'To combat climate change'

'This is being tolerated with the looking away'

'Another white guy'

'You are now seeing the hate manifesting right here'

'I am reaching the point of total outrage'

Imagine driving your kids through a city plastered with graphic, inappropriate billboards—images that assault their innocence at every turn. You’d try everything to protect them: blacking out car windows, taking detours. But no matter how hard you try, you can’t shield them entirely. Now, imagine families petitioning their city council to restrict public obscenity, simply asking for a chance to move through public spaces without fear of exposing their children to harmful imagery. How do you think the billboard companies would respond? If they’re anything like Big Tech’s reaction to proposed legislation in Congress, they’d unleash a storm of exaggerated claims, lobbyists, and manufactured outrage. But unlike billboards—which can’t track your kids or target them based on their vulnerabilities—Big Tech knows exactly who your children are, what content grabs their attention, and how to keep them hooked. Although kids may spend about seven hours a week in the car, they spend up to nine hours a day online. And while most cities have rules governing billboards, Big Tech’s influence over our kids remains largely unchecked. When parents rightfully ask for transparency and control over their children’s digital lives, Big Tech’s reaction is alarmist. It accuses concerned parents of wanting censorship, government overreach, and even poor parenting. But why the panic? Because Big Tech knows the free pass to exploit our kids for profit is running out. This Bill’s Critical Role The proposed Kids Online Safety Act, or KOSA, is our best chance in a generation to improve online child safety. In July, the bill passed the Senate with a landslide 91-3 vote. The momentum of the legislation is driven by the real stories of parents whose children might have been spared had KOSA’s protections been in place. Under the bill, greater transparency requirements would allow a mother to see the extent of cyberbullying overwhelming her son. David Molak might still be here. A father could use direct messaging restrictions to prevent predators from harassing his daughter. Grace McComas might still be here. And harmful design features, like algorithms pushing videos that encourage self-harm or suicide, would be prohibited. Annalee Schott might still be here. These are common-sense rules that would save lives. Big Tech’s False Claims But Big Tech is crying wolf, throwing up smokescreens with three false claims: The Kids Online Safety Act is burdensome, illegal, and unconservative. Let’s look at these arguments one by one. Big Tech claims KOSA is too burdensome. It says that the bill mandates age verification and limits what users can search for online. However, the bill’s text directly refutes these accusations: Nothing in this Act shall be construed to require a covered platform to implement an age gating or age verification functionality. Nothing in [this Act] shall be construed to require a covered platform to prevent or preclude any minor from deliberately and independently searching for, or specifically requesting, content. If Big Tech were genuinely concerned with regulatory burdens, it would embrace a tightly constructed, national framework such as KOSA. Without this legislation, Big Tech faces a patchwork of laws from different states, creating far more complex and costly compliance challenges. Social media companies are being asked to prevent their platforms from using design features to promote harmful behavior to children, including suicidal behavior, substance abuse, addiction, and sexual exploitation. This is well within their ability and wouldn’t threaten their business model. Big Tech claims KOSA violates the First Amendment. But legal precedent and societal norms long have established protections for children against certain harms. Is it unconstitutional for your city to ban pornographic billboards? Certainly not. The Kids Online Safety Act wouldn’t require companies to restrict appropriate content on their social media platforms, and wouldn’t impose restrictions on individual searches. Protecting children from exploitative digital design features is lawful, necessary, and doesn’t require violating others’ First Amendment rights. Big Tech claims KOSA isn’t conservative. Conservatives weigh the costs and benefits of public policy with a focus on protecting the family—the most important institution in society. The Kids Online Safety Act embodies this principle. It was authored by conservative leaders, Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., and Rep. Gus Bilirakis, R-Fla. The bill enjoys overwhelming support from the Senate Republican Conference, movement organizations such as Heritage Action, and 87% of Republican voters. It’s no surprise that groups such as the ACLU are opposing the bill. But that opposition only highlights how deeply conservative the values behind the Kids Online Safety Act are. Protecting a parent’s sovereignty over a child’s digital life isn’t just conservative—it’s a necessity. Holding Big Tech Accountable Don’t believe everything you read on the internet, especially when it’s coming from the internet itself. The Kids Online Safety Act is a reasonable, carefully constructed measure to establish commonsense rules for protecting the innocence and well-being of our children. Big Tech is crying wolf. It’s time to hold these companies accountable and fight for our kids. The post Why Does Big Tech Oppose the Kids Online Safety Act? appeared first on The Daily Signal.

FIRST ON THE DAILY SIGNAL—Late-term abortion is happening all the time, despite Democratic nominee Vice President Kamala Harris’ denial at last week’s debate, according to a memo from a think tank founded by former Vice President Mike Pence. Thousands of babies who could survive outside the womb are aborted every year, the memo from Advancing American Freedom says. Advancing American Freedom, which Pence founded in 2021, is a conservative think tank dedicated to promoting the policies of the Trump-Pence administration, according to the organization’s website. About 0.9% of abortions in 2021 were performed at or after 21 weeks, when the baby can survive outside the womb with proper medical care, according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data. Since the CDC tabulated 625,978 legal induced abortions in the 48 states that report them, that means abortionists killed at least 5,600 babies who were at or beyond 21 weeks gestation that year. AAF – Yes Late Term Abortions Are Real JS-1Download Yet Vice President Kamala Harris said during the presidential debate that women aren’t getting late-term abortions. “Nowhere in America is a woman carrying a pregnancy to term and asking for an abortion—that is not happening,” Harris said in her debate last Tuesday with former President Donald Trump hosted by ABC News. The former chairwoman of the Florida Democratic Party was caught on camera advocating for abortions “all the way to the end” of pregnancy in an undercover recording made at last month’s Democratic National Convention in Chicago.FULL STORY BELOW??@TheElizMitchell pic.twitter.com/LH0BmseCUm— The Daily Signal (@DailySignal) September 17, 2024 Nine states and Washington, D.C. have no time limit on abortion. Five premature babies, likely the victims of partial-birth abortions, were recovered from a D.C. abortion center in 2022. Former Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam said the fate of babies who survive failed abortions should be between the doctor and the mother, Advancing American Freedom pointed out in the memo. “If a mother is in labor…the infant would be delivered,” Northam explained in a 2019 radio interview. “The infant would be kept comfortable. The infant would be resuscitated, if that’s what the mother and the family desired, and then a discussion would ensue between the physicians and mother.” Here’s the video of Ralph Northam saying he’s cool with killing babies born alive after botched abortions.Kamala’s lying. This happens. pic.twitter.com/rRbXIxiIwA— Liz Wheeler (@Liz_Wheeler) September 11, 2024 Warren Hern, a well-known late-term abortionist in Colorado, told The Atlantic in a profile that he performs abortions well after viability, including sex-selective abortions. He said about half the babies he aborts are healthy and have no fetal abnormalities. Hern believes that the “viability of a fetus is determined not by gestational age but by a woman’s willingness to carry it,” The Atlantic reported. A Pennsylvania jury convicted infamous late-term abortionist Kermit Gosnell of murder in 2013 for slitting the necks of babies born-alive, the Advancing American Freedom memo highlights. Pro-life activists have called abortion clinics to ask if they perform late-term abortions. A clinic offered Students for Life President Kristan Hawkins an abortion at 34 weeks. Last night during the debate, @ABC said that late-term abortions don’t happen. Obviously, abortion extremist @KamalaHarris got on board with that lie. Literally just call a late-term abortion facility to fact-check that false… like I did. pic.twitter.com/XtsuaVfgh9— Kristan Hawkins (@KristanHawkins) September 11, 2024  “Late-term abortions happen all the time,” Advancing American Freedom said in the memo. “Anyone saying otherwise is misinformed or lying. We must stand for life and confront the dark reality of abortion.” The post Conservative Think Tank Debunks Harris’ Claim That Late-Term Abortions Don’t Happen appeared first on The Daily Signal.

Heads Explode Along With the Pagers

Reporter Wonders Why Media Took Routh Seriously -- and Answers the Question

In 2022, Daily Wire host Matt Walsh produced a documentary called “What Is a Woman?” The film explored that very question — what does it mean to be a woman? — since society has decided to make that a controversial issue. Now, Walsh has moved on to a new subject — white racism. In his latest documentary, “Am I Racist?” he explores the progressive agenda to push the narrative of systemic racism as a means of control. Now, he joins James Poulos on “Zero Hour” to discuss the film. - YouTube www.youtube.com “Are you a racist?” James asks sarcastically. “Well, I’m white, aren’t I?” says Walsh, adding that “the answer is automatically yes.” “As you continue along the journey [of discovering your inherent racism], you just feel worse and worse about yourself,” he says. “That's really the goal. You just have to keep hating yourself more and more with each passing day.” “The actual program is to get millions and millions of people to feel incredibly depressed and despairing and self-loathing, and then it’s much easier to control people when you have them in that state, right?” James asks. “Exactly,” says Walsh, noting that the documentary, while technically a comedy, reveals a tragedy about society: “[Progressives’] goal is to build up resentment, self-loathing, suspicion, [and] guilt,” because “all of these things are very profitable to them.” “Their core message is a simple one, which is that if you're a white person, then you are the villain of the story; you are history's great villain, and you have much to be ashamed of and much to atone for; although you can never really atone for it. ... If you're anywhere in the non-white category, which of course is a vast category, then you're automatically the victim; you're oppressed; you have no control over your life; you have no agency, no real autonomy. ... It's a very demoralizing and dehumanizing message to everybody.” Unfortunately, “They've been very effective in pursuing that goal especially over the last decade,” Walsh laments. “What’s it gonna take to roll it back?” James asks. “I think what it ultimately takes is at this point, basically, just leaving people alone. I don't know that we need a competing message about racism. ... We don't need to talk about it all the time,” says Walsh, pointing to the famous “60 Minutes” interview with Morgan Freeman, during which he advised that we stop talking about racism. To hear more of the conversation, watch the episode above. Want more from James Poulos?To enjoy more of James's visionary commentary on politics, tech, ideas, and culture, subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution, and live the American dream.