#civilliberties — Public Fediverse posts

Texas: Faith, Freedom, and Mind Your Damn Business

By Cliff Potts, CSO
Editor-in-Chief, WPS News

Baybay City, Leyte, Philippines — September 4, 2026, 9:15 p.m. PHT

Texas talks about faith constantly and practices freedom inconsistently. Religion is waved like a banner while personal liberty is quietly narrowed, regulated, or punished when it doesn’t line up with political fashion. This contradiction has become so normal that many Texans barely notice it anymore.

Faith is not the problem. Power is.

Faith Is Personal, Not Administrative

Texas is home to churches, synagogues, mosques, temples, meeting houses, and people who believe quietly or not at all. That pluralism is not a flaw. It is a fact. Faith has always been part of Texas life, but it has never belonged to the state.

When government begins enforcing one version of belief, it stops protecting faith and starts weaponizing it. That does not strengthen religion. It cheapens it. Faith that requires government backing is not faith—it is insecurity dressed up as authority.

People believe deeply without being coerced. The state does not need to supervise that.

Freedom Means Leaving People Alone

Texas politicians love to invoke freedom while inserting themselves into private decisions about bodies, families, education, and belief. That is not freedom. It is control wrapped in familiar language.

True freedom is not loud. It is boring. It is the quiet confidence that your neighbor’s life choices are none of your business unless they cause real harm. A free society tolerates disagreement without demanding conformity.

If a belief system is strong, it does not need the force of law to survive.

Religion in Schools Without Indoctrination

Teaching about religion is not the same thing as preaching it. Students benefit from understanding the beliefs that shape history, culture, and global affairs. Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, Shinto, Indigenous traditions, and secular ethics all belong in a serious education.

Teaching one belief as truth while excluding others is not education. It is indoctrination. Texas should be confident enough to teach broadly without fear.

Knowledge does not weaken faith. It strengthens discernment.

The Myth of Moral Decline

Texas politics often leans on claims of moral collapse to justify intrusion into private life. These claims rarely hold up under scrutiny. Crime trends, family structures, and social behavior are influenced far more by economics, education, and stability than by religious enforcement.

Blaming social problems on belief differences avoids addressing harder causes like poverty, healthcare access, housing, and education. Moral panic is easier than policy work.

A serious state solves problems instead of sermonizing about them.

Faith Communities Do Real Work

Faith-based organizations are often the first to respond when communities struggle. They feed people, shelter families, provide counseling, and show up quietly without demanding credit. That work matters. It deserves respect and support.

What it does not require is political dominance. Faith communities are strongest when they act voluntarily, not when they are fused to state power.

Service speaks louder than slogans.

Freedom of Conscience Cuts Both Ways

Freedom of religion includes the freedom not to believe. It includes the freedom to change beliefs. It includes the freedom to practice quietly without public approval. Protecting conscience means accepting outcomes you may personally dislike.

That is the price of liberty. It is also its strength.

Texas cannot claim to honor freedom while punishing people for living differently.

When Government Picks Winners

History offers no shortage of warnings about governments that decide which beliefs are acceptable. Even when intentions begin as sincere, outcomes tend toward exclusion, resentment, and abuse. Texas is not immune to that pattern.

Keeping church and state separate does not weaken either. It protects both from corruption.

Personal Faith, Public Restraint

Leaders are allowed their faith. They are allowed to be guided by conscience. What they are not allowed to do is impose that conscience as law when it infringes on the rights of others.

Restraint is not betrayal. It is maturity.

What a Confident Texas Would Do

A confident Texas would protect freedom of worship for everyone and freedom from coercion for everyone else. It would teach religion academically, not devotionally. It would trust families and individuals to handle belief without supervision.

Most of all, it would stop confusing moral authority with legal power.

Why This Matters Going Forward

Faith will continue to shape Texas culture. That is not in question. The question is whether it will be used to inspire service and compassion—or to justify intrusion and control.

Freedom survives only when people mind their own damn business.

Texas is strong enough to do that.

This essay will be archived as part of the ongoing WPS News Monthly Brief Series available through Amazon.

References (APA)
Pew Research Center. (2025). Religious diversity and belief in the United States.
First Amendment Center. (2025). Religion, government, and constitutional boundaries.
National Council of State Legislatures. (2025). Religious freedom and public policy analysis.
Gallup. (2025). Public attitudes toward religion and government.
American Academy of Religion. (2025). Teaching religion in public education.

Québec’s Bill 9 doesn’t just ban symbols — it bans obligations
#Quebec #Canada #Bill9 #Bill21 #ReligiousFreedom #Law #HumanRights #Islam #CharterRights #Secularism #Faith #SupremeCourt #Politics #QuebecPolitics #CivilLiberties #FreedomOfReligion #Politics
https://the-14.com/quebecs-bill-9-doesnt-just-ban-symbols-it-bans-obligations/

Revealed: Trump’s War on ICE Protesters Is Collapsing in Court

https://www.rawamerica.com/p/revealed-trumps-war-on-ice-protesters

• The billionaires own the government

• Trump’s sons are quietly building a defense tech empire funded by your tax dollars

• True history of the Capitol attack

#TrumpAdministration #America #Truth #UnitedWeStand #OneNation #UnderGod #AmericanJustice #CivilLiberties #SocialTruth #ICECourt #FederalAgents #FederalCourt #Government #Billionaires #TrumpsWar #CapitalRiots #CyberPolice #AIPoliceForce

Trump Is Manufacturing an Election Crisis to Justify Military and ICE Power

Trump is manufacturing claims of foreign interference and noncitizen voting to discredit future election losses and prepare Americans for authoritarian federal action.

Battle of The Beanfield

There are certain moments in modern British history that seem to sit just beyond the edge of official memory. Events that everybody vaguely remembers, yet somehow never quite make it into the comfortable national story we tell ourselves.

The Battle of Orgreave is one. The miners’ strike is another. The poll tax riots. Hillsborough. Brixton. They linger in photographs, old television footage and the memories of those who were there, carrying the uncomfortable reminder that Britain is not always as civilised, measured and orderly as it likes to imagine itself to be.

The Battle of the Beanfield belongs firmly in that category.

Forty years on, it remains one of the most controversial policing operations in modern British history. More than 1,300 police officers confronted a convoy of around 600 New Age Travellers attempting to reach Stonehenge on 1 June 1985. By the end of the day, dozens of people had been injured, hundreds had been arrested and an entire way of life had effectively been marked for destruction.

What happened in that Hampshire beanfield has never been the subject of a full public inquiry. Yet for many people who witnessed the decline of Britain’s traditional industries during the Thatcher years, the images remain painfully familiar.

I grew up in Yorkshire through the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s. I watched pit villages hollow out. I watched steelworks close. I watched communities that had existed for generations suddenly find themselves described as obstacles to progress. There was a language that emerged during those years. Certain groups became “the problem”. Miners. Trade unionists. Travellers. Alternative communities. Anyone who stood outside the increasingly rigid idea of what Britain was supposed to become.

That is one reason the Battle of the Beanfield still matters.

To understand the confrontation itself, we first need to understand the strange, colourful and often misunderstood world that produced it.

The Stonehenge Free Festival began in 1974. It emerged from the wider countercultural movements of the late 1960s and early 1970s, combining music, environmentalism, spiritual exploration, political activism and communal living. Over the following decade it grew steadily, becoming one of the largest free gatherings in Britain. By the early 1980s thousands of people travelled to Stonehenge each summer to celebrate the solstice. The festival attracted an eclectic mix of punks, bikers, druids, musicians, environmental campaigners, anarchists, hippies and families living on the road.

The people who became known as the Peace Convoy were not a single organisation. They were a loose collection of travellers, festival-goers and alternative communities who spent much of the year moving between free festivals, protest camps and temporary settlements. Some were escaping unemployment. Some rejected consumer culture. Others simply wanted a different way of living. Many travelled in converted buses, coaches, ambulances and vans that doubled as homes.

To their supporters they represented freedom, creativity and resistance to conformity.

To their critics they represented disorder.

By 1984 tensions were reaching breaking point. The Stonehenge festival had become enormous. Estimates suggested attendance reached around 100,000 people. Concerns were raised about damage to the archaeological landscape, litter, unauthorised trading and open drug use. English Heritage, which had recently taken over management of the site, came under increasing pressure to act. Local authorities and police forces were equally determined that the gathering should not continue in its existing form. A High Court injunction was obtained to prevent the 1985 festival from taking place. The state had drawn a line.

On the morning of 1 June 1985, the Peace Convoy left Savernake Forest and began moving towards Stonehenge. Around 140 vehicles carried approximately 600 people. Many were families. Children were travelling alongside adults who had spent years living on the road. They knew there would be police opposition. Few appear to have anticipated what was waiting for them.

Police had prepared extensively.

The miners’ strike had ended only months earlier. During that bitter industrial conflict police forces had developed new methods of coordination, rapid deployment and large-scale public order operations. Senior officers later openly acknowledged that lessons learned during the strike had informed preparations for dealing with the travellers.

A four-mile exclusion zone had been established around Stonehenge. Roadblocks were prepared. Officers from multiple forces were assembled. Some estimates place police numbers at around 1,300. Others suggest even higher figures by the end of the operation.

The convoy encountered its first major roadblock near Shipton Bellinger, several miles from Stonehenge. According to police accounts, some traveller vehicles attempted to push through the blockade and rammed police vehicles. Travellers and independent witnesses tell a very different story. They describe a convoy seeking negotiation before finding itself trapped and surrounded.

Whatever happened during those first moments, the situation rapidly escalated.As vehicles attempted to leave the road and move into adjacent fields, police began smashing windows and making arrests. The convoy became scattered across farmland. Families were separated. Children became lost in the confusion. What followed would become one of the most infamous confrontations in modern British policing.

Television footage remains difficult to watch even now.

Officers in riot gear strike vehicle windows with truncheons. People are dragged from buses and vans. Terrified children can be seen inside shattered vehicles. Journalists and witnesses described police hitting men and women indiscriminately. Several accounts alleged pregnant women and individuals carrying babies were assaulted during the operation. Numerous vehicles that functioned as homes were systematically damaged.

The Earl of Cardigan, whose family owned Savernake Forest and who had followed the convoy on a motorcycle, later provided testimony that proved deeply damaging to official police narratives. He described officers rushing vehicles with drawn truncheons, shouting at occupants and creating scenes of intimidation and violence that contradicted many early police claims.

Journalists present that day reported similar concerns.

ITN footage captured scenes that shocked many viewers. Photographer Alan Lodge later described the event as an ambush rather than a battle. Others argued the very name “Battle of the Beanfield” created a misleading impression of two evenly matched sides. One side possessed riot shields, command structures, communications systems and overwhelming numerical superiority. The other consisted largely of civilians living in vehicles.

By the end of the operation, 537 people had been arrested. It remains one of the largest mass arrests of civilians in modern British history. Most of the charges eventually collapsed or were dismissed.

That fact alone raises uncomfortable questions.

If hundreds of supposedly dangerous lawbreakers had been lawfully apprehended while carrying out serious criminal acts, one might expect hundreds of successful prosecutions to follow. Instead, much of the legal case simply evaporated.

Years later, travellers successfully pursued civil actions against Wiltshire Police. Damages were awarded for wrongful arrest, false imprisonment and property damage. One police sergeant was convicted of actual bodily harm arising from the events of that day.

Yet despite these outcomes, there has never been a full public inquiry.

Perhaps that is because the Battle of the Beanfield was about more than Stonehenge.

Looking back now, it feels impossible to separate it from the wider atmosphere of Britain in the mid-1980s. This was a country being transformed at extraordinary speed. Traditional industries were disappearing. Unemployment was soaring in many regions. Entire communities were fighting for survival. Alternative lifestyles increasingly found themselves portrayed as threats to public order rather than expressions of individual freedom.

For many people in mining and industrial areas, there is a recognisable pattern.

First comes the language.

A group is described as troublesome, outdated or undesirable.

Then comes the media narrative.

Then comes the justification.

Then comes the force.

That does not mean every traveller was a saint, any more than every miner was. Human beings are messy. Large gatherings bring problems. Some attendees at the Stonehenge festivals undoubtedly caused damage. Some individuals within the traveller movement undoubtedly committed crimes. A serious historical assessment has to acknowledge that reality. The archaeological concerns surrounding Stonehenge were genuine. Local residents had legitimate complaints. Authorities were entitled to seek solutions.

But none of that explains the scale of what happened on 1 June 1985.

The images of smashed homes, frightened children and riot police advancing across fields continue to disturb because they seem wildly disproportionate. They suggest a state determined not merely to enforce an injunction but to send a message.

And the message was received.

The traveller movement never fully recovered.

Legislation introduced during the following years increasingly restricted nomadic lifestyles and unauthorised gatherings. The Public Order Act 1986 and later the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 created new powers that made life significantly harder for travellers, free festivals and eventually the emerging rave culture.

In many ways the Beanfield became a blueprint. The same language used against travellers would later be applied to ravers, squatters, protesters and environmental activists. Alternative communities were increasingly framed not as citizens exercising freedoms but as public order problems requiring management.

Yet the legacy of the Beanfield refuses to disappear.

Songs were written about it. The Levellers turned it into a folk-punk anthem that introduced a new generation to the story. Hawkwind referenced it. Writers, filmmakers and activists kept returning to it. Every summer solstice the memory resurfaces among those who remember what happened.

Perhaps that is because the Battle of the Beanfield sits at the crossroads of so many larger questions.

Who gets to occupy public space?

Who decides what constitutes a legitimate way of living?

How much power should the state possess when dealing with communities that reject mainstream norms?

And perhaps most importantly of all, what happens when governments begin to see certain groups not as citizens but as enemies?

Forty years later those questions feel remarkably current.

The travellers who set out for Stonehenge in 1985 were not trying to overthrow the government. They were trying to reach a festival. They were trying to celebrate a solstice. They were trying, in their own eccentric and imperfect way, to live differently.

Many paid a heavy price for that.

For those of us who grew up watching pits close, furnaces go cold and communities written off as inconvenient relics of the past, the Beanfield feels like part of the same story. Different people. Different landscape. Different politics perhaps. But the same underlying lesson.

When power decides a group no longer belongs, it rarely begins with dialogue.

It begins with exclusion.

Then comes the roadblock.

Further Reading

Andy Worthington, The Battle of the Beanfield

Christopher Chippindale, Stoned Henge: Events and Issues at the Summer Solstice, 1985

Emma Hallett, BBC News, Summer Solstice: How the Stonehenge Battles Faded

Tony Thompson, The Observer, Twenty Years After, Mystery Still Clouds Battle of the Beanfield

English Heritage, Stonehenge 1977–85: A Dig in Time and a Confrontation

Copyright © Mysterious Times 2026. All rights reserved. This article may not be reproduced, distributed or transmitted in any form without prior written permission from Mysterious Times, except in the case of brief quotations used for review, criticism or scholarly reference.

A quotation from Henry Commager

Who are those who are really disloyal? Those who inflame racial hatreds, who sow religious and class dissensions. Those who subvert the Constitution by violating the freedom of the ballot box. Those who make a mockery of majority rule by the use of the filibuster. Those who impair democracy by denying equal educational facilities. Those who frustrate justice by lynch law or by making a farce of jury trials. Those who deny freedom of speech and of the press and of assembly. Those who press for special favors against the interest of the commonwealth. Those who regard public office as a source of private gain. Those who would exalt the military over the civil. Those who for selfish and private purposes stir up national antagonisms and expose the world to the ruin of war.

Henry Steele Commager (1902-1998) American historian, writer, activist
Essay (1947-09), “Who Is Loyal to America?” sec. 3, Harper’s Magazine, Vol. 195, No. 1168

More about this quote: wist.info/commager-henry-steel…

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #henrycommager #America #civilliberties #civilrights #corruption #demagoguery #democracy #disloyalty #division #firstamendment #freepress #freespeech #freedomofreligion #freedomofspeech #freedomofthepress #injustice #jingoism #justice #loyalty #loyaltyoath #military #patriotism #publicoffice #religiousfreedom #unAmerican #usvsthem #votersuppression #votingrights #war #warmongering

Why #GiorgiaMeloni's '#AntiProtest' law has divided #Italy

Italy’s new security law, pushed through by PM Giorgia Meloni’s #RightWing government, is stoking nationwide outrage. From harsher protest penalties and a ban on cannabis light to legal cover for police, critics warn it criminalises dissent and threatens #CivilLiberties. Protests, international concerns and Senate drama have all followed

FP Explainers
June 5, 2025

"A new security decree introduced by Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s right-wing coalition government has divided Italy.

"Approved by the Senate with 109 votes in favour, 69 against, and one abstention, the legislation has sparked a backlash from opposition lawmakers, human rights bodies and legal groups, who argue that it undermines fundamental freedoms and disproportionately punishes marginalised communities.

"The decree expands legal authority for law enforcement, imposes stricter penalties on demonstrators, and introduces a variety of criminal provisions touching on #protests, public order, #cannabis regulation, and social #housing.

"While the government insists the law is a necessary measure to safeguard security, critics see it as a repressive attempt to #CriminaliseDissent and curb civil liberties in one of Europe’s major democracies."

Read more:
https://www.firstpost.com/explainers/meloni-anti-protest-law-divides-italy-security-decree-controversy-explained-13894615.html

Archived version:
https://archive.ph/n6clN

#WorldPol #ItalyPol #CriminalizingProtest #SilencingDissent #Authoritarianism #Fascism #HistoryRepeats? #AntiProtestLaws

In May Ilhan Omar introduced H.R. 3651: Protecting Our Protesters Act of 2025. It’s literally just adding one line to 18 U.S. Code § 242:

“Including the use of force during a response to a protest.”

In short, using excessive force against protesters becomes a federal crime. That’s it.

But it has a 1% chance of being enacted.

Bill:
https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/119/hr3651

Title 18:
https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/242

#Protest #HumanRights #CivilRights #RightToAssemble #CivilLiberties #USPol #IlhanOmar #HR3651

The Holiday Odor Trap

Filed Under: Odor Politics

Most people assume the holiday rush is measured in miles, delays, and crowded kitchens. The truth is uglier. From Thanksgiving through New Year’s Eve, the country sees a spike in traffic stops that begin with the same old claim, that an officer “smelled marijuana.” Courts have spent years separating odor from impairment, yet the loophole stays wide open. It gives law enforcement a way to turn ordinary travel into a fishing expedition.

Some states have ruled that smell alone cannot justify a search, while others treat it as fair game. The public rarely knows the difference. Drivers heading to see family pass through counties where a scent on a jacket is enough to escalate a stop. Officers use it because it works. It softens the ground for questioning, it expands their authority, and it moves the conversation away from what actually matters, which is whether the driver is safe.

Most holiday travelers are not impaired. They are tired, stressed, and trying to get where they are going. cannabis lives in homes and clothes the same way kitchen spices do. A single smoked joint on Thanksgiving Eve can leave a jacket scented for days. Officers know this. Courts know this. Yet people still get pulled aside because the scent is treated like a confession.

The pattern is predictable. The officer leans in, mentions odor, then asks questions that have nothing to do with driving. People feel cornered and start explaining things they never needed to explain. That is the moment a simple stop becomes a long delay on the side of the road.

Holiday traffic and police practice collide in a way that punishes normal life. The country is filled with legal markets. People buy edibles and flower for the same reason they buy wine. They visit friends. They share a moment on the porch. The plant is legal in half the country, but its scent is still treated like probable cause.

The holiday season should not require a legal strategy, yet that is where the country stands. Smell is treated as suspicion even in states that claim to respect legalization. People drive through a patchwork of laws that shift from town to town. What protects a driver in one county is ignored in the next.

The courts may eventually close the gap. Legislatures may force consistency. Until then, drivers are left with common sense and preparation. The safest choice is to remove the excuse entirely. Officers cannot prove what they cannot smell, and they cannot escalate what they cannot justify.

Practical Tips For Holiday Drivers Who Want To Avoid The Odor Trap

Keep jackets and bags outside the smoking area. Most odor claims come from clothing, not the person.

Use clean gear during travel days. People who vape during the holiday tend to switch to something low profile. This is where PAX vaporizers fit naturally because they keep the ritual clean and contained.

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Weed shops profit from cannabis culture while refusing to hire the people who shaped it. Insurers, compliance officers, and corporate rules punish cannabis users even in legal states. Testing myths, background screening, and liability fear filter out anyone with real experience. The result is a workforce designed to exclude the culture that keeps the industry…

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Do not store old flower containers or ash in the car. Empty jars and forgotten tubes hold scent long after they are cleaned.

Seal anything with a smell. A simple airtight pouch prevents the easiest excuse an officer can use.

Travel clear headed. Some readers prefer relief without impairment during long drives. Endoca CBD has become a steady choice because it stays consistent.

Know the rules in the state you are driving through. Odor is not probable cause in some states, yet it remains a tool in others.

Keep conversations simple and respectful. You do not need to explain your holiday habits.

Remember that odor is not evidence of impairment. Courts have split them apart. Officers blend them because it expands their authority.

©2025 Pot Culture Magazine. All rights reserved. This content is the exclusive property of Pot Culture Magazine and may not be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means without prior written permission from the publisher, except for brief quotations in critical reviews.

Affiliate Disclosure: Pot Culture Magazine may receive commissions from purchases made through affiliate links such as Cheech & Chong and Endoca. This helps support our independent journalism without affecting our editorial standards.

F O R T H E C U L T U R E B Y T H E C U L T U R E

BAD SEEDS IN WASHINGTON

Federal lawmakers quietly inserted language into a budget bill that could criminalize countless cannabis seeds based solely on the THC profile of the parent plant. The move threatens growers, breeders, medical cultivators, and the genetic diversity that built modern cannabis culture. This seismic shift puts control of the plant’s future in the hands of federal…

Reefer Report Card Vol. 26: Nov 29-Dec 06

This week’s Reefer Report Card exposes the scromiting panic, Washington’s latest hemp crackdown, and the Supreme Court inching toward a decision that could rewrite prohibition. Patients and veterans stayed stuck in outdated systems while global reform moved forward with hesitation. Panic got headlines. Weed got scapegoated. The world kept smoking anyway.

THE SCROMITING SCAM

American newsrooms turned a simple overuse incident into a nationwide scare. Scromiting headlines exploded overnight, burying real CHS facts under panic and misinformation. Pot Culture breaks down what actually happened, why the media keeps confusing overuse with syndrome, and how fear travels faster than truth when cannabis is involved.

Omaha Tribe Legal Cannabis vs Nebraska Prohibition

Nebraska still criminalizes cannabis, yet the Omaha Tribe has built a legal system with real rules, licensing, and a working industry on sovereign land. This update shows how the Tribe keeps moving forward while the state stays rooted in prohibition. The border is now the flashpoint. Step across it with cannabis and everything changes.

Virginia Is For Tokers

Virginia just greenlit its long-delayed cannabis market. But is the launch plan built to last, or is it already showing cracks? The blueprint promises equity, protection from corporate takeover, and sustainable access. Advocates say it could be the first real test of Southern legalization. Pot Culture breaks it all down with facts, receipts, and no…

Holiday Survival with Cannabis, Not Chaos

The holidays hit harder than they should. Travel turns messy, families spark arguments, and the season demands cheer nobody actually feels. Cannabis becomes the counterweight, steadying people through the noise while alcohol keeps causing wreckage. This feature cuts through the lies, the pressure, and the culture, showing how the plant helps people survive December without…

#blackFriday #cannabis #cannabisCommunity #cannabisCulture #cannabisRights #cannabisSmell #cannabiscommunity #carSearches #civilLiberties #consumerSafety #courtRulings #crime #holidayTravel #lawEnforement #legalMarkets #marijuana #marijuanaNews #odorLaws #odorPolitics #police #policeStops #potCultureMagazine #roadsideEncounters #search #searchPractices #smell #thanksgiving #trafficStops #travelPrep

2025 #Elections : #Voters Came Out in Record Numbers to Defend Key #CivilLiberties Issues Across the Country

Across the country, voters took to the ballot box to make their voices heard on Tuesday. The results overwhelmingly demonstrate that voters want leaders who will push against the #Trump administration’s cruel policies and abuses of power and work to make life better for the American people.
#2025elections

https://www.aclu.org/news/voting-rights/2025-elections-voters-came-out-in-record-numbers-to-defend-key-civil-liberties-issues-across-the-country

President Trump’s War on “Woke AI” Is a #CivilLiberties Nightmare

A new executive order called “Preventing #WokeAI in the Federal Government,” released alongside the #AIActionPlan , seeks to strong-arm #AI companies into modifying their models to conform with the #Trump Administration’s #ideological agenda.
#artificialintelligence #rights #eo #executiveorder

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2025/08/president-trumps-war-woke-ai-civil-liberties-nightmare

"The White House’s recently-unveiled “AI Action Plan” wages war on so-called “woke AI”—including large language models (LLMs) that provide information inconsistent with the administration’s views on climate change, gender, and other issues. It also targets measures designed to mitigate the generation of racial and gender biased content and even hate speech. The reproduction of this bias is a pernicious problem that AI developers have struggled to solve for over a decade.

A new executive order called “Preventing Woke AI in the Federal Government,” released alongside the AI Action Plan, seeks to strong-arm AI companies into modifying their models to conform with the Trump Administration’s ideological agenda.

The executive order requires AI companies that receive federal contracts to prove that their LLMs are free from purported “ideological biases” like “diversity, equity, and inclusion.” This heavy-handed censorship will not make models more accurate or “trustworthy,” as the Trump Administration claims, but is a blatant attempt to censor the development of LLMs and restrict them as a tool of expression and information access."

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2025/08/president-trumps-war-woke-ai-civil-liberties-nightmare

#USA #Trump #AI #GenerativeAI #AIActionPlan #LLMs #WokeAI #Censorship #DEI #CivilLiberties

#Texas just gutted #FreeSpeech on #college #campuses. Is your state next?

New laws in the Lone Star State will silence dissent and undermine #faculty authority.

By Laura Benitez and Jonathan Friedman
July 14, 2025

"As thousands of students return to college campuses this fall, they will find themselves stepping into an environment reshaped by political and ideological mandates. Across the country, state legislators have been racing to exert new influence over free expression in higher education. Now, Texas has surged to the forefront, closing its 2025 legislative session by passing two alarming laws that take effect Sept. 1.

"Signed by Gov. Greg Abbott (R) in June, the new laws amount to a stunningly aggressive legislative crackdown on campus protest (#SB2972) and academic shared governance (#SB37) at public colleges and universities. The laws will not just silence dissent and undermine faculty authority in Texas; they provide a blueprint for how to dismantle academic freedom and chill speech on campus state by state.

"Only a few years ago, conservative lawmakers railed against college 'free-speech zones,' arguing that liberal administrators were muzzling students on the rest of campus. In 2019, Texas legislators joined other states in taking action by declaring all outdoor spaces on public campuses open for protest and speech by students, employees and the general public.

"Now, some of the same legislators have done an about-face. The campus protest law actually directs public colleges and universities to implement a version of free-speech zones and adopt sweeping limitations on protests. #Encampments? Banned. #Megaphones or #speakers during 'class hours'? Forbidden — if anyone claims your 'expressive activity' is one that 'intimidates others' or 'interferes' with an employee’s duties. Even wearing a mask during a protest — something many do for safety — could land a student or employee a disciplinary hearing resulting in 'sanctions.' And any expressive activity between 10 p.m. and 8 a.m. is off-limits altogether."

Read more:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2025/07/14/texas-campus-free-speech/

Archived version:
https://archive.ph/2LuBD

#TexasProtestLaws #ProtestLaws #ProtestLawsTexas #Project2025 #AntiProtestLaws #Authoritarianism #SilencingFreeSpeech #Censorship #AcademicFreedom #AntiMaskLaws #Fascism #USPol #CivilLiberties #Texas

#Congressional #Librarians Tell #Trump 'Appointees' To Wrong Branch Of #Government To Get F*cked. And welcome to your new master #librarian, Trump's personal #criminal defense attorney, and this horse. Just saying - #librarians - all librarians - respect and defend the #truth, unfettered #access to #knowledge for all, and an uncompromising belief in #democracy and #civilliberties - #books do not #hate or #discriminate https://www.wonkette.com/p/congressional-librarians-tell-trump #trump #maga #corruption #lc #books #reading #freedom

@germany's government class deepens its alliance with @israel – criminalising dissent, rewarding lobby groups, and eroding rights in the name of fighting antisemitism

Jürgen Mackert: https://www.middleeasteye.net/opinion/welcome-berlin-germany-capital-zionist-repression 🧵

#academicFreedom #proZionism #StandWithIsrael #StrikeGermany #Germany #EuropeIsrael #coloniality #Berlin #NeverAgainIsForAnyone #conflation #confusion #antisemitism #politics #manipulation #coOpting #citizenship #freeSpeech #JurgenMackert #Mackert #civilLiberties

The War on #Masks Has Taken on a New Meaning

This time, the masks have nothing to do with #COVID19.

By Henry Grabar
Feb 05, 20254:57 PM

"Last month, state legislators in New York introduced a bill that would create a new crime: 'masked harassment.'

"That, the law explains, is when you wear a mask 'for the primary purpose of menacing or threatening violence against another person' or 'placing another person or group of persons in reasonable fear for their physical safety.'

"If that seems like a bit of a niche offense—threatening violence is already a crime, after all—it’s because the language has been watered down to attract political support. It’s a sign of New York Democrats’ cautious new approach over masks in public life, and a retreat from last spring, when anti-Israel protests, on top of a widespread urban crime panic, pushed leaders from New York Gov. Kathy Hochul to Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass to consider mask bans.

"In its original form, the New York bill would have banned masks at public assemblies entirely. But the outcry from #DisabilityRights advocates, #CriminalJustice reformers, #HealthCareWorkers, and #CivilLiberties groups was swift, and so New York wound up with this bill on 'masked harassment' instead.

"Elsewhere, the pandemic-era leniency on masking in public is over. #NorthCarolina Republicans overrode a gubernatorial veto last summer to once again #BanPublicFaceCoverings, except to stop the spread of contagious diseases. Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost dusted off an old law to threaten #StudentProtesters with #felonies. Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick has asked the state’s Senate to consider a bill to #unmask #protesters this year.

"For Republicans, it’s a chance to kill two birds with one stone. They can strike back against the perceived overreach of pandemic-era #HealthDirectives and make it easier to arrest #demonstrators at the same time.

"In #Ohio and North Carolina, the original statutes were written in the 1950s to stop demonstrations by the #KuKluxKlan, but had been ignored or suspended during the #pandemic and the #GeorgeFloydProtests. Many lawmakers have cited the recent demonstrations in defense of #Gaza as a reason to crack down again. Defending the proposed mask ban in New York, Anti-Defamation League [#ADL] president Jonathan Greenblatt said the demonstrators were using '#KKK tactics' to intimidate Jewish New Yorkers.

"That instinct was bolstered by the sense among many city residents and elected leaders that widespread masking was a factor behind the pandemic-era crime spike. That led to #Philadelphia banning #SkiMasks in parks, on trains, and in public buildings. A more recent, high-profile example came in December with the Midtown Manhattan killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO #BrianThompson by a #MaskedAssassin, which prompted New York Mayor Eric Adams to call for cab drivers and business owners to ask customers to remove their masks. The new New York bill has won over the liberal Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, who endorsed the 'tailored' approach. As the police say: #NoFaceNoCase.

"For what it’s worth, there are too many confounding variables and too little data to be sure if mask-wearing is associated with crime, said Ernesto Lopez at the Council for Criminal Justice, which collects crime reporting statistics from various cities. 'From a theoretical statement it makes sense that could occur, but it has not been demonstrated that’s the case,' he told me.

"But if all that weighed in favor of more mask bans, there was also widespread resistance. Disability advocates mobilized to defend the right to mask; North Carolina had to write a medical exemption into their bill at the insistence of a GOP House member. #PoliceReformers observed that #MaskBans have often been used for pretextual #policing and racial profiling against #BlackAmericans. (#AtlantaGeorgia tabled a mask ban for that reason.)

"What looms largest, as the second Trump administration begins, is the role of protest. As Semafor’s Dave Weigel has noted, masks have become a badge of left-wing protest culture. That’s in part an extension of politicized COVID-era concerns about health and civility, but at this point it is mostly a tactic to preserve anonymity in an era of #FacialRecognition, streaming video, and #doxing. Last year, the anonymous #ProIsrael website the #CanaryMission posted photographs of hundreds of students and faculty at campus protests and posted their names and photos online, labeling some as supporters of terrorism.

"'The concern takes on new urgency as Donald Trump pledges to revoke the visas of pro-Palestine protesters, and the Trump-Musk GOP embraces the naming and shaming of otherwise private citizens. A conservative group called the American Accountability Foundation has begun circulating lists of federal workers, many of them Black, who should be
'targets' for their alleged involvement in #DEI initiatives at work.

"Clearly, the masked protest does not always sit well with an older generation, many of whom cut their teeth in the protests of the pre-internet age. As Georgetown professor Michael Kazin told the New York Times last year: 'I do think if you are going to demonstrate, and it’s something you feel deeply about, you should be willing to stand up and be counted.'"

Source:
https://slate.com/business/2025/02/mask-bans-new-york-los-angeles-crime-protests-criminalize-face-coverings.html?utm_source=firefox-newtab-en-us
#Fascism #AuthoritarianRule #BigBrother #BigBrotherIsWatchingYou #SurveillanceState #SilencingDissent

HT @rmblaber1956

Britain leads the world in cracking down on climate activism, study finds

Research shows UK police arrest environmental and climate protesters at three times the average global rate

Damien Gayle
Wed 11 Dec 2024 01.00 EST

"British police arrest environmental protesters at nearly three times the global average rate, research has found, revealing the country as a world leader in the legal crackdown on climate activism.

"Only Australia arrested climate and environmental protesters at a higher rate than UK police. One in five Australian eco-protests led to arrests, compared with about 17% in the UK. The global average rate is 6.7%."

Original article:
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2024/dec/11/britain-leads-the-world-in-cracking-down-on-climate-activism-study-finds

Archived version:
https://archive.ph/ukkvZ

#CriminalizingDissent
#ACAB #Autocracy #Corporatocracy
#Fascism #CriminalizingDissentIsAutocracy
#ClimateCrisis #GlobalBurning
#CorporateFascism #HumanRights #CivilLiberties #ClimateActivists
#Blackwater #NoDAPL #StandWithStandingRock
#ClimateAction #PipelineProtests #WaterProtectors #BigOilAndGas #AntiProtestLaws #SLAPPs #ErikPrinceColonialism #Article20 #2023PublicOrderAct
#Project2025 #HR9495 #GlobalWitness #AntiTerrorLaws

HT @rmblaber1956

Pioneering research reveals growing dangers and repression of climate activism globally

Press release issued: 11 December 2024

"A new report has uncovered the many risks of participating in climate and environmental protests across the world – and how more countries are criminalising and repressing this activity in a bid to keep it in check.

"The report, led by the University of Bristol, is the first to examine global statistics on this form of protest and identify alarming trends. It reveals that more than 2,000 climate and environmental protesters have been killed over the past 12 years and that a raft of new anti-protest legislation has been enacted.

"It calls for governments, police forces and the legal system to help protect people’s right to peaceful assembly and freedom of expression."

"Lead author Dr Oscar Berglund, Senior Lecturer in International Public and Social Policy at the University’s School for Policy Studies, said: “This research sheds important light on how the growing pursuit of climate and environmental protest is being handled globally. Our evidence clearly shows a global crackdown in liberal democracies as well as autocracies.

"'This is worrying because it focuses state policy on punishing dissent against inaction on climate and environmental change instead of taking adequate action on these issues. It also represents authoritarian moves that are inconsistent with the ideals of vibrant civil societies in liberal democracies.'

"The findings showed murders and disappearances of climate and environmental activists are common in many countries, with international non-governmental organisation (NGO) Global Witness reporting at least 2,106 killings between 2012 and 2023. Brazil had the highest number with 401 fatalities, followed by 298 in the Philippines, 86 in India, and 58 in Peru.

"A significant proportion of climate and environmental protests involved arrests, according to the research. The highest proportion, one in five, was found in Australia, followed by 17% in the UK – much higher than the international average of 6.3%.

"Non-violent protesters were also found to be given lengthy prison sentences to act as a deterrent. For example, this year in the UK many climate activists have been sent to prison, with the longest sentence being five years.

"The report defines environmental protests as being aimed at stopping specific environmentally destructive projects, such as fossil fuel exploration and #extraction, #deforestation, dam building or #mining. #ClimateProtests are described as more urban-based events, which tend to have broader policy demands, such as ending oil exploration, or more overarching political demands, for instance enacting a #GreenNewDeal.

"The researchers analysed data from the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data (ACLED) and Global Witness to gather global data and explore trends as well as new anti-protest legislation introduced in countries in different parts of the world.

"Four main ways were identified to criminalise and repress climate and environmental protests. Anti-protest laws are being introduced, criminalising groups, introducing new crimes, making punishment more severe for existing crimes, increasing police powers, and giving officers impunity when harming activists. Protest is also being criminalised through prosecution and courts.

"Dr Berglund explained: 'This involves using existing legislation, including anti-terror or anti-organised crime laws, to curb protest. Climate protest is being de-politicised in the courts, prohibiting mentions of climate change or environmental damage in proceedings, or otherwise changing court processes in order to increase the likelihood of activists being found guilty.'

"The third category is through policing, which is carried out not only by state actors like police or military, but also private security and military or organised crime groups. This sees a range of attempts to prevent protests through using stop and search, arrests, physical violence, and threats and intimidation of protesters.

"Dr Berglund said: “Perhaps most shockingly, we found killings and disappearances to be common in some countries. In many ways, these are an extension of policing as they are either carried out or permitted by the same authorities, often following death threats and other forms of intimidation.”

"The report makes numerous recommendations, including for public authorities to conduct regular evaluations and publish data demonstrating how their actions help safeguard the right to peaceful assembly and freedom of expression. It also calls for anti-terror and anti-organised crime legislation against climate and environmental activists to stop.

"Dr Berglund said: 'Human rights frameworks should be at the forefront of policing considerations and operations to ensure that the public can exercise their right to protest without impediment or fear.'

"'Climate and environmental protests are increasingly prevalent, for good reason as the climate crisis worsens, and responses to this activity are evolving at pace. Further research is needed to better understand the situation so suitable measures can be identified and implemented to protect human rights and keep protesters safe.'"

https://www.bristol.ac.uk/news/2024/december/climate-activism.html

#CriminalizingDissent #ACAB #Autocracy #Corporatocracy #Fascism #CriminalizingDissentIsAutocracy #ClimateCrisis #GlobalBurning #CorporateFascism #HumanRights #CivilLiberties #ClimateActivists #Blackwater #NoDAPL #StandWithStandingRock #ClimateAction #PipelineProtests #WaterProtectors #BigOilAndGas #AntiProtestLaws #SLAPPs #ErikPrinceColonialism #Article20 #2023PublicOrderAct
#Project2025 #HR9495 #GlobalWitness #AntiTerrorLaws

Neoliberal/fascist people in positions of public power never say - Violence isn't the answer - when they give more raises to state mercenaries to buy more weapons of state funded violence & militarized/armored vehicles & to beat up nonviolent citizens exercising their rights to public #dissent & peaceful #protests.

I'm uninterested in bootlicker responses. I will block those who choose to commit bootlicking offenses on my timeline - on sight.

#ACAB #AntiFascist #DefundThePolice #PoliceReform #AbolishPoliceUnions #AbuseOfAuthority #AbuseOfPower #NoTransparency #DemandAccountability #TaxFundedStateViolence #Unethical #Immoral #StateTerrorists #StateViolence #YourTaxDollars #Taxpayers #CivilLiberties #HumanRights #DemocraticRights #Dissenters #CitizensUprising

Tell your Representative to Vote NO on #HR9495 to Stop Trump From Attacking #Dissenting Organizations

"Despite the fact that it was already defeated in a floor vote, Republicans in the House have a second chance to pass a bill that would give the incoming #Trump administration unchecked power to shut down any #NonProfit organization that stands in the way of his MAGA agenda.

"Under this legislation, Trump’s Treasury Department could indiscriminately label any non-profit organization – think tanks, #HumanRights groups, #CivilLiberties orgs, #universities, #StudentGroups, even Indivisible Civics – a 'terrorist supporting organization' and strip it of its tax-exempt status. This bill requires no oversight. No due-process. No justification. Trump could use it to shut down any and all #dissent against him.

"This bill is a litmus test for #Democrats as we prepare for the incoming Trump administration: are Democrats going to make it easier for Trump to pursue his #authoritarian agenda or are they going to fight back?

"And we’ll need more Democrats on our side for this second vote – unlike the first, failed vote, which required a 2/3s majority to pass under a suspension of the rules, this vote will require only a simple majority to pass. And 52 Democrats inexplicably voted for this bill last time - that’s not acceptable. (See how your MoC voted at the link below)

"This time, we need all Democrats in the House to vote NO on H.R. 9495 and send a clear message to Trump that they will not just give in to his power grabs. If this bill passes with bipartisan support, there’s a real risk it gets folded into the annual #Defense [#NDAA] bill, which would put it on a glide path through the Senate. We can’t let that happen."

Read more:
https://indivisible.org/resource/tell-your-representative-vote-no-hr-9495-stop-trump-attacking-dissenting-organizations

See how your representative voted:
https://clerk.house.gov/Votes/2024458

#StopHR9495 #USPolitics #SilencingDissent #FreePalestine
#StudentProtestors #FreeSpeech
#Clampdown #StopHR9495
#CharacteristicsOfFascism #Fascism
#Authoritarianism #ProjectEsther #Project2025

@6G @stevesilberman T successfully did this in 2018 under the radar. This time he will destroy many agencies and discontinue critical services by separating expert civil servants from jobs whose work product we often ignore and/or take for granted. #education #environment #economy #civilliberties #justice #democracy #transportation #healthcare #snap #childcare #defense #criminaljustice #fda #agriculture #energy #pollution #climatecrisis #fossifuels #socialsecurity #medicare #commerce

"Could it be... Satanists?" 😉
Diabolical liberty: after-school Satanists club threatens to sue district over ban
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/mar/08/pennsylvania-after-school-satan-club
#satan #satanists #ACLU #CivilLiberties #ChurchVsState #secularism #atheism