Taras
@stellaratum.bsky.social
Space, security, and whatever else I feel like. All tweets represent me and me alone. 🇸🇪 + 🤍💙🤍 in 🇩🇪
Pinned
Reposted by Taras
OK, as promised, here's my thread about the links between tear gas/pepper spray and the arms trade and gun industry.
November 5, 2025 at 10:39 AM
OK, as promised, here's my thread about the links between tear gas/pepper spray and the arms trade and gun industry.
Reposted by Taras
Independent Chinese-language film festival in US canceled after pressure campaign – Nikkei Asia: ‘said that he did not feel he was in physical danger but that the relentless messages forced him to shut down the event.’
Indie Chinese film festival in US canceled after pressure campaign
Organizer's reports of harassment echo other allegations of transnational repression
asia.nikkei.com
November 7, 2025 at 12:21 PM
Independent Chinese-language film festival in US canceled after pressure campaign – Nikkei Asia: ‘said that he did not feel he was in physical danger but that the relentless messages forced him to shut down the event.’
The first I ever heard about Neom was from this vital piece by Sarah Leah Whitson and Abdullah Alaoudh on the blood spilled to even break ground on this Stalinesque "gigaproject". Good riddance that it seems to finally be dead.
foreignpolicy.com/2020/04/27/m...
foreignpolicy.com/2020/04/27/m...
November 6, 2025 at 4:14 PM
The first I ever heard about Neom was from this vital piece by Sarah Leah Whitson and Abdullah Alaoudh on the blood spilled to even break ground on this Stalinesque "gigaproject". Good riddance that it seems to finally be dead.
foreignpolicy.com/2020/04/27/m...
foreignpolicy.com/2020/04/27/m...
Well, this seals it. You can kill over 300 people through criminal negligence (in the moral sense; not the legal, clearly) and basically get away with a slap on the wrist.
If it's Boeing I ain't going.
apnews.com/article/boei...
If it's Boeing I ain't going.
apnews.com/article/boei...
Criminal case against Boeing over deadly 737 Max plane crashes is dismissed by a US judge
A federal judge in Texas has dismissed a criminal conspiracy charge against Boeing related to two 737 Max crashes that killed 346 people. U.S.
apnews.com
November 6, 2025 at 4:07 PM
Well, this seals it. You can kill over 300 people through criminal negligence (in the moral sense; not the legal, clearly) and basically get away with a slap on the wrist.
If it's Boeing I ain't going.
apnews.com/article/boei...
If it's Boeing I ain't going.
apnews.com/article/boei...
Reposted by Taras
ArianeGroup to transfer responsibility for Vinci engine assembly and testing from France to Germany, with a new Lampoldshausen facility set to be built.
europeanspaceflight.com/arianegroup-...
europeanspaceflight.com/arianegroup-...
ArianeGroup to Transfer Responsibility for Vinci Assembly to German Subsidiary
ArianeGroup to transfer responsibility for Vinci engine assembly and testing from France to Germany, with a new Lampoldshausen facility set to be built.
europeanspaceflight.com
October 27, 2025 at 2:51 PM
ArianeGroup to transfer responsibility for Vinci engine assembly and testing from France to Germany, with a new Lampoldshausen facility set to be built.
europeanspaceflight.com/arianegroup-...
europeanspaceflight.com/arianegroup-...
Reposted by Taras
Do we really want 250,000 mirrored satellites in Low Earth Orbit? Hasn't the Starlink megaconstellation already done enough damage?
🧪 @mjibrown.bsky.social
🧪 @mjibrown.bsky.social
A US startup plans to deliver ‘sunlight on demand’ after dark. Can it work – and would we want it to?
Satellites beaming sunlight down to Earth sound like science fiction – and they have astronomers very worried.
theconversation.com
October 10, 2025 at 10:21 AM
Do we really want 250,000 mirrored satellites in Low Earth Orbit? Hasn't the Starlink megaconstellation already done enough damage?
🧪 @mjibrown.bsky.social
🧪 @mjibrown.bsky.social
Reposted by Taras
This ought to be a huge story everywhere. It is imperative that we not normalize sending troops into blue cities on false pretenses. The consequences could be tragic. Journalists must rebut the lies and quote the outraged at the top of their articles and segments. www.cnn.com/2025/09/27/p...
Trump says he’s sending troops to Portland to | CNN Politics
President Donald Trump is directing Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to “provide all necessary troops” to Portland, Oregon, a city he says is “war ravaged” and protect ICE facilities he claimed are “und...
www.cnn.com
September 27, 2025 at 4:08 PM
This ought to be a huge story everywhere. It is imperative that we not normalize sending troops into blue cities on false pretenses. The consequences could be tragic. Journalists must rebut the lies and quote the outraged at the top of their articles and segments. www.cnn.com/2025/09/27/p...
Reposted by Taras
It's alarming how many people need to hear this: racism is not the natural and inevitable response to the presence of (the wrong number of) racialised Others. It is a learned response, and as such it is contestable and replaceable.
This is anti-racism 101. Entry level stuff.
This is anti-racism 101. Entry level stuff.
This is first time I’ve heard the govt making the Labour argument for controlling immigration.
Mahmood argues that controlling our borders is good for race relations, because uncontrolled immigration is feeding far right rhetoric and tensions.
Expect to hear a lot more of that.
Mahmood argues that controlling our borders is good for race relations, because uncontrolled immigration is feeding far right rhetoric and tensions.
Expect to hear a lot more of that.
September 24, 2025 at 8:29 AM
It's alarming how many people need to hear this: racism is not the natural and inevitable response to the presence of (the wrong number of) racialised Others. It is a learned response, and as such it is contestable and replaceable.
This is anti-racism 101. Entry level stuff.
This is anti-racism 101. Entry level stuff.
Reposted by Taras
Not exactly, because the techies who are trying to sell dumbass drones are explicitly embracing the cult of the operator to do so
The fight between entryist techies who want to sell the Next Big Drone Thing and the hyper masculine Cult of the Operator will be the procurement war of the 21st century.
September 20, 2025 at 5:49 PM
Not exactly, because the techies who are trying to sell dumbass drones are explicitly embracing the cult of the operator to do so
Reposted by Taras
oh my god as bad as things are with the Dems the Your Party catastrophe is making me somehow optimistic by comparison
September 18, 2025 at 5:40 PM
oh my god as bad as things are with the Dems the Your Party catastrophe is making me somehow optimistic by comparison
Reposted by Taras
This is extra wild when you remember that Tori Branum, the white woman who called ICE, did so because she claimed the 450+ workers were here illegally and they were trafficked and suffering human rights abuses, and she saved their lives.
korean reporting is nightmarish on the conditions Korean workers were contained in
September 14, 2025 at 6:23 PM
This is extra wild when you remember that Tori Branum, the white woman who called ICE, did so because she claimed the 450+ workers were here illegally and they were trafficked and suffering human rights abuses, and she saved their lives.
Reposted by Taras
Last US chemical weapons destroyed.
We can do good things.
We can do good things.
#ChemicalWeapons #Destruction #USA
Last warheads, once filled with nerve agents, destroyed
spectrumnews1.com/ky/louisvill...
[...]
Nerve agent residue was found in the containerized rocket warheads (CRWs), making them agent-contaminated secondary waste. The final VX CRW was ...
Last warheads, once filled with nerve agents, destroyed
spectrumnews1.com/ky/louisvill...
[...]
Nerve agent residue was found in the containerized rocket warheads (CRWs), making them agent-contaminated secondary waste. The final VX CRW was ...
Last warheads, once filled with nerve agents, destroyed
The warheads, which once carried sarin and VX, have been destroyed at the Blue Grass Chemical Agent Destruction Plant.
spectrumnews1.com
September 13, 2025 at 2:07 PM
Last US chemical weapons destroyed.
We can do good things.
We can do good things.
Reposted by Taras
Anybody pretending to have a confident read on the motive of this shooting because of reported inscriptions on bullet shells that included video game references and "If you're reading this, you're gay LMAO" is a fool
I've worked on the far-right beat for nearly 10 years now, and I've had to handle sorting through a lot of misinformation on politically motivated violence. And this is by far the worst instance of it, including from a lot of people who should really know better.
September 12, 2025 at 10:53 PM
Anybody pretending to have a confident read on the motive of this shooting because of reported inscriptions on bullet shells that included video game references and "If you're reading this, you're gay LMAO" is a fool
Reposted by Taras
We’ve had wide-spread Internet gore for a while now, and mysteriously, online-poisoned mass shootings and global fascist violence just keep accelerating (even as general crime rates continue to decline).
I think there’s a serious flaw with “people need to see gore to stop being fascists” theory.
I think there’s a serious flaw with “people need to see gore to stop being fascists” theory.
September 12, 2025 at 3:49 PM
We’ve had wide-spread Internet gore for a while now, and mysteriously, online-poisoned mass shootings and global fascist violence just keep accelerating (even as general crime rates continue to decline).
I think there’s a serious flaw with “people need to see gore to stop being fascists” theory.
I think there’s a serious flaw with “people need to see gore to stop being fascists” theory.
Reposted by Taras
I feel like I've spent today sorting through accusations of this guy being a groyper, only to find that those aren't based on anything. There isn't an indictment yet. The cops haven't handled this better, but seriously—posting without verification makes you no better than the right yelling "antifa."
September 12, 2025 at 9:01 PM
I feel like I've spent today sorting through accusations of this guy being a groyper, only to find that those aren't based on anything. There isn't an indictment yet. The cops haven't handled this better, but seriously—posting without verification makes you no better than the right yelling "antifa."
Reposted by Taras
there's a weird feedback loop where the media's reaction to kirk's death pushes you to speak more ill of the dead than you otherwise would because it's the only reasonable response to the simpering praise they're heaping on him
September 13, 2025 at 2:19 AM
there's a weird feedback loop where the media's reaction to kirk's death pushes you to speak more ill of the dead than you otherwise would because it's the only reasonable response to the simpering praise they're heaping on him
Reposted by Taras
i think anyone saying he practiced politics the right way or that we should continue his work should first have to read out loud his last days worth of posts to someone they love who doesnt know who he is
September 11, 2025 at 11:47 AM
i think anyone saying he practiced politics the right way or that we should continue his work should first have to read out loud his last days worth of posts to someone they love who doesnt know who he is
Reposted by Taras
Good thread. I'd like to use it as a springboard.
The phrase "free speech" throws a lot of people. Kirk used it to misdirect from his authoritarianism.
Centrists have grabbed onto that phrase in a way that supports Kirk's aims.
It's time for them to let it go.
The phrase "free speech" throws a lot of people. Kirk used it to misdirect from his authoritarianism.
Centrists have grabbed onto that phrase in a way that supports Kirk's aims.
It's time for them to let it go.
Been thinking about how there’s a new publication called The Argument, and before that, Persuasion, and how that reflects the Kirk problem for liberal public intellectuals. You can see it in Klein’s reaction about how Kirk represented “debate.”
September 11, 2025 at 1:19 PM
Good thread. I'd like to use it as a springboard.
The phrase "free speech" throws a lot of people. Kirk used it to misdirect from his authoritarianism.
Centrists have grabbed onto that phrase in a way that supports Kirk's aims.
It's time for them to let it go.
The phrase "free speech" throws a lot of people. Kirk used it to misdirect from his authoritarianism.
Centrists have grabbed onto that phrase in a way that supports Kirk's aims.
It's time for them to let it go.
Reposted by Taras
They saw Charlie Kirk as a peer, and they stand by their own.
It's an exclusive club, and you're not in it.
Bouncers will be checking race and gender at the door.
It's an exclusive club, and you're not in it.
Bouncers will be checking race and gender at the door.
September 11, 2025 at 1:24 PM
They saw Charlie Kirk as a peer, and they stand by their own.
It's an exclusive club, and you're not in it.
Bouncers will be checking race and gender at the door.
It's an exclusive club, and you're not in it.
Bouncers will be checking race and gender at the door.
Reposted by Taras
"You can’t stop with these sort of awful thoughts you have and then saying these awful words and not expect awful actions to take place. And that’s the unfortunate environment we are in."
MSNBC fired someone for pointing out structural factors exist and Kirk contribute to making them
MSNBC fired someone for pointing out structural factors exist and Kirk contribute to making them
Matthew Dowd Fired From MSNBC For Charlie Kirk Comments
Political analyst Matthew Dowd has been fired from MSNBC after his comments about the death of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.
variety.com
September 11, 2025 at 3:36 AM
"You can’t stop with these sort of awful thoughts you have and then saying these awful words and not expect awful actions to take place. And that’s the unfortunate environment we are in."
MSNBC fired someone for pointing out structural factors exist and Kirk contribute to making them
MSNBC fired someone for pointing out structural factors exist and Kirk contribute to making them
Reposted by Taras
"There will not be another American “civil war.” The country is too geographically and economically and socially enmeshed for that. But the lone wolves, the fringe groups, and the homicidally desperate will strike, again and again, killing both the innocent and guilty alike."
The American Years of Lead are Here
The Charlie Kirk shooting is just another sign of our new era.
www.discourseblog.com
September 10, 2025 at 9:33 PM
"There will not be another American “civil war.” The country is too geographically and economically and socially enmeshed for that. But the lone wolves, the fringe groups, and the homicidally desperate will strike, again and again, killing both the innocent and guilty alike."
Reposted by Taras
One of the dominant features that will distinguish the American Years of Lead Paint from the Italian Years of Lead is that in Italy, groups getting weapons and picking targets followed getting organized. In the US, awash in guns, people have the tools on hand, and need not be organized for violence.
September 10, 2025 at 9:39 PM
One of the dominant features that will distinguish the American Years of Lead Paint from the Italian Years of Lead is that in Italy, groups getting weapons and picking targets followed getting organized. In the US, awash in guns, people have the tools on hand, and need not be organized for violence.
Reposted by Taras
For the first time in their lives, gun violence has claimed someone who was real to them
September 11, 2025 at 1:05 AM
For the first time in their lives, gun violence has claimed someone who was real to them