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TDF secures legal victory for Amish client in Quarantine Act challenge

The Democracy Fund has achieved another significant win in its ongoing efforts to defend members of the Amish community facing convictions under the Quarantine Act. The convictions arose from tickets received by the Amish upon crossing the border during the COVID-19 pandemic: Crown prosecutors alleged that the Amish failed to provide information required by the ArriveCan app.

On September 25, 2025, the Niagara Provincial Court issued a suspended sentence with no fine ($0) for an Amish client whose conviction was previously overturned and reopened by TDF lawyers. The outcome ensures that a member of the Amish community is spared undue hardship caused by financial penalties and credit problems.

As previously announced, TDF filed reopening applications in Niagara Provincial Court on behalf of two Amish clients. The court granted the application for one client, overturning their conviction and scheduling a new trial, while denying the second application.

The clients, originally from an Ontario Amish community and now residing in the United States following marriage, were charged with non-compliance with COVID-19 regulations and failure to complete the ArriveCan app. These requirements posed significant challenges for the Amish, whose religious beliefs prohibit the use of modern technology. Many of TDF’s Amish clients face substantial fines and property liens, threatening their farms and traditional way of life. TDF remains unwavering in its commitment to safeguarding their homes and livelihoods.

TDF Senior Litigation Counsel, Adam Blake-Gallipeau, stated: “Obviously, the Amish have limited access to modern technology and live a Biblically-based lifestyle: this outcome upholds their religious freedoms. We’re pleased with the result since it ensures that our client is no longer threatened with the destruction of his credit rating and financial penalties.”

TDF proudly represents over 30 Amish clients across Ontario, advocating tirelessly for fair treatment under the law for these peaceful communities.

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Minnesota DHS employee who went on Tesla vandalism spree still on state payroll

The Minnesota Department of Human Services (DHS) has confirmed that Dylan Adams, the fiscal policy analyst caught on video vandalizing Teslas in Minneapolis, is still employed by the state — meaning Minnesota taxpayers are footing the bill for his salary.

In response to Alpha News inquiries, a DHS spokesperson said: “Dylan Adams is a current employee.”

As for whether Adams has faced consequences for racking up more than $21,000 in damage during work hours, the agency offered little transparency. “No public data exists with respect to disciplinary action,” the spokesperson said.

Caught on tape

In April, the Minneapolis Police Department held a press conference and shared four video clips that had been obtained from the victims’ onboard surveillance cameras.

The videos showed a white male who in most of the cases had a dog with him while appearing to key or vandalize Teslas in downtown Minneapolis, and one at Target in Northeast Minneapolis. Chief Brian O’Hara said all the videos shown were believed to be the same suspect — Adams.

O’Hara said the incidents began on March 18 — the same day Gov. Tim Walz made headlines for quipping that watching Tesla stock drop gave him “a little boost during the day,” despite the state holding investments in the company. Walz even posted the clip to his personal X account, where it remains today.

Moriarty’s free pass

As Alpha News previously reported, Adams became the focus of public outrage in April when Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty placed him in a diversion program instead of filing charges.

Moriarty defended her decision, saying it would allow Adams to keep his job and pay restitution.

Chief O’Hara vented frustration over Moriarty’s decision. “Our investigators are always frustrated when the cases they poured their hearts into are declined,” he said at the time, adding that victims often feel the same way.

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‘A big freaking mistake’: Feds confirm investigation into arrest of reporter Nick Sortor at Portland ICE protest

Nicholas Sortor, an independent, on-the-street reporter who has become famous for his documentation of anti-government actions across America, has announced that the Department of Justice has assured him of an investigation into his arrest by Portland police late Thursday.

The Washington Examiner said the conservative influencer was arrested late Thursday, then released several hours later, early Friday.

He was accused by local police of “second-degree disorderly conduct” while he was documenting violent protests near an Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Oregon’s largest city.

Other reports from the scene at the time said Sortor was defending himself from a woman who attacked him.

“Sortor, a 27-year-old resident of Washington, D.C., was arrested alongside two Oregon residents, according to a press release from the city’s police department. All three people were booked into the Multnomah County Detention Center on the same misdemeanor charge,” the Examiner reported.

But later Sortor confirmed the review of his “wrongful arrest” will be conducted by Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Harmeet Dhillon.

He said Attorney General Pam Bondi called him personally with the news.

“The Trump DOJ WILL NOT allow Portland Police to continue to do the bidding of Antifa,” he wrote on X, telling Portland police to “f*** around and find out.”

The report said he explained he was recording footage of federal agents macing protesters when he was surrounded and assaulted, forced to defend himself.

“Nick says he swung back and missed, then disengaged and walked over to a group of Portland PD. He says he was then shocked to be arrested by them, and he sat in the back of a police cruiser while officers figured out what to charge him with,” a witness reportd.

Protests in Portland were triggered by the deployment of National Guard troops to crack down on rampant crime there.

The Gateway Pundit commented, “The woman who attacked him was not arrested.”

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Virginia Democrat AG Candidate Mused About Shooting Former GOP Politician

Virginia Democrat attorney general candidate Jay Jones reportedly entertained thoughts over text message, about shooting a former Republican Virginia House Speaker in 2022.

Text messages the National Review obtained showed that Jones reportedly sent messages to Virginia House Delegate Carrie Coyner (R) on August 8, 2022 complaining about how his colleagues were “eulogizing” a former Democrat member of the Virginia House of Delegates, who had died.

In the text messages, Jones reportedly “shared” his thoughts with Coyner, and went on to admit that his message had been for another person. In the messages, Jones went on to complain about his Republican colleagues and entertained thoughts of shooting former Virginia Speaker of the House of Delegates Todd Gilbert:

Jones, who at the time had recently resigned from the state house after a brief stint representing Norfolk, had strong feelings about how the political class was eulogizing recently deceased former state legislator Joe Johnson Jr., a moderate Democrat with a long tenure in Virginia politics. Republican legislators like House Speaker Todd Gilbert had begun making public statements honoring Johnson’s memory and political legacy, and some of those statements were making the rounds in state legislative group chats.

Around 8 a.m., Jones shared those feelings with his former state legislative colleague, Republican House Delegate Carrie Coyner. In a series of text messages obtained by National Review, Jones derided Johnson’s political centrism and scoffed at the “glowing” tributes that were being made in his honor by Republicans in the wake of his death.

“Damn that was for mark,” he wrote to Coyner, suggesting he’d meant to send the texts to someone else. And yet that realization didn’t stop Jones from joking about what “that POS” Gilbert “would say about me if I died.”

Jones reportedly went on to ponder about, if his Republican colleagues died before him, would he “go to their funerals to piss on their graves,” according to the outlet.

Jones also reportedly pondered about how, if he were faced with a “hypothetical situation in which he had only two bullets and was faced with the choice of murdering” either Gilbert or “two dictators,” he would pick Gilbert to shoot.

According to the text messages obtained by the outlet, Coyner asked Jones to “stop” and expressed that it bothered her when he talked “about hurting people or wishing death on them.”

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The U.S. Government Doesn’t Want You To Read This Report on Israel’s Business Deals

The U.S. government doesn’t want you to read what Francesca Albanese, the U.N. special rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories, has to say. In July 2025, the State Department announced that it was going to freeze her assets for her “lawfare that targets U.S. and Israeli persons.”

Albanese, the State Department press release noted, had “directly engaged with the International Criminal Court (ICC)” at The Hague “in efforts to investigate, arrest, detain, or prosecute nationals of the United States or Israel, without the consent of those two countries.” And she had “recently escalated this effort by writing threatening letters to dozens of entities worldwide, including major American companies across finance, technology, defense, energy, and hospitality, making extreme and unfounded accusations.”

A few weeks earlier, Albanese had submitted her report to the U.N. Human Rights Council, “From Economy of Occupation to Economy of Genocide.” It accuses several global companies of profiting “from the Israeli economy of illegal occupation, apartheid and now genocide,” including Lockheed Martin, Microsoft, Palantir, Caterpillar, and even Booking.com. (The report also mentions that companies have been asked for comment, which appears to be the “threatening letters” referred to by the State Department.)

Whether or not one accepts Albanese’s characterization of Israel’s actions, the report itself is an interesting read on the economics of war. The report details how some firms profit directly from providing the state with the tools to inflict violence while others take advantage of the state’s monopoly on violence to grab a monopoly on resources. Albanese calls for international sanctions, legal action, and consumer boycotts aimed at changing these companies’ behavior.

The U.S. government’s attempts to stop the report from being published in the 
first place make it especially worth reading.
Politicians have long wanted to erode Americans’ right to vote with their wallets, and they’ve used boycotts of Israel as a test case to introduce wide-ranging anti-boycott laws. By accusing the United Nations of “lawfare” for simply printing a report, the government is attacking the right of consumers and investors to hear information that lets them make politically conscious decisions.

The Palestinian rights movement has made boycotts a central pillar of its activism, but the actual choice of targets has often been sloppy and incoherent. Activists have gone after Coca-Cola and Pepsi as vague symbols of America and Starbucks over a union dispute that tangentially involved Palestinian symbolism. The infamous protests at Columbia University focused on cutting
indirect ties to weapons companies.

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Trump orders Israel to stop Gaza strikes after Hamas agrees to release Israeli hostages

President Donald Trump on Friday ordered Israel to stop bombing the Gaza Strip after Hamas said it accepted some elements of the president’s plan to end the nearly two-year war and return all remaining hostages who were taken during the deadly attack.

Based on the Statement just issued by Hamas, I believe they are ready for a lasting PEACE,” Trump said. “Israel must immediately stop the bombing of Gaza, so that we can get the Hostages out safely and quickly … this is about long sought PEACE in the Middle East.”

In a video Trump later posted on social media, he thanked multiple countries that helped him achieve the deal, including Qatar, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and Jordan, among others.

So many people fought so hard,” he said in the footage. “This is a big day. We’ll see how it all turns out. We have to get the final word down and concrete. Very importantly, I look forward to having the hostages come home to their parents and having some of the hostages, unfortunately, you know the condition they’re in, come home likewise to their parents because their parents wanted them just as much as though that young man or young woman were alive.”

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Elections Canada head testifies on electoral mishaps, deflects blame

Chief Electoral Officer Stéphane Perrault deflected responsibility Thursday for several electoral irregularities in the April 28 federal election, including 822 uncounted mail-in ballots in Coquitlam, B.C.

Perrault stated that they are implementing controls to immediately detect errors like the Coquitlam incident, which he attributed to employees.

Conservative MP Tako van Popta questioned 822 ballots in 74 contests, which Elections Canada confirmed did not alter riding outcomes. Van Popta called the misplaced votes “inexplicable.” It prompted an apology from the federal agency.

Elections Canada’s Report On The 45th General Election noted 467 displaced mail-in ballots in two ridings. Other issues included incorrect return addresses in Terrebonne, Quebec, where a Liberal won by one vote, and unannounced poll closures in Abitibi-Baie-James-Nunavik-Eeyou, Quebec, which also led to a Liberal win.

Perrault stated the Nunavik incident investigation is complete, with findings forthcoming. He noted that in that instance, inclement weather is expected in regions like Nunavik and that last-minute deployment of election workers “is a risky proposition.”

Conservative MP Michael Kram observed the Elections Canada website crashed on April 28 after 7 p.m. ET, while polls were still open, impacting access to poll locations.

“What exactly went wrong?” asked MP Kram. “There was a failure of a firewall set up by a private partner that provides the web services for us,” replied Perrault. Managers have “introduced protocols where we will be monitoring the pre-election tests,” he said.

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Trump’s Argentina bailout pits two competing MAGA factions against one another

President Donald Trump’s attempt to give Argentina’s fledgling economy financial assistance is creating a headache for him back in the U.S. as part of his base — farmers — are upset about the possibility of bailing out a country that is competing for a major crop — soybean exports to China.

Trump and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent promised a possible $20 billion aid package to Argentina’s leader Javier Milei. They argue the plan is needed to stabilize a major Trump and U.S. ally ahead of October elections that are important for Milei to retain power. At the same time, some of Milei’s policies are helping U.S. investors and negatively impacting American soybean producers.

Investors and hedge funds have bought into Milei’s stewardship of the bedraggled country. Fidelity Investments, T. Rowe Price Group and Pimco all own bonds in Argentina, according to Bloomberg. In September, traders began selling off investments there after Milei lost some crucial local elections over corruption scandals.

News of U.S. help boosted some of the assets, but Argentina’s currency is still performing poorly among the stable of international currencies.

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Plot to disrupt New York cell service larger than initially thought: Federal agents

A foiled plot to cripple the telecommunications system in New York was bigger than investigators first realized. Special Agent in Charge of the New York Field Office, Matt McCool, released a video in late September, sharing that federal agents were first tipped off about what the Secret Service says was a China-linked plot last spring.

But it was only recently uncovered during an investigation into threats to three people, including one with direct access to President Donald Trump.

The U.S. Secret Service began a protective intelligence investigation to determine the extent and impact these threats could have on protective operations,” McCool said in that September video posted on the U.S. Secret Service’s YouTube page.

Secret Service personnel, along with officers from multiple agencies, seized hundreds of servers and over 100,000 cellphone SIM cards from around New York. Enough equipment to send 30 million anonymous texts every minute, which would collapse the telecommunications system.

They found empty apartments with servers and server walls capable of making millions of phone calls in and around New York City,” said Donald Mihalek, an ABC News Contributor who was formerly with the Secret Service.

But this week, that number expanded. Law enforcement sources told ABC News that agents from Homeland Security Investigations found an additional 200,000 SIM cards in New Jersey.

These devices allowed anonymous encrypted communications between potential threat and criminal enterprises,” said McCool.

The U.S. Secret Service is still working to figure out a motive and whether or not there was a specific target. It’s also still not clear if the equipment was supposed to be triggered during the United Nations General Assembly, which took place in New York during the last full week of September.

So far, no arrests have been made but McCool did mention that forensic examination is underway. He also indicated there was cellular communication between foreign actors and individuals known to law enforcement.

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24% Michigan marijuana tax, a key piece of the legislative budget deal, has passed

After much hand wringing and consternation from lawmakers who feared detrimental effects to Michigan’s cannabis industry, the Michigan Senate voted early Friday morning by a thin margin to pass a 24% wholesale tax on marijuana products sold in the state.

The measure is estimated to raise $420 million in new revenue to fund road repairs and construction in the new fiscal year, a key component of the budget deal reached by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, House Speaker Matt Hall (R-Richland Township) and Senate Majority Leader Winnie Brinks (D-Grand Rapids).

If the vote had failed, the entire deal would more than likely fall apart, sending the respective chambers and the governor’s office back to the negotiating table. Such a development would have also sent the state into a full government shutdown. House leadership said Thursday that it would not entertain another continuation budget after the one passed Wednesday expired after Oct. 8.

Although many members of the cannabis industry rallied at the Capitol and lobbied lawmakers against passing the legislation, the implications of the entire deal falling through weighed heavily on the Legislature’s mind.

The House and Senate on late Thursday and early Friday morning passed their respective conference budgets to fund the whole of government, K-12 schools and higher education, but all of that hinged on passage of the marijuana tax.

The bill passed by a slim 19-17 vote, which had nearly as much bipartisan dissent as it did support.

Brinks and the following senators voted in favor of the bill: Sarah Anthony (D-Lansing), Rosemary Bayer (D-West Bloomfield), Darrin Camilleri (D-Trenton), Mary Cavanagh (D-Redford Township), Stephanie Chang (D-Detroit), John Cherry (D-Flint), Kevin Daley (R-Lum), Erika Geiss (D-Taylor), Veronica Klinefelt (D-Eastpointe), Dan Lauwers (R-Brockway), Ed McBroom (R-Vulcan), Sean McCann (D-Kalamazoo), Mallory McMorrow (D-Royal Oak), Jeremy Moss (D-Bloomfield Township), Dayna Polehanki (D-Livonia), Sam Singh (D-East Lansing), Roger Victory (R-Georgetown Township) and Paul Wojno (D-Warren).

Sen. Jeff Irwin (D-Ann Arbor) voted no against the bill. He was one of the legislation’s strongest opponents. 

Irwin was joined by Sens. Thomas Albert (R-Lowell), Joseph Bellino (R-Monroe), Jon Bumstead (R-North Muskegon), John Damoose (R-Harbor Springs), Roger Hauck (R-Mount Pleasant), Kevin Hertel (D-Saint Clair Shores), Michele Hoitenga (R-Manton), Mark Huizenga (R-Walker), Ruth Johnson (R-Groveland Township), Jonathan Lindsey (R-Coldwater), Senate Minority Leader Aric Nesbitt (R-Porter Township), Jim Runestad (R-White Lake), Sylvia Santana (D-Detroit), Sue Shink (D-Northfield Township), Lana Theis (R-Brighton) and Michael Webber (R-Rochester Hills).

A large portion of the day was spent debating the measure in caucus meetings and whipping votes to ensure the tax did not go up in smoke.

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