Southwest
Conservatives defend Texas’ policy investigating transgender ‘treatments’ as child abuse amid court battle
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A choose has granted a brief restraining order blocking Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s new coverage directing Texas’ Division of Household and Protecting Providers (DFPS) to research subjecting kids to controversial transgender procedures equivalent to cross-sex hormones and “puberty blockers” as “little one abuse.”
Whereas the American Civil Liberties Union and President Biden oppose the coverage, describing it as an assault on dad and mom of transgender kids, conservatives spoke to Fox Information defending it.
PAXTON CLAPS BACK AFTER BIDEN CONDEMNS ‘STATE LAWS TARGETING TRANSGENDER AMERICANS’
“All of our liberties have limits. And that is true of parental rights as effectively. Nobody – together with dad and mom — ought to intrude with a toddler’s regular, pure bodily growth,” Ryan T. Anderson, president of the Ethics and Public Coverage Middle and creator of the guide When Harry Grew to become Sally, instructed Fox Information Digital.
“It’s profoundly unethical to intervene within the regular bodily growth of a kid as a part of ‘affirming’ a ‘gender identification’ at odds with bodily intercourse,” Anderson added. “Governments ought to prohibit this misuse of medical expertise and defend kids from these harms.”
A retired Marine colonel operating for Congress in Georgia agreed with Anderson.
“Adults deciding to mutilate their physique is one factor, however forcing a toddler to do that is abuse,” Col. Mitchell Swan, a Republican candidate for Georgia’s tenth Congressional District, instructed Fox Information Digital. “I might like to see comparable motion taken in Georgia to guard kids, who’re nonetheless creating each bodily and mentally, from being subjected to radical and everlasting procedures equivalent to these.”
GEORGIA GOP CANDIDATE, A RETIRED MARINE COLONEL, URGES MILITARY TO REVERSE TRANSGENDER POLICY AMID UKRAINE WAR
“For adults, and particularly medical professionals, to be placing their political agendas forward of actual science and forward of what’s finest for our kids, is frankly obscene and unconscionable,” Swan argued. “I’ve all the time advocated for a nation the place People can stay how they need to stay, even when I don’t perceive it. However forcing hormone remedy or every other type of transition on a toddler is flawed, plain and easy. It’s abusive and needs to be handled as such.”
Abbott ordered DFPS to research cases the place Texas kids have been subjected to “all kinds of elective procedures for gender transitioning, together with reassignment surgical procedures that may trigger sterilization, mastectomies, removals of in any other case wholesome physique components, and administration of puberty-blocking medicine or supraphysiologic doses of testosterone or estrogen.”
That order cited a authorized opinion from Lawyer Basic Ken Paxton, R-Texas, which decided that controversial transgender procedures represent little one abuse. The opinion cited quite a few medical doctors and different medical sources, claiming that “there isn’t any proof that long-term psychological well being outcomes are improved or that charges of suicide are decreased by hormonal or surgical intervention.”
The ACLU and Lamda Authorized sued Abbott and Paxton on Tuesday, aiming to dam DFPS from investigating dad and mom who encourage their children’ transgender identities.
“No household ought to need to concern being torn aside as a result of they’re supporting their trans little one,” Adri Pérez, coverage and advocacy strategist on the ACLU of Texas, mentioned in a press release on the lawsuit. Pérez claimed that the directives of Abbott and Paxton should not “rooted within the wants of households, the proof from medical doctors and the experience from little one welfare professionals.” The spokesperson claimed that “gender-affirming well being care saved my life, and different trans Texans ought to have the ability to entry medically mandatory, lifesaving care.”
BIDEN ACCUSES TEXAS OF ‘ATTACKING’ TRANSGENDER YOUTH FOR INVESTIGATING GENDER PROCEDURES ON KIDS
Choose Amy Clark Meachum issued a brief restraining order towards the coverage Tuesday, however Paxton filed a discover of attraction Thursday in an try and convey the case earlier than the third Circuit Courtroom of Appeals.
President Biden, after briefly mentioning the problem in his State of the Union speech Tuesday, attacked Texas authorities head-on in a White Home assertion Wednesday.
“The Governor of Texas has directed state officers to open little one abuse investigations into households just because they’ve offered entry to affirming care for his or her kids,” the president mentioned. “That is authorities overreach at its worst.”
He introduced that the Division of Well being and Human Providers introduced actions to battle the “weaponizing” of “little one protecting companies towards loving households,” and steps to “increase entry to gender-affirming look after transgender kids.”
Whereas many medical associations have embraced varied procedures for youths who establish as transgender and are identified with gender dysphoria (the persistent and painful state of figuring out because the gender reverse one’s organic intercourse), some medical doctors have warned towards using hormone remedies that haven’t been accredited for gender dysphoria by the Meals and Drug Administration (FDA).
Most hormone remedies “are solely FDA accredited as puberty blockers in kids for the aim of treating central precocious puberty and never for gender dysphoria,” Dr. Michael Laidlaw, an impartial personal apply endocrinologist in Rocklin, Calif., instructed Fox Information in Dec. 2021.
“Central precocious puberty is a medical situation through which a toddler begins puberty at an abnormally younger age, say age 4,” Laidlaw defined. “Medicines like Supprelin LA are used to cease this irregular puberty. Then as soon as the kid reaches a typical age for puberty (say age 11 or 12), the treatment is stopped, after which regular puberty will resume.”
“The off-label use of those drugs for gender dysphoria is totally completely different,” the endocrinologist added. “On this case the wholesome little one has already begun regular puberty. However then the treatment is given to dam regular puberty. Blocking regular puberty has quite a few unhealthy unwanted side effects together with lack of regular bone growth, interference with regular mind and social growth, and importantly causes infertility and sexual dysfunction. Many of those results will probably be irreversible.”
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Los Angeles, Ca
Southern California teen girl stabbed to death, suspect in custody
A Southern California teen was stabbed to death on Friday night, and police say an acquaintance of hers is in custody.
Authorities responded to reports of an assault with a deadly weapon at about 10 p.m. Friday on the 300 Block of North Soldano Avenue in Azusa, according to the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.
When Azusa police officers arrived at the scene, they found a girl suffering from stab wounds. She was transported to a local hospital, where she later died.
The victim was identified only as a 17-year-old girl. Her name is yet to be publicly released.
A suspect, identified only as an 18-year-old acquaintance of the girl, was taken into custody. As of Saturday morning, it wasn’t yet clear whether the suspect would be facing charges.
No additional details were immediately made available.
Southwest
Spending bill to fund State Department agency accused of censoring, blacklisting Americans
A State Department agency – which has been chided by conservatives for its alleged blacklisting of Americans and news outlets – is set to be refunded in the continuing resolution (CR) bill currently being hammered out among lawmakers on Capitol Hill.
The Global Engagement Center has been included in page 139 of the CR. Although it doesn’t specify its budget allocation, a previous Inspector General report shows the agency’s FY 2020 budget totaled $74.26 million, of which $60 million was appropriated by Congress.
The provision in the CR can be found under “Foreign Affairs Section 301. Global Engagement Center Extension,” and comes despite the State Department saying in response to a lawsuit that it intended to shut down the agency by next week.
OBAMA-ERA INTERAGENCY ORGANIZATION ‘BLACKLISTED’ AMERICANS IN ATTEMPT TO CURB ‘FOREIGN DISINFORMATION’: REPORT
The GEC, according to reporter Matt Taibbi, “funded a secret list of subcontractors and helped pioneer and insidious—and idiotic—new form of blacklisting” during the pandemic.
Taibbi wrote last year when exposing the Twitter Files that the GEC “flagged accounts as ‘Russian personas and proxies’ based on criteria like, ‘Describing the Coronavirus as an engineered bioweapon,’ blaming ‘research conducted at the Wuhan institute,’ and ‘attributing the appearance of the virus to the CIA.’”
“State also flagged accounts that retweeted news that Twitter banned the popular U.S. website ZeroHedge, claiming it ‘led to another flurry of disinformation narratives.’” ZeroHedge had made reports speculating that the virus had a lab origin.
Elon Musk previously described the GEC as being the “worst offender in US government censorship & media manipulation.”
“They are a threat to our democracy,” Musk wrote in a subsequent tweet.
The GEC is part of the State Department but also partners with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Central Intelligence Agency, the National Security Agency, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, the Special Operations Command and the Department of Homeland Security. The GEC also funds the Atlantic Council’s Digital Forensic Research Lab (DFRLab).
Taibbi offered various instances in which the DFRLab and the GEC sent Twitter a list of accounts they believed were engaged in “state-backed coordinated manipulation.” However, a quick glance from Twitter employees determined that the list was shoddy and included the accounts of multiple American citizens with seemingly no connection to the foreign entity in question.
STATE DEPARTMENT FUNDS ‘DISINFORMATION’ INDEX TARGETING NON-LIBERAL AND CONSERVATIVE NEWS OUTLETS: REPORT
DFRLab Director Graham Brookie previously denied the claim that they use tax money to track Americans, saying its GEC grants have “an exclusively international focus.”
A 2024 report from the Republican-led House Small Business Committee criticized the GEC for awarding grants to organizations whose work includes tracking domestic as well as foreign misinformation and rating the credibility of U.S.-based publishers, according to the Washington Post.
The State Department, in response to a lawsuit, said it intended to shut down the agency on Dec. 23. But the CR provision means, if passed, it will continue to operate.
The lawsuit was brought by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, the Daily Wire and the Federalist, who sued the State Department, Secretary of State Antony Blinken, and other government officials earlier this month for “engaging in a conspiracy to censor, deplatform and demonetize American media outlets disfavored by the federal government.”
The lawsuit stated that the GEC was used as a tool for the defendants to carry out its censorship.
“Congress authorized the creation of the Global Engagement Center expressly to counter foreign propaganda and misinformation,” the Texas Attorney General’s Office said in a press release. “Instead, the agency weaponized this authority to violate the First Amendment and suppress Americans’ constitutionally-protected speech.
The complaint describes the State Department’s project as “one of the most egregious government operations to censor the American press in the history of the nation.’”
The lawsuit argued that The Daily Wire, The Federalist, and other conservative news organizations were branded “unreliable” or “risky” by the agency, “starving them of advertising revenue and reducing the circulation of their reporting and speech—all as a direct result of [the State Department’s] unlawful censorship scheme.”
Meanwhile, America First Legal, headed up by Stephen Miller, President-elect Trump’s pick for deputy chief of staff for policy, revealed that the GEC used taxpayer dollars to create a video game called “Cat Park” to “Inoculate Youth Against Disinformation” abroad.
The game “inoculates players … by showing how sensational headlines, memes, and manipulated media can be used to advance conspiracy theories and incite real-world violence,” according to a memo obtained by America First Legal.
Mike Benz, the executive director at the Foundation For Freedom Online, said the game was “anti-populist” and pushed certain political beliefs instead of protecting Americans from foreign disinformation, per the Tennessee Star.
A State Department spokesperson said the agency does not comment on pending legislation when asked for comment by Fox News Digital.
Fox News Digital reached out to the GEC for comment on its potential refunding but did not immediately receive a response.
Fox News Nikolas Lanum and Louis Casiano contributed to this report.
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Los Angeles, Ca
Saturday "Gayle on the Go!" : OneLegacy Donate Life at the 2025 Rose Parade
KTLA is Your Rose Parade Station. Gayle Anderson reports Ed Morales, the current Pasadena Tournament of Roses Association President, has chosen the 2025 Rose Parade theme, ‘Best Day Ever ‘. This theme is a celebration of life’s best moments – those unexpected times that bring a smile, warm our hearts, and fill us with joy.
While for donor families, losing a loved one represents one of the most difficult moments of their lives, organ, eye, and tissue donation brings a ray of hope. It allows them to see their loved ones live on in others, creating a legacy that continues in transplant recipients. The 2025 OneLegacy Donate Life float, Let Your Life Soar, features a vibrant scene inspired by the beloved Japanese celebration of Children’s Day. Colorful Koi No Bori (Flying Fish Flags), or windsocks shaped like fish, fly overhead. Streamers bear the family crest, followed by Koi No Bori in a sequence representing father, mother, and children in order of birth.
On the OneLegacy float, the koi fish scales will highlight memorial floragraph portraits. Floragraph portraits from organic materials represent donors who gave the gift of life. The windsocks will soar over a garden of flowering trees featuring stone lanterns and a beautiful bridge. Organ, eye, and tissue recipients will ride on the float, sharing their gratitude for their donors’ gift of life. Living donors will walk alongside the float, showing the power of living donation. The OneLegacy Let Your Life Soar float showcases the Japanese culture and the tradition of Children’s Day, or Kodomo no Hi in Japan. Children’s Day occurs during Golden Week, a collection of four national holidays celebrated within seven days and one of Japan’s three busiest holiday seasons. Families raise their carp-shaped windsocks in Japan, which have been flying for generations. In Japan, the koi fish represent strength, courage, and health.
These same attributes define not only those who chose to give the gift of life but also their families afterward and their recipients. Koi fish are also believed to represent perseverance, stemming from an ancient legend of a golden carp that swam upstream and became a dragon. The entire donation and transplantation community exemplifies perseverance from the families that carry on the legend of their loved ones to the medical community For Immediate Release NEWS tirelessly dedicated to donation and transplantation. The 2025 OneLegacy Donate Life Float honors tradition, family, legends, and love within the donation community.
Award-winning float deAward-winning float designer Charles Meier created the beautiful design that honors this quintessential Japanese celebration. The float will be brought to life under the direction of the OneLegacy Donate Life float’s new crew chief, Travis Woodward. Every year, more than a thousand volunteers spend countless hours decorating the float with organic materials from October through December, with the goal of finishing it for its journey down the streets of Pasadena on New Year’s Day.
The OneLegacy Donate Life Rose Parade float is produced by OneLegacy and made possible thanks to dozens of donation, transplantation, healthcare, and family care organizations from across the country, who join OneLegacy to sponsor our float every year, and individuals who help make donation and transplantation possible. As the world’s most visible campaign to inspire organ, eye, and tissue donation, the OneLegacy Donate Life float in the Rose Parade, presented by Honda, is a powerful reminder of the impact everyone can make. By registering today to become an organ, eye, or tissue donor, you can potentially save or enhance the life of one of the over one million people in need of transplants each year. Your decision to donate is a testament to the power of community and the value we place on life.
Visit www.onelegacy.org/register or Registerme.org for those outside of California to register.
About OneLegacy: OneLegacy is the nonprofit organization dedicated to saving lives through organ, eye and tissue donation in seven counties in Southern California: Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, Ventura, Santa Barbara and Kern. It serves more than 200 hospitals, 9 transplant centers, a diverse population of 20 million donors and families across the region and waiting recipients across the country. Becoming an eye, organ or tissue donor is easy and can be done by registering online at donateLIFEcalifornia.org/OneLegacy or by “checking YES” at your local DMV. For more information, visit OneLegacy.org
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