Tag: police state

Authorities Arrest Chicago Pharmacist For Selling Vaccine Cards. He Could Face Decades In Prison

A Chicago pharmacist was arrested Tuesday for allegedly selling COVID-19 vaccination cards online.

Federal agents arrested pharmacist Tangtang Zhao on Tuesday, alleging he sold 125 authentic Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) vaccination cards on eBay, the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced. Zhao sold the cards to 11 different buyers for around $10 a card, according to the DOJ.

“Knowingly selling COVID vaccination cards to unvaccinated individuals puts millions of Americans at risk of serious injury or death,” FBI special agent Emmerson Buie Jr. said in the announcement. “To put such a small price on the safety of our nation is not only an insult to those who are doing their part in the fight to stop COVID-19, but a federal crime with serious consequences.”

Zhao was indicted on 12 counts of theft of government property. Zhao allegedly stole the cards from his workplace, a pharmacy which administered COVID-19 vaccines.

Zhao made his first appearance in court Tuesday, and faces up to 10 years in federal prison per count, according to the DOJ.

Keep reading

DHS considers using January 6 to justify mass social media surveillance of citizens

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is considering hiring private firms to analyze public social media posts for extremism “red flags”, sparking debate on such threat monitoring without violating the civil liberties of citizens.

The DHS and other law enforcement and intelligence agencies were blamed by the media for ignoring the signs of the Jan. 6 riot in Capitol Hill through content shared on social media platforms.

According to a report in the Wall Street Journal, the DHS is considering hiring private firms to analyze public social media posts.
Sources claim that the effort, which is still under discussion and has not received funding, would involve sifting through public social media posts for narratives providing leads in potential attacks, whether by domestic or foreign actors.

“What we’re talking about now is dramatically expanding our focus,” said John Cohen, the DHS official spearheading the project.
However, the project has sparked debate within the agency and the White House on the balance between security efforts and the protection of civil liberties. Some feel that sifting through social media posts is governmental overreach, a concern shared by civil and digital rights advocacy groups.

Keep reading

Entire Country of New Zealand Put Under Lockdown After Just ONE Single COVID Case

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has put the entire country under lockdown after just one single case of COVID was discovered.

Yes, really.

After the isolated case was detected in Auckland, the first nationwide in 6 months, Kiwis across the country were told they’d be placed under a full lockdown for the next 3 days.

“Auckland and Coromandel – a coastal town where the infected person also spent time – will be in lockdown for seven days,” reports Sky News.

New Zealand will now be placed under its first full national lockdown for the first time since the original lockdown over a year ago.

Schools, offices, businesses, and all other “non-essential” venues will now all be shut down, with citizens only allowed outside to exercise, buy food and seek emergency medical treatment.

“Delta has been a game-changer, we’re responding to that,” said Ardern. “The best thing we can do to get out of this as quickly as we can is to go hard.”

Keep reading

Vax or Jail? The Dilemma Facing Some Americans

Brandon Rutherford was recently presented with a dilemma in an Ohio courtroom: get vaccinated or face incarceration.

The 21-year-old was sentenced to two years probation for fentanyl possession by Judge Christopher Wagner of Hamilton County, Ohio on August 4, but his sentence came with a twist: he was ordered to get a COVID vaccine as a condition of his probation.

Should Rutherford fail to comply, he could be sent to jail for up to 18 months.

“I’m just a judge, not a doctor, but I think the vaccine’s a lot safer than fentanyl, which is what you had in your pocket,” Wagner told Rutherford.

Wagner gave Rutherford 60 days to get vaxxed and said, “You’re going to maintain employment. You’re not going to be around a firearm. I’m going to order you, within the next two months, to get a vaccine and show that to the probation office.”

The judge only knew Rutherford’s vaccination status in the first place because he questioned him when he arrived in court wearing a mask—a rule Wagner put in place for any unvaccinated people in his courtroom.

Rutherford was outraged by the mandate.

“Because I don’t take a shot they can send me to jail? I don’t agree with that,” he said. “I’m just trying to do what I can to get off this as quickly as possible, like finding a job and everything else. But that little thing (COVID vaccine) can set me back.”

The judge’s order created a stir, prompting Wagner to issue a response.

“Judges make decisions regularly regarding a defendant’s physical and mental health, such as ordering drug, alcohol, and mental health treatment,” he wrote in a statement. He also said it was his responsibility to “rehabilitate the defendant and protect the community.”

Wagner is not the only Ohio judge to take such actions. He joined judges in Franklin and Cuyahoga counties who made similar demands.

Keep reading

Will $500M for Smart Cities in Historic US Senate Spending Bill Fund Biometric Surveillance?

Half a billion dollars was written into the $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill passed Wednesday by the U.S. Senate to pay cities to experiment with technologies for ‘Strengthening Mobility and Revolutionizing Transportation,’ which could include remote biometric systems, sensors and drones.

Reaction to the inclusion was rapid. The Intercept spoke with a senior staff attorney of the Electronic Frontier Foundation who said the ‘SMART’ money will buy more surveillance using facial recognition. The industry has yet to convince critics alleging face biometrics introduce racial and gender bias and misuse by law enforcement of the technology’s safety.

Also of concern is how this technology, if not the funding, will become tangled with relevant military programs as has happened with other software and hardware being deployed to monitor and quell dissent.

Keep reading

‘Who Could Be That Dumb’: Top Democrat Wants Federal Crackdown on Fake Vaccine Cards

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said that the federal government needs to crack down on the proliferation of fake COVID-19 vaccination cards in the midst of restrictions and rhetoric around vaccine passports.

The majority leader, in an announcement, called for “all-out enforcement” by the federal government.

“They are paying money for a fake card and risking prosecution,” said Schumer, holding up a picture of a falsified Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) card. “Who could be that dumb, who could be that dumb, the vaccine is free, the vaccine is safe, get the vaccine.”

Schumer said that the practice is illegal while saying that there needs to be a federal education campaign showing that it is against the law to sell or buy a fake card.

“Too many people,” he said, “are looking to buy them.”

Schumer is demanding U.S. Customs and Border Protection and the FBI team up with officials from the Department of Health and Human Services to launch a crackdown on the counterfeit cards and start a campaign to make clear that forging the cards could land people in federal prison.

He also wants the Justice Department to immediately prioritize cases involving fake vaccine cards and is pushing for Customs and Border Protection to work harder to find counterfeit cards being sent from overseas.

Keep reading