Washington, D.C
Why female athletes are coming to Washington – Washington Examiner
As a female athlete, I know that my most precious resource is my time. I started swimming at a young age. By age 8, I was swimming competitively, and by late middle school, I was devoting at least 20 hours per week to swimming. I gave up countless Christmas holidays, weekends, and social events to work toward my goal of swimming at the Division I level. My experience is not uncommon or unique. All female athletes have made sacrifices, like I have, in order to be the best at their sport.
So why are so many serious female athletes winding our way around the country on a bus right now to be a part of the Our Bodies, Our Sports coalition? Why are we using our scarce and valuable time this way? Why are we asking people to join us in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday for a rally to Take Back Title IX?
For a couple of years now, the media have occasionally shared stories about men entering and winning women’s athletic competitions. You may have heard about runners in Connecticut, a woman’s fractured skull during a MMA fight, Lia Thomas facing Riley Gaines in the swimming pool. Yet these high-profile examples are just the tip of an already large and growing iceberg. According to SheWon.org, male athletes have entered hundreds of competitions across the country meant for women and taken spots on teams, medals and honors on award podiums, and even scholarships meant for female athletes.
Yet this already bad situation is about to get worse. The Biden administration has just rewritten Title IX, a law that was supposed to ensure that women have equal opportunity in education including athletics, to equate sex with “gender identity.” Basically, the new Title IX will require schools and athletic competitions to allow any athlete to opt into a competition that matches his or her self-proclaimed gender identity. So the best male athlete from last year can switch to competing in the women’s races this year if he wants to.
Claiming that somehow this “inclusion” of men doesn’t threaten female athletes is ridiculous. You don’t need to dig up scientific studies, though there are plenty providing this point. Just check out the world records for women’s and men’s competitions in every sport. You’ll see that men are consistently faster and stronger than women. That’s why there are women’s teams and men’s teams in the first place: If there weren’t, women simply wouldn’t win and often wouldn’t even make the team.
We can’t let the Biden administration’s Title IX rewrite destroy women’s sports. I hear terrible stories of young girls who are coming up in their sports who are questioning whether they should bother playing at all since they expect that they will have to play against boys and those boys will invariably beat them and may even physically injure them far more seriously than any female competitor would.
That makes me furious. It makes me mad enough that I gave up time to travel the nation and to speak out. This isn’t about being anti-transgender or anti-anyone. It’s about being pro-woman and pro-reality.
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I want men who identify as women to be treated with respect. Yet those men should also respect the perspective of women who have different bodies and aptitudes. We don’t get flooded with testosterone during puberty. We get breasts and our periods, which can make competitions harder, not easier. It’s not fair to women to disregard this unchangeable reality of our bodies. Women and girls deserve a level playing field and sports of our own.
I’m joining the Our Bodies, Our Sports Take Back Title IX summer bus tour because I know that, right now, what we are fighting for is bigger than any single competition. We are fighting for the future of women’s sports itself. I won’t stand by and watch as female athletes are pushed aside. And if you care about women and fairness, neither should you. Take a stand to defend women and take back Title IX.
Paula Scanlan is an ambassador with the Independent Women’s Forum and a former swimmer at the University of Pennsylvania, where she was a teammate of Lia Thomas.
Washington, D.C
Suburban family coordinated Jimmy Carter's Washington D.C. funeral: 'It was really beautiful'
WASHINGTON (WLS) — The public funeral celebrating former President Jimmy Carter’s life and legacy was coordinated by a family that hails from the Chicago suburbs.
Rick Jasculca, a Chicago public affairs executive, worked for and with Carter for years, and considered him family.
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It was a somber day that included stories of Carter that brought laughs, as well as tears.
Thursday was a national day of mourning to honor and remember Carter; President Joe Biden delivered a eulogy.
“Throughout his life he showed us what it means to be a practitioner of good works, a good and faithful servant of God and of the people,” Biden said.
The gathering was a time for the nation to come together, to put aside politics and join the Carter family in remembering the legacy of the 39th president.
“They were small town people who never forgot who they were and where they were from, no matter what happened in their lives,” grandson Jason Carter said.
Jasculca worked on Carter’s 1976 presidential campaign, and did advance work when Carter became president.
He later joined his daughters, Lauren and Aimee, and son, Andrew, working with the Carter Center.
The four family members served as overall coordinators of the ceremony Thursday in Washington, D.C.
Jasculca reflected on the ceremony before returning to Chicago.
“It was really beautiful. You know, I think it really captured the totality of Jimmy Carter,” Jasculca said.
It was a sentiment echoed often during Thursday’s ceremony.
“He had the courage and strength to stick to his principals, even when they were politically unpopular,” Jason Carter said.
Jasculca considered Carter a second father, who became dear to his entire family.
“My grandkids call me ‘Bop’; that’s their name for me. And they call President Carter ‘Bop Jimmy,’” Jasculca said.
Jasculca said, during their ceremony, he had a few moments. But, the emotions really hit him after.
“But, when we got to Andrews Air Force Base, and I knew this was the last time, you know, I’d be able to say goodbye, I just I, I’ll be honest, I bust out crying on the tarmac,” Jasculca said.
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Washington, D.C
Capitol Police arrest man attempting to set his car on fire amid Trump DC visit with GOP senators
The U.S. Capitol Police (USCP) said that they arrested a person who attempted to set his car ablaze near the U.S. Capitol building during President-elect Trump’s visit late Wednesday.
“Twice today our officers stopped a man who could have been a danger to the Capitol Hill community,” U.S. Capitol Police Chief J. Thomas Manger said. “This vigilance is critical during this time of heightened security.”
The agency said that during Trump’s visit with Republican senators and his time paying respect to President Carter, a 35-year-old man from Virginia attempted to set his car on fire.
POLICE ARREST MAN AFTER ATTEMPTING TO CARRY MACHETE, 3 KNIVES INTO US CAPITOL, HOURS BEFORE TRUMP ARRIVES
A general view of the U.S. Capitol Dome in Washington, D.C. (Reuters/Jonathan Ernst )
Police said that just before 5:30 p.m., USCP officers were alerted to a man who had parked on First Street, NW, near the Grant Memorial, and had lit a bag on fire atop his vehicle.
POLICE ARREST MAN AT US CAPITOL WHO HAD BOTTLES OF FUEL, FLARE GUN, BLOW TORCH
When officers ran over to the man, the bag extinguished on its own.
The U.S. Capitol building in Washington, D.C. (Reuters/Jason Reed)
Out of an abundance of caution, the USCP said that the vehicle was declared suspicious, and the agency’s Hazardous Incident Response Division cleared the vehicle.
Officials determined that the car was not a danger at approximately 7 p.m.
The car had been spray-painted. Investigators determined that accelerants were in the bag. The driver was arrested for unlawful activities.
The U.S. Capitol Police stopped a man from entering the Capitol at a security checkpoint, after he was found to allegedly have a machete and three knives in his bag. (U.S. Capitol Police)
Hours prior to this arrest, the USCP detained a man who attempted to carry a machete into the Capitol Visitor Center (CVC).
The Capitol Police said in a social media post that the incident happened just after 2 p.m., when officers working at a security screening at the CVC’s north doors spotted a machete in the man’s bag.
The X-ray machine was stopped as the bag went through, then police arrested 44-year-old Mel J. Horne, of Washington, D.C., before securing the machete.
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Police said Horne was arrested for multiple counts of carrying a dangerous weapon and will be interviewed by investigators to determine his motive.
Fox News Digital’s Greg Wehner contributed to this report.
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