[If a state]’s commitment to religious freedom…is to mean anything…[it must protect] unpopular or unfamiliar religious groups [as well as] popular or familiar ones. – Judge Jill Parrish
An interesting development in these repressive times:
When Bridger Lee Jensen opened a spiritual center in Provo, Utah, he contacted city officials to…[explain that] the religious group he had founded, Singularism, would be conducting ceremonies involving a tea made from psilocybin mushrooms…Jensen…said he would be happy to answer their questions and invited them to visit the center…The city did not respond…until more than a year later, when Provo police [raided] the Singularism center and [stole] its sacrament: about 450 grams of “mushrooms and mushroom-like material” that the group kept inside a locked safe…That raid happened on November 11, 2024, less than eight months after Utah Gov. Spencer Cox had signed the state’s version of the federal Religious Freedom Restoration Act…[which] protects Singularism’s psychedelic rituals, a federal judge ruled last month…
One of the people the government empowers to police your sexuality:
Federal authorities arrested a San Diego State University [cop] for possession of child pornography [but are hiding his]…identi[ty. Boss hog]…Gregory Murphy…and [another cop made lugubrious displays of distress about the crime, yet are still making excuses to hide the name and picture of the offending cop]…
There won’t be any shortcut to stopping Clearview:
Clearview AI attempted to purchase hundreds of millions of arrest records including social security numbers, mugshots, and even email addresses to incorporate into its product…Clearview AI spent nearly a million dollars in a bid to purchase “690 million arrest records and 390 million arrest photos” from all 50 states from…Investigative Consultant, Inc. (ICI) which billed itself as an intelligence company with access to tens of thousands of databases…The contract was signed in mid-2019, at a time when Clearview AI was…relatively unknown…Ultimately, the entire deal fell apart after Clearview and ICI clashed about the utility of the data with each company filing breach of contract claims…
The Last Shall Be First (#1351)
Just how defective are these political vermin?
Arkansas [politician] Mary Bentley…introduced H.B. 1668…Arkansas law banning gender-affirming care for minors was already struck down by a federal judge in 2023…[but] H.B. 1668 “weaponizes civil enforcement by permitting lawsuits against any person who…help[s]…young people in [gender] transition…[authoritarian] parents can sue for minimum damages of $10,000 and up to $10 million in punitive damages for certain forms of medical care…”including without limitation changes in clothing, pronouns, hairstyle, and name”…if enacted, H.B. 1668 could lead to frivolous lawsuits against “hairdressers who cut a trans teen’s hair, teachers who use a student’s chosen name, and nonprofits that offer support.” Such lawsuits…would be unlikely to hold up in court, as the First Amendment guarantees the right to free speech and free expression. However, the law is clearly meant to chill support for trans and gender-nonconforming young people with the threat of costly lawsuits…
A network of Instagram accounts is using [computers] to steal content from human creators and deepfake their faces to make them look like they have Down syndrome…the accounts…reuse Instagram bios, videos, and in some cases link to the same OnlyFans competitors pages where they monetize these videos…What started as just a few accounts quickly evolved into an entire industry with specialized tools, advertising strategies, and influencers who sell courses on how to create these fake[s]…to get rich quick through what they call “AI pimping.” Newer accounts in recent months have started catering to increasingly specific niches and fetishes, including accounts of [CGI] women with amputated limbs. The…Down syndrome accounts are the latest and newest low for [Facebook-owned] Instagram, which allows the rampant content theft that enables this practice and is now fueling a non-consensual fetishization and monetization of (fake) people with disabilities…
Since politicians have no spines, it’s good to see some physicians still do:
Organizations like the Massachusetts Medication Abortion Access Project (MAP) are responding to the demand for remote care…During 2024, the MAP says they were mailing abortion medications to nearly 500 patients a month. In the new year, the monthly average has grown to 3,000 prescriptions a month…80%…[to patients] in Texas or states in the Southeast…the recent indictment from Louisiana will not change the MAP’s plans…state shield laws can’t protect doctors when they leave the state. If they move or even travel elsewhere, they lose the first state’s protection and risk arrest in the destination state, and maybe extradition to a third state…Physicians doing this type of work accept there are parts of the U.S. that they should no longer go…Any visits, even for a relative’s illness or death, would be too risky…Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill [absurdly barfed the word “fentanyl” at reporters]…but…the U.S. Constitution requires extradition only for those who commit crimes in one state and then flee to another stat…Telemedicine abortion providers aren’t located in states with abortion bans and have not fled from those states — therefore they aren’t required to be extradited back to those states…
Texas is finally beginning to realize how bad it looks to keep killing pregnant women:
Texas [politici]ans…have filed a bill that aims to make it more clear when a doctor can intervene to save a pregnant patient’s life, despite the state’s near-total abortion ban…the vague language and strict penalties leave [doctors and their lawyers] uncertain of when they are actually free to intervene…Until recently, [politicians pretend]ed that the laws are clear…but at least three women have died, and dozens have reported medical care delayed or denied due to their doctors’ [understandable] hesitation to act…
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