Tag: police state

Police Bodycam Footage Is Going Behind a Paywall

Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine signed into law on Thursday changes to the state’s public records statute that allow law enforcement agencies to charge hundreds of dollars for body camera footage. Though such videos are central to watchdog reporting and police oversight, Ohio opted to join a handful of states that have made it easier for cops to put a steep price tag on transparency.

“Public bodies should be in the business of making it easier — not harder — for the public and the press to access important government records like body worn camera footage,” said Gunita Singh, an attorney at the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press. “There’s no need to impose vast sums of money onto requesters doing their part to foster transparency and accountability.”

Over the past decade, more law enforcement agencies have deployed body cameras — and the footage they provide has become central to covering cops and stemming police brutality. At the same time, law enforcement agencies and police unions have begun complaining about the time and expense of turning these videos over to the public when requested. Some states have responded by authorizing fees for processing footage: In 2023, Arizona passed a law allowing charges up to $46 “per video-hour reviewed.” In 2016, Indiana authorized fees as high as $150 per video.

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Just Like Clockwork, the Propaganda Push for Digital ID Kicks Into Gear in the UK

After avoiding the issue for years, the legacy media are now trying to manufacture public complacency and consent for the government’s digital identity — and by extension, CBDC — agenda.

On July 5, the day Keir Starmer became UK prime minister, we wagered that a Starmer government would intensify the push to roll out a digital identity system in the UK — a country that has, until now, resisted all recent attempts to introduce an identity card system, including, most notably, by Starmer’s backroom consultant and mentor, Tony Blair.

Unfortunately, that prediction has proven to be pretty much on the money. Since taking office, the Starmer government has:

  • Launched the new Office for Digital Identities and Attributes, with the task of overseeing the country’s digital ID market. As of October 28, almost 50 organizations with DIATF-certified services had been added to the office’s register.
  • Pledged to roll out a digital ID card for army veterans. As in the US, the UK government is also looking to launch a digital driving license by next year.
  • Announced plans to introduce digital ID legislation for age verification purposes, meaning that young people will soon be able to use digital ID wallets on their phones to prove they are over 18 when visiting pubs, restaurants and shops.

Now, the propaganda is kicking into gear, and the main selling points, as always, are speed and convenience.

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Vermont Supreme Court Ruling Allows Schools to Administer COVID Vaccines Without Parents’ Consent

Numerous mainstream media outlets are deliberately lying to American parents about the law regarding COVID-19 vaccines.

In August, Vermont’s Supreme Court that ruled a 6-year-old boy administered a COVID-19 vaccine against his parents’ specific instructions that he not be jabbed has no state tort remedies, and that the family’s sole recourse is a federal claim requiring proof of serious bodily harm or death to proceed.

All other traditional causes of action for violating these parents’ rights, and fundamental constitutional informed consent protections for patients, are extinguished completely. And yet, numerous media outlets reported the precise opposite. This is blatant misinformation.

The Associated Press (AP) launched an utter deception titled falsely: “Fact Focus: Vermont ruling does not say schools can vaccinate children without parental consent.” This is the opposite of the truth: Politella v. Windham Southeast School District, et al. held exactly that:

“Other state courts faced with similar facts have concluded that state-law claims against immunized defendants cannot proceed in state court in light of the PREP Act’s immunity and preemption provisions, including claims based on the failure to secure parental consent.”

In support of its abject lie, the AP cited a Vermont Law School professor:

“Rod Smolla, president of the Vermont Law and Graduate School and an expert on constitutional law, told The Associated Press that the ruling ‘merely holds that the federal statute at issue, the PREP Act, preempts state lawsuits in cases in which officials mistakenly administer a vaccination without consent.’

“‘Nothing in the Vermont Supreme Court opinion states that school officials can vaccinate a child against the instructions of the parent,’ he wrote in an email.”

Professor Smolla is an embarrassment to the Vermont Law School of which he is President. Politella specifically holds that all state tort claims, including those alleging willful jabbing, are preempted by federal law.

In observable fact, the court ruled that the Politella family could not proceed with their case — even though the complaint alleges that the school “vaccinated a child against the instructions of the parent.” Where did professor Smolla not learn the law? — a 6-year-old can read the case and see the falsehood of his statement.

The Politella court specifically determined that “each defendant is immune from plaintiffs’ state-law claims, all of which are causally related to the administration of the vaccine to [the minor child] L.P.”

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HERE WE GO: Far-Left Orleans Parish DA Calls for Imposing Fascist European-Style Spying Measures on Americans to ‘Stop’ Future Terror Attacks

Radical leftists are wasting absolutely no time trying to capitalize on yesterday’s terror attack in New Orleans, following the advice of Rahm Emanuel to “never let a crisis go to waste.”

As The Gateway Pundit reported, a homegrown Islamist terrorist mowed down dozens of innocent revelers celebrating the New Year on Bourbon Street in a white pickup truck. At least 15 people perished, with at least 35 more wounded.

The suspect, identified as 42-year-old Shamsud Din Jabbar, later died during the gunfight with police.

Soros-Backed Orleans Parish District Attorney Jason Williams appeared on MSNBC this morning to give his take on the evil attack. Like a true Marxist, Williams decided to utilize this evil attack as an opportunity to demand changes to the everyday lives of Americans.

He opened his screed by proclaiming that Americans were going to have have to make privacy sacrifices to the state, especially during large gatherings.

“Things are going to have to change…I think you’re going to see a lot of things change in the city of New Orleans and actually, I think you are going to see a lot of things change in this country in terms of how we handle large-scale events where there is pedestrian access and where there are large-scale vehicles allowed,” Williams stated.

“I think you’re going to see things change in terms of the level of surveillance that we have in this country,” he added.

His rhetoric grew more troubling when he scoffed at Americans who value liberty and revealed his ideal solution to supposedly stop terror attacks: European-style spying on ordinary citizens walking the streets.

European nations like the United Kingdom utilize this spying tool not to protect law-abiding constituents, but to control them. For example, European authorities have used surevillance for years to track drivers anywhere on the continent.

“We push back against some of that. But when you look at places like the UK and other European places where CCTV is very commonplace. it can look for signs or indications of an attack,” Williams concluded.

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The covid-19 pandemic was an illusion; those in power deliberately ignored science to impose their will on populations to dominate and control them

Analysis of All-Cause Mortality Rates and the Absence of a Spreading Pathogen

Rancourt emphasised that his conclusions are based on hard data, specifically all-cause mortality rates, which have been collected by nations for over a century and are considered reliable.

According to the data, there was excess mortality before the vaccines were rolled out, contradicting the claim that mortality only started with the vaccine rollout.  However, after analysing the temporal and spatial dependence of all-cause mortality Rancourt found that there was no spread of a pathogen, as the mortality rates did not increase in neighbouring regions following hotspots of death.

The first paper Rancourt published was on 2 June 2020; it concluded that there was no spread of a pathogen.  The data showed that mortality rates were often limited within jurisdictional borders, such as county or country borders, suggesting that local government policies and hospital environments played a significant role in determining deaths.

“This is institutions and governments killing people by the measures that they’re applying, mostly in hospitals and so on. I was very clear. I spelt that out in that publication right away and showed the data that demonstrated that,” he said.

Rancourt identified northern Italy, specifically the Milan region, and New York City as areas where the use of mechanical ventilators was particularly heavy and likely contributed to the high mortality rates.

“In Milan, they actually told people, don’t just stay at home, come straight into the hospital, we’ll save you,” he said.  “And they developed an improvement, they considered, where they could put two people on one ventilator. And they were just putting everybody on ventilators.”

“The ventilators are accompanied with sedation.  Sedation makes your breathing even worse. And the ventilators are known to be strongly associated with developing pneumonia. And at the same time,  there was a hesitancy to treat pneumonias because everyone was saying, ‘Oh, it’s viral, it’s viral. You’re being irresponsible as a [medical doctor] or a hospital if you’re over-treating with antibiotics’. So, there was withdrawal of antibiotics and these very dangerous techniques and sedation and so on. And there were also some experimental drugs that were being used that were shown to be very, very deadly.”

In contrast, Germany did not adopt these treatment methods and did not experience excess deaths at the beginning of 2020.

There were many different causes of excess death during the covid era, not everyone was doing the same thing, Rancourt said.  One of the important causes of death is severe treatment of elderly and frail people including isolation, disruption of their routine and removal of their usual care.

“Isolating them is extremely deadly. And removing their usual routine, their usual way that you give them nourishment and also hydrate them, and the care that they normally would have. All of that was disrupted tremendously and they were isolated and treated as a danger to themselves, between themselves and so on. So that certainly would have contributed enormously to deaths [of] the frail people,” he said.

Adding, “What was done in care homes and hospitals to elderly and sick people was absolutely horrendous. It was a death machine, basically.”

Rancourt believes that the actions taken in care homes and hospitals were not just malfeasance but a deliberate decision to roll out a “military campaign” to implement vaccines, regardless of the science or consequences.

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State Department is Sued for Withholding Records on Censorship Efforts

The Functional Government Initiative (FGI), a government watchdog, has filed a lawsuit against the State Department, seeking critical documents related to its controversial censorship activities. At the heart of the case is the now-disbanded Global Engagement Center (GEC), an agency accused of using taxpayer dollars to suppress free speech and support efforts to blacklist media outlets.

We obtained a copy of the complaint for you here.

FGI’s legal action follows months of non-compliance from the State Department regarding Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests that aimed to uncover communications about censorship grants issued during the Biden administration.

FGI’s FOIA requests sought records from several State Department divisions, including:

The Bureau of Cyberspace and Digital Policy: The request focused on discussions related to the European Union’s Digital Services Act and communications with the White House. FGI alleges the records would shed light on whether US officials were involved in discussions about EU censorship policies.

The Global Engagement Center: Similar to the first request, this inquiry sought records about the Digital Services Act, involving specific officials and communications with external organizations.

Internal Press Guidance: FGI requested records related to a New York Post article published on September 13, 2024. The article reportedly referenced internal press guidance, and FGI sought to uncover records detailing its preparation, implementation, and related communications involving key officials.

The lawsuit alleges that despite acknowledging receipt of the FOIA requests, the State Department failed to produce any records or claim exemptions. “Defendant has failed to comply with the time limit set forth…” the complaint states, adding that FGI has exhausted all administrative remedies.

The nonprofit argues that the requested documents could provide critical insights into State Department activities, including its approach to EU regulations and responses to media inquiries. “FGI is being irreparably harmed by reason of Defendant’s unlawful withholding of requested records,” the complaint asserts.

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Musk Slams British PM Starmer for Failing to Go After Child Grooming Gangs in the UK

Another day, another example of tech billionaire and incoming DOGE director Elon Musk flexing his geopolitical muscles and harshly criticizing failing Globalist governments in Europe.

This time, Musk blasted UK’s Prime Minister Keir Starmer for failing to tackle child grooming gangs when he was Director of Public Prosecutions, and continuing to do so now.

In a post on social platform X, he also called for safeguarding minister Jess Phillips to be jailed for rejecting calls for a public inquiry into historic child abuse in Oldham.

This is the most recent chapter in the war of words between the free-speech advocate and the government, which began during last summer’s riots, when he claimed ‘civil war is inevitable’ in the UK.

Huffington Post reported:

“Posting on X on Thursday, Musk said: ‘In the UK, serious crimes such as rape require the Crown Prosecution Service’s approval for the police to charge suspects. Who was the head of the CPS when rape gangs were allowed to exploit young girls without facing justice? Keir Starmer, 2008 -2013’.

‘Who is the boss of Jess Phillips right now? Keir Stamer. The real reason she’s refusing to investigate the rape gangs is that it would obviously lead to the blaming of Keir Stamer (head of the CPS at the time)’.

Musk also called for the release from prison of far-right activist Tommy Robinson, who was jailed for 18 months for contempt of court last October.”

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Here are a few of the new laws taking effect in the US in 2025

At the end of last year, The Epoch Times highlighted the more notable new laws that will take effect in US states in 2025.  The outlet noted several new laws are set to take effect in 2025, impacting various aspects of life in the United States, including digital content creation, kids’ social media use and more.

Most of these laws are not unique to the US and throughout the West people are familiar with the underlying agenda that has given rise to such laws.   Judging by these laws alone, it is hard not to feel that the West is experiencing or being forced into a crisis of moral decline, with some places more in crisis than others.

Abortion

In New York, a constitutional amendment enshrining abortion as a right will become enforceable on 1 January 2025, although its full implications are still unclear as state law already protects abortion through foetal viability and in cases involving a risk to the mother’s health or life.

The amendment to the New York constitution also bars discrimination based on characteristics such as national origin, gender identity and gender expression.  Opponents argue that the amendment could lead to the expansion of other constitutional rights such as transgender surgeries for minors, male participation on female sports teams and voting rights for non-citizens.

Seven other states have passed amendments to expand or protect abortion access, with most either already in effect or facing legal disputes.

REAL ID Enforcement

The REAL ID Act, passed by Congress in 2005, established minimum security standards for state-issued driver’s licenses and identification cards. The Department of Homeland Security has delayed the enforcement of REAL ID multiple times due to the covid-19 pandemic. The enforcement date for REAL ID compliance is 7 May 2025.

From that date, all US adults will be required to present REAL ID-compliant identification to fly domestically and access certain federal facilities.  All REAL ID-compliant cards will have a star symbol on the upper portion of the card, with US passports also being an acceptable form of ID.

Digital Replication and AI

California will enforce two laws protecting the voices and likenesses of actors and performers from digital replication through artificial intelligence, requiring professionally negotiated contracts and banning the commercial use of digital replicas of deceased performers without their estate’s consent.

Similar laws will also be enforced in Illinois, which has banned the distribution of AI-generated audio or visual replicas of a person without their consent and expanded the definition of “child pornography” to include digitally manipulated or created depictions.

Children’s Social Media Use

In Florida, a new law will prohibit children ages 13 and under from joining social media platforms starting on 1 January 2025, and require parental consent for those aged 14 and 15 to create social media accounts, with civil penalties and liabilities imposed on non-compliant platforms.

California has introduced a law requiring parents or guardians of children who perform in monetised online videos to set aside a percentage of the minor’s gross earnings in a trust for their benefit.

Another California law, expanding the Coogan Law, will require employers of child influencers to set aside 15 per cent of their gross earnings in a trust, providing additional protections for child actors and influencers.

Ten Commandments in Louisiana Classrooms

In Louisiana, a law requiring the display of the Ten Commandments in all public classrooms is set to take effect on 1 January 2025, despite a federal judge finding the law “facially unconstitutional” and temporarily blocking its enforcement.

Louisiana Attorney General Elizabeth Murrill is appealing the injunction, arguing that it only applies to the five school boards named in the lawsuit and plans to work with the remaining schools to ensure compliance.

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