Tag: police state

Germany Tightens Grip on Online Speech as Vice Chancellor Defends Arrest of Online Critic

Germany’s authorities continue to double down on their crusade against all manner of free speech on the internet: from the right of citizens to criticize them, to satirical content like memes.

Instead of considering apologizing to a pensioner whose home was recently raided by law enforcement for an online post unflattering of his person, German Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck is now urging even stricter regulation of social media.

And it’s clear what kind of regulation Habeck – who was referred to as “an idiot” in the post that got 64-year-old Stefan Niehoff in hot water with the prosecution – wants to see more of.

The Green Party politician cited the EU’s controversial, sweeping censorship law, the Digital Services Act (DSA), as a tool that could be used to “regulate” algorithms used by social media.

According to the German press, Habeck told the ARD broadcaster not only that he wouldn’t apologize but went on to try to explain – or, justify – why he filed a criminal complaint against the pensioner in the first place.

Habeck suggested that being called an “idiot” was just the straw that broke the camel’s back; his grievance supposedly originates from a previous “racist” post by Niehoff.

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This Is How It Begins: The Deep State Wants to Terminate the Constitution

This is how it begins. This is how it always begins, justified in the name of national security.

Mass roundups. Raids. Indefinite detentions in concentration camps. Martial law. The erosion of habeas corpus protections. The suspension of the Constitution, at least for select segments of the population. A hierarchy of rights, contingent on whether you belong to a favored political class.

This is what you can expect in the not-so-distant future.

Once you allow the government to overreach the restraints imposed  by the Constitution, no matter what that threat might be, it will be that much harder to restrain it again, no matter which party is at the helm.

We’ve seen this played out time and again.

Some years ago, for instance, at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Salt Lake Tribune Editorial Board suggested that government officials should mandate mass vaccinations and deploy the National Guard “to ensure that people without proof of vaccination would not be allowed, well, anywhere.”

In other words, they wanted the government to use the military to round up and lock up the unvaccinated in concentration camps.

That didn’t happen, but it so easily could have.

Now the script has been flipped, and it’s the soon-to-be Trump Administration promising to use the military to round up and lock up undesirables in concentration camps.

At this moment in time, those so-called “undesirables” are illegal immigrants, but given what we know about the government and its expansive definition of what constitutes a threat to its power, any one of us could be next up in the police state’s crosshairs.

Once you give the government a taste of that kind of power—to disregard the Constitution, even for a day; to use the military for domestic policing; to rely on mass deportations and concentration camps in order to sidestep due process procedures—it won’t be so easy to rein it in when it runs amok.

And it will run amok.

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Israeli lawmakers vote to sanction Haaretz newspaper citing ‘damage to legitimacy of the state’

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s cabinet unanimously voted on 25 November to cut ties with Israel’s oldest newspaper, Haaretz, citing its critical coverage of the war on Gaza and comments made by the paper’s publisher expressing support for Palestinian “freedom fighters” and calling for sanctions on Israeli leaders.

The liberal Israeli daily newspaper is Zionist in orientation but sometimes publishes reports that are critical of the government and sympathetic to Palestinians.

The cabinet voted to approve a proposal that would end government advertising in the newspaper and cancel all subscriptions for state employees and employees of state-owned companies.

Haaretz responded by saying the initiative was an attempt to “silence a critical, independent newspaper.”

The proposal came in response to comments made by Haaretz publisher Amos Schocken, who expressed support for Palestinians living under Israeli occupation during a speech in London last month.

According to CNN, Schocken stated during his speech that “It (the Netanyahu government) doesn’t care about imposing a cruel apartheid regime on the Palestinian population. It dismisses the costs of both sides for defending the settlements while fighting the Palestinian freedom fighters that Israel calls terrorists.”

“In a sense, what is taking place now in the occupied territories and in part of Gaza is a second Nakba … A Palestinian state must be established and the only way to achieve this, I think, is to apply sanctions against Israel, against the leaders who oppose it and against the settlers,” he added.

Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi, who spearheaded the proposal to cut funding to Haaretz, was angered by Schocken’s comments.

“We must not allow a reality in which the publisher of an official newspaper in the State of Israel will call for the imposition of sanctions against it and will support the enemies of the state in the midst of a war and will be financed by it,” Kari said in a statement.

Karhi also criticized the paper’s coverage of the war on Gaza.

“The decision came in the wake of many articles that damaged the legitimacy of the State of Israel in the world and its right to self-defense,” he said.

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Targeted for Beliefs: How a Trump Supporter and a Christian Activist Became the Victim of Biden’s Weaponized DOJ and DHS

On February 2nd of 2020, I protested a “Drag Queen Story Hour” at the Exeter Community Public Library. Along with the Catholic group and a couple of friends who showed up to voice our displeasure with what was seen as an affront to our values.

In case you were wondering where the drag supporters stood, the drag queen’s “stage name” was “Annie Christ.” This was not just leftist performance art but a deliberate affront to the Christian majority who lived there.

Along with the protestors there was a ring of “counter protestors” consisting of antifa in “black bloc” some with their faces covered some not. The small town must have had most of their police officers present in one form or another.

They did their best to keep both sides separated but seemed extra concerned that us right-wingers were going to try and block the driveway into the venue as they would pounce if we so much as set one toe on the pavement.

There was one counter protester who seemed really interested in us. Watching us with his arms folded just a couple of feet away from us. He quizzed us on our political beliefs and beliefs about native Americans.

At one point he asked if we were “Proud Boys.” We mocked him and the event ended but it was not the last that I would see of him.

The Threats

Soon afterward, I received a private message on my Telegram app. The message was a picture taken of me at a rock concert months prior and a cryptic message that “your life is about get a lot more interesting.”

I blocked the account and went about my life until I received another message from a different account linked me to a Twitter thread created by a known antifa member named Christian Exoo, who posts under the screen name “Antifash Gordon.”

The thread included my name and hometown as well as directions on how to find more detailed personal information.

Soon after, I received a letter from Discover warning me that someone had stolen my identity and attempted to open a credit card in my name.

After freezing my credit accounts, I called the non-emergency number for my local police department and made my report to Officer Jared Knauss of the Bethlehem Township Police Department. Little did I know that Officer Knauss may have had an ulterior motive…

The Harassment

On January 26th, 2021, just days after Joe Biden’s inauguration, while I was at work, two police officers rang my family’s doorbell and told my mother that they had received a 911 call and wanted to enter the home.

While my mom tried to explain that there was no 911 call from the house a stream of federal agents pushed their way past her while shouting “FEDERAL SEARCH WARRANT!”

Once the dust cleared, I found out the raid was the result of a search warrant for a solvent trap that had been ordered to the house months ago.

The warrant was approved by a judge that was appointed by Joe Biden in the FIRST WEEK of his presidency! To reiterate, these federal agents executed a warrant to raid a right-wing activist’s home for what amounted to a minor paperwork crime, and they waited until a sympathetic President appointed a sympathetic judge.

To drive home the political nature of this raid, the pretrial discovery that was provided to me included pictures the federal agents took of Trump memorabilia and Christian lecture CDs.

Federal agents also visited other relatives and would ask them what my views on LGBTQ issues were. How this was relevant to a firearm investigation was never explained to me.

After the raid, my family endured a year of harassment in the form of phone calls where someone would leave a message asking, “Is Joseph there?”

Over and over as well as people just breathing hard into the phone. We also captured security footage of individuals wearing all black skulking around the property and photographing the license plates of our vehicles.

On February 7th, 2022, as I parked my car in the workplace’s parking lot and walked toward the entrance a PA State Police SWAT team disembarked from an unmarked Sprinter van, and within seconds, I was staring down the barrel of about half-a-dozen M4s wielded by state troopers in full battle rattle.

After being put on the ground and having my hands zip-tied, two DHS agents emerged and took all my belongings. This was far from the end of my ordeal.

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Kathy Hochul forces New Yorkers to pay $9 to drive through midtown Manhattan—claims it’s a cost savings because she wanted to charge $15

Gov. Kathy Hochul (D-NY) announced this week that New Yorkers will soon face a $9 congestion charge for driving into Manhattan’s Congestion Relief Zone, CBC News reported. Hochul originally canned the program as the presidential election loomed. Her first proposal was for people to pay a $15 and is now claiming that $9 “will save daily commuters” money.

“State law requires that congestion pricing simultaneously raise money for the MTA [Metropolitan Transportation Authority] and drive down traffic congestion. These are important priorities. But I believe that no New Yorker should have to pay a penny more than absolutely necessary to achieve these goals, and $15 was too much,” Hochul said. “I am proud to announce we have found a path to fund the MTA, reduce congestion and keep millions of dollars in the pockets of our commuters.”

“This lower toll will save daily commuters nearly $1,500 annually,” she said, though that “savings” is actually just a lesser increase. “And that kind of money makes a big difference for our families,” Hochul continued, adding that the really good news is that people who own vehicles, belong to the Low-Income Discount Plan and make less than $50,000 a year will be eligible for a 50 percent discount – but only after paying 10 tolls first. Hochul said the rate will be lower during the night when fewer people are driving into the city.

The governor said “the most critical” part of the massive tax is that it will guarantee $15 billion in MTA funding, which she said was the whole purpose of the tax to begin with. “We’re still getting the $15 billion to fund the MTA, and drivers are paying $6 less,” she said. She said that $15 billion will pay for an improved subway signal system, expansion of the Second Ave. subway line and buy electric buses.

President-elect Donald Trump told The New York Post on Thursday that he is against Hochul’s congestion pricing plan calling it the “most regressive tax known to womankind.”

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Great Britain Cracks Down On “Non-Crime Hate” Speech, Including Playground Taunts

In my book, The Indispensable Right, I discuss how free speech is in a free fall in Great Britain, where officials continue to crack down on an ever-widening array of viewpoints. Some of these actions are designated as “non-crime hate” but are still the subject of law enforcement actions. According to the Daily Mail, they now include children who have been pulled in for calling other children schoolyard names like “retard” or saying that other children smell “like fish.”

According to the Daily Mail:

“A nine-year-old child is among the youngsters being probed by police over hate incidents… Officers recorded incidents against the child, who called a fellow primary school pupil a ‘retard’, and against two schoolgirls who said another student smelled ‘like fish.’ The youngsters were among multiple cases of children being recorded as having committed non-crime hate incidents (NCHIs), The Times discovered through freedom of information requests to police forces.”

“Non-crime hate” was introduced in 2014 as part of the Hate Crime Operational Guidelines.

It is chilling in its ambiguity and scope. It only requires the perception of either a victim or a third party that a statement is motivated by hostility or prejudice based on a person’s race, religion, sexual orientation, disability, or transgender identity.

The HCOG stresses, “The victim does not have to justify or provide evidence of their belief, and police officers or staff should not directly challenge this perception. Evidence of the hostility is not required.”

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Judge Clears Path for Fresh Evidence in Explosive Social Media Censorship Lawsuit Against Biden Administration

The Western District of Louisiana’s US District Court has ruled in favor of the State of Missouri, allowing additional discovery in the significant Missouri v. Biden lawsuit, which scrutinizes government collaboration in social media censorship. This decision comes after the Supreme Court, in June, overturned a prior injunction, then-named Murthy v. Missouri, which had prohibited entities including the White House, CDC, FBI, CISA, and the Surgeon General’s office from pressing social media platforms to suppress speech protected under the Constitution.

We obtained a copy of the order for you here.

Two leading epidemiologists also represented by the New Civil Liberties Alliance (NCLA) are among the clients who claim to have been targeted in a wide-ranging censorship campaign, allegedly coordinated by multiple government bodies. The plaintiffs in the case—Drs. Jayanta Bhattacharya, Martin Kulldorff, Aaron Kheriaty, and Ms. Jill Hines were ruled by the Supreme Court as lacking sufficient standing.

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Germans Being German: “You Can’t Say I Hate Free Speech! I’ll Have You Arrested!” Minister Says

As the left loses power worldwide, they are turning to increasingly authoritarian measures. In Germany, Antifa-allied Interior Minister Nancy Faeser is filing charges against conservative journalist David Bendels – ironically for calling Faeser an enemy of free speech.

In the UK, Tommy Robinson and dozens of patriots are in prison for posting on social media or screening a documentary, in Tommy’s case. Police in Essex showed up at the door of Telegraph journalist Allison Pearson because of a post on social media.

In Australia, the leftist government is seeking to pass a law requiring all Australians to register with ID to be able to post on social media.

In Germany, as the Scholz government collapses and faces pressure from the patriotic AfD party, the German government is going full Stasi and raided a retired Army vet for calling Green econ minister and vice-chancellor Robert Habeck an “idiot” (Gateway reported).

In July, Interior Minister Nancy Faeser tried to shut down right-wing Compact magazine but was defeated in court.

YouTuber Shlomo Finkelstein is currently in prison for videos showing a burning Koran.

Violent attacks on AfD politicians are the norm in Germany and are rarely prosecuted because the leftist government views the Antifa street thugs as their street muscle. AfD politicians are virtually banned from mainstream media and are subjected to vile and defamatory reporting by “investigative” journalists, often with intel support.

Now, Interior Minister Faeser is pressing charges against conservative journalist David Bendels, editor-in-chief of the AfD-aligned DeutschlandKurier, for making fun of her in a meme showing Faeser holding a sign that reads “I hate free speech” (photo above).

Yes, you read that right: The Antifa-aligned Homeland Security minister of Germany wants to prove she doesn’t hate freedom of speech by going after a journalist’s freedom of speech.

As our President says, “They’re not sending their best.”

Elon Musk commented on a video by Gateway contributor Naomi Seibt, saying, “This is crazy.”

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Elon Musk Responds As British Government “Summons” Him To ‘Disinformation’ Hearing

X owner Elon Musk has fired back at the news that British MPs will “summon” him to their parliament to address allegations of spreading ‘disinformation’.

GB News reports that “An inquiry in the House of Commons is meaning to investigate the rise of ‘harmful’ AI content online by calling tech heavyweights to probe the ‘spread of content that can mislead and harm.’”

The report adds that “Labour’s select committee chairwoman, MP Chi Onwurah has called on the Tesla and SpaceX owner to explain his alleged ‘promotion of pure disinformation.’”

Musk responded in typical fashion on X, writing that British MPs “will be summoned to the United States of America to explain their censorship and threats to American citizens.’”

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DARPA, DoD, Nat’l Intelligence Office Classified, Concealed EcoHealth’s DEFUSE Proposal, Hiding ‘Smoking Gun’ COVID-19 Pandemic ‘Blueprint’

New evidence reveals that federal agencies, including DARPA, the Department of Defense (DoD), and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI), classified and concealed EcoHealth Alliance’s unclassified “DEFUSE” proposal, effectively concealing what a letter from Senator Roger Marshall (R-KA) describes as a “blueprint” for genetically engineering SARS-CoV-2.

In a letter to the Intelligence Community Inspector General (ICIG) on November 14, 2024, Senator Marshall has called for an investigation into whether “deliberate actions” were taken by federal agencies to suppress key information during the COVID-19 origins probe.

The government-suppressed documents show that EcoHealth’s DEFUSE plan submitted to DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency), if carried out, “could have produced a synthetic coronavirus in 2019 with the same unique construction as SARS-CoV-2 (SARS2).”

Sen. Marshall predicts a proper OIG investigation could uncover that these deliberate actions taken by DARPA, the DoD, and the National Intelligence Office “rise to the level of misconduct, false statements, obstruction of federal proceedings, conspiracy, conflicts of interest, or infractions of administrative or civil laws.”

DARPA’s current director is Dr. Stefanie Tompkins.

Dr. Tompkins also served as the deputy director of DARPA’s Strategic Technology Office as well as director of DARPA’s Defense Sciences Office, which is “the agency’s most exploratory office in identifying and accelerating breakthrough technologies for national security,” according to the bureau’s website.

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