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.

Questions Mount Over Viral Claims of Apocalyptic Iran War Briefings in the Military

A viral claim alleges that as many as 200 U.S. troops at 50 military installations were told the war in Iran is meant to hasten the Biblical end times and the return of Christ. But is the story true?

While the claims have been breathlessly repeated online—and even by some major outlets—key red flags have been ignored, as Americans hit “repost” on a story that feels all too plausible in the current news environment. The truth, however, is far less clear in this rabbit hole of uncertainty, which may reveal more about the fractured nature of modern society than anything else.

Apocalypse Claims

The story first appeared in a Monday evening report by Jonathan Larsen on his Substack, in which he relayed a claim by the Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF) that it had received reports of apocalyptic religious briefings on the Iran war conducted by military leadership across more than 40 units stationed at roughly 30 installations. MRFF highlighted a single email, which they claim is representative of over 110 incidents, all of which are being kept confidential to avoid reprisals. 

The email in question details the account of a non-commissioned officer (NCO) in a unit outside of Iran, who claims that his commander told him to instruct his troops that President Trump is anointed by God and that the Iran war is the fulfillment of Biblical prophecy relating to Armageddon and the return of Christ. At the end of the email, the NCO states that these actions violated their constitutional oath and threatened morale and unit cohesion.

Larsen’s reporting provides the first clues that MRFF president and founder, Mikey Weinstein, isn’t your typical polished non-profit figurehead. Quotes attributed to Weinstein include words such as “wet dream” and “shit”—unusual language selection for a representative of an advocacy group—as he explains his issues with Christian fundamentalist proselytization in the military, and how that violates the Uniform Code of Military Justice.

Weinstein also notes that the group has received similar complaints from service members during previous conflicts involving Israel. In a lengthier statement at the close of the article, Weinstein refers to President Trump as “the narcissistic, sociopathic, orange, POS tRump.”

The Military Religious Freedom Foundation

On Tuesday morning, a post on the Military Religious Freedom Foundation website expanded on the original claim, now indicating knowledge of 200 complaints involving apocalyptic preaching about the Iran conflict from 50 installations.

A look at the organization’s website reveals more of Weinstein’s style: articles on the site generally feature provocative titles and dramatic, politically themed AI-generated art. A link to a video of Weinstein in his car, letting loose with profanity-laced opinions about Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, appeared on the site’s front page. In style and demeanor, the website is at odds with what one typically expects of a straight-laced advocacy group.

Previously having served as an Air Force JAG officer, Weinstein says he started the group as his son experienced anti-Semitic bias while attending the Air Force Academy, when students were pressured to see the film The Passion of the Christ. Critics have noted that Weinstein draws a relatively large salary from the organization, accounting for almost half of its 2024 expenses at $364,392, which he has previously defended as commensurate with his legal training and extensive work hours.

The Sole Source for Iran “Armageddon” Claims

More than any idiosyncrasies in the organization’s presentation, the most unusual part of this story is that MRFF is the sole source of the recent “Armageddon” allegations. Despite alleged complaints from hundreds of soldiers across dozens of installations, no public faces—or even anonymous internet postings—have appeared that offer support for the claim, and no journalists with other organizations have indicated having a direct whistleblower source on the matter.

One of the largest organizations performing similar work is the Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF). With an operating budget over 15 times that of MRFF, the FFRF promoted MRFF’s claims on Tuesday, prompting The Debrief to inquire as to whether they had received any similar reports that could corroborate the story.

“We have interacted with MRFF before,” Chris Line, Legal Counsel for the Freedom From Religion Foundation, told The Debrief. “It would be surprising if they were making this complaint up, but we have not been able to verify their complaints yet and haven’t received any complaints from service members ourselves.”

When pressed on whether the organization found it unusual that a comparatively smaller group has been the only one to receive such complaints, and that nothing corroborating the claims has appeared publicly, FFRF conceded to The Debrief that it was difficult to explain.

“The volume of complaints that MRFF has reported is hard to believe given that we haven’t heard from anyone about it ourselves, but the lack of corresponding social media posts, etc. is not,” Line told The Debrief.

“We’re very used to dealing with anonymous complainants who face potential negative repercussions for speaking out about state/church issues,” Line added. “We’ve received complaints from military personnel in the past, and the concern about repercussions can be heightened in that kind of environment, especially given the current administration.”

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Cannabis timeline pushed to 20,000+ years

New research suggests cannabis use may date back 20,000 years or more, far earlier than previously thought.

Most scholars agree cultivation of cannabis began in Asia between 10,000 and 12,000 years ago, during the advent of farming following the last ice age. But a 2023 morphometric study of ancient cannabis seeds suggests it may have begun far earlier — 20,000 years ago or more — in what is now Western China and the Tibetan Plateau.

The study looked at the size of seeds, which began to change as people started using them thousands of years ago.

People have been living in the Tibetan Plateau for up to 38,000 years, and in Central Asia for up to 50,000 years, so it is plausible cannabis has been used up to that long.

Cannabis has been around for millions of years, and the oldest plant material discovered so far is seeds dated to 8000 BC, found in Okinoshima, Japan at a neolithic site linked to the Jomon people. The seeds were likely used as food and to make oil.

Pottery found at an ancient archaeological site in Taiwan and dated to the same period, around 8000 BC, has impressions made with hemp cord, meaning cannabis was used widely across Asia by that time.

Along with using it as a source of food, the 2023 study suggests that by 6000 BC, cannabis was being cultivated for its fibre — what we now call hemp. It was around 3000BC that people began selecting cannabis for its trichomes, which contain the medicinal and psychoactive compounds.

Those findings align with a 2021 genomic study that also places domestication around 10000 BC, with a slightly different timeline — hemp selection beginning around 4000 BC, and medicinal/psychoactive use emerging around 3000 BC. Cannabis also appears to have reached the Indian subcontinent from China around that time.

“The first users were probably nomadic peoples,” explains Barney Warf, a professor of geography at the University of Kansas. “We know this from burial mounds of chieftains.”

Warf authored the 2014 paper High Points: An Historical Geography of Cannabis, which traces the spread and use of cannabis from ancient to modern times.

Several nomadic tribes are thought to have been the main conduit for bringing cannabis from Central Asia into India, the Middle East, Northern Africa and Europe between 4000 BC and 2000 BC, says Warf, along routes that would later become known as the Silk Road.

One possible origin for the word ‘Cannabis’ is the Scythian word, ‘Kanab,’ which itself may have come from the Assyrian word ‘Qunubu’. The Scythians were a nomadic group dated to between 900 BC and 200 BC and the Assyrians were in Mesopotamia between 2000 BC and 600 BC.

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Woman Sues After Prison Staff Decided To Use Her as Rape ‘Bait’

When staff at the Logan Correctional Center learned a prison counselor may have been repeatedly sexually assaulting a female inmate, they did the sane and humane thing and immediately removed her from his reach while opening an investigation into the alleged assailant.

Just kidding. What they really did was decide to use the inmate as rape “bait.”

The idea was that when the counselor tried again, a prison investigator would jump down from a hiding space in the ceiling to stop the attack.

The plan didn’t work. The inmate was assaulted again.

And she has since sued, alleging cruel and unusual punishment.

‘No Reasonable Official Could Have Thought It Proper To Act as They Did’

The case came before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit last fall, on appeal from the U.S. District Court for the Central District of Illinois.

Prison counselor Richard MacLeod “repeatedly sexually assaulted” Andrea Nielsen while she was imprisoned at Illinois’ Logan Correctional Center, writes Judge David Hamilton in the appeals court’s February 26 opinion. But rather than “protecting Nielsen from further assaults” when her cellmate reported the abuse to prison investigator Todd Sexton and Warden Margaret Burke, the pair “formulated an outrageous plan to use her as unwitting ‘bait’ to try to catch MacLeod in the act.”

“The plan was for Sexton to stay late a few times, crawl around in the ceiling above the room MacLeod used to sexually assault Nielsen, and wait to jump down and intervene,” notes Hamilton. “The plan failed, and MacLeod assaulted her again.”

Nielsen went on to file a civil lawsuit against Burke, Sexton, and MacLeod. A jury found all three liable and ordered them to pay Nielsen $19.3 million in compensatory and punitive damages.

Two of the defendants—Burke and Sexton—subsequently appealed.

A three-judge panel from the 7th Circuit affirmed the lower court’s decision to deny them qualified immunity and to deny their motion that there was insufficient evidence for a guilty finding. “No reasonable official could have thought it proper to act as they did,” states the opinion.

But the appeals court also partially reversed the lower court’s ruling and ordered a new trial on damages—but not liability—for Sexton and Burke, citing “erroneous exclusion of evidence” at trial among other things. So, they’re still guilty, but a new trial will be necessary to determine how much money they’re on the hook for.

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Rock art from at least 67,800 years ago in Sulawesi

The Indonesian archipelago is host to some of the earliest known rock art in the world1,2,3,4,5. Previously, secure Pleistocene dates were reported for figurative cave art and stencils of human hands in two areas in Indonesia—the Maros-Pangkep karsts in the southwestern peninsula of the island of Sulawesi1,3,4,5 and the Sangkulirang-Mangkalihat region of eastern Kalimantan, Borneo2. Here we describe a series of early dated rock art motifs from the southeastern portion of Sulawesi. Among this assemblage of Pleistocene (and possibly more recent) motifs, laser-ablation U-series (LA-U-series) dating of calcite overlying a hand stencil from Liang Metanduno on Muna Island yielded a U-series date of 71.6 ± 3.8 thousand years ago (ka), providing a minimum-age constraint of 67.8 ka for the underlying motif. The Muna minimum (67.8 ± 3.8 ka) exceeds the published minimum for rock art in Maros-Pangkep by 16.6 thousand years (kyr) (ref. 5) and is 1.1 kyr greater than the published minimum for a hand stencil from Spain attributed to Neanderthals6, which until now represented the oldest demonstrated minimum-age constraint for cave art worldwide. Moreover, the presence of this extremely old art in Sulawesi suggests that the initial peopling of Sahul about 65 ka7 involved maritime journeys between Borneo and Papua, a region that remains poorly explored from an archaeological perspective.

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Hundreds of cases of child abuse involving beliefs in witchcraft and evil spirits go unreported every year in UK, experts reveal

Hundreds of cases of group ritual abuse against children are going unreported every year in the UK, a leading researcher has revealed. 

Victims have been contacting support services to describe abuse at the hands of paedophile rings who use claims of witchcraft and possession to cower them into submission.

In a twisted inversion of reality, acts of rape, sexual abuse or torture are then characterised as ‘cleansing’ rituals to rid the victim of a demon or evil spirit – with perpetrators sometimes wearing costumes or masks.

While so-called ‘organised ritual abuse’ is described as a ‘rare but real phenomenon’ in Britain, police are concerned that it is heavily underreported and rarely appears in official data.

Dr Elly Hanson, a clinical psychologist and researcher, said victims often do not report ritual abuse to police because they feared their claims would appear too fantastical to be believed.

Others have become ‘disassociated’, a process that sees abuse victims adopt a different identity as a way of separating themselves from the reality of what has happened to them, or simply feel too traumatised to ‘give a coherent narrative’.

‘There are so many hurdles facing victims that nearly all of them end up falling out of the system,’ Dr Hanson told a media briefing held today by the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC).

An analysis of police data by the NPCC found that just seven ritual abuse cases were investigated in 2024 out of 4,450 instances of child abuse, marking just 0.2 per cent of all investigations.

However, the National Association for People Abused in Childhood (NAPAC) found that out of a sample of 36,700 calls to their helpline between July 2016 and January 2025, 1,311 (3.57 per cent) mentioned ritual abuse.

Dr Hanson said organised ritual abuse typically involves family members and starts when children are young.

Perpetrators frequently do not believe the supernatural belief systems they are espousing and simply use them as a means too gain control over their victims, the psychologist explained.

This form of abuse regularly involves torture or extreme acts of violence and may end in murder or animal sacrifice.

While beliefs about witchcraft and spirit possession are often linked to ethnic groups, such as those with links to sub-Saharan Africa, many offenders have British backgrounds.

According to Dr Hanson, ‘cultural sensitivities’ are one factor holding back police and social services, but she believes the issue works both ways.

‘You’ve potentially got a desire to be culturally sensitive with certain cultural communities, then you’ve got the other direction where someone who is British and not from a particular community they are not seen as someone who might be suffering ritual abuse,’ she said.

One recent case saw a seven-strong child sex ring in Glasgow prey on children as young as 13 in a drug den nicknamed the ‘Beastie House’.

The trial heard how the group performed ‘spells’ on the children and convinced them they had been metamorphosed into various animals.

Richard Fewkes, the director of the NPCC’s Hydrant programme targeting child sexual abuse, said the case was an example of paedophiles using claims of witchcraft as a means of control.

‘Those individuals did not necessarily believe in witchcraft, but they used the ritual of it to control the children,’ he said.

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Brother of female Louisiana mayor convicted of having sex with boy, 16, is rapist who targeted underage child

The brother of a disgraced Louisiana mayor convicted of having sex with her teen son’s best friend has admitted to raping a young girl in a years-long abuse campaign. 

Brandon Lee Roberts, 40, the brother of mayor Misty Roberts, pleaded guilty in November to sexually assaulting a teenage girl and another young woman over several years. 

The guilty plea on seven counts of rape saw Brandon sentenced this week to a total of 32 years in prison, reports KPLCTV. 

Prosecutors said the abuse began when one of the victims was just 13 and went on for years before Brandon was eventually arrested in October 2024. 

His arrest came just two months after his older sister was arrested after she was caught engaging in sexual activity with her son’s 16-year-old friend at a drunken pool party at her home.

Roberts, the former mayor of DeRidder, Louisiana, was convicted on Tuesday as a jury found her guilty of indecent behavior and carnal knowledge of a minor. 

The mother-of-two wept uncontrollably as she was convicted, shaking her head in disbelief as she was warned she faces up to 17 years behind bars when she is sentenced next month.  

Once an influential mayor of the tiny western Louisiana town, she will also be required to register as a sex offender. 

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Judge Blocks Virginia’s One-Hour Social Media Limit for Minors as Unconstitutional

A federal judge has blocked Virginia’s attempt to limit minors to one hour of social media per day, ruling the law violates the First Amendment. The decision is a significant check on a growing wave of state legislation that treats time spent reading, watching, and communicating online as something the government can ration.

Judge Patricia Tolliver Giles issued the preliminary injunction Friday, finding that Virginia “does not have the legal authority to block minors’ access to constitutionally protected speech until their parents give their consent by overriding a government-imposed default limit.”

We obtained a copy of the opinion for you here.

The ruling halts enforcement of Senate Bill 854, which carried fines of $7,500 per violation and required platforms to use “commercially reasonable methods” to verify user ages.

The law’s problem wasn’t just the one-hour cap. It was how the cap worked. The state set the default, and parents could ask to change it. That structure puts the government, not families, in control of baseline access to speech. Parental consent here overrides a government restriction that shouldn’t exist in the first place.

Giles found the law over-inclusive in a way that illustrates exactly how blunt these restrictions are. “A minor would be barred from watching an online church service if it exceeded an hour on YouTube,” she wrote, “yet, that same minor is allowed to watch provider-selected religious programming exceeding an hour in length on a streaming platform.”

The law doesn’t regulate harm. It regulates platforms, which means it catches protected speech indiscriminately.

NetChoice, the trade association whose members include Meta, YouTube, Snap, Reddit, and TikTok, sued to stop the law. In November, NetChoice argued that “Virginia has with one broad stroke restricted access to valuable sources for speaking and listening, learning about current events and otherwise exploring the vast realms of human thought and knowledge.” The judge agreed they had standing to pursue a permanent block and found they were likely to succeed on the merits.

Virginia’s attorney general is defending the law alongside 29 other states from both parties. A spokesperson said: “We look forward to continuing to enforce laws that empower parents to protect their children from the proven harms that can come through social media.” The new Democratic attorney-general Jay Jones, who took office in January, had announced he intended to fully enforce the law signed by his Republican predecessor, Glenn Youngkin.

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Democrat Jasmine Crockett LOSES Texas Senate Primary

Texas Democrat Jasmine Crockett faced an upset in Tuesday’s Democratic Primary race for US Senate, with James Talarico emerging victorious in a race that Crockett argues was marred by cheating.

As The Gateway Pundit reported, Crockett predicted her loss late last night and blamed “cheating.”

“We encourage each and every one of you to remain resilient. We cannot allow this type of behavior to be rewarded because so long as they know that they can win, even if it means cheating, then they will continue to do it,” Crockett told supporters during a press conference with House candidate Collin Allred.

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‘We’ve Addicted Our Farmers’ to Glyphosate, RFK Jr. Tells Joe Rogan

U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. called glyphosate a “poison” embedded in America’s food supply, even as he backed President Donald Trump’s executive order expanding its domestic production.

Speaking Feb. 27 on “The Joe Rogan Experience,” Kennedy emphasized his decades-long fight against pesticides. “Pesticides are poison. They’re designed to kill all life. It’s not a good thing to have in your food,” he said.

Yet he defended the president’s executive order as a national security measure.

Trump signed the order in February to boost U.S. production of glyphosate, the active ingredient in Monsanto’s Roundup weedkiller. Bayer acquired Monsanto in 2018 and now faces tens of thousands of lawsuits alleging Roundup exposure caused cancer.

Hours after the order, Kennedy told The New York Times, “Donald Trump’s executive order puts America first where it matters most — our defense readiness and our food supply.” Days later, Kennedy posted on X, explaining his position.

On Rogan’s show, Kennedy said industry reports show that 99% of U.S. glyphosate supplies come from China. U.S. Department of Defense officials warned that dependence poses “an extreme national security vulnerability,” he said. A supply disruption “could literally cut off our food supply overnight and cripple the country.”

“The president was dealing with national security,” Kennedy said.

The executive order also grants legal immunity to domestic manufacturers compelled under the Defense Production Act of 1950 to produce glyphosate-related products. The law allows the federal government to require companies to produce materials deemed necessary for national security.

Bayer is the only company manufacturing glyphosate in the U.S.

Kennedy criticized the liability protections. “It’s not something that I was particularly happy with. Let me put it that way mildly,” he said.

He warned that immunity “takes away all incentive for them to make the product safer.”

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REPORT: Far Left Democrats Really Want AOC to be Nominee for President in 2028

When it comes to the 2028 election, the far left has a fever and the only prescription is Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. She is the one they really want to be the Democrat nominee for president.

This shouldn’t surprise anyone. She has been basically campaigning for the job for months by going on tour with Senator Bernie Sanders at their ridiculous ‘Fight Oligarchy’ rallies. She is seen as the apparent heir to Bernie’s legacy.

This far left faction of the Democrat party is on the rise. They think that the election of Zohran Mamdani is a sign of where the country is going and that this is their moment.

Breitbart News reports:

Hard-left Democrats have reportedly been pushing for Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) to run for president in 2028.

A report from Axios indicates that those Democrats view the young socialist as a replacement for the candidacy of Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT). Behind the scenes, allies of Ocasio-Cortez (AOC) said that she would have an opportunity to boost her national profile if she runs, potentially polling in the top five of candidates and raising well over $100 million in campaign funds.

“There’s a window of opportunity for a left-wing nominee that may not come again for a generation. Democratic-socialist and liberal victories in New York City and elsewhere — with potentially more this fall — have changed the political playing field,” noted Axios.

Even if her candidacy failed, supporters of Ocasio-Cortez said that she would likely highlight issues they care most about, like universal health care, adding that she could even use it to potentially run for U.S. Senator in New York after Democrat Minority Leader Chuck Schumer retires or even challenge him in a primary.

“I think she’ll plan to run for both and end up a senator,” said one strategist.

This could end up causing some division in the Democrat party.

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