Tag: police state

Gov. Brown encourages Oregonians to call police on neighbors who violate COVID-19 freeze

Days before Thanksgiving, Oregon Gov. Kate Brown said she believes residents who know their neighbors are violating the most recent round of COVID-19 protocols, which includes capping the number of people allowed in your home at six, should call the police.

“This is no different than what happens if there’s a party down the street and it’s keeping everyone awake,” Brown said in an interview Friday. “What do neighbors do [in that case]? They call law enforcement because it’s too noisy. This is just like that. It’s like a violation of a noise ordinance.”

The restrictions, known as a freeze, were implemented this week via an executive order by the governor. For the next two weeks in Oregon, and four weeks in Multnomah County, residents are banned from eating out at restaurants and going to the gym, among other restrictions. Social gatherings in our homes are also limited to no more than six people. Violators could face up to 30 days in jail, $1,250 in fines or both.

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UK terrorism chief calls for ‘national debate’ on criminalizing doubts about Covid-19 vaccine

The UK’s top counter-terrorism cop has suggested society stop allowing people to question the wisdom of a rapid Covid-19 vaccine rollout, regarding such skepticism to be life-threatening “misinformation.”

Met Assistant Commissioner Neil Basu has pointedly questioned whether it is “the correct thing for society to allow” the sharing of “misinformation that could cost people’s lives” — demonizing all doubts about quickly developed Covid-19 vaccines whose potential long-term effects are not yet known and tying them to extremist radicalization efforts.

While he didn’t go so far as to call for a law to be passed banning such content, his suggestion of a “national debate” will presumably light a fire under ministers already mulling such legislation.

Basu also expressed worries about a “sharp increase in extremist material online in the last few years” during Wednesday’s press conference, warning of a “new and worrying trend in the UK” of young people being radicalized. Officials told UK media that Islamic extremists and far-right groups were using “false claims about coronavirus” to radicalize their followers. 

Social media users already wary of the rush to roll out the vaccine were disturbed by the attendant rush to criminalize criticism of it.

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Andrew Cuomo’s Emmy Award for His COVID-19 Briefings Is a Disgusting Prioritization of Style Over Substance

He’s presided over the second most deadly COVID-19 outbreak in the country. He’s implemented draconian lockdown restrictions that have devastated small businesses. He’s fought with and mocked reporters trying to get basic answers to simple questions. Now, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) will get an Emmy.

On Friday, the International Academy of Television Arts & Sciences announced that Cuomo would be receiving the organization’s International Emmy Founders Award, which “celebrates the accomplishments of an individual or organization, whose work is recognized throughout the world” and which crosses “cultural boundaries to touch our common humanity.”

Past recipients include Oprah Winfrey, Al Gore, and Steven Spielberg. Cuomo will join this illustrious group because of the daily news briefings he’s given during COVID-19 in which the governor describes how terribly the pandemic is going in his state and what new restrictions on businesses and individuals his administration will impose.

“The Governor’s 111 daily briefings worked so well because he effectively created television shows, with characters, plot lines, and stories of success and failure,” said International Academy President & CEO Bruce L. Paisner in a press release announcing the award. “People around the world tuned in to find out what was going on, and New York tough became a symbol of the determination to fight back.”

As of Thursday, New York state has reported 34,206 confirmed deaths from COVID-19. That’s the most of any state in the union, and the second most per capita, behind only neighboring New Jersey.

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Manitoba bans in-store sales of non-essential items, visitors to homes with some exceptions

Manitoba is clamping down harder on private gatherings and businesses selling non-essential items in an effort to slow the alarming rise in new coronavirus infections in the province.

New COVID-19 public health orders will forbid people from having anyone inside their home who doesn’t live there, with few exceptions, and prohibit businesses from selling non-essential items in stores.

Previous orders that came into effect last week allowed gatherings at private residences of up to five people beyond those who normally live there, although Chief Provincial Public Health Officer Dr. Brent Roussin and others pleaded with Manitobans to stay home and only go out for essential items.

“Despite that, we saw people gathering at rallies, we saw crowded parking lots at big box stores, we saw people continue to go out for non-essential items,” Roussin said at a news conference Thursday.

“So we’re left with no choice but to announced further measures to protect Manitobans, to limit the spread of this virus.”

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Food stamps, rent assistance may be withheld from those who refuse Covid-19 vaccinations

Americans who refuse to get mandated Covid-19 vaccinations may lose benefits such as food stamps (WIC) and rent assistance, according to a document from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health’s Center for Health Security.

According to the document, one of the top members of the “Working Group of Readying Populations for COVID-19 Vaccines” is Luciana Borio, MD, a prominent member of Joe Biden’s Covid-19 taskforce.

Borio recommends recruiting celebrities and social media influencers to speak to “specific audiences” about the urgency of taking the vaccine.

The document says “bundling” vaccines with food stamps would be, “a way to build trust” among low-income people such as “Blacks and minority communities.”

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COVID In Minnesota: Gov. Walz Unveils Restrictions On Social Gatherings, Restaurants, Gyms, Youth Sports

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz has announced new COVID-19 restrictions that will impact social gatherings, restaurants, gyms and sports for four weeks.

The restrictions are in effect between Friday at 11:59 p.m. and Friday, Dec. 18. In-person social gatherings with people outside of your household are prohibited. Bars and restaurants will have to go take-out only. Gyms and entertainment spaces will need to close, and wedding receptions, private parties and celebrations will also be restricted. Adult and youth sports will be put on pause, but college and pro sports are exempt.

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Metropolitan Police counter-terror chief Neil Basu calls for action on coronavirus anti-vaxxers

Britain’s top counter-terrorism officer today called for a nationwide debate on the introduction of new laws to punish people who spread anti-vaccination conspiracy theories.

Met Assistant Commissioner Neil Basu said that there should be a discussion about whether it is “the correct thing for society to allow” people to spread “misinformation that could cost people’s lives” as he responded to concern that false claims online could undermine the take up of Covid-19 vaccines.

Mr Basu stopped short of endorsing the idea of a new law but his intervention will strengthen pressure on ministers to act against conspiracy theorists making false claims about the vaccines.

“There is a debate for society to have about free speech and responsibility and people who are spreading misinformation that could cost people’s lives… whether that is the correct thing for this society to allow to happen,” said Mr Basu.

Officials said that one reason for Mr Basu’s concern was that Islamist and far-Right groups were using false claims about coronavirus to radicalise followers. 

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