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.

New Strikes On Iran Significantly Stronger Than Earlier Attacks, As IRGC Targets US Navy Warships

‘Four to Five Times Larger’ Than Earlier Strikes

US officials are vowing bigger, more sustained and prolonged strikes against Iran tonight, according to the latest being reported in CNN and Axios:

The U.S. has launched a significantly expanded wave of airstrikes on Iran that is four to five times larger than the strikes carried out 10 days ago, a U.S. official told Axios. The official said the operation is expected to continue for hours.

Iran state media is meanwhile reporting on an initial retaliation by its forces (though not initially confirmed in other international sources):

Iran fires several anti-ship missiles and drones towards US Navy warships in the Sea of Oman, Fars reports 

More from state media on what could be mounting civilian casualties:

The state broadcaster reports that “most of the attacks” by the US in southern Iran have “targeted civilian areas”. This comes as the US claims its military hit Iranian missile and defence systems in its latest attacks.

Iran’s president is hastily traveling back to the Islamic Republic, cutting short funeral observances for Khamenei among Shia communities in Iraq:

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian has left the Iraqi city of Najaf to return to Tehran, according to the IRIB broadcaster, following the US’s latest strikes.

Pezeshkian had been in Iraq to attend funeral rites for Khamenei, whose body had arrived in Najaf on Tuesday night. According to Press TV, Pezeshkian had also planned to hold high-level talks with Iraqi government officials.

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Supreme Court won’t block Texas from enforcing a law requiring age verification for app downloads

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined to block Texas from enforcing a state law that requires apps stores to verify users’ ages and obtain parental consent for minors seeking to download apps or make in-app purchases on mobile phones.

Justice Samuel Alito, in a pair of one-sentence orders, denied petitions by plaintiffs who claim that the Texas App Store Accountability Act violates users’ constitutional rights to free speech.

Last month, a three-judge panel from the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the law can take effect. The panel suspended a district court’s ruling last December that the law is unconstitutional.

The plaintiffs suing to block the law include the Computer & Communications Industry Association and Students Engaged in Advancing Texas. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is a defendant in both cases.

Plaintiffs’ lawyers argued that the law impermissibly seeks to limit access to content protected by the First Amendment, including news and educational material.

“Equity and the public interest support relief because protecting First Amendment rights — and parents’ rights to supervise their children as they see fit, not as the government tells them they should — is always in the public interest,” wrote attorneys for Students Engaged in Advancing Texas.

Attorneys from Paxton’s office argued that the law protects children from “dangerous modern products.”

“A child with access to an app store and a mobile device (such as a tablet or smartphone) can potentially download any number of software applications, potentially agreeing to invasions of the child’s privacy and sale of the child’s data and be exposed to any conceivable content without parental consent or even parental knowledge,” they wrote.

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The Push For A Robotic Workforce: Chris Murphy Introduces Bill For Massive Minimum Wage Hike

Sen. Chris Murphy has finally found a constituency that truly gets him. Robots and automated systems around the country likely whirled and beeped with approval as he introduced the Senate version of the Living Wage for All Act. At a time when workers are being replaced at record numbers due to the cheaper labor of automated systems and AI programs, Murphy moved to price out millions of more workers by increasing their costs.

The bill would increase the federal minimum wage from $7.25 to $25 per hour – a 245 percent increase – over 12 years. The far-left senator is following the lead of states like California, where Democrats dramatically cut jobs through such wage increases.

Murphy went on NBC to insist that he is “not a democratic socialist” but then attacked capitalism:

“[T]he Democratic Party has been historically way too timid in taking on corporate power. I think we have to understand that people do not believe that this version of capitalism has worked. And frankly, it hasn’t worked. … This version of capitalism isn’t working. Now, I make the argument in the book that we should embrace, you know, what I call a common good capitalism.”

He then added:

“And by the way, we can afford it. It’s not like we can’t pay a $25 minimum wage; we just choose not to because we’ve become okay with dozens and dozens of people in this country making hundreds of billions of dollars.”

It is not clear who the “we” is. While securing a law degree, Murphy has never run a business and has spent his life as a politician, spending other people’s money.

I previously wrote about wage hikes and the predictable loss of jobs that followed.

Democratic politicians from New York to California are pushing for a $30 minimum hourly wage for workers. Newsom, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, and Democratic legislators in California herald their mandatory increases as providing a “living wage” for workers. In Los Angeles, a law requires hourly wages in the hotel and airport industries to rise by $2.50 each year until they reach $30 in 2028.

There is no question that workers are struggling with the high cost of living in California. But blindly raising taxes and minimum wages will exacerbate these problems, not eliminate them.

A recent report by researchers at the University of California-Santa Cruz found evidence of precisely what many economists had warned about in the state’s mandatory wage floors. Stephen Owen, an economics lecturer, explained that they found “a plethora of negative outcomes, such as higher menu prices for consumers, reductions in employee working hours, widespread elimination of overtime, and loss of benefits for employees.”

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Colombia: Presidential Transition Process Paused After Leftist Refuses to Accept Conservative Winner

Outgoing Marxist President of Colombia Gustavo Petro refused to acknowledge the victory of his successor, conservative President-elect Abelardo de la Espriella, on Monday because he allegedly “did not win” the election.

Petro claimed, without evidence, that “algorithmic fraud” with “foreign funding” was committed in the election and that his appointed successor, far-left Senator Iván Cepeda, is the “president of Colombia.” Despite Petro’s wild claims, local and international organizations have confirmed that de la Espriella is the legitimate winner of the free and fair election.

Gustavo Petro is Colombia’s first leftist president ever and a proud former member of the Marxist M19 terrorist group. Petro is presently in the final month of his four-year term, as he is set to leave office on August 7, 2026. On that day, President-elect de la Espriella will take office as the next head of state of the South American nation. Petro is term-limited and unable to run for president of Colombia, as the nation’s constitution strictly states that an elected president may only serve for one four-year term and cannot be reelected.

President-elect de la Espriella defeated Sen. Cepeda in the June 21 presidential runoff election. Electoral observers from international organizations such as the European Union and the Organization of American States (OAS) have endorsed the results and expressed that no irregularities were detected in the free and fair election. Colombia’s electoral system has been praised by international politicians — including American ones — for its transparency, efficacy, and expeditiousness, as it is capable of delivering rapid and precise vote counts within hours.

Despite the overwhelming endorsement of Colombia’s 2026 presidential election as a free and fair democratic event, President Petro has repeatedly claimed that “fraud” was committed in favor of de la Espriella during the process. Petro has also accused Israel of allegedly “compromising” the electoral results, based only on the dubious claim that it is “the only entity in the world capable of doing that.”

Most of Petro’s wild accusations — which he has yet to present evidence of at press time — target Thomas Greg & Sons, the private security company that administered the 2026 presidential election process. The company has an over six-decade-old presence in Colombia and has provided numerous services to the South American nation. Despite his refusal to acknowledge the defeat of his chosen far-left successor, Petro reluctantly announced the start of the transition process with the incoming de la Espriella administration in late June — an announcement he made in what is now known as one of his longest and most unhinged social media rants to date.

On Monday, however, Petro published a new diatribe claiming that “philosopher Iván Cepeda” was allegedly the actual “winner” of the June 21 runoff election and is thus the “President of Colombia according to the decision of the Colombians.”

Petro, who once again failed to present evidence to substantiate his “fraud” accusations, claimed to be in possession of information that, according to him, points to an “IP server located in Los Angeles, California, property of the Bautista brothers,” the owners of Thomas Greg & Sons. Said server, according to the outgoing president, was part of the vote-counting process and saw the use of “algorithms” that ” substantially skewed the vote in Abelardo’s favor.”

“The algorithms that rigged the election results were applied to the voter rolls by replacing voters who never vote with voters who could vote multiple times, or by leaving polling stations with homogeneous election committees without any voters at all,” Petro claimed in his rant.

“The polling stations in the area where Abelardo received 177,000 more votes than Cepeda have poll workers from Colombia who are not residents of the U.S. or Spain, which is illegal, as well as voters brought in for the World Cup who were able to cast seven votes at polling stations under the names of people who never vote,” he added.

“The same thing happened in several regions of Antioquia and Medellín, in Norte de Santander, and at polling stations in northern Bogotá. That’s why my son found out that someone had already voted in his name,” he continued.

“The president of Colombia does not recognize the legitimacy of the incoming government. Abelardo did not win the election,” Petro wrote, calling upon his supporters to “to raise the cry for national independence in all public squares” on July 20 — a date he had previously marked for his “early farewell” rally.

President-elect de la Espriella responded to Petro’s claims by ordering the suspension of the handover transition process between his team and Petro’s “corrupt government,” accusing the outgoing Petro administration of seeking to “destroy Colombia” with its actions. De la Espriella emphasized that his duty is to protect Colombia’s interests and guarantee a “serious, transparent transition at the service of Colombians, never to legitimize the disaster or the disregard for the constitutional order.”

“This [Tuesday] morning, I will address the Nation through my social media to explain to all Colombians the reasons for this decision and the measures I will take immediately,” he wrote in a Tuesday morning social media post.

De la Espriella has not publicly commented further on the matter at press time.

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Trump-Appointed Federal Judge SMASHES Ruling by Foreign-Born Activist Judge — REINSTATES Critical Voter System to Root Out Illegal Alien Voters

The radical Left’s desperate scheme to flood American elections with illegal non-citizen votes just hit a massive, Trump-shaped brick wall in Florida.

A Trump-appointed federal judge in Florida has OVERRULED a highly controversial order by a far-left, foreign-born activist judge in Washington D.C., officially REINSTATING President Donald Trump’s powerhouse election security system.

The Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) system upgrades, which allow patriot states to instantly screen voter rolls and purge illegal aliens, is back online.

Last March, President Trump signed an executive order aimed at preserving and protecting the integrity of US elections.

“Free, fair, and honest elections unmarred by fraud, errors, or suspicion are fundamental to maintaining our constitutional Republic. The right of American citizens to have their votes properly counted and tabulated, without illegal dilution, is vital to determining the rightful winner of an election,” Trump’s executive order said.

“Under the Constitution, State governments must safeguard American elections in compliance with Federal laws that protect Americans’ voting rights and guard against dilution by illegal voting, discrimination, fraud, and other forms of malfeasance and error. Yet the United States has not adequately enforced Federal election requirements that, for example, prohibit States from counting ballots received after Election Day or prohibit non-citizens from registering to vote,” Trump said.

As The Gateway Pundit previously reported, on June 22, 2026, Judge Sparkle Sooknanan issued her 75-page crackpot ruling blocking the Trump Administration’s common-sense updates to the SAVE database.

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Monaco Bombing Attack Suspect Shot Dead In Ukraine, Intelligence Officer In Custody

The saga of the Monaco package bomb attack carried out last week against an exiled Ukrainian oligarch just got even wilder and more mysterious, as the prime suspect has been found shot dead near Kiev.

The Guardian reports that “Ukrainian prosecutors said on Tuesday the woman had been found with a gunshot wound to the head and that two men had been arrested in connection with the case, including an officer with Ukraine’s military intelligence agency (HUR) and a former law enforcement officer.”

The gunshot victim is reported to be Anastasiia Berezovska, 39-year old Ukrainian national who speaks German – and who has been on the run, and especially since the Friday issuance of a ‘red notice’ by Interpol for her immediate apprehension. There are reports that the would-be assassin had disguised herself as a man while carrying out the parcel bombing.

The victims of the June 29 bombing were Vadym Iermolaiev and his family, which all survived the bombing that took place at the entrance of his luxury Monaco apartment building (however, he and is girlfriend were very seriously injured). The suspected would-be assassin was seen fleeing to the French border, after which a massive police and security search, along with helicopters, ensued across Monaco, France, and even in Italy. Per Euronews:

After the explosion, she is believed to have walked to the nearby French town of Beausoleil, where she retrieved her rental car and drove through Italy to Germany, her last known country of residence, Morgan Raymond, Monaco’s deputy public prosecutor, told reporters.

“The relative sophistication of the explosive device and the modus operandi appear to indicate that the person who planted the device did not act alone,“ the prosecutor said, confirming that the individual was “a woman posing as a man.”

Given that Ukrainian businessman Iermolaiev had long ago been declared an enemy of the Ukrainian state, and has been under sanctions for years for his extensive business dealings in Crimea, Ukrainian intelligence has come under the spotlight for possible involvement in the Monaco bomb attack – a first of its kind in the small, wealthy principality.

Le Figaro reported that the investigation focuses on Zelensky’s secret police (SBU) in the Monaco bomb attack: “According to several concurring sources at Le Figaro, investigators are focusing on the possibility that the attack was orchestrated by the SBU, the Ukrainian intelligence service.”

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Trump DOJ to Send Election Monitors Into Three Democrat-Run Michigan Cities

President Donald Trump’s Department of Justice has informed Michigan officials that it plans to send election monitors to Detroit, Lansing, and East Lansing in the upcoming primary elections.

In a letter obtained by Detroit News, Timothy Mellett, deputy chief of the DOJ’s Voting Section, informed Lansing City Clerk Chris Swope of their plans.

“As part of our assessment of your administration of the federal primary election, we plan to have election monitors at your 2026 primary election,” he wrote.

“We will contact you a week prior to election monitoring to discuss the particulars of the monitoring effort.”

Election monitors observe polling places and other aspects of the voting process to assess compliance with federal voting laws.

While they do not administer elections or handle ballots, they monitor election procedures, document potential irregularities, and report their findings to the Department of Justice.

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Leak from Israel to Embarass Trump for NATO

A ton of emails have come in about the Israeli leaked video and the timing. Footage has surfaced from Israel, which has been long rumored to have existed. Channel 12 has aired the leaked video in time for the NATO conference confirming Israel ordered the Hannibal Directive in the early hours of October 7th, 2023. This takes place at the Israel police command center.  The video shows what they said:

“(Strike) Gaza. Break it all apart. Along with the soldiers who got abducted.”

In the first hours of Operation Al-Aqsa Flood, while conversing with Israel’s Police Chief Kobi Shabtai, another senior officer calls to implement the HANNIBAL DIRECTIVE, and destroy Gaza along with the Israeli captives. Minister Itamar Ben Gvir later arrives and orders to stop filming the meeting. This video has been leaked to discredit Trump at the NATO meeting.

The HANNIBAL DIRECTIVE is a highly controversial Israeli military policy. The most widely accepted explanation for its name is that it is named after the Carthaginian general Hannibal Barca, who chose to take his own life by poison around 181BC rather than be captured by his Roman enemies. The name is seen as a chillingly apt reference to a policy that emphasizes preventing capture at almost any cost.

Its primary intent was to prevent the capture of Israeli soldiers by enemy forces, even if it meant TERMINATING the soldier’s life, by authorizing the use of massive force to stop a kidnapping in progress. The Israeli perspective was to ensure that enemy forces could NOT take an Israeli soldier hostage. The underlying concern was that captured soldiers could be used as bargaining chips to secure the release of Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails.

In essence, while it was supposed to be officially a “last resort,” the directive allowed for the use of overwhelming firepower, potentially including artillery or airstrikes, on a vehicle carrying a captured soldier, even if that meant the soldier might be killed in the process. The instruction was to prevent the escape of the captors “at any cost,” which critics argue effectively prioritized preventing the kidnapping over the soldier’s personal safety.

In 2016, the Israeli claimed to have military revised the directive to emphasize the soldier’s life as paramount. However, a 2022 report indicated that the Israeli military had officially rescinded the HANNIBAL DIRECTIVE, replacing it with updated, more refined protocols for hostage and missing persons situations.

In the context of the October 7 Hamas Attacks, the policy has drawn significant attention since the Hamas-led attacks on Israel. While the directive was officially rescinded before the attacks, its legacy and application have been debated. Multiple investigations and news reports had alleged that the HANNIBAL DIRECTIVE was activated during the chaos of the October 7 attacks. For instance, some reports indicate that the IDF ordered that “no vehicle can leave” the attack area, which allegedly led to a policy of “shoot to kill and leave no one behind.”

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Ultraprocessed Foods Linked to Measurable Drops in Human Attention Span

More than half of the calories on the average American or British plate now come from foods built in factories rather than grown on farms. That’s a problem your brain pays for in ways many people never connect back to their plate.

Research published in Alzheimer’s & Dementia: Diagnosis, Assessment & Disease Monitoring adds another piece to a growing body of evidence: the industrially processed foods filling modern diets are eroding cognitive performance in midlife adults, long before any formal diagnosis appears.1

Unlike obvious memory loss, declining cognitive function often hides in plain sight. You notice it as brain fog, distractibility, slower thinking, mental fatigue, or trouble concentrating during conversations and work tasks. Many people blame stress, aging, or lack of sleep. Meanwhile, their daily diet floods their body with industrially processed snacks, sweetened drinks, packaged meals, and refined oils that disrupt how their cells produce energy.

What makes the findings especially striking is that the cognitive effects appeared independent of overall diet quality. Someone could still eat fruits and vegetables, yet experience measurable harm if ultraprocessed products remained a major part of their routine. The processing itself appears to matter, not just the nutrients displaced by it.

If processing itself is the problem, not just sugar, not just fat, then the standard advice to “eat more vegetables” isn’t enough. What you remove from your diet matters as much as what you add. Many people consume ultraprocessed foods several times a day without realizing how deeply these foods affect brain function, metabolic health, and long-term dementia risk. The next section breaks down exactly what the researchers found and why one specific aspect of cognition appeared especially vulnerable.

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Canada Taps Germany for Naval Demand

Canada has officially selected Germany’s ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems (TKMS) as the preferred builder for a new fleet of 12 submarines. The program is expected to cost roughly C$60 billion, making it one of the largest military procurements in Canadian history. Prime Minister Mark Carney is making the announcement just before the NATO summit, where member states are once again pledging even higher military spending. This is not simply about replacing aging submarines. It is another step in the global rearmament that I have warned was inevitable once governments abandoned diplomacy in favor of perpetual confrontation.

Canada’s existing Victoria-class submarines are reaching the end of their operational lives, but what stands out is who won the contract. Germany’s Type 212CD submarine was chosen over South Korea’s competing bid. The 212CD was jointly developed with Norway and is specifically designed for NATO operations, utilizing advanced air-independent propulsion, non-magnetic steel to reduce detection, and enhanced capabilities for operations in northern waters. Germany has openly stated that this contract would draw Canada closer to Europe strategically, not merely commercially. That should tell everyone this was as much a geopolitical decision as it was a military one.

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