AZ Governor Refuses to Make Filming Porn in Public Schools Illegal, Instagram Apologies for Aiding Pedophiles, Yellowstone Creator's New Show (The Five for 06/09/23)
Hey, welcome to The Five.
Lot’s to cover today…let’s dive into Culture & Commentary.
[one]
Thanks to the work of academics at UMASS and Stanford, we now know Instagram is a place where pedophiles network and groom children.
Engaget reports:
Meta has set up an internal task force after reporters and researchers discovered its systems helped "connect and promote a vast network of accounts" devoted to underage-sex content, The Wall Street Journal has reported. Unlike forums and file transfer services, Instagram not only hosts such activities but promotes them via its algorithms. The company acknowledged enforcement problems and has taken actions including restricting its systems from recommending searches associated with sex abuse.
Academics from Stanford's Internet Observatory and UMass's Rescue Lab were able to quickly find "large-scale communities promoting criminal sex abuse," according to the report. After creating test users and viewing a single account, they were immediately hit with "suggested for you" recommendations of possible CSAM (Child Sexual Abuse Material) sellers and buyers, along with accounts linking to off-platform content sites. Following just several recommendations caused the test accounts to be inundated with sex-abuse content.
“Instagram is an onramp to places on the internet where there’s more explicit child sexual abuse,” said UMass Rescue Lab director Brian Levine. The Stanford group also found that CSAM content is "particularly severe" on the site. "The most important platform for these networks of buyers and sellers seems to be Instagram."
For “widespread child sexual abuse” being a conspiracy theory (as many allege), there sure are a lot of real world examples popping up.
I can’t tell you what to do, but as for my and my house.
No phones or social media accounts until at least 8th grade (check out the Wait Until 8th movement) and
Double down on a exercising the rights of one Amendment in particular, in case our children are ever in physical danger.
Even without the horrors we’re finding out about on Instagram…there are a lot of good reasons to keep mobile devices out of the hands of kids:
[two]
This week, a fight broke out in Glendale, California at a protest around PRIDE themed curriculum in the local elementary school, which was originally labeled by the media as a fight between “LGBTQ+ activists and counter-protestors.”
A more accurate picture is that Armenian and Hispanic immigrants clashed with Antifa.
Following the Glendale school board’s decision to incorporate LGBTQ+ “Pride” festivals and celebrations into June school days, dozens of parents pulled students from classrooms—with some elementary schools seeing only 40% of students show up for class on June 2.
Additional documents revealed that Glendale staff have attempted to incorporate LGBTQ+ materials and ideology into other curriculum. One assistant principal even told staff to teach children that every person is, by default, “queer” and “socialist.”
Parents from the traditionally conservative Armenian and Hispanic communities in Glendale planned to protest the board’s decisions at an upcoming school board meeting. Antifa Southern California called for activists to counter protest against these parents, whom they labeled “hate groups.”
No word on whether the arrests were from the parents or Antifa camps…but it’s worth noting the Armenian population was already facing persecution in the Glendale area.
The Armenian Weekly reported on a possible hate crime due to flyers being posted encouraging Aremenian genocide.
The Turks slaughtered Armenians and Greeks in WWI the way Hitler slaughtered Jews in WWI…this is the equivilant of putting up a “Hitler was right and we should finish the job” flyer in an Orthadox Jewish neighborhood.
Oh, and for the record…obviously Orthadox Jews aren’t signing off on this garbage, which was simply a misdirection.
[three]
Well, filming porn in public schools is still legal in Arizona.
(Nope, that’s not a joke).
The bill would have prohibited state entities from "exposing minors to sexually explicit materials" or using state facilities to "film or facilitate sexually explicit acts."
In her veto letter, Hobbs said she agrees not all content is appropriate for minors but felt SB 1696 was a "poor way" of addressing those concerns.
Hobbs said the bill was written in such a "vague manner that it serves as little more than a thinly veiled effort to ban books."
The bill passed through the Arizona Legislature with little support from Democrats.
State Sen. Jake Hoffman, R-District 15, said he found the governor's veto "sickening" and advocated for implementing legal repercussions for misusing Arizona's classrooms.
"These should be safe spaces for our kids to learn in, not venues for the sexually explicit adult entertainment industry," Hoffman said in a statement.
The Arizona Education Association celebrated the governor's veto, claiming it would have potentially stopped teachers from recommending classic books like "1984" and "The Great Gatsby" to students since both of those novels contain scenes involving sex.
But Republicans seem to insist the bill's aim was to stop educators from misusing public facilities for adult activities.
A husband and wife were let go from the Lake Havasu Unified School District last year after officials discovered they had allegedly used the campus to make explicit content after hours.
In a statement, one of the teachers said she regretted making the video on campus but said she was forced to start making online content due to her low teaching salary.
She added that she loved teaching and claimed none of her students were aware of the online content until after she had resigned.
Much of the legislation today is aimed more at social media likes than actual governance…with a lot of “own the libs” or “own the cons” moves from school boards to the White House.
But ummm, this one?
The bill literally just says “Yo, don’t film porn in PUBLIC SCHOOLS” and don’t expose kids to it.”
As to the “concern” this would lead to book banning…just tweak the bill a bit. “Kids shall not be exposed to porn FILMED BY THEIR TEACHERS IN THE CLASSROOM.”
The AZ Governor knows full well she could have tweaked this and put a perfectly reasonable law on the books, she just chose not to.
I usually lean towards the side of deregulation and individual liberty, but c'mon, this one is just about common sense and decency.
[four]
With a single player coming to the MLS, soccer will almost certainly move to the 4th most popular pro sport in the U.S. (behind football, basketball and baseball…and passing hockey).
You may not know the name Lionel Messi…but he may just be the greatest soccer player ever. And he’s coming stateside.
Messi just raised the World Cup trophy for Argentina, cementing his legacy as the GOAT of soccer by winning the sport’s pinnacle tournament. By the time he is finished in MLS — assuming an option for 2026 is exercised — the next World Cup final will have been played on U.S. soil.
He turned down a reported billion-dollar offer from a Saudi Arabian club to come to MLS for a deal that, with its reported revenue-sharing components with Apple and Adidas and potential ownership, might end up being a billion-dollar deal.
The best comparison to this move is Pelé, but this is probably bigger because of where soccer is in the United States. When Pelé came to the U.S. in late-1970s to play for the Cosmos, it was a sensation, but this is different for soccer in our country because there is an infrastructure of world-class players, 26 soccer-specific MLS stadiums and, come 2026, a little thing called the World Cup taking place in the U.S., Canada and Mexico.
“Messi will be bigger than anything Pelé did,” Apple lead MLS analyst Taylor Twellman told The Post.
The 35-year-old Messi has the dominant longevity of Tom Brady, while continuing to play with a flair that would make even Stephen Curry envious.
Messi allegedly has his eyes fixed on the legacy of Michael Jordan, and he chose the U.S. to make a Jordan-like splash on the culture.
Seems like he just might do it.
[five]
As always, let’s head into the weekend with a pop culture roundup.
Comedy + Heist Movie? I’m always down (nothing will ever beat Oceans 11/12/13, but I’m always happy for another entry into this sub-genre).
Former James Bond Pierce Brosnan and Ellen Barkin (perhaps best known for the Ocean’s franchise) star as the parents of Lauren Lampus (Good Girls, Jurrasic World), who may (obviously) be concealing from her new fiancée (Pitch Perfect’s Adam Devine) that her parents are notorious bank robbers.
Catch The Out-Laws on Netflix 07/07.
After the painful experience of Guardians of the Galaxy 3 (I know I’m in the minority for hating it), I’m pretty much done with Marvel, and I’m about ready to break up with Star Wars next.
I still haven’t watched the highly lauded Andor, yet, but The Book of Boba Fett and Obi-Wan were pretty bad, and I can’t even remember if I started season 3 of The Mandalorian and quit, or just bailed because it had such poor reviews.
It seems like Marvel and Star Wars just need to slow the content schedule, because rushing to get all these shows and movies out is just creating mediocrity…but Ahsoka looks…pretty decent.
We’ll find out 08/23.
Ohhhhhhh dang. Taylor Sheridan (Yellowstone, 1883, 1983, Tulsa King) just dropped the trailer for his next show, with Zoe Saldana (Avengers, Avatar), Morgan Freeman (The Shawshank Redemption) and Nicole Kidman (Big Little Lies, Aquaman)
Jumping out of my skin with excitement.
Hitting Paramount+ 07/23.
The production team behind Big Little Lies and Nine Perfect Strangers is turning another hit novel into show starring Sigourney Weaver (Alien, Avatar) as a woman who must protect her granddaughter after a fire kills the girls parents.
From there, things get paranormal, or murder-mystery-y, or something.
Catch The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart on Prime Video 08/04.
I’ve never finished an Expendables movie (the trilogy that paired 80’s action heroes with big set pieces and…really thin scripts…featuring actors with AARP cards).
But the fourth one looks…surprisingly watchable. The addition of Jason Statham (muliple Fast/Furious films, The Italian Job) and Megan Fox (Transformers, Ninja Turtles) in a Mr. and Mrs. Smith style story looks…surprisingly refreshing.
The fact that it’s releasing September 22nd in theaters signals the studio thinks this one is a better movie than the previous entries.
NEW MUSIC
Worship leader Anne Wilson, who straddles the line between CCM and country, has a heck of a single out about grief…and losing a loved one on the 7th of June (which was this week). It’s been on repeat for me all week long.Apple Music | YouTube Music
Alt-Country/Americana titan Jason Isbell is back with his first full studio album in three year…and at first spin, this one hits hard.Apple Music | YouTube Music
Until the next one,
-sth