Bertrand Russell on progressives…
Tag: police state
Philadelphia lawmakers vote to ban ski masks in some public places, a move praised by police but panned by rights advocates
The Philadelphia City Council passed a bill Thursday that bans the use of ski masks in parks, schools, public transit or other city-owned buildings, a move they say will help law enforcement solve crimes but that civil rights advocates believe will criminalize people of color.
The bill, passed by a 13-2 vote, will fine offenders $250 for each offense, and up to $2,000 if a mask is worn during the commission of a crime.
Mayor Jim Kenney will sign it into law early next week, according to council member Anthony Phillips, who drafted the ordinance.
“The City of Philadelphia has been under siege with individuals who use ski masks to commit crimes. It’s caught onto not just young people, but young adults who have made this a particular thing to do,” Phillips told CNN. “The Philadelphia Police Department can’t tell who’s a criminal and not a criminal, which makes it difficult for crimes to be solved in Philadelphia.”
Sarah Peterson, a spokesperson for the mayor’s office, told CNN, “The administration will review the legislation, and in the meantime looks forward to our ongoing work with City Council on the urgent matter of ensuring public safety.”
The Covid-19 pandemic, which resulted in people wearing various face coverings including ski masks, “complicated policing” because mask mandates made it easier for criminals to conceal their identities, Philadelphia Police Department Deputy Commissioner Francis Healy said during a committee hearing in November.
“There was a time not so long ago when any average police officer would see a person donning a mask before entering a convenience store or a bank and they would believe a robbery was about to occur,” Healy said. “However, the pandemic changed that mindset where people were actually more fearful of people without masks than with masks.”
Although mask mandates are no longer required, some people continue to wear ski masks with the intention of concealing their identities when committing crimes, Healy says.
“Criminals have continued using masks to avoid capture and it remains problematic, so the department fully supports the intent and rationale behind this ordinance,” Healy said.
Judge Halts Montana’s First Amendment-Violating TikTok Ban
A TikTok ban in Montana is likely unconstitutional, a federal judge ruled on Thursday.
Judge Donald Molloy, with the U.S. District Court for the District of Montana, issued a temporary halt to enforcing the ban. It was scheduled to take effect on January 1, 2024, and would have meant $10,000 penalties per day for app stores or TikTok “each time that a user accesses TikTok, is offered the ability to access TikTok, or is offered the ability to download TikTok.”
The ruling “is a welcome victory in the face of a relentless and illiberal campaign against the First Amendment and the Internet,” said Ari Cohn, free speech counsel with TechFreedom. “Wholesale bans on speech-enabling platforms are an affront to the First Amendment, and it is deeply troubling that so many have cheered them on based on panic, fear, or a general disdain for the platform.”
Montana’s TikTok ban (SB 419) was signed into law by Montana Gov. Greg Gianforte last May, calling it a measure “to protect Montanans’ personal and private data from the Chinese Communist Party.” The move came amidst a flurry of official paranoia—and propaganda—about how the app, with its Chinese parent company, could be a threat to national security, personal privacy, and America’s youth.
TikTok creators and TikTok itself sued, arguing that the ban was unconstitutional. The two suits were since consolidated.
NYPD ACCUSED OF FABRICATING DOMESTIC VIOLENCE SURVIVOR’S MURDER CONFESSION
A WOMAN WHO was charged with murdering her husband in 2020 sued the New York City Police Department, alleging that police officers fabricated the confession that was the basis of the case against her. The federal civil rights lawsuit also alleges that the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office obtained a search warrant for an email account she created to draw attention to her case — and never disclosed it, as required by law.
Prosecutors dropped their case against Tracy McCarter last December, citing insufficient evidence. In the lawsuit, which was filed on November 2 in the Southern District of New York, McCarter said she had “sustained serious physical and psychological harm as a result of being wrongfully arrested, charged, imprisoned, searched, and prosecuted.”
The lawsuit names four NYPD officers who were involved with the arrest and one investigator from the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office who worked on the case. All four of the police officers have previously faced civilian complaints of misconduct, though such allegations are famously hard to prove. A spokesperson for the NYPD declined to comment on whether any of the officers are being investigated in relation to McCarter’s case, citing the pending litigation. The district attorney’s office declined to comment on the allegation involving the undisclosed search warrant.
Wrongfully convicted Philadelphia man released from prison after 27 years, prosecutors say
A Philadelphia man who has been incarcerated for nearly three decades was released from prison Thursday after prosecutors now say he was wrongfully convicted.
Eddie Ramirez, 47, has spent the last 27 years behind bars after he was convicted of killing Joyce Dennis, a laundromat employee who was found brutally beaten to death at work after a robbery in 1995.
The district attorney’s office says Ramirez was convicted of a crime despite no physical evidence tying him to the case. After reviewing the case, prosecutors argued for all charges against Ramirez to be vacated, which a judge granted Thursday morning in front of a packed courtroom that broke out in cheers following the announcement.
“Oh my God, I feel my heart’s going to come out and I feel I got my baby coming back home,” said Maria Ramirez, Eddie’s mom.
A Los Angeles Jail Let a Woman Die of Withdrawal, Then a Coroner Allowed Her Body To Decompose
Amanda Bews was arrested last September after shoplifting from a Los Angeles-area liquor store. Within two days, she would be found unresponsive in a jail cell, dead from apparent alcohol and drug withdrawal.
According to a lawsuit filed this month, that wasn’t the only way jail employees mishandled Bews’ case. Not only did jail employees fail to treat Bews, despite numerous medical records stating she would need withdrawal medications, but once she had died, the jail mishandled her remains, leading to major decomposition that Bews’ mother said made her daughter look “mummified”
After her arrest on September 7, Bews was first taken to a local hospital before booking, due to her admission of extremely heavy alcohol use and recent heroin use. According to the lawsuit, Bews told staff about her substance history and her drinking “just prior” to her arrest. Her arrest records state that she was a “prolonged heavy drinking.”
When medical staff released her, they gave law enforcement medical documents that “would have included Amanda’s history of alcohol dependence and heavy recent use,” according to the lawsuit.
“In her ED Summary Report, the ‘disposition’ is listed as ‘TO ACUTE CARE FACILITY,’ indicating that Amanda should have received acute care (meaning consistent monitoring and inpatient treatment) at the jail she would be booked into,” the complaint reads.
However, Bews didn’t get this necessary treatment. Instead, she was placed into a shared cell during the afternoon of September 8th. Just after midnight on the 9th, the complaint says that staff cleared Bews “for detox and required no medications,” and they “stopped treating Amanda for detoxification and withdrawal.”
At 4:30 a.m., Bews was found unresponsive. Staff gave her a dose of Narcan, but she was pronounced dead at 5:29 a.m. According to an autopsy, the levels of drugs and alcohol in Bews’ system were indicative of withdrawal and there was vomit in her airways.
“On information and belief, deputies also did not check on Amanda during this time, as her condition would have obviously deteriorated. Or, if deputies had, they failed to summon medical care during this time despite her deterioration.”
After Bews’ death, the lawsuit states that both the county medical examiner and Chapel of the Light, a private funeral home hired by the county, mishandled Bews’ remains, leading to considerable decomposition of her body.
The coroners “failed to use the standard of care a reasonably careful person working at a medical examiner’s office would use to handle human remains prior to transfer to their loved ones’ family members. A reasonably careful employee of a medical examiner’s office would at minimum properly refrigerate the remains,” according to the complaint.
“Upon completion of the autopsy and transfer of the remains to Chapel of the Light, Amanda’s remains had deteriorated significantly,” the suit reads. “The County transferred custody of the remains to Chapel of the Light, but Chapel of the Light allowed Amanda’s remains to further deteriorate.”
Could YOUR neighbour report your illegal Amazon Firestick? Warning to law breakers streaming content on ‘dodgy’ devices as experts say officers might turn up at your door
People using Amazon Firesticks and other illegal streaming devices could soon face a knock at the door from police officers warning them they could be prosecuted, experts have warned.
According to data from cybercrime specialists Fact-UK, there has been a significant increase in the number of viewers using their Firestick to illegally watch subscription TV.
The copyright-protection organisation says these illicit streams could be funding organised crime and allowing gangs to profit off their personal data – as retailers crack down on the practice.
Some households use the devices to watch content from subscription services such as Netflix or Sky Sports illegally for a fraction of the price.
Intelligence unit officers working with Fact-UK have sent out ‘Cease and Desist’ letters and are conducting nationwide ‘Knock and Talks’ with those who take part in the illegal practice, informing individuals they face further action or prosecution if they do not stop.
Democrats Blasted for Claiming “No Evidence” of Big Tech-Government Censorship Collusion
Republicans called out Democrats for continuing to deny that the Biden administration colluded with tech platforms to censor speech during a hearing today, despite lawsuits, subpoenas, and other releases uncovering huge troves of evidence documenting the Biden administration’s relentless censorship demands.
Democrats claimed there’s “no evidence” of censorship collusion, branded the notion that social media companies are colluding with the government to censor conservative voices as “unfounded,” and called it a “conspiracy” theory during a House Judiciary Committee Hearing on the Weaponization of the Federal Government.
But Republicans shot back and called them out for ignoring the huge banks of evidence that showcase Biden admin officials leaning on Big Tech to censor speech they disapprove of.
Three of the witnesses, journalist Matt Taibbi, journalist Michael Shellenberger, and journalist Rupa Subramanya, also challenged Democrat attempts to dismiss evidence of Biden admin-Big Tech censorship collusion during the hearing.
Rep. Stacey Plaskett (D-VI) claimed there’s “no evidence” of tech companies colluding with the government to censor conservatives.
DHS Subdivision Quietly Deleted Video Urging Americans To Report Covid ‘Disinformation’ From Family Members
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) quietly removed a video instructing people to report family members for spreading “disinformation” online, according to a report by the Foundation for Freedom Online (FFO).
Earlier this year, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), a DHS subdivision, deleted a video from June 2021 tutoring viewers on “countering disinformation” related to the Covid-19 pandemic and reporting their relatives to social media platforms, according to a report by the FFO, a free speech advocacy group. FFO archived the video before CISA deleted it.
In the cartoon video, CISA depicts a woman named “Susan” looking at a post from her “Uncle Steve” claiming the Covid-19 pandemic is equivalent to the flu. The video criticizes the fictitious post and then advises Americans to look to public health authorities for guidance.
CISA presents another hypothetical post from “Uncle Steve” containing “fake news” misrepresenting government data. The government agency advises Americans to reply to their uncle and then “report” his post to the social media platform he is using, which appears to resemble Facebook.
CISA deleted the video between April 9 and May 9, 2023, internet archives show. The CISA video is also watchable on internet archives.
Secret Surveillance Program: White House Goes Rogue, Breaking All Laws
The government wants us to believe that we have nothing to fear from its mass spying programs as long as we’ve done nothing wrong.
Don’t believe it.
It doesn’t matter whether you obey every law. The government’s definition of a “bad” guy is extraordinarily broad, and it results in the warrantless surveillance of innocent, law-abiding Americans on a staggering scale.
For instance, it was recently revealed that the White House, relying on a set of privacy loopholes, has been sidestepping the Fourth Amendment by paying AT&T to allow federal, state, and local law enforcement to access—without a warrant—the phone records of Americans who are not suspected of a crime.
This goes way beyond the NSA’s metadata collection program.
Operated during the Obama, Trump and now the Biden presidencies, this secret dragnet surveillance program (formerly known as Hemisphere and now dubbed Data Analytical Services) uses its association with the White House to sidestep a vast array of privacy and transparency laws.
According to Senator Ron Wyden, Hemisphere has been operating without any oversight for more than a decade under the guise of cracking down on drug traffickers.
This is how the government routinely breaks the law and gets away with it: in the so-called name of national security.
Hellbound and Down 
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