Tag: police state

FBI secretly pressured Americans to ‘voluntarily’ give up gun rights

The FBI secretly pressured Americans into signing forms that relinquish their rights to own, purchase or even use firearms, according to a trove of internal documents and communications obtained by the Daily Caller News Foundation.

The forms were presented by the FBI to people at their homes and in other undisclosed locations, according to bureau documents unearthed through the Freedom of Information Act by the firearm rights group Gun Owners of America (GOA) and shared with the DCNF. At least 15 people between 2016 and 2019 signed the secret forms, which ask signatories to declare themselves as either a “danger” to themselves or others or lacking “mental capacity adequately to contract or manage” their lives.

Keep reading

“The Regime of Censorship Being Imposed on the Internet is Dangerously Intensifying in Ways I Believe Are Not Adequately Understood”

U.S. journalist Glenn Greenwald has condemned the Government, media and Big Tech for coordinating to censor dissent. Writing on Twitter on Tuesday, the Intercept cofounder blasted those who have taken advantage of a series of ‘crises’ as a pretext to conspire to suppress their ideological opponents. The searing Twitter thread is reproduced in full below.

The regime of censorship being imposed on the internet – by a consortium of Washington D.C. Democrats, billionaire-funded ‘disinformation experts’, the U.S. Security State, and liberal employees of media corporations – is dangerously intensifying in ways I believe are not adequately understood.

A series of “crises” have been cynically and aggressively exploited to inexorably restrict the range of permitted views and expand pretexts for online silencing and deplatforming. Trump’s election, Russiagate, January 6th, Covid and war in Ukraine all fostered new methods of repression.

During the failed attempt in January to force Spotify to remove Joe Rogan, the country’s most popular podcaster – remember that? – I wrote that the current religion of Western liberals in politics and media is censorship: their prime weapon of activism.

But that Rogan failure only strengthened their repressive campaigns. Dems routinely abuse their majoritarian power in D.C. to explicitly coerce Big Tech silencing of their opponents and dissent. This is Government censorship disguised as corporate autonomy.

There’s now an entire new industry, aligned with Dems, to pressure Big Tech to censor. Think tanks and self-proclaimed ‘disinformation experts’ funded by Omidyar, Soros and the U.S./U.K. Security State use benign-sounding names to glorify ideological censorship as neutral expertise.

Keep reading

First Came 9/11, Then COVID-19, What’s The Next Crisis To Lockdown The Nation?

“The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by an endless series of hobgoblins, most of them imaginary.”

– H.L. Mencken

First came 9/11, which the government used to transform itself into a police state.

Then the COVID-19 pandemic hit, which the police state used to test out its lockdown powers.

In light of the government’s tendency to exploit crises (legitimate or manufactured) and capitalize on the nation’s heightened emotions, confusion and fear as a means of extending the reach of the police state, one has to wonder what so-called crisis it will declare next.

It’s a simple enough formula: first, you create fear, then you capitalize on it by seizing power.

Frankly, it doesn’t even matter what the nature of the next national emergency might be (terrorism, civil unrest, economic collapse, a health scare, or the environment) as long as it allows the government to lockdown the nation and justify all manner of tyranny in the so-called name of national security.

Keep reading

Swiss Face Up to 3 Years in Prison For Violating Heating Rules

People in Switzerland who violate the country’s new heating rules which forbid setting the temperature above 19°C (66.2F) in the colder months will face up to three years in prison.

Yes, really.

Under the new rules, buildings that use gas heating systems are restricted to 19°C, while hot water can only be heated up to 60°C and radiant heaters are banned entirely.

It will also be forbidden to heat swimming polls and saunas.

Depending on the severity of the violation and the individual’s economic situation, fines will range from 30 to 3,000 Swiss francs ($30 to $3,050), while people could also be imprisoned for up to three years.

Utility companies and larger businesses would face even more severe penalties for breaking the energy rationing rules.

Despite the brazenly authoritarian restrictions, Economy Minister Guy Parmelin asserted, “We are not a police state,” although he acknowledged police would perform “spot checks” to try to catch violators.

Keep reading

Eric Adams increases restrictions on New Yorkers’ right to buy firearms

New York City Democratic Mayor Eric Adams has pledged to enact door-to-door investigations, including knocking on the doors of applicant’s neighbors, before issuing gun permits to Big Apple residents.

As part of New York’s new gun safety law, NYPD officers will knock on neighbors’ doors as part of the background check investigation requirements of potential gun permit holders.

According to the New York Post, during an interview on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” Thursday morning Adams said, “It is really about using the good, old-fashioned methods of doing an investigation.”

Adams continued, “When I became a police officer, people knocked on my neighbor’s doors and interviewed them and asked what type of person am I.”

Following the US Supreme Court’s decision overturning a 1913 state law mandating individuals to show “proper cause” for carrying firearms in the state, New York officials added extra requirements for individuals seeking concealed carry weapons permits that went into effect on September 1.

Adams, a former police captain, added, “And I think those are the same skills that’s going to be used to look at not only social media but also knocking our neighbors’ doors, speaking to people, finding out who this individual is that we are about to allow to carry a firearm in our city.”

As part of the background checks, applicants will be subjected to an in-person interview, as well as be required to provide four character references, a list of former and current social media accounts spanning three years, and disclose the names of their spouse or any other adults living in their home.

Keep reading

Irish Teacher Gets Jail Time After Refusing to Use a Transgender Student’s Preferred Pronouns

A teacher in the Republic of Ireland has been suspended from teaching and later jailed on contempt charges after he refused to address a transgender student by their preferred pronouns.

Enoch Burke was arrested on Monday for violating a court order that barred him from teaching at Wilson’s Hospital School in Westmeath, the news site RTE.ie reported. In addition to being barred from teaching, Burke is not allowed to set foot on the property, per the court order.

Judge Michael Quinn later found Burke guilty of violating the High Court’s mandate. He was then sent to Mountjoy Prison, where he will remain until either he purges his contempt, or the court gives further orders.

The teacher stood by his refusal even when faced with jail time, telling the judge that “it is insanity” that he would be arrested and taken to prison for refusing to violate his Christian beliefs. “I love my school, with its motto Res Non Verba, ‘Actions not words,’ but I am here today because I said I would not call a boy a girl,” Burke told the court.

The saga began when Burke, who teaches politics and German at the school in Multyfarnham, County Westmeath, refused to address a transgender pupil as “they” instead of “he.” He was soon placed on administrative leave by school officials pending the outcome of an investigation and disciplinary process.

Burke refused to stay away from campus, however. He continued to refuse despite an injunction that barred him from teaching or even setting foot on Wilson’s campus.

On Friday, the judge issued an order to arrest Burke after he was found sitting in an empty classroom at the school. He was arrested at the school on Monday and taken directly to court, where he told the judge that he would not comply with the injunction.

“I am a teacher and I don’t want to go to prison,” Burke told the court. “I want to be in my classroom today, that’s where I was this morning when I was arrested.”

“Transgenderism is against my Christian belief. It is contrary to the scriptures, contrary to the ethos of the Church of Ireland and of my school,” he added.

Keep reading