Mollie M

equality - human rights - sustainability & climate - peace - science education - furry friends - nature - compassion and wisdom will overcome ignorance and hate

[Joni Askola @joni_askola]

The world's richest man is desperately trying to rewrite history regarding his destruction of USAID.

Elon Musk's sudden pivot to damage control proves he knows exactly how devastating his actions were, no matter how much he tries to spin it now.

In his latest gaslighting campaign, Musk claims he only stepped in to ensure there was no fraud, leaning heavily on fabricated narratives about Ukraine and COVID to shield himself from criticism. But the internet remembers everything. We all saw him brag on X about sending USAID to the wood chipper with zero regard for the global fallout.

His malicious cuts dismantled life-saving food, medical, and security infrastructure around the world. A peer-reviewed study published in The Lancet warns that the defunding of USAID will result in a staggering 14 million preventable deaths by 2030, including 4.5 million children under the age of five. Hundreds of thousands have already died. They are dying from entirely treatable conditions like malnutrition, malaria, and a lack of HIV medication because PEPFAR and global health networks were frozen overnight.

Naturally, given the chaotic nature of humanitarian crises, it is impossible to audit every single one of these deaths in real time. But while the precise statistics will be debated by academics for years, the big picture is inescapable: when you suddenly choke off medicine and food to millions of vulnerable people, catastrophic suffering and a massive loss of life are the inevitable result.

No amount of whitewashing by Musk will change the facts, and history will remember him for the lives he destroyed

[Pete @splendid_pete]

Some British idiots genuinely compare the EU to the Soviet Union, which is historically obscene.

Countries join the EU willingly, through treaties, elections, parliaments, and public consent. They can also leave willingly, as Britain literally proved with Brexit. Stupid decision, but a free one.

Hungary did not get a referendum to leave the Soviet sphere. In 1956, Hungarians picked up weapons because they wanted freedom from Soviet domination, and the Soviet Union crushed that uprising in blood.

The same happened across the region in different forms: Poland was kept under Soviet control despite repeated uprisings and strikes, Czechoslovakia was invaded in 1968 for trying to liberalize, the Baltic states were occupied and forcibly absorbed, and East Germans were trapped behind a wall for decades.

So no, the EU is nothing like the Soviets. Joining the EU means voluntarily signing treaties. Leaving the EU means Article 50, negotiations, paperwork, trade pain, and political consequences. Trying to leave the Soviet empire meant tanks, prisons, executions, deportations, and dead civilians. That comparison is not just stupid. It is an insult to the people who actually lived under Soviet rule.

[Michael McFaul @McFaul]

This agreement is far worse than I expected. To reopen the strait— a strait that was open before the war— we and our partners are transferring billions to the autocrats. We get nothing else— no elimination of enriched uranium, missiles, or terrorist support. And to add one final gift, we agree to not help the Iranian people pursue their democratic aspirations. Just incredible.

[Arnaud Bertrand @RnaudBertrand]

This is an absolutely major story and almost no Western media covered it: India's water minister CR Patil said on Tuesday that "it is certain, not a single drop of water will go (to Pakistan) in the coming years."

Patil said that India is "actively working on it" after "directives" from Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

As a reminder, Pakistan's dependence on water from India is close to total: the country is essentially built around the Indus river system, all of whose rivers flow through India before entering Pakistan.

The Indus system irrigates 80% of Pakistan's farmland, generates a third of its electricity, supplies its major cities with drinking water, and sustains the livelihoods of some 240 million people.

So, essentially, no water from India = annihilation of Pakistan as a state.

Pretty damn consequential, all the more given we're talking about 2 nuclear powers here. And all the more because, understandably, Pakistan's formal position is that water diversion would constitute "an act of war" (https://t.co/WLoDpGzc2W).

Unfortunately, Patil's statement isn't just talk: India already set up the legal framework to make this possible. Last year, they unilaterally suspended the 1960 Indus Waters Treaty, despite the treaty containing no withdrawal clause.

It used to be the one piece of India-Pakistan relations that worked, and had survived multiple wars and over six decades of hostility. Now India is saying officially that it will "never be restored" (https://t.co/2SnUNevFbX).

The one mitigating factor here is physics: you don't just "turn off" a major Himalayan river system. Diverting rivers of this magnitude means building massive storage and canal infrastructure in Himalayan terrain: projects measured in years.

But India IS ACTUALLY BUILDING that infrastructure: for instance it just approved in May the building of the so-called "Chenab–Beas Link Tunnel," an 8.7km ₹2,352 crore (~$280M) tunnel designed to divert water from the Chenab basin into India's Beas river system. The Chenab is one of the main tributaries of the Indus - and one of the three "western rivers" (Indus, Jhelum, Chenab) allocated to Pakistan under the 1960 Indus Water Treaty.

Which means that, unfortunately, Patil's "not a single drop of water in the coming years" looks like a roadmap: the infrastructure to strangle Pakistan's water supply is being approved and tendered in plain sight.

This is also a story about selective media coverage and double standards: I'm willing to bet that 99% of people in the West have never heard of any of this.

Now make this thought experiment: imagine China announced it was building infrastructure to cut off every drop of water flowing to India and its ministers proclaimed on television that "not a single drop" would cross the border. It would be wall-to-wall coverage, sanctions packages, and a thousand op-eds about Beijing "weaponizing water."

Heck we don't need to imagine because the simple fact of China merely building a hydropower dam on the Yarlung Tsangpo (the upstream Brahmaputra) generated exactly the wall-to-wall alarm I'm describing, even though China threatened nothing and even though Indian officials said the threat is a "myth" given the fact that the river gathers most of its volume inside India from monsoon rains (https://t.co/GBgBybBPoE). Malign intent was still presumed from the act of construction, because it's China.

In India's case, the intent couldn't possibly be clearer: it's proclaimed by ministers on the record, and backed by India's actions. But because they're a courted Western partner, what they're doing - arguably the most extreme form of economic warfare imaginable, directed at a nuclear state - largely gets silence.

Src for screenshot: https://t.co/qav4muNkij

[noor୨୧ @wottheberry]

i took a 45-minute uber ride home from the airport last night after a brutal, three-day business trip.

i was completely emotionally and physically drained, and my social battery was at absolute zero.

when i got into the car, the driver.. an older guy named kabir.. didn't say the usual "how was your flight?" or turn on the radio.

instead, he just handed me a small, laminated piece of paper attached to the back of his headrest.
it was a literal "ride menu."
it said:
1. *the silent ride* (total quiet, no pressure to talk).
2. *the therapist ride* (if you need to vent about your day, i am listening).
3. *the tourist ride* (i will tell you cool facts about the city).
4. *the radio ride* (we just listen to old jazz and coast).

i smiled, pointed to number 1, and whispered, "silent ride, please. thank you."

he gave me a warm nod in the rearview mirror, adjusted the AC, and drove the entire 45 minutes in absolute, beautiful silence.

it was the most peaceful, therapeutic boundary i’ve experienced all year. i felt my entire nervous system finally reset.

when he dropped me off, i gave him a massive tip and told him, "that menu is a genius business idea. you must get amazing reviews."

He looked back at me and said, "i didn't make the menu to get better tips, dear.

my daughter has severe social anxiety, and she told me that the hardest part of her day is navigating small talk with strangers when her brain is tired.

she told me it feels like running a marathon.

i made the card so that anyone who gets into my car can feel completely safe dropping the mask for a little while."

i walked into my apartment and just sat on my suitcase.

we live in a world that is constantly screaming at us to perform, to network, to be "on," and to over-communicate.

but sometimes, the deepest form of love and respect you can show another human being is just creating a small, safe pocket of silence for them to rest in.

pay attention to the people who give you permission to be quiet. they are rare.

[Olga Patlyuk 🇺🇦 @OlgaPatl]

Every time I read that sanctions against Russia should not be made tougher because they might affect “оrdinary Russians,” I have one question.

Why is the world so concerned that Russians might have a less comfortable life, yet speaks far less about Ukrainians who are being kіІIеd every day by Russian mіssiles and drones?

Sanctions may cause economic hardship for Russians. But that hardship does not thrеаten their lives. It does not dеstroy their homes in the middle of the night. It does not burу their children under the rubble. It does not force them to wake up to еxplosions and live with the fеar of losing their loved ones every single day.

So what is the logic?

Why does the comfort of citizens of the аggressor state matter more to some people than the lives of those their state is kіIІіng?

For years, we Ukrainians have been paying the highest price -with our lives, our health, our homes, and our future. And when someone argues that Russians must be protected from the consequences of sanctions while remaining silent about protecting Ukrainians from Russian mіssiles, it looks like moral blіndness.

I am not concerned about the comfort of people whose state brings dеаth to my nation every day.

I am concerned about the lives of Ukrainians.

[Joni Askola @joni_askola]

The German far right's open attendance at Russia's SPIEF conference proves that the threat to Europe is already inside the house.

If the RN, AfD and Reform UK win elections, European security will completely collapse.

European democracy is facing its most dangerous moment since the Cold War. AfD sending representatives to Saint Petersburg to smile for cameras alongside war criminals is not an isolated incident. It is part of a coordinated, long-term strategy to place pro-Russian traitors and their puppets at the helm of the British, French, and German governments.

A political victory for the National Rally, AfD, or Reform UK at the next elections would be a historical catastrophe. These groups are designed to paralyze Europe, cut off vital aid to democracies under attack, and legitimize brutal authoritarian expansion. They wrap themselves in national flags, yet they take their marching orders directly from Moscow. Real traitors!

It is time to speak with total clarity about what a vote for these parties actually means. Choosing to support these movements is a betrayal of national sovereignty and a direct contribution to the destabilization of the West. Voters who fall for their populist rhetoric are actively enabling foreign subversion. A vote for them is a vote for Putin.

We need a massive mobilization of citizens within these countries to fight back against this creeping threat. Passivity is no longer an option when the enemy is on the ballot. We must aggressively expose their lies, contest their narratives, and protect the values that keep Europe safe and free

[Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський @ZelenskyyUa]

Open Letter
To the President of the Russian Federation
From the President of Ukraine

When you came to power in Russia more than 26 years ago, many people in Ukraine viewed you positively. That is how it was. But that is now in the past.
Now, the overwhelming majority of Ukrainians view it positively that our long-range drones paid a visit to the opening of your forum in St. Petersburg, covering a distance of more than 1,000 kilometers. As you know very well, that distance is not the limit of our capabilities.

[Bonny Trailer™ @BonnyTrailer]

@HunterBiden Stole this meme from my girl @RobinvReynolds
💖

[Caolan @CaolanReports]

Lots of pro russian Irish people telling me to ‘go to the front lines & leave Ireland’

I’ve just come here from Nikopol. The press armour is still in my bag. I watched Russian drones hunt civilians with my own eyes. That’s why the indifference here is so despicable, especially while Ireland still supplies alumina to Russias war machine.

I’m not going anywhere. This investigation continues

[Volcaholic 🌋 @volcaholic1]

At a time when ocean temperatures are smashing records and scientists are still trying to understand how fast the system is shifting under climate change, they are talking about scrapping a 368 million dollar early warning network that has ALREADY BEEN PAID FOR by tax payers.

This is not just a few sensors in the sea. It is a network of ~900 instruments measuring temperature, currents, carbon, chemistry and ecosystem change. It was designed to deliver long term data over decades.

This would effectively end key long running records and that matters because ocean data only becomes powerful over time. You cannot rebuild a continuous climate record once it is interrupted.

[Gabrielius Landsbergis🇱🇹 @GLandsbergis]

After every Russian escalation into a NATO country we hear leaders repeating the mantra "We stand with..."

But we could do much more than standing around.

For example — we could create a European-Ukrainian defense union. Fund it with confiscated Russian frozen assets. Close the skies in Ukraine, making Ukraine and other frontline states safer.

These things are very possible and this work could start today.

Instead, I am sadly reminded of how Britain and France “stood with” Poland in 1939 while that country was being dismembered. It was called the Phony War, because mere declarations of “support” mean very little on the ground, and do nothing to prevent real war.

Actions always speak louder than words, and usually cost much less than inaction.

[Seth Abramson @SethAbramson]

BREAKING NEWS: Donald Trump has announced that if he can't have total control over an institution that by law he can't put his name on, he's happy to see the institution destroyed.

Understand that while today the institution at issue is the Kennedy Center, soon it'll be America.

[Pope Leo XIV @Pontifex]

Deep inner suffering inevitably arises when the human person is reduced to performance, consumption, or a statistical datum. Many young people today live under the yoke of expectations to perform, immersed in an exasperated competitiveness that generates anxiety, fear of not measuring up, and disorientation.

[Daniel Davis Deep Dive @DanielLDavis1]

This, friends, is not a parody account. This is the actual official account of the White House. Let that sink in a second.

Apparently it is not just the president of the United States, who has clearly suffered significant cognitive decline, but all those in power in the administration are either suffering decline along with him, or are so infantile that they can’t tell the difference.

In either case, this is not hyperbole: we are in serious trouble as a nation, because people who post things like this are also the decision makers between war and peace in the Middle East and in Europe.

[Wholesome Side of 𝕏 @itsme_urstruly]

I can't properly describe to anyone under the age of 30 just how cool the Internet was before Amazon, Google, Meta, and Apple turned it all into a walled garden of garbage and commerce.

[Anna Bower @AnnaBower]

“The past was erased, the erasure was forgotten, the lie became the truth.”

[Лeksa 🇺🇦 @lexa_lrnt]

Can someone explain to me why the so called civilized world can't bring itself together to stop russia from bombing the biggest country in Europe after over 4 years of full-scale war? Wtf is more important than stopping this?

[Jenni @hashjenni]

Jeff Bezos thinks people are ‘vilifying the rich.’ Bro, you’re one of the richest people on earth and 1/3 of your warehouse workers rely on government assistance for basic needs like food and rent. You ARE the villain.

[Boze Herrington, Library Owl 😴🧙‍♀️ @SketchesbyBoze]

Some of you have forgotten that only three years ago you were perfectly capable of writing an essay, writing a eulogy, telling a bedtime story to a child, and it should worry you that powerful companies have convinced us we can’t do things we’ve been doing for 5,000 years.