Small drone attacks are killing more civilians around the world than ever before.
I made a map about it:
Posts by WF Thomas
Today is 9 years clean and sober. We do recover, one day at a time.
Getting sober is the best thing that ever happened to me and my proudest achievement.
My DM's are always open to anyone who has concerns about their drinking/using or that of a loved one and who needs someone to talk to.
I’m currently looking for work focused on researching online harms, abusive or extremist groups, and the real-world impacts of digital communities like Black Hammer. If that overlaps with what you’re working on, I’d be glad to connect.
🔗podcasts.apple.com/bh/podcast/black-hammer-...
Online harms do not stay online, and how we cover these stories has real consequences.
I also spoke with @iwriteok.bsky.social and @jamesstout.bsky.social of @coolzonemedia.bsky.social on Black Hammer and how treating groups like Black Hammer just as something to laugh at overlooks harms done to vulnerable populations.
In an article with for the Daily Dot, I examined:
🧵 How Black Hammer operated
🧠 How online behavior translated into real-world harm
🚨 Warning signs that were visible well before police intervention
❤️ Why centering victims matters when covering abusive groups
🔗 web.archive.org/web/20220729...
When the news broke locally, I was glad to be able to use that background to help Atlanta-area reporters frame their coverage in a way that centered the victims, rather than turning the story into spectacle or treating the group as a lolcow.
I had spent months researching the group, tracking how it operated online and offline, how it recruited, and how abuse and coercion were hidden behind ideology.
Logo of Black Hammer Party
🧵 On July 19, 2022, police responded to a call at a home in the Atlanta suburbs reporting that someone was being held against their will. What followed marked the end of the Black Hammer Party and the tragic loss of life due to the manipulation of a vulnerable youth by a high control group.
As mentioned, I am currently exploring new work opportunities and would love to connect with teams working on violence prevention, online harms, threat intelligence, or adjacent research and program support roles.
I’m always happy to chat or answer questions about this work.
🎮 Roblox imagery appeared frequently, reflecting its role as a core entry point for these networks
This work was part of a broader focus on understanding how extremist and high-risk communities operate across platforms, blend into mainstream spaces, and use migration tactics to evade moderation.
➡️ Most of the accounts reviewed included instructions or contact details to move interactions off-platform, primarily to Discord and Telegram
🧩 Users shared off-platform contact info in bios, captions, and even text embedded in images or videos
A few key findings from the report:
🔍 We identified content linked to NVE actors and related subnetworks across multiple mainstream platforms, including Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, Pinterest, and Roblox
🔗 Jumping Off Platform: How “The Com” Uses Mainstream Platforms to Funnel Users Elsewhere: graphika.com/reports/jump...
As I continue my job hunt, I want to highlight some of my previous work I'm proud of.
During my time with @graphika.com I led the research and authoring of this report.
Earlier this week @pbaskar.bsky.social quoted me in this excellent piece about how extremists around the world use platforms like Roblox & Minecraft to recruit children. Please read & share—especially with parents of young children.
Gift link! ⤵️
I am now looking for my next opportunity in the field! Any leads or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
I am based in the USA, fluent in German, and comfortable analyzing a wide variety of digital landscapes.
Hi. I'm an OSINT researcher with experience targeting violent extremism, influence operations, and financial market threats. Most recently, I worked at Graphika turning complex data into actionable intelligence for clients, and before that worked at Spotify removing online harms.
For the other thread of this kirkified Bella Rittenhouse image: Kyle as meme subject.
A few years back, @daveforan.bsky.social + @hariprasad.bsky.social and I wrote about Rittenhouse memes after he killed 3 people. You can read it on @terpolv.bsky.social:
www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1...
For the first thread of this kirkified Bella Rittenhouse image: kirkification.
Recently, @oloonik.bsky.social and I wrote about a niche within the trend of kirkification (rap albums), which we shared on the WXQT blog last week. You can read it here:
wxqt-radio.ghost.io/lil-kirk/
screenshot of tweet from kyle rittenhouse, now posting under the handle @rittenhouse2a. he writes "I'm back on social media, I'm back in the fight, and i'm here to stay. For a quick update, 6 months ago I made the best decision of my life and married my best friend. @BellRittenhouse, I couldn’t be happier. I love you beautiful. More big announcements coming soon..." two photos are in his post. at the left is the couple holding firearms, kyle in a blue suit with a tan handgun, bella in a white wedding dress holding a tan ar-15-style rifle with a vertical foregrip and optic. at the right is a photo of kyle holding bella with water in the background, either an inlet or estuary, the sun just set moments before.
a screenshot of a tweet from @givemebudlight, who has zoomed in on bella rittenhouse in the gun picture of the couple and faceswapped charlie kirk's smiling face over hers
Yesterday, Kyle Rittenhouse posted a couple of photos from his wedding this summer, one of which features him and his bride armed with a handgun and rifle (respectively). It took someone like 8 hours to kirkify Kyle's wife lmao.
Lex McMenamin smiles at someone off camera in front of blue backdrop
Lex McMenamin smiles at camera seated in front of blue backdrop
hello 29k followers, time for my periodic reintro to find lefty friends etc!
i'm the 1-person politics section at @teenvogue.com (feat. TV pics 😎) where I cover and edit coverage of youth organizing, abolition, LGBTQ rights + healthcare, student debt, climate, education, electoral politics + more 🫡
Decoherence Media is publishing the first article in our 3 part investigation of the leaked web server for Rope Culture, the in-house magazine of notorious Nazi forum Iron March. There are hundreds of new Nazi email addresses and comments for researchers and journalists to dig through.
Dead internet theory is one of my extreme pet peeves. It's a conspiracy theory. The tech isn't there. It doesn't make logical sense. It's another way to dehumanize whoever might be on the other side of an account you disagree with.
This week’s premium episode is out. Sign up for our Patreon to hear @michaelehayden.bsky.social and I talk Red Scare, read a a bad article about Nick Fuentes, and examine the MAGA-friendly music scene. Plus, the pod debuts its first song “Sorrow / Antifa Reprise”
www.patreon.com/posts/141119...
My new chapter “Save our children from Satanists”: Women, Motherhood, and Satanic Moral Panic” is now out in ‘Satanism and Feminism in Popular Culture’ edited by Dr Miranda Corcoran. SO excited to have been included in this amazing collection & can’t wait to read the other papers!!
IF SLACK DOESN'T COME BACK UP IN THE NEXT 15 MINUTES YOU ARE LEGALLY ALLOWED TO LEAVE WORK
How do I explain to my therapist that even though "locked in" isn't on the emotion wheel, it's the most accurate way to describe how I'm feeling
Bluesky y'all should listen to the new album from @friendsinreallife.bsky.social it's very good and put a big smile on my face
Walking is lowkey goated when the vibe is having spontaneous low stakes conversations with those around you and feeling a potent sense of community
ATLANTA -- The City of Atlanta Department of Law carried out a raid of the once-independent Office of Inspector General (OIG) this week following former-Inspector General Shannon Manigault’s resignation on Monday, according to multiple sources who spoke on condition of anonymity.