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.

4,700-Year-Old Discovery Reveals Clues to Cult of Ishtar’s Spread Throughout the Ancient World

Hidden beneath an ancient temple in Assur, Iraq, archaeologists have made a discovery that holds potentially crucial evidence for the cult of Ishtar’s origins in the area.

The researchers behind the discovery date the temple’s foundation to between 2896 BCE and 2702 BCE, saying that it provides crucial evidence for the spread of Mesopotamian ritual practice to northern Iraq and urban life at Assur over 4,700 years ago, revealing the growth of cult worship.

The findings were published in The Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports.

Assur’s Ishtar Temple

Assyria was a major Mesopotamian civilization that began as Assur—initially a meager city-state—and eventually expanded into a much larger empire.

The city itself is located on the western bank of the Tigris River, and during the first millennium BCE, the Neo-Assyrian empire became well established, leaving a rich corpus of well-preserved records about these later periods. Yet, earlier records are murkier or nonexistent, leaving Assur’s beginnings shrouded in mystery.

German archaeologist Walter Andrae first excavated the Ishtar Empire between 1903 and 1914.  However, the deepest layers remained covered until the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich’s Assur Excavation Project in 2024. Modern coring technology has enabled archaeologists to access the temple cella.

“The excavators of the Ishtar temple simply didn’t report it, so we assume they didn’t see it,” lead author Mark Altaweel told The Debrief in an email. “The sand is below the last floor level of the temple, so it is possible they just didn’t dig far enough or reach the bedrock. We basically cored until we hit the bedrock.”

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Florida Lawmakers Approve Bill To Punish Medical Marijuana Patients For Having Open Containers Of Cannabis In Cars

Citing statistics showing that impaired drivers contribute to more than 30 percent of fatalities on Florida roads, Jacksonville Republican Rep. Dean Black introduced legislation Thursday that would ban medical marijuana patients from possessing open containers of cannabis.

The prohibition would apply if they were driving or a passenger in a vehicle, with the penalty being the loss of their medical marijuana card after committing a third such violation.

The bill (HB 1003) would work the same way Florida law does now in banning driving with open containers of alcohol, Rep. Black told members of the House Criminal Justice Subcommittee Thursday.

“We are trying to make sure that we establish—like we did with alcohol—a taboo. It’s wrong. It has to stop,” he said.

Black cited an Ohio study published last fall showing that, over six years, 40% of drivers who died in motor vehicle collisions had tested positive for THC in their system—and said he had plenty of anecdotal evidence that this is also happening in Florida.

“I was in Tallahassee and watched two people who were in front of me at a light on Monroe Street, and they were passing a bong between the windows of their car,” he said, eliciting laughs from some lawmakers. “It’s ridiculous. It’s killing people.”

Among the concerns opponents expressed is that the bill says that a county or municipality “may” adopt an ordinance that imposes more stringent restrictions than simply the removal of one’s medical marijuana card.

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Ed Dowd Exposes the $1.5 Trillion Lie Keeping the U.S. Economy Alive

A $1.5 trillion lie is propping up the U.S. economy—and Ed Dowd warns the collapse is already underway.

He says the real reason deportations are being delayed is because kicking illegals out too fast would crash the entire economy.

Dowd called it a scam so massive it rivaled COVID—propped up by Treasury money, shadow banking, and silence.

He also claims the now-defunct DOGE program was dismantled because it exposed just how deep the fraud really goes…

Back in December, he warned we were “At the Beginning of Credit Destruction Cycle.” 

Now that cycle is accelerating. ZeroHedge just reported that BlackRock—the world’s largest asset manager—cut the value of one of its private debt funds by 19% and waived fees.

So Ed was right. He’s right a lot. And now he’s warning we may be just months away from a full-blown economic collapse.

“I’ve never seen risk like this before in my career.”

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Wells Fargo denies $28K refund after check altered, cashed by mail thieves

When it’s time to pay a bill, many people still write a check and mail it. But is that safe anymore? Postal inspectors say mail theft is rising fast — and thieves are going after your checks.

The phrase “the check is in the mail” has new meaning for two northern California homeowners who were among the latest to pay the price of mail theft. They dropped their property tax payments in the mail as usual. And the checks were cashed right away — but not by the tax collector.

Kathy Pham of San Jose was surprised to get a delinquency notice in the mail saying she never paid her property taxes.

She thought, sure she did.

“I thought, ‘Oh my gosh. Did I forget?’ I was like kicking myself,” Pham said. “My husband actually took the check down to the post office and dropped it off.”

In fact, her bank statement showed that the check had cleared months ago.

“I said I’m going to go to the county Monday, and I’m going to tell them, ‘Hey, you cashed my check.’ And then my husband said, ‘Hey, let’s look at the check.’ And that’s when I almost fell over,” she said.

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MAGA Erupts as Mike Pence’s Think Tank Delays Justice for East Palestine

Mike Pence is siding with wealthy donors over victims of the East Palestine, Ohio, rail disaster, earning a cacophony of outrage from conservatives and prominent MAGA voices.

Pence, who like Democrats reflexively opposes Trump on issue after issue as he woos establishment corporate donors to enrich himself through his non-profit and stake a claim in the narrowing establishment lane for the 2028 Republican nomination, is fighting a bill first championed by then-Ohio Sen. JD Vance — and Pence’s likely 2028 primary opponent — to implement safety regulations for trains carrying hazardous materials.

Those regulations could have prevented the toxic spill that upended the lives of thousands in the East Palestine area after the 2023 train derailment.

The Daily Wire reports:

One of the groups opposing the bill is Mike Pence’s Advancing American Freedom — a fact seen as a net positive by those in Trump world who want the bill to finally advance. If the former vice president opposes something, it only makes it more of a priority for Trump’s White House, one senior official told The Daily Wire.

“Anyone that wants the Trump administration to support a piece of legislation should pay Mike Pence’s think tank and its lobbying arm to oppose it,” the senior White House official told The Daily Wire.

Advancing American Freedom, along with the Competitive Enterprise Institute, organized a group of think tank leaders who wrote to Congress on January 29 opposing the inclusion of the Railway Safety Act “in any surface transportation reauthorization legislation.”

In the aftermath of the disaster, Sen. Vance and candidate Donald Trump emerged as the greatest champions for East Palestine.

Vance quickly introduced legislation addressing the issue, quickly earning bipartisan support despite pushback from industry groups and their lobbyists. The bill still has not become law, with this week marking three years since the derailment.

And while a feeble President Biden, whose team limited his exposure through public events, failed to visit East Palestine, candidate Donald Trump beat Biden in visiting the small Ohio town, promising action and accountability for those responsible.

By ignoring the people of East Palestine, Pence, who has said Trump should “never be president of the United States again,” is proving to have more in common with Biden than a hatred of Trump. And conservatives were quick to berate the career politician for his callousness, lack of principles, and prioritization of personal political positioning over the people of East Palestine.

“No one is surprised that Mike Pence is opposing the Trump/Vance administration,” popular MAGA personality ALX posted. “So telling.”

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Pakistanis Who Have Never Been to US Are Voting in California Elections from Inside Pakistan

San Joaquin County Sheriff’s Captain says voting records show people outside of the country, in Pakistan, are allowed to vote in the California elections.

The Sheriff’s  Captain revealed this during a press conference in September 2025.

Sheriff’s Captain: “The way the voting system is structured, we see quite a few flaws. You’re able to register and cast a vote if you don’t live in the country as evidence of his brother in Pakistan.

I think we have some evidence of two or three other people out of the country that are voted? Is that correct? Yeah, approximately two or three other people out of the country, as well as people residing outside of the district.

The online voter registration system, it seems to be an honor system. Anybody can put information in there to register to vote. All you have to do is click a box and say that you’re not lying, and then you’ll get an email from the Secretary of State or something in the mail saying, Thank you for registering to vote. And there you are. Once you’re on the voter rolls, anytime an election comes around, guess what? You get mailed a ballot, right? You get mailed something to vote. So we found that a little bit problematic.

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5 Lane Bryant Employees Inexplicably Killed in Illinois Store Subject of Documentary 18 Years Later, as $100,000 Reward Remains

Family members of the victims of the Lane Bryant murders are continuing to look for answers.

On Feb. 2, 2008, an unknown suspect entered a Lane Bryant location in Tinley Park, Ill., where four employees were on shift, tending to two customers. The assailant, posing as a delivery driver, entered the store and tied up the six women inside.

Rhoda McFarland, 42; Connie Woolfolk, 37; Jennifer Bishop, 34; Carrie Chiuso, 33; Sarah Szafranski, 22, were all shot execution style and died of their injuries. The sixth woman shot, a part-time employee at the store who survived her injuries, has never been publicly identified by police. One of the women was also sexually assaulted by the suspect, though police have never revealed which of the victims was involved.

The surviving victim was able to relay details to police about the suspect’s appearance, while his voice can be heard on a 911 call reporting the incident.

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OF COURSE: Democrat Senator Jon Ossoff Opposes Voter ID But Requires ID to Get Into His Campaign Rally

Like the rest of his party, Senator Jon Ossoff of Georgia opposes the idea of voter ID, but you better have an ID if you’re planning to attend his campaign rally this weekend.

This is true of the Democrat National Convention as well. People have pointed out for years that you can’t get into the biggest Democrat party on the planet without a photo ID.

Somehow, this double standard is lost on every member of their party.

Breitbart News reports:

Sen. Ossoff to Require ID at Campaign Rally While He Fights ID Requirements to Vote

Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-GA) insists on security when he interacts with the American public but not when Americans cast their ballots.

The Georgia senator is requiring government-issued identification for members of the public to attend his election rally Saturday while opposing similar requirements to cast a ballot in elections.

Ossoff has emerged as one of the strongest fighters against election security measures, not only opposing the SAVE Act to require government-issued identification verification to vote but even introducing legislation to enshrine into laws the right to vote without proving one’s identity. His bill, the misleadingly labeled Right to Vote Act, would make it harder for states to ensure election integrity by implementing voter ID.

“Jon Ossoff is about to vote against the SAVE Act, but is requiring a government-issued ID to get into his rally in Atlanta tomorrow,” a campaign account for Rep. Mike Collins (R-GA), a candidate in the Republican primary to take on Ossoff, posted Friday. “There should be more security in American elections than there is to listen to Jon Ossoff’s lies.”

At the bottom of this graphic, it clearly states that a valid photo ID is needed to get into the event.

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New York Teacher Has a Very Communist Solution for Keeping Businesses in the Big Apple

Let’s see how things are going in the communist utopia of New York, a month after Democratic Socialist Zohran Mamdani was sworn in as mayor. Nearly two weeks after a massive winter storm hit the Big Apple, mountains of garbage line the still snow-covered streets (but not around Gracie Mansion, of course), and at least a dozen homeless people have frozen to death after Mamdani refused to force them into warming shelters despite the bitter cold. There were also blackouts, which is great when it’s freezing outside.

Oh, and the number of antisemitic incidents in the city has skyrocketed, and Mamdani is siding with criminals who try to kill cops. 

Add to that his advisors, who are racist and oppose private home ownership, plus a progressive tax plan that will seize wealth from New Yorkers, and it’s a recipe for a mass exodus from the city.

But for one commie New York teacher, the solution to stopping businesses and wealthy New Yorkers from leaving the city is just to…seize the business and make it illegal to leave (some of us would call that “imprisonment”).

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Democrats involved in ‘illegal orders’ video say they won’t cooperate with DOJ probe

Two Democrats who participated in a video that urged members of the military and the intelligence community not to follow illegal orders are refusing to comply with an investigation by the Justice Department.

Sen. Elissa Slotkin, D-Mich., said in a post Thursday that she sent a letter informing Attorney General Pam Bondi and the U.S. attorney for Washington, D.C., Jeanine Pirro, that she would not comply with the Justice Department’s inquiries or their request that she sit for an interview about the video.

Slotkin said the Trump administration is “purposely using physical and legal intimidation to get me to shut up.”

“But more importantly, they’re using that intimidation to deter others from speaking out against their administration. The intimidation is the point, and I’m not going to go along with that,” she said in her post.

Rep. Chrissy Houlahan, D-Pa., said in her own post Thursday that she would also refuse to comply with the Justice Department’s “request for me to submit to a voluntary interview” about the video.

“I will not be doing that,” Houlahan said. She continued, “What is happening now crosses a line when the power of the federal government is turned toward intimidating people.”

Six members of Congress, all of whom served in either the military or intelligence services, posted a 90-second video in November telling members of the military to refuse illegal orders, spurring a series of social media posts from President Donald Trump condemning the move.

Slotkin, Houlahan and Reps. Jason Crow, D-Colo., and Maggie Goodlander, D-N.H., all reported last month that federal prosecutors had contacted them about the video.

Asked about the lawmakers’ defiance of the Justice Department’s probe, Pirro’s office declined to comment.

The Justice Department has not yet responded to a request for comment.

Slotkin said her letter urged Bondi and Pirro “to retain their records on this case, in case I decide to sue for infringement of my constitutional rights.”

She said Thursday that Trump’s continued social media posts about the six lawmakers who posted the video led to “threats [that] went through the roof to myself, my family, my staff.”

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