I realized the NBA/basketball was completely cooked as a spectator sport around 10 years ago when I first noticed Indians like this in university rooting for "Golden State" and playing pickup games on campus. https://t.co/ssQxT837ym

— NWO (@NEETWorldOrder) February 7, 2025

They really said:

The old page:

https://web.archive.org/web/20250125135209/https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/international-travel/before-you-go/travelers-with-special-considerations.html

New page:

https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/international-travel/before-you-go/travelers-with-special-considerations.html

right at the bottom btw . That's some foreshadowing, gays !

--

/r/4tran4 reacts

There are a lot of policies they're putting in place that will directly hurt trans people, but this one in particular strikes me as purely performative. They're trying to make sure the LGB-without-the-T idiots continue to tow the line by pretending that they still care about them. It's a distraction tactic to keep eyes off their efforts to outlaw gay marriage.

sorry for existing

Oh were not going to make it

Step 1, make it very difficult to transition

Step 2, make it very difficult to get treatment

Step 3, censor their existence

Step 4, marginalize everyone who is trans

Step 5, make the world see them as horrible beings so that no one can relate to them

Step 6, in a generation or two, have completely eliminated trans people

we're finally free from being associated with strags

Its not the lgb that dropped the t. Its us that dropped the lgb

its over

Congrats to Mexico voters! 🇲🇽

*MEXICAN PRESIDENT SHEINBAUM SAYS HAD A GOOD CONVERSATION WITH TRUMP

*WILL DEPLOY 10,000 NATIONAL GUARD IMMEIDATLEY TO BORDER TO AVOID TRAFFICKING OF DRUGS TO U.S.

*TARIFFS DELAYED FOR A MONTH https://t.co/qJ4oI08guG

— Geiger Capital (@Geiger_Capital) February 3, 2025

Blackface trusted the bean yenta to team up on Donald and he got fricked

She's kinda based for it tbh

Sheldan Nidle lived in an alternate reality from the rest of us.

Throughout the late nineties, while everyone else was surfacing from a post=Seinfeld world, gawping at a presidential s*x scandal, and mourning the death of grunge, Nidle was filling a nascent internet with tales of mass alien visitations and the transformation of the human race into five-dimensional, super-evolved beings. He called his initiative the Ground Crew Project (GCP). Probably the strangest aspect of the GCP, though, wasn't its prediction of a coming fleet of spaceships or the extradimensional expansion of all human consciousness. After all, alien interventions and apocalypses are as common in cults as messiah complexes and communes. What is unusual, though, is that the GCP was, and still is, almost entirely a virtual cult.

Nidle was born in New York City in 1946. He went to college at Ohio University and then the University of Southern California, after which he settled in the Golden State. And those seem to be the only factual parts of his biography—because Nidle claimed he was visited upon his birth, threewise-men-like, by extraterrestrials from a planet called Sirius. These beings would speak to him telepathically, land their ships in his backyard, and take him aboard for flights through space. And that was all before the age of fourteen.

Over the course of Nidle's life, aliens continued to send him messages through an implant they placed in his body, telling him all the secrets of the planet and the cosmos. He learned that humans were part of a divine/extraterrestrial experiment (the divine and the extraterrestrial seemed to be parallel in his mythology, although angels and aliens were distinct creatures). The creator had populated the planet—which is sentient—with what Nidle called "laggard souls," with the hope that they would transcend their limitations to find their place among the other evolved peoples of the universe, thereby joining the Galactic Federation of Light. The GCP were those earthbound members tasked with helping humanity transcend to the point at which they could be welcomed back into the Galactic Federation (hence the "Ground Crew" in the name).

The world learned about the GCP in 1996, when Niles starting writing about it on the burgeoning internet. His site welcomed visitors with statements like, "You are about to embark upon the greatest journey of your

life. You and the rest of life on Planet Earth are about to partake in the raising of planetary consciousness." But his GCP website wasn't just an FYI. It was an urgent message. Niles predicted that on December 17, 1996, the "laggard soul" experiment would end. He said that on that day, the planet would pass through what he called a "photon belt," which he described as an "extremely loving energy" composed of photons, gamma rays, and antimatter particles that occurs every 25,000 years.

That love light from space would hit our pineal glands and cause a spontaneous evolution in human beings. Our three-dimensional forms would expand to five dimensions. Our DNA would increase from a mere two strands to twelve. We would stop aging or getting sick. The blind would see. We would become telepathic. We would be able to manifest things just with the power of thought. Humanity would finally see the universe as it really was.

According to Nidle, even though the photon belt would turn us into superhumans, it would at the same time destroy our cities and machines and weapons. To help us survive the destruction, the Galactic Federation was supposed to send some 15.5 million spaceships to Earth. These ships were meant to shelter the human race from the planetary apocalypse, by keeping people either aboard the ships or in holographic matrixes that mirrored their lives. Some of the members of the Galactic Federation were building underground sanctuaries, as well.

It's impossible to gauge how many followers Nidle had in the early years, but the most appropriate metric was probably hits instead of commitments anyway, and he kept those numbers to himself. He did have enough followers that several New Age/UFO websites had a rule that members couldn't shill for his cult on their forums, so I imagine it was a considerable number of people buying into this shit. There is no record of any meetings in the meat space. Nidle stuck to posting weekly updates about the coming global transformation.

Of course, the big day came and went without even a twitch of anybody's pineal gland. That was no problem—Nidle just rescheduled the transformation to the following year. Meanwhile, he was creating a mythology of galactic history and its races. He described the human-like Andromedans and their cigar-shaped, hundred-mile-long mother ships; the horse-like Arcturians with their supply ships that resembled "wok lids welded together"; and the Sirians and Centaurians and Mintakins and Bellatricians, the latter of whom were reptilian. At some point, he added villains to his universe as well: beings called "dark cabalists," who were anti-transformation, as well as the "planetary elites" on our own Earth.

Some of Nidle's conspiracy-type theories fit well with the concurrent X-Files mania that began after that show debuted in September 1993. Nidle wouldn't have been alone in that influence, although he was more inclined to drop Star Trek and Star Wars references in his writings. According to a Reuters article from 2009, Britain's Ministry of Defense documented 609 UFO sightings in 1996, a huge jump from 117 the year before. The defense ministry noted, "This coincided with the rise in popularity of The X-Files." A similar phenomenon was occurring in the United States at the time. Still, Nidle's stories of the Galactic Federation were becoming so detailed that they could have been their own multi-arc TV show. He was, to use a term that these days refers to entertainment IP, "world-building."

Nidle eventually settled on May 5, 1997, as the new date for the transformation, and he tied it to the approach of the Hale-Bopp Comet. According to the messages from his implant, the comet was actually a massive, camouflaged spaceship. It contained a crew of more than 200,000, including 10,000 alien ambassadors whose mission was to help guide humanity through the transformation. A shuttle from the faux-comet flagship was supposed to land near Ayers Rock in Australia to kick off the party.

Of course, that didn't happen. But something else did: the Heaven's Gate tragedy. Just over a month before the GCP transformation date, the thirty-nine members of the UFO cult Heaven's Gate committed suicide together in a town north of San Diego. The members of that cult also believed the Hale-Bopp Comet hid an extraterrestrial ship sent to save them. They believed that their suicide would help them transcend their current existence and ascend to the ship.

Because Heaven's Gate had sported their own website, as both a recruitment tool and a suicide note, the media started scouring this newfangled internet for other groups with similar beliefs. They found Nidle and the GCP. The Florida Palm Beach Post, for instance, ran an article with a list of strange groups with an internet presence that included the GCP. The headline for the piece was: "Beyond Heaven's Gate, Web Is a Creepy

Place." Meanwhile, an article in the Atlanta Journal reported that "A group identifying itself as the Ground Crew Project of the Spiritual Hierarchy and the Galactic Federation held a toll-free conference Thursday, promising to reveal details about how to get aboard the UFO. The group's advice: meditate."

At that point, the GCP rebranded, but not because of the negative attention from being linked to Heaven's Gate. It was because of a woman named Valerie Donner, who was a part of the inner circle of the GCP. After a falling-out with Nidle, she left the group, but managed to take with her both the name of the organization and its all-important web domain.

Instead of fighting for the GCP domain, Nidle relaunched his efforts online under a new name: the Planetary Activation Organization (PAO). The new group also had a new tone to its teachings. Nidle pulled back on prophesying the date of the transformation, claiming there was just too much intergalactic politics to ever be sure. Instead, he preached that the transformation was unspecifiably imminent, much like the Christian rapture. He also put more of the onus on humanity making itself worthy of transformation, with members of the PAO responsible for lighting the way through mass meditation and spreading the word of humankind's potential to "activate." In addition, his mythology began to trend more New Age than science fiction. He started working in concepts from other religious groups, such as Ascended Masters, an idea borrowed from theosophy and the cult of I AM. He encouraged his followers to set up their own PAO groups in their individual communities to create a network of enlightenment around the planet. He also began claiming that Earth was not just an experiment in the overarching galactic story, but the fulcrum of it. Its transformation would be a blueprint for the transformation of the entire galaxy. It was also supposedly the home of special crystals vital to the rest of the universe.

Via the PAO website, Nidle also continued to exhort his followers to prepare themselves for the coming ascension. One such update ran thusly:

The call went out for that global meditation day on the equinox, to visualize the Christ Grid energy following a certain procedure. That day was magic for those of us who experienced this 1 to 2 hour meditation. The Galactic Federation and the Confederation of Free Planets plus the Angelic Realm have all confirmed that our meditation has caused the necessary mass consciousness shift needed for the mass landings to become a reality. Therefore, they were given the go-ahead by Earth spiritual Hierarchy to proceed with the landing options depending on the secret government's intent to resist.

Nidle's productivity increased as well, and he began pumping out books and webinars and DVDs and speaking engagements at New Age and UFO conferences. His books and DVDs bore titles such as You Are Becoming a Galactic Human and Tour a Sirian Mothership and Inner Earth, Your Future Home.

On March 17, 2011, Nidle's health started to fail. The PAO website describes it this way: "As he sat at the computer, he was hit with a Direct Energy Weapon that caused marked personality changes, brain damage and, eventually, dementia. By September 2021 his health had deteriorated further and he entered a care facility, where he now lives." Wow, is he the first documented case of Havana Syndrome?

However, his presence is still alive as his followers continue to preach his gospel. Nidle's words continue to fill the internet as they did back in 1996. The PAO website still sells his books and DVDs. The organization still hosts regular webinars and podcasts and posts regular updates. YouTube has lots of videos of Nidle speaking or being interviewed. The Facebook page of Sheldan Nidle has 7.9 thousand followers, although its last update was on September 30, 2021. Among cults, the GCP/PAO stands out. Its messages\ are similar to those of many others—doomsdays and aliens and messiahs leading the way to a new and more advanced civilization are common in cults—but the outcome of its teachings is notably different. There have been no known abuses, suicides, murders, or prison sentences. Every once in a while, a comment on a YouTube video launches an accusation of hucksterism, but that's about the extent of it. Most of the members or followers of the PAO seem to be genuinely dedicated to the evolution of themselves and the human race through meditation and science fiction.

The internet might make it easier for cults to recruit, but in the best-case scenario, it also removes the element of physical isolation that is so often necessary for these groups to go rotten. It's much easier to escape a cult when you can leave with the click of a button.

Their website: https://www.paoweb.com/

ciggy ciggy ciggy

It also stops with trans while I was referring to Transactions 💀💀

I love @realDonaldTrump as much as a straight man can love another man

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 7, 2025

Brandon Sanderson

For those that don't know, Brandon Sanderson is a Mormon author that specializes in writing fantasy for people that believe video games are art. The Mormonism manifests itself as embarassing and clunky attempts at insults.

For example:

But don't worry. He doesn't need the crutch of Mormonism to help him write atrocities.

Sanderson started getting big in 2006 when not mentioning current-day issues in your writing wasn't considered violence. Because his early work was inoffensive, some of his fans had certain opinions and would be described as chud-adjacent today. We'll come back to them in a moment.

With success came the the desire to expand, and what better way to reach more people than making it more relatable™ and courting a "modern audience"! It started out subtle: a background character making comments about the same s*x, allegories about mental health and, eventually, an out-of-place political desire to install a modern democracy in a medieval fantasy world. It got progressively more obvious with each new book, but it clearly worked, because you can't go anywhere online to discuss fiction now without being bombarded with Sanderson recommendations.

And now a large chunk of his fan base looks like this

Wind and Truth

The most recent addition to the Sanderson Literary Universe was the 5th book in the Stormlight Archive series, Wind and Truth.

We're going to look at some 1-star reviews, which are mostly chuds dumb enough to have kept reading up until now.

Remember the excerpts from earlier? ALL his writing is like that. All 4 previous books in the series. These geniuses endured 4,546 pages of slop to get to this point

Goodreads Link. Sort by 1-star reviews. 2-stars are also funny, but it's mostly just people begging him to get another editor.

I will be honest, I cried

I didn't realize I was reading garbage until there was a gay character!

^ This is an actual quote

This guy wrote a whole novel in protest

Can't read it? You're welcome!

It turns into an impassioned plea for Sanderson to renounce Mormonism in favour of mainstream Christianity, which is funny, but not actually worth reading.

I couldn't drug myself to sleep, so I used boring audiobooks

The best part of these 1-star reviewers pouring out their hearts (and some of them posting from accounts with face pics and real names) is that none of it meant anything. The book was well-received overall and will fund the next 5 books in the series!

Top Drama

Relative Drama (takes into account the size of the subreddit)

autodrama: returning jobs to dramneurodivergents. Ping HeyMoon if there are any problems or you have a suggestion

I'm so mad I can't stop smiling.

!animalposters !cats

You're not a s*x toy. He's giving you an impossible ultimatum. View it as your guilt free ticket out of this hellhole of a relationship

He has already cheated on her multiple times!!! She has her ticket already!!

Please OP. For the sake of your daughter. We are all imploring you to have enough respect for yourself and for her future to leave.

Your husband has some serious problems. In no world is this acceptable, and I'm sure you know this deep down. Leave, leave, leave.

Oh and when he asks why, please, look at the comment below; help him reframe the situation by saying you want to use a strap on 2-3 times per week. If he doesn't get it then….i mean he is already a lost cause but that's just peak narcissism. You (and your kids) deserve BETTER.

>help him reframe the situation by saying you want to use a strap on 2-3 times per week

Do you think this doormat of a person is actually going to take this advice for dealing with her psychopath husband?

a man wants you to have "s*x" that you dont concent to or hes leaving?

what would you say to your daughter if this happens to her as an adult?

youre teaching them what love is. he doesnt love you, he just wants sexual gratification. and honestly, this isnt going to stop him from looking outside of the marriage.

youre setting a bad example for your kids, and im sorry he did this to you. its time to leave so they can see actual love.

he doesnt care about your family. hes left you everywhere but physically

Fricking reddit spacing

One brave dramachad defends OP's husband:

Not to be the devils advocate here because it does sound like op has a shit husband.

However, her husband does have every right to decide to leave the relationship based the sexual side of the relationship. He's not asking her to have s*x that she doesn't consent to, he's asking her to consent or he will leave.

OP doesn't want it and I think she should say ok then, leave. It's not unreasonable for op to not like this arrangement and it's pretty shitty for her husband to cheat and then demand a certain quantity of s*x that she doesn't like.

It's pretty shitty to have 2 kids with someone and then decide I get to frick your butt twice a week or I'm out. If that's truly a deal breaker then it should've been discussed before marriage and kids.

Redditors so strictly adhere to there stupid beliefs about kinks being hecking valid that they can't help but engage with this.

At this point anal s*x ultimatums are their own genre of bait.

Our boi Scot narrating this cuck saga

I have default to old reddit enabled in https://www.reddit.com/settings/preferences but it still shows new reddit.