Tag: police state

Nebraska Senators Schedule Town Halls To Discuss Medical Marijuana Bills

State lawmakers scheduled three eastern Nebraska public forums this weekend to allow the public to weigh in on medical cannabis and proposed state legislation.

State Sens. John Cavanaugh (D) of Omaha, Rick Holdcroft (R) of Bellevue and Ben Hansen (R) of Blair plan to host the series this Saturday in La Vista, Sunday in Omaha and Monday in Lincoln. Attendants will be able to hear updates on the status of medical cannabis legislation, namely Hansen’s Legislative Bill 677, and “share their thoughts.”

The schedule is as follows:

  • Saturday, May 3, from 1–3 p.m. at the Carpenters Union Hall in La Vista (10761 Virginia Plaza, La Vista).
  • Sunday, May 4, from 1–3 p.m., at the University of Nebraska at Omaha Thompson Alumni Center (8800 Dodge St., Omaha).
  • Monday, May 5, from 5–7 p.m., at Southeast Community College (8800 O St., Lincoln).

The hosts plan to accommodate everyone who wishes to speak during the two-hour events.

In November, about 71 percent of Nebraskans legalized medical cannabis with a physician’s recommendation, and 67 percent of Nebraskans voted for a regulatory scheme.

“Since the legislature has failed to act at this point, I want to give the citizens an opportunity to have their voices heard by their elected representatives,” Cavanaugh told the Nebraska Examiner.

Hansen said the town halls are meant to help inform the public about the legislative process and receive feedback, answering questions and hearing concerns.

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Supreme Court Gives Trump Administration More Time To Consider Challenging Marijuana And Gun Ownership Ruling

The U.S. Supreme Court has approved a request from the government’s top lawyer that sought more time to consider a challenge to a February appeals court ruling around the federal prohibition on gun ownership by people who consume marijuana.

An order by Justice Brett Kavanaugh last week granted government lawyers an extension until June 5 to decide whether to appeal a February ruling from the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit.

Solicitor General D. John Sauer had previously requested the extension, telling the high court that the government needed more time to consider the case.

“The Solicitor General has not yet determined whether to file a petition for a writ of certiorari in this case,” said Sauer’s three-page filing. “The additional time sought in this application is needed to continue consultation within the government and to assess the legal and practical impact of the court of appeals’ ruling.”

The case concerns a defendant, Keshon Daveon Baxter, who was found in possession of both a firearm and a bag of marijuana. The government charged him under 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(3), which prohibits gun ownership by “unlawful” users of controlled substances.

Baxter argued in district court that the prohibition was itself illegal, contending both that “unlawful” use was too vague in the statute to be enforceable and also that the government’s ban on drug users’ possession of firearms was unconstitutional under the Second Amendment.

The lower court rejected both arguments—a ruling Baxter appealed to the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit.

It a February opinion, an Eighth Circuit panel upheld the portion of the district court’s decision denying Baxter’s vagueness claim but reversed the lower court’s ruling on the constitutionality of the firearms ban. However, judges wrote that there were insufficient factual findings in the record “for this Court to review Baxter’s as-applied Second Amendment challenge.”

Nevertheless, the Eighth Circuit wrote, “We reverse the district court’s ruling on Baxter’s as-applied Second Amendment challenge and remand to the district court for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.”

Had the Supreme Court not granted the government’s extension, in the case, U.S. v. Baxter, a decision whether to appeal the Eighth Circuit ruling would have been due May 6.

Sauer, an appointee of President Donald Trump, formally assumed his role as solicitor general earlier this month. He previously helped represented Trump in his landmark case on presidential immunity.

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Advocates In Hawaii Pull Support For Medical Marijuana Expansion Bill Due To Changes By Conference Committee

Lawmakers in Hawaii have agreed on medical marijuana legislation that would, among other changes, allow healthcare providers to recommend cannabis to treat any condition they believe it would benefit.

But the latest version of the bill, HB 302—approved Friday by a conference committee consisting of members of both legislative chambers—offers a narrower path to medical marijuana for patients with conditions not already listed in the program. For those patients, a recommendation would need to come from their “primary treating medical provider” rather than a provider who specializes in cannabis.

“It is making changes to the medical medical cannabis law by expanding access,” Rep. Gregg Takayama (D) said at the committee hearing, “by allowing treating physicians and nurses to go beyond the specified medical conditions if they feel it’s appropriate.”

After briefly describing the bill, Takayama quipped: “I’ve been waiting all session to say this has been a tremendous joint effort.”

Advocates, however, say the change mandating that only “primary treating medical providers” could recommend marijuana—combined with others made in the conference committee that would establish a new felony charge for unlicensed dispensary operation and give the state Department of Health sweeping authority to review patients’ medical records—has led them to reconsider their stance on the bill.

The group Marijuana Policy Project (MPP), for example, now opposes HB 302 after previously submitting testimony in support of earlier versions. Karen O’Keefe, director of state policies for MPP, noted that data suggest that only a small subset of Hawaii doctors are currently willing to recommend cannabis.

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Trump-Appointed U.S. Attorney Says His ‘Instinct’ Is Medical Marijuana Dispensary Shouldn’t Be ‘In The Community’ As He Warns Of Federal Prosecution

While shutting down licensed marijuana dispensaries doesn’t “rise to the top” of his priorities, a U.S. attorney who recently warned a Washington, D.C. cannabis shop about potential federal law violations says his “instinct is that it shouldn’t be in the community.”

In an interview with NBC4 that was released on Friday, Interim U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Ed Martin—who is currently going through a Senate confirmation process for the job—talked about his decision to send a letter to the owners of a dispensary that suggested they could face prosecution by the Trump administration’s Justice Department.

“Your dispensary appears to be operating in violation of federal law, and the Department of Justice has the authority to enforce federal law even when such activities may be permitted under state or local law,” the letter from Martin to Green Theory said.

“Persons and entities owning, operating, or facilitating such dispensaries (as well as premises grow centers),” it added, “may be subject to criminal prosecution and civil enforcement actions under federal law.”

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“Stop The Digital Control Grid…”

Catherine Austin Fitts (CAF), publisher of “The Solari Report,” is back to update us about the “Fast-Approaching Digital Control Grid.”  (CAF) told us last time here on USAW, “There is no bigger ongoing battle for lovers of freedom than the battle taking place over the freedom killing idea of digital ID.”  

But it’s more that just ID, it’s an entire control grid that is being quietly built that is like a frog being put into pot and the water being brought to a boil.  

CAF explains, “You know our goal at Solari is each person has a free and inspired life.  So, we have been working for several years to stop financial transaction control.“

”  If you get the ability to track each person and control their transactions, so if they don’t do what you say, they can turn off your money.  That is game over for the Constitution and for human liberty.  If you look at how the control grid is coming together, there are many different pieces.  There is digital ID, all digital currency or transaction system to a social credit system to the management to certain kinds of data and back-up energy.  There are many different pieces.  We look at the pieces, and we look at them as one-off things such as, oh, I don’t mind having a ‘Real ID’ because I can see why they might want a federal ID, or a passport or whatever.  Each one of these things looks nonthreatening and even convenient, but when they snap together, they are in a control grid, and it’s completely something else.  When Trump was elected, I was shocked to see, almost immediately, the President announce the Stargate AI initiative with the mRNA vaccines, which to me is the internet of bodies.”

CAF put together a long list of Trump Administration actions that are speeding up what looks like a control grid.  It’s called “The Fast-Approaching Digital Control Grid.”  It lists things such as crypto friendly currency actions, private Central Bank Digital Currency, shrinking banking sector, DOGE, undisclosed Epstein files and many more red flag items that could be used to allow crime to continue and build a digital prison for “We the People.”  While the Trump Administration brings change at a record pace, not a single thing has been done to find out about the “$21 Trillion Missing Money” that has been well documented by CAF and Michigan State Professor Dr. Mark Skidmore.  The money has been stolen from America, and the silence about this is deafening.  CAF says,

“We know there has been tremendous fraud in the financials of the US government.  We know that has happened.  If you look at all the things that you or I would do to figure out what had happened, where the money went and how do we get it back, that’s not what they are doing. . . . If you look at how we would do a successful operation to reengineer government and identify the real fraud and stop it, I don’t see any indication that they are doing that.  I do see some selected efforts that are probably sincere. . . . They are shutting things down lots of us would like to see shut down. . . . We know how to stop the death and disabilities that come from the Covid 19 vax injection, but you go the CDC website, and they are still recommending the Covid injections.”

The massive crime going on with government accounting makes it necessary for the control grid.  CAF explains, “What happened in the last Trump Administration is they adopted FASAB 56.  FASAB 56 basically said they could take the books of the US government dark.“

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Harvard Quietly Trained Members of Chinese ‘Paramilitary Organization’—After the US Sanctioned It Over Uyghur Genocide

Harvard University quietly trained members of a Chinese “paramilitary organization” on two occasions after the U.S. government sanctioned the group for its role in the Uyghur genocide. The Ivy League institution could face “a big legal problem” as a result, according to one foreign policy expert.

In 2019, Harvard’s T.H. Chan School of Public Health partnered with Beijing’s National Health Security Administration (NHSA) to launch an annual health financing course, training government staffers from across China. Harvard originally noted in a blog post that officials with the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps (XPCC) participated in the inaugural training, but that language was scrubbed following a Washington Free Beacon inquiry.

The Trump administration sanctioned the XPCC in 2020 “in connection with serious rights abuses against ethnic minorities in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region,” describing it as a “paramilitary organization … that is subordinate to the Chinese Communist Party.” But Harvard continued to train its members, once in 2023 and again in 2024. On those occasions, the Ivy League university didn’t include their participation on its webpages.

China-focused research group Strategy Risks first uncovered the 2023 training in a recent report titled, “Beijing Exercises Strong Influence Over Multiple Areas of Harvard University.” XPCC officials’ 2024 involvement, noted on the NHSA’s website, has not been previously reported.

The revelation comes as Harvard faces mounting challenges, with the Trump administration freezing more than $2 billion in federal funding over the university’s failure to combat campus anti-Semitism. Since the sanctions restrict U.S. entities from engaging with the XPCC, Hudson Institute senior fellow Michael Sobolik believes Harvard could face legal trouble, including hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines.

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How China Hijacks the International Human Rights System

The People’s Republic of China (PRC) is using money, collaboration with authoritarian allies, and manipulation of rules to shift the international human rights system’s priorities and discussions to advance narratives and issues that are friendly to China.  For example, Beijing has secured the inclusion of independent experts in the United Nations Special Procedures system who work on issues that align with Beijing’s interests and is populating the U.N. with Government Organized NGOs (GONGOs) that act as mouthpieces for the Chinese government.  

In the past, the experts in the Special Procedures system and civil society organizations have played a crucial role in spotlighting China’s human rights abuses.  But now Beijing is utilizing them to promote issues and narratives that align with China’s interests.   

China and the U.N. Special Procedures

Among Beijing’s targets are the U.N. Special Procedures, which comprises roughly 60 independent experts who focus on a theme or country.  The Special Procedures have spoken out about the worsening repression in China, issuing over two dozen joint statements expressing alarm about the PRC’s crackdown on Hong Kong, human rights defenders, and ethnic groups, particularly the Uyghur community, with some of the statements attracting over 40 signatures.  

While the majority of Special Procedures focus on crucial human rights issues, such as torture or freedom of expression, and demonstrate integrity, China and other authoritarian countries have begun creating Special Procedures with mandates that favor their views, such as the Special Rapporteur on “Unilateral Coercive Measures,” a term intended to give sanctions a negative gloss, and the Special Rapporteur on the Right to Development, to name a few.  

Even though sanctions have long been a human rights tool, including to resist apartheid in South Africa, China and other countries that have been the target of sanctions managed to secure passage of a 2014 Human Rights Council (HRC) resolution that created a Special Rapporteur on Unilateral Coercive Measures.  

Despite opposition from a number of liberal democracies, including the U.S., the resolution, which was introduced by Iran, created in the United Nations an independent expert to examine “the negative impact of unilateral coercive measures.” It passed following a contentious vote with support from nations such as China, Russia, and Venezuela. 

After securing the creation of this position, Beijing and other authoritarian countries have cooperated with the mandate holder and provided funding. For example, since 2015, Russia, China, and Qatar – which are categorized as “not free” by Freedom House – have donated $1,325,000 (with roughly $800,000 coming from China) to the mandate on unilateral coercive measures.  Although rapporteurs do not receive a salary from the U.N., states can use donations to a specific Special Procedure to help support the mandate holder’s work by funding travel, staff, and research assistance. Most Special Procedures receive only enough funding to cover two trips per year and one staff position to support the independent expert. Therefore, additional funding can elevate and amplify a particular Special Procedure mandate. 

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Worse Than Trudeau: Canadians Should Expect Disaster With Carney In Charge

Justin Trudeau’s far-left regime in Canada has finally come to an end as the politician exits leadership in disgrace.  His legacy includes authoritarian governance during the pandemic, whereby he threw Christian church goers and pastors in prison for refusing to stop congregations.  He called for mass forced vaccinations, and he locked the bank accounts of protesters speaking out against the covid mandates.  His admin compared people donating to the cause to “terrorists”. 

His socialist economic policies helped to exacerbate Canada’s inflation crisis and his open immigration policies greatly expanded the the flood of third-world foreigners, driving up housing prices, crushing the labor market and straining social services.  By most accounts, the majority of Canadians were ecstatic to see Trudeau exit the stage. 

But what if they still haven’t learned their lesson?  How is that even possible?

According to recent polls for the 2025 election set for April 28th, it is likely that Canadians have very short memories or they’re gluttons for punishment.  Why?  Because Mark Carney and the Liberal Party are projected to make considerable gains.  Carney has rebranded himself as a “centrist” in order to win public favor, but nothing could be further from the truth.  Mark Carney is, in fact, worse than Trudeau on every level.

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The Lawfare Case You Weren’t Supposed to Notice Just Got Darker: FBI Lies, Fake Evidence, and a Dirty Judge

The OneTaste case was never about justice—it was about targeting an unconventional wellness company and turning it into a federal spectacle. From the start, it was clear this wasn’t a routine prosecution—it was a politically charged operation and a high-profile scalp for a federal machine eager to flex its power using a shiny new weapon: lawfare.

And it all started at the height of the #MeToo craze…

OneTaste’s downfall lined up perfectly with the kickoff of the “Believe All Women” mantra. It felt as if the FBI and DOJ were clamoring to prove how progressive they were by being tough on “abuse” cases—no matter how flimsy the evidence. The bad news for OneTaste was that their edgy practices and taboo teachings made them an easy target during the #MeToo frenzy.

Here’s what happened:

A group of adults willingly signed up for a wellness program that promised healing through intimacy. It was weird, sure—fringe, even—but it wasn’t criminal. There were no chains, no cages, no force, and no minors. Everyone involved was a consenting adult who chose to be there. But that didn’t stop the government from stepping in and slapping the company with a “forced labor conspiracy” charge—something that sounds extreme but, in this case, had no basis in reality.

And it didn’t stop there.

The government’s star witness—a former participant of the group—turned over a set of handwritten journals as evidence. She claimed they were from 2015, raw emotional reflections of her time inside OneTaste. They were dramatic. Heart-wrenching. The kind of material tailor-made for TV—and conveniently, they ended up featured in a Netflix documentary. They may have even been shown to a grand jury.

But there was just one problem: they weren’t real.

The defense uncovered that the journals were actually created years later—during the production of that very Netflix doc. Metadata told the truth. The timeline didn’t match. The entries had been heavily edited. It was clear: the evidence was fabricated. And the feds were caught red-handed.

So what did they do?

They quietly dropped the witness—and pretended none of it happened.

By that point, the media had already done its job, turning OneTaste into a national punching bag. Netflix had its salacious storyline. And the feds? They were knee-deep in a case built on feelings, regret, and flat-out fraud.

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FBI memo examined activities of far-right radical Catholics ahead of 2024 election

In January of last year, the Federal Bureau of Investigation issued an 11-page memo outlining details of an investigation into what it called “radical traditionalist Catholic,” or RTC, elements within U.S. society.

Then the memo leaked. Republicans in Congress used the leak to accuse the Biden administration of persecuting Catholics and conservatives solely because of their beliefs.

The memo was quickly “withdrawn from FBI systems,” said an April 18 statement from the FBI. But a redacted copy of the document continues to linger online within the Justice Department, under whose jurisdiction the FBI falls.

So what does it say?

The FBI’s office in Richmond, Virginia, conducted the assessment. The memo’s executive summary said the presence of “racially or ethnically motivated violent extremists” – known in FBI parlance as RMVE – “in radical-traditionalist Catholic (RTC) ideology almost certainly presents opportunities for threat mitigation.”

It added, “FBI Richmond makes this assessment with high confidence based on FBI investigations, local law enforcement agency reporting, and liaison reporting, with varying degrees of corroboration and access.”

The memo said, “According to an FBI Richmond contact with direct access reporting for the first time, prior to RMVE actor [redacted]’s [redacted] 2022 arrest he had been attending the Society of Saint Pius X (SSPX)-affiliated [redacted] Virginia, for approximately seven months and was participating in catechism classes as part of the process to become baptized. Prior to attending [redacted] stated he wanted to find a church that was ‘anti-Zionist’ and ‘anti-progressive’ because ‘that’s where God lives.’”

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