If you're tired of censorship and dystopian threats against civil liberties, subscribe to Reclaim The Net. Germany’s Federal Administrative Court has struck down the Interior Ministry’s controversial ban on Compact magazine, ending a legal battle that began after an extraordinary and unprecedented move by former Interior Minister Nancy Faeser to silence one of the country’s most outspoken right-leaning publications. The prohibition, enacted last year, was enforced through early morning police raids targeting Compact staff, the wholesale seizure of the magazine’s property, and a categorical ban on disseminating any of its symbols. Faeser’s ministry attempted to frame the initial reversal as a “heavy blow against the far-right scene,” releasing a statement that accused Compact of “spiritual arson” and intent to overthrow democracy, rhetoric that leaned more on inflammatory accusation than constitutional reasoning. Jürgen Elsässer, the magazine’s editor-in-chief, contested the ban immediately, and the court initially suspended the prohibition during its review. The final verdict not only invalidates Faeser’s actions but delivers a significant rebuke to the idea that government ministers should wield the power to unilaterally dismantle media outlets. Yet the court’s decision offers little comfort for broader press freedoms in Germany. Although Compact prevailed, the ruling stopped short of protecting media institutions from similar future interventions. The court maintained that the Vereinsgesetz, a law ostensibly aimed at outlawing anti-constitutional organizations, can indeed be applied to press outlets, even those engaged in political publishing. That precedent remains intact and it keeps open the door for further state action against disfavored speech. If you're tired of censorship and dystopian threats against civil liberties, subscribe to Reclaim The Net. The post German Court Overrules Ban on Right-Leaning Magazine appeared first on Reclaim The Net.

Conan O'Brien Is Insufferable

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“The cause of this acceleration is not explained," Leonid Zotov, expert on Earth rotation, explained. "Ocean and atmospheric models don’t explain this huge acceleration."

Bluegill Triple Prime, a high altitude nuclear test part of Operation Fishbowl, 26th October 1962. Credit: US ArmyIn the early hours of October 26, 1962, at the height of the Cold War and during the Cuban Missile Crisis, the United States detonated a high-altitude nuclear device known as Bluegill Triple Prime. Conducted near Johnston Island in the Pacific, it was part of Operation Dominic—a series of atmospheric nuclear tests. On the surface, this test seemed like just another effort in a tense arms race. But in the days that followed, a strange sequence of events unfolded—raising questions that still remain unanswered over sixty years later. Ship logs, official reports, and accounts from former U.S. Navy personnel suggest that Bluegill Triple Prime may have ended in more than just a mushroom cloud. Something was seen falling from the explosion. Something not listed in official inventories. And what followed—rapid command changes, secret salvage operations, and unexplained radiation exposure—points to a recovery effort of something highly unusual. Anomalies in the Skies The story actually begins weeks before Bluegill Triple Prime. On September 19, 1962, during a separate test involving an Atlas 8F missile launched from Cape Canaveral, military cameras captured something extraordinary: a fast-moving object tailing a re-entry vehicle (RV) equipped with a dummy nuclear warhead. The RV, traveling at nearly 20,000 feet per second, was supposed to be the only object remaining after decoys burned away during re-entry. But footage from that mission shows another object—one that maintained speed and proximity to the RV for 90 seconds. NASA experiments were also aboard the Atlas 8F, but their equipment had already separated and was accounted for. This left one conclusion for those behind the scenes: an unidentified flying object had entered the test zone and followed a top-secret U.S. military asset through the upper atmosphere. This incident was logged, cataloged, and filed within U.S. government records. And more significantly, it whispers that unidentified craft were somehow observing or interfering with America’s nuclear weapons testing. OSD supplied footage of unidentified flying object alongside the Avco Mk IV RV Something Falls from the Sky At the time, Operation Dominic was in full swing. A major component—Operation Fishbowl—focused on the effects of nuclear detonations at high altitudes. Led by Major General Alfred Dodd Starbird, a key figure in nuclear weapons development, the operation was charged with evaluating the potential to stop incoming Soviet missiles using newly designed X-ray-producing warheads. The Bluegill tests were essential to this effort. Earlier attempts had failed due to technical malfunctions, including rocket explosions during ascent. The high-stakes nature of these failures had frustrated even President Kennedy, who pushed for progress. Eventually, the military prepared for the third launch attempt, dubbed Bluegill Triple Prime. The target detonation area was just 15 nautical miles from several U.S. Navy ships stationed to monitor and record the event. Among them were the USS Summit County, USS Harris County, USS Henry County, and the USNS Point Barrow. Crewmembers were in prime position to witness not only the blast but also what followed. The nuclear explosion took place at one minute past midnight on October 26. Logs show the ships were placed strategically close to the detonation’s Surface Zero. But what stands out is what was seen falling from the fireball. Soon after the blast, eyewitness accounts and ship logs describe an object tumbling from the detonation area and splashing into the Pacific. Recovery ships immediately began collecting debris, but their activities weren’t routine. While instrumentation pods from the test were accounted for by 9:00 a.m., ships like the USS Safeguard and USS Engage continued recovery efforts all day. Their logs describe unusual objects retrieved from the ocean—some highly radioactive. In particular, a “green tube” with abnormal radiation levels was collected. Another vessel, the USS McCain, recorded retrieving a floating object but didn’t specify what it was. At one point, items were transferred between ships via small boats or “highline” cables—a method typically reserved for delicate or highly secure items. What followed was even stranger. LLoyd M. Mustin, 1962 Sudden Command Changes Only hours after the detonation, General Starbird left Johnston Island. It was an abrupt departure—especially considering that more critical tests, including the high-yield “clean” thermonuclear shot Housatonic, were still pending. His exit left Rear Admiral Lloyd Mustin in charge. The timing raised eyebrows. With Operation Dominic nearing its finale and amid one of the most sensitive moments in global nuclear diplomacy, why would its top commander leave? One theory is that Starbird flew to Washington to deliver information too sensitive to transmit electronically—possibly about what had been seen falling from the sky and what recovery ships were now chasing in the ocean. By October 28, a full-scale recovery operation had quietly begun. Commanders from various ships, including the USS McCain, traveled to the USS Princeton—where Mustin now held command. Not long after, the fleet ocean tug USS Abnaki and harbor tug USS Tuscumbia received orders to depart Pearl Harbor with recovery barges in tow. A message coded COMSERVPAC MSG 290214Z initiated their mission. By November 3 and 4, the recovery fleet had anchored 25 miles southeast of Johnston Island—almost directly over the point where the object was seen falling. Divers were deployed, anchor chains were extended, and mysterious maneuvers filled the logs. One entry even notes a 100-fathom anchor payout—suggesting the ship was staying in deep water much longer than planned. Later, logs from November 6 show another barge arriving—a covered lighter, typically used to conceal sensitive cargo. Shortly after, the fleet reversed course and returned to Pearl Harbor. USS Abnaki (ATF-96) underway on January 12, 1971, after the recovery of a spaceship. In this case, a dummy Apollo capsule. Credit: Public Domain Radiation That Didn’t Add Up Despite the low-yield nature of the final nuclear tests, radiation levels among the crew of the Abnaki and Tuscumbia were abnormally high. Every member of Tuscumbia’s nine-person crew showed higher-than-expected exposure. One sailor aboard the Abnaki logged radiation levels of 2.5 roentgens per hour—dangerously high for a vessel with no official role near radioactive material. The official explanation never came. These exposures were simply left unexplained in post-operation reports. More than a decade later, in 1976, a chance encounter at Guantanamo Bay Naval Base gave a name and voice to this mystery. Former U.S. Navy sailor David Noble Whitecrow recalled meeting a retiring Boatswain’s Mate Chief. The Chief claimed he had been part of a top-secret salvage mission during the final days of Operation Dominic. His story aligned closely with known events. As a young diver, he was sent to investigate an unknown submerged object. Upon reaching the ocean floor, he was stunned by the size of what lay ahead. Initially thinking it was a coral cliff, he soon realized it was something else entirely—smooth, curved, and massive. When he reached out to touch it, his hand passed into the object—as if it were made of jelly. The structure then lit up, illuminating the seabed. He panicked and was pulled back to the surface, vomiting inside his helmet. The next day, he was medevaced to Pearl Harbor. According to the Chief, the object later rose from the ocean, glowing with a soft phosphorescence before silently disappearing beneath the surface. Divers and ships had reportedly marked its position, but it was gone before salvage could be completed. Whitecrow continues to relate what the Chief told him: “He was what you call a “gofer” – as a second-class (diver)- you get to go first! So, you know he’s ready, he’s eager, he’s young, he can do it, right? They get out on station, they’re not told what to look for, they gear him up – he still doesn’t know what to look for – he’s just given instructions, you get taps on the head, and they’ve told they told him “Okay, when you get overboard and you hit bottom, we just want you to observe, okay. We’re going to tell you where to look. We’re going to tell you”- because sonar had already picked up this object, I guess, they already had the coordinates or whatever it was. So, he goes over the side and he doesn’t tell me how many fathoms it is or whatever, but he describes when he hits the bottom of the sea floor he looks around (they give him some lamps, and I don’t know what kind of power, what kind of light they give him) but anyway he’s flashing it around and he doesn’t realize that his back is to whatever it is looking for and doesn’t realize it, okay? He doesn’t realize his back is to the object he’s supposed to be searching for, so he does a 360-ocean slow turn and what he faces he almost – you know- he almost loses it. He can’t believe the size of this thing. He thought that when he hit the bottom of the ocean – because it was a clear day if you could see the depths – I mean in the Pacific, believe me, where there’s no pollution during that period of time you could see pretty far, okay – but he thought when he had gone down in a canyon or something, in a crevasse and what he was looking at was the edge of this coral. It was blocking out the Sun shimmering through that from the surface, but as he got closer, he realized that this this was this was not natural coral – this was not the side of a cliff down below okay or ravine. I can’t give you the right description, but this is how I received his conversation, and when he got close to it, he reported aboard, you know with whatever communication system – that he wanted to come up.” For whatever reason, he did not want to be down there. They gave him instructions to get close to it – to touch it, kick it, whatever you got to do and come up and report to us what it is. And so, he said that he put his hand out – he put his hand out to touch it and his hand went inside of it! As soon as his hand went inside of it, he thought that it was going to suck him in – it didn’t pull him in, but he got really, really, nervous, okay?” Unusual “hand” insignia of the USS Abnaki painted in 1962. Silent Orders The USS Abnaki—a key ship in the recovery effort—had a curious ship insignia painted that same year. It showed a disembodied hand, eerily resembling the Chief’s description of his encounter. Though official records date the insignia to 1958, the artist’s signature clearly marks it as being from 1962. Deck logs from ships like the USS Safeguard during this period became noticeably vague. Mentions of “missile debris” persisted long after all official payloads were recovered. Transfers between ships were omitted or misdescribed. It’s possible the crews were under strict orders not to record certain details. The Bluegill Triple Prime incident raises more questions than answers. Given the classified nature of nuclear testing and UFO investigations in the 1960s, full transparency is unlikely. However, the declassified logs, radiation data, and firsthand accounts provide compelling evidence that something extraordinary happened in the Pacific in October 1962. The post Did a 1962 U.S. Bluegill Nuclear Test Bring Down a UFO? appeared first on Anomalien.com.

First we were told that unelected federal judges could dictate all policy, law, and appropriations. Now the excuse for inaction is the Senate parliamentarian.Left-wing protesters chant “no kings,” but nearly every major Trump-era domestic policy was blocked by a court. Nearly 200 actions on immigration, personnel, spending, and transgender issues were halted or overturned by the judiciary. Today, the good provisions in an otherwise lackluster reconciliation bill are being gutted — not by Congress, not by voters, but by a Senate staffer.Republicans now hide behind the parliamentarian to justify a bill that hikes the deficit, preserves green energy handouts, and leaves the welfare state untouched.If Republicans refuse to overrule the courts, the parliamentarian, or anyone else standing in the way, what’s the plan? What’s the point of winning elections if Democrats, judges, and bureaucrats still call the shots? Do they really expect to get 60 Senate votes?Over the past week, Senate parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough ruled that a long list of provisions violate the Byrd Rule and can’t be included in the reconciliation bill. Among them:Financial Cuts:Require states with high food stamp overpayments to share in the cost (reduced from $128 billion to just $41 billion).Cut $6.4 billion from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.Cut $1.4 billion in Federal Reserve staff wages.Cut $293 million from the Office of Financial Research.Eliminate the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board ($771 million).Cut Pentagon funding if the department misses spending deadlines.Ban food stamps for illegal aliens.Policy Measures:Repeal green energy subsidies in the Inflation Reduction Act.Overturn EPA tailpipe emission rules.Vacate certain court injunctions when plaintiffs don’t post bond.Bar funding for sanctuary cities.Allow states to arrest illegal aliens.Require congressional approval of major federal regulations (modified REINS Act).Republicans now hide behind MacDonough to justify a bill that hikes the deficit, preserves green energy handouts, and leaves the welfare state untouched.The Byrd Rule has become an excuse to flush the conservative priorities and pass a mess. And let’s not kid ourselves — the parliamentarian had no objection to provisions that punish states for regulating AI. Under the Senate version of the bill, states can still regulate AI and data centers, but if they do, they lose access to BEAD broadband funding.The good stuff in this bill may have been bait — added just to lure conservatives into voting yes, knowing full well the parliamentarian would knock it out. That’s why conservatives must pressure President Trump to do what Senate Republicans won’t: overrule MacDonough.RELATED: Split the Big Beautiful Bill Act, seal the border … and give Trump a real win Photo by Nathan Posner/Anadolu via Getty ImagesLet’s get something straight: The Senate parliamentarian does not make the rules. The presiding officer does — and the majority party controls the chair. The office of parliamentarian didn’t even exist until 1935. The parliamentarian sits below the presiding officer on the rostrum, not above him. Her advice is just that — advice. The Congressional Research Service puts it plainly: "As a staff official, neither parliamentarian is empowered to make decisions that are binding on the House or Senate. The parliamentarians and their deputies/assistants only offer advice that the presiding Representative or Senator may accept or reject."JD Vance, as president of the Senate, can overrule MacDonough at any time. Here’s how: When Democrats raise a point of order against a GOP-backed provision, MacDonough may say it violates the Byrd Rule and must be stripped. But the presiding officer — Vance or his designee — can simply say no. That provision stays in the bill. The Senate then proceeds under the reconciliation process and passes the whole thing with a simple majority.Trump can make this happen. He can threaten to send Vance to the chair if Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) refuses to play ball. Thune can demand MacDonough’s firing — just as Trent Lott did in 2001 when the parliamentarian ruled against Republican priorities.Trump is right to be frustrated. On Tuesday, he demanded that Congress cancel the July 4 recess and finish the job. But he also needs to make it clear that he won’t accept a watered-down deal. He must draw red lines around immigration and the Green New Deal. The American people didn’t elect Elizabeth MacDonough. They elected Trump.And no unelected staffer has the right to overturn the will of 77 million voters.

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This is a sponsored article. All content and opinions expressed within belong to the author. No matter how much effort you put into keeping your data off of the internet, there’s only so much you can do on your own. It can be a hopeless feeling to see your personal information making the rounds on websites you’ve never even heard of, but getting that information taken down can be all but impossible. That’s where personal data removal services like Incogni can have an enormous impact. You’re probably familiar with people search sites, whether you’ve ever used one or not. These sketchy search engines allow users to search through public records, data brokers, and other sources to gather information about individuals. That data can include anything from your name, phone number, and address to your criminal record and marital status. For a fee, someone could potentially acquire troves of personally identifiable information about you and your loved ones in an instant. These sites might look relatively innocuous, but there’s no telling what someone might do with the information they gather from a data broker. As the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) warns, survivors of stalking and domestic violence certainly don’t want anyone to have easy access to the home address of themselves and their loved ones. The danger of people search sites Image source: Incogni One frightening example of how people search sites can put anyone at risk came just a few years ago. The Atlantic reported on Anna Brittain, an author in Alabama who discovered that her children were listed as her sister’s “associates” on the genealogy site FamilyTreeNow. Her sister worked at a child advocacy center, which made her a potential target for retaliation. If anyone attempted to look her sister up online, they might also stumble across the names of her children, putting them at risk as well. 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You can get these same benefits for yourself and up to four of your loved ones with the Family & Friends Plan. Standard Individual Plan: $8.29/mo Standard Family & Friends Plan: $16.49/mo Individual Unlimited Plan: $14.99/mo Family Unlimited Plan (covers 5 users): $29.99/mo If seeing your personal information spread across the internet gives you anxiety, paying for a data removal service like Incogni is worth it for the peace of mind alone. Rather than playing whack-a-mole with data brokers every time you jump online, let the professionals at Incogni help you scrub the internet of your records. The post How you can keep your private data off the Internet appeared first on BGR.