Democrats have used redistricting in states where they are the majority for years already, eliminating as many Republican members of Congress as they can. Republicans recently took up the agenda, with…

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School is back in session! Perfect timing to hit the books and catch up on the latest digital rights news. We've got you covered with bite-sized updates in this issue of our EFFector newsletter. This time, we're breaking down why Wyoming’s new age verification law is a free speech disaster. You’ll also read about a big win for transparency around police surveillance, how the Trump administration’s war on “woke AI” threatens civil liberties, and a welcome decision in a landmark human rights case. Prefer to listen? Be sure to check out the audio companion to EFFector! We're interviewing EFF staff about some of the important issues they are working on. This time, EFF Legislative Activist Rindala Alajaji discusses the real harms of age verification laws like the one passed in Wyoming. Tune in on YouTube or the Internet Archive. LISTEN TO EFFECTOR EFFECTOR 37.11 - This Censorship Law Turns Parents Into Content Cops Since 1990 EFF has published EFFector to help keep readers on the bleeding edge of their digital rights. We know that the intersection of technology, civil liberties, human rights, and the law can be complicated, so EFFector is a great way to stay on top of things. The newsletter is chock full of links to updates, announcements, blog posts, and other stories to help keep readers—and listeners—up to date on the movement to protect online privacy and free expression.  Thank you to the supporters around the world who make our work possible! If you're not a member yet, join EFF today to help us fight for a brighter digital future.

Instagram is finally launching an iPad app after years of users asking the company to make one.

At TechCrunch Disrupt 2025, Netflix chief product officer Eunice Kim will be joining the Disrupt Stage to share Netflix's evolving story and what's to come.

Roblox says it's expanding its use of age estimation technology and entering a partnership with the International Age Rating Coalition (IARC) to standardize its game ratings.

We all know Joel Osteen, right? Megachurch pastor, prosperity Gospel pusher, one of the most recognizable figures in American televangelism. If you don’t, you’re not missing much, I promise you… Joel Osteen the senior pastor of Lakewood Church in Houston, Texas, which is one of the largest megachurches in the United States (and the world) drawing tens of thousands of people to weekly services and millions more through TV broadcasts and streaming. His father, John Osteen, founded Lakewood in 1959 and was the church’s longtime pastor. Joel studied radio and television communications at Oral Roberts University, and for years he worked behind the scenes producing his dad’s televised sermons. After his father’s sudden death in 1999, Joel reluctantly stepped into the pulpit—and within months, attendance skyrocketed. Osteen has grown his massive audience on the back of what’s known as the “prosperity gospel,” AKA a heretical belief that faith and positive thinking can lead to material wealth and physical well-being. This controversial, and false, teaching has drawn millions of followers and sold millions of copies of his books like Your Best Life Now and Become a Better You, making Joel million and millions of dollars. His sermons are typically light on actual Christian doctrine, and heavy on fluffy, feel-good, positive encouragement appeals to a wide range of lost people seeking religious affirmation, hope and inspiration. Osteen often faces public scrutiny over his massive wealth, his selective preaching, and how Lakewood Church has handled crises, like Hurricane Harvey in 2017, when there was backlash about how long it took the church to open its doors to flood victims. Still, his influence is massive: Lakewood’s weekly attendance is over 40,000, and his sermons reach an estimated 100+ million homes worldwide through TV and streaming. John Rich Calls Him Out Debuting yesterday, country music star, John Rich, was a guest on the popular Shawn Ryan Show podcast, a GREAT podcast if you’re not familiar. Shawn is a former Navy SEAL and CIA contractor who has recently exploded as podcast host. Completely authentic and apologetic, Shawn’s no nonsense approach to hosting has garnered him a massive audience this year, and deservedly so. He’s the real deal. John and Shawn got to talking about everything from his start in country music, the genre’s shift towards pop music, dying awards shows, spiritual warfare, his song “The Righteous Hunter,” P Diddy, and more. And towards the end of the 4-hour conversation, they started talking about the end times, the Antichrist, Dispensationalism and pondering a ton of deep theological questions, but the point that caught my eye was when Johns straight up called out Joel Osteen. And I don’t want to turn this blog into a eschatology conversation so feel free to look up Dispensationalism vs Covenant Theology on your own time, but John was basically saying that a number of American Christians don’t think they can go through hard times, specifically during an end times scenario with rampant Christian persecution. And he says a number of preachers are afraid to tackle that topic because it makes people uncomfortable. And for John, he believes that the stakes in that are extremely high because people won’t recognize evil in the end times: “The Son of Perdition is who we would refer to as who’s going to be the Antichrist. The son of perdition will show up. And it says when he stands in the holy place, basically pronounces himself to be God. I am Jesus. I am God. I am whatever he’s going to say. It tells the Christians that are still alive at that point to run. Run. Don’t fight him. Run. Get out. It says run to the mountains. It says woe to the women who were who were with child or or in labor. the to the farmer in the field, do not return to your house to grab your cloak. Run, get out. Well, that ain’t the end. And then it continues and it goes on and on and on. And after it gets way deep into that chapter, it says, “And then you will see the sign of the coming of the son of man.” Meaning, that’s when you’ll see me coming back after all this has happened. Then you will see me. The reason they stopped preaching that is because it’s very uncomfortable for Christians to have to think about that. You mean I’m going to have to go through that if I’m still here based on what that says? Yeah, that’s what it says. And then I’ve heard some Christians say and even some preachers that have attacked me online have said, “God wouldn’t put make us go through something like that. God wouldn’t do that to us.” He then went on to question any preacher, primarily Joel, who refuse to preach the full Bible because they worried that it would make people uncomfortable. He also points out that Christians in America live a uniquely cushy life, free from the persecution that Christians face in many other parts of the world: “And to them, I say, really? Why don’t you go tell that to the underground Christians in communist China right now who are being killed by the thousands? Why don’t you go tell that to the Christians in Syria right now who are being chopped up into pieces in the streets? Do you think fat, lazy American Christians are better than them? No. They are superior to us. They are willing to worship God and be a Christian when it means they could die for doing it. And we don’t have that problem in the United States. So to say that God would never make his people go through something like that is one of the most ignorant, spiritually ignorant things a person could say. That’s number one. Number two is in modern churches even today, they still don’t want there’s a few but not many. They don’t want to preach that. Joel Osteen is never going to preach that. Joel Osteen is never going to say anything that’s going to make anybody uncomfortable ever on any level ever. He’s never gonna say anything that would prick the heart or conscience of his congregation and then offer an altar call like Billy Graham did when he speaks the truth about what Jesus said. And what happens if you decide to go the other way, and lays out what hell is, and lays out what heaven is, and lays out what this is, and then offers an altar call in those stadiums of people that will come out to see Billy Graham? Thousands of people coming down there to pray and and give their life to Jesus. You’re not going to see Joel Osteen do that and there’s a bunch of other preachers like that.” John certainly has never been one to mince words and he isn’t gonna start now. And God bless him for it. If you have 4 hours, give the whole podcast a listen, otherwise, this particular part of the conversation starts around the 4 hour and 20 minute mark: The post John Rich Calls Out Texas Megachurch Pastor For Being Afraid To Preach The Full Bible: “Joel Osteen Is Never Going To Make Anybody Uncomfortable, Ever” first appeared on Whiskey Riff.

HOLD YER HORSES. No literally. Last night, Johnny Blue Skies, AKA Sturgill Simpson, created a new Instagram page. Last night, a new Instagram page emerged for  Johnny Blue Skies. This is the first official account that Sturgill Simpson has made since wiping the majority of his social media accounts. Of course, some followers of the “Living the Dream” artist might be familiar with @wherethef**kissturgillsimpson, a great account that frequently shares news and clips from the artist. Fans were thrilled to see the account created under his pseudo identity, and instantly began wondering what this meant. Why did Simpson feel the need to return to social media? Is there an announcement of sorts in the works? Why did he choose to make an account under Johnny Blue Skies instead of Sturgill Simpson? It didn’t take long for a post to appear after the account was created, and without fail, it was a cryptic message. The imagery of the post follows a lot of the previous Johnny Blue Skies artwork and features two skeletons on horseback jostling toward each other. One skeleton depicts a devil, and the other represents an angel of sorts, as it does not have horns and is in a pure white color. Above the image are the simple words: “Hold Yer Horses.” View this post on Instagram A post shared by Johnny Blue Skies (@johnnyblueskies) BUT WHAT DOES IT MEAN? Last year, Sturgill Simpson made his triumphant return under the name of Johnny Blue Skies, releasing his record  Passage Du Desir. Simpson has been on the road nonstop since the release of Passage Du Desir, which makes one wonder if this announcement could be tour-related. Or, given that we’ve passed a year since his last album’s release, this could mean that we are in for a new studio project? Last May, Stu took the Why Not? Tour to the great state of North Carolina to perform at the ExploreAsheville.com Arena in Asheville. And with just a handful of dates left on the schedule, Stu confessed that it was probably about time to get back in the studio. “We are, after tonight, 3 shows away from the end of a year long tour. It’s been the best time I’ve ever had on stage, the best music, the best band I’ve ever got to play with. But after that, it’s safe to say we’ve done two complete laps around the United States and all over Europe, it’s probably time to get in the studio and make some new music… and then turn around and do it all over again: So whatever Johnny Blue Skies is cooking up, I’m eagerly awaiting more information (or more cryptic posts). Who Is Johnny Blue Skies? The voice behind Johnny Blue Skies is one that country fans are all too familiar with- Sturgill Simpson. The Grammy winner is undoubtedly one of the best – and most influential – artists of the last decade. His albums, like High Top Mountain and Metamodern Sounds in Country Music, ushered in a new era in “Americana music.” (The use of quotes is because we don’t feel that subgenre is entirely accurate… but hey, it’s got to be somewhat politically correct here, I guess.) Sturgill has long promised that he would only be releasing five albums, and reaffirmed that promise with the release of #5, The Ballad of Dood & Juanita. But he did not say that he wouldn’t continue making music under a new name. Lo and behold, Johnny Blue Skies. After unveiling his new identity, Simpson sat down with GQ and first revealed the shallow reason he went with Johnny Blue Skies: “When I was about 21 years old, there used to be this bar in Lexington, Kentucky with this bartender named Dave who was like Silent Bob and Charles Bukowski, literally in the long trench coat, and he could do way more Zippo tricks than anybody should know. When I started performing and getting my confidence at open mics and stuff, he’d come to this other bar and see me because it was his night off. And he started every time I’d walk into his bar, he’d say, ‘Johnny Blue Skies.’ So I just started using it.” It’s a shallow yet profound answer to the question. However, the reason why he went all in on Johnny Blue Skies is the deeper – and my preferred – story. Simpson elaborated that as his celebrity grew more and more over the years, he associated with the name Sturgill less and less: “I’d be at an airport or a restaurant, and I’d hear somebody say my name and I’d turn around and realize I had no idea who the person is. All of a sudden I’d hear that name and it was like it didn’t belong to me. It was just a commodity or a brand. Sturgill served his purpose, but he’s dead, he’s gone, and I’m definitely not that guy anymore. That’s why I put that skeleton face on that (reissued) cover of Metamodern. I just can’t even relate.” I mean, it’s a simple answer that is both shallow and incredibly complex in the same breath. Though that explanation explains the “how” of Johnny Blue Skies, it still doesn’t pull back the curtain on the “who”. Simpson made sure to address that in the interview as well, and said that Johnny Blue Skies is (or complexly) whoever you wish him or imagine him to be: “He’s anybody you want him to be, man. He’s a mythological hero, come to usher us into this new era of love and light.” Fire up a few tunes while you’re here. “Scooter Blues” “If The Sun Never Rises” The post “Hold Yer Horses” – Sturgill Simpson Posts Cryptic Image From New Instagram Account first appeared on Whiskey Riff.

President Trump suggested today, in a meeting with the President of Poland in the Oval Office, that Poland has always wanted a larger presence of US troops in their country and will . . .