Tag: police state

‘Huge mistake’: SWAT raided wrong home looking for fugitive who wasn’t there and caused $16,000 in damages, lawsuit says

An Indiana woman alleges a SWAT team caused $16,000 in damages to her home in a raid searching for a fugitive they mistakenly thought was inside using the internet to get onto Facebook, a new lawsuit said.

Amy Hadley said police launched dozens of tear gas grenades into her South Bend home in June 2022 and ransacked it, making it uninhabitable for days until fumes dissipated enough to breathe inside.

The police raid destroyed family photos and childhood drawings, clothes, electronics, and furniture, she said. Insurance partially covered the damages, but South Bend and St. Joseph County government agencies rejected her pleas for compensation.

“Amy did nothing wrong to invite the destruction that government officials deliberately inflicted on her property,” said her attorney, Marie Miller, with the nonprofit Institute for Justice, a law firm that protects property rights nationwide, in a news release. “The public as a whole, not Amy alone, must pay for the cost of that law enforcement action.”

In a statement through her lawyer, Hadley said she was traumatized.

“The raid turned our lives and our home upside down,” she said. “The police clearly made a huge mistake, but there has never been an apology for the way we were treated or an offer to cover the damage. If one of the agencies won’t take responsibility, I hope the court will make them.”

A spokesperson for South Bend declined to comment, citing pending litigation. A representative for St. Joseph County did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Law&Crime.

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America Today Is Governed By A Version Of The “Divine Right Of Kings”

Every time I hear the word “progressive” used to describe a person’s political philosophy, I know I am communicating with a person who thinks progressive is equal in nature to the word “advancing” or “improving.” A better way to understand the term progressive in today’s America is to think of it as regressive – or regressing back in time to use the same failed ideas that have forever plagued mankind. In fact, from 1912 to 1920, a Progressive Party formed in American politics whose desire was to embrace the radical liberal traditions that have been repackaged and resold for generations.

These failed ideas are like the worst white elephant gifts in history, repeatedly sold as new and shiny each time. The pretty wrapping, when removed, exposes a “gift” quickly handed off to the next person once seen for what it is. Eventually, everybody is left holding something they do not want and cannot get rid of. Let the gift giver and receiver beware: the shiny wrapping only temporarily disguises the communist, fascist, socialist, atheistic, and morally depraved ideas contained within. Communism is still communism, even when “bourgeoisie” and “proletariat” are replaced by “diversity, equity, and inclusion.”

I am reminded of Ecclesiastes Chapter 1,

What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun. Is there anything of which one can say, “Look! This is something new”? It was here already, long ago; it was here before our time.[i]

There is another old idea that hangs around, but only in another form. The “Divine Right of Kings” was a political and religious doctrine used by monarchs to claim divine and absolute authority and not have to answer the people or for any actions they took necessary to maintain their own power. Loyal people would surround the throne, taste the royal’s wine, and take the fall when needed. The goal was to have an entire system around the throne to protect them and keep those annoying, unwashed peasants and deplorables away.

In America, we have no King or Queen, but we do have a uniparty that thinks it does not answer to the people. They use a corrupt system to run interference for them. This system of agencies does not wear armor or carry pikes but acts similarly. Pick the agency, and you will find them surrounding the throne that is the entirety of the corrupt and evil Washington, D.C. system.

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NY County Announces Travel Bans For ‘Catastrophes’, Introduces ‘Movement Passes’ For ‘Essential Workers’

A New York county announced the launch of a travel ban initiative where “essential workers” can apply for an exemption in the event of a state of emergency or other “catastrophe.”

Erie County officials claimed exemptions from their new online portal will be used by employers during winter storms and other emergencies when a driving ban has been declared.

“The travel exemption portal will define specific categories of workers using a tiered concept to identify who would be exempt from a travel ban in order to commute to and from their place of employment,” the news release said.

“The list of essential employees will be reviewed annually and employers will be asked to provide updates when an essential employee’s work status changes for any reason that warrants removal from the exemption list.”

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Narrative vs. Reality

As the march towards election day 2024 approaches, the narratives that define the election season take shape now. The current battle is over the economic narrative. Journalists and pundits are disturbed that Americans do not realize how things are better today than they were in January of 2021. Why can the plebeians not see the contorted statistical truth? This is part of the failed return to normalcy narrative that was the sales pitch in 2020, but it is one that the managerial class is not a monolith on and this makes the most loyal regime elements upset. This gap between message and reality on the ground is an issue and will be a growing issue as the regime is desperate for legitimacy.

In the complex tapestry of political regimes, the manipulation of economic statistics stands as a formidable tool for those seeking to maintain a facade of stability and control. China’s statistics have been mocked for years as detached from reality or unreliable in an effort to sell to Chinese citizens and potential foreign clients that everything is growing fast. The CCP has delivered to millions, but maybe not as fantastic as they proclaim. We can see the intricate interplay between questionable legitimacy and the strategic concealment of recessions, unraveling the motives behind such actions and their profound implications for both governance and the governed.

At the heart of this deceptive play lies the inherent connection between economic performance and political legitimacy. A regime faced with doubts about its mandate to govern may resort to fabricating economic indicators to project an image of prosperity. By doing so, it seeks to bolster public confidence, portraying itself as a capable steward of the nation’s well-being. At this point in American history with the gulf between the ideology of the governing class and nearly half of its internal subjects, delivering on prosperity is a major support for their continued rule.

One primary motive for such manipulation is the fear of unrest and dissent. A government with questionable legitimacy understands that economic downturns can serve as potent catalysts for public discontent. A recession brings with it rising unemployment, falling incomes, and a general sense of insecurity. By concealing the true extent of economic challenges, the regime attempts to maintain a semblance of normalcy, suppressing the potential for mass protests or calls for political change. Americans know the federal government will jail those who walk around the Capitol during a riot, but could they throw thousands more into jail for basic protests.

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CATFISHED BY COPS

HOW’S THE BACKYARD, Jason? Is there somewhere we can talk?”

It was May 20, 2020, at the height of the pandemic, and an FBI SWAT team had raided the house Jason Fong shared with his parents in Orange County, California. Fong, a 24-year-old Chinese American who, until recently, had been a U.S. Marine Corps reservist, sat handcuffed in the back of a police cruiser outside.

“Just a couple of chairs at the back table,” he told the Irvine police detective and FBI agent questioning him.

Fong led the two lawmen to the backyard, where all three sat at a table near the pool. A body camera worn by FBI Special Agent Thuan Ngo recorded the conversation. Fong, still handcuffed, wore a blue button-down shirt and a white face mask. The family dog wandered around, happily wagging its tail.

“How long have you had this dog?” the detective, Michael Moore, asked.

“Since I was 16,” Fong answered.

Moore read Fong his Miranda rights; Ngo advised him that making a false statement to a federal agent is a felony.

“Let’s back up a little bit,” Moore said. “What are some big changes that have occurred in your life? You converted to Islam?”

“Yeah,” Fong answered.

The detective asked Fong how he became a Muslim, how many guns he owned, and how he used social media.

“I followed a couple of pages that were just mainly Muslim, like, shitposting, kinda just like —”

“Muslim what?” Ngo interrupted, apparently stumped by the word “shitposting.” “I’m sorry?”

“Kind of just, like, meme pages,” Fong answered. “A lot of them make jokes about stupid stuff, like extremism and all that stuff — things I do not condone. … They make memes about extremism in a joking manner.”

Fong described how he communicated with like-minded people on the internet, mostly in the joking or ironic ways of the extremely online. “It’s just satire,” he said, adding that he tried to dissuade anyone who appeared to take a genuine interest in extremist ideologies and groups.

But the federal agent kept pushing. He asked if anyone Fong knew via the chat group claimed to support terrorists. He asked for usernames.

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EU Hits Musk With X Probe On Possible ‘Disinformation’

European Commissioner Thierry Breton announced an investigation into Elon Musk’s ‘free speech’ social media platform X for failure to combat ‘illicit content and disinformation.’ This is the first major probe the EU has opened up on X since last year’s passing of a new law called the “Digital Services Act.” 

“Today we open formal infringement proceedings against @X” under the Digital Services Act, European Commissioner Breton wrote in a post on Monday morning on X. 

“The Commission will now investigate X’s systems and policies related to certain suspected infringements,” spokesman Johannes Bahrke told reporters in Brussels, adding, “It does not prejudge the outcome of the investigation.”

The investigation is centered on whether X failed to stop the spread of ‘illegal content’ (in other words, non-approved government narratives) and whether the Community Notes feature is enough to combat “information manipulation.” 

An investigation into X’s business practices was signaled by the EU as early as October, following the Israel-Gaza conflict in which officials warned that “terrorist and violent content and hate speech” was spreading on the social media platform. 

“The time of big online platforms behaving like they are ‘too big to care’ has come to an end,” Breton stated. 

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Is Free Speech A Relic In America?

Is the First Amendment becoming a historic relic? On July 4, 2023, federal judge Terry Doughty condemned the Biden administration for potentially “the most massive attack against free speech in United States history.” That verdict was ratified by a federal appeals court decision in September 2023 that concluded that Biden administration “officials have engaged in a broad pressure campaign designed to coerce social-media companies into suppressing speakers, viewpoints, and content disfavored by the government.”

In earlier times in America, such policies would have faced sweeping condemnation from across the political spectrum. But major media outlets like the Washington Post have rushed to the barricades to defend the Biden war on “misinformation.” Almost half of Democrats surveyed in September 2023 affirmed that free speech should be legal “only under certain circumstances.” Fifty-five percent of American adults support government suppression of “false information” – even though only 20 percent trust the government.

The broad support for federal censorship is perplexing considering that courts have vividly laid out the government’s First Amendment violations. Doughty delivered 155 pages of damning details of federal browbeating, jawboning, and coercion of social-media companies. Doughty ruled that federal agencies and the White House “engaged in coercion of social media companies” to delete Americans’ comments on Afghanistan, Ukraine, election procedures, and other subjects. He issued an injunction blocking the feds from “encouraging, pressuring, or inducing in any manner the removal, deletion, suppression, or reduction of content containing protected free speech.”

Censors reigned from the start of the Biden era. Barely two weeks after Biden’s inauguration, White House Digital Director Rob Flaherty demanded that Twitter “immediately” remove a parody account of Biden’s relatives. Twitter officials suspended the account within 45 minutes but complained they were already “bombarded” by White House censorship requests at that point.

Biden White House officials ordered Facebook to delete humorous memes, including a parody of a future television ad: “Did you or a loved one take the COVID vaccine? You may be entitled….” The White House continually denounced Facebook for failing to suppress more posts and videos that could inspire “vaccine hesitancy” — even if the posts were true. Facebook decided that the word “liberty” was too hazardous in the Biden era; to placate the White House, the company suppressed posts “discussing the choice to vaccinate in terms of personal or civil liberties.”

Flaherty was still unsatisfied and raged at Facebook officials in a July 15, 2021, email: “Are you guys f–king serious?” The following day, President Biden accused social-media companies of “killing people” by failing to suppress all criticism of COVID vaccines.

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People With Past Convictions Shouldn’t Be Blocked From Marijuana Industry Work, Massachusetts Regulators Say

This fall, the Cannabis Control Commission’s regulations to implement Massachusetts’s equity reform law became official, representing the most wide-ranging changes to the Commonwealth’s regulated marijuana marketplace in six years and a historic accomplishment for advocates, operators, regulators and the legislature. As a result, our agency is now entrusted with oversight of local contracts between host communities and licensees, as well as efforts at the municipal level to increase inclusivity in the industry. However, a single legislative update may provide the greatest opportunity for individuals directly impacted by the war on drugs.

The marijuana employment amendment—passed unanimously by the state Senate before being adopted in the House and then signed into law by Gov. Charlie Baker (R) in August 2022—now bans all prior criminal convictions, including marijuana offense-related dispositions, from automatically disqualifying individuals from working for most cannabis licensees unless the offense involved distribution of a controlled substance to a minor. In doing so, the Commonwealth has cleared the way for gainful employment in the legal industry by the communities most impacted by drug policies that disproportionately incarcerated people of color, and eliminated a blanket regulatory ban that previously prevented employers from even considering their hire.

Legalization brought a sense of hope, belonging and inspiration for those most impacted by marijuana prohibition; many believed it would address historical injustices, make products safer and bring economic gains to those harmed by previous policies. Fortunately, much of that vision has come to fruition.

Today, Massachusetts’s adult-use cannabis industry has generated more than $5 billion in sales, or roughly $1 billion in tax revenue, and millions more in non-tax revenue through licensing and application fees. More than 570 licensed marijuana establishments have commenced operations, 102 medical marijuana treatment centers are open and nearly 100,000 residents are now registered medical patients. Hundreds of entrepreneurs, and more than 20,0000 employees, benefit from growing, manufacturing and selling the biggest cash crop in our state.

However, over that time, only 67 participants in the commission’s programming to include communities harmed by the war on drugs have opened businesses (158 more are in the licensing pipeline), while less than 15 percent of the current workforce identifies as Black or Latino.

Despite our best efforts, equity is coming slowly. The high cost of compliance, combined with limited access to capital, have kept barriers to entry high. The state’s new cannabis equity law has mandated solutions to many of these problems, including the creation of the Cannabis Social Equity Trust Fund administered by the Executive Office of Economic Development.

But to truly eliminate all collateral consequences of the drug war, it was also important to remove unnecessary blanket prohibitions that prevented people with criminal records from obtaining jobs like the ones they did before legalization. Employment has proven to be one of the most effective tools for reintegration and reducing recidivism.

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Colorado Cops Falsely Arrested Him for a DUI. Now He’s Getting a $400,000 Settlement.

Harris Elias was driving home one night in January 2020 when he was pulled over by a Loveland, Colorado, police officer and falsely accused of driving drunk. Even after a breathalyzer test proved that he was sober, Elias was forced to take a blood test—which again proved his sobriety. 

After the arrest, Elias filed a lawsuit against the officer who arrested him. This week, the city of Loveland agreed to pay $400,000 to settle the case.

At around 10:30 p.m. on January 4, 2020, Elias was driving home from his girlfriend’s house when he was pulled over by Loveland police officer William Gates, who was part of a DUI-specific task force. Gates claimed that Elias failed to signal a lane change—a claim Elias disputes.

“Officer Gates regularly claims (falsely) that the drivers he arrests for DUI did not signal a lane change,” claimed Elias’ suit, which was filed in January 2022. “Gates does so because this is one of the most difficult allegations to disprove, given that Loveland PD does not employ dash cams (only bodycams) and so never capture the arrested individual’s actual driving.”

The lawsuit claims that Gates attempted to confuse Elias by asking him several questions extremely quickly, including “nearly simultaneously” asking Elias for his license and registration and how much he had drank that night. 

According to the complaint, Elias found the encounter unnerving, and after fulfilling his legal obligation to provide license and insurance, he informed Gates that he was using his right to remain silent and would not answer further questions. Gates replied, in an apparent attempt to create evidence that Elias was drunk, “Well, I smell the overwhelming odor of alcohol coming from your vehicle.” 

After Elias again refused to answer further questions, Gates returned to his patrol vehicle and called for additional officers. When two more police officers arrived, they eventually decided to arrest Elias and take him to the Loveland Police Station for a breathalyzer test.

Even though Elias’ breathalyzer test showed a 0.000 percent blood alcohol content level, Gates insisted that Elias must have been intoxicated and ordered him to take a blood test. According to the lawsuit, Elias requested an attorney at this point, but “Gates told him no, that he needed to agree to comply with a blood test now or he was going to mark him as a refusal and his license would be revoked.”

Elias eventually agreed to take the test. Nearly three months later, the results again came back negative, and the case against him was dismissed entirely. But this wasn’t the end of Elias’ troubles. Elias was a Federal Aviation Administration–licensed pilot, meaning that a false DUI arrest threatened his livelihood.

The FAA “has some of the most strict mandatory reporting requirements known to any agency. The penalty for failure to report can lead to an emergency revocation of all certificates (i.e., complete revocation of his pilot’s license),” the lawsuit reads, noting that this kicked off an incredibly stressful and complex process to report and explain his arrest. Even though the case was dropped, “Elias will have to report this wrongful arrest on every medical renewal with the FAA for the rest of his life.”

But some justice was served this week when the city of Loveland agreed to pay Elias a $400,000 settlement to end the lawsuit.

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4th Generation Devastation: The West Has Been Targeted In A Cowardly Globalist Mind War

When I first encountered the concept of 4th Generation Warfare around 20 years ago I was studying the basics of propaganda and how it works. While the core issue is deeply disturbing on a number of levels I also found it fascinating – the ways in which governments and elitists have endeavored to control the masses while at the same time trying to avoid direct confrontation whenever possible.

With the advent of civilian populations armed with military-grade weaponry and familiar with the training required for combat, elitist groups realized (post American Revolution) that dominating the public with military might was no longer a sure bet. They had to engage in a new kind of warfare using psychological attacks until they could weaken and disarm the populace. The new system of oppressing was about mental coercion; to make people believe that the authoritarian ideal is inevitable.

One part of this strategy involves using economic leverage for social engineering. A hundred years ago it was more about banks creating an endless series of debt mechanisms and controlling the issuance of currencies. Today, corporate elites are expanding – they want to change the very nature of money through Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs). By extension, they’re also trying to influence public behavior by attaching “social justice” ideology to economic participation through ESG.

In other words, if you want to have access to credit or money and have the ability to compete in the new “inclusive” marketplace, you will have to bow to the woke religion. If you refuse, your access to trade could be shut down completely, and you and your family could starve.

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