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.

Zuckerberg’s “Fix” for Child Safety Could End Anonymous Internet Access for Everyone

Mark Zuckerberg spent more than five hours on the stand in Los Angeles Superior Court on Wednesday, testifying before a jury for the first time about claims that Meta deliberately designed Instagram to addict children.

The headline from most coverage was the spectacle: an annotated paper trail of internal emails, a 35-foot collage of the plaintiff’s Instagram posts unspooled across the courtroom, a CEO growing visibly agitated under cross-examination.

The more important story is what Wednesday’s proceedings are being used to build.

The trial is framed as a child safety case. What it is actually doing, especially through Zuckerberg’s own testimony, is laying the political and legal groundwork for mandatory identity verification across the internet.

And Zuckerberg, rather than pushing back on that outcome, offered the court his preferred implementation plan.

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Mayor Mamdani Urges New Yorkers to Help Shovel Snow — But They Must Show Two Forms of ID!

New York City officials are looking to hire 1,000 emergency snow shovelers as a major winter storm moves toward the region.

Mayor Zohran Mamdani said during a press conference on Saturday that the city is preparing for what could be its most significant snowfall in nearly a decade.

“For those who want to do more to help their neighbors and earn some extra cash, you too can become an emergency snow shoveler,” Mamdani said.

”Just show up at your local sanitation garage between 8 am and 1 pm tomorrow with your paperwork,” he added.

Workers will be transported by vans and buses beginning Sunday night to clear bus stops, crosswalks, fire hydrants, and other public areas.

The Department of Sanitation said shovelers are paid $19.14 per hour, with overtime at $28.71 per hour after 40 hours.

However, netizens pointed out that applicants are required to present two forms of identification, despite Mamdani and the Democratic Party’s fervent opposition to Republican-backed voter ID mandates.

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Hakeem Jeffries Suddenly Discovers Border Security as 2026 Panic Sets In 

In a visit to Laredo, Texas, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries attempted to rebrand himself as a supporter of “strong, safe, and secure borders.”

The messaging shift was striking, not because border security is controversial, but because it conflicts with years of Democrat resistance to enforcement policies that would meaningfully achieve that goal.

Standing alongside Henry Cuellar, Jeffries emphasized the importance of U.S.–Mexico trade, the renewal of the United States–Mexico–Canada Agreement, and the economic harm caused by tariffs and ICE enforcement actions at worksites.

Laredo’s mayor highlighted the city’s role as a major port of entry and a central hub in the bilateral commercial relationship.

Jeffries followed with familiar Democrat language about “shared prosperity,” humane enforcement, and the need for stability and certainty.

The rhetorical pivot came when Jeffries declared support for “strong, safe, and secure borders.” That phrase has been a cornerstone of Republican messaging for years, particularly under President Donald Trump, who built his first and second administrations around border enforcement, physical barriers, and expanded deportations.

For much of the Biden administration, Democrat leadership dismissed those policies as excessive, unnecessary, or politically motivated.

Now, facing public frustration over record encounters at the southern border and mounting pressure in swing districts, Democrat leaders appear eager to sound like moderates.

The substance, however, tells a different story. Jeffries criticized ICE for conducting worksite enforcement operations and suggested that agents were targeting “law-abiding immigrant families.”

He called for independent investigations and argued that the Department of Justice could not be trusted to oversee enforcement actions fairly. The mayor echoed opposition to a border wall, stating that the focus should be on “bridges” rather than barriers.

This approach reflects the core tension within the Democrat position. Leaders publicly endorse border security while opposing the very tools required to enforce immigration law at scale.

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Iranian Spies Busted: Three Silicon Valley Engineers Charged with Stealing Google Trade Secrets and Funneling Data to Tehran

A federal grand jury has indicted three engineers for stealing hundreds of confidential files from Google and other tech giants, then smuggling the sensitive data to Iran.

The defendants, Samaneh Ghandali, 41, a U.S. citizen; her sister Soroor Ghandali, 32, an Iranian national on a student visa; and Samaneh’s husband Mohammadjavad Khosravi, 40, an Iranian national and legal permanent resident, were all residents of San Jose at the time of the theft.

Samaneh and Soroor previously worked at Google before joining another unnamed tech firm, while Khosravi, a former member of the Iranian army, was employed at a developer of system-on-chip (SoC) platforms, such as Qualcomm’s Snapdragon series used in high-end Android phones and Apple’s iPhones.

Charged with conspiracy to commit trade secret theft, theft, and attempted theft of trade secrets, and obstruction of justice, the trio allegedly exploited their insider access to steal processor security, cryptography materials, and Snapdragon SoC hardware architecture secrets that serve as valuable intel not readily available to competitors.

The trio routed the files through third-party platforms like Telegram, copied them to personal devices, and even photographed computer screens to dodge digital monitoring.

In a particularly brazen move, just before Samaneh and Khosravi jetted off to Iran in December 2023, she snapped photos of his work screen displaying company secrets.

While in Iran, devices linked to them accessed this pilfered info.

Google caught wind of the scheme in August 2023 when internal security flagged Samaneh’s suspicious activity, leading to her access being revoked.

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Armed man shot and killed after ‘unauthorized entry’ into Mar-a-Lago: Secret Service

A man in his early 20s was shot and killed early Sunday after allegedly breaching the secure perimeter of President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, FLorida, the U.S. Secret Service announced.

The Secret Service said the incident occurred around 1:30 a.m. when the suspect made an “unauthorized entry” at the property.

The individual was observed near the north gate carrying what appeared to be a shotgun and a fuel can.

Agents and a deputy from the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office confronted the man who was pronounced dead at the scene. 

No Secret Service or Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office personnel were injured, and no Secret Service protectees were present at the property at the time, officials said.

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Gavin Newsom Says We Can’t Have Voter ID Because No One Will be Able to Find Their Birth Certificate

California Governor Gavin Newsom recently appeared on Jim Clyburn’s podcast and suggested that we can’t pass the SAVE Act which would require voter IDs because no one, including him, would be able to find their birth certificates.

As an aside, why does Jim Clyburn have a podcast? Like, why is that even a thing?

Anyway, Newsom’s point is stupid, and so is Clyburn’s follow up. He falls back onto the ridiculous Democrat talking point about women being unable to get valid IDs because they changed their name when they got married.

Townhall reported:

Gavin Newsom Wants to Run the Country, but He Can’t Keep Track of His Own Birth Certificate

Democrats think that being ignorant of the law or just plain stupid means we can never enact certain laws, specifically laws that Democrats don’t like. The latest target of their feigned ignorance and stupidity is the SAVE Act, which would require voters to prove they are American citizens in order to vote in American federal elections. Democrats believe that not only are Black, poor, and women voters too incapable of getting an ID (something they need for almost every facet of life), but now they’re pretending they too just have no idea how to keep track of vital records like birth certificates.

Gavin Newsom wants to be the next president, but we don’t think that office should be held by someone who doesn’t know where his birth certificate is.

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Fire That Killed NASCAR Star Denny Hamlin’s Father Ruled Accidental But What Caused It Remains a Mystery

An investigation by North Carolina authorities into the fire that killed NASCAR star Denny Hamlin’s father has concluded.

On December 28, the home of Dennis and Mary Lou Hamlin caught fire.

As emergency services arrived on the scene, the couple was spotted in the front yard with significant injuries.

Dennis Hamlin, 75, succumbed to his injuries, but his wife, Mary Lou, survived.

Since the fire, Gaston County Emergency Management and Fire Services have been investigating the incident for the past month and have concluded their investigation, ruling the fire “accidental.”

However, the investigation concluded without ever determining what sparked the blaze in the couple’s bedroom.

Per AP:

The North Carolina house fire that killed NASCAR driver Denny Hamlin’s father and injured his mother has been ruled accidental but it’s still unclear what started it.

A report released by Gaston County Emergency Management & Fire Services said the Dec. 28 fire at the two-story home originated in a bedroom, but the “cause of ignition” is “undetermined.”

Otherwise, the investigation determined the fire as accidental, Gaston County spokesperson Adam Gaub wrote in an email Friday.

Hamlin’s parents, Dennis and Mary Lou Hamlin were found outside the home the evening of the fire suffering from catastrophic injuries, officials said. Dennis Hamlin, 75, later died, while his wife survived.

The home, located near Stanley about 20 miles (32 kilometers) northwest of Charlotte, was owned by a company that listed Denny Hamlin as its manager, according to government records.

Following the death of his father, Hamlin took to X to write, “Thank you to everyone who has reached out with condolences on my father’s passing.”

He added, “My mother continues to improve, and our family truly appreciates the outpouring of support and the respect for our privacy during this time.”

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Epstein Obsessed With Vatican, Conspired With Steve Bannon

Newly released documents from the Justice Department have cast fresh light on disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein’s long-running fixation with the Catholic Church and his private exchanges with Steve Bannon, a former adviser to President Donald Trump, about efforts to “take down” Pope Francis.

The tranche of emails and text messages, dating primarily from 2014 to 2019, reveals a pattern of mockery, ideological hostility, and political strategizing centered on the Vatican.

Epstein was convicted in 2008 of child sex offenses and later died in federal custody in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges. 

The records showed that in the years between those events he remained engaged with powerful political and media figures — including Bannon — and expressed particular contempt for the Roman Catholic Church and its papacy.

The most politically charged revelations involve text messages exchanged in 2018 and 2019 between Epstein and Bannon, the former White House chief strategist who had become an adviser to Epstein in the years after he was found guilty of sex charges.

In a June 2019 message, Bannon wrote to Epstein: “Will take down [Pope] Francis. The Clintons, [Chinese President] Xi [Jinping], Francis, EU — come on brother.”

The language suggests that Francis was viewed by Bannon as part of a broader set of geopolitical and ideological adversaries.

At the time, Francis was a vocal critic of nationalism, xenophobia, and anti-immigrant policies — positions that placed him at odds with segments of the populist right and traditional Catholics.

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REPORT: Obama’s Hideous Presidential Center is Going to Cost Chicago Taxpayers A LOT MORE Than They Were Told

In addition to being ugly, the new Obama presidential center is going to be a massive financial burden on the people of Chicago.

They were sold a bill of goods about how the center was going to bring tourism and revenue to the city, but not so much about the costs.

In this sense, it is a perfect monument to Obama’s legacy. Overpriced and based on lies, much like Obamacare.

FOX News reports:

Bureaucrats hide true price of Obama Presidential Center as taxpayers hit with infrastructure bill

Former President Barack Obama once declared that his presidential center would be a “gift” to Chicago, but taxpayers are on the hook for hundreds of millions of dollars in hidden costs related to the beleaguered project.

A Fox News Digital investigation shows taxpayers are now stuck footing the bill for surging public infrastructure costs required to support the project — and no government agency can provide an accounting of the total public cost, despite months of queries and FOIA requests…

When the project was approved in 2018, Obama pledged to privately fund construction of the expansive 19.3-acre campus in historic Jackson Park through donations to the Obama Foundation – a commitment that remains in place as the center’s construction continues to be privately financed.

But the extensive infrastructure required to make the campus operationally viable — including redesigned roads, stormwater systems, and relocated utilities — is publicly financed, and without those changes, the center could not function.

At the time, projections placed public infrastructure costs at roughly $350 million, split between the state of Illinois and the city of Chicago.

Eight years later, the Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT) told Fox News Digital that approximately $229 million in infrastructure spending was tied to the site, up from its earlier estimate of roughly $174 million.

The $229 million figure reflects state-managed spending, which may include federal transportation funds routed through IDOT.

The report goes on to state that the agencies which are supposed to be overseeing the accounting on the project are not being upfront with taxpayers and are providing ‘estimates’ of ongoing costs.

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OpenAI failed to disclose Canadian trans shooter’s ChatGPT history in meeting with officials day after shooting

In a meeting with the British Columbia government, the day after a trans-identifying 18-year-old carried out a mass shooting in Tumbler Ridge, OpenAI did not disclose that it had been aware of concerning conversations the shooter had with its chatbot months prior.

The province said in a statement that OpenAI waited until the following day to ask its provincial contact to help connect the company with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. OpenAI handed over evidence that the shooter was banned from using ChatGPT after its automated screening systems flagged his chats last June, according to a company statement.

A previous report found that some employees had wanted the company to alert police about posts involving gun violence, but were ignored.

The Globe and Mail reported that, according to a statement from Premier David Erby’s office, a government representative met with OpenAI employees on February 11 about its interest in opening a satellite office in Canada. The following day, OpenAI requested contact information from the RCMP.

“That request was sent to the director of policing and law-enforcement services, who connected OpenAI with the RCMP,” the statement said. “OpenAI did not inform any member of government that they had potential evidence regarding the shootings in Tumbler Ridge.”

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