Tag: police state

Yves Engler: I’m Being Charged for Responding to Anti-Palestinian Hate on X (Twitter)

UPDATE:  After writing the report below, the Montreal police claimed that Engler was victimizing the police by writing the report below.   Engler wrote this update before being taken into custody.  Engler says that a new investigator has told him that the Montreal police will be charging me with intimidation, harassment, harassing communication and “entrave” (interference) towards the original police investigator.

Canadian activist Yves Engler was arrested in Montreal on Thursday for pro-Palestinian posts on Twitter (X).  He was charged with harassment and indecent communication on the social media platform.  He will be arraigned on Friday.  Thousands of people have already written to the Montreal police urging them to drop the charges.   We urge our readers to do the same.

Engler has written 65 articles that have appeared on Antiwar.com here and here.  He is the author of 12 books.  Engler was notified in advance and wrote this on his website the day before his arrest.

Tomorrow the Montreal police will arrest me for posting to social media against Israel’s genocide in Gaza.

Today I received a phone call from a Montreal police officer by the last name of Crivello. She asked me to come to a downtown police station where I will be charged for harassment and indecent communication. Crivello said a complaint was submitted against me months ago by a legal firm on behalf of racist media personality Dahlia Kurtz. Crivello said I had described Kurtz as a “genocide” supporter and “fascist” on Twitter. Guilty as charged.

On dozens of occasions I’ve responded to Kurtz’ racist, violent anti-Palestinian posts on X. Six weeks ago I wrote an article noting:

Amidst this ever-worsening holocaust in Gaza, the media and politicians want us to believe Canadian Jews are the real victims. In an egregious example, the Winnipeg Sun just published “Dahlia Kurtz mobilizing pushback on Canada’s Jew-hate problem.” Palestinian suffering is omitted from the long profile of an unhinged Jewish supremacist. The article describes Kurtz combating “‘Free Palestine’ hatefests” and selecting Justin Trudeau “winner of my 2024 Jew-Hater of the Year Award.”

Keep reading

Did Facebook Conspire With the Government to Censor Speech in Violation of the First Amendment? Case Could Redefine Social Media Censorship

The Rutherford Institute is calling on the U.S. Supreme Court to hold Facebook accountable for conspiring with the government to censor and suppress speech and address Facebook censorship issues.

Weighing in before the U.S. Supreme Court with an amicus brief in Children’s Health Defense v. Meta, The Rutherford Institute argues that Meta Platforms should be held accountable as a government actor for violating the First Amendment by partnering with the government in order to restrict the Facebook posts, fundraising, and advertising of Children’s Health Defense (“CHD”). Although the Trump Administration has ordered federal officials to cease the government’s censorship efforts, The Rutherford Institute warned that political stances can change quickly and social media companies are likely to censor speech again at the government’s direction unless they are held accountable as government actors for violating the First Amendment rights of the people. Facebook censorship leads to the suppression of diverse ideas.

“We should all be alarmed when prominent social media voices are censored, silenced, and made to disappear from Facebook, X, YouTube, and Instagram for voicing ideas that are deemed politically incorrect, hateful, extremist, or conspiratorial,” said constitutional attorney John W. Whitehead, president of The Rutherford Institute and author of Battlefield America: The War on the American People. “At some point, depending on how the government and its corporate allies define what constitutes ‘extremism,’ we might all be considered guilty of some thought-crime and subjected to technocensorship like Facebook censorship.”

Keep reading

Colorado bill seeks to jail those who ‘misgender’ dead people

A Colorado bill that would make “misgendering” a person on their death certificate a crime punishable by up to 120 days in jail will be heard on Wednesday.

HB25-1109, titled “Gender Identity Certificate of Death,” would, if passed, require those complete death certificates to record the deceased’s sex “to reflect” their “gender identity.” The death certificate would need to be conformed to any document presented that “memorializ(es)” the “gender identity” of the deceased.

If not presented with such a document, the individual completing the death certificate would have to record the deceased’s sex “as reported by the individual with the right to control the disposition of” the deceased’s remains.

“Misgendering” the deceased would, as a Class 2 misdemeanor, be punished by up to 120 days in jail or up to $750 in fines. The bill would affect doctors and government employees as well as morticians, the Daily Caller noted. 

Dr. Travis Morrell, a senior fellow with the anti-woke, anti-trans medical group Do No Harm, denounced the legislation as outrageous. 

“It’s dangerous and absolutely nuts to threaten doctors with a misdemeanor if they won’t forge a death certificate. But it’s what I’d expect in Colorado,” Dr. Morrell told the Daily Caller News Foundation.

“The first thing you learn in middle school science is to write in your lab book with a pen; honest data recording is science 101,” Morrell added.

He stressed that adhering to biological reality when recording death certificates is far from an arbitrary matter.

“Death certificates aren’t buried when you die,” he said. “They’re evidence in court. They’re data for medical and public health research. Death certificates help doctors predict cancer survival or the deadliness of infectious or environmental agents.”

“The CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) and scientists around the world use death certificate data,” Morrell noted.

Keep reading

Doctors Supporting Marijuana Rescheduling File Lawsuit Calling For DEA Witness Selection Redo Over Alleged Unlawful Conspiracy With Reform Opponents

A non-profit organization of pro-marijuana reform doctors has filed a brief in a federal appeals court arguing that new evidence has surfaced demonstrating that the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) carried out an “arbitrary and capricious review” of witnesses for hearings on the ongoing cannabis rescheduling process that should now be redone.

The group is alleging that there’s “substantial evidence” of procedural violations committed by DEA leadership during the witness selection process—including previously unreported unlawful ex parte communications with certain parties, most of whom oppose the rescheduling proposal.

The suit from Doctors for Drug Policy Reform (D4DPR)—filed with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit on Monday—comes amid an indefinite delay of the DEA administrative hearings on the Biden administration-initiated proposal to move cannabis from Schedule I to Schedule III of the Controlled Substances Act (CSA).

At issue in the legal challenge is the fact that then-DEA Administrator Anne Milgram selected just 25 of more than 160 applicants that sought to provide input on the rescheduling proposal.

According to attorneys represented by D4DPR, which was among the groups denied designated participant status for the hearings, there’s substantial evidence that DEA’s ex parte communications were “motivated by the impermissible goal of creating an evidentiary record that would allow it to reject the proposed rule to reschedule marijuana.”

“The Agency gave no reasons for selecting only 25 participants or why it selected particular applicants,” the lawsuit says. “The Agency’s failure to explain the reasons for its selections warrants vacatur and remand with instructions to redo the selections.”

Keep reading

Grand jury recommends Alabama police department be ‘immediately abolished’

An Alabama grand jury has recommended that a city’s police department be “immediately abolished,” finding there is a “rampant culture of corruption,” officials said Wednesday while announcing the indictment of five of the agency’s officers, including its police chief.

Five Hanceville police officers were arrested and charged amid a probe into the department, Cullman County District Attorney Champ Crocker said. The spouse of one of the officers was also charged, he said.

“This is a sad day for law enforcement, but at the same time, it is a good day for the rule of law,” Crocker said during a press briefing on Wednesday.

Crocker provided limited details on the case. Though the investigation encompassed the department’s evidence room and the death of a Hanceville dispatcher, 49-year-old Christopher Michael Willingham, who was found dead from a toxic drug combination at work, officials said.

The Cullman County grand jury found that the Hanceville Police Department has “failed to account for, preserve and maintain evidence and in doing so has failed crime victims and the public at large,” making the evidence “unusable,” Crocker said.

The grand jury further found that Willingham’s death was “the direct result of the Hanceville Police Department’s negligence, lack of procedure, general incompetence and disregard for human life,” Crocker said.

Keep reading

AfD-Supporting Lawyer Fined €3,000 For Criticizing German Govt, Has Gun License Revoked, Faces Disbarment

The debate over free speech in Germany has taken a new turn following the case of Markus Roscher, a 61-year-old lawyer from Braunschweig, who was fined €3,000 for criticizing the government’s heating law.

Roscher described Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck, Chancellor Olaf Scholz, and Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock as “malicious failures” in a post on X back in 2021. He was subsequently issued a penalty notice under the controversial Paragraph 188 of the German Criminal Code, which criminalized defamation against individuals engaged in public political life.

Roscher, who has been active on X for over 14 years and is well accustomed to the legal boundaries surrounding political debate, insists that his post was within the bounds of political criticism.

“I actually know myself to be quite well within the red lines,” he told Bild. 

“You have to formulate things pointedly to be heard. The lines of freedom of opinion have slipped with the red-green government (ed. the coalition of Social Democrats and Greens).” 

He further described his hefty fine as a “scandal for freedom of expression.”

Paragraph 188, introduced in April 2021, criminalizes insults against politicians if they significantly hinder their public work. It was initially passed under a coalition government of the CDU and SPD but has been increasingly enforced under the current administration. The law has led to numerous prosecutions against individuals who have criticized government officials online.

In Roscher’s case, the penalty order claimed that his statements portrayed politicians as “corrupt, stupid, and arrogant,” constituting “abusive criticism” that allegedly impeded their political activity. 

Keep reading

Idaho Lawmakers Send Bill Creating A Mandatory Minimum Fine For Marijuana Possession To Governor’s Desk

The Idaho Senate voted 27-8 on Tuesday to pass a bill creating a mandatory minimum fine of $300 for simple marijuana possession.

Passing the Senate was the final legislative hurdle for the bill. The Idaho House of Representatives already voted 54-14 to pass the bill January 21.

House Bill 7 next heads to Gov. Brad Little’s (R) desk for final consideration. Once it reaches his desk, Little will have three options. He can sign it into law, he can allow it to become law without his signature or he can veto it.

If the bill becomes law it would take effect July 1.

House Bill 7 was co-sponsored by Sen. Brandon Shippy, R-New Plymouth. If passed into law, it would create a mandatory minimum fine of $300 for anybody 18 and over convicted of possessing less than 3 ounces of marijuana—in addition to any other penalties allowed by law.

Supporters of the bill said it is a way to be tough on marijuana and differentiate Idaho from its neighboring states.

Most of Idaho’s neighboring states allow for the recreational or medical use of cannabis. Oregon, Washington, Nevada and Montana allow the recreational sale and possession of cannabis, while Utah offers medical cannabis.

“Not long ago, marijuana was illegal in all 50 states,” Shippy said. “In not one state where marijuana is legalized has that state become a better, safer or more wealthy place to live and raise a family.”

Some opponents of the bill argued against creating a mandatory minimum fine, saying it removes discretion that judges and prosecutors exercise on a case-by-case basis.

The bill is similar to a failed bill from last year, House Bill 606, which would have created a mandatory minimum fine of $420 for marijuana possession.

Keep reading

Report: Fact Checker Group Received $2.4M in US Government Funds Amid Fact-Checking Controversy

The Poynter Institute for Media Studies is one of the organizations that received US taxpayer money over the last 12 years – most of it during the Biden administration and during about six months leading up to the former president’s election.

The Media Research Center (MRC) said it discovered this by searching the USASpending.gov site, which showed Poynter received the majority of funds from the Small Business Administration ($1.67 million), followed by the US Agency for Global Media and the State Department with $423,781, and $367,435.

The total amount the government gave Poynter in obligations from 2013 until this year is reported to be at least $2.4 million.

The problem with this “arrangement” is not simply irresponsible spending of public money, but the nature of the Poynter Institute.

Since 2015, it has been running the International Fact-Checking Network (IFCN), certifying and supporting more than 170 fact-checking outfits around the world with training, resources, and organizing of events.

Throughout the former administration’s time in power, conservatives and others engaging in “disfavored” speech online accused these third-party groups of bias that led to censorship.

Keep reading

ORCHESTRATED CENSORSHIP: $2.4 million in U.S. government fund to Poynter Institute raises alarms

In a shocking revelation that underscores the insidious reach of government over media and online speech, the Media Research Center (MRC) has uncovered that the Poynter Institute for Media Studies received at least 2.4 million in government funds from 2013 to 2025. The majority of this funding, totaling over 1.67 million, came from the Small Business Administration (SBA) during the Biden administration, with additional significant contributions from the U.S. Agency for Global Media and the State Department.

A historical context of concern

The Poynter Institute, home to the International Fact-Checking Network (IFCN), has long been a focal point of controversy, particularly among conservatives and those advocating for free speech. Since its inception in 2015, the IFCN has certified and supported over 170 fact-checking organizations worldwide, a network that has often been accused of bias and censorship. The allocation of taxpayer dollars to such an entity raises serious questions about government influence over the media and the suppression of dissenting voices.

Government-funded censorship: A dangerous precedent

The funding of the Poynter Institute is not merely a case of irresponsible spending; it is a potent example of the government’s role in shaping online discourse. The IFCN, with its extensive network of fact-checkers, including Poynter’s own PolitiFact, was integral to Meta’s (formerly Facebook) fact-checking program. This program, which flagged content and reduced its visibility by up to 95%, was a powerful tool for suppressing speech—particularly conservative viewpoints.

“The critical issue here is the extent to which the government is funding organizations that have a direct hand in moderating and censoring online content,” said Tim Graham, a senior analyst at MRC. “This is a clear violation of the First Amendment and a dangerous precedent for free speech in America.”

Keep reading

Sell Flavored Tobacco in Massachusetts, Go To Jail

In 2022, I wrote an article for Reason predicting that it was only a matter of time before selling flavored tobacco products landed an American behind bars. Almost three years later, that day has arrived in Massachusetts. According to a press release from the Middlesex district attorney and the Department of Revenue, the owner of a Marlborough vape shop has pleaded guilty to three counts of attempted tax evasion arising from the sale of e-cigarettes brought in from across state borders. He was sentenced to serve six months in the House of Correction and five years probation.

In 2020, Massachusetts became the first state to implement a comprehensive ban on all flavored tobacco products, including menthol cigarettes and flavored e-cigarettes. Violation of the flavor ban is only a misdemeanor, but since flavored tobacco products are sold on the illicit market, sellers simultaneously violate state tax law. This brings much harsher penalties into play. In Massachusetts, evading taxes on tobacco products is a felony punishable by up to five years in prison.

Criminal justice reformers have warned for years that flavor bans would encourage illicit markets, creating felony crimes in the process. For example, a 2021 coalition letter signed by groups such as the American Civil Liberties Union and National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers warned that a federal menthol ban would create “a massive law enforcement problem for states, counties, and cities since all states treat unlicensed sale of tobacco products as a crime—usually as a felony punishable by imprisonment.”

This is a prescient description of how the comprehensive flavor ban in Massachusetts is working out. The latest annual report from the state’s Multi-Agency Illegal Tobacco Task Force (published in February 2024) notes: “Field personnel are routinely encountering or seizing untaxed menthol cigarettes, originally purchased in other states, and flavored ENDS [electronic nicotine delivery systems] products and cigars purchased from unlicensed distributors operating both within and outside the Commonwealth. Without providing too much detail about the processes and methods of Task Force enforcement strategies, smugglers are developing more sophisticated smuggling operations to counter the Task Force’s targeted investigations.” 

These annual reports document law enforcement activity directly related to the flavor ban. Massachusetts has seized so much contraband tobacco and so many e-cigarettes that the state struggles to find the capacity to store it all. There are many instances of individuals arrested for possessing allegedly commercial quantities of menthol cigarettes or flavored e-cigarettes, with some of these cases referred for prosecution.

The Marlborough case is one of the first, if not the first, to resolve with a guilty plea and criminal sentence. The defendant is 62-year-old Ashraf Youssef, who owned AAA Smoke and Vape Shop. According to prosecutors, he “routinely” purchased e-cigarettes from out-of-state distributors between 2020 and 2022, evading $467,000 in excise taxes. In high-tax states like Massachusetts, there are obviously financial reasons to smuggle products from other jurisdictions, but the prohibition on flavored products offers additional motivation.

The Massachusetts flavor ban took effect in 2020, and minutes from a 2022 Marlborough Board of Health meeting note multiple instances of Youssef’s shop selling flavored products. In December of 2021, for example, a “Tobacco Control Manager stopped at the establishment, witnessed the sale of flavored tobacco products, and found 300 disposable flavored vapes.” And in March of 2022, “The Marlborough Police Department was sent to investigate suspicious activity in the parking lot of AAA Smoke & Vape. They determined the business has a car parked outside where patrons can walk up & purchase flavored vape products for cash.”

Keep reading