Welcome to Thursday, June 24th, smokes and fires...

@&!# yeah! The Supreme Court has ruled that a cheerleader's profane social media post is protected by the First Amendment.

The case, known as Mahanoy Area School District v. B.L., concerned a free speech dispute that arose after then-14-year old Brandi Levy failed to make the Mahanoy Area High School varsity cheerleading squad in 2017 shortly after she also failed to get a position on the softball team.

At an off-campus convenience store, Levy posted a Snapchat video in which she vented: “F*** school f*** softball f*** cheer f*** everything,” while she and her friend raised their middle fingers. 

Cheerleaders - "visibly upset" - showed the coaches the Snapchat story. Despite Levy’s apologies, the coaches suspended Levy from the junior varsity cheer team for a year, which was upheld by the school’s principal, superintendent, and the school board.

Given that Levy was a minor at the time, her parents sued on her behalf, and a federal district court granted an injunction to allow her to cheer before it ultimately found the school violated her First Amendment rights.

The Supreme Court ruled in an 8-1 decision that Levy’s posts were protected speech and that the high school violated her First Amendment rights.

How do you feel about the Court’s decision?

Biden Urged to Expedite Visas for Afghan Interpreters

A bipartisan group of lawmakers is urging the Biden administration to speed up the processing of visas for Afghan interpreters who assisted the American military as the U.S. continues its withdrawal.

Interpreters - and their families - face death threats from the Taliban.

In a House Armed Services Committee hearing on the issue in May, Rep. Michael Waltz (R-FL), a former Green Beret, and retired Army Ranger Rep. Jason Crow (D-CO) recounted stories about Afghans they served alongside who were subsequently murdered by the Taliban for assisting American and coalition forces. 

The U.S. withdrawal is expected to be completed by September 11th.

Should Afghan interpreters be evacuated while their visas are processed amid Taliban death threats?

Eat Fish? You're Eating Plastic

Each week, the average person consumes about five grams of microplastic.

That's a credit card's worth of plastic every week.

Every six months, we ingest enough plastic flakes to fill a cereal bowl.

386 marine fish species are known to have ingested plastic debris, including 210 species that are commercially eaten. And fish are consuming more plastic over time as ocean-plastic pollution increases globally.

Which means you're consuming more plastic over time.

But it doesn't have to be this way.

Donate to Ocean Voyages Institute, help the Clean Oceans Campaign, and win $50,000.

All The Memes Fit To Post
 

And, In The End...

On this date in 1884, John R. Lynch, a former congressman from Mississippi, was elected temporary chairman of the Republican convention. Lynch thus became the first Black American to preside over deliberations of a national political party.

Bake some cookies to celebrate National Parchment Day and National Pralines Day,

—Josh Herman

Talk to us via email at editorial [at] causes.com. And don’t forget to keep in touch @Causes.