We as a society need to assert that healthy families build human flourishing in every nation and culture‚ and we are not being honest with people when we don’t‚ said the CEO of what has been called the most influential free-market think tank in Britain. “There are some logical steps to what leads to human flourishing‚ and we need to be open about these things‚” Legatum Institute CEO and member of the British House of Lords Baroness Philippa Stroud told Heritage Foundation President Kevin Roberts on “The Kevin Roberts Show” podcast. She said that people should get a job‚ get married‚ and then have a child‚ in that order‚ to promote success for themselves and their families. Good social policy (that which promotes healthy families) makes for good economic policy‚ she said. “If we don’t have good social policy‚ we end up spending a huge amount of money on picking up the pieces of a breakdown. Whereas‚ actually‚ if we could get ahead of it [the breakdown of individuals and families] in our community to support people properly‚ then actually it wouldn’t—it doesn’t cost so much money later on‚” Stroud asserted. For the younger generation‚ there must be an effort to make it possible for them to have “hopes of owning a property” and “ensuring dignified work for all‚” according to Stroud.  Success for Stroud would be about changing the narrative to one that is “filling our children’s minds with the facts that they can—they do—have a future.” She said she believes in the importance of young people knowing that their efforts and agency can build and support a future for their families.  “We might have limited resources‚ but when you take those resources and you match them with human ingenuity‚ then actually‚ the potential is unlimited‚” Stroud said. To inspire the next generation‚ there should be a pathway for good leaders to be embedded in a community‚ working alongside others to inspire them‚ she said.  However‚ sometimes leaders may be reluctant to step forward. “One of the things we’ve seen is great leaders who say what everybody is thinking and then get mobbed on Twitter‚ and it damages people‚” Stroud said.  “The isolated leader standing on a hilltop on their own I don’t think in today’s world will make it. But communities of leaders building this vision‚ they will make it‚” she said.  She said that leaders need to be clear about the problems we have and a vision for addressing them. The challenge with politics is creating clarity about the issues‚ according to Stroud: “If you don’t create the clarity about the nature of a problem‚ why would people accept a solution?”  Politicians oftentimes don’t “cast a vision of the possibilities and the future that we can build together. Or if they do‚ they don’t then actually implement the journey towards that solution. So‚ people are just left with the nature of a problem‚” said Stroud.  “The only way to progress forward in my understanding … is [the] founding principle on the dignity of the human being … and that is a founding principle of this nation [the U.S.]” She said that gives her hope for the future. Have an opinion about this article? To sound off‚ please email letters@DailySignal.com‚ and we’ll consider publishing your edited remarks in our regular “We Hear You” feature. Remember to include the URL or headline of the article plus your name and town and/or state. The post Social and Economic Flourishing Starts With Building Healthy Families appeared first on The Daily Signal.

A bipartisan group of senators is about to take Big Tech CEOs to task on Jan. 31‚ 2024‚ by having them publicly address their failures to protect kids online. And the CEOs need to! The harms social media poses to children are well documented and‚ at this point‚ indisputable—even by the companies themselves. YouTube admits that it hosts harmful content for children and even calls for legislation to address the problems it helps create. YouTube’s CEO indicated as much when he published his “principled approach for children and teenagers.” In it‚ he writes that YouTube “can’t do it alone … [and] support[s] policymakers‚ families‚ researchers‚ companies‚ and experts coming together to define a set of consistent standards for companies serving young people online.” He then advocates for policies that provide more parental rights‚ age-appropriate content for minors‚ and “appropriate safeguards.” Even with this call for legislation‚ policymakers are finding it hard to impose basic measures‚ such as age restriction requirements to protect kids using these services. Age restrictions on a deliberately addictive product that targets children should be a no-brainer. Various levels of government impose age restrictions on these types of offerings all the time. For example‚ kids can’t get tattoos or piercings without parental consent. Or attend movies that are rated R or PG-13. Or purchase video games rated “M.” But somehow‚ social media services are distinct‚ even though they trigger a similar addictive response as nicotine withdrawal and gambling. So‚ why haven’t we done it? State legislatures are making unforced errors by not considering the full internet stack—e.g.‚ the operating system‚ the app store‚ or the app—when imposing such measures. Arkansas’ social media law is a prime example of an unforced error. Its law would have required some‚ but not all‚ social media companies to verify the age of their users. The law didn’t apply to YouTube‚ for example. Failing to take a holistic approach when crafting legislation for the social media market unnecessarily opened the state up to a First Amendment challenge. This is because for the state to require such a measure‚ it would have to show that the requirement is both “narrowly tailored” to not impact adult users’ speech and also necessary to address the harms alleged. According to federal District Court Judge Timothy Brooks‚ the state failed because excluding some social media companies made little sense if the law’s stated goal is to protect kids from the harms social media imparts. Brooks pointed out that even though “YouTube is not regulated by [Arkansas social media law]‚” the state oddly cited YouTube as being particularly harmful to children and “[a]mong all types of online platforms‚ YouTube was the most widely used by children.” So‚ if Arkansas’ law doesn’t apply to YouTube‚ how can the state justify an imposition on adult speech on services that aren’t even favored by most children? But it’s not all bad news. Brooks may have provided legislatures a path forward to get age verification without implicating the First Amendment—by going through the app stores. Brooks seemed to be more upset that Arkansas’ law imposed duties on social media companies rather than on Google and Apple‚ the companies that run two of the biggest app stores on the internet. Throughout his opinion‚ he noted that Apple and Google provide parents several tools to shield kids from certain apps and wondered why the state needed to go through social media platforms to do what the app stores ought to. He’s got a point. Social media apps rely on users to self-certify their age when they create an account‚ but they can’t fully confirm that the user is being truthful—whereas Apple and Google know the precise age of the owner of the device. How? Well‚ their software is integrated at every level of the mobile device. They own the two dominant mobile operating systems (i.e.‚ iOS and Android‚ respectively)‚ app stores (i.e.‚ the App Store and Play Store)‚ and browsers (i.e.‚ Safari and Chrome). Candidly‚ not including Apple and Google in age verification legislation makes little sense‚ because doing so would almost certainly resolve the First Amendment concern. Why? Because all the law would have to require is for Apple and Google to give the app a thumbs up or thumbs down when a social media app asks to verify the device is owned by an adult or a child. The social media company would no longer have to guess how old the user is‚ which limits‚ or even eliminates‚ the risk of denying an adult the ability to engage on American social media platforms. What’s more‚ going through the app stores makes parental consent more doable‚ because‚ as the court noted‚ parents have more control over the device than the apps themselves and the app stores are already required to obtain express parental consent for in-app purchases to comply with consent decrees from the Federal Trade Commission. If the child’s device’s app store prohibits the child from downloading apps without a parent’s credentials (e.g.‚ entering a password‚ providing a fingerprint‚ or using facial recognition)‚ then parents immediately get more agency over the apps their children can access. Better yet‚ it wouldn’t require the consumer to provide more information about the user to social media companies. If social media companies could simply send a request to the device (leveraging the data already available from the device’s operating system) to confirm (almost instantaneously) that a person is above the age of 18‚ then two things occur: 1) The user doesn’t provide more data other than what he has already provided to Apple or Google; and 2) the social media company only gets a thumbs up or a thumbs down in response to its inquiry‚ which limits the amount of new information the company receives. State legislators should learn from these mistakes in order to effectively protect kids online. The biggest lesson so far is to look to both the apps and the app stores when it comes to age restrictions.  Have an opinion about this article? To sound off‚ please email letters@DailySignal.com‚ and we’ll consider publishing your edited remarks in our regular “We Hear You” feature. Remember to include the URL or headline of the article plus your name and town and/or state. The post Protecting Kids Online: Requiring Age Verification Through App Stores appeared first on The Daily Signal.

Several top doctors have urged the British government to ban all Covid-19 vaccinations immediately due to the soaring death rates in the country. British MP Andrew Bridgen hosted an event in the UK Parliament to [...] The post Top Doctors Urge UK Gov’t to BAN All Covid Jabs Due to Soaring Deaths appeared first on The People's Voice.

The world’s media captured the moment on Tuesday when the mayor of Montreal‚ Canada‚ Valérie Plante‚ suddenly collapsed halfway through a press conference. Plante was answering reporters’ questions at a news conference when she dramatically [...] The post Fully Jabbed Montreal Mayor Valérie Plante Collapses Mid-Speech appeared first on The People's Voice.

Mammography is responsible for an 84 percent increase in breast cancer deaths‚ according to an official new study. New research published in JAMA Oncology proves that mammograms end up killing many more women than would otherwise die from [...] The post Study: Mammograms Linked to 84% Increase in Breast Cancer Deaths appeared first on The People's Voice.

Parents were reeling recently when a school in Colorado forced a young girl to sleep with a boy during a field trip. During a cross-country trip in June‚ Jefferson County Public Schools “assigned a fifth-grade [...] The post Parents Outraged After School Forces Young Daughter To Sleep With Boy on Field Trip appeared first on The People's Voice.