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.

House Committee Revives Proposal for ‘Automatic’ Draft Registration

For the second successive year, the House Armed Services Committee (HASC) has included an ill-considered and unworkable proposal by the Selective Service System (SSS) to try to automatically construct a database of potential draftees from other government records collected for other purposes in the House version of the annual National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA).

The proposal to try to register young men “automatically” on the basis of aggregation and (mis)matching of other poorly-suited databases collected and intended for other purposes may fit perfectly with the standard operating procedures of the so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which has already obtained access to the Selective Service registration database for unknown purposes. But if DOGE were really concerned with ending wasteful and inefficient government programs and agencies, it would have recommended abolishing the SSS, not making an attempt to salvage it.

Ongoing passive but pervasive noncompliance makes registration or a draft unenforceable. Compliance has fallen dramatically since the start of the wars in Ukraine and Gaza, and there’s been even more concern among potential draftees about activation of either a general draft or a draft of health care workers since the U.S. bombing of Iran. Deployment of soldiers for immigration enforcement, transportation of deportees to overseas death camps, and policing of domestic political protests in L.A. and elsewhere has prompted another surge of concern about a possible draft and what sorts of illegal orders might be given to both draftees and enlistees.

Automatic draft registration won’t magically make the registration database accurate or complete. But it has been proposed by SSS staff — otherwise threatened with losing their jobs if the agency is shut down as a useless failure — because it would enable the agency to pretend to be ready to implement a draft on demand. And it’s supported by both Republican and Democratic hawks because it would enable them to continue to pretend that the draft is available as a fallback option, so they can plan, prepare, and commit the U.S. to endless, unlimited war(s) without having to think about whether the people are willing to fight those wars, even if they escalate.

Whether warmongers like it or not, “automatic” draft registration can’t solve the compliance problem because no other government databases have all the information needed to identify all potential draftees or determine who is and who isn’t subject to the draft or required to register.

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These Are America’s 25 Largest Private Landowners

The U.S. is known for its massive public national parks, but a handful of families and entrepreneurs also own tracts of land that would dwarf some states.

This infographic, via Visual Capitalist’s Niccolo Conte, ranks America’s 25 largest private landowners in 2025 and shows just how concentrated ownership has become.

The data for this visualization comes from The Land Report, which annually tracks the nation’s biggest deed holders. Its 2025 investigations reveals a timber-heavy top tier, diversified ranching empires in the middle, and a sprinkling of tech titans and investors rounding out the list.

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Senate Rejects Bids To Block Arms Sales To Israel

The Senate voted on July 30 to reject two resolutions that would have blocked arms sales to Israel in response to concerns over civilian casualties in the Gaza Strip since Israeli forces began military action against the Hamas terror group.

Senators rejected two motions introduced by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) that would have stopped the export of over 5,000 bombs and guidance kits and 20,000 firearms. The resolutions failed by 73–24 and 70–27, respectively, in the 100-member chamber.

Sanders, who aligns with the Democrats, said on the evening of July 30 before the vote: “American taxpayer dollars are being used to starve children, bomb schools, kill civilians, and support the cruelty of [Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu and his criminal ministers. That, Mr. President, is why I have brought these two resolutions of disapproval to block offensive arms sales to Israel.”

Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Sen. Jim Risch (R-Idaho), who voted against both motions, called the resolutions misguided, and said before the vote that if they were adopted, it would “reinstate the failed policies of the Biden administration, and would abandon America’s closest ally in the Middle East.”

Risch said that the situation in the Gaza Strip and the impact on its residents was the fault of Hamas, who he said “use the people of Gaza as human shields.”

“These are not good people, and it is in the interest of America and the world to see this terrorist group destroyed,” he said.

Israel began its military operations against Hamas after the terror group’s deadly Oct. 7, 2023, attack, when Hamas militants killed about 1,200 civilians in Israel and kidnapped 251. According to the Israeli government website, 49 of those who were abducted that day are still being held in captivity. One additional hostage is still being held in Gaza, who has been held since 2014.

The Gaza Strip’s Hamas-controlled Ministry of Health reported that more than 60,000 people have been killed since Oct. 7, 2023. The ministry does not differentiate between civilians and combatants in these casualty figures, and The Epoch Times cannot verify their accuracy.

Throughout the conflict, Israel has said that it tries to avoid harming the civilian population and only targets Hamas terrorists.

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Air Force command pauses M18 pistol use after airman’s death at Wyoming base

The U.S. Air Force Global Strike Command has paused the use of a handgun following the death of a Security Forces airman at a base in Wyoming.

The use of the M18 pistol, a variant of another gun that has been the target of lawsuits over unintentional discharge allegations, was paused Monday “until further notice” following the “tragic incident” Sunday at F.E. Warren Air Force Base in Cheyenne, the command said in a statement. Security Forces airmen at all command bases “will conduct 100% inspections of the M18 handguns to identify any immediate safety concerns,” it said.

The airman killed was Brayden Lovan, 21, of the 90th Security Forces Squadron, 90th Missile Wing at the base, where he began his first active-duty assignment in November 2023, base officials said Thursday.

Details of what happened are not being released pending an investigation, said Lt. Raegan Lockhart, public affairs officer for the 90th Missile Wing. How long the investigation might take isn’t known, Lockhart added.

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Trump’s Russia Sanctions Ultimatum Will Blow Up In America’s Face: Jeffrey Sachs

Economist and longtime adviser to the UN Jeffrey Sachs has issued a scathing critique of President Trump’s decision to unleash yet more anti-Russia sanctions, giving Moscow just ten days to negotiate for peace with Ukraine or else the new punitive measures will go into effect.

Sachs called the new policy “dangerous” and a sign that the Trump administration is plagued by contradictions and lack of a coherent strategy for ending the war, despite constant early boasting that Trump would rapidly achieve peace. The ‘secondary sanctions’ aimed primarily at those nations still trading with Russia are doomed to be ineffective anyway, the Colombia University professor pointed out.

“If the sanctions are actually applied, they are an escalation of the conflict, and therefore very dangerous. I do not believe that they will be effective,” he said in an interview with Russian media.

“For example, I do not believe they will stop Russia from selling oil, gas, and other commodities to Asian markets. Yet, provocations and escalation often have unpredictable negative effects, and that could be true here as well,” he added.

The new restrictions are likely to backfire regardless, as they “could expose” the “incompetence” or even “accelerate the breakup” of US-led geopolitical and economic blocs.

“This is, in short, the wrong approach. We need diplomacy and negotiation to get to the root causes of the conflict, and solve them, not unworkable ultimatums based on the idea of an unconditional ceasefire,” Sachs added.

He further highlighted the West’s inability to acknowledge and come to terms with the real underlying causes of Ukraine war, such as historic NATO expansion east, the sham Minsk accords, or the coup events of 2014.

“Instead, the Western powers now demand an unconditional ceasefire. Russia will not agree to this, nor will a new round of US sanctions compel Russia to agree to this,” Sachs emphasized.

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‘IMPREGNABLE FORTRESS’: Russian Forces Conquer Donetsk Stronghold of Chasov Yar After 17 Months of Siege

Chasov Yar opens up the way for the largest bastion in Donetsk, the Kramatorsk-Slavyansk agglomeration.

Another ‘impregnable fortress’ in the Ukrainian region of Donetsk has fallen to the advances of the Russian forces.

This time, it was heavily fortified Chasov Yar.

We have been reporting on the battle for the city for a very long time. Back in April 2024, we started the series of articles with The Battle for Chasov Yar Has Begun – Russian Troops Reach the Outskirts of Key Donbas City – What We Learned From the Sieges of Mariupol, Bakhmut and Avdeevka (VIDEOS).

In the post you can find this: “Three things stand out from the coverage of the battles for Mariupol, Bakhmut (now called Artemovsk) and Avdeevka: to begin with, it will be long and bloody. Besides that, during all the operation, fake news shills will insist on how badly things are going for the besiegers. And finally, once the town is conquered, all the media will say that the city is nothing but a ‘meaningless pile of ruble’.

And so, as the battle for key Donetsk oblast stronghold of Chasov Yar commences, the usual scenario is at play.”

“To begin with, it will be long and bloody.” That was in no way an overstatement, as we learn that now, 17 months later, the Russian Defense Ministry announces that Chasov Yar has been conquered – or, as they prefer, ‘liberated’.

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Sitting U.S. Senator Now Implicated in Russia Hoax Cover-Up

In recent weeks, a scandal of epic proportions has come to light, confirming that the Obama administration rigged intelligence to concoct the Russia collusion narrative against Donald Trump, and the conspiracy went all the way to the top: Barack Obama himself.

This is no longer hearsay, thanks to two explosive document releases from Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard. They reveal a conspiracy coordinated between the highest levels of America’s intelligence community and the White House — an open assault on the presidency in retaliation for Trump winning the election.

Barack Obama personally ordered the 2017 Intelligence Community Assessment to rely on the notorious, unverified Steele Dossier, an opposition research hit job that even career analysts derided for its lack of credibility. The dossier’s only real value was its utility: fueling Democratic cries of collusion and giving the legacy media a weapon to batter the new administration. Inside the agencies, voices of dissent were crushed. Analysts warned the dossier was junk, but their objections were overruled. The process became not about facts but about constructing a narrative at any cost.

Amid this corruption, a senior analyst tried to do the right thing. He witnessed former CIA Director John Brennan warping intelligence and sought to raise the alarm. 

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“This Case Is Not Closed, It Is Not Dismissed, It Has Not Been Complied With” – Georgia State Election Board Votes to Seek DOJ Assistance to Obtain Voting Records from Fulton County from 2020 Election

The Georgia State Election Board voted on Thursday to seek assistance from the Trump Department of Justice to “bring any action necessary” to obtain the voting records of Fulton County in the corrupt 2020 election.

Fulton County officials still refuse to turn over their 2020 election results.  What are they hiding?

Liz Harrington reported on this development on Thursday. The vote was on Wednesday:

Dr. Janice Johnston demanded the election results to turn over the results. And Johnston also called on the Trump DOJ to assist in this matter.

The resolution passed 3-2 by the board of elections panel.

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Extremist influencers ‘weaponizing femininity,’ warns Canadian intelligence report

Women’s workout routines that devolve into anti-government rhetoric. Makeup tutorials with anti-feminist commentary. Personal finance videos that blame immigrants for stealing jobs.

According to a Canadian government intelligence report obtained by Global News, extremist movements are “weaponizing femininity” on social media to attract more women into their ranks.

Prepared by Canada’s Integrated Threat Assessment Centre (ITAC), the report warns that female “extremist influencers” are using popular online platforms to radicalize and recruit women.

Their strategy: embed hardline messages within “benign narratives” like motherhood and parenting, allowing them to draw in women who weren’t intentionally seeking out extremist content online.

“A body of open-source research shows that women in extremist communities are taking on an active role by creating content specifically on image-based platforms with live streaming capabilities,” it said.

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NTSB chair blasts FAA over deadly DC crash: ‘Are you kidding me? 67 people are dead’

The head of the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) criticized the Federal Aviation Administration for not “taking ownership” in the deadly Black Hawk helicopter collision with a passenger jet near Washington Reagan National Airport in January.

During a hearing on Wednesday that is set to continue this week, NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy alleged that some FAA tower employees knew there “was a problem” with U.S. Army helicopters flying in close proximity to passenger aircraft near the airport.

Sixty-seven people died on Jan. 29 after a regional American Airlines jet collided with an Army Black Hawk helicopter over Washington, D.C., officials said, the nation’s first major commercial airline crash since 2009.

The Army helicopter was on a training flight at the time of the collision.

“Every sign was there, that there was a safety risk and the tower was telling you that,” Homendy said of the air traffic controllers working at Reagan National Airport (DCA) at the time.

“Yet you know what FAA did, after the accident occurred, you transferred out the air traffic manager, two assistant general managers,” Homendy continued. “You transferred people out instead of taking ownership over the fact that everybody in FAA tower was saying there was a problem.”

According to Homendy, who cited FAA surveillance data, there were over 15,000 close proximity events between helicopters and commercial aircraft at DCA between October 2021 and December 2024.

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