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.

Stanford professor keeps fighting to defend rigor in math curricula

A Stanford University professor is being recognized for his work advocating for rigorous math standards in high school curricula in California and other states.

“The format of education has adapted to new technologies throughout history, but understanding of ideas is not devalued in that process,“ Professor Brian Conrad told The College Fix in a recent interview.

Stanford’s director of undergraduate studies in math, Conrad rose to national attention a few years ago when the California State Board of Education proposed revisions to the California Mathematics Framework for high schoolers. The changes included, among other things, that Algebra II courses be delayed to college in favor of data science courses.

Conrad (pictured) made a series of public comments arguing that omitting higher-level algebra and the critical thinking skills it cultivates would leave students “substantially unprepared” for STEM and other quantitative college degrees.

As a result, the state changed the most problematic parts of the new curriculum, he said.

Keep reading

Area 51 staff ‘killed by invisible enemy’ while working on top-secret projects

A group of US Air Force veterans has gone public with their story about how an ‘invisible enemy’ at the top-secret base Area 51 left them with cancer.

The former security guards at the Nevada Test and Training Range (NTTR), a classified site that houses Area 51, have claimed that the US government betrayed them and essentially handed them a death sentence without their knowledge.

Their claims stemmed from the revelation that NTTR was built in the 1970s on an area of land that was found to be contaminated with radiation from years of nuclear testing in the area.

However, that 1975 report from the US Energy Research and Development Administration also said it would ‘be against the national interest’ to stop the military’s secret projects at the site.

David Crete, a former Air Force Sergeant who worked at NTTR from 1983 through 1987, said that over 490 of his fellow workers have died of severe illnesses since being stationed at the secret facility.

Making matters worse, the US Department of Veterans Affairs has refused to cover their medical care because none of the surviving veterans can prove they were exposed to radiation near Area 51.

That’s because their work was so top secret, all records of their activities have been marked as ‘data masked.’

‘I have brain atrophy. The left side of my brain is shrinking and dying. That’s not too bad. I’m one of the healthy ones,’ Crete told the House Veterans Affairs Committee in April while lobbying for legislation to support the Area 51 veterans.

Keep reading

Biden Justice Department Sought ‘Federal Hook’ To Go After Parents As ‘Domestic Terrorists’: Documents

The Department of Justice under former President Joe Biden actively sought a “federal hook” to justify sending federal law enforcement after parents it labeled “domestic terrorists” because they were concerned about their children’s education.

Documents obtained by America First Legal (AFL) show that prior to the infamous Oct. 4, 2021, “domestic terrorist” memo from former Attorney General Merrick Garland, staff were looking for any possible way to go after parents concerned with coronavirus mandates, critical race theory, and “transgender” policies.

“We’re aware; the challenge here is finding a federal hook. But WH has been in touch about whether we can assist in some form or fashion,” Kevin Chambers, then an associate deputy attorney general, wrote in an Oct. 1 email, trying to manufacture a way to respond to a teed-up letter sent by the National School Boards Association (NSBA).

Career staff at the time were even concerned, saying there was no authority or legal basis for going after parents speaking out at school board meetings, particularly since they were protected by the First Amendment.

AFL said the new tranche of documents allows the organization to “complete the timeline” of how the NSBA and Biden DOJ and White House were colluding in order to go after parents. The legal group’s president, Gene Hamilton, said the emails show a “conspiracy that was ultimately aimed at depriving parents of two fundamental rights — the right to speak, and the right to direct the upbringing of their children.”

“They did so with political intentions, most immediately by attempting to influence the Virginia gubernatorial election, and to more broadly chill dissent across the United States,” he added.

The day after Chambers’ “federal hook” email, Oct. 2, Sparkle Sooknanan — who was then in the associate attorney general’s office and was later appointed by Biden as a judge on the federal district court for the District of Columbia — asked at 8:17 a.m. if anyone in the Civil Rights Division could assist in a response to the NSBA letter.

The Biden administration had already collaborated with the NSBA to produce the NSBA anti-parent letter, but Oct. 2 was a Saturday, and the timing implies that these Biden officials were looking to send their thugs after parents as soon as humanly possible.

Keep reading

Russian Drones Overwhelm Ukrainian Defenses

Russian drone attacks appear to be overwhelming Ukraine’s besieged air defenses with their highest hit rates since the war began, it was reported Monday.

Moscow’s military has used “swarm” tactics, with drones striking targets at three times the typical rate in recent months, Financial Times reported, citing official data.

Roughly 15% of Iranian-designed drones, manufactured in Russia, penetrated defenses on average between April and June. That was up from only 5% during the previous three months.

The war began in February 2022 when, in an unprovoked attack, Russia invaded Ukraine.

The increased effectiveness of the slow-moving Shaheds — drones that Russians have renamed Gerans — is due to modifications that have allowed them to fly faster and beyond the range of Ukrainian truck-mounted machine guns, Financial Times reported.

“The problem is not [that] the Ukraine air defense is getting worse. Instead, what we see is that new swarming tactics and drones are now flying in higher altitude, [which] makes them more effective,” according to Yasir Atalan, of the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

“The increase in sheer size in launches saturates the defense systems which increases the hit rate.”

The Ukrainian air force has used electronic warfare to jam the drones’ GPS guidance systems, and anti-aircraft guns including the advanced German Oerlikon Skynex, an advanced air defense cannon.

Keep reading

Military pilot on no-fly list after probe into faith conversations ends without charges, lawyer says

A Catholic Air Force pilot remains on the military branch’s no-fly list, despite an official probe having failed to substantiate allegations he talked about his faith in an inappropriate way with fellow airmen, his lawyer says.

The pilot, Capt. Forrest Doss, of the 6th Airlift Squadron, at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, New Jersey, has served in the Air Force since 2018 and is now an instructor pilot and aircraft commander.

Despite no violations having apparently been found, Doss received an official letter admonishing him for comments that created a “hostile work environment” and that also directed him to get counseling to avoid future problems.

According to the Air Force’s June 17 Letter of Counseling, Doss, in late June 2024 and early January 2025, at various locations around the world, “made inappropriate and unprofessional comments towards members of the 6th Airlift Squadron during the critical phases of aircraft operation.”

LOC – Capt Doss_Redacted.pdf

“It is your responsibility to act in a professional manner and create a safe environment to successfully execute the mission,” the letter states. “This includes refraining from discussing potentially charged topics.

“Intentionally or not, your conduct created a hostile work environment for members of your crew. Moving forward, I expect you to deliberately consider your comments and refrain from discussion that could be uncomfortable for your teammates. Your conduct is unacceptable and further deviation may result in more severe action.”

The letter doesn’t state what Doss said that was found to be “inappropriate and unprofessional.”

Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst and the Air Force didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.

“The LOC turns it into an equivalent of a [Uniform Code of Military Justice] violation for answering questions truthfully about what his church teaches,” R. Davis Younts, Doss’ lawyer, told Just the News last Monday.

Keep reading

Billionaire at Bohemian Grove told staff to clean his underwear by hand, lawsuit says

The famous Bohemian Grove encampment, which draws some of the richest and most powerful American men to the Sonoma County redwoods every July, recently settled a wage theft lawsuit brought by three of its employees, but not before some embarrassing allegations came to light. 

Three Bohemian Grove employees sued the nonprofit Bohemian Club and related companies in 2023 for allegedly violating California labor laws, such as by not providing meal breaks and not paying the minimum wage during the event, which is restricted to men. The nearly 150-year-old party is shrouded in mystery, but it takes place in a 2,700-acre camp outside Monte Rio along the Russian River and lasts about three weeks before ending with a rumoured burning of a human effigy and a giant owl. 

The three employees — Shawn Granger, Anthony Gregg, and Wallid Saad — said they were forced to work close to 100 hours per week during the event but were instead instructed by their employers to only clock in 40 hours, according to a November 2023 filing. Gregg also said he was mocked by club members “for complying with a request from famous billionaire William Koch to hand wash his underwear.” 

William “Bill” Koch is a billionaire industrialist and the twin brother of David Koch, a fellow billionaire and Republican megadonor. Both men inherited part of their father’s company Koch Industries, although William sold his shares in the 1980s. Forbes currently estimates William’s net worth to be $2 billion.

Brad Goldstein, a spokesperson for William Koch, denied the allegations regarding underwear washing in an interview with SFGATE Friday. He said that it was likely just an attempt to pressure the club’s owners into paying a settlement. 

Keep reading

Analyzing The Ambiguity Over The American-NATO Arms Arrangement For Ukraine

The offensive dimension of Trump’s new three–pronged approach to Ukraine involves the sale of American weapons to NATO who’ll in turn transfer them to Ukraine.

This aligns with what Trump told NBC several days prior to the aforesaid announcement.

According to Reuters’ sources, however, “Trump presented a framework – not a fleshed-out plan”, and some of the six countries that NATO chief Rutte mentioned will participate in this scheme allegedly only found out about it during that time.

Other reports then circulated about France, Italy, and Czechia’s refusal to participate on various pretexts ranging from their principled support for the European defense industry, which would struggle to fulfill its potential if EU countries buy more expensive US arms, to simple budgetary concerns.

The resultant ambiguity over the American-NATO arms arrangement for Ukraine that Trump announced accordingly raises questions about what’s really going on.

There are three likely explanations.

  • The first is that there were innocent communication issues between the US, NATO, and the bloc’s individual members, but that’s difficult to believe since everyone just gathered for the latest NATO Summit less than a month ago. This arrangement was presumably discussed during that time. It would also contextualize their agreement to raise defense spending to 5% of GDP, especially if the Europeans expected to purchase more expensive arms for transfer to Ukraine as part of this arrangement.
  • The second explanation is that nothing concrete was agreed to, at least with all members, during that summit. This would account for why some of them were reportedly caught by surprise and others refuse to participate. In this scenario, Trump’s announcement would have been meant to pressure them into this profitable arrangement to “save face” since all but Hungary and Slovakia (which also won’t participate) have consistently claimed that they’ll support Ukraine “for as long as it takes”.
  • And finally, the last possibility is that the analyzed media reports are part of a deception campaign along the lines of what Israeli media claimed that Trump and Bibi pulled off ahead of them bombing Iran. This version of events assumes that there’s much more agreement between NATO members behind the scenes than has been reported. The purpose of claiming otherwise would be to get Russia’s guard down ahead of what could be NATO’s rapid rearmament of Ukraine with American weapons.

Whichever explanation(s) one adheres to, more clarity will be forthcoming from Russian media reports, which will reveal the existence of these new arms on the battlefield or lack thereof ahead of the expiry of Trump’s 50-day deadline. If lots of US arms flood into Ukraine, then it’ll show that there was enough agreement and capacity to back up his threat. If not, then he might blame the Europeans for fumbling it, after which he might only impose some secondary sanctions but no longer militarily escalate.

Keep reading

Reddit Now Requires Age Verification In UK To Comply With Nation’s Online Safety Act

The news and social media aggregation platform Reddit now requires its United Kingdom based users to provide age verification to access “mature content” hosted on its website.

Users must prove they are eighteen years or older to read or contribute such content.

UK regulator Ofcom stated “We expect other companies to follow suit, or face enforcement if they fail to act.” Internet content providers who fail to adopt such measures can face fines of up to eighteen million pounds or ten percent of their worldwide revenue, whichever is greater.

For continued violations or serious cases, UK regulators may petition the courts to order “business disruption measures” such as forcing advertisers to end contracts or preventing payment providers to provide revenue for the platforms. Internet service providers can be required to block access to their users.

Reddit announced a partnership with Persona to provide an age verification service. Users will be able to upload a “selfie” image or a photograph of their government issued identification or passport as proof of majority. The company stated the age verification is a one-time process and that it will only retain users’ date of birth and verification status. Persona proffered they would only retain the photos for seven days.

David Greene, civil liberties director at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, called the UK’s Online Safety Act a real tragedy: “UK users can no longer use the internet without having to provide their papers, as it were.”

The rules come as no surprise given the regulatory over-reach of many European governments.

The canards of Protecting the Children or Online Safety provide indirect tools to deny access or curtail speech, tools too tempting or useful for pro-censorship politicians and officials.

Keep reading

Gabbard To Release More Obama Russiagate Files, ‘Cannot Fathom’ How Durham, Mueller Missed Evidence Of ‘Years-Long Coup’

Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard says she’ll release more information next week to follow up on her bombshell declassification of documents that show “overwhelming evidence” of the Obama administration laid the groundwork for the years-long Trump-Russia collusion investigation after President Trump won the 2016 election.

“We will be releasing more detailed information about how exactly this took place, and the extent to which this information was sought to be hidden from the American people, hidden from officials who would be in a position to do something about it,” Gabbard told Fox News‘ Maria Bartiromo. “Accountability is essential for the future of our country, for the American people to have any sense of trust in the integrity of our democratic republic.”

“Accountability, action, prosecution, indictments for those who are responsible for trying to steal our democracy is essential for us to make sure that this never happens to our country again,” Gabbard continued. 

Gabbard told host Maria Bartiromo; “I really cannot fathom” how special counsels Robert Mueller and John Durham missed evidence of this “years-long coup against President Trump.”

“There is no rational or logical explanation for why they failed,” she said, adding “The only logical conclusion that I can draw in this … is that there was direct intent to cover up the truth about what occurred and who was responsible and the broad network of how this seditious conspiracy was concocted and who exactly was responsible for carrying it out.”

Among other things, Gabbard’s team unearthed a Sept. 12, 2016 intelligence community assessment that “foreign adversaries do not have and will probably not obtain the capabilities to successfully execute widespread and undetected cyber attacks” on election systems. 

At the time, Russia was being accused of setting up troll farms and hacking the DNC email servers (Seth who?). 

And of course, once legitimized by the Obama administration, a steady stream of leaks suggesting that Russia was behind Trump’s 2016 victory started appearing in the Washington Post and other outlets in “sweeping and systemic fashion.”

Keep reading

Out of Options, West Again Floats Flushing Zelensky?

In seeming coordination this week, multiple publications began to throw Zelensky under the bus.

At the same time Seymour Hersh again mounted his oracle pulpit and declared—per his sources—that Zelensky is due to be replaced by Zaluzhny in the near future. Many have criticized Hersh for his record with previous predictions, however last month his prediction of strikes on Iran mere days before they happened did pan out quite accurately.

B at MoA covered this in full, so I don’t need to rehash every detail. But suffice it to say that it accords with Trump’s alleged recent opinion that Zelensky is the ‘main obstacle to peace’, despite new misgivings about Putin. B does point out that Hersh reportedly makes a perplexingly off-target claim about Russian losses, as follows:

I have been provided with new Russian casualty numbers, from carefully evaluated US and British intelligence estimates, that show that Russia has suffered two million casualties—nearly double the current public numbers—since Putin started the war in early 2022.

If the same sources who’ve furnished Hersh with such outlandish casualty figures are the ones who’ve relayed the latest Zelensky intel, then it certainly casts doubt on the rest of their info.

Keep reading