So Ruda, a bit of a long story, but bear with me: If you travelled from Johannesburg to see the ambassador in Pretoria, I take it you would have avoided public transport, driving through Joburg CBD, Hillbrow, Midrand, Sunnyside, or Pretoria CBD. I’m sure you might have opted for the relative safety of the highway and made sure you had your GPS and live location on.
If you started off early from your high walled security estate, you might have skipped a few traffic lights and stop signs (just to be safe through all those crime hotspots).
If heaven forbid your car broke down next to the road somewhere, you might not have made it there alive.
You wouldn’t have parked outside the heavily secured embassy for fear of your cellphone, handbag or car being stolen, or being highjacked, raped and dumped somewhere.
You would have left early that afternoon, so you don’t have do drive back in the dark. When you got home, you would have made sure that the electric gate and garage door closed behind you before you unlocked and got out of your car with the anti smash and grab tinted windows.
Before going to bed, you would have made sure the electric fence is on, house alarm is activated and security gates are all locked (including the security gate in your hallway).
But hey, at least you tried to convince the ambassador that there is no volksmoord.
Over 350 Christians, including up to 60 children, were massacred and burned alive by Islamists in Nigeria between the 5th and 6th of July. Entire communities were slaughtered, churches burned and destroyed.
And yet complete silence from the world, and no word from the UN.
Christians are being hunted like animals in Nigeria.
They are being gunned down inside churches or locked up and set on fire.
Islamic groups have been attacking Christian villages for months and shooting everyone in sight.
The media remains silent.
Female victims who k!ll their abusers in self-defense spend an average of 15 years in prison.
Abusive men who murder their female partners spend an average of 2 to 6 years in prison.
The Cape St Francis lighthouse.
Imagine how many storms it has seen.
Construction originally began in March 1876, and at 27.75 meters tall, it remains the tallest masonry tower on the South African coast.
“I got baptized when I was little,
but I was feeling a little tug on my heart to do it on my terms as an adult!
Such a fun, amazing day.
Thank you Jesus.”
~ Sophie Cunningham
Mitch McConnell’s team released yet another hospital photo, and apparently they forgot that some of us grew up doing the “What’s Wrong With This Picture?” puzzles in Highlights magazine.
Because I have questions. A LOT of questions.
First, why does the sign above the door appear to say Room 411 while the sign beside the exact same door says Room 412? And why are the room numbers apparently INSIDE the room?
Then there’s what appears to be a paper chart hanging from the bed. Yes, I know some hospitals still use paper for certain things, but plenty of nurses are going to look at that setup and immediately question it. Charts aren’t beside beds anymore and haven’t been in years. If a place does use paper charts, they’re kept at the nurses station.
Now look at the IV. The bag appears full and doesn’t appear to be connected to Mitch. And what appears to be an Alaris IV pump setup looks like it has two channels but no control module—the “brain” needed to operate it.
Then I started looking around the room.
Why are there multiple hand sanitizer dispensers? Why is one positioned where it is? Why are an otoscope and ophthalmoscope mounted on the wall right beside the patient bed? Why does the angle and perspective of the bed itself look strange?
Now look at the glasses. The reflections caught my attention because what appears to be reflected in them doesn’t seem to correspond clearly with what’s around or behind the photographer. The apparent overhead lighting reflected in the glasses also doesn’t seem consistent with the way the room itself is lit.
Then there’s Mitch himself. Zoom in and parts of his face—particularly around his mouth and glasses—look strange to me. That could absolutely be compression from repeatedly uploading, downloading and screenshotting an image, but I’m looking at the entire picture, not one isolated pixel.
And after reportedly being hospitalized for weeks, he’s standing there, dressed in jeans and that familiar red checkered shirt, looking remarkably camera-ready.
Any one of these things might have a perfectly reasonable explanation. Maybe all of them do.
But when you release a photograph specifically to reassure the public that everything is fine, and I spend the next twenty minutes playing the nurse’s edition of Highlights magazine trying to figure out what the hell I’m looking at, your reassurance campaign may need a little work.
I’m not declaring the photo AI. I’m not declaring it Photoshopped. I’m pointing at the things I can see with my own two eyes and asking questions.
Because at this point, I don’t need another carefully staged photograph.
I need some answers. It's more AI slop with the same shirt on.
VIA Momma Dawn