice you are. 😘

Oh, how nice you are. 😘

Imagine if a reporter wrote a piece about Spain, but quoted only Moroccan, Ameri

Imagine if a reporter wrote a piece about Spain, but quoted only Moroccan, American, and Israeli sources. It would never get past an editor at the Times. Why, then, is it okay to write about an African country as though it has no agency and no experts, only silent victims?

This piece, which seeks to debunk conspiracies around how 50,000 Moroccans were

This piece, which seeks to debunk conspiracies around how 50,000 Moroccans were lured to the border, quotes eight experts and government officials from Spain, Israel, and the U.S. Not a single Moroccan migrant, migration expert, or official is interviewed: www.nytimes.com/2026/08/11/w...

“A computer can never be held accountable, therefore a computer must never make

“A computer can never be held accountable, therefore a computer must never make a management decision” - IBM training slide, 1979.

It was obvious for several days before July 30 that something unusual was happen

It was obvious for several days before July 30 that something unusual was happening at the border in Ceuta. (The video of the teenage girl flashing V signs had already gone viral.) These platforms waited until they were called out by an EU official to do something. www.reuters.com/world/china/...

Counterpoint: Graham Greene?

Counterpoint: Graham Greene?

Yes, sadly.

Yes, sadly.

That piece was reported on by a local reporter. In any case, there are other ana

That piece was reported on by a local reporter. In any case, there are other analyses out there trying to investigate the sources of the posts. But unless we have an independent, tech-savvy deep dive into this, we might not know. And it will happen again.

And in a looming crisis, multiple bad actors can jump in to capitalize and magni

And in a looming crisis, multiple bad actors can jump in to capitalize and magnify the effects. www.theguardian.com/media/2026/a...

What happened in Ceuta is as much a social media crisis as it is a migration cri

What happened in Ceuta is as much a social media crisis as it is a migration crisis. It will happen again, and in other forms of emergencies, unless we do something about disinformation. www.nytimes.com/2026/08/11/t...

I interpret it as Spanish intelligence saying that the Moroccan government isn't

I interpret it as Spanish intelligence saying that the Moroccan government isn't behind the crisis (esp. given the embarrassing timing with Throne Day.) But the instigators behind the social media posts haven't yet been identified. There's a report on this in the NYT today, btw.

The Dream Hotel is now out in paperback! Read it, talk about it with your book g

The Dream Hotel is now out in paperback! Read it, talk about it with your book group, ask for it at the library, add it to your syllabus, loan it to a friend, etc. I’m grateful for all of it.

Pretty good idea. www.bookpage.com/features/boo...

Pretty good idea. www.bookpage.com/features/boo...

This is an attempt to interfere with personal, physical, and cultural archives,

This is an attempt to interfere with personal, physical, and cultural archives, and thus to modify history.

"This is indiscriminate data collection, not targeting specific crimes. The reas

"This is indiscriminate data collection, not targeting specific crimes. The reason we have a Fourth Amendment is that they didn’t think the government should just be able to go after anybody even if they did nothing wrong."

While conspiracy theories continue to circulate, Spanish intelligence has reache

While conspiracy theories continue to circulate, Spanish intelligence has reached a far more pedestrian conclusion for the Ceuta crisis. "The mobilization was spontaneous and spurred on by social media, rather than orchestrated by Morocco or any other country." www.wsj.com/world/europe...

I tried to bring the focus back where it needs to be: "Whatever the strategic (m

I tried to bring the focus back where it needs to be: "Whatever the strategic (mis)calculations behind this crisis, what is indisputable is that on any given day, there are thousands of young people in Morocco who are willing to risk everything for a chance to live in Europe." tinyurl.com/mpeyzavu

It doesn’t help that Aziz Akhannouch, Morocco’s billionaire PM, took off for his

It doesn’t help that Aziz Akhannouch, Morocco’s billionaire PM, took off for his vacation in (gulp) Mallorca last Saturday, or that the Interior Ministry waited 4-5 days to issue official statements and counts.

Or Thomas Massie using committee language that merely notes Morocco’s otherwise

Or Thomas Massie using committee language that merely notes Morocco’s otherwise well-documented claims over Ceuta as evidence that the US "greenlighted the transfer of Spanish territory.” It’s crazy out there.

Or take MTG claiming that “Republicans paid Morocco $40M of your dollars to inva

Or take MTG claiming that “Republicans paid Morocco $40M of your dollars to invade Spain.” (I'd imagine the price would be higher! Carajo, we're talking about Spain here.)

People are claiming Morocco is acting on Israel’s behalf to punish Sánchez for r

People are claiming Morocco is acting on Israel’s behalf to punish Sánchez for recognizing Palestine as a state. Guess who else already recognizes Palestine? That’s right, Morocco. Why would it punish another country for the same position? Believe it or not, Morocco has agency and goals of its own.

Unauthenticated videos are going viral while corrections are ignored. How many t

Unauthenticated videos are going viral while corrections are ignored. How many times did I come across the video of the teenager supposedly swimming to Ceuta while holding a selfie stick to document it? The poor kid was swimming off the coast of El Jadida in a completely different body of water.

Anyone who tells you they know exactly how and why a crisis of this magnitude ha

Anyone who tells you they know exactly how and why a crisis of this magnitude happened is full of crap. The reality is that we don’t have enough information at this stage, beyond the spread of fake news that triggered the initial run to the border.

I haven’t felt like posting on this site since my mother died in October, but I

I haven’t felt like posting on this site since my mother died in October, but I feel compelled to raise my periscope given the horrifying crisis at the Morocco/Spain border in Ceuta and the disturbing amount of misinformation that’s circulating around it.

Wonderful news!

Wonderful news!

It's a simple equation: it was costlier for the company to lose subscriptions/th

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.

And of course the headline downplays what happened. Tom Homan walked into a meet

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...

You’re telling me that a man whom the FBI has on tape accepting a 50k bribe was

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.

Thank you for the suggestion!

Thank you for the suggestion!

This is exactly it. Too many people in the Democratic Party are invested in earn

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.

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

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

Next weekend!

Next weekend!

While we're on the subject of free speech, note that Israel bombed a newspaper c

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.

"But in danger and despair you acquire a faith in miracles; without it you would

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

Caving in to censorship will only beget more censorship.

Caving in to censorship will only beget more censorship.

The right-wing is treating Kirk's murder like it's 9/11, and proceeding with the

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.

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

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

yeah he’s [redacted]

yeah he’s [redacted]

“Thirty-one Democrats joined Republicans in voting to restrict judges from havin

“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.”

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

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

Next up! If you find yourself in Winston-Salem, come on out to the Bookmarks Fes

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!

Here is what the Trump administration has asked of UCLA. None of this has anythi

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...

I've been on the UC faculty for 18 years and can't recall a time when our campus

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.

If you find yourself in Twentynine Palms this Saturday (9/13), come listen to me

If you find yourself in Twentynine Palms this Saturday (9/13), come listen to me talk about The Dream Hotel at Desert General. Details here: www.29pbf.com/events/event...

Infuriating that for 48 hours much of the media went with narratives that had no

Infuriating that for 48 hours much of the media went with narratives that had no relationship to facts and now that the facts are starting to trickle in, there’s zero retraction or reflection.