Tag: police state

Lawmakers Slip Censorship Provisions Into Pentagon Spending Bill

The biennial Pentagon budget reauthorization usually presents ample opportunities for wasteful spending, as lawmakers slip provisions into routine legislation that compels the government to purchase unnecessary and overpriced military equipment.

But this year, lawmakers have also quietly pushed changes to the National Defense Authorization Act that aim to silence military personnel and purge the internet of certain information.

One particularly alarming provision comes from Rep. Mike Turner, a Republican from Ohio, which prohibits the Department of Defense from engaging with the Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF), a civil rights group advocating for the separation of church and state.

MRFF represents service members of all religions and denominations, helping them report instances of inappropriate proselytizing and the presence of religious symbols in official military affairs. The organization has previously succeeded in having crusader imagery removed from a Marine squadron and a Bible taken down from display at the F.E. Warren Air Force Base near Cheyenne, Wyoming.

“It is unprecedented in American history that Congress has ever tried to basically extinguish or assassinate a civil rights organization,” said Mikey Weinstein, an attorney, and former Air Force officer who founded the group in 2005.

Under this provision, not only is Defense Department staff prohibited from communicating with MRFF or Weinstein, but the military is also barred from taking any action in response to “any claim, objection, or protest made by the Military Religious Freedom Foundation without the authority of the Secretary of Defense.”

In an interview, Weinstein raised concerns about the impact on a current case involving a Jewish cadet or midshipman at a major military academy, questioning where they would turn for assistance. He emphasized that filing a grievance or simply contacting MRFF by phone could potentially result in a court-martial.

Weinstein believes that Turner holds a grudge against MRFF ever since the organization petitioned for the removal of a Bible from Wright Patterson Air Force Base, which is located in Turner’s Ohio district. The amendment was added to the NDAA without any debate and received unanimous consent from the committee, indicating support from House Democrats as well.

The bill passed the House last Friday and now moves to the Senate, where lawmakers aim to exploit this must-pass legislation to advance another broad restriction on speech.

Senators Amy Klobuchar, a Democrat from Minnesota, and Ted Cruz, a Republican from Texas, are preparing to introduce an amendment to the NDAA that would grant lawmakers extraordinary powers to censor a wide range of information on the internet.

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Thanks for nothing, DEA. Fifty years later, drugs are deadlier and more abundant than ever

As of this week, the United States has “enjoyed” half a century under the thumb of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), a wing of the Department of Justice established in 1973 by former President Richard Nixon. Instead of truly addressing the deepening drug problem in the U.S., the DEA has worsened public health outcomes related to drug use, promoted racially stigmatizing policies, stomped on civil liberties and burned stacks of cash in a vain effort to control the uncontrollable.

There’s no denying the drug situation in the U.S. is dire. Approximately 1 million people have died of overdoses since 1999, many of these deaths driven by powerful opioids like illicit fentanyl and its many analogs. Nonetheless, polydrug use — the mixing of multiple substances — is a far more lethal combination than any drug on its own, as well as the true underbelly of this drug crisis disaster.

Despite decades of increased funding, more seizures and more policing, the DEA cannot seem to make a dent in this crisis. The body count from overdoses continues to rise, and there’s no end to the flow of drugs into the U.S.

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CEO of Worldcoin Says “Something Like World ID Will Eventually Exist…Whether You Like It Or Not”

Right now, it’s about those who voluntarily surrender their biometric data and receive “small sums” in Worldcoin in return for signing up to the World ID scheme.

But if Open AI CEO Sam Altman has anything to say about how Worldcoin, a project within his company, develops – everyone who wants to use the internet will eventually be required to use World ID – or “something like it.”

And right now, it seems that people in several southern European countries, notably Spain and Portugal, are simply itching to give away their iris biometrics as proof of identity and right to a cryptocurrency transfer wallet.

The signup process involves exposing your eyes to what’s known as Worldcoin’s Orb iris scanners. If reports are to be believed, the uptake in Spain, where the scheme first became available a year ago, is better than elsewhere – 150,000 participants in total, 20,000 new ones each day, and Barcelona is the place where a number of Orb scanners will be installed.

Portugal is not far behind, with 120,000 participants, and Germany is said to also be warming up to the project, ever since it started expanding two months ago.

All in all, some 2 million “biometric credentials” are now operated by Worldcoin. Why do people sign up for it?

“Something like World ID will eventually exist, meaning that you will need to verify [you are human] on the internet, whether you like it or not,” Blania said.

“Whether you like it or not” are the “sweet” words everyone does (not) like to hear in connections with something like that, but that is what Worldcoin CEO Alex Blania decided to go for when describing the future.

In it, according to Blania, digital ID will be so prevalent that it will become inevitable, and there will be no escaping verifying the quality of being human (and likely, quite a few more things) online – if one wants to be online at all.

And whether one “likes it or not.” Blania links it to “progress” in “AI,” and predicts this will be happening as soon as within a couple of years.

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“Morality Police” Return to Streets of Iran in New Campaign to Force Islamic Dress on Women

On Sunday, Iranian officials announced a new campaign to force women to wear the Islamic headscarf.

Regime thugs had pulled back from crackdowns following nationwide protests after the murder of 22-year-old Iranian woman Mahsa Amini while in police custody.

Amini died from injuries sustained at the hands of police after her arrest for the “improper” wearing of a hijab.

Iranian men and women protested against the regime’s brutality and paid the price for daring to speak up.  Protestors faced  being fired on with an AK-47 , the indiscriminately firing on protesters in the street from moving vehicles, the murder of Hadis Najafi , a powerful symbol of the uprisings, the kidnapping, torture, rape and murder of Nika Shakarimi,  and a woman being dragged by police and sexually assaulted by a gang of Islamic Republic oppressive forces.

Iranian celebrity chef Mehrshad Shahidi was beaten to death by security forces during anti-hijab protests, reportedly killed by multiple violent baton blows at the hands of security forces just shy of his 20th birthday.

Over a thousand students were allegedly poisoned ahead of a mass protest.

More than 500 protesters were killed and almost 20,000 more were detained.

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Boston mayor Michelle Wu under fire after sending list of critics and protesters to police

Boston Mayor Michelle Wu, a Democrat, is facing criticism for “Nixonian tactics” after her administration admitted to creating a list of her most vocal critics and providing it to local authorities.

“The list was made in response to a request from the Boston Police Department after the Mayor had been harassed and physically intimidated by individuals for several months outside her home, at city functions such as the annual neighborhood parks coffee hours, and at other public events,” Wu spokesman Ricardo Patron said in a statement to the Boston Herald.

The acknowledgment by the administration that it had compiled the document came after the list was uncovered in an email obtained through a public records request by Wu’s opponents, the outlet noted.

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Sucharit Bhakdi & the prosecution of “thought crime”

Eminent and influential “covid” skeptic Dr Sucharit Bhakdi is about to be prosecuted tomorrow, May 23, under German law for:

  1. having incited hatred against a religious group and attacked the human dignity of others by insulting and maliciously disparaging that religious group, while acting in concert in a manner likely to disturb the public peace; and
  2. having publicly trivialized an act committed under the rule of National Socialism of the kind described in Section 6 (1) of the International Criminal Code in a manner likely to disturb public peace.

Now you may or may not agree with Bhakdi’s statements regarding the Jews and Israel. It’s your free right to do either.

You might think he doesn’t go far enough in condemning Israel, or you might think he goes too far. You might think he expressed himself clumsily and without due regard for the difference between Jewish people and the arguably criminal Israeli state. You might think it’s a stretch to describe modern Israel as “worse” than the Nazis, or you might think it’s more than accurate.

But all of that is missing the real point, which is – Bhakdi is being prosecuted for expressing an opinion.

That’s all.

Despite the weasel wording of the accusation, he wasn’t calling for or threatening acts of violence, he wasn’t even “acting in concert” to “disturb the peace” – he was just telling people what he thought.

The real question here isn’t do you agree with him, it’s do you, or any of us, want to live in a world in which a person can be penalized by the state, fined or put in prison, for the thoughts in their head?

For thought crime?

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Appeals Court PAUSES Ban on Biden Big Tech Censorship Collusion

The 5th US Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans has granted a reprieve to the Biden administration in a case concerning its interactions with social media firms over contentious online speech and “misinformation.”

The decision temporarily suspends a preliminary injunction that sought to ban censorship collusion with social media platforms in an order previously issued by US District Judge Terry Doughty.

We obtained a copy of the order for you here.

On July 4th, Judge Doughty passed an injunction that effectively barred various government departments and administration officials from advocating or inciting the suppression or removal of online content considered to be constitutionally protected free speech.

The lawsuit that led to the injunction had been lodged the previous year, alleging that the Biden administration had effectively suppressed free speech through potential regulatory threats and pressure on companies to purge what it classified as “misinformation.”

The dispute particularly centered around topics like COVID-19 vaccines and claims of election fraud.

The legal team representing the Biden administration swiftly sought a stay on the injunction, contending that it was both overly broad and vague.

They raised concerns over the potential implications of the order on the scope of discussions officials could have with social media firms and the content of public statements and that the injunction was preventing them from combating “misinformation.”

Despite these arguments, Judge Doughty declined to suspend his order. In his written denial, he stated that the administration was essentially seeking a stay so it could continue infringing on the First Amendment, a viewpoint the government vehemently disputes.

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All Birth Control Pills, Not Just One, Should Be Over the Counter

On July 13, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) finally allowed women to access one birth control pill over the counter. The FDA signaled in May that this was likely to happen after an advisory panel recommended that the agency approve over-the-counter marketing of the progestin-only oral contraceptive Opill, manufactured by the Dublin-based Perrigo Company. Progestin-only oral contraceptives have been around since 1973. Dubbed the “mini pill,” these contraceptives have their limitations.

For example, women must take the pill at the same time every day, within a three-hour window. If they miss the window, they must discontinue the pill and begin again with the next cycle. With standard birth control pills that combine estrogen and progesterone, women who miss a daily dose can double up the next day. Women who take progestin-only pills have a slightly lower risk of developing blood clots that can break off and travel through the body (venous thromboembolism, or VTE) than they do with combination pills. But the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG), which has for decades advocated making all hormonal contraceptives available over the counter for women of all ages, states the risk of VTE “with combined oral contraceptive use is small compared with the increased risk of VTE during pregnancy and the postpartum period.”

ACOG is not the only medical professional organization calling to free the birth control pill. It is joined by the American Academy of Family Physicians and the American Medical Association. And most reproductive health care providers surveyed in 2016 favored over-the-counter birth control pills. These medical experts, who get paid to evaluate women and prescribe hormonal contraceptives, have the financial incentive to argue for maintaining the status quo. When they repeatedly assert that women do not need their services to obtain birth control pills, regulators should take notice.

The FDA approved over-the-counter emergency contraception, the so-called morning-after pill, for women of all ages in 2013. These pills (for example, Plan B) usually contain high progestin levels. But standard birth control pills can also be used for emergency contraception. The required dose is 8-10 pills. The FDA denies women over-the-counter access to contraceptives with one-eighth to one-tenth the potency of over-the-counter emergency contraceptives.

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House And Senate Both Move To Keep Blocking D.C. Marijuana Sales But Protecting State Medical Cannabis Laws

House and Senate appropriators have approved large-scale annual spending bills that once again include language to protect state medical cannabis programs, as well as a controversial rider to block Washington, D.C. from implementing a system of regulated marijuana sales.

The Senate and House Appropriations Committee both held markups of Fiscal Year 2024 spending legislation for Financial Services and General Government (FSGG) on Thursday. And the Senate panel, as well as a House subcommittee, have also advanced their appropriations measures for Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies (CJS).

Aside from the state medical cannabis and D.C. marijuana sales provisions, House lawmakers rejected a GOP-led amendment to the chamber’s FSGG report that would have called on the federal government to take steps to study other state cannabis regulatory models and develop a national legalization framework.

Lawmakers have consistently attempted to use appropriations measures as vehicles for cannabis reform, with mixed results. Even with Democrats in control of both chambers last session, efforts to expand marijuana protections to all legal states and enact limited cannabis banking reform stalled out following bicameral negotiations.

A rider to protect state medical cannabis programs from federal intervention, meanwhile, has been annually renewed each year since 2014—and appropriators in both chambers agreed again this Congress to keep that language intact in their respective base bills as they advance.

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Man found dead nearly 6 hours after running from Fuquay-Varina police officer

Melvis Harris and her family are desperate for answers to her son’s death. She doesn’t understand how Bryan Harris, who she calls BJ, ended up dead.

“They wouldn’t let us come in here and see my child. My baby boy,” she said Thursday evening inside her Fuquay – Varina home

The 36-year-old father of three died six hours after an interaction with Fuquay-Varina Police. It all started shortly before midnight, on Wednesday. Officers said they attempted a traffic stop after Harris who was seen leaving a Citgo Gas Station pulled in front of a truck nearly causing an accident.

Police said Harris didn’t stop for officers until he made it to his parent’s home on Fayetteville Street, less than a mile away. His father Terry Harris said he was outside when Harris showed up. “He got out and he ran and police pulled up and run behind and he went and called for the canine,” Harris recalled.

Police said Harris jumped from an embankment behind his parents’ home. Officers called in Holly Springs K-9 to help search. The police chief, Brandon Medina said after an hour and a half they called off the search.”BJ laid out there he told me that he laid out there in the woods all night long to five o’clock this morning,” continued Terry Harris.

That’s when his parents said their son showed up on their doorsteps. An hour later he wasn’t breathing. “He just kept saying I’m hurting, I’m hurting. The time he took a sip of that cold water. He went out here, hit the floor and his eyes rolled back. And she started hollering and then crying. And she said Terry he ain’t breathing.”

The family said something happened to their son once he made it over the embankment and they believe officers were behind it. They walked us to the bottom of that embankment directly behind the house pointing out what they believe to be blood stains.

“It looked like they’ve been fighting and so my concern, my question would be did they beat my son and leave him for dead,” asked Terry Harris.

But the Fuquay-Varina Police Chief Brandon Medina who watched the body camera video denies those allegations.

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