Tag: police state

Meta Complies with Brazilian Court Order While Challenging Justice Alexandre de Moraes’s Demand for Journalist’s Instagram Data

Meta has launched a legal challenge against a ruling by controversial Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes, who compelled the tech giant to disclose data tied to the Instagram account of journalist Allan dos Santos. Though raising objections to the judge’s rationale, Meta affirmed it would still comply — at least for now.

The company confirmed it will deliver the requested data in a confidential filing, stating, “In compliance with the order and demonstrating good faith, Meta Platforms will provide the requested data, in a separate confidential procedure, within the period granted.”

Justice Alexandre de Moraes consistently stirs controversy with his heavy-handed censorship tactics, like banning social media accounts and blocking platforms such as Telegram and X when they defy him. Critics slam him for trampling free speech, overreaching his role, and acting like a one-man judge-jury-executioner, especially against Bolsonaro allies, while his clash with Elon Musk over X’s compliance has fueled accusations of authoritarianism.

The demand, issued last week, also targeted platform X, requiring both companies to provide the Federal Police with detailed information on Santos’s accounts within ten days — under threat of a R$100,000 ($17,362) daily fine for delay or refusal. The data request is broad, seeking registration details, IP addresses, and post content from mid-2024 through early 2025.

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Ohio CBD Retailers Push Back Against Effort To Limit Hemp Products To Marijuana Dispensaries

Ohio CBD store owners are concerned about a bill that would regulate intoxicating hemp and drinkable cannabinoid products something that could potentially put them out of business.

Fourteen people submitted opponent testimony and four people submitted supporter testimony for Ohio Senate Bill 86 during Tuesday’s Senate General Government Committee meeting. No supporters showed up at the meeting to testify in person.

“Should these restrictions pass, they would eliminate 90 percent of the non-intoxicating full-spectrum hemp products we currently offer,” said Jaimee Courtney, owner of Bellefontaine’s Sunmed Your CBD Store. “This would drive consumers to unregulated online markets, creating potential safety risks and diverting significant tax revenue out of Ohio.”

The bill would require intoxicating hemp products to be sold only at adult-use marijuana dispensaries instead of allowing them to be sold at CBD stores, convenience stores, smoke shops or gas stations.

The bill would also impose a 15 percent tax on intoxicating hemp products, ban sales to anyone under 21 and only allow intoxicating hemp products to be sold at dispensaries if the products have been tested and comply with standards for packaging, labeling and advertising.

Ohio state Sens. Steve Huffman (R-Tipp City) and Shane Wilkin (R-Hillsboro) introduced SB 86. Eleven people submitted testimony in support of the bill last week—including people in the marijuana business, poison control workers and religious organizations.

“The people walking into our stores are not looking to get high, they are looking for relief,” said Robert McClure, owner of Centerville and Deerfield Township’s Sunmed Your CBD Store. “Most of our customers will not go to a dispensary for a multitude of reasons.”

He said his store requires customers to be at least 21 years old to buy their products, which are all third-party tested.

“We have concerns that the language in SB 86 would ban most of all other types of hemp products from retail sales and driving them to an unsafe, illicit environment with no age restrictions,” said Kristin Mullins, president of the Ohio Grocers Association.

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Florida House And Senate Panels Pass Bills To Criminalize Sales Of Psychedelic Mushroom Spores

Agricultural legislation in Florida containing a provision to outlaw psychedelic mushroom spores has proceeded past two more lawmaking panels in the House and Senate.

The proposed ban on spores of mushrooms that create psilocybin or psilocin is part of roughly 150-page companion bills that would make a variety of adjustments to Florida’s agricultural laws, including around agricultural lands, utilities and wildlife management.

With respect to psychedelic mushrooms, both would outlaw transporting, importing, selling or giving away “spores or mycelium capable of producing mushrooms or other material which will contain a controlled substance, including psilocybin or psilocyn, during its lifecycle.”

Violating the proposed law would be a first-degree misdemeanor, carrying a maximum one year in jail and $1,000 fine.

On Wednesday, the House Criminal Justice Subcommittee passed HB 651, from sponsor Rep. Kaylee Tuck (R), on a 14–4 vote. Prior to the vote, the body adopted an amendment that simplifies the language of the psychedelic spore prohibition but doesn’t meaningfully change it.

Tuck explained to members at the hearing that the change “restructures” the language “to simplify the prohibition without changing the substance of the underlying bill.”

Later in the day, the Senate Appropriations Committee on Agriculture, Environment and General Government favorably reported SB 700, by Sen. Keith Truenow (R).

While senators didn’t discuss the bill’s spore provision at the hearing, one public commenter, identified as Daniel Freeman, opposed it.

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55 Ways That Everything That You Think That You Own Is Being Systematically Taken Away From You

The entire system has been designed to generate as much revenue from your activity as possible until someday you eventually drop dead.  

It is tax season, and that means that it is time to feed the largest and most bloated government in the history of the entire planet once again.  Of course the federal income tax is just one of the ways that they are systematically draining your wealth.  As you will see below, there are literally dozens of taxes that Americans must pay each year.

 Many of our politicians seem to revel in inventing ways to extract money out of us, and that needs to stop.

Most Americans are working extremely hard, and yet money seems to keep going out the other end faster than it is coming in.

The truth is that the entire system has been designed to take what you have away from you.

There are many ways that this is accomplished – taxation, inflation, debt, interest, fines, fees, tickets, government seizures and good old-fashioned corporate greed.

If you decided to just sit back and do nothing but hold on to the wealth that you already have, you would find out that it would disappear quite rapidly.

It is not an accident that most Americans are experiencing a declining standard of living.  The system is rigged, and the rigging has not been in our favor.

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FBI Becomes Rent-A-Cops for CEOs

America’s top law enforcement agency is pimping itself out to corporate America to protect business executives from the American people, according to an FBI threat assessment marked “Law Enforcement Use Only” and reported here for the first time.

The FBI assessment, “Heightened Threat to Chief Executive Officers Following the Shooting of a Healthcare Senior Executive,” is dated February 19, and is a striking illustration of the new and growing Domestic War on Terrorism that I’ve been writing about.

The assessment, and statements from top Trump officials, seek to label growing outrage against corporations as terrorism. The Trump administration is particularly spun up about the spate of arson and vandalism attacks against Tesla automobiles and facilities since its CEO became plenipotentiary to the world’s most powerful man.

The FBI document was obtained under the Freedom of Information Act by transparency nonprofit Property of the People. “If the government truly cares about preventing death and suffering, perhaps tax dollars should be spent on healthcare for the people instead of mass surveillance and security for wealthy executives,” executive director Ryan Shapiro told me.

Part of the FBI’s campaign involves monitoring social media posts supposedly threatening corporate executives. The assessment claims that there has been a spike of such threats across multiple industries since Luigi Mangione’s alleged murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in December. That month, I reported on a separate NYPD threat report warning that “online reactions” to the Thompson murder suggest “extremists may view Mangione as … an example to follow.”

The new FBI assessment follows the same line of thought, saying, “This rhetoric has displayed an elevated threat of violence to executives and highlighted a need for increased situational awareness among private sector partners.” Social media threats have “risen” across all sectors and industries, it adds.

FBI Director Kash Patel said during his swearing in that the Bureau is going to carry out “the world’s largest manhunt” against “anyone that wishes to do harm to our way of life,” as I’ve previously reported. On Monday, Patel announced a “crack down” on vandalism directed at Tesla, calling the acts “domestic terrorism.” 

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‘Blesses the Government’s overreach’: Clarence Thomas swipes at fellow justices over ‘series of errors’ in ‘ghost gun’ regulations ruling, and includes his own evidence

The Supreme Court ruled 7-2 Wednesday to uphold a federal agency’s rule regulating so-called “ghost guns,” with the conservatives breaking ranks as Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito dissented from a majority opinion penned by Justice Neil Gorsuch.

“Ghost guns” and “weapons”

The case, Bondi v. Vanderstok, stems from a 2022 Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) regulatory revision of the Gun Control Act of 1968 (GCA) that defines firearm, firearm frame, and receiver. The GCA authorizes the ATF to regulate “any weapon … which will or is designed to or may readily be converted to expel a projectile by the action of an explosive.”

That revision followed a 2021 statement from Merrick Garland in which the then-attorney general said: “Criminals and others barred from owning a gun should not be able to exploit a loophole to evade background checks and to escape detection by law enforcement.”

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Indiana Lawmakers Approve Bill To Ban Marijuana Advertising On Billboards

Tuesday discussion around a Bureau of Motor Vehicle (BMV) bill descended into impassioned debate over marijuana advertising, which Republican lawmakers said should be restricted.

In contention was House Bill 1390, authored by Rep. Jim Pressel (R-Rolling Prairie). The underlying legislation originally just dealt with BMV agency matters, like insurance verification, specialty license plates and registration stickers.

But among multiple changes adopted by the Senate Homeland Security and Transportation Committee on Tuesday—including a significant amendment addressing “predatory” towing—was a ban on “outdoor” marijuana advertising, notably on highway billboards.

Specifically, the amended bill language seeks to prohibit outdoor advertisements for products containing marijuana or a variety of other controlled substances, including heroin, LSD and ecstasy.

The bill now moves to the Senate Appropriations Committee.

Pressel, whose district extends to Indiana’s northern border, described “billboards all over the place that say, ‘Come to my store and buy this,’” referencing dispensaries in Michigan, where recreational marijuana is legal.

“And we have trucks—mobile billboards—that drive around and sit in front of our parks. That’s unacceptable, and it sends a mixed message to the consumer that this product is legal in Indiana, which it is not,” said Pressel, who unsuccessfully attempted to add the provision to a separate House bill earlier in the session.

“I think that’s an unfair message,” he continued, “and I believe that we should get in front of this to say that if it’s an illegal substance, listed on our illegal substance list in the state of Indiana, you should not be able to advertise for that.”

Multiple advertisers pushed back.

Ron Breymier, executive director of the Outdoor Advertising Association of Indiana, cited First Amendment issues. He argued that policymakers can dictate the size and placement of billboards, but “not the actual advertisement itself.”

Phones and internet searches, Breymier said, are a “greater threat” than billboards.

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Federal Official Downplays Criticism That Saliva-Based Marijuana Testing As Urine Alternative Would Spur Use By Truckers

Amid ongoing discussions about how to ensure drivers aren’t impaired by marijuana, a federal official recently pushed back on criticism that proposed implementation of saliva-based drug testing could incentivize more cannabis use by commercial truckers.

In comments to the publication Transit Topics, an unidentified official from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) responded to assertions from the CEO of a drug-testing company that oral fluid testing “means truckers who use cannabis will be able to do so with near impunity, as long as they avoid a drug test for a couple of days.”

The contention of the CEO—Ken Fichtler, of Gaize—was that the Department of Transportation’s (DOT) “shift to oral fluid testing will have serious consequences for the trucking industry” because saliva testing has a shorter detection window than typical urine-based testing. He said the tests detect use within the past “24 to 48 hours,” which is far shorter than the period of weeks when marijuana metabolites can be detected in urine.

DOT finalized the new testing policies in 2023 to allow oral saliva drug testing as an alternative to urine-based tests.

The SAMHSA official, granted anonymity by Transit Topics, disputed Fichtler’s claims—both on the test’s detection window itself and the implications of DOT’s revised testing policies for truckers’ marijuana use.

“In referenced journal articles, cannabis use can be detected via oral fluid testing for up to 72 hours,” the official said. “When a donor receives a request for collection, the donor will not know if the test will be an oral fluid or urine collection until they arrive at the collection facility for a federal agency.”

Not knowing whether to expect a saliva or urine test, in other words, would prevent the situation described by Fichtler of drivers simply stopping marijuana use a few days before a saliva-based test.

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Nebraska Bill To Implement Voter-Passed Medical Marijuana Law Awaits Changes Ahead Of Committee Vote

The legislative committee mulling how to help implement Nebraska’s voter-led medical cannabis laws awaits an amendment before lawmakers vote on whether to advance the bill.

Legislative Bill 677, from state Sen. Ben Hansen (R-Blair), seeks to help carry out the overwhelming voter approval to legalize and regulate medical cannabis in the state last fall. His bill would create a regulatory structure for licensing and detail how patients or caregivers could become registered to obtain up to five ounces of physician-recommended cannabis at one time.

State Sen. Rick Holdcroft (R-Bellevue), chair of the Legislature’s General Affairs Committee, said last week that he and seven other committee members were awaiting a final amendment that could help the currently deadlocked committee decide whether to advance the bill.

“The people have spoken, and we need to put in place the best possible regulatory structure,” Holdcroft told the Nebraska Examiner.

Hansen has said one key change in his amendment would be tracking medical cannabis through the state’s prescription drug monitoring program, similar to the process for opioids. At least nine states use a local prescription drug monitoring program to carry out local medicinal cannabis laws.

The Blair senator has also voiced support for defining a “qualifying medical condition” for which a health care practitioner may recommend the drug and requiring that a physician be required to be appointed to one of the two at-large spots on the Nebraska Medical Cannabis Commission charged with regulating and implementing the laws.

The new commission automatically includes the three commissioners of the Nebraska Liquor Control Commission. Under current law, the governor has the option to appoint two more members.

‘The people have spoken’

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