Tag: police state

France waging ‘crusade’ against free speech and tech progress – Telegram boss

France has embarked on a “crusade” against free speech and progress itself, Telegram founder Pavel Durov said on Friday after Paris launched a probe against the social media platform X. The French authorities should talk to tech companies instead of prosecuting them, the entrepreneur believes.

The actions of the “French bureaucrats” will only “scare off investment and damage the country’s economic growth for decades,” the Russian-born billionaire wrote on X.

The French authorities announced a probe against the Elon Musk-owned platform on Friday for allegedly manipulating algorithms “for purposes of foreign interference.” The investigation was prompted by two complaints, one filed by a French lawmaker and the other by a government cybersecurity official, both of whom accused X of threatening French democracy. Musk has not commented on the development.

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British Dad Arrested While Trying to Save Daughter from Rape Gangs Says Police Faked Records to Smear Him

A British father alleged in an interview on Friday that local Rotherdam police created fake arrest reports to derail an investigation into authorities repeatedly arresting him for attempting to rescue his daughter from a child rape den.

The now-infamous case of a Rotherham father arrested for trying to protect his daughter from child rapists took a new turn this week as the father, identified only as “Jack” in the interview, claimed that the force falsified records of his arrests, using inaccurate information and accusing him of being intoxicated during his rescue attempts.

British broadcaster GB News reports that years after the 2005 rapes of the daughter and arrests of the father, when the so-called grooming gang scandal became public knowledge, the unnamed man filed an official complaint about how his family had been treated. South Yorkshire Police are said to have denied his claim and attempted to discredit the story by issuing a custody sheet showing that the arrests actually took place in a different part of the town, and because the man was drunk.

The father insists that the document features key errors, including the man’s address being given as a home he did not move into until five years later. The father told GB News he believes police produced the document to cover up what they had done to his family. The broadcaster also reported it has viewed documentary evidence proving he had no connection to that address in 2005.

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Environmental Regulations Are Literally Baking Europeans to Death

Much of the U.S. has been suffering a sweltering heat wave for the past two weeks. Though uncomfortable, particularly in areas with nearly 100 percent humidity like Washington, D.C., most Americans experience heat waves as a sweaty annoyance. Our European counterparts are not so fortunate, thanks to excessive regulations driving up the price of energy and outright banning certain air conditioning units.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration put 130 million Americans “under extreme heat warnings or heat advisories [last] Thursday…with 282 locations breaking daily heat records,” according to The Guardian. CNN reported that at least one death in the St. Louis area was ascribed to the heat wave, but mass casualties have not been suffered stateside. Meanwhile, in Europe, eight people have died across the continent as of Wednesday: four in Spain (two were killed in a wildfire that is believed to be driven by hot, dry conditions), two in France, and two more in Italy, per Al Jazeera. 

The situation was even worse during the summer of 2023. The U.K. Health Security Agency estimated that 2,295 deaths were associated with excessive heat. The U.S., meanwhile, recorded nearly the same number of heat-related deaths (2,325), despite having a population (335 million) nearly five times greater than the U.K. population (​​68 million) at the time.

The United Nations estimates that the European continent accounted for approximately 175,000 heat-related deaths annually between 2000 and 2019. The Environmental Protection Agency, meanwhile, calculates that about 1,300 deaths per year in the U.S. are due to extreme heat. (This translates to four heat-related deaths per million annually in the U.S. and 235 heat-related deaths per million annually across Europe.)

There are myriad reasons why there are so many more heat-related deaths in Europe than there are in the United States. But the most significant explanation might just be the simplest: air conditioning.

David S. Jones, a physician and historian at Harvard University, told CNN in 2023 that the disparity is explained by some combination of the U.S. underreporting its numbers and heat being more lethal in Europe due to the lack of air conditioning. The American-European disparity along this latter dimension could hardly be greater: nearly 90 percent of U.S. households have air conditioning, whereas less than 10 percent of European homes do. The productivity gap between the U.S. and Europe helps explain this disparity.

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NORTHERN DYSTOPIA: Royal Canadian Mounted Police Warns Citizens To Be Vigilant, for ‘People With Traditional Values Can Be Extremists’

Woke Canada keeps descending into pure madness, led by the Globalist Liberal party. Justin Trudeau is out, Mark Carney is in, but the dystopian developments continue unabated.

For the canucks in power, it is progressive to defend mass migration, abortion and euthanasia, transgender dysphoria, ‘net zero’ and the church of climate change… the list is endless.

But, of course, the majority of normal people in Canada need to be kept in check by their Liberal overlords, so common, ordinary behavior needs to be vilified.

So now, warnings by Canadian Police arise that ‘people with traditional values could be extremists’.

If you like “traditional values,” such as mothers raising their children instead of daycare workers, this RCMP spokeswoman says you might be an extremist. pic.twitter.com/TpDBPAYmec

— Billboard Chris (@BillboardChris) July 9, 2025

The Telegraph reported:

“Staff Sgt Camille Habel, the spokeswoman for Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), urged people to be vigilant following the arrest of four people in Quebec, who were allegedly involved in ‘ideologically motivated violent extremism’.”

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House Republican Urges Justice Department To Drop Charges Against Doctor Accused Of Destroying COVID-19 Jabs And Giving Patients Fake Vaccine Cards

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) is urging the Justice Department to drop charges against a doctor who allegedly destroyed “thousands” of COVID-19 jab vials and gave patients vaccine cards without taking the experimental injections.

“I am writing a letter to the DOJ asking all charges be dropped against Dr. Kirk Moore. who is facing thirty five years in federal prison for destroying thousands of vials of COVID-19 vaccine, giving his patients vaccine cards without taking the shots, and injecting saline into children whose parents wanted them to believe they got vaccinated without risking the deadly side effects,” Greene wrote.

“This man is a hero, not a criminal. The charges were filed under Biden’s DOJ, not Trump,” she added.

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France opens criminal probe into X algorithms under Musk

A French prosecutor has opened a criminal investigation into social platform X and its owner, Elon Musk, on accusations of “creating bias in France’s democratic debate.”

The investigation comes after Musk’s artificial intelligence (AI) company, xAi, deleted multiple posts from its chatbot Grok that included antisemitic comments. Among them, Grok called itself “MechaHitler” and insinuated that the Jewish people were controlling Hollywood.

French National Assembly member Thierry Sother and European Union Parliament member Pierre Jouvet asked Arcom, France’s digital content regulator, to look into Grok’s behavior Thursday. 

“Since the July 4th update, Grok has substantially changed behaviors leading it to comment antisemitic ideas, to praise Hitler and even to support Le Pen,” Sother said to French media Libération.

X has not immediately responded to requests for comment.

X and Musk have been on French and European radars since January when Éric Bothorel, a French parliamentarian, raised concerns over X’s use of personal data, a biased algorithm and the reduction of diversity in posts. 

He also denounced Musk’s personal interference within the platform, calling it “a true danger and a threat for our democracies,” according to Libération.  

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This Newly Implemented Online Speech Code Just Gave European Censors Another Weapon

Under the shadow of the European Union’s Digital Services Act censorship regime, Europeans already face fines, raids, and arrests for their social media posts, but starting July 1, the Code of Conduct on Disinformation has the force of law. The once-voluntary “code,” a 56-page document that spells out censorship strategies, is now an enforceable “benchmark” that the EU can use to measure tech companies’ censorship regimes.

The Code requires large online platforms to meet “tougher transparency and auditing obligations aimed at stamping out disinformation,” according to Tech Policy Press. Previously, the Code operated as a “self-regulatory framework” for tech companies before the EU “endorsed” its “integration” into the DSA.

The DSA “regulates online intermediaries and platforms” to police so-called “disinformation.” Under the law, which went into full effect last year, tech companies like Google, Meta, Microsoft, and X are required to undergo independent audits that “assess” their management of “disinformation risks,” Tech Policy Press reported. The Code commitments will act as “benchmarks” for these assessments, where applicable.

In April of 2023, the EU designated 19 large tech companies required to comply with the DSA. All of these companies serve more than 45 million monthly users in the EU, and 14 of them are U.S.-based, Alliance Defending Freedom Senior Counsel Jeremy Tedesco told The Federalist. As of June, the Commission is still “supervising” these tech companies under the DSA.

“The EU is trying to impose its draconian, very restrictive free speech regime on the world,” Tedesco said in an interview.

Full adherence to the Code is now a “marker of DSA compliance” for companies, according to Tech Policy Press. “While signing on [to the Code] remains optional,” “failing to adhere to its commitments may now trigger investigations or fines.”

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German Court Fines Man €8,400 For Posting Banned Phrase

A court in the German town of Lindau has issued an €8,400 ($9,801) fine to a man over a post on X containing the phrase “Alles für Deutschland.” The man, identified as Andreas M., had written, “That’s exactly why I vote for the AfD. Everything for Germany,” in July of last year.

Months later, his home was raided at dawn by police, who confiscated laptops, phones, and hard drives.

According to Apollo News, authorities charged him under Section 86a of the German Criminal Code, a law banning slogans or symbols tied to unconstitutional or terrorist organizations.

While prosecutors pushed for a seven-month prison sentence, the court opted for a financial penalty. Both the state and the defense have filed appeals.

Andreas M. has stated that he was unaware of the slogan’s past use by Nazi Stormtroopers and said he intended the comment as a satirical show of support for the Alternative für Deutschland party.

His explanation was not enough to prevent prosecution. In modern Germany, the legal system increasingly treats such social media posts with suspicion.

This is not an isolated event. A growing number of Germans have faced police raids and fines over social media activity deemed offensive or unlawful in a nation without free speech protections.

The boundary between humor and criminal conduct has narrowed considerably, especially when directed at figures within the political mainstream.

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Bipartisan Senators Agree To Delay Planned Federal Hemp Product Ban For One Year

A powerful Senate committee has approved a bill that contains provisions hemp industry stakeholders say would devastate the market by banning consumable hemp products with any “quantifiable” amount of THC. However, bipartisan members agreed to delay the implementation of the ban for one year.

On Thursday, the Senate Appropriations Committee passed Agriculture, Rural Development, FDA spending legislation that covers the next fiscal year—and also includes provisions that would significantly revise hemp laws following the crop’s legalization under the 2018 Farm Bill.

The bill “closes the hemp loophole that has resulted in the proliferation of unregulated intoxicating hemp products being sold across the country,” a committee summary says.

Ahead of the panel vote, several sources told Marijuana Moment that Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY), who championed hemp legalization through that 2018 legislation while serving as majority leader, was behind the restrictive cannabis language, vying to redefine his legacy by recriminalizing intoxicating cannabinoid products such as delta-8 THC.

At Thursday’s hearing, Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-OR) said he appreciates McConnell’s concerns but worries that the new prohibition would be overbroad and impact even non-intoxicating products, saying the language “addresses one very important issue, but causes another problem.”

“It’s been a privilege to work with Senator McConnell on hemp,” he said. “We first brought to this committee the idea that research should be done on hemp, and then later we put in an amendment that proceeded to allow seeds to be transferred across states, and now there is a hemp industry.”

“The important issue it addresses is not allowing hemp to be grown to produce hallucinogenic products, and that, unfortunately, due to the magic of laboratories, has occurred,” Merkley said. “But then there are other products that come from hemp such as CBD that has, in fact, been a significant factor as a healthcare supplement in many, many products across America that does not have a hallucinogenic effect.”

“I would like to continue to work with Senator McConnell to see if we can develop, in the course of this year, a definition that addresses hallucinogenic factors but does not eliminate the CBD product that is non hallucinogenic [and] that is valued by many Americans across the land,” he said.

“I know that there’s important work to be done on the hemp, but this one year [delay] will enable our farmers who are growing hemp currently to produce this year’s crop within the existing framework, and we’ll have a conversation over the coming year,” Merkley said.

McConnell appeared less interested in using the year to establish an alternative regulatory framework, saying that he’s simply agreeing to “give our hemp farmers ample time to prepare for their future.”

“The 2018 Farm Bill federally legalized hemp as an agricultural product,” the senator said. “This language had an unintended consequence that has allowed for intoxicating hemp-derived synthetic products to be made and sold across our country.”

“These intoxicating products have flooded the market in the absence—no regulatory structure, and [businesses] often use deceptive and predatory marketing towards children with packaging and logos similar to existing food products such as Oreos, candy, gummies and cereals,” McConnell said.

“The way I see it, the language I helped secure takes us back to the original intent of the 2018 Farm Bill, and closes this loophole,” the former Senate majority leader said, adding that the hemp provisions prior agriculture legislation “sought to create an agricultural hemp industry—not open the door to the sale of unregulated, intoxicating lab-made, hemp-derived substances with no safety framework.”

The hemp language in the new Senate spending bill is nearly identical to what the House Appropriations Committee passed late last month, with noted cannabis prohibitionist Rep. Andy Harris (R-MD) leading the charge.

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Crackdown on the Church ‘Beginning of the End’ for Armenia’s Pashinyan: Academic

The Armenian government’s clampdown on the Church and opposition is growing wider, targeting an archbishop, deacons and scores of opposition activists in a wave of mass arrests this week. Sputnik asked a local academic to help get to the bottom of just what’s taking place in Armenia.

“This person [Pashinyan, ed.] does not understand the psychology of the people. He only knows that they can be intimidated. But he doesn’t understand that this can be done once, twice, [and only to] part of the people,” Aikazun Alvrtsyan, director of the Center for the Study of Armenian Issues in Western Armenia, said, commenting on the wave of repression.

“When you go against the Church, against everything holy that the Armenian people have,” it cannot end well. “This is the beginning of the end for this government,” Alvrtsyan stressed, commenting on the events, which began with the detention of Russian-Armenian businessman Samvel Karapetyan, and has now escalated to arrests of leading Church figures.

“The Church plays a special role in our lives. This prime minister has declared himself prime minister only in the Republic of Armenia, and is afraid of the authority of the Church and the Catholicos” and priests in general, whose authority among the people is “very great,” Alvrtsyan explained.

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