Police Arrest Ambassador Bridge Truckers In Dawn Raid After Thousands Flock To Demonstration In Ottawa

More than 12 hours after police in Windsor, Ontario arrived on scene to shut down “Freedom Convoy” protests at the Ambassador Bridge, it appears the crowds have finally disperesed in a predawn raid. 

As police arrested the last remaining demonstrators for a protest that has continued for nearly a week and created substantial disruption for commercial traffic across the US-Canada border crossing, the focus shifted to demonstrators who gathered on Ottawa’s Parliament Hill as protests continued for another weekend.

According to the Associated Press, which cited television footage, police arrested the dozen or so die-hard protesters who remained defiantly at the Bridge until the very end.

Television images showed police arresting the few protesters who remained just after dawn near the Ambassador Bridge linking Detroit and Windsor, Ontario — the busiest border crossing to the U.S.

Only two pickup trucks and less than a dozen protesters blocked the road to the bridge before police moved in.

Police on Saturday had persuaded demonstrators to move their pickup trucks and others cars that they used at the entrance to the crossing that sees 25% of all trade between the two countries, though it remained closed.

Meanwhile, videos from Parliament Hill flooded social media as the police put the number of demonstrators at 4K – likely a conservative estimate. The protests, which have been going on since late January, have seen similar numbers during past weekends. All told, this is at least the third weekend that demonstrators have gathered.

The “anti-vaccine” and “anti-lockdown” – according to the AP – demonstrations in Canada continued to inspire similar movements abroad, from Paris to New Zealand, and beyond.

VIdeo from Parliament Hill showed thousands of people who came together to dance, sing, and engage in that new national pastime – mocking the CBC, which apparently blacked out coverage of the protests.

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High-Ranking Cop With ‘Sex Offender Unit’ Busted as Child Sex Offender, Trafficking Child Porn

For years, it was the job of high-ranking Cobb County deputy sheriff, Peter Bilardello, to track and monitor sex offenders in his jurisdiction to protect the town from vile predators. The 51-year-old top cop is no longer in that position though, and now finds himself on the other side of the law. The very unit he was running will now be responsible for tracking and monitoring him after he was busted trafficking in images of child sexual abuse.

Bilardello was indicted this week on charges of distributing and possessing child pornography, the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Northern District of Georgia said in a news release on Wednesday, Feb. 9.

“Bilardello allegedly shared child pornography through social media while he was employed as a law enforcement officer,” said U.S. Attorney Kurt R. Erskine. “The victimization of children is one of the most heinous crimes imaginable, and distributing images of child sexual abuse compounds the harm. It is especially troubling that these crimes were allegedly committed by someone in a position of public trust.”

According to court documents, in November 2019, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) received a report that a MeWe social media user had allegedly uploaded and shared approximately 12 images depicting children under 12 years old in sexually explicit conduct. NCMEC provided that information to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI), who determined that the account user was likely located in Marietta, Georgia.  The GBI then referred the information to the Cobb County Police Department.

It took nearly two years for the Cobb County Police Department to realize the person victimizing young children online — was one of their own.

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Global Freedoms Hit ‘Dismal’ Record Low Amid Pandemic

The state of democracy worldwide fell to a record low in 2021, largely due to pandemic restrictions that have led to many nations placing a public health emergency of arguable severity over personal freedoms, according to a new report released Thursday which rated 167 countries based on various measures including civil liberties and electoral processes.

According to the London-based Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), less than half the world’s population live under some form of democracy.

Overall, the world’s score fell to 5.28 out of 10, setting “another dismal record,” with the EIU’s lowest rating since they began the index in 2006, according to the Washington Post.

The annual decline was the largest since 2010, with the survey finding that just 6.4% of the world lived in a “full democracy” last year, while over 1/3 lied under authoritarian rule – with much of that coming from China.

The decline did not start with the pandemic, but it has compounded negative trends. From lockdowns to travel bans, the coronavirus led to “an unprecedented withdrawal of civil liberties among developed democracies and authoritarian regimes alike,” the report said. -WaPo

It has led to the normalization of emergency powers, which have tended to stay on the statute books, and accustomed citizens to a huge extension of state power over large areas of public and personal life,” reads the report, which adds that the pandemic has exposed inequalities in health care, government mismanagement, and weaknesses in economic ‘safety nets.’

The pandemic has also opened the door for governments to exploit the health crisis in order to suppress political participation.

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DHS says COVID misinformation is inspiring terrorism, but won’t provide any evidence

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) refused to provide evidence to support its claims that COVID-19 “misinformation” and “false or misleading narratives” inspired violent terrorism during 2021.

DHS issued a terrorism advisory bulletin Monday warning that of the dangers of online misinformation, which the agency said has been exploited by “threat actors” and to inspire acts of terrorism.

“The United States remains in a heightened threat environment fueled by several factors, including an online environment filled with false or misleading narratives and conspiracy theories, and other forms of mis- dis- and mal-information (MDM) introduced and/or amplified by foreign and domestic threat actors,” DHS said in the bulletin. “These threat actors seek to exacerbate societal friction to sow discord and undermine public trust in government institutions to encourage unrest, which could potentially inspire acts of violence.”

The agency specified COVID-19 misinformation and false claims about election fraud in particular as contributing to violence.

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While Trying to Kill Fleeing Driver, Cop Mistakenly Shoots Multiple Bystanders

As frequent readers of the Free Thought Project understand, many police officers in the land of the free are often prone to immediately resort to deadly force even in situations in which none is needed. Often times in these situations, as the following case illustrates, this immediate violent escalation places the lives of everyone near that officer or officers in danger.

An investigation — and apparent blackout in the media — is underway this week after an officer with the Columbus Police Department opened fire on a suspect suspected of stealing a vehicle and shot multiple bystanders in the process.

Police have refused to release many details in the matter and are also refusing to answer emails and calls from reporters to get answers to questions. The Georgia Bureau of Investigation have only released the following details.

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Ontario residents cheering on the freedom protests on Facebook get a visit from police

Police in Ontario have admitted to scanning Facebook Groups for those that support the Freedom Convoy protests, finding their addresses and turning up at their doorstep to provide “information” about peaceful protests.

A viral video from a woman has been shared around social media, showing an officer turning up on the doorstep after the woman was taking part in a freedom-focussed Facebook group.

“This is just some information about peaceful protests. That’s all it is,” the officer said on the doorstep after handing the woman a flier.

“Okay, so you saw something on my Facebook,” the woman asked the officer.

“No, on the Facebook group,” the officer replied.

“Okay. And decided to come to my personal residence to give me information about peaceful protests,” the woman asked.

“Yes,” was the officer’s response.

“Are you guys now monitoring people’s Facebook pages or Facebook groups to who comments as to what their… status updates are or what they’re doing or within the group?” the shocked woman asked.

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Decorated ‘Hero’ Cop, Featured on TV — Busted Trying to Have Sex with 12yo, Trafficking Child Porn

Sioux Falls police officer Luke John Schauer was a decorated cop who has been the subject of television interviews and has received multiple awards during his tenure in law enforcement in South Dakota. All of that is meaningless now, however, as his desires of pedophilia have risen to the surface and he is facing down decades in prison.

Schauer was arrested on Tuesday and hit with a slew of charges ranging from the production of child porn to sending lewd images to a child under the age of 16. According to police, Schauer, 28, thought he was communicating with a 12-year-old girl online using the KiK messenging app.

Luckily, however, it was not a child but rather uncover FBI agents involved in a sting. Beginning on Jan. 18 and ending on Feb. 4, when the search warrant was issued for Schauer’s house, this hometown “hero” was having sexually explicit conversations with a person he thought was just 12 years old.

According to the affidavit filed in the case, Schauer sent multiple explicit messages and images to the undercover officer, including images of his genitals. He also encouraged the child to make her own child porn and send it to him.

Police also said Schauer was caught sending lewd materials to another child under the age of 16. Though all the local news stories are referring to Schauer as a “former cop,” he wasn’t fired from the department until his arrest.

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DHS says online “misinformation” is a terror threat

In its latest terrorism threat bulletin, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) labeled online “misinformation” a terror threat.

The bulletin warned about the “proliferation of false or misleading narratives, which sow discord or undermine public trust in U.S. government institutions.”

The DHS further stated that there was an “online environment filled with false or misleading narratives and conspiracy theories, and other forms of mis-, dis- and mal-information introduced and/or amplified by foreign and domestic threat actors.”

“These threat actors seek to exacerbate societal friction to sow discord and undermine public trust in government institutions to encourage unrest, which could potentially inspire acts of violence,” the bulletin stated.

According to the DHS, misinformation could result in “mass casualty attacks.”

It listed unsubstantiated claims about Covid and election fraud as the two main sources of misinformation.

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