DeSantis signed the first iteration of the bill into law in March of 2022, prohibiting the discussion of sexual orientation and gender in elementary schools. The following year, in May 2023, DeSantis expanded these restrictions, extending the classroom discussion censorship up to the 8th grade. Both versions also include (presumably deliberately) vague language creating a gray area in what can be discussed in any number of settings, even with older students.

The post Florida Settlement Says You CAN Say Gay (A Little Bit) appeared first on The Mary Sue.

*Content warning for transphobia and misgendering.*

The post Here’s Why Conservatives Are Throwing a Fit for a Planet Fitness Boycott appeared first on The Mary Sue.

Disneyland cast members who work as parade performers and characters are in the process of unionizing via the Actors’ Equity Association. While the number of characters and parade performers joining the union has not been finalized, some 1,700 Disneyland cast members perform these roles. They are calling their fledgling union Magic United. 

The post Disneyland Parade Performers Move to Unionize with Actors’ Equity Association appeared first on The Mary Sue.

Amazon is now going one step further with its anti-union campaign. Amazon is now legally challenging the constitutionality of the National Labor Relations Board.

The post Not Content With Regular Union-Busting, Amazon Is Trying To Get the Labor Board Itself Declared Unconstitutional appeared first on The Mary Sue.

How will artists retain copyrights and creative control against technology that can download any online content and use it to its own ends? To even the score with AI, a tech team at the University of Chicago has produced two free online tools artists can use to protect their work: Glaze and Nightshade.

The post This Artist Tool Doesn’t Just Protect Against AI Theft, It Sabotages the Programs Trying appeared first on The Mary Sue.

Biden’s original 2020 campaign promise was to cancel up to $10,000 in loans per borrower for individuals making less than $125,000 and couples making under $250,000. Unfortunately, that was blocked by the courts and resulted in a huge legal circus. First, an Indiana attorney sued to stop Biden’s debt forgiveness, claiming harm done to him. Then the attorneys general of six Republican-controlled states—Nebraska, Missouri, Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas, and South Carolina—filed a lawsuit to prevent borrowers in their states from accessing debt relief. 

The post Joe Biden Announces Another Round of Student Debt Forgiveness appeared first on The Mary Sue.

Incest is illegal in 48 of the 50 states with age restrictions in Rhode Island and New Jersey. It is generally considered as taboo as child marriage and both are items that should be eradicated from contemporary pop culture.

The post Reality TV Star-Turned State Legislator Withdraws Bill To Legalize Cousin Incest appeared first on The Mary Sue.

Taters, an orange tabby, is the pet of an employee at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory at Caltech. A video clip of Taters chasing a laser pointer was uploaded onto a spacecraft that was then launched into space from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. There was no actual travel for the galaxy’s newest feline celebrity.

The post Important Science Alert! NASA Just Sent a Cat Video From Space! appeared first on The Mary Sue.

This is not the first time Pope Francis has offered this message. He has been urging climate action for years and calling out climate deniers for being anti-science. The pontiff’s views on climate are consistent with those of most American Catholics. According to Pew Research polling, 57% of all U.S. Catholics believe climate change is a serious problem. This is slightly higher than the percentage of Americans who see climate change as a threat (54%). Among both groups—Catholics as well as Americans overall—views are shaped by party affiliation. 

The post While Pope Francis Pleads for Climate Action, U.S. Bishops Refuse To Divest From Fossil Fuels appeared first on The Mary Sue.

Whether or not Miyazaki is taking his final bow with this film, themes of time, death, and change permeate the work. Like so many of Miyazaki’s films, The Boy and the Heron features a youth who must go out on a solitary quest for meaning. Twelve-year-old Mahito has lost his mother. After she becomes a civilian casualty of war, he moves to the countryside with his father. There, Mahito lives with his aunt, his mother’s younger sister, who is stepping in to marry his father and become a second mother to him.

The post Unpacking ‘The Boy and the Heron’s Ending appeared first on The Mary Sue.

In November, former Obama adviser and political strategist David Axelrod questioned whether Biden was the best choice for Democratic nominee. Top Biden strategist Symone Sanders fired back that if Biden wants to run, “that’s your nominee, baby!” and there cannot be any question of that decision.

The post Democrats Are Already Pushing the Exhausting ‘Fall in Line’ Strategy Ahead of the 2024 Election appeared first on The Mary Sue.

In his message, Weird Al said, “It’s my understanding that I had over 80 million streams on Spotify this year. So, if I’m doing the math right, that means I earned $12.” If Weird Al fans are surprised by the Spotify criticism, they really shouldn’t be.

The post Weird Al’s Spotify Wrapped Top Listener Message Probably Isn’t What the Company Expected appeared first on The Mary Sue.

The CEO of JP Morgan Chase has already gotten behind Haley. Other CEO billionaires like the heads of Citadel and Home Depot are considering making the same move. This stands to make Haley far more competitive in the Republican primary. A Haley versus Trump race would be an interesting one, a battle between the donor-class establishment Republican party and the ultra-right populism of Trump. 

The post What Does the Koch Bros’ Endorsement of Nikki Hailey Mean for the Republican Primary? appeared first on The Mary Sue.

Right now, Brittany Watts, a 33-year-old woman in Ohio without any prior criminal record, is being tried for “abuse of corpse.” The woman miscarried at home, on her toilet. While it is not clear whether it was a wanted pregnancy, a forensic pathologist’s examination found that the fetus died of natural causes, with ruptured membranes that had made the fetus non-viable. 

The post Prosecutions of Miscarriages Are Ramping Up and Becoming Even More Harrowing appeared first on The Mary Sue.

Jennifer Pippin, the chair of a Florida chapter of Moms for Liberty, succeeded in getting Anne Frank’s Diary: The Graphic Adaptation banned from the public high school’s library. Apparently, this decision was reached with the support of the District Objection Committee which Pippen helped form. Nationwide, Moms for Liberty has gained a reputation for book banning and threatening librarians. Though they claim no connection to Moms for Liberty, the site BookLooks.org provides fodder for the organization’s mission of excluding numerous books from library circulation. Noticeably absent from the “who we are” section of the website are the actual names of the people behind these book critiques. They are not librarians, educators, or scholars, just “concerned parents” devoting time to producing pages and pages of “content warnings” on new books and classics alike. 

The post Moms for Liberty Organizer Who Banned Anne Frank Graphic Novel Refuses To Apologize for Antisemitism appeared first on The Mary Sue.

At $99 a year, Amazon’s health insurance plan is inexpensive but at what other costs? What trade-offs in care, in quality, and in information security come with Amazon’s foray into low-cost healthcare?

The post The Affordability Of Amazon’s Healthcare Program Comes at Other Major Costs appeared first on The Mary Sue.

Ady Barkan was trained as an attorney and worked for the organization Make the Road, empowering low-wage workers. He also brought scrutiny to the inequality within the Federal Reserve. His campaign Fed Up worked to bring transparency and diversity to that important economic institution that is below eye level for most Americans.

The post Remembering Ady Barkan, Healthcare and Human Rights Activist appeared first on The Mary Sue.

But the general public was more concerned with King Charles’ wardrobe than with the priorities he outlined for Parliament, which included curbing youth smoking, tougher sentencing for serious offenders, and increased investment in public transportation. Charles was decked out in the Imperial State Crown for the entirety of his speech, unlike his mother, who would remove the crown and place it on a pillow beside her. Decked out with nearly 3,000 jewels, the crown weighs in at nearly three pounds. For Queen Elizabeth, this made it too cumbersome to wear while trying to effectively engage in public speaking. But apparently, King Charles wasn’t interested in following his mother’s example. This set the monarch up for lots of criticism as he launched into remarks concerning the cost of living for working families.

The post Did No One Think Through the Optics of King Charles’ ‘Cost of Living’ Speech? appeared first on The Mary Sue.

The union’s demands included a 46% pay increase over four years, a four-day workweek, and a portion of company profits. The strike lasted for an unprecedented six weeks and ended with a tentative agreement that offered wage increases to veteran workers. 

The post Is a Massive Labor Strike in the Works? The UAW Serves up Inspiration appeared first on The Mary Sue.

The third moderator for this debate will be Hugh Hewitt, host of The Hugh Hewitt Show on Salem Radio Network. Hewitt rose to prominence by riding Trump’s coattails. He has bolstered Trump’s reputation at some deeply controversial moments. He lent his pen to provide a revisionist take on Trump, one that presents the former president as measured and thoughtful. Hewitt’s controversies extend beyond Trump. He defended a former scandal-embroiled EPA official due to his own personal interests. Hewitt’s interviews of past presidential candidates have proven shocking and controversial, such as his questioning Ben Carson about whether he had the stomach to kill civilians during war.

The post NBC Partners With Far-Right Media for Next RNC Debate appeared first on The Mary Sue.