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Court puts order blocking Biden administration from pressing for social media content moderation on hold. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit put on temporary hold an order blocking federal officials from pressuring social media companies to suppress certain accounts, posts, or types of information. “A temporary administrative stay is GRANTED until further orders of the court,” states the 5th Circuit’s order, issued Friday.

It deferred ruling on the Biden administration’s motion for a stay pending appeal “to the oral argument merits panel which receives this case,” which means those judges will decide whether to lift the current administrative stay or keep things on pause until the full appeals process plays out.

The court also expedited the case to the next available oral argument slot, meaning an appeals court panel will hold a full hearing on the case as soon as possible.

It did not elaborate on its reasoning for issuing the temporary stay.

First Amendment lawyer Robert Corn-Revere recently wrote for Reason about this case (Missouri v. Biden), suggesting that “the political noise surrounding the case is distracting attention from the important First Amendment principles at stake.”

Corn-Revere cites Judge Richard Posner in Backpage.com, LLC v. Dart: A public official who “threatens to employ coercive state power to stifle protected speech violates a plaintiff’s First Amendment rights, regardless of whether the threatened punishment comes in the form of the use (or, misuse) of the defendant’s direct regulatory or decisionmaking authority…or in some less-direct form.” (In that case, an Illinois sheriff pressured credit card companies to stop doing business with Backpage.)

A ruling that federal authorities must limit flagging online speech to encourage its suppression or removal by tech platforms should be viewed by free speech defenders as an unambiguously good thing.

But the lower court’s decision in Missouri v. Bidenthe decision now on temporary holdhas attracted a lot of criticism in some corners that should know better.

For instance, The Washington Post called the initial order “a victory for conservatives” and warned that it “could have a major chilling effect on contacts between tech companies…and a broad swath of federal agencies”as if that’s a bad thing! The Post piece, and many others, portray the ruling as something only the political right could support.

In the lower court’s ruling, U.S. District Judge Terry A. Doughty banned all Department of Justice and FBI employees plus many federal public health officials from “meeting with social-media companies for the purpose of urging, encouraging, pressuring, or inducing in any manner the removal, deletion, suppression, or reduction of content,” and “specifically flagging content or posts on social-media platforms and/or forwarding such to social-media companies urging, encouraging, pressuring, or inducing in any manner for removal, deletion, suppression, or reduction of content containing protected free speech.”

That’s a good thingeven if the motives of the parties who spurred this decision might not be so pure, and even if Doughty’s ruling was a little too credulous of their claims.

The case was brought by the Republican attorneys general (A.G.s) of Louisiana and Missouri, as part of a beef with the Biden administration over pressuring tech companies to take down some conservatives’ posts. “State A.G.s are unlikely defenders of the First Amendment given the members of that fraternity who make their political bones by mounting anti-speech crusades,” notes Corn-Revere. And on “the same day Missouri v. Biden came down, [Missouri A.G. Andrew] Bailey was one of seven state A.G.s who sent a threatening letter to Target warning that the sale of LGBTQ-themed merchandise as part of a ‘Pride’ campaign might violate state obscenity laws.”

So, Bailey is not exactly a stalwart and unwavering defender of First Amendment principles.

And Doughty’s opinion “credulously accepts plaintiffs’ claims that almost all of the contacts with government officials (and some civilians) were coercive, and it uncritically accepts assertions that ‘only conservative viewpoints were allegedly suppressed,'” notes Corn-Revere. Doughty also makes a number of other puzzling assertions in his (now on-hold) 155-page ruling.

None of this has helped “the perception that he has signed on to a side in the culture war.”

But it doesn’t mean that Doughty’s decision is totally without merits, either.

“The district court’s ruling in Missouri v. Biden rightly recognizes the serious threat government pressure tactics pose to free speech online,” as the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression put it.

This sort of backhanded pressure on social media has come to be known as “jawboning.” Robby Soave took a deep look at the issue for Reason’s March 2023 cover story.

Perhaps the 5th Circuit’s temporary hold on the order is “the right call given the scope of the order and the many questions it raises,” suggests Corn-Revere. But “while the court of appeals should clarify and narrow the terms of the injunction, reversing it would be a mistake. It doesn’t require an active imagination to predict how far a future administration (of either party) might venture if the courts greenlighted this level of governmental meddling in private moderation decisions.”

As Posner wrote in Dart, a government body “is entitled to say what it wants to saybut only within limits.” Getting more clarity on those limits can only be good for free speech, no matter which point of the political spectrum you’re on. FREE MINDS

GOP candidate defends “limited role of government” in parental decisions for transgender kids.Reason’s Joe Lancaster offers a highlight from last Friday’s Republican Party presidential forum. The forum was presented by Blaze Media and hosted by Tucker Carlson. Carlson’s second guest was former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, a long-shot candidate currently polling at 1 percent in a statistical tie with “Someone else.” Carlson’s first question related to Hutchinson’s 2021 veto of H.B. 1570, an Arkansas bill that would have prohibited medical professionals from providing any medical treatment to minors related to gender transitioning, including puberty blockers and gender reassignment surgeries. It also did not include a grandfather clause, meaning any minors who were on hormone therapy when the law went into effect would either have to stop or seek treatment across state lines. (State lawmakers overrode Hutchinson’s veto, but the law is currently on hold pending litigation.)

“Have you reassessed your view on it since then?” Carlson asked.

Hutchinson stood behind his decision. “What I believe in is that parents ought to raise their children,” he said. “I believe that God created genders and that there should not be any confusion on your gender. But if there is confusion, then parents ought to be the ones that guide the children.”

To be clear, Hutchinson is no progressive radical on the issue: He accused some public schools of “pushing transgenderism” and said, “If there had a been a bill that said you should not ever have transgender surgery as a minor, I would sign that in a minute, because no parent should be able to consent to that permanent change.” (Under American Academy of Pediatrics guidelines, surgery for minors should only be pursued “on a case-by-case basis” and include “multidisciplinary input from medical, mental health, and surgical providers as well as from the adolescent and family.”)

But unexpectedly for a candidate running to be the leader of the Republican Party, Hutchinson offered a qualified yet nuanced defense of transgender care for minors from the perspective of limiting the role of government and supporting the rights of parents.

“I believe in a limited role of government,” Hutchinson said. “I don’t think that California ought to be able to tell parents, ‘You need to have gender-affirming care for children.’ The government should not do that. And in the same way, let’s keep the government out of it unless it’s [an] extreme case, an let’s let parents guide the children.” FREE MARKETS

Some common sense about Diet Coke and cancer.The World Health Organization’s (WHO) International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) is once again warning that the widely used artificial sweetener aspartame could possibly cause cancer. Aspartame is found in many diet soft drinks and an array of other popular sugar-free goods. “But before anyone panics about whether their favorite sugar-free treat will give them cancer, it’s essential to understand what the IARC does and doesn’t do,” writes Guy Bentley, director of consumer freedom at Reason Foundation (the nonprofit that publishes this magazine): The IARC examines products and activities that may represent a cancer hazard and places them in one of four groups depending on the strength of the evidence they examine. Group 1 is carcinogenic to humans and includes cigarettesbut also hot dogs. Group 2a is probably carcinogenic and includes red meat and night shift work. Group 2b is possibly carcinogenic, and Group 3 is not classifiable.

The IARC placed aspartame in Group 2b, meaning there’s weak evidence, and they can’t say for sure whether there is, in fact, any cancer hazard. For context, pickled vegetables and aloe vera are also in Group 2b. The IARC examines cancer hazards even if they’re extremely unlikely. It doesn’t examine risk, which is what truly matters to consumers when making their everyday choices.

In conjunction with the IARC’s investigation, the WHO’s Joint Expert Committee on Food Additives (JECFA) released a recommendation on safe intake (considering all possible health risks, not just cancer risk). It concluded that its previous threshold of 40 milligrams per kilogram as an acceptable daily intake was sound.

“The average American male weighs 197.9 pounds, this translates to an acceptable daily intake of 3,588 mg of aspartame, meaning it would take around 18 diet sodas a day to surpass the JECFA’s guidelines,” notes Bentley. “Even the heaviest consumers of diet drinks come nowhere close to meeting this threshold. These guidelines are also significantly below any dosage linked to possible harm in animal studies.” QUICK HITS

Video footage released by the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department shows a deputy twice punching a woman in the face as she holds a small baby. Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna said this was “completely unacceptable” and that the case would be sent to county prosecutors for possible criminal charges.

RIP to Anchor Steam beer, which “may have changed the course of the entire American beer industry.”

A Virginia law requiring age verification for visitors to web porn platforms is now in effect. The law led Pornhub to block access to people in Virginia, reports WTOP News, and “more people are searching for Virtual Private Networks (VPN) in Virginia than in any other state in the country, according to Google Trends.”

“Twitter has changed the settings of every user with open DMs, blocking non-Twitter Blue subscribers from messaging them,” notes Mashable.

RFK Jr. “is as he has been for his entire career a lunatic and a crank,” suggests Josh Barro. But Barro also argues that the whole idea of a Kennedy “dynasty” is “absurd.” Dynasties should be “built around good families who share positive traits, like sobriety, thrift, and public-spiritedness,” writes Barro. “The Kennedys are the opposite of this they are a cadre of reckless, womanizing, substance-abusing mediocrities of middling IQ, who have produced a staggering array of displays of bad judgment and poor character over the decades.”

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‘I still have hope’: Parents of IDF soldier taken hostage by Hamas fear he’ll be one of last freed

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'I still have hope': Parents of IDF soldier taken hostage by Hamas fear he'll be one of last freed

Yehuda searches through a downstairs room looking for a plastic bag containing the most precious of objects.

It’s a small, blackened Rubik’s Cube that belongs to Yehuda’s son Nimrod – one of 20 living Israeli hostages still being held by the terrorist group Hamas in Gaza.

It was found in Nimrod’s burnt-out tank after the October 7th attacks.

“He likes PlayStation and Rubik’s Cube,” says Nimrod’s mother, Vicky.

“They found the Rubik’s Cube in the tank. It was complete but a little bit dark and they brought it back to us.”

Stills from Holland PKG of Vicky Cohen whose son Nimrod Cohen, an 19 y/o IDF soldier, who is being held hostage by Hamas
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Vicky Cohen

We spoke to Nimrod’s parents Yehuda and Vicky about the emotional rollercoaster hostage families in Israel are going through – as hope rises and fades of a ceasefire agreement with Hamas.

“I still have hope that maybe I will see Nimrod again,” says Vicky.

“It almost breaks my heart because I still had expectation,” she says – in spite of the latest failure to find resolution in talks between Israel and Hamas in Doha.

“But I still have hope that maybe something good will happen,” she says.

Rubik's cube owned by Nimrod Cohen, an 19 y/o IDF soldier, who is being held hostage by Hamas
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Nimrod’s charred Rubik’s Cube

Vicky says: “We heard [during] the last weeks, President Trump saying we will hear about a ceasefire soon – next week – in a few days.

“We heard our prime minister [Benjamin Netanyahu] say visiting Washington and meeting Trump was very successful – and heard members of the coalition talking about our prime minister eventually understanding he needs to end the war. But until now nothing.”

The delegation coming back to Israel doesn’t mean a total collapse of ceasefire talks, but US envoy Steve Witkoff said the response to the latest ceasefire proposals by Hamas showed “a lack of desire”.

And so the rollercoaster of emotion for the hostage families continues.

Middle East latest: Gaza aid airdrops a ‘smokescreen’

Nimrod Cohen, an 19 y/o IDF soldier, who is being held hostage by Hamas
Image:
Nimrod

Nimrod’s father Yehuda Cohen said: “Of course it’s a disappointment but it’s not the first one. A long time ago I learned not to get my expectations up so the disappointment won’t be too deep.

“The solution is very simple – I’ve got it on my shirt – ceasefire and hostage deal. Meaning the only way to get all the hostages is ending the war.”

Stills from Holland PKG on Yehuda Cohen (pictured) whose son Nimrod Cohen is being held hostage by Hamas
Image:
Nimrod’s father Yehuda

Yehuda shows us Nimrod’s bedroom at the family home. It’s exactly as it was when Nimrod left to return to his army duties a few days before the October 7 attacks.

Except in a corner, there’s a box of uniforms and personal possessions, including a wallet which Nimrod had left at his army outpost – all returned to the family by the IDF.

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Stills from Holland PKG on Yehuda and Vicky Cohen's son Nimrod Cohen, an 19 y/o IDF soldier, who is being held hostage by Hamas.
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The IDF handed Nimrod’s parents a box of his possessions left at his army outpost

It’s just like the bedroom of any other teenager – Nimrod was 19 when he was kidnapped. But two birthdays have passed since then. Nimrod is 21 now – a milestone spent in captivity a few weeks ago.

It’s believed there are 20 living Israeli hostages in Gaza – all male – and that Hamas is holding the bodies of 27 more hostages who have been killed.

Read more from Sky News:
Israel resumes airdrops into Gaza
Bob Geldof accuses Israel of ‘lying’
25% of children malnourished, charity says

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Starvation in Gaza continues

But even if a deal is agreed, the first phase is expected to secure the release of only half of the living hostages – and Nimrod’s parents say their son, as a soldier, is not likely to be one of the 10.

Yehuda says: “A partial deal means that the probability my son will be on that list is close to zero. So he’s going to be one of the last ones to be released, and that’s why we have to fight.”

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Bob Geldof accuses Israeli authorities of ‘lying’ about starvation in Gaza

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Bob Geldof accuses Israeli authorities of 'lying' about starvation in Gaza

Bob Geldof has accused the Israeli authorities of “lying” about starvation in Gaza – after Israel’s government spokesperson claimed there was “no famine caused by Israel”.

Earlier this week, David Mencer claimed that Hamas “starves its own people” while on The News Hour with Mark Austin, denying that Israel was responsible for mass hunger in Gaza.

Appearing on Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips, Geldof said the claims are false.

Follow latest: Gaza aid airdrops a ‘smokescreen’ and ‘distraction’

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Israel challenged on starvation in Gaza

Sir Trevor asked the Live Aid organiser: “The Israeli view is that there is no famine caused by Israel, there’s a manmade shortage, but it’s been engineered by Hamas.

“I guess the Israelis would say we don’t see much criticism from your side of Hamas.”

In response, Geldof said “that’s a false equivalence” and “the Israeli authorities are lying”.

The singer then added: “They’re lying. [Benjamin] Netanyahu lies, is a liar. The IDF are lying. They’re dangling food in front of starving, panicked, exhausted mothers.

“And while they arrive to accept the tiny amount of food that this sort of set up pantomime outfit, the Gaza Humanitarian Front, I would call it, as they dangle it, then they’re shot wantonly.

“This month, up to now, 1,000 children or 1,000 people have died of starvation. I’m really not interested in what either of these sides are saying.”

He added: “If the newsfeeds and social feeds weren’t so censored in Israel, I imagine that the Israeli people would not permit what has been done in their name.”

Asked about the UK government’s reaction, Geldof said it was “not enough”.

“This is a distraction thing about ‘let’s recognise the state ‘ – absolutely, it should have been done ages ago, but it’s not going to make any material difference,” he said, referring to calls for Sir Keir Starmer to recognise Palestine as a state.

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Gaza: ‘This is man-made starvation’

In the Sky News interview earlier this week, Mr Mencer added: “This suffering exists because Hamas made it so. Here are the facts. Aid is flowing, through the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation. Millions of meals are being delivered directly to civilians.”

He also claimed that, since May, more than 4,400 aid trucks had entered Gaza carrying supplies.

It comes after MSF, also known as Doctors Without Borders, warned 25% of young children and pregnant women in Gaza are now malnourished.

The charity said Israel’s “deliberate use of starvation as a weapon” has reached unprecedented levels, and said that at one of its clinics in Gaza City, rates of severe malnutrition in children under five have trebled over the past two weeks.

MSF then described the lack of food and water on the ground “unconscionable”.

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Aid waiting to be distributed in Gaza

In a statement to Sky News, an Israeli security official said that “despite the false claims that are being spread, the State of Israel does not limit the number of humanitarian aid trucks entering the Gaza Strip”.

It then blamed other groups for issues delivering aid. They said: “Over the past month, we have witnessed a significant decline in the collection of aid from the crossings into the Gaza Strip by international aid organisations.

“The delays in collection by the UN and international organisations harm the situation and the food security of Gaza’s residents.”

Read more:
What does recognising a Palestinian state mean?
Surgeon claims IDF ‘deliberately’ shooting boys at Gaza aid points
Security shot at Palestinians at Gaza aid centre – ex-guard

The IDF also told Sky News: “The IDF allows the American civilian organisation (GHF) to distribute aid to Gaza residents independently, and operates in proximity to the new distribution zones to enable the distribution alongside the continuation of IDF operational activities in the Gaza Strip.

“Following incidents in which harm to civilians who arrived at distribution facilities was reported, thorough examinations were conducted in the Southern Command and instructions were issued to forces in the field following lessons learned.

“The aforementioned incidents are under review by the competent authorities in the IDF.”

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Five killed after Russia and Ukraine trade aerial bombardments

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Five killed after Russia and Ukraine trade aerial bombardments

At least five people have been killed after Russia and Ukraine traded aerial bombardments overnight, officials have said.

In Ukraine, the southern region of Dnipro and the northeastern region of Sumy were attacked by rockets and drones.

The head of the Dnipro regional administration, Serhii Lysak, said at least three people had died and at least five were injured.

A man stands next to burned cars in Dnipro. Pic: Reuters
Image:
A man stands next to burned cars in Dnipro. Pic: Reuters

In the city of Dnipro, a multi-storey building and businesses were damaged in the strike, and a fire engulfed a shopping centre in the region.

The military administration in Sumy said three people were injured.

Over three hours, Ukraine’s second-largest city, Kharkiv, was hit by four guided aerial bombs, two ballistic missiles and 15 drones.

In a Telegram post, its mayor, Ihor Terekhov, said high-rise residential buildings, local businesses, roads and the communication network were damaged.

He said at least five people were injured, including three rescue workers hit in a double tap strike, where a second attack targets emergency workers trying to help those wounded in the initial attack.

In total, Russia targeted Ukraine with 208 drones and 27 missiles overnight, according to the daily air force report.

It said air defence and electronic warfare took down or intercepted 183 drones and 17 missiles, but hits from 10 missiles and 25 drones had been recorded in nine locations, according to preliminary data.

Read more:
25% of young children now malnourished in Gaza, charity says
Huge security operation as Trump tees off at his golf course

Employees walk past a damaged shopping centre in the city of Kamianske in the Dnipro region. Pic: Reuters
Image:
Employees walk past a damaged shopping centre in the city of Kamianske. Pic: Reuters

Officials in Russia said Ukrainian drones targeted several regions overnight, with a drone attack on the border region of Rostov killing two people, according to acting governor Yuri Slyusar.

In the neighbouring Stavropol region, drones hit an industrial facility, governor Vladimir Vladimirov said on Telegram. The attack sparked a brief fire, he added.

Drones also targeted Moscow but were shot down, according to mayor Sergei Sobyanin. They also targeted an industrial facility in the Penza region southeast of the capital, governor Oleg Melnichenko said.

Russia’s Defence Ministry said its air defences shot down or intercepted a total of 54 Ukrainian drones.

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