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Last week, the Trump administration quietly released a sweeping new federal rule that would use funding threats to force institutions across the country to reject transgender people. The 400-page proposed regulation would codify the administration's anti-trans executive orders into binding federal policy, imposing a blanket prohibition on federal funds going toward "gender ideology"

The proposed rule, formally titled "Regulation for Federal Financial Assistance," rewrites the government-wide framework governing all federal grants across every agency. Among its most consequential provisions, it requires that before a federal grant recipient can receive money, the award must pass a "pre-issuance review" conducted by a political appointee—not a career expert or peer reviewer—to ensure it is "consistent with applicable law, Federal agency priorities, and the national interest." The regulation explicitly instructs these appointees to screen for "denial by the recipient of the sex binary in humans or the notion that sex is a chosen or mutable characteristic." [...] An institution that acknowledges transgender people exist—through its policies, its training, its healthcare, its bathroom access, its HR procedures, its name-change processes—could be deemed to "deny the sex binary" or to “support the notion that sex is mutable” and have its federal funding blocked.

This torches everything. And I do mean everything.

A very abbreviated list of its ramifications include (but are not limited to):

ending funding for ALL DEI related initiatives

allowing the government to terminate grants at any point for any reason

preventing researchers from publishing, going to conferences, and being part of academic societies

requiring that topics must support the president’s agenda.

What this means, and if anything I’m under selling it, is the death of science and research in America. It allows the government to restrict any topic they please at a whims notice, putting officials who have no background in the topic in charge of deciding funding continuity. It controls what gets researched and if/how researchers are allowed to share their discoveries. There are no books to burn if the government never allows them to be written. This is fascism plain and simple.

Public comments are not a vote, it is a chance for you to say "here is an issue with this law I think you need to address" and provide justification for legal challenges if it goes forward:

"Comments raise the bar that agencies have to meet when making a rule; “if an agency fails to adequately respond to significant, relevant comments in a final rule, members of the public may seek to challenge the rule in court on that basis and claim it could be struck down.ˮ"

Watching the 2026 Tumblr Sexy Man Contest

Iron Lung

Hokum

Exit 8

Backrooms

if you'd rather buy a plushie - here's the shop he and his wife run!

his wife also been in an accident and has been down and out due to illness and injury

ppal + gfm + site shop

This campaign will fully launch in about 14 days

They point out the many problems within the internet and how they have been ignored, even abused

“For two decades, the problems of an entire generation have been ignored. The problems of the internet were left to rot.

When the YouTuber who exposed predators on Roblox brought them to light, the response was not to go after the predators, but to go after him.

We know these problems.

If a YouTuber can find them, why can’t a company with billions of dollars, armies of engineers, and full control over their platform?”

DO NOT CLAIM TO SPEAK FOR CHILDREN WHILE IGNORING THEM EVERYWHERE ELSE.

They point out that talking about young people is becoming the standard instead of talking to them

“In the UK, the timing is particularly concerning.

With a by-election approaching, children’s protection is being used as a political weapon; a way to look tough, moral, and decisive.

Meanwhile, the views of young people who say a ban would mean a loss of connection are ignored.”

“And this is no longer just one country.

Canada is moving with its own new bill.

The United States is trying to revive the same on the federal level.

The European Union is pushing age verification across the bloc.

Everywhere, the same pattern is appearing; children’s safety is invoked, but the people most affected are still not at the table.”

“And now, suddenly, governments are willing to threaten CEOs of some of the largest companies on the planet with arrest.

Not to give users control over algorithms.

Not to empower people.

Not to address systems that affect adults and children alike.

No.

Instead, the answer is curfews, time limits, and locking off access to YouTube, Twitch, parts of Discord, Reddit, and many more. And guess what you will need ID to access?”

age verification data always gets leaked

They bring up discord and how they had their age verification data leaked, leaving thousand of IDs out in the open

“So, do not tell us this is just about safety. When you force people to hand over identity documents to access public life online, you create new targets, new risks, and new harms.”

“It does not stop there. First, they ask for your ID. Then, they ask to monitor the device in your pocket and your private messages.

That is something police can only do with due cause and a court order. This effectively inverts the presumption of innocence and puts a policeman in your pocket.”

They compare it to a town hall, pointing out that you can’t ban a town hall

“For two decades, experts, children, and parents alike have argued for solutions. People have exposed the problems, documented them, and pointed directly at the failures.

Yet still, Governments have failed to tackle the root causes, failed to adopt policies that protect rights, and failed to adopt a public health approach that looks at mental well-being holistically.

The answer does not have to be control. It does not have to be your data turned into currency. It can be so much more, so much better.”

The organization wants to have a public conversation and proposal on how to keep the internet safe

“Google is making some changes to how it saves your interactions with Search. In an email sent to users, Google says it will save the images, files, audio, and video you use to search under a new “Search Services History” setting.”

“That includes the images you search for with Google Lens, recordings from its real-time Search Live tool, voice searches, and phrases spoken into Translate, according to an update on the company’s website.

You can switch off the Search Services History setting and disable the “Save Media” option if you don’t want Google to save these interactions”

“Google says it will use your Search Services History to “provide, develop, and improve its services,” including its AI models, as well as offer personalized suggestions and ads if you have the new “Personalized Recommendations” setting switched on.

These two settings will now be separate from Google’s Web & App Activity option, which previously included search-related interactions and some toggles for saving audio recordings and visual searches”

“If you’ve already blocked Google from saving your search history through Web & App Activity, Google will keep Search Services History switched off following the transition.

It will also carry over your personalization preferences when these settings roll out over the “next few months.””

Yeah. Yiiiikes. They also moved some settings from Web and App Activity settings to uhm. I don't know I think it's to the new Search Services History settings where the media saving setting is.

[Transcript:] If your saved media is used to train our AI models, it is disconnected from your Google Account. This training data will be kept for up to 4 years, even if you delete the original activity. [End transcript. ]

Oh great I have no control over it haha that's great /sarc

Google also has this to say (from this article):

[Begin quote:] We take your privacy seriously and take steps to protect it when using your Search Services History data to train our AI models. For example, data is disconnected from your Google Account before it is used to train our AI models or reviewed by our trained service providers. We will seek your permission before sharing your media with these providers for human review as part of the model improvement process. We use filters designed to automatically remove a broad range of identifying info or sensitive personal information. We are constantly working to improve our filtering and safety systems to better protect your privacy. When Search Services History is off, your future activity won't be used to train Google’s generative AI models, unless you provide feedback. [End quote. ]

:/.

Thankfully, you can turn this off. Under the cut is a tutorial for doing this, as well as more (I'd say rather important) info about this media-saving feature. If I've missed anything (especially since the wording on Google makes it seem to me that this may be one of several new features), do feel free to add onto this!

You + me, side by side. 💕