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Topic: Unspecified
Good day to all. If you value this daily newsfeed, please consider making a donation to sustain it at the Paypal button or Bitcoin links to the side of this post. If you wish to donate in another manner, please write to me at wendy(at)wendymcelroy.com. Your contribution will be well used and greatly appreciated. Thank you!

AI-supervised remote exam went so badly that 58,000 students must retake it
Topic: Children and Family
Source: ars technica
Earlier this summer, nearly 160,000 applicants took the entrance exam for UNAM, Mexico’s largest university. For the first time, they did it completely remotely, using a “lockdown” browser and AI-powered webcam proctoring software, over several weeks from late May through early June. It was a disaster. When exam results came in, they bore little resemblance to past results, especially at the top. Between 2021 and 2025, 3.5 percent of test takers scored 100 or more on the 120-question UNAM test. This year, 16.3 percent did so.

Gender Identity Federal Policy Update
Topic: Unspecified
Source: Manhattan Institute
A note to readers: This week's newsletter is our federal policy update on "gender identity" policy which we are sharing once a month in place of the Gender Debriefs weekly updates. Our normal Debrief content will resume next week. Thanks for reading. [Ed: a round-up of last week's gender policy legislation being floated in Congress.]

Kansas just affirmed that abortion politics still matter
Topic: Abortion
Source: Politico
Voters rejected a measure that was yet another ploy to restrict the right to abortion in the state. Voters in the red state overwhelmingly rejected a referendum designed to overturn Kansas’ constitutional right to abortion on Tuesday. The Legislature’s GOP supermajority had attempted to amend the Kansas constitution to change the way the state’s Supreme Court justices are chosen. It was an effort to fill the bench with more conservatives after a slate of rulings that roiled Republican lawmakers, most notably a 2019 decision upholding the right to abortion.

Fla's Ban On Children Attending Drag Shows Is Constitutional, Appeals Court Says
Topic: Children and Family
Source: The Epoch Times
On Tuesday, the court overturned a lower court’s decision that had blocked the state’s law..“This shouldn’t even be controversial, yet our law protecting kids required us to fend off lawsuits and win a case before a divided appellate court,” DeSantis wrote...Hamburger Mary’s, a bar and restaurant chain that holds drag shows and previously held what it called “family friendly” performances for children on Sundays, sued the state over the ban. The chain claimed its law was unconstitutional, but judges on the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals disagreed in an 8–5 ruling.

Mamdani’s universal childcare plan will cost billions more than planned
Topic: Children and Family
Source: New York Post
...as costs balloon: report. Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s universal childcare plan will cost 50% more than he advertised, according to a new study. The proposed program is estimated to cost a whopping $9 billion annually, approximately with an average cost per child roughly $27,000, according to the report from the Center for New York City Affairs, a nonpartisan research organization affiliated with the New School. “An estimated $8.7 to $9.3 billion would be needed annually to fund universal child care in New York City,” the report, which was released on Monday, states. That’s $3 billion more than the mayor previously said...

Hundreds of migrant minors stranded in Ceuta after border crisis
Topic: Children and Family
Source: Al Jazeera
Migrant children in Ceuta suffer loss, hunger in hope of a safer life in mainland Europe. Hundreds of unaccompanied minors are stranded in Ceuta in North Africa, following the massive surge of migrants who swam around the border fence with Morocco to reach the Spanish territory. Some of the children are traumatised after witnessing family members drown in the Mediterranean Sea, as tens of thousands left Morocco in search of better opportunities.

Local school officials charged after trans wrestler sexually assaults girl
Topic: Violence Against Women
Source: The Post Millennial
...Rogers High School Principal Jason Smith and Athletic Coordinator Peter Collins were each charged July 21 in Pierce County District Court with failure to comply with Washington’s mandatory reporting law. Keeler and her family have maintained they reported the alleged assault to school officials immediately after the match, but law enforcement was not contacted for 53 days, despite Washington law requiring school employees to promptly report suspected child abuse or sexual abuse.

Malaysian Teen's Trial Is a National Reckoning
Topic: Violence Against Women
Source: BBC News
Malaysia is watching a rare juvenile murder trial that has quickly become a flashpoint over kids, phones, and the internet. A 14-year-old boy, who has since turned 15, is accused of fatally stabbing a 16-year-old female schoolmate, Yap Shing Xuen, in a bathroom at their secondary school near Kuala Lumpur last October, reports the BBC. He has pleaded not guilty. Under Malaysian law he cannot be named, but if convicted, he could face 40 years in prison. His age shields him from the death penalty. Police previously said social media appeared to have played a role, and reports about a note found in the suspect's possession have only amplified that. Its contents have not been officially revealed.

Driving UEFA's Revolt Against Infantino's Sell-Off: 2 Women
Topic: Gender Discrimination
Source: The Athletic
Female UEFA leaders vocally push for a boycott, spotlighting the gender gap in football governance. In a tense online meeting over Gianni Infantino's now-collapsed bid to sell a stake in FIFA's top competitions, it wasn't the usual power brokers who pushed hardest for a revolt. The Athletic reports that Laura McAllister of Wales and Norway's Lise Klaveness—the only two women on UEFA's 21-member executive committee—were, alongside UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin, the loudest voices urging Europe's federations to take on FIFA, including backing a full boycott. Multiple unnamed sources tell reporter Megan Feringa that the pair were central to the resistance as UEFA framed the plan as "economic blackmail." [Ed: I do not know if they are right or wrong but it is news.]

Sophie Cunningham’s Gesture Towards the Portland Crowd
Topic: Violence Against Women
Source: Yahoo Sports
Sophie Cunningham entered the Indiana Fever's game against the Portland Fire on Friday night with a fair share of controversy on her back. Her stance on transgender athletes participating in women's sports did not earn the support of a section of fans. Many who disagreed had already made thier voice heard during Indiana's last game against the Seattle Storm, and things only got worse at Portland, leading Cunningham to respond during the game. "Sophie Cunningham getting HEAVILY BOOED in Portland…" wrote Brick Center, who uploaded the clip of Cunningham hitting back at the crowd that had been booing her by knocking down a three-pointer with 5:44 remaining in the first quarter.

Gender ideology suffers setbacks in counseling and medicine
Topic: Political Correctness
Source: Just the News
...with legal settlements, reopened case. Health system pays fired physician assistant $410,000, introduces religious accommodations to opt out of "gender affirming care," preferred pronouns. Michigan "conversion therapy" law falls and Washington's is back in court.The application of gender ideology to psychology and medicine suffered blows in the Midwest and West Coast this past week, as Michigan and its flagship university threw in the towel in separate litigation and Washington found itself dragged back into court.

Court upholds staggering fines, digital scarlet letter
Topic: Political Correctness
Source: Just the News
for woman who outed males in women's soccer. If you refer to transgender people by their sex online, Australia might pass on compelling the platform to censor your speech, at least if posted from abroad. Say it Down Under, though, and you risk fines approaching six figures and a digital scarlet letter. The New South Wales Supreme Court upheld fines of $95,000 Australian – roughly $66,000 U.S. – against women's sports activist Kirralie Smith and her group Binary Australia, as well as a court-written statement to be posted on their social media accounts for three months, for "transgender vilification" against male soccer players on women's teams. That vilification consisted of outing the players as males, whom Football New South Wales allows to compete against women under a 2023 "gender diversity policy," and posting public materials about them from their teams and league.

Boy George brushes off criticism from LGBTQ activists
Topic: Gay/Lesbian Issues
Source: The Post Millennial
... after pro-Israel stance, says Hamas wants to kill ‘queers'. Singer Boy George pushed back against LGBTQ activists who opposed his recent support for Israel, noting the treatment of homosexual people among members of Hamas. “When I say 'they want to kill every last one of us' I am also talking about us queers not just the Jewish community. When will you wake up?"

Record low number of schools restricting free speech, study finds
Topic: Individualist Feminism
Source: Campus Reform
A new study from the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) has found that the number of schools maintaining restrictive policies on student expression has hit an all-time low. The organization’s annual Spotlight on Speech Codes report found that the number of overall schools with a “red light” rating fell to 13.2 percent, while just 9.8 percent of public schools earned the designation. Red light ratings are given to schools with policies “that clearly and substantially restrict free speech.” In the group’s first study published in 2006, 68.6 percent of schools earned red light ratings.

The New McCarthys: 40% Of Professors Against Hiring A Trump-Voter
Topic: Political Correctness
Source: Jonathan Turley
Tolerance is intolerable for professors like this... According to a new survey, roughly 40 percent of college faculty would “oppose hiring a Trump supporter.” The results of the study are not surprising to many in the field of teaching. Indeed, it may be low given faculty reluctance to admit political bias or the delusion of others that they are without it. Yet, the virtual purging of Republicans from most departments reveals a long-standing ideological exclusion in higher education. While far-left hires are common, even a moderate Republican is a rarity on faculties in a country with a majority of conservative and libertarian voters.

Problems of Causation in Race and Discrimination
Topic: Political Correctness
Source: Mises Institute
Why are there economic disparities between racial groups? A popular explanation is that they are caused by racial discrimination. Wanjiru Njoya takes a closer look at these claims. Economists who worry about wealth disparities between racial groups are preoccupied with addressing the causes of racial inequality. They all have different theories and explanations about the causes of racial wealth gaps, but the prevailing assumption is that some form of unfairness must be driving it. The key form of unfairness thought to produce disparities in racial outcomes is discrimination. Discrimination may be direct or indirect. According to critical race theories, it includes things like legacies of oppression, systemic racism, and even unconscious bias. The general idea is that government can fix these manifestations of discrimination—by banning or penalizing them—thereby reducing or eliminating the racial attainment gap.

‘Have you considered helping boys?’ The other gender gap
Topic: Men's Movement
Source: Los Angeles Times {Reader Friendly)
Women have fought hard for progress and personal freedom, breaking down barriers for women and girls, and that’s worth celebrating. But boys and men are facing crises that have been ignored for too long, and it’s time we extend our empathy to them and support efforts today for more compassion and resources being directed their way. We should champion efforts like Gov. Gavin Newsom’s recent executive order aimed at addressing the growing crisis of suicide and social disconnection among boys and young men. Because if we root for only one sex to win, both sexes will lose.

Amnesty Apologizes to J.K. Rowling's Crisis Center for Women
Topic: Political Correctness
Source: Hot Air
Two weeks ago I wrote about the brewing legal battle taking place between Amnesty International and dozens of groups it had labeled as "anti-rights" in a report it published. One of those organizations targeted by Amnesty was a rape-crisis center for women funded by author J.K Rowling. Rowling created Beira's Place after learning that the only crisis center for women in her hometown of Edinburgh, Scotland accepted "trans women" as well. Rowling decided this would not do since it meant traumatized women would be forced to share space with men in drag.

Hofstra Prof Files Complaint v. Colleague for Calling His Comments “Word Salad” . . .
Topic: Political Correctness
Source: Jonathan Turley
Recently, I wrote about the bizarre investigation of Hofstra University Professor Richard Himelfarb, who had referred to a colleague’s comments in a faculty meeting as “word salad.” The investigation was launched after a formal complaint from his colleague, Professor Santiago Slabodsky, chair of the Jewish studies program. While some of us called for the “word salad” complaint to be tossed, Slabodsky has now filed another complaint stemming from Himelfarb’s public campaign to clear his name, according to a letter from the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE).