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.

Project ‘PROVIDENT’: NIAID Launched $70 Million Pandemic Program Targeting Hantaviruses Before Outbreak

A massive National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) pandemic-preparedness program focused in part on hantaviruses was already actively underway—and had just achieved unprecedented structural and vaccine-platform mapping of Andes hantavirus—before the highly publicized 2026 international Andes hantavirus outbreak ordeal emerged.

The federally funded initiative, called PROVIDENT (“Prepositioning Optimized Strategies for Vaccines and Immunotherapeutics against Diverse Emerging Infectious Threats”), officially began in September 2024 and remains active through June 2029, according to NIH RePORTER documents.

The project is run by Dr. Kartik Chandran, a professor at Albert Einstein College of Medicine’s Department of Microbiology & Immunology.

Importantly, the project is not a small short-term grant.

Albert Einstein College of Medicine announced in September 2024 that the consortium received a:

“five-year, $14 million per year grant”

That places the total projected funding for the program at roughly $70 million over its active lifespan.

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Dem L.A. Mayor Karen Bass Proposes Free Teeth for Meth Addicts

Failed Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass has proposed a new government program for her failed city: free teeth for meth addicts, paid for by taxpayers.

Speaking at an event this week, Bass floated her latest idea to further destroy and bankrupt what was once a great city…

How many people who are unhoused that you meet have no teeth at all?” she asked. “They don’t have teeth, why? Because meth rots your teeth. You can’t succeed without teeth! So there needs to be comprehensive healthcare provided to people.”

This is like refurnishing a house that’s still on fire.

This has to be one of the most ridiculous ideas anyone has ever come up with, and she actually uses the retarded term “unhoused.”

What good does it do to fix the teeth of a meth head? Who’s going to look at a meth head’s smile and say, Please work my cash register.

And we’re not talking about a cleaning here. We’re talking about tens of thousands of dollars in dental care. Implants cost about $6000 per tooth. Extractions run around $300 per tooth. Meth heads will almost certainly require bone grafts, sinus lifts, and maybe even sedation. Are we going to trust meth heads with dentures, which are cheaper at around $5000, but likely to end up in a pawn shop or left behind in a crack house?

In my experience, you’re looking at a total cost in the range of $30,000 to $80,000, and that’s if the city pays the dentist directly, which it won’t. The whole program will be funneled through a non-profit or NGO, which will double or triple the cost to taxpayers (with sweet kickbacks to Democrats), just like Gov. Gavin Newsom’s (D-CA) “free” diaper program tripled the cost of the diapers the government (i.e. taxpayers) bought.

As for “my experience,” it’s been two years and counting of paying massive dental bills out of my own pocket, just like every other law-abiding taxpayer in America.

You mean, all I have to do to get my dental bills paid is smoke meth?

Medicare doesn’t even cover dental, which means people who have worked all their lives and paid into the system do not have government help paying their dental bills. Ah, but the government will assist degenerate meth addicts.

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Josh Shapiro and AOC Are Waging War Over a Midterm Congressional Race with 2028 Implications: Report

Democrats face a problem that will likely plague them well into the 2028 election cycle.

Until then, it appears that one prominent Democrat will try to sidestep the problem for as long as possible.

According to Axios, Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania, widely considered a centrist and a possible 2028 presidential contender, has worked behind the scenes to undermine a progressive congressional candidate supported by Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York — another potential 2028 aspirant.

The candidate, Chris Rabb of Philadelphia, has earned AOC’s endorsement in a tight three-way Democratic primary scheduled for May 19.

Meanwhile, three sources close to discussions told Axios that Shapiro not only disapproves of Rabb but has quietly taken steps to ensure that the AOC-approved progressive candidate gains no advantage at the expense of the other two candidates, Sharif Street or Ala Stanford, both regarded as more centrist Democrats like Shapiro.

For instance, Philadelphia’s building trades unions support Street. But Shapiro has urged those unions to refrain from running negative ads against Stanford for fear of inadvertently helping Rabb.

At the same time, the governor must appear neutral if he hopes to avoid alienating his party’s left wing.

To that end, Shapiro spokesman Manuel Bonder said that “the governor has not endorsed or opposed anyone in this primary — and he looks forward to working directly with whoever wins to win in November. Gov. Shapiro is focused on flipping Republican seats and winning up and down the ballot in November.”

Rabb, however, has a history of vocal criticism toward the governor. In January, the upstart progressive even spoke at a protest against Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which organizers staged outside the first stop on Shapiro’s book tour.

In short, a Rabb victory would saddle Shapiro with a prominent critic inside his own state’s U.S. House delegation.

Eventually, of course, the governor will have to take on his party’s AOC-led left wing. But he appears determined to dictate when and how he will meet that challenge publicly.

At the heart of that impending clash lies the strong anti-Israel sentiment inside the Democratic Party.

Shapiro, who is Jewish, supports Israel, whereas Rabb, in a since-disavowed December social media post, blamed “Zionists” for carrying out an alleged false-flag attack on Australia’s Bondi Beach, where a Dec. 14 Islamic terror attack claimed the lives of 15 people.

On the face of it, Shapiro has qualities that victory-starved Democrats should crave.

In 2022, for instance, he won the governorship of a trending-red swing state by nearly 15 points. Two years later, in the 2024 election, President Donald Trump won Pennsylvania by nearly two points.

But the 2024 election also highlights Shapiro’s problem.

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“Completely Insane”: Federal Govt Withholds $1.3BN In Medicaid Reimbursements To California, Citing Fraud

The Trump administration will withhold $1.3 billion in Medicaid payments to California due to potentially fraudulent billing patterns, Vice President JD Vance announced on May 13.

The action comes among a host of others taken recently to crack down on fraudulent activity in Medicare and Medicaid.

“We want to protect these programs for the kids and the families who need them. We want to ensure that the American taxpayer isn’t getting fleeced,” Vance told reporters.

Analysis of Medicaid billing patterns in California aroused suspicion, according to Dr. Mehmet Oz, administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

“We’ve discovered $630 million in billing from folks who are egregiously the top 5 percent of outliers in billing. These numbers are so big you can’t imagine anyone billing for these [amounts],” Oz told reporters.

California itself is an outlier among states, Oz said.

“In California, the growth of spending on personal care services is twice the rate of the average of the rest of the country,” Oz said.

“We estimate there’s $500 million that could be a risk of being taken from federal taxpayers.”

Fewer than 20 of 800 Medicare providers recently removed from the program due to suspicious billing activity have called to complain, Oz said, offering that as evidence that they likely were not legitimate providers.

VP Vance responded with a double take after hearing that wild stat from Dr. Oz:

“You’re saying that we kicked off 800 fraudulent healthcare providers off of the Medicare system and not a single one of them called the government and said, ‘hey, you made a mistake?'”

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Kuwait Accuses Iran of Attacking Island with Chinese-Funded Port

Kuwait on Tuesday arrested four alleged members of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and accused them of attempting to infiltrate Bubiyan Island, a Kuwaiti territory close to shipping lanes and oil fields that has a port under construction with Chinese funding.

Bubiyan is the largest island under Kuwait’s control in the northern Persian Gulf, close to the border with Iraq. It is sparsely inhabited at the moment, but will change with the completion of the Mubarak al-Kabeer Port, a massive project under construction with Chinese assistance as part of Beijing’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).

The ambitious $4.1 billion port is expected to become a major hub for container ships, greatly increasing Kuwait’s trading profile and China’s economic influence on the region. The facility could also be helpful for shipping from Iraq and Iran to Red Sea trade routes.

The initial stage of construction was completed in 2014, while Kuwait hopes the port will become operational before the end of 2026. Mubarak al-Kabeer is very important to the “Kuwait 2035” project, an agenda modeled after Saudi Arabia’s Saudi Vision 2030 initiative to reduce the country’s dependence on oil for revenue.

According to the Kuwaiti Interior Ministry, on May 1 a fishing boat “specially chartered to carry out hostile actions against Kuwait” approached Bubiyan Island with six Iranians on board. Five were apparently IRGC officers, while the sixth was the captain of the chartered boat.

The IRGC is the elite theocratically-controlled wing of the Iranian military and has been designated a terrorist organization by the U.S. government and European Union (EU). IRGC units handle most of Iran’s skullduggery in other countries, including recruiting and supplying proxy forces and destabilizing other Middle Eastern governments.

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America’s Fanatical Left Wing Mayors Are A Malignant Threat

This week the Democrat mayor of Arcadia, CA pled guilty to charges of acting as an illegal agent of the People’s Republic of China.  Prosecutors alleged that from 2020–2022 (pre-mayor but continuing into her time in office), she and an associate operated a website promoting pro-China propaganda at the direction of PRC officials, without registering as a foreign agent. 

She faces at up to 10 years in prison for the crime, and it raises questions about how many more US mayors are on the payroll of foreign governments.  But this scandal, like most scandals surrounding Democrats, will probably be erased from public discussion and forgotten within days.  It’s a tale that keeps repeating over the last decade and the lack of scrutiny (or pattern recognition) is leading to devastating consequences for the US as a whole.

The common reaction among many conservatives when they come across such news is to dismiss it as predictable.  “The idiots living in that city got exactly what they voted for…” is the often heard retort.  The implication being that it’s “not our problem” and that leftists should be allowed to rot in the hellholes they created for themselves.  But the truth is, it is a problem, for the entire country. 

It’s difficult to determine when it became fashionable for conservatives and centrists to abandon the fight for America’s cities, but the consequences are spreading like a cancer into the political sphere.  Leftists view these cities as victories.  They see them as “territories, or “home bases” where they can launch assaults on various targets without fear of serious prosecution. 

Allowing this takeover to continue should be treated as embarrassing by anyone with a modicum of moral clarity.

Failing metros also represent symbols of embarrassment on the global stage.  When people around the world see the fentanyl zombie hordes of San Francisco or Philadelphia, that image sticks in their minds as a meme for the US.

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Heated Protests in Cuba After Yet Another 30-Hour Blackout in Havana

Residents of Havana took to the streets of several neighborhoods in the capital city on Tuesday night for the second day in a row to protest against the communist Castro regime amid a new, over 30-hour-long blackout.

Over the past two days, Cubans living in Havana have been enduring yet another over 30-hour-long blackout as the ailing communist regime finds itself unable to consistently provide power to the Cuban capital city. Cuban-focused outlets reported that residents of the Havana neighborhoods of Bahía, Marianao, Diez de Octubre, Nuevo Vedado, Luyanó, and others banged pots, set up campfires, and burned piles of trash that the ailing ruling regime has failed to properly dispose of during Tuesday night’s protests.

Cuban dissidents with internet access successfully managed to publish footage of the protests on social media and share it with outlets. Cubanet published footage of a cacerolazo (“pot-banging”) protest in Diez de Octubre — a neighborhood described by the outlet as a location that has become a central spot for peaceful protests against the Castro regime in recent months. In another piece of footage, shared by Cuban dissident Eliécer Ávila and published by Cubanet, shows fires burning along the side of a road while dozens of people protest during the blackout.

Cuban activist Orlando Ramírez spoke with Martí Noticias on Tuesday and described the situation as “chaotic.” Ramírez resides in Santo Suárez, a neighborhood that lost power on Monday afternoon and only had power for a brief 14-minute period before it went out again. His area also lacks running water, as there is not enough pressure to pump water through the pipelines of his neighborhood and, without power, no one can operate any pumps to move water upwards into tanks. Having access to fuel-powered generators is no guarantee to overcome the blackout, Ramírez pointed out, as generators are not suited to provide power to the old refrigerators that are commonplace in Cuba — in addition to soaring fuel costs across the island, which make running generators an expensive endeavor.

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The Liberal Media Is Finally Noticing Democrats Are Willing To Shred The Rule Of Law

Democrats have anointed themselves the defenders of democracy and protectors of the rule of law. For years, the liberal media has been more than willing to help push that narrative. But after the state Supreme Court struck down the Virginia gerrymander, the reaction from Democrats was so extreme that even their usual defenders couldn’t ignore how bad it looked.

On Sunday, the New York Times reported that House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and Virginia Democrats held a conference call the day after the Virginia Supreme Court ruled that the party had violated the state constitution by passing its gerrymandered map, nullifying the new map before it could be implemented. According to the report, lawmakers spent the call “venting anger at their defeat,” with the atmosphere described as “desperation and fury,” and Democrats floated the idea of lowering the mandatory retirement age of the court so they could replace all the justices and restart the process of passing their gerrymandered map.

Even some of the liberal media’s old guard felt uncomfortable that such an idea was seriously considered, and what that says about the party that claims to be defenders of Democracy and the rule of law. 

That’s the unmistakable takeaway from a revealing exchange between Chris Cillizza and Chuck Todd on Monday on Cillizza’s podcast.

Chuck Todd framed the Virginia ruling as the natural consequence of bad politics and worse arrogance. “That’s how I feel about this, this ruling in Virginia, right? This was a bad idea. This was terrible messaging. This was defeat. This sort of undermined every supposed principle that the Democratic Party had been running on for over a decade,” he said.

The deeper problem, as Todd and Cillizza both made clear, is that Democrats did this to themselves. “And, you know, and they didn’t dot their I’s and cross their T’s,” Todd said, acknowledging reports that Democrats in Virginia knew their plan wasn’t constitutional but pressed forward with it anyway.

“The Democratic state legislature told the Virginia State Supreme Court, ‘Do not offer a ruling on this until after the election,’” Cillizza noted. In other words, they knew exactly what they were doing. They were trying to run the clock and hope the courts would stay out of the way until after the votes were cast, and there was nothing that could be done about it.

Todd then referenced the  New York Times report about the plan to lower the retirement age for Supreme Court justices to 54, which he used as another example of Democrats careening away from any serious commitment to institutional norms.

“And you’re sitting there going, ‘Wow.’ And you’re the same party that’s been complaining that Donald Trump doesn’t respect, um, the democracy? Doesn’t respect the will of the voters, doesn’t respect institutions.” 

“How about rule of law?” Cillizza added.

The narrative from Democrats for years has been about protecting democracy, defending norms, and standing up for institutions. But when their own power is on the line, that lofty rhetoric suddenly turns into just another set of talking points. Todd even admitted the entire episode looked insane from the outside. 

The most damning part came when Todd explained what he thinks the Democratic Party is willing to do.

“The left has become… as bad as Trump,” he said.

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Amid UK Turmoil, Push For Digital ID and Cellphone Surveillance Continues

The floundering left-wing Labour Party government in Britain appears intent on imposing as much authoritarianism as possible on the public while it still remains in power, with Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer using the King’s Speech on Wednesday to confirm plans to introduce a Digital ID system while plans for deep surveillance of private digital devices are revealed.

When in doubt, break glass for more Blairism appears to be the order of the day. Fighting for his political life following a disastrous performance in last week’s local elections, Prime Minister Starmer has not only turned to major figures from the previous Labour government, tapping Blairite veterans former PM Gordon Brown and Deputy leader Harriet Harman to come on board as advisors, he now seems intent on fulfilling his predecessor’s unfulfilled aims, introducing a Digital ID.

Although the Brown government began to introduce such a system, it was eventually scrapped following the 2010 general election, which the Conservative Party made a referendum on the idea. While long classified as fundamentally un-British — with the UK abandoning national identity cards following the Second World War in contrast to many other European nations — the project of a Digital ID has remained a key goal of the scheme’s architect, Former PM Tony Blair, who remains a key power broker in the background of the Labour Party.

On Wednesday, amid ongoing rumours of potential leadership challenges, Starmer’s government outlined its plans for the upcoming parliament in the King’s Speech, in which the Monarch reads a list of priorities written for him by Downing Street.

“My Ministers will also proceed with the introduction of Digital ID that will modernise how citizens interact with public services [Digital Access to Services Bill],” King Charles III told the State Opening of Parliament.

The government has previously pitched the concept as a cure-all for illegal immigration, saying it could be used to ensure that anyone seeking a job or renting a flat has their citizenship or immigration status instantly verified. Other potential uses put forward include accessing government services and collecting health records.

However, opponents have long raised concerns about Digital IDs, particularly regarding privacy and creeping state intervention. The British government has not showered itself in glory in recent years in terms of keeping digital secrets safe, with it recently accidentally leaking a list of thousands of spies, soldiers, and allies on the ground in Afghanistan to the Taliban, undercutting the notion that it would protect the much less sensitive data of average Britons.

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Ex-Con Hacker Twins Fired – Proceed To Wipe Out 96 Government Databases In Minutes

Note to employers: When you discover your twin brother employees are ex-cons who did time for hacking into the US State Department, and go to fire them, make sure you fully disable their access. 

February 2025, twin brothers Muneeb and Sohaib Akhter turned a routine job termination into one of the most brazen insider sabotage incidents in recent U.S. government history. Just minutes after being fired from Opexus – a Washington, D.C.-area contractor that provides critical case-management software to more than 45 federal agencies – the brothers allegedly launched a rapid digital assault that deleted approximately 96 government databases containing sensitive FOIA records, investigative files, and taxpayer data.

What made the case especially shocking was the brothers’ prior history: both had served prison time for hacking federal systems a decade earlier. 

A Decade-Old Criminal Record

The Akhter brothers, both 34 and from Alexandria, Virginia, had a criminal past that Opexus completely missed – which, given what they do, is not great. In 2015, while working as contractors, they pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud, conspiracy to access protected computers without authorization, and related charges. Their crimes involved hacking into U.S. State Department systems and a private company, stealing personal data on coworkers, acquaintances, and even a federal investigator.

Muneeb received a 39-month prison sentence; Sohaib received 24 months. Both served their time and were released.

And yet… 

By 2023-2024, the brothers had landed engineering roles at Opexus (formerly known as AINS), a firm specializing in FedRAMP-certified case-management platforms. Its flagship products – FOIAXpress and the eCASE suite – help agencies process Freedom of Information Act requests, audits, investigations, EEO complaints, and congressional correspondence. Opexus systems host sensitive government data on servers in Ashburn, Virginia.

The company conducted standard background checks covering roughly seven years – which missed the 2015 convictions. Opexus later admitted that “additional diligence should have been applied” and that the individuals responsible for hiring the twins are no longer with the company.

Unbeknownst to Opexus at the time of termination, the brothers had been abusing their access for weeks. Muneeb had collected approximately 5,400 usernames and passwords from the company’s network and built custom scripts to test them against external sites (including Marriott and DocuSign). He successfully logged into accounts and, in some cases, used victims’ airline miles.

On February 1, 2025 – more than two weeks before their firing – Muneeb asked Sohaib for the plaintext password of an individual who had filed a complaint through the EEOC Public Portal. Sohaib ran a database query and provided it; Muneeb then used the credentials to access the complainant’s email without authorization. This incident later became central to Sohaib’s password-trafficking charge.

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