Tag: police state

Virginia to Enforce Verification Law for Social Media on January 1, 2026, Despite Free Speech Concerns

Virginia is preparing to enforce a new online regulation that will curtail how minors access social media, setting up a direct clash between state lawmakers and advocates for digital free expression.

Beginning January 1, 2026, a law known as Senate Bill 854 will compel social media companies to confirm the ages of all users through “commercially reasonable methods” and to restrict anyone under sixteen to one hour of use per platform per day.

We obtained a copy of the bill for you here.

Parents will have the option to override those limits through what the statute calls “verifiable parental consent.”

The measure is written into the state’s Consumer Data Protection Act, and it bars companies from using any information gathered for age checks for any other purpose.

Lawmakers from both parties rallied behind the bill, portraying it as a way to reduce what they described as addictive and harmful online habits among young people.

Delegate Wendell Walker argued that social media “is almost like a drug addiction,” while Delegate Sam Rasoul said that “people are concerned about the addiction of screen time” and accused companies of building algorithms that “keep us more and more addicted.”

Enforcement authority falls to the Office of the Attorney General, which may seek injunctions or impose civil fines reaching $7,500 per violation for noncompliance.

But this policy, framed as a health measure, has triggered strong constitutional objections from the technology industry and free speech advocates.

The trade association NetChoice filed a federal lawsuit (NetChoice v. Miyares) in November 2025, arguing that Virginia’s statute unlawfully restricts access to lawful speech online.

We obtained a copy of the lawsuit for you here.

The complaint draws parallels to earlier moral panics over books, comic strips, rock music, and video games, warning that SB 854 “does not enforce parental authority; it imposes governmental authority, subject only to a parental veto.”

Keep reading

Russia expands biometric ID system (again)

The commercial enterprise that controls Russians’ biometric data has introduced new ways to use your face as a form of ID, resulting in unprecedented levels of safety and convenience in the Russian Federation.

Russians young and old are already reaping the benefits of their country’s “digital transformation”—including very, very young Russians.

The Russian government is working on amending federal legislation to allow schools across the country to monitor and identify students using biometrics, Kommersant reported on December 3. Plans for a standardized “biometric turnstile system” for Russian schools are already being tested in Tatarstan.

Authorities have stressed that schools will be able to choose whether or not to switch to biometric identification, adding that parents must first consent before their childrens’ faces are scanned and entered into Russia’s Unified Biometric System (UBS).

Keep reading

Arizona Ballot Measure Seeks To Roll Back Marijuana Legalization

A newly filed ballot initiative in Arizona would repeal of key provisions of the state’s voter-approved marijuana legalization law by eliminating commercial sales, while still permitting possession and personal cultivation.

The “Sensible Marijuana Policy Act for Arizona” is being spearheaded by Sean Noble, president of the political strategy firm American Encore. Paperwork to register the initiative was filed with the secretary of state’s office this month.

This year has seen a series of attempts to roll back adult-use legalization laws, with anti-cannabis activists in Maine recently approved for signature gathering for a similar ballot initiative and a Massachusetts campaign clearing an initial signature threshold for their version that will first put the issue to lawmakers before it potentially heads to the ballot.

The Arizona measure is distinct from those proposals in at least one significant policy area: It would not take away the rights of adults to grow up to six cannabis plants for personal use.

Also, it explicitly preserves components of the law aimed at expunging prior marijuana records.

Like the anti-cannabis proposals in other states, possession would remain lawful if voters chose to enact the initiative—and Arizona’s medical marijuana program would remain intact—but the commercial market for recreational cannabis that’s evolved since voters approved an adult-use legalization measure in 2020 would be quashed.

“For adults that want to consume cannabis, they will be able to do that,” Noble told the Arizona Daily Star.

But the GOP operative—who has worked with Republican legislators on efforts to repeal the Affordable Care Act and played a role opposing a failed attempt to legalize for adult use in 2016—said declining revenue and advertising rules he perceives as insufficient to deterring youth use puts the campaign at an advantage among voters.

A findings section on the latest initiative states that “the proliferation of marijuana establishments and recreational marijuana sales in this state have produced unintended consequences and negative effects relating to the public health, safety, and welfare of Arizonans, including increased marijuana use among children, environmental concerns, increased demands for water resources, public nuisances, market instability, and illicit market activities.”

“Arizona’s legal marijuana sales have declined for two consecutive years, resulting in less tax revenue for this state, while some patients have relied on recreational use of marijuana instead of utilizing the benefits of this state’s medical marijuana program,” it says.

Keep reading

The Starmer regime is turning Britain into a police state

The UK is witnessing the largest and most significant prison hunger strike since 1981. Since the beginning of November, a total of eight activists in pretrial detention for standing up against the Gaza Genocide, have been protesting against Israel’s continuing mass murder, Britain’s complicity, and their own abusive and petty treatment by, as it happens, the same infamous legal and incarceration system that used to torture Julian Assange on behalf of the US.

The hunger strikers’ demands also include releasing documents showing how Britain’s extremely powerful Israel Lobby has been influencing the government and an end to the absurd proscription of the activists’ own Palestine Action organization as ‘terrorist.’

The charges against the activists refer to two cases: the break-in at a British branch of Israeli arms manufacturer Elbit Systems and infiltration of a Royal Air Force base to damage two planes with red paint and crowbars. Elbit is one of the many Israeli and multinational companies that are deeply involved in Israel’s genocide in Gaza and its ceaseless other crimes elsewhere, as UN Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese has shown in her recent report “From economy of occupation to economy of genocide.”

Britain’s Royal Air Force has besmirched itself by flying reconnaissance missions over Gaza, supporting Israel and its genocide there. Official denials, insisting that these operations have exclusively served the rescuing of hostages, are “preposterous,” as Matt Kennard who has been tracking and analyzing the flights systematically has concluded. In addition, since the flights are embedded in Israeli intelligence gathering, which is notorious for routinely relying on torture, the flights also make the UK an accomplice to that specific crime.

Ages ago, as an undergraduate history student at Oxford, I could see with my own eyes the great, persisting pride still attached to the memory of Britain’s ‘finest hour,’ when the country faced off against the threat of invasion by a surging Nazi Germany that had just mauled France. Over a thousand brave Spitfire pilots who fought in World War Two must now be turning in their graves. They defended their country against a fascist, genocidal German regime. Now the Royal Air Force is helping a Zionist, genocidal Israeli regime commit mass murder.

What an incredible shame. By now – very, very late – some former officers of high rank, and with a minimum of a conscience and a sense of honor left, are finally raising their voices to demand that Britain end its self-degrading support for and cooperation with Israel.

Keep reading

No criminal charges for Hawaii Island police officer in the death of K-9 police dog

There will be no criminal charges filed against Hawaii Police Department Officer Sidra Brown, the handler of K-9 Archer, the narcotics detection dog that died Sept. 4 after being left unattended in a police vehicle in Kona.

Archer was a 6-year-old narcotics detection dog.

The Dept. of the Attorney General said, “After careful consideration of the evidence associated with this case, examination of the scene, and possible applicable law, our office has declined to prosecute this matter due to insufficient evidence of a crime.”

Hawaii has both misdemeanor and felony charges for animal cruelty. First- degree animal cruelty is a Class C felony punishable by five years imprisonment.

Officer Brown was reassigned to another position while the police department continues its own administrative investigation.

The police department told the paper that it will now have heat detectors in patrol cars with K-9’s as well as collars that will be connected to the officer’s cellphone to monitor the dogs’ health at all times.

Warnings from the collar would be sent to its handler if it’s in distress.

Keep reading

Indian Supreme Court Judge Says Those With Nothing to Hide Shouldn’t Fear Surveillance

A courtroom drama over state surveillance in India took a striking turn when a Supreme Court judge suggested that people who live transparently should not be troubled by government monitoring.

The case involved allegations that Telangana’s state intelligence apparatus was used for political snooping, but the discussion soon widened into a philosophical clash over privacy and power.

Former Special Intelligence Bureau (SIB) chief T. Prabhakar Rao, accused of directing unlawful phone tapping during the previous BRS government, was before the bench as the State sought more time to keep him in police custody.

During the hearing, Justice B.V. Nagarathna questioned why citizens would object to being monitored at all, asking, “Now we live in an open world. Nobody is in a closed world. Nobody should be really bothered about surveillance. Why should anyone be bothered about surveillance unless they have something to hide?”

Her comment prompted Solicitor General Tushar Mehta to caution against normalizing government spying. He asked whether this meant “every government will have a free hand in putting people under surveillance,” warning that secret monitoring without authorization was unlawful and incompatible with basic freedoms.

Mehta reminded the bench that the Constitution, as affirmed in the landmark Puttaswamy ruling, enshrines privacy as part of human dignity and liberty.

“The Supreme Court knows the difference between an ‘open’ world and being under illegal surveillance. My personal communications with my wife… I have a right not to be under surveillance,” he said.

Keep reading

China bans sharing porn on messaging apps

China will expand a ban on sharing obscene materials to include content sent via phone and online messaging apps starting next year.

According to the revised law, anyone “disseminating obscene information using information networks, telephones, or other communication tools” will face up to 15 days in jail and a fine of up to 5,000 yuan ($711). Penalties will be higher if the content involves children.

The wording of the law has led to concerns from media and social networks as to whether it could be applied to private sexually explicit messages between adults, such as sexting.

However, according to multiple legal experts cited by Chinese state media, the legal changes will not affect one-on-one private communications. They argue that the revisions reflect technological development, increasing the maximum fines, while leaving detention periods unchanged.

“China has mature standards and procedures for identifying obscene materials. It is critical to clarify that ‘obscene’ does not equal ‘indecent’,” China Daily cited Ji Ying, an associate professor of law at the University of International Business and Economics in Beijing, as saying.

Keep reading

Romania’s Globalist Regime Goes Full Police State: Masked Prison Assault Used to Coerce Testimony Against Călin Georgescu

Romania’s globalist-controlled government, widely seen as illegitimate after canceling the first round of the last presidential election and barring frontrunner Călin Georgescu, has crossed yet another chilling line as disturbing revelations emerge from inside Rahova prison.

What is unfolding looks less like justice and more like a coordinated campaign of intimidation against national-conservative figures who refuse to bow to thuggish globalist power.

Horațiu Potra, a key defendant in a politically charged case aimed at Romanian conservative, anti-globalist circles surrounding Călin Georgescu, winner of Romania’s last presidential first round, was brutally assaulted in his cell late at night, reports from the Romanian news outlet Realitatea has revealed.

According to accounts from his legal team, masked inmates entered his cell and beat him until he lost consciousness, raising serious questions about who authorized or facilitated the attack.

The violence did not end there. The following morning, Potra was allegedly confronted by prison authorities and threatened in a manner that evokes Romania’s darkest communist-era abuses.

According to his lawyer, Potra was told that unless he agreed to give statements against Călin Georgescu, his son would be thrown into a cell with some of Romania’s most violent criminals. The message: cooperate with the globalist regime or watch your children suffer.

This is not an isolated incident but part of a broader pattern of coercion surrounding a high-profile case accusing Georgescu, Potra, and others of vague “actions against the constitutional order.” Despite the seriousness of the charges, critics argue that prosecutors have produced no concrete evidence to substantiate claims of an “attempted coup,” mirroring their earlier failure to prove allegations of so-called “Russian interference” in the last presidential election.

Keep reading

Ukrainian draft officer pepper-sprays woman holding child – media 

A Ukrainian conscription official has been filmed appearing to pepper-spray a woman holding a child during a recruitment raid.

The mandatory military draft, which Kiev enforces to replenish combat losses in the conflict with Russia, is an increasingly contentious issue in Ukraine, as many eligible men evade service through bribery or by hiding from officials. Kiev claims most videos showing brutal tactics are fabrications and says internal investigations usually find no wrongdoing.

The incident, highlighted by Ukrainian online media on Wednesday, reportedly occurred in the western city of Rovno. Footage that went viral was filmed by a resident in a nearby building.

Keep reading

Public assemblies banned for 14 days across Sydney as police enforce new powers under protest laws

Public assemblies have been banned for two weeks across Sydney after the NSW Police Commissioner activated powers prescribed after the terrorist attack at Bondi Beach. 

Reforms to the state’s laws on gun ownership and public assemblies were passed by parliament after a marathon debate in the early hours of Christmas Eve in response to the mass shooting on December 14 that left 15 people dead.

Under the laws, the Commissioner has the power to temporarily designate public areas as “restricted” from assemblies following a declared terrorist incident, which was made on the day of the mass shooting.

In a statement, Commissioner Mal Layon said any protest action at this time would “aggravate fear and divisiveness in the community”.

“The NSW Police is committed to exercising these new powers responsibly and transparently,” he said.

Keep reading