FSNN | Decentralized News Aggregation for Free Speech

US Senator Cynthia Lummis has dismissed claims that the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act fails to protect decentralized finance innovators from legal repercussions, rebutting that recent changes to the draft will make it the “strongest protection for DeFi and developers ever enacted.”Her comments on Friday came in direct response to crypto lawyer Jake Chervinsky, who argued that Title 3 of the current draft undermines the Blockchain Regulatory Certainty Act — another crypto bill focused on developer protections — by subjecting non-custodial software developers to know-your-customer obligations.“Don’t believe the FUD,” Lummis said, adding, “We have worked on a bipartisan basis for…

Court Upholds Injunction Against Disclosing Information Learned from Discarded City Documents

6 hours ago

Great Moments in Unintended Consequences: (Vol. 21)

7 hours ago0 Views

Taylor Lorenz: Is Social Media Responsible for Bad Parenting?

8 hours ago0 Views

Bitcoin miners are becoming AI companies and selling their BTC to fund the transition

9 hours ago0 Views

Detroit Set to Enter Michigan‘s Battle against Coinbase Prediction Markets

9 hours ago0 Views

Sealed Charges Doesn’t Mean Unmentionable-in-Court-Filings Charges

9 hours ago0 Views

Bitcoin, Altcoins Give Back March Gains As Investors Cut Risk

10 hours ago0 Views

Ex-FBI-Agents Alleging They Were Fired for Working on “Arctic Frost” Can Proceed Pseudonymously

10 hours ago0 Views

Cryptocurrency & Free Speech Finance

Bitcoin Traders Bet On Sub-$66K BTC In April Due To Rising Fear

Key takeaways:Bearish sentiment is rising as Bitcoin options professional traders lose confidence that the $66,000 level will hold for long.The exit of David Sacks as the Crypto and AI czar and a lack of a clear US Strategic Bitcoin Reserve plan added to investors’ doubts.Bitcoin (BTC) fell to $65,530 on Friday, an 8% decline from the $71,300 level seen on Thursday. This move wiped out over $210 million in leveraged bullish Bitcoin futures and left most call (buy) options worthless during the $18.6 billion monthly expiry. Traders now anticipate a 53% chance that Bitcoin will stay below $66,000 by April…

Is Race-and-IQ Research a Crime?

ICE Adds $600M to Polymarket Investment Despite US Regulatory Scrutiny

Morgan Stanley Sets Bitcoin ETF Fee at Ultra-Low 0.14%

AI & Crypto

Politics

Trump Backs Section 702 Reauthorization After Once Calling To ‘KILL FISA’

Media & Culture 11 hours ago

This week, President Donald Trump called on Congress to reauthorize a provision of federal law that allows the government to spy on noncitizens but can easily be used against citizens, as well. Lawmakers, including previously skeptical Republicans, have fallen in…

Theranos Fraudster Elizabeth Holmes’ Sentence Reduced by 1 Year

12 hours ago

Minnesota Bills Would Create State Right To Sue Government Officials for Constitutional Violations

13 hours ago

Media & Culture

Judge Rejects ‘Orwellian Notion’ That Anthropic Is a Supply Chain Risk for Disagreeing With the Government

Media & Culture

Maine Lobsterman Asks the Supreme Court To Strike Down a Rule Allowing the Government To Track His Boat 24/7

Media & Culture

Khan v. Yale University #TheyLied Case Dismissed Because of Plaintiff’s “Egregious” Litigation Misconduct

Less Than 50 Percent of New Yorkers Support Hochul’s Nicotine Pouch Tax

Trump’s War in Iran Risks Ruining His Entire Foreign Policy

Why Democrats Should Talk About Trump’s Tariffs as a ‘Threat to the Rule of Law’

The Hidden Costs of Elizabeth Warren’s ‘Ultra-Millionaire’ Tax

10 Boats, 10,000 Troops

From Justice Frankfurter in the Steel Seizure Case (1952)

How Taxes Are Reshaping Where Americans Live and Work

Don't Miss!

P2P.me Team Discloses Polymarket Bets Tied to Funding Round

US Tech Companies Must be Accountable in US Courts for Facilitating Persecution and Torture Abroad, EFF Urges US Supreme Court

Hegseth’s War On Anthropic Encounters The First Amendment

Nigerian police beat journalist Muhammad Sani Adamu during Eid celebrations

Morgan Stanley enters bitcoin ETF race with market-leading low fee

15 hours ago0 Views

Stablecoin Jitters, AI Micropayments Reshape Crypto

15 hours ago0 Views

Gavin Newsom Bans California Public Officials From Prediction Market Insider Trading

15 hours ago0 Views

Turns Out That Advertisers Not Wanting To Fund Neo-Nazi-Adjacent Content Isn’t An Antitrust Violation

15 hours ago0 Views

BTC price falls below $67,000 as 10-year Treasury yield nears 1-year high of 4.5%

16 hours ago0 Views

Coinbase Users Push Back against Prediction Markets Notifications

16 hours ago0 Views

NYSE Parent Company Finalizes Polymarket Investment, Totaling $1.6 Billion

16 hours ago0 Views

FBI Tells Senate It’s Still Bypassing 4th Amendment By Purchasing Location Data From Third Parties

16 hours ago0 Views

Editor's Picks

The Innovation Trap: Why AI Defies Governance

Debates 12 hours ago

AI Is Not About To Become Sentient

Debates 13 hours ago

California Governor Newsom Signs Prediction Market Insider Trading Order

Cryptocurrency & Free Speech Finance 13 hours ago

Binance Australia Hit With $6.9M Fine After Investors Lose Millions on Derivatives

Cryptocurrency & Free Speech Finance 14 hours ago

Journalist Anna Kalyuzhna harassed over Facebook post on Ukraine assault regiments

Global Free Speech 17 hours ago

Ondo, CC sidestep macro concerns with institutional deals as BTC, ETH prices slide: Crypto Daybook Americas

Cryptocurrency & Free Speech Finance 17 hours ago

US Lawmakers Publish Competing Crypto Tax Bill Proposal

Cryptocurrency & Free Speech Finance 17 hours ago

Anthropic’s ‘Most Capable’ AI Model Claude Mythos Leaks, Deemed Major Cybersecurity Threat

Cryptocurrency & Free Speech Finance 17 hours ago

Opinions & Debates

Debates

When Indigenous Myth Replaces Science Class

News Room

In the early 2000s, I spent much of my time over the course of several years fighting the incursion of religion into science classes in the United States. At the time, the main target of religious fundamentalists was evolution. Well-funded groups at places like the Discovery Institute were trying to insert the religious concept of Intelligent Design (ID) into high school science classes on an equal footing with biological evolution—in spite of a lack of evidence in favour of the notion that the current complexity in biological species required divine intelligence to arise, and a massive amount of counter-evidence that…

Debates

Trump’s Edifice Complex

Debates

Melbourne’s Justice Problem

Debates

Iran’s Hidden War Against the West: Emily Schrader

Debates

Robert Trivers and the Roots of Human Suffering Character

Debates

Iran War Tests Trump — and a Vulnerable China

Debates

The UAE’s Case for Sovereignty Over Ideology

Latest News

Video

Knowledge Creation and A.I. | Free Speech Future Event Series

Watch Full Video on YouTube

Media & Culture

Daily Deal: The 2026 Microsoft Office Pro Courses Bundle

from the good-deals-on-cool-stuff dept The 2026 Microsoft Office Pro Bundle has 8 courses to help you master essential Office skills. Courses cover Access, PowerPoint,…

Global Free Speech

Becoming by Michelle Obama was among the targeted titles. Photo: Patti McConville/Alamy When a school librarian from Greater Manchester came to Index with a shocking story about nearly 200 books being hauled from her shelves and losing her career to a “safeguarding” complaint, we promised to conceal her identity. At her request, we renamed her Emily and we did not name the school. She was terrified about the repercussions if her name was known, both from the school and from other people who might target her online. We kept our promise. Now, a local media outlet has uncovered and published the name of the school. Emily’s identity remains hidden. The school in question is the Lowry Academy in Salford, part of the United Learning Trust. There were extra details Index could not reveal when the name of the school was concealed. We can now address these issues, which are in the public interest. We can reveal how the local authority upheld the safeguarding complaint that destroyed a librarian’s career, the evidence that contradicts the school’s response and the bigger concerns for both Greater Manchester and the United Learning Trust. Initially, Emily told Index, she thought the situation “was a sick joke”. She first heard of the threat to her job when the Lowry Academy’s headteacher took umbrage at Laura Bates’ book Men Who Hate Women in the school library. The nonfiction title, where Bates goes undercover to expose vast misogynist networks and communities, had been ordered by Emily for the Life 101 section for older students, after training she had received about incel culture. The school launched an investigation into both the library and Emily. She was soon reported to the local authority as a safeguarding risk, simply for stocking books. Nearly 200 books were removed and AI was used to categorise the reasons for each book’s removal. You can read more about what happened to Emily in our investigation. While the name Lowry Academy is new, the public might be more familiar with it as the former Harrop Fold School, featured on the Channel 4 documentary Educating Greater Manchester. The school, whose leadership changed after it was fully academised in 2020, had a “good” Ofsted rating in 2024, but it was noted that pupils in key stage 4 had limited time devoted to personal, social and health education. The academy is now part of the United Learning Trust, which says on its website that its ethos “is our expression of our Christian roots, in schools which are fully inclusive and both welcome and respect students and staff of all faiths and none”. A former student from Lowry Academy got in contact with Index, after the name of the school was revealed. He studied at the school until 2024, and said he spent all of his break times in the library. He described the vast and inclusive set of books, spanning across genres. He said he found the library purge and the way Emily was treated “quite grotesque.” “It was disgusting how it was all handled,” he added. He was shocked by the list of targeted books, and said he’d read a few of the biographies. He also read a lot of George Orwell, while he has friends who read many of the manga books. He believes the loss of titles from the library will have a big impact on current students who, like him, find a safe space in the library. “They won’t have the freedom of reading what they want to read,” he said. While the Lowry Academy did not respond to Index for comment, the Manchester Mill reported that the school told them: “It is not the case that books have been ‘banned’ by the school. Following concerns that a number of books within the library were neither age nor content appropriate, an audit was conducted. Following this, books have been placed into age-appropriate categories and returned to the shelves. A very small number of books were deemed inappropriate even for older children due to their content and have been removed.” It may be true some books have now been returned, but they were undoubtedly removed in the first instance. Lowry Academy refused to engage with Index or other organisations to explain what had happened to the books. Index has documentary evidence to support the claim that the books were indeed initially removed from the library during an “audit”. In an email from the school to Emily during the investigation, she was told: “Attached is the list of books [the designated safeguarding lead] has removed from the library. Please note that the audit is still ongoing, and the DSL has confirmed that she is alleging these books are not suitable to remain in the library. The investigation will be based on the attached list.” Further to this, in the school’s investigation report, they concluded with the recommendation: “Continue the audit of all library resources until the Designated Safeguarding Lead (DSL) is satisfied that any material deemed inappropriate for a school setting has been removed.” In an email from the school to Emily during the investigation, she was told: “Attached is the list of books [the designated safeguarding lead] has removed from the library. Please note that the audit is still ongoing, and the DSL has confirmed that she is alleging these books are not suitable to remain in the library. The investigation will be based on the attached list.” Further to this, in the school’s investigation report, they concluded with the recommendation: “Continue the audit of all library resources until the Designated Safeguarding Lead (DSL) is satisfied that any material deemed inappropriate for a school setting has been removed.” Index has seen extensive documentary evidence proving Emily’s claims. These documents have also been seen by the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals (CILIP) and their School Libraries Group (SLG), who have both been supporting Emily. During their investigation, evidenced in these documents, the school shared examples of the removed books with the trust’s safeguarding lead, who said: “The school should ensure that library materials reflect the values and ethos of the school”. The values described on the school website are “aspiration, respect, confidence, creativity and resilience”. The investigation report said that the trust’s safeguarding lead had stated: “Some of these books would be indefensible to parents and expressed concern that the material does not represent a balanced view aligned with the values the trust seeks to promote.” During the investigation, the school also showed concern for their reputation, writing in a report: “I believe there has been a failure to prevent students accessing inappropriate books, this constitutes a serious safeguarding breach under KCSIE 2025. Had parents been aware of this, the school’s reputation could have been brought into significant disrepute.” The Lowry Academy story is not simply a case of one overzealous headteacher. Not only have several senior members of staff been involved, but the trust and the local authority have also played key roles. Margaret Woodhouse, the chair of the school’s governing body, is also the independent chair of the Greater Manchester Learning Partnership, where school leaders across the region work together. Emily was reported to the local authority as a safeguarding risk on 9 December 2025 and her hearing was held on 5 January 2026, after she had resigned. When the committee, known as a LADO, made their decision in January 2026, they substantiated the allegation, stating that Emily had not caused direct harm but that she had failed to follow safeguarding procedures. Index has seen redacted minutes of the meeting. The meeting was held by Salford City Council, and there were four people in attendance. Two were from the school, one was the LADO chair and one was the LADO administration officer. The allegations against Emily were specifically around “introducing inappropriate material into the school library” and nothing else. No previous concerns about her had been raised. In the meeting, the school’s senior vice-principal explained that the referral was made “after discovering multiple books in the school library containing inappropriate content. These books had been loaned to children and did not align with the school’s curriculum”. They confirmed that the investigation was prompted by their discovery of Men Who Hate Women, saying: “the content was inappropriate for children and even challenging for adults to access”. At one point, the LADO chair asked why Emily “began ordering controversial titles and whether this was a recent development”. She later “confirmed several books were adult literature and therefore unsuitable for a school setting”. Some of the books removed include Michelle Obama’s Becoming, Dan Brown’s The Da Vinci Code and Andrew Flintoff’s autobiography Second Innings. As Caroline Roche, chair of the School Libraries Group (SLG) told Index, librarians all make different decisions about which books to stock based on their students and communities, and are ready to defend their collections. Indeed, many GCSE English set texts were not written for children, including Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, William Shakespeare’s Macbeth and To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee. They contain challenging topics, as do many others. In Salford City Council’s decision, there appears to have been a lack of understanding of the role of a school library – an increasing occurrence when it comes to school leadership, when there is an absence of statutory guidance for school libraries. The Lowry Academy boasts on its website that “reading is central to the development of our students”, and talks of how students can read all kinds of genres – horror, graphic novels and classics among them. Students will “be exposed to unfamiliar topics to broaden their understanding of the world around them,” the school writes. Many titles in these genres were indeed removed from the school library during the purge. The school’s investigation discussed the removal of a Nineteen-Eighty-Four graphic novel. And mere paragraphs later described how a senior staff member felt the library’s ‘Life 101’ section (where Emily kept books for school leavers) was inappropriate, “based on the association with the television program Room 101, where undesirable items are symbolically discarded”. They were seemingly oblivious to Room 101’s origins in Orwell’s Nineteen-Eighty-Four. The day Index published our investigation, the Lowry Academy posted a Facebook video promoting a The Traitors-style game, where staff would be “banished”. It was filmed in the school library. “It has come to our attention that among our staff we have some traitors,” one staff member says on the video, without an ounce of irony. Not for the fact that one of their staff has already been “banished”, not for the fact that books have been banished and not for the fact that The Traitors is a programme about murder and deception, not made exclusively for young people. Although, of course, enjoyed by many. Index believes this story is of huge public interest. Not only because the freedom to read and intellectual freedom are under attack in a school setting, but also because important safeguarding procedures appear to have been misused by multiple people. We fear we will see more stories like this if changes are not made, and that school librarians will self-censor through fear. Index has approached the Lowry Academy, United Learning Trust and Salford City Council for comment. United Learning acknowledged the request but did not provide a comment before publication. The others have not replied. READ MORE

When a school librarian from Greater Manchester came to Index with a shocking story about nearly 200 books being hauled from her shelves and…

Cryptocurrency & Free Speech Finance

Bitcoin, Coinbase, Strategy, Gemini, Galaxy swept up in market rout

Crypto stocks are getting hit hard Friday as weakness in U.S. equities rippled through high-risk assets, driving bitcoin BTC$65,822.30 below $66,000.Crypto exchange Coinbase (COIN)…