Tag: police state

Dozens of Armed IRS Agents In Tactical Gear Raid Florida Business

Dozens of armed IRS agents recently raided a Florida business, with witnesses telling a local news outlet that they were stunned by the show of force by the tax agency.

At least 25 to 30 IRS agents in tactical gear executed a search warrant at a business in Stuart, Florida, last week, according to Fox 29.

“It was like a scene from a movie,” an unnamed witness told the outlet. “They had the big gear, tactical gear because they probably didn’t know what they were walking into.”

An IRS spokesperson confirmed to The Epoch Times in an emailed statement that the agents were from the IRS Criminal Investigations (IRS-CI) unit, a division whose agents investigate crimes like fraud and tax evasion.

The agents, who are authorized to carry guns as their work can be dangerous, were at the location on “official business,” the spokesperson added.

The unnamed witness told Fox 29 that it appeared that the agents were removing evidence from the business in bags and boxes.

While details remain scant on the raid, the show of force by IRS agents was noteworthy as it recalled Republican criticism of a funding boost to the agency amid concerns that it would be used to hire more tax enforcers who would target ordinary Americans.

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New York Republicans want to ban cannabis use in public

Republicans in the state Legislature are calling for a ban on smoking and consuming cannabis in public places in New York as the legal marketplace is taking hold. 

The measure, backed by state Sen. George Borrello and Assemblyman Michael Novakhov, would allow local governments to put local laws in place to ban the public consuming of marijuana. 

“State residents, including children, are now regularly assailed with the pungent odor of marijuana on public sidewalks, in parking lots and other public spaces,” Borrello said. “Many New Yorkers don’t want to be exposed to either the effects of marijuana smoke or its smell and don’t want their children subjected to it.”

New York first legalized cannabis in 2021, though the marketplace for legal retail sales has been slow to build. Lawmakers who supported legalization have framed it around the need to reverse the enforcement of previously harsh marijuana laws that were previously in place. 

State lawmakers and Gov. Kathy Hochul earlier this year moved to address the sale of cannabis without a license through civil fines and the potential closure of businesses. 

Regulators are also trying to encourage further legal cannabis sales, including allowing sales at public events.

Republicans want fines of up to $125 for consuming marijuana in a public space. The Clean Air Act, as well as local bans on smoking, already place limits on marijuana smoking in public. 

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Former Detroit police commissioner admitted to paying $10 for sexual favors, officers said

Former Detroit Police Commissioner Bryan Ferguson admitted to officers that he had paid a prostitute $10 in exchange for sexual favors in Detroit on July 12, according to a citation obtained by the Detroit Free Press.

“Yes, I gave her $10 dollars for it,” the citation says Ferguson told undercover narcotics officers from the Wayne County Sheriff’s Office that caught him parked in his car in Detroit that morning engaging in a sex act with the prostitute.

“I’m sorry, I know I was wrong.”

That’s not what Ferguson said to the public. He previously denied the allegations, characterized them as a “big misunderstanding,” and said the woman was unknown to him and that she had attempted to enter his vehicle.

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Hundreds of state troopers may have falsified thousands of traffic tickets, audit finds

Connecticut state police troopers may have falsified thousands of traffic tickets.

WFSB reports a recent audit found nearly 26,000 fake tickets.

According to an internal investigation, troopers falsified tickets for their own personal benefit as those who appear productive are often eligible for federally funded overtime.

And lawmakers are now demanding answers.

Governor Ned Lamont said those who intentionally wrote bogus tickets should be let go, including management.

The audit also reportedly found that troopers not only falsified thousands of tickets but more than 32,000 were inaccurate.

“Those people should go, and I think their management should take a look at themselves as well,” Lamont said.

Ken Barone with the Public Policy Institute at the University of Connecticut pushed for the audit.

According to Barone, this has raised concerns about skewing racial profiling data.

“The records that should have been likely reported to the system were not,” Barone said.

Officials said it’s possible hundreds of state troopers were involved in falsifying tickets.

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Japan To Deploy Pre-Crime Style “Behavior Detection” Technology

The Japan National Police Agency has decided to adopt AI-enhanced pre-crime surveillance cameras to bolster the security measures surrounding VIPs.

This step comes in response to the commemoration of the shocking assassination of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and the rising threats posed by what the government called “lone offenders.”

The use of AI in law enforcement is becoming commonplace globally. A 2019 study by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace revealed that 52 out of the 176 nations surveyed were incorporating AI tools into their policing strategies, Nikkei Asia reported.

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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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