Tag: police state

New Artwork by British Street Artist Banksy Appears on the Wall of Royal Courts of Justice, in London – Is Immediately Covered Up, as Police Weigh Charges of ‘Criminal Damage’

The Met Police is doing the work of promoting the new Banksy.

For decades, the pseudonymous street artist Banksy, whose real identity remains unconfirmed, has thrived on controversy – and with his last mural artwork, things aren’t any different.

The new Banksy shows a judge hitting a fallen protester with his gavel, and was painted on the front wall of the Royal Courts of Justice in London.

The image was rapidly covered up by British officials.

Daily Mail reported:

“Security guards were seen patrolling in front of a screen concealing the mural now confirmed as being by the guerilla graffiti artist as his latest creation.

He shared an image of it on his Instagram page, after it was stenciled on an external wall of the Queen’s Building but swiftly hidden by large sheets of black plastic and two metal barriers.”

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Critical Update: Evangelical Leaders Raided and Jailed in South Korea Like in Mao’s China

South Korea Escalates Crackdown on Evangelical Leaders: From Billy Kim to Son Hyun-bo

SEOUL — South Korea’s Christian community is reeling from a rapid series of unprecedented state actions that many describe as a coordinated campaign of religious persecution. After prosecutors raided the home and ministry of Reverend Billy Kim — globally known as Billy Graham’s interpreter and longtime evangelical partner — a special prosecutor issued a summons for him. Only days later, authorities jailed Reverend Son Hyun-bo, senior pastor of Busan’s Saegero Church, on charges stemming from pastoral speech and online posts.

These moves come despite repeated warnings from President Donald Trump and his close allies, who have publicly voiced concern over mounting attacks on religious freedom in South Korea. Observers warn that the Lee Jae-myung government’s actions resemble authoritarian tactics designed to silence pro-American and conservative Christian voices.

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Texas attorney general wants students to pray in school – unless they’re Muslim

Ken Paxton, the Texas attorney general running for US Senate, has long believed in school prayer. Now, he’s prescribing precisely what type of prayer he wants the state’s 6 million public school students to recite.

“In Texas classrooms, we want the Word of God opened, the Ten Commandments displayed, and prayers lifted up,” Paxton said in a statement on Tuesday, encouraging students to say “the Lord’s Prayer, as taught by Jesus Christ”.

The press release included the full text of the Lord’s Prayer as it is written in the King James version of the Bible, the latest example of Paxton and other Texas officials seeming to endorse Christianity over other faiths.

“Twisted, radical liberals want to erase Truth, dismantle the solid foundation that America’s success and strength were built upon, and erode the moral fabric of our society,” Paxton said. “Our nation was founded on the rock of Biblical Truth, and I will not stand by while the far-left attempts to push our country into the sinking sand.”

Paxton’s statement was released as Senate Bill 11 went into effect across Texas; it’s a piece of Republican legislation allowing schools to set aside time for “prayer and reading of the Bible or other religious texts” during the school day. Critics have condemned the bill as an attempt to imbue a secular public education in the state with the practice of Christianity, in violation of the US constitution’s separation of church and state.

“They’re blowing right through separation of church and state,” said Heidi Beirich, co-founder of the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism.

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A Dodge Charger EV Driver Got a Ticket for a Loud Exhaust

he Dodge Charger EV does not have an exhaust; it is an electric car. It may sometimes make noises like it does, but it doesn’t, and that can make it awkward when a police officer pulls you over for allegedly creating a public nuisance with a “super loud” muffler—just as one state trooper did to a Charger EV owner named Mike earlier this summer in Minnesota.

We got in touch with Mike, who posted part of the incident on Instagram. He told us that he was driving through Stillwater, a city that has a strict noise ordinance, with a group of car enthusiasts. He stopped at an intersection, “about eight cars deep,” and when the light turned green, he said the lead car “peeled away loud as hell.”

“I was left at the stoplight with a red light,” Mike told The Drive. “I looked to my left, and there was a state trooper across the street from me. He passed me and whipped a U-turn. Came up behind me as the light turned green and followed me into a gas station and lit me up. Initiated a traffic stop.”

“The trooper stepped up and immediately told me my car’s exhaust was way too loud and was disturbing the peace,” Mike continued. “I tried telling him it’s an EV and doesn’t have an exhaust or an engine, and he stated he’s not gonna argue with me.”

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The Surveillance Net Is Closing, But the Smart Ones Can See the Writing on the Wall

The privacy coin Zano just rallied nearly 70 percent in the last 30 days, lifting its market cap toward a quarter billion dollars and pushing daily trading volume close to three million. The spike isn’t about speculation alone. It reflects a shift underway as people begin to hedge against a tightening surveillance state.

The latest proof of financial control came just last month, when Tether froze $49.6 million in USDT at regulators’ request during a coordinated international crackdown. Regardless of the guilt or innocence of the targets, the lesson is obvious. These assets can be frozen in an instant, with no trial and no process, making them less a hedge against the state and more a compliant extension of it. 

Congress reinforced this fact with the GENIUS Act, a law that hard-wires surveillance into stablecoins by forcing issuers to operate under bank-style oversight, AML regimes, and reserve mandates. The fact that Democrats and Republicans both lined up behind it should tell you everything. In Washington, true bipartisan consensus only happens when war, debt, or control are on the line.

That same logic now extends to the streets. National Guard units are being deployed into American cities to “fight crime,” but the justification is always the same: safety over freedom. Deployments like this normalize militarization at home and make clear that the tools built for foreign wars are now being pointed inward. 

The grid doesn’t stop at the barrel of a gun either. It runs through data. Federal agencies have been caught buying location data from brokers like Venntel to track millions of Americans without warrants. The AT&T Hemisphere program continues to funnel call records to law enforcement, building a quiet dragnet with virtually no oversight. License plate readers vacuum up hundreds of millions of scans, with databases shared across jurisdictions and tapped for immigration enforcement. Flock Safety’s license-plate readers generated 1,400+ immigration-related searches in Denver and 113 million scans in a year in Austin, triggering local backlash over data-sharing and policy violations. This is mass movement tracking, normalized street by street. All of this happens without a vote, without consent, and in most cases without warrants.

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California Dems Kill Bill Backed by Jay Leno That Would Have Exempted Classic Cars from Emissions Regulations

Not even classic car collector Jay Leno could convince California’s legislative Democrats to give an inch on what a critic called the state’s “regulatory hellscape.”

The Assembly Appropriations Committee blocked Republican Sen. Shannon Grove’s Senate Bill 712, informally known as Leno’s Law, from advancing, according to KABC-TV.

“SB 712, also known as “Leno’s Law,” offers a practical solution for owners of collector vehicles that have difficulty complying with the state’s smog check law,” according to a fact sheet issued by Grove.

“Leno’s Law is sponsored by renowned car enthusiast and television icon Jay Leno. The bill would exempt, on an ongoing basis, collector cars whose model year is 35 years or older from the state’s smog check law,” the fact sheet said.

“The bill would also exempt classic cars from the smog check program upon transfer of a vehicle. These classic cars are infrequently driven, carefully maintained, and make up only a fraction of cars on the road,” the fact sheet said.

“Exempting them from the biennial smog check would strengthen California’s ‘car culture’ by helping preserve these historical treasures,” the fact sheet said.

The fact sheet said forcing classic cars to meet current standards “is an overreach by the government.”

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The Battle Brewing: Mass Surveillance Vs The People

Behind the scenes of breaking news, culture wars, and moral division, a significant battle is brewing: mass surveillance vs. the people.

One surveillance technology in particular is rising to the surface of the national conversation: automated license plate readers (ALPR).

Flock Safety, a leader in ALPR technology, is one of the companies in the eye of the storm. Last week, Flock’s CEO and co-founder Garrett Langley made headlines when he released a statement announcing the company was going to “pause” its pilot programs with the U.S. government.

The company said that while it has no current contracts with any U.S. Department of Homeland Security agencies, it did engage in “limited pilots with the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), to assist those agencies in combatting human trafficking and fentanyl distribution.”

So why would a company decide not to aid their own government in the fight against human trafficking and fentanyl distribution? Who are the voices that swayed them?

The company’s statement likely stems from criticism (or demonization) of Flock Safety for developing technology that has been adapted for use by ICE agents.

In a July interview with 9News Denver, Flock Safety CEO Langley was asked about the Denver city council voting against extending the city’s Flock contract “out of concerns the system would be exploited for immigration matters.”

Langley straddled the fence:

“Every city needs to make a decision what’s right for them. Some cities work really closely with federal authorities … Now in the case of Denver, if there’s no desire to work with ICE, that’s great. We need to create a safer city while still upholding the values we have.”

Ultimately, however, Denver Mayor Mike Johnston, a Democrat, extended the contract through October 2025 after the dollar amount was reset to a figure that didn’t need council approval.

A spokesman for the mayor said the cameras are “an important tool for fighting crime.”

Meanwhile, Denver city leaders formed a special task force to discuss the technology’s privacy concerns. The policy director for the ACLU of Colorado said he would like the cameras turned off entirely—”until there are policies in place to regulate the use of them …”

Reason magazine claims that that “Flock Safety’s 40,000 cameras present in over 5,000 communities across the U.S. are being used to detain undocumented immigrants, many of whom have no criminal history.”

To be clear, it’s not a matter of Homeland Security or ICE agents directly accessing the Denver system—or any ALPR system. It’s a complex issue of state and local law enforcement agencies sharing information or granting access to other agencies. As Denver7 reported, “Flock Safety’s cameras capture billions of photos of license plates each month. However, it doesn’t own that data. The local agencies in whose jurisdictions the cameras are located do, and they’re the ones who receive inquiries from other law enforcement agencies.”

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South Korea’s Dangerous Shift to Communism: Prosecutors Abolished, Media and Data Reports Brought Under State Control, Opposition Jailed

On September 7, President Lee Jae-myung’s administration announced a radical reorganization plan that, according to critics, dismantles prosecutorial independence, centralizes media oversight, and places national statistics under direct political command.

Officials describe this as “streamlining government” and “reducing fiscal burdens,” but many observers warn it may represent the construction of a one-party system, resembling patterns historically seen in communist regimes.

Please find below a detailed report that I have prepared in English for your review and consideration. The original Korean news source is also included for verification.

The source article from the Korean media:
MBC News: “Abolition of Prosecutors’ Office, Division of the Finance Ministry, Abolition of the Broadcasting Commission… Lee Jae-myung Government Reshapes the State”

A Radical Overhaul in the Name of “Efficiency”

On September 7, the administration of President Lee Jae-myung unveiled a sweeping government reorganization plan that would significantly alter South Korea’s legal, economic, and media institutions. Officials claim the plan is designed to “streamline government” and “reduce fiscal burdens.” Critics, however, argue that it risks concentrating power in ways that mirror authoritarian systems.

At its core, the plan calls for abolishing the Prosecutors’ Office and replacing it with two politically dependent bodies:

The Prosecution Office (공소청) under the Ministry of Justice, handling indictments.

The Serious Crimes Investigation Agency (중수청) under the Ministry of Interior, handling investigations.

This change eliminates the semi-independent prosecutorial system and consolidates both indictment and investigation within the executive branch.

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Hungary passes constitutional amendment to ban LGBTQ+ public events, seen as a major blow to rights

Hungary’s parliament on Monday passed an amendment to the constitution that allows the government to ban public events by LGBTQ+ communities, a decision that legal scholars and critics call another step toward authoritarianism by the populist government.

The amendment, which required a two-thirds vote, passed along party lines with 140 votes for and 21 against. It was proposed by the ruling Fidesz-KDNP coalition led by populist Prime Minister Viktor Orbán.

Ahead of the vote — the final step for the amendment — opposition politicians and other protesters attempted to blockade the entrance to a parliament parking garage. Police physically removed demonstrators, who had used zip ties to bind themselves together.

The amendment declares that children’s rights to moral, physical and spiritual development supersede any right other than the right to life, including that to peacefully assemble. Hungary’s contentious “child protection” legislation prohibits the “depiction or promotion” of homosexuality to minors aged under 18.

The amendment codifies a law fast-tracked through parliament in March that bans public events held by LGBTQ+ communities, including the popular Pride event in Budapest that draws thousands annually.

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Nepalese government blocks access to nearly every major social media platform

The government of Nepal has blocked public access to 26 social media and communications platforms, including Facebook, YouTube, WhatsApp and X, due to the companies’ failure to comply with the government’s demand for registration.  The deadline to register was 4 September 2025.

The Nepal Telecommunication Authority ordered the platforms to be taken offline under government direction, citing a Supreme Court-mandated compliance push that requires all digital platforms to formally register and monitor content deemed inappropriate by officials.

The Ministry of Communications and Information Technology had given the platforms seven days to comply with the “Directive on Regulating the Use of Social Media, 2080.”  The failure to do so resulted in the access being revoked, as stated by the Ministry’s spokesperson, Gajendra Kumar Thakur, who confirmed that unregistered social media platforms would be deactivated immediately.

The blocked list includes nearly every major social media platform, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, X, Reddit, Rumble, LinkedIn, Signal, Pinterest, Threads, Discord, WeChat and more, Reclaim the Net said.

TikTok and Viber have not been blocked because they had completed the registration process earlier, as well as Telegram, Wetalk, Nimbuzz and Global Diary, which are either registered or currently in the process of registration.

The government’s action is a response to a collection of legal petitions filed over several years, aimed at regulating unregistered digital platforms that broadcast advertising and media content in Nepal.  Officials, including Nepal’s Minister for Communications and Information Technology, have stated that the companies were warned repeatedly to register and comply with the government’s request.

The government insists that access to the blocked platforms will be restored immediately once they comply with the registration demands, which include appointing a local representative, establishing a complaints process and taking responsibility for censoring speech, as outlined in the strict rules introduced by the Government.

The move has caused widespread confusion, disrupted communication for migrant workers, affected the tourism industry and sparked protests.  Private operator Ncell warned that 50 per cent of its internet traffic comes from social media platforms and that shutting them down would severely hurt business.

The Government says it is part of a broader effort to regulate online content and combat misinformation, although critics warn it threatens freedom of expression and press freedom.

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