Author: HP McLovincraft

Seeker of rabbit holes. Pessimist. Libertine. Contrarian. Your huckleberry. Possibly true tales of sanity-blasting horror also known as abject reality. Prepare yourself. Veteran of a thousand psychic wars. I have seen the fnords. Deplatformed on Tumblr and Twitter.

Lockheed Martin To Produce Cheaper Patriot Interceptor Missiles To Address Skyrocketing Demand for Air Defense

Air defense is the name of the game.

It’s an unfortunate fact that we live in an increasingly dangerous world full of conflict.

Everywhere you turn, countries are hearing the martial drums in the air, and are rearming like there’s no tomorrow.

And in this brave new world of cheap swarming drones, the biggest bottleneck in the defense procurement of these countries is the air defense systems and intercepting missiles.

It also doesn’t help that the most sought-after systems and missiles, the Patriot, are exceedingly expensive and slow to manufacture.

In this scenario, Lockheed Martin announced today (20) a lower-cost Patriot interceptor, as the established defense contractors ‘face competition from startups making low-cost weapons that can ​be produced at scale’.

Reuters reported:

“Lockheed said its new PAC-3 Adapted Capability Effector, or ​ACE, missile would cost less than half as much as its ⁠PAC-3 MSE interceptors, which cost roughly $4 million per missile, according to U.S. ​Army budget documents.

Initial production could start within 36 months, the company said, adding that ​it plans to develop and manufacture the weapon with U.S. and European industry partners.

‘American and allied warfighters need a solution that is battle-tested and budget-smart’, Tim Cahill, president of Lockheed Martin ​Missiles and Fire Control, said in a statement at Britain’s Farnborough Airshow.”

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Mamdani’s Affordability Agenda Flops As NYC Rents Surge To Record Highs

New York City’s socialist mayor, Zohran Mamdani, and his radical-left lieutenants in City Hall promised voters free bus rides, government-run grocery stores, cheap housing, and much more. Yet the dream of a left-wing utopia has not materialized. In fact, rents in the NYC metro area just hit a record high.

New data from The Corcoran Group, a major residential real estate brokerage founded in NYC, shows that rents in the metro area have climbed to a new record high.

Manhattan’s median rent rose 8% from a year earlier to $5,295, while Brooklyn reached $4,350, also up 8%, according to the report. Manhattan’s vacancy rate narrowed to 1.49%. In Queens, Rego Park posted particularly sharp increases, with one-bedroom rents up 12% and studio rents up more than 20%.

“Manhattan renters are chasing a shrinking pool of available apartments, and the result has become predictable — record rents. Available listings dropped 16% year-over-year in June, while the borough’s median rent climbed to a new high of $5,295 . Leasing activity clocked in 7% below last year’s pace due to the lack of inventory, causing competition to remain fierce. Additionally, June marked one year since implementation of the FARE Act, a milestone that may still be influencing pricing trends, particularly within the non-doorman market. Across the board, quality apartments are commanding a premium, and renters have little room to negotiate,” Corcoran COO Gary Malin wrote in the report.

Malin continued, “Brooklyn’s rental market is also rewriting the record books. Median rent jumped 8% year-over-year to an all-time high of $4,350 and apartments spent 30% fewer days on the market. This steep annual decline underscores how tight the market has become, with flat inventory and strong demand strong causing available units to rent far faster than a year ago. While lease signings were lower on an annual basis, activity picked up from May as renters moved quickly to secure apartments ahead of the busiest stretch of the summer season. Throughout the borough, competition.”

City Comptroller Mark Levine commented on the new report, saying, “NYC’s housing affordability crisis is at DEFCON 1. We need to push harder on every front to address our housing shortage.”

“Update zoning, invest more City $ in affordable units, lower the time & cost City bureaucracy imposes on construction, get 1000s of vacant regulated units back on the market. We need bold action. This is a crisis,” Levine added.

Yet, as Libs of TikTok on X pointed out, “We don’t have a housing shortage. We have an illegal alien invasion,” adding, “Forty percent of NYC rentals are occupied by people born outside the US.”

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Democrat Senator Mark Warner Gets Fact-Checked on Virginia Voter ID Laws on Live TV

Democrat Senator Mark Warner got fact-checked on live TV about voter ID amid a debate over President Trump’s push for the Senate to pass the SAVE America Act.

President Trump on Thursday evening delivered a primetime address to the nation about foreign election interference.

The president revealed:

– The DHS found approximately 278,000 non-citizens on the voter rolls

– China accessed 220 million US voter files and the Deep State withheld that information from Trump

– China targeted President Trump during the 2020 election by paying media outlets to write negative stories about him

At the end of his speech, President Trump urged Americans to call their representatives and demand that they pass the SAVE America Act.

The US must secure its elections. It is a matter of national security.

“To all Americans, I ask you to pick up your phone tomorrow, call your representatives and the House and Senate, and demand that they pass the SAVE America Act without delay,” President Trump said.

Mark Warner got called out about his voter ID lies during an appearance on ABC’s “This Week.”

“You and every other Democrat oppose the SAVE America Act… requiring photo ID to register to vote, is this Democrats should get behind?” Jon Karl asked Mark Warner.

“In Virginia, we have voter ID and photo ID!” Mark Warner said.

This is a lie.

Virginia currently allows voters to present non-photo identification, such as copies of utilities and bank statements, as an accepted form of ID.

Virginia voters can also sign an ID statement affirming their identity.

Jon Karl fact-checked Mark Warner.

“That’s actually not the case. I’m a Virginia voter. You don’t need to show a photo ID in Virginia,” Jon Karl said, adding, “And if you don’t show one of those you can sign an affidavit…”

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Arkansas GOP Governor And Democratic Challenger Agree On Opposing Marijuana Legalization

Medical marijuana has generated more than $1 billion in Arkansas since voters legalized it in 2016.

After the state opened its first dispensary in 2019, thousands of Arkansans joined the program and spent a record $291.1 million on medical marijuana in 2025, according to the state’s Department of Finance and Administration.

Tax revenue from those sales now supports free breakfast for public school students, following approval of legislation by lawmakers last year.

Medical marijuana programs have expanded across the country, as has recreational marijuana. Two dozen states, including neighboring Missouri, permit recreational marijuana use, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

Arkansas voters in 2022 rejected an effort to expand legalization to recreational marijuana, despite national groups spending millions in support of the measure.

Restrictions on marijuana have relaxed at the federal level, with the U.S. Department of Justice downgrading the drug classification for medical cannabis earlier this year.

Here’s what Arkansas’s gubernatorial candidates—Democratic state Sen. Fred Love, Republican Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders and Libertarian Colt Shelby—say about legalizing recreational marijuana.

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SHE’S BACK: Ousted Squad Rep. Cori Bush Thinks the Rise of the DSA is Her Ticket Back Into Congress

When far left Missouri Rep. Cori Bush was voted out of office, she vowed to return. Now that the radical left is seeing some wins with their DSA candidates, she thinks it’s her ticket back into congress.

She is one of those politicians who just can’t take no for an answer. Being a member of congress is probably the best and easiest job she has ever had and she is desperate to get back in.

She is even campaigning with a radical ‘Maoist’ who supports the terrorist group Hamas.

FOX News reports:

Ousted Squad Dem stumps with radical activist who defended Hamas, promoted political violence

Former Rep. Cori Bush, D-Mo., is campaigning to return to Congress alongside a self-described Maoist activist and political organizer whose online videos and social media rhetoric has included urging leftists not to disavow Hamas or Hezbollah, has included calls to “unmake” America, applauded burning the American flag and endorsed political violence.

The activist, Christopher Winston, has built an online presence across numerous platforms under the pseudonym “BlackRedGuard,” posting and appearing in videos about “Maoist organizing in DSA,” attacking leftists who say they do not support “Hezbollah/Hamas” and using rhetoric that appeared to condone political violence.

In one video reviewed by Fox News Digital, Winston asked, “What’s wrong with throwing molotov cocktails at a police station? What’s wrong with throwing molotovs at a police station?”

Bush, an ousted “Squad” Democrat mounting a comeback bid in Missouri’s 1st Congressional District, appeared in a recent social media post standing right beside Winston as he participated in supporting her campaign…

“If you say s— like ‘I don’t support Hezbollah/Hamas’ and call yourself a leftist you lame. All power to all the resistance. Peace through the sword,” Winston, a St. Louis-area activist working with the DSA said in his social media post shaming those on the left who condemn Hamas and Hezbollah.

Bush is also already being investigated for fraud again. Some things never change.

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Tulsi Gabbard’s brother charged after allegedly trying to lure children to Waikīkī hotel room: police

The older brother of former Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard has been charged after Honolulu police say he allegedly tried to lure several children to his Waikīkī hotel room by offering them gum and money, as his family says he is continuing to receive psychiatric treatment.

Batarti Gabbard, 55, was charged with second-degree custodial interference after the July 12 “stranger danger” incident at a Waikīkī hotel pool, according to police.

Honolulu police allege Gabbard approached several children, including a 9-year-old boy, asked for their names, wrote them in a notebook and offered them money and gum if they would accompany him to his hotel room.

Fox News Digital obtained new comment from Gabbard’s father, Hawaii state Sen. Mike Gabbard, who declined to discuss the allegations, but confirmed his son continues to receive medical and psychiatric treatment.

“We love him, and asked him to follow the protocol at the hospital, which he says he will do,” Mike Gabbard told Fox News Digital. “We’re praying for his speedy recovery, and would appreciate the prayers of others.”

Fox News Digital also reached out to Tulsi Gabbard through her public office and left a voicemail requesting comment.

She did not immediately respond.

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Socialism Fails: Why the Danish Model Won’t Work in the U.S.

Denmark is regularly held up in U.S. political debate as proof that socialism works, with the country’s high taxes, universal healthcare, and generous benefits cited as a model the United States could adopt if it were only willing to embrace socialism the way Denmark has. The comparison usually comes with a pointed question: if socialism produces this standard of living in Denmark, why can’t the United States do the same?

The record of countries that have actually implemented socialism answers that question on its own. China, Cuba, Laos, North Korea, and Venezuela have all organized their economies around state or Communist Party control of production. All five rank among the world’s most repressed economies and least free societies. Denmark’s nominal GDP per capita is high at $77,046, but it still trails the United States’ $89,991. The other five countries badly trail both: China sits at $13,968, Venezuela at $3,736, Laos at $2,288, and North Korea at just $640.

Cuba’s official GDP per capita is reported at more than $7,000 per year. That figure is calculated using the government’s official exchange rates, which bear little resemblance to the rate used in everyday transactions. At market exchange rates, the average state worker earns only about $15 to $25 per month.

On political rights and civil liberties, Freedom House’s 2026 report rates China at 9 out of 100 and North Korea at 3, both among the world’s least free states. Cuba, Laos, and Venezuela are all rated “Not Free” as well. Socialism, in its actual historical applications, has consistently produced restricted freedom and a low standard of living for the citizens living under it.

Denmark is frequently described as a socialist success story, but the label does not match how the Danish economy actually functions. Socialism, in its standard economic definition, means state or collective ownership of the means of production, with government directing investment, pricing, and output. Denmark does not operate this way. It is a capitalist market economy with private ownership of firms, competitive markets, and free trade. It carries a large tax-funded welfare and transfer system layered on top. That is the same market foundation the United States has, just carrying a much heavier tax load.

According to the OECD’s Revenue Statistics 2025, Denmark’s tax-to-GDP ratio reached 45.2% in 2024, the highest in the OECD for the second consecutive year, up from 44.0% in 2023. By comparison, the OECD average was 34.1% in 2024, and the United States collected roughly 25.6% of GDP in tax revenue, near the bottom of the OECD. That revenue funds redistribution and social insurance, not state-run enterprise.

Denmark’s private sector remains dominant, and government involvement is concentrated in financing benefits rather than owning production. The result is a market economy with a Gini coefficient of 28.6, among the lowest measures of income inequality globally, and a poverty rate of about 4% as of 2021.

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Key House Democrats Caught Flat Footed When Asked About Democratic Socialists’ Plan for America

Key House Democrats including Ilhan Omar, Ro Khanna, and Pete Aguilar were left fumbling this week when asked to comment on the latest radical proposal from the Democratic Socialists of America.

The DSA’s platform, called “Workers Deserve More,” openly calls for abolishing core pillars of the American government including the Senate, the presidency, and even the Supreme Court.

The plan would replace those institutions with a single legislature controlling both an elected executive branch and a judiciary directly answerable to Congress.

When questioned by Fox News Digital, Rep. Khanna quickly distanced himself from the proposal, saying, “I don’t support that. I haven’t read the proposal.”

It was an unsurprising response for a lawmaker trying to play both sides of the ideological split within his own party.

The socialist plan does not stop at dismantling the federal system.

It also seeks to erase U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, pardon all aliens regardless of criminal behavior, and defund the Department of War, the historical term for the Department of Defense.

To top it off, the DSA platform calls for granting full voting rights to felons and even noncitizens, while ending all deportations entirely.

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Russia Pounds Kiev With the Largest Missile Attack of the War

You’ve never seen Kiev like this.

While the Ukraine war is the bloodiest war fought in Europe since WW2, the capital Kiev has still lived a comparatively normal life.

The calls from the most extreme Russian segments to ‘turn Kiev into a parking lot’, ‘raze it to the ground’ etc. have been solemnly ignored by Vladimir Putin and his military commanders.

With last night’s massive Russian airstrikes on the Ukrainian capital, the ‘quality of life’ there may have started to take a change for the worse – but there’s a catch.

CBS called last night’s attack ‘deadly, massive’, while The Telegraph and the New York Times called the ‘largest’, and CNN the ‘biggest’ missile attack of the 5-year war.

It’s estimated that between 40 and 50 ballistic missiles were launched at the city – and so far, the estimates in the western papers say ‘one person is dead’.

This appears to vindicate the Russian claims of only striking military targets (empty at night).

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Hawaiʻi Supreme Court Orders Office of Elections to Answer Petition Over Refusal to Support Elections Commission

The Hawaiʻi Supreme Court has ordered the State Office of Elections to respond, by Friday, July 24, 2026, to a petition alleging the agency unlawfully refused to provide administrative support to the Hawaiʻi Elections Commission — support the Commission needed to convene a meeting and elect a chairperson.

The July 17, 2026, order, issued in Cushnie & McKay v. Nago (SCPW-26-0000498), directs Respondents Scott T. Nago, Chief Election Officer, and the Office of Elections to address two questions:

  1. Whether the Office of Elections failed or refused to provide staff support to the Elections Commission as required under Hawaiʻi Revised Statutes § 11-1.5(b); and
  2. Whether that failure prevented the Elections Commission from meeting to elect a chairperson.

The order was signed by Acting Chief Justice Sabrina S. McKenna, Justices Todd W. Eddins and Lisa M. Ginoza, and Circuit Judges Peter T. Cahill and Dyan M. Medeiros, sitting by assignment.

Background

Petitioners Ralph S. Cushnie and Tamara McKay, Commissioners of the Hawaiʻi Elections Commission representing Kauaʻi and Maui counties respectively, filed an emergency petition for writ of mandamus on July 8, 2026. The petition states that the Commission — which has lacked a chairperson since June 30, 2026 — could not lawfully notice or convene a meeting because the Office of Elections declined to provide basic administrative support, including a remote-meeting link and distribution of meeting notices, despite HRS § 11-1.5(b)’s requirement that the Office “shall provide staff support to the elections commission, as requested by the elections commission.”

The petition further states that the Department of Accounting and General Services confirmed in writing that the statutory support obligation rests with the Office of Elections, and that the Department of the Attorney General is not authorized to convene Commission meetings on the agency’s behalf.

What Happens Next

Under the Court’s order, Respondents must file their answer by July 24, 2026. Petitioners may then file a reply of no more than ten pages by July 29, 2026.

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