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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!

Home Possession of AI-Generated Porn Depicting Fake Children
Topic: Porn, Prostitution, and Sexual Freedom
Source: The Volokh Conspiracy
Remains Constitutionally Protected, Seventh Circuit Rules. The appeal in this case deals only with Anderegg's challenge to the home possession charge, not to the production or distribution charge. Here's the court's analysis:
"Obscenity, along with certain other categories of speech, has historically fallen "outside the scope of the First Amendment." And, although the precise meaning of "obscenity" is difficult to pin down, the Supreme Court has offered the following articulation: "[S]peech is obscene to the public at large—and thus proscribable—if (a) 'the average person, applying contemporary community standards[,] would find that the work, taken as a whole, appeals to the prurient interest'; (b) 'the work depicts or describes, in a patently offensive way, sexual conduct specifically defined by the applicable state law'; and (c) 'the work, taken as a whole, lacks serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value.'" Miller v. California (1973)."

Full-Face Veils Banned In Portugal After President Signs 'Burqa Law'
Topic: Violence Against Women
Source: Remix News
“The face should be considered a central element of human identity and communication...” Portuguese President António José Seguro has officially signed into law a bill banning face-concealing attire in public spaces, with the move seen targeting the full-face Islamic veils like the burqa and niqab. Addressing the national debate, President Seguro framed the decision around human interaction, stating: "The face should be considered a central element of human identity and communication."

Brazil Sues Discord Over Child Safety Requirements
Topic: Children and Family
Source: Reuters
Platform calls government action disproportionate. Brazil has taken Discord to court. The government announced Wednesday it's suing the chat platform for about $97 million, claiming Discord hasn't met Brazilian requirements for protecting children and teenagers, Reuters reports. In a civil lawsuit filed in federal court, authorities say the company must bring its safety tools, age checks, parental controls, content moderation, and communication features into line with local law or face a daily fine. The case follows a move earlier this month by Brazil's data protection authority to suspend Discord's livestreaming features over youth-safety concerns after a suicide.

What happened to North Hollywood’s Star Garden
Topic: Porn, Prostitution, and Sexual Freedom
Source: Los Angeles Public Press
...the nation’s only unionized strip club? Today, the Star Garden sits as a hollow shell of its former self following the formation of the only strippers union in the country in 2023, when it joined the Actors’ Equity Association. Theirs was a landmark victory followed by at least two other strippers unions, the Chippendales in Vegas and the Magic Tavern in Portland. The victory, however, was short-lived. Across the country, every effort for a strippers union has so far been met with prolonged resistance by club owners. None of the unions are operating. In March 2024, the Star Garden union filed a case with the National Labor Relations Board, accusing the club’s owners of failing to comply with a settlement agreement that recognized their union. It has been two years since the case has had any traction, and the Los Angeles labor board has yet to schedule a hearing.

A Federal Judge Just Struck Down Texas' Anti-Drag Law, Again
Topic: Political Correctness
Source: Reason
A Texas law restricting “sexually oriented performances” was struck down after a federal judge said it could apply to everything from cheerleading to karaoke to performances by Dolly Parton, Elvis Presley, and Miley Cyrus. On Tuesday, Judge David Hittner of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas ruled that a 2023 state law banning "sexually oriented performances" in the presence of minors violated the First Amendment. Before the ruling, businesses found hosting an event in violation of this law would have faced a fine of up to $10,000. Performers could be charged with a Class A misdemeanor, the most serious misdemeanor charge in Texas, which could result in a $4,000 fine, a year in jail, or both.

Former NBA Star Enes Kanter Freedom Threatens Lawsuit
Topic: Political Correctness
Source: Yahoo Sports
After Chicago Sky Ejection and Ban. Enes Kanter Freedom is no stranger to controversy, and his latest clash with the WNBA has reignited the spotlight. The former NBA center attended Sunday's Chicago Sky matchup against the Indiana Fever, a game the Sky lost 113-90, wearing a shirt that stirred immediate backlash. What started as a courtside statement quickly escalated into something far bigger for Freedom. Contents of the letter here.

Canadian Legend Faces Kangaroo Court After Misgendering Complaint
Topic: Violence Against Women
Source: Just the News
Libby Emmons opens with a hard look at how Western media and governments have repeatedly bowed to Islamist threats, from cartoon controversies in Denmark and Sweden to teachers still in hiding for showing a cartoon in class. Then, National Post legend Barbara Kay joins the show to break down the human rights complaint filed against her by a well-known trans activist for "deadnaming" and refusing to use his preferred pronouns. Barbara and Libby dig into Canada's speech laws, the state of free expression versus America's First Amendment protections, and where the lines should be drawn.

University Of Maryland Warns
Topic: Political Correctness
Source: Zero Hedge
Trump's Four-Year Visa Cap Could Crush Graduate Enrollment By 30%. Beginning Sept. 15, most people entering on F-1 and J-1 visas will no longer be admitted for "duration of status" ... Instead, students and scholars will receive predetermined admission periods based on the length of their programs, capped at four years. Any extension needed to complete a degree, including for many doctoral candidates, will require an application to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.

A Madonna Cover Exploded in Australia.
Topic: Political Correctness
Source: Reuters
Now, a Ban New rules will impact Friday's charts. Australia's music charts just drew a line in the sand on AI. The Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) on Tuesday announced that songs must be "substantially human made" to qualify, effectively sidelining fully AI-generated tracks—even ones already climbing the charts. That could spell trouble for Brisbane DJ Josh Fawaz's viral cover of Madonna's "Like a Prayer," which is currently No. 1 on ARIA's Australian Dance Singles chart and was the most-played song on Australian radio last month, per Reuters.

Cash-Strapped Ukraine Gripped by Preparatory “Female Mobilization” Info-Drive
Topic: Violence Against Women
Source: Simplicius
A whirlwind new media campaign has been orchestrated around plying society to the acceptance of mobilizing the female population of Ukraine. Ex-Defense Minister Reznikov first broke the ice by discussing the new “stricter” mobilization procedures being promised by Zelensky’s government, which include tightening various rules as well as potentially changing the draft age. But at the 0:30 second mark, he states that for Ukraine to make it, it must look to other states which have successfully solved manpower issues, and elevates Israel to the exemplary role

What a Queer Fish She Is...
Topic: Gay/Lesbian Issues
Source: Hot Air
Queer fish” researcher awarded £196k by the taxpayer-funded British Academy. The Academy received just under £340 MILLION from taxpayers between 2021-25. If Strathclyde were just a community college somewhere, I wouldn't have given this story another thought; it's too easy to make fun of the odd research habits of obscure academics, but with the increasing number of stories coming out of prestigious universities that reveal that they have gone completely off the rails, stories like this matter.

Monopoly Money: Why Meta “Likes” the $16 Billion Settlement
Topic: Children and Family
Source: Jonathan Turley
It is not every day that a company can settle a case for over $16 billion and celebrate. However, Meta’s settlement with 29 states is a remarkably good deal for a company facing a demand of over $1.4 trillion and years of litigation. In the end, it may not even take a loss from the litigation. The settlement ends the latest mass liability case, following similar settlements in tobacco, opiates, and other products. It will require Meta to make changes to its platform, though the company already appeared to be moving to make such changes. The maximum payment of closer to $17 billion is tied to whether competing platforms (like TikTok and YouTube) adopt parallel protections for children. Otherwise, the company is on the hook for at least $12.1 billion over 10 years under the agreement.

The Austin Franco saga shows how antisemitism lost its stigma
Topic: Political Correctness
Source: The Washington Examiner
Austin Franco told a prospective employer he wouldn’t work for them because they were Jewish. When the remark became public, he didn’t apologize. He defended it. Cornell University condemned the 19-year-old student’s remark, but Franco says he has faced no disciplinary action. He appeared on Piers Morgan‘s show, where he defended himself and called Israel “a genocidal country.” Supporters rallied around him, and online fundraisers brought in tens of thousands of dollars. [Ed: I am still gobsmacked that antisemitism is growing in the US! of all places.]

Dolly Did Just Fine Without Politics
Topic: Individualist Feminism
Source: Cato Blog
I wrote the following in this space in 2019 about one of the nation’s great entertainers, Dolly Parton, who has died at age 80. A profile in the New York Times finds it “odd” that almost everyone loves country entertainment legend Dolly Parton even though she “has remained reluctant to make the slightest hint of a political statement.” I think that should win some sort of prize for statements that are best at missing what is in plain sight. Do most people really want politics to play that big a part in their lives or their choice of entertainment? I don’t know, but here are some of the reactions I’ve seen this morning on social media

California OBGYN 'proud' of admitted child killer Lindsay Clancy
Topic: Children and Family
Source: The Post Millennial
Feminists are now lined up CHEERING as Lindsay Clancy arrives to court where she is on trial after admitting to strangling her 3 children to death with a rope. This case has sparked an outpouring of support for Clancy from primarily liberal women who have banded together to discuss their own postpartum experiences, including intrusive thoughts of wanting to kill their own children, much like Clancy. Critics denounced the support as disgusting, pointing out that Clancy had sought aid and hired a babysitter to care for her children.

You Know Things Are Bad When This Has To Be Referred To The DOJ...
Topic: Political Correctness
Source: Zero Hedge
Imagine if airports operated "white-only bathrooms"... Texas Governor Greg Abbott is escalating the fight against what he calls discriminatory religious facilities at two of the state's busiest airports. After DFW Airport scrapped plans for more Islamic ablution stations under pressure, Abbott has referred both Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport and Houston's George Bush Intercontinental Airport to the U.S. Department of Justice, demanding investigation and corrective action over existing foot-washing stations and an adjoining prayer room. "These ablution stations single out one subset of the population for special treatment based on religion," Abbott said. "They are not interfaith chapels open to all. They exist to benefit the Muslim population alone. Government-owned airports cannot favor one religion over all others."

The NEET Army: What Young Men Face Today
Topic: Men's Movement
Source: Rod Dreher Substack
If you’re a Baby Boomer and a socially-conservative Christian, and you don’t understand young men nowadays, I’m writing for you. I also have something to ask of you at the end of this essay. It recently came to my attention that some of you don’t understand why a large number of young men have become shut-ins, often addicts, without career or romantic prospects. The term used for this now is “NEET.” That is, they are Not in Education, Employment or Training. Men described as NEETS are those who were once simply called slackers, basement-dwellers, and so on. I’d like to explain how this happened.

What 3 Female Figures in the Bayeux Tapestry Reveal re: Medieval Women
Topic: Individualist Feminism
Source: The Conversation
The BaVyeux tapestry is one of the most famous pieces of material culture produced in medieval England. The tapestry is fundamentally important for our understanding of the Norman conquest, telling us what happened and how it was remembered.

Yes, men are allowed to opine about Lindsay Clancy.
Topic: Political Correctness
Source: The Washington Examiner
If not, then why did she hire a male attorney? Many of her supporters have cited in gatherings, demonstrations, social media posts, or disturbing TikTok videos that men don’t get to have an opinion on it because they are men and Clancy is a woman. And, because of this difference in genders, men should be silenced from commenting about the court case of the mother who allegedly coordinated the premeditated murder of her three young children. Why? Because, as some have regularly argued, men cannot understand a woman in this scenario because women are the ones to give birth, as if one needs to bear children to understand the horrors of filicide. It’s rather sexist, prejudiced, and outright misandrist. It’s also illogical. After all, if a man’s voice is not welcomed in the Clancy case, then why did she hire a male attorney to represent her instead of a female one?