Gareth Rezendes Fisk

All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.

He/him
Follow =/= endorsement.

[Gareth Rezendes Fisk @GarethRF]

@rickygervais #ClimateChange ?

[Shayan Sardarizadeh @Shayan86]

This satellite image of El Salvador's maximum security prison, known as CECOT, where the Trump administration has been sending deportees, has gone viral with claims that it shows a pile of bodies and a stream of blood inside the prison.

My colleague Richard Irvine-Brown and I have been looking at satellite images of the prison to see whether there's any proof for these claims.

First of all, using Google Earth's historical imagery feature shows the image that's gone viral is from March 2024, the latest available on Google, and before Trump became president or US deportations to the facility began.

It's clear from Google's historical imagery that the specific area of the prison we're looking at has seen construction and development since the prison officially opened in January 2023. We can clearly see the addition of two small buildings in the top right corner of that section.

Crucially, we simply can't tell with any degree of certainty what the dark patch or the pile are. It's entirely possible that the patch is mud or dust rather than blood, and the pile could be construction material. It could also be a food preparation area.

This isn't to say bad things may not be happening to inmates at CECOT. In fact, there's quite a lot of reporting about rough conditions inmates face at the facility without proper access to due process.

But jumping to conclusions about bodies and blood, based on one grainy image, is not how open source analysis of satellite imagery works, particularly when there's not enough evidence.

In short, analysis of areas where public access is limited, like a maximum security prison, is not straightforward or simple. Open source investigators do use satellite imagery to detect human rights abuses or possible illegal activites inside such facilities, for instance, in the case of Uyghur detention camps in China's Xinjiang province.

But making outlandish statements that lack evidence does not help anyone, particularly when such claims go viral and many believe them to be true.

[Matt Walsh @MattWalshBlog]

Now that the election is over I think we can finally say that yeah actually Project 2025 is the agenda. Lol

[Arnaud Bertrand @RnaudBertrand]

This is a crucial reminder by Stephen Walt, probably the most renowned Harvard professor of International Relations: "Palestinian resistance is completely legitimate" because "international law explicitly says that population under belligerent occupation have a right to resist".

[Arnaud Bertrand @RnaudBertrand]

In Star Wars George Lucas is literally on the record saying that the main inspiration for the rebel alliance was the Vietcong and the empire the U.S.

As for V for Vendetta, the original author Alan Moore has been quite explicit that he wrote the book as a response to Thatcherism in 1980s Britain. He was concerned about the rise of the far right and what he saw as authoritarian tendencies in the government. The Wachowskis, who then adapted it into a movie, have said their adaptation was inspired by the post-9/11 political climate (the War on Terror and its impact on civil liberties) as well as the idea of using fear as a political tool.

Lastly the Matrix is famously a metaphor for people taking "the red pill" and discovering the alienating forces of capitalism (Morpheus: "The Matrix is a system, Neo. That system is our enemy. But when you're inside, you look around, what do you see? Businessmen, teachers, lawyers, carpenters. The very minds of the people we are trying to save. But until we do, these people are still a part of that system and that makes them our enemy. You have to understand, most of these people are not ready to be unplugged. And many of them are so inured, so hopelessly dependent on the system, that they will fight to protect it.")

In other words, in today's context, I'm pretty certain that Musk is very much on the opposite side of "the resistance" and he's the one (probably consciously and willfully) refusing to see it. Wild...

[Spencer Greenberg 🔍 @SpencrGreenberg]

Does astrology work? We tested the ability of 152 astrologers to see if they could demonstrate genuine astrological skill.

Here is how the study was designed and what we found (including a result that really surprised me):

🧵

[Julia Serano @JuliaSerano]

been thinking about the whole "weird" discourse...🧵

[derek guy @dieworkwear]

Many will rightly point out that I often impose a singular view of how to wear tailored clothing (although my tastes are, in fact, more eclectic). But the difference is that I don't think wearing an ugly outfit makes you a moral failure.

[The Culturist @the_culturist_]

Da Vinci's Last Supper is a keystone of Christian art.

It inspired centuries of awe and speculation — over its subtle symbols and concealed messages.

But there's something hidden that nearly everyone overlooks... (thread) 🧵

[Mario Nawfal @MarioNawfal]

🚨🇺🇸BREAKING: OPENAI APPOINTS FORMER NSA HEAD PAUL NAKASONE TO BOARD

OpenAI has appointed Paul M. Nakasone, retired US Army general and former NSA head, to its board of directors.

Nakasone, who led the NSA from 2018 to 2023, will join OpenAI's Safety and Security Committee.

He will help improve AI’s role in cybersecurity by detecting and responding to threats quickly.

His appointment follows concerns over safety culture at OpenAI.

Source: The Verge

[Gareth Rezendes Fisk @GarethRF]

#MirandaOtto at @pyrkon says she'd love to work again with the #TalkToMe team.

Claims she doesn't know whether she'll appear in a potential sequel.

[Gareth Rezendes Fisk @GarethRF]

@DEGOPer @theistinthought "(...) why would he [God] then relegate her to some mere inconsequential woman thereafter."

Being a mother, a wife, and possibly a worker isn't inconsequential. A woman also doesn't turn into "inconsequential" by having sex, unless you view sex as something dirty and wrong.

[Gareth Rezendes Fisk @GarethRF]

@Wanderknews @KylePierce96 @Harli3946 @theistinthought Interpreting this as referring to Mary's biological virginity (which is pseudoscientifical btw) is quite creepy.

[Gareth Rezendes Fisk @GarethRF]

@tonyannett You cannot have a functioning democracy while the middle class is diminishing, when most people are getting poorer, while the 10% usurp, exploit, and steal all the wealth, when people working full-time can't afford to live.

[derek guy @dieworkwear]

Aside from the fact that this guy sells online courses on how to get rich, I will explain why it's obvious from his clothes that he's not an aristocrat but rather a middle-class striver. 🧵

[Edward Snowden @Snowden]

Everyone in the world needs to see this.

Note that this footage permits no room for "it was a mistake," showing repeated, specifically-targeted strikes on the unarmed and even wounded. The sort of behavior the ICJ explicitly forbid in the genocide ruling against Israel.

[Gareth Rezendes Fisk @GarethRF]

@tonyannett Was Europe right in caving to Hitler's territorial demands before the war?

[Gareth Rezendes Fisk @GarethRF]

@tonyannett Somehow such scandalous breach of bodily autonomy is regarded by many as permissable, as long as it only applies to pregnant people and their bodies. 2/2

[Gareth Rezendes Fisk @GarethRF]

@tonyannett If we were to introduce mandatory organ donation from live donors, there would be uproar. Why should the government force people to give away kidneys and parts of livers, even if it saves others? We'd be enraged even by mandatory blood donation. 1/2

[Yuval Abraham יובל אברהם @yuval_abraham]

A right-wing Israeli mob came to my family’s home yesterday to search for me, threatening close family members who fled to another town in the middle of the night. I am still getting death threats and had to cancel my flight home. This happened after Israeli media and German politicians absurdly labeled my Berlinale award speech - where I called for equality between Israelis and Palestinians, a ceasefire and an end to apartheid - as ‘antisemitic’. The appalling misuse of this word by Germans, not only to silence Palestinian critics of Israel, but also to silence Israelis like me who support a ceasefire that will end the killing in Gaza and allow the release of the Israeli hostages - empties the word antisemitism of meaning and thus endangers Jews all over the world. As my grandmother was born in a concentration camp in Libya and most of my grandfather’s family was murdered by Germans in the holocaust, I find it particularly outraging that German politicians in 2024 have the audacity to weaponize this term against me in a way that endangered my family. But above all else, this behavior puts Palestinian co-director Basel Adra’s life in danger, who lives under a military occupation surrounded by violent settlements in Masafer Yatta. He is in far greater danger than I am. I’m happy our award winning film, No Other Land, is sparking an important international debate on this issue - and I hope that millions of people watch it when it comes out this year. Sparking a conversation is why we made it. You can have harsh criticism of what me and Basel said on stage without demonizing us. If this is what you’re doing with your guilt for the holocaust - I don’t want your guilt.