Tag: police state

Rishi Sunak to ban the sale of disposable vapes to protect children’s health and stop them from being ‘hooked for life’

Disposable vapes will be banned in the UK in a bid to protect children’s health and prevent them becoming ‘hooked for life’, the Government will announce today.

The number of children using vapes in the past three years has tripled, driven by disposable devices which come in a range of bright colours and tempting flavours.

Figures show 9 per cent of children aged 11 to 15 now vape, with the long-term health impacts still unknown.

But today Rishi Sunak will reveal a plan to bring in new legislation, using existing powers under the Environmental Protection Act, during a visit to a school. 

The measure is expected to come in early next year, with hopes it will halt the trend of vaping among children.

The Prime Minister said: ‘As any parent or teacher knows, one of the most worrying trends at the moment is the rise in vaping among children, and so we must act before it becomes endemic.

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Oklahoma State Senator authors bill to limit freedom of the press

If the Oklahoma legislature passes it, the Common Sense Freedom of Press Control Act would place more monitoring requirements and financial obligations on journalists and media outlets.

State Sen. Nathan Dahm (R – Broken Arrow) authored Senate Bill 1837, which seeks to “avoid potential abuse of the freedom of the press.”

Under the proposed requirements, anyone who works for a media outlet would need to submit to criminal background checks and quarterly drug tests.

The bill would also require them to file for a license from the Oklahoma Corporation Commission, obtain $1 million in liability insurance, and attend an eight-hour “propaganda-free” safety training developed by PragerU.

The license for individual journalists would cost $290 every five years. Media outlets would also need to pay $250,000 for a license every year and obtain $50 million in liability insurance. That applies to national and local outlets alike.

Those outlets would also be required to provide the following disclaimer before each story, or throughout any video: “WARNING: THIS ENTITY IS KNOWN TO PROVIDE PROPAGANDA. CONSUMING PROPAGANDA MAY BE DETRIMENTAL TO YOUR HEALTH AND HEALTH OF THE REPUBLIC.”

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Long Beach, California, Police ‘Brutally’ Arrested a Cancer Patient. Now, the City Is Paying $300,000.

Long Beach, California, is stuck with a $300,000 bill after three of its police officers arrested a cancer patient with “brutal force” for driving with an expired vehicle registration. 

On September 3, 2022, Johnny Jackson, who had undergone surgery for his prostate cancer the day prior, was driving home from an errand to make a copy of his doctor’s note following surgery when he noticed he was being followed by an unmarked Long Beach Police Department (LBPD) vehicle. 

According to a lawsuit filed last October, when Jackson pulled into his driveway, the LBPD vehicle parked outside his house. Jackson exited his car, holding his doctor’s note, and told the officers that he knew he had an issue with his vehicle registration. In response, the officers, who were not named in the complaint, ordered Jackson to put his hands up and approach them. As he was doing so, Jackson was additionally ordered to put his hands on his head and turn so his back was facing one officer, while a second officer approached Jackson’s front porch.

Body camera footage shows Jackson again telling the officers that he knew his vehicle registration may have been expired and that he had gotten surgery for his prostate cancer the day before. The lawsuit states that, while Jackson was speaking, “a gust of wind began blowing the Doctor’s Note off the top of his vehicle.” Jackson then told the officers that “this is actually my paperwork for my surgery yesterday,” and put one of his hands on the note to prevent it from blowing away.

In response, one of the officers rushed to grab Jackson’s arm, pinning it behind his back and telling him that he was “about to get fucked up.” 

“Listen to me, put your hands behind your back. If you resist you will get hurt,” one officer told Jackson. “If you hurt me I will sue you. I just had surgery,” Jackson replied.

Body camera footage shows the ensuing struggle, in which Jackson was pulled in multiple directions by the officers, as Jackson again told them he was recovering from surgery. The lawsuit states that one officer struck Jackson in the head in an attempted “takedown maneuver,” which he followed by kneeing Jackson in his groin three times. 

“Why are you forcing us to use force on you?” one officer asked

Eventually, Jackson was handcuffed and cited for having an expired vehicle registration and resisting arrest. Jackson sued the city and police department in October 2023, arguing that the officers engaged in excessive force and caused him multiple injuries by arresting him so violently, despite being aware of his recent surgery. 

A settlement in the case was reached in December 2023, and the staggering $300,000 value was announced last week.

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Michigan Township Bans All Cemeteries To Prevent Family from Starting One

A Michigan couple wanted to start a “green” cemetery, a place where the dead can be buried in a more natural and environmentally friendly manner. Local officials didn’t want that—so they banned all cemeteries within the township.

Instead of pumping bodies full of preservatives like formaldehyde and burying them in wood-and-metal caskets or concrete vaults, green burials involve placing the deceased directly into the ground to decompose naturally into the soil, often in biodegradable wood caskets or cotton shrouds.

Peter Quakenbush tells Reason that he learned about the process while working in wildlife management. “I’ve always been interested in biology and nature, and I have a few degrees in biology,” he says. The idea of preserving a natural green space while simultaneously providing people an environmentally friendly place to be buried—which would, in turn, provide natural nourishment for the forest—struck him as “a really wonderful kind of win-win combo.”

Peter and his wife Annica set about to make the dream a reality. After years of searching, they found a 20-acre parcel of undeveloped land within an hour of Grand Rapids that would make a suitable site. There they planned to establish the West Michigan Burial Forest, developing the land using criteria set out by the Green Burial Council, a private organization that certifies green cemeteries. As of December 2023, the council had certified 333 green cemeteries in the U.S. and Canada.

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Federal E-Cigarette Ruling Highlights Danger Of Not Preparing For Sensible Cannabis Regulations

A recent Fifth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals opinion on vaping sheds light on why federal cannabis legalization must be accompanied by a sensible regulatory framework that is administered and enforced by the right agency.

The court’s opinion in Wages and White Lion Investment LLC v. Food and Drug Administration excoriates the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for its handling of flavored e-cigarettes and underscores the dangers to the public and industry that result from ideological, rather than logical, regulation.

The threat of not plotting out a viable federal regulatory landscape—we know the feds already have their eye on this space—is worrisome for all cannabis businesses and consumers, and particularly the vape sector, which now makes up nearly 25 percent of the market. And the need to set the cannabis industry on a sensible federal regulatory path has only grown more urgent in light of the recent Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) recommendation to move marijuana to Schedule III, a move that increases the likelihood of new federal oversight.

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If we don’t want death, blackouts, and busybodies in every corner of our lives, end this brainless march to war

Are we the baddies? What if the Ukraine war is just as stupid and wrong as the Iraq war, but the state propaganda has been more successful and hardly anybody has realised… yet?

Many people to this day still think the damaging and morally dubious Western attacks on Serbia and Libya were justified. Many still think the gory attempt to destroy Syria was a good thing. It took ages for opinion to swing on the Vietnam war, back in the 1960s. And, as one who opposed the Iraq war, I remember only too well just how many (who now think they were against it all the time) were fooled into backing Sir Anthony Blair and George W. Bush.

The issue is more pressing as generals and admirals warn we must live in a militarised society and prepare for what they think is an inevitable war against Russia. They could get their way. If you go on backing this policy, you could be condemning yourself, your children or grandchildren to a world of war, privation and perhaps conscription into some sort of military service.

Wars mean death and wounds. They mean shortages, rationing, electricity blackouts, travel restrictions, busybodies interfering in every bit of life, and with much more power. Not to mention danger – missiles have astonishing ranges these days. What exactly would this one be for?

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Toddler, two, is found dead in home of Massachusetts Police Lieutenant James Feeley more than a month after he was charged with child rape

A two-year old girl was found unresponsive at the home of a longtime Massachusetts cop who was arrested last month for allegedly raping a child under the age of 12.

Winthrop Police lieutenant James Feeley, 56, is currently being held on $200,000 bail on charges including aggravated rape of a child and two counts of indecent assault and battery on a child under the age of 14, and was therefore not at the home when the toddler was found.

A 911 call was received at 10:20am on Friday morning. When emergency services arrived on the scene, the youngster was rushed to the hospital where the girl died, reports Boston25.

The child was rushed to hospital in the fire chief’s own car as they were first to arrive. Two EMT’s performed CPR on the toddler.

‘They made the decision to transport this child to Massachusetts General Hospital in the back of the fire chief’s vehicle,’ Winthrop Police Chief Terence Delehanty said.

‘The fire department did a heroic job today and made decisive decisions under emergency conditions to get this child the medical treatment necessary as soon as possible,’ said Chief Delehanty.

An initial investigation ‘indicates no signs of foul play or physical trauma. ‘We are awaiting an autopsy to determine cause of death,’ a spokesperson for Suffolk County District Attorney Kevin Hayden said in a statement.

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Alabama Attorney General vows to use nitrogen gas executions AGAIN as he doubles down on ‘textbook’ controversial death with 43 Alabama death row inmates set to die just like Kenneth Eugene Smith

Alabama‘s Attorney General has vowed to keep using nitrogen gas to execute inmates despite harrowing reports from witnesses to Kenneth Eugene Smith’s execution.

Steve Marshall even offered to assist other states in procuring the previously-untested method, brushing off claims the killer writhed and shook in agony as he was slowly suffocated to death in a 22-minute ordeal on Thursday night. 

‘What occurred last night was textbook,’ Marshall said Friday, contrasting allegations from many, including Smith’s spiritual advisor who said it was ‘torture’ and the ‘worst thing’ he had ever seen. 

‘When they turned the nitrogen on, he began to convulse, he popped up on the gurney over and over again, he shook the whole gurney,’ spiritual advisor Jeff Hood, who was in the chamber, said immediately after the execution.  

In the face of the controversy, nitrogen hypoxia has opened a new avenue for US prisons to continue the practice of executions, with some states going years without amid a nationwide shortage of lethal injection drugs. 

Marshall cited this in his remarks Friday, praising how nitrogen gas executions are ‘no longer an untested method – it is a proven one.’ 

Officials insisted for months leading up to the execution that it would be humane and painless for Smith, who had a previous execution in 2022 called off after prison staff tried and failed to insert an IV line for several painful hours. 

Following the failed execution in 2022, Smith sought his subsequent execution to be carried out via nitrogen hypoxia – in an apparent gamble that officials wouldn’t follow through with the untested method.

However, Marshall said of the 165 inmates on Alabama’s death row, 43 prisoners have opted to be executed via nitrogen hypoxia over lethal injection when their time comes. 

‘We’ll definitely have more nitrogen hypoxia executions in Alabama,’ he concluded. 

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NSA secretly buying Americans’ data without a warrant

The National Security Agency has secretly been buying Americans’ internet records and using them for spying purposes without obtaining a warrant, a senior senator revealed Thursday.

Sen. Ron Wyden, Oregon Democrat, said the practice had been a “legal gray area,” with data brokers quietly obtaining and reselling the internet “metadata” without the users’ consent. He said the NSA has been trying to keep the whole thing under wraps.

In a letter to Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines, the senator said the government needs a “wake-up call,” and he called for new rules limiting purchases only to data that Americans have consented to be sold.

He also asked for Ms. Haines to take an inventory of what the government already has and toss out any information that doesn’t meet the standard of consent.

“The U.S. government should not be funding and legitimizing a shady industry whose flagrant violations of Americans’ privacy are not just unethical, but illegal,” he said.

He released a letter from Army General Paul M. Nakasone, director of the NSA, detailing and justifying the agency’s actions.

Gen. Nakasone said it acquires what it calls “commercially available information” but said the acquisitions are limited. They don’t include location data from phones “known to be used in the United States,” and they don’t buy or use location data from automobiles in the U.S.

They do buy “non-content” data “where one side of the communication is a U.S. Internet Protocol address and the other is located abroad.”

The general said that information was critical for “the U.S. Defense Industrial Base.”

“NSA understands and greatly values the congressional and public trust it has been granted to carry out its critical foreign intelligence and cybersecurity missions on behalf of the American people,” Gen. Nakasone wrote.

In a separate letter, Under Secretary of Defense Ronald S. Moultrie defended the legality.

“I am not aware of any requirement in U.S. law or judicial opinion … that DoD obtain a court order in order to acquire, access or use information, such as CAI, that is equally available for purchase to foreign adversaries, U.S. companies and private persons as it is to the U.S. government,” he wrote.

Mr. Wyden, though, says the legal landscape may have just changed.

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Florida Bills Would Hide the Names of Police Officers Who Kill People 

Bills filed in Florida would allow law enforcement agencies to hide the names of police and correctional officers who kill people.

Such legislation was widely expected after the Florida Supreme Court ruled in December that police departments could not invoke Marsy’s Law, a crime victims’ rights law adopted by Florida voters in 2018, to hide the names of officers involved in deadly shootings. The ruling was much broader than expected, though, and stripped privacy protections from civilian crime victims as well.

The legislation is one of several efforts in the Republican-controlled Florida Legislature to further insulate police in the Sunshine State—once lauded for its expansive public record laws—from scrutiny. As Reason reported yesterday, two other bills advancing through the Legislature would ban cities and counties from forming civilian police oversight boards.

State Rep. Chuck Brannan (R–Macclenny) filed House Bill 1605 and House Bill 1607 earlier this month. The former would expand the definition of “crime victims” to include “law enforcement officers, correctional officers, or correctional probation officers who use deadly force in the course and scope of their employment or official duties.” 

The latter would exempt records that could be used to identify and harass crime victims from the state’s public records law unless the victim opts to have it disclosed. “The Legislature finds that the release of any such information or records that could be used to locate or harass a crime victim or the victim’s family could subject such victims or their families to further trauma,” the bill says.

The bills have the backing of powerful police unions in the state as well. “For people to exclude police officers just because we wear the badge and we protect and serve, that’s not fair to us,” John Kazanjian, president of the Florida Police Benevolent Association, told the Tampa Bay Times. 

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