• Sep, 2023
  • Sep 18, 2023
  • Cops Were Wrong to Extend Traffic Stop by 3 Minutes - YouTube 

    “A seizure violates the 4th Amendment when an officer extends a traffic stop with tasks unrelated to the traffic mission, absent independent reasonable suspicion. ”So, if they pull you over for a tail light being out, once they've notified you of that and perhaps ticketed you, then that traffic stop should end. If they sit there and start fishing, ie throwing questions at the owner and stalling, that would be ‘extending the traffic stop unreasonably.’ Other tasks are unlawful if they add time to the stop and they are otherwise unsupported by independent reasonable suspicion of wrongdoing. It might be an issue entering things as evidence found during that extra time. - 9th Circuit Court of Appeals of California

    End-to-End Encryption Will Be an Historical Footnote! - YouTube 

    Legal mass wiretapping? Under the banner of stopping CSE, of course. Currently, there are no other options.

    Apple does content scanning on devices, using AI, as a compromise with 3letters. A12 Neural Engine, the same thing that was used to remove YouTube videos that mentioned the pandemic, violence, guns, etc, in iPhones since iPhone10 2017.

    Employers now must post salary ranges on all job listings across New York state - YouTube 

  • Afroman being sued by officers after they raided his house | ABCNL - YouTube 

    Violation of privacy, claimed.

    Congress rejects a CBDC, the Fed's building one anyway - YouTube 

    Fed can do this without Congressional authorization because they don't depend on it for funding. Fed can 'write laws' and lots, while Congress is held by by opposition parties.

    Burford Capital Eyes 37,000% Return in Argentina Win - YouTube 

    Litigation funding. American lawyers (and trial?) against Argentinian government.



    Monopolizing search by making deals with phone makers to be the default search.

    Of all the things Google and other tech giants are bad for doing, this is one thing they are not bad for. Google Search is the best. When I can't get results using non-spy search engines, I go to Google and it is an excellent product. What would be nice would be competing excellent products, for different types of search (Google provides search for specific information queries of a certain type, and they also put answers in the results, stock graphs, etc, but they are useless for finding interesting and new things, blogs, bloggers, non-commercial things). Or they could take up the privacy issue with Google.

  • Sep, 2023
  • Sep 04, 2023


  • Listing things as ‘on sale’ without actually discounting the price. They raise the price to double the price for a short time, then discount it back to the original $20 price.

    JCPenny, Foot Locker, Eddit Bauer facing lawsuits currently.

    Reportedly, the financial damange is worse if they lose market share to competitors (monetary damange and bad PR), worse than if they didn't do this price

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ghmxnK1LUg

    trick. Even if it's like $20m. Because these suits will likely disappear.

    Cali has a regulation where the older price has to have been for 3 months, but reportedly this doesn't really prevent the stores.


    Huawei Building Secret Network for Chips: Trade Group - YouTube 

    Shenzhen. To get around US sanctions.



    Violence won in Denmark?



    Secret recording of insurance lobbyist reveals plan to change CA insurance law - YouTube 
  • Aug, 2023
  • Aug 21, 2023

  • How Ken Griffin got a law changed in Florida - YouTube 
  • Aug, 2023
  • Aug 14, 2023







  • Printer Ink, It's a SCAM - YouTube 
  • Aug, 2023
  • Aug 05, 2023

  • Congressmen have a state in the system through stocks, but sleezy things happen.

    Another option is to limit politicians power over the economy.

    Politicians have info and know what's coming. And they maybe aren't good at actually punishing their own members.

    Difference between trading and (broad-based) investing.

    CNBC on-air hosts can't own individual securities either (company policy). They can own mutual funds and ETFs and other kinds of securities.

    Diminimism. 5% versus 50% of portfolio.

    ...


    ..


    "As Seen On TV" companies accused of knocking off products made by small inventors - YouTube 
  • Jul, 2023
  • Jul 19, 2023

  • ...


    ...

    - YouTube  (video not available now)

    ...


    If the courts side with OpenAI and Meta, will writers be too soured to write new works going forward?
    ...

    It used to be just open season at Twitter, rubber stamping Fisa requests, said Musk. Now they will still comply with Fisa requests, but they will review them and it has to be something they agree with is a danger to the public. “We're the only social media company doing that, as far as I know.” “A lot of this does depend on the willingness of the company to oppose government demands.” “I don't know if we can do more than that. We'll try to be as transparent as possible, so that other citizens can raise the alarm bells to oppose the government.”

    ...

    “It's not so much that the regulators are instructing Tesla and SpaceX, but more that since we have to think about things internally and then justify it TO regulators, it makes us just think about the problem more, and in thinking about the problem more it makes its safer. As opposed to the regulators specifically pointing out the ways to make it safer. It just forces us to think about it more.” - Musk

    ...


    “We have been duped by big tech into believing that ... either that we participate online and participate in transacting business and communicating on the internet but we wave all of our privacy and property rights, or we simply don't engage in activity on the internet. That is a false choice ...” - Ryan Clarkson
    Yet no one has shown us alternatives to the online things we use.

    ...



    Including that mergers should not eliminate substantial competition or increase risk of coordination, eliminate a potential entrant in a concentrated market, and substantially lessen competition by creating a firm that controls products its rivals use to compete.

    This document isn't law, but rather a summary of how the FTC sees the law and how they'll try to act upon it. But for people looking at it, it might be so restrictive it's not worth looking at. Companies can say ‘I’m going to challenge it, I don't think it's right.'
  • Jul, 2023
  • Jul 14, 2023

  • Jul, 2023
  • Jul 03, 2023
  • Oregon finally legalizes pumping your own gas | Hacker News 

  • “Large corps weaponize ... this undemocratic dispute settlement regime ...” - Elizabeth Warren

    “Sedes” removed from territorial jurisdictions, and can set their own regulatory standards, tax policy, court system (basically run their own government).

    At first the people of the country didn't even know this was happening. ... Then there was massive uprising. Indiginous societies ... A new leader was elected on a campaign to overturn this law .. did so. But then the Trade Agreement (that no one really knew about), that empower corporations to be able to challenge democratic policies, outside of the court system, this isn't in a US or Honduran court, it's in a private tribunal of private sector lawyers, three arbitrators who will decide ...

    “The company is using this [lawsuit for $12b, 1/3 of the country's budget, which would ‘bankrupt’ the country] as a tool to try to bully the government.”

  • Making a website for them.

    She hasn't even made any websites yet, but she said she's afraid she'd be forced to make websites for something she opposes which is gay marriage. SCOTUS 6-3 said she can't be forced to do so because it is her speech right.

    This is not about her religeon. She objected on speech grounds. Where is the line? Is the couple's speech, which is through a website designer, also compromised?


  • Supreme Court Strikes Down Student Loan Forgiveness | Biden’s Next Move - YouTube 
  • Jun, 2023
  • Jun 26, 2023
  • Multas por no inscribir a los recién nacidos en Nicaragua - YouTube 

  • DeSantis.

    China, Russia, Venezuela, Iran, NK, Cuba, Syria. They would have to rent.

    Florida is top state for foreign buyers and China is top source of buyers. Real estate is the second most important revenue source in Florida after tourism.

    25 states have or are looking at laws preventing Chinese state actors from buying farmland. This idea is popular in both parties.

  • Facial recognition, predictive policing, realtime biometric surveillance in public places. “High risk applications” that they want guardrails or bans.

    Looking at forcing developers to insert things that will prevent it from creating illegal material. Another thing is making companies publish summaries of the copyright content they used.

  • Jun, 2023
  • Jun 11, 2023
  • Lawfare versus Trump continues. Almost every time I've seen a headline with Trump for the past couple years it's been him being charged with something. Years after the start of the accusations, the evidence is found to be scant or nonexistent, according to later headlines.
  • Jun, 2023
  • Jun 01, 2023
  • Expresidente Mauricio Funes, condenado a 14 años de cárcel por negociar con pandillas en El Salvador - YouTube 

  • Amazon let workers access videos from people's houses when it wasn't necessary to do their jobs. Unfettered access.

    Alexa kept voice and other info on kids for years, violating their privacy rights, according to finding.
  • May, 2023
  • May 18, 2023

  • May, 2023
  • May 06, 2023
  • Idaho criminalizes helping minors travel out of state to get an abortion - YouTube 
  • May, 2023
  • May 01, 2023
  • Australians seeking compensation for being 'allegedly injured from COVID vaccines’ - Sky News Australia
  • Apr, 2023
  • Apr 15, 2023
  • Headlines for past week had US military leak of war plans re Ukraine. Later headlines about possibly identifying the leak (through online accounts?). Headlines about gov changing how it handles online information.

    Most people commented saying it was a way, or would be used as a way, to justify taking more civil rights away.

  • Apr, 2023
  • Apr 08, 2023

  • "Restrict Act" being debated in Congress.

    ?Ban VPNs, impose fines?

     
  • Apr, 2023
  • Apr 07, 2023
  • Mar, 2023
  • Mar 30, 2023
  • US Copyright Office Issues Rules For Generative AI - YouTube 
  • Mar, 2023
  • Mar 29, 2023
  • EU’s Ban On Tattoo Ink: Breaking Down the Chemistry - YouTube 
  • Mar, 2023
  • Mar 27, 2023
  • Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis Responds To House GOP's Just-Passed Parents' Bill Of Rights - YouTube 
  • Mar, 2023
  • Mar 22, 2023

  • The Germans I know are not impressed by the government doing this over the past months.
  • Mar, 2023
  • Mar 15, 2023
  • India allows foreign law firms to set up offices, move seen as 'game changer' | Latest English News - YouTube 
  • Mar, 2023
  • Mar 12, 2023
  • 6 suspects, ages 11-14, in custody after woman beaten unconscious in brutal attack - YouTube 
  • Mar, 2023
  • Mar 11, 2023

  • Mar, 2023
  • Mar 08, 2023

  • "It improves transparency" said lawmaker, to require news and other orgs that receive more that 20% of their rev from external to register as 'foreign agents'.

     

  • As a response to the administering of mRNA Covid vaccines under 'emergency use authorization' (at the time) without receiving FDA approval. 

    "This was fast-tracked. There's no liability. There's no access to the data. The risk-benefit analysis has not been done. There's no informed consent."

     
  • Mar, 2023
  • Mar 06, 2023


  •  
  • Mar, 2023
  • Mar 02, 2023

  • (not this isn't news. It's from like 2014, but recently popped up on my feeds.)

    It's legal in Florida. "But you better be squeaky clean otherwise you give them another reason because you draw attention to yourself."

    He hangs a plastic bag outside his driver's window but the window stays closed.

    In the bag are license, registration, and insurance. All the ID he'll need.

    "Because the second you open your window, they can say they smell alcohol or drugs emitting from the vehicle. And the moment that you say a word, they can say that your speech was slurred."

    "A lot of people are uncomfortable with the idea that police can just stop you for no reason. And if you're not comfortable with that, this is a good way of handling a checkpoint. And there are good cops and there are bad cops. The purpose of this flyer is to protect innocent people from bad cops."



  • Mar, 2023
  • Mar 01, 2023
  • Matt Walsh Joins Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves As State Bans Gender Reassignment Surgery For Minors - YouTube 
  • Feb, 2023
  • Feb 13, 2023

  • To give Parliament power to overturn Supreme Court decisions and appoint judges.

    80k people in central TA.

    Seems to have something to do with LGBT at the moment.

  • Feb, 2023
  • Feb 03, 2023
  • Trump's Testimony To New York AG's Fraud Probe Investigators - YouTube  
  • Jan, 2023
  • Jan 20, 2023

  • Pre-installed apps, restricted ability to remove apps, measures to ensure search is Google.
     
    Renewed hopes for Indian startups.
  • Dec, 2022
  • Dec 30, 2022

  • Over half of customers had delays recently.

    With no delay compensation in the US yet, it's cheaper to give bad service and even cancel a flight than to operate it in certain situations. Eu has this already. Congress may act.

  • Dec, 2022
  • Dec 18, 2022

  • Dec, 2022
  • Dec 09, 2022
  • Public interviews have given Sam Bankman-Fried an opportunity to set up a defense, says professor - YouTube 
  • Dec, 2022
  • Dec 08, 2022

  • I think this is just about carried cash, not all 'wealth' as they titled it, but I haven't watched the full vid yet. However, you could make the point that cash seized from a home is another category.
     
  • Dec, 2022
  • Dec 05, 2022
  • It's illegal under EU law to platform RT, Greenwald said
  • Dec, 2022
  • Dec 04, 2022

  • Veil for women is the main focus, and what women can say. (Also anything that is Islamic/Sharia) like alcohol, mingling or men and women.

    Morality police really formed in early 1990s.

    Iranians also have been using apps to notify each other where the checkpoints are set up where they check for moral clothing use.

    Iranian protests (began in September, several hundred have died so far in multiple protest events) are still making headlines.

    Other countries have similar things. "Any country where you have strict codes of behavior enforced ... [Saudi Arabia although it has eased restrictions for women over recent years], Sudan, Malaysia. Enforcing public order sometimes.

     
  • Dec, 2022
  • Dec 02, 2022
  • Indonesia set to penalize sex outside marriage, reportedly
  • Qatar did a lot to ensure Temporary Worker Immigrants visas weren't tied to a specific employer (which led to abuses like if you don't do this you're fired and you'll be shipped out of the country)
     
    Where is the line between bargains and exploitation?

    Do they have safety? Food? Shelter?

    What is the direction of the progress? How much further is there to go? Who will care about this specific question in 2 or 3 years?

    The Truth of the Matter: World Cup Geopolitics - YouTube 
  • Nov, 2022
  • Nov 27, 2022
  • (Old: The baby name Xaea12 would have violated Cali law because it contains characters not in the modern English alphabet, so Elon and Grimes changed it to X AE A-XI)

  • Nov, 2022
  • Nov 26, 2022

  • Nov, 2022
  • Nov 16, 2022

  • Rent control soon, they say.

     
  • Nov, 2022
  • Nov 15, 2022

  • And smart glasses.

      
  • Nov, 2022
  • Nov 01, 2022

  • (Teresa Vicente, Phil of Law professor at University of Mercia)


     
     
  • Oct, 2022
  • Oct 24, 2022

  • Recently some random person posted about the Alex Jones trial, asking what he said that was different from MSM or government agencies.
  • Sep, 2022
  • Sep 17, 2022

  • A grocery store (or other private property) can be forced to host speech, according to common law.

    SM platforms are different from newspapers because what is published in a newspaper is so because the newspaper made a choice to publish it. It is the newspaper's speech.

    SM platforms are primarily conduits.

    Parades make choices about who goes in them. This is their first amendment right, so they can discriminate against gays. They can't be forced to make a choice, akin to a newspaper. The parade organizer is more like a newspaper.

    Schools can be forced to host military parades, although they can of course speak out against them.

    SM have no space considerations. Forcing a newspaper or tv station to publish something means they can't publish something else which means they lose money on that space, and curtails the owners ability to speak in its own form.

    The SC has been very clear on protecting from forced affiliation claims. Plus SM platforms can actively say what they want against opinions. Coerced endorsement.

    For newspapers or TV or parades, do editorial decisions occur after the speech has occurred or before? After? That is not what an editor does.

    SM platforms have constantly said they aren't the speaker. That it isn't their speech. (Section 230.)

    Publishers make a decision to repeat something someone else said. Now they're saying it too. Now you're a publisher.

    Common Carrier doctrine dates back before US founding, in common law. It vests states with the power to impose nondiscrimination obligations on communication and transportation providers who hold themselves to serve all members of the public without individualized bargaining. (Telegraph invented in 1830 was the first communications service subjected to Common Carrier at the end of the 19th C. Legislators were concerned private entities that controlled this new tech would use their power to manipulate the flow of info to the public when it served their economic or political self-interest. Western Union (the largest) sometimes refused to carry messages from journalists that competed with its ally AP. The first law required them to receive dispatches to and from any individual on the payment of their usual charges to transmit them with impartiality and good faith. And to transmit them in the order they were received.

    Phone companies are privileged by law to filter obscene or harassing expression. Spam calling. And they often do. So phone companies aren't quite required to accept all transmissions.
    Public transport companies can kick people off their vehicles. They're forced to accept everybody but can be forced to revoke that.

    SM is the dominant means of communication (although not exclusive).

    Commerce, friendship, family, speech, persuasion, picketing, pamphleting, concerts, protests. There a public interest in the social media communication.
     
  • Aug, 2022
  • Aug 22, 2022

  • Aug, 2022
  • Aug 20, 2022
  • Mexico arrests former top prosecutor over 2014 missing students case • FRANCE 24 English - YouTube 
  • Aug, 2022
  • Aug 09, 2022

  • Eyesbrows raised for: lots going to IRS, so they can do more active work perhaps, lots of government oversight of drug companies, emphasis on climate initiatives when other issues seem to some people more pressing.

    $740b, so taxes will be raising, it's been said, during a time when Americans might not want taxes raised.
     
  • FBI Searches Trump's Home in Unprecedented Move - YouTube

     
  • Jun, 2022
  • Jun 24, 2022
  • Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade

    1971 - 1973
     
  • Supreme Court strikes NY law (as unconstitutional) that required permits for concealed guns

    Before, New Yorkers had to show they had self-defense needs to get the permit.

    NY mayor not happy, nor Biden. It affects 40 states, Biden said.

    NY can still require people get licenses on condition of things like background checks and mental health records, said an analyst. They can also limit guns in places like overcroweded places, courts, maybe trains.

    Getting a gun is the same as before in NY. You still have to go through the same process to get a license. What is different is that anyone who has that license can concealed carry.

     
  • Jun, 2022
  • Jun 22, 2022

  • Expanding the tax base. Sector is highly unregulated.

     
  • Jun, 2022
  • Jun 16, 2022
  • Japan announced up to $2000 and 1 year jail terms for online insults

    They already have the law, but it calls for a fine of $75 and no more than 30 days in jail.

    An actress killed herself two years ago, and in last days she was sharing some of the insults she had received online. This law change is considered to be related.

    Lawmakers added a provision that they would reexamine the law in 3 years, and if the impact was positive it would remain.

     
  • Jun, 2022
  • Jun 10, 2022
  • Thailand, which had very strict drug laws, legalized cannabis

    People can grow it at home, and can consume it. The government is giving away 1m seedlings. It's being sold in stores.

    However, possession of extracts stronger than 0.2% THC are not allowed.

  • 2 British men, who were fighting in Ukraine against Russia, sentenced to death after surrender during Mariupol battle

    Russia calls them foreign mercenaries. It's expected they won't be executed, but will be held as diplomatic tools. Sentenced in Donetsk, Ukraine, occupied by Russian forces. Maybe a prisoner swap.

    The men had been in Ukraine since 2017, serving in the army there, reportedly. One has a well-established life there and a Ukrainian wife.

    Russia does not follow any international order, some say, and this can be kept in mind. The court is recognized by Russia and no other countries. Western MSM refers to it as a show trial.

    The men have 30 days to appeal.

     
  • Apr, 2022
  • Apr 25, 2022
  • An African man who was imprisoned in Guantanamo is suing Canada for allegedly supplying the US with false info about him

    He suffered various types of torture and maltreatment in the US torture prison.
  • Apr, 2022
  • Apr 12, 2022
  • Taiwan considering harsher chip protection industry laws

    Everyone wants to buy chip manufacturers now. Taiwan is concerned China will obtain it's chip tech.

    Wion reported Taiwan accounts for 94% of the world's most advanced semi manufacturing capacities.

    How can you protect against economic espionage and talent poaching?

     
  • Apr, 2022
  • Apr 07, 2022
  • New Supreme Court justice in US

    First black woman, but for many the interesting thing is she was a public defender before.

  • Mar, 2022
  • Mar 21, 2022

  • Mar, 2022
  • Mar 16, 2022
  • Lobola (bride price) is now mandatory in Uganda

    ... with a clause empowering marriage officers to find out whether a bride price was paid. 

  • Mar, 2022
  • Mar 14, 2022
  • "We saw Chapter 7, the authority given under Chapter 7, being used now as a weapon to route a whole family [Gadafi's], to commit the murders that occurred in the country ... bombs" - Robert Mugabe, President of Zimbabwe at UN General Assembly 67th Session, October 1, 20212

    Chapter 7 of NATO to operate in Libya in protection of civilians.

    This speech is seeing virality now in light of Ukraine.

    Also interesting, it could just be the sources I have in front of me, but it seems Africa / Africans are having more of a voice on Ukraine than I remember them having. Their leader's speeches in places like UN counsels, their increased number of vloggers and bloggers. Also, it might be Africa will be able to argue with a lot of authority, given their experience over the past 100 years.


     
  • Mar, 2022
  • Mar 09, 2022
  • Biden issued an executive order on crypto

    ... and Bitcoin went up. His order was to look into it and come up with what to do about it, it looks like.

    It's being seen by many in the asset class as a defining or watershed moment (just because it's getting this kind of attention and treatment, not because there's anything concrete, which of course there's not).

    There had been questions about crypto. How to regulate it? Who's going to regulate it? What kind of posture should the US have in terms of competitiveness and innovation in this technology?

    People say the markets like certainty, even if sometimes it's something not positive, it's the certainty that the markets react positively to.

    What does this mean as a new competitive infrastructure for the US? How does the US stay strong in this industry, while still addressing the risks?

    How does the dollar work in this new world? How is it kept safe and sound, so this can grow and flourish?

    US dollar competitiveness on the internet is a strategic national issue.

    Bipartisan engagement about this issue.

    One of the questions is whether the US should do a central bank digital currency.

    China has a stable coin, but it has a lot of surveillance in it.

     
  • Mar, 2022
  • Mar 01, 2022
  • Reportedly, Latvia and Czech Republic have made it illegal to support Russia

    That basically means Speech.

    25% of Latvia is Russians.

    Czech said 1-3 years possible for supporting Russia.

  • In Brazil, they amended the constitution to guarantee data protection as a fundamental right

    The guys on Techlore said they didn't seen anything like that possibly happening in the States for decades. The only thing they could see was if they expanded the Fourth Amendment to include digital property.

     
  • Feb, 2022
  • Feb 15, 2022
  • PM Trudeau invokes 'emergencies act' against truckers

    Gives extra powers to police and Fed gov can now freeze bank accounts of the truckers and anyone associated with them (participating in roadblock, funding them), It also means they can revoke insurance on the trucks.

    Reportedly, it also expands tax-funded terrorism and money-laundering laws to include crowdfunding websites.

    GiveSendGo has ignored an order and given some of the millions raised for the trucker protest (from countries all over).

     
  • Feb, 2022
  • Feb 12, 2022
  • US gov now considering disinformation (free speech) as terrorism

    MDM (mis-, dis-, and mal-information)

    People who spread this could be considered 'threat actors.' If your words could lead to a protest against the gov, and that protest could lead to violence, they could label people who spoke those words domestic terrorists.

    Iverson points out that many things that were originally labelled 'misinformation' turned out to be true over the past year or two.

    Kim Iversen: FREE SPEECH Now Labeled As Domestic Terrorism By DHS. Working With BIG TECH To Surveil? - YouTube  
  • Jan, 2022
  • Jan 29, 2022
  • Minister who crafted Canadian Charter suing government for violating it

    "I'm the only first minister (of those who drafted the Charter in the early 1980s) left alive who was at that conference and helped draft these freedoms and these rights and the Constitution Act of 1982 itself. And I do this very reluctantly. I've been watching this thing for two years, I've been speaking out about it ... and I've come to the conclusion now that I must as a Canadian and as one of the writers and founders of the Constitution Act of 1982, not only speak about it. I must act about it. I must show Canadians that I'm so concerned as a citizen and as a former first minister ... that I must take action against my own government because they have violated rights that I and others helped craft in 1981-1982." - Brian Peckford

    "There is a section in Charter of Rights and Freedoms which allows governments to override these freedoms in unusual circumstance. And I remember this very well when we were crafting the constitution. These unusual circumstances, because of putting it in the constitution, it's not a Federal act or a provincial act, it's in a constitution which is supposed to enshrine permanent values and give glue to the country. So this Section One can only be used, and I remember this well, in times of peril, in times of war and insurrection, or when the State is in peril, when the existence of the State is in peril."

    "Even in the extreme circumstance that you try to make Section One apply ... then there are four tests that had to be met in order for it to apply. That means it must be demonstrably justified that what the action is is worthwhile. In other words, some kind of cost-benefit analysis must be done by law, it must be done within reasonable limits, and fourthly and most importantly, all those three must be done within the context of a free and democratic society. And a free and democratic society to me means parliamentary democracy in our country. We have 14 parliaments, and they have all been completely silent. There's no parliamentary committee anywhere in any of those 14 parliaments looking at what's happening to our country. There are the people's representatives."

    He said that newspapers in the country, which in the past did carry his letters when he wanted to comment on some public policy, but since he started talking this way, they have not carried his letters, or even acknowledged that they've received his letters.

    He noted that lots of news organizations in the country have received money from the government. Over $600m.

    His legal team is basing their claim on the freedom of mobility guarantee (since he has to specify something). He commented that in Canada, the second largest country by land mass, freedom of travel was very important. The government has banned travel by plane and train (and sometimes highways, I've heard). "In other words, we can't travel across our own nation."

    (He said they also considered freedom of association, and freedom of assembly. "Lots of people and churches were prevented from getting together.") (And there's currently a curfew in Quebec.)

    "If us as first ministers had wanted to just have protecting rights and freedoms that could easily be changed, we wouldn't have gone to the constitution. We would have said, 'Just put an act in the Federal parliament, put acts in all the parliaments, and then up to the whim of the political party of the time to change it. We wanted to safeguard it, so it would be beyond the whim of political machinations and therefore could not be changed, only in the most extreme circumstances."

    He also noted that the Oaks Test (coming from a Supreme Court case in 1986) about what Section One meant, and [in the current situation] the lower courts have not looked at this test. This is highly unusual because the courts always look to the precedent set by the highest court ... in determining what they will do in their case. The absence of seeing the Oaks test in the lower courts is very troubling and is the other reason we must take this kind of action at this time."

    "And this is where I ... come down and say, 'We have to exhaust all of the civilized legal processes that we set up under our constitution. ..."

    When asked what the current process was, if not by parliamentary discussion and decision, for the government to take these actions, ever the Charter rights, Peckford said, "Here's where the most insidious part of this equation comes into play. What the governments have done is used, in many cases, existing legislation under which they have the power to make regulation. So they've used existing emergencies, legislation, and inflated it enough or interpreted it in a manner that they can also use in this circumstance and therefore issue additional regulation. And then in other cases, they did not fully explain or have a parliamentary committee look at other amendments when they opened their parliament and closed it within two or three days or a week. In other words, sufficient debate wasn't allowed to understand the repercussions of what they were doing, when they were giving more power to the minister and more power to the public health officer."

    He said it was worse than just not allowing debate, "because we had time. One can perhaps relieve or excuse, if one wants to, and say, For the first 90 days, when this thing began, you could make an argument that OK, the government's had to move. But in any rational way if they had used the emergency measures planning that was already in place, they would have moved to protect the vulnerable first. And then did a study on the rest. What else do we need to do in society. What they did is just a cart blanche over all of society without giving second thought to it."

    "... not only are the vaccines destructive. More destructive than any vaccine in our history, and that's a scientific fact, they have had time to adjust, and this is where they have not even been nimble."

    He discussed that many decisions are made by government based on opinion polling of Canadians in the street, but that the polls were sometimes affected by advertising and (government subsidized legacy media) news, saying "Here they are advertising that you've gotta get vaccinated, on the television, and they're actually even doing ads for children, and trying to talk to children directly through a public ad, so they're feeding off themselves. They're creating enough fear so they'll get the poll they want to get."

    "Canadians are very trusting of their government," he noted. (I've also noticed this a lot.)


     
  • Jan, 2022
  • Jan 21, 2022

  • Dec, 2021
  • Dec 16, 2021
  • San Fran mayor proposes giving police real-time access to surveillance videos

    ... 'in some cases.' As well assnging police a role of dealing with poor drug users in 'The Tenderloin.'
  • Dec, 2021
  • Dec 11, 2021
  • Texas abortion law

    "If the legislatures of the several states may, at will, annul the judgements of the courts of the United States, and destroy the rights acquired under those judgements, the Constitution itself becomes a solemn mockery." - Chief Justice Roberts

    Currently, the Texas law is the strictest in the States, banning abortion after 6 weeks, when 90% of abortions happen. The Supreme Court (Conservative majority) said OK, 5-4, this is a weird new thing, we don't understand it yet, weird procedural question, but abortion providers haven't given us enough reason to tell Texan judges not to enforce it.

    R V Wade (1973) said 24 weeks. Are Women's rights being violated now, since abortions after 6 weeks are not being done. The Constitutionality won't be worked out, people say, until there's a real case brought forward (a lawsuit by a Texan--perhaps one of their anti-abortion groups like Right to Life) to be tried.

    The Texas law is enforced in a unique way, which is why Conservatives on the Supreme Court said they didn't have the power to intervene here. State officials don't enforce it. Individual Texans sue both providers and anyone who aids and abets an abortion. Doctors said they would comply by not doing abortions after 6 weeks.

    A civil avenue for any individual to sue anyone else for violating a certain law.

    Americans to a considerable but not overwhelming degree would favor laws against abortions in the 3rd trimester (80% according to Gallup) and a slight majority (60%) would favor laws for the 2nd trimester.

    Texas poll found 50% of Texas support making abortion illegal after 6 weeks. 67% of Republicans and 27% of Democrats said they supported these bills.

    (This story has been going on for a few months now.)
      
  • Dec, 2021
  • Dec 10, 2021
  • UK court ruled in US appeal that Assange can be extradited to US

    ... judges were reassured by US promises to reduce the risk of Assange's suicide.

    Assanges fiance and lawyers will appeal. The appeal will be on assurances, not on free speech of political motivation for extradition.

    But his lawyers can also try to reverse the judgement by challenging last January's findings that Assange's leaks ammounted to a crime. We don't know if such an appeal would be heard.

  • Dec, 2021
  • Dec 09, 2021
  • Why should Americans not lie and fake crimes against themselves when their government does it?



    #Integrity #Leadership #US
  • Dec, 2021
  • Dec 08, 2021
  • US companies versus vaccine mandates

    "A vaccine mandate for a disease that's just out in the world is not a hazard that's unique to the workplace. And using an emergency temporary standard to mandate a vaccine is not an appropriate use of the emergency temporary standard." - Sara Harbison, Pelican Institute
  • Dec, 2021
  • Dec 06, 2021

  •  
  • Nov, 2021
  • Nov 30, 2021
  • Justices denying anti-vaccine mandate cases

    "Mass General is Massachusetts's largest private employer with about 80,000 employees. Their vaccine mandate went into effect on November 5th. Non-compliant employees were subsequently fired. Several of them filed a lawsuit to prevent the vaccine mandate from taking effect.

    "Barrett declined the vaccine case from Indiana University and Breyer declined this one from Massachusetts. Six of the nine judges turned down a similar case from Maine. It's not looking hopeful for the anti-vaccine mandate crowd."

    This caused some commenters to say they think the Supreme Court has become part of the DeepState.

    But others have noted that this is a purely business decision, and working for a company is at-will in most jobs (a company can mandate you have to wear blue on mondays).

    Others noted that because the vaccines (mRNA) are still experimental (one of the biggest concerns of people not wanting to get or mandate them), forcing people to get them violates the Nuremburg Code (if people later die those who participated even in small ways in forcing people to undergo the procedure liable for deaths).

    #Pandemic #CivilRights #HumanRights

    Nuremberg Code — United States Holocaust Memorial Museum  
  • Nov, 2021
  • Nov 19, 2021
  • Kyle Rittenhouse found not guilty

    Kenosha, WI shooting. Shot 3 men, of which 2 died, at a protest against police brutality. Rittenhouse was 17, armed with an AR-15 style rifle, on the location to protect a car dealership.

    This has been a massive news story for the past month, quite political between Dems and Republicans. The other day, a Dem news org issued a sort of personal correction where the host said they earlier thought Rittenhouse did the agressing, but now said it looked to them like he was aggressed against.

    I only bothered to look at one or two videos on this, just to see what it was, at the start of the trial, and the video the news org showed made it look this way to me also. Unclear about events, but that Rittenhouse was agressing. And I'm not a Democrat news org. Some questions then about how the news presents unresolved legal accusations.


     
  • Nov, 2021
  • Nov 14, 2021
  • Fed gov of Austria ordered a lockdown for non-vaccinated people

    Barred from leaving their homes, with threat of a $500 fine. Applies to anyone not 'fully vaccinated' or previously infected.

    65% of the country is vaccinated.


    Protests:


     
  • Nov, 2021
  • Nov 05, 2021
  • Halal (Muslim) and kosher (Jewish) food in Greece

    A recent law made permission for production of food products in these two ways.

    But on review, the Hellenic court annulled the permits because existing Greek law requires anesthesia for animals slaughtered, and said the halal and kosher production methods were 'inhumane' because they killed animals without first removing sensation to pain.

    In recent years, 5 northern and eastern European nations have banned ritual slaughter.

    #Animals #Greece #CivilRights
     
  • Nov, 2021
  • Nov 01, 2021
  • Assange extradition appeal trial underway

    US reps offering 'assurances' Assange will be treated OK. Assange reps highlighting CIA plans to kidnap, kill, etc.

  • Oct, 2021
  • Oct 27, 2021
  • EU (ECJ) fines Poland 1m Euros per day

    In Poland there's a disciplinary chamber that, critics say, can make judges leave if they don't follow the 'right wing' party line.

    The chamber, EU says, violates EU law because it compromises the independence of the judiciary in Poland.

    ECJ decided this last summer and Poland accepted it, but Poland didn't really take any steps to remove the chamber.

    The method of fines is standard for the EU when a country does something they don't like, but usually the countries fall into line.

    In September, one of Poland's high courts (with ties to government it is said) also decided Poland's courts can overrule the ECJ.

     
  • Oct, 2021
  • Oct 09, 2021
  • EU majority vote against mass surveillance through facial recognition

    ... such as that used by police. It's called 'biometric surveillance.'

    It's not a law against, that they voted for. It's more of a statement against the idea.

     
  • Oct, 2021
  • Oct 05, 2021
  • Tesla ordered to pay $137M to ex-worker over hostile work environment

    He was an elevator operator who said someone or people did racial abuse to him.
     
    What percentage of people would you guess would willingly have someone do racial abuse to them for even $137?
  • Sep, 2021
  • Sep 28, 2021
  • R. Kelly found guilty

    Groupies going backstage and getting the performer's number and hooking up were recast by the court/media as victims being groomed. Kelly's wife, a person he loved, was also treated as a crime.

    It was reported as a victory for the MeToo movement.

     
  • Sep, 2021
  • Sep 20, 2021
  • China, famous 'MeToo' case thrown out

    3 years ago, a TV station employee alleged a prominent TV host groped her and used force to kiss her when she was an intern under him. She sued him for damages, and he countersued for damage of his reputation.

    The trial she initiated ended today with the finding that she had not shown enough evidence to prove her boss had done so. The accused was not 'even' required to come to court to testify. Some feminists and others considered the trial something of a Chinese MeToo thing.

    The woman, Zhou Xiaoxuan, said it was worth it either way, and she knew the outcome could have gone either way. "I am very honored to have gone through this together with everyone.'

    She will appeal, she said.

     
  • Sep, 2021
  • Sep 12, 2021
  • Canadian govts go for mandatory vaccines

    ... but there were large protests outside city halls and hospitals over the freedom to chose. A further concern has to do with people not feeling the vaccines currently being offered are not adequately tested, we don't know enough about them, and they don't feel comfortable putting it in their bodies.

    Legally, people have the freedom to choose they don't want a vaccine, according to Canadian employment lawyer Lior Samfiru. It can't be forced on them. He said it's actually a human rights violation (to require a medical procedure and also to distinguish between people who have and don't have Covid) as well. He said it's not legal for employers to impose it on employees, and if they let employees for this they are liable to pay severance (possibly up to 2 years). Samfiru said people who challenge their employers have a good chance of success.

    In the US, however, it might be different. Dorit Reiss, law professor at the University of California Hastings, told CNBC there was a history of vaccine mandates in the workplace. Health care employers have required vaccines, and some restaurants have required Hep A vaccines. Employment is at will, which means the employer gets to set many of the workplace rules, and vaccine rules are health and safety rules, making the workplace safer. But there is a question whether the government can mandate a vaccine under an emergency authorization (which it is currently under in the US). However, the EUA only limits the Federal government and doesn't say anything about other employers. Citizens don't have constitutional rights against employers, although they may have some legal rights.

     
  • Aug, 2021
  • Aug 20, 2021
  • New China data privacy law

    ... goes into effect Nov. 1.

    It targets digital companies. Collecting a lot of random info on users in order to 'provide a better service' seems it'll be not as available to businesses. The restrictions in the bill target businesses and don't really apply to the CCP.

    Under the law, companies are required to only collect the minimal amount of data for a service, and must obtain consent for collecting sensitive info (like biometrics), offer easy opt-out options, and if they want to transfer data overseas they have to get govt approval first.

    Does this put China ahead of the West in internet privacy?

     
  • Aug, 2021
  • Aug 06, 2021
  • Some Afghanis are fleeing to cities to escape new Taliban law

    'If they don't kill us today, they'll kill us tomorrow,' a husband told a wife who worked as a teacher for years before being promoted to principal, after death threats began. She worked at a government-run school in an increasingly Taliban-controlled town. Schools are attacked by rockets and suicide bombers sometimes. The Taliban have their own schools. The couple moved to the city where Taliban holds no real sway, although some of her sons remained in the town.

    A typical punishment for women: public whippings for an unmarried woman talking on the phone with a man. A married woman who did something similar could be hanged.

    A local government head sitting at a local trial said to France24: 'Today, just like yesterday, all Taliban decisions must be in harmony with Islamic law. Whether it be stoning to death, decapitation, or mutilation of the hand, these are strong principles of Islam. They're strong principles of Sharia. And we will never change thm until judgement day.'

     
  • Jul, 2021
  • Jul 30, 2021
  • Hong Kong man jailed 'under national security law'

    The man, during pro-democracy protests in HK against the Chinese government, purposefully rode his superbike at a line of police. He carried a flag which read 'Liberate Hong Kong.'

    Western media is headlining this as the first person to be charged under Hong Kong's new national security law, and highlighting the law's restrictions on protest slogans that are 'capable of inciting others,' on secessionist activity, and that without a guilty plea there should be no leniency.

    ... despite this man's actions being clearly not just protest oriented.

    This may logically make China appear unfairly presented, and give China a valid claim to such. American commenters on the story noted that the man would probably have been gunned down by US police if he tried that in NY. ... However, China may follow this trial of what many consider an aggressive act with trials of peaceful protesters, journalists (which reportedly it has lined up about 30 of them), etc.

    9 years. He will appeal.

    (following this video clip, the motorbike was on the ground with police surrounding him. It appears he slowed and turned to the side and did not hit any police once he charged up close to them.)

     
  • Jul, 2021
  • Jul 22, 2021
  • Tanzania government rounds up members of opposition party, talk they might charge them with terrorism

    Previous VP now president after death of previous president extending authoritarian tendencies used by previous president?

  • Jul, 2021
  • Jul 19, 2021
  • Design trolls lose another lawsuit over their copyrights

    Design Basics is a website that uploads lots of house plans, copyrights them, then sues home builders (they've sued over 100 in recent years).