Tag: police state

Federal Marijuana Prosecutions Hit Another Record Low In 2025 As State Legalization Expands, Government Report Shows

Federal marijuana trafficking cases fell to another record-low in 2025, with a new report from the U.S. Sentencing Commission (USSC) revealing a continued trend amid the expanding state-level reform movement that has given consumers more places to buy legal cannabis.

A recently published USSC fact sheet on drug prosecution trends shows just 383 federal cannabis trafficking cases in the last fiscal year. That marks a decline from the 471 cases reported in 2024.

More broadly, USSC said, marijuana trafficking prosecutions have dropped 62 percent from fiscal year 2021 to 2025.

Shifting federal priorities, which seem to have coincided with state-level marijuana reform efforts, have gradually pushed cannabis near the bottom of the list of drug trafficking cases.

The 383 cases from last year stands in stark contrast to the nearly 3,500 cannabis trafficking cases that were reported in 2015. Just two years before that, in 2013, the marijuana prosecutions amounted to approximately 5,000.

Colorado and Washington State became the first two states to approve recreational marijuana legalization in 2012.

Methamphetamine trafficking cases have dominated the list over the past decade, the USSC document published last month shows. In 2024, cases targeting fentanyl took over as the second most common drug trafficking target, followed by crack cocaine and powder cocaine. The number of heroin trafficking cases (356) was marginally lower than marijuana last year.

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Toronto’s meter maids are ripping off taxpayers for $6 million/year

Rebel News recently returned to the scene of the crime. But there’s a twist to this true crime story: the criminals aren’t gangbangers, but rather, members of law enforcement!

Astute viewers of Rebel News might recall that earlier this month, we paid a visit to the headquarters of the central division of Toronto Parking Enforcement in north Toronto.

The reason for our house call: we were told by an insider that parking enforcement officers were engaging in time theft. Which is to say, they are supposed to work 10 hours per shift, but they are only putting in eight hours (or less).

Teaming up with Jay Bannister of Mad Lab Press, we documented the morning shift starting duty at 6 a.m. They are supposed to be working until 4 p.m. But no: at around 1:30 p.m., the meter maids began returning to HQ.

This time, banditry works out to almost $6 million in theft.

Our insiders say it has been going on for years now, meaning the City of Toronto (a.k.a. the taxpayer) has been hoodwinked out of tens of millions of dollars!

And yes, we caught them red-handed coming back to HQ early. Surely, yet another P.R. black eye for the Toronto Police Service.

So, what happened in the aftermath?

You’re not going to believe it…

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UK Deputy PM Says Equality Before Law Doesn’t Mean Treating All Ethnic Groups the ‘Same’ After Nowak Killing

British Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy has said that not all ethnic groups should be treated the same by police in the wake of the murder of 18-year-old Henry Nowak, who died in police handcuffs after officers refused to believe he had been stabbed by a Sikh man.

Lammy, who also serves as the left-wing Labour Party government’s Justice Secretary, said that while the “starting point” should be equality before the law, it is not always appropriate to be treated “the same”, noting the disproportionate arrest rates of certain ethnic minority groups, such as Roma travellers [Gypsies] and black Britons.

“We are all equal before the law. So that is not the starting point, but it is the case. Recognising that in our country it is still the case that on arrest, prosecution, and conviction, I’m afraid in our prisons, ethnic minorities are disproportionately [represented] in the criminal justice system. So context can matter, but it cannot eclipse violence or the fact that we need our police to act to mitigate and deal with crimes in our communities, whatever the color of your skin or background,” he told the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg on Saturday.

The BBC presenter put to Lammy the guidance from the National Police Chiefs’ Council on its anti-racism policy, which states: “Our commitment to racial equity means producing equality of policing outcomes for people from different ethnic groups… It does not mean treating everyone ‘the same’ or being ‘colour blind’ (racial equality).”

The leftist government minister denied that this meant that there was not equality before the law, stating that “the complexity is [that] equality does not always necessarily mean the same” and that it is important to “understand that context can be different for different groups.”

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Andrew Left faces 20 years in prison — but having a correct opinion about a stock shouldn’t be a crime

This past Tuesday afternoon, I rang up Andrew Left, the high-profile short seller long known for meticulously documenting allegations of alleged corporate malfeasance and placing bets against companies like Valeant Pharmaceuticals, Shopify and Chinese real estate giant Evergrande.

“Hey Charlie, I’m at the airport,” Left said as he picked up. “I’m sitting down, having a vodka.”

Given what had transpired just hours earlier, it wasn’t hard to understand the sitting-down-having-a-vodka part. Late Monday night, after a two-week trial, Left was convicted in Los Angeles federal court of 13 counts of securities fraud.

Prosecutors alleged Left circulated his research on social media and financial TV to move a bunch of stocks and make a ton of money. That constituted market manipulation, they said, and got a jury to agree with them.

It sounds to me like what Wall Street does every day — people who “talk their book” — not to mention all the retail trolls you see on X trying to gin up interest in speculative stuff that loses money. Even so, Left now faces 20 years in prison when he is sentenced in ­August.

Truth be told, there’s something unsettling in what Left admits he did: Purposely pushing stock prices around to make a quick buck. Big firms have strict rules around trading off research, placing stocks on so-called restricted lists. Reporters like myself don’t buy individual stocks out of fear our reporting will get us jammed up because we can move prices.

Yes, the trading may look fishy, and this type of trading around ­research reports and public comments has been a legal gray area. Purposely moving stocks can be construed as stock manipulation. Fishy, though, isn’t something that’s supposed to land you in prison for 20 years.

Try telling that to a jury — as Left’s lawyers did. In one day of trading, Left could make more than most of those people earned in a lifetime. It didn’t help that Left made his bones as a short seller. Making money from pushing stocks down in value just doesn’t sit well with most people, even if it means exposing various abuses and is necessary for markets to function properly.

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UK Cop Fired For Questioning Islam In ‘Safe Space’

A Christian police community support officer lost his career after asking a Muslim colleague about jihad and Hamas atrocities during a diversity session that promised open discussion. At the same time, training drilled “white privilege” into police ranks.

Luke Salmons, a 46-year-old Christian father of two and respected PCSO with North Yorkshire Police, relates how he attended a mandatory training day on race, religion and culture. Trainers spent several minutes marching up and down the room chanting “Islam is a religion of peace” repeatedly. A Muslim sergeant then spoke about his faith and invited questions in what was presented as a “safe space” where “there was no such thing as a bad question.”

Salmons asked what the sergeant, as a peaceful Muslim, thought about the situation in Gaza and atrocities carried out by Hamas and other groups in the name of Islam. He also asked what jihad meant to him. The discussion was civil. The sergeant later invited Salmons for coffee to continue the conversation privately.

Salmons brought a book on the topic to work. Colleagues photographed it in his locker and reported him as a risk. An inspector then suspended him, declaring “I don’t like your beliefs.” Salmons noted the obvious double standard: no inspector would ever say that to a Muslim officer.

He was suspended on full pay for months, resigned under pressure in April 2025, and faced gross misconduct proceedings. Supported by the Christian Legal Centre, he appealed. Chief Constable Tim Forber overturned the dismissal before Salmons had even finished presenting his case. There was no apology and the episode devastated his family.

“I loved my job and I was good at it. I was well respected as a PCSO and my colleagues said they loved working with me and couldn’t understand what was happening. But an overzealous inspector took against me and that was the end of my career, even though I had done nothing wrong,” he related.

“It devastated me and my family. For months we lived in total uncertainty, with my reputation being shredded in secret. I resigned not because I had done anything wrong, but because the silence, the delay and the pressure became unbearable for my wife and daughters,” Salmons added.

This is the new reality inside parts of British policing: open discussion of uncomfortable facts about Islamist ideology is treated as career-ending wrongthink, while entire days are devoted to chanting slogans and centring one faith above others.

The same ideological pressures are visible in operational failures. In the Henry Nowak case, an 18-year-old white British student was stabbed five times. He told responding officers he had been stabbed and could not breathe. Instead of treating him as a medical emergency, officers handcuffed him after his attacker falsely claimed racism. The attacker was allowed to walk away. An inquest is examining whether the handcuffing contributed to Nowak’s death.

The police watchdog investigated itself and declared no wrongdoing.

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German Activist Drives 22 Hours to Portugal, Defying Exit Ban

German remigration activist Maximilian Märkl, who was arrested by federal police on Friday as he prepared to board a flight to Portugal and forbidden to leave the country, defied the travel ban and was greeted as a hero when he arrived at the Remigration Summit in Porto after 22 hours of driving across Europe.

“It was a little European adventure,” Märkl said in an interview with alternative TV channel AUF1, adding that the drive through Germany, France, Spain, and Portugal reminded him of “just how beautiful our homeland is and how much it’s worth fighting for.”

While expecting legal consequences upon his return to Germany, the spokesman for Identitäre Bewegung Deutschland, said he’s counting on alternative media and the organization’s support network to stand behind him. 

Asked what the organization will do if the German government continues trying to stop its representatives from attending events in other countries, Märkl said, “Either they ignore us—and we have direct access to the people—or they get desperate and try to suppress us.” But, he said, “these measures generate such a stir and so much attention that I’m convinced there will definitely be a way in the future to meet, network, and, above all, make progress on the issues at hand.”

Generation Identity, Märkl’s organization, said on X it will take the German authorities to court over the travel ban. 

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UK Government Plots Digital ID Lockdown On Every Phone In Lockstep With Big Tech

The Labour government in Britain is accelerating its assault on digital privacy under the well-worn banner of child protection. Fresh plans leaked to the press reveal ministers intend to compel Apple, Google and other tech firms to restrict smartphones so thoroughly that a digital ID will be needed to use them with unfettered access.

The mechanism comes in the form of expanded age verification that effectively demands digital identification for device setup and use. What is sold as safeguarding the young is shaping up as a backdoor mandate for every adult in Britain to submit ID just to operate a phone or go online.

This development lands alongside Google’s confirmation that it will soon bring digital IDs to Android devices in the UK via Google Wallet. Users will record a short video selfie and scan a government-issued ID to add a digital version of their passport or other documents.

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Trump Reveals He Pardoned Man Sentenced to SEVEN YEARS in Federal Prison for Fixing His Own Truck

President Donald Trump just exposed yet another example of the radical Democrat regime’s war on hardworking Americans during an agriculture roundtable discussion in Wisconsin, this time, jailing people simply for fixing their own equipment.

Speaking before a crowd that included farmers and agricultural workers, Trump blasted government regulations that restrict Americans from repairing their own equipment and praised efforts to restore “right-to-repair” freedoms.

The president then recounted a case that left him stunned.

“The Democrats have a restriction that if you get caught fixing your tractor, they bring you to jail. You know that?” Trump told the crowd.

“Do you know that I pardoned a man last week who was sentenced to seven years in jail because he got caught fixing his car or his truck?”

Trump said he initially couldn’t believe what he was hearing.

“I said, ‘What did he do?’ Sir, he was fixing his truck.”

“I said, ‘How long is he getting?’ Seven years.”

“I said, ‘Say it again.’ It’s the first time I’ve ever heard it.”

According to Trump, he quickly intervened.

“Like two weeks ago, I gave him a pardon because he had to go to jail because he was fixing his tractor or his truck.”

“So I promise, Ken, if you ever get caught fixing your tractor or truck, I will give you a pardon, okay?”

Trump then turned his fire toward environmental regulations that have long frustrated farmers, truckers, and equipment owners.

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7 Republicans vote no on FISA extension

Seven Republican senators sided with Democrats early Friday to vote against advancing an extension of warrantless spy powers set to expire next week, complicating efforts to keep those powers alive.

The procedural vote failed by a vote of 47-52 after Sens. Josh Hawley (Mo.), Sen. John Kennedy (La.), Mike Lee (Utah), Rand Paul (Ky.), Eric Schmitt (Mo.), Rick Scott (Fla.) and Tommy Tuberville (Ala.) broke with their GOP colleagues.

Some of the pushback was attributed to President Trump’s tapping of Federal Housing Finance Agency chief Bill Pulte to serve as acting director of national intelligence, which received backlash from both sides of the aisle.

Lee brushed off speculation that anger over Pulte’s appointment was the motivator behind the defectors who voted with Democrats, instead pointing to privacy concerns.

“FISA 702 reauthorization failed because it did not contain a warrant requirement for spying on Americans,” the Utah Republican wrote on the social platform X. “The people who spied on the Trump campaign, Members of Congress, and countless other Americans hate the idea.”

He added, “Come back with warrant requirement, and we’ll pass the bill.”

The motion to proceed would have paved the way for enhanced federal surveillance authorities under Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) before it lapses June 12.

Trump’s decision to name Pulte to replace outgoing Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard triggered fights on Capitol Hill.

Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.), vice chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said Democrats could not support extending surveillance authorities with Pulte in a position to access sensitive intelligence information that could be used against Trump’s political foes.

“I thought I had gotten to the stage where I could no longer be shocked by Donald Trump’s choices, but this may be the most outrageous of all,” he told MS NOW, speaking of the recent appointment.

Every Senate Democrat except Sen. John Fetterman (Pa.) voted against the motion, as they argued Pulte could not be trusted to oversee the nation’s intelligence apparatus, among other reasons.

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House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan Warns British Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood To Stop Backdoor Spying on US Citizens

Not a friendly move by the Brits.

In the context of a grave crisis in the ‘special relationship’ between the US and the UK, a top House representative is warning the British government against ‘using sensitive backdoor technology’ to spy on Americans.

Yesterday (5), Donald J. Trump’s ally, Ohio Representative Jim Jordan, wrote to Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood alerting her about a ‘lack of security cooperation’.

Jordan warned that Britain ‘may be using encryption to gain access to US citizens’ private data’.

The Telegraph reported:

“[Jordan] pointed to the UK’s Investigatory Powers Act 2016, which allows the government to issue secret orders known as ‘technical capability notices’.”

As the leader of the House judiciary committee, Jordan has led investigations into the activities of the FBI and US spy agencies – and now he is targeting the United Kingdom.

“The UK may be building ‘backdoors into their encrypted services’, he wrote to Ms. Mahmood.

US companies would be prohibited from informing anyone about these backdoors without the express permission of the Home Secretary.”

Jordan told Sir Christian Turner, the ambassador to the UK, that a US company who wanted to discuss a ‘technical capability notice’ with members of Congress, something that would require Mahmood’s permission.

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