It is not the Legislature’s job to parent the parents in how they parent. – Shevrin Jones
As tens of thousands of people make their way to Indianapolis for NBA All-Star weekend…[fetishists are still trying to get you to give them money by chanting the phrase “]sex trafficking[“]…Alisa Bernard [is a professional “survivor” desperately trying to peddle her wares wherever they’ll sell, since they’re no longer lucrative in Seattle]…
At least this one didn’t attempt to lie:
A [73-year-old Australian] man lost part of his penis after shoving three 1cm-wide button batteries into his urethra…[and] waited 24 hours before seeking medical attention. He confessed…he used the batteries for “self-gratification purposes” and had never had any issues removing objects in the past…the opening of his urethra was stained black, [and] surgery [was necessary to remove both batteries and]…necro[tic tissue inside his penis]…
Besides laughing aloud, I may have also clapped my hands in delight:
For some Apple Vision Pro buyers, the honeymoon is already over…there’s been an uptick…of…owners…returning the…$3,500 headsets…[as] the first wave of Vision Pro buyers [reach the end of Apple’s two-week return window]…People have said the headset gives them headaches and triggers motion sickness. The weight of the device…has been another complaint…[one user] thought…the device led to a burst blood vessel in his eye…Another common complaint is the Vision Pro doesn’t offer enough productivity relative to the price…
“Crisis pregnancy centers” for the 21st century:
…The Veritas Society, a [subsidiary of forced-birth group] Wisconsin Right to Life, used a data broker system called Near Intelligence to target people whose cell phone location data showed they had visited any of the 600 Planned Parenthood…clinics across the country…with anti-abortion messaging or abortion misinformation…The…ad campaign ran from late 2019 through the summer of 2022…[haranguing women] over 14 million [times]…“across the women’s social pages, Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat”…“If a data broker could…help extremists target misinformation…a…prosecutor could use that same information to put women in jail,” [said Senator Ron] Wyden…[who] is urging the FTC to block any sale of the data…when [the now-bankrupt] Near Intelligence sells off its assets…
I was clearly destined to be threatened with state violence regardless of career path:
…The Alabama Republican Party [has] voted…to encourage the Legislature to…allow for librarians to face criminal charges for [working in libraries that stock books a politician has pointed at while barfing out the formula]…“harmful to minors”…[given that] they also plan to tweak last year’s “Drag Ban” bill…to include LGBTQ content as “sexual conduct”…librarians could soon face up to $10,000 in fines and a year in county jail for shelving an LGBTQ book on a…young adult shelf…
West Virginia politicians couldn’t let Alabama beat them in the Moronolympics:
The West Virginia House of Delegates…passed [a]…Bill…[allowing employees of] schools…libraries and museums [to be prosecuted for “]displaying obscene matter to a minor when the child is not accompanied by a parent/guardian[“. West Virginia’s bizarrely]…defines obscene matter as [varying by the individual, enabling anyone a wannabe censor decides to target to]…be charged with a felony, fined up to $25,000 and face up to five years in prison if convicted…Supporters of the bill [pretend] it does not ban books…[Sane people point out] that…the bill would…[encourage] challenges to even classic books and attempts to criminally charge librarians over books [that are] not pornographic…but…include descriptions of sex. They also said it could result in [harassment via spurious] criminal charges against library staff…The lead sponsor of the bill…Brandon Steele [made furtive movements in his pants while sharing his warped sexual fantasies about showing porn to kindergarteners in the school library]…
I’m sure they helped by occasionally yelling “Stop faking!” at her:
A Mississippi prison denied medical treatment to a…woman with breast cancer, allowing her condition to go undiagnosed for years [as] it [metastasized]…Susie Balfour [developed] cancer as early as May 2018, but [the prison refused to] conduct a biopsy until November 2021, one month before she was released…[in] January 2022..a University of Mississippi Medical Center doctor diagnosed her with stage four breast cancer…Her lawsuit and medical records paint a picture of a prison…system that deliberately delayed life-saving healthcare…that…[its own] contracted clinicians recommended…there are at least 15 others [locked up in the same cage stack]…who have cancer and are not receiving necessary treatment…Balfour said: “They always think everybody is faking”…
The Puritan Recrudescence (#1410)
A judge attempts to stand athwart one of the currently-fashionable “monkey see, monkey do” parades:
An Ohio law requiring that people under age 16 get parental permission to use social media is unconstitutional…federal judge…Algenon Marbley told Ohio’s attorney general…While this…is just a preliminary injunction, Marbley’s opinion leaves little room for doubt that the tech companies will ultimately win here…[the] ruling is the latest in a string of federal court orders against state laws intended to limit minors’ social media or require platforms to follow special rules for users under the age of 18. Meanwhile, similar measures are still spreading like a bad viral meme throughout U.S. statehouses…
Florida, of course, thinks it doesn’t apply to them:
…Florida [politicians] have incorporated a copycat age verification bill…introduced by a pastor…into a larger bill that aims to prevent anyone under 16 from using certain social media platforms…
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