Tootfinder

☿️ Victoria could become first Australian state to ban unnecessary surgery on intersex children
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2025/dec/01/victoria-may-ban-unnecessary-surgery-intersex-children

Victoria could become first Australian state to ban unnecessary surgery on intersex children
Exclusive: Legislation would prohibit deferrable, irreversible procedures until child can give informed consent, bringing state in line with ACT

America is going in the wrong direction for intersex children
https://www.washingtonblade.com/2025/12/22/america-is-going-in-the-wrong-direction-for-intersex-children/

Fairy tales do not tell children that dragons exist. Children already know that dragons exist. Fairy tales tell children that dragons can be killed.
— Neil Gaiman, after G. K. Chesterton
https://nitter.net/stealthygeek/status/966153208195362817

Wouter constant is talking about permissionlessness. Nostr is a protocol that doesn't need some central server to authenticate your requests. Which is good. But this means that, say, children can use it without parents permission.
Online safety act and others are closing down the internet to protect them kids. So can nostr have accounts that do need permission? Can it be made kid safe? Of only to satisfy crazy governments under parent pressure.
Weboftrustfoundation exists to try and build kidstr, some kind of nostr for children.
Mostly just asking questions so far. How can it work? How can it avoid labelling vulnerable people to exploit?
#nostr #permissionlessness #nostrshire

Noteworthy in that the headline is calling out the driver, rather than the vehicle.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/oct/19/maryland-car-ramming-children-party?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other

Noteworthy in that the headline is calling out the driver, rather than the vehicle.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/oct/19/maryland-car-ramming-children-party?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other

Investigation: Sick Ukrainian children exploited in fraudulent charity campaigns linked to US, Israel: https://benborges.xyz/2025/12/19/investigation-sick-ukrainian-children-exploited.html

"'I Go Green': Children in Cyprus schools lead the way in environmental protection"
#Cyprus #Environment #Education

Cyprus schoolchildren lead the way in environmental protection
The programme is starting to deliver results, with Cyprus school children at the forefront of the effort

80/20 rule: 80% of conservatives are projecting (being gay, not wanting children, had an abortion, drinking, etc.) and 20% are just evil

Minister backs army chief over warning France must accept 'loss of our children' | Euronews
https://www.euronews.com/2025/11/21/army-chief-warns-france-must-accept-loss-of-our-children-to-deter-russia-by-2030

I posted this video about how nice Books Upstairs is and I am sorry to say that I have received *Domestic Mockery* for my voiceover.
My children opine that I sound like I am doing an ASMR video. They are asking when I will start tapping on the books’ spines.
https://vm.tiktok.com/ZNR2mc2kG/

/me loading Tylenol into the breech of a shotgun purchased without any ID or background check at a gun show.
At least one of these has been rendered safe from children.

I tried to eat some ice cream and two children *swarmed* me.

"The victims of war-time atrocities on all sides also have something in common. They are cut out of the top-down deal. Civilians were bombed, children were starved, and prisoners were tortured, yet the perpetrators escape punishment. War criminals continue ruling and enjoying the perks of power. Survivors and their families are denied justice" -- @…

Justice vs Peace
As the world watches the shaky ceasefire in Gaza, the issues of peace and justice intermingle, strain, and collide. For those who work on conflicts, these are familiar tensions, but the underlying debates rarely get wider attention. The basic issue is this: to get any kind of peace deal in

20 former children at school with #NigelTheStockboker allege racist behaviour then, which he denies.
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2025/

Chaos could be coming for children's vaccines (Caitlin Owens/Axios)
https://www.axios.com/2025/12/22/childhood-vaccines-denmark-cdc-lawsuits
http://www.memeorandum.com/251222/p5#a251222p5

#ThursdayFiveList this week is #Children and these all came to me pretty fast haha
The Briefs - Kids Laugh at You
https://youtu.be/ULi4kgTJny8

Goodbye #Microservices: From 100s of problem children to 1 superstar
https://www.twilio.com/en-us/blog/developers/best-practices/goodbye-microservices…

All new roads lead to increased deforestation in Ecuador’s Indigenous territory https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/all-new-roads-lead-to-increased-deforestation-in-ecuadors-indigenous-territory/

All new roads lead to increased deforestation in Ecuador’s Indigenous territory
Between March and May 2025, at least eight children from the Achuar Indigenous community died of leptospirosis in the southern Ecuadorian Amazon. The disease is preventable with access to safe drinking water and timely treatment. But these two conditions are absent in Taisha, one of the poorest five cantons in Ecuador and the one with […]

Do children receive too many vaccines in too short of a period of time? Something I read on birdsite years ago put this in perspective.
Every day, our immune systems are exposed to antigens from bacteria, virus, fungi, & parasites, including many that can't infect humans. Also, non-pathogens such as plant pollens and the foods we eat.
In that context, a few vaccines are not a big increase.

This week’s #ThursdayFiveList is all about #Children, courtesy of @…:
1. Almost Vinyl, “That's a Fucking Ugly Baby”—

If you want to see someone completely disconnected from reality (who is also in charge of a company that interacts with millions of children thanks to Roblox), have a read here: https://www.

An illustration in Robert Munsch’s beloved Love You Forever didn’t seem right. I set out to discover why
I memorized every word of Love You Forever as a kid, but when I read it to my own children, one page left me unsettled
https://www.theg…

After #Trump finally crashes and burns (I'm still saying I don't think he makes it to the mid terms, and I think it's more than possible he won't make it to the end of the year) we'll hear a lot of people say, "the system worked!" Today people are already talking about "saving democracy" by fighting back. This will become a big rally cry to vote (for Democrats, specifically), and the complete failure of the system will be held up as the best evidence for even greater investment in it.
I just want to point out that American democracy gave nuclear weapons to a pedophile, who, before being elected was already a well known sexual predator, and who made the campaign promise to commit genocide. He then preceded to commit genocide. And like, I don't care that he's "only" kidnaped and disappeared a few thousand brown people. That's still genocide. Even if you don't kill every member of a targeted group, any attempt to do so is still "committing genocide." Trump said he would commit genocide, then he hired all the "let's go do a race war" guys he could find and *paid* them to go do a race war. And, even now as this deranged monster is crashing out, he is still authorized to use the world's largest nuclear arsenal.
He committed genocide during his first term when his administration separated migrant parents and children, then adopted those children out to other parents. That's technically genocide. The point was to destroy the very people been sending right wing terror squads after.
There was a peaceful hand over of power to a known Russian asset *twice*, and the second time he'd already committed *at least one* act of genocide *and* destroyed cultural heritage sites (oh yeah, he also destroyed indigenous grave sites, in case you forgot, during his first term).
All of this was allowed because the system is set up to protect exactly these types of people, because *exactly* these types of people are *the entire power structure*.
Going back to that system means going back to exactly the system that gave nuclear weapons to a pedophile *TWICE*.
I'm already seeing the attempts to pull people back, the congratulations as we enter the final phase, the belief that getting Trump out will let us all get back to normal. Normal. The normal that lead here in the first place. I can already see the brunch reservations being made. When Trump is over, we will be told we won. We will be told that it's time to go back to sleep.
When they tell you everything worked, everything is better, that we can stop because we won, tell them "fuck you! Never again means never again." Destroy every system that ever gave these people power, that ever protected them from consequences, that ever let them hide what they were doing.
These democrats funded a genocide abroad and laid the groundwork for genocide at home. They protected these predators, for years. The whole power structure is guilty. As these files implicate so many powerful people, they're trying to shove everything back in the box. After all the suffering, after we've finally made it clear that we are the once with the power, only now they're willing to sacrifice Trump to calm us all down.
No, that's a good start but it can't be the end.
Winning can't be enough to quench that rage. Keep it burning. When this is over, let victory fan that anger until every institution that made this possible lies in ashes. Burn it all down and salt the earth. Taking down Trump is a great start, but it's not time to give up until this isn't possible again.
#USPol

🇺🇦 #NowPlaying on BBCRadio3's #OperaOn3
Alban Berg, Christian Gerhaher, Malin Byström, Eric Cutler, Brindley Sherratt, Nicky Spence, Edgaras Montvidas, HK Gruber, Ludwig Mittelhammer, Bavarian Radio Symphony Choir, Bavarian State Opera Children's Chorus, Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra & Sir Simon Rattle:
🎵 Wozzeck, Op.7 - Act 1

By this spring, the World Food Program still had not received funding,
ran low on supplies
and was forced to stop feeding many of Kenya’s refugees.
In Kakuma, the third-largest camp in the world,
WFP cut rations to their lowest in history,
trapping most of the 308,000 people in the camp with almost nothing to eat. 
They began to starve,
and many — mostly children
— died because their malnourished bodies couldn’t fight off infections
Moth…

Inside the Trump Administration’s Man-Made Hunger Crisis
“Brutal and traumatizing”: Interviews and a trove of internal documents show government officials and aid workers desperately tried to warn Trump advisers about impending disaster and death.

Phillip Rivers contract 2025: How much the 44-year-old QB is making in brief Colts return

https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/phillip-rivers-contract-salary-colts-quarterback/…

HarperCollins UK drops children's author and comedian David Walliams following allegations of inappropriate behavior toward young women (Paul Glynn/BBC)
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cev8p7d0gmgo

David Walliams dropped by book publisher HarperCollins
Walliams is one of the UK's most successful children's authors, having sold more than 60 million books.

Over 400 of Elon Musk’s Children Attended No Kings Rallies
https://newsletters.feedbinusercontent.com/96a/96a13088b9367a00bed1bfaef291c78c4e76aa02.html

Filing: Reddit says in its lawsuit against Australia's social media ban that it is "a collection of public fora" and social interaction isn't its "sole purpose" (Lauren Edmonds/Business Insider)
https://www.businessinsider.com/reddit-leg…

Reddit is arguing it's a 'collection of public fora' and not a social media company. Here's why.
In a lawsuit challenging an Australian law barring children under 16 from having social media accounts, Reddit argues it's not a social media company.

🇺🇦 #NowPlaying on #BBC6Music's #NickGrimshaw
Thundercat:
🎵 Children of the Baked Potato (feat. Remi Wolf)
#Thundercat
https://thundercat.bandcamp.com/track/children-of-the-baked-potato-feat-remi-wolf
https://open.spotify.com/track/0sCjYTtc6PW1vkKJcKO00b

Trump Orders States Not to Protect Children From Predatory AI: "States have been the only effective line of defense against AI harms."
On the topic of states rights, Donald Trump doesn’t exactly follow the party line. During his first term, he couched himself in populist, small-government rhetoric — even as he attacked individual states that dared to defend migrants and legalize marijuana.

Trump Orders States Not to Protect Children From Predatory AI
Donald Trump recently signed an executive order allowing his administration to attack states that try to regulate artificial intelligence.

🇺🇦 #NowPlaying on KEXP's #VarietyMix
Thundercat:
🎵 Children of The Baked Potato
#Thundercat
https://thundercat.bandcamp.com/track/children-of-the-baked-potato-feat-remi-wolf
https://open.spotify.com/track/0sCjYTtc6PW1vkKJcKO00b

CFP MELUS 2026: Panel on 21st Century Latinx Children's Books and Media
https://ift.tt/E4Op6NQ
updated: Tuesday, October 21, 2025 - 9:49amfull name / name of organization: MELUS Conferencecontact…
via Input 4 RELCFP

🥓 Pain tolerance found to increase during social interaction in VR
#pain

Pain tolerance found to increase during social interaction in VR
For years, virtual reality (VR) has been used in pain management for hospitalized adults and children, to take their minds off their discomfort, but typically the technology has been a solo experience for the patient.

‘The worst is when the rubbish explodes’: the children living in Patagonia’s vast dumps https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2025/dec/12/rubbish-children-living-patagonia-argentina-vast-dumps

🇺🇦 #NowPlaying on BBCRadio3's #OperaOn3
Alban Berg, Christian Gerhaher, Malin Byström, Eric Cutler, Brindley Sherratt, Nicky Spence, Edgaras Montvidas, HK Gruber, Ludwig Mittelhammer, Bavarian Radio Symphony Choir, Bavarian State Opera Children's Chorus, Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra & Sir Simon Rattle:
🎵 Wozzeck, Op.7 - Act 3
#Spotify

So in another dream I just woke up from, I was talking to someone about "the idea problem" (that it's becoming harder to monitize ideas, from a vox article written by an AI cooked reporter).
https://www.iheart.com/podcast/105-it-could-happen-here-30717896/episode/executive-disorder-white-house-weekly-46-313675864/
Basically, I was arguing that the majority of inventions target men because patriarchy puts economic control in men's hands. As men have started to help more with childcare, there have been more inventions related to childcare. (I don't have any idea if this is true. Seems legit, but I'm just relating my dream. I think I was also oversimplifying a bit to "men" and "women" because of my audience, but anyway it was a dream.) There's actually more low-hanging fruit, I pointed out, related to making care work easier.
So I argued that the real problem was a failure to invest in research into solving that problem. Today there are all these boondoggles built around killing people. What if, instead of all this government research into killing people, we dumped a ton of money into making it easier to support a household? That would be great for the economy. (Being asleep, I seem to have forgotten that working people need money.)
In the blur of being just awake I started thinking about how you could kickstart the US economy by taking the money from the AI boondoggle and other autonomous murder bots and create something like a program to build robots for housekeepers. You'd still be funding tech with government money, so the same horrible people get paid, but you're now actually solving real problems. It wouldn't even matter if it was a boondoggle, honestly. Just dumping money into something other than murdering people is good enough.
I imagined first if there was a program to fund a robot housecleaner, like robot dog with AI some laundry pickup, that would be provided, free of charge, to help people with children. It would work the same as the military boondoggle where a private company makes the government buy a piece of hardware from them and then also pay them to service it for some number of years. But instead of that hardware sitting around waiting to kill someone, it would be getting brought to people's houses to help them.
Then I thought, hey, you could even boost the economy more if you just had government funding for doulas and housecleaners and paid them a living wage. Hey, you could really kickstart the economy by nationalizing healthcare and including doula support as part of all births. Oh, and you could also just include the optional household help for families with children until the kids turn 18.
None of this is perfect (I don't actually think most of this is possible from any state), but the point is that it's actually wildly easy to figure out all kinds of ways to invest in the economy and monitize ideas as long as you aren't entirely focused on the same old "make money from spying on people and killing them." Funny that. Like they said in the podcast, maybe "finding ideas" isn't the problem.
Hope you enjoyed the weird semi-awake brain dump/rant.

While we are distracted by other things, Putin is escalating the war in Ukraine, Poland increases it's readiness after sabotage/attacks on railways....We need more quick and firm action with regard to supporting Ukraine.
#ukraine #ternopil

"what does the Kremlin brand as “traditional values”? While Putin denounces Western modernity as a moral threat, Russia itself contradicts its supposed ideals: children are abducted from occupied territories of Ukraine, domestic violence is normalized, religious minorities are persecuted, and soldiers’ lives are deemed expendable."
The Ugly Truth Behind the “Traditional Values” Russia Sells — UNITED24 Media [from October]
https://united24media.com/anti-fake/the-ugly-truth-behind-the-traditional-values-russia-sells-11690

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-15171489/two-men-arrested-hackers-stole-pictures-addresses-8000-children-nursery.html
Two men are arrested after hackers stole pictures, names and addresses of …

Two men are arrested after hackers stole pictures, names and addresses of 8,000 children from nursery chain database
Met Police officers confirmed they had taken a 17-year-old and 22-year-old into custody where they remain for questioning.

“An Israeli drone strike in southern Lebanon killed five people Sunday, including three children, Lebanon’s Health Ministry said … four of the killed, the three children as well as their father, held U.S. citizenship”: https://vancouver.citynews.ca/2025…

Israeli drone strike kills 5, including 3 children, in southern Lebanon
BEIRUT (AP) — An Israeli drone strike in southern Lebanon killed five people Sunday, including three children, Lebanon’s Health Ministry said. Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri said four of the killed, the three children as well as their father, held U.S. citizenship. Two others were wounded, including the mother in the family. Officials at the U.S. […]

Imagine going to a dinner party twenty years ago and being informally photographed, and then seeing the photo years later in a news article alongside a caution that "there is no accusation that [x] also abused children".

In the USA, so many Black parents have seen their children killed by police that, now,
growing numbers of those same parents are building a grassroots movement for accountability and justice.
https://therealnews.com/their-kids-were-all-killed-…

Their kids were all killed by police. Now, they’re leading a movement
“We felt that there was a need for this organization because we didn't see anywhere to go where someone could understand and could feel our pain with the loss of our children”

Today, @… and I had the pleasure of talking to the families behind four Mastodon accounts from Gaza over video chat and we’re very happy to welcome them to Gaza Verified.
They are:
• Talal Naser – https://

Talal Naser (@tallalnaser1990@mastodon.social)
28 Posts, 601 Following, 138 Followers · Save a family from Gaza. I am Talal, a father of four children. This war has left us with no hope. https://gofund.me/4ce5a68a4

Republican leaders used money allocated for the health & safety of Florida's children... for election advertisements instead.
Taking money from children.
Let that immorality sink in.
#florida #Republicans

The Intellectualist (@the_intellectualist_official) on Threads
Investigation: Florida routed $35M+ through agencies to election-season ads opposing abortion and marijuana measures, tapping child-protection, public-health and opioid funds as records left totals unclear. https://theintellectualistofficial.substack.com/p/florida-agencies-used-child-welfare

Support Indigenous Land Defender Marcos Aguilar’s Family
(original: https://www.instagram.com/p/DSFUcy_jKU7 by zapatistasolidaritynetwork)
On November 26, 2025, Indigenous land defender Marcos Aguilar Rojas was assassinated for protecting his anc

Zapatista Solidarity Network! on Instagram: "📢‼️URGENT On November 26, 2025, Indigenous land defender Marcos Aguilar Rojas was assassinated for protecting his ancestral territory in San Lorenzo de Azqueltán, Jalisco, Mexico. He leaves behind five young children — including two babies — and elderly parents who depended on him. Marcos was a devoted father, a loving son, and a guardian of Mother Earth. He refused to abandon his community despite threats and violence. This was a planned political attack from those trying to steal Indigenous ancestral territory. ✨ That’s why we are asking for your solidarity: @semillas_collective is collecting donations that will go directly to Marcos’s family and Indigenous community to support: • His children’s wellbeing (food, housing, education) • Care for his parents • Community protection against further attacks • Legal justice for his assassination 🔗Link in our bio to the fundraiser and the communiqué from the Autonomous Indigenous Community or San Lorenzo de Azqueltán (adherents of the National Indigenous Congress [CNI]) 📣Please donate if you are able. If you cannot, share and help us break the silence. Marcos lives in the land, in his children, and in our struggle. Marcos vive — la lucha sigue. ✊🏽💚🌱 #JusticeForMarcos #Semillas #IndigenousSolidarity #Azqueltán #LandBack #ProtectLandDefenders #NoMoreImpunity #MarcosVive #LaLuchaSigue"
99 likes, 0 comments - zapatistasolidaritynetwork on December 10, 2025: "📢‼️URGENT On November 26, 2025, Indigenous land defender Marcos Aguilar Rojas was assassinated for protecting his ancestral territory in San Lorenzo de Azqueltán, Jalisco, Mexico. He leaves behind five young children — including two babies — and elderly parents who depended on him. Marcos was a devoted father, a loving son, and a guardian of Mother Earth. He refused to abandon his community despite threats a…

RE: https://mindly.social/@NotRappaport/115568243899839267
I’ve said it 50k times, but I’ll say it again: IT’S NOT ABOUT FETUSES/BABIES/CHILDREN. IT’S. ABOUT. CONTROLLING. OPPRESSING. AND. PUNISHING. WOMEN.

A federal judge threw out a suit filed by a group of people who said photos of them protesting drag shows and holding signs saying things like, “Stop Grooming Children,” were manipulated by a NC restaurant to show them holding promotional messages for the restaurant, including in an ad for a “Drag Brunch.” The protesters did not suffer a commercial financial loss from the photos’ alterations, so trademark law is not applicable.
**No trademark claim in altered pics**
https://www.courthousenews.com/no-trademark-claim-in-altered-pics/

7 killed, 23 injured, including children, in Russian attacks on Ukraine over past day: https://benborges.xyz/2025/10/12/killed-injured-including-children-in.html

Study: 15 TikTok accounts posting AI videos of sexualized underage girls have nearly 300K followers and 2M likes; TikTok says 14 accounts don't violate rules (Clare Duffy/CNN)
http://www.cnn.com/2025/12/11/tech/tiktok-ai-videos-children-report

Videos of sexually suggestive, AI-generated children are racking up millions of likes on TikTok, study finds
AI-generated videos showing what appear to be underage girls in sexualized clothing or positions have together racked up millions of likes on TikTok, even though the platform’s rules prohibit such content, according to new research from an online safety non-profit.

Phase 2 of the #GazaGenocide:
Israel occupies >53%.
Friday, killed a family travelling in a vehicle: 7 children, 2 men, 2 women.
Invisible kill line like the "temporary" 1948 Green Line.
50 million tonnes of rubble, mixed with human remains and unexploded munitions.
Continued blockade of aid and human passage.
Since the Trump plan signed, more than 50…

Fase 2 del genocidio israelí: ocupación del 53% de Gaza, asesinatos, segregación y línea amarilla
En una semana de tregua Israel ha matado a 59 personas, varios niños y niñas, mantiene bloqueado el paso de Rafah, y consolida su ocupación en más de la mitad de la Franja, con la señalización de una línea de separación

Global lead exposure still costs trillions and endangers children, study finds #environment

Global lead exposure still costs trillions and endangers children, study finds
Lead poisoning was once thought to largely be a problem of the past, as the globe gradually weaned itself off leaded gasoline in road vehicles in 2021. But has global lead pollution truly been resolved?

🇺🇦 #NowPlaying on KEXP's #Early
Thundercat feat. Remi Wolf:
🎵 Children of the Baked Potato
#Thundercat #RemiWolf
https://thundercat.bandcamp.com/album/children-of-the-baked-potato-feat-remi-wolf
https://open.spotify.com/track/0sCjYTtc6PW1vkKJcKO00b

Filing: Reddit says in its lawsuit against Australia's social media ban that it's "a collection of public fora" and social interaction isn't its "sole purpose" (Lauren Edmonds/Business Insider)
https://www.businessinsider.com/reddit-leg

Reddit is arguing it's a 'collection of public fora' and not a social media company. Here's why.
In a lawsuit challenging an Australian law barring children under 16 from having social media accounts, Reddit argues it's not a social media company.

Senator Marsha Blackburn said
“I look forward to introducing the
"TRUMP AMERICA AI Act"
in the new year to create one federal rulebook for AI
to protect children, creators, conservatives, and communities"
Combats the consistent pattern of bias against conservative figures demonstrated by Big Tech and AI systems by requiring:
Audits of high-risk AI systems to undergo regular bias evaluations to prevent discrimination based on protected characte…

Blackburn Unveils National Policy Framework for Artificial Intelligence

»TikTok signs deal for sale of U.S. unit after yearslong saga:
TikTok has signed a deal to divest its U.S. entity to a joint venture controlled by American investors, per an internal memo seen by Axios«
When will the children & young people (all people) finally realize that dss Internet is decentralized and not about a few power-hungry corporations?
(A rhetorical question in my dream of freedom)
🤷

Scoop: TikTok signs deal for U.S. unit after yearslong saga
The deal would end a yearslong saga to force TikTok's Chinese parent ByteDance to sell the company's U.S. operation.

"Forty per cent of Australian women without kids hesitant to have children because of climate change, survey finds"
#Australia #Climate #ClimateChange

Inside the Trump Administration's Man-Made Hunger Crisis (ProPublica)
https://www.propublica.org/article/kenya-trump-usaid-world-food-program-starvation-children-deaths
http://www.memeorandum.com/251217/p16#a251217p16

Trump's coming for foster children now:
Fostering the Future for American Children and Families – The White House
https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/11/fostering-the-future-for-american-children-and-families/

"federal agents detained nearly every resident of the 130-unit building—including children and babies—placing them in zip ties and separating them by race into vans for more than two hours early Tuesday morning. "
https://southsideweekly.com/federal-ag…

Federal Agents Storm South Shore Building, Detaining Families and Children
Families were woken by flashbangs and helicopters as hundreds of federal agents raided their homes. Days later, neighbors are still searching for the missing.

⚖️ Underweight children cost NHS as much per child as children with obesity, study finds
https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-10-underweight-children-nhs-child-obesity.html

Underweight children cost NHS as much per child as children with obesity, study finds
The NHS incurs an estimated £340 million in additional health care costs annually due to weight-related health problems in children—but it is not just obesity driving the costs. New research from the University of Oxford reveals that underweight children need comparable medical support as those who are severely obese, challenging assumptions about childhood health priorities.

🇺🇦 #NowPlaying on KEXP's #AfternoonShow
Thundercat feat. Remi Wolf:
🎵 Children of the Baked Potato
#Thundercat #RemiWolf
https://thundercat.bandcamp.com/album/children-of-the-baked-potato-feat-remi-wolf
https://open.spotify.com/track/0sCjYTtc6PW1vkKJcKO00b

QQ for all the "Restore the #RuleOfLaw" folks out there: When militarized police crushed Occupy for daring to challenge the logic of bailing out the bankers who crashed the economy rather than the people they fleeced, was that "Rule of Law"? When militarized police maimed and brutalized water protectors, was that "Rule of Law"? When oil companies and tech monopolies fund both parties and just happen to get legislation that keeps them in power, is that "Rule of Law"? When your tax dollars go to fund genocide, to pay to drop bombs on children, is that "Rule of Law"? When the NSA was spying on American citizens, was that "Rule of Law"? How about the drone strikes on Americans, was that "Rule of Law"? When cops murder people and then use "qualified immunity" to get away with it, is that "Rule of Law"?
Y'all keep talking about how #NoKings is about "restoring rule of law." It's got a bit of a "Make America Great Again" feel to it: you're invoking a return to a history that never actually existed.

ASA 2026: Childhood in the Meantime (Children and Youth Studies Caucus)
https://ift.tt/rgaUCeD
updated: Thursday, December 18, 2025 - 11:00pmfull name / name of organization: Children and Youth…
via Input 4 RELCFP …

Not being even vaguely sarcastic:
At some point, a journalist needs to ask Johnson
“you regularly claim you have no idea what your own government is doing.
If we take you at your word, how are you so poorly informed,
and do you this level of ignorance should disqualify you as speaker?”
-- John Pfaff
https://

Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com)
Q: What's your message to the 170 US citizens who have been detained by ICE? About 20 of them are children MIKE JOHNSON: I don't know what you're talking about with the children. I haven't seen that so I'm not going to comment on it.

🇺🇦 #NowPlaying on #BBC6Music's #LaurenLaverne
Thundercat:
🎵 Children of the Baked Potato (feat. Remi Wolf)
#Thundercat
https://thundercat.bandcamp.com/track/children-of-the-baked-potato-feat-remi-wolf
https://open.spotify.com/track/0sCjYTtc6PW1vkKJcKO00b

https://www.propublica.org/article/immigration-dhs-american-citizens-arrested-detained-against-will

Children among 25 killed in one of Russia's deadliest strikes on western Ukraine (Jonathan Beale/BBC)
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cy0yere4k0zo
http://www.memeorandum.com/251119/p33#a251119p33

Roblox plans to require all users to undergo an age estimation process to access chat features, starting January 2026, in an effort to enhance child safety (Jay Peters/The Verge)
https://www.theverge.com/news/822718/roblox-age-estimation-verification-chat…

Roblox will require age estimation to chat starting next year
After scrutiny over its ability to protect children on the platform, Roblox is making a big change.

Australia's eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant says under-16s slipping through the cracks of the social media ban will be "booted off" the platforms in time (The Guardian)
https://www.theguardian.com/…

🇺🇦 #NowPlaying on KEXP's #DriveTime
Thundercat feat. Remi Wolf:
🎵 Children of the Baked Potato
#Thundercat #RemiWolf
https://thundercat.bandcamp.com/album/children-of-the-baked-potato-feat-remi-wolf
https://open.spotify.com/track/0sCjYTtc6PW1vkKJcKO00b

There have been 1,295 cases of pertussis, also called whooping cough, in Florida, an 81 percent surge compared to the entirety of 2024. 
And nationwide, cases rose six-fold in 2024 compared to the year before, CDC figures show, a sign of waning immunity against a disease that once struck hundreds of thousands. 
#MakeAmericaHealthyAgain

Cases of Victorian-era whooping cough soar in Florida amid plummeting vaccine rates
Cases of a Victorian-era disease have soared in Florida over the past year amid state Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo's declaration to end all vaccine mandates for children.

Russian drone hits civilian car in Odesa Oblast, killing mother and injuring 3 children, governor says: https://benborges.xyz/2025/12/18/russian-drone-hits-civilian-car.html

The Four Shields That Endanger Children | Kathryn Robb | Verdict | Legal Analysis and Commentary from Justia
https://verdict.justia.com/2025/10/17/the-four-shields-that-endanger-children

The Austrian Data Protection Authority ("DSB") issued a decision finding that Microsoft 365 Education illegally tracks students and uses student data for Microsoft's own purposes.
https://noyb.eu/en/noyb-win-microsoft-365-education-tracks-school-child…

noyb win: Microsoft 365 Education tracks school children
Favorable decision by the Austrian DSB: Microsoft Education 365 may not track school kids and Microsoft is ordered to provide full access to kids' data.

ASA 2026: How Children’s Culture Fights Adult Authoritarians; or, Improvising Against the Machine (Children and Youth Studies Caucus)
https://ift.tt/ThZ4bgo
updated: Thursday, December 18, 2025 - 11:00pmfull name / name of organization: Children and Youth…
via Input 4 RELCFP

The Summer of Starvation: Amid Trump's Foreign Aid Cuts, a Mother Struggles to Keep Her Sons Alive (ProPublica)
https://www.propublica.org/article/trump-usaid-kenya-humanitarian-aid-starvation-families-children
http://www.memeorandum.com/251217/p19#a251217p19

The law runs against one of the hallmarks of modern public health:
that a person’s full participation in society depends on their willingness to follow certain rules.
The new Idaho law flips that on its head.
It not only removes the obligation to follow such rules,
it makes the rules themselves illegal.
The new law sets Idaho apart from even conservative-leaning South Carolina,
where two schools recently quarantined more than 150 unvaccinated children a…

I keep coming back to the mirror dualities of the oppressed and oppressor under authoritarianism.
The oppressed is portrayed as both weak and godlike. The stereotypes are always some variation on sloth and incompetence, but yet somehow also a menace capable of destroying the "pure" society. To use the most relevant current example, Antifa being both little femme soy boys who would always get beat up by "real men" while also being an international terrorist organization on the brink of overthrowing the US government, the unarmed presence of whom makes the heavily armed agents of ICE flee for their lives. Antifa is both having absolutely no impact on ICE, and also having such an impact on ICE that the military needs to come in to protect them. The contradiction is obvious but never seems to occur to those who hold both to be true at the same time.
But few talk about the duality of the oppressor. The sovereign throughout history has always been both a ruler above the law, sometimes even the representative or incarnation of a divine force. Yet, this same superhuman/god-man is also a baby who needs constant care. This is absolutely a through line from the very earliest records of sovereign cults to modern cult leaders, CEOs, and Trump today. Power, for these people, is expressed both as the ability to force others to enact their will and in the ability to compel others to care for them. Can any of these "men" cook? Can they fix anything themselves? They are driven everywhere, cooked for all the time, constantly protected from danger. Kings are still dressed, at least for rituals. I could dissect masculinity here, but that's a whole thing.
It is as though the drive to care for our children, who must be taught to behave within acceptable norms, is hijacked by "leaders" who demand our care and attention... even at the expense of our literal children. And recently we've seen some of those very CEOs, with LLMs and return to office demands, show that their judgment is also little better than children, making decisions while pretending to understand a subject.
The oppressed are portrayed as both god-like and impotent and are, in fact, neither. Meanwhile the rulers portray themselves only as invulnerable and are, in fact, childish in their ability to survive without constant support. Their greatest fear from the collapse of society is figuring out how to make sure people keep taking care of them.
It just keeps rattling around in my head.
#USPol

Roblox plans to require all users to undergo an age estimation process to access chat features, starting January 2026, in an effort to enhance child safety (Jay Peters/The Verge)
https://www.theverge.com/news/822718/roblox-age-estimation-verification-chat…

Roblox will require age estimation to chat starting next year
After scrutiny over its ability to protect children on the platform, Roblox is making a big change.

Ukrainian NGO returns 18 children from Russian-occupied Kherson: https://benborges.xyz/2025/12/05/ukrainian-ngo-returns-children-from.html

When men drink, women and children pay the price #health

When men drink, women and children pay the price
Men’s heavy drinking is fueling a hidden crisis affecting millions of women and children worldwide. The harms, from violence to financial instability, are especially severe where gender inequality is high. Experts warn that alcohol policies must include gender-responsive strategies to protect vulnerable families. They call for reforms combining regulation, prevention, and community action.

Australia's eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant says under-16s slipping through the cracks of the social media ban will be "booted off" the platforms in time (The Guardian)
https://www.theguardian.com/…

Governor Newsom signs bills to further strengthen California's leadership in protecting children online (Governor of California)
https://www.gov.ca.gov/2025/10/13/governor-newsom-signs-bills-to-further-strengthen-californias-leadership-in-protecting-children-online/
http://www.memeorandum.com/251013/p69#a251013p69

#GiftLink: "Daniel Metzger, a senior fellow at the Sabin Center for Climate Change Law at Columbia University, said the judge’s opinion offered “very detailed guidance for designing cases that can overcome the challenges this one faced.”
**The Kids Who Sued Trump Just Lost Big in Court. Or Did They?** - The New York Times
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/18/climate/climate-lawsuit-children-montana-trump-health.html?unlocked_article_code=1.uU8.XGvS.JzTmLO-wpAR7&smid=url-share

🇺🇦 #NowPlaying on KEXP's #MorningShow
Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young:
🎵 Teach Your Children
#Crosby #Stills #Nash #Young
https://harvestfolkandcountrymusic.bandcamp.com/track/teach-your-children-crosby-stills-nash-young
https://open.spotify.com/track/29HaKOpeLSYvqdFyEQSRdj

COVID vaccines protect children from severe illness per CDC.
⬇️76% reduced risk of ER visits in kids 9 mo. to 4 years
⬇️56% reduced risk of ER visits in kids 5 - 17 years
-- @drruth.bsky.social
https://bsky.app/profile/atranscendedman.bsky.social/po…

I just woke up from a dream. For every parent there is a time when, with shame, we have to explain how the world actually works... when they become a little too old to keep saying, "I'll explain it when you're older."
Amsterdam is full of reminders of the occupation, of the Holocaust. It's impossible to pretend there hasn't been a great evil here... One that's not in the past, but still very alive in the present.
At some point things will have to change because fascism can't last forever. It is a thing which necessarily contains its own downfall. We will, at that point, have an opportunity to make the world one that we can be proud to tell our children we created. We can stop short and reestablish the status quo that got us here, or we can build a world that we will no longer have to explain to each new generation in shame.
What would it look like?
(Shout out to the comrade who prompted me to be thinking about this.)
There was also a sign in my dream that said, "we created the bike, therefore we can do anything." This may or may not be related.

Seven Ukrainian children abducted to Russia returned in initiative backed by Melania Trump: https://benborges.xyz/2025/12/04/seven-ukrainian-children-abducted-to.html

Denmark's government has reached a political agreement to ban social media access for anyone under 15, with a possible parental consent exception from age 13 (Euronews)
https://www.euronews.com/next/2025/11/07/denmark-wants-to-ba…

Denmark wants to ban access to social media for children under 15
The proposal would be one of the most sweeping steps yet by a European country to curb social media use among young people.

Almost 55,000 children in Gaza are estimated to be acutely malnourished,
far more than have so far been identified as victims of the potentially lethal condition,
a study published in the Lancet, the respected international medical periodical, has revealed.
The study, published on Wednesday, and led by the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (Unrwa),
offers a month-by-month breakdown through much of the two-year conflict,
and shows for the first ti…

Ukraine brings back 22 children from Russian-occupied territories: https://benborges.xyz/2025/10/04/ukraine-brings-back-children-from.html

Michael and Susan Dell say they will deposit $250 in individual investment accounts for 25M kids, totaling $6.25B, comparing the gift to Dell's direct model (Nicholas Kulish/New York Times)
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/12/02/business/dell-children-trump-acco…

Michael and Susan Dell Pledge $6 Billion in Investment ‘Trump Accounts’ for Children
The tech billionaire and his wife hope other philanthropists follow their $6 billion lead in expanding the reach of soon-to-be-created “Trump accounts.”

It all should have been stopped the instant he started openly monetizing his hotel blocks from the White House
and sending his children to represent the United States of America at international meetings.
But we decided none of the laws, rules, or norms apply this One Special Boy 🤷‍♂️
https://

'Let children be children': Pritzker asks feds to pause immigration efforts for Halloween (Izzy Stroobandt/NBC Chicago)
https://www.nbcchicago.com/news/local/let-children-be-children-pritzker-asks-feds-to-pause-chicago-area-immigration-operations-for-halloween/3845344/
http://www.memeorandum.com/251030/p106#a251030p106

Several Ukrainian children abducted by Russia forcibly sent to North Korea, expert tells US Senate: https://benborges.xyz/2025/12/04/several-ukrainian-children-abducted-by.html

Border Report Live | Unaccompanied migrant children being sent to Rio Grande Valley, lawyers say | WKRG.com
https://www.wkrg.com/border-report-tour/unaccompanied-migrant-children-being-sent-to-texas-border-to-be-deported-lawyers-say/

Xu Bo, a Chinese billionaire, was seeking parental rights to at least four unborn children,
and the court’s additional research showed that he had already fathered or was in the process of fathering at least eight more
—all through surrogates.
When called in for a confidential hearing in the summer of 2023,
he never entered the courtroom, according to people who attended the hearing.
The maker of fantasy videogames lived in China and appeared via video, speaking …

China fertility facts of the day - Marginal REVOLUTION
A Chinese billionaire was seeking parental rights to at least four unborn children, and the court’s additional research showed that he had already fathered or was in the process of fathering at least eight more—all through surrogates. When Pellman called Xu Bo in for a confidential hearing in the summer of 2023, he never entered […]

Legal teams in Chicago are mobilizing to educate children on their rights and document any coercion.
But make no mistake
—this is cruelty by design.
https://immigrantjustice.org/press-release/operation-freaky-friday-what-you-need-to-know/

Operation “Freaky Friday”: What You Need To Know - National Immigrant Justice Center
Operation “Freaky Friday” appears to affect a limited group of children who arrived in the United States as "unaccompanied children.” It does NOT appear to target all immigrant children more broadly.