Tag: police state

Maine Democrat Troy Jackson Channels Zohran Mamdani – Backs Government Seizure of Private Property

Troy Jackson is the far left Democrat who replaced Graham Platner, after his campaign imploded due to credible allegations of rape.

In terms of ideology, Jackson appears to be aligned with New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani. He apparently agrees with the idea of using the government to seize private property.

It’s hard to believe that rugged Mainers would support this.

FOX News reports, via AOL:

Government land-grab agenda hits key Senate race as Dem backs property takeovers echoing Mamdani

Graham Platner’s replacement in the Maine Senate race suggested the government should be able to take over private property when necessary, appearing to echo socialist New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s housing agenda.

Troy Jackson, a Democrat running for the Senate, came under fire for suggesting the government should be able to take over private property when necessary. The comments drew fresh scrutiny to a candidate the Pine Tree State’s GOP chair previously dubbed “Maine’s Mamdani” to Fox News Digital, as debates over government intervention in housing and private ownership gain new attention.

“It’s a major issue. The greed that’s happening right now in this country that people in mobile home parks are feeling is like something I’ve never seen,” Jackson told a small crowd of residents at Blueberry Ridge Mobile Village, one of several Maine trailer parks where concerns about costs, quality-of-life and ownership arose.

“The other thing that I do hear a lot about, too, is how [landlords] won’t do anything for services. And that is completely unfair and not right. And we have to make that change. I feel strongly that if needed, the state should be able to come in [and] take these places over. Some people will say that that’s insane,” Jackson told the residents in Wells, the town next to the politically-notable Kennebunkport.

“But until the people get the chance to start a co-op or whatever, there should be a way to hold these, so that you don’t see private-equity coming in and making the killing on these parks.”

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Doctor Doom Thanked Seattle for All the Surveillance Cameras

Doctor Doom took the podium at a Public Safety Committee meeting on Tuesday to thank the council for covering the city in surveillance cameras. “Doom took over Axon enterprises […] and now Doom will be watching you. Your continued cooperation expanding Doom’s surveillance network is required,” the Marvel supervillain said.

“This is the first of Doom’s gifts to the city of Seattle. The second gift is this: Doom will expand the real-time crime center to all neighborhoods with over 1,000 cameras watching every move,” Doom said. “Doom has total dominion over the city of Seattle. Doom will be behind the cameras watching those seeking reproductive or gender-affirming care. Doom will be able to find your immigrant neighbors and Doom will be able to ensure the safety of the women of Seattle alongside officers that stalk their exes.”

Doom is actually Clifford Cawthon, a policy advisor for the Washington State Department of Commerce. Cawthorn donned the silver mask and gloves to draw attention to tech-driven mass surveillance in Seattle, an issue he’s been passionate about for years. Cawthon is also a member of Community Not Cameras, a local activist group that’s attempting to reign in Seattle’s use of surveillance systems sold by Flock and Axon.

Seattle’s PD has access to 62 surveillance cameras around the city, many of them hooked up to a real-time crime center (RTCC). “The RTCC takes in information from a vast pool of sources, including CCTV, [body-worn camera], geolocation data, automatic license plate recognition (ALPR), alert sources like shot detection or alarm systems, and computer-aided dispatch (CAD) software,” according to a description on the surveillance company Axon’s website.

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Tyrannical EU To Threaten AfD But Could Be Its Downfall

EU technocracy shows its face again – this time it’s aiming at German voters, the AfD in particular.

Brussels is discussing the freezing of EU funding for Saxony-Anhalt where the populist party just won. The €2.95 billion in EU funding for the German federal state for the current 2021-2027 budget period alone amounts to around €500 million per year and approximately 20 percent of the Saxony-Anhalt investment spending in schools, in hospitals, in daycare centers across the country.

Green MEP Daniel Freund is one of the lobbyists from Brussels who wants to strip Saxony-Anhalt of its EU funding because the voters in the German state ‘chose wrong’. He threatens that if the AfD-led government ‘undermines EU fundamental rights or the rule of law’ then the European Commission should take away his money. Freund did not wait for the new government to be sworn in, he attacked the voters in Saxony-Anhalt already before the election results had been confirmed.

It would be nothing new for the EU to use such a measure – as it has done already with Hungary and Poland. Brussels has frozen up to €18 billion of funding for Hungary so far because of alleged rule-of-law violations. Billions more have been withheld from Poland. In both cases, the EU’s financial pressure has had serious consequences for the governments and have contributed to changes of government which the EU regards more favorably.

It is undemocratic and the EU has been attacking Saxony-Anhalt for too long now. The European Superstate is trying to starve the region of vital public services – as is already the case in Hungary and Poland – if the voters there choose a party that is not approved of by the Brussels elite.

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Anthropic Is Building a Predictive Surveillance System to Monitor Activists

Job postings and interviews with senior security officials at Anthropic show that the frontier AI lab is building out an extensive monitoring system to keep tabs on activists who oppose the rapid development of artificial intelligence.

In addition to monitoring activists in the vicinity of Anthropic executives and keeping tabs on protests near physical Anthropic assets, the firm is also implementing a “pre-crime” approach, attempting to predict incidents before they happen. In some cases, that also means reporting suspects to police before a crime occurs. Anthropic did not respond to the Prospect’s request for comment.

Anthropic’s plans to surveil dissent are at odds with the firm’s efforts to cast itself as the responsible alternative to OpenAI. At the beginning of the year, the Department of Defense and Anthropic engaged in a high-profile dustup over Anthropic’s refusal to allow the military to use its tools for mass domestic surveillance and autonomous weapons. That tension seems to have eased as Anthropic hires for “national security sales” positions, seeking to restart military contracts. The increase in threat monitoring of domestic opponents fits with a renewed focus on national security.

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Third Circuit Allows Lawsuit Against NJ’s Gun Industry Liability Law to Continue

On Tuesday the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit ruled that the National Shooting Sports Foundation’s (NSSF) lawsuit against New Jersey’s gun industry liability law can continue.

The law is A1765, which NSSF contends is in violation of the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act (2005).

The lawsuit, NSSF v. Platkin, was initially filed in February 2025 but dismissed on the grounds that NSSF lacked standing because the lawsuit was filed prematurely – filed before the law was enforced against any industry member companies. However, after the dismissal, New Jersey’s then-AG Matthew Platkin brought lawsuits against a number of industry members, including GLOCK, Inc.

NSSF noted that Platkin “[alleged that Glock] is responsible for the criminal misuse of firearms when criminals modify and alter well-designed and lawfully-sold GLOCK pistols by illegally obtaining, possessing and installing a ‘switch’ into the handgun.” NSSF responded by filing a motion to reopen their lawsuit against the New Jersey gun control.

New Jersey contended that NSSF still lacks the standing necessary to bring the lawsuit, but the Third Circuit noted, “NSSF’s members’ intended actions are arguably precluded by A1765 and affected with constitutional interests. NSSF argues A1765 enforcement actions against its members for otherwise lawful commerce would be an attempt to ‘hold [its members] liable for the acts of third parties who use their legal products to commit heinous crimes.’”

The Third Circuit ruled to grant NSSF’s motion, allowing the lawsuit to move forward.

NSSF general counsel Lawrence Keane observed, “The challenge to this law has been tortured and the previous frustrations to demonstrate that this state law attempts to circumvent federal law can now move forward. We are confident that New Jersey’s naked attempt to undermine the will of Congress and bankrupt firearm manufacturers and sellers through frivolous lawsuits will not stand legal review.”

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Europe’s Von Der Leyen Wants To Put Private Bank Deposits Under State Direction

How will we deal with private property in Europe in the future?

A highly complex debate follows from this question, one that European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen interpreted in her own very particular way on Friday. In a speech to French business leaders at the MEDEF’s La Rencontre des Entrepreneurs de France in Paris, the former defense minister talked about using EU citizens’ bank deposits to get the ailing eurozone, the European economy, back on its feet.

An unmistakable message: In the view of the EU’s chief Eurocrat, private property as a protective wall shielding citizens from an overreaching state has served its purpose as a pillar of civilization.

Central planning, subsidy madness – this is Brussels under the magnifying glass.

Certainly: In the face of towering government debt and capital flight from the old continent, in whose wake thousands of patents and tens of thousands of highly qualified professionals are being swept away, citizens’ wealth is bound to awaken political appetites. A ruthless expropriation or the decreed redirection of cash, as the finest bureaucratic German puts it, is supposed to solve the problems Brussels itself has caused through its stubborn climate policy, its overregulation and its continuing insanity of interventionism.

Von der Leyen was explicit before the business leaders: Europe has savings, she said, but unfortunately those savings are sitting on the sidelines. Ten trillion euros are sitting as cash savings in the hands of private households in bank accounts, lectures von der Leyen in the manner of a classic central planner who can no longer take her eyes off citizens’ wealth. The European economy must now put this capital to work for its companies, the chief bureaucrat decreed.

None of this merely sounds like Erich Honecker. Von der Leyen is increasingly turning into a socialist sister in spirit to this disastrous regime.

Von der Leyen is following the path of the German chancellor. Friedrich Merz, too, discovered the cash holdings of Germans as political capital for himself more than a year ago – thoroughly socialist, indeed almost dictatorial, the chancellor also pointed to the possibilities opened up by what he called an activation of this money.

Ursula von der Leyen and Friedrich Merz reveal not merely an ethical and ideological abyss; they are contemplating dictatorial control over the private wealth of citizens who are still sovereign.

Almost tragically comical is the economic ignorance of these two political protagonists of an EU that is now openly turning toward an illiberal ideology.

Bank deposits are by no means useless cash. From the perspective of the banking sector, customer deposits are a central source of refinancing and liquidity, embedded in the money and credit cycle and enabling the provision of loans. Bank credit in the modern monetary system does not simply arise from passing on existing deposits. Commercial banks create new bank money through lending, although this process cannot simply be understood as a mechanical “leveraging” of existing deposits. Customer deposits thus fulfill numerous functions, from private liquidity planning and cash holdings to the financing and management of banking processes.

Such a massive intervention in the highly complex and fragile liquidity and credit structure of the banking sector would not merely be a barbaric act of socialism – it would be a frontal assault on the functionality of the banking system as such.

Nevertheless, the EU will resort to massive interventions – financially, after all, they have run into a wall.

Starting in 2028, repayment of the €800 billion Eurobond “NextGenerationEU” will come due. Von der Leyen’s speech before business leaders was ostensibly directed at the private sector, but in reality it concerned the financing of the European debt club, which is now moving toward tapping every financial source that can help keep the Ponzi scheme of European credit alive – the activation of cash appears to be one of those sources.

France is caught in a debt spiral, with new borrowing amounting to 5.7% of GDP this year and a parliamentary deadlock that rules out any form of fiscal consolidation.

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Founder of British Flag Flying ‘Raise the Colours’ Campaign Charged with 14 Offences

The creator of the campaign to raise British and English flags across the country to protest against illegal migrants being housed in hotels at taxpayer expense has been charged with 14 criminal offences, including using “threatening, abusive or insulting words”.

Thames Valley Police said on Sunday evening that Ryan Bridge, 45, of Blackwell has been charged with 14 offences relating to alleged incidents between January 31 and March 31 of this year in Oxfordshire.

According to GB News, Bridge was the founder of the Operation Raise the Colours campaign, which began last year in opposition to the government policy of taking alleged asylum seekers and placing them in hotels across the country at taxpayer expense.

The police force said that Bridge was charged with seven counts of using threatening words or behaviour to cause harassment, alarm or distress and three counts of using threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour with intent to cause fear of, or provoke, unlawful violence.

He was also charged with two counts of racially aggravated intentional harassment, alarm or distress, one count of racially aggravated fear of violence, and one count of common assault.

Thames Valley Police said that they had decided to submit the case to the Crown Prosecution Service following a review of the evidence, witness statements, and video footage.

It comes as the left-wing-run Birmingham city council that they plan on spending around £2.6 million to remove British and English flags from the streets of the UK’s second city.

According to the Daily Telegraph, around 20,000 flags were raised by members of the public on street infrastructure as a part of the Raise the Colours campaign.

The decision to spend millions removing the national flags comes despite the Birmingham currently being in around £3.5 billion in debt, the most of any local government in Britain.

Meanwhile, in Oxfordshire — where the campaign begun — secured an injunction in July to bar anyone from attaching flags to lampposts or to pain the flag on the road.

Those who breach the injunction against raising the flag face potential prison sentences, fines, or even having assets seized, the BBC reported.

The Liberal Democrat leader of the Oxfordshire City Council, Tim Bearder, said at the time: “This is a welcome judgement. We’re very pleased with the result… This sets a legal precedent and will hopefully deter people in not just Oxfordshire but around the country from partaking in this criminal activity.”

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U.S. Supreme Court Rejects New York Healthcare Workers’ Bid to Revive COVID Vaccine Mandate Lawsuit

The U.S. Supreme Court today declined for a second time to take up a case brought by New York healthcare workers who lost their jobs after the state denied their requests for religious accommodations from its COVID-19 vaccine mandate, SCOTUSblog reported.

The justices rejected a petition asking them to reconsider their June decision not to hear Does 1-2 v. Hochul, the lawsuit healthcare workers brought against the state. The court denied the request without asking New York Gov. Kathy Hochul to respond.

“This ruling is definitely a sad day for the workers who stood up and said no,” said Michael Kane, Children’s Health Defense (CHD) director of advocacy and member of New York’s Teachers for Choice, which also challenged New York’s vaccine mandate in the courts.

Kane said he was “not surprised” by the decision.

The plaintiffs represented a handful of healthcare workers, he said. “But over 30,000 were fired in New York state because of this horrendous policy from Gov. Hochul. The policy didn’t allow for any religious exemption from vaccination. On its face, it is illegal. It is unconstitutional, but the politics of the thing seems to be playing out instead.”

The workers filed their lawsuit in 2021, challenging a now-repealed New York state law mandating that workers in some healthcare-related positions get the COVID-19 vaccine.

In 2022, a federal court dismissed the lawsuit, and in 2024, the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the dismissal. In 2025, the workers appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court.

In an unusual move, the Supreme Court asked the U.S. Department of Justice solicitor general to weigh in. In May 2026, Solicitor General D. John Sauer wrote an amicus brief recommending the court deny the appeal.

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More than 60,000 arrested in ‘chilling curb of free speech’ as damning report exposes zealous policing of social media as ‘Orwellian mess’

A major free speech row erupted last night after it was revealed that more than 60,000 people have been arrested over the past five years for ‘communications offences’ – some as trivial as viewing disparaging TikTok videos.

The astonishing figure has been described as ‘Orwellian’, and having a ‘chilling effect’ in stifling opinions online.

The statistics – to be published in a hard-hitting report this week – also highlight the chaotic implementation of rules on ‘malicious’ messaging, with some police forces making 14 times more arrests under the powers than others. 

The report, by campaign group Big Brother Watch, discloses that at least 62,199 people in the UK have been arrested for such offences over the past half-decade, with 18,510 being charged and 12,292 convicted.

Campaigners say that although a proportion of the arrests will be justifiable – such as intervention to stop threatening messages from abusive partners in domestic violence cases – the scope of the laws has spawned a rash of over-zealous policing of everyday communications.

The report cites the case of West Midlands Police visiting the home of a vulnerable teenage girl to accuse her over a TikTok post containing a teacher’s image with negative comments. 

They demanded that the girl hand over all her devices and either attend a voluntary interview or face arrest – even though she had not created, shared or commented on the video.

The investigation later concluded with the child formally told that no further action was taken. The force defended their actions on the grounds that they were ‘investigating alleged malicious communications offences’.

Writing in today’s Mail On Sunday, Toby Young, director of the Free Speech Union, said: ‘Why are the authorities spending so much time policing our tweets when they could be policing our streets?

‘Shoplifting, mobile phone theft and sexual offences are all on the rise, yet the police seem increasingly obsessed with catching thought criminals.

‘The sheer number of people being arrested for online offences, even though only one in five end up being convicted, cannot help but have a chilling effect on free speech. 

‘People up and down the country daren’t say what they think about a whole range of issues for fear they’ll get a knock on their door at four in the morning by a couple of plainclothes officers wearing rainbow lanyards.’

Last year, a Hertfordshire couple were arrested after they made complaints about their daughter’s primary school on a WhatsApp group chat.

Rosalind Levine and Maxie Allen were held for 11 hours on suspicion of harassment and malicious communications. 

They later received £20,000 in damages following a public outcry. 

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