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Fla AG sues TikTok over violations of law blocking children under 14 from accounts
Topic: Children and Family
Source: The Post Millennial
"TikTok knowingly deceives parents," AG James Uthmeier said. "...We have zero tolerance for companies that prioritize profit over children's safety." he lawsuit, filed in St. Lucie County, seeks financial damages and a court order requiring TikTok to comply with social media restrictions in Florida. "TikTok knowingly deceives parents and allows children to be exposed to harmful and inappropriate content in direct violation of Florida law," Uthmeier said in a statement. "We have zero tolerance for companies that prioritize profit over children's safety." The suit centers on Florida's H.B. 3, which took effect in January 2025 and prohibits children under 14 from having social media accounts while requiring parental consent for users under 16. [Ed: sorry to hear this.]

The backlash to SF Giants players’ Pride Night protest isn’t going away
Topic: Gay/Lesbian Issues
Source: San Francisco Chronicle
The Pride Night backlash isn’t going away anytime soon for the San Francisco Giants. The Giants held their annual celebration of San Francisco’s LGBTQ+ community on Friday night, with the team wearing special hats with a rainbow-colored “SF” logo as part of the evening. But four of the five pitchers the Giants used in Friday’s loss to the Cubs protested the commemoration, with three pitchers — Landon Roupp, JT Brubaker and Ryan Walker — writing a Bible verse on their Pride Night hats, while Sam Hentges elected to not wear the rainbow-logo hat at all.

Small town bakery counters pride month
Topic: Gay/Lesbian Issues
Source: The Christian Post
...faces backlash for promoting biblical values. [Ed: so only gays can publicly celebrate their values, Christian or not, LGBT or not.] A Minnesota bakery owner from a multigenerational Christian family is offering an alternative to pride month and celebrating the biblical model of family life through special doughnut and coffee sales. Joshua Streblow, owner of Carl’s Bakery in Granite Falls, Minnesota, said the monthlong promotion celebrates "the beauty of God’s design and the beauty of God’s declared word with respect to these designs.”

U.N. calls on Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers to reverse crackdown on women
Topic: Violence Against Women
Source: The Washington Times
The U.N. Security Council unanimously adopted a resolution Monday calling on Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers to swiftly reverse their crackdown on women and to combat militant groups inside Afghanistan that Pakistan accuses of carrying out cross-border attacks. China’s U.N. Ambassador Fu Cong, whose country sponsored the resolution, said the hope is that the Afghan government will “take more proactive measures to protect human rights, especially the rights of women, and project an image of openness, inclusivity and responsibility.” The resolution extends the U.N. political mission in Afghanistan until June 17, 2027, and authorizes it to support humanitarian aid deliveries “without discrimination” and to promote national and local governance “without any discrimination based on sex, religion or ethnicity, with the full, equal, meaningful and safe participation of women, … minorities, youth and persons with disabilities.”

Cuba Details Toll of Oil Blockade on Children's Health, Daily Life
Topic: Children and Family
Source: AP
Report says shortages are dangerously disrupting health care system. Some of Cuba's sickest people are feeling the effects of the US energy blockade, with surgeries delayed, kidney dialysis treatments disrupted, and children with cancer facing a higher risk of death, according to a report published Monday by Cuban state-run media. The survival rate for children with cancer has fallen to 65% from 85% before the energy restrictions began in January, according to the report released by Cubadebate. It said that 100,000 children younger than 7 are no longer receiving the daily liter of milk previously provided by the state and that the country's 16-vaccine immunization program for infants is at risk, the AP reports

Starmer To Ban Under-16s From 10 Social Media Apps, Including X,
Topic: Children and Family
Source: Daily Sceptic
.in addition, he will introduce daily curfews for 16 and 17 year-olds, going further than Australia’s restrictions. The Times has the story: Teenagers will be banned from certain social media platforms and have their daily usage curbed under sweeping reforms to be announced by Sir Keir Starmer on Sunday. The ban will go further than the one imposed by Australia in December by targeting technology deemed harmful to children, including chatbots and certain features on gaming apps. Under-16s in Australia have been banned from using ten platforms: TikTok, Instagram, Threads, Facebook, X, YouTube, Snapchat, Reddit, Twitch and Kick. It is understood that the UK will follow suit by raising the minimum age on social media to 16, from the average of 13, for the same ten sites. Curfews for older teenagers will be introduced. Daily social media use will be restricted for 16 and 17 year-olds in a move designed to curb unhealthy late-night scrolling habits.

Exposed: UK Govt Has A 'Thought Police' Unit
Topic: Political Correctness
Source: Zero Hedge
To Control Mass Migration Narrative. Former MI6 operatives caught briefing police to brand concerned citizens as “unsympathetic thugs”... A secretive Home Office propaganda outfit founded by a former MI6 officer is actively working to control narratives around incidents involving migrants and rising tensions, a bombshell report reveals. The Research, Information and Communications Unit, or RICU, has been exposed advising police on how to portray protesters and intervening in the aftermath of brutal attacks by migrants to prevent statements that might inflame public anger over mass immigration failures. This comes as fresh confirmation of suspicions raised after the attack on vulnerable special needs man Stephen Ogilvie in Belfast. Sources now confirm the unit's role in managing family liaison and messaging in such cases. The pattern fits a broader shift where government "nudge" operations once focused on enforcing COVID compliance have pivoted to shielding open borders policies from scrutiny - and are now being hardened into formal crisis powers.

BBC Halts ‘Doctor Who’ Indefinitely
Topic: Political Correctness
Source: AOL
After “Woke” Storylines Turn Into “Toxic” Disaster And Ratings Nightmare. Doctor Who's future is suddenly in doubt after a shock BBC decision sent fans into meltdown. On June 10, the BBC officially confirmed that a planned Christmas special had reportedly been scrapped, with no immediate plans for future installments. After more than six decades on screen, the iconic sci-fi franchise now faces one of the biggest crises in its history amid a major behind-the-scenes exodus. Despite a lucrative partnership with Disney, many viewers criticized the show's recent seasons for their divisive storylines. Insiders close to the production are now speaking out about how the British pop-culture institution fell into decline.

Idaho, Minnesota universities stonewall public records requests
Topic: Political Correctness
Source: The College Fix
...for controversial course syllabi. The University of Idaho and University of Minnesota denied requests for course syllabi from the American Accountability Foundation, claiming syllabi are protected as intellectual property or trade secrets under state laws. The AAF argued that the universities' justifications for withholding the syllabi misinterpret state laws and the definition of trade secrets, which require economic value and reasonable secrecy efforts. Both universities offered limited alternatives, such as in-person inspection of the documents, which the AAF deemed insufficient based on previous court rulings affirming the public's right to access such records.

Stepson of Norway’s crown prince convicted of rape
Topic: Violence Against Women
Source: CNN
sentenced to 4 years in prison. The stepson of Norway’s Crown Prince Haakon has been found guilty ?of two counts of rape, one count of domestic violence and other crimes and is sentenced to four years in ?prison, an Oslo ?court ?ruled on Monday. Marius Borg Hoiby, 29, who joined the ?royal family when his mother Mette-Marit married ?Haakon ?in 2001, was ?acquitted on two other accounts of rape. He had pleaded not guilty to ?the most severe accusations against ?him, including those of rape, while admitting to some lesser ones, and can appeal the ?verdict.

With Aussie Social Media Ban for Kids, 'Nothing Changed'
Topic: Children and Family
Source: esafety gov au
Older children who were booted still find their way back on, but ban may help keep younger kids off Australia's first-of-its-kind bid to kick under-16s off social media isn't exactly going to plan. Six months after the island nation's ban took effect, surveys suggest that most young teens are still on the major platforms, with kids easily dodging age checks by using phony dates of birth, finding their way in via family accounts, or even tricking facial-age scans, reports the New York Times. "I don't know a single person who's lost an account," says one mother. A 15-year-old in Canberra reports that for her and most friends, "nothing changed on that day," with even those who were booted from the app mostly able to find their way back on. Yet some parents and experts say the real impact may show up with younger children who are now unable to get on the apps in the first place.

Based Chinese Abuse Black ‘Stress Relief Doll’
Topic: Political Correctness
Source: Armageddon Safari
Progressive Meltdown Ensues. Endowed with something an expat friend of mine once called a strong “cultural immune system,” the natives of the Orient are notoriously insensitive to the pleas from Social Justice™ people in the West that they walk on eggshells so as not to offend the delicate sensibilities of subscribers to globo-homo race communism. They exhibit a striking disregard for accusations of racism, transphobia, sexism, or really any –ism that so permeates and saturates the Western liberal mind.

Perpetual victimhood and racial tribalism of Karmelo Anthony’s defenders
Topic: Political Correctness
Source: The Washington Examiner
The Karmelo Anthony case in Texas is bringing out the worst of the racebaiting perpetual victims who try to continuously divide society with their racist worldviews. Anthony was convicted of first-degree murder for killing 17-year-old Austin Metcalf at a high school track meet. Anthony was under the tent of another high school as it rained, was asked to leave multiple times, and stabbed Metcalf in an altercation where witnesses testified that Anthony was the aggressor. This all happened because Anthony was aggressive, and because he brought a knife to a high school track meet in the first place. He was sentenced to a maximum of 35 years.

Heterofatalism
Topic: Political Correctness
Source: Future of Freedom Foundation
Author: by Wendy McElroy
Politics should never address anyone’s sexual orientation. In a just society, every human being is equal without regard to race, religion, sexuality, or any other secondary characteristic. But many laws and tax-funded policies today reflect “social justice” that prioritizes secondary characteristics over the primary one of a shared humanity. Being black, homosexual, or trans becomes far more politically important than being an individual. Since the goal of social justice is to “equitably” redistribute status and wealth throughout society, there has been a forced transfer of power from those with secondary characteristics viewed as oppressive — such as heterosexuality — to those with ones viewed as victimized — such as being transgendered. Society becomes balkanized, with one class of people automatically in conflict with others.

What one country's experiment says about attempts to boost birth rates
Topic: Children and Family
Source: BBC News
itting on a park bench in the eastern Hungarian city of Debrecen, Barbara Elek is nervously refreshing her emails. She and her husband Levi are waiting to find out if Barbara is pregnant, after their third round of IVF 10 days ago. "If it doesn't succeed, then obviously I'll be devastated, and then the last resort will be trying to make sure that, at least financially, we don't lose everything," she says. Like many other young Hungarian couples Barbara, 33, a social worker and Levi, 34, a chef, were eligible for tens of thousands of pounds in interest-free loans and subsidies when they promised to have two children. But they've struggled to get pregnant naturally and if they can't prove they have a child on the way by 1 November then it is possible they may have to pay back those loans with penalty interest.

Kathy Ruemmler's Rewrite of History
Topic: Violence Against Women
Source: The Epstein Files by Julie K. Brown
At least one Epstein survivor denounced the NYT for giving Epstein's fixer an unchecked platform to rationalize her association with the sex predator. Usually when a controversial figure wants to “tell my side of the story,” it is the role of journalists to put that story into context — in other words, to balance the subject’s desire to rewrite history or present themselves in a positive light by presenting facts and context so that the reader can decide whether the figure is being genuine and truthful. In this case, Kathy Ruemmler, the top lawyer at Goldman Sachs and former White House counsel under President Barack Obama, was given a wide birth in the New York Times Thursday to explain her role in associating with Jeffrey Epstein and advising him how to handle the public fallout of his sex trafficking scandal.

Are Many College Students Losing the Ability to Read?
Topic: Children and Family
Source: Futurism
in a new essay for The Chronicle Higher Education, university-level literature and writing instructor Tyler Jagt recalls how not a single one of his students could get through an assigned 20-page article, something that he had read "without complaint" as an undergraduate a decade ago. One student confessed that the reason they didn't finish was that they kept losing track of what the paper was about. And there's no doubt that they're not alone. Jagt cites the 2024 National Assessment of Educational Progress reading assessment results released last year. It showed that 12th grade reading scores were at the lowest level since the assessment began in 1992. Nearly a third of those 12th graders scored below the assessment's "basic" level in reading, meaning they likely "cannot draw general conclusions based on concepts presented explicitly in a text." Younger children aren't better off: a recent report from the Annie E. Casey Foundation found that 70 percent of fourth graders, or around two million kids, can't read at a proficient level

“Dangerous Precedent of Censorship and Sanitization”
Topic: Political Correctness
Source: Jonathan Turley
Judge Enjoins Removal of Slavery and Climate Displays.While there are good-faith reasons why some have objected to the removal of slavery and climate change exhibits from national parks and monuments, this is not about the merits but the authority to make such changes. Kelley’s recent injunction smacks of judicial excess rather than measured review. While there are good-faith reasons why some have objected to the removal of slavery and climate change exhibits from national parks and monuments, this is not about the merits but the authority to make such changes. Kelley’s recent injunction smacks of judicial excess rather than measured review.

The Data a Flemish TV Network Didn't Want You to See
Topic: Political Correctness
Source: The Quillette
How I read a confidential memo on live television—and what it reveals about ideological bias. Last month, I was invited onto Flemish public television to discuss a survey on rising intolerance among young people. Before going on air, I obtained an internal presentation prepared by the broadcaster’s research department. Buried in the margins was a note that was never meant for my eyes: journalists had been instructed not to report some of the most striking findings in the dataset. Some background. The public broadcaster of Dutch-speaking Belgium—called VRT, roughly the Flemish equivalent of the BBC—periodically conducts a survey called De Foto van Vlaanderen (“The Picture of Flanders”) to take the social temperature of the region. This year’s edition produced wall-to-wall coverage across VRT’s news outlets, centred on a set of ostensibly shocking findings about kids these days: growing intolerance of LGBT people and a resurgence of conservative values. The headline figures were certainly arresting: 17 per cent of Flemish adolescents aged 12–17, and 16 per cent of those aged 18–44, agreed that there are circumstances in which a man is permitted to hit a woman. One in three young people said they would not want a transgender person in their circle of friends.