Sunday, April 6, 2025

…and here comes the Online Safety Act


…and here comes the Online Safety Act


The UK’s Online Safety Act officially came into force two weeks ago, and they have wasted no time using it.

Alternative social media network Gab has already been threatened with a massive fine for its supposed failures to “police speech” on its platform. Anecdotes are piling up, small forums and communities blocking access from the UK for fear of attracting OfCom’s ire and the like.

But rest assured, an OfCom spokesperson promised the Telegraph they would “only take action where it is proportionate and appropriate”. So that’s alright.

The Financial Times headlines

UK to crack down on illegal content across social media

It’s a bland piece of dishonesty by omission, pretending to objectivity even as it hides behind language. They only specifically mention child porn and terrorism and other criminal behaviour as “illegal content”, but don’t mention that the act is about far more than child porn and drugs.

It has entire sections dedicated to “false communication offenses” – meaning publishing material the state has deemed “misinformation”, and a second section specifically and explicitly giving newspapers and media companies immunity from those offences.

Nobody is talking about any of that, though, because fortunately enough Adolescence came out at the exact same time the act came into force, and has totally steered the national conversation on this topic while flooding social media with “concerned mothers” who really want the government to “take action”.

That’s right, the formerly-creeping now-galloping authoritarianism is a great thing because we need to save our children from…whatever.

It also allows for editorials like this one in the Guardian, headlining “The Guardian view on online safety: don’t let Trump dictate the terms of debate”. Now Keir Starmer can “stand up to the bully Trump” by refusing to “water down” the “protections”.

Now Keir Starmer can “stand up to the bully Trump” by refusing to “water down” the “protections”.

The predictable charities and pundits are all “appalled” at the idea of “watering down” the OSA “protections”, and their suggested alternative – which won’t happen – is a complete social media ban for children.

They’ve tried that gambit in Australia already, and it’s not really a social media ban so much as it’s an excuse to end online anonymity.

How do you ban children? You can’t, not without making everyone prove their age.

The “compromise” option is that we don’t ban children, but then we would need to know who is and isn’t a child in order to best protect them from radicalization and hate speech…so everyone better prove their age.

And, of course, all this needing to prove your age stuff flows neatly into a government-issued digital identity.

Some people even suggest that it should be illegal for anyone under 16 to own a smartphone.

How do you enforce that? Well, you’d need to prove your age (and therefore your identity) to own a cell phone, so buh-bye pre-paid anonymous phones. (They really don’t mind leaning into the “Oi mate, you got a license for that?” meme, apparently.)

Usually I would dismiss this as one of those ridiculously extreme positions designed to make the actual goal seem more palatable, but I could actually see this one going ahead. After all, we don’t want kids wandering around with access to the internet 24/7, where they could fact-check teachers in real time for example.

And because it’s just rules, and they love having more rules.

That’s our “new normal” in a nutshell, isn’t it? More and more rules for rules’ sake.

OffGuardian will carry on warning anyone who’ll listen while we can, but with the Online Safety Act out in force and taking no prisoners, who can say how long that might be?


“The Trillion-Dollar Conspiracy”: Jim Marrs exposes shadow elites, economic sabotage and biological threats

“The Trillion-Dollar Conspiracy”: Jim Marrs exposes shadow elites, economic sabotage and biological threats


  • Jim Marrs alleges that a secretive network of elites, including the Federal Reserve, Bilderberg Group and intelligence agencies, is systematically dismantling U.S. sovereignty through financial crises, engineered diseases and eroded civil liberties.
  • He argues the 2008 collapse was orchestrated by “zombie banks” propped up by bailouts (like TARP), calling it “corporate socialism” that enriched Wall Street while harming Main Street.
  • Marrs claims the Fed is a privately controlled “banking cartel” operating without true government oversight, wielding unchecked economic power
  • The book suggests historical bioweapons programs (e.g., MKUltra) and modern epidemics may be linked to depopulation agendas. Post-9/11 policies, like the Patriot Act, are framed as steps toward authoritarianism via mass surveillance.
  • Despite dire warnings, Marrs advocates for resistance through transparency, auditing the Fed, ending corporate welfare and supporting independent media to hold power accountable.
In “The Trillion-Dollar Conspiracy: How the New World Order, Man-Made Diseases, and Zombie Banks Are Destroying America,” investigative journalist Jim Marrs presents a harrowing expose of what he describes as a covert war against American sovereignty.

Published in 2010, the book alleges that a secretive network of global elites –  operating through institutions like the Federal Reserve, the Bilderberg Group and intelligence agencies –  has orchestrated financial collapses, engineered pandemics and eroded civil liberties to consolidate power. Marrs, a former newspaper reporter turned alternative researcher, weaves together decades of historical events, leaked documents and policy critiques to argue that the U.S. is being systematically dismantled from within.

Marrs asserts that the 2008 financial crisis was not an accident but a calculated move by “zombie banks” –  financial institutions kept alive by government bailouts despite insolvency. He cites the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP), which injected $700 billion into failing banks, as evidence of a rigged system.


“While Main Street suffered, Wall Street was rewarded,” Marrs writes, accusing the Federal Reserve of enabling “corporate socialism.” (Related: “Shadow Elite”: The unseen architects of modern power.)

His critique extends to the Fed itself, which he calls a “private banking cartel” with unchecked power. “The Federal Reserve is no more federal than Federal Express,” Marrs quips, echoing a long-held conspiracy claim about the central bank’s independence from government oversight.

One of the book’s most controversial sections alleges that shadowy forces have weaponized diseases to control populations. Marrs points to historical U.S. biological warfare programs, such as Project MKUltra, and suggests modern epidemics – including chronic fatigue syndrome and autoimmune disorders – may be linked to lab-engineered pathogens. He references a 1974 National Security Council memo by Henry Kissinger, which stated that population growth in developing nations threatened U.S. resources, as a blueprint for depopulation efforts.



Houthis Claim Attack on USS Harry Truman, US Warships


Houthis Claim Attack on USS Harry Truman, US Warships
Sputnik


Shia movement Ansar Allah, which rules northern Yemen, attacked warships in the northern Red Sea, including a supply vessel for the US aircraft carrier Harry Truman, Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree said.
"Over the last few hours, the missile and UAV forces, with the participation of the naval forces, clashed with a number of these warships in the northern Red Sea, including the American aircraft carrier 'Truman' with a number of cruise missiles and drones," the Houthi military spokesman said in a statement.

As Saree noted, the movement struck a supply vessel for the US aircraft carrier Harry Truman.

"The naval force of the Armed Forces carried out a military operation targeting the American supply ship, the aircraft carrier 'Truman' with a ballistic missile," the statement says.

Since March 15, the United States has launched dozens of strikes at Houthi-controlled northern and central Yemeni regions, including the capital of Sanaa. US President Donald Trump ordered decisive military action against the Houthis after they renewed attacks on Israel-linked ships in the Red Sea in response to the blockade of the Gaza Strip.



Saturday, April 5, 2025

Myanmar earthquake death toll rises again to 3,354 with hundreds still missing


Myanmar earthquake death toll rises again with hundreds still missing


The human cost of last month's 7.7-magnitude earthquake that rocked Myanmar and Thailand is still rising more than a week later, with Myanmar state media revising the country's death toll up to 3,354 on Saturday.

Another 4,850 people have been injured and 220 remain missing, the MRTV state media organization said.

At least 23 people have died in Thailand's capital Bangkok, which was also rocked by the earthquake on March 28, according to the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration.

Most of the deaths -- 15 -- are from the scene of a high-rise building that was under construction when it collapsed as the powerful quake struck. Dozens of others are still missing, city officials said.

Search-and-rescue operations remain ongoing in both countries.

A number of nations, including China and Russia, have sent rescue crews and disaster-response teams to help Myanmar in the aftermath of the devastating earthquake.

Rescue teams from the U.S. have been notably absent, The Associated Press reported, amid ongoing efforts by President Donald Trump's administration to dismantle the U.S. Agency for International Development -- USAID.


Ursula von Der Leyen’s European Commission Paid Millions to ‘Environmental Associations’ for Targeted Campaigns To Smear Political Opponents


Ursula von Der Leyen’s European Commission Paid Millions to ‘Environmental Associations’ for Targeted Campaigns To Smear Political Opponents and Dissenting Voices


By now, it surprises absolutely no one to learn that the European Union Globalists and her powerful Commissioner Ursula von der Leyen are guilty of weaponizing the continent’s powers against their political enemies and the patriotic forces that oppose their suicidal policies.

After years of heavy criticism and scrutiny, the EU Commission has officially admitted a huge scandal: Brussels paid millions to environmental associations – but not only, mind you, for the nonsense ‘climate work’. What the EU was actually financing were targeted campaigns against political opponents and dissenting voices.

Austrian News Site Exxpress reported (translated from the German):

“The suspicion has been around for years, but now it is official: The EU Commission under Ursula von der Leyen has supported environmental organizations with taxpayers’ money – not only for climate and environmental protection, but also for political smear campaigns. The aim of the funded NGOs was to specifically attack critics of Brussels’ climate policy.

The explosive admission: In an official statement, the Commission admits that there have been “inappropriate lobbying activities” in funded NGO programs. This apparently refers to targeted attacks on political opponents who opposed individual EU plans.”

A Commission Statement on the ‘LIFE’ Programs from April 1st contains the stunning admission: ‘The Commission notes that the work programs submitted by the NGOs […] contained specific advocacy actions and undue lobbying activities’.

Below the euphemistic and normalizing language, what it says is that von der Leyen spent millions of Euros subsidizing propaganda.

The ‘LIFE’ funding program is intended to ‘promote environmental projects and climate measures’ (a.k.a. ‘Global warming’ nonsense).

“But as it turns out, organizations that used these funds to mobilize against conservative politicians and critical voices were also paid.

Internal documents had previously spoken of ‘cooperations’ with NGOs, in which it was agreed against whom to lobby. Now Brussels admits for the first time: Yes, there were such cases – and yes, they were problematic.”

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