Tag: police state

Congress Moves to Ban Milling Machines That Can Make Guns

Democrats in Congress have introduced an anti-gun measure to regulate machinery that is designed for manufacturing firearm frames or receivers.

The bill, titled H.R.7468, and referred to as the “Stop Home Manufacturing of Ghost Guns Act of 2020” aims to restrict ownership of firearms manufacturing devices for private citizens without a FFL or a manufacturer that produces these machines for FLL’s.

The bill has the support of anti-gun advocates such as Everytown.

The definition of a “firearms manufacturing device” is not clear and has some questioning how far the bill will actually go to ban milling devices that can be used for generic metal milling and customization work.

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Online virtual classes are now requiring immunizations for students to attend

“I think people feel like if you’re not going to the brick and mortar school then you don’t need to have the immunizations but that’s incorrect,” Fairfax County Health Department worker Shauna Severo told NBC 4 in Washington.

Health officials claim that in Virginia students need to have their shots to attend class whether virtual or not.

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MARICOPA COUNTY MOVED HOMELESS PEOPLE TO SWELTERING PARKING LOTS IN RESPONSE TO COVID-19

There are usually hundreds of tents sprawled out in an industrial zone southwest of downtown Phoenix. For years, roughly 500 people experiencing homelessness have camped out there on the streets surrounding Arizona’s biggest homeless shelter, Central Arizona Shelter Services (CASS), though the shelter doesn’t have any room for them.

Since April, roughly 200 of those people and their tents have instead been fenced in on black asphalt lots near the encampment as part of Maricopa County’s response to the COVID-19 crisis. Although Phoenix has managed to avoid a major outbreak among its homeless population so far, many of the steps taken by the city and by the county since the pandemic began have been questioned. The decision to corral people into the lots is perhaps the government’s most controversial choice. 

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‘Patently Unconstitutional’: Portland Judges Are Barring Arrestees From Attending Public Protests As A Condition of Release

In a move that legal experts say is “patently unconstitutional,” federal authorities in Portland are arresting people for minor offenses and then barring them from attending any future protests as a condition of their release, ProPublica reported Tuesday. According to the report, at least 12 people arrested in connection with the demonstrations were expressly prohibited from being present at any future public demonstrations as they await their days in court.

In one instance, the conditions of release issued by the U.S. District Court in Oregon for a defendant whose offense was “fail[ing] to comply with the lawful direction of federal police officers” stated that “Defendant may not attend any other protests, rallies, assemblies or public gatherings in the state of Oregon.”

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Miami Police Setting Up ‘Mask Traps,’ Issuing $100 Fines to People Wearing Masks Improperly

It’s been less than two weeks since Miami-Dade County announced it would be fining people for not wearing masks in public. Already, Florida media outlets are filled with stories of people cited for wearing masks improperly, lowering masks to sip a drink, or removing their face coverings once outside of a store.

On Thursday, the Miami Herald reported that the Miami-Dade Police Department has issued 162 citations for violating the county’s mandatory mask ordinance, which comes with a $100 penalty.

One woman, Johanna Gianni, says she removed her mask in the parking lot of a Publix grocery store in North Miami Beach, when a police officer approached her and wrote her a ticket for not wearing a mask. Gianni told the Herald the parking lot was nearly empty and that she felt set up by police.

She’s not the only one.

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Report Finds Oil Giants and Mega Banks Funding Massive Police Presence in Top US Cities

The same industries fueling the climate crisis and disproportionately polluting Black and brown communities across the U.S are bankrolling police foundations, groups which can help militarize local police departments.

That’s according to a new investigation from transparency group Public Accountability Initiative and its LittleSis project.

Authored by Gin Armstrong and Derek Seidman and published Monday, the report singles out actions from fossil fuel giants like Shell and Chevron as well as major utility companies and leading financial institutions.

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