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Supreme Court gives victims of malicious prosecutors new weapon

People who are victimized by malicious prosecutions in America’s court systems have been given a new weapon – confirmation that they no longer have to “prove” their innocence by using the court system’s own documentation.

The Supreme Court in a 6-3 ruling in Thompson v. Clark has found that individuals have a Fourth Amendment right to hold police accountable for maliciously arresting and charging them without probable cause.

“At a time when the courts routinely shield police from accountability for misconduct, this ruling is at least an encouraging glimmer in the gloom,” said constitutional attorney John W. Whitehead, president of The Rutherford Institute, which joined a friend-of-the-court brief in the case.

“For too long, Americans have been treated as if they have no rights at all when it comes to encounters with police. This is an overdue reminder that freedom is not secondary to security, and the rights of the citizenry are no less important than the authority of the government,” he said.

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Calling all weapons makers: Pentagon seeks new ideas to arm Ukraine

In its effort to quickly arm Ukraine against Russia, the Pentagon has announced the equivalent of an open casting call for companies to offer weapons and commercial systems that can be rushed to the fight.

The Defense Department on Friday posted a broad request for information from industry on the federal contracting website sam.gov. The move is part of a stepped-up dialogue between the Pentagon and industry, and a sign of the challenge of boosting arms production in response to the ongoing conflict.

The RFI, on behalf of the new undersecretary of defense for acquisitions and sustainment, Bill LaPlante, is seeking input “from across industry” about air defense, anti-armor, anti-personnel, coastal defense, counter battery, unmanned aerial systems, and communications equipment, such as secure radios and satellite internet gear.

To that end, the DoD asks that responding companies describe their weapon, product or system in 100 words or less, and ― in the case of munitions ― check off “appropriate target type(s),” such as area, fixed, airborne/missile, maritime, mine, moving, hard or soft. The RFI says information received will be used to develop requirements for an actual solicitation at a later date.

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Chief Advisor of Klaus Schwab and the WEF Boasts: Dreams of Dictators Are Now Possible

“Dictators always dreamt about eliminating privacy, monitoring everyone, knowing everything you do, think, and feel…It is now possible.”

The privacy versus security debate is as old as civilization, historian and writer Yuval Noah Harari said recently at the Athens Democracy Forum, an annual international conference in Greece. “But there is now something new: for the first time in history, it is possible to eliminate privacy completely,” said Harari, chief advisor to the World Economic Forum’s leader, Klaus Schwab. 

“It was not possible before,” said Harari, “It is now possible. A fundamental change has taken place. “Dictators always dreamt about completely eliminating privacy, monitoring everyone all the time, and knowing everything you do, and not just everything you do but everything you think, and everything you feel.”

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Google goes woke! Search engine launches ‘inclusive language’ function to cut down on politically incorrect words

Google has launched an ‘inclusive language’ function designed to avoid the use of politically incorrect words.

Users typing ‘landlord’ will see a warning that it ‘may not be inclusive to all readers’ with the suggestion they should try ‘property owner’ or ‘proprietor’ instead.

The word ‘humankind’ is a suggested alternative to what the online giant apparently sees as the controversial term ‘mankind’.

Gender specific terms such as ‘policemen’ or ‘housewife’ should also be replaced by ‘police officers’ and ‘stay-at-home spouse’, according to the new Google Document style programme. It is now being rolled out to what the firm calls enterprise-level users.

Many computer document systems use methods to correct spelling and grammar. 

But nudging users towards woke language is being seen by critics as a step too far. Tests on the system have also thrown up major flaws.

A transcribed interview with ex Klu Klux Klan leader David Duke, in which he uses offensive racial slurs and talks about hunting black people, prompted no warnings.

But it suggested President John F Kennedy’s inaugural address should say ‘for all humankind’ instead of ‘for all mankind’.

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Lawmakers strike the word ‘marijuana’ from all state laws, calling term racist

“Pot,” “weed,” “grass,” “Mary Jane,” “flower” — there is no shortage of terms to describe cannabis. However, Washington state is taking one word officially off the table: “marijuana.”

Legislators recently passed a law that changes every Revised Code of Washington with the word “marijuana.” The change gets rid of the term, swapping it out for the word “cannabis.”

Supporters say the word “marijuana” has a long history of racism.

“The term ‘marijuana’ itself is pejorative and racist,” said Washington state Rep. Melanie Morgan during testimony in 2021. Morgan is a Democrat representing the 29th Legislative District and sponsored the bill — House Bill 1210. Morgan discussed the history of the word, which originates from Spanish.

“As recreational marijuana use became more popular, it was negatively associated with Mexican immigrants,” Morgan said.

Governor Jay Inslee signed the bill that passed unanimously into law March 11. The changes will take effect in June.

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Brave Entrepreneurs Openly Defy Licensing Laws and are Selling Cannabis Even Though it’s “Illegal”

So far, New Yorkers in 2022 have seen a massive increase in crime across the city. For the month of February 2022, New York City saw a 58.7% increase in overall index crime compared to February 2021. Every major index crime category saw an increase for the month of February 2022. Robbery increased by 56 percent, grand larceny increased by a whopping 79.2 percent, and grand larceny auto more than doubled, jumping up a massive 104.7 percent.

So, what are the politicians doing about it? Drafting legislation to shut down family-owned businesses for selling a plant. That’s right, currently, politicians in New York are moving through legislation to shut down honest mom and pop operations who would dare to sell a plant to a willing customer — without first paying the state for the privilege of doing so.

In March of 2021, New York legalized recreational marijuana and that’s where the progress stopped. Despite legalization, the state of New York requires businesses to obtain a license from the government before they can legally sell the plant. There’s only one problem… for an entire year, the state didn’t issue any licenses.

In the land of the free, attempting to earn money in certain professions without first paying the state for the privilege of doing so can and will get you kidnapped and extorted. These laws are applied to children behind lemonade stands as well as adults selling flowers. The state callously and with extreme prejudice has been documented arresting people, or even beating up women to enforce these licensing laws.

Instead of focusing on their rampant crime problem, legislators in New York are using their authority to continue this disturbing cycle. They are now going after unlicensed cannabis companies who dared to earn a living without first obtaining a license that didn’t exist.

The good news is that many folks aren’t waiting for the state to give them permission and are openly defying the licensing requirement — and they’re doing so successfully.

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Motion Picture Association wants online ID checks to curb piracy

The Motion Picture Association (MPA) wants stricter online identity checks to be part of the new trade agreement between the US and countries in the Indo-Pacific region. The film industry group also wants offline enforcement tools to apply online.

MPA is concerned that website operators use unconfirmed identities when signing up for Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) services. There are multiple types of IaaS services, but MPA narrows it down to CDNs, proxy services, domain registrars, and web hosting. Companies providing these services enable piracy by providing their services to piracy websites, MPA argues.

IaaS services providers are currently not legally obligated to carry out identity checks. MPA believes the new trade agreement between the US and Indo-Pacific region is an opportunity to introduce such a requirement, Torrent Freak reports.

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Climate Activist Dies After Lighting Himself Ablaze On Supreme Court Steps

A Colorado man has died 24 hours after lighting himself on fire in front of the United States Supreme Court on Earth Day as part of what appears to be a religious protest against the use of fossil fuels and in order to bring attention to climate change.

On Friday evening, Washington, D.C., first responders airlifted Wynn Bruce, a 50-year-old climate activist, to a local hospital after he engulfed himself in flames. He later died Saturday evening despite medical efforts to save his life.

Those reportedly close to Bruce are emphasizing that he did not consider this to be an act of suicide, rather that he was simply practicing Shambhala Buddhism and viewed the intentional act as one of self-immolation in order to draw attention to the supposedly damaging effects of climate change.

On Twitter, Zen Buddhist priest and environmental scientist Dr. K Kritee tweeted, “This guy was my friend. He meditated with our sangha. This act is not suicide. This is a deeply fearless act of compassion to bring attention to climate crisis.”

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Democrat tax scofflaw tells billionaires: ‘Pay your taxes’

A Wisconsin Democrat who ostentatiously told billionaires this week to “Pay your taxes” turns out to be a tax scofflaw, according to a report from the Washington Free Beacon.

The report identified the Democratic Senate candidate who lectured the ultrawealthy on social media this week and who has “a history of tax delinquency” as Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes.

He reportedly is a frontrunner in the primary for the Democratic Senate nomination, the report said.

But he “failed to pay his property taxes or file tax returns while running for office in 2018,” the report said. And then he “defended himself at the time by claiming that ‘most people’ don’t fully pay their taxes.”

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Prestigious $30K federal scholarships doled out almost exclusively to progressive students

The 2022 recipients of the prestigious federal Truman Scholarships once again lean heavily toward Democrats and progressives, according to an analysis by The College Fix.

Of the 58 scholarship recipients announced last week, only three have any connection to Republican politics. At the same time, five recipients have connections to Democratic politics, while an additional 35 more list a progressive cause as their primary area of advocacy.

The primary interests of the 35 progressive-leaning students granted the award in 2022 included environmental justice, “menstrual equity,” transgender rights, Latinx political engagement, diversity and inclusion, intersectionality, gun control, and the “gendered impacts of uranium mining.”

One student aims to set up a “safe space” for his school’s “multicultural male students and faculty to receive free food, haircuts, and showcase vulnerability as strength through meaningful conversations.”

Of the remaining awardees, 15 have political leanings that could be considered neutral or non-political.

The highly prestigious $30,000 scholarship is granted each year to a new set of college juniors to help them attend graduate school. The award was established by Congress as a nonpartisan federal program, and recipients must pledge to serve three of their first seven years after graduation in public service. It is granted to “persons who demonstrate outstanding potential for and who plan to pursue a career in public service.”

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