Kids Held at Gunpoint as Cop Kicks Kneeling Mom in the Face—Over Vehicle Registration

If you ever have any doubt about how the state forces compliance with arbitrary dictates like vehicle registration, it is the promise of violence. If you do not obey every single arbitrary traffic code, you will be issued a promise of extortion via a citation. If you refuse to pay those who are doing the extorting, they will kidnap and cage you. If you refuse to be kidnapped and caged, they can and will initiate violence against you.

Over the years, the Free Thought Project has reported on countless instances in which people have been beaten or even killed over things as trivial as a burned out light bulb on their license plate. As the following case illustrates, the state is willing to hold children at gunpoint while beating and arresting their mother for failing to pay the state for a vehicle registration sticker.

The video, recorded by San Jose resident Josh Gil, shows police stop a family in a McDonald’s parking lot. When the video begins, the mother is outside of the car and on her knees. She is not resisting and not posing a threat when all of the sudden one of the officers appears to kick her in the face.

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When It Comes To Masks, There Is No “Settled Science”

The literature on masks broadly looks at the efficacy of different types of masks and their efficacy at preventing particle penetration (controlled studies) and the likelihood of infectious spread (case studies of healthcare workers). Other studies question the detrimental effects of masks, particularly with prolonged use. Cloth masks, which have become the norm for public use, have been shown to have penetration rates as high as 97% according to a BMJ study (which used to stand for the British Medical Journal, but is now titled by its acronym). A study of the use of cloth masks during the far more serious 1918 influenza pandemic showed no beneficial results, and another study demonstrates that cloth masks are particularly ineffective compared with medical masks. Surgical and cotton medical masks fared better, but still with discouraging results overall (see herehereherehere, and here).

As masks-for-all advocates are quick to point out, N95 respirators do show beneficial results in containing viral infections, but these are virtually unworn by the public (and they have only recently become available to those outside of the healthcare profession).

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Community Outraged After Police Seen Violently Attacking a Child Over Minor Bicycle Infraction

 A community is expressing their outrage this week after a video posted to Twitter shows officers with the Ridgewood Police Department violently arresting a small 15-year-old boy over a minor infraction.

The original Tweet claimed the boy was stopped and arrested for not wearing a helmet. However, the chief of police issued a statement Tuesday afternoon claiming that the boy was detained for riding his bicycle through a closed off road.

The boy was part of a large group of cyclists who police claimed were a hazard to motorists. Police said that the group of bicyclists then traveled through a closed off area before the boy was violently attacked and arrested.

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Hydroxychloroquine

If you’ve watched the news lately, you might be under the impression that a medicine President Trump touted as a possible game changer against coronavirus — has been debunked and discredited. Two divergent views of the drug, hydroxychloroquine, have emerged: the negative one widely reported in the press and another side you’ve probably heard less about. Never has a discussion about choices of medicine been so laced with political overtones. Today, how politics, money and medicine intersect with coronavirus.

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Private Investigators Say Several People Murdered Canadian Billionaire Couple Barry and Honey Sherman

Private investigators in Canada believe that a prominent billionaire couple found dead in their Toronto mansion last month were murdered by multiple assailants, pouring cold water on the theory that their deaths were a result of a murder-suicide.

Canada’s CBC News reported the private investigators’ findings on the couple’s mysterious killing Saturday, citing an unnamed source familiar with a parallel investigation into their deaths.

Police had earlier deemed the deaths of Barry Sherman, 75, and his wife Honey, 70, “suspicious” after a realtor discovered the bodies dangling from a railing near their basement swimming pool on December 15. A coroner’s report determined the couple had died from a form a strangulation called “ligature neck compression.”

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