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.

AI is ushering in a new era of Satanism, exorcists warn religious leaders: ‘A great power’

Is it the Tech-corcist?

With religious rifts widening around the globe, an enterprising Christian leader has potentially devised a way to unite the faiths against a common foe.

A Mexican priest named Father Luis Ramirez Almanza is inviting rabbis, imams and evangelical preachers to join a special exorcism training course that, among other evils, specializes in battling the scourge of AI-fueled Satanism, the Times Of London reported.

“Artificial intelligence is a great power — a force for both good and evil — and can therefore be used for devil worshipping,” he warned at a press conference announcing his “Course on the Ministry of Exorcism and Prayer of Deliverance.”

Held at the Ateneo Pontificio Regina Apostolorum, a Vatican-affiliated university, this niche training draws over 170 participants interested in performing exorcisms.

While participants aren’t granted the authority to conduct a demon-ectomy — that license can only be bestowed by a diocesan bishop, per Catholic Canon Law — the university promises on its website to “deepen their knowledge of the ministry of exorcism and deliverance prayer in a serious and interdisciplinary way.”

This year, there will be a special emphasis on AI’s use among Lucifer enthusiasts. 

Father Fortunato Di Noto, a Sicilian priest who fights child sexual abuse and is speaking at a session in May, claims that some satanic groups are already experimenting with the tech.

“We believe these groups are using AI to generate images of children involved in satanic rites,” Di Noto told The Times Of London.

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Aliens may have been trying to contact us for DECADES, scientists claim – as they warn we’ve been ‘looking for the wrong thing’

For decades, we’ve been looking to the skies for any sign of aliens – but it turns out we may have been missing attempts at contact.

A new study has cast doubt on our radio signal detection methods, arguing that ‘space weather’ could be distorting incoming transmissions.

Until now, most experiments have focused on identifying spikes in radio frequency – signals unlikely to be produced by any other natural processes in space.

But experts have highlighted an overlooked complication.

Even if an extraterrestrial transmitter produces a perfectly narrow radio signal, it may not remain narrow by the time it leaves its home star’s atmosphere.

This distortion, which happens near the point of origin, can ‘smear’ the signal’s frequency, meaning it can be missed by our detectors that are primed to search for more focused radio waves.

‘Searches are often optimized for extremely narrow signals,’ Dr Vishal Gajjar, astronomer at the SETI Institute and lead author of the paper, said.

‘If a signal gets broadened by its own star’s environment, it can slip below our detection thresholds, even if it’s there, potentially helping explain some of the radio silence we’ve seen in technosignature searches.’

For their study, the team analysed radio transmissions from our own spacecraft in the solar system.

Using measurements from probes, they worked out how turbulent plasma released from stars – such as the Sun – affects radio signals.

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Study: Lifetime Cannabis Use Not Associated With Cognitive Decline or Dementia Risk in Older Adults

Cannabis use by older adults is not associated with either accelerated cognitive decline or greater risk of dementia, according to findings published in the journal BMJ Mental Health.

Investigators affiliated with Yale University and the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom assessed cognitive performance in lifetime cannabis consumers and non-users across various domains — including memory, intelligence, and problem solving. Data was drawn from two large nationally representative cohorts (the UK Biobank and the US Million Veteran Program), consisting of several hundred thousand participants.

Researchers reported that those with a history of cannabis use “demonstrated significantly better cognitive performance,” a finding that is consistent with prior studies. Cannabis use “was not associated with increased risk of dementia” and researchers found “no supporting evidence of a causal link with [longitudinal] cognitive decline in later life.”

The study’s authors concluded: “This study represents one of the largest observational investigations to date examining the relationship between cannabis use, cognitive function and dementia risk in older adults. … Our findings are broadly consistent with prior population-based longitudinal studies that have not observed accelerated age-related cognitive decline associated with cannabis use. … Clinicians can consider that occasional or prior cannabis use may not be a major contributor to cognitive aging in this population.”

Commenting on the findings, NORML’s Deputy Director Paul Armentano said: “These results contradict one of the more prominent and longstanding stereotypes about cannabis and cannabis consumers. It is unfortunate that these stereotypes often go unchallenged in the media and elsewhere. It is even more unfortunate that studies refuting these long-held stereotypes seldom receive the type of mainstream attention they deserve.”

Several other recent studies have reported similar results. For example, an Israeli study of over 67,000 older adults reported that participants with a history of cannabis use “performed better across all cognitive domains: attention, executive function, processing speed, visual and working memory. … Additionally, past use was associated with a slower decline in executive function.”

A Danish study similarly concluded that cannabis consumers experienced “significantly less cognitive decline” over their lifetimes than did non-users.

Most recently, a study published in January in the Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs concluded: “Greater lifetime [cannabis] use was also associated with better performance on cognitive tasks assessing learning, memory, processing speed, and task switching, aligning with growing evidence of potential neuroprotective effects of cannabis in aging populations. … This study adds to a growing body of evidence that cannabis use may be associated with greater brain volume and cognitive performance in aging adults, especially in regions rich in cannabinoid receptors.”

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The US Missile Defense Shortage is Worse than Imagined

Donald Trump made a bold and provably wrong claim yesterday about the US air-defense missile inventory:

The United States Munitions Stockpiles have, at the medium and upper medium grade, never been higher or better — was stated to me today we have a virtually unlimited supply of these weapons. Wars can be ‘forever,’ and very successfully, using just these supplies (which are better than other countries’ finest arms!). At highest end we have good supply but not where we want to be. Much additional high-grade weaponry is stored for us in outlying countries.

I will now show you conclusively that Trump is gaslighting the public, at least with respect to the PAC-3 MSE missiles. The PAC-3 MSE (Patriot Advanced Capability-3 Missile Segment Enhancement) is effectively the primary missile used in the modern Patriot system for most high-priority threats, particularly in current U.S. Army and allied operations as of 2026. The PAC-3 MSE ( Missile Segment Enhancement) began low-rate initial production (LRIP) in 2014, with deliveries starting in 2015 and full-rate production approved in 2018.

Starting in 2015 and continuing through 2020, the US produced between 100 — 300 a year. Let’s use the higher figure… That is 1,800 PAC-3 MSE. In the succeeding four year period, the US produced an estimated 2,200 PAC-3 MSEs (i.e., 500+ per year). In 2025 the US boosted production to 620. Total PAC-3 MSEs produced since 2015 is 4,620.

When the PAC-3 MSE is employed against an incoming threat, a minimum of two are fired. Keep that figure in mind. So how many have we sent Ukraine? According to open source documents, including DOD/DOW budget figures, the the US has transferred 847 PAC-3 MSE missiles to Ukraine. Assuming that the US and Israel have NOT fired any PAC-3 MSE missiles in 2025 and 2026, the US only has 3,773 in its inventory. We know that is ridiculous, but play along with me.

During the 12-day war Iran fired at least 600 ballistic missiles into Israel. In theory, the Patriot system is designed to work against ballistic missiles while Israel’s Iron Dome is designed to defeat short-range counter-rocket, artillery, and mortar (C-RAM) defense, plus capabilities against drones, cruise missiles, precision-guided munitions (PGMs), and some ballistic threats in certain configurations. So let’s assume that the Patriot was fired at 500 of the Iranian missiles — i.e., at least 1,000 PAC-3 MSE missiles were fired. That shrinks the US inventory to 2,773.

In just four days since the start of Epic Fury, Iran has fired an estimated 200 missiles at sites in the Gulf nations and Israel that have Patriot batteries. Conceivably, that means that another 400 PAC-3 MSE missiles have been launched, which shrinks the inventory to 2,373. If Iran fires 60 ballistic missiles per day, and the Patriot system uses 2 interceptors per incoming missile (a common conservative engagement doctrine for high-confidence intercepts against ballistic threats), the inventory would be exhausted after 19 full days, with enough left on the 20th day to handle roughly 46–47 Iranian missiles before depletion (about 19.775 days total, or roughly 19 days and 18–19 hours of sustained operations at this rate). In other words, the US PAC-3 MSE missiles will be exhausted on March 23, 2026.

Note that I am assuming that the entire inventory of US Patriot missiles have been deployed to Israel and US bases in the region. That is a false assumption because there are Patriot missile batteries with a full complement of missiles in other theaters. At present there are three Patriot battalions permanently assigned/forward-deployed to INDOPACOM (e.g., in South Korea/Japan/Guam areas, like 35th ADA Brigade and 1-1 ADA at Kadena); EUCOM has one Patriot battalion assigned (e.g., units in Germany like Baumholder/Ansbach areas, supporting NATO/Eastern flank).

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US warplanes ‘likely responsible’ for Minab school massacre in Iran, internal probe shows

US investigators probing the deadly attack on the Shajareh Tayyebeh girls’ elementary school in the Iranian city of Minab believe a US military strike is the most likely cause of the bombing that killed over 180 people, of whom at least 165 were children, according to US officials who spoke to Reuters.

Two US officials told the outlet that the investigation remains ongoing and that a final determination has not been reached.

However, preliminary findings suggest the strike was most likely carried out by US forces, though they added that additional evidence could still emerge that changes the conclusion.

Reports and investigations by multiple outlets have reached a similar conclusion.

An investigation by the New York Times (NYT), based on satellite imagery, verified videos, and social media material, found the school had been hit by a precision strike at the same time that nearby targets linked to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) came under attack.

A similar recent investigation by Middle East Eye (MEE) indicated the site was struck twice, describing the incident as a so-called “double-tap” strike.

A double-tap strike is a tactic meant to maximize civilian casualties in which a second missile hits the same location shortly after the first, deliberately killing survivors and rescuers who rush to the scene to help the wounded.

The BBC later reported that satellite imagery and open-source evidence suggested the area was struck by multiple simultaneous or near-simultaneous attacks.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt deflected accusations of deliberate targeting, telling Reuters that “the Iranian regime targets civilians and children, not the United States of America.”

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Three Massive Funds Control a Chunk of Most Media: Maybe that’s why you might not have heard of them

Recently, FAIR (2/3/26) took a look at the owners of the biggest online media outlets. It focused on the controlling owners of those outlets, which are mostly publicly traded corporations. But a lot of the money—about $2 trillion dollars—invested in the top 50 online media outlets in the US is not the controlling owners’. Rather, it is possessed by minority institutional investors that manage assets for others.

Take BlackRock, Inc., for instance. Innovation & Tech Today (7/8/22) called it “the biggest company you’ve probably never heard of.” The multinational’s influence comes from the $13.5 trillion it manages on behalf of retirement funds, governments, other corporations and individual investors. That figure is enough to purchase every share of Amazon five times over.

BlackRock is just one of the Big Three US asset management firms. The other two, the Vanguard Group and State Street Corporation, are similarly big financial players. Vanguard manages $12 trillion and State Street manages about $5.5 trillion. Collectively, the Big Three “steward” almost 7% of all of the wealth in the entire world: stocks, bonds, cash, everything, everywhere. And while they are not a cartel, they hold the same interests, by dint of owning a small slice of almost everything.

The sheer amount of capital the Big Three can throw around gives them weight. When President Donald Trump went off on an extended tirade about Chinese control of the Panama Canal, BlackRock was there with a solution: “An investor group led by BlackRock will acquire two ports near the Panama Canal,” the New York Times (3/4/25) reported. And when the US economy went into a financial tailspin in 2007–08, BlackRock’s CEO Larry Fink was the person that central bankers and presidents had on speed dial. They’re invested in private prisons and residential real estate and Kellogg’s cereals, to name just a few.

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FBI is probing ‘suspicious’ breach into bureau networks

The FBI is investigating a possible cyber breach into bureau networks, the agency confirmed to Nextgov/FCW.

“The FBI identified and addressed suspicious activities on FBI networks, and we have leveraged all technical capabilities to respond,” the bureau said Thursday. The statement did not elaborate further.

CNN first reported the incident and said the breach concerned a network used to facilitate and manage court-ordered wiretapping requests, citing a person familiar with an investigation into the matter. Nextgov/FCW could not independently confirm the matter was linked to wiretap systems.

Wiretaps are a common law enforcement technique used to lawfully intercept communications data on domestic targets. To obtain data, FBI analysts are typically required to obtain a warrant from a judge, allowing them to compel communications providers to hand over call, text or email data tied to a target. Specialized court orders can also allow for real-time surveillance of phone calls.

The FBI is also a heavy user of a communications intercept law housed in Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which lets certain agencies target overseas foreigners’ communications without a warrant. 

Telecom providers’ “lawful intercept” wiretapping systems were ensnared in a sweeping Chinese hack uncovered in 2024. The hackers, tied to a group called Salt Typhoon, leveraged the intrusions to target communications of high profile political officials including President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance.

Foreign adversaries may, at any point in time, be targeting U.S. government systems. Wiretap contents are especially high-value intelligence targets because they could reveal sensitive information about what officials are thinking or planning.

It’s not clear if Salt Typhoon or another collective tied to foreign hackers was involved in the incident. Salt Typhoon is likely holding onto pilfered data “in perpetuity” for future theft and cyber exploitation, a top FBI official said last month.

The FBI has lost many of its staff in the last year amid a mix of firings and other mechanisms used by the second Trump administration to curtail the size of the federal workforce. That turnover has threatened the bureau’s national security resources, experts argue.

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Clinton Judge Orders Trump Admin to Refund $130 Billion in Tariffs

A federal judge on Wednesday ordered the Trump Administration to refund $130 billion in tariffs.

The US Supreme Court recently struck down President Trump’s tariffs in a 6-3 decision.

The Supreme Court said President Trump does not have the authority to impose the tariffs under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA).

The high court’s decision only invalidates Trump’s tariffs under the IEEPA.

Chief Justices Roberts, Amy Coney Barrett, and Neil Gorsuch sided with the three liberal justices.

Conservative Justices Alito, Clarence Thomas, and Brett Kavanaugh sided with President Trump.

In his dissent, Kavanaugh warned that refunding the tariffs would be a ‘mess.’

The Trump Administration asked for a 90-day delay in refunding the tariffs, but the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals denied the request on Monday.

The Federal Circuit Court of Appeals on Monday rejected the Trump Administration’s request to delay the Supreme Court’s ruling on tariffs.

On Wednesday, Judge Richard Eaton, a Clinton appointee, said the Trump Administration to begin refunding $130 billion in tariffs.

Fox News reported:

A federal judge ordered the Trump administration on Wednesday to begin the drawn-out task of refunding billions of dollars to companies that paid tariffs the Supreme Court recently invalidated.

Judge Richard Eaton, an appointee of former President Bill Clinton, laid out the estimated $130 billion refund process in a three-page order, saying it would begin with U.S. Customs and Border Protection calculating what importers would have paid without the now-invalid tariffs. Eaton also made clear he had sole jurisdiction over the refunds, which more than 1,000 companies have sued over in the U.S. Court of International Trade.

“The Chief Judge has indicated that I am the only judge who will hear cases pertaining to the refund of [International Emergency Economic Powers Act] duties,” Eaton wrote. “So there is no danger that another Judge, even one in this Court, will reach any contrary conclusions.”

The case in question was brought by Atmus Filtration, Inc., a company that paid President Donald Trump’s tariffs, which Trump imposed on nearly every country on an emergency basis under IEEPA last year.

Last week FedEx filed a lawsuit seeking a refund.

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Britain is Trying to Censor Americans – But America is Fighting Back

Ofcom has confirmed it is referring 4chan to a final enforcement decision under the Online Safety Act. The target is a Delaware company that runs an entirely anonymous imageboard from the United States, with no offices, staff, servers or assets in Britain. The demand: install age-verification systems and content filters so that British children cannot access the site or face daily fines levied from London on an American platform. This case is not an outlier. It is the clearest real-world demonstration of what the new generation of “online safety” laws requires: private companies must build automated filters that decide, in advance, which legal speech is too harmful for minors to see. The question the regulators never quite answer is simple: what exactly does the filter catch?

In the early 2020s, a political consensus formed on both sides of the Atlantic: social media is harming children and something must be done. The result in Washington was the Kids’ Online Safety Act (KOSA); in Westminster, the Online Safety Act (OSA), which received Royal Assent in October 2023 and began enforcement in 2025. The political appeal of both measures is genuine. Adolescent mental health deteriorated in the 2010s, parents are alarmed and platforms have appeared indifferent. But good intentions do not make good law, and the form these interventions took is constitutionally and morally indefensible. Both KOSA and the OSA rest on a duty-of-care model: platforms must take “reasonable measures” or implement “proportionate systems” to prevent minors from encountering content associated with depression, anxiety, eating disorders, self-harm and suicide. This is not a regulation of conduct. It is a mandate to suppress speech based on its topic and its predicted emotional effect on a reader: the very definition of content-based regulation.

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) stated the constitutional problem plainly in its July 2023 letter opposing KOSA: the bill “is a content-based regulation of constitutionally protected speech” that “will silence important conversations, limit minors’ access to potentially vital resources and violate the First Amendment”.  Under Reed v. Town of Gilbert, a law is content-based if it “applies to particular speech because of the topic discussed or the idea or message expressed”. Content-based regulations are “presumptively unconstitutional”.

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Embattled Texas Rep. Tony Gonzales Bows Out of 2026 Runoff Race After Explosive Affair Scandal With Staffer Who Later Took Her Own Life

Republican Rep. Tony Gonzales (R-TX) suddenly announced Thursday that he will not seek reelection to Congress amid a rapidly growing scandal involving an alleged affair with a staff member, which has shaken Washington and prompted a House Ethics investigation.

The Texas lawmaker, who serves the 23rd Congressional District along the southern border, said he will complete his current term but will not run in 2026 after weeks of increased pressure from Republican leaders and grassroots conservatives.

In a social media statement, Gonzales stated he had made the decision “after deep reflection and with the support of my loving family” not to pursue another term in Congress.

“At 18, I swore an oath to defend our nation against all enemies, foreign and domestic. During my 20 years in the military and three terms in Congress, I have fought for that cause with absolute dedication to the country that I love.

From confronting the border crisis to standing with my communities after the worst school shooting in Texas history, my philosophy has never changed: do as much as you can, and always fight for the greater good.

After deep reflection, and with the support of my loving family, I have decided not to seek reelection, while serving out the remainder of this Congress with the same commitment I have always had to my district.

Through the rest of my term, I will continue fighting for my constituents, for whom I am eternally grateful.

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