Tag: police state

German Activist Drives 22 Hours to Portugal, Defying Exit Ban

German remigration activist Maximilian Märkl, who was arrested by federal police on Friday as he prepared to board a flight to Portugal and forbidden to leave the country, defied the travel ban and was greeted as a hero when he arrived at the Remigration Summit in Porto after 22 hours of driving across Europe.

“It was a little European adventure,” Märkl said in an interview with alternative TV channel AUF1, adding that the drive through Germany, France, Spain, and Portugal reminded him of “just how beautiful our homeland is and how much it’s worth fighting for.”

While expecting legal consequences upon his return to Germany, the spokesman for Identitäre Bewegung Deutschland, said he’s counting on alternative media and the organization’s support network to stand behind him. 

Asked what the organization will do if the German government continues trying to stop its representatives from attending events in other countries, Märkl said, “Either they ignore us—and we have direct access to the people—or they get desperate and try to suppress us.” But, he said, “these measures generate such a stir and so much attention that I’m convinced there will definitely be a way in the future to meet, network, and, above all, make progress on the issues at hand.”

Generation Identity, Märkl’s organization, said on X it will take the German authorities to court over the travel ban. 

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UK Government Plots Digital ID Lockdown On Every Phone In Lockstep With Big Tech

The Labour government in Britain is accelerating its assault on digital privacy under the well-worn banner of child protection. Fresh plans leaked to the press reveal ministers intend to compel Apple, Google and other tech firms to restrict smartphones so thoroughly that a digital ID will be needed to use them with unfettered access.

The mechanism comes in the form of expanded age verification that effectively demands digital identification for device setup and use. What is sold as safeguarding the young is shaping up as a backdoor mandate for every adult in Britain to submit ID just to operate a phone or go online.

This development lands alongside Google’s confirmation that it will soon bring digital IDs to Android devices in the UK via Google Wallet. Users will record a short video selfie and scan a government-issued ID to add a digital version of their passport or other documents.

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Trump Reveals He Pardoned Man Sentenced to SEVEN YEARS in Federal Prison for Fixing His Own Truck

President Donald Trump just exposed yet another example of the radical Democrat regime’s war on hardworking Americans during an agriculture roundtable discussion in Wisconsin, this time, jailing people simply for fixing their own equipment.

Speaking before a crowd that included farmers and agricultural workers, Trump blasted government regulations that restrict Americans from repairing their own equipment and praised efforts to restore “right-to-repair” freedoms.

The president then recounted a case that left him stunned.

“The Democrats have a restriction that if you get caught fixing your tractor, they bring you to jail. You know that?” Trump told the crowd.

“Do you know that I pardoned a man last week who was sentenced to seven years in jail because he got caught fixing his car or his truck?”

Trump said he initially couldn’t believe what he was hearing.

“I said, ‘What did he do?’ Sir, he was fixing his truck.”

“I said, ‘How long is he getting?’ Seven years.”

“I said, ‘Say it again.’ It’s the first time I’ve ever heard it.”

According to Trump, he quickly intervened.

“Like two weeks ago, I gave him a pardon because he had to go to jail because he was fixing his tractor or his truck.”

“So I promise, Ken, if you ever get caught fixing your tractor or truck, I will give you a pardon, okay?”

Trump then turned his fire toward environmental regulations that have long frustrated farmers, truckers, and equipment owners.

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7 Republicans vote no on FISA extension

Seven Republican senators sided with Democrats early Friday to vote against advancing an extension of warrantless spy powers set to expire next week, complicating efforts to keep those powers alive.

The procedural vote failed by a vote of 47-52 after Sens. Josh Hawley (Mo.), Sen. John Kennedy (La.), Mike Lee (Utah), Rand Paul (Ky.), Eric Schmitt (Mo.), Rick Scott (Fla.) and Tommy Tuberville (Ala.) broke with their GOP colleagues.

Some of the pushback was attributed to President Trump’s tapping of Federal Housing Finance Agency chief Bill Pulte to serve as acting director of national intelligence, which received backlash from both sides of the aisle.

Lee brushed off speculation that anger over Pulte’s appointment was the motivator behind the defectors who voted with Democrats, instead pointing to privacy concerns.

“FISA 702 reauthorization failed because it did not contain a warrant requirement for spying on Americans,” the Utah Republican wrote on the social platform X. “The people who spied on the Trump campaign, Members of Congress, and countless other Americans hate the idea.”

He added, “Come back with warrant requirement, and we’ll pass the bill.”

The motion to proceed would have paved the way for enhanced federal surveillance authorities under Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) before it lapses June 12.

Trump’s decision to name Pulte to replace outgoing Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard triggered fights on Capitol Hill.

Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.), vice chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said Democrats could not support extending surveillance authorities with Pulte in a position to access sensitive intelligence information that could be used against Trump’s political foes.

“I thought I had gotten to the stage where I could no longer be shocked by Donald Trump’s choices, but this may be the most outrageous of all,” he told MS NOW, speaking of the recent appointment.

Every Senate Democrat except Sen. John Fetterman (Pa.) voted against the motion, as they argued Pulte could not be trusted to oversee the nation’s intelligence apparatus, among other reasons.

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House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan Warns British Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood To Stop Backdoor Spying on US Citizens

Not a friendly move by the Brits.

In the context of a grave crisis in the ‘special relationship’ between the US and the UK, a top House representative is warning the British government against ‘using sensitive backdoor technology’ to spy on Americans.

Yesterday (5), Donald J. Trump’s ally, Ohio Representative Jim Jordan, wrote to Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood alerting her about a ‘lack of security cooperation’.

Jordan warned that Britain ‘may be using encryption to gain access to US citizens’ private data’.

The Telegraph reported:

“[Jordan] pointed to the UK’s Investigatory Powers Act 2016, which allows the government to issue secret orders known as ‘technical capability notices’.”

As the leader of the House judiciary committee, Jordan has led investigations into the activities of the FBI and US spy agencies – and now he is targeting the United Kingdom.

“The UK may be building ‘backdoors into their encrypted services’, he wrote to Ms. Mahmood.

US companies would be prohibited from informing anyone about these backdoors without the express permission of the Home Secretary.”

Jordan told Sir Christian Turner, the ambassador to the UK, that a US company who wanted to discuss a ‘technical capability notice’ with members of Congress, something that would require Mahmood’s permission.

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Australia Tried To Tax Smoking Out of Existence. Now 80% of Tobacco Aussies Consume Is From the Black Market.

The Australian government has spent the last decade introducing steep tax hikes to curb smoking, and, as a result, the country has the most expensive cigarettes in the world. The average price of mainstream cigarettes is 54.99 Australian dollars per pack (about $40). But the eyewatering prices have driven people to the black market.

In 2025, an estimated 80 percent of the tobacco consumed in Australia was illegal, up from 12 percent in 2017, according to new analysis from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS). The study, which is the first attempt by the Australian government to estimate the size of the black market, found that “prices for legal tobacco products have almost tripled since December 2016 driven by annual tobacco excise increases, while estimated prices of illicit tobacco products have remained relatively constant.” Since 2020, household spending on legal cigarettes and tobacco has almost halved, but between 2017 and 2025, the amount of nicotine consumed in Australia has risen by almost 40 percent.

Meanwhile, between 2016 and 2025, the price of legal cigarettes nearly tripled while tobacco duty revenue more than halved. As a result, the Australian Treasury has downgraded tobacco excise revenue by $8 billion over the next five years in the latest federal budget.

Lower tax revenue is hardly something to mourn, but Australia’s collapsing legal tobacco market has come with a far darker consequence: a severe wave of gang violence, including firebombings and shootings. Since 2023, organized crime groups linked to Australia’s illicit tobacco and vape market have been tied to “more than 200 firebombings,” “at least 3 homicides,” and “multiple other non-fatal violent attacks,” according to the Australian Intelligence Commission.

“It’s hard to see how it could get any worse,” Rohan Pike, a former Australian Federal Police detective and Border Force member, tells Reason. Pike, who created and led Australia’s Illicit Tobacco Strike Team, says the violence is now an “old-fashioned turf war” and that criminal gangs, attracted by the profits, are fighting to control distribution.

Pike says criminal groups are opening pop-up convenience stores, intimidating legitimate retailers into selling their products, and backing up those threats with “firebombings and other types of violence.” Organized crime syndicates have destroyed hundreds of tobacconists, convenience stores, and hospitality venues, forcing legitimate businesses out. “Every part of the tobacco control policy is uncontrolled at the moment,” says Pike.

Public awareness of the black market rose last year when Katie Tangey, a “completely innocent” 27-year-old woman, was killed in Melbourne in a case of mistaken identity linked to the tobacco wars. “We know it is linked to the illegal tobacco trade. That’s one thing we can say with a high degree of certainty,” Detective Inspector Chris Murray told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. “This was always our fear, that someone would die as a result of the tobacco wars and unfortunately this has come to fruition.”

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Venezuelan Activists: Helicoide Torture Complex Still Active Despite Regime Claims of ‘Shutdown’

The Venezuelan non-governmental human rights organization Justice, Encounter, and Forgiveness (JEP) said this week that the Venezuelan socialist regime’s largest and most infamous torture complex, the Helicoide (“The Helix”), remains operational despite the regime’s claims.

The Helicoide is a structure in southern Caracas’s San Agustín parish built in the 1950s during the dictatorship of Marcos Pérez Jiménez, originally conceived as the world’s first drive-thru shopping mall. The plans never materialized following Pérez Jiménez’s downfall in 1958 and the building remained unfinished.

The Venezuelan socialist regime turned the facility into what has been largely described as the largest torture center in Latin America. Following the arrest of socialist dictator Nicolás Maduro by U.S. forces on January 3, “acting President” Delcy Rodriguez announced that the Helicoide would be shut down and “transformed” into a “cultural center” for local residents of San Agustín.

On Tuesday, over three months since the “shutdown” announcement, JEP explained that the Helicoide remains operational and at least 25 political prisoners are still unjustly detained in the complex.

“We understand that international statements are based on prior institutional commitments and information, but the reality of human rights demands that we compare these announcements with the actual situation of the people affected,” the statement read in part.

“Behind every statistic are families who are still waiting for answers today; therefore, it is not possible to consider a facility closed as long as there are citizens deprived of their liberty inside,” the statement continued.

JEP called upon the international community and organizations to continue monitoring the situation — calling all relevant authorities for transparency regarding the actual status of the Helicoide and the 25 political prisoners still detained at the center.

Hours after JEP published its statement, the organization further denounced that “unusual movements” were reported at the Helicoide, including reports about possible transfers of political prisoners at the complex to other unspecified locations.

“These events raise serious questions and reinforce the perception that last-minute decisions are being made to respond to pressure and international scrutiny, rather than to genuinely correct the reported violations,” JEP’s statement read.

“In the face of this situation, we reiterate that the 25 people deprived of liberty for political reasons who remain in the Helicoide must be released immediately,” the statement continued. “Their transfer to another detention center does not constitute a solution nor represent progress in human rights matters. What is required is their full and unconditional release.”

Following Maduro’s capture, the Venezuelan regime began releasing hundreds of political prisoners unjustly detained across several Venezuelan prisons — including former police officers that spent over 23 years imprisoned.

Although hundreds of political prisoners have been released in the first months of 2026, the Venezuelan non-government organization Foro Penal detailed on Wednesday that the Venezuelan socialist regime still holds at least 404 political prisoners as of Monday, June 1 — including at least one child aged between 14 and 17 years old.

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The Toronto police corruption scandal just keeps getting worse

You are NOT going to believe who is heading up the Project South police corruption investigation. Namely, a corrupt cop!

By way of background, Project South was jointly announced in February by the Toronto Police Service and York Regional Police.

The word “shocking” doesn’t even begin to convey the significance of the scandal.

As we reported back in the wintertime, several police officers and civilian staffers, mostly employed by the Toronto Police Service but also with Peel Regional Police, were put under investigation for guns and drug trafficking, bribery, breach of trust, and even conspiracy to commit murder!

Let us reiterate: these are police officers and civilian staffers of police forces facing numerous criminal charges. In other words, the “good guys”. Allegedly.

Toronto Police Chief Myron Demkiw said at the time that corruption has no place in policing and that the force is committed to leaving no stone unturned and assorted other pronouncements of Grade-A bull-shite.

But in the aftermath of all the hot air, how exactly is this initiative playing out? Especially given that Chief Demkiw promised the public a two-year anti-corruption initiative. Project South would get to the bottom of this scandal. It would re-establish trust in policing. Moving forward, the Toronto Police Service would be all about restoring accountability and transparency.

And if you believe those whoppers, we have some oceanfront property for sale in Saskatoon…

That’s because our ex-cop friend Jay Bannister, who now runs the superb MadLab Press website, found out who Chief Demkiw has appointed to run this anti-corruption unit. Namely, Superintendent Riyaz Hussein.

Who’s that, you ask?

Well for starters, Hussein is a police officer who is no stranger himself when it comes to being arrested and convicted of a crime!

Here’s the skinny: Hussein used to serve as a quasi-judge at the Toronto Police Tribunal where he was in charge of judging bad cops and even handing down sentences to those cops found guilty. All of which is quite rich because Hussein is far from squeaky clean himself.

Back in 2022, according to Oshawa court staff, Hussein pleaded guilty to driving with a blood alcohol level over .80 in connection with a crash that occurred in Pickering, Ont. Hussein, who was apparently as drunk as a skunk at the time of the accident, slammed his unmarked police cruiser into the back of a delivery truck on Highway 401. There was even an open bottle of liquor in his car – Appleton’s Rum to be precise.

When Hussein was arrested by police at the scene of the accident, one officer noted that this reprobate was so inebriated that he could barely stand up.

Hussien was later suspended with pay and, if you can believe it, was back on the job just a month later!

He was also found guilty and sentenced to a one-year driving prohibition and fined $1,560.

He was also demoted to inspector for a year. But get this: he would later be cranked up to superintendent again. Why? Nobody knows.

And the irony could not be more perverse nor profound: the police officer in charge of Project South – the investigation into police corruption – is corrupt himself!

The question arises: what the hell is Chief Demkiw thinking? Why is a convicted drunk driver investigating corrupt cops? Hussein shouldn’t even be employed as a meter maid.

And so much for accountability and disclosure! It’s a joke, albeit one without a punchline.

And this latest sordid chapter in Toronto Police history reminds us of one of our favourite Latin quotes: “Quis custodiet ipsos custodes.” Translation: “Who guards the guardians?”

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Congress Has A New Intelligence Bureau and It’s Spying On Americans Critical Of AI

As rage about artificial intelligence and the data centers powering it grows, Congress is taking notice — not with any legislation or law, but by spying on public opposition.

A newly created intelligence agency of the Congress (yes, it has its own now) is warning that legislators are in danger from an angry public. The U.S. Capitol Police Intelligence Services Bureau, created after January 6 and in parallel to the 18-member Executive Branch intelligence community, laid out the warning in an internal intelligence report produced in April.

“ISB has prepared this Intelligence Note to provide the US Capitol Police and law enforcement personnel with information related to recent threats and attacks likely linked to grievances concerning data centers,” the report says.

There’s only one problem: the report admits that there is no evidence of any actual threat to Congress.

“The US Capitol Police is not investigating any data center-motivated threats to Members of Congress,” the report says.

Nonetheless, it goes on to warn that artificial intelligence “related policies introduced on the Hill and in local communities are likely to continue drawing opposition, increasing potential concerns for public officials.”

The Congressional intelligence office that authored the report was formed in the aftermath of January 6th and justified to bring the congressional police force “in line” with federal intelligence agencies and thereby gain more access to the massive existing intelligence community. The “intelligence note” was also distributed to police organizations and state-level fusion centers across the country.

“We now have a world class intelligence operation,” then-Chief of the U.S. Capitol Police Thomas Manger said last May. “We are significant players in the intelligence community in the Washington, D.C., region and, frankly, all over the country … Whereas before, we were basically just — we were consumers of information. The FBI would give us intelligence, other agencies would give us intelligence. Now we are gathering our own.”

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Freedom Caucus Cheers Committee Passage of Provision to End Biden-Era Auto ‘Kill Switch’

House Freedom Caucus conservatives cheered the passage of an amendment to an appropriations bill that would terminate the so-called the Biden-era auto “kill switch.”

“Taxpayer dollars should not fund a surveillance system that treats every law abiding American driver as a suspect. As we work to address very real problems, we cannot allow our Constitutional liberties to be shredded or create a world where every American driver becomes a node for data gathering,” Rep. Michael Cloud (R-TX) told Breitbart News in a written statement.

When Congress passed the so-called Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act during the Biden administration in 2021, it contained the HALT Drunk Driving Act.

The legislation requires the National Highway Safety Administration (NHTSA) to write new rules that would require automakers to install anti-drunk driving technology within five years. The law orders the agency to require a “passive system” in cars that would monitor a driver’s performance, detect their blood alcohol level (BAC) equal to and exceeding .08, which is the legal limit, and prevent or limit vehicle operation whenever it detects driver impairment.

The law enflamed controversy that the government was planning to mandate a government “kill switch” on all vehicles.

Some auto systems already monitor driver’s eyes and others use accelerators to detect stable inputs to steering. As part of the legislative mandate, NHTSA could mandate such systems.

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