Tag: police state

Mission Creep: How the Police State Acclimates Us to Being Modern-Day Slaves

Like the proverbial boiling frogs, the government has been gradually acclimating us to the specter of a police state for years now: Militarized police. Riot squads. Camouflage gear. Black uniforms. Armored vehicles. Mass arrests. Pepper spray. Tear gas. Batons. Strip searches. Surveillance cameras. Kevlar vests. Drones. Lethal weapons. Less-than-lethal weapons unleashed with deadly force. Rubber bullets. Water cannons. Stun grenades. Arrests of journalists. Crowd control tactics. Intimidation tactics. Brutality.

This is how you prepare a populace to accept a police state willingly, even gratefully.

You don’t scare them by making dramatic changes. Rather, you acclimate them slowly to their prison walls. Persuade the citizenry that their prison walls are merely intended to keep them safe and danger out. Desensitize them to violence, acclimate them to a military presence in their communities, and persuade them that only a militarized government can alter the seemingly hopeless trajectory of the nation.

It’s happening already.

Yet we’re not just being acclimated to the trappings of a police state. We’re also being bullied into silence and subservience in the face of outright injustice and heavy-handed political correctness, while simultaneously being groomed into accepting government tyranny, corruption and bureaucratic ineptitude as societal norms.

What exactly is going on?

Whatever it is, this—the racial hypersensitivity without racial justice, the kowtowing to politically correct bullies with no regard for anyone else’s free speech rights, the violent blowback after years of government-sanctioned brutality, the mob mindset that is overwhelming the rights of the individual, the oppressive glowering of the Nanny State, the seemingly righteous indignation full of sound and fury that in the end signifies nothing, the partisan divide that grows more impassable with every passing day—is not leading us anywhere good.

Certainly, it’s not leading to more freedom.

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Wales Moves Forward With Plan To Punish Politicians For Telling Lies

Will Rogers once said that “if you ever injected truth into politics, you’d have no politics.” In Wales, it appears that the government is challenging that assessment. However, if the new legislation criminalizing political lies is successful, the Welsh are likely to find themselves with the same abundance of lies but little free speech.

A proposal in the Welsh parliament (or the Senedd) would make it the first country in the world to impose criminal sanctions for lying politicians. Adam Price, the former leader of the liberal Plaid Cymru Party is pushing for the criminalization, citing a “credibility gap” in UK politics.

Astonishingly, this uniquely bad idea has received support from a key committee. Once on track for adoption, this is the type of law that can become self-propelling through the legislature. Few politicians want to go on record voting against a law banning political lies. The free speech implications are easily lost in the coverage.

The new law would make it a criminal offense for a member of the Senedd, or a candidate for election to the Senedd, to wilfully, or with intent to mislead, make or publish a statement that is known to be false or deceptive. There is a six-month period for challenges to be brought.

The law allows a defense that a statement could be “reasonably inferred” to be a statement of opinion, or if it were retracted with an apology within 14 days. If guilty, the politician would be disqualified from being a Senedd member.

The defense is hardly helpful.

It creates an uncertainty as to which statements would be deemed an opinion and which would be treated as a statement of fact. It invites selective and biased prosecutions. After all, what does it mean to accuse a politician of trying to “mislead” the public?

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Here’s Why the World is Falling Apart (and What You Can Do About It!)

Do you ever get the feeling that everything is breaking down all at once?

Forget about starting a family or buying a house. It’s becoming harder and harder for young men and women just to put food on the table.

And those lucky ones who defy the odds and manage to start a family sure aren’t spending their time at neighbourhood barbecues while the kids play a game of pick-up street hockey. Today, they’d be lucky to pry the kids away from their device long enough for them to notice that there are other kids in their neighbourhood. Not that the parents are any better at living life.

What’s everyone doing on those devices? Scrolling through their never-ending social media feeds of doom porn and ragebait, of course! They’re busy watching Israel holocaust Palestine and NATO inch closer to nuclear war with Russia and people at home engaging in public freakouts as society disintegrates and the world devolves into madness.

That faith in the ability of hard work and determination to help us all improve the planet and leave a better place for our children? Gone. Replaced by a sinking feeling that the world is heading to hell in a handbasket and that maybe it isn’t worth saving anyway.

Yes, from the macrocosm of geopolitical crises and financial trickery to the microcosm of economic disintegration and spiritual malaise, it seems like everything that could go wrong is going wrong. Increasingly, it feels like we’re just bystanders watching the messy spectacle play out on our screens, digital drivers rubbernecking at the car crash of chaos unfolding on the information superhighway.

But did you know that there’s a name for this phenomenon? And that it’s part of a years-long plan by the powers-that-shouldn’t-be to destabilize the world and move their agenda forward? And did you also know that by merely watching this disaster taking place, we’re actually helping that plan along?

No? Well, you’re about to learn all about it! Let’s dig in.

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What Can You Do While Waiting for a FOIA Response?

The government is slow, especially at answering questions about itself. In theory, the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lets Americans ask any federal agency for any public record and get a response back within 20 days. All 50 states have similar records laws. After all, government documents are the property of the taxpayer.

In practice, almost no government agency meets its own deadlines. FOIA requests can take weeks, months, or even years longer than the legal deadline. Law enforcement and intelligence agencies are notorious for sitting on requests for ages before handing back pages that are almost entirely censored with a black highlighter.

Using data from the public records site MuckRock, Reason calculated the average response times for several agencies. It turns out that you can do a lot of fun (and not so fun) things while waiting for bureaucrats to give you the documents that your taxes paid for.

The averages only include cases where the agency actually managed to turn up documents. It doesn’t count requests that are still pending or cases where an agency straight-up ghosted the requester.

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D.C. Subpoena Causes Zyn to Suspend Online Sales

The tobacco company Philip Morris International, which owns the nicotine-pouch brand Zyn, announced Monday that it will be ceasing online sales for North America, following a subpoena sent by the attorney general of the District of Columbia. The subpoena follows from a 2022 decision by the district to ban flavored nicotine products.

The move to target Zyn comes amid Washington’s widespread crime problem. Violent crime increased by 40 percent in 2023, and the highest homicide rate is at its highest in over two decades. Nevertheless, more than 67 percent of arrests made are declined to be prosecuted, and D.C. is currently facing its largest police shortage in half a century. 

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DHS ‘Intelligence Experts Group’ Classified Military Service, Religion, & Trump-Support As Indicators Of Domestic Extremism & Terrorism

A now disbanded group in Joe Biden’s Department Homeland Security (DHS) classified Trump supporters, members of the military, and people with religious views as persons likely to commit “domestic violent extremist” attacks, newly released internal files show.

DHS announced the formation of the “Homeland Intelligence Experts Group” in September 2023 to “provide advice and perspectives on intelligence and national security efforts” to the Department, but according to America First Legal, “it was a completely partisan group designed to provide top cover for the Department’s radical agenda

AFL and former Ambassador Richard Grenell filed a lawsuit against the Homeland Intelligence Experts Group soon after the group was announced, and spurred Republican members of Congress to take action against it.

AFL alleged that the group comprised of partisan actors violated the Federal Advisory Committee Act for various reasons – including its lack of balance, the Biden Administration’s inappropriate influence over it, and its lack of public notice and participation, among other things.

To avoid further litigation and scrutiny, the Biden regime agreed in May to disband the illegal group and provide its records to AFL. However, the group may have been active for a year before it was pressured to shut down.

“By the time the Homeland Intelligence Experts Group was announced in September 2023, the group had already been meeting for as long as four months,” AFL reported.

Members of the deep state cabal included former Obama intelligence officials and Russia collusion hoaxers John Brennan and James Clapper—both signatories of the infamous “Letter of 51,” which mislead the American public on the veracity of the Hunter Biden laptop story ahead of the 2020 election.

Also included in the unit were former Obama official Francis Taylor,  Asha George, Rajesh De, Caryn Wagner, and Elisa Massimino, all of whom contributed exclusively to Democrat candidates for political office.

During a meeting in September on “Collection Posture and Associated Challenges,” the partisan group discussed ways to get around the Constitutional limits to their domestic intelligence gathering goals.

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Louisiana Governor Vetoes Bill That Would Have Let Him Pardon Past Marijuana Convictions

The governor of Louisiana has vetoed a bill that would have allowed him and future governors to issue pardons for people with past marijuana convictions.

Gov. Jeff Landry (R) rejected the legislation on Wednesday, about a month after it was approved in the legislature. It remains to be seen what he will do with separate proposals to decriminalize cannabis paraphernalia and regulate hemp products that have also been sent to his desk.

The pardon bill from Rep. Delisha Boyd (D) would have made people convicted of cannabis possession eligible for a gubernatorial pardon after paying all court costs associated with the offense, without the need for a recommendation from the Board of Pardons.

Individuals could have only received a pardon for their first possession offense, and anyone “who received such pardon shall not be entitled to receive another pardon by the governor pursuant to this Section,” the legislation says.

Kevin Caldwell, Southeast legislative manager for the advocacy group Marijuana Policy Project (MPP), said his organization is “saddened” by the governor’s veto of the bill.

“This legislation would have granted him the authority to pardon tens of thousands Louisianans who have a cannabis conviction on their records,” he told Marijuana Moment in an email. “This is a missed opportunity to help everyday citizens better their lives and economic opportunities.”

“This legislation was always about improving opportunities,” Caldwell added. “The strong bipartisan support this legislation achieved is a testament to the level of support sensible cannabis policy has in Louisiana.”

Meanwhile, the governor still has several other cannabis bills pending action.

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Arizona Governor Signs Bill To Allow Workers’ Compensation For MDMA Treatment, Despite Vetoing Psilocybin Proposal

The governor of Arizona has signed a bill into law that would allow firefighters and peace officers with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) to get workers’ compensation coverage for MDMA therapy if it is federally legalized.

While Gov. Katie Hobbs (D) vetoed a separate proposal to legalize psilocybin service centers this week, she gave final approval on Tuesday to legislation that would authorize the Industrial Commission of Arizona to provide public safety officials who have PTSD with compensation for a one-course treatment of MDMA if the drug is approved by the federal Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

The measure is being enacted weeks after an FDA advisory committee recommended against approving a new drug application for MDMA-assisted therapy, drawing criticism from advocates and certain lawmakers, including a GOP congressman who personally benefitted from psychedelic treatment.

The Arizona bill from Sen. David Gowan (R) is fairly limited in its scope, especially compared to the psychedelics services legislation the governor vetoed this week. Not only would it require FDA approval of MDMA, but it also doesn’t create a framework for therapeutic administration. It simply allows officials to approve workers compensation for a course of MDMA-assisted treatment sessions.

“If an independent medical examination reveals a treatment protocol of midomafetamine is deemed a reasonable and necessary treatment and follows the treatment guidelines established by the Industrial Commission of Arizona, workers’ compensation coverage may include on complete course of a treatment protocol of midomafetamine as prescribed by a psychiatrist,” the bill text says.

The commission would also be required to submit a report about the costs of the MDMA treatment to the Joint Legislative Budget Committee each year starting on or before January 1, 2026.

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Mission Creep: How the Police State Acclimates Us to Being Modern-Day Slaves

“In a fully developed bureaucracy there is nobody left with whom one can argue, to whom one can present grievances, on whom the pressures of power can be exerted. Bureaucracy is the form of government in which everybody is deprived of political freedom, of the power to act; for the rule by Nobody is not no-rule, and where all are equally powerless, we have a tyranny without a tyrant.” ― Hannah Arendt, On Violence

Like the proverbial boiling frogs, the government has been gradually acclimating us to the specter of a police state for years now: Militarized police. Riot squads. Camouflage gear. Black uniforms. Armored vehicles. Mass arrests. Pepper spray. Tear gas. Batons. Strip searches. Surveillance cameras. Kevlar vests. Drones. Lethal weapons. Less-than-lethal weapons unleashed with deadly force. Rubber bullets. Water cannons. Stun grenades. Arrests of journalists. Crowd control tactics. Intimidation tactics. Brutality.

This is how you prepare a populace to accept a police state willingly, even gratefully.

You don’t scare them by making dramatic changes. Rather, you acclimate them slowly to their prison walls. Persuade the citizenry that their prison walls are merely intended to keep them safe and danger out. Desensitize them to violence, acclimate them to a military presence in their communities, and persuade them that only a militarized government can alter the seemingly hopeless trajectory of the nation.

It’s happening already.

Yet we’re not just being acclimated to the trappings of a police state. We’re also being bullied into silence and subservience in the face of outright injustice and heavy-handed political correctness, while simultaneously being groomed into accepting government tyranny, corruption and bureaucratic ineptitude as societal norms.

What exactly is going on?

Whatever it is, this—the racial hypersensitivity without racial justice, the kowtowing to politically correct bullies with no regard for anyone else’s free speech rights, the violent blowback after years of government-sanctioned brutality, the mob mindset that is overwhelming the rights of the individual, the oppressive glowering of the Nanny State, the seemingly righteous indignation full of sound and fury that in the end signifies nothing, the partisan divide that grows more impassable with every passing day—is not leading us anywhere good.

Certainly, it’s not leading to more freedom.

Keep reading

8 Signs That Extremists Are Taking Over Our Country

It is happening all around us.  Our nation is being radically transformed by people with extreme ideologies, and that should deeply alarm all of us.  According to Google, an extremist is “a person who holds extreme or fanatical political or religious views, especially one who resorts to or advocates extreme action”.  Sadly, that definition accurately describes many that hold prominent positions of power in our society today.  In so many cases, individuals that have political beliefs that most ordinary Americans would consider to be very radical are going to extraordinary lengths to impose their views on all of the rest of us. 

The following are 8 signs that extremists are taking over our country…

#1 In Oregon, a high school track and field coach has been fired for simply “expressing his concerns about allowing biological males to compete with girls”…

The head track and field coach at a high school in Oregon has been fired after writing letters to state officials expressing his concerns about allowing biological males to compete with girls.

John Parks, who had been employed at Lake Oswego High School since January of last year, says his contract was terminated shortly after he began speaking out against trans-identified males self-identifying into female races.

#2 Officials in Seattle have decided that it is perfectly okay to hire migrants that have come into the United States illegally as police officers…

Now, faced with what can only be called an emergency due to low staffing, the city is taking advantage of Senate Bill 6157, signed into law by far-left Gov. Jay Inslee, a Democrat, which will allow DACA recipients or so-called “dreamers” to apply to become police officers.

One issue facing DACA recipients becoming police officers is because they are in the country illegally, which means that they are not generally permitted to carry a firearm. However, Biden’s ATF (Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, FIrearms and Explosives) has ruled that “It is ATF’s position that DACA recipients can possess duty firearms and possess ammunition as part of their official law enforcement officer duties,” according to the Police Executive Research Forum (PERF).

#3 Even though reservoirs are overflowing right now, bureaucrats have decided to greatly restrict the flow of water to countless potato farmers in the state of Idaho…

Eastern Idaho farmers may soon be out of water after the state issued a major curtailment.

Brian Murdock, a farmer who resides in East Idaho, warned of the potential devastating impact of the order on his business during his appearance on “The Bottom Line” Wednesday.

“Well, as you said, the state of Idaho and the Idaho Department of Water Resources has issued this curtailment of 500,000 acres. And to help put that in perspective, that’s basically 781 square miles of farm ground that is being taken out of production,” Murdock stressed.

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