Supreme Court to Hear Challenge to Texas’ Online Digital ID Mandate
The Supreme Court has today announced it would review a legal challenge against a Texas statute mandating digital ID verification of any websites and apps that could be deemed “harmful to minors.” The law is usually cited in relation to pornographic material but the broad term “harmful to minors” can be applicable across many websites, preventing people from interacting with a website without first uploading their ID.
This legal battle revolves around Texas’ age verification bill, introduced in 2023.
The law also compels these sites to present health warnings concerning the alleged psychological dangers associated with pornography consumption. Notably, this labeling requirement does not yet extend to search engines or social media platforms.
Related: The 2024 Digital ID and Online Age Verification Agenda
Websites that fail to comply with the law face steep fines, including daily civil penalties of up to $10,000 and, if a minor accesses restricted content, potential fines from the Texas attorney general up to $250,000 per instance.
Texas is not alone in implementing such regulations; similar laws are currently active in seven other states and are set to be introduced in more states soon.
The Free Speech Coalition, along with several adult website operators, filed a lawsuit against the bill. Their legal argument is that the law infringes on First Amendment rights. A federal district court initially halted the law’s enforcement just before its implementation on September 1, 2023.
Mandatory digital ID requirements for website and social media use raise significant concerns about the chilling effect on free speech. These requirements can deter online participation due to privacy fears, and undermine anonymity vital for activists and whistleblowers. Such policies may also lead to self-censorship, as users might avoid sharing controversial opinions out of fear of being easily traced. Additionally, implementing digital IDs poses complex legal, technical, and logistical challenges that could result in bureaucratic errors and data breaches. The major Big Tech ID verification AU10TIX was recently reported to have suffered a data leak, though the company says it hasn’t seen evidence of any user data being exploited.
The majority of the panel at the US Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit concluded that the Texas law is “rationally related to the government’s legitimate interest in preventing minors’ access to pornography,” using the least stringent rational-basis review standard, and thus did not violate the First Amendment. In contrast, Judge Patrick Higginbotham dissented, arguing that the law necessitates strict scrutiny due to its content-based restrictions on adult access to protected speech.
As the 5th Circuit allowed its decision to stand, the Free Speech Coalition and the affected websites escalated the matter to the Supreme Court. Their appeal emphasized the contradiction between the 5th Circuit’s decision and established Supreme Court precedents regarding sexual content and expression. They argue that the law unduly burdens adults’ constitutional rights by requiring the disclosure of personal information, thus increasing the risk of data breaches and privacy violations.
Texas officials defend the legislation, asserting it as a reasonable measure to protect minors from sexually explicit materials and not an undue burden on the porn industry.
Bishop Eleganti: Covid Shots Have Led to ‘Turbo Cancer,’ Excess Deaths, Other ‘Harmful Side Effects’
(LifeSiteNews) — Swiss Bishop Marian Eleganti said the Catholic hierarchy’s embrace of COVID restrictions was a “declaration of bankruptcy of faith” and lamented that the COVID shots have caused “many harmful side effects,” including “turbo cancer,” excess deaths, and premature births.
During a video interview with LifeSiteNews journalist Andreas Wailzer in German, Bishop Eleganti was asked what he thought about the Austrian bishops’ support for the country’s general COVID jab mandate.
READ: Austrian bishops announce support for gov’t mandatory COVID jab policy, defying Vatican decree
“For me, that was clearly a fall from grace,” the former bishop of Chur said.
He said that “informed consent” and autonomous decision over one’s own body was the “basic dogma” in medical ethics during the past decades and noted that the Congregation (now Dicastery) for the Doctrine of the Faith under Cardinal Luis Ladaria had declared that there must not be forced COVID injections.
“Nevertheless, the Pope imposed [a shot mandate] on all employees in the Vatican as head of state. Otherwise, they would have lost their jobs or been given another one,” Bishop Eleganti stated.
“So, for me, that was clearly an injustice.”
“We now know, and this is coming to light more and more worldwide, that we simply cannot ignore the fact that these measures were not evidence-based, that the vaccinations did not guarantee this protection against transmission, that there was no ‘pandemic of the unvaccinated.’”
“Today we have turbo-cancer phenomena; we have excess mortality since the vaccination programs in all countries. We have a decline in births due to premature births and so on.”
“So much injustice happened, and there were so many harmful side effects,” he continued. “Today we have turbo-cancer phenomena; we have excess mortality since the vaccination programs in all countries. We have a decline in births due to premature births and so on.”
READ: The Telegraph admits COVID shots may have helped cause over 3 million excess deaths
“There are many parameters that point in the same direction, that a lot has been done wrong. The masks were not evidence-based, and so on. That was also known, and these were political decisions.”
The Swiss bishop also criticized the role of the globalist U.N. and WHO in stripping away national sovereignty and acting “like a world government.”
READ: Japan’s most senior cancer doctor: COVID shots are ‘essentially murder’
“The WHO is also financed by private foundations such as Bill Gates and others,” Bishop Eleganti said. “And these institutions are not democratically legitimized, and they are also at the mercy of the powerful of high finance.”
“And that’s where you have to be critical, and nations must not give up their sovereignty so that so few people in the back room suddenly decide for the whole world like a world government and impose something on all countries that remains highly controversial, also in the future.”
READ: UN secretary-general calls for ‘global governance’ in ‘new multipolar order’ at 2024 Davos summit
The bishop reiterated that the Church “did not play a good role” during the COVID crisis.
He said that bishops and other Church leaders showed their lack of faith in the supernatural by shutting down public Easter celebrations and the healing springs in Lourdes, removing the holy water from the churches, and treating the Eucharist like “a contaminated thing.”
“For me, that is a declaration of bankruptcy of faith,” Bishop Eleganti charged.
“As it is written in Psalm 90, ‘Even though a thousand may fall at your side, ten thousand at your right hand, such evils will not afflict you,’” he stated.
“And so also when the plague rages by day and by night,” he continued.
“It is also quite clear, a sacramental [holy water] that I use to place myself under the protection of God… I can’t maintain an attitude of total unbelief at the same time… [to believe] that it does not help me at all, but on the contrary could even harm me.”
Bishop Eleganti stressed that Catholics “cannot rely on secular strategies” that were often nonsensical but must resort to prayer.
He said that even people outside the Catholic Church “somehow felt” that the Church hierarchy’s response to COVID “was a surrender of faith, as if God did not exist.”
Western Talk of Ukraine Peace Just for Show – Moscow
Any Western talk of peace in the Ukraine conflict is merely a “decoy” as the US and its allies remain intent on inflicting a strategic defeat on Moscow, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has said.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban visited Kiev on Tuesday, where he urged Vladimir Zelensky to seek a ceasefire with Russia to facilitate peace talks. The Ukrainian leader rejected the proposal, saying he has a different way to end the conflict.
Whatever discussions Ukraine and Western nations have about peace are mere “decoys, screens, tropes and memes,” said purely for their own sake, Zakharova said on her weekly radio show on Wednesday.
The Ukraine conflict is dominated by the goal of inflicting a strategic defeat on Russia, which the US and its allies have declared “absolutely clearly and specifically,” the official explained. In practical terms, the West seeks to dismantle Russia and to end its existence, she claimed.
What did you expect from the people chosen by the US as their tools? Tools don’t have a say in what they do.
Clear-eyed politicians in the EU can see the place allocated to their nations in the US grand plan, which is that of a sacrificial animal on the altar of victory against Russia, Zakharova added. Europe’s grim future is evident in the state of its economy, she said.
”What is happening to Europe is not just a crisis, or collapse, or loss of position. It truly is a disaster,” she argued.
Read more Orban pitches ‘quick ceasefire’ to Zelensky
Western officials such as Hungary’s Orban, who publicly object to the course of action chosen in Washington, probably want to set the record straight for the future generations of Europeans, who will blame the leaders of today for their inaction, Zakharova said.
The Hungarian prime minister has repeatedly argued that Western sanctions imposed on Russia as punishment for the Ukraine conflict have failed to end hostilities and ended up hurting EU members more than they did Russia.
Budapest has used its veto power in the bloc to stop proposed restrictions that would have undermined core Hungarian national interests, such as its cooperation with Russia on nuclear energy.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has pledged to order a ceasefire with Ukraine as soon as Kiev renounces its bid to join NATO and pulls its troops out of all territory which Moscow claims under its sovereignty.
Pentagon Chief Recommends Avoiding Israel-Hezbollah War But Sends Fighter Jets to Israel Anyway
For U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin an immediate diplomatic solution is needed to prevent a “costly war” between Israel and Lebanon despite “Hezbollah’s provocations.”
“Diplomacy is by far the best way to prevent more escalation. We’re urgently seeking a diplomatic agreement that restores lasting calm to Israel’s northern border and enables civilians to return safely to their homes on both sides of the Israel-Lebanon border,” Austin claimed to reporters during a meeting at the Pentagon with Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant on June 25.
Hezbollah and Israeli forces have exchanged fire on a near-daily basis since the beginning of the war in Gaza, but escalating attacks over the last several weeks have caused growing unease. And the U.S. official blamed the Lebanese resistance group Hezbollah’s threats. “Hezbollah’s provocations threaten to drag the Israeli and Lebanese people into a war that they do not want and such a war would be a catastrophe for Lebanon and it would be devastating for innocent Israeli and Lebanese civilians,” Austin told Gallant. “Another war between Israel and Hezbollah could easily become a regional war with terrible consequences for the Middle East, and so diplomacy is by far the best way to prevent more escalation.”
Previously, Gallant suggested Israel pursue a large-scale war against Hezbollah but during the meeting, he said he was “working closely” with Austin to find a diplomatic resolution. However, they also discussed military “readiness in every possible scenario.” Gallant insisted on the threat of nuclear war with Iran, telling Austin that “time is running out.”
“The greatest threat to the future of the world and the future of our region is Iran,” he told Austin. “Now is the time to realize the commitment of the American administrations over the years to promise to prevent Iran from possessing nuclear weapons.” Austin’s reply to Gallant indicated that the Biden regime “will always support Israel’s right to defend itself and the United States will always ensure that Israel has what it needs to defend itself.”
The defense chief vowed Washington’s commitment to Israel as a third squadron of F-35 fighter jets is already set to make its way to Israel. “We stand together to ensure that Iran … can never achieve a nuclear weapon,” Austin added.
However, Israeli military officials and experts continue to raise doubts about the army’s capabilities in a scenario against Hezbollah. Israel Defense Forces chief General Yitzhak Brik previously said that “waging war on Hezbollah is a step tantamount to mass suicide,” adding that the Israeli “army is small in size and it is unable to win even in one front and certainly not in six fronts at the same time.”
Iran FM warns if Israel’s regime threatens destruction, it has to be destroyed as well
On Friday, Iran’s mission to the United Nations posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, that if Israel embarks on full-scale military aggression in Lebanon against Hezbollah, they will immediately retaliate and an obliterating war will ensue. “All options, including the full involvement of all resistance fronts, are on the table,” it added.
Albeit Iran deems as psychological warfare the Zionist regime’s propaganda about intending to attack Lebanon, should it embark on full-scale military aggression, an obliterating war will ensue. All options, incl. the full involvement of all Resistance Fronts, are on the table.
— I.R.IRAN Mission to UN, NY (@Iran_UN) June 28, 2024
Foreign Minister Israel Katz responded saying that if “Hezbollah does not cease its fire and withdraw from southern Lebanon, we will act against it with full force until security is restored and residents can return to their homes. A regime that threatens destruction deserves to be destroyed.”
The Axis of Resistance, an informal Iranian-led political and military coalition in West Asia and North Africa, which includes Hezbollah, Hamas, Yemen’s Houthis and other groups in Syria and Iraq has been targeting Israel since it started its genocidal retaliation to the initial Hamas attack in Gaza.
Iran itself also launched an unprecedented missile-and-drone strike on Israel on April 14, two weeks after an alleged Israel airstrike near Tehran’s embassy in Damascus killed several senior officers of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. The Iranian strike was almost entirely repelled by Israel, the United States and other allies, though a seven-year-old girl was seriously injured in the attack.
Back on June 19, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah said during a speech that no place in Israel would be spared from the group’s weapons in case of a full-blown war, adding that Hezbollah would fight with “no rules” and “no ceilings.” Nasrallah also blasted Cyprus for allowing Israel to use its territory for military exercises and appeared to threaten Israel’s offshore gas rigs. “Israel knows that what also awaits it in the Mediterranean is very big,” the militant group’s leader said.
Speaking at a ceremony commemorating senior Hezbollah commander Taleb Abdullah, whom Israel killed in an airstrike a week before, Nasrallah said the Shiite terror group does not want “total war” but is only acting in support of Hamas. “We will continue to support Gaza and we are ready for anything. We are not afraid,” said Nasrallah. “Our demand is clear: A complete and permanent ceasefire in Gaza.”
IsraelCollapse.com contains more stories related to the ongoing conflicts between Israel and other nations.
X Re-Joins Pro-Censorship Advertisers’ Alliance
Given how X has gone out of its way to reveal the depth and breadth of online censorship via the Twitter Files, this makes for an awkward reunion: the company has decided to rejoin the Global Alliance for Responsible Media (GARM).
It’s a pro-censorship, World Economic Forum-affiliated advertisers’ group, that achieves its objectives through the “brand safety” route (i.e., the censorship “brand” here would be demonetization). And last summer, it was scrutinized by the US Congress.
GARM is one of those outfits whose roots are very entangled (comes in handy when somebody tries to probe your activities, though) – and the chronology is not insignificant either: formed in 2019 as a World Federation of Advertisers (WFA) initiative, partnered with the Association of National Advertisers (ANA).
Then came another “partnership” – that with WEF (World Economic Forum), specifically, its Shaping the Future of Media, Entertainment, and Sport project – a “flagship” one.
In May 2023, the US House Judiciary Committee wanted to know what exactly was happening here, and whether “brand safety” as a concept, as exercised by these entities, could be linked to censorship of online speech.
So the Committee subpoenaed the World Federation of Advertisers (and GARM), asking for records that might show whether these groups “coordinated efforts to demonetize and censor disfavored speech online.”
Committee Chairman Jim Jordan was at the time concerned that this conduct might have run afoul of US antitrust laws.
For X, despite the strides the platform has made toward protecting users’ speech since the Twitter takeover, the GARM relationship is most likely simply about (ad) money – and one of the several efforts to make the platform profitable at last.
Those who were hoping for a “free speech absolutism” on a platform like this might be disappointed, the Congress might investigate some more; but ultimately, the move represents a “realpolitik-style” compromise.
And so X is “excited” and “proud” to be back as a GARM member. The company’s “Safety” account posted something about “the safety of our global town square” apparently being relevant to this decision, but did not elaborate.
Now listed by GARM along with X are YouTube and Chanel – and, in between, some of the biggest pharma and telecoms out there.
Big Money, one might say.
Russia Accuses US of Expanding Biological Weapons Research in Africa
Russia is now accusing the United States of expanding its bioweapons research on the African continent.
Lt. Gen. Igor Kirillov, head of the Russian Armed Forces’ Nuclear, Biological and Chemical Protection Forces, made this claim earlier in the week based on information his troops have garnered. The information alleges that the U.S. is shifting gears after similar programs that America had underway in former Ukrainian territories were stopped by Russia during the conflict there.
Kirillov stated: “Because Russia has managed to halt the implementation of biological warfare programs in Ukraine’s liberated territories, the Pentagon is forced to transfer incomplete research under Ukrainian projects to other regions.”
He claimed that U.S. Department of Defense contractors are working on such programs in a number of African countries, including as South Africa, Uganda, Sierra Leone, Cameroon and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
According to Kirillov, the U.S. works with outside parties in an attempt to obscure this activity. They named a number of intermediaries, such as EcoHealth Alliance and Metabiota, that they believe are being used as part of the expanded bioweapon biological warfare programs in Africa.
He also identified several examples to support his claims. For example, he pointed to U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases staff carrying out a large-scale study of hantavirus from bats in Kenya last October.
In a more recent example, he cited a meeting between officials from the Pentagon and the Department of Health and Human Services with disease control officials in Africa to explore the possibility of developing lab capabilities there.
In the past, Kirillov has accused the U.S. of carrying out research on dangerous pathogens and components of bioweapons in Ukraine.
Biological research facilities around the world
There are believed to be more than 300 “biological research facilities” run by the Pentagon throughout the world, and Africa is considered to be a hot spot. In many cases, these facilities are set up under the pretense of improve the area’s health services or fighting local epidemics, but the involvement of agencies like the Pentagon indicates something more is going on.
Russian military intelligence maintains that there are at least four American bio labs in Nigeria alone, and Kirillov has drawn attention in the past to what he termed a “strange coincidence” of epidemic outbreaks in the area surrounding the facilities.
There have also been reports of the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research in Forest Glen Park, Maryland carrying out activities at the facilities belonging to the Nigerian Ministry of Defense. This involves testing dangerous pathogens that could be exposing countless Nigerians to a major biohazard.
Kirillov even went so far as to call on the World Health Organization to look into the activities at labs in the Nigerian cities of Lagos, Zaria and Abuja funded by the U.S. and share its findings with the world.
U.S. accuses Russia of disinformation
The U.S. insists these labs are harmless and has accused Russia of being “engaged in disinformation,” suggesting it could be part of a broader plan to further its efforts in Ukraine.
“The U.S. Government is concerned that this false narrative may be a prelude for a false-flag operation where Russia itself uses biological, chemical, or nuclear weapons in Ukraine, and then attempts to blame it on Ukraine and/or the United States,” the State Department’s Global Engagement Center warned last year.
It added that “Russia continues to maintain an offensive biological weapons program in violation of its obligations under the Biological Weapons Convention.”