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.

Democrats, Please Take Note: Peace Is Good Politics

Voters across the United States were loud and clear on Tuesday in their historic drubbing of Trumpism. The election was a decisive rejection of Trump’s war on Iran and its staggering costs at home. While savoring their victory and the historic opportunity to restore America’s constitutional order, the Democrats should take the anti-war message of the election to heart, because they suffered the same verdict two years ago, when voters rejected the Biden administration’s wars in Ukraine and Gaza. Last week Israeli voters rejected Netanyahu’s reckless wars, and European voters are also rejecting parties that prolong the Ukraine War. The message of voters is the same everywhere: diplomacy is safer, more effective, and trillions of dollars cheaper than war.

On election night Trump conceded to Fox News, “I think a part of it was Iran.” The next day Vice President JD Vance was far blunter, posting on X: “The reason we lost is the war. The president himself said so last night… everyone knows why we lost.” In the AP Voter Poll, about 60 percent of voters said the decision to use military force against Iran was wrong, and about 90 percent called the cost of living a crucial or major factor in their vote.

The war and the cost of living were of course utterly intertwined. Gasoline prices, around $2.80 per gallon before the war began on February 28, had risen by about 55 percent by mid-May and reached a monthly average of $4.43 in September. The 10-year Treasury yield climbed from below 4 percent before the war to above 5 percent in the autumn, and the Pentagon sought more than $200 billion in supplemental war funding. Every family with a mortgage, a car loan or a credit card balance suffered from the war.

Voters everywhere are sending the same message: peace through diplomacy.

The first duty of the new Congress is to restore its constitutional authority over war and its power of the purse to ensure that US forces are not sent back into combat in Iran or anywhere else on the whim of a president and the behest of domestic or foreign lobbies. Trump must of course refrain from restarting the war, which was never remotely necessary or justified. Remember that on February 28, the day the US and Israel launched the war, Oman’s foreign minister, who was mediating the U.S.-Iran talks, had said that a deal was within reach.

The Democrats should not imagine that the anti-war lesson applies only to Republicans. Kamala Harris lost in 2024 because voters held the Biden administration responsible for the costs of its own wars. The energy shock that followed the escalation of the Ukraine war in 2022 drove up inflation, and gasoline topped $5 per gallon for the first time in June 2022. Biden twice rejected negotiations that could have ended the conflict: in December 2021, when his administration refused to negotiate on NATO enlargement in response to Russia’s draft security treaty, and in April 2022, when the Istanbul talks were abandoned at the behest of the US and UK.

The Gaza genocide also cost the Democrats directly. Among Americans who voted for Joe Biden in 2020 but not for Harris in 2024, 29 percent named ending Israel’s violence in Gaza as the main factor in their decision, the most frequently cited issue. The party’s voters have moved far ahead of its leaders. A New York Times/Siena poll in May 2026 found that roughly three-quarters of Democratic voters oppose US military and economic assistance to Israel.

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Nearly 1,900 U.S. Schools Are Within 1 Mile of an AI Data Center, Prompting Health Concerns for Children

Researchers warn that air pollution, industrial noise and 24/7 artificial light emitted by AI data centers could threaten children’s health and contribute to learning difficulties. Large data centers can house hundreds of diesel-powered generators, which can release nitrogen oxides, carbon monoxide and fine particulate matter.

Nearly 1,900 public schools in the U.S. are located within a mile of existing or proposed data centers, prompting concerns among researchers, educators and parents about potential health risks stemming from the artificial intelligence (AI) industry’s rapid expansion.

Research highlighted by the National Education Association identified 1,878 public schools within a mile of data centers, including 602 in California and 101 in Virginia.

The findings come as researchers examine the environmental consequences of a booming AI sector whose electricity demands are expected to increase drastically in the coming years.

A 2024 study conducted by the University of California, Riverside, and California Institute of Technology looked at prospective effects of the industry’s growth. Researchers estimated that air pollution associated with AI infrastructure could contribute to as many as 1,300 premature deaths annually in the U.S. by 2030, with public health costs approaching $20 billion.

The projections account for pollution — including fine particulate matter linked to respiratory and cardiovascular diseases — from electricity generation and diesel backup generators.

“If you look at those sustainability reports by tech companies, they only focus on carbon emissions, and some of them include water as well, but there’s absolutely no mention of unhealthful air pollutants. And these pollutants are already creating a public health burden,” said Shaolei Ren, Ph.D., a UC Riverside engineering professor and study co-author.

Although research directly linking data center proximity to specific illnesses among schoolchildren remains limited, studies examining other sources of industrial pollution have documented significant consequences for children’s health and education.

A 2026 study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences found that nearly 10,000 U.S. schools, enrolling 3.36 million students, are located within a quarter-mile of known environmental hazard sites. About 44% of schools are within a mile of at least one site.

The study specifically examined Superfund sites, contaminated former industrial properties known as brownfields, and facilities that report toxic chemical releases to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

“The location of schools relative to these hazards has direct implications for children’s development and learning given the well-documented negative health and academic effects of exposure to pollution,” the researchers wrote.

Researchers cautioned that their findings likely underestimate the number of schools potentially exposed to hazardous pollutants because the analysis excluded several pollution sources.

Diesel generators linked to asthma attacks, reduced lung function in kids

A major concern with the spread of AI data centers is their reliance on diesel-powered backup generators, which can release nitrogen oxides, carbon monoxide and fine particulate matter.

Large facilities can house hundreds of generators intended to maintain operations during power outages. Their emissions depend on factors including generator capacity, operating hours, fuel use and pollution controls.

The EPA has linked pollution from generators to asthma attacks, reduced lung function and impaired lung development in children.

Kids are particularly vulnerable to air pollution because their lungs and other organs are still developing.

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U.S. Strikes Iran’s Air Defenses as Tehran Seeks Russian Weapons

U.S. forces struck Iranian air defense systems early on Nov. 7, hours after Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) claimed it had shot down another American drone over Qeshm Island in the Strait of Hormuz. President Donald Trump told reporters Saturday that the strikes were “minor” and that U.S. forces knocked out an Iranian anti-aircraft device “in about 15 minutes, maybe five.” Washington has not confirmed the loss of any drone.

Trump also said talks through mediators were continuing. “We are talking to Iran. We have been,” he said.

According to Iranian state media, Iran is doing well in the war. However, no outside source has confirmed the IRGC’s claims of drone shootdowns and tanker damage. The IRGC said it shot down MQ-1 drones over Qeshm on Nov. 4 and Nov. 6, counting them as its 15th and 16th of the war. It also claimed to have downed an MQ-9 Reaper over the Strait on Nov. 4. As of that date, it put its combined total at 68 MQ-1 and MQ-9 drones since the war began.

The IRGC also said naval mines destroyed four tankers on Nov. 4 along a route it had declared prohibited, that it had seized two vessels, and that two more tankers struck mines on Nov. 6. CBS News reported “no confirmation of any of these incidents from maritime officials.” U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM), which says U.S. forces cleared the main shipping lanes of mines, has called earlier IRGC mine claims “FALSE”.

On Nov. 5, the UK Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) center, which reports attacks on commercial shipping, said a tanker had been hit by two unidentified projectiles about 50 nautical miles north of Madinat ash Shamal, Qatar.

The United States is enforcing a naval blockade of Iranian ports and oil terminals with more than 10,000 personnel. CENTCOM commander Adm. Brad Cooper said on Oct. 30 that Iran had exported no oil since the blockade was reimposed in mid-July and that IRGC naval forces were absent from the Strait. “I didn’t see the IRGC out there, at all,” he said. “Iran’s navy is all at the bottom of the sea.”

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American Voters Overwhelmingly Reject AI Data Centers

People across America rejected data centers during last night’s midterm election. Proposals related to data centers were explicitly on the ballot in more than 40 races across 13 states. People voted against data centers in 38 of them and counting. Six cities voted to ban data centers outright and 12 put limits on the amount of megawatts such buildings could draw. In addition to specific ballot measures, candidates who supported data centers lost across the country.

One of the most striking repudiations of pro data center politicians was in Texas, where Gregg Abbott lost a bid for a fourth term as governor. Abbott had made Texas a data center friendly place. The state has more than 300 working data centers and there are plans to double that number. “Texas is the epicenter of AI development,” Abbott said in 2025 at a press conference with Google CEO Sundar Pichai. “We must ensure that America remains at the forefront of the AI revolution, and Texas is the place where that can happen.” He went on to accept more than $9 million from data center-related donors.

When public sentiment turned against data centers, Abbott attempted to ride shifting political winds by issuing a “pause” on new projects. The pause wasn’t real. Texas regulators continued to approve data center projects after Abbott’s announcement and only shut down the state’s permitting web portal when 404 Media reported it.

Gina Hinojosa, Texas’s Democratic governor-elect, made Abbott’s stance on data centers a central part of her campaign. Abbott’s words about making Texas a data center-friendly AI state played on TVs and the internet over and over again. He lost by more than 700,000 votes.

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Politicians Come And Go… The Machinery Of Oppression Remains

“There is something terribly wrong with this country, isn’t there? Cruelty and injustice, intolerance and oppression. And where once you had the freedom to object, to think and speak as you saw fit, you now have censors and systems of surveillance coercing your conformity and soliciting your submission. How did this happen? Who’s to blame?” V for Vendetta

A revolution can topple a tyrant without dismantling tyranny.

An election can replace a president without curbing the powers of the presidency.

A new political majority can inherit the instruments of repression and adapt them to their own purposes.

In other words, what good is a political change if the weapons of oppression merely change hands?

After a midterm election that saw billions of dollars spent on political advertising and a Democratic wave sweep Republicans out of power in Congress, Americans have once again been promised a new direction for the country.

The voters have spoken. The balance of power in Washington has shifted. A new Congress will have the opportunity to rein in an imperial presidency and hold the government accountable for its abuses.

But the question that must rightfully be asked is: what comes next?

Will Congress finally rein in the surveillance state, the militarization of the police, the detention machinery, the endless wars, the government spending spree and the corporate interests that profit from the American police state? Or will the politicians settle back into their comfortable routines while the government machine keeps right on running?

This is where Hollywood’s dystopian warnings become disturbingly relevant.

Twenty years ago, V for Vendetta offered moviegoers a terrifying glimpse of a future in which government surveillance was everywhere, dissent was dangerous, the media served as an instrument of state propaganda, and the promise of safety had become an excuse for stripping people of their freedoms.

It was supposed to be a warning about how easily a free people can become accustomed to living without freedom – and how little good it does to replace the people in power if the machinery of tyranny remains intact.

Two decades later, the twentieth-anniversary screenings coinciding with Guy Fawkes Day – a pivotal day in the film’s plot – on November 5 remind us that the questions the film raises about freedom, fear and government power have lost none of their urgency or relevance.

Released in 2006 and set in a future Britain ruled by Norsefire, a fascist regime, V for Vendetta depicts a country in which the government knows all, sees all, controls the airwaves, and promises safety and security above all. Behind those promises lies a machinery of surveillance, detention, censorship and intimidation. People who refuse to conform can be branded enemies of the state. Others simply disappear.

Sounds painfully familiar, doesn’t it?

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Judge Takes Off Jihadist’s Ankle Monitor So He Can Focus on Romance and a New School Job

A judge has taken the ankle monitor off an individual indicted for activities aligned with Hamas and for putting university employees’ families on a hit list. The judge decided that the ankle monitor interfered too much with the Jew-hating, would-be jihadi’s romantic life, Islamic prayer practices, and new job at a Milwaukee kids’ school.

The fact that a school (Islamic or not) is even allowed to hire someone who has an ankle monitor for fantasizing about committing Hamas-style massacres in America is absolutely insane. Reportedly, the judge cared more about Ahmet Kerem Körkaya’s sex life and facility in performing prayers to his demon-god than about the possibility that he could actually carry out one of his multiple threats. We have no idea if Körkaya actually decided to be peaceful now, and since he doesn’t seem to be suffering any long-term consequences for his actions, why should he be?

The Daily Wire reported that the “Michigan 8” include ringleader Körkaya, who “engaged in a coordinated campaign of violent, criminal acts seeking to pressure University of Michigan leaders and other businesses in the Eastern District of Michigan to cut off all ties with Israel.”

For Our VIPs: Gun Control Fail: Black Illinoisans Have Highest Firearm Death Rates in USA

RAIR Foundation USA reported on November 6 about the update in Körkaya’s case. Apparently he tried to obtain the address for the university regent because he had put the regent’s family on his “hit list.” One of his co-conspirators suggested burning down another target’s house. The group also used Hamas symbols and made calls for genocidal war against Jews, such as “intifada,” when putting graffiti on properties.

Federal prosecutors allege that following the October 7, 2023, Hamas attacks in Israel that killed over 1,200 people, Körkaya and other activists became involved in organizing what they described as “autonomous actions” against individuals they believed were connected to or were supportive of Israel… In a brief for Körkaya’s detention hearing, prosecutors stated that Körkaya embraced Hamas symbolism and propaganda to such an extent that investigators recovered from his electronic devices videos described as Hamas propaganda material depicting militants using inverted red triangles to designate targets before killing them. Federal prosecutors charge that Körkaya and several co-defendants also exchanged and possessed videos showing Hamas attacks and killings, arguing that the imagery later resurfaced in vandalism campaigns directed at individuals and institutions targeted by the group…

‘Körkaya allegedly wrote that he intended to become “the dirtiest f*cking doctor ever” and claimed he would like to become a target’s physician in order to “poison her ass slowly.”’

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Competence and Capability in the Age of AI

Christopher Morales’ 9/26/2026 post, “AI Has Made an Old Education Problem Harder to Ignore,” (written in Minding the Campus, a project of the National Association of Scholars) has touched a nerve with many:

Students can now generate essays, summaries and discussion posts in seconds. The danger is real, but the underlying weakness is older. AI did not create the gap between completing work and mastering knowledge. It made that gap much harder to ignore.

Morales reveals the staggering statistics on the prevalence of remedial courses offered to first-year undergraduates in colleges and universities:

The evidence supports academic under-preparedness was widespread, visible and costly long before AI could write a polished paragraph.

I would suggest that the problem is even more widespread and pernicious and stretches beyond the confines of academia. It is the tension between Competence and Capability in most walks of life, including my own, medicine and healthcare.

To understand the roots of this present-day dynamic, we need to go back a bit…quite a bit…and understand the significant social, political, and economic upheavals in Great Britain in the late 1970s:

At the time, Great Britain was facing serious societal breakdown in a number of areas. Brian Grant explained how a committed group of diverse individuals spontaneously formed around a belief that imbalance in the core activities of education and training fueled much of the socioeconomic disruption in society.

The watchword of the proposed reforms to deal with this disruption was capability. This group’s actions culminated in newspaper declarations taken out in the Times and the Guardian and became known as The Capability Manifesto. This concept had 4 main pillars of change, linked to the following verbs:

  • To do: move from passive memorization of facts for a test to the successful execution of real projects.
  • To make: value craftsmanship, engineering, and art as well as pure academic knowledge.
  • To organize: value teamwork and leadership. The practical value of this was later emphasized in such works as Tribal Leadership by David Logan, John King, and Halee Fischer-Wright.
  • To adapt: understand that problem-solving often has multiple answers and methods of inquiry, depending upon the circumstances.

It is interesting that these concepts (such as the importance of starting point and nonlinear system dynamics) echo those of the nascent Complexity Science being founded at about the same time at The Santa Fe Institute and described in an extremely readable fashion by M. Mitchell Waldrop. The emphasis of verbs rather than nouns in the successful execution of projects is similar to the “Action Learning” concept of Complexity Science described by Stewart Hase and Chris Kenyon.

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End of DEI? Wisconsin Voters Pass Amendment Limiting DEI At Public Colleges – While Voting Radical Democrats into Office

According to a recent report at  Campus Reform, “Wisconsin’s public universities could face changes to their admissions, hiring and scholarship policies after voters approved a constitutional amendment restricting preferential treatment in government institutions.”

Whether or not this holds remains to be seen, as every time DEI seems to be on the way out, it seems to make its way back.

“The Republican-backed measure passed Nov. 3 with approximately 56.4 percent of the vote, CBS News reported.”

As we have reported, this was one of the few victories for common sense conservatives on election night.

“The amendment prohibits government entities from discriminating against or providing preferential treatment based on race, sex, color, ethnicity, or national origin.”

This amendment seems like basic common sense, yet sadly such thinking has become controversial in Woke parts of the country.

“Its provisions apply to public education, employment and contracting, including the Universities of Wisconsin and the state’s technical college system.”

Voters continue to reject Wokeness at the ballot, yet political figures on the left and University professors continue to deliver DEI nonetheless.

“State Rep. Dave Murphy, who sponsored the proposal, argued that it would strengthen merit-based hiring and equal treatment. ”

The amendment, however, does not spell out DEI directly but alludes to it by opposing racial- or ethnic based hiiring.

“The measure follows a similar constitutional amendment approved by Michigan voters in 2006 and later upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court.”

The University has yet to comment or detail what, if any, changes will take place following this amendment being voted in.

“Wisconsin Republicans advanced the proposal through the constitutional amendment process, which does not require the governor’s signature.”

DEI is unpopular, yet despite opposition, schools and Democrat officials continue to impose it on the American public.

It remains to be seen if this amendment will lead to the end of woke, at least in Wisconsin, but judging by previous efforts, it is highly unlikely.

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Underwater drones are changing naval warfare around the globe

Underwater drones are rapidly emerging as a new frontier in naval warfare, with militaries deploying robotic submarines to conduct surveillance, hunt underwater mines and potentially attack enemy vessels.

American underwater drones have already operated during the Iran War, while countries across Europe and the Pacific are developing increasingly sophisticated unmanned submarines capable of carrying weapons. France became the latest country to embrace the technology Tuesday, awarding shipbuilder Naval Group a contract to develop a large autonomous combat submarine with sea trials scheduled for 2028, according to the French Defense Innovation Agency.

Naval Group did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The growing military importance of underwater drones became apparent in September when Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps captured an American-built Anduril Dive-LD near the entrance to the Strait of Hormuz.

The autonomous submarine had malfunctioned more than a day before Iranian forces recovered it while surveying regional waters in support of American military operations, U.S. Central Command spokesman Navy Capt. Tim Hawkins told DefenseScoop.

Photographs showing the American-made Anduril Dive-LD submarine drone recovered by Iranian forces near the Strait of Hormuz were posted on X by the open-source intelligence account OSINTdefender on Sept. 8.

Anduril did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The captured drone was an older model that carried no classified sonar or radar equipment, Hawkins said. Nevertheless, its recovery provided a rare glimpse into the American military’s use of underwater robots during the conflict, according to DefenseScoop.

The Anduril Dive-LD measures approximately 19 feet long, can operate autonomously for up to 10 days and is designed to reach depths of 6,000 meters, according to Anduril.

The submarine can conduct seabed mapping and mine warfare while carrying interchangeable sensors and other mission equipment, according to Anduril.

The company defended the loss, explaining that the platform was designed for dangerous missions where losing equipment was an accepted risk. The drone had already accumulated thousands of operational hours during months of CENTCOM missions, an Anduril spokesperson told DefenseScoop.

Underwater drones have also become part of American efforts to reopen the Strait of Hormuz after Iranian forces deployed naval mines throughout the strategic waterway.

The U.S. military announced in April that underwater drones would join mine-clearance operations intended to establish safe shipping corridors through the strait, according to CENTCOM.

The Pentagon has also invested in substantially larger autonomous submarines, including Boeing’s Orca, an unmanned diesel-electric vessel designed for extended missions without a human crew. The Navy accepted its first Orca test vehicle in December 2023, according to Naval Sea Systems Command.

Across the Pacific, Australia has committed approximately 1.7 billion Australian dollars, or $1.19 billion USD, to acquiring a fleet of Anduril Ghost Shark underwater drones capable of conducting surveillance, reconnaissance and strike operations, according to the Australian Defense Ministry.

Australian officials announced additional progress in October, revealing specialized payloads for unmanned underwater vehicles designed to transport supplies, deploy naval mines and launch aerial drones, according to the Australian Defense Ministry.

Britain has already demonstrated the potential for underwater drones to launch conventional submarine weapons.

The Royal Navy successfully fired an inert American Mk48 heavyweight torpedo from its 12-meter-long unmanned submarine Excalibur during September trials off Scotland, according to the Royal Navy.

Ukraine has gone further, claiming to have used explosive underwater drones to attack a Russian Kilo-class submarine inside the port of Novorossiysk in December 2025. The operation involved a domestically developed system called Sub Sea Baby, according to the Security Service of Ukraine.

Ukrainian officials claimed the explosion disabled the submarine, although Moscow denied the reported damage, Reuters reported.

China is developing increasingly sophisticated underwater systems, including autonomous drones capable of locating submerged explosives and operating in areas with extremely poor visibility, according to China Military Online.

Turkey has developed its own autonomous underwater mine-hunting platform, the STM NETA 300, capable of identifying submerged threats at depths of up to 300 meters, according to defense manufacturer STM.

The rapid proliferation of underwater drones could fundamentally alter naval combat by allowing militaries to patrol contested waters and deploy weapons without risking human crews. However, the American drone captured by Iran also demonstrates that increasingly widespread autonomous systems can fall into enemy hands when missions go wrong.

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