Tag: police state

Australia Turns the Rental Market into a Digital ID Testing Ground

Governments around the world are steadily advancing their digital identity programs, presenting them as tools for convenience, security, and modernization across daily life.

Australia has now taken another step in that direction, trialing a new digital ID system in the rental sector while also preparing to introduce nationwide online age verification requirements by the end of this year.

Both systems rely on identity verification and could eventually become interconnected.

The new federal pilot will allow tenants to confirm their identity and financial information online rather than repeatedly providing hard copies of personal documents such as passports, driver’s licenses, or bank statements to multiple real estate agents.

Announced by Finance Minister Katy Gallagher and Home Affairs Minister Clare O’Neil, the trial is intended to test whether digital ID technology can streamline rental applications while reducing the privacy and security risks that come with traditional document sharing.

Led by the Department of Finance and the Treasury, the project combines the government’s Digital ID system with the Consumer Data Right (CDR) framework.

PropertyMe, one of Australia’s largest property management software providers, will oversee the trial in partnership with ConnectID, developed by Australian Payments Plus, and Cuscal, a payments and data services company. Together, they aim to see how digital verification can simplify renting while offering stronger protection for personal data.

“Right now, renters are asked to upload anything from driver licenses and passports to bank statements and payslips, often to several platforms,” said Scott Shepherd, PropertyMe’s Chief Product Officer.

“Products and services now exist that enable us to reimagine that. Renters should be able to prove who they are and their ability to pay rent, without handing over additional information.”

REA Group senior economist Eleanor Creagh supported the pilot’s potential benefits, saying, “The pilot is a sensible reform that may help cut red tape for renters while strengthening data security and transparency in rental applications.”

With the upcoming rollout of age verification laws expected to require proof of identity to access certain online services, there is concern that Australia’s digital infrastructure could gradually merge into a single, far-reaching identity framework.

Such a system could allow both public and private entities to authenticate users across multiple sectors, raising questions about how much control individuals will retain over their data and who will have access to it.

Globally, similar moves are underway in countries such as the UK, Canada, the EU, Singapore, where governments are promoting digital identity systems as a way to verify citizens online.

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Congressional Deal Would Ban Many Hemp THC Products, While Excluding Provisions To Let VA Doctors Recommend Medical Marijuana

Newly released spending legislation negotiated by congressional leaders would federally recriminalize many hemp-derived products. It also excludes provisions previously passed by the House and Senate that would have allowed Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) doctors to begin issuing medical marijuana recommendations to their patients.

The new measure, if enacted into law, would ban certain hemp products that were legalized under the 2018 Farm Bill signed into law by President Donald Trump during his first term.

The negotiated bill “prevents the unregulated sale of intoxicating hemp-based or hemp-derived products, including Delta-8, from being sold online, in gas stations, and corner stores, while preserving non-intoxicating CBD and industrial hemp products,” a summary published on Sunday by the Senate Appropriations Committee says.

Under current law, cannabis products are considered legal hemp if they contain less than 0.3 percent delta-9 THC on a dry weight basis.

The new legislation specifies that, within one year of enactment, the weight would apply to total THC—including delta-8 and other isomers. It would also include “any other cannabinoids that have similar effects (or are marketed to have similar effects) on humans or animals as a tetrahydrocannabinol (as determined by the Secretary of Health and Human Services).”

The new definition of legal hemp would additionally ban “any intermediate hemp-derived cannabinoid products which are marketed or sold as a final product or directly to an end consumer for personal or household use” as well as products containing cannabinoids that are synthesized or manufactured outside of the cannabis plant or not capable of being naturally produced by it.

Legal hemp products would be limited to a total of .4 milligrams of total THC or any other cannabinoids with similar effects.

Within 90 days of the bill’s enactment, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and other agencies would need to publish list of “all cannabinoids known to FDA to be capable of being naturally produced by a Cannabis sativa L. plant, as reflected in peer reviewed literature,” “all tetrahydrocannabinol class cannabinoids known to the agency to be naturally occurring in the plant” and “all other know cannabinoids with similar effects to, or marketed to have similar effects to, tetrahyrocannabinol class cannabinoids.”

The deal was agreed to by Senate Appropriations Committee Chair Susan Collins (R-ME) and Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA), the ranking minority member on the panel, as well as House Appropriations Committee Chair Tom Cole (R-OK). But Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-CT), the top Democrat on the House panel, did not sign off.

The language slightly differs from provisions included in legislation that had previously advanced out of the House and Senate Appropriations panels, which would have banned products containing any “quantifiable” amount of THC, to be determined by the HHS secretary and secretary of agriculture.

Separately, the newly released appropriations legislation excludes language that had been passed by either chamber earlier this year to let VA doctors recommend medical cannabis to their military veteran patients in states where it is legal.

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Trump administration demands states ‘undo’ full SNAP payouts as states warn of ‘catastrophic impact’

President Donald Trump’s administration is demanding states “undo” full SNAP benefits paid out under judges’ orders last week, now that the U.S. Supreme Court has stayed those rulings, marking the latest swing in a seesawing legal battle over the anti-hunger program used by 42 million Americans.

The demand from the U.S. Department of Agriculture came as more than two dozen states warned of “catastrophic operational disruptions” if the Trump administration does not reimburse them for those SNAP benefits they authorized before the Supreme Court’s stay.

Nonprofits and Democratic attorneys general sued to force the Trump administration to maintain the program in November despite the ongoing government shutdown. They won the favorable rulings last week, leading to the swift release of benefits to millions in several states, and the Trump administration belatedly said the program could continue.

On Friday night, however, Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson temporarily paused the two rulings ordering the SNAP disbursement while the nation’s highest court considered the Trump administration’s appeal. That led the Department of Agriculture on Saturday to write state SNAP directors to warn them it now considers payments under the prior orders “unauthorized.”

States could face penalties for paying benefits

“To the extent States sent full SNAP payment files for November 2025, this was unauthorized,” Patrick Penn, deputy undersecretary of Agriculture, wrote to state SNAP directors. “Accordingly, States must immediately undo any steps taken to issue full SNAP benefits for November 2025.”

Penn warned that states could face penalties if they did not comply. It was unclear if the directive applies to states that used their own funds to keep the program alive or to ones relying on federal money entirely. The Department of Agriculture did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

In a filing in federal court on Sunday, the agency said states moved too quickly and erroneously released full money SNAP Benefits after last week’s rulings.

U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, a Republican, on Sunday called the directive “shocking” if it applies to states, like hers, that used their own money to prop up the program.

“It’s one thing if the federal government is going to continue its level of appeal through the courts to say, no, this can’t be done,” Murkowski said. “But when you are telling the states that have said this is a significant enough issue in our state, we’re going to find resources, backfill or front load, whatever term you want, to help our people, those states should not be penalized.”

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EU to establish ‘Ministry of Truth’ – Guardian

The European Union is planning to launch a centralized hub for monitoring and countering what it calls foreign “disinformation,” according to a leaked document seen by the Guardian. Critics have long warned that Brussels’ initiatives amount to the institutionalization of a censorship regime.

According to the European Commission proposal, set to be published on November 12, the so-called Centre for Democratic Resilience will function as part of a broader “democracy shield” strategy, pitched by Commission President Ursula von der Leyen ahead of the 2024 European elections.

Participation in the center will be voluntary, and the Commission has welcomed “like-minded partners” outside the bloc, including the UK and countries seeking accession.

The draft accuses Russia of escalating “hybrid attacks” by disseminating false narratives, while also pointing to China as another threat – alleging that Beijing uses PR firms and social media influencers to advance its interests across Europe.

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Scotland’s Chief Constable lands taxpayers with £134,000 expenses bill to help pay for her second home

Scotland’s Chief Constable Jo Farrell has landed taxpayers with an eye-watering £134,000 bill to help her buy a second home, the Mail on Sunday can reveal.

The police chief – who earns £270,000-a-year – has bought a £595,000 second home in an upmarket Edinburgh suburb while keeping on her £1 million five-bedroomed family home 100 miles away in Northumberland.

Police Scotland’s annual accounts – due to be published later this month – reveal Ms Farrell received relocation expenses of £69,901 – while oversight body the taxpayer-funded Scottish Police Authority (SPA) paid out additional “tax costs” of £64,525.

It is thought that part of the expenses claim relates to Land and Building Transaction Tax (LBTT) and Additional Dwelling Supplement (ADS) – a controversial extra tax introduced by the SNP government for all second homeowners.

Details of the huge bill come just days after the Chief Constable demanded an extra £140 million from the Scottish government and said Police Scotland was at a ‘crossroads’ financially and it would have to slash officer numbers if ministers short-changed it.

The “benefits in kind” attributed by the SPA to Ms Farrell are the equivalent of four new police recruits’ starting salary of £31,400.

Last night Scottish Conservative leader, Russell Findlay, MSP, hit out at the SPA approved reimbursement and called for a probe into the rules on police relocation expenses.

He said: ‘Struggling frontline officers and the paying public might question whether such huge sums of taxpayers’ cash should be spent on a second home for a chief constable who’s on more than £260,000.

‘This highly generous deal must now be subject to proper scrutiny and a full public explanation from Police Scotland, the SPA and the SNP government. If such largesse is within the rules, then the rules should be looked at.

‘Taxpayers are sick of being relentlessly hammered by SNP ministers who far too often spend their cash with reckless abandon.’

Under ‘Remuneration’ in Police Scotland’s annual accounts it is noted: ‘Jo Farrell received taxable relocation expenses of £69,901 (£134,426 including tax costs paid). These costs are in line with the Chief Officer relocation procedure. The costs facilitate the reimbursement of the incremental accommodation costs upon the recruitment or transfer of Chief Officers.’

The rules on chief officer relocation expenses state the retention of a second home may be considered only in “exceptional circumstances” and that LBTT and ADS may be eligible for reimbursement.

It is understood the Chief Constable, who joined Police Scotland in October 2023, makes frequent trips back to the Northumberland home she bought in May 2023 with her retired police officer husband Peter.

In August 2024, the couple bought a two-bedroom apartment in a well-known property hotspot in central Edinburgh.

The total LBTT and ADS tax due on a property worth £595,000 would total £68,500

Due to strong demand in the capital, similar properties increase in value by an average of 5 per cent annually, meaning the Farrells could benefit from a £150,000 uplift in just five years.

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Capitol Police Officer Shauni Kerkhoff Identified as J6 Bomber Based on Forensic Match — Testified to Firing Pepper Balls at J6 Crowd, Then Months Later Took a Security Job at the CIA

On January 5, 2021, a suspect planted pipe bombs near the Washington, D.C., RNC and DNC headquarters the night before the January 6, 2021, protests.

The culprit was caught on video but never caught by the FBI – the greatest intelligence service in the world.

The US Capitol was shut down on January 6 after the feds found the bombs near the Republican and Democrat Party headquarters.

As previously reported — A mysterious suspect planted two pipe bombs at the RNC and DNC DC Headquarters that were safely detonated by a bomb squad on January 6.

As The Gateway Pundit reported at the time and several times since Jan. 6 – Federal authorities shut down the counting of electoral votes by the US Congress when news broke that the “bombs” were found at the RNC and DNC headquarters.

It was NOT the J6 protesters storming the building that shut down the counting. It was news of the pipe bombs!

This is significant now that we can confirm that the bombs were planted by a female US Capitol Police Officer who later went to work security at the CIA headquarters.

Shauni Kerkoff went to work for the CIA headquarters after the January 6 riots. She later testified against J6 defendant Guy Reffitt, who was set up by the FBI, who wired his son in his own home.

Shauni reportedly scrubbed her social media accounts after joining the FBI.

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Court Keeps California’s Online ID Law Dream Alive

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has declined to rehear NetChoice v. Bonta, leaving intact its earlier decision that upheld most of California’s new social media law, Senate Bill 976, also known as the Protecting Our Kids from Social Media Addiction Act.

NetChoice, the tech trade group behind the challenge, said it “will explore all available options to protect free speech and privacy online” after the denial of its petition for rehearing on November 6, 2025.

Governor Gavin Newsom signed SB 976 into law in September 2024.

The legislation compels social media platforms to implement “age assurance” measures to identify whether users are adults or minors.

This would likely mean platforms have to introduce some form of digital ID check to allow people to view or post.

Those requirements are not yet active, as California’s Attorney General has until January 1, 2027, to finalize the specific rules.

Attorney General Rob Bonta began the initial rulemaking process in October 2025.

NetChoice first sued in November 2024, arguing that SB 976 forces Californians to hand over personal documents just to engage in lawful online speech, a demand the group says violates the First Amendment.

On September 9, 2025, a three-judge Ninth Circuit panel mostly upheld the law, finding that it was too soon to determine whether the age assurance mandate would restrict free expression before the details of that process are set.

As a result, the Attorney General can continue developing the state’s age assurance framework, while NetChoice or other organizations may bring a new legal challenge once the regulations are issued.

In its prior decision, the Ninth Circuit also removed one element of the law requiring children’s accounts to automatically hide likes and comments. Writing for the court, Judge Ryan Nelson concluded that the rule “is not the least restrictive way to advance California’s interest in protecting minors’ mental health.”

The rest of SB 976, including its age verification and content feed restrictions, remains largely intact.

The panel emphasized that without finalized regulations, it cannot yet decide whether these requirements would suppress lawful speech or create privacy risks.

NetChoice has continued to warn that the statute grants the state too much power over how people access and share information online. “NetChoice is largely disappointed in the Ninth Circuit’s ruling, and we will consider all available avenues to defend the First Amendment,” said Paul Taske, Co-Director of the NetChoice Litigation Center.

He added, “California’s law usurps the role of parents and gives the government more power over how legal speech is shared online. By mandating mass collection of sensitive data from adults and minors, it will undermine the security and privacy of families, putting them at risk of cybercrime such as identity theft.”

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MAHA: Monitoring Americans’ Health Attributes — or CCP-style Digital Control Grid?

This summer, President Donald Trump unveiled a sweeping plan to “bring healthcare into the digital age.” He calls it the “Digital Health Tech Ecosystem.” Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. also announced the launch of a digital health ID initiative in conjunction with Amazon, Apple, Google, OpenAI, and Anthropic. The latter is an AI startup that received most of its $580 million seed funding from the now-bankrupt FTX under convicted fraudster Sam Bankman-Fried.

This “Ecosystem” is part of the artificial intelligence (AI) venture Stargate Project, which Trump excitedly announced on his first day in office. Stargate is the reason you may have noticed large AI facilities springing up across the country, driving up energy prices with their unprecedented demand for electricity, and threatening aquifers with their unprecedented demand for water.

Trump declared Texas-based Stargate to be a $500 billion collaboration between leading tech companies that will make the United States the global leader in AI. Among investors are OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Oracle chairman Larry Ellison. During the White House unveiling, Ellison bragged that Stargate’s AI would be able to produce cancer vaccines in 48 hours.

Microsoft and NVIDIA are two other U.S.-based investors, while Emirati state-owned MGX of Abu Dhabi and U.K.-based Arm Holdings, Inc. are also involved. Stargate’s chairman is Japanese billionaire Masayoshi Son, who also chairs Stargate investor SoftBank.

Data Not Secure

Naturally, the healthcare component of this technological boom is supposed to help the little guy: improving patient care through earlier disease detection and — you guessed it — vaccinations. But are we to believe that this international consortium of businesses has our best interests at heart?

For that matter, do our own politicians? During testimony before Congress earlier this year, Kennedy admitted: “My vision is that every American is wearing a wearable [health-related monitor] within four years.” But he dodged a follow-up question about plans to secure that personal health data. That’s disconcerting, considering the vulnerability of personal information in federal hands. Remember the early 2025 reveal that Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency gained illicit access to 19 sensitive U.S. Health and Human Services databases, exposing everything from electronic health records to Social Security and bank details? 

Wearables

The “wearable” health monitors would expand that data collection astronomically, creating a “digital twin” of yourself as government officials harvest vital signs, movement and sleep patterns, and other physical metrics in real time.

Moreover, Trump signed an executive order in March calling for data-sharing of personal information about Americans across federal agencies. His administration has since awarded more than $900 million in contracts to Peter Thiel’s data analytics company, Palantir, while even current and former employees have petitioned the company to pull out of the plans.

The HopeGirl Alternative News channel on Rumble depicts what healthcare in this modern Fourth Industrial Revolution will look like. Healthcare 4.0 works with a constant stream of data from wearable devices to analyze us — individually and population-wide — at every hour of the day in all settings. This system is already in operation. Starting in 2020, U.S. hospitals implemented “body area networks” (BAN) to deliver real-time vitals to the Pentagon’s Project Salus during the Covid “public health emergency.”

The REAL ID Connection

This helps explain why U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem finally enforced the REAL ID Act of 2005 this year. (Right now, it’s mandatory for domestic air travel and entering federal buildings, but the legislation allows for unlimited expansion of REAL ID requirements.) Until this year, various states stymied REAL ID, correctly labeling it a gross violation of Americans’ constitutionally protected rights. Now, the U.S. Transportation Security Administration boasts on its website about its biometric overhaul.

Indeed, the REAL ID Act allows states to collect biometric data (fingerprints, facial geometry, triangulated body measurements) on each of us. The Citizens’ Council for Health Freedom (CCHF) explains that the “purposes could include banking, employment or health care.”

CCHF warns: “REAL ID provides the digital and biometric infrastructure to implement a China-like control grid, where your access to services could depend on behavior, beliefs or health status.”

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Outrage as 300 ‘healthy’ ostriches are executed by firing squad after infectious disease claims

A holding pen that just one day earlier housed 300 ostriches now contains their tarp-covered bodies after officials carried out a slaughter late Thursday night.

The pen sits on the grounds of Universal Ostrich Farms in British Columbia, Canada, which has been locked in a legal battle with federal officials over a government‑ordered cull. 

Katie Pasitney, daughter of farm owner Karen Pasitney, sobbed while telling the Daily Mail about the loss of the birds, saying: ‘They made a mistake, these animals aren’t poultry, some of them were 35 years old, and every single one had a name. 

‘My mom lost everything she loved. Those birds were all that kept her happy. They killed all her babies, and now they’re still lying there under a tarp.’ 

The deaths came months after the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) began investigating the farm following an anonymous report in December that alleged roughly 30 ostrich deaths within three weeks. 

Subsequent testing confirmed two birds had contracted H5N1 avian influenza, a highly contagious strain of bird flu. Agency records showed deaths continued through mid-January, ultimately totaling 69.

Pasitney recently pleaded with the Supreme Court of Canada to halt the cull, insisting the birds were healthy and posed no threat to public safety. 

Around 6 pm local time on Thursday, trucks and SUVs belonging to the agency arrived at the farm, and several men were seen carrying equipment into the enclosures. The sound of repeated gunfire echoed across the property as supporters gathered outside, praying and shouting for the birds. 

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Nebraska Tribe Punches Back After State Officials Hint At Prosecuting People For Buying Marijuana On Its Reservation

A Native American tribe in Nebraska, as well as cannabis reform activists, are punching back against the governor and state attorney general over recent comments suggesting that people would be prosecuted if they buy marijuana from businesses on its reservation.

Gov. Jim Pillen (R) and Attorney General Mike Hilgers (R) both made controversial remarks about the tribe’s cannabis program this week amid negotiations over a compact on tax revenue from tobacco sales.

Hilgers said that people who buy marijuana under the Omaha Tribe of Nebraska’s planned legal market on its reservation within the state do so “at their own peril,” implying enforcement action against citizens for purchasing what he described as a “poison” if they take it beyond the territory’s borders.

In response, the tribe’s attorney general, John Cartier, put out a statement condemning the top state officials, emphasizing that the state “cannot dictate our internal licensing” and that “retaliation and misinformation do not serve patients or taxpayers.”

“We continue to act in good faith and are ready to work with the Governor to find agreement that benefits both parties, but we caution him: if he is relying solely on the Attorney General’s flawed interpretation of the law, personal crusades are clouding his legal judgment as they have before,” he said. “If the State continues to retaliate or attempts to block our lawful enterprise, we will defend our sovereignty through all available means.”

Cartier said the notion that the tribe can’t sell marijuana under its regulatory model to non-tribal members is “wrong.”

“Nebraskans overwhelmingly approved medical cannabis last November, yet the administration has pursued litigation and commission actions that frustrate voter intent and depart from Nebraska law and the sponsors’ stated purpose,” the statement says. “None of this alters the jurisdictional line that preserves the Tribe’s authority on tribal lands. The Tribe has moved forward, as is our right, with regulations that align with statute. The State’s reaction misstates the law and distracts from patient-focused solutions.”

The tribe’s attorney general said its members are willing to compromise on the tobacco tax issue and accept a compact deal previously offered by the administration. But if that compromise plan is also being withdrawn, he said that would “demonstrate direct retaliation against the Tribe, and we will respond accordingly.”

“We prefer to work directly with the Governor on a tobacco tax compact that benefits both parties and respects sovereignty. Any attempt to leverage an unrelated, lawful medical cannabis program against compact discussions is improper. We look forward to the administration’s written position and we will respond through the proper channels.”

The tribe’s attorney general previously claimed that the state is using its efforts to legalize marijuana as an excuse to suspend negotiations on the tobacco tax deal.

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