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.

The Strangest Encounters With Unidentified Aircraft We’ve Found In The FAA’s Huge Database

The War Zone has begun to analyze some of the thousands of Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) drone and unidentified aircraft incident reports collected in our new mapping tool. Several of these reports describe incidents that have been featured in our previous stories, including one that showcased nearly two dozen unusual incidents involving military aircraft or training ranges. However, many of them have provided leads on new and highly unusual incidents, ranging from puzzling high altitude encounters to craft described as cylinders and even discs.

As might be expected, the degree of severity of the incidents in the data set varies dramatically. Many of the reports describe common but nonetheless concerning safety hazards posed by errant recreational drones flown at low altitudes. Buried within the reports are also much more concerning incidents involving aircraft operating near sensitive facilities, such as nuclear installations and military bases, or at highly peculiar, and illegal, altitudes. The reports also vary considerably in terms of the type of aircraft described. Beyond the expected menagerie of commercial and recreational drones, a number of unusual vehicles are mentioned, including some balloon-drone hybrids, and a small smattering of references to what pilots described as UFOs.

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Inside the Jehovah’s Witnesses’ Secret Pedophile Database

Years after the Catholic Church was found to have systematically harbored and protected child-sex abusers while punishing victims for seeking justice for their horrific ordeals, a new feature-length Vice TV documentary sets its sights on the Jehovah’s Witnesses.

Aaron Kaufman’s film Crusaders—released as part of Vice TV’s “Vice Versa” nonfiction series—eviscerates the Jehovah’s Witness faith in which he was raised, giving a public platform for former members to speak out about the scourge of pedophilia within the church, and about the elders who are committed to keeping it a secret.

Premiering on Vice TV on July 28, Crusaders builds upon Douglas Quenqua’s 2019 Atlantic article about a secret database of thousands of Jehovah’s Witness child-sex offenders that’s been assembled, and concealed from prying eyes, by the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society, the nonprofit organization that governs the church. This damning list of molesters was created on March 14, 1997, when—in response to prior whistleblower complaints—a questionnaire was sent to all 10,000 nationwide congregations asking members if they suspected any fellow Witnesses of being a pedophilic predator. The church received information on many monsters in its midst, although the precise number of names remains unknown.

Most of those individuals’ identities are also a mystery—but not all of them. That’s because, as Crusaders reveals, two ex-Jehovah’s Witnesses (who in Kaufman’s film go by “Judas” and “Jezebel”) broke into a local Massachusetts headquarters and stole some of those incriminating files. Moreover, they leaked one document on Reddit, and then sent many more to a kindred ex-Jehovah’s Witness activist named Mark O’Donnell (who operated online under the alias “John Redwood”). This, in turn, led to Quenqua’s article, which made national headlines and shined an accusatory national spotlight on Jehovah’s Witnesses, who didn’t take too kindly to being outed as an organization that, in principle, condemned child abusers, but in practice made sure to keep their crimes under wraps, lest the faith get a black eye as a haven for the worst of the worst.

Crusaders works hard to slam Jehovah’s Witnesses, which also entails examining the belief systems and control mechanisms used by the religion to manipulate and dominate its adherents. The core notion embraced by Jehovah’s Witnesses is that Armageddon is imminent, and that the only way to be saved from a terrible end-times death is to abide by their tenets, which are dispensed by the Watch Tower Governing Body—a ruling council of male elders who function as God’s Earthly conduits. By toeing the line that they set forth, Witnesses will be granted access to the New System, a post-apocalypse paradise where they can begin their real lives, as opposed to their current New System-prologue existences in the here and now. Follow the rules and you’re golden; disobey—or even question—them, and you risk excommunication from friends, family, and the only community you’ve ever known.

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Climate Virtue-Signalers Ben Affleck And Jennifer Lopez Have No Problem Riding Around On A $130M Yacht

Actor Ben Affleck and pop star Jennifer Lopez, who have continually been climate-change talking heads, are enjoying a vacation on a massive $130 million yacht in Europe in the ultimate display of celebrity hypocrisy.

Affleck and Lopez recently got back together after about 20 years of being broken up, as The Federalist’s Madeline Osburn and Emily Jashinsky analyzed recently. Both celebrities have joined environmental campaigns in the past.

Still, Affleck and Lopez had no problem taking a lavish yacht — which emits carbon, since it runs on fuel — to Capri, Nerano, St. Tropez, and more for Lopez’s birthday.

The couple’s maritime adventure calls into question their commitment to fighting their perception of climate change. Several years ago, Affleck teamed up with his actor friend Matt Damon to make short videos “to raise awareness of climate change” and the need for “alternative fuel sources.” In 2016, Affleck also participated in a Funny or Die “Everyone Votes!” initiative that was also funded by NextGen Climate, an environmental nonprofit that creates advertisement campaigns.

“So if you give a sh-t about women’s rights, if you care about keeping the environment safe for future generations — ever hear of it? — if you care about people getting to piss in the f-ckin’ bathroom of their choice … then guess who’s got your back in this election?” the actor said.

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Disband the FBI

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) continues its downward spiral into terminal corruption. Sadly, the scandals, criminality and ethical abuses of the organization are largely ignored by the American public and by the institutions of government charged with oversight and correction. Outrage after outrage is reported, hearings are held, Inspector General reports are issued — but the systemic corruption is never really tackled and dirty cops skate away virtually unscathed.

This situation is constitutionally unacceptable, corrosive to public trust in law enforcement, and a threat to the survival of the republic.

In the past few days alone, we have learned that the October 2020 Michigan governor kidnap plot was largely a creation of the FBI; a “senior FBI official” was on the take from media organizations; and another assistant director was in a “romantic relationship with a subordinate” and involved in “other misconduct.” The leadership failures documented by the Office of the Inspector General are now almost standard and part of a tiresome media drip-torture for the public to endure.

Meanwhile, the FBI had the audacity to issue a Stasi-like tweet urging “monitoring of ‘family members and peers’ for extremism.”

Remember: what we learn about the FBI in the press are only the stories that are SO outrageous that the FBI cannot keep a lid on them and is forced to make disclosures via a toothless Inspector General report — but never anything that results in a criminal indictment. Imagine what the ordinary day-to-day misconduct in FBI offices across the country could be. And these scandals don’t just amount to “bad press” – in several of these, federal courts scourge the FBI for lawbreaking. Additionally, Inspector General report after report details FBI abuses such as whistleblowers being retaliated against and ignoring “high-risk” employees who fail polygraph tests.

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Biden Reveals His True Goal: To Ban Most Guns

If there was any doubt that President Biden wants to ban the vast majority of guns in the United States, he again clarified his position last week. “The idea you need a weapon that can have the ability to fire 20, 30, 40, 50, 120 shots from that weapon — whether it’s a — whether it’s a 9-millimeter pistol or whether it’s a rifle — is ridiculous,” Biden said at a televised CNN townhall meeting. “I’m continuing to push to eliminate the sale of those things, but I’m not likely to get that done in the near term.”

The president’s gun control proposals will make guns so expensive and difficult to obtain that only the extremely wealthy will be able to afford to own one legally. While the news media assures Americans that Biden just wants “reasonable” regulations, Biden made the scope of his true ambitions clear during the campaign. At a high-dollar private fundraiser in Seattle in 2019 he said: “Why should we allow people to have military-style weapons, including pistols with 9-mm bullets and can hold 10 or more rounds?

When Republicans pointed out that this goal was tantamount to banning most modern handguns, liberal PolitiFact quickly came to Biden’s defense. The fact-checking site did so again last week. “The most popular handguns would face no restrictions under Biden’s policies,” wrote PolitiFact senior correspondent Jon Greenberg. The basis of this conclusion, Greenberg wrote, is that the popular Sig Sauer P365 cannot accommodate more than 10 or 15 rounds. This is untrue. Although that is how the pistol comes from the manufacturer, this gun and virtually all semiautomatics can use bullet magazines that extend well below the pistol grip. The model Greenberg referenced can actually use magazines that hold 20, 30, or even 50 rounds.

Presumably, PolitiFact believes that Biden’s proposed ban would only apply to guns based on their “standard magazine” size. But Biden himself wasn’t ambiguous. He talked about banning pistols based on their “ability to fire” or that “can hold” so many rounds. When he mentions “military-style weapons including pistols,” the president is talking about the gun themselves. He also wants to ban so-called “assault rifles” regardless of how many rounds their standard magazines hold, and he lumps those guns together with pistols. Over 85% of handguns in the U.S. are semiautomatics and would be banned if Biden has his way.

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H.R. 666 (115th): Department of Homeland Security Insider Threat and Mitigation Act of 2017

H.R. 666 requires the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to establish an insider threat program within the Department, mandates employee education and training programs, and establishes an internal DHS Steering Committee to manage and coordinate the Department’s activities related to insider threats.

The bill requires that the Insider Threat Program provide training and education for Department personnel to identify, prevent, mitigate, and respond to insider threat risks to the Department’s critical assets; provide investigative support regarding potential insider threats that may pose a risk to the Department’s critical assets; and conduct risk mitigation activities for insider threats.

The bill requires the Steering Committee, chaired by the Under Secretary for Intelligence and Analysis, to meet regularly and discuss cases and issues related to insider threats to the Department’s critical assets. The bill also requires the Under Secretary, not later than one year after enactment, to develop a strategy to identify, prevent, mitigate, and respond to insider threats to the Department’s critical assets and develop a plan to implement insider threat measures.

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