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🌊 Roca Exclusive: Did a Tweet Get 8 Civilians Killed?
Someone tweeted the coordinates of a potential Houthi base. Moments later, it was bombed
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By Max Frost and Barratt Dewey
In October 2020, @VleckieHond began tweeting about Yemen.
“A Houthi missile hit Al-Marzan neighbourhood near #Hodeidah, injuring two women and three children. #Yemen,” her first post read.
Within a year, Vleckie – whose location is set to the Netherlands and bio reads, “Yemen things, Learning as I post, Ceasefire now” – was tweeting out specific coordinates and satellite imagery of military sites in Yemen. Specifically, she’d find photos, videos, and news reports, and then provide the exact coordinates where they were taking place.
This hobby put Vleckie among a burgeoning online community of open source intelligence (OSINT) analysts, who were using publicly available data to conduct analysis that was once limited to CIA officers and their kin.
Vleckie’s work drew the attention of the defense establishment. One research paper published by West Point’s Combating Terrorism Center in April 2024 cited one of her tweets and noted, “For an open-source analysis of one such complex of igloos [Houthi storage facilities]...see the ever-resourceful analyst @VleckieHond’s use of purchased commercial satellite imagery here.”
In the year since that report, Vleckie continued to tweet increasingly precise posts about Houthi activities and, since President Trump launched a campaign to destroy the group, American strikes on Yemen.
Then this week, Vleckie had a realization: Was the US government using her tweets to target its bombings?
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Editor’s Note
Thank you for reading and we hope you found this story interesting. If you happen to tweet out the coordinates for a Houthi rocket launcher, please do not put them at 40.71925494799197, -74.00191103839401.
We had quite an intriguing and diverse batch of stories this week, from serial killers to an insider report from the Vatican and an on-the-ground report from Pakistan. If you missed any of those, you can find them at the links below.
Also, tons of reader replies on yesterday’s story about the current Supreme Court case on when parents should have the right to pull their kids out of school. A sample of the feedback is below.
Amy wrote:
Let me first disclose that I am not a parent, so no real skin in the game. My thoughts are if so many parents are wanting to opt-out of the curriculum, maybe that’s a sign to the school that curriculum should not be taught. I’m not opposed to this type of curriculum being taught to older kids, high school age maybe, to bring about awareness of differences in the type of people in this world. But, to teach being transgender to young kids, I really don’t think they have the capacity to fully understand what they are being taught. It does feel like a bit of an “agenda”.
Sarah from Clifton, VA wrote:
This issue should absolutely be up to the parents, and not just religious parents - all parents. If schools are going to politicize education and cover topics that many (possibly even a majority) of Americans think are inappropriate for school, especially for younger age groups, then parents should have the right to opt out.
On a personal level, I am an Orthodox Christian, but my husband and others I know are not Christians or religious and still firmly believe that elementary school is not an appropriate age to discuss these types of issues - the innocence of children should be protected. You can teach children to treat everyone with respect without shoving sexualized topics down their throats. We live in Fairfax County, Virginia, and this is why we are putting our oldest in a private kindergarten this fall rather than public school, which theoretically is one of the best public school systems in the country.
Forcing political propaganda into public education is pushing more and more families to homeschool or opt for private school if they are able. I feel very fortunate that we are able to do so, but we shouldn't have to. Public education should not be political, and complex sexual topics should not be taught in elementary and middle schools. If they are, then parents should be able to opt out.
As always, great job covering both sides!
And Max (not one of the Roca Maxes) said:
The state's job is to teach children reading, writing, and arithmetic. In other words, teach facts and skills that enable children to be employable adults. Opinions, beliefs, religion, etc., belong to parental training. Parents, or those legally doing that role in the lives of children, send them to government schools to learn factual information. We are not yet a totalitarian society where everyone must believe the same things, or our society will unravel.
I hope the Supreme Court will continue to vote on the side of individual rights.
That’s all for today. We’ll be back tomorrow.
—Max and Max