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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!

Gunmen Abduct 25 Girls From School Dorms at 4am
Topic: Children and Family
Source: Reuters
School's principal reportedly killed in Monday's pre-dawn attack in Nigeria. Gunmen attacked a high school in northwestern Nigeria before dawn on Monday and abducted 25 schoolgirls, police said. One staffer at the school was killed and another was wounded in what was the latest incident of school abductions in Nigeria's northern region, per the AP. Reuters reports the school's vice principal, Hassan Yakubu Makuku, was "shot dead while resisting the attackers." No group immediately claimed responsibility for the abductions from the boarding school in Kebbi state. According to police, the incident took place at 4am and the girls were abducted from their dorms.

Kim Davis Loses Final Bid with Supreme Court
Topic: Gay/Lesbian Issues
Source: MSN
The U.S. Supreme Court declined to review former Rowan County Clerk Kim Davis’ petition challenging lower-court rulings that found she unlawfully refused in 2015 to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples. The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit concluded that Davis used her public office to deny marriage licenses and violated the couples’ constitutional rights. Liberty Counsel represented Kim Davis and urged the Supreme Court to reconsider Obergefell, arguing that compelled state action would violate her sincerely held religious beliefs.

Top Michigan official sparks online firestorm when asked to name number of genders
Topic: Political Correctness
Source: FOX News
Conservatives on social media erupted over a clip showing a top education official in Michigan struggling to answer a question from a Republican lawmaker on how many genders exist. In the viral clip, resurfaced on X by conservative influencer LibsofTikTok on Sunday and seen over 2 million times, Michigan Chief Deputy Superintendent Dr. Sue Carnell is asked in an Oct. 28 hearing by Republican state Rep. Jay DeBoyer about her opinion on how many genders exist. "How many genders are there," DeBoyer asked, prompting Carnell to smile and pause without answering. "How many genders are there?" DeBoyer asked again.

U. Iowa student arrested after caught on video toppling TPUSA hot chocolate table
Topic: Political Correctness
Source: The College Fix
A University of Iowa student was arrested Wednesday after being caught on video overturning a conservative group’s table full of hot chocolate. Justin Pham Calhoon, 19, was arrested and charged with disorderly conduct, criminal mischief, and harassment, The Iowa Pulse reports. A university spokesperson also confirmed the arrest to The College Fix on Thursday. “Law enforcement has identified and arrested the individual responsible,” spokesperson Chris Brewer stated via email.

When is the Epstein files vote - and why does Trump now say he wants them released?
Topic: Porn, Prostitution, and Sexual Freedom
Source: BBC News
US President Donald Trump has urged Republicans in Congress to vote to release more files relating to Jeffrey Epstein - a sudden reversal in his position after having previously opposed efforts to make the documents public. Trump had been facing a potential revolt this week after a growing number of Republicans signalled they would vote in favour of releasing the files despite his opposition. While the measure is likely to pass in the House of Representatives, it is far from certain that it would pass in the Republican-controlled Senate.

YouTube and Google $30 million child privacy settlement:
Topic: Children and Family
Source: The Economic Times
Who qualifies and how to claim. Google and YouTube have agreed to a $30 million class action settlement stemming from claims that they violated child privacy laws by collecting personal data from users under 13 who watched child-directed content on YouTube between July 1, 2013, and April 1, 2020. The lawsuit alleges that Google and YouTube improperly tracked and used the personal information of children for targeted advertising without parental consent, in violation of the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA).

SSRIs and Teens: The Sexual Side Effect No One Talks About
Topic: Porn, Prostitution, and Sexual Freedom
Source: New York Times Magazine
More US teens than ever are taking antidepressants—with somewhere around 2 million between the ages of 12 and 17 on an SSRI, or selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor. As a story in the New York Times Magazine explains, the drugs can be literal life-savers for some. But the piece by Daniel Bergner has a different focus: the potential for SSRIs to have long-lasting effects on a person's sexual desire. The controversial diagnosis in play is PSSD, or post-SSRI sexual dysfunction, "a loss of sexuality that persists after the drug is no longer being taken." It's well established that a diminished libido can be a side effect while taking the drugs. But Bergner writes that a shift is only now underway among regulators in the US and elsewhere that the problem can continue long after the last prescription, and perhaps permanently.

Beloit College student blasts school for blocking TPUSA chapter
Topic: Political Correctness
Source: The Campus Reform
A student says her college is blocking her attempts to start a conservative group and ignoring her complaints about harassment targeting her members. Jocelyn Jordan, a student at Beloit College, recently shared her experience in trying to start a Turning Point USA chapter in a video shared by Fox News Digital. Jordan said the trouble began when her group shared an Instagram post seeking out a faculty advisor. The post was met with a deluge of hateful comments and direct messages calling the group’s members “Nazis,” “white supremacists,” “Klan members,” and more.

Anti-Abortion 'Word Game' Referred To Aussie Authorities For Investigation
Topic: Abortion
Source: The Epoch Times
A campaign that sought to gamify the debate on abortion by selling parliamentary buzzwords has triggered legal. A fundraising “game” created by prominent anti-abortion campaigner Joanna Howe has sparked political backlash in South Australia. It has now been referred for investigation by the Attorney-General after questions were raised during a heated debate on late-pregnancy abortion laws.

An Indiana Mom Left Her Kids Home for an Hour.
Topic: Children and Family
Source: Reason
Her Husband's Ex-Wife Called Child Services. After her husband’s ex repeatedly called child protective services over harmless parenting decisions, Hannah Bright is advocating for a new law to protect families from weaponized reporting. Weaponized reporting refers to using a reporting mechanism with malicious intent rather than for its legitimate purpose. Calls to child protective services can easily be used to harass parents. In Bright's case, her stepchildren's mother alerted authorities that four of the kids—aged 10, 9, 7, and 7—were left unsupervised for about an hour.

AI-Powered Stuffed Animal Pulled From Market After Disturbing Interactions With Children
Topic: Children and Family
Source: Futurism
Children’s toymaker FoloToy says it’s pulling its AI-powered teddy bear “Kumma” after a safety group found that the cuddly companion was giving wildly inappropriate and even dangerous responses, including tips on how to find and light matches, and detailed explanations about sexual kinks. It decided to temporarily suspend sales of the affected product and begin a comprehensive internal safety audit,” marketing director Hugo Wu told The Register in a statement, in response to the safety report.

Porn Star Nabs a Big Win Against Meta
Topic: Porn, Prostitution, and Sexual Freedom
Source: CBS News
Top Columbian court says Instagram ban was unlawful, orders policy changes. A top Colombian court has ordered Meta to overhaul its privacy policies after ruling the company unlawfully silenced a prominent adult film actor by shutting down her Instagram account. Esperanza Gomez, who'd amassed over 5 million followers, claimed her account was shut down without explanation after she posted photos of herself in her underwear, which she said was part of her profession, significantly impacting her ability to earn a living. Meta, the parent company of Instagram, contended that Gomez had breached its nudity guidelines. However, the court concluded that Meta's actions were "arbitrary" and that the company infringed on Gomez's freedom of expression, per CBS News.

U.S. Officials to Link 25 Child Deaths to COVID Shots, Report Says
Topic: Children and Family
Source: MedPage Today
Claim said to be reviewed next week by Kennedy's newly installed vaccine panel. Federal health officials are expected to claim a link between COVID-19 vaccines and roughly two dozen deaths in children, according to multiple news outlets. A report outlining a claim of 25 deaths linked to the vaccines is expected to be reviewed by the CDC's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) during its meeting next week, according to the Washington Postopens in a new tab or window, including at least one linked to myocarditis, the New York Timesopens in a new tab or window detailed.

The Earliest Known Appearance of the F‑Word
Topic: Porn, Prostitution, and Sexual Freedom
Source: Open Culture
Embrace it. Insert well-placed profanities into your communiqués. Indulge in bawdiness and ribaldry. You may notice that you are doing no more than writers have done for centuries, from Rabelais to Shakespeare to Voltaire. Profanity has evolved right alongside, not apart from, literary history. T.S. Eliot, for example, knew how to go lowbrow with the best of them, and gets credit for the first recorded use of the word “bullshit.” As for another, even more frequently used epithet in 24-hour online commentary?—well, the word “F*ck” has a far longer history.

Trump’s Plan to Close the Education Dept Has Majority Support, Once Voters Hear the Details
Topic: Children and Family
Source: Townhall
Although mainstream outlets claim closing the Department of Education is unpopular, a new poll shows that once voters hear the specifics, most actually support the idea. Initially, 51 percent oppose shutting down the Department, while 38 percent are in favor. But after learning that K-12 funding would remain intact and that useful functions would be shifted to other agencies, support rose to 56 percent. In comparison, opposition drops to 30 percent, according to a survey by the Yes Every Kid Foundation, which fights for school choice. [Ed: for the record, I don't think gov. education has useful functions.]

GW Students Call for RFK, Jr. to be Barred from Campus
Topic: Political Correctness
Source: Jonathan Turley
Last night, my torts class was briefly interrupted by the sounds of protests on campus over the appearance of Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the health secretary, on campus. The large protest itself was not a problem. As the vice president of the Disabled Students Collective (DSC) stated publicly, the students were “using our own free speech to protest Kennedy’s presence on campus.” The problem was the petition circulated by the DSC, signed by hundreds at GWU, calling for Kennedy to be prevented from exercising his own free speech. Indeed, it calls for Kennedy to be barred from campus for spreading “misinformation.” It seems that, once again, the tolerance for free speech only goes so far.

Here’s Why Smart Parents Are Skipping College and Choosing This Instead
Topic: Children and Family
Source: The International Man
The default path we’ve all been sold—go to college, get a degree, get a job—felt broken. It felt like a trap. Rising costs, ideological indoctrination, and degrees that no longer guarantee competence or opportunity… it was clear that modern academia had failed. And now, with the exponential rise of AI, going to college has become the single worst financial decision a young person could make today. Think about it. By the time a freshman graduates in four years, AI will have completely disrupted the global workforce. They’ll be spit out into an even more AI-dominant world in 2029, saddled with $150,000 in debt, maybe more. They’d be completely screwed.

MSU Under Fire for Radical Teacher Training Materials on Race and Capitalism
Topic: Political Correctness
Source: Jonathan Turley
Michigan State University’s College of Education is under scrutiny for its radical training materials for teachers as part of its program, “Social Foundations of Justice and Equity in Education.” The material includes radical race theories and a video of Communist and Black Panther Angela Davis explaining that “racism is integrally linked to capitalism.” The Federalist reported on the material, which includes a warning to educators that those “who cling to their Whiteness cannot participate in abolitionist teaching because they are a distraction, are unproductive, and will undermine freedom at every step, sometimes in the name of social justice.”

People are waking up to the gender medicine scam
Topic: Political Correctness
Source: The Washington Examiner
For years, people have been gaslit into silence, told that questioning “gender-affirming care” made them bigots, that acknowledging biological sex made them hateful, and that protecting children from divisive ideology made them dangerous. But this year, something changed, and it’s seismic. When the Federal Trade Commission announced it would investigate deceptive marketing practices behind “gender-affirming care” for minors, the response was overwhelming. More than 12,000 people submitted comments exposing the very real harm of transgender medical experimentation. Independent Women alone mobilized 2,000 of those comments, 15% of the total submitted, through our “Say NO to Mutilation” campaign. That level of engagement signals that the public is finally reclaiming common sense. It’s about time.