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.

Germany Threatens to Hold the Entire EU Budget Hostage for Ukraine

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz is now threatening to block the European Union’s entire seven-year budget unless every member state agrees to finance Ukraine. This is the state of European politics today. The governments of 27 nations are supposed to negotiate a budget that addresses their own economic needs, infrastructure, agriculture, regional development, and public services. Instead, Merz has decided the future of the entire European Union must be conditional on another financial commitment to a nation that is not even an EU member. The war has been dragging on since February 2022, European economies are deteriorating, and the political establishment continues to behave as though there is an unlimited supply of money that can be extracted from the taxpayers.

Ukraine is facing a €70 billion financing shortfall in 2027. Brussels has already promised to cover approximately two-thirds of that amount, or €45 billion, despite having no agreed mechanism to finance the commitment. The European Commission is considering another round of joint borrowing, which would place additional obligations upon European taxpayers. This comes on top of the €90 billion loan approved last December. The existing loan was supposed to provide Ukraine with financing over two years, yet Kyiv is already demanding another enormous injection of capital. At what point does anyone in Brussels acknowledge that this is becoming a permanent financial obligation rather than temporary emergency assistance?

Merz has written to European Council President António Costa demanding that all member states contribute to Ukraine’s financing. He declared, “A collective commitment that all of us, without exception, will contribute fairly to closing this gap is an essential prerequisite for resolving this issue and for discussing any further matters, particularly those with financial implications.” Germany is threatening to withhold approval of the EU’s 2028–2034 budget unless countries that have already expressed opposition to additional Ukraine financing agree to participate.

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EU Approves First Military Mission Presence On Ukrainian Soil: ‘Make No Secret Of It’

The European Council has announced that it is sending EU military personnel directly to Ukraine as part of its ongoing train and advise mission.

However, whereas this program – called the EU Military Assistance Mission in support of Ukraine (EUMAM) – previously only took place outside of Ukraine, it will now be extended to Ukrainian territory.

In a Monday press release, the Council confirmed that it is extending the mandate of the EUMAM until November 15, 2028, with a budget of nearly 300 million (or $334 million) – but added this huge new development:

“The Council also decided to establish a presence in Ukraine to ensure direct and effective coordination with the Ukrainian military authorities,“ the press release from Brussels said.

This is a huge provocation aimed at Russia, given that Moscow’s position has long been that European soldiers would be fair game for Russian strikes.

While it’s believed that Western forces and certainly intelligence officers been on the ground throughout the conflict, especially French forces, this has never been done in an official and public capacity.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov addressed this change at a press conference Tuesday while speaking from Abu Dhabi at the trilateral Russia-Ukraine-US talks:

“Europe’s plan is quite simple, and they make no secret of it: as soon as a ceasefire is reached, they intend to move ‘stabilization forces’ into the territory controlled by the Kiev regime.”

Indeed it seems Brussels is trying to create leverage for inself by being more directly ‘involved’ on the ground in Ukraine.

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Parents win settlement after being punished for protesting ‘transgender’ male

A New Hampshire school district will shell out $275,000 to settle a lawsuit after it punished family members of a soccer player for wearing “XX” wristbands during a game.

The settlement also affirms the rights of spectators to quietly protest during games.

“Plaintiffs have a First Amendment right to silently wear pink wristbands bearing the XX symbol on the sidelines, in the spectator’s area, or in the parking lot of any Bow District sporting event,” the declaratory judgement states.

The school district also acknowledged that it “violated Plaintiffs’ First Amendment rights when it barred Plaintiffs from wearing the wristbands at the girls’ varsity soccer game on September 17, 2024.”

Controversy erupted after the plaintiffs, who included the parents and a grandparent, chose to wear the wristbands at a game two years ago. The family members did not interrupt the game, harass the gender-confused player, or otherwise cause a disturbance.

Still, school officials stepped in to violate the family members’ First Amendment rights.

As the Institute for Free Speech explained:

School officials, accompanied by a police officer, confronted them. The referee halted play until one spectator removed his wristband, and school officials later issued trespass orders barring [the plaintiffs] from school grounds, preventing them from attending their children’s games and other school activities for a time.

While First Amendment jurisprudence does allow for school district officials to regulate speech when it could cause a “material disruption,” attorneys failed to argue that the spectators were causing trouble.

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ICE Busts Iranian ‘King of Instagram’ Who Was Living Large in a $5 Million Hollywood Hills Mansion While Flashing Cash, Luxury Cars and Naked Models to His Million Followers

Immigration agents in Los Angeles arrested Iranian national Farzad “Tony” Toutouni late last month after years of the 55-year-old criminal illegal alien openly living a flashy, high-profile lifestyle as an Instagram influencer, complete with exotic cars, stacks of cash, private aircraft, and parties featuring nude women, and posting about it to more than one million followers.

According to the official ICE press release, Toutouni, who has also used the name Robert, first entered the United States legally in 1983.

An immigration judge ordered him removed in 1993, but he was not removed at that time.

A second removal order came in 1999, after which he was deported to Mexico.

Toutouni later admitted he re-entered the country illegally in 2011, near Saint Clair, Michigan, by crossing the river on an electric raft he purchased in Canada.

Once back inside the United States, he built the online persona of a self-made entrepreneur and “Pelvis Philanthropist,” posting relentlessly about a life of luxury while authorities say he continued a crime spree that began as early as 1989.

ICE detailed his numerous arrests for criminal threats, criminal conspiracy, and possession and sale of a controlled substance. He was sentenced to more than 16 months in prison for a fake check, grand theft of an access card, conspiracy to commit a crime, possession or alteration of access card equipment, forgery, kidnapping, robbery, and extortion.

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Britain’s Grid Operator Just Paid £1.4MM/Hour For Gas Power To Keep Lights On As Wind Slumps

On Monday evening, Britain’s grid operator paid the Langage gas power station near Plymouth the equivalent of £1.4 million an hour, according to market transparency data cited by the Telegraph, as low wind output ran into a third day.

The National Energy System Operator (Neso) was paying around £1,500 per megawatt hour to at least three gas plants to cover the evening peak, about 10 times the average. Langage, Rye House in Hertfordshire and Seabank near Bristol collected similar sums between 3:30pm and 5pm. At that rate, 90 minutes at Langage comes to roughly £2.1 million.

Neso issued an electricity margin notice at 7:17pm on Sunday for the 6am to 11am window on Monday, flagging a 1,388 MW shortfall against a 808 MW contingency requirement and asking generators to say what extra capacity they could bring. After a 4am review the shortfall was cut to about 500 MW, the Guardian reported, and the notice was withdrawn Monday morning. Neso called it “a routine and precautionary measure” and said, “This is not a warning of power cuts, there is no risk to customer electricity supplies.”

Notices like this have become far more common with seven issued so far this year, against one for the whole of 2025, the Telegraph reported. They were once reserved for cold winter evenings. One on Sept. 28 flagged a 1,400 MW shortfall between 4pm and 7pm that was later cut to 104 MW and cancelled, and another on Oct. 6 had the margin falling 1.88 GW.

A Neso spokesman said the number of notices “can vary significantly from year to year and there have been comparable periods of EMN use in the past,” calling them “a routine operational tool.”

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DHS Says Twice-Deported Illegal Alien Tried to Storm United Cockpit

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said Tuesday that the man accused of storming the cockpit of a Newark-to-New Orleans United Airlines flight while claiming to have a bomb is a twice-deported illegal alien from Honduras, according to a statement provided to Fox News.

Rony Alexander Gomez-Alberto, 34, was arrested by the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office after United Airlines Flight 2174 landed at Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport late Monday, Fox News correspondent Bill Melugin posted on X.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) lodged a detainer for the twice-deported Honduran on Tuesday, the department said. Under President Donald Trump and Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin, “criminal illegal aliens who try to HIJACK AIRPLANES are NOT welcome” in the United States, DHS continued:

Crew members persuaded the 34-year-old to move to the rear of the cabin, where he was detained, while the pilots stayed locked in the cockpit and officers coordinated getting passengers off the aircraft. Air traffic control audio captured a first responder describing the cabin as “empty except for the pilot and [co-]pilot who are locked in the cockpit,” the New York Post reported.

Forty-six passengers and six crew members were aboard the Boeing 737 MAX 9.

DHS said Gomez-Alberto first entered the country illegally through Texas in 2011 before being removed. A second illegal crossing, through New Mexico in 2014, ended in another removal. A third illegal entry in 2019, through the San Ysidro border crossing in California, ended with a Border Patrol arrest, and a judge ordered him released from ICE custody in January 2020 pending removal proceedings.

He had been living in New York, the sheriff’s office said.

Deputies took him into custody without incident and booked him at the Jefferson Parish Correctional Center on counts of communicating false information of planned arson and terrorizing, FOX8 reported. DHS listed his charges as felony bomb threat, felony terroristic threat, and disorderly conduct. He is being held without bond.

The sheriff’s office confirmed he is wanted by ICE. The FBI said the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Louisiana will determine whether he faces federal charges, WDSU reported.

The Federal Aviation Administration is opening its own investigation, the agency said.

United said the flight landed safely “following a disruptive incident involving a passenger onboard” and that law enforcement met the aircraft on arrival, according to the Associated Press. The jet had departed Newark around 9:30 p.m.

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Hungary Detains Viktor Orban’s Brother On Human Trafficking Charges

Hungary has detained one of former Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s brothers during an investigation into the smuggling of illegal immigrants from Vietnam.

“Three out of the ex-ministers of Orban are already in custody,” Hungarian Prime Minister Peter Magyar said on Monday in Berlin. “Already his brother today went to custody.”

Hungary’s National Asset Protection and Recovery Office (NVVH) said in a statement that it had detained four people and searched several homes in Budapest and the nearby towns of Fot and Dunakeszi. However, it did not name any of them.

Orban responded on social media, saying it was part of a “witch hunt” against him.

“Today, the government should be held to account before the National Security Committee over its handling of the communist-era secret police archives,” Orban wrote on X on Monday.

“However, instead of facing scrutiny, it is using political persecution to divert attention.

“What is happening in Hungary is not accountability. It is a political witch hunt.

“The aim of this dirty political game is to eliminate opponents and establish a one-party state.”

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Israel Bombs Lebanon’s Churches

Months after an ostensible “ceasefire” agreement was signed by Marco Rubio’s State Department, the U.S. Army Infantry School-trained President of Lebanon Joseph Aoun, and the government of Israel, Israeli occupation forces continue to occupy much of southern Lebanon, demolish entire villages with C4 explosives, and perpetrate massacres of civilians.

Under the terms of the Rubio ceasefire, Israel has permission to continue occupying what is called a “security zone,” while Lebanese forces are deputized to accomplish the objective of “disarming” Hezbollah. Only once Hezbollah is disarmed must Israel redeploy from Lebanon. The agreement was designed to supplant the terms of the Iran-U.S. MOU negotiated in Switzerland by J.D. Vance and signed on June 17, 2026, which tied the end of the Iran War to the “immediate and permanent termination of military operations on all fronts, including in Lebanon” and on “ensuring the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Lebanon.”

As Lebanese journalist Mohamad Kleit explained to Dragnet, Lebanese forces have only replaced Israeli occupation forces in three southern villages while Israel’s wholesale destruction of villages continues unabated. A recent New York Times investigation reported that “48 of the roughly 60 villages and towns within Israeli-occupied southern Lebanon are mostly leveled,” noting that “of the 48 villages that have been mostly destroyed, almost all are majority Shiite.”

While corporate media frames the Israeli destruction of those villages and the thousands of civilian casualties Israel has produced as incidental to Israel’s fight with Hezbollah, public statements by Israeli officials reveal what Lebanese human rights activists call “inherent systematic targeting” which “there can be no doubt is deliberate.” Boasting of the destruction of more than 23,000 homes on Israeli television, Israel’s Defense Minister Israel Katz reiterated his longstanding position that Israel seeks to impose what he calls “the Gaza model” in southern Lebanon.

As Israel continues to advance through southern Lebanon despite a ceasefire, Israeli commentators and Lebanese lawmakers alike have said the agreement is designed not to end the conflict but to fuel it, potentially leading to sectarian conflict and civil war.

When the deal was signed, an Israeli analyst remarked on Israel’s Channel 13 that “it seems we’re leading the state of Lebanon into civil war,” adding “maybe it’s not so bad for us, let the Lebanese government fight Hezbollah,” to which his co-host replied that this was “the goal from the start.”

Most recently, Lebanese Druze leader Walid Jumblatt admitted that “we made a mistake by choosing Marco Rubio’s track,” because “believing that the Americans can pressure Israel to withdraw is a complete illusion.” Jumblatt, a former self-admitted warlord responsible for what Jumblatt himself calls “religious cleansing and mass destruction” is no fan of Hezbollah. Yet he now believes he “cannot accept a hardline approach toward Hezbollah if it leads to civil war.”

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Brussels Quietly Shelves Plan To Make ‘Hate Speech’ An EU-Wide Crime… But There’s A Catch

The European Commission plans to withdraw its proposal to make hate speech and hate crime EU-wide criminal offenses after the bid stalled in the Council of the EU, the Epoch Times reported.

The Commission announced the decision on Nov. 4, the Epoch Times said. It concerns an initiative unveiled in December 2021 to add hate speech and hate crime to the list of EU crimes in Article 83(1) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, alongside terrorism, human trafficking and cybercrime. Doing so required the unanimous approval of member states and the consent of the European Parliament, which would then have let the Commission set common minimum definitions and penalties across the bloc. Parliament backed the idea in January 2024 by 397 votes to 121, with 26 abstentions. The Council never reached the unanimity needed.

The Commission is considering a directive to combat online incitement to violence and hatred instead, the Epoch Times reported. Alliance Defending Freedom International said on Nov. 9 that incitement to violence is already a crime, while proposals aimed at “incitement to hatred” have been used in some countries to prosecute peaceful expression, and that the plan risks becoming “yet another tool to silence disfavored views and strengthen the [Digital Services Act’s] online censorship regime.”

Jacob Mchangama and Natalie Alkiviadou, in a paper on the proposal, point to the Commission’s 2026-2030 Anti-Racism Strategy, which signals a possible initiative on online hate offenses under existing Article 83(1) categories such as computer crime. “Where unanimity failed, pursuing similar objectives through digital or computer-crime competences warrants scrutiny,” they write.

The rules already on the books are broad, with a 2008 Council framework requires member states to criminalize certain racist and xenophobic hate speech, and national laws diverge widely beyond that: Germany criminalizes incitement against groups defined by national, racial, religious or ethnic characteristics, while France’s Criminal Code and Press Freedom Act cover characteristics including sex, gender identity, sexual orientation and disability.

On platforms, the Commission announced updated hate speech guidelines under the Digital Services Act in January 2025, expecting participating platforms to review at least half of qualifying notices from monitoring organizations within 24 hours. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said that month that Europe had introduced an “ever-increasing number of laws” that institutionalized censorship, and French MEP Virginie Joron has called the DSA a “Trojan horse for surveillance and control.”

Council of Europe Secretary General Alain Berset said in June that democracies need stronger legal responses to hate speech: “What we need is a strategy for democratic security. One where hate speech is met with the law.”

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HERE WE GO! Texas Democrats Launch MASSIVE Assault on Second Amendment Just DAYS After Historic Election Sweep — Nearly 20 Gun Control Bills Filed on FIRST DAY, Including Firearm Bans, Red Flag Orders, and Private Sale Restrictions!

Just days after Democrat Gina Hinojosa defeated three-term Republican Gov. Greg Abbott and Democrats seized control of the Texas House for the first time since 2002, the party wasted no time launching a full-scale assault on the Second Amendment.

On Monday, November 9, 2026, the very first day lawmakers could prefile bills for the 90th Legislature, Democrats introduced a package of roughly 20 (NRA-ILA counts roughly 35 total firearm-related bills, the vast majority anti-gun) sweeping new restrictions.

The 2027 session does not even convene until January 12, yet the gun-control agenda is already on full display.

Here are some of the other major firearm restrictions Democrats filed Monday:

SB 80 (Sen. Judith Zaffirini): A ban on so-called “assault weapons,” including possession. The bill targets commonly owned semiautomatic centerfire rifles that accept detachable magazines and feature features such as pistol grips. Bill text: capitol.texas.gov SB 80.

HB 218 (Rep. Ann Johnson of Houston): Repeals the 2025 Texas law (SB 1362, signed by Gov. Abbott) that banned red-flag orders and blocked localities from enforcing them. It creates extreme risk protective orders allowing family members, household members, or law enforcement to petition a court. A judge can issue a temporary ex parte order without notifying the gun owner or holding a hearing, forcing surrender of firearms to police within 24 hours. A full hearing comes later (within 14 days), after which the order can last a year and be renewed. Possession in violation is a Class A misdemeanor. Bill text: capitol.texas.gov HB 218.

HB 173 (Rep. Joe Moody of El Paso) and related bills (HB 606, HB 610, HB 771, HB 806, HB 857): Make it a state jail felony to transfer many semiautomatic rifles (those accepting detachable magazines and chambered larger than .22) to adults under 21. Exceptions exist for law enforcement, military, and some temporary loans, but the core restriction targets military-age adults.

HB 613: Imposes so-called universal background checks on private firearm transfers.

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