Totally Normal Child Things

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Australia Says No Kids On Socials

Australia has recently passed a bill which would fine social media companies tens of millions of dollarydoos if they allow children under the age of 16 on social media.

The bill targets large social networks and establishes that they must take "reasonable measures" to verify the age of their users to allow them to continue using the network. This is great because when has it ever been a bad idea to mandate that giant tech companies collect more of our data while saying it's for the people's best interest?

Privacy and children's rights advocates have stood against the bill, but the general public overwhelmingly supports the idea with almost 80% approval.

While yes, social media platforms are atrocious for a lot of reasons, and should not have children on them in the first place, this is a stark approach. One concern is for the kids who will lose their support networks, especially those who may be closeted and queer and seek safety through connections online.

Biden Did The Meme

After spending the past few years saying he will not pardon his son, Joe Biden has pardoned his son.

"I abide by the jury decision. I will do that and I will not pardon him."~ Joe Biden, barely 5 months ago

Hunter Biden has been the target of a wildly ill-intended investigation from house Republicans for the past… however long we've been living in this hell. While I agree that Hunter should face penalties for his crimes, I do not agree that congress should be investigating him, including displaying his nudes on the floor of the house during testimony. Yes, that happened.

Now, this is not a particularly shocking move as there's really no reason for Joe not to do this. He's in his lame duck era and already solidified himself as "the president who refused to step down until it was too late and then called the opposition a fascist and then welcomed that opposition with open arms and a smile into the White House because appearances of decorum matter more than the safety and wellbeing of your country's people" so, y'know.

Doesn't make it right—and also—maybe we shouldn't have a thing where Some Dude can just say "uh, actually nah these crimes ain't crimes" for whoever they want.

Also, no, Joe pardoning Hunter is not going to be the precedent that Trump uses to do bad shit in his next term. He was going to do bad shit regardless. It's a circus, and any sitting Republican who complains about this use of the pardon being "outlandish" is a jackass.

Are Ya Cold?

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Reminder: Get Your Vaccines Now

Amidst the flurry of horrific cabinet picks, Trump has appointed David Weldon, a 71-year-old antivaxxer, to head the CDC.

Weldon is one of those doctors from Florida who has made a name for himself by being a quack on the internet and embracing truly some of the most harmful lies around the meritless antivaxx mentality. According to The Guardian, the group "AutismOne" expressed deep excitement for the nomination. Conspiracy theorists like Weldon previously pushed the idea of "curing" autism with industrial bleach.

Between this jagweed and RFK being nominated for HHS, I highly recommend getting your Flu and COVID boosters asap. There is a very real chance that our regulatory agencies would call for a "temporary hold" on all vaccines.

A True Googopoly

Google is having a rough go of it with the Department of Justice.

After being found to have a "helluva monopoly" (direct quote from a spokesperson in a dream I had last night), Google is facing a push from the DOJ to sell off Google Chrome entirely, among other things.

Google Chrome is about two thirds of all browser usage on the web. Combine that stat with the complete dominance of Google in the space of search, and the billions upon billions of Android devices out in the world, and yeah… seems pretty monopolistic.

Now of course Google is not having it, and this is not a done deal. They are likely to continue pushing back and delaying. At a time where Google is already beginning to look a bit shaky, this could be the thing to topple them back to size.

Another notable stipulation here: if the plan went through as proposed, Google would also be forced to share their search results and ad data publicly with competitors at a marginal rate for a decade. This would be to help reduce the complete stranglehold on search that Google has and uses to suppress and display content as they see fit.

Maybe… just maybe… we'll see a massive tech company take some kind of meaningful hit. But given what's on the horizon… I've got my doubts.

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