Arbella Bet-Shlimon
@abshlimon.bsky.social
Historian (Iraq + elsewhere), Assyrian, Seattle | author, City of Black Gold (sup.org/books/middle-east-studies/city-black-gold) | personal account | she/هي/ܗܝ
Reposted by Arbella Bet-Shlimon
“The math is brutal and the juxtaposition stark: millions for OpenAI while pink slips go out to longtime lecturers. The CSU isn’t investing in education—it’s outsourcing it, paying premium prices for a chatbot many students were already using for free.“
www.currentaffairs.org/news/ai-is-d...
www.currentaffairs.org/news/ai-is-d...
AI is Destroying the University and Learning Itself
Students use AI to write papers, professors use AI to grade them, degrees become meaningless, and tech companies make fortunes. Welcome to the death of higher education.
www.currentaffairs.org
December 3, 2025 at 2:58 AM
“The math is brutal and the juxtaposition stark: millions for OpenAI while pink slips go out to longtime lecturers. The CSU isn’t investing in education—it’s outsourcing it, paying premium prices for a chatbot many students were already using for free.“
www.currentaffairs.org/news/ai-is-d...
www.currentaffairs.org/news/ai-is-d...
Reposted by Arbella Bet-Shlimon
I love how the media just decided to memory-hole the vast, administrator & state-directed, violent suppression of student, faculty, and staff speech about genocide because it simply does not fit with the ingrained narrative of higher education as a woke indoctrination factory.
December 1, 2025 at 8:27 PM
I love how the media just decided to memory-hole the vast, administrator & state-directed, violent suppression of student, faculty, and staff speech about genocide because it simply does not fit with the ingrained narrative of higher education as a woke indoctrination factory.
Reposted by Arbella Bet-Shlimon
This is extremely bad and worrisome for obvious reasons, but it's worth pointing out that this was obviously the student's goal
She knowingly wrote a garbage essay for her trans prof's class and when she obviously got a terrible grade stirred up a media storm
This was clearly the intended outcome
She knowingly wrote a garbage essay for her trans prof's class and when she obviously got a terrible grade stirred up a media storm
This was clearly the intended outcome
OU has put the professor here on administrative leave:
November 30, 2025 at 8:55 PM
This is extremely bad and worrisome for obvious reasons, but it's worth pointing out that this was obviously the student's goal
She knowingly wrote a garbage essay for her trans prof's class and when she obviously got a terrible grade stirred up a media storm
This was clearly the intended outcome
She knowingly wrote a garbage essay for her trans prof's class and when she obviously got a terrible grade stirred up a media storm
This was clearly the intended outcome
Reposted by Arbella Bet-Shlimon
Nearly a year after the Assad regime's fall, we spoke to some of the Syrians who have returned home over the past year. The vast majority of returnees are from neighbouring countries; many fewer are returning from Europe. www.thenationalnews.com/news/mena/20...
From exile to rebuilding: the Syrians choosing to return home | The National
After the fall of the Assad regime, a small but determined group from Europe and Turkey are going back to help shape Syria's fragile recovery
www.thenationalnews.com
November 30, 2025 at 2:59 PM
Nearly a year after the Assad regime's fall, we spoke to some of the Syrians who have returned home over the past year. The vast majority of returnees are from neighbouring countries; many fewer are returning from Europe. www.thenationalnews.com/news/mena/20...
Reposted by Arbella Bet-Shlimon
This is terrible. Ursinus College (where my partner works) spent last year planning a reorganization (they’re creating multidisciplinary “hubs”) only for its administration to announce layoffs this semester. I hope this isn’t in the cards for those working at Montclair State
www.wsj.com/opinion/mont...
Another one of my colleagues weighs in on the “restructuring” of our home college. This time in the Wall Street Journal. It’s paywalled, so screenshots to follow.
Another one of my colleagues weighs in on the “restructuring” of our home college. This time in the Wall Street Journal. It’s paywalled, so screenshots to follow.
Opinion | Montclair State’s Inhumanity to the Humanities
Goodbye, English department. Hello, Institute for Complex Systems and Algorithmic Infused Societies.
www.wsj.com
November 17, 2025 at 11:28 PM
This is terrible. Ursinus College (where my partner works) spent last year planning a reorganization (they’re creating multidisciplinary “hubs”) only for its administration to announce layoffs this semester. I hope this isn’t in the cards for those working at Montclair State
Reposted by Arbella Bet-Shlimon
Breaking from us:
As the Trump administration searches for more space to detain immigrants, it is approaching Washington tribes to see if they will participate.
Nisqually Indian Tribe is saying no.
www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news...
As the Trump administration searches for more space to detain immigrants, it is approaching Washington tribes to see if they will participate.
Nisqually Indian Tribe is saying no.
www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news...
ICE looks to WA tribes to house detained immigrants
The Nisqually Indian Tribe says it is turning down a request from ICE to house detained immigrants on tribal land.
www.seattletimes.com
November 15, 2025 at 2:04 AM
Breaking from us:
As the Trump administration searches for more space to detain immigrants, it is approaching Washington tribes to see if they will participate.
Nisqually Indian Tribe is saying no.
www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news...
As the Trump administration searches for more space to detain immigrants, it is approaching Washington tribes to see if they will participate.
Nisqually Indian Tribe is saying no.
www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news...
Reposted by Arbella Bet-Shlimon
UPDATED: Washington state epidemiologist on first human infected with H5N5 bird flu strain, different from H5N1 that has been spreading widely: “This is a severely ill patient.” But officials say no change to public health response or guidance. My story. 1/3
www.washingtonpost.com/health/2025/...
www.washingtonpost.com/health/2025/...
First U.S. case of human bird flu in 9 months confirmed in Washington state
The U.S. has reported its first human case of bird flu since February, with a confirmed infection in Washington state
www.washingtonpost.com
November 15, 2025 at 12:36 AM
UPDATED: Washington state epidemiologist on first human infected with H5N5 bird flu strain, different from H5N1 that has been spreading widely: “This is a severely ill patient.” But officials say no change to public health response or guidance. My story. 1/3
www.washingtonpost.com/health/2025/...
www.washingtonpost.com/health/2025/...
Reposted by Arbella Bet-Shlimon
Texas A&M University System regents will vote Thursday to ban classes on “race” and “gender ideology.”
It's the latest escalation in a statewide conservative push to rid universities of liberal leaning teaching. bit.ly/4nTHlDY
It's the latest escalation in a statewide conservative push to rid universities of liberal leaning teaching. bit.ly/4nTHlDY
November 11, 2025 at 10:45 PM
Texas A&M University System regents will vote Thursday to ban classes on “race” and “gender ideology.”
It's the latest escalation in a statewide conservative push to rid universities of liberal leaning teaching. bit.ly/4nTHlDY
It's the latest escalation in a statewide conservative push to rid universities of liberal leaning teaching. bit.ly/4nTHlDY
Reposted by Arbella Bet-Shlimon
basically every 2024 truism is dead. Trump did not build a lasting multiracial coalition or turn young men into committed Republicans. You don’t need to cave on trans rights to win. The pundits have nothing left to tell you.
November 5, 2025 at 1:57 PM
basically every 2024 truism is dead. Trump did not build a lasting multiracial coalition or turn young men into committed Republicans. You don’t need to cave on trans rights to win. The pundits have nothing left to tell you.
schadenfreude is rarely my thing but I will make an exception for the incoming Third Way meltdown
November 5, 2025 at 2:45 AM
schadenfreude is rarely my thing but I will make an exception for the incoming Third Way meltdown
I saw a kindergartener do the 6-7 in Assyrian (“ishta showa”) complete with hand gestures. This is getting out of control
November 4, 2025 at 9:07 PM
I saw a kindergartener do the 6-7 in Assyrian (“ishta showa”) complete with hand gestures. This is getting out of control
Reposted by Arbella Bet-Shlimon
I have an essay on self-help, the "philosophy" industry, and human finitude in our new issue. As Dylan said of "Tangled Up In Blue," it took me ten years to live and two to write. I hope you enjoy. www.thedriftmag.com/how-i-learne...
October 31, 2025 at 2:00 PM
I have an essay on self-help, the "philosophy" industry, and human finitude in our new issue. As Dylan said of "Tangled Up In Blue," it took me ten years to live and two to write. I hope you enjoy. www.thedriftmag.com/how-i-learne...
The word “ceasefire”—the cry of protests two years ago, including ones I was part of—was vacated of all meaning once people who supported the genocide started to claim that they wanted one. And now this
October 29, 2025 at 1:45 PM
The word “ceasefire”—the cry of protests two years ago, including ones I was part of—was vacated of all meaning once people who supported the genocide started to claim that they wanted one. And now this
Reposted by Arbella Bet-Shlimon
‘Test of ceasefire’ comeon guardian wtaf
October 28, 2025 at 6:13 PM
‘Test of ceasefire’ comeon guardian wtaf
The fact that this is how people are learning about the Assyrian Church of the East 💀 if you enjoyed this post you may be interested in my forthcoming article on Assyrians in Middle Eastern studies, stay tuned
Mar Awa III, patriarch of the Assyrian Church of the East, also born in Chicago, gave Pope Leo a Cubs jersey.
October 28, 2025 at 4:21 PM
The fact that this is how people are learning about the Assyrian Church of the East 💀 if you enjoyed this post you may be interested in my forthcoming article on Assyrians in Middle Eastern studies, stay tuned
“In the end, generative AI might be a blip in tech history, over-promising and under-delivering until finally the cash runs out. But it seems it’s arrived just in time to shove universities over a cliff edge they’d already walked themselves up to.” defector.com/higher-eds-r...
Higher Ed’s Rush To Adopt AI Is About So Much More Than AI | Defector
If you don’t work at a university or have college-age kids, you may have missed the flurry of news stories and social media banter about AI adoption in higher ed, stories which have snowballed into th...
defector.com
October 28, 2025 at 6:05 AM
“In the end, generative AI might be a blip in tech history, over-promising and under-delivering until finally the cash runs out. But it seems it’s arrived just in time to shove universities over a cliff edge they’d already walked themselves up to.” defector.com/higher-eds-r...
Reposted by Arbella Bet-Shlimon
“An artificial intelligence system apparently mistook a high school student’s bag of Doritos for a firearm and called local police to tell them the pupil was armed.”
US student handcuffed after AI system apparently mistook bag of chips for firearm
Baltimore county high schools have gun detection system that alerts police if it sees what it deems suspicious
www.theguardian.com
October 24, 2025 at 12:58 PM
“An artificial intelligence system apparently mistook a high school student’s bag of Doritos for a firearm and called local police to tell them the pupil was armed.”
Reposted by Arbella Bet-Shlimon
Translation: After we built an addictive tool based on stolen data, exploited labor and plundering the environment, which pushes kids to commit suicides, we were like, why not cash in on "erotica"? After all, this is what building so-called AGI that "benefits humanity" looks like.
October 20, 2025 at 12:48 AM
Translation: After we built an addictive tool based on stolen data, exploited labor and plundering the environment, which pushes kids to commit suicides, we were like, why not cash in on "erotica"? After all, this is what building so-called AGI that "benefits humanity" looks like.
Reposted by Arbella Bet-Shlimon
For more information about the Friday night massacre at CDC, I wrote up an analysis of who got terminated and what that means for public health.
Grateful to @saveamericamvmt.bsky.social for supporting and amplifying. We are in really terrible trouble.
rasmussenretorts.substack.com/p/the-death-...
Grateful to @saveamericamvmt.bsky.social for supporting and amplifying. We are in really terrible trouble.
rasmussenretorts.substack.com/p/the-death-...
October 11, 2025 at 4:42 PM
For more information about the Friday night massacre at CDC, I wrote up an analysis of who got terminated and what that means for public health.
Grateful to @saveamericamvmt.bsky.social for supporting and amplifying. We are in really terrible trouble.
rasmussenretorts.substack.com/p/the-death-...
Grateful to @saveamericamvmt.bsky.social for supporting and amplifying. We are in really terrible trouble.
rasmussenretorts.substack.com/p/the-death-...
👇🏽
Pretty incredible own goal by liberal institutions and many Democratic electeds to crush the exact type of protests in 2024 that would’ve been the most effective way to slow or stop ICE incursions into American cities in 2025
October 6, 2025 at 3:52 AM
👇🏽
Reposted by Arbella Bet-Shlimon
Chicago, Illinois, 2025:
"They had the Black people in one van, and the immigrants in another van."
"They was bringing the kids down, had them zip-tied to each other."
"I kept asking, 'What is the morality?' One of them laughed. He said, 'Fuck them kids.'"
abc7chicago.com/post/ice-chi...
"They had the Black people in one van, and the immigrants in another van."
"They was bringing the kids down, had them zip-tied to each other."
"I kept asking, 'What is the morality?' One of them laughed. He said, 'Fuck them kids.'"
abc7chicago.com/post/ice-chi...
ICE agents raid South Shore apartments; Trump says Chicago could become military training ground
ICE agents raided a South Shore apartment building overnight as the city braces for a possible military deployment.
abc7chicago.com
October 2, 2025 at 2:22 PM
Chicago, Illinois, 2025:
"They had the Black people in one van, and the immigrants in another van."
"They was bringing the kids down, had them zip-tied to each other."
"I kept asking, 'What is the morality?' One of them laughed. He said, 'Fuck them kids.'"
abc7chicago.com/post/ice-chi...
"They had the Black people in one van, and the immigrants in another van."
"They was bringing the kids down, had them zip-tied to each other."
"I kept asking, 'What is the morality?' One of them laughed. He said, 'Fuck them kids.'"
abc7chicago.com/post/ice-chi...
Reposted by Arbella Bet-Shlimon
I think the Trump admin assumed no one would try to find out who the people on the boats they blew up really were
September 29, 2025 at 3:42 PM
I think the Trump admin assumed no one would try to find out who the people on the boats they blew up really were
