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Many of you have heard about Lebanon’s golden era of the 1950s and 1960s, before the country descended into civil war.
You have also probably heard critiques of that period, namely that it was mostly a mirage in which a narrow clique of mostly Christian urban elites prospered ountry wallowed in poverty.
But what if that was not entirely true? What if this Lebanese prosperity was more widely shared than often assumed, and was, in fact, not solely a Christian story?
Here is a Druze perspective on pre-war Lebanon and a commemoration of some of the great - and, like much about pre-war Lebanon, often forgotten - Lebanese Druze individuals who made outsized contributions to Lebanon’s Belle Époque. (🧵)
You have also probably heard critiques of that period, namely that it was mostly a mirage in which a narrow clique of mostly Christian urban elites prospered ountry wallowed in poverty.
But what if that was not entirely true? What if this Lebanese prosperity was more widely shared than often assumed, and was, in fact, not solely a Christian story?
Here is a Druze perspective on pre-war Lebanon and a commemoration of some of the great - and, like much about pre-war Lebanon, often forgotten - Lebanese Druze individuals who made outsized contributions to Lebanon’s Belle Époque. (🧵)
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T. 📚☕️ retweeted
French icon Teddy Riner, one of the greatest judokas of all time, has just announced his candidacy for the French presidency in 2027.
“Giving up is not an option. Faced with the challenges confronting our country, the time has come to take responsibility.
I am running for President of France in 2027.”
“Giving up is not an option. Faced with the challenges confronting our country, the time has come to take responsibility.
I am running for President of France in 2027.”
La résignation n'est pas une option. Face aux difficultés de notre pays, l'heure est venue de prendre ses responsabilités. Je suis candidat à l'élection présidentielle de 2027. #TeddyRiner2027 #Présidentielle2027 #LaFrancequonveut
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I thought I would take a moment to mourn Dr. Anis Obeid, who passed away about a week ago.
Born in Aley, Lebanon, Dr. Obeid graduated from the American University of Beirut with a medical degree in 1957 before emigrating to the United States to pursue his residency. He went on d, decades-long career as a cardiologist and professor of medicine in upstate New York. He was also deeply involved in the American Druze diaspora, witnessing firsthand its remarkable growth in size and influence over the second half of the 20th century.
Notably, medicine was only one of his many intellectual pursuits. In 2006, he published The Druze and Their Faith in Tawhid, a rather dense but intellectually ambitious examination of the faith into which he was born.
It reflects the perspective of a Druze layman profoundly curious about his own religious tradition, but also that of a man of science who, after decades in the West, was unafraid to question inherited interpretations and advocate for the reinterpretation, and at times reform, of certain beliefs and practices.
Born in Aley, Lebanon, Dr. Obeid graduated from the American University of Beirut with a medical degree in 1957 before emigrating to the United States to pursue his residency. He went on d, decades-long career as a cardiologist and professor of medicine in upstate New York. He was also deeply involved in the American Druze diaspora, witnessing firsthand its remarkable growth in size and influence over the second half of the 20th century.
Notably, medicine was only one of his many intellectual pursuits. In 2006, he published The Druze and Their Faith in Tawhid, a rather dense but intellectually ambitious examination of the faith into which he was born.
It reflects the perspective of a Druze layman profoundly curious about his own religious tradition, but also that of a man of science who, after decades in the West, was unafraid to question inherited interpretations and advocate for the reinterpretation, and at times reform, of certain beliefs and practices.
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The book unfolds in three parts:
1. The historical foundations: An overview of early Islamic history and the intellectual and spiritual developments that would, in turn, lay the historical and theological foundations for the emergence of the Druze faith, also known as Tawhid.
2. The Druze faith and its practice: An examination of Druze doctrine and communal practice, drawing extensively on Rasa’il al-Hikma (Epistles of Wisdom) and the writings of subsequent Druze religious scholars.
3. The Druze in the modern world: An exploration of the evolving place of the Druze community, with particular attention to the diaspora, the challenges and opportunities it faces, and the case for greater openness to clarification, reconsideration, and, where necessary, reinterpretation of certain beliefs and practices.
Who was al-Hakim, and what is his place in the faith?
Was the Druze call truly closed for good, or merely suspended?
Should mixed marriages be prohibited altogether?
How should the Druze faith understand its relationship to Islam, the broader tradition from which it emerged, and to the other monotheistic religions?
These are among the questions he explored in the final part of his book, with a remarkable degree of intellectual openness and thoughtfulness.
One need not agree with all his conclusions to appreciate the spirit in which they were reached. There is little arrogance in his writing, but rather considerable humility, intellectual curiosity, and genuine concern for the future of his community.
1. The historical foundations: An overview of early Islamic history and the intellectual and spiritual developments that would, in turn, lay the historical and theological foundations for the emergence of the Druze faith, also known as Tawhid.
2. The Druze faith and its practice: An examination of Druze doctrine and communal practice, drawing extensively on Rasa’il al-Hikma (Epistles of Wisdom) and the writings of subsequent Druze religious scholars.
3. The Druze in the modern world: An exploration of the evolving place of the Druze community, with particular attention to the diaspora, the challenges and opportunities it faces, and the case for greater openness to clarification, reconsideration, and, where necessary, reinterpretation of certain beliefs and practices.
Who was al-Hakim, and what is his place in the faith?
Was the Druze call truly closed for good, or merely suspended?
Should mixed marriages be prohibited altogether?
How should the Druze faith understand its relationship to Islam, the broader tradition from which it emerged, and to the other monotheistic religions?
These are among the questions he explored in the final part of his book, with a remarkable degree of intellectual openness and thoughtfulness.
One need not agree with all his conclusions to appreciate the spirit in which they were reached. There is little arrogance in his writing, but rather considerable humility, intellectual curiosity, and genuine concern for the future of his community.
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I wanted to remember Dr. Obeid not only for his life’s accomplishments, but also for his intellectual courage.
He belonged to a rare breed of thinkers willing to turn a critical yet affectionate gaze upon their own community, examining its origins and beliefs with scholarly detachment while confronting, without evasion, the questions that might shape its future.
His book was not merely an inquiry into what the Druze had inherited, but also, in a sense quite unusual for such works, a meditation on what they might yet become.
Rest in peace, Dr. Obeid. You lit a candle in a dark room. May those who come after you keep the light alive and carry its flame forward.
He belonged to a rare breed of thinkers willing to turn a critical yet affectionate gaze upon their own community, examining its origins and beliefs with scholarly detachment while confronting, without evasion, the questions that might shape its future.
His book was not merely an inquiry into what the Druze had inherited, but also, in a sense quite unusual for such works, a meditation on what they might yet become.
Rest in peace, Dr. Obeid. You lit a candle in a dark room. May those who come after you keep the light alive and carry its flame forward.
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T. 📚☕️ retweeted
Imagine if the hardest form of "no aliens" is true.
Meaning there isn't any life whatsoever (not even a bug or germ) anywhere in the observable universe.
Imagine the duty we have, to "create" a living universe.
Space travel as the ultimate moral imperative.
Meaning there isn't any life whatsoever (not even a bug or germ) anywhere in the observable universe.
Imagine the duty we have, to "create" a living universe.
Space travel as the ultimate moral imperative.
THE FERMI PARADOX HAS BEEN DISCONTINUED
for sixty years you have been sold a mystery. the universe is huge, the stars are old, somebody should have called by now, and the silence demands an explanation.
three researchers at the Future of Humanity Institute in Oxford went to der the product.
what was in the old packaging: one number plugged into each slot of the Drake equation. a single value for the share of planets where life starts, a single value for the share where intelligence appears. point estimates.
the trouble is that our knowledge of those quantities is smeared across orders of magnitude. you cannot be uncertain by a factor of a billion and then write down one number for it.
so Anders Sandberg, Eric Drexler and Toby Ord fed in the whole spread of the uncertainty instead. they ran it twice, once from their own reading of the science, once from the range of published estimates in the astrobiology literature.
the output:
> probability we are alone in the Milky Way: from about half to near certainty
> probability we are alone in the observable universe: from about 40 to 85 percent
at those numbers the silence stops being strange. nothing is missing from the sky. no paradox left to explain, and no Great Filter needed to explain it.
i went in expecting to find the trick, because a paper that deletes a famous problem usually has one. what i came out with is a complaint about method. one number written where a range belongs, repeated for sixty years.
the fine print, and i am the one insisting on it. these are probabilities under the distributions the authors picked, so change the assumptions and the numbers move. the paper measures how little we know and it does not prove that nobody is out there. what it takes away is your right to be surprised that nobody has called.
link in the comments
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An Ayatollah has fallen in the East, but a new one rises in the West, claiming the mantle of Wali al-Faqih and promising the imminent return of the Mahdi.
Verily, may God illuminate Ayatollah Talaricollah’s path, that he may guide the faithful toward the promised dawn of vine light of the Hidden Imam!
Verily, may God illuminate Ayatollah Talaricollah’s path, that he may guide the faithful toward the promised dawn of vine light of the Hidden Imam!
Starting a few weeks in the US with a stop in a Gulf petrostate where a charismatic cleric recently led the first successful regime change in decades
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T. 📚☕️ retweeted
Starting a few weeks in the US with a stop in a Gulf petrostate where a charismatic cleric recently led the first successful regime change in decades
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RT @b_judah: Hard to come up with a worse manifesto for France than lowering the retirement age, phasing out nuclear power and collapsing t…
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Honestly, it is almost insulting to read a platform like this.
It is so obviously unfeasible for a state that has been running chronic budget deficits for decades, with borrowing costs continuing to mount, and that will inevitably be forced to cut benefits and public spending by the economic equivalent of the law of gravity.
It would be more honest if Mélenchon dropped the pretence of economic policymaking altogether and resorted to good old-fashioned, Third World-style clientelism, going from village to village promising a chicken in every pot in exchange for votes.
It is so obviously unfeasible for a state that has been running chronic budget deficits for decades, with borrowing costs continuing to mount, and that will inevitably be forced to cut benefits and public spending by the economic equivalent of the law of gravity.
It would be more honest if Mélenchon dropped the pretence of economic policymaking altogether and resorted to good old-fashioned, Third World-style clientelism, going from village to village promising a chicken in every pot in exchange for votes.
🇫🇷 FLASH - LFI a dévoilé le programme de Jean-Luc Mélenchon pour la présidentielle de 2027. Parmi les propositions :
- Autoriser jusqu’à 3 jours d’arrêt maladie autodéclaré, sans consulter de médecin.
- Accorder 7 jours de congé après le décès d’un ami.
- Porter le SMIC à it une hausse de 220€.
- Ramener l’âge de départ à la retraite de 64 à 60 ans, avec une retraite à taux plein après 40 années de cotisation.
- Réduire progressivement la durée du travail à 32 heures par semaine.
- Instaurer un service écologique obligatoire de 9 mois pour les moins de 25 ans, rémunéré au SMIC.
- Faire rembourser les soins à 100% par la Sécurité sociale.
- Prendre en charge les séances de psychothérapie des moins de 26 ans.
- Fixer un plafond de 12 millions d’euros pour les héritages.
- Augmenter les APL de 10% pour aider à payer les loyers.
- Bloquer les prix de certains produits essentiels afin de limiter les hausses excessives.
- Revaloriser les salaires des fonctionnaires.
- Garantir un revenu minimum aux jeunes grâce à une allocation.
- Proposer aux étudiants des repas à 1€.
- Limiter à 1 pour 20 l’écart entre les rémunérations au sein d’une même entreprise.
- Soumettre les aides publiques aux entreprises à des engagements sociaux et écologiques.
- Rétablir l’ISF afin d’accroître l’imposition des grandes fortunes.
- Mettre en place la taxe Zucman pour taxer davantage les milliardaires.
- Répartir l’impôt sur le revenu en 14 tranches pour augmenter la contribution des plus riches.
- Engager une sortie progressive du nucléaire.
- Atteindre une production d’électricité issue à 100% des énergies renouvelables d’ici 2060.
- Interdire les vols entre 23h et 6h.
- Suspendre les zones à faibles émissions (ZFE), qui restreignent la circulation des véhicules les plus polluants dans certaines villes.
- Passer de la Ve à la VIe République en donnant davantage de pouvoir aux citoyens.
- Supprimer le 49.3, qui permet au gouvernement de faire adopter un texte sans vote.
- Intensifier la lutte contre les discriminations, notamment au sein de la police.
- Reconnaître comme crime d’État le massacre des Algériens du 17 octobre 1961.
- Renégocier les traités européens et refuser l’application de certaines règles européennes jugées incompatibles avec le programme.
- Quitter progressivement le commandement militaire intégré de l’OTAN.
- Soutenir la création d’un État palestinien aux côtés d’Israël.
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Needless to say, his supporters will eat these proposals up, and he will probably gain a couple of points in the polls by effectively offering voters a series of bribes (which he cannot even pay) in exchange for their support.
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Shia Michigan, before the Sunni revolution.
I hear from reliable sources that the Muslim Brotherhood plans to ban all “Rafidi bid’ahs” in its state. 😢
I hear from reliable sources that the Muslim Brotherhood plans to ban all “Rafidi bid’ahs” in its state. 😢
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Ok, but also, it’s kind of insane that these scenes are even real. 😅
Putting aside the sensationalist “the West is falling” melodrama, I consider this simply a matter of bad manners. It is uncouth and disrespectful to the host country and its society to impose your religion or culture on the public square as a newcomer.
I think we, as immigrants, owe it to our host societies to fully assimilate for at least two or three generations before we express ourselves in this way. (In the spirit of يا غريب كُن أديب)
This applies equally to Muslims, Hindus, Sikhs, Druze, and even Eastern Christians, with their unique traditions.
Putting aside the sensationalist “the West is falling” melodrama, I consider this simply a matter of bad manners. It is uncouth and disrespectful to the host country and its society to impose your religion or culture on the public square as a newcomer.
I think we, as immigrants, owe it to our host societies to fully assimilate for at least two or three generations before we express ourselves in this way. (In the spirit of يا غريب كُن أديب)
This applies equally to Muslims, Hindus, Sikhs, Druze, and even Eastern Christians, with their unique traditions.
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T. 📚☕️ retweeted
I actually feel bad for Elon, even though I deeply disagree with him on some things.
Imagine trying to build a car company in California in the mid-2000s, when American manufacturing is being completely offshored and almost all of Wall Street thinks you’re a joke and is rooting the entire oil and gas industry is using all their power and leverage to make you fail.
But against all odds, you actually pull it off. You build cars that make electric vehicles desirable to millions of people, create an enormous number of quality American jobs, and force the global car industry to play catch up and move away from oil and gas.
You would think California would be proud of you and the team. Instead you find yourself having to fight a completely corrupt and incompetent left government impeding all your efforts while you sleep at the factory night after night to avoid collapse. At some point, you would go to the right too.
And because of your politics, it becomes a justification for people to celebrate your companies failing in their personal ideological fight with you. Even threats against you become something people explain away and use mental gymnastics to justify.
Meanwhile, people like Scott Galloway and Bernie Sanders who have made absolutely nobody better off other than themselves get to lecture you about your value to society and even call for your murder without grounds from their vacation home while you're on 20 hour benders in your factories trying to get things built for all of society. If this were me I would lose my mind.
Criticize his opinions. I do sometimes, especially on Ukraine. But the pleasure people take in wanting to destroy everything he’s built is hideous and frankly suicidal for the masses, especially coming from people who insist they care about workers, the climate, and civilization as a whole.
As you try to make good things for society you are confronted with a world that worships people who care only about the perception of being good people, while they actually fight against your tangible efforts of making improvements for humanity.
I don't think almost anyone would have made it out of that and if they did, they would probably not come away feeling so warm towards the left either. So I am rooting for Elon to succeed, and for humanity.
Imagine trying to build a car company in California in the mid-2000s, when American manufacturing is being completely offshored and almost all of Wall Street thinks you’re a joke and is rooting the entire oil and gas industry is using all their power and leverage to make you fail.
But against all odds, you actually pull it off. You build cars that make electric vehicles desirable to millions of people, create an enormous number of quality American jobs, and force the global car industry to play catch up and move away from oil and gas.
You would think California would be proud of you and the team. Instead you find yourself having to fight a completely corrupt and incompetent left government impeding all your efforts while you sleep at the factory night after night to avoid collapse. At some point, you would go to the right too.
And because of your politics, it becomes a justification for people to celebrate your companies failing in their personal ideological fight with you. Even threats against you become something people explain away and use mental gymnastics to justify.
Meanwhile, people like Scott Galloway and Bernie Sanders who have made absolutely nobody better off other than themselves get to lecture you about your value to society and even call for your murder without grounds from their vacation home while you're on 20 hour benders in your factories trying to get things built for all of society. If this were me I would lose my mind.
Criticize his opinions. I do sometimes, especially on Ukraine. But the pleasure people take in wanting to destroy everything he’s built is hideous and frankly suicidal for the masses, especially coming from people who insist they care about workers, the climate, and civilization as a whole.
As you try to make good things for society you are confronted with a world that worships people who care only about the perception of being good people, while they actually fight against your tangible efforts of making improvements for humanity.
I don't think almost anyone would have made it out of that and if they did, they would probably not come away feeling so warm towards the left either. So I am rooting for Elon to succeed, and for humanity.
I believe Elon is a good person
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This is right on cue! 😅
Since we, as MENA peoples, tend to be fairly opinionated and assertive, this is likely to become an interesting rivalry simmering beneath the surface of American national politics in the years ahead.
This dynamic was largely absent in the past because earlier waves of MENA immigrants to the US were overwhelmingly Christian and tended to assimilate relatively quickly, at a time when multiculturalism was not yet the dominant paradigm. The newer waves, however, are considerably more diverse, and since there is less pressure to assimilate, we will almost certainly see much more of this going forward.
This dynamic is already quite pronounced in Western countries with larger MENA immigrant populations, such as France. Many of the most prominent and dynamic figures on the French right are North African Jews, alongside some MENA Christians and secular or ex-Muslims. Meanwhile, the so-called “Red-Green alliance” has become increasingly overt on the French left, with many of its most dynamic figures coming from North African and sub-Saharan Muslim backgrounds.
Since we, as MENA peoples, tend to be fairly opinionated and assertive, this is likely to become an interesting rivalry simmering beneath the surface of American national politics in the years ahead.
This dynamic was largely absent in the past because earlier waves of MENA immigrants to the US were overwhelmingly Christian and tended to assimilate relatively quickly, at a time when multiculturalism was not yet the dominant paradigm. The newer waves, however, are considerably more diverse, and since there is less pressure to assimilate, we will almost certainly see much more of this going forward.
This dynamic is already quite pronounced in Western countries with larger MENA immigrant populations, such as France. Many of the most prominent and dynamic figures on the French right are North African Jews, alongside some MENA Christians and secular or ex-Muslims. Meanwhile, the so-called “Red-Green alliance” has become increasingly overt on the French left, with many of its most dynamic figures coming from North African and sub-Saharan Muslim backgrounds.
Non-Iraqis may not be aware but boomer Iraqi Christians on tiktok have been crashing out over el-sayed’s victory. Full on meltdowns.
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I was half-joking below, of course, but this offers a pretty clear glimpse of what’s to come.
The only piece missing is that MENA Christians (and other non-Muslims) are still largely represented by thoroughly assimilated descendants of earlier immigrant waves. That will change as first-generation Copts, Chaldeans, secular Iranians, and others increasingly enter the political arena.
The only piece missing is that MENA Christians (and other non-Muslims) are still largely represented by thoroughly assimilated descendants of earlier immigrant waves. That will change as first-generation Copts, Chaldeans, secular Iranians, and others increasingly enter the political arena.
The South Asian Hindu and Muslim diasporas have brought their petty religious feuds right into the heart of American politics.
It’s about time the MENA (and MENA-adjacent) Muslim and Christian diasporas stepped up to the plate. 🫡
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T. 📚☕️ retweeted
BREAKING: US Secretary of State Marco Rubio is expected to resign from the Trump Administration to launch a bid to be the next US President, per The Independent.
Rubio is reportedly one of 5 members of President Trump's current cabinet who are thought to be preparing to resign in the aftermath of the US Midterms.
Vice President JD Vance is expected to be Rubio's "main rival" in the 2028 Presidential race.
Rubio is reportedly one of 5 members of President Trump's current cabinet who are thought to be preparing to resign in the aftermath of the US Midterms.
Vice President JD Vance is expected to be Rubio's "main rival" in the 2028 Presidential race.
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I quite like Senator-elect James Talarico. He strikes me as an earnest man who genuinely wants to do good for his constituents in Texas and is sincerely animated by his Christian faith. (He is even studying to become a Presbyterian pastor.)
Interestingly, he is not alone among the Democrats elected in this latest cycle in representing a rather unfamiliar, more explicitly religious face of the party. Senator-elect Adam Hamilton of Kansas, the first Democrat to win a Senate seat in the state since 1932 (!), happens to be the pastor of a megachurch there.
This is one of the more interesting outcomes of the US midterms: flipping traditional Republican strongholds and other competitive states and districts has brought a different kind of Democrat into these positions, one quite unlike the coastal and big-city liberal archetypes we have grown accustomed to in recent decades.
Of course, it was not always this way. Before gradually ceding the religious ground to Republicans over the past few decades, the Democrats had elected Jimmy Carter, a devout evangelical Christian, to the presidency. He was arguably the most religious president in modern American history.
Interestingly, he is not alone among the Democrats elected in this latest cycle in representing a rather unfamiliar, more explicitly religious face of the party. Senator-elect Adam Hamilton of Kansas, the first Democrat to win a Senate seat in the state since 1932 (!), happens to be the pastor of a megachurch there.
This is one of the more interesting outcomes of the US midterms: flipping traditional Republican strongholds and other competitive states and districts has brought a different kind of Democrat into these positions, one quite unlike the coastal and big-city liberal archetypes we have grown accustomed to in recent decades.
Of course, it was not always this way. Before gradually ceding the religious ground to Republicans over the past few decades, the Democrats had elected Jimmy Carter, a devout evangelical Christian, to the presidency. He was arguably the most religious president in modern American history.
One of the more exciting parts of this election - among many - is the return of a religious left.
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I would go further and argue that this realignment with the center-left feels, in many ways, more natural for devout Christians, whereas their flirtation with right-wing politics has long struck me as somewhat awkward.
Sure, there may have been genuine disagreements with the Democrats on issues like abortion and gay marriage, but Christianity’s broader moral outlook aligns more closely with the spirit of the American center-left: concern for working families and the poor, compassion for immigrants, and a commitment to human dignity.
When you hear Talarico speak, you sense a genuine Christian spirit animating him, just as you did when you heard President Carter speak. By contrast, when you hear figures like Ted Cruz, Mike Pence, or Mike Huckabee, that same spirit feels conspicuously absent. (Frankly, I find that to be true of most prominent figures on the religious right.)
Sure, there may have been genuine disagreements with the Democrats on issues like abortion and gay marriage, but Christianity’s broader moral outlook aligns more closely with the spirit of the American center-left: concern for working families and the poor, compassion for immigrants, and a commitment to human dignity.
When you hear Talarico speak, you sense a genuine Christian spirit animating him, just as you did when you heard President Carter speak. By contrast, when you hear figures like Ted Cruz, Mike Pence, or Mike Huckabee, that same spirit feels conspicuously absent. (Frankly, I find that to be true of most prominent figures on the religious right.)
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