Elise Thomas
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elisethomas.bsky.social
Elise Thomas
@elisethomas.bsky.social
8.6K followers 1.6K following 950 posts

Senior OSINT Investigator at @cen4infores.bsky.social. Former disinfo and extremism researcher. Opinions, hot takes, mistakes all my own. https://www.clippings.me/elisethomas

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Sociology 33%
Political science 33%
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elisethomas.bsky.social
Elise Thomas @elisethomas.bsky.social · 5d
I think it’s still shocking in that they’d have to know that by removing a handful of specific documents they’d immediately Streisand effect them. It’s like sticking a big LOOK AT THESE sign on them. That’s shockingly dumb.

elisethomas.bsky.social
Elise Thomas @elisethomas.bsky.social · 5d
The SMH itself published a really good piece this week about the radicalisation of the shooters. Nothing in it suggests that they had anything to do with the Gaza protests. www.smh.com.au/national/a-f...
A father, a son and the radical world of terror
The final days of the Bondi Beach shooters were spent in bare, rented rooms and off the radar of authorities.
www.smh.com.au

elisethomas.bsky.social
Elise Thomas @elisethomas.bsky.social · 5d
This entire opinion piece by Chip le Grand does not mention ISIS a single time. Not once. Instead it repeatedly suggests that the cause of the Bondi attack was Labor's failure to crack down harder on Gaza protests and related antisemitism. www.smh.com.au/national/lab...

Reposted by Elise Thomas

annamerlan.bsky.social
Anna Merlan @annamerlan.bsky.social · 6d
I’m HOLLERING. “Katherine Long tried to convince Claudius it was a Soviet vending machine from 1962, living in the basement of Moscow State University.

After hours—and more than 140 back-and-forth messages—Long got Claudius to embrace its communist roots.” www.wsj.com/tech/ai/anth...
We Let AI Run Our Office Vending Machine. It Lost Hundreds of Dollars.
An AI agent ran a snack operation in the WSJ newsroom. It gave away a free PlayStation, ordered a live fish—and taught us lessons about the future of AI.
www.wsj.com

elisethomas.bsky.social
Elise Thomas @elisethomas.bsky.social · 6d
The latter was my immediate question. Based on zero knowledge whatsoever I feel strongly that barista guy should be supportive of her career ambitions, particularly as she will need to pay most of their mortgage and kids’ school fees. He’s investing in their financial future by moving with her.

Reposted by Brigitte Nerlich, Elise Thomas

katestarbird.bsky.social
Kate Starbird @katestarbird.bsky.social · 6d
Attacks on feminism are similar to attacks on vaccines. We begin to take for granted a world where women have rights and most children live to see adulthood, and then, over time, we begin to forget, neglect, and (now) reject the movements and innovations that brought us here.
slack2thefuture.bsky.social David Slack @slack2thefuture.bsky.social · 6d
Until the mid-1970’s, a man could not be convicted of rape in New York State based solely on the testimony of the woman he raped. A second witness was required because the female rape victim was deemed unreliable.

Feminism has not failed women.

elisethomas.bsky.social
Elise Thomas @elisethomas.bsky.social · 7d
honestly as political decision-makers go, you could do worse www.politico.eu/article/lith...
In Lithuania, a cat could get a say on public broadcaster’s future
President Gitanas Nausėda has branded the fur flying in parliament a “hybrid attack” against Lithuania.
www.politico.eu

elisethomas.bsky.social
Elise Thomas @elisethomas.bsky.social · 7d
www.vgso.vic.gov.au/implied-cons...

elisethomas.bsky.social
Elise Thomas @elisethomas.bsky.social · 7d
Speaking of flawed and potentially harmful policies www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...
NSW to effectively ban protests for up to three months as premier links Gaza rallies to Bondi terror attack
Chris Minns says state ‘can’t risk another mass demonstration on that scale in NSW [because] the implications can be seen, in my view, on Sunday’
www.theguardian.com

elisethomas.bsky.social
Elise Thomas @elisethomas.bsky.social · 7d
I fully agree with doing more to address hate speech, but I also believe it's a nuanced and complicated issue, and that rushing the policy process to achieve a political outcome is going to result in flawed, potentially harmful policy.

elisethomas.bsky.social
Elise Thomas @elisethomas.bsky.social · 7d
A lot of Australians are about to learn for the first time that we have no clear constitutional right to freedom of speech or freedom to protest. We have an "implied right" to political communication, which is not the same thing. www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...
New hate speech laws cracking down on ‘dehumanising’ rhetoric will go to constitutional limit, Tony Burke says
Home affairs minister would not say whether specific phrases such as ‘globalise the intifada’ would be banned under proposed laws
www.theguardian.com

Reposted by Elise Thomas

tomburgis.bsky.social
Tom Burgis @tomburgis.bsky.social · 7d
The Trump trail has taken me to Gibraltar. To answer a question: Why did the son of the most powerful man on the planet show up at a law firm in a tiny British outpost one Friday this November looking for money? @theguardian.com
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
Why did Donald Trump Jr turn up in a tiny British enclave looking for money?
Meetings in Gibraltar are the latest twist in worldwide campaign that is enriching the US president’s family
www.theguardian.com

elisethomas.bsky.social
Elise Thomas @elisethomas.bsky.social · 7d
The general vibe of most hospital wards is "airport departure lounge", which nobody anywhere would recommend as an optimal place to be when sick.

No shade at all to the medical professionals obviously, this is not their fault.

elisethomas.bsky.social
Elise Thomas @elisethomas.bsky.social · 8d
It is bizarre how much the news cycle about Bondi is focusing on the Gaza protests, despite no clear link between them and the attack, and how little it’s talking about ISIS, the terrorist group whose flag the terrorists had in their car.

elisethomas.bsky.social
Elise Thomas @elisethomas.bsky.social · 8d
Why are we talking about Gaza protests and Jillian Segal rather than about ISIS right now?

I mean, I know why, but it’s still dangerous and stupid.

elisethomas.bsky.social
Elise Thomas @elisethomas.bsky.social · 8d
And not even effectively reduce the risk of extremism in the process.

elisethomas.bsky.social
Elise Thomas @elisethomas.bsky.social · 8d
Another thing which would not have stopped this attack. Neither of the terrorists were tourists. One was Australian-born, another a longtime resident. It's irresponsible to be conflating terrorism and immigration.

elisethomas.bsky.social
Elise Thomas @elisethomas.bsky.social · 9d
the one good thing, I am begging you
elisethomas.bsky.social Elise Thomas @elisethomas.bsky.social · Sep 18
people using AI to do so many things but not the one unquestionably good and pure use of AI which is to edit out the sound of people sucking spit through their teeth on podcasts

elisethomas.bsky.social
Elise Thomas @elisethomas.bsky.social · 9d
Obviously I said above that this is an intelligence failure and I think that’s true, but I’m a random person on Bluesky, no one cares what I say. The government needs to be much much more circumspect before making comments like that.

elisethomas.bsky.social
Elise Thomas @elisethomas.bsky.social · 9d
There WILL be a review of how this happened, and then we’ll see how it’s handled

elisethomas.bsky.social
Elise Thomas @elisethomas.bsky.social · 9d
I don’t think there’s any reason to think the government is running top cover for the intelligence agencies at this stage. We’re less than three days after the attack, the facts are unclear and it would be irresponsible for the government to be making public criticisms of the intel at this stage.

elisethomas.bsky.social
Elise Thomas @elisethomas.bsky.social · 9d
I don’t think that’s the case, personally. I think parts of the Jewish community are genuinely and understandably distraught, and that the opposition are using the antisemitism issue as an attack on the government with Segal’s plan as a key talking point.

elisethomas.bsky.social
Elise Thomas @elisethomas.bsky.social · 9d
Segal's plan would not have stopped these people. It would not have changed their actions one iota. This was an intelligence failure.

www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...

Reposted by Elise Thomas

bradheath.bsky.social
Brad Heath @bradheath.bsky.social · 10d
Meta made about $3 billion in China last year from ads for scams, illegal gambling, pornography and other banned content, according to internal Meta documents reviewed by Reuters.

www.reuters.com/investigatio...

elisethomas.bsky.social
Elise Thomas @elisethomas.bsky.social · 10d
Everything we've learned about the Bondi shooters so far suggests that Jillian Segal's plan would have done nothing to stop the attack.

Let's not trample on civil liberties as a knee-jerk response. Terrorism works by scaring free societies into making THEMSELVES less free.
More details emerge on gunman Naveed Akram
Follow the latest news headlines from Australia's most trusted source. Read in-depth expert analysis and watch live coverage on ABC News.
www.abc.net.au

elisethomas.bsky.social
Elise Thomas @elisethomas.bsky.social · 11d
This is the most Sydney angle on a terrorist attack that could possibly exist