Aym Playing

Thoughts on things. These represent no organization. I am certain to regret things I write here! Visit the Central Savannah River Area Peace Alliance and the Georgia Peace and Justice Coalition for two peace advocacy groups in which I participate in Georgia. Also, my more serious blog is Muslim Media Review. And, if you can't get enough of me, you can follow me on Twitter.

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<Satire>Georgia Public Library Helped Me Get My Porn Fix with the Documentary "The Story of the Weeping Camel"</Satire>

I used to get my porn from magazines, VHS tapes, “adult” entertainment venues and internet streaming, but some activists in Columbia County, Georgia alerted me to the rich trove available at Georgia’s public libraries. There’s so much porn there that a group has formed solely to defend its distribution in the public libraries! Continue reading <Satire>Georgia Public Library Helped Me Get My Porn…

&lt;Satire&gt;Georgia Public Library Helped Me Get My Porn Fix with the Documentary "The Story of the Weeping Camel"&lt;/Satire&gt;

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PBS's Brooks & Capehart Discuss the So-Called Board of Peace & Gaza, and It's Nearly as Awful as You Could Imagine

Caricature by Emad Hajjaj, published in Al-Araby Al-Jadid, November 20, 2025 I try to avoid the David Brooks and Jonathan Capehart fake right vs left talk segment on the Friday episode of PBS News Hour, but I unfortunately overheard it on February 20, 2026 while doing work in the next room. This morning, I checked the transcript to make sure I didn’t mishear their dialog. I’ve reproduced the…

PBS's Brooks &amp; Capehart Discuss the So-Called Board of Peace &amp; Gaza, and It's Nearly as Awful as You Could Imagine

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English Cucumbers: Only a Doomed Species Would Breed Food Which Requires Plastic Wrapping

I hope you realize plastic is tremendous environmental problem. I haven’t found a way to live in the United States without plastic, so I’m not demanding that you appoint me Sultan so that I would guide humanity away from this problem. But I do have limits, and I drew my line at buying English cucumbers, which are always wrapped in plastic. Today I came across an article in Better Homes & Gardens…

English Cucumbers: Only a Doomed Species Would Breed Food Which Requires Plastic Wrapping

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Pictures of BDS Advocates in United Kingdom

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According to PBS, Israel Plans to "Take Over" Gaza City and It "Urges" Evacuations

From the transcript of the August 21, 2025 PBS News Hour. Turning to the Middle East, Israeli Prime# Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said today that## Israel will rejoin talks with Hamas to# release all hostages from Gaza and end## the war. Meeting today with army officers and# Cabinet ministers near the border with Gaza,## Netanyahu also said he would finalize plans# to take over Gaza City. The…

According to PBS, Israel Plans to "Take Over" Gaza City and It "Urges" Evacuations

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PBS's Frontline "Remaking the Middle East: Israel vs Iran"

PBS’s Frontline documentary Remaking the Middle East: Israel vs Iran is biased in favor of the United States/Israeli colonialist project in Southwest Asia. Among the salient examples of bias are: Treating Hamas, Hizbollah and Ansarallah as Iranian-proxies while pretending that Israel, the United Arab Emirates, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and other regional actors aren’t USA-proxies. Using…

PBS's Frontline "Remaking the Middle East: Israel vs Iran"

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Puerto Rico's "Craftsman" Phase - Goods Are Finite

A player asked me, “When I chose the Craftsman role in Puerto Rico, I only got two barrels of corn despite my having 4 staffed corn plantations.” Below is the full log for the craftsman phase: The answer is this sentence in the rules: “If the kind of goods a player produces is exhausted in the supply, he goes without.” What is “the supply?” I wasn’t able to generate an image of the game board…

Puerto Rico's "Craftsman" Phase - Goods Are Finite

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Abandoning Meta and X. What Are the Alternatives?

When I was a naive user of Facebook and Twitter, I envisioned social media as a way for the little guy to get past the gatekeepers of corporate media. I no longer see social media in this way. I manage several advocacy groups’ social media platforms, which have basically been Meta (Facebook & sometimes Instagram) and X. I am looking for alternatives. Here are my reasons: 1. Both platforms are…

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Free Screenings of "Banned Together," Augusta, GA, March 2025

“Banned Together” Screenings in Evans & Aiken, Mar 2025

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Are the Words We Use in Preparing Peas Inherently Xenophobic and Genocidal?

At the local Kroger discount aisle, I scored bags of U.S. No 1 Red Field Peas under the brand Dixie-Lily. As I read the instructions this morning, I noticed that the first step is “remove any foreign particles.” I thought to myself, “There’s got to be a less xenophobic way of saying this.” The only other language I think I know well enough to imagine similar food preparation instructions is…

Are the Words We Use in Preparing Peas Inherently Xenophobic and Genocidal?

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United States Imperialism and Militarism Are a Root Cause of Hate Crimes Domestically

I received the following text message: Historic Congressional Hearing highlighting Palestinian American and diverse racial/faith hate – with little Wadee Alfayoumi’s name said in Congress 🤲🏼 Join us with Senator Dick Durbin and Senate Judiciary Committee “A Threat to Justice Everywhere: Stemming the Tide of Hate Crimes in America” Congressional Hearing Tuesday, Sept 17, 2024 10:00 AM ET at…

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Non-Citizens Are Full Participants in Local Public School Districts

Plyer vs Doe, 1982 As required by law, the Columbia County (Georgia) School District published notices on upcoming millage rate hearings. Unfortunately, the notice included the erroneous phrase “to allow citizens to comment.” This is the letter I wrote to the District’s superintendent: Continue reading Non-Citizens Are Full Participants in Local Public School Districts

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Action Alert: Stop Deportations of Palestinians into Dangerous Conditions

The House of Representatives has passed an amendment to the Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Act which denies the agency funding to delay deportations of Palestinians. President Joe Biden had previously directed the agency to delay deportations. The Council on American-Islamic Relations has issued a press release on this and its Government Affairs Department Coordinator Shafiquil…

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Tribute to Zaher Hamdu Al-Haddad, Martyred Worker of Gaza City

Asem ElNabih wrote a tribute to Zaher Hamdu Al-Haddad. This is my translation. ———- On Zaher Al-Haddad and Relying Solely on God and Dispensing with Everything Else by Asem ElNabih [A picture of a coin and a folded piece of paper currency, published in the Mitras article linked to above] This is what fell from the remains of the martyr Zaher Al-Haddad the moment his pure body was recovered:…

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Daily Letters to My Members of Congress Telling Them About the Palestinians They Helped Kill

Every day I write to my Congressional representatives telling them about the Palestinians whom Israel killed using the funding that they’ve voted to provide it. Might these letters inspire you to do something, too, including copying them and then sending them to your representatives? I live in Georgia District 12. My two Senators are Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock. My member in the House of…

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"Julius Caesar: The Making of a Dictator" Ignores the Rot in the Roman Republic, and Its Analogy to Contemporary Politics Is Flawed

Andonis Anthony as the Roman emperor Photograph: Laurence Cendrowicz/Laurence Cendrowicz/BBC Studios Julius Caesar: The Making of a Dictator is a the 3-episode series available on United States Public Broadcasting. The docudrama’s contemporary commentators portray Julius Caesar as an ambitious aspiring ruler who masks himself with populism to attract supporters. It portrays Cato as a principled…

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Use Your Email Filter to Make Sure Important Emails Aren't Labeled Spam

I use Google’s email service Gmail on the web. If you can’t figure out how to do a similar procedure with your email service/client combination, contact me. There are many reasons why legitimate email messages are marked as Spam (in some services, “Bulk”). At the same time, you probably don’t want to reduce the senisitivity of your Spam filters because there are many more illegitimate emails you…

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