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Jury Clears Afroman of Defamation for Mocking Cops Who Raided His House

An Ohio jury on Wednesday found the rapper Afroman not liable for defaming the sheriff’s deputies who raided his house nearly four years ago.

The verdict is a free speech victory for Joseph Foreman, a.k.a. Afroman, best known for his 2000 hit “Because I Got High.” Over the course of a three-day civil trial that captured social media attention, Afroman, who appeared in court dressed in an American flag-print suit, insisted that he had a First Amendment right to make fun of the deputies who kicked down his door and pawed through his belongings. Afroman released several music videos about the incident using surveillance footage of the raid.

“I got freedom of speech. After they run around my house with guns and kick down my door, I got the right to kick a can in my back yard, use my freedom of speech, and turn my bad times into a good time, yes I do,” Afroman told jurors on Tuesday. “And I think I’m a sport for doing so, because I don’t go to their house, kick down their doors [and] then try to play the victim and sue them.”

The sheriff’s deputies, meanwhile, were reduced in court to watching full-length music videos of Afroman mocking them and testifying about how the rapper had called them “dipshits” and made claims to sleeping with their wives.

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Ohio, which filed an amicus brief in support of Afroman, applauded the verdict.

“We’re very pleased with this outcome, and we think the jury got it right. Robust protection for free speech requires leaving room for speakers to give their opinions in strong, florid, or figurative terms without fear of criminal or civil consequences,” says David Carey, deputy legal director of the ACLU of Ohio. “All the more so with speech involving criticism of government officials and their actions. Juries exercising common sense and considering the full context and actual meaning of a speaker’s words are a critical part of that system.”

Adams County, Ohio, sheriff’s deputies executed a search warrant on Afroman’s house in 2022. According to a search warrant, Afroman was suspected of drug possession, drug trafficking, and kidnapping. The deputies were searching for evidence of outlandish claims from a confidential informant that the house contained a basement dungeon. 

Body camera footage of the raid showed the deputies—after the initial excitement of busting down the front door—ambling through Afroman’s house, rifling through his clothes and CDs, and trying to find false walls and secret rooms. But the hourslong search turned up no evidence to corroborate the claim of a basement dungeon. Part of the problem may have been that, as Afroman’s record label told Vice, the house did not have a basement.

Afroman was never charged with a crime.

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2,000-year-old artifact may be evidence that Romans found New World — a thousand years before Columbus

Was there a New World order we didn’t know about?

The discovery of a 2,000-year-old Roman artifact in Mexico could upend our understanding of the New World, raising the possibility that Italians arrived in the Americas long before Christopher Columbus.

Dubbed the Tecaxic-Calixtlahuaca Head, this terracotta sculpture of a bearded man was exhumed by Mexican archaeologist José García Payón in 1933 from its eponymous repository near Mexico City, Arkeonews reported.

The figure was buried in a sealed tomb beneath three intact floor layers of the pyramidal structure, alongside pottery shards, gold ornaments, bone artifacts, and pieces of rock crystal.

While these materials were typical of the time period and region, the noggin was anything but, boasting striking features that skewed more ancient Mediterranean than Mesoamerica.

Then, in 1990, German archaeologist Bernard Andreae suggested that the bust was “without any doubt, Roman,” claiming its hairstyle and beard shape harked back to that of the emperors from the Severan period (193–235 BC).

This was more than just a passing resemblance, too. Through thermoluminescence dating — heating an object and measuring the light it emits from energy stored over time — researchers were able to determine that the relic dated back to between the 9th century BC and the 13th century AD, long before Columbus landed in the Americas in 1492.

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Social Media Panic Lands Joseph Gordon-Levitt a U.N. Gig

Joseph Gordon-Levitt has a new gig, but it’s not in Hollywood. On Tuesday, the actor was appointed as the United Nations’ (U.N.) first global advocate for human-centric digital governance. 

In this role, Gordon-Levitt will “strengthen public understanding of how digital technologies shape everyday life, rights and opportunities,” according to a U.N. press release. In other words, he will be one of the U.N.’s chief advocates for regulating social media platforms.

In a video explaining his jargon-filled title, Gordon-Levitt warned that social media is causing an “epidemic of mental health issues and loneliness,” and a “rise in polarization and extremism and authoritarianism.” He said “governments need to get in the game” and curb these “damaging side effects” from social media. 

This is not the first time Gordon-Levitt has advocated for crackdowns on online platforms. In February, Gordon-Levitt traveled to Capitol Hill, where he urged senators to pass the Sunset Section 230 Act. The bill, introduced by Sens. Lindsey Graham (R–S.C.) and Dick Durbin (D–Ill.), would repeal Section 230—the federal law that limits platforms’ liability for third party speech—two years after the date of enactment. 

The “first step” in combatting the negative influence of Big Tech is to “sunset Section 230,” he said. “I want to see this thing pass 100 to zero. There should be nobody voting to give any more impunity to these tech companies, nobody.”

After receiving backlash for these comments, including from journalist Taylor Lorenz, Gordon-Levitt clarified that he didn’t want to completely scrap Section 230; he only wanted to reform it. 

During his speech on Capitol Hill, Gordon-Levitt invoked his authority as a concerned father of three to push for more online safety regulations. But emotional pleas do not always make for good policy. In fact, protecting children online has motivated more than a dozen bills in the House alone, many of which would infringe on free speech and privacy. 

One of these bills, the Reducing Exploitative Social Media Exposure for Teens (RESET) Act, would ban anyone under the age of 16 from creating or maintaining social media accounts. Another, the App Store Accountability Act, would require age verification for access to app stores and parental consent for users under 18. Most notably, the controversial Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA) would require online platforms to enforce policies and procedures to “address” various “harms to minors.” Reason’s Elizabeth Nolan Brown notes that KOSA would compel platforms to “censor a huge array of content out of fear that the government might decide it contributed to some vague category of harm and then sue.”

What proponents of these bills often fail to recognize is the many benefits that social media can offer kids. According to a 2022 Pew Research Center poll among teenagers, just 9 percent said that social media had a mostly negative effect on their lives. Citing the upsides of friendships and connections, 32 percent said social media had a mostly positive effect on them. Another study found that disconnection was a greater threat to adolescents’ self-esteem than heavy social media use, challenging the narrative that social media causes isolation. 

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Prairieland Verdict: Texas Man Found Guilty of Transporting Constitutionally Protected Pamphlets

A federal jury in Fort Worth, Texas, convicted eight protestors on charges ranging from rioting to attempted murder after a noise demonstration turned violent outside Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Prairieland Detention Center last summer. Federal prosecutors claim the group was part of an “Antifa Cell” and provided “material support to terrorists.” First Amendment legal scholars have raised serious concerns about the chilling effect these prosecutions and convictions will have on future political dissent.

One man’s conviction emphasized just how far that chilling effect could go. Daniel Rolando Sanchez-Estrada, the husband of one of the convicted protestors, wasn’t present at the time of the July 4 demonstration. After receiving a call from his wife, Maricela Rueda, from the Johnston County Jail, in which she told him to do “whatever you need to do” and “move whatever you need to move at the house,” officers began watching Sanchez-Estrada, according to the criminal complaint filed against him.

Shortly after, officers observed Sanchez-Estrada load and move a box from his home to another residence. Sanchez-Estrada was then arrested on state traffic offenses, and officers obtained a search warrant to locate and search the box. Inside, they found “numerous Antifa materials, such as insurrection planning, anti-law enforcement, anti-government, and anti-immigration enforcement documents,” according to a November indictment. Sanchez-Estrada was subsequently charged federally with corruptly concealing a document and conspiracy to conceal documents.

Sanchez-Estrada was convicted on both counts on March 13 and now faces up to 40 years in federal prison. But despite ICE proclaiming in a post on X that the contents of Sanchez-Estrada’s box contained “literal insurrectionist propaganda,” these controversial materials fall squarely under constitutionally protected speech.

“I feel like the U.S. lost here with this verdict and what it means for future defendants,” Christopher Weinbel, Sanchez-Estrada’s federal public defender and a U.S. Army veteran, told The Washington Post. “I feel like it turned its back on justice with this.”

The other eight protestors were charged and convicted of rioting, providing material support to terrorists, conspiracy to use and carry an explosive, and using explosives after they set off fireworks outside the Prairieland ICE facility. Rueda was also convicted of conspiracy to conceal documents along with Sanchez-Estrada. Additionally, Benjamin Song was convicted of attempted murder of a U.S. officer and discharging a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence after he allegedly shot and wounded a police officer during the demonstration.

In response to the convictions, Attorney General Pam Bondi said the guilty “verdict on terrorism charges will not be the last as the Trump administration systematically dismantles Antifa and finally halts their violence on America’s streets.” But First Amendment lawyers are wary of conflating constitutionally protected speech after President Donald Trump signed an executive order in September categorizing the loosely defined “antifa” as a “domestic terrorist organization.”

Suzanne Adely, president of the National Lawyers Guild, a progressive legal group, told the Associated Press that the government wants to “squash” opposition, and a case like this one creates fear, “hoping that folks in other cities then will think twice over protesting.” The U.S. district judge presiding over the case, a Trump nominee, Mark Pittman, also signaled First Amendment concerns, according to The Guardian, when he asked prosecutors about the relevance of including antifa in the jury instructions. “Whether it’s antifa or the Methodist Women’s Auxiliary of Weatherford, why does it matter?” Pittman asked during the trial, reported The Guardian.

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Newsom Implies Investigative Journalist Nick Shirley is a Pedophile for Exposing Daycare Fraud

California’s Democrat Governor is attacking a journalist for exposing daycare fraud.

Governor Gavin Newsom implied investigative journalist Nick Shirley is a pedophile for exposing rampant daycare fraud in California and Minnesota.

On Monday evening, Nick Shirley released his latest video uncovering $170 million in fraud in California.

“We uncovered over $170,000,000 in fraud as these fraudsters live in luxury with no consequences,” Nick Shirley said.

“California’s version of Medicaid called ‘Medi-Cal’ has more than doubled since 2022 from $108 billion to a proposed $222 billion in 2026. Their population, however, has not grown exponentially. However, their spending has,” Nick Shirley said.

“There has been a 1,000 percent increase in hospice care in Los Angeles County,” Nick Shirley said. It’s estimated that the fraud in California could be in the hundreds of billions of dollars.”

Nick Shirley visited ‘hospices’ in Los Angeles and ‘daycares’ in San Diego.

The Somali ‘daycare’ owner/operator screamed at Nick Shirley and called the police after he asked her why there weren’t any children in the facility.

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Shocking decision to not charge suspects with hate crime in brutal attack on Hebrew-speaking diners

The three suspects accused of brutally assaulting two Israeli-Americans outside a diner in San Jose, Northern California, will not face hate crime charges in the attack, prosecutors revealed.

The three men — Ramon Akoyans, 18, Roma Akoyans, 20, and Bruneil Chamaki, 32 — were hit with felony assault charges, while Chamaki faced an additional misdemeanor battery charge after they turned themselves in to the San Jose Police Department on Monday.

Investigators had been looking at the attack as a potential hate crime after the Hebrew-speaking victims alleged their attackers used antisemitic language.

It’s not clear why prosecutors did not move forward with hate crime charges, though the Santa Clara District Attorney’s Office said the case “remains an active investigation.”

Gov. Gavin Newsom condemned the attacks as “disgusting” and San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan said that “antisemitism and all acts of hatred have no place in San Jose.”

The shocking assault took place in broad daylight on March 8 outside the upmarket restaurant Augustine on Santana Row.

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Tehran Residents’ Social Media Offer Nightmarish Glimpse of Humanitarian Crisis

Residents of Iran’s sprawling capital, Tehran, woke up earlier this month to scenes that they could probably imagine only in horror films. Clouds of smoke had shrouded the metropolis of 10 million, toxic rain blended with oil poured down from the sky, and the sun remained invisible through noon on the morning of March 8. Hours earlier, Israel had launched airstrikes on 30 oil facilities in Tehran and nearby regions, causing explosions that killed six people in the city of Karaj.

On social media, people in Iran who managed to bypass the ongoing internet blackout posted images of their cars being cloaked by thick layers of black toxicants that were the residues of an acid rain precipitated by the strikes the night before. Scientists have raised the alarm that long-term exposure to the compounds contained in this “black rain” may potentially increase the risk of cancer, cardiovascular conditions, and cognitive impairment among the inhabitants of Tehran.

When the United States and Israel launched their unprovoked and incoherent war on Iran on February 28, international observers decried the attack, questioning its legal basis in the absence of authorization by the UN Security Council and the U.S. Congress. Even some U.S. allies such as Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni have criticized the war as being illegal.

Now, as the civilian death toll increases after more than two weeks of bombing, and as the destruction promised by U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth materializes across Iranian cities, more Iranians are reflecting on why their lives unraveled and why the international community has failed them despite earlier declarations of support from influential U.S. and European politicians during the nationwide protests that rocked the country in December and January.

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Libs Complain Trump Removed the Olive Branch from the Dime, But They’re Wrong – That Was Their Buddy, Joe Biden

No matter how far liberals sink, we can always count on them to explore new depths of pettiness.

For instance, leave it to liberals to grouse about a modest and historically appropriate change to a commemorative coin now in circulation.

Then, leave it to those same liberals to blame President Donald Trump for the design when, in fact, the change occurred during the final months of former President Joe Biden’s administration.

According to USA Today, “Americans are raising their eyebrows” at the new “Emerging Liberty Dime,” the back of which — for one year, at least — now features an eagle carrying only arrows in its talons, rather than the version of the eagle seen on the Great Seal of the United States, which shows the bird clutching arrows on one side and an olive branch on the on the other.

In other words, liberals have speculated that the removal of the peace-signifying olive branch symbolizes Trump’s bellicosity.

“The administration that has decided to call the Department of Defense the Department of War, has removed the olive branches from the eagle depicted on the 2026 dime,” one liberal wrote on the social media platform X. “The Great Seal of the United States, around since the 1700s, has always shown olive branches & arrows, but now …”

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Homeschooling Families Push Back on Proposed Regulations in Connecticut

When Gina Stewart began homeschooling her oldest child 30 years ago, there were no regulations requiring her to notify the state if, how, or what she was teaching her son in their house.

Stewart, in the years that followed, informed her local district annually, as a courtesy, that her boys wouldn’t be enrolled in public schools.

One son later became a plumber, one enrolled in community college before he was even old enough to drive, and one will attend a police academy after he turns 21.

The youngest, 15, is still completing his high school curriculum, including pre-calculus.

Stewart recently began homeschooling her grandchild, but she said she fears that the educational freedom her family enjoyed for decades is under threat.

A proposed Connecticut state law would require homeschooling parents to provide their local school districts with proof of “equivalent” instruction annually.

It also requires school districts to notify the Department of Children and Families if a child is removed from public schools.

“I don’t want their curriculum,” Stewart, who attended Connecticut public schools and previously taught at a Catholic school, told The Epoch Times.

“I never originally intended to homeschool my kids. But I don’t think the schools are preparing kids to become productive citizens.”

Stewart was among hundreds of concerned parents who attended a legislative committee hearing last week on the proposed legislation.

The hearing went for about 19 hours, during which more than 300 people testified and 3,000-plus provided written opinions, a vast majority against the bill.

“I’d say it’s about 99-to-one against the bill,” Ralph Rodriguez, an attorney with the Home School Legal Defense Association, who also attended the hearing, told The Epoch Times.

“No regulation is acceptable. Today’s check-in can very easily encroach on other freedoms.”

The check-in and notification to the Department of Children and Families regulations are in response to the recent murder of an 11-year-old girl whose mother attempted to cover up the death by telling the local district that she was homeschooling her daughter.

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AIPAC suffers loss in congressional race, millions of dollars squandered helping Chicago mayor’s ally

Several super PACs linked to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee reportedly poured over $20 million into multiple House primary races in Illinois in hopes of advancing favored candidates or at the very least kneecapping candidates critical of Israel.

Some of the groups’ investments paid off.

For instance, Cook County Commissioner Donna Miller — a beneficiary of nearly $4.5 million in ad spending from the AIPAC-linked group Affordable Chicago Now — defeated former Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. in the Democrat primary for the state’s 2nd Congressional District.

In the Democrat primary for the 8th Congressional District, former Rep. Melissa Bean, another beneficiary of spending by an AIPAC-aligned group, also came out on top, beating Junaid Ahmed, a leftist whom AIPAC faulted for centering “his campaign on attacking Israel.”

However, Chicago City Treasurer Melissa Conyears-Ervin, a candidate who ran in the 7th District Democrat primary to replace retiring incumbent Rep. Danny Davis, turned out to be a bad investment.

With 90% of the votes in, the Associated Press called the race for state Rep. La Shawn Ford, a Democrat with a history of tax fraud who secured 23.9% of the total vote. Conyears-Ervin, one of only handful of candidates who said in a WBEZ-FM survey that she did not oppose sending U.S. military aid to Israel, trailed behind with 20.5% of the vote.

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