Tag: police state

Ottawa’s Hidden Agenda: Bill C-26 Aims for Secret Surveillance Backdoors

Canada’s Bill C-26, currently making its way through the country’s parliament, includes “secretive” provisions that can be used to break encryption, researchers are warning.

As far as its sponsors are concerned, Bill C-26 is cyber security legislation intended to amend the Telecommunications Act and other related acts.

But the way the Telecommunications Act will be amended is by allowing the government to force companies operating in that industry to include backdoors in networks protected by encryption, a pair of University of Toronto’s Citizen Lab researchers suggest.

In case the government decides its surveillance needs require altering “the 5G encryption standards that protect mobile communications” – then this can also be done, should C-26 become law.

This raises several important questions, such as whether the bill’s purpose might be precisely to undermine encryption, considering that the government decided not to include amendments in the text that would prevent this.

Another worrying aspect is that given the already lacking level of security in the telecommunications space, the government would be expected to try to fix the existing problems, rather than create new ones, the researchers note.

The amendment that could have rectified this situation was proposed last year by the Citizen Lab, while civil society and industry leaders and experts also participated in parliamentary hearings concerning C-26 to recommend restricting what are said to be the draft’s broad powers to prevent “technical changes from being used to compromise the ‘confidentiality, integrity, or availability’ of telecommunication services.”

However, these warnings fell on deaf ears, with the bill now progressing through parliament without the recommended changes, and despite MPs stating that facilitating and broadening mass surveillance in Canada was not the motive behind C-26.

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Government Undermines Civilization

The good, great, and prosperous society depends on ever-widening trust among strangers. It’s not blind trust — ways to hedge against cheaters abound — but trust is vital. It is as vital as respect for private property and privacy. Like the system of private property, the system of trust can withstand repeated assaults, but it is not invulnerable. It can crumble and fall.

We deal constantly with people around the world whom we do not know (we don’t even know their names) and will never meet. We’re better off — richer and more comfortable — for it. Trust is fostered through repeat dealings, reputation, credit-card dispute resolution, loan collateral, online ratings of sellers and buyers, and more. Think of eBay and Yelp. We need to trust people who have things we want to buy or rent but also people who know more than we do. No one can know everything. Hence, we rely on experts and authorities in the nonpolitical sense.

Imagine if all your dealings were exclusively with the members of your small tribe (assuming you could trust all the members). Life would be far poorer, not to mention short. Adam Smith famously spelled out the reason: the division of labor, specialization, innovation, greater productivity, and trade. Smith went on to say that “the division of labor is limited by the extent of the market.” Globalization — worldwide trust — is the thing to strive for.

The point is that whatever undermines trust on a large scale necessarily undermines civilization, civility, prosperity, and the ability to flourish. It is no small matter.

No individual or private group can erode trust on a large scale. But the government can. To state the obvious, the people who constitute the government routinely exercise powers no one else may exercise. Its monopoly excludes competition and suppresses disagreement. It can disparage rivals and protect its status as the only source of valid information. The state is centralized decision-making in contrast to the decentralized competitive decision-making of the marketplace. Disagreement cannot be suppressed, only rebutted. The marketplace encompasses the production of ideas, not only goods and services. Indeed, if government controls the production of goods and services, it necessarily controls the production of ideas and vice versa.

The state’s power flows from a combination of ideology (analogous to religion) and force that most people consider legitimate because of the ideology they’ve been taught. That’s why the state invests so much in propaganda through schools, media, and other vehicles.

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Trump’s Conviction Requires Him To Surrender His Guns. Civil Libertarians Should Be Troubled.

Last September, Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung caused a kerfuffle by mistakenly reporting that the former president had bought a Glock 19 pistol decorated with his portrait during a visit to a gun dealer in Summerville, South Carolina. At the time, Trump faced four criminal indictments, which would have made him guilty of several federal felonies—the purchase itself, plus two more felonies related to falsely presenting himself as an eligible buyer—if he had actually completed the transaction that Cheung described. Now that a New York jury has convicted Trump of 34 felonies involving falsification of business records, he is barred from possessing firearms as well as buying them.

Trump, who had a concealed carry permit, owned at least two handguns prior to his conviction: a Heckler & Koch HK45 pistol and a .38-caliber Smith & Wesson revolver. As the New York Post notes, Trump will now have to surrender those guns and any others he has acquired or transfer them to someone (such as one of his sons) who is legally allowed to own firearms. The fact that Trump, a self-described “very strong person on the Second Amendment,” has lost the right to keep and bear arms may add to the delight of opponents who welcomed his conviction. But however you feel about Trump, this detail is a reminder that federal law arbitrarily strips people of their Second Amendment rights for reasons that have nothing to do with public safety.

Leaving aside the shaky legal reasoning that allowed New York prosecutors to convert a hush payment into 34 felonies, falsification of business records, even to aid or conceal “another crime,” is not the sort of offense that marks someone as apt to injure or kill people with a gun. 18 USC 922(g)(1), which prohibits receipt or possession of a firearm by anyone who has been convicted of a crime punishable by more than a year of incarceration, is “wildly overinclusive,” UCLA law professor Adam Winkler notes, because it encompasses many people with no history of violence.

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Authorities may seize Infowars offices, equipment as early as tomorrow

“The situation with InfoWars being shut down by the government is accelerating. Although InfoWars dodged a bullet over the weekend, likely due to all the huge outpouring of public awareness, things are heating up as early as tomorrow, and there’s a very real possibility the courts may attempt to shut down the InfoWars offices (locking the doors, seizing equipment, etc.) TOMORROW (Monday, June 3rd), and force them to stay offline until an upcoming emergency hearing on June 14th, during which the court is apparently going to decide whether InfoWars assets are to be immediately liquidated, effectively terminating the InfoWars broadcast infrastructure, which has always been the goal of the cabal in power.

“You are watching America slide into blatant despotism, where the government targets and jails its political opponents (Trump), tortures and jails peaceful protesters (J6) and shuts down opposition media by force. Stay tuned in to infowars dot com for live broadcasts by Alex and crew. Pray for them all, and make this whole situation go viral so that everybody sees the full force tyranny being unleashed against independent media in America. I’m trying to reach Alex for any further information but have so far been unsuccessful. I do know for sure that Alex would call for everybody to be peaceful and don’t use this situation to escalate into any form of violence. If the government shuts down InfoWars, the backlash against the regime will be historic. This will only further increase support for Trump and an electoral revolution in November.”

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‘An Embarrassing Mistake’: Neil Gorsuch Rails Into Florida’s Use of 6-Person Juries

The right to a trial by jury was designed to be part of “the heart and lungs of liberty,” enshrined into the Constitution to protect people “against being ridden like horses, fleeced like sheep, worked like cattle, and fed and clothed like swine and hogs,” according to John Adams.

It is, in theory, still supposed to do that. But the Founders would likely be dismayed by the ways in which the government has watered down that right since their passing.

Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch rebuked one such way today: the use of six-member juries, as opposed to the historical practice of 12-person panels.

His opinion was pegged to Cunningham v. Florida, a case concerning Florida woman Natoya Cunningham who was sentenced to eight years in prison after a six-person jury found her guilty of aggravated battery and retaliation against an informant to whom her nephew sold crack. Florida is one of six states—the others are Arizona, Connecticut, Indiana, Massachusetts, and Utah—that permits either six- or eight-person panels for such criminal trials.

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Farmers are being booted off their land in a drive for more solar power, former union chief warns

The former head of Britain’s farming union yesterday spoke out against large-scale solar farms, declaring ‘there’s a huge amount not to like’.

But Minette Batters warned they will continue to be built while her members faced uncertainty about the future of dairy and arable farming – and while wealthy investors are free to buy up large chunks of the countryside.

Ms Batters, the ex-president of the National Farmers’ Union, also highlighted ‘horrific examples’ where tenant farmers are being booted off land for huge solar schemes so the landowner can make more money.

She said such changes of land use will continue while investors including overseas financiers and private equity firms are able to buy up huge chunks of the rural landscape unchecked, warning: ‘The country is up for sale’.

Ms Batters called for the next government to prioritise a new land strategy, so protections are given to traditional farming and its economic value is properly-acknowledged.

She added: ‘We are a country up for sale. We are selling off land to people who don’t pay their taxes here. It does have to change.’

Ms Batters was speaking during a debate at the Hay Literary Festival on Tuesday, in response to a question from an audience member horrified about the proliferation of giant solar farms covering several square miles of land.

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DeSantis Reportedly Plans To Veto Hemp Ban In Hopes Industry Will Help Defeat Marijuana Legalization Ballot Initiative

The governor of Florida is reportedly planning to veto a bill that would ban consumable hemp-derived cannabinoid products such as delta-8 THC, apparently because he’s hoping the hemp industry will help finance a campaign opposing a marijuana legalization initiative on the state’s November ballot.

As Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) prepares to step up his push against the legalization measure, officials close to the governor who spoke anonymously to CBS News say he’s plotting to leverage the hemp industry’s economic interest in participating in the intoxicating cannabinoid market to convince people to vote against marijuana reform.

DeSantis has made abundantly clear that he’s against marijuana legalization, arguing that the state shouldn’t go beyond the existing medical cannabis program and that broader reform would negatively impact the quality of life for Floridians.

But in the background, another cannabis battle has played out in the state legislature, with lawmakers in both chambers approving a bill to severely restrict consumable hemp products. It hasn’t been formally transmitted to the governor yet, but a source told the local news outlet that “he’s going to veto.”

“The marijuana people are furious,” they said, “and they are scrambling.”

Another source said there was “never a thought the governor would veto the bill,” but “they are now signaling that they are going to veto, and I think it would be fair to say he is leaning toward a veto.”

By vetoing the legislation, the governor is reportedly banking on hemp businesses returning the favor by aiding in his campaign to defeat the marijuana legalization initiative. It’s unclear if that would play out, but it is the case that certain leadership in the Florida Republican Party, which formally came out against Amendment 3 earlier this month, have close ties to the hemp industry.

The state party’s president and interim executive director, Evan Power and Bill Helmich, are both top lobbyists for the Florida Healthy Alternatives Association that represents hemp stakeholders.

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Medical Marijuana Is The Leading Cause Of Rejected Gun Permits In Hawaii, New Report From AG’s Office Shows

Of the roughly 500 firearm permit applications denied by officials in Hawaii last year, more than 40 percent were rejected because of applicants’ status as medical marijuana patients, according to new data from the state attorney general’s office.

Across Hawaii, state-legal cannabis use was the leading cause of gun permits being denied (40.7 percent), with mental health issues responsible for about a quarter of rejections and domestic violence disqualifying about 7 percent.

That said, a relatively small portion of firearm registrations were rejected by law enforcement last year. Of 23,528 applications processed during 2023, only 519—about 2.2 percent—were denied.

Of the rejected applications, 211 resulted from medical marijuana. Those denials included not only patients currently enrolled in the state program but also former patients. As the AG report notes, “police departments allow former patients to apply for firearms no less than one year after the expiration of their medical marijuana card.”

Under federal law, being an “unlawful user” of a controlled substance, including marijuana, means a person cannot legally buy or possess a gun.

Notably, the report showed that rejection rates varied significantly by region. In Kauai County, for instance, just 0.2 percent of applications were denied in 2023, compared to about 6.9 percent in Hawaii County, which comprises the Big Island.

Of 332 denials in Hawaii County last year, 191—about 57.5 percent—were due primarily to medical marijuana.

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Judges Investigate ‘Dreadful’ MDC Brooklyn Prison Abuse Where Inmates Die Begging For Help As J6 Political Hostage Pleads For Emergency Surgery: ‘They Sent Me To Here to Set Me Up’

J6 political prisoner Ryan Samsel is pleading for assistance from prison guards, his attorney, and the American public to get to an emergency room immediately after strange lumps surfaced on the back of his neck while the blood clots in his leg and foot that he developed months ago remain dangerously untreated.

The new lumps may be malignant tumors or blood clots, but getting to a doctor or the life-saving surgery he was prescribed over three years ago, before his arrest for protesting at the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, is an ongoing and uphill battle.

If Samsel suffers a medical emergency, it could take hours or days before anyone even notices while detained in perpetual lockdown in MDC Brooklyn, the jail system where Jeffrey Epstein allegedly killed himself, and inmates are known to die while begging for help from lazy, abusive prison staff.

And he suspects the notorious medical negligence within the understaffed correctional facility is exactly why the prosecutors and US District Judge Jia Cobb transferred him to the dangerous prison, “to set him up” to die or endure assaults while living on blood thinners.

“I’m on the eighth floor in a high-rise building in the back corner cell and literally in a corner and there is no call button. If I get sick, I might not see a CO for a full day. It’s dangerous here. It’s literally dangerous,” Samsel told The Gateway Pundit in an exclusive interview Wednesday.“ This place is as harsh as where Jeffrey Epstein died.

“They should not put this many inmates in the prison because they are understaffed, and we are constantly locked down. Judge Cobb knew how bad the conditions were in this jail a year and a half ago when she first sent me here.”

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The EU is on the Brink off Making “Hate Speech” a Serious Crime

The EU’s European Commission (EC) appears to be preparing to include “hate speech” among the list of most serious criminal offenses and regulate its investigation and prosecution across the bloc.

Whether this type of proposal is cropping up now because of the upcoming EU elections or if the initiative has legs will become obvious in time, but for now, the plans are supported by several EC commissioners.

The idea stems from the European Citizens’ Panel on Tackling Hatred in Society, one of several panels (ECPs) established to help EC President Ursula von der Leyen with her (campaign?) promise of ushering in a democracy in the EU that is “fit for the future.”

That could mean anything, and the vagueness by no means stops there: the very “hate speech,” despite the gravity of the proposals to classify it as a serious crime, is not even well defined, observers are warning.

Despite that, the recommendations contained in a report produced by the panel have been backed by EC’s Vice-President for Values and Transparency Vera Jourova as well as Vice President for Democracy and Demography Dubravka Suica.

According to Jourova, the panel’s recommendations on how to deal with “hate speech” are “clear and ambitious” – although, as noted, a clear definition of that type of speech is still be lacking.

This is the wording the report went for: any speech that is “incompatible with the values of human dignity, freedom, democracy, the rule of law, and respect of human rights” should be considered as “hate speech.”

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