Authored by Steve Watson via Modernity News,
Britain's latest free speech assault is underway.
An elite police unit set up by the Labour government has already flagged more than 100 social media posts to local forces, monitoring online "protest related activity" in a move critics brand a sinister step toward state control of speech.
The National Internet Intelligence Investigations team, created in the wake of the 2024 Southport riots, began operations in February. Freedom of Information figures obtained by the Telegraph and reported today show it has made 106 referrals of "suspicious" posts to forces across the country.
An elite police squad which was set up to monitor social media in the wake of the Southport riots has flagged more than 100 posts to local forces.
— The Telegraph (@Telegraph) August 8, 2026
Political opponents have described the squad as “sinister” and said it represents a further erosion of free speech and civil… pic.twitter.com/g8YGewbIVn
In June alone, 50 of those referrals came as public anger boiled over in Southampton after police bodycam footage exposed officers handcuffing dying teenage murder victim Henry Nowak while
Seattle leaders are moving forward with a first-of-its-kind proposal aimed at preventing grocery retailers from using consumers' personal data to charge different prices for the same products.
The ordinance, backed by Mayor Katie Wilson and City Councilmembers Alexis Mercedes Rinck and Dionne Foster, would prohibit large grocery chains from using information such as browsing history, social media activity, employment status, race, gender, or chatbot interactions to personalize prices, according to Wilson's website.
Instead, retailers would be required to publicly display uniform prices while still allowing traditional discounts for seniors, veterans, loyalty programs, and other transparent promotions.
"This policy stops corporations from using personal data to squeeze more money out of shoppers," Wilson said. "The same product, in the same store, should cost the same no matter who's pushing the cart."
The announcement on Wilson's site says that the measure is designed to curb AI-driven price discrimination as grocery costs continue to rise. The proposal follows a Consumer Reports investigation that found Instacart tested AI pricing systems that charged different customers different prices for identical grocery items. It also comes after Washington's attorney general
Rich-Kid Mamdani Ally Wants To "Abolish Rent"; Could Hawley Reform Bill Stop College Indoctrination?
Tracy Rosenthal, co-founder of the Los Angeles Tenants Union, has emerged as an influential far-left star in the Democratic Socialists of America's tenant-organizing 'squatting' movement, promoting rent strikes and aggressive pressure campaigns to bankrupt landlords.
While the article focuses largely on New York City, Rosenthal’s influence extends far beyond it. She has built an entire career around this work, speaking at conferences and appearing as a media expert. The clips I used of her actually come from a talk she gave to Asheville DSA. pic.twitter.com/2LGiDzVYNG
— Stu Smith (@thestustustudio) August 3, 2026
🚨 Meet the “Abolish Rent” Ideologue Teaching DSA Tenant Organizers How to Wage War on Landlords
— Stu Smith (@thestustustudio) July 17, 2026
Tracy Rosenthal co-founded the Los Angeles Tenants Union, helps politically educate DSA tenant organizers, and is currently on rent strike in New York City.
In this supercut,… pic.twitter.com/0fw5wi30rt
🚨 Meet the "Abolish Rent" Ideologue Teaching DSA Tenant Organizers How to Wage War on Landlords
Tracy Rosenthal co-founded the Los Angeles Tenants Union, helps politically educate DSA tenant organizers, and is currently on rent strike in New York City.
In this supercut,…
A decade-long drug empire that prosecutors say pumped cocaine and fentanyl through Mobile has ended with its alleged mastermind headed to federal prison for the rest of his life, according to WSFA.
McGee, 42, received life sentences after being convicted of running a large-scale narcotics operation involving drugs, firearms and minors. U.S. District Judge Terry Moorer also imposed another life term stemming from fraud against the IRS and Small Business Administration, along with a $10 million fine.
The government portrayed McGee as far more than a street-level dealer. Prosecutors said his organization moved enormous quantities of cocaine over the years, including drugs obtained through suppliers connected to Mexican cartels. Evidence presented at trial convinced Moorer that the operation exceeded 450 kilograms of cocaine, an important threshold under federal sentencing guidelines.
Money was apparently pouring in as well. McGee reportedly acknowledged making roughly $120,000 in monthly profit, while financial investigators uncovered millions of dollars that could not be explained by his reported legitimate income. During one period, accountants found approximately $4.4 million in additional earnings beyond the $436,000 he officially reported.
Investigators were able to document much of the operation through an extensive surveillance campaign.
Authored by Tom Gantert via The Epoch Times,
Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) took a procedural step Saturday to bring the CLARITY Act to the Senate floor, setting up a vote on whether to consider the bill when lawmakers return from their August recess.
The CLARITY Act would establish a federal regulatory framework for cryptocurrency and other digital assets, spelling out how the industry would be regulated and which federal agencies would have authority over different types of assets.
The legislation would divide oversight between the Securities and Exchange Commission and Commodity Futures Trading Commission, creating a distinction between digital assets that are considered securities and those treated as commodities. Supporters say the change would replace what they describe as the SEC's previous "regulation-by-enforcement" approach with clearer rules for the industry.
The bill would also require certain digital asset offerings and sales to provide investors with specific public disclosures. It would create a new exemption from SEC registration, called "Regulation Crypto," allowing qualifying digital asset projects to raise money from the public while complying with specific disclosure and regulatory requirements.
Other provisions are intended to prevent
Regional rivals and enemies are calling out Saudi Arabia as a "paper tiger" which must rely on others for protection and defense needs.
Criticisms of Riyadh are being issued on the same day the kingdom signed a major security pact with the other major Muslim-dominant nations of Pakistan and Turkey. Formally called the Makkah Joint Defense Agreement, it is essentially a NATO-style agreement for the 'Muslim world' - given that it stipulates and formalizes that an armed attack on any of the countries will be treated as an attack against all of them.
The pact extends across populations with a combined total of some 380 million people. Both Iranian and Israeli officials have taken to mocking the historic agreement.
For example, on Friday within hours of the deal's signing, prominent Iranian MP Ebrahim Rezaei called on Riyadh to change course in terms of its pro-American policies, which has included allowing US troops to be stationed on Saudi soil. He said the new pact won't bring Riyadh protection or peace.
Iranian MP Ebrahim Rezaei:
Saudis must know that a paper agreement
By Emma Penrod of UtilityDive.com
About 44 GW of large load projects slated for Oncor's service territory qualified for ERCOT's new "Batch Zero" interconnection process for large loads, company executives told analysts during a Thursday earnings call. But the timeline for that process is uncertain following an order by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott that paused new data center interconnection approvals pending a state-wide audit.
ERCOT's criteria for Batch Zero, which include new financial and technical requirements for loads with a peak demand of 75 MW or greater, narrowed immediate load growth projects for Oncor, a subsidiary of Sempra.
The batch approach, Sempra Chairman and CEO Jeff Martin said, was intended to align the interconnection of large loads with the construction of new generation. The criteria for acceptance into the first Batch Zero was finalized in June.
"Think about a situation where you've got close to 500 GW of generation on the sideline waiting to come on the system and, similarly, over 400 GW of
The off-ramp narrative is growing louder. With the US midterm elections quickly approaching, the Trump administration may have reached its "declare victory and leave" moment, shifting from military operations toward a negotiated peace deal, one that must last more than one month. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent reinforced that possibility earlier, saying the Strait of Hormuz could reopen "today or tomorrow."
As US negotiations with Tehran appear to be ongoing, the Iranian semi-official news agency Tasnim has released battlefield trophy propaganda that appears to show largely intact U.S. MQ-9 Reaper and Israeli Hermes 900 drones, and even parts of an F-15 fighter jet.
X user The Hormuz Letter said:
Iran has released an image of a fully intact Israeli Hermes 900 drone taken down by Iran's electronic warfare, with the IRGC now reverse-engineering various parts of the drone, per Tasnim. Iran has also started the process of reverse-engineering the previously captured F-15 fighter jet, MQ-9 drone, and C-130 Hercules.
BREAKING: Iran has released an image of a fully intact Israeli Hermes 900 drone taken down by Iran's electronic warfare, with the IRGC now reverse-engineering various parts of the drone, per
Authored by Jeffrey Tucker via The Epoch Times,
This past couples of weeks was a wild ride. Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) released many thousands of pages of documentation concerning the strange world of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) while Dr. Anthony Fauci was at the height of his power as head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. Fauci's wife headed the ethics department for the entire agency.
His tenure there came to an end in December 2022, following three years in which he was celebrated by mass media as the nation's leading voice for science and the man with all the answers for dealing with a respiratory pandemic. He was on television daily, sitting for as many as 12 interviews a day.
All this while, he kept careful logs of each day, while working with a large staff to prepare the document as the first draft of an autobiography. He believed that he would go down in history with exactly the reputation the media had cultivated for him. He lobbied for and amassed dozens of awards, some of which paid in
If you thought speed traps were getting creative, New Jersey police have officially entered the landscaping business.
Officers in Dunellen spent part of the week hiding in full ghillie suits, essentially dressing up as oversized shrubs, to catch drivers using their phones behind the wheel, according to Newser.
While unsuspecting motorists scrolled through texts and notifications, a camouflaged officer watched from the roadside with binoculars, radioing violations to waiting patrol units.
The six-hour operation ended with 74 distracted driving tickets, proving that plenty of drivers never saw the world's most judgmental bush staring back at them. Police said they targeted the busy downtown stretch because it's packed with traffic and pedestrians, making distracted driving especially dangerous.
New Jersey law bans handheld phone use while driving, with first-time violations carrying fines between $200 and $400. The department defended the unusual tactic as a safety measure, reminding drivers that "That text or notification can wait. Keep your eyes on the road, not your screen."
Apparently, in New Jersey, the bushes aren't just watching anymore, they're writing tickets. And it feels like we're literally one step away from officers just
Authored by Emel Akan via The Epoch Times,
WASHINGTON - President Donald Trump is set to host a major mining industry roundtable on Friday at the State Department, bringing together nearly 200 business leaders, educators, and government officials to strengthen domestic mining companies.
At the event, the president is expected to announce over $180 million in grants to expand workforce training and trade programs for the mining industry, according to the White House. CBS first reported the plan.
The Department of Energy is launching a $100 million grant program to support scholarships and related initiatives. Universities, community colleges, trade schools, industry groups, and other partners will be eligible to apply.
Additionally, the military is providing over $80 million in funding to three universities for technology and workforce development programs. The recipients are the Colorado School of Mines, the South Dakota School of Mines, and Johns Hopkins University.
"The mining industry has never had a greater champion than President Trump," White House spokeswoman
The Trump administration is planning to hire private investigators to track down deported immigrants in their home countries, verify where they live, and deliver notices seeking payment of U.S. immigration fines, according to Wired.
The proposed program, budgeted at up to $9 million over two years, would cover countries including Mexico, Guatemala, and Honduras.
Rather than collecting money directly, contractors would be paid to confirm a person's location using evidence such as photographs of their residence, public records, utility bills, employment information, or other documentation accepted by the government. They would also hand-deliver notices listing any outstanding penalties.
Wired writes that the initiative comes as DHS says it has assessed more than $84 billion in civil immigration fines, including "failure-to-depart" penalties that can accumulate to hundreds of thousands—or even millions—of dollars. Although the administration has encouraged migrants to self-deport by promising to forgive many of these fines, legal advocates argue the new overseas tracking effort undercuts that message because some penalties can still remain.
Immigration attorneys and civil rights groups describe the program as a major expansion of enforcement, saying it targets people who have
