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.

“Extraordinary Rendition All Over Again”: U.S. Deportees Sent to Equatorial Guinea Beaten, Imprisoned

Two men deported from the United States to Equatorial Guinea were arrested by local police forces and transferred to a prison earlier this month, in apparent retaliation for speaking out about conditions they faced in the Central African country. Samson Birhane, who is from Eritrea, and Ahmed Soliman, a gay asylum seeker from Egypt, were both deported by the Trump administration despite U.S. immigration courts granting them protections.

On September 11, police forces arrived at Hotel Bamy in the city of Malabo, where more than two dozen people have been confined after their deportation from the United States to Equatorial Guinea, a country they have no ties to, as part of President Trump’s secretive “third-country” agreements. Birhane and Soliman say they were arrested and taken to prison for speaking out about the inhumane conditions endured by U.S. deportees at the hotel and threats by armed forces. While confined at the hotel, U.S. deportees have decried denial of medical care and legal assistance, and abuses they’ve described as psychological torture.

“Starting in November 2025, … the United States started this horrendous policy of sending immigrants not from Equatorial Guinea to Equatorial Guinea, a country that the U.S. knows very, very well that is a human rights violator,” says human rights lawyer Tutu Alicante. “The State Department reports that the U.S. has been putting out for the last three decades are consistent about the fact that Equatorial Guinea uses torture, uses incommunicado detentions, and often extrajudicial killings of people that it keeps in prison.”

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Delaware Judge Orders Fox Corp. to Dump Hundreds of Files on Murdoch, Deleted Texts, Phone Hacking, and the Dominion Settlement In Massive Shareholder Lawsuit

A Delaware judge has just ordered Fox Corporation to hand over a mountain of internal records in a long-running shareholder lawsuit aimed at Rupert Murdoch, his son Lachlan, and other Fox directors. The files cover phone hacking, board minutes, emails, and the deletion of Rupert Murdoch’s text messages.

The order landed last week from Vice Chancellor Bonnie David. Fox fought to keep the material sealed. The judge sided with the plaintiffs across the board.

According to NPR, the haul includes roughly 700 documents that mention “phone hacking,” years of Fox board meeting minutes, emails from former Ford CEO and longtime Fox director Jacques Nasser’s Ford accounts, and a list of every email address ever used by Nasser or Rupert Murdoch.

Shareholders’ lawyers will also get sealed records from the still-pending Smartmatic case that deal with what the court calls Murdoch’s “spoliation” of records, legal speak for wiping texts.

The case was filed about three years ago by five New York City public-employee pension funds and Oregon’s public employee retirement system.

Those are Democrat-run, taxpayer-backed institutions using Delaware corporate law to try to pin Fox’s legal bills on the Murdochs personally.

The Associated Press reported earlier that the same funds accuse Murdoch and other Fox leaders of ignoring “red flags” after 2020.

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NDP MP Leah Gazan calls for criminalizing residential school denialism

NDP MP Leah Gazan is calling on the federal government to criminalize residential school denialism, a move that could have serious implications for freedom of speech and journalism in Canada.

Gazan wants the Liberals to adopt her private member’s bill as government legislation, arguing that criminalizing denialism would protect residential school survivors and prevent hate.

The call comes amid controversy over Rebel News merchandise featuring slogans such as “Dig Deeper” and “Still No Proof.” The shirts call for further investigation into unmarked grave claims at former residential school sites, not the denial of the harms associated with residential schools.

But Gazan’s demand raises an important question: where does legitimate scrutiny end and criminal speech begin? Journalists must be able to investigate claims made by public institutions, particularly when those claims have significant consequences for public policy and spending.

Drea Humphrey has launched ReconciliationOverreach.com, an initiative to investigate spending and accountability within what she describes as the reconciliation industry.

Criminalizing questions about residential school claims risks discouraging the very scrutiny that journalism is meant to provide. Survivors deserve dignity, but that should not come at the expense of open debate or the public’s right to ask questions.

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Bill Gates Predicts A Billion Deaths Via Evolutionary Event

Bill Gates is back on the Sunday-show circuit spreading doom and predicting a massive reduction in the human population.

In an exclusive Meet the Press interview set to air this weekend, the Microsoft co-founder told Kristen Welker that artificial intelligence is “certainly powerful enough to drive events that… cause a billion deaths” – then used the line to demand federal legislation, law-enforcement monitoring, and an end to industry self-regulation.

Gates is touting AI as a species-level emergency, and calling for handing over total control to politicians and a new class of global inspectors.

Welker put the extinction question to him directly: “Do you believe AI is powerful enough to end all of humanity?”

Gates answered: “AI is certainly powerful enough to drive events that, you know, cause a billion deaths, you know, so even though it’s pretty hard to get to 100%, there’s never been a weapon as powerful as the combination of people with ill intent using the latest AI tools.“

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DHS: Two FBI Agents Removed After ‘Stifling’ Investigation into ‘Very Serious Threats’ Made to Katie Miller

Two veteran Washington, DC, FBI agents have been reassigned over their handling of a probe involving threats made to conservative podcaster Katie Miller, the wife of senior White House adviser Stephen Miller, CNN claimed in a report late Saturday.

Sourcing “two people familiar with the move,” the network reported that Michael Burgwald, the special agent in charge of counterterrorism matters at the bureau’s D.C. field office, and his deputy, Courtland Rae, “were ousted from their positions by bureau leadership after investigators determined that allegedly harassing phone calls Katie Miller received from unknown individuals did not warrant further investigation.”

According to CNN:

The field office team that reviewed the reported harassing calls determined they did not meet the threshold required for an FBI investigation, and no nexus to terrorism was identified, the sources said. This decision did not sit well with bureau leadership, and the two senior field office agents were removed from their positions, according to the sources.

The CNN report intimated the move could have been generated by FBI director Kash Patel, who it called “a fierce loyalist of President Donald Trump,” writing he has “fired, demoted, or forced into retirement countless career employees who handled past investigations into Trump and his allies.”

Those moves have resulted in lawsuits, the cable news network reported.

Bloomberg Law also reported the reassignment, and the FBI specifically called out writer Ben Penn on what it called “FAKE News.”

In a post on the official FBI’s Rapid Response X account, leading with the words “Dear FAKE News…,” Darren Cox, senior executive for the D.C. Field Office, said in a statement:

Director Patel did not order this decision. This was a personnel decision made at the Washington field office level alone based on our constant evaluation of mission needs. Any suggestion otherwise is false.

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Tech CEO Found Guilty In $2 Million Ponzi Scheme

Michelle Bisnoff, the CEO of wearable tech company Esos Rings Inc., was convicted of running a nearly $2 million Ponzi scheme.

Bisnoff tricked investors into believing she owned patents for “smart rings” payment technology that rightfully belonged to her former employer, according to a statement by the Department of Justice (DOJ) on Friday. Of the $2 million scammed from investors, the victims lost roughly $1.4 million.

Bisnoff, 59, from Boca Raton, Florida, was hired by United Kingdom-based company McLear Ltd. to develop a market in the United States for its near-field communication wearable payment rings, which embedded credit card information. McLear received a patent for this “smart ring” technology in 2016.

In addition, Bisnoff fraudulently obtained $150,000 in COVID-19 pandemic business relief loans. Instead of using funds for business expenses as initially claimed, Bisnoff used some of the money to pay for personal expenses.

In 2017, Bisnoff formed Esos, and as part of bringing investors into the company, she falsely represented that Esos owned patents for its smart rings, which were actually patents owned by McLear, according to an August 2024 complaint filed in the case.

According to the DOJ, Bisnoff deceived investors, saying that Esos was profitable, had made use of investor money for expanding manufacturing capabilities and inventory for meeting demand from major retailers like Target and Walmart, and received large infusions of capital from tech companies such as Apple and Roc Nation.

“She also falsely claimed to be on the cusp of a licensing arrangement with Middle Earth Enterprises (MEE), which controls The Lord of the Rings brand,” the DOJ said.

However, Esos had no agreements with Target; sold only six smart rings on Walmart.com, out of which three were returned; generated little revenue; did not finalize any licensing agreement with MEE; and did not secure investment from Roc Nation or Apple, the department said.

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‘I don’t worry about it’: Trump rejects AI safety concerns, renames technology ‘super intelligence’

President Donald Trump shrugged off concerns that Artificial Intelligence (AI) could expand beyond human control, arguing that the rising technology may create a massive economic opportunity for the United States.

When asked about recent safety incidents involving tech companies such as Anthropic and OpenAI, Trump maintained that he was unconcerned.

“I don’t worry about it,” Trump said. “You know, It’s a huge industry. It’s really the industrial revolution — maybe bigger. … And we’re leading, and we’re building tremendous, you know, trillions of dollars’ worth of places. And why should we give that up?”

Trump argued that any security or safety issues stemming from AI should be resolved by the technology companies that created them. He added that, if required, the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) would step in to enforce compliance.

“If something is bad, they have to fix it. And if they don’t fix it, that’s why you have the Department of Justice,” he said. “You don’t give up $1 trillion or more — 2 or 3 or $4 trillion industry — because you think something like that, we will straighten it out if and when a problem occurs.”

Meanwhile, China’s Foreign Ministry released a statement on Saturday noting that it “respects” Trump’s decision to rebrand artificial intelligence as “super intelligence,” after he announced the change at the UN General Assembly last week.

Over the past week, Trump has repeatedly argued that “super intelligence” is a more fitting descriptor, claiming the word “artificial” makes the technology sound “fake.”

However, Chinese officials have avoided using the term in official government communications, despite Trump stating that Chinese President Xi Jinping favored the phrasing.

President Trump’s comments come amid growing concern from leading researchers and officials that AI is advancing faster than humanity can manage. However, Attorney General Todd Blanche confirmed that the DOJ intends to use existing criminal statutes to target misuse rather than serving as a proactive regulatory body, stating that “we’re prosecutors, not regulators” and maintaining that current laws are sufficient to handle compliance.

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Authorities Warn Against “Speculation” After Five British Nationals Arrested Near UK Airbase On Suspicion Of Terrorism

All Five Suspects Arrested On Terrorism and Explosives Suspicions are British Nationals

Five men were arrested near RAF Fairford early Sunday morning on suspicion of terrorism and explosives offenses.

Reuters reports that the men were all in their mid-twenties and were British nationals living in London.

“At this time, we are working to establish the full circumstances of the activity of those arrested, their knowledge and any motivation behind this incident,” Counter Terrorism Police said in the statement.

“I am very aware of the levels of speculation about the motivation behind this incident, and the geopolitical questions that are being raised. However, I ask that at this time, Counter Terrorism Policing are given the space to work carefully and clearly.”

RAF Fairford is a critical node for the US military’s long-range bomber force, supporting deployments of B-52s, B-1B Lancers and B-2 stealth bombers. Its role in strikes on Iran makes a conflict-related motive worth considering. 

UK authorities have not publicly established that connection, but the strategic airbase raises the possibility that the suspected activity was intended to disrupt US bomber operations beyond the Gulf area. 

Trump Says Suspects “Looking to do Big Damage” 

Reuters reported that an Iranian-linked motive could very well be behind the incident that unfolded early Sunday morning, citing a source familiar with the investigation. Counterterrorism investigators are also examining the possibility of Russian sabotage or an Islamist plot. 

President Trump told reporters earlier this afternoon that British and US authorities had been monitoring the suspects and alleged they intended to cause “big damage.”

“We had them under investigation. They were looking to do big damage to our fort and working with the British worked out great … We had them under view for a long time, and we got them,” Trump said.

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SpaceX Launches Classified U.S. Space Force Mission in California

The partnership between SpaceX and the U.S. Space Force has been essential to the United States’ quest for space superiority.

On Saturday, that partnership continued when SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket, carrying a classified payload for the U.S. Space Force, was launched from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California.

The launch was part of Space Force’s USSF-385 mission, but details regarding that mission have been classified.

Per KTLA:

SpaceX launched a mysterious, classified U.S. Space Force mission from California Saturday morning, with little publicly known about what was sent into orbit or where it was headed.

A Falcon 9 rocket carrying the USSF-385 mission lifted off from Vandenberg Space Force Base on California’s Central Coast at 7 a.m.

The mission’s payloads, their activities and even their exact destination are classified, according to Space.com.

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Iran ‘Fully Prepared’ To Resume War, We Don’t Trust Trump: Iran FM

The two big weekend Iran war developments are 1) President Trump has rejected Tehran’s seven day ceasefire roadmap proposal, and reportedly plans to resume bombing Iran – likely after the November midterm elections; 2) the Iranian government announced Sunday its forces have targeted 19 ships in the Strait of Hormuz over the past two nights, per Fars News Agency.

The Fars report indicated the Iranians hit 12 vessels Friday night and 7 more Saturday – though Western sources have been slow to report or confirm this, and the Pentagon has not initially commented.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has meanwhile once again emphasized in the wake of Trump’s rejection of the latest proposal that on the one hand Tehran stands ‘ready’ for renewed fighting and won’t back down – and on the other has not yet abandoned diplomacy.

“We are fully prepared for the war to be resumed. We stand firm in the face of any new aggression, even if it comes to a doomsday war,” Araghchi told NBC News Meet the Press on Sunday.

He was specifically asked about the Friday Wall Street Journal report which strongly suggested Trump is ready to resume bombing the Islamic Republic after the midterms.

But Araghchi offered the key caveat and opening: “At the same time, we stand ready for diplomacy. It is up to President Trump to choose,“ he said.

The top Iranian diplomat further make clear his country is not backing off its initial conditions to end the war and reopen the Strait of Hormuz:

Our proposal is very clear. We are ready to open the strait if certain things are done by the U.S. And these certain things are not new, have not come from the space. These are our rights, that we want to be respected. First of all, we want to end this war of aggression. They started this war eight months ago with the hope that in two, three days, you know, they can win the war. It’s now eight months. And we want it to be ended. We want our money, our assets, which are illegally frozen, to be released. We want, you know, to be able to sell our oil. So we want certain things that the U.S. has already committed itself to in the previous, you know, deals.

The main conditions can be summarized as the end of the war on all fronts, the release of frozen assets and the end of the naval blockade.

The NBC show host tried to hold Araghchi down on Iran’s insistence that its funds be unfrozen and returned – which is proving a tall ask from a White House which has unleashed its ‘Economic D-Day’ campaign seeking to totally isolate Iran.

The interview transcript is quite illustrative of the main impasse:

KRISTEN WELKER: But Mr. Foreign Minister, the ambassador’s point was the United States is not going to unfreeze assets on the front end. It’s not going to lift sanctions on the front end. Is it possible to negotiate a new peace plan at this juncture? Or has diplomacy failed?

FOREIGN MINISTER ABBAS ARAGHCHI: Well, why aren’t they ready to release our money? It is our own money. It is not, you know, any other’s money.

KRISTEN WELKER: Because they want to see some actionable items from Iran, like opening the Strait of Hormuz, before they do that. Has diplomacy failed, Mr. Foreign Minister?

FOREIGN MINISTER ABBAS ARAGHCHI: Well, there is always hope for diplomacy. But to be honest with you, we have no reason to come back to diplomacy and engage with this administration once again, because of how they’ve behaved in the past two years. You know, in 2025 they offered negotiations…

And so clearly the situation is back to square one in terms of the stalemate that’s been on from the beginning, and has persisted for seven months, as Washington finds itself in yet another quagmire in the Middle East.

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