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.

13 Minnesota Cities Are Looking To Launch Government-Owned Marijuana Stores

As some Minnesota cities fret over regulating newly legalized and normalized marijuana sales, others see an opportunity.

Elk River is among 13 Minnesota cities considering opening municipally owned cannabis stores. They would be blazing new trails in this regard, as government-run pot shops aren’t currently in use anywhere else in the country. City Administrator Cal Portner talks about Elk River’s approach as making the most of a situation.

“I don’t sense that our council is enthusiastic about the law to legalize, but they’re accepting of reality,” he said.

Revenue potential from cannabis sales, and how it can be put to use in the community, is part of the appeal. Assuring compliance is also part of it.

“Our liquor stores never fail compliance tests, whether for tobacco or liquor,” Portner said. “We feel we can do the same thing within the cannabis industry.”

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Million-Year-Old Tools Reveal Mystery Human Species

Archaeological excavations on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi have uncovered seven stone tools dating back at least 1.04 million years, potentially extending to 1.48 million years ago. This groundbreaking discovery, published in the journal Nature, represents the oldest evidence of hominin occupation in the Wallacean archipelago and suggests that unknown human relatives were capable of oceanic crossings far earlier than previously imagined. The identity of these ancient toolmakers remains one of archaeology’s most tantalizing mysteries.

The Calio Site Discovery

The seven chert stone artifacts were excavated between 2019 and 2022 at Calio, located in a modern corn field in southern Sulawesi. These simple yet sophisticated tools were manufactured using hard-hammer percussion techniques, where ancient toolmakers struck larger pebbles from nearby riverbeds to create sharp-edged flakes suitable for cutting and scraping tasks. Professor Adam Brumm from Griffith University’s Australian Research Centre for Human Evolution, who co-led the international research team, described the artifacts as “simple, sharp-edged flakes of stone that would have been useful as general-purpose cutting and scraping implements.”

The tools demonstrate remarkable technical knowledge despite their straightforward appearance. Evidence suggests a two-step reduction process was sometimes employed, where large flakes were further reduced into smaller, more manageable tools. Some artifacts even showed retouching – deliberate trimming of edges to enhance sharpness. This level of sophistication indicates that the toolmakers possessed expert understanding of fracture mechanics within a pragmatic, “least effort” approach to tool manufacturing.

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Making the World Freer with Homemade Guns

Recently, while touting gun seizures in a city that has some of the most authoritarian gun laws in the United States, Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch lamented, “the number of illegal guns that we’ve seen used in New York City has exploded since 3D technology has come about.” She’s not alone. Homemade guns are increasingly sophisticated and available almost everywhere. That’s a good thing.

Americans, Armed and Scary

American dedication to privately owned weapons alarms observers from more restrictive countries—much to the amusement of many Americans, it should be noted, whose ancestors fled those places in search of greater freedom and found it, in part, in the ability to arm themselves and to generally flip the bird to government. That means that from the foundation of the U.S., privately owned weapons and their protection by the Second Amendment have had a strong ideological component. Now, innovators around the world are embracing private arms as expressions of liberty and creating simple designs that can be built in home workshops with commonly available tools and parts.

Critics argue that 3D-printed DIY firearms and their enthusiasts are spreading libertarianism around the world. Let’s hope they’re right.

Summarizing events at June’s MoneroKon conference in Prague, an annual meeting devoted to “privacy-enhancing technologies and distributed systems,” security expert Zoltán Füredi described a presentation by the pseudonymous Zé Carioca, designer of the recently unveiled Urutau, a 9mm select-fire firearm designed to be constructed with a 3D printer and components purchased at any hardware store. Rather than focus on his creation, Zé Carioca instead championed 3D-printed firearms as companions to cryptocurrency in challenging the power and reach of governments.

“His speech blurred the lines between technology, ideology, and extreme libertarian politics,” commented Füredi. He added of the speakers’ message, “Just as the freedom to transact (via cryptocurrency) is now seen as a fundamental human right, so too should be the right to bear arms—worldwide.”

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Mystery of Atlantis deepens as ocean floor discovery hints at ancient catastrophe

A discovery beneath the ocean floor has revealed evidence of a catastrophic event that may be linked to the destruction of the legendary lost city of Atlantis.

Some researchers, including well-known author Graham Hancock, have long proposed that around 12,800 years ago, a giant comet passed through Earth’s atmosphere, triggering devastation that wiped out advanced civilizations worldwide. 

While credible proof of Atlantis itself remains elusive, scientists have now uncovered geochemical clues supporting the theory of this cataclysmic event, known as the Younger Dryas. 

The controversial Younger Dryas Impact Hypothesis (YDIH) suggests Earth passed through debris from a disintegrating comet. 

The resulting impacts and shockwaves destabilized massive ice sheets, causing massive flooding that disrupted crucial ocean currents and triggered rapid climate cooling. 

Now, researchers led by the University of South Carolina have uncovered metallic debris, like comet dust and thousands of tiny microspherules, in Baffin Bay seafloor sediments, strengthening the comet impact theory.

Archaeologist Marc Young, co-author of the study, told the Daily Mail: ‘The Younger Dryas onset is associated with significant changes in human population dynamics all over the planet, though mostly in the northern hemisphere. 

‘Several independent studies over the last few years have shown conclusively that most of the megafaunal species that went extinct disappeared precisely at that time.’ 

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Prosecutors in Mangione Case Respond to Claim They’re Lying

Manhattan prosecutors have denied claims from murder suspect Luigi Mangione’s defense team that they lied on a subpoena to access his medical records illegally, Business Insider first reported on Friday.

The defense alleges prosecutors “were plainly lying to get the materials as soon as possible,” defense attorneys Karen Friedman Agnifilo, Marc Agnifilo, and Jacob Kaplan said in a filing when the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office obtained 120 pages of private data from Aetna without their or the court’s knowledge, and that prosecutors fabricated a court date months in advance for the subpoena.

In May, Mangione pleaded not guilty to federal murder charges in the fatal shooting of UnitedHealthCare CEO Brian Thompson. Prosecutors formally declared their intent to seek the death penalty if convicted. 

Thompson, a 50-year-old father of two, was shot to death just before 7 a.m. Eastern Time last Dec. 4 outside the New York Hilton Midtown. Fingerprints recovered from a water bottle and a Kind nutrition bar near the crime scene have been matched to Mangione’s, according to police. Authorities also say that have linked bullet shells to a 3D printed ghost gun Mangione had in his possession when he was arrested.                                            

Assistant District Attorney Joel Seidemann told Judge Gregory Carro that Aetna released medical information beyond the scope of the subpoena.

“Aetna erroneously sent us materials,” he wrote. “Like Aetna, the defense then erred, compounding Aetna’s mistake. Defense counsel sent the People an email attaching the entire Aetna file she now complains about.”

“The People issued a valid subpoena to Aetna for an appropriately limited set of relevant information,” Seidemann wrote. “Through no fault of the People, Aetna seemingly provided materials outside of the scope of the subpoena. The People then properly identified the error and notified the Court and the defense and deleted our copy of said materials.”

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Series of Dildo-Throwing Incidents at WNBA Games Reportedly Tied to Meme Coin Pump Scheme

In one of the most bizarre scandals to hit professional sports, the WNBA has been dealing with a string of disruptions where fans have been hurling dildos onto the court during games.

For weeks, there was no explanation for the strange and dangerous disruptions, but it now appears to be a promotion for a cryptocurrency meme coin.

According to a new report from The Athletic, the sex toy incidents are linked to a group of cryptocurrency investors trying to pump up a meme coin called the “Green Dildo Coin.”

The disruptions began in late July during a game between the Atlanta Dream and the Golden State Valkyries, where a green sex toy was thrown and caused a brief stop in play. Similar events followed, including during another Atlanta Dream game and a matchup involving the Indiana Fever and Los Angeles Sparks.

Indiana Fever guard Sophie Cunningham addressed the issue in a post on X after one incident, stating, “Please stop throwing things on the court. It’s dangerous for us players.”

Cunningham was later targeted in a separate dildo incident and hit by the crass projectile.

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Bodycam Footage Released in Viral Cincinnati Mob Beating as Six Suspects Face New Charges

Newly released body camera footage shows police arriving at the scene of a violent downtown Cincinnati beating that left six people injured and resulted in six arrests, as reported by The New York Post.

The incident occurred around 3:25 a.m. on Saturday, July 26, at the corner of Fourth and Elm streets, following what witnesses described as an altercation outside a bar and nearby food truck.

The footage, released by the Cincinnati Police Department, shows officers speaking with an injured 62-year-old man who told police:

“I was attacked. I got attacked by multiple people.”

When asked what led to the fight, the man responded, “Don’t really know… it just got out of the bar and it just got crazy.” He added, “I got side-punched. It wasn’t a fair fight at all.”

Another bodycam video captures a female officer asking if the argument was “about wings.” Witnesses said the dispute began at a food truck. One man claimed he heard a racial slur used before the fight escalated.

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EPA cancelling $7B in community solar grants, Dems call it ‘illegal’

The Environmental Protection Agency has announced it will claw back $7 billion in already earmarked funds from the Solar for All community grants and then eliminate the program, a move that Democrats claim is against the law.

“This money was intended for our constituents and communities to help lower energy bills,” Energy and Commerce Committee Ranking Member Frank Pallone, D-N.J., stated Friday. “Clawing these funds back isn’t just brazenly illegal – it’s a betrayal by this Administration of working families who will now pay higher energy bills just so Republicans can grind their axe against clean energy.”

The repeal of the program, however, directly implements orders from the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which President Donald Trump signed into law a month ago. Among multiple other green energy policies, the OBBBA repeals the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund, which the Solar for All program falls under.

The program, funded by taxpayer dollars via the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act, has already promised funds to 60 grant recipients across the U.S. The money was meant for the creation or expansion of solar programs meant to lower electricity bills for approximately 900,000 low-income households and increase their access to solar-produced energy.

The abrupt rescinding of the funds, though allowed for by law, will disrupt plans in 49 states. However, EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin said that “very little money” has actually been spent and that recipients are still “very much in the early planning phase, not the building and construction process.”

“But the bottom line again is this: EPA no longer has the authority to administer the program or the appropriated funds to keep this boondoggle alive,” Zeldin added.

Republicans targeted dozens of similar federal green energy programs and grants in the OBBBA, arguing that such subsidies create a false demand for unreliable sources of electricity that have minimal positive impact on the environment.

The Solar for All program in particular wasted taxpayer dollars, Zeldin said, by diluting the billions of dollars through pass-through entities, with middlemen taking a 15% cut of total funds “by conservative estimates.”

Additionally, the program received an exemption from the Build America, Buy America law, which requires federal agencies to use American workers, products and infrastructure for projects funded by American taxpayers.

States including Ohio, Illinois, Arizona, Missouri, Virginia and Michigan had each been awarded more than $100 million from the Solar for All program and have already planned on how to disperse the promised funds.

Democratic governors were quick to condemn the EPA’s decision, with Gov. Tony Evers of Wisconsin – which received over $62 million worth of grants – deeming it “unnecessary,” as The Center Square reported.

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Kamala Harris Colluded With Planned Parenthood to Cover Up Aborted Baby Part Sales

Five newly-released undercover videos show Texas-based Planned Parenthood abortionists describing how they abort late-term babies alive and then dismember them to avoid the federal partial-birth abortion law and then sell the baby body parts for profit. Liberty Counsel’s client Sandra Merritt, and David Daleiden, founder of the Center for Medical Progress, filmed the videos in 2015 during an undercover investigation of Planned Parenthood. Then-California Attorney General Kamala Harris investigated and charged Merritt and Daleiden while the videos were blocked from public release by a court order. The videos have now been released after a congressional subpoena cleared the way for public viewing.

In March 2024, a U.S. Congressional panel held an independent hearing for the purpose of “investigating the black market of baby organ harvesting” through abortion. During the hearing, independent investigator David Daleiden presented graphic videos and testimony on how the “industrial-scale abortion business” brokers lucrative deals for fetal organs taken from live babies by dismembering viable babies in utero to “skirt” partial-birth abortion laws. On July 30, Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, who chaired the panel, released the full versions of the subpoenaed videos.

The videos reveal two conversations between undercover reporters and Planned Parenthood officials at the 2015 National Abortion Federation commercial trade show. In one video, Dr. Ann Schutt-Aine, the Chief Medical Officer of Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast, explained how to keep baby body parts intact while avoiding violating partial birth abortion (PBA) law, which prohibits killing a baby if any part of its body below the navel is outside the mother’s body.

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