Tag: police state

OUTRAGE: Cranbury, NJ Moves to Seize 175-Year-Old Family Farm to Make Way for ‘Affordable Housing’ Project

Another American legacy is on the chopping block—this time in deep-blue New Jersey, where local officials are ramming through a plan to bulldoze a 175-year-old family farm in the name of “affordable housing.”

NJ.com reported that Chris Henry stood before the Cranbury Township Committee, pleading with officials not to rip his family’s heritage from the soil their great-grandfather purchased in 1850.

The Henry family, whose parents both served in World War II and whose mother’s name is etched into the town’s war memorial, is now watching bureaucrats prepare to seize their 21-acre farm by force.

Their crime? Refusing to sell.

The family has poured over $200,000 into preserving the historic Middlesex County farm, which is currently leased to a local rancher who raises sheep and cattle.

Despite the property’s agricultural use and historical importance, the Cranbury Township Committee voted unanimously in May to move forward with seizing the land through eminent domain.

All of this—just to meet a state-mandated housing quota pushed by far-left courts and Trenton bureaucrats.

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ATF to Return Legal Gun Parts, Leaving 16 Blue State AGs to Suffer a Collective Meltdown

The whole “bump stock” hooraw has been settled, for the time being, following the Trump administration’s settling of a lawsuit brought by the National Association for Gun Rights. These devices, more properly called “forced-reset triggers,” allow for firing a semi-automatic rifle more quickly, at the cost of some accuracy. In the interests of complete reporting, we should note that the action of one of these devices can be duplicated with such readily available things as rubber bands or belt loops. Following the settlement, the ATF has been ordered to return some 100,000 seized devices to their rightful owners.

To summarize, 100,000 pieces of legally owned private property are being returned to their owners.

So, of course, 16 blue state attorneys general are screeching and soiling themselves in terror. They are demanding that these people not be given back their property, and as is typical, they don’t even know what they’re talking about. Consider this, from Colorado’s AG, Phil Weiser:

“The law is clear: Machine guns, and devices that turn a semiautomatic weapon into a machine gun, are illegal,” Weiser said in a statement. “We’re suing to stop the ATF and the administration from making our communities more dangerous by distributing thousands of devices that turn firearms into weapons of war.”

Wrong, wrong, wrong, and wrong. These are not machine guns, and they cannot turn a semi-automatic weapon into a machine gun. With or without a forced-reset trigger, the weapon functions the same: One shot for each trigger pull. The device makes it easier to fire more quickly, but so can a thumb thrust through a belt loop. 

Furthermore, machine guns are not illegal. The supply is restricted, they are very expensive, and one has to go through a defined process to own one, including a background check and payment of a “transfer tax.” But they are not illegal. Given money and patience, any law-abiding citizen can legally own one. Like this guy does.

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New Orleans Police Officer Who Shot a Puppy Will Face Trial

A Louisiana police officer who shot and killed a puppy in 2021 will now face trial, after a lengthy legal battle.

On April 10, 2021, two New Orleans Police Department officers were called to Derek Brown and Julia Barecki-Brown’s home after receiving a noise complaint. According to legal documents, as the pair approached the house, one officer, Derrick Burmaster, claimed he made “kissy noises” to attract any dogs. Believing there were no dogs nearby, the officers approached the Brown’s house. As they did so, a dog began barking, and Burmaster drew his firearm. While the other officer left the Browns’ yard after hearing the barking, Burmaster stayed, and the Brown’s two dogs then ran down the stairs of the home and approached the officers.

One of the dogs, a 16-week-old, 22-pound puppy named Apollo approached Burmaster while wagging his tail. Burmaster fired three shots at Apollo, striking the dog in his neck and chest. Hearing gunshots, the Browns came into the yard, and Derek “held Apollo as he died from the gunshot wound,” according to the couple’s lawsuit.

The couple filed a lawsuit against Burmaster and the City of New Orleans in 2022, alleging that Burmaster unconstitutionally ‘seized’ Apollo by shooting him. “It is clearly established that an officer cannot shoot a dog in the absence of an objectively legitimate and imminent threat to him or others,” the suit reads. “A twenty-two-pound Catahoula puppy, standing less than a foot and a half tall, does not present an objectively legitimate and imminent threat to police officers.”

A yearslong legal battle followed. Earlier this year, the United States Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit ruled against Burmaster’s attempt to appeal a lower court’s decision that the case could not be thrown out on qualified immunity grounds. 

“A reasonable jury could conclude that Burmaster did not reasonably believe that Bruno, a small puppy who was wagging his tail shortly before the shooting, posed a threat,” the decision reads. “A reasonable jury could further conclude that Burmaster did not reasonably believe he was in imminent danger, based on Bruno’s [sic] size, Burmaster’s ability to exit the yard, and the availability of non-lethal tools like the taser and police boots.” (The ruling appears to have confused Apollo’s name.)

Despite efforts to toss the Browns’ suit, the case is now set to go to trial. This is far from the first case of “puppycide,” where a police officer has shot a dog that posed no obvious threat to his saftey. Burmaster himself fatally shot another dog in 2012, according to The Associated Press. Earlier this month, another Louisiana police department announced that it was investigating two different incidents in which officers shot dogs. It’s not uncommon for puppycide cases to be particularly nonsensical. Last year, a Missouri man sued an officer who shot his 13-pound, deaf and blind Shih Tzu. In 2023, another Missouri family’s dog wandered away from their home during a storm. When a neighbor found the dog and called to police for help, the officer shot the dog and threw its body in a ditch, rather than simply returning it to its owners. 

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Britain Launches Cross-Border Censorship Hunt Against 4chan

The UK government has taken another aggressive step in its campaign to regulate online speech, launching formal investigations into the message board 4chan and seven file-sharing sites under its far-reaching Online Safety Act.

But this is more than a domestic crackdown; it is a clear attempt to assert British speech laws far beyond its borders, targeting platforms that have no meaningful presence in the UK.

The law, which came into full force in April, gives sweeping powers to Ofcom, the UK’s communications regulator, to demand that websites and apps proactively remove undefined categories of “illegal content.”

Failure to comply can trigger massive fines of up to £18 million ($24M) or 10 percent of global revenue, criminal penalties for company executives, and site-wide bans within the UK.

Now, Ofcom has set its sights on 4chan, a US-hosted imageboard owned by a Japanese national. The site operates under US law and has no physical infrastructure, employees, or legal registration in Britain. Nonetheless, UK regulators have declared it fair game.

“Wherever in the world a service is based if it has ‘links to the UK’, it now has duties to protect UK users,” Ofcom insists.

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Mayor Bass Abruptly Orders Curfew for Downtown Los Angeles

After four days of coddling rioters and attacking President Donald Trump for federalizing California National Guard troops, Democrat Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass suddenly turned law and order on the fifth day, announcing a curfew in downtown L.A. starting at 8 p.m. PDT Tuesday, giving about two hours notice. The curfew will end at 6 a.m. Wednesday. Residents, homeless, credentialed media and workers in the curfew zone are exempt according to statements by Bass and Police Chief Jim McDonnell.

The Trump administration’s efforts to enforce immigration laws in the sanctuary city and state of Los Angeles, California has been met with resistance by violent protesters and mockery by Gov. Gavin Newsom, Mayor Bass and many other Democrat elected officials.

Bass made the announcement at a press conference and followed with a post online where she still blamed President Trump, “I issued a curfew starting tonight at 8pm for Downtown Los Angeles to stop bad actors who are taking advantage of the President’s chaotic escalation. If you do not live or work in Downtown L.A., avoid the area. Law enforcement will arrest individuals who break the curfew, and you will be prosecuted.”

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Censorship in Our Materialist World

My dear friends,

A long time ago but I am still here. Two weeks ago I learned on one and the same day that the LinkedIn account of Jakobien Huysman and the Facebook page of Alain Grootaers (both producers of the corona critical Headwind series) were permanently removed, that Dutch comedian Hans Teeuwen was visited by six policemen for making a satirical movie about a pro-Palestian rally in Amsterdam, that Martin Kulldorff was fired as a Harvard professor for his criticial stance during the corona crisis, and that Belgian right wing politician Dries Van Langenhove got a one-year prison sentence for allowing racist memes to circulate in a WhatsApp group.

What do all these sanctioned acts have in common? They are linguistic acts—acts of speech. When you consider the rise of censorship within its broader cultural context, you notice something remarkable: Society is in the grip of the materialist view on man and the world, which reduces the entire realm of speech and consciousness to a meaningless side product of biochemical processes in our brain.

Man thinks, feels, and speaks, but that doesn’t really matter. He is a heap of flesh and bones and from the biochemical simmering in his braincase some thoughts and feelings emerge—God knows why. And from time to time, the machine rattles and creaks a bit and the mouth of the human being expels some noise. This noise turns out to be evolutionarily useful. It allows the efficient exchange of information and that confers an advantage in the struggle to survive. That’s why the human being has continued to speak.

This is how the materialist worldview explains the field of speech and consciousness, and this is how it degrades the realm of the Mind and the Soul.  

Nevertheless, this materialist society, which reduces consciousness and speech to a negligible side effect, is in the first place scared of…speech and consciousness. It tries to control thoughts and feelings through indoctrination and propaganda and with censorship it tries to keep the field of speech in an iron choke hold. This ‘velvet glove totalitarianism’ is very real. Every time we use the internet or social media it steers our mind through state-controlled search engines and AI-generated algorithms; through machine learning each and every dissident narrative is mapped and its most influential representers are identified and inhibited; it recruits tens of thousands of ‘digital first responders’ to ridiculize and criminalize everyone who doesn’t conform to the state ideology, and so on.

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European Union Unveils International Strategy Pushing Digital ID Systems and Online Censorship

As part of a broader campaign to expand its global influence in the digital era, the European Union has introduced a sweeping International Digital Strategy that leans heavily on centralized infrastructure, digital identity systems, and regulatory frameworks that raise significant questions about online freedoms and privacy.

The European Commission, in announcing the initiative, stressed its intent to collaborate with foreign governments on a range of areas, prominently featuring digital identity systems and what it calls “Digital Public Infrastructure.”

These frameworks, which have garnered widespread support from transnational institutions such as the United Nations and the World Economic Forum, are being marketed as tools to streamline cross-border commerce and improve mobility.

However, for privacy advocates, the strategy raises red flags due to its promotion of interoperable digital ID programs and a surveillance-oriented model of governance under the guise of efficiency.

According to the strategy documents, one of the EU’s objectives is to drive mutual recognition of electronic trust services, including digital IDs, across partner nations such as Ukraine, Moldova, and several Balkan and Latin American countries. This aligns with the EU’s ambitions to propagate its model of the Digital Identity Wallet, an initiative that privacy campaigners warn could entrench government control over personal data.

The strategy also outlines measures to deepen cooperation on global digital regulation, including laws that govern online speech.

While framed as promoting “freedom of expression, democracy, and citizens’ privacy,” these efforts are closely tied to the enforcement of the Digital Services Act (DSA), which mandates extensive platform compliance and systemic risk monitoring.

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GOP-Led Congressional Panel Demands Investigation On Biden’s Marijuana Rescheduling Process, Citing ‘Deviations’ And ‘Mental Health Hazards’

A key GOP-led House committee is asking for a review of the cannabis rescheduling recommendation issued under the Biden administration, expressing concerns about “deviations” from a prior review process as well as the “mental health hazards of regular use of high-potency marijuana.”

In a report attached to a large-scale spending bill for the 2026 fiscal year, the House Appropriations Committee included several sections focused on marijuana and hemp—while also encouraging further research into the therapeutic potential of psychedelics. The panel is set to vote on the bill and report language on Wednesday.

For cannabis advocates and stakeholders, however, the report’s marijuana scheduling language is troubling, with members stating that they’re “concerned about deviations from established drug scheduling evaluation standards in the [Food and Drug Administration, or FDA] 2023 marijuana scheduling review.”

Under former President Joe Biden, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) recommended to the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) that cannabis be moved from Schedule I to Schedule III of the Controlled Substances Act (CSA). That process has since stalled out amid legal challenges from witnesses in DEA administrative hearing proceedings.

“The Committee directs the HHS Inspector General to complete a report on the 2023 marijuana scheduling review including but not limited to: deviations from the established five-factor currently accepted medical use test, justification for a new, two-factor currently accepted medical use test and whether this will be the standard for all future reviews, use of a limited number of hand-selected comparator substances, and inclusion of research results that are not statistically significant or inconclusive,” the report section says.

The flagged issues largely echo concerns raised by prohibitionist organizations such as Smart Approaches to Marijuana (SAM). And the language is consistent with an earlier version of the agriculture spending legislation that advanced though committee but was not ultimately enacted last session.

“The Committee is concerned about reports of the mental health hazards of regular use of high-potency marijuana, particularly among adolescents,” it says. “The Committee encourages the FDA to support research on high-potency marijuana and its effects on the adolescent brain, specifically regarding addiction and mental illness such as schizophrenia or psychosis.”

“Marijuana Rescheduling.—The Committee is concerned about deviations from established drug scheduling evaluation standards in the FDA 2023 marijuana scheduling review. The Committee directs the HHS Inspector General to complete a report on the 2023 marijuana scheduling review including but not limited to: deviations from the established five-factor currently accepted medical use test, justification for a new, two-factor currently accepted medical use test and whether this will be the standard for all future reviews, use of a limited number of hand-selected comparator substances, and inclusion of research results that are not statistically significant or inconclusive. The Committee is concerned about reports of the mental health hazards of regular use of high-potency marijuana, particularly among adolescents. The Committee encourages the FDA to support research on high-potency marijuana and its effects on the adolescent brain, specifically regarding addiction and mental illness such as schizophrenia or psychosis.”

Elsewhere in the report, the panel also talked about their problem with “the proliferation of products marketed in violation of the [Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FFDCA)], including products containing derivatives of the cannabis plant,” which is consistent with provisions of the underlying bill that would ban all hemp items containing “quantifiable” amounts of THC.

“The Committee is aware that non-FFDCA-compliant products pose potential health and safety risks to consumers through misleading, unsubstantiated, and false claims that cannabis and cannabis derivatives can treat serious and life-threatening diseases and conditions, including COVID–19 and cancer,” the report says. “Such products may also be contaminated with harmful substances.”

“The Committee recognizes FDA’s use of existing authorities to undertake cannabis-related efforts, including research, requests for data, consumer education, issuance of guidance and policy around cannabis-based drug product development, and enforcement against wrongdoers,” it continues. “The Committee expects FDA to continue and increase these efforts given the proliferation of non-FFDCA-compliant, cannabis-containing products and the risks they pose to public health.”

“Cannabidiol Oil Enforcement.—The Committee is concerned about the proliferation of products marketed in violation of the FFDCA, including products containing derivatives of the cannabis plant. The Committee is aware that non-FFDCA-compliant products pose potential health and safety risks to consumers through misleading, unsubstantiated, and false claims that cannabis and cannabis derivatives can treat serious and life-threatening diseases and conditions, including COVID–19 and cancer. Such products may also be contaminated with harmful substances. The Committee recognizes FDA’s use of existing authorities to undertake cannabis-related efforts, including research, requests for data, consumer education, issuance of guidance and policy around cannabis-based drug product development, and enforcement against wrongdoers. The Committee expects FDA to continue and increase these efforts given the proliferation of non-FFDCA-compliant, cannabis-containing products and the risks they pose to public health. The Committee also expects FDA to take enforcement action against the manufacturers of any cannabis products marketed with unlawful therapeutic claims to preserve the integrity of the drug development and approval processes, which ensures that products, including cannabis-containing products, marketed as drugs have undergone a rigorous scientific evaluation to ensure that they are safe, pure, potent, and effective for the diseases and conditions they claim to treat. It is also imperative that FDA continue to exercise its existing authorities to preserve incentives to invest in robust clinical study of cannabis so its therapeutic value can be better understood.”

The report further states that members expect FDA to “take enforcement action against the manufacturers of any cannabis products marketed with unlawful therapeutic claims to preserve the integrity of the drug development and approval processes, which ensures that products, including cannabis-containing products, marketed as drugs have undergone a rigorous scientific evaluation to ensure that they are safe, pure, potent, and effective for the diseases and conditions they claim to treat.”

“It is also imperative that FDA continue to exercise its existing authorities to preserve incentives to invest in robust clinical study of cannabis so its therapeutic value can be better understood,” the committee said.

The House Appropriations Subcommittee on Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies advanced the underlying bill last week, stirring controversy over provisions to prohibit cannabis products containing any “quantifiable” amount of THC or “any other cannabinoids that have similar effects (or are marketed to have similar effects) on humans or animals” as THC.

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Marijuana Companies Are Blocked From COVID-Era Employee Retention Tax Credits Under 280E Penalty, Federal Court Says

In yet another wrinkle stemming from the ongoing federal prohibition on marijuana, a U.S. district court has ruled that an Internal Revenue Service (IRS) tax rule prevents state-legal cannabis companies from being eligible for refunds of employee retention credits (ERCs), which helped businesses continue to pay workers during early COVID-era shutdowns.

In the decision, the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington ruled that “nothing in the plain text of [IRS code] Section 280E limits its application to income tax credits,” rejecting arguments from plaintiffs.

The government, meanwhile, contended that the Section 280E prohibits any and all tax credits, including refunds of the COVID-era ERCs, which are typically refundable for other businesses.

On May 9, the court granted the government’s motion to dismiss the the case, Solstice Holdings v. U.S.

Section 280E disallows standard tax deductions and tax credits for businesses that traffic in Schedule I or II substances. It applies even in cases where businesses are operating in compliance with state law.

The law firm Holland & Hart said in a post about the new ruling that it appears to be “the first case where a court has addressed the application of IRC § 280E to ERC.”

Another law firm, GreenspoonMarder, noted in post about the district court opinion that many cannabis businesses applied for the ERC during the pandemic—and many received it.

“Some were deemed ‘essential’ and had to stay open during the pandemic despite the higher costs associated with continued operations during the pandemic and various restrictions that rendered it much more difficult to visit their stores,” attorneys Nick Richards and Sabrina Strand wrote recently.

“When the ERC first came out, there was a question as to whether it was available to cannabis companies because it creates a tax credit that Section 280E may disallow,” the post points out. “There was also an argument that it didn’t apply to the ERC, because Section 280E is part of Section A of the [Internal Revenue Code], which concerns income rather than employment taxes. At least one court now disagrees.”

Both law firms suggest the case out of Washington State creates a standard across all states within the jurisdiction of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. GreenspoonMarder, for example, says the ruling “technically only applies to companies located in the 9th Circuit.”

“That said, as the only opinion on this subject,” lawyers wrote, “the IRS may look to it as authority regardless of whether taxpayers are in one of the nine states located in the Circuit.”

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Missouri AG Sends Cease And Desist Letters To 18 Hemp Companies, Warning More Are On The Way

Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey (R) has sent several cease-and-desist letters to companies selling a hemp product called THCA flower that looks exactly like marijuana flower sold at dispensaries.

Bailey’s letters threaten legal action, including injunctions, civil penalties and attorney’s fees if the companies continue to sell the products.

“When purchasing products, Missourians deserve to know if they are being exposed to dangerous side effects like psychotic episodes, hallucinations or other life-threatening risks,” said Attorney General Bailey in a statement to The Independent. “We have issued 18 cease and desist letters so far, and more are forthcoming.”

Cannabis lobbyist Eapen Thampy said about a dozen smoke shops in St. Louis received the letters, and in some cases, THCA flower makes up 60 percent to 80 percent of the companies’ inventories.

Thampy said he’s working with the companies to put together a response to the letters and preparing for potential litigation.

The action is the first major move since Bailey created a new specialized unit last fall, with the aim to assist the state’s alcohol and tobacco regulators in cracking down on intoxicating hemp products.

In September, Bailey vowed his new unit would work with the Missouri Alcohol and Tobacco Control (ATC) Division to bring legal action against licensees selling unregulated psychoactive cannabis products that violate the Missouri Merchandising Practices Act.

“The ATC will assist by making its investigators available as witnesses for legal proceedings resulting from actionable referrals,” Bailey said in September. “Our enforcement toolkit will be robust from cease-and-desist letters and investigations to subpoenas and lawsuits to referrals for criminal prosecution where appropriate.”

The letters that went out last month state that the companies are “directed to cease and desist from selling” hemp products that contain more than 0.3 percent THCA on a dry weight basis. THCA is a naturally abundant cannabinoid that transforms into Delta-9 THC when smoked or heated.

However, this is not what an official cease and desist order looks like, said Jefferson City-based attorney Chuck Hatfield.

“It is an informal cease and desist,” Hatfield said. “It is not a letter that has the force and effect of law. It’s more in the nature of a request to stop.”

Under state law, if Bailey wanted to issue an official cease and desist order—as he did for Planned Parenthood in March—Hatfield said Bailey would have to issue a notice of intent first. The company would have the right to appeal through an administrative hearing, as well as challenge the order in court.

“But he hasn’t done any of that,” Hatfield said.

Bailey could also file a lawsuit under Missouri Merchandising Practices Act, and that doesn’t require a cease and desist order, he said.

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