1554: The Verger

I certainly agree that coercion is wrong but encouragement to explore should be encouraged. No one should be forced to lead a life they do not want to live I like many other later in life transitioners see that we would have had a much happier more fully realized lives if we had the option to explore rather than to be suppressed and repressed. That’s what kills queer kids, and we shall see about all the kids of conservative parents who “saved” their kids from being trans. I’ve seen that cause a lot of harm.

Many people in the “community” put a lot of emphasis on “saving or creating” trans children for that reason. There is a lot of agreement that medical intervention at that time should be taken with great care but also it just works better when you are younger. Extreme edge cases are what gets attention No matter what people will often make a decision they will regret. Like all things in life it’s complicated and all grey areas. Gender affirming care isn’t always medical, it can be as innocuous as a hair cut, wig, make up, breast binders, change of clothes or hair removal. In the community, medical intervention is seen as something each individual does in their own way at their own pace.

ITM,

Have been listening to your coverage of the contributions of therapists to the transgender kids/teens issue, and I wanted to try to explain something that I think you're not aware of.

I'm a therapist, in practice for 10 years. This issue is popping up much more frequently these days, and I want you to know how we got to the world where it looks like all therapists are affirming and encouraging minors' gender transition.

It started with the APA writing guidelines for pretty much everything - what kinds of therapies I should use, what language I should use, etc. These guidelines were adopted by many states in their licensing procedures.

Now, the APA guidelines for trans and gender-nonconforming youth indicate that "affirming care" is the only kind that competent psychology professionals give. This means that my state could determine that I am incompetent if I disagree.

The APA has also done its best to forbid me from simply referring these kids to someone else, as this would be "discriminatory." So I'm kind of stuck.

I own my own business, so I have some more freedom than others, but I do live in some amount of fear that I could lose my right to practice if I say the wrong thing. Thus far, I've been able to work with trans-identifying kids by simply focusing on their depression, anxiety, or other mental health issues that I think are the real problem. I don't argue with them, but I do gently challenge them: "What does a 'female brain' look like?" But I do worry that one day, I'm going to get hauled before an ethics board for challenging this.

It sucks. Anyway, I wanted to let you know why clinicians are nervous around this topic and why it is so much easier to just go along with the majority and give the kids whatever referrals for drugs/surgery that they want.

Best,

Erin

The APA is basically a lobbying group. They exist to protect their own members from competition with other qualified professionals.

The state licensing credentials are designed by them. They are constantly lobbying against Masters-level counselors and therapists, so that only people with a doctoral degree can practice (oh, except for all of their older members that have been grandfathered into being able to practice with whatever degree they have). It's in their interest to make it more difficult to be a clinician, and they're very good at what they do. When you find that you can't get an appointment with a good counselor, this is why. The supply is artificially low.

The APA is a corporation but they get a "favorable" tax deal because they do all kinds of "advocacy". They have a nonprofit arm that takes care of this.

They began with honorable intentions, I'm sure, but now they are anti-free-speech and are actively keeping people from getting the psychological treatment they need or want.

The state licensing boards for doctors started this way, too, with the AMA comprising the state boards and approving the medical schools, and thereby making more business for their own accreditation arm. They (as you have mentioned on the show) control medical education, accreditation, licensing, and therefore practice. The APA does the same, using similar techniques.

This is their org structure. You'll notice that it's basically lobbying and control of supply:

"APA comprises an executive office, a publishing operation, offices that address administrative, business, information technology, and operational needs, and five substantive directorates:

the Education Directorate accredits doctoral psychology programs and addresses issues related to psychology education in secondary through graduate education;[8]

the Practice Directorate engages on behalf of practicing psychologists and health care consumers;[9]

the Public Interest Directorate advances psychology as a means of addressing the fundamental problems of human welfare and promoting the equitable and just treatment of all segments of society;[10]

the Public and Member Communications Directorate is responsible for APA's outreach to its members and affiliates and to the general public;[11]

the Science Directorate provides support and voice for psychological scientists."

Together in Wrongthink,

Erin

Either is fine. "Erin" or "Lady Signaled Virtue".

I hope you found the organization's history of defending torture of experimental subjects and work for the CIA in this capacity.

BTW, the APA did a really clever thing by introducing themselves into high schools and middle schools with "apa style". This is a format for documents and citations, and it's the standard for scientific papers. Because of this, students are taught to use APA style in high school, and thus they get the idea that this is a scientific organization - and it kind of is. But it's also an effort to control the whole field, and to prevent people from seeking whatever psychological and emotional care they want.

Any US clinician who accepts insurance is bound (in a roundabout way) by the APA. I do not accept insurance, so I have some freedom, but it's still tricky.

Let me know if I can be of further help.

Thanks from a grateful gitmo nation,

Erin

The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) is the largest professional association of pediatricians in the US.[1] It is headquartered in DuPage County, Illinois, and maintains an office in Washington, D.C.[2] The AAP has published hundreds of policy statements, ranging from advocacy issues to practice recommendations. Notable positions advocated by the AAP include abortion access for teenagers, a minimum purchasing age of 21 years for tobacco products, background checks, an assault weapons ban, more federal research on gun violence, and favorable statements on circumcision and forms of gender-affirming care.[3]

In early 2022, five AAP members proposed Resolution 27, which called for a review on the evidence for transgender youth healthcare and called for an update to the AAP's 2018 policy statement on gender affirmative care. The resolution was proposed again in August 2022 but failed to pass. The physicians who proposed Resolution 27 claimed that they were being sidelined and that the AAP changed its processes to block discussion of the resolution. In response, the AAP said that its process worked as it should have and that Resolution 27 did not pass because the majority of AAP members did not agree with the resolution. One of the authors of Resolution 27 works with Genspect, a gender critical organisation.[59]

In July 2022, Genspect asked the AAP for a "non-partisan and systematic review of evidence" to support gender affirmative care,[60] adding that "Many of our children have received this care and are anything but thriving."[60] The AAP said it is updating its statement "Providing affirmative clinical care",[60] adding that "Robust evidence demonstrates that access to gender-affirming care decreases risk of suicidal ideations, improves mental health, and improves the overall health and well-being of transgender and gender-diverse youth."[60]

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There are several horror or thriller movies where the term "kiddo" is used by villains or predators to create a sense of unease or to lure or manipulate children. Here are a few examples:

1. Kill Bill: Vol. 2 (2004) - The character Bill (played by David Carradine) refers to his daughter as "Kiddo" throughout the film. While this is not a horror movie, the use of the term creates a sense of unease in some viewers, particularly given the violent nature of the film.

2. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974) - In this classic horror movie, the character Leatherface uses the term "kiddo" to address one of his victims. The use of the term in this context is meant to create a sense of dread and fear.

3. The Silence of the Lambs (1991) - In this thriller movie, the character Buffalo Bill uses the term "little lady" and "kiddo" to address his female victims. The use of the term is intended to create a sense of manipulation and to make his victims feel powerless.

Overall, these examples demonstrate how the use of the term "kiddo" in horror or thriller movies can be used to create a sense of discomfort or to establish a power dynamic between the speaker and the person being addressed.

Genspect is an international group founded in June 2021 by psychotherapist Stella O'Malley that describes itself as "gender-critical".[1][2][3][4] Genspect is known for criticizing and opposing gender-affirming care, as well as social and medical transition for transgender people.[5][6] Genspect opposes allowing transgender people under 25 years old to transition,[7][8][9] opposes laws that would ban conversion therapy on the basis of gender identity,[10] and opposes public health coverage for transgender healthcare at any age.[7] Genspect also endorses the concept of rapid-onset gender dysphoria (ROGD), which proposes a subclass of gender dysphoria caused by peer influence and social contagion. ROGD has been rejected by major medical organisations due to its lack of evidence and likelihood to cause harm by stigmatizing gender-affirming care.[11][12][13][14][15]

Genspect's positions are contradicted by major medical organizations such as the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH), the Endocrine Society, the American Psychiatric Association, American Psychological Association, and the American Academy of Pediatrics, which states "robust evidence demonstrates that access to gender-affirming care decreases risk of suicidal ideations, improves mental health, and improves the overall health and well-being of transgender and gender-diverse youth".[16][10][13][17][18]

Genspect is closely affiliated with the Society for Evidence-Based Gender Medicine (SEGM): Seven advisors for SEGM are on Genspect's team or advisors, including founder O'Malley.[19] Genspect consists of parents, educators, counsellors, and clinicians.[16][10]

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Why do you say “gender-questioning” instead of “trans”?

Identity in children and young people is often flexible, changing throughout adolescence and early adult years. We challenge the idea that gender identity is a permanent property: using terms such as “trans kids” indicates immutability, and may conceal a far more nuanced and fluid reality. A change in gender identity can sometimes manifest as a concrete physical solution to a psychic trauma that leads to a belief parts of the self can be discarded or left behind. It is the role of the clinician to encourage the young person to understand their less conscious, inner defenses and motivations. This can be painful work and should be done in an empathetic and slow paced manner, respecting the young person’s defenses. When we use the word “trans,” we are talking about people who have undergone medical transition — sometimes more explicitly termed “transsexuals” — and not making a statement about gender identity.

There are many reasons why rolling out the Dutch Protocol across the world is reckless:

There are no data on the long-term psychological outcomes for gender-reassigned youth: one year after surgery is not sufficient follow-up.

We do not know anything about the short- or long-term physical health outcomes. However, we do know that one person died, and there were several serious complications among others of the initial 70, which got only cursory mention by the Dutch researchers.

The Dutch team disqualified any patients who had adolescent-onset gender dysphoria, the predominant presentation that is now treated with the Dutch Protocol.

They explicitly discouraged social transition, as they believed it would harm both the majority of the kids who would desist, and the minority who would persist. The latter would need good knowledge of biology, in order to thrive in their altered bodies that only approximate the desired sex and don’t operate as such.

The Dutch gender clinic population is very different from every other country’s gender clinic populations; in particular, the Dutch patients have fewer patients with mental ill health.

While the UK study followed the same protocol as the Dutch, it failed to replicate the results. In fact, the preliminary UK data (published in a separate report but not included in the study) showed that some kids, especially girls, develop increased suicidal ideation while on puberty blockers.

The Dutch researchers recently voiced concerns about the fact that their careful experiment is being promoted worldwide, without the thorough screening, assessment and follow-up which would constitute responsible practice. In particular, they highlighted the possibility that youths whose gender distress began at adolescence may benefit from psychological, rather than medical, interventions.

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The GALAP is a grassroots, volunteer project that aims to increase access to free letters for gender-affirming medical care.

We are not a group practice, and we do not respond to direct/urgent requests for letters.

If you are looking for a provider who may be able to write a letter for you, please see our pledge signers directory and contact one of these people in your local area. We encourage you to vet your therapist before meeting with them.

Benjamin was born in Berlin, and raised in a German Lutheran home. After premedical education in Berlin and Rostock, he joined a regiment of the Prussian Guard.[1] He received his doctorate in medicine in 1912 in Tübingen for a dissertation on tuberculosis. Sexual medicine interested him, but was not part of his medical studies. In a 1985 interview he recalled:

I do remember going, as a young person, to a lecture by Auguste Forel, whose book The Sexual Question was a sensation at the time and which impressed me greatly. I also met Magnus Hirschfeld very early on through a girl friend, who knew the police official Kopp, who was in charge investigating of sexual offenses. He, in turn, was a friend of Hirschfeld's, and so I met both men. That was around 1907. They repeatedly took me along on their rounds through the homosexual bars in Berlin. I especially remember the 'Eldorado' with its drag shows, where also many of the customers appeared in the clothing of the other sex. The word "transvestite" had not yet been invented. Hirschfeld coined it only in 1910 in his well-known study.[2]

Benjamin visited the United States in 1913, to work with a quack doctor who claimed to have found a cure for tuberculosis.[3] The liner in which Benjamin was returning to Germany was caught mid-Atlantic both by the outbreak of the First World War in 1914, and the Royal Navy. Given the choice of a British internment camp, as an "enemy alien", or returning to New York, he used his last dollars to travel back to America, where he made his home for the rest of his life.[citation needed]

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The World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH), formerly known as the (Harry Benjamin International Gender Dysphoria Association (HBIGDA), is a 501(c)(3) non-profit, interdisciplinary professional and educational organization devoted to transgender health. Our professional, supporting, and student members engage in clinical and academic research to develop evidence-based medicine and strive to promote a high quality of care for transsexual, transgender, and gender-nonconforming individuals internationally. We are funded primarily through the support of our membership, and through donations and grants sponsored by non-commercial sources.

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Adam - During the trans-Maoist discussion on episode 1552, Individualized Education Plans (IEPs) in schools was mentioned - it's something I became more familiar with running for school board. As John said, which is what you would think, these obviously apply to special needs kids.

However, almost ANY kid can get an IEP and it is used by far more students than you'd think. One of the major advantages of having an IEP is that you get as much time as you want to complete tests. If you are diagnosed with ADD/ADHD (a large percentage of kids), dyslexia, or a number of other learning "disabilities", you can get an IEP. Many parents push for the diagnosis so they can get an IEP for their kids because they view it as an advantage in taking tests and getting better grades.

It is so pervasive in our school district that many teachers no longer put time limits on tests for any students. My kids, who do not have IEPs, regularly start tests and finish them the next day. There is no longer any notion of putting students under the stress of a timed test - many teachers find the idea almost abusive.

Sir Chris

Resident No Agenda Pharmacist

"Vivat Regina Camilla."

Long Live Queen Camilla.

I guess the point is that the ancient ritual has been filtered and mixed with the present day quasi globalist mentality, and what the author fails to really name but does hint at - incompetence

Incompetence is at the root of all modern tendencies imo

"don't explain with evil what can be explained with stupid"

The people who wear the clothing probably have followed some type of dress code, there are people in the organization of these things who obsess over the details

And there is the Anglican church which is quite openly Protestant, although they pretend to maintain things of Catholicism (just, do not accept the Roman Pontiff as the highest power under Christ but give that to the crown, absurd if you think of it)

(and even Catholicism itself has been watered down by lots and lots of un-catholic hogwash in recent times (yes since the 60s but of course in reality since ancient times), see the tweets from James Martin, the guy is obviously following a "change the church" doctrine which is typical of Jesuit priests)

Jesuits are where the expression "korte metten" comes from. Matins (Metten) is historically the long morning (3am) prayer. Reduced by Jesuits to, in Dutch, "abcdefg, Heer maak daar uw gebed maar mee"

We live in stupid and abstract times

Adam,

In addition to several self-employed side hustles, I’m currently a retail store assistant manager. My bottom line up front is that parents must stop giving their adult children money. I don’t know of any getting government money, I see parental support of adult children as the leading culprit. My employees that live on their own have great drive and most have second jobs, the ones that live with their folks or are on their parents dole have no drive, work as little as possible and have high absenteeism. I’ve also seen this in my extended family. When parents step in as a safety net, it causes harm, more tough love is needed to get folks off their butts.

Thank you for your courage,

Renegade 6

: the recognition and enforcement of the public acts, records, and judicial proceedings of one state by another

compare CHOICE OF LAW, COMITY, FEDERALISM

NOTE: Unlike comity, full faith and credit is a requirement created by the U.S. Constitution and the U.S. Code. A public law or a judicial decision may not, however, be entitled to full faith and credit for specific reasons (as for having been decided by a court not having jurisdiction). Full faith and credit is given only in civil cases; states recognize each other's criminal laws through the mechanism of extradition.

Link

Hi,

sorry I was just catching up on the last two episodes (was sick, so I missed one), In the previous episode Dvorak talks about the Belgrade school shooting. I followed this intensely, because it was a big news event in Croatia, and also it caught my eye, because school shootings don't happen here (in the Balkans) so I followed most of Serbia's reporting on it since it happened.

Few things;

the kid who shot was 13 (according to law he can't be criminally liable). The school is an elite school in Belgrade, sure it's a public school, most are, but this is in an elite part of town where people with money live (many children of local celebrities go there). The kid was a child of a well known doctor. He shot the other kids (8 children 1 security guard) with his dad's gun - which was lawfully owned, although the question is how the kid had access to it. Dvorak makes a mistake by saying "the parents are held responsible", that's not completely true. It is true that both the mother and father were arrested, and the father will be criminally charged for "causing immense threat" (max 14 years) because he did not secure the guns, but nobody will be actually liable for the murders as the kid is a minor. The mother was probably arrested for her own protection, and so far no charges have been brought against her, and probably none will be. Tik tok was a big influence, and one of the influencers was also arrested for propagating "killing the haters". The kid planned the whole thing a month in advance, and also everybody is perplexed with his aim, vague explanation is that dad took him to a shooting range a few times, but honestly, they did tests with pros who weren't able to make as accurate shots as the kid did. The emphasis is on the big influence on social media and TV in most public statements. Serbia is obviously bringing up bigger restrictions on its gun laws. A day after the shooting there was another mass shooting by a 21 year old who killed 8 people who came across his path. You must understand that although Serbia does have problems with organized crime, these kinds of killings are unreported in its history. As a result of the school shooting - the minister of education resigned, and there are protests for the whole government to resign.

some articles in English on the situation:

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-65468404

https://edition.cnn.com/2023/05/03/europe/serbia-school-shooting-what-we-know-intl/index.html

https://apnews.com/article/serbia-shooting-school-belgrade-guns-523b9bf8fdc0e89778baf0d8859401bf

Also as a law student that doesn't know anything, your scepticism against "war of aggression" kills me. War aggression is an international crime. Now, I agree that international law is mostly performative, and bears little to no repercussions to the actual people breaking it, but framing it that way opens up a possibility for trying to charge Putin for more crimes. Will he ever be held responsible? Highly doubt it but it's a nice virtue signaling in a "law" kind of way. I doubt we will ever see a trial, because Russia (same with USA) hasn't signed the Statute of Criminal Court. I had a discussion with my international law professor about Wagner and who is responsible for their actions, and honestly there's no precedent - because Blackrock and similar companies in America were also never held liable. It would be kind of hard to prove they're mercenaries by international law, and also Putin could just charge them in Russia if it suits him to distance himself from their actions. So yeah, it kind of grinds my gears, when you say "aggression" sure all wars are aggressive, but war of aggression is a crime.

https://www.icc-cpi.int/sites/default/files/RS-Eng.pdf - here's the statut of IC (page 7 is crime of aggression) although again Russia didn't sign it (ratify it) so... you know murky waters, it'll be fun to see if an African country bites the bullet and actually arrests Putin and extrodites him and what they do with it. Basically from my understanding Ukraine Russia thing is super similar to Afghanistan USA thing from an international crimes/law perspective, and we know how the latter ended up - nobody was held responsible.

Stay safe,

Hope this was at least a bit helpful :)

Officials are also investigating any possible ties between the suspect and radical beliefs after he was found wearing a patch on his chest that suggested white supremacist or neo-Nazi leanings, according to the Washington Post.

According to the Texas Online Private Security database, Garcia was approved to work as a commissioned security guard in the state from April 2016 to April 2020, and had three previous employers before his license expired.

Records show he received firearms proficiency training in 2015, as well as further firearms training 2018. DPS, which maintains the database, automatically disqualifies applicants who have committed certain violent crimes.

Link

ITM, A couple of months ago you guys were talking about how the ukrainians were shooting millions of armaments a day. This is the blind squirrel theory. When you're putting a million explosives in the air. Every single day once in a while you're going to have a collision even if it's with a hypersonic missile. If this happened, it was likely just by chance.

Sir up and down

Hey, Adam.

I was just listening to your latest NA episode. Because of my buddy and mine's own program, I already had a lot of notes about Wagner Group and its founder, Yevgeny Prigozhen. Sorry if it's a bit convoluted, enjoy!

.........................

Before getting into the meat of their involvement in the current conflict

Foreign involvement: Wagner is active in Mali, Central African Republic, and Sudan

Going back to the beginning: Wagner were the "little green men" who marched in Donbas to protect ethnic Russians back in 2014

1) Wagner PMC founder Yevgeni Prigozhen: “Russia needs to end the war and

Declare ‘mission accomplished’”

-Now, Mr. Prigozhen has declared that he will withdraw Wagner from Bakhmut by May 10th. The reason? He has accused the Russian defense ministry of intentionally withholding ammunition from his group, thereby causing higher-than-necessary casualties

Avdiivka Update: With all the talk of Bakhmut, another battle has been raging. To the northwest of Donetsk City lies the Ukraine-held town of Avdiivka. With Wagner PMC achieving more and more success in Bakhmut, some are speculating that the regular Russian army has turned its attention to capturing Avdiivka.

Kings & Generals describes the scene

<b>Russia Occupied 0.01% of Ukraine in March - Russian Invasion DOCUMENTARY</b>

7:15-8:30

The takeaway

Russians have begun using “glide bombs” in an effort to break stalemate. Take this and the apparently-distraught Prigozhen, and it seems like the Russians might actually be worried about a solid Ukrainian counter-offensive.

2)From the horse’s mouth

Russian milblogger “War Gonzo” did an exclusive interview with the founder of Wagner Group, Yevegeny Prizhoghen. For perhaps the first time, Prigozhen gave us a look inside one of the most controversial, and enigmatic, military units in the world.

1)Wagner Group founder Yevgeny Prizoghen has made a shocking admission: “we are no longer recruiting from prisons. But why?

-Speaking to Russian milblogger “WarGonzo,” Prigozhin did not give a clear reason.

-Nobody else willing to volunteer? Discipline issues?

History legends

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wd6k_gSFFT0

-Cringey moment: debating the definition of cannon fodder

Perhaps rightfully so, the West gave Russia a lot of flack when it was first learned that they were recruiting soldiers from among their prison population.

-WWI: British army recruited heavily from prisons

Prigozhen is asked: what is Wagner’s ideology?

-Attracts citizens of former Soviet states, many of whom go from French Foreign Legion to Wagner

1) Wagner is more democratic, with commanders consulting with the men under their command

2) Encourage soldiers to grow in competence and rise through the ranks

Clip: History Legends

"We have more COURAGE" explains Wagner PMC Founder in Interview

3:05-4:00

3) Russia needs people with “an elevated amount of adrenaline” to serve the country’s interests

4) The Russian blogger sasked about the rumored cult of fearlessness. In response Prigozhen said,“We have a cynical attitude toward death. We are all going to hell, but we will be the best in hell. Death isn’t the end, it is the beginning of something else.”

5) Religion: The blogger asked Prigozhen about his religious beliefs, and Prighozen responded, “you can be an Orthodox person, even if you aren’t a churchgoer.”

"We have more COURAGE" explains Wagner PMC Founder in Interview

8:40-9:20

3) Criticisms of the regular Russian army

-Called treason on Russian army for not providing Wagner with enough ammunition

-Prigozhen accuses regular army commanders of being too far removed from the actual battle. At one point, he called out General Alexander Lapin, calling him incompetent for retreating from the city of Lyman.

-He said that too many high-ranking officers are in-position only because of political acumens and loyalty to Putin.

-Every Wagner unit commander is “a stormtrooper who earned their way into command.”

Fans of the Bolshevik era? Prigozhen expresses his dislike for the fact that there are some in Russia today that carry pictures of Lenin and Stalin, even carrying the Soviet banner into battle. In a shocking admission, he tells War Gonzo that within Wagner Group there are, wait for it, a few Neo-Nazis. He dismisses this as secondary to the talent a person brings to the job, and the dedication they show to their fellows.

How long will the war last?

-Prigozhen goes on to talk about the fact that this war is the largest since 1945. The wars in Afghanistan and Syria were “chasing after natives.” Like the Ukrainians, he compared the battle in Bakhmut to Stalingrad; not because of its importance, but because of its intensity.

Define a win. Prigozhen lays out what Russia might call “enough”

"We have more COURAGE" explains Wagner PMC Founder in Interview

25:25-26:00

He goes on to say that taking the entire east bank of the Dneiper would take three more years. Meanwhile, conquering all of the DOnbas will require another 1.5-2 years.

4) Tin foil zone

Might Yevgeney Prigozhen be a real contender for next leader of Russia? Consider the following. First, both Putin and Prigozhen were outsiders: coming from nowhere, they ascended, almost un-noticed, to climb the ranks of the new Russian Federation state system, then reaching a point where some in the west were actively concerned about them.

Second, both come from modest backgrounds. During the Soviet era, Putin was a mod-level KGB officer. When the USSR fell, Prigozhen was selling hotdogs on the streets of St. Petersburg; he went on to found a chain of grocery stores, and then a restaurant, where he happened to serve food to Putin.

Third, both show out-of-the-box thinking. Both are revisionists, who do not allow internal, or external, constraints to narrow their horizons.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eAulaZLmKL4&t=360s

Wagner group is a troll inspired by creation of Black Water

5) Putin, only more so

I think I know who it’s going to be. Yevgeny Prigozhen

In an earlier episode, we asked the question: Might Yevgeney Prigozhen be a real contender for next leader of Russia? I believe the answer to this questions yes.

Theory: Bakhmut has been as much about psychology as it has been about actual fighting

(History Legends)

NEW Military Tactic! Musicians Rolling Through BAKHMUT

4:25-6:50

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tUy17lrscrc

Along with psychology, Wagner Group appears to have employed another interesting tactic. This might explain why it is that Wagner has been able to advance so steadily, and not lose what it has taken.

(Same video as listed above 7:20-7:50

6) The latest

What the hell is going on in Bakhmut?! One day after Wagner PMC threatens to pull out, Russia hits the place with a barrage of white phosphorus. Also, for some reason, Ramzan Kadirov wants his Chechen forces to be redeployed to the city.

Who is Yevgeny Prigozhin?

The hub that connects the worldwide network is Yevgeny Prigozhin, a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin who is thought to financially back the Wagner Group and has been sanctioned multiple times by the United States for financing the Internet Research Agency—better known as the troll factory—which interfered in U.S. elections in 2016 and 2018. A number of companies connected to Prigozhin have also been sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury for their operations in Africa.

“Prigozhin’s role in Sudan highlights the interplay between Russia’s paramilitary operations, support for preserving authoritarian regimes, and exploitation of natural resources,” the U.S. Treasury said in a press release last year announcing the sanctions.

Link

This week Kayleigh is sitting in Tuckers chair. But I suspect she has the same producers Tuck had. The SAME producers that listen to NA and use your material!

My first example may seem weak but it's Kayleigh using the word euphemism to describe "gender affirming surgery" first heard on the NA Podcast. I believe John called it an insincere euphemism.

I am going to watch throughout the week to see what other nuggets they pull from The Best Podcast in The Universe.

ALSO- they are coming for you Adam! Hollywood or at least HBO has you in their crosshairs.

Last night's episode of Succession they used the term Pod Goddess to describe a female Podcaster. I do not know if this was a 100% fictional character or if they cameo'd some actual female podcaster but they sure enough called her the "Pod Goddess"

Blasphemy!

Mike

Link to Article

Archived Version

Thu, 11 May 2023 17:27

: the recognition and enforcement of the public acts, records, and judicial proceedings of one state by another compare choice of law , comity , federalism Note: Unlike comity, full faith and credit is a requirement created by the U.S. Constitution and the U.S. Code. A public law or a judicial decision may not, however, be entitled to full faith and credit for specific reasons (as for having been decided by a court not having jurisdiction). Full faith and credit is given only in civil cases; states recognize each other's criminal laws through the mechanism of extradition.

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search'--ad free!

Merriam-Webster unabridged

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Archived Version

Thu, 11 May 2023 16:38

The Eurovision Song Contest Second Semi-Final takes place on Thursday 11 May, with the Grand Final hitting our screens on Saturday 13 May. You can watch the shows via your participating broadcaster or on our official YouTube channel (where available). Make sure to stream, download, or add to your playlist all 37 #Eurovision2023 songs via this link 👉 https://Eurovision.lnk.to/ESC2023 And don't forget to check out 'Be My Guest', where Rylan and Clara Amfo get to know our 2023 participants a little bit better - only available on the official YouTube channel. You can also catch up on all the glitz and glam of Sunday's Turquoise Carpet opening ceremony. Booking.com is celebrating the 67th edition of Eurovision Song Contest by showcasing our host city '' Liverpool. From the Beatles to some impressive art museums, the streets of Liverpool are a true collection of landmarks and a destination you shouldn't miss. The 'Class of '23' were tasked to submit reworked or remixed versions of their Eurovision entries; original material; and cover versions of their favourite songs. Check out Eurovision... A Little Bit More! Episode 3 Along with a whole host of fabulous Eurovision 2023 merchandise, the official album is now available to pre-order from our Shop. That's all from Douze Points!Don't forget to follow us on YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, Twitter and Facebook, and subscribe to the official podcast, to stay entertained and up to date with all the latest Eurovision news.See you on Thursday!

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Thu, 11 May 2023 16:33

The first freight train on the Lancang-Mekong Express departs from Kunming in China on Jan. 10, 2022, headed for a 26-hour journey to Vientiane, capital of Laos.

China News Service | China News Service | Getty Images

BEIJING '-- In the last two years, China has announced the opening of new freight train lines, while cross-border railways have become a feature in President Xi Jinping's meetings with regional leaders.

It's all part of Beijing's Belt and Road initiative, a complex network of infrastructure projects connecting China to its trading partners.

Here's a look at where the rail lines are being built across the Asian continent.

The projects include high-speed passenger trains.

In April, China's national rail ticketing app opened online bookings for a 10.5-hour train ride from Yunnan province to the capital of Laos. If all goes as planned, that route will one day connect to the Thai capital of Bangkok and Phnom Penh, Cambodia's riverside capital.

In the last six months, China also opened freight train lines to Laos, Thailand and Vietnam, according to state media.

Far in the north, China last year opened a railway bridge between the remote province of Heilongjiang and Russia. New rail routes to transport coal from Mongolian mines to China are underway, according to state media.

Those freight lines are in addition to China's relatively older rail network through central Asia '-- connecting Yiwu in eastern China to London.

While it's difficult to verify how operational all the rail lines are, official reports offer a glimpse at how China's Belt and Road ambitions are panning out.

CNBC analyzed the reports to create the following schematic diagrams of the railways, built and planned, by region:

Planned and built railways in the region south of China, based on official reports and state media.

CNBC

Planned and built railways in the region southeast of China, based on official reports and state media.

CNBC

Built railways across the northern Chinese border with Russia, based on official reports and state media.

CNBC

Planned and built railways across the northern Chinese border with Mongolia, based on official reports and state media.

CNBC

Built railways in the region to the west of China, based on official reports and state media.

CNBC

China's Belt and Road Initiative was launched in 2013 at the beginning of Xi's presidency. The program is widely seen as Beijing's effort to boost global influence through the development of rail, sea and other transportation routes running from Asia to Europe and Africa.

"Splitting Europe from the U.S., at least to the extent possible, is an important foreign policy objective for China and deeper economic integration fostered by stronger rail linkages would help," said Stephen Olson, senior research fellow at the Hinrich Foundation.

Similarly, "part of China's motivation in constructing rail links in ASEAN is to place China more at the heart of regional trade," he said, referring to the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations bloc.

Olson said that while rail could be "game changing" for a landlocked economy such as Laos, the onus is also on the destination country to develop logistics and other infrastructure to fully utilize the new rail lines for trade.

One-third of China's tradeBeijing says trade with Belt and Road countries accounts for about one-third of China's overall imports and exports. In the first quarter, that trade grew by 16.8% from a year ago '-- slower than the 19.4% pace for all of last year, according to official figures.

The actual boost to trade from the rail lines is difficult to gauge, said Francoise Huang, senior economist at Allianz Trade. She pointed out that transporting goods by rail is considerably cheaper than air, and faster than by road and sea.

She said her assessment of reports indicates the rail lines are being used more to transport Chinese exports to other countries, rather than imports into China.

Read more about China from CNBC ProSince 2013, Belt and Road-related construction contracts have totaled $573 billion, according to estimates released in January by Christoph Nedopil, founding director of the Green Finance and Development Center at Fudan University in Shanghai. Including non-financial investments, that figure rises to nearly $1 trillion, the report said.

Critics say that through the massive infrastructure project, China has forced developing nations to take on high debt while benefiting Chinese companies, often state-owned entities.

"Analysis of the impact of the freight lines will be indivisible from an analysis of the overall impact of closer trade relations with China," Olson said.

"For some countries this might work out better than for others. China's economy is far larger than any single economy in ASEAN and that creates leverage that can sometimes result in unbalanced and unsustainable trade relationships."

In an annual report in March, China's National Development and Reform Commission, the top economic planning agency, highlighted progress on international rail construction. The commission also said it was cognizant of risks.

"We developed major overseas projects while guarding against related risks, helped enterprises guard against and defuse overseas investment risks, and worked faster to build a comprehensive service platform for monitoring, assessment, and early warning of risks related to overseas projects."

China is set to hold the third Belt and Road forum at an unspecified time this year. Xi has invited Russian President Vladimir Putin to attend, state media said.

'-- CNBC's Bryn Bache contributed to this report.

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Thu, 11 May 2023 15:54

AboutThe Pediatric Policy Council (PPC) has worked on Capitol Hill since 1984 and is the combined legislative advocacy efforts of the Academic Pediatric Association, American Academy of Pediatrics the Association of Medical School Pediatric Department Chairs, the American Pediatric Society and the Society for Pediatric Research. The PPC meets annually and sponsors an annual pediatric policy plenary at the Pediatric Academic Societies (PAS) meeting. Additionally, the PPC produces the Capitol Connection, a monthly newsletter that highlights advocacy and policy updates from Washington, DC.

The PPC is a member of the American Academy of Pediatrics' Committee on Federal Government Affairs (COFGA).

Capitol Connection & Other ResourcesThe PPC's Monthly newsletter highlights advocacy and policy updates from Washington, DC. View Capitol Connection archives.

Making Your Voice Heard: Advocacy for the Academic Pediatrician

Pediatric Subspecialty Fact SheetsThe American Board of Pediatrics and the PPC put together facts and interactive maps about the effects of subspecialty shortages across the country.

Council RosterChair

Shetal Shah, MD, New York Medical CollegeAPA

Mona Patel, MD, University of Southern CaliforniaJean Raphael, MD, MPH, Baylor College of MedicineAMSPDC

Tina Cheng, MD, MPH, University of Cincinnati College of MedicineSherin Devaskar, MD, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLAAPS

Jonathan Davis, MD, Tufts Medical CenterDeWayne Pursley, MD, MPH, Harvard Medical SchoolSPR

Joyce Javier, MD, MPH, MS, University of Southern CaliforniaLois Lee, MD, MPH, Harvard Medical SchoolStaff, American Academy of Pediatrics

Mark Del Monte, JD, CEO/Executive Vice PresidentJames Baumberger, MPP, Senior Director, Federal AdvocacyMatt Mariani, Policy Associate, Federal Advocacy

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Archived Version

Thu, 11 May 2023 15:48

Little did California businesses know that they were cosigners on the state's nearly $20 billion loan from the federal government that was used to cover California's unemployment fund shortfall during the COVID pandemic. This ugly truth became apparent when the state recently decided to stop making payments on this loan. When a state defaults on its federal unemployment insurance loan, federal law requires that the state's businesses repay the loan.

What makes this default even more egregious is that the stone-age-era IT system of the state's Employment and Development Department (EDD) opened the floodgates to bad actors, permitting more than $30 billion in fraudulent unemployment claims during the pandemic. Those receiving fraudulent payments include incarcerated felons, a person impersonating a one-year-old, and a person impersonating Senator Dianne Feinstein. A single residential address received checks for around 60 separate individuals filing from that address.

This could have been avoided with a competent EDD. But this department's performance has been deficient for decades, and California businesses, many of which are struggling, are left paying for blatant and costly mistakes that should and could have been solved years ago.

With an unpaid federal unemployment insurance loan, the federal government raises the unemployment insurance tax immediately by 0.3 percent on each business within the state, and an additional 0.3 percent each year after that until the loan is fully repaid. The normal federal unemployment insurance tax rate is 0.6 percent per year, which means that California businesses will be paying several multiples of the normal federal tax rate before the loan is retired.

The state's Legislative Analyst Office predicts that repaying the loan through higher taxes on businesses is not expected until 2029 or 2030 and note that retiring the debt could take longer, depending on the state's economic performance. A recession would almost certainly delay repayment, and the odds of a recession in the next seven years are significant.

The state's decision to default is inexcusable. California recorded a nearly $100 billion state budget surplus last year, thanks to the state's top earners, that could have been used to repay the debt. The state received $27 billion in federal COVID aid it could have used to repay the debt. The state's record $300 billion''plus 2022''23 budget could have retired the debt. Even after defaulting, the state could have resumed its payments this year and offset the tax burden on businesses, as it planned to do in its 2023''24 budget. But as the state's finances continue to decline, the state has walked back making payments or offsetting higher business federal unemployment insurance taxes.

Twenty-two states received federal unemployment loans during the pandemic, and California is just one of four states that have not yet repaid the debt. As of the end of last year, California owed nearly two-thirds of the outstanding $27.5 billion federal unemployment insurance debt among these four states. The other states with remaining unpaid debt are New York, Illinois, and Connecticut, all of which are high-tax and high-spending states that are all losing population to other states. I will let you draw your own inferences about why people are leaving California and these other three states and moving to states with lower taxes, fewer regulations, more economic freedom, and lower living costs.

The EDD's IT system is from the 1980s and runs software that is more than 50 years old. For decades, the department's IT people tried to patch the system, but it became increasingly apparent the system was inadequate. In 2013, the EDD received a grant from the Obama administration that was used to purchase software from Pondera Systems, a business that has created extremely effective software that searches over many databases and uses proprietary artificial intelligence algorithms to identify fraud and abuse. The software, which cost about $2 million per year, was in place from 2013 until 2016. EDD employees noted that the software identified a ''remarkable amount of fraud.''

In the summer of 2016, the EDD discontinued the Pondera software. The 2013 federal grant had run its course, and the software was not renewed because of the $2 million price tag, which represented less than 1 percent of the EDD's budget. Is anyone accountable for this decision? Did anyone in the agency fight to retain the software, given its remarkable performance? Did anyone anticipate what would happen without the software? Nearly three years later, these questions remain unanswered. Without the fraud-detection software, the EDD might as well have attached neon lights to its ancient mainframe computer, with a sign saying ''The party is here! Open bar!'' A $2 million dollar annual software purchase compared to $32.6 billion in fraud gives a whole new meaning to the term incompetent government.

How did state government respond to this fiasco? In July 2020, Governor Newsom appointed a ''strike force'' to evaluate the EDD. By September 2020, Beverly Hills police arrested individuals who were buying expensive clothing, jewelry, and cars using EDD debit cards, which electronically provide unemployment benefits. Those arrested showed the police how easy it was to obtain these cards. Rapper Nuke Bizzle penned a song about the ease of committing EDD fraud that goes like this: ''I done got rich off EDD. . . . I just might swipe me a lump sum. I'm in Dior havin' money fun. . . . Ten cards, I'm swiping 10K a day. Counting up bills like a CPA.''

The strike force's report cited many deficiencies, https://www.govops.ca.gov/wp-content/uploads/sites/11/2020/09/Assessment.pdf, including the use of 1980s technology, employees who do not securely handle passwords, certain types of claims being dealt with manually, and the failure of having a systematic approach to even determining their backlog. But none of this is news. The EDD has been the subject of 10 audits over the previous decade, and as you can see from its recent performance, none of these previous audits has moved the needle.

Even after all this, the EDD can't identify all the fraud that occurred. The EDD estimated about $20 billion in fraud, but Lexis-Nexis, an independent data and analytics firm, reports the fraud is approximately $32.6 billion.

The costs of California's unemployment fraud debacle will be borne by everyone, because higher taxes on businesses means high prices, less hiring, lower raises, less investment, and less new-business formation. The state agency that is responsible for taking care of the most vulnerable Californians has been inadequate for years, and neither the governor nor the Democratic supermajority in the state legislature is willing to hold the EDD accountable.

Regarding accountability, the head of California's labor department during the pandemic was Julie Su, who served as California's labor commissioner between 2019-2021. She is now U.S. Assistant Labor Secretary and has been nominated by President Biden to succeed former Secretary of Labor Marty Walsh, who resigned to head the National Hockey League's player association. Republicans, led by California freshman House representative Kevin Kiley, have opposed this nomination, and this has coordinated broader opposition to Su among business groups.

Su was confirmed as US assistant labor secretary in 2021 by only a 50''47 vote, with those opposing her citing California's pandemic unemployment debacle that took place on her watch, and her support for California's controversial 2020 law that makes working as an independent contractor in many occupations in California illegal. Now, as she awaits a Senate confirmation hearing to become U.S. Secretary of Labor, California's failure to repay its federal loan has put the spotlight back on California's awful EDD performance. Ironically, her home state's irresponsibility will make this confirmation even more difficult than her 2021 confirmation, and perhaps impossible. Even if there is no accountability in California, perhaps there will be at the national level.

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Archived Version

Thu, 11 May 2023 14:42

NEW YORK (AP) '-- Donald Trump's primetime return to CNN Wednesday for the first time since 2016 felt like a throwback: Trump with the long, twisting answers; the interviewer at times struggling to fact-check him or return his focus to the question at hand; and then, eventually, both talking over each other as Trump flings insults her way.

Wednesday's town hall in New Hampshire was the first time in years that Trump faced prolonged questioning from an outlet outside the friendly confines of conservative media outlets of his choosing.

He had branded CNN ''fake news'' and never granted any of its journalists an interview while president. Trump's campaign said he was appearing on the network now to step outside a GOP comfort zone as he already starts to turn his focus to a potential 2024 general election rematch with Democrat Joe Biden.

Trump's appearance on CNN comes at a time of jarring dualities for the former president: The Republican is facing a crescendo of legal problems yet seems in a stronger position than ever to become his party's presidential nominee. He's attempting to reach mainstream media viewers despite having deepened his embrace of extremists since leaving the White House, continuing to align himself with those involved in the deadly Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection and dining with a Holocaust-denying white nationalist.

Here's what to know about Trump's CNN town hall:

QUESTIONS ON SEXUAL ABUSE CASETrump's appearance came a day after a New York jury found him liable for sexually abusing a woman nearly 30 years ago and defaming her when she spoke about it publicly.

Jurors awarded columnist E. Jean Carroll $5 million in damages. The jury rejected her claim of rape and instead found Trump responsible for a lesser degree of sexual abuse. Trump denied it, saying he never encountered Carroll at a 1996 department store and did not know her and has said he plans to appeal the verdict.

Trump skipped attending the trial and did not testify in his own defense during the proceedings, with jurors instead being shown video from a pretrial deposition, making Wednesday the first time he's had to face a public questioning in the case.

Trump, when asked by CNN moderator Kaitlan Collins about the verdict, said his poll numbers went up and repeated his statements that he didn't know Carroll, though at least one photograph has surfaced of them together.

''I don't know her. I never met her. I had no idea who she is.'' He dismissed a question from Collins about whether it would impact his standing with female voters and in response, he launched into a recounting of Carroll's claims in a mocking voice, drawing laughs and claps from the live audience. Collins tried to interrupt but Trump continued and called it ''a fake story'' and referred to Carroll as ''a wack job.''

TRUMP'S TREATMENT OF WOMENCollins asked Trump about his comments in the infamous ''Access Hollywood'' video in which he bragged about grabbing women's genitals without asking permission. The video was played in the trial and Collins asked him Wednesday if he stood by his remarks.

Trump defended his comments, saying he had said women let him grab their genitals without permission because he was a star.

''I can't take that back because it happens to be true,'' Trump said.

REPEATING ELECTION LIESTrump, with his first question from Collins about why he should be elected again, started almost immediately by repeating his lies about the 2020 presidential election and repeating his unfounded claims of election fraud.

Striking a more muted tone than he usually uses onstage before his cheering supporters, Trump called it a ''rigged election'' and a ''shame'' before Collins cut him off, correcting his statements and asking him to publicly acknowledge his loss to Biden.

Trump did not, immediately returning to his false claims. As Collins continued to try to fact-check Trump, he interrupted again, calling for honest elections and then pivoting to other subjects like immigration.

He came back to his claims at other points in the town hall, sprinkling the lie into answers on unrelated subjects and prompting Collins to interrupt him and correct him.

DEFENSE OF JAN. 6 INSURRECTIONFor more than two years, Trump had largely avoided sitting for any tough questioning about the lies he spread about his 2020 election loss that spurred the deadly insurrection at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. But the issue came up early Wednesday, when Collins asked Trump if he regretted his actions on that day.

The former president quickly began boasting about the size of the crowd he spoke to before some began marching on the Capitol and said the attendees believed the election was ''rigged.''

''They were there proud. They were there with love in their heart. That was unbelievable and it was a beautiful day,'' Trump said.

Collins pressed Trump on why he didn't ask his supporters to leave the Capitol or send help to disperse the protesters, and he deflected, trying to cast blame on then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi. He at one point pulled out printed copies of his Twitter posts that day in which he finally, hours after the attack on the Capitol began, asked his supporters to leave the Capitol.

He said he was inclined, if elected president again, to pardon many of those convicted for their roles in the Jan. 6 attack. More than 1,000 people have been charged and more than 600 have been convicted so far.

FALSE ABORTION CLAIMSTrump, responding to a question about the U.S. Supreme Court overturning abortion rights last year, took credit for appointing three of the justices who joined in the majority ruling, saying ''it was such a great victory and people are starting to understand it now.''

He repeatedly falsely claimed that abortion rights supporters wanted to ''kill a baby'' in the ninth month of pregnancy or even after a birth. The claim is based on a misleading interpretation of a Senate vote. Trump also dodged questions about whether, if elected president again, he would sign a national abortion ban. Trump instead spoke about the court ruling as having given anti-abortion activists ''negotiating ability.''

''What I will do is negotiate so people are happy,'' he said, when asked if he would sign a federal abortion ban. He repeatedly said he would ''do what's right,'' without specifying what that was.

NO ANSWERS ON UKRAINETrump repeated his praise of Russian President Vladimir Putin, calling him ''a smart guy,'' but said ''he made a bad mistake'' to invade Ukraine. Trump claimed, without evidence or explanation, that if he was still president Putin would never have invaded Ukraine. He said he had ''a great relationship'' with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, referencing his 2019 impeachment after pressuring Zelenskyy for ''a favor'' while withholding military aid.

Trump wouldn't answer a question about whether he'd continue to send U.S. aid to Ukraine to keep fighting against Russia's invasion, and he wouldn't answer a question about who he wanted to win the war, only saying, ''I want everybody to stop dying.''

KEEPING CLASSIFIED DOCUMENTSTrump defended his keeping of top-secret and confidential government documents at his Florida estate Mar-a-Lago, which is now the subject of a Justice Department probe.

''I had every right to do it. I didn't make a secret of it,'' Trump said.

Trump gave a vague answer when Collins asked if he ever showed the classified documents to anyone.

''Not really. I would have the right to,'' the former president said.

''What do you mean 'Not really?''' Collins asked.

''Not that I can think of,'' Trump said.

Trump noted that other presidents and vice presidents had kept documents after leaving but didn't mention that he refused to turn over documents even after receiving a subpoena.

SPARRING WITH COLLINSEarly on in the town hall, Collins gave Trump more leeway to respond to questions, allowing the president to steamroll through his answers and jump from topic to topic, sprinkling in false claims as she sometimes tried to interrupt. As the town hall went on and Collins jumped in earlier and more often to correct him or get him back on track, Trump got frustrated.

At one point, he repeated an insult he hurled at Hillary Clinton during their 2016 presidential debate, calling Collins ''nasty.''

In a back-and-forth about the classified documents at Mar-a-Lago, Trump and Collins were talking over each other and Trump at one point declared: ''You're so wrong. You don't know the subject.''

''I do know the subject,'' she retorted.

The audience, made up of Republicans and independents, was largely favorable to Trump and laughed and cheered as he made his points.

''I like you guys,'' Trump told the crowd at the end.

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Archived Version

Thu, 11 May 2023 13:38

The bonnet is supplied in black velvet. This traditional design has been worn since medieval times. A normal hat size is required or the circumference of the head taken just above the ears.Many of our garments are made to order, please allow 4-6 weeks before items are dispatched from the UK. If required for a specific date please record this in the 'order notes' section at checkout.

Size Guide

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Thu, 11 May 2023 13:32

A giant barge which will be used to house asylum seekers off the Dorset coast has arrived in UK waters.

The Bibby Stockholm accommodation barge will stop in Falmouth, Cornwall, where it will undergo inspection and refitting.

The 222-bedroom, three-storey vessel, will house around 500 single male asylum seekers when it is in position in Portland Port, off the Dorset coastal town of Weymouth.

It will be ready for use this summer and will be operational for at least 18 months.

Image: The barge will stop in Falmouth, Cornwall, to be refurbished Image: The 222-bedroom will be positioned in Portland Port, off the coastal town of Weymouth Image: The Bibby Stockholm will be ready for use this summer, according to officialsThe Home Office said the accommodation will be "basic" with healthcare provision, catering facilities and 24/7 security, at a reported cost of £20,000 a day.

It did not say how much the lease agreement cost but insisted it is "significantly cheaper than hotels".

However, the plan has faced criticism from Tory-run Dorset Council and local Conservative MP Richard Drax.

Image: Facilities on board the Bibby Stockholm accommodation barge. Pic: Bibby Marine Ltd Image: Dining facilities on board the Bibby Stockholm. Pic: Bibby Marine LtdMr Drax threatened legal action over the 'floatel', sparking fears of fresh tensions in the Conservative Party.

The South Dorset MP, who has previously backed rigorous measures to cut the UK's level of immigration, said the barge was "dumped on our door" without consultation by the Home Office and urged Home Secretary Suella Braverman to scrap the idea.

In April, Mr Drax described the Portland Port site as a "very, very restricted area" and raised concerns about keeping hundreds of vulnerable people there, which he said would place pressure on the port's "very small" police force.

Read more:The journey of the giant barge set to house asylum seekersHome Office confirms plan to house asylum seekers in giant barge

He told Sky News those being accommodated on the barge would be bussed in from the port to nearby Portland Harbour, which is a "summer resort dependent almost entirely on visitors and tourists" with busy beaches not far away.

The government is also facing criticism from charities and human rights campaigners who said the accommodation is not appropriate for people fleeing war.

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2:31 Why do migrants cross the Channel?Liverpool-based operator Bibby Marine Limited said last month that the barge had been refurbished since it was described as an "oppressive environment" used for asylum seekers in the Netherlands.

Portland Port chief executive Bill Reeves said: "We encourage everyone in the community to approach this with an open mind and help us show other areas just how successful this type of initiative can be, both for the migrants and the local community."

Click to subscribe to the Sophy Ridge on Sunday podcast

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak previously said the barge would save taxpayers' money, with the government currently spending around £6m a day housing asylum seekers in hotels.

The Times previously reported that the vessel would cost £15,000 a day to charter, while the cost of berthing it in Portland would be more than £4,500 a day.

Additional costs would be required for services, including security and catering.

However, Labour said the barge is in addition to, not instead of, hotel accommodation.

Last year 45,755 people crossed the Channel in small boats, while more than 6,000 have arrived so far this year.

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Archived Version

Thu, 11 May 2023 13:31

New figures reveal that Bud Light sales have plummeted in every US region in the wake of its disastrous partnership with Dylan Mulvaney.

America's flagship beer brand has been sent into a steep decline after it used the controversial trans influencer, 26, to promote the beverage.

Data from Beer Business Daily showed that sales of the US's number one brand has fallen in every region of the country.

Sales in the Rocky Mountain states dipped the most significantly, down by 29 percent, with the South Atlantic, West North Central and East South Central all dropping 25 percent.

The Tumbleweed, a cowboy bar in Wyoming, ditched Bud Light after the controversy '' instead plumping for Guinness.

Sales in the East North Central area - which includes Michigan and Illinois, both of which have seen a backlash against the beer - were down 23.5 percent in the week ending April 22.

It comes as analysts at HSBC have downgraded Anheuser-Busch's stock because it is in the midst of a 'crisis' over the marketing blunder.

America's flagship beer brand has been sent into a steep decline after it used the controversial trans influencer, 26, to promote the beverage

Carlos Laboy, a managing director at HSBC's global beverage sector, downgraded the stock of Anheuser-Busch InBev to a hold status. It means that investors should not buy or sell shares of the company.

He said that the backlash is a sign there are 'deeper problems than ABI admits', questioning if it was 'hiring the best people to grow the brands and gauge risk.'

In a note seen by CNBC, Laboy said: 'If Budweiser and Bud Light are iconic American ideas that have long brought consumers together, why did these marketers fail to invite new consumers without alienating the core base of the firm's largest brand?'

Several conservative stars were quick to move against the brand, with Kid Rock shooting up a case of the beer after discovering the partnership '' shouting 'F*** Bud Light, and f*** Anheuser-Busch. Have a terrific day.'

The MAGA star is from Michigan but has a bar in Nashville, Tennessee, which banned the product '' contributing to a 25 percent sales dip in the region.

Customers at Kid Rock's Big Honky Tonk and Rock n' Roll Steakhouse in Nashville praised the country icon for reportedly removing Bud Light from the bar.

Some visitors said they were 'impressed' that the star 'put his money where his mouth is', though there was no response when DailyMail.com asked for confirmation from the bar.

Country singer Travis Tritt, who is from Georgia, in the South Atlantic region, announced that he would be banning all Anheuser-Busch products from his tour bus over the partnership.

Sales in the Rocky Mountain states dipped the most significantly, down by 29 percent, with the South Atlantic, West North Central and East South Central all dropping 25 percent

Florida's Governor Ron DeSantis was also quick to switch from the brand, saying: 'Why would anyone drink Bud Light?' Pictured: DeSantis in 2021 drinking a Budweiser

Mulvaney posted the content to coincide with the NCAA March Madness tournament, before joking she didn't know what sport she was promoting

Locals in Marietta, Georgia, told DailyMail.com that they were switching from their usual drink of Bud Light to Coors Light, according to bartenders '' who say the impact was 'immediate'.

Florida's Governor Ron DeSantis was also quick to switch from the brand, saying: 'Why would anyone drink Bud Light?'

The 2024 hopeful was spotted drinking Budweiser previously, another brand under the Anheuser-Busch umbrella, but has since renounced the brand altogether and switched to drinking Guinness.

A chain restaurant in the Sunshine State also ditched Bud Light from its menus after the owner claimed that the partnership with Mulvaney was at odds with his 'Biblical faith.'

Joe Penovich, the owner of Grills Restaurants, confirmed that the two-decade-old establishment was no longer serving the popular beverage.

Gay bars in Chicago have also pledged to stop selling the beer, calling the comments of the Global CEO of Bud Light's parent company Anheuser-Bush 'cruel and hateful.'

2Bears Tavern Group, which has four locations in the city, denounced Anheuser-Busch after the company 'abandoned' its support of Mulvaney.

They will also be discontinuing other Anheuser-Busch brands, including Busch Light and Goose Island 312.

West South Central, which includes Texas, saw sales drop by 22 percent across the entire region.

Kid Rock shot at a case of the beer after discovering the partnership '' shouting 'F*** Bud Light, and f*** Anheuser-Busch. Have a terrific day'

Locals in Marietta, Georgia, where Travis Tritt is from, have been switching from their usual drink of Bud Light to Coors Light, according to bartenders '' who say the impact was 'immediate'

Country singer John Rich, from Texas, also ditched the brand, asking which beer he should use to replace Bud Light at his Nashville bar, Redneck Riviera.

Sales of the cans were down 18 percent in the Pacific region and 19 percent in the Mid-Atlantic down.

New England dollar sales were the least affected but still dropped 14 percent. Footage showed a Bud Light bar at a Boston Red Sox game in Fenway Park completely deserted '' indicating fans were participating in the boycott.

It is unclear if the denouncement of the beer by famous faces has badly impacted sales, but bartenders in Georgie told DailyMail.com the impact was immediate following the backlash from the country stars.

One worker at the Rusty Barrel said: 'The impact was immediate. People were complaining about the campaign altogether and what it was representing.

'The beginning of the week, we had the impact straight away, they saw the campaign and the comments from Kid Rock and Travis, and they won't drink it anymore, period.

Rich pictured with a Coors Light drinking Kid Rock at the 2004 Country Music Awards, has also denounced the beer

He said that he decided to switch the beverage out of his bar following the backlash with Mulvaney

Country singer John Rich, from Texas, also ditched the brand, asking which beer he should use to replace Bud Light at his Nashville bar, Redneck Riviera

'They have changed up beer. Instead, they mostly ask for Coors Light, but it's hard to say if they'll stick to it.'

It comes after reports that sales of all Anheuser-Busch products have dropped in the month since the disastrous campaign.

Anheuser-Busch volumes were down more than 12 percent last month, with Bud Light falling a staggering 21.4 percent.

Initially, Bud Light was the only brand under the brewing conglomerate's umbrella to be affected by the controversy, but the new numbers have revealed that several other products' sales have also dipped.

Budweiser has been struck by the knock-on effect, with sales dipping 11.5 percent.

Two more Anheuser-Busch brands were also feeling the result of the backlash, with Busch dropping 5.3 percent and Natural dropping 6 percent.

Competitors of the Belgian-owned beer giant both saw their volume rise '' with Molson Coors, which produces Coors Light, jumping 7.6 percent and Constellation, the company behind Corona, spiking 3.8 percent.

A video showed Boston Red Sox fans avoiding Bud Light at all costs during a packed Major League Baseball game as the backlash to the Dylan Mulvaney advertisement continues

Gay bars in Chicago have also pledged to stop selling the beer, calling the comments of the Global CEO of Bud Light's parent company Anheuser-Bush 'cruel and hateful'

Yuengling took the tumbling sales of Bud Light in their stride, rising up 14.7 percent, while Miller Light had a spike of 12.8 percent, Coors Light rose 10.9 percent, and Coors Banquet 20.5 percent.

Last year, sales of Bud Light topped $4.8 billion, Modelo Especial had $3.75 billion while Michelob Ultra generated $3.3 billion in sales.

Year to date, Bud Light and Budweiser are the only top 10 US beers whose sales have dropped, with declines of 3% and 0.4%, respectively.

In dollars, Anheuser-Busch has dropped 6.1 percent, while Molson Coors was up 13.8 percent and Constellation up 8.7 percent.

Bud Light was down 17.2 percent, Busch was up 1.3 percent and Natural was down 0.2 percent, while Budweiser also fell 6.7 percent.

Competitor Coors Light was up 17.3 percent, Miller Lite up 19.1 percent, Yuengling was up 20.1 percent with Coors Banquet up 27.9 percent and Miller Genuine Draft up 7.3 percent.

Anheuser-Busch put two of their most senior members of the marketing team behind the campaign on leave. Pictured: Alissa Heinerscheid

Daniel Blake, who is the vice president for Anheuser-Busch's mainstream brands has stepped back from his job, after controversy about Bud Light's partnership with Dylan Mulvaney

Stock for Anheuser-Busch dropped around 4% since the partnership with Mulvaney was announced, shaving some $5 billion off of its market capitalization.

The news of plummeting sales comes after Global CEO of Anheuser-Busch Michel Doukeris blamed 'misinformation and disinformation' that was spread online for making people believe cans with Mulvaney's face were being rolled out for sale across the US.

He addressed the mass backlash over working with trans influencer Mulvaney, 26, for the first time in an earnings call with investors last week.

He added that the company is 'providing direct financial support' to the frontline workers impacted by the boycott.

Doukeris told the Financial Times over the weekend: 'People often talk about this topic in social media like noise.

'You have one fact and every person puts an opinion behind the fact. And then the opinions start to be replicated fast on each and every comment.

'By the time that 10 or 20 people put a comment out there, the reality is no longer what the fact is, but is more (about) what the comments were.'

Michel Doukeris addressed the mass backlash over working with trans influencer Mulvaney, 26, for the first time in an earnings call with investors on Thursday

During a podcast appearance last month, days before the Mulvaney partnership was announced, Heinerscheid said Bud Light was on the wane when she took the helm last summer, but planned to right the ship in the coming months

The global CEO added: 'We never intended to make it for general production and sale for the public...it was one post. It was not an advertisement.'

Investors were also told by Doukeris that Bud Light will triple its marketing spend this summer in a bid to woo customers back to the tarnished brand.

Doukeris said: 'We need to clarify the facts that this was one camp, one influencer, one post and not a campaign.

'We will continue to learn, meet the moment in time, all be stronger and we work tirelessly to do what we do best: Bring people together over a beer and creating a future of more cheers.'

Doukeris' comments came as a letter was sent to retailers, bars and restaurants by Grey Eagle '' which distributes Anheuser-Busch products around St Louis.

It read: 'Anheuser-Busch did not intend to create controversy or make a political statement.

'In reality, the Bud Light can posted by a social media influencer that sparked all the conversation was provided by an outside agency without Anheuser-Busch management awareness or approval.

Mulvaney herself has not officially responded to the backlash, despite posting a video to say that she hopes to be 'less controversial' in another life

A letter previously claimed that the can which was gifted to Mulvaney was the brainchild of an outside agency

'Since that time, the lack of oversight and control over marketing decisions has been addressed and a new VP of Bud Light marketing has been announced.'

Bud Light's VP of marketing, Alissa Heinerscheid, took a leave of absence while the VP for Mainstream Brand, Daniel Blake, stepped down some days after.

Their sudden departure appears premature in light of the recent comments, which also claim there was no 'management awareness' of the now-infamous campaign.

The specifics of how the can fiasco erupted remain under wraps. The latest letter claims the Mulvaney can was the brainchild of an outside agency.

The disastrous marketing bid has seen sales for the American flagship beer plummet, despite Anheuser-Busch reporting first-quarter earnings of $1.65billion.

The brewer posted revenue of $14.21 billion in the period, which also beat forecasts, with the shares rising 6 percent since the beginning of the year and 12 percent in 12 months.

It's unclear if the boycott had any impact on these figures, and whether a larger impact on the firm's finances will be visible for the second quarter of the financial year if the controversy and boycotts rumble on.

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Thu, 11 May 2023 13:30

The first UK baby created with DNA from three people has been born after doctors performed a groundbreaking IVF procedure that aims to prevent children from inheriting incurable diseases.

The technique, known as mitochondrial donation treatment (MDT), uses tissue from the eggs of healthy female donors to create IVF embryos that are free from harmful mutations their mothers carry and are likely to pass on to their children.

Guardian graphic Because the embryos combine sperm and egg from the biological parents with tiny battery-like structures called mitochondria from the donor's egg, the resulting baby has DNA from the mother and father as usual, plus a small amount of genetic material '' about 37 genes '' from the donor.

The process has led to the phrase ''three-parent babies'', though more than 99.8% of the DNA in the babies comes from the mother and father.

Research on MDT, which is also known as mitochondrial replacement therapy (MRT), was pioneered in the UK by doctors at the Newcastle Fertility Centre. The work aimed to help women with mutated mitochondria to have babies without the risk of passing on genetic disorders. People inherit all their mitochondria from their mother, so harmful mutations in the ''batteries'' can affect all of the children a woman has.

For affected women, natural conception is often a gamble. Some babies might be born healthy because they inherit only a tiny proportion of the mutated mitochondria. But others may inherit far more and develop severe, progressive and often fatal diseases. About one in 6,000 babies are affected by mitochondrial disorders.

Most of a human's 20,000 genes are coiled up in the nucleus of nearly every cell in the body. But dotted around each nucleus are thousands of mitochondria with their own genes. When functioning properly, the mitochondria provide vital energy for the cells that make up our organs. Mutations that damage the mitochondria tend to affect energy-hungry tissues most: the brain, heart, muscles, and liver. These can deteriorate relentlessly as an affected child grows.

Progress with MDT led parliament to change the law in 2015 to permit the procedure. Two years later, the Newcastle clinic became the first and only national centre licensed to perform it, with the first cases approved in 2018. Approval is given on a case-by-case basis by the UK's Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA), which has given the green light for at least 30 cases.

Doctors at the Newcastle clinic have not released details of births from its MDT programme, amid concerns that specific information could compromise patient confidentiality. But in response to a freedom of information request by the Guardian, the HFEA confirmed that a small number of babies have now been born in the UK after MDT.

The regulator said the number of births was ''less than five'' rather than giving the precise figure, because doing so ''could lead to the identification of a person to whom the HFEA owes a duty of confidentiality''. The number was accurate as of late April 2023, it said. No further details of the births were provided.

The treatment programme was substantially delayed by the pandemic, which the Guardian understands deterred some donors from coming forwards and affected couples hoping to go ahead with the therapy.

The Newcastle process has several steps. First, sperm from the father is used to fertilise eggs from the affected mother and a healthy female donor. The nuclear genetic material from the donor's egg is then removed and replaced with that from the couple's fertilised egg. The resulting egg has a full set of chromosomes from both parents, but carries the donor's healthy mitochondria instead of the mother's faulty ones. This is then implanted in the womb.

The procedure is not without risks. Recent research has found that in some cases, the tiny number of abnormal mitochondria that are inevitably carried over from the mother's egg to the donor egg can multiply when the baby is in the womb. So-called reversion or reversal could lead to a disease in the child. ''The reason why reversal is seen in the cells of some children born following MRT procedures, but not in others, is not fully understood,'' said Dagan Wells, a professor of reproductive genetics at the University of Oxford who took part in the research.

Women with mitochondrial mutations can avoid passing on disorders by adopting or having IVF with a donor egg. Or, to have genetically related children, affected women can have their IVF embryos screened for mitochondrial mutations. Though effective in many cases, this reduces the risk rather than removing it completely, and it cannot help when all of the embryos a woman produces have highly mutated mitochondria.

The UK is not the first country to create babies from MDT. In 2016, a US doctor announced the world's first MDT birth after treating a Jordanian woman who carried mitochondrial mutations that cause a fatal condition called Leigh syndrome. Prior to the treatment, performed in Mexico, the woman had four miscarriages and two children. One died aged six, the other lived for only eight months.

''So far, the clinical experience with MRT has been encouraging, but the number of reported cases is far too small to draw any definitive conclusions about the safety or efficacy,'' said Wells. ''Long-term follow-up of the children born is essential. The stage of development when reversal happens is unclear, but it probably occurs at a very early stage. This means that prenatal testing, carried out [at] about 12 weeks of pregnancy, may well succeed in identifying if reversal has occurred.''

Sarah Norcross, the director of Pet, a charity that improves choices for people affected by infertility and genetic conditions, said it was important for the technology to be used in a ''measured and carefully regulated way'' while it is assessed. ''It is also very important that we respect the privacy of children with donated mitochondria, and their parents, not least because these parents are likely to have had prior experience of illness and bereavement in their family,'' she added.

Peter Thompson, chief executive at the HFEA, said: ''MDT offers families with severe inherited mitochondrial illness the possibility of a healthy child. The UK was the first country in the world to allow MDT within a regulatory environment '... These are still early days for MDT and the HFEA continues to review clinical and scientific developments.''

A spokesperson for Newcastle Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and Newcastle University said: ''Academic publications have been submitted and are going through the process of scientific peer review. This means we are unable to comment further at this time in order to avoid prejudicing the process.''

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Thu, 11 May 2023 12:52

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Videos of strange streaks of light spotted at night over southern Japan have left people puzzled at the phenomenon.

Several people from the area took to social media to share videos of what looked like one large ''fireball'', leaving smaller ones streaking behind it, lighting up the sky on Wednesday night at around 8.30pm local time.

Many shared their theories online on what the strange objects spotted over the Okinawa prefecture in Japan could be.

''What's this? meteorite? shooting star? missile?'' one Twitter user wrote. ''It looks like a fireball!'' said another.

Japanese officials have, however, seemingly cleared up the mystery and said the phenomenon was likely caused by the debris of a rocket launched from China.

The strange burning object was spotted moving eastward towards the city of Okinawa.

Many spotted the fiery object streaking across the sky from various areas in Japan, including Nago and Itoman in Okinawa prefecture, and Amami in Kagoshima prefecture.

The object was seen flying very slowly for a long enough period of time for experts to rule out the possibility of it being a meteorite.

A Japanese official, who sought to remain anonymous, told AFP that the fiery streaks were likely not shooting stars, but rocket debris.

''Given the information publicly available, we think the falling objects are not fireballs from meteorites, but debris from a rocket,'' said the official with the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan (NAOJ).

''It is possible that (it was) debris from a rocket that was launched by China in November,'' he said.

A curator of astronomy at the Hiratsuka City Museum in Kanagawa prefecture also speculated that it may have been a Chinese rocket.

''The object appears to be a rocket launched by China carrying a communications satellite in November last year,'' he told local news.

The rocket in question is likely China's Long March 3B rocket which was launched in November 2022.

Part of the rocket was expected to re-enter the atmosphere, according to the Japanese official, who added that the ''fireballs'' seen on Wednesday resembled what one might see during the atmospheric entry of debris from a rocket.

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Thu, 11 May 2023 12:45

A major multinational bank downgraded the stock status of Anheuser-Busch amidst the continued fallout from the Dylan Mulvaney partnership controversy.

HSBC downgraded the stock of Anheuser-Busch InBev to a hold status, meaning investors should neither buy nor sell shares of it. In an analysis, Carlos Laboy, managing director for the global beverage sector of HSBC, said that AB InBev had poorly handled its efforts to shift its brand culture in the U.S. AB InBev's sales have continued to plummet because of the fallout.

''Is ABI's leadership getting the brand culture transformation right? It's mixed,'' Laboy wrote in a note that was published on CNBC Wednesday, via the New York Post. ''At [Brazilian beverage giant] Ambev, we think the answer is 'yes;' in the U.S., we think it's 'no','' Laboy wrote.

''The way this Bud Light crisis came about a month ago, management's response to it and the loss of unprecedented volume and brand relevance raises many questions,'' Laboy added. ''Why did its US leadership underestimate the risk of pushback given the recent experience of other firms? Is A-B hiring the best people to grow the brands and gauge risk? If Budweiser and Bud Light are iconic American ideas that have long brought consumers together, why did these marketers fail to invite new consumers without alienating the core base of the firm's largest brand?''

The fallout from Mulvaney's partnership has caused Anheuser-Busch's sales to plummet. Nationwide retail sales of Bud Light were down 23.4% year-over-year for the week of April 29, according to data from NielsenIQ and Bump Williams Consulting data, obtained by the New York Post. That number is worse than the 21.4% decline from the previous week. It is also the fourth consecutive week in which sales have dropped by double-digit figures.

The backlash has also spread across AB InBev's other American brands: Budweiser sales dropped 11.4% for the week ending April 29; Michelob Ultra, the third highest-selling brand behind Bud Light and Modelo Especial, was down 4.4%; Natural Light was down 5.2%; Busch Light, 1.8%.

''It's not just a Bud Light issue,'' CEO Bump Williams told the New York Post. ''It's an Anheuser-Busch portfolio problem now.''

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''If Bud Light doesn't fix its trend by the end of this month, it will continue to lose market share because it will lose Memorial Day. That kicks off the summer season,'' Williams added. ''There has to be a sense of urgency for InBev to correct these trends.''

Despite the continued freefall of Bud Light's sales, Daily Wire host Michael Knowles points out that its parent company cannot break its commitment to left-wing ideology. Knowles pointed out Monday that AB InBev is a member of The World Federation of Advertisers. That group created The Global Alliance for Responsible Media (GARM), a ''cross industry initiative'' to ''demonetize '... harmful content.''

''GARM is so powerful and controls so much advertising money (like that of Bud Light) that YouTube, Meta (FB & IG), Twitter, TikTok, Snapchat, and others are writing pages of reports about how they will run their platforms to satisfy GARM standards,'' Knowles wrote. Worse than that, GARM is also backed by the World Economic Forum as a ''flagship project'' under their ''Platform for Shaping the Future of Media, Entertainment and Sport.''

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Thu, 11 May 2023 12:42

Bud Light's downward spiral has accelerated in the wake of the Dylan Mulvaney debacle '-- and the carnage has begun to spill into Anheuser-Busch's other mega-buck brands, The Post has learned.

Nationwide retail sales of Bud Light were down 23.4% versus a year ago in the week of April 29 '-- worse than the 21.4% decline it suffered a week earlier, according to Bump Williams Consulting and NielsenIQ data.

Meanwhile, as beer drinkers discover how many other beer brands fall under the Anheuser-Busch umbrella, the backlash is widening, according to the fresh data.

The company's flagship Budweiser brand took an 11.4% sales hit for the week ended April 29.

Sales of Bud's Michelob Ultra brand '-- the third-biggest-selling in the US behind No. 1 Bud Light and No. 2 Modelo Especial '-- were down 4.4%, according to Bump Williams data.

''It's not just a Bud Light issue,'' said Bump Williams, chief executive of the consultancy.

''It's an Anheuser-Busch portfolio problem now.''

Bud Light sales dipped 21% and 23% respectively during the last two weeks of April, according to industry data. APAnheuser-Busch's smaller US brands also got dinged, with its Natural Light brand down 5.2% and its Busch Light seeing a 1.8% drop.

The widening sales declines mark a painful hit for Bud's dominant US beer business.

Last year, sales of Bud Light topped $4.8 billion, according to the Connecticut-based firm.

Sales of Coors are spiking in the wake of the Dylan Mulvaney Bud Light partnership. Getty ImagesModelo Especial had $3.75 billion while Michelob Ultra generated $3.3 billion in sales.

Budweiser came in at No. 7 last year with $1.83 billion in sales.

Year to date, Bud Light and Budweiser are the only top 10 US beers whose sales have dropped, with declines of 3% and 0.4%, respectively.

What we know about Dylan MulvaneyWho is Dylan Mulvaney?

Dylan Mulvaney is a 26-year-old transgender influencer, who documented her transition from male to female on TikTok beginning in March 2021. Mulvaney has capitalized on the popularity of TikTok as well as companies trying to promote diversity.

What is the controversy surrounding Mulvaney?

Recently, Bud Light partnered with Mulvaney, sending her cans featuring her face and sparking a major ''controversy'' on the internet.

Mulvaney has reportedly earned over $1 million from endorsements, including fashion and beauty brands such as Kate Spade, Ulta Beauty, Haus Labs and CeraVe. Mulvaney also has a partnership with Nike, which critics have called ''a slap to the face.''

How did the public respond to the partnership?

Since news broke about the partnership, many celebrities have taken to social media to share their opinions on the matter, with some calling for a boycott of all Anheuser-Busch drinks.

One such celeb was Kid Rock, who posted a video of him opening fire on Bud Light cans.

Country music star Travis Tritt tweeted: ''I will be deleting all Anheuser-Busch products from my tour hospitality rider. I know many other artists who are doing the same.''

As Megyn Kelly addressed the controversy, she was called out by viewers for what was dubbed a ''transphobic tirade.''

What was Anheuser-Busch's response to the backlash?

Anheuser-Busch defended its decision to enlist Mulvaney as a Bud Light brand influencer Monday in the face of growing backlash.

Anheuser-Busch said the cans with Mulvaney's face on them were a personal gift and that she's among hundreds of influencers with whom the company partners.

Learn more about Dylan Mulvaney

''If Bud Light doesn't fix its trend by the end of this month, it will continue to lose market share because it will lose Memorial Day. That kicks off the summer season,'' Williams told The Post. ''There has to be a sense of urgency for InBev to correct these trends.''

It's the fourth consecutive week of double-digit sales drops linked to Anheuser-Busch's brief marketing tie-up with the transgender influencer, which began on April 1 when Mulvaney posted videos of herself sitting in a bubble bath drinking Bud Light.

Dylan Mulvaney posted this video to her social media on April 1. Dylan Mulvaney / Instagram''Anecdotally we are hearing that sales of Bud Light are declining more rapidly at bars and restaurants where some consumers don't want to be seen drinking it or they are getting into arguments over the brand,'' said Benj Steinman, editor of Beer Marketer's Insights.

Rival brewers, meanwhile, are gaining market share at Bud Light's expense.

Coors Light and Miller Light each saw a more than 20% sales increase in the week ended April 29 compared to a year ago, according to Bump Williams and Nielsen data.

Beer brands like Miller Light saw more than a 20% sales increase in the week ended April 29, according to Bump Williams and Nielsen data. Alamy Stock PhotoPabst Blue Ribbon was up 18.9% while Keystone Light saw a 15% bump over the same period.

The shocking collapse of the nation's No. 1 beer, which is experiencing one of the most emotionally charged boycotts ever, shows no signs of letting up even as Anheuser-Busch chief executive, Michel Doukeris tries to distance the company from the ill-fated Mulvaney partnership.

''We need to clarify the facts that this was one can, one influencer, one post, and not a campaign,'' Doukeris told investors during an earnings call last week.

These posts have ignited national boycotts against Bud Light. Dylan Mulvaney / InstagramThe company did not immediately respond for comment about the sales declines.

Anheuser-Busch told distributors that an outside ad agency was responsible for tapping Mulvaney to promote the Bud Light brand to the LGBTQ community, but has stopped short of naming the marketing firm.

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Thu, 11 May 2023 12:40

NY county fighting Mayor Adams' plan to send migrants to community: 'Illegal'

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As the U.S. braces for the end of Title 42, New York City is reportedly considering closing down some city streets to temporarily shelter migrants after running out of available housing for asylum seekers.

A memo, obtained by CBS2, reveals NYC officials are reviewing plans to block off large sections of the street to aid the thousands of migrants seeking shelter in New York.

The memo suggested placing shipping containers or foldable tiny homes of 420 square feet in the streets to house the homeless migrants who arrive in the city, according to CBS2.

"Being on the street bed would provide access to water, sewer and electricity and could then support trailers or modular/prefabricated housing," the confidential memo reportedly said.

NEW YORK POL DEPLOYS POLICE TO BLOCK MIGRANT BUSES, THREATENS TO GRAB NYC MAYOR 'BY THE THROAT'

(C) AP Photo/Denis Poroy A U.S. Border Patrol agent talks with asylum-seekers waiting between the double fence along the U.S.-Mexico border near Tijuana, Mexico, Monday, May 8, 2023, in San Diego. The migrants wait between the fences to be processed by U.S. Border Patrol agents. Denis Poroy Mohamed Ahmed, CEO and co-founder of Hapi Homes, told CBS2 he has been in contact with the city about supplying tiny homes for the project.

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FORMER NYPD ACADEMY WITH ACTIVE INDOOR GUN RANGE TO HOUSE ILLEGAL MIGRANTS AFTER CITY FACED 'NO OTHER OPTIONS'

"We currently have a model, currently right now it's 420 square feet. It's a two-bedroom, and it's a foldable unit that can be deployed on site," Ahmed told the outlet.

The office of Mayor Eric Adams did not say whether the city would move forward with the reported plan outlined in the memo, but it did tell Fox News Digital that officials were considering all options.

The mayor's office told Fox that the city reached its limit for available temporary migrant housing, forcing them to use unconventional measures in order to deal with the situation.

"We've been clear that the burden of caring for asylum seekers shouldn't fall on any one city alone. We have reached our limit of new shelters that we can open right now, and we currently have no other option but to temporarily house recent arrivals in gyms," Fabien Levy, press secretary to Adams, told Fox News Digital Wednesday.

(C) Christian Torres Chavez/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images An aerial view of migrants wait to cross the Rio Bravo into the United States before the Title 42 policy, which allows for the immediate expulsion of irregular migrants entering the country, comes to an end, in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico on May 8, 2023. Christian Torres Chavez/Anadolu Agency The new migrant housing considerations come as Title 42, the pandemic-era policy used to manage the border crisis by allowing the immediate expulsion of migrants from the U.S. for public health reasons, is set to expire on May 11.

"With Title 42 set to be lifted this week, we expect more to arrive in our city daily," Levy said, calling for federal support to deal with the situation. "We are considering a multitude of options, but, as we've been saying for a year, we desperately need federal and state support to manage this crisis."

Gov. Kathy Hochul, D-N.Y., declared a state of emergency Tuesday evening ahead of the Trump-era policy's expiration, after already dealing with the 60,000 migrants who arrived in NYC from the southern border.

Counties in the New York suburbs, such as Orange County and Rockland counties, also declared a state of emergency after hearing of state Democrat plans to bus migrants to upstate counties across the Empire State.

"We're closely monitoring the situation as the lifting of Title 42 approaches. We've already seen a massive increase of asylum seekers arriving in recent days and seeing over 500 asylum seekers entering our care on some days," Levy said in a statement to Fox.

(C) AP Photo/Christian Chavez Migrants cross a barbed-wire barrier into the United States from Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, Tuesday, May 9, 2023. The U.S. is preparing for the Thursday, May 11 end of the Title 42 policy, linked to the coronavirus pandemic that allowed it to quickly expel many migrants seeking asylum. Christian Chavez On top of struggling to house the multitude of migrants seeking asylum in the state under their "right to shelter" law, immigration appointments in New York are reportedly booked out until 2033, meaning many migrants may not see an immigration judge to discuss their stay for another a decade.

"It's a little concerning that some of them have to wait to 2033 just to appear before you, and then they have to get another two to three years before they even go to an immigration judge," Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Texas, recently said during an immigration hearing.

According to sources at the Customs and Border Protection, officials are apprehending about 10,000 illegal migrants daily, but are expecting even larger numbers in the coming days.

Fox News' Bill Melugin and Danielle Wallace contributed to this report.

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Thu, 11 May 2023 12:38

NEW You can now listen to Fox News articles!

"Look, I believe in immigration, but when is enough, enough?"

These aren't my words '' they came from Democrat Representative Henry Cuellar of Texas. I bet they are also the feelings of most Americans.

Americans may be divided on the number of immigrants to admit every year, whether to prioritize family or employment in selecting them, or how to deal with the millions here illegally. But most understand that this country can only function under the rule of law '' and the Biden administration's handling of immigration and the border is as lawless as it is incompetent.

NYC CONSIDERS CLOSING OFF CITY STREETS TO SHELTER ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS AFTER TITLE 42 EXPIRATION: REPORT

After May 11, border agents will no longer be able to expel people attempting to enter the U.S. illegally under Title 42, a COVID-19-prevention authority used since 2020. Title 42 was like a bar bouncer, who can keep people out with no paperwork.

U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas has undermined enforcement so much that even a convicted criminal illegal alien with a final order of removal has a low chance of being deported. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

Post-Title 42, illegal aliens processed at the border or apprehended as they try to sneak in can only be removed under regular immigration law (Title 8) '' and that's a lengthy process more like evicting a bad tenant.

Biden never liked using Title 42. He "stacked his administration with immigrant advocates," according to the Associated Press. Those officials deliberately destroyed the enforcement methods that were succeeding under the last administration. Their philosophy seems to be that nearly everyone, everywhere, has the right to claim asylum from inside the U.S. although they know that almost nine of every 10 will never qualify.

They've lowered the asylum bar by stretching the categories that could qualify, which now include "former membership in a gang." This has caused asylum backlogs to grow near 2 million, which will take decades to clear. Under Homeland Security Secretary Mayorkas, DHS has de-prioritized interior enforcement so even a convicted criminal illegal alien with a final order of removal has a low chance of being deported.

But on Title 42, Biden's approach was confused: on the one hand, administration lawyers fought to be able to end it in federal court, and DHS made major exceptions for family groups and people from certain countries. Even so, DHS expelled over a million people (mostly single adults) under Title 42 in both Fiscal Year 2021 and 2022, and nearly half a million already this year.

Biden and Mayorkas supposedly have a two-fold plan to handle the post-Title 42 rush. First, they want to scale up use of the "lawful pathways" they invented by abusing a limited parole authority in U.S. immigration law. By this unprecedented arrogation of power, they've allowed in more than a million migrants who are not "refugees" under U.S. law.

They plan to ramp up tent processing cities at the border and even set up camps in Colombia and Guatemala to feed their "pathways," assisting aliens to apply for parole appointments from their phones and then fly directly into the U.S. interior.

The second part of the Biden plan is allegedly to crack down and remove those who don't follow their "lawful" Yellow Brick Road. Perhaps it is dawning on them that open borders might not be electorally sustainable.

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But the exceptions to DHS's supposed new get-tough policy are wide and may be easily exploited. Mayorkas has all the public credibility of Baghdad Bob right now, and with his track record, anyone hoping for efficient enforcement will likely be disappointed.

They've lowered the asylum bar by stretching the categories that could qualify, which now include "former membership in a gang." This has caused asylum backlogs to grow near 2 million, which will take decades to clear.

As long as we make it obvious that we won't enforce our own laws, there will be an unending supply of people eager to cross illegally into the U.S. Any DHS staff "surged" to the border '' or 1,500 soldiers, or 15,000 '' will only be grist for the Mayorkas' migration machine to suck arriving illegal aliens from the border and funnel them into the interior.

The Biden administration will keep reprogramming or asking Congress for yet more money and staff, in the forlorn hope '' because even they don't really believe it '' that this mass rush of largely economic migration on our southern border is a passing phase.

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Border towns are neglecting their own people to provide emergency services to rotating camps of indigents in their streets. Cities and towns across America are also paying the price. Resources to absorb those arriving via Biden's "lawful pathways," bypassing long lines of actual legal immigrants, are finite.

There is always a chance Congress could enact new border security measures or even replace Title 42 with a similar power based on resource constraints instead of COVID-19. But if nothing happens, and if the patience of the American voter has any limits, we may soon find out when "enough is enough."

British-born Simon Hankinson is a senior research fellow in the Border Security and Immigration Center at The Heritage Foundation. From 1999''2023, he was a foreign service officer serving in India, Fiji, Ghana, Slovakia, Togo, Washington, D.C., Marseille, and Nairobi. Prior to entering the State Department, Hankinson worked as a lawyer in London, and then taught history, English, and drama at a private school in Miami.

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Thu, 11 May 2023 12:29

De Nijmeegse onderzoekers Enny Das (links) en Chris Verhaak zochten uit waardoor de vraag naar transgenderzorg zo snel toeneemt. Beeld Raymond Rutting / de Volkskrant

De zorg voor transgender personen schiet tekort. Mensen die worstelen met hun genderidentiteit komen meestal terecht bij genderpoli's in ziekenhuizen. Die zijn vooral gericht op een medische behandeling, met hormonen en operaties, terwijl daar niet altijd behoefte aan is. Dat concluderen onderzoekers van de Radboud Universiteit en het Radboudumc in een rapport dat zij schreven in opdracht van het ministerie van Volksgezondheid.

De belangrijkste onderzoeksvraag was waarom de behoefte aan transgenderzorg al jaren hard groeit '' een ontwikkeling die ook in andere westerse landen te zien is. Er staan inmiddels zo'n 7.000 mensen op een wachtlijst. Zij moeten minstens twee jaar wachten op een eerste gesprek.

Een team van onderzoekers sprak onder meer met ruim honderd transgender personen. Zij komen al snel in een specialistische fuik terecht, zegt onderzoeksleider Enny Das, hoogleraar communicatie en be¯nvloeding. Chris Verhaak, klinisch psycholoog op de Nijmeegse genderpoli: 'Er zijn mensen die zeggen: ik hoef geen medische zorg, ik wil alleen een goed gesprek.'

Waarom is de vraag naar transgenderzorg zo gestegen? Das: 'Dat heeft te maken met twee ontwikkelingen die we in de maatschappij zien. Enerzijds is de aandacht voor transgender personen in de media en op sociale media duidelijk toegenomen, waardoor trans personen veel meer erkenning ervaren. Tegelijkertijd zien we op veel plekken, op scholen en sportclubs bijvoorbeeld, dat er nog veel discriminatie is: trans personen krijgen te horen dat er voor hen geen plek is. Dat creert minderheidsstress.

'Als ze vervolgens hulp zoeken bij een docent of bij de huisarts, krijgen ze vaak te horen: ik weet daar niets van, je kunt beter naar een specialistische kliniek. Zo worden trans personen al snel de medische zorg in geduwd. En omdat de wachtlijsten lang zijn, schrijven ze zich vaak meteen maar in.'

Jullie hebben het over een 'specialistische fuik'. Wat bedoelen jullie daarmee? Das: 'Een maatschappelijk probleem wordt gemedicaliseerd. Trans personen voelen dat ze niet in het hokje man of vrouw passen en ze merken dat ze maatschappelijk niet goed kunnen integreren, maar ze kunnen alleen terecht in de specialistische kliniek. Daar ligt de focus op het stellen van een diagnose en daarna een medische behandeling.'

Verhaak: 'Ik zie soms mensen die twee jaar op de wachtlijst hebben gestaan. Ze zijn al eerder bij een psycholoog geweest, maar die zei: ik weet hier niets van. Dat vind ik ontzettend verdrietig. Iemand heeft het aangedurfd hulp te zoeken en vervolgens moet het uitzoeken van de genderidentiteit, waar deze persoon zo'n behoefte aan heeft, twee jaar de ijskast in. Het vergroot de psychologische stress.'

Staan er ook mensen ten onrechte op de wachtlijsten voor transzorg? Mensen die bijvoorbeeld ook gelukkig zouden kunnen leven als non-binair, vrouw noch man, zonder dat ze daarvoor hormonen of een operatie willen? Verhaak: 'Het is interessant om uit te zoeken hoeveel medische transzorg er nog nodig zou zijn als we veel meer ruimte bieden voor genderdiversiteit. Dan kan het zijn dat mensen zich in een heel vroeg stadium al veel meer gezien en gerespecteerd voelen. Dat ze zeggen: ik mag zijn wie ik ben, zonder dat daar medische zorg voor nodig is.'

Das: 'We hoorden van trans personen dat er in de specialistische zorg weinig ruimte was om met hun eigen vragen te komen. Ze aarzelden om te zeggen dat ze twijfels hadden over de behandeling.'

Verhaak: 'In het zorgsysteem werkt het zo: er is een probleem, dat gaan we in kaart brengen en daarna worden de richtlijnen gevolgd. Als je het gevoel hebt dat je daar niet in past, ga je je misschien aanpassen. Dat wringt.'

In Nederland is, net als elders in Europa, sprake van een toename van geboren meisjes die zich pas laat in de puberteit bij een genderkliniek melden. Vaak hebben zij ook bijkomende psychiatrische problemen. Hebben jullie een antwoord op de vraag hoe dat kan? Das: 'Nee, we hebben niet met jongeren onder de 16 gesproken. We hadden financiering voor een jaar onderzoek, gesprekken met jongeren vergen veel meer voorbereiding. Dan is er bijvoorbeeld aparte toestemming nodig van de ethische commissie.'

Critici beweren dat jongeren elkaar via sociale media besmetten, op ideen brengen. Verhaak: 'De foute vrienden-hypothese, zeg maar. Ik begrijp wel dat ouders zich daar zorgen over maken. Maar we weten nog nauwelijks hoe genderidentiteit ontstaat en wat daarop van invloed is.

Das: 'Het idee dat het besmettelijk zou zijn, is veel te simplistisch. Jongeren zitten op school, hebben vrienden, er is echt niet (C)(C)n factor in hun leven die opeens maakt dat ze zich transgender voelen. De komende vier jaar gaan we een grote groep genderdiverse mensen volgen en kijken naar de relatie tussen socialemediagebruik en ontwikkeling.'

Wat moet er gebeuren om die lange wachtlijsten op te lossen? De geestelijke gezondheidszorg (ggz) is al overbelast. Verhaak: 'Transgender jongeren komen vaak in de ggz terecht als ze naast hun gendervraag ook sociale of psychische problemen hebben. Die hebben meestal met elkaar te maken; jongeren kunnen bijvoorbeeld angstig worden als gevolg van de worsteling met hun genderidentiteit. Nu zegt de psycholoog vaak: we kijken naar je problemen, maar je gendervraag parkeren we. Bij de genderpoli begint de behandeling dan weer helemaal opnieuw. Terwijl: hun problemen kunnen vaak juist alleen in samenhang worden opgelost.

'Je kunt toch ook niet meer zeggen tegen iemand die homoseksueel is: ga maar naar een speciale homoseksualiteitkliniek. Genderdiversiteit komt zoveel voor in de maatschappij, we moeten ervoor zorgen dat een doorsnee professional voldoende kennis heeft om daarmee om te gaan.'

Over de auteurs Ellen de Visser is medisch redacteur op de wetenschapsredactie van de Volkskrant en auteur van de bestseller Die ene patint, waarin zorgverleners vertellen over een patint die hun kijk op het vak veranderde. Kaya Bouma schrijft voor de Volkskrant over psyche, brein en gedrag. Ook schrijft ze over de geestelijke gezondheidszorg.

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Thu, 11 May 2023 03:38

A civil war erupted within broad evangelicalism, and the idol of LGBTQ+ is dividing the house. This issue is personal, political, and spiritual for me. In 1998, I became one of the first crop of so-called ''tenured radicals'' in American universities, proudly touting my lesbian street cred. In 1999, Christ called me to repentance and belief, and I became a despised defector of the LGBTQ+ movement. But progressive sanctification came slowly, and I have failed many times during these past decades.

After I have learned lessons, I have earnestly tried to course-correct.

And that's the problem.

My use of transgendered pronouns was not a mistake; it was sin.

Public sin requires public repentance, not course correction.

I have publicly sinned on the issue of transgender pronouns, which I have carelessly used in books and articles.

I have publicly sinned by advocating for the use of transgender pronouns in interviews and public Q&As.

Why did I do this? I have a bunch of lame and backside-covering excuses. Here are a few. It was a carry-over from my gay activist days. I wanted to meet everyone where they were and do nothing to provoke insult.

When the Supreme Court decided in favor of gay marriage, the danger of my position started to come into focus. The codification of gay marriage and LGBTQ+ civil rights launched a collision course between LGBTQ+ and the Christian faith. The LGBTQ+ movement's understanding of itself as ontological and morally good conflicts with the biblical account in Genesis 1:27. Which is it? Which side was I on? Is LGBTQ+ a normal option in the ever-expanding menu of sexual orientation and gender identity, needing a little Jesus to aid human flourishing? Or does LGBTQ+ come from Satan as a reflection of the world, the flesh, and the devil? Is it part of God's creational design or rebellion against the creation ordinance? It's one or the other because the Christian faith is inherently binary, not non-binary.

And getting this wrong is not a matter of personal liberty.

How is using transgender pronouns sinful, you might ask?

Using transgendered pronouns is a sin against the ninth commandment and encourages people to sin against the tenth commandment.

Using transgendered pronouns is a sin against the creation ordinance.

Using transgendered pronouns is a sin against image-bearing.

Using transgendered pronouns discourages a believer's progressive sanctification and falsifies the gospel.

Using transgendered pronouns cheapens redemption, and it tramples on the blood of Christ.

Using transgendered pronouns fails to love my neighbor as myself.

Using transgendered pronouns fails to offer genuine Christian hospitality and instead yields the definition of hospitality to liberal communitarianism, identity politics, and ''human flourishing.''

Using transgendered pronouns isn't a sin because the times have changed, and therefore, using transgendered pronouns isn't sinful today but a morally acceptable option in 2012. Sin is sin. The Bible defines this as sin. Sin does not lose its evil because of our good intentions or the personal sensibilities of others. Changing cultural forces can bring sin into fresh light (as the Supreme Court's Obergefell decision did for me). But a renewed focus is no excuse for sin and no dodge for repentance, not for a real Christian.

I repent.

The broad evangelical church disagrees with how I paint this picture.

Psychologist Mark Yarhouse and author Preston Sprinkle summarize the Christian case for transgender pronouns. They believe using transgender pronouns is respectful of someone's chosen identity; it's kind and courteous and necessary for continuing a relationship with a transgender person.[1] I once sinfully said all these things, too. But this position makes no Christian sense. Does any real Christian believe crafting a relationship on falsehood will give the gospel a better hearing? And is that how people are converted? By meeting God on sin's terms and hearing nice things about themselves?

Christian author and counselor Laura Perry Smalts offers a different perspective. In her past, she lived as a ''transgendered man'' and called herself ''Jake.'' Laura pumped testosterone and engaged in mutilating ''gender-affirming'' surgeries. And God saved, redeemed, and transformed her into a beautiful trophy of his grace. She has recounted in countless interviews and her book Transgender to Transformed (Oklahoma: Genesis Publishing Group, 2019) the opposite approach to Sprinkle and Yarhouse and the old Rosaria. For Laura, when the Lord enlivened her heart and mind with the gospel, she returned to the church of her youth and her conservative Christian parents. Her church and parents had refused to use her preferred pronouns throughout all the years she lived in the false identity of transgenderism. Why did she return to them? Their refusal to lie compelled her trust. Today, Laura is among the most beautiful, godly, and feminine women I know.[2]

Transgender pronouns are one of the Achans in the camp of broad evangelicalism. But it shouldn't be an Achan in the camp of the confessionally reformed. Preston Sprinkle, Mark Yarhouse, David French, Revoice, Side B Christianity, and any parachurch ministry that elevates ''being winsome'' as the endgame provide useful examples to defy. They nod in the direction of traditional values but then swap biblical clarity for postmodern pluralism, thus burning to the ground any legitimate theological bridge to gospel grace. Transgenderism is satanic. We who once promoted ''pronoun hospitality'' lent false credibility to a wolfish theology that fails to protect the sheep. Instead, it eats them alive.

Do you love your neighbor? Do you love your Lord? Do you believe that Jesus alone is ''the way, the truth, and the life'' (John 14:6)? Does Jesus save us from our sins, or do we delegate this task to the priests of our day'--the therapists?

Do you know the difference between making false friends (''frenemies'') and loving your enemies? Yes, Jesus was a friend of sinners, which means that by His precious blood, he ransoms all who repent, believe, and put their trust in Him. He makes former enemies into his friends through his blood. The blood of Christ does not create an ''ally'' with the sin it crushes on the cross, for that stands in opposition to gospel hope. The world, the flesh, and the devil are not Christ's friends. Trans identity and Jesus are not coterminous. It's one or the other. Christians need to learn how to love their enemies, not pretend their enemies are their friends.

Christians who use the moral lens of LGBTQ+ personhood are not merely a ''soft presence'' in the enemy camp. Their malleability makes them pudding in the enemy's hand. They make false converts to a counterfeit gospel that bends the knee to the fictional identity of LGBTQ+. This wolfish theology cedes the moral language to the left by using transgendered pronouns as a moral lens (''respect, courtesy, hospitality''). They reject the clarity of the word of God and replace it with garbage. By doing so, they have rejected the gospel truth that Jesus is the only way to salvation. Heidelberg Question 30 puts it like this: ''for though they boast of Him in words, yet in deeds, they deny Jesus as the only deliverer and Savior.''[3]

Heidelberg Question 30 has an ominous report for the pronoun hospitality camp.

We who have promoted this sin need to stand up and repent.

I'll start.

I repent.

May God forgive me.

Would anyone like to join me?

Rosaria Butterfield, a former professor of English and women's studies at Syracuse University, converted to Christ in 1999 in what she describes as a train wreck. Her memoir The Secret Thoughts of an Unlikely Convert chronicles that difficult journey. Rosaria is married to Kent Butterfield, a Reformed Presbyterian pastor in North Carolina, and is a homeschool mother, author, and speaker.

[1] Mark Yarhouse, ''Understanding the Transgender Phenomena,'' Christianity Today, June 8, 2015. And Preston Sprinkle, Embodied: Transgender Identities, The Church, and What the Bible Has to Say (Colorado Springs: David C. Cook, 2021.

[2] Today, Laura is happily married to a godly Christian man and is one of the most beautiful and feminine Christian women I know.

[3] Heidelberg Catechism, Question 30. Quoted from The Reformation Heritage KJV Study Bible (Grand Rapids, MI: Reformation Heritage Books, 2014):1992.

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Thu, 11 May 2023 03:05

LONDON, May 5 (Reuters) - Artificial intelligence could pose a "more urgent" threat to humanity than climate change, AI pioneer Geoffrey Hinton told Reuters in an interview on Friday.

Geoffrey Hinton, widely known as one of the "godfathers of AI", recently announced he had quit Alphabet (GOOGL.O) after a decade at the firm, saying he wanted to speak out on the risks of the technology without it affecting his former employer.

Hinton's work is considered essential to the development of contemporary AI systems. In 1986, he co-authored the seminal paper "Learning representations by back-propagating errors", a milestone in the development of the neural networks undergirding AI technology. In 2018, he was awarded the Turing Award in recognition of his research breakthroughs.

But he is now among a growing number of tech leaders publicly espousing concern about the possible threat posed by AI if machines were to achieve greater intelligence than humans and take control of the planet.

"I wouldn't like to devalue climate change. I wouldn't like to say, 'You shouldn't worry about climate change.' That's a huge risk too," Hinton said. "But I think this might end up being more urgent."

He added: "With climate change, it's very easy to recommend what you should do: you just stop burning carbon. If you do that, eventually things will be okay. For this it's not at all clear what you should do."

Microsoft-backed (MSFT.O) OpenAI fired the starting pistol on a technological arms race in November, when it made AI-powered chatbot ChatGPT available to the public. It soon became the fastest-growing app in history, reaching 100 million monthly users in two months.

In April, Twitter CEO Elon Musk joined thousands in signing an open letter calling for a six-month pause in the development of systems more powerful than OpenAI's recently-launched GPT-4.

Signatories included Stability AI CEO Emad Mostaque, researchers at Alphabet-owned DeepMind, and fellow AI pioneers Yoshua Bengio and Stuart Russell.

While Hinton shares signatories concern that AI may prove to be an existential threat to mankind, he disagreed with pausing research.

''It's utterly unrealistic,'' he said. ''I'm in the camp that thinks this is an existential risk, and it's close enough that we ought to be working very hard right now, and putting a lot of resources into figuring out what we can do about it.''

In the European Union, a committee of lawmakers responded to the Musk-backed letter, calling on U.S. President Joe Biden to convene a global summit on the future direction of the technology with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.

Last week, the committee agreed a landmark set of proposals targeting generative AI, which would force companies like OpenAI to disclose any copyright material used to train their models.

Meanwhile, Biden held talks with a number of AI company leaders, including Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman at the White House, promising a "frank and constructive discussion" on the need for companies to be more transparent about their systems.

''The tech leaders have the best understanding of it, and the politicians have to be involved,'' said Hinton. ''It affects us all, so we all have to think about it.''

Reporting by Martin Coulter, editing by Deepa Babington

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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Thu, 11 May 2023 03:03

Members of the U.S. House of Representatives are set to vote this week on new legislation that would greatly increase the federal government's power over private businesses, workers, and US citizens. Unfortunately, much of the GOP majority is supportive of the legislation'--the ''Border Security and Enforcement Act of 2023'' (HR 2640)'--because it is being marketed as a bill "to secure the border."

Much of the bill contains reasonable provisions such allowing state attorneys general the authority to sue the federal government for refusing to detain illegal aliens. Other provisions include denying asylum and residency to known criminals. In many ways, the bill is an effort to rein in the executive branch's control over immigration policy.

Alarmingly, however, the legislation also contains a provision mandating nationwide use of "E-Verify" which is essentially a federal surveillance program that determines whether or not a person can be legally employed in the United States. Every American would require the federal government's permission to work. So long as the Border Security and Enforcement Act contains these E-Verify provisions, the bill presents a clear and present danger to basic American freedoms and property rights. The expansion of E-Verify would also go a long way in helping the federal government build essential infrastructure that in the future could be used to implement "social credit scores" or restrictions on employment for those who refuse federally mandated vaccines or other mandates.

E-Verify as Government Surveillance E-Verify was initially implemented in 1997 as a program designed to prevent companies from employing foreign nationals who had entered the US illegally'--i.e., "illegal aliens." The program was never made mandatory at the federal level, however. The program has generally been voluntary except for government employees in most states. Instead, mandated use of E-Verify has been a matter of state legislation, and some states have certainly been more enthusiastic about it than others.

Since implementation, only nine states have mandated the use of E-Verify for all employers. Florida is poised to be the next to impose these mandates on employers. Governor Ron DeSantis has repeatedly pushed to further regulate and surveil private businesses with universal E-Verify. Some states, such as Colorado, have implemented alternative, but similar, state-administered programs.

The Border Security and Enforcement Act of 2023, however, would mandate nationwide use of E-Verify for all employers, and remove state-level authority to approve or decline participation. In other words, Congress is now considering one of the largest expansions of federal employment regulation in years.

As if often the case, however, conservatives and Republicans are happy to embrace more federal power and regulation when it suits their political agendas. It's an old trick. Beginning in the days of the "War on Terror," conservatives and the GOP often promoted and approved new "antiterrorism" legislation creating vast federal spying and prosecutorial powers. Supporters often supposed such powers could only possibly be used against Islamic terrorists and other official enemies of the Bush Administration. A federal spying apparatus has since been erected and deployed against virtually all Americans.

Similar pro-regime arguments are now being used to promote E-Verify. We're told it will only be used against immigrants. We're told that unless you're breaking the law, you have nothing to worry about. We've heard these claims in other contexts many times before.

Observers who have refused to be taken in by the anti-immigrant hysterics have provided some key sanity. Last week, for example, Congressman Thomas Massie warned against keeping E-Verify in the proposed bill, writing

If, heaven forbid, the United States government ever adopts a social credit score, National E-Verify is one more tool they can use to prevent honest people from being part of society. Believe what you will, but it will have little impact on illegal immigration into this country.

Massie specifically noted the legislation could be used to enforce federal vaccine mandates as well:

Republicans are about to make a huge mistake. Biden forced millions of Americans to take VACCINES by threatening their JOBS, and turning EMPLOYERS into enforcers. Imagine giving Biden the ultimate on/off switch for EMPLOYMENT called E-verify. Might as well call it V-verify.

Massie, of course, has long been a noted disciple of Ron Paul, so it's not surprising the Massie's concerns reflect those of Paul's. For his part, Paul has opposed E-Verify since its early years, and in the past decade has specifically warned it could be used to essentially create a broad federal permission-to-work regime. In 2018 he wrote:

E-Verify almost certainly will be used for purposes unrelated to immigration. One potential use of E-Verify is to limit the job prospects of anyone whose lifestyle displeases the government. This could include those accused of failing to pay their fair share in taxes, those who homeschool or do not vaccinate their children, or those who own firearms.

Unscrupulous government officials could use E-Verify against those who practice antiwar, anti-tax, anti-surveillance, and anti-Federal Reserve activism. Those who consider this unlikely should remember the long history of the IRS targeting the political enemies of those in power and the use of anti-terrorism laws to harass antiwar activists. They should also consider the current moves to outlaw certain types of ''politically incorrect'' speech, such as disputing the alleged ''consensus'' regarding climate change.

Expanding Federal Control of Employers The potential for abuse of E-Verify is, of course, enormous.

But even if applied specifically to immigration matters, imposing yet more federal regulations on every American entrepreneur and employer is hardly a reasonable way to approach immigration policy. Cracking down on productive employers'--and landlords'--has always been utterly incompatible with basic property rights and market freedom. Such measures amount to little more than unleashing armed federal agents on private businesses for the "crime" of not having the correct federal paperwork.

In his article "The Tragedy of Immigration Enforcement," Lew Rockwell notes how the last thing this country needs is more federal bureaucrats shutting down more businesses. When federal agents shut down a restaurant for employing the non-government-approved workers,

the government is busting up a whole series of voluntary labor relationships that are designed to provide people with good food. Let us be clear: to the extent that many people object to illegal immigration, it has nothing to do with those who go to work and make an honest living doing things like working in restaurants. The problem with illegal immigration is related to other issues that drive people crazy, like going on welfare, engaging in actual (not pretend) crime, and demanding tax-funded support services.

Proponents of E-Verify, of course, claim it is all very employer friendly, and takes mere "minutes" to use. Sure. It takes a heroic amount of faith in the government to assume that E-Verify will be the first federal regulatory program that makes life easier for private businesses'--many of which are small businesses with razor-thin profit margins.

If E-Verify proves to be little more than just one more costly hoop for business owners to jump through, that will be the best-case scenario. It is more likely that E-Verify will gradually turn into a model or a hub for new programs that tie work eligibility to any number of federal mandates and requirements for "good"'--i.e., obedient'--citizenship. After all, if the last three years have taught us anything, it's that the federal government is more than willing to unilaterally expand and interpret federal policies in whatever way federal policymakers please. Note, for example, how the Biden Administration used Medicare and Medicaid funding as a means to ram through vaccine mandates at hospitals. And note how the administration used OSHA as a backdoor method of imposing vaccine mandates on employers. OSHA was not created to enforce such mandates, but this didn't stop the White House from telling it to do so. E-Verify would provide a similar way for the federal government to leverage its power against all employers in America.

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Wed, 10 May 2023 23:03

Removing Paywall

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Wed, 10 May 2023 23:01

The Biden family business over the course of several years received over $10 million from business schemes in Romania and China in return for what appears to be influence peddling, bank documents obtained Wednesday by Breitbart News from the House Oversight Committee show.

In total, Biden family members and business associates designed a web of over 20 companies, many of which were formed during Joe Biden's vice presidency, the committee revealed. In total, the Biden family, business associates, and companies received over $10 million from foreign nationals' companies, the committee found.

The funds appear to contradict President Joe Biden's claims that his family received no money from China. The funds also raise questions about what the Biden family returned in terms of services or products for the money received.

Romanian Transactions

From November 2015 to May 2017, Bladon Enterprises paid Robinson Walker, LLC over $3 million. Bladon Enterprises is reported to be Gabriel Popoviciu's Cypriot company that he used to conduct business in Romania. Robinson Walker is the Biden family business partner who collectedly sent the Biden family $1.3 million to the family.

The Biden family accounts received approximately $1.038 million from the Robinson Walker, LLC account after Bladon Enterprises deposits, the committee revealed based upon wire transfers. In total, 16 of the 17 payments from Bladon Enterprises to Robinson Walker, LLC were made while Joe Biden was vice president.

According to the committee, the payments began to flow to Robinson Walker, LLC just after Vice President Biden welcomed Romanian President Klaus Iohannis to the White House on September 28, 2015.

A readout of the meeting stated that the ''Vice President welcomed President Iohannis' focus on anti-corruption efforts and rule of law as a means to strengthen national security and promote greater investment and economic growth.'' Iohannis said Joe Biden ''voiced satisfaction over Romania's progress with the fight against corruption.''

One year prior, on May 21, 2014, then-vice president Joe Biden visited Romania and delivered a speech addressed to the Romanian Prime Minister, judges, prosecutors, and leaders of the parliament. At the time of the speech, Romanian prosecutors were investigating Popoviciu, who was later charged and convicted with bribery-related offenses.

As Breitbart News previously reported, Hunter Biden began working for Popoviciu in the spring of 2015. According to Hunter Biden's calendar, he met with Joe Biden three times from July 2015 to March 2016 about helping Popoviciu with a ''conviction stemming from his purchase of a 550-acre parcel of government-owned land for a steep discount,'' the New York Post reported.

Chinese Transactions

Bank records from the committee show that between August 2017 and October 2018, Hudson West III, a company co-managed by Hunter Biden, sent over $4 million to Hunter Biden related companies and over $75,000 to James Biden related companies. Gongwen Dong and Hunter Biden were each 50 percent owners of Hudson West II, bank records obtained by the committee show. According to an email verified by the Washington Post and Hunter Biden, Gongwen Dong served as ''Chairman Ye['s] CEFC emissary'' in the United States.

Closely connected to the Chinese Communist Party, CEFC Chairman Ye Jianming also paid Hunter a $1 million retainer fee for legal services in 2017. Hunter also received a large diamond from Ye worth an estimated $80,000 in February 2017.

In addition, the committee revealed that Hunter Biden received an additional $100,000 that was sent from Shanghai Huaxin in China. The money was apparently a part of a CEFC deal with Ye and Dong.

According to the committee, on May 11, 2017, Dong formed CEFC Infrastructure in Delaware. Hudson West V, a company that formed a partnership with Hunter Biden, was the sole equity member of CEFC Infrastructure. Dong identified himself as the Director of Hudson West V and listed its address as Xicheng District Beijing, China, banking documents show.

One week later, Hudson West V assigned 100 percent of its interest to Shanghai Huaxin Group Limited (Shanghai Huaxin), a company incorporated in China. On June 30, 2017, Shanghai Huaxin funded the CEFC Infrastructure bank account with an injection of $10 million.

About one month later, CEFC Infrastructure wired $100,000 to Owasco P.C, Hunter Biden's law firm.

The above payments are in addition to what the committee already revealed. On April 17, Comer announced a total of nine Biden family members may have profited from the family's international business schemes, six more than previously disclosed. Those currently identified on the payroll are Hunter, James, Hallie Biden '-- and a fourth unidentified Biden. On April 25, the committee teased releasing the identities it has so far concealed. A spokesperson for the committee declined to reveal the identities at that time.

Collectively, the identified family members received $1.3 million from a Biden associate, who was wired $3 million dollars from a Chinese energy company two months after President Joe Biden left the vice presidency.

In 2018 and 2020, Breitbart Senior Contributor and Government Accountability Institute President Peter Schweizer published Secret Empires and Profiles in Corruption. Each book hit #1 on the New York Times bestseller list and exposed how Hunter Biden and Joe Biden flew aboard Air Force Two in 2013 to China before Hunter's firm inked a $1.5 billion deal with a subsidiary of the Chinese government's Bank of China, less than two weeks after the trip. Schweizer's work also uncovered the Biden family's other vast and lucrative foreign deals and cronyism.

Breitbart Political Editor Emma-Jo Morris's investigative work at the New York Post on the Hunter Biden ''laptop from hell'' also captured international headlines when she, along with Miranda Devine, revealed that Joe Biden was intimately involved in Hunter's businesses, appearing to have a ten percent stake in a company the scion formed with officials at the highest levels of the Chinese Communist Party.

Follow Wendell Huseb¸ on Twitter @WendellHuseb¸. He is the author of Politics of Slave Morality .

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Wed, 10 May 2023 23:00

Welp, we officially have an ID on the Grim Reaper esque figure caught lurking in the background of King Charles' coronation. To rewind real quick, coronation viewers caught a spooky cloaked figure walking around Westminster Abbey during the coronation, and his presence immediately went viral thanks to @stxawbs on TikTok.

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Obviously, the internet had questions including but not limited to: is an agent of death wandering around Charles' coronation, but update! Newsweek went ahead and contacted Westminster Abbey, who revealed that this footage is not, in fact, of the Grim Reaper, and is instead of a random "verger" aka "a member of the abbey community who assists with religious services but who is not a member of the clergy."

Got it. Still have questions, but got it.

Meanwhile, Westminster Abbey doesn't appear to have commented on another viral clip from King Charles' coronation, of Camilla walking down the aisle while a buncha people seemingly chant "I like vagina." I mean, they were allegedly singing ''Vivat Regina Camilla,'' but the internet heard what it heard!

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Anyway, we'll just be here waiting patiently for that "verger" to give an interview explaining what, exactly, they were doing wandering through the halls in a black cloak right in the middle of Charles' coronation. Speak now (not to be confused with Speak Now, Taylor's Version), verger!

Mehera Bonner is a celebrity and entertainment news writer who enjoys Bravo and Antiques Roadshow with equal enthusiasm, She was previously entertainment editor at Marie Claire and has covered pop culture for over a decade.

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Wed, 10 May 2023 22:59

NEED A LETTER?

The GALAP is a grassroots, volunteer project that aims to increase access to free letters for gender-affirming medical care.

We are not a group practice, and we do not respond to direct/urgent requests for letters.

If you are looking for a provider who may be able to write a letter for you, please see our pledge signers directory and contact one of these people in your local area. We encourage you to vet your therapist before meeting with them.

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Wed, 10 May 2023 13:00

20 May 2017

This address was given by His Eminence Carlo Cardinal Caffarra on 19 May 2017 at the fourth annual Rome Life Forum, which is organised by Voice of the Family.

''When I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw all people to myself'' [John 12, 32]. ''The whole world is under the power of the Evil One'' [1 John, 5, 19].

Reading these divine words gives us perfect awareness of what is really happening in the world, within the human story, considered in its depths. The human story is a confrontation between two forces: the force of attraction, whose source is in the wounded Heart of the Crucified-Risen One, and the power of Satan, who does not want to be ousted from his kingdom.

The area in which the confrontation takes place is the human heart, it is human liberty. And the confrontation has two dimensions: an interior dimension and an exterior dimension. We will briefly consider the one and the other.

At the trial before Pilate, the Governor asks Jesus whether he is a king; whether '' which is the meaning of Pilate's question '' he has true and sovereign political power over a given territory. Jesus responds: ''You say that I am a king. For this I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice'' [John 18, 37]. 'Jesus wants us to understand that his kingship is not that of the kings of this world, but consists of the obedience of his subjects to his word, to his truth. Although He reigns over his subjects, it is not through force or power, but through the truth of which he is witness, which ''all who are from the truth'' receive with faith'. [I. De La Potterie]. Thomas Aquinas puts the following words into the mouth of the Saviour: ''As I myself manifest truth, so I am preparing a kingdom for myself''. Jesus on the Cross attracts everyone to Himself, because it is on the Cross that the Truth of which he is witness is resplendent.Yet this force of attraction can only take effect on those who ''are from the truth''. That is, on those who are profoundly available to the Truth, who love truth, who live in familiarity with it. Pascal writes: ''You would not seek me if you had not already found me''.

He who holds the entire world under his sway, instead dominates through lies. Jesus says of Satan: ''He was a murderer from the beginning and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks according to his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies. [John 8, 44].

The wording is dramatic. The first proposition '' ''He was a murderer from the beginning'' '' is explained by the second: ''and he does not stand in the truth''. The murder which the devil performs consists in his not standing in the truth, not dwelling in the truth. It is murder, because he is seeking to extinguish, to kill in the heart of man truth, the desire for truth. By inducing man to unbelief, he wants man to close himself to the light of the Divine Revelation, which is the Word incarnate. Therefore, these words of Jesus on Satan '' as today the majority of exegetes believe '' do not speak of the fall of the angels. They speak of something far more profound, something frightful: Satan constantly refuses the truth, and his action within human society consists in opposition to the truth. Satan is this refusal; he is this opposition.

The text continues: ''because there is no truth in him''. The words of Jesus go to the deepest root of Satan's work. He is in himself a lie. From his person truth is completely absent, and hence he is by definition the one who opposes truth. Jesus adds immediately afterwards: ''When he lies, he speaks according to his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies''. When the Lord says ''speaks according to his own nature'', he introduces us to the interiority of Satan, to his heart. A heart which lives in darkness, in shadows: a house without doors and without windows.

To summarise, this therefore is what is happening in the heart of man: Jesus, the Revelation of the Father, exerts a strong attraction to Himself. Satan works against this, to neutralise the attractive force of the Crucified-Risen One. The force of truth which makes us free acts on the heart of man. It is the Satanic force of the lie which makes slaves of us.

Yet, not being pure spirit, the human person is not solely interiority. Human interiority is expressed and manifested in construction of the society in which he or she lives. Human interiority is expressed and manifested in culture, as an essential dimension of human life as such. Culture is the mode of living which is specifically human.

Given that man is positioned between two opposing forces, the condition in which he finds himself must necessarily give rise to two cultures: the culture of the truth and the culture of the lie.

There is a book in Holy Scripture, the last, the Apocalypse, which describes the final confrontation between the two kingdoms. In this book, the attraction of Christ takes the form of triumph over enemy powers commanded by Satan. It is a triumph which comes after lengthy combat. The first fruits of the victory are the martyrs. ''The great Dragon, serpent of the primal age, he whom we call the devil, or Satan, seducer of the whole world, was flung down to earth'... But they [= the martyrs] overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of the testimony of their martyrdom'' [cfr. Ap. 12, 9.11].

In this second section, I would like to respond to the following question: in our Western culture, are there developments which reveal with particular clarity the confrontation between the attraction exerted over man by the Crucified-Risen One, and the culture of the lie constructed by Satan? My response is affirmative, and there are two developments in particular.The first development is the transformation of a crime [termed by Vatican Council II nefandum crimen], abortion, into a right. Note well. I am not speaking of abortion as an act perpetrated by one person. I am speaking of the broader legitimation which can be perpetrated by a judicial system in a single act: to subsume it into the category of the subjective right, which is an ethical category. This signifies calling what is good, evil, what is light, shadow. ''When he lies, he speaks according to his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies''. This is an attempt to produce an ''anti-Revelation''.What in fact is the logic which presides over the ennoblement of abortion? Firstly, it is the profoundest negation of the truth of man. As soon as Noah left the floodwaters, God said: ''Whoever sheds the blood of a man, by a man shall that person's blood be shed, for in his own image God made man'' [Gen. 9, 6]. The reason why man should not shed the blood of man is that man is the image of God. Through man, God dwells in His creation. This creation is the temple of the Lord, because man inhabits it. To violate the intangibility of the human person is a sacrilegious act against the Sanctity of God. It is the Satanic attempt to generate an ''anti-creation''. By ennobling the killing of humans, Satan has laid the foundations for his ''creation'': to remove from creation the image of God, to obscure his presence therein.

St Ambrose writes: ''The creation of the world was completed with formation of the masterpiece which is man, which'... is in fact the culmination of creation, the supreme beauty of every created being'' [Exam., Sixth day, Disc 9, 10.75; BA I, page 417]. At the moment at which the right of man to order the life and the death of another man is affirmed, God is expelled from his creation, because his original presence is denied, and his original dwelling-place within creation '' the human person '' is desecrated

The second development is the ennoblement of homosexuality. This in fact denies entirely the truth of marriage, the mind of God the Creator with regard to marriage.The Divine Revelation has told us how God thinks of marriage: the lawful union of a man and woman, the source of life. In the mind of God, marriage has a permanent structure, based on the duality of the human mode of being: femininity and masculinity. Not two opposite poles, but the one with and for the other. Only thus does man escape his original solitude.

One of the fundamental laws through which God governs the universe is that He does not act alone. This is the law of human cooperation with the divine governance. The union between a man and woman, who become one flesh, is human cooperation in the creative act of God: every human person is created by God and begotten by its parents. God celebrates the liturgy of his creative act in the holy temple of conjugal love.

In summary. There are two pillars of creation: the human person in its irreducibility to the material universe, and the conjugal union between a man and woman, the place in which God creates new human persons ''in His image and likeness''. The axiological elevation of abortion to a subjective right is the demolition of the first pillar. The ennoblement of a homosexual relationship, when equated to marriage, is the destruction of the second pillar.

At the root of this is the work of Satan, who wants to build an actual anti-creation. This is the ultimate and terrible challenge which Satan is hurling at God. ''I am demonstrating to you that I am capable of constructing an alternative to your creation. And man will say: it is better in the alternative creation than in your creation''.

This is the frightful strategy of the lie, constructed around a profound contempt for man. Man is not capable of elevating himself to the splendour of the Truth. He is not capable of living within the paradox of an infinite desire for happiness. He is not able to find himself in the sincere gift of himself. And therefore '' continues the Satanic discourse '' we tell him banalities about man. We convince him that the Truth does not exist and that his search is therefore a sad and futile passion. We persuade him to shorten the measure of his desire in line with the measure of the transient moment. We place in his heart the suspicion that love is merely a mask of pleasure.

The Grand Inquisitor of Dostoevsky speaks thus to Jesus: ''You judge of men too highly, for though rebels they be, they are born slaves '.... I swear to you that man is weaker and lower than You have ever imagined him to be! Man is weak and cowardly.''

How should we dwell in this situation? In the third and final section of my reflection, I will seek to answer this question.The reply is simple: within the confrontation between creation and anti-creation, we are called upon to TESTIFY. This testimony is our mode of being in the world.

The New Testament has an abundantly rich doctrine on this matter. I must confine myself to an indication of the three fundamental meanings which constitute testimony.

(i) Testimony means to say, to speak, to announce openly and publicly. Someone who does not testify in this way is like a soldier who flees at the decisive moment in a battle. We are no longer witnesses, but deserters, if we do not speak openly and publicly. The March for Life is therefore a great testimony.

(ii) Testimony means to say, to announce openly and publicly the divine Revelation, which involves the original evidence, discoverable only by reason, rightfully used. And to speak in particular of the Gospel of Life and Marriage.

(iii) Testimony means to say, to announce openly and publicly the Gospel of Life and Marriage as if in a trial [cfr. John 16, 8-11]. I will explain myself. I have spoken frequently of a confrontation. This confrontation is increasingly assuming the appearance of a trial, of a legal proceeding, in which the defendant is Jesus and his Gospel. As in every legal proceeding, there are also witnesses in favour: in favour of Jesus and his Gospel. Announcement of the Gospel of Marriage and of Life today takes place in a context of hostility, of challenge, of unbelief. The alternative is one of two options: either one remains silent on the Gospel, or one says something else. Obviously, what I have said should not be interpreted as meaning that Christians should render themselves'... antipathetic to everyone.

St Thomas writes: ''It is the same thing, when faced with two contraries, to pursue the one and reject the other. Medicine, for example, proposes the cure while excluding the illness. Hence, it belongs to the wise man to meditate on the truth, in particular with regard to the First Principle '...and to refute the opposing falsehood.'' [CG Book I, Chapter I, no. 6]. In the context of testimony to the Gospel, irenics and concordism must be excluded. On this Jesus has been explicit. It would be a terrible doctor who adopted an irenical attitude towards the disease. Augustine writes: ''Love the sinner, but persecute the sin''. Note this well. The Latin word per-sequor is an intensifying verb. The meaning therefore is: ''Hunt down the sin. Track it down in the hidden places of its lies, and condemn it, bringing to light its insubstantiality''.

I CONCLUDE with a quotation from a great confessor of the faith, the Russian Pavel A. Florenskij. ''Christ is witness, in the extreme sense of the word, THE WITNESS.

At His crucifixion, the Jews and Romans believed they were only witnessing a historical event, but the event revealed itself as the Truth''. [The philosophy of religion, San Paolo ed., Milan 2017, page 512].

''WHEN I AM LIFTED UP FROM THE EARTH, I WILL DRAW ALL PEOPLE TO MYSELF'' [John 12, 32].

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Wed, 10 May 2023 12:40

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel began evacuating infants born to surrogate mothers and their Israeli parents from Nepal on Monday, on the return legs of flights sent to provide earthquake relief.

Many Israeli male couples have fathered children with the help of surrogate mothers in Nepal because in Israel the procedure is limited by law to heterosexual partners.

Three newborns were ferried to Israel on a small military aircraft that had delivered an advance team of doctors to Nepal to boost rescue efforts after Saturday's devastating earthquake.

The plane flew home with 11 passengers, and Israel's Foreign Ministry said preparations were under way to bring another 22 infants, the parents who had travelled to Nepal before the disaster to collect them and four surrogate mothers to Israel on other return flights.

Yossi Filiba, a 44-year-old single father from Tel Aviv, said by telephone from Kathmandu that he had gone to Nepal more than three weeks ago for the birth of his baby girl, Na'ama.

He said he and several Israeli couples and their surrogate babies had found shelter in the ground floor of a building in the capital, and were waiting for the Israeli air force to evacuate them.

''We don't know when they will get here,'' he said. ''The water is going to finish and I am with a small baby. There is very little food and no electricity, although sometimes there is a generator.''

Filiba said Israeli parents usually spend a month in Nepal for their child's birth and to make final arrangements to bring the infant home. The earthquake that hit on Saturday caught Filiba in his apartment, feeding Na'ama.

''I grabbed the baby, ran down three floors and out to open space. All around us, small buildings were collapsing and people were terrified,'' he said.

Israel's military has already dispatched an 80-member search and rescue team to Nepal and planned to send other aircraft with a field hospital and medical personnel later on Monday.

Filiba said the planes could not come soon enough.

''There are cracks all over the building,'' he said. ''I'm not sleeping because of the baby - which is a good reason - but I'm also not sleeping because of worries about the building collapsing.''

Israel's parliament is considering legislation that would allow same-sex couples and singles to have babies through surrogacy in Israel itself.

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Wed, 10 May 2023 12:35

Russia's former head of the Roscosmos space agency, Dmitry Rogozin, said he went on a quest about a decade ago to find concrete proof that the Americans landed on the Moon in 1969. After finding little evidence, he questioned whether the Apollo 11 Mission reached the lunar surface.

"About ten years ago, when I worked in the Government, I sent an official request to Roskosmos to provide me with documentary evidence of the Americans' stay on the moon, which at that time was still at the disposal of the federal agency," Rogozin said in a post on Telegram on Sunday.

He continued, "I was painfully embarrassed by the fact that the Soviet cosmonauts returning from multi-day expeditions could barely stand on their feet and underwent a long recovery after such flights, and the Americans crawled out of their lunar ships like cucumbers from the garden. "

Rogozin claimed to have submitted multiple requests to Roscosmos for proof of NASA's 1969 Moon landing. He said the only evidence he received was a book that contained an account by Soviet Cosmonaut Aleksey Leonov about his conversation with the American astronauts and their discussions about the lunar mission.

Rogozin continued in the post:

In 2018, when I went to work at the state corporation Roskosmos, I continued to search for this evidence, but I didn't find anything there, except for the angry accusations of some of our fans of going to America at the expense of others, academicians, that I, they say, undermine the "sacred cooperation with NASA," I also received one angry call from a high-ranking official accusing me of "aggravating the international situation" with my doubts.

Yes, I did not undermine or aggravate anything, but only by virtue of my nature I tried to get to the bottom of the details and establish, at least for myself, the true state of affairs in the issue of exploration of the Moon by our competitors. It was not clear to me how the United States, at that level of technological development of the 60s of the last century, did what they still cannot do now?

Add Rogozin to the moon-landing denialism camp because how dare anyone question that the spacecraft with less computing power than even a modern USB-C charger could land astronauts on the Moon in 1969 -- and astronauts have yet to return 54 years later.

... still there are many questions.

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Wed, 10 May 2023 03:04

By Pam Martens and Russ Martens: May 9, 2023 ~

The systemic threats to the U.S. financial system were not remedied when Congress passed the watered-down Dodd-Frank financial reform legislation in 2010. While that has been evident with each Federal Reserve bailout of the mega banks and their derivative counterparties, the threat has now gained increased urgency for Congress to confront as a result of a new academic study. A team of four highly-credentialed academics at four separate universities present compelling evidence that one of the four largest U.S. banks, with ''assets above $1 trillion,'' could be at risk of a bank run.

The study is titled: ''Monetary Tightening and U.S. Bank Fragility in 2023: Mark-to-Market Losses and Uninsured Depositor Runs?'' Its authors are Erica Jiang, Assistant Professor of Finance and Business Economics at USC Marshall School of Business; Gregor Matvos, Chair in Finance at the Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University, and Research Associate in the Corporate Finance group at the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER); Tomasz Piskorski, Professor of Real Estate in the Finance Division at Columbia Business School and Research Associate at NBER; and Amit Seru, Professor of Finance at Stanford Graduate School of Business, a Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution, and Research Associate at NBER.

The study focuses on unrealized losses on assets on the books of U.S. banks in a category called ''held to maturity,'' which under current accounting rules does not have to be marked to market, as well as unrealized losses on debt securities that also have not been marked to market, unless they are sold, for example, to raise cash to pay fleeing depositors. The professors find that ''The U.S. banking system's market value of those assets is $2.2 trillion lower than suggested by their book value of assets accounting for loan portfolios held to maturity.''

They then couple that finding with the threat posed to banks that hold large quantities of uninsured deposits '' sums exceeding the federal deposit insurance cap of $250,000 per depositor, per bank. They then conduct various scenarios to see how different categories of banks would perform.

The most disturbing scenario is the following, which raises the issue of a bank with ''assets above $1 trillion'' potentially experiencing a bank run. (There are only four U.S. chartered banks that have assets above $1 trillion. According to the December 31, 2022 data from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, those are: JPMorgan Chase Bank N.A. with assets of $3.2 trillion; Bank of America N.A. with $2.4 trillion in assets; Citigroup's Citibank N.A. with assets of $1.77 trillion; and Wells Fargo Bank N.A. with $1.71 trillion in assets.)

The scenario is explained as follows by the authors:

''To further assess the vulnerability of the US banking system to uninsured depositors run, we plot the 10 largest banks at the risk of a run, which we define as a negative insured deposit coverage ratio if all uninsured depositors run'...Because of the caveats in our analysis as well as the potential of exacerbating their situation, we anonymize their names, but we also plot SVB [Silicon Valley Bank which failed on March 10] as comparison. We plot their mark-to-market asset losses (Y axis) against their uninsured deposits as a share of marked to market assets. Some of these banks have low uninsured deposits, but large losses, but the majority of these banks have over 50% of their assets funding with uninsured deposits. SVB stands out towards the top right corner, with both large losses, as well as large uninsured deposits funding. As Figure 5 shows [see below], the risk of run does not only apply to smaller banks. Out of the 10 largest insolvent banks, 1 has assets above $1 Trillion, 3 have assets between $200 Billion and $1 Trillion, 3 have assets between $100 Billion and $200 Billion and the remaining 3 have assets between $50 Billion and $100 Billion.''

We do not know which of the four mega banks the authors are referring to. We asked via email if they would identify the bank but they declined. Short sellers will, undoubtedly, drill down in the regulatory data filed by the four banks to determine the name of the bank in the study, so federal regulators and Congress need to move this issue immediately to the top of their banking crisis priority list.

Just 15 years ago, Citigroup/Citibank received the largest bailouts in U.S. banking history during and after the financial crisis of 2008. Its stock traded at 99 cents in early 2009. Sheila Bair, then the Chair of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), said this about Citigroup in her book, Bull by the Horns:

''By November, the supposedly solvent Citi was back on the ropes, in need of another government handout. The market didn't buy the OCC's and NY Fed's strategy of making it look as though Citi was as healthy as the other commercial banks. Citi had not had a profitable quarter since the second quarter of 2007. Its losses were not attributable to uncontrollable 'market conditions'; they were attributable to weak management, high levels of leverage, and excessive risk taking. It had major losses driven by their exposures to a virtual hit list of high-risk lending; subprime mortgages, 'Alt-A' mortgages, 'designer' credit cards, leveraged loans, and poorly underwritten commercial real estate. It had loaded up on exotic CDOs and auction-rate securities. It was taking losses on credit default swaps entered into with weak counterparties, and it had relied on unstable volatile funding '' a lot of short-term loans and foreign deposits. If you wanted to make a definitive list of all the bad practices that had led to the crisis, all you had to do was look at Citi's financial strategies'...What's more, virtually no meaningful supervisory measures had been taken against the bank by either the OCC or the NY Fed'...Instead, the OCC and the NY Fed stood by as that sick bank continued to pay major dividends and pretended that it was healthy.''

Until Congress gets serious about breaking up these too-big-to-fail mega banks and restoring the banking system protections of the Glass-Steagall Act, which were repealed in 1999, every American is at risk of an unstable financial system.

Editor's Note: The third paragraph has been updated to indicate that debt securities on the books of the banks were also included in the study.

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Wed, 10 May 2023 02:46

Juni 2021: Een demonstratie tegen de lange wachtlijsten voor transgenderzorg in Amsterdam NOS Nieuws ' gisteren, 23:17

De vraag naar transgenderzorg neemt toe, maar het is onduidelijk hoe dit komt. Dat blijkt uit een langverwacht, vandaag verschenen onderzoek.

Tussen oktober 2019 en juli 2022 steeg het aantal aanmeldingen voor transgenderzorg van 2820 naar 8630. Tegelijk verdubbelde de afgelopen drie jaar het aantal behandelplekken. Hoewel er in de cijfers ook dubbelingen zitten, wachten op dit moment ongeveer 6900 mensen op een intake. De gemiddelde wachttijd is opgelopen tot bijna twee jaar.

Naar schatting is een derde van de groep wachtenden jonger dan 18 jaar. Onder hen zijn mensen die bij geboorte werden aangezien voor een meisje oververtegenwoordigd (ruim de helft).

Begin dit jaar was er in Amsterdam een demonstratie tegen de lange wachtlijsten in de transgenderzorg:

2:04

Milan Groot herkent problemen transgenderzorg: 'Ook al wil je veel, je kan niks'

Het onderzoek werd uitgevoerd door het Radboudumc in opdracht van het ministerie van Volksgezondheid. De onderzoekers stellen dat de wachtlijsten bij specialistische klinieken lang zijn, omdat transgenders nergens anders terecht kunnen met hun problematiek. Bij huisartsen en in de reguliere ggz is er over het algemeen te weinig kennis.

Zichtbaarder

Maar een klein deel van alle trans personen stapt naar de zorg, want naar schatting zijn er in Nederland ongeveer 180.000 mensen die zich identificeren als trans. Of dat aantal in de afgelopen jaren is toegenomen, kunnen de onderzoekers niet zeggen.

Duidelijk is wel dat trans personen zichtbaarder zijn geworden in bijvoorbeeld films en series. Die zichtbaarheid kan ervoor hebben gezorgd dat andere trans personen makkelijker durven uit te komen voor hun identiteit.

Toch staat in het onderzoek dat trans personen nog geen volwaardige plek in de maatschappij hebben. De specialistische zorg zijn op dit moment de enige plek waar "kennis, aandacht en zorg structureel aanwezig zijn". Transgenders kloppen hier aan, omdat ze in de rest van de maatschappij niet terecht kunnen. Toch is specialistische zorg niet altijd waar ze behoefte aan hebben.

Ook is de toon van het debat over trans mensen verhard, schrijven de onderzoekers. Zo is er de laatste jaren vanuit sommige conservatieve bewegingen kritiek op de toegenomen acceptatie van trans personen.

De aandacht gaat dan vooral uit naar trans kinderen. Die zouden in gevaar zijn, omdat zij be¯nvloed zouden zijn door de zichtbaarheid van trans personen op sociale media. Maar voor die zogenoemde 'sociale besmetting' is geen bewijs. Volgens onderzoekers is dit 'morele paniek' en ontstaat hierdoor polarisatie. Het onderzoek waarschuwt dat dit zelfs kan leiden tot geweld tegen trans personen.

Aandacht

Om de acceptatie van trans personen te verbeteren, zou meer aandacht voor genderdiversiteit een oplossing kunnen zijn. Niet alleen in de zorg, maar ook bijvoorbeeld op scholen of het werk.

Het is onzeker hoe de vraag zich de komende jaren gaat ontwikkelen. Als er meer maatschappelijke acceptatie komt, zal de zorgvraag groeien. Maar als er grotere terughoudendheid ontstaat in de maatschappij en in de transgenderzorg, neemt de vraag af.

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Wed, 10 May 2023 02:43

Barometer, an AI company that empowers teams to extract data-driven insights from their content, and NewsGuard, the global leader in news reliability ratings that uses journalists and experienced editors to produce ratings for news and information publishers and a catalog of provably false narratives, today announced a powerful new solution designed to help podcast publishers and advertisers rapidly detect and alert users when potential misinformation is discovered.

The NewsGuard-Barometer offering is an advanced AI-powered solution that can detect potential misinformation at the episode-level in seconds. This allows those who use the solution to rapidly inform economic and brand value-based decisions ranging from vetting a podcast show before including it in a brand's advertising strategy to pausing a media buy for further examination.

How the NewsGuard-Barometer Misinformation Detection Solution Works

NewsGuard and Barometer's Misinformation Detection Solution for Podcasts works by integrating AI-powered data identification algorithms with NewsGuard's Misinformation Fingerprints '-- its journalist-powered catalog of false narratives spreading online '-- to ensure users can see and act on potential misinformation as quickly as possible. By tapping into Barometer's natural language processing to create risk profiles for podcasts based on the Global Advertisers for Responsible Media's (GARM) Brand Safety Floor and Suitability Framework and Media roundtable values, the solution makes it easy for audio advertisers to plan values-driven ad buys, support transparency, and empower context-based advertising.

NewsGuard's machine-readable ''Fingerprints'' each contain a description of the false narrative, a detailed debunk with factual information, citations to authoritative sources, associated keywords, and hashtags, examples of the false narrative spreading online, and other descriptive metadata. Barometer's AI uses these inputs as ''data seeds'' in order to detect when misinformation narrative(s) are likely being discussed in a particular podcast episode.

Ultimately, the NewsGuard-Barometer partnership scales the impact of the data that NewsGuard's global team of experienced journalists mines from thousands of global news providers, by leveraging AI to scan the millions of minutes of podcast content Barometer processes each month.

According to Barometer founder and CEO Tamara Zubatiy, ''While the team at Barometer was already proud of the solution we built with NewsGuard, observing how users are applying it makes us beam. The good agencies, brands, and publishers have struck a win-win-win as they use our solution to drive business, brand suitability and safety, and consumer protection.

''The solution with Barometer applies NewsGuard's work in a powerful way on behalf of agencies, brands, and publishers,'' said NewsGuard VP of Operations and New Products, Sruthi Palaniappan. ''Our mission is to combat the spread of misinformation, promote media literacy, and restore trust in trustworthy news through our journalist-vetted data. Partnering with great technology leaders like Barometer allows us to deliver on the mission with precision and at scale, benefiting everyone we serve.''

Specific use cases of those who tested the solution prior to release included:

Monitoring podcast media buys or podcasts being considered for purchase for the presence of potential misinformation narratives. At an episode-by-episode level, the solution was used to pinpoint where misinformation narratives were likely being trafficked. Once detected, Barometer quickly highlighted the suspected misinformation narrative at the transcript and subject matter level. Tapping into Barometer's various partnerships and integrations to enforce brand integrity standards throughout the campaign (pre-filtering, in-campaign monitoring, post-campaign analysis).Leveraging Barometer's API to power further insights, contextual targeting aligned with the IAB Taxonomy 3.0, Host Intelligence, and brand safety & suitability signals for the other 11 GARM componentsIn addition to NewsGuard's work with Barometer, leveraging AI to assess for potential misinformation at the episodic level, NewsGuard separately announced earlier this week the launch of its Podcast Reliability Ratings'--a new product assessing news and information podcasts at the show level on journalistic criteria of credibility and transparency. The Podcast Reliability Ratings allow advertisers to identify trusted, brand-safe news podcasts and aid podcast streaming platforms with content moderation decisions.

The timing of the new solution aligns with the global marketing industry's call for collective action against misinformation and is particularly valuable to top brands committed to conforming to Global Alliance for Responsible Media (GARM) standards. In June 2022, GARM named Misinformation the 12th category in its Brand Safety Floor & Suitability Framework, a resource the organization published to help define safe and harmful content online.

This solution also helps brands reduce the $2.6 billion in ad revenue unintentionally delivered to sources trafficking in misinformation, as estimated by NewsGuard and Comscore in a 2021 report.

To learn more about the solution or try it today, visit http://www.thebarometer.co

About Barometer

Barometer is an AI-powered brand suitability and contextual targeting solution for podcast advertising. Our patent-pending, AI Brand Integrity Cloud uses natural language processing to analyze podcasts based on industry standard taxonomies including the IAB Content taxonomy 3.0 for contextual targeting and the Global Advertisers for Responsible Media's (GARM) Brand Safety Floor and Suitability Framework. Our solutions drive radical transparency across the entire audio ecosystem building trust between the buy and sell sides to usher in a new era of scale and maturity in podcast advertising.

About NewsGuard

Launched in March 2018 by media entrepreneur and award-winning journalist Steven Brill and former Wall Street Journal publisher Gordon Crovitz, NewsGuard provides credibility ratings and detailed ''Nutrition Labels'' for thousands of news and information websites. NewsGuard rates all the news and information websites that account for 95% of online engagement across the U.S., U.K., Canada, Germany, France, Austria, Italy, and now in Australia and New Zealand. NewsGuard products include NewsGuard, NewsGuard for Advertisers, which helps marketers concerned about their brand safety, the Misinformation Fingerprints catalog of top false narratives online, and NewsGuard for AI, used to train generative AI such as chat bots.

In 2022, NewsGuard began rating television news and information programs and networks using criteria similar to those used to score websites but adapted for the video medium. NewsGuard's TV ratings are the first to go beyond its initial ratings of websites. Ratings for CTV and OTT news programming and news and information podcasts will also be available for licensing in 2023.

NewsGuard's ratings are conducted by trained journalists using apolitical criteria of journalistic practice.

NewsGuard's ratings and Nutrition Labels are licensed by browsers, news aggregators, education companies, and social media and search platforms to make NewsGuard's information about news websites available to their users. Consumers can also access NewsGuard's website ratings by purchasing a subscription to NewsGuard, which costs AU$6.95, NZ$6.95, US$4.95/month, '‚¬4.95/month or £4.95/month, and includes access to NewsGuard's browser extension for Chrome, Safari, and Firefox and its mobile app for iOS and Android. The extension is available for free on Microsoft's Edge browser through a license agreement with Microsoft. Hundreds of public libraries globally receive free access to use NewsGuard's browser extension on their public-access computers to give their patrons more context for the news they encounter online.

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Wed, 10 May 2023 02:31

The Facts Inside Our Reporter's NotebookMTV will shut down its news division as Paramount Global, its parent company, enacts sweeping layoffs across its brands.

MTV News weathered significant layoffs five years ago, but will now be entirely eliminated as the company looks to reduce its total staff by 25%, Variety reported.

Showtime/MTV Entertainment Studios and Paramount Media Networks President Chris McCarthy indicated in a memo the outlet obtained that the company felt "pressure from broader economic headwinds like many of our peers."

"[W]e have made the very hard but necessary decision to reduce our domestic team by approximately 25%. This is a tough yet important strategic realignment of our group," he said. "Through the elimination of some units and by streamlining others, we will be able to reduce costs and create a more effective approach to our business as we move forward."

"Today we will notify employees whose positions are being impacted with leaders communicating the news directly to those teams/or individuals. These meetings will be followed by individual 1:1s with our HR partners," he added.

MTV News is the latest in a series of media groups to face considerable layoffs, joining the likes of Buzzfeed News, which was also recently dissolved. Other news outlets such as NPR have slashed their staff in recent months while entertainment-based firms such as Disney, Meta, and Amazon have reduced their staff numbers this year.

Ben Whedon is an editor and reporter for Just the News. Follow him on Twitter.

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Wed, 10 May 2023 01:11

Privacy Settings

Etsy uses cookies and similar technologies to give you a better experience, enabling things like:

basic site functionsensuring secure, safe transactionssecure account loginremembering account, browser, and regional preferencesremembering privacy and security settingsanalysing site traffic and usagepersonalized search, content, and recommendationshelping sellers understand their audienceshowing relevant, targeted ads on and off EtsyDetailed information can be found in Etsy's Cookies & Similar Technologies Policy and our Privacy Policy.

Required Cookies & TechnologiesSome of the technologies we use are necessary for critical functions like security and site integrity, account authentication, security and privacy preferences, internal site usage and maintenance data, and to make the site work correctly for browsing and transactions.

Personalized AdvertisingTo enable personalized advertising (like interest-based ads), we may share your data with our marketing and advertising partners using cookies and other technologies. Those partners may have their own information they've collected about you. Turning off the personalized advertising setting won't stop you from seeing Etsy ads or impact Etsy's own personalization technologies, but it may make the ads you see less relevant or more repetitive.

This type of data sharing may be considered a ''sale'' of information under California privacy laws. Turning off personalized advertising opts you out of these ''sales.'' Learn more in our Privacy Policy., Help Center, and Cookies & Similar Technologies Policy.

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Tue, 09 May 2023 15:43

Welcome to the Podstr ProjectYour Keys, Your Podcast

this is a project proposal and is not yet implemented

Podstr is an open project that puts the control of authoring, publishing, and distributing a podcast in the hands of creators.

Bringing together Podcasting 2.0 and Nostr, the Podstr Project makes podcasts open and free for discovery, reducing the ability for censorship by large organizations. Podstr gives creators control over their show and episodes using their cryptographically verified identity.

AuthorWhen you set up a free Nostr account, you receive a public and private key. Your private key is like a password that connects you to everything that works with Nostr.

Your Nostr account allows you to publish your podcast with your signature, validating it comes from you and no one else. You and those you authorize are able to post and update show info and episodes. You are in control.

Podstr uses the Podcasting 2.0 conventions established by the Podcast Index. Properties from the namespace project are available allowing you to create podcasts with the latest abilities.

Value Splits 'š¸Transcripts ðŸ'Chapters ðŸ'Medium 🎸Guid ðŸ†--and more ðŸ¤PublishIn order to be discovered, your podcast info needs to be available online. Traditionally this means hosting your rss.xml feed on a server, often owned and controlled by someone else. If you run the server yourself, you must deal with the expense and hassle of uptime.

Introducing the Podstr Relay Network

With Podstr, your podcast info is sent to a group of Nostr relays that know how to host and distribute podcasts. These relays are operated by different organizations, communities, and individuals, removing points of failure and reducing the ability for your content to be unpublished.

Because your podcast is authored with your Nostr account, it is impossible for the relays to alter your content, so you don't even need to know or trust the people running the relay. Podcast info signed with your key remains intact as it gets shared across the network.

The relay is open source software, so you are always able to run your own Podstr relay, giving you complete control over availability.

DistributeWith your podcast signed and published to the network, it is ready to be seen and heard. Podstr is flexible and works with traditional and modern podcasting services.

RSS

The RSS feed has served podcasting well for two decades. That isn't going to change immediately. Podstr has the ability to generate an xml file for your podcast, based on the info you authored with your Nostr account. This xml file can be hosted on a server and used by podcasting services.

Podcast Index

Whether through the XML file or by integrating directly with Nostr, the Podcast Index will be able to read your published podcast info. It might even be the largest podcast Nostr relay operator at some point.

Nostr apps

Brand new podcast apps that were written with Nostr at the foundation read from Podstr relays. Most apps use a list of popular Podstr relays to find podcast info. Users are able to add relays to the list themselves, assuring they can find the content they want.

There are many modern podcast apps that support Podcasting 2.0. They can be updated to speak directly to Podstr relays as well.

All of these apps will have the ability to provide a rich podcast experience with value splits, zaps, and social engagement. Best of all, because it's using Nostr, listeners may move between apps and all of their subscriptions and comments will be there waiting for them.

The Nostr MagicThere is something special that comes with Nostr. First and foremost, your account belongs to you. It's yours. Anything you publish with your account, yours.

Even better, that audience that you work so hard to please, they are on every single app that supports Nostr. Gone are the days of pleading with listeners to make the jump from an old social media platform to the latest one. All apps that integrate with Nostr will know the user because on their Nostr account. Any new app that comes along, sign in with Nostr, and your audience is right there.

The Podstr Project ObjectivePodstr is developed in the open, supporting open standards. We aim to provide a source of truth for podcasts that are available based on the author's terms. We work together with the podcasting community to meet people and projects where they are.

If you're ready to take control of your podcast, let's go!

Get started today.

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Archived Version

Tue, 09 May 2023 15:35

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

American for-profit consulting company

Arabella AdvisorsFormation2005 ; 18 years ago ( 2005 ) FounderEric KesslerTypeCertified B CorporationPurposePhilanthropic consultingHeadquartersWashington, D.C.CEO

Sampriti GanguliWebsite arabellaadvisors.com Arabella Advisors is a Washington, D.C.-based for-profit consulting company that advises left-leaning donors and nonprofits about where to give money and serves as the hub of a politically liberal "dark money" network.[1] It was founded by former Clinton administration appointee Eric Kessler.[1] The Arabella network spent nearly $1.2 billion in 2020.[2]

Organizations incubated by and affiliated with Arabella Advisors include the Sixteen Thirty Fund, the New Venture Fund, the Hopewell Fund, and the Windward Fund.[3] These groups have been active in various efforts to oppose the Trump administration and to organize opposition to numerous Republican politicians and policies.

According to The Atlantic, Arabella Advisors has "undeniably benefited from the rush of panicked political giving on the left during the Trump years."[4] In 2020, the Sixteen Thirty Fund donated $410 million toward defeating Trump and winning Democratic control of the U.S. Senate.[5] Because of the way they are legally structured, Arabella Advisors and its affiliated groups are not required to disclose their donors, and they have not opted to do so. Billionaires George Soros and Pierre Omidyar have disclosed multi-million donations to the network. Politico has described the Sixteen Thirty Fund as a "left-leaning, secret-money group", writing that the group "illustrates the extent to which the left embraced the use of 'dark money' to fight for its causes in recent years. After decrying big-money Republican donors over the last decade, as well as the Supreme Court rulings that flooded politics with more cash, Democrats now benefit from hundreds of millions of dollars of undisclosed donations as well."[5]

Structure and funding [ edit ] Arabella Advisors and its affiliated entities utilize tax regulations in which groups who use a fiscal sponsorship arrangement do not have to file a Form 990 with the Internal Revenue Service.[6] Using "pass-through" arrangements, funding is passed from one organization to another, making it difficult to trace where a donor's money ends up.[7]

In 2018, the Sixteen Thirty Fund, the New Venture Fund, the Hopewell Fund, and the Windward Fund had combined revenue of $635 million. According to OpenSecrets, in 2018 the Sixteen Thirty Fund had "thirteen multi-million dollar secret donors."[8] One donor gave $51.7 million to the group in 2018, while another donor gave $26.7 million and a third gave $10 million. The group is not required by law to reveal its donors and it has not disclosed who its funders are. Known donors to the group include Nick Hanauer, the American Federation of Teachers, and the Wyss Foundation. Michael Bloomberg gave $250,000 to a super PAC linked to the Sixteen Thirty Fund, and Democratic donor group Democracy Alliance, whose members include billionaire George Soros, has recommended that donors give generously to the Sixteen Thirty Fund.[1]

According to Politico, the Sixteen Thirty Fund's activities are "a sign that Democrats and allies have embraced the methods of groups they decried as 'dark money' earlier this decade, when they were under attack from the money machines built by conservatives including the Kochs".[1]

The Sixteen Thirty Fund [ edit ] The Sixteen Thirty Fund is a liberal "dark money" nonprofit headquartered in Washington D.C. Because it is a nonprofit, the Sixteen Thirty Fund is not required to disclose its donors, even though it spends significant amounts on politics.[5] As of 2019, it had spent $141 million on more than 100 left-leaning and Democratic causes,[1] making it a large source of money for nonprofits pushing a variety of changes to state and federal law. The Atlantic called the Sixteen Thirty Fund "the indisputable heavyweight of Democratic dark money," noting that it was the second-largest super-PAC donor in 2020, donating $61 million of "effectively untraceable money to progressive causes."[4]

The Sixteen Thirty Fund supports Democratic lawmakers and candidates and criticizes Republicans. The group spent money opposing the nomination of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh and other Trump judicial nominees and supporting various ballot measures.[1]

The Sixteen Thirty Fund was behind several groups that ran issue advocacy ads to benefit Democrats during the 2018 midterms. The group also funded Demand Justice, which spent millions of dollars on ads attacking Brett Kavanaugh's nomination to the U.S. Supreme Court. According to OpenSecrets, the Sixteen Thirty Fund and New Venture Fund "have fiscally sponsored at least 80 of their own groups, bankrolling those entities in a way that leaves almost no paper trail."[8]

The Sixteen Thirty Fund was active in the battle for the House of Representatives in 2018, assisting "Democrats trying to seize back power after Trump's rise." According to Politico, "The election featured dozens of Democratic candidates who decried the influence of money in politics on the campaign trail."[1]

The Sixteen Thirty Fund operates under dozens of different trade names with titles like Arizonans United for Health Care, Floridians for a Fair Shake, Michigan Families for Economic Prosperity, and North Carolinians for a Fair Economy. These groups have collectively spent millions of dollars to pressure Republican members of Congress on their stances on health care and economic issues through advertising and activism.[1][9]

The Sixteen Thirty Fund spent almost $11 million in the 2018 Colorado elections on ballot measures, lobbying, and Democratic super PACs.[10]

In 2019, the fund raised $137 million.[11]

The Sixteen Thirty Fund spent $410 million in 2020, largely focused on helping Democrats defeat President Donald Trump and winning back control of the United States Senate. The group financed attack ads against Trump and vulnerable Republican senators and funded various issue advocacy campaigns. Funding went to groups opposing Trump's Supreme Court nominees, supporting liberal ballot measures and policy proposals at the state level, and opposing Republican tax and health care policies. The Sixteen Thirty Fund gave $10.5 million to the conservative anti-Trump group Defending Democracy Together, which was founded by Bill Kristol in 2018.[12]

In 2020, the Sixteen Thirty Fund raised $390 million, with half of that amount coming from just four donors. Billionaire Pierre Omidyar disclosed that he gave the group $45 million that same year.[5] The group also received mystery donations as large as $50 million and disseminated grants to more than 200 groups.[12] It gave $0.5 million to the group Colorado Families First to support a proposed ballot initiative requiring paid family leave in the state.[10][13][14]

New Venture Fund [ edit ] The New Venture Fund had revenue of $405 million in 2018, up from $350 million annually in the three preceding years. According to OpenSecrets, the New Venture Fund "has fiscally sponsored at least 80 groups and acted as a pass-through agency funneling millions of dollars in grants for wealthy donors to opaque groups with minimal disclosure."[15]

Windward Fund [ edit ] Founded in 2015,[16] the Windward Fund shared $715 million in 2019 with the New Venture and Hopewell funds.[17] Windward is a 501(c)(3) tax-deductible charity. Windward hosts several charities, including the Heartland Fund and Rewiring America.[18][19]

Projects and funding recipients [ edit ] Demand Justice [ edit ] Demand Justice is a courts-focused group headed by former Hillary Clinton press secretary Brian Fallon. The group spent millions of dollars opposing Brett Kavanaugh's confirmation to the U.S. Supreme Court. The group "projected a video of Christine Blasey Ford accusing Kavanaugh of assault on the side of a truck outside a Washington gala where Kavanaugh was speaking."[1]

Fix the Court [ edit ] The New Venture Fund provides all of the funding for Fix the Court, a judicial advocacy group that seeks reform of the U.S. federal court system.[20] When Brett Kavanaugh was nominated to the U.S. Supreme Court, Fix the Court bought several Internet domain names related to Kavanaugh and redirected them to websites including End Rape On Campus, the National Sexual Violence Resource Center, and the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network. Fix the Court's executive director, Gabe Roth, said he purchased and redirected the websites because he believed the sexual assault allegations made by Christine Blasey Ford against Brett Kavanaugh and by Anita Hill against Clarence Thomas.[21][22]

Defend American Democracy [ edit ] Defend American Democracy spent six figures on television advertisements pressuring Republican members of Congress to vote to impeach President Donald Trump for what they called "abusing his office and risking national security for his own gain."[8][23] This group "primarily targets swing-district Republicans, prominently features military veterans in its ads and presents itself as a veterans group to local media outlets."[8] OpenSecrets reported that "A veterans group urging Republican lawmakers to 'put country over politics' amid the impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump is the project of a well-funded liberal 'dark money' network." Defend American Democracy's advertisements contained disclaimers that they were "paid for by a group called Protect the Investigation. But Protect the Investigation doesn't legally exist '-- it's one of dozens of fictitious names registered by the Sixteen Thirty Fund."[8]

The Hub Project [ edit ] The Hub Project was started in 2015 with funding from the Wyss Foundation, operated by Swiss billionaire Hansj¶rg Wyss. The Hub Project seeks "to shape media coverage to help Democratic causes."[24] The goal of The Hub Project is to help Democrats be more effective at conveying their arguments through the news media and directly to voters. It seeks to "dramatically shift the public debate and policy positions of core decision makers."[24] The Hub Project engaged in paid advertising campaigns that criticized Republican congressional candidates in 2018. The Hub Project is housed within the Arabella-sponsored groups the New Venture Fund and the Sixteen Thirty Fund. Between 2007 and 2020, the Wyss Foundation donated approximately $56.5 million to these groups. The New Venture Fund underwrites Acronym, which owns the Courier Newsroom, a group seeking to boost Democratic candidates through local news stories and advertising.[24]

The Hub Project is an initiative that passes on funding to and coordinates 14 groups out of a single office in Washington D.C., "with the goal of battering Republicans for their health care and economic policies during the midterm elections."[25] The Hub Project is run by Obama administration official and public relations specialist Leslie Dach and former Center for American Progress political strategist Arkadi Gerney. The Hub Project "set up an array of affiliate groups around the country, many with vaguely sympathetic names like Keep Iowa Healthy, New Jersey for a Better Future and North Carolinians for a Fair Economy. The Hub Project then used them to mobilize volunteers and run advertising on policy issues against Republican members of Congress many months before the election."[25]

America Votes [ edit ] The Sixteen Thirty Fund gave America Votes, which describes itself as "the coordination hub of the progressive community", $27 million in 2018. The $27 million grant was nearly twice the amount America Votes had previously ever raised in a single year.[1]

Ballot measures [ edit ] The Sixteen Thirty Fund urged passage of a Nevada ballot measure promoting automatic voter registration and a Michigan redistricting ballot measure. The group also supported a Florida constitutional amendment restoring voting rights to felons and minimum wage increases in Arkansas, Missouri, and other states. The way the groups structure their funding creates "an incomplete picture of where support for candidates and ballot initiatives are coming from" and allows these groups to "avoid public scrutiny by registering trade names to carry out their work. The groups pose as grassroots activist organizations... while being connected to much larger organizations."[3] They adopt 'trade names' meaning voters have little way of knowing who is controlling or funding the organizations until after an election is over. In a 2018 ballot measure campaign in Michigan, a Sixteen Thirty Fund donor group didn't report a "trade name" they had used in a campaign "until 12 days after voters went to the ballots."[3]

League of Conservation Voters [ edit ] The Sixteen Thirty Fund gave $8 million to the League of Conservation Voters in 2018.[8]

ACRONYM and the Courier Newsroom [ edit ] In 2018, the New Venture Fund gave $250,000 to ACRONYM, described by OpenSecrets (CRP) as "a liberal dark money group with an affiliated super PAC called PACRONYM."[15] As of 2019, ACRONYM was the full owner of Courier Newsroom, a digital for-profit media company which publishes "websites that appear to be free-standing local news outlets" but that are "actually part of a coordinated effort with deep ties to Democratic political operatives."[15] According to the CRP, "Courier has faced scrutiny for exploiting the collapse of local journalism to spread 'hyperlocal partisan propaganda.'"[15]

In 2018, the Sixteen Thirty Fund "sponsored social media pages and digital operations for five pseudo local news outlets."[15] These outlets appeared to be independent but ran nearly identical digital ads. Associated Facebook pages "gave the impression of multiple free-standing local news outlets with unique names and disclaimers...But the sponsors of those ads are merely fictitious names used by the Sixteen Thirty Fund." The Sixteen Thirty Fund is also tied to Supermajority News, whose associated super PAC, Democracy PAC, was created by George Soros in 2019. Democracy PAC gave $1.75 million to PACRONYM, the super PAC arm of ACRONYM. ACRONYM gained notoriety as the majority owner of Shadow Inc., a political technology company whose software failed during the 2020 Iowa Democratic caucuses.[15]

COVID-19 pandemic [ edit ] In 2020, the Sixteen Thirty Fund was behind a number of groups that spent millions of dollars on advertisements attacking President Donald Trump's response to the COVID-19 pandemic ahead of the 2020 presidential election.[7] Arabella Advisors aimed to raise between $8 million and $10 million for the Trusted Elections Fund in case the coronavirus pandemic leads to foreign hacking of voting systems, violence, or contested election results.[26]

Editing of Wikipedia page [ edit ] In June 2020, Arabella came under scrutiny for hiring a paid editor to request edits to their Wikipedia page, with the edit request being reported by multiple news sources.[27]

References [ edit ] ^ a b c d e f g h i j Bland, Scott; Severns, Maggie (November 19, 2019). "Documents reveal massive 'dark-money' group boosted Democrats in 2018". Politico. Archived from the original on 29 May 2020 . Retrieved 8 May 2020 . ^ Vogel, Kenneth P.; Goldmacher, Shane (29 January 2022). "Democrats Decried Dark Money. Then They Won With It in 2020". The New York Times . Retrieved 31 January 2022 . ^ a b c Barrett, Malachi (November 26, 2019). "Left-leaning 'dark money' network poured millions into Michigan elections". MLive. Archived from the original on 16 April 2020 . Retrieved 8 May 2020 . ^ a b Green, Emma (2 November 2021). "The Massive Progressive Dark-Money Group You've Never Heard Of". The Atlantic . Retrieved 4 November 2021 . ^ a b c d Bland, Scott (November 17, 2021). "Liberal 'dark-money' behemoth funneled more than $400M in 2020". POLITICO . Retrieved 23 November 2021 . ^ Rojc, Philip (January 14, 2020). "Big Builds: A Look Inside Arabella Advisors". Inside Philanthropy. Archived from the original on 19 August 2020 . Retrieved 28 August 2020 . ^ a b Massoglia, Anna (March 27, 2020). "Democratic 'dark money' groups and super PACs target Trump with multi-million dollar coronavirus ad campaign". OpenSecrets. Archived from the original on 10 April 2020 . Retrieved 11 May 2020 . ^ a b c d e f Massoglia, Anna; Evers-Hillstrom, Karl (November 20, 2019). "Liberal 'dark money' operation behind ads urging Republicans to support impeachment". OpenSecrets. Archived from the original on 7 February 2020 . Retrieved 8 May 2020 . ^ SCOTT BLAND (29 July 2018). "Liberal secret-money network hammers House GOP". Politico. Archived from the original on 3 June 2020 . Retrieved 3 June 2020 . The groups have local members and names like Floridians for a Fair Shake, Michigan Families for Economic Prosperity and North Carolinians for a Fair Economy. But they are all linked to one obscure nonprofit in downtown Washington, D.C.: the Sixteen Thirty Fund, which has funneled millions of dollars to progressive causes in recent years and set up each of the new groups ^ a b "Dark money group drops $500,000 to help put a paid family leave initiative on November ballot". The Colorado Sun. 2020-05-07. Archived from the original on 2020-05-12 . Retrieved 2020-05-19 . ^ Bland, Scott. "Liberal dark-money behemoth raised nearly $140M last year". Politico. Archived from the original on 2020-11-20 . Retrieved 2020-11-20 . ^ a b Kenneth P. Vogel; Shane Goldmacher (January 29, 2022). "Democrats Decried Dark Money. Then They Won With It in 2020". New York Times . Retrieved June 7, 2021 . ^ Kenney, Andrew. "Colorado's Paid Leave Bill Is Dead, But Voters May Still Decide". Colorado Public Radio. Archived from the original on 2020-05-13 . Retrieved 2020-05-19 . ^ Politics, Marianne Goodland, Colorado. "Paid leave ballot measure kicks off, backed by dark money groups". Colorado Politics. Archived from the original on 2020-07-16 . Retrieved 2020-07-16 . ^ a b c d e f Massoglia, Anna (May 22, 2020). " 'Dark money' networks hide political agendas behind fake news sites". OpenSecrets. OpenSecrets. Archived from the original on 23 May 2020 . Retrieved 2 June 2020 . ^ "The Windward Fund". Arabella Advisors. Archived from the original on 19 August 2020 . Retrieved 31 July 2022 . 2015, the Windward Fund was founded ^ "Democrats' HR4 voting rights bill boosted by liberal dark money group financed by foreign national". Fox Business. 20 September 2021. ^ Philip Rojc (14 January 2020). "Big Builds: A Look Inside Arabella Advisors". Inside Philanthropy . Retrieved 31 July 2022 . ^ "Rewiring America". ^ Wolf, Richard (November 12, 2014). "At Supreme Court, secretiveness attracts snoops". USA Today. Archived from the original on 22 May 2020 . Retrieved 12 May 2020 . ^ Black, Shelby (October 10, 2018). "Fix The Court Bought Brett Kavanaugh's Name As A Website To Help Sexual Assault Survivors". Elite Daily. Archived from the original on 7 August 2020 . Retrieved 12 May 2020 . ^ Lieu, Johnny (October 10, 2018). "Someone bought BrettKavanaugh.com, which links to sexual assault survivor resources". Mashable. Archived from the original on 25 November 2018 . Retrieved 12 May 2020 . ^ Seidman, Andrew. " 'Stop putting politics ahead of our country' on Trump impeachment, veterans tell GOP Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick in new ad". The Philadelphia Inquirer. Archived from the original on 2020-04-28 . Retrieved 2020-06-02 . ^ a b c Vogel, Kenneth P.; Robertson, Katie (13 April 2021). "Top Bidder for Tribune Newspapers Is an Influential Liberal Donor". The New York Times . Retrieved 14 April 2021 . ^ a b Burns, Alexander (October 31, 2018). "With $30 Million, Obscure Democratic Group Floods the Zone in House Races". New York Times. Archived from the original on 16 January 2020 . Retrieved 8 May 2020 . ^ Slodysko, Brian; Beaumont, Thomas (July 28, 2020). "Wealthy donors pour millions into fight over mail-in voting". Associated Press. Archived from the original on 9 August 2020 . Retrieved 28 August 2020 . ^ Markay, Lachlan (2020-06-11). "Lefty Advocacy Outfit Enlists PR Strategist to Clean Up Its Wikipedia Page". The Daily Beast. Archived from the original on 2020-06-13 . Retrieved 2020-07-16 . External links [ edit ] Official website

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Archived Version

Tue, 09 May 2023 15:23

Biden threatened in February that outlet would be cut off until it had 'more polite' reporters

The White House blocked the New York Post from covering a Monday public event with President Joe Biden, according to the paper, a sign the president's team is increasingly sensitive to coverage of the president's son, Hunter Biden, and could be cracking down on media access after the launch of his reelection campaign.

The Post, which first revealed the existence of Hunter Biden's abandoned laptop in October of 2020, said the White House rejected its request to attend Biden's press event discussing airline policies with Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg. The decision comes as federal prosecutors are wrapping up a tax investigation into Hunter Biden, which could result in criminal charges in the coming days.

Photos from the event show there were about 20 empty media seats, undermining the explanation from the White House press office for the decision to block the Post.

"We are unable to accommodate your credential request to attend the Investing in Airline Accountability Remarks on 5/8," the White House press office told the Post. "The remarks will be live-streamed and can be viewed at WH.gov. Thank you for understanding. We will let you know if a credential becomes available."

Biden'--who has held the fewest press availabilities of any president in two decades'--in February blew up at a Post reporter after the reporter asked during a similar media event about the first family's financial dealings with China. "Give me a break, man," Biden said, ignoring the question. "You can come to my office and ask a question when you have more polite people with you."

Steven Nelson, the Post reporter who was denied access, told the Washington Free Beacon that Biden's staff are "setting an anti-press freedom precedent by prescreening journalists allowed to attend large indoor events. These spaces were open to all reporters on White House grounds in the past."

He noted that White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre promised last July to end a much-criticized COVID-era screening process that gave Biden's press office control over which reporters were allowed to attend presidential remarks. Reporters accused the White House of arbitrarily enforcing the policy, saying it was "done without any transparent process into how reporters are selected to cover these events" in a letter last June.

"The White House Correspondents' Association also has called on the administration to restore large indoor spaces to their historical status as open to all," added Nelson. "If the Biden White House continues to discriminate against large outlets such as the New York Post, future administrations can do the same to other newspapers. It should end now."

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The White House Correspondents' Association also did not respond to a request for comment.

Update 5:34 p.m.: This piece has been updated since publication.

Published under: Biden Administration , Censorship , Hunter Biden , Joe Biden , Journalists , Media , New York Post , Press Briefing , White House

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Archived Version

Tue, 09 May 2023 15:17

What does Genspect strive for?We want to see schools, colleges and higher education establishments hold neutral space for students as they explore their gender, sexual orientation and identity formation. We value supportive environments for students, so they feel neither encouraged nor discouraged to follow certain paths.

We advocate for an evidence-based approach to gender distress, and we would like health care professionals to take the time and care to evaluate the low-evidence base for the current affirmative approach, looking more closely at the harms that medical treatment paths can cause. We recognize the high occurrence of comorbidites such as autism and ADHD among children and young people who are questioning their gender.

We would like to raise public awareness of the issues facing gender-questioning children and young people. We wish to help create a society that supports gender non-conformity '-- one which doesn't require the heavy burden of medical treatment. We acknowledge that gay, lesbian and bisexual youth are often gender non-conforming; rather than suppressing hormonal urges with medication, we support an approach that allows adolescents to explore their sexuality with freedom and acceptance.

Finally, in this fast-paced world, we advocate for a slower, more thoughtful approach to any difficulties that children and young people face.

Is Genspect affiliated with any political or religious groups?No. We are a non-partisan, independent organization, with members hailing from across the political spectrum and holding a range of personal beliefs. Our interest relates exclusively to the well-being and safeguarding of children and young people, and does not extend to party-political or religious allegiance. We welcome people of all faiths and none.

What is Genspect's position on sexuality?Genspect wholeheartedly supports the rights of sexual minorities in society and is proud to include many gay and lesbian members of our team. We abhor homophobia and biphobia and have a zero-tolerance policy towards such forms of discrimination. We stand alongside members of the lesbian, gay and bisexual communities in continuing to fight prejudice on the basis of sexual orientation.

Why do you say ''gender-questioning'' instead of ''trans''?Identity in children and young people is often flexible, changing throughout adolescence and early adult years. We challenge the idea that gender identity is a permanent property: using terms such as ''trans kids'' indicates immutability, and may conceal a far more nuanced and fluid reality. A change in gender identity can sometimes manifest as a concrete physical solution to a psychic trauma that leads to a belief parts of the self can be discarded or left behind. It is the role of the clinician to encourage the young person to understand their less conscious, inner defenses and motivations. This can be painful work and should be done in an empathetic and slow paced manner, respecting the young person's defenses. When we use the word ''trans,'' we are talking about people who have undergone medical transition '-- sometimes more explicitly termed ''transsexuals'' '-- and not making a statement about gender identity.

Is Genspect welcoming to trans people?Yes. We value open and honest discussion between the trans community and others to ensure that strongly held beliefs about sex and gender do not overpower one another. We have no prejudice against trans people in any way: one of our advisors is trans, as are many of our supporters.

Read MoreOur stance is that contentious issues should be worked through respectfully: so long as that condition is met, we welcome contributions from transgender people. Some people think we should change our bodies; others think we should change our minds. Both viewpoints have their merits, and discussion between the two should be possible.

Is Genspect welcoming to people who are transphobic?No. We treat everyone with respect and dignity, whether or not they are trans. Transphobia is real, and it's ugly: Genspect will not tolerate hateful or dehumanizing rhetoric towards trans people under any circumstances. We believe that members of the trans community deserve the same fundamental rights as all of us.

What is Genspect's position on medical transition in children and young people?We do not believe that children are equipped to make life-long decisions about medical transition procedures. Adolescence and young adulthood is a key developmental stage during which identity is evolving. We believe that young people should be encouraged to accept '-- and to love '-- their bodies. We do, however, support the rights of mature adults to make informed healthcare choices regarding medical transition.

Does Genspect view sexual orientation and gender identity differently?Yes. Human sexuality requires no medical interventions. In contrast, medical transition carries a heavy burden on the body. If left to develop naturally, many kids who are exploring their gender would grow up to be gay or lesbian, so setting them on a path of medicalization can be seen as a form of homophobic discrimination in itself.

What are puberty blockers?Puberty blockers are drugs which change young bodies in ways we have yet to understand, and may be permanent. This is an experimental treatment program: puberty blockers have never been licensed to treat children with gender dysphoria, in any country. They block sexual development, sexual desire, organ growth and cognitive function '-- and that doesn't even cover the unknown long-term effects which we are yet to understand. By prescribing puberty blockers, clinicians are interfering with the emotional, developmental and social stages which every human must experience to become a fully-functioning adult. When a child enters into a simulated chemical puberty through the means of cross-sex hormones, there is no indication that this has the same impact as natural, biological puberty.

Read MorePuberty blockers have often been used in cases of precocious puberty, where very young children (e.g. five years old) start to experience developmental changes long before they are ready. However, quite suddenly, in the wake of two Dutch studies, a decision was made to use these drugs to treat gender issues. This new ''Dutch Protocol'' quickly took hold in other countries, at the same time as '-- and perhaps due to '-- the extraordinary explosion in the numbers of gender-questioning adolescents. However, from 2020 onwards, countries in Europe have begun rolling back this protocol.

It is vital to stress almost all children prescribed puberty blockers go on to transition medically. The proportion who take puberty blockers but do not continue to take cross-sex hormones is tiny, at roughly 2%. This makes the claim that puberty blockers are simply delaying a developmental stage until a more appropriate time entirely false. The bone, brain and cardiovascular health issues which puberty blockers engender are infrequently discussed, as is the fact that puberty-blocked boys develop so little penile tissue that subsequent genital surgeries become far more complex and risky.

What is the Dutch Protocol?The Dutch Protocol is the current basis for medically transitioning youth. Prior to the Dutch experiment, only mature adults (above 30-35 years old) were allowed to transition. Because those results were suboptimal, with persistent distress and mental illness despite the transition, the Dutch researchers hypothesized that through early intervention they could achieve better cosmetic outcomes '-- and happier and better-functioning adult trans people as a result. This hypothesis leaves a lot to be desired. Genspect calls on other countries to follow the progressive Scandinavian model: not only is it more scientifically rigorous, it also makes space for non-traditional gender roles.

Read MoreThe Dutch experiment involved identifying 12-14-year-olds who had a life-long persistent and consistent gender dysphoria that worsened during puberty, screening them extensively. They were then administered with puberty blockers between 12 and 14 years old, cross-sex hormones at 16, and genital and non-genital surgeries when they turned 18.

The Dutch researchers followed their study subjects to the average age of 21. They found that although puberty blockers did not alleviate gender dysphoria, surgeries did, and the patients reported feeling happy with their choices. What the Dutch researchers relegated to a footnote was the fact that, of the original 70 patients, only 55 were followed. Of the remaining 15 patients, a significant number developed complications that made them ineligible for surgery. Several patients refused to participate in the follow-up, which would be extraordinary in any other field of medicine. Tragically, one young patient died following complications from genital surgeries. And yet, the Dutch Protocol continues to be considered the gold standard by so many advocates of transition.

There are many reasons why rolling out the Dutch Protocol across the world is reckless:

There are no data on the long-term psychological outcomes for gender-reassigned youth: one year after surgery is not sufficient follow-up. We do not know anything about the short- or long-term physical health outcomes. However, we do know that one person died, and there were several serious complications among others of the initial 70, which got only cursory mention by the Dutch researchers.The Dutch team disqualified any patients who had adolescent-onset gender dysphoria, the predominant presentation that is now treated with the Dutch Protocol.They explicitly discouraged social transition, as they believed it would harm both the majority of the kids who would desist, and the minority who would persist. The latter would need good knowledge of biology, in order to thrive in their altered bodies that only approximate the desired sex and don't operate as such.The Dutch gender clinic population is very different from every other country's gender clinic populations; in particular, the Dutch patients have fewer patients with mental ill health. While the UK study followed the same protocol as the Dutch, it failed to replicate the results. In fact, the preliminary UK data (published in a separate report but not included in the study) showed that some kids, especially girls, develop increased suicidal ideation while on puberty blockers. The Dutch researchers recently voiced concerns about the fact that their careful experiment is being promoted worldwide, without the thorough screening, assessment and follow-up which would constitute responsible practice. In particular, they highlighted the possibility that youths whose gender distress began at adolescence may benefit from psychological, rather than medical, interventions. Several countries (Sweden, the UK and Finland) have recently banned the use of the Dutch Protocol in minors under 16 or 18 in regular clinical settings, insisting that these interventions either cannot be provided ethically to minors, or should be provided only in rigorous clinical trials with proper informed consent.

What is Genspect's position on scientific research?We believe that good science comes from a spirit of free enquiry. When it comes to issues concerning sex and gender, we have seen a tremendous asymmetry of information, at the expense of scientific rigor. From the harmful effects of puberty blockers to WPATH's low-quality evidence base, there is much to be improved when it comes to the quality of the research on gender-questioning children.

Read MorePoor-quality studies that purport the benefits of puberty blockers are published uncritically, and are heavily promoted, despite the many known problems in both the data source and the analysis methods. At the same time, powerful critiques of such studies, which point out the flaws and how these render the positive findings highly unreliable are censored by the same editors.

What is Genspect's problem with the research as it stands?We believe that censorship is the problem. Many studies' abstracts, available free of charge, cherry-pick the most positive outcomes, with the fine print of negative outcomes and limitations hidden behind a paywall. A prime example of this is a UK study that compared the outcomes of children who were on puberty blockers with those who were on the waiting list. While the abstract reported that puberty-blocked children had better outcomes at 12 months compared to the control group, the study behind the paywall painted a markedly different picture. After 18 months, there was no clinically or statistically significant difference between the two groups of children in terms of their function: puberty blockers failed to show improvement.

Read MoreThese sorts of biases permeate virtually every study published today in the space of gender medicine. Beside the visible results of activism successfully silencing inquiry into the causes of gender dysphoria and how to treat it, the far more pernicious result is invisible: a number of researchers have given up trying to publish, or even study, the topic, as they know their work will not be published, regardless of its quality. This appears to be the desired outcome by the proponents of the medicalization of minors, who openly state that it's ''transphobic'' to study gender dysphoria.

Providing medical interventions for the estimated 2-4% of young people who now claim a trans identity is a lucrative, multibillion dollar business for pharma companies, hospitals and physicians who provide these interventions. The parallels are many with the opioid epidemic and the epidemic of overprescribing drugs to youth (Study 329); the pharmaceutical industry has played an unsavory role in ensuring that only positive outcomes are published, and negative ones suppressed. When it comes to ''gender medicine,'' we see the history repeating, with similar '-- if not more devastating '-- long-term results.

What about gender identity?In our view, many contemporary ideas about the transgender phenomenon derive from the theory of gender identity, a belief system which posits that every one of us has an invisible, unprovable and unfalsifiable gender identity. We simply don't believe that the case for gender identity has been made, and we certainly don't think it's a basis for medicalization.

Read More''Gender identity'' is a concept that was initially developed by two clinicians in the 1950s and 1960s, John Money and Robert Stoller, as a result of their work with people with Developmental Sex Disorders (also known as intersex). Stoller first hypothesised that every one of us has an unidentifiable, invisible element inside us that motivates us to behave in certain ways and that subscribes to certain gender norms and expectations. John Money agreed, pronouncing that ''Gender identity is the private experience of gender role, and gender role is the public manifestation of gender identity.''

Gender identity theory posits that we all have an invisible gender identity within us and that some of us have been born in a body that is not matched with our gender identity. Others do not subscribe to this belief, and consider themselves ''gender critical.'' Gender critical theory argues instead that we are simply born in '-- and as '-- bodies, and although gender roles are imposed upon us, these need not be perceived as an identity. They can simply be rejected: many just learn to live with certain gender roles.

The biopsychosocial model suggests that a combination of biology, psychology and society will drive certain behaviors, which manifests as our identity. The differences between these viewpoints seem to be the root of the majority of the controversy that currently surrounds gender politics.

All of these theories deserve the right to be heard, studied and debated in academic settings. The dangers emerge when unproven academic theories enter public institutions, and begin to operate as guiding principles for a range of vital decisions that impact the lives of young people. We believe this has occurred with the concept of gender identity, which is now unduly influencing key policies, from law and education to healthcare.

What does Genspect believe about gender?Gender is a culturally variable set of behavior and personality expectations applied to sexed bodies. We appreciate that identity formation is an important psychosocial stage of development for youths, from pubescence to early adulthood, and this can present as an identity crisis. We believe that a change in identity can sometimes present as a concrete resolution of a trauma, leading young people to believe that they can leave their old selves behind them.

Read MoreWe prefer a biopsychosocial approach that includes the holistic view of the individual. Biology probably plays a role in the development of feminine or masculine preferences, but there is also a well-documented 30% overlap between feminine and masculine traits in both sexes. As a result, there will naturally be a small proportion of boys whose tastes and preferences are more feminine than most girls'; the same goes for a small number of girls who will have traits and preferences more masculine than the majority of boys.

However, whether or not a feminine boy or a masculine girl conceptualize themselves as transgender individuals are subject to cultural and environmental factors. Further, this conceptualization is not fixed in young people, and can change both slowly, as well as dramatically and unexpectedly, in either direction.

This lack of a durable biological underpinning of a transgender identity is demonstrated best by studies involving identical twins, which show that only 28% of the twin pairs will have both twins developing a trans identity, despite having identical genes. It is also demonstrated that by the fact that 67% of children who met all the criteria of the diagnosis of gender identity disorder (and over 90% of those who experience sub-clinical levels of gender distress) will desist from their trans identity before adulthood.

The desistance data for individuals whose trans identity emerged for the first time post-puberty is not yet available, but thousands of such young people, known as ''detransitioners'' and ''desisters'' are actively engaged in online communities sharing their experiences, which are profoundly traumatic for many.

So, is sex binary? What about intersex people?Sex is binary. The sex of an individual is based on their reproductive anatomy and is determined by the type of gamete this anatomy is organized, through natural development, to produce. For over 99.9% of people, the sex of a person as female or male is unambiguous, determined at conception, and observable, whether prior to birth (by chromosomal analysis or sonogram) or at birth. We know what we're talking about on this: two of our team members were born with intersex conditions.

Read MoreIn a rare <0.1% of cases, people can have a Disorder (Difference) in Sexual Development, or DSD. In most cases of DSD, the individual is still clearly of male or female sex, although additional workup may be required in some cases to clarify the sex. For example, some individuals can be XY females (with female genitalia), and others XX males (with male genitalia), although such situations are extremely rare. Instances when sex cannot be determined exist, but are exceedingly rare.

Does this presence of DSDs invalidate the binary nature of sex? Although some activists have leveraged these extremely unusual situations to invalidate the binary nature of sex in humans, this is an unscientific stance. To illustrate this, consider this example: a coin is well-understood to have heads and tails, and if flipped will land on a head or a tail with roughly a 50/50 probability of each option. Yet extremely rarely, a flipped coin will land on its edge. This fact, however, does not invalidate the fact that the coin has two sides, nor the expected outcome of a coin flip '-- which is that it is highly unlikely to land on its edge.

Sex in humans is binary and immutable. Unlike other species that have environmental sex determination that can change according to environmental factors like temperature (reptiles, for example), humans have genetic sex determination. Undergoing gender reassignment does not change a person's sex, but can powerfully alter the way the body appears. Recently, the importance of biological sex has been reaffirmed by the Endocrine Society Scientific Statement.

What about brain studies? Don't they prove that trans identities are firmly rooted in biology?Scientists have not been able to locate a ''gender area'' of the brain that is innate and fixed: when controlled for sexual orientation and exposure to hormonal interventions, the brains of trans-identified individuals cannot be reliably distinguished from the brains of people of the same sex who do not identify as transgender.

Read MoreThat's why there is really no test to identify if an individual is truly transgender. The diagnosis is based on a self-reported feeling. Although this is not the only condition that's diagnosed from a subjective state (like depression and anxiety), it's arguably the only condition where a self-reported feeling leads to a cascade of irreversible, risky and highly experimental medical interventions for young people.

There is also plenty of evidence that gender identity can change and evolve, especially in young people. This is entirely consistent with what we know about brain function: the brain is plastic, open to influence and suggestion, and responsive to nurture, environment and experience.

What's your stance on medical care?We are deeply concerned with the medical care that gender-questioning and gender-dysphoric children are receiving. Children and young people in the West are treated with a highly experimental protocol that was not designed for the group to which it's commonly applied: adolescents with no childhood history of alienation from their body.

Read MoreThis protocol (known as the Dutch Protocol) leaves children infertile and dependent for life on cross-sex hormones and invasive surgeries, both of which carry serious risks. It is not known if this treatment will help or harm young people long-term.

We are heartened that the tide is starting to turn in Europe. Sweden, the UK and Finland have sharply curbed the provision of these off-label interventions for young people, and are now prioritizing psychological support. However, the rest of the Western world, especially North America and Australia, is aggressively scaling this treatment model, and even moving to outlaw psychological interventions.

We believe that only mature and well-informed adults can consent to medical interventions that permanently change their bodies and their psychosexual development trajectories. Until mature adulthood is reached, jumping in with syringes and scalpels to change the body to match the shifting sense of gender identity is highly unethical.

What are the risks of medical intervention?Recently, several systematic reviews of evidence conducted by independent health authorities in Europe (the UK, Sweden , France and Finland) have sounded the alarm about the significant risks of medical interventions with gender-dysphoric young people, and concluded that these risks do not outweigh the benefits. The risks range from adverse effects on bone and brain to infertility '-- or even premature death from cardiovascular disease and cancer. There are yet more unknown risks, which will emerge as more people stay on these drugs for life. The risks of surgeries themselves are also significant, often involving urinary complications and long-term pain.

Read MoreThe ''low certainty'' of the benefits '-- as well as the known risks of these interventions '-- have led to a landmark decision by Sweden on May 1, 2021 to stop providing these interventions in regular clinical settings for minors. Likewise, in 2020 the UK stopped all such prescriptions for minors under 16: the UK government is currently evaluating a new policy.

Other countries, including Finland, have made ''softer'' revisions to their policies, but with a clear message: until we understand the cause of the rapid rise of gender dysphoria in young people, and know how to help them best in the long-term, hormonal and surgical interventions should be delayed until the individual is emotionally mature '-- an age which will vary from person to person, especially when other conditions are taken into account.

What's Genspect stance on gender non-conformity?Genspect believes that we should embrace gender non-conformity. Girls should be able to play with fire trucks; boys should be able to play with dolls. As they grow up, they should be allowed to experiment to find a personal style that matches their personality and preferences. However, treating these preferences as a basis for exclusion from a child's biological sex imposes regressive gender norms on kids: bucking these norms is common, and should not be mistaken for gender dysphoria. A truly progressive society embraces all personalities, whether or not they match traditional stereotypes.

Read MoreWe also believe that if society sends strong negative messages to young people about their non-conformity, we must do two things: help someone become resilient to these messages; and work assiduously to make society become more accepting. We believe gender-nonconformity should be celebrated in society, and that no one needs to undergo risky procedures to change their bodies to be more ''acceptable'' to themselves or anyone else.

How can we help children and young people who are questioning their gender?We believe that children should be allowed to explore their own identities at their own pace, without adults jumping to assumptions about them. Whether we are male or female, gay or straight, small or tall, blue-eyed or brown-eyed, we are all born in the only body available! If anyone is born in the wrong body, surely people with physical challenges like spina bifida and cerebral palsy should be at heart of this debate. Learning to love and take care of your body is a key part of growing up and growing old. The transition from troubled child to happy, confident adult is always possible.

Read MoreWe also believe that young people who are distressed by their feelings '-- beyond the expected growing pains when ideas and concepts of self are tested against reality '-- need access to high quality mental health. Unfortunately, transition has never been demonstrated to improve long-term mental health outcomes; believing that medical transition will be the answer to distress is a perilous position to take.

Several of Genspect's advisors and parents have unfortunately witnessed first-hand mentally distressed youth spiral downwards after transitioning, sometimes ending in tragedy. Often, that experience motivates people to become more involved in campaigning for better standards of care. These vulnerable youths regret being ''affirmed'' and should have had the more conventional and long-established psychotherapeutic approach.

A cautious, least-invasive-first approach is utilized in clinical best practice: for this reason, Genspect firmly believes that psychotherapy should be a first-line treatment for gender-questioning young people before medical interventions such as puberty-blockers, cross-sex hormones and sex reassignment surgery are considered.

What is the truth about detransition?The research on detransition is paltry, and detransitioners' testimonies are '-- with scant exception '-- overlooked. Members of our team work extensively with detransitioners, and Genspect wants to bring their voices to the fore. It's important that people who regret transition have their own voice, uncensored and unexploited.

Read MoreA recent study of 237 detransitioners demonstrated that, for a large majority of them, transition did not resolve their emotional distress:

Forty-five percent of the whole sample reported not feeling properly informed about the health implications of the accessed treatments and interventions before undergoing them. A third (33%) answered that they felt partly informed, 18% reported feeling properly informed and 5% were not sure. The most common reported reason for detransitioning was realiz[ing] that my gender dysphoria was related to other issues (70%). The second one was health concerns (62%), followed by transition did not help my dysphoria (50%), found alternatives to deal with my dysphoria (45%).

This study shows how transitioning does not necessarily provide the answer to gender-related distress. We prefer the foundational principal: ''First, do no harm.''

What is the risk of suicide among gender dysphoric children and young people?Although it is often perceived that gender-questioning young people are at high risk of suicide, their suicidality is similar to that of adolescents with any other mental health issue, and lower than conditions such as eating disorders and body dysmorphia. While gender-questioning young people need extensive emotional and psychological support, parents should know that suicidality is still a risk after medical transition, and so transitioning will not necessarily help.

Are all types of gender dysphoria the same?No. This is a quickly changing landscape, and we simply don't have enough research into this expanding condition. However, there are certainly two distinct types of gender dysphoria, and probably more. The key distinction is based on the time of the onset of transgender ideation and bodily distress.

Read MoreUntil recently, the most typical presentation '-- ''early-onset gender dysphoria'' '-- occurred in early childhood, and predominantly affected boys. The majority of such children reidentified with their biological sex on reaching maturity, many growing up to be gay or bisexual. The other variant that has been long recognized is adolescent-onset gender dysphoria. However, this was rare, and also primarily affected boys; it is believed to be in part connected with the development of a gay identity or unusual sexual behavior (e.g., sexual arousal from cross-dressing). Roughly 70% turn out to be gay; roughly 80% grow out of it altogether.

However, since around 2015, there has been an extraordinary surge in the number of individuals who present with dysphoria and seek to transition medically '-- often with none of the typical presentations historically associated with gender dysphoria. While most of them are girls, there has recently been an increase in boys. In many cases, the internet and peer-group involvement has been a key factor in these young people's identities. Other common factors include neurodiversity (as these kids are often on the autistic spectrum or the ADHD spectrum), giftedness and significant mental health difficulties that often predate their focus on transition.

This phenomenon has been documented by every gender clinic in the world, and has been given several names, including ''post-pubescent onset of trans identity'', ''late-onset gender dysphoria'', ''post-puberty adolescent-onset transgender histories'' and most commonly ''rapid-onset gender dysphoria'' (ROGD). In their bid to be taken seriously, some of the teenagers presenting with this type of gender dysphoria are sometimes rewriting their personal histories to account for the way they now feel.

Although not yet recognized as an official diagnosis, clinicians around the world are very concerned with this newly predominant presentation: we don't understand its etiology, and there is a complete lack of scientific basis for the provision of risky and irreversible procedures to people who are so young.

What is the future prognosis for different kinds of gender dysphoria?Various studies show that plenty of kids with early-onset gender dysphoria '-- perhaps some four fifths of the total '-- will outgrow it naturally, if not ''affirmed'' as members of the opposite sex but loved and supported as they are. We do not yet know about the trajectories of those whose gender dysphoria has developed in adolescence; however, there is growing evidence that these trans identities, too, may often be temporary in nature. Increasing numbers of young people in their mid-to-late twenties share stories of identifying as trans for a few months to several years, but then experiencing a natural re-identification with their sex.

What about kids who are much happier when parents accept they are trans?Children thrive when they have loving and engaged parents and good relationships with peers. Shaming children and young people for being gender non-conforming is harmful and wrong. But socially transitioning '-- ''affirming'' someone as a member of the opposite sex '-- can have unforeseen, detrimental consequences and has not been demonstrated to improve outcomes. In fact, the Dutch Protocol (the sole basis for the current approach to intervening medically with gender-dysphoric youth) explicitly discouraged the social transition of children and early adolescents.

Read MoreA parent's responsibility does not just lie in the here and now: while it may seem easier in the short term to seek transition for a gender-non-conforming or dysphoric young person, we believe that children and young people should be allowed to reach the age of maturity before irreversible decisions are made. Adults labeling children or assuming that these labels will persist into later life is not a good parenting practice, whether or not children are exploring their gender or have other issues. It's vital to help parents find a balance between accepting gender non-conforming behavior and providing thoughtful guidance on the reality of biology.

At what age does Genspect believe people can make the decision to transition medically?We are in favour of the rights of mature adults to make their own decisions and we do not believe that this issue should be addressed through using a minimum age requirement. We are aware that the most current research indicates that most people do not fully mature until their mid-twenties, in terms of cogitive function and the development of the personality, and we have grave qualms about anyone below this age making the decision to transition, however we believe it is more helpful to run public awareness campaigns on this subject rather than operate a minimum age requirement. We are also aware that those classed as ''vulnerable adults'' '-- a specific legal term in the UK and Ireland '-- take longer to develop a stable social and sexual identity. We believe it is valuable to accept the principle that adults in general should be free to pursue their own happiness while also acknowledging that vulnerable adults are not well-placed to make major decisions.

What's the role of schools and teachers?Many parent groups report that schools are inadvertently contributing to the growing incidence of gender dysphoria (which inexplicably increased by a factor of twenty or thirty within a single decade in most developed countries). This is in part because education policies have become one-sided, repositioning gender non-conformity as a ''transgender'' identity and teaching children that sex is nothing more than a menu of hormones from which they can choose.

Read MoreThese ideas, represented by playful graphics of the ''gender unicorn,'' are no more scientific than the ideas of creationism. Although individuals are free to subscribe to any set of beliefs, schools must not misrepresent a belief '-- no matter how passionately held '-- as science.

It's particularly problematic when schools take part in ''social transition.'' Social transition is a psychosocial intervention with life-long consequences, which teachers are neither trained nor licensed to undertake. Although it may seem like an easy solution, schools are not there to make life simple for teachers: even if it means difficulty during the school day, teachers should encourage kids to strike out as individuals, rather than seeking out what seem to be the immediate answers.

Aren't you just denying trans people's right to exist?We believe people when they say that they feel they're born in the wrong body. We also believe those who say that they feel much better after medical transition. At the same time, we also believe people who did transition and subsequently regretted it, whether they reversed the procedure or continued to live with the changes they made because it was too difficult to ''go back''. Likewise, we believe adults who recall extreme gender non-conformity, feeling trapped in the wrong body, and other forms of gender dysphoria as kids. Many of our members have joined Genspect for this exact reason: none of us still feel this way as mature adults, and we are relieved to have grown up in a time before the medical transition of minors became so popular.

Read MoreIt is precisely these beliefs that compel us to speak out and help young people explore all non-invasive options before committing to a lifetime of irreversible and risky medical interventions. There is no evidence that transiting early improves long term outcomes. The only long-term study of a child who transitioned in her teen years paints a sobering picture. This individual reported being content with the decision for many years; however, after 22 years, maintaining a long-term relationship had become almost impossible, and feelings of profound shame about genitalia had emerged. Until more data are available on the long-term functioning of children who transitioned early, we are calling for non-invasive alternatives to be explored extensively, delaying any permanent interventions until the stage of mature adulthood.

We help to provide an alternative source of information for parents, addressing the (often overwhelming) bias in other online resources. We can also help people in the healthcare, education and media sectors, who are increasingly observing the same lack of objectivity. Our voice is reliable, moderate and well-informed, giving you access to all the relevant facts so that you can make rational decisions which are in the best interests of children and young people.

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Tue, 09 May 2023 15:16

Organization opposing transgender rights

Genspect is an international group founded in June 2021 by psychotherapist Stella O'Malley that describes itself as "gender-critical".[1][2][3][4] Genspect is known for criticizing and opposing gender-affirming care, as well as social and medical transition for transgender people.[5][6] Genspect opposes allowing transgender people under 25 years old to transition,[7][8][9] opposes laws that would ban conversion therapy on the basis of gender identity,[10] and opposes public health coverage for transgender healthcare at any age.[7] Genspect also endorses the concept of rapid-onset gender dysphoria (ROGD), which proposes a subclass of gender dysphoria caused by peer influence and social contagion. ROGD has been rejected by major medical organisations due to its lack of evidence and likelihood to cause harm by stigmatizing gender-affirming care.[11][12][13][14][15]

Genspect's positions are contradicted by major medical organizations such as the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH), the Endocrine Society, the American Psychiatric Association, American Psychological Association, and the American Academy of Pediatrics, which states "robust evidence demonstrates that access to gender-affirming care decreases risk of suicidal ideations, improves mental health, and improves the overall health and well-being of transgender and gender-diverse youth".[16][10][13][17][18]

Genspect is closely affiliated with the Society for Evidence-Based Gender Medicine (SEGM): Seven advisors for SEGM are on Genspect's team or advisors, including founder O'Malley.[19] Genspect consists of parents, educators, counsellors, and clinicians.[16][10]

Advocacy and positions [ edit ] Transgender youth [ edit ] In June 2021, The Daily Telegraph featured an article marking the launch of Genspect. Stella O'Malley said parents were shocked that gender-questioning children were prescribed drugs "within weeks" of attending a clinic. The NHS disputed the claim, saying access to gender-affirming care was normally a "lengthy process".[20] O'Malley stated "We think that the affirmative approach is too narrow and it is not taking into account co-morbidities, such as autism, or trauma".[20] At the launch, a mother spoke to the Telegraph, claiming that her transgender daughter was "groomed at school" and online into taking hormone treatment. Her daughter had come out to her as a trans girl at 14 years old, asked for puberty blockers at 16, which she refused, and was prescribed hormones from the NHS at 19.[20]

In August 2021, they intervened in a case against the school district in the town of Rhondda Cynon Taf in South Wales for using a student's preferred pronouns in school without the parent's knowledge.[21] Genspect has publicly supported numerous legal complaints against clinicians and has supported parents in efforts to prevent students socially transitioning at school against parent's wishes. Genspect has advised parents and schools against using transgender children's chosen names and pronouns and recommended schools ban tucking and chest binding.[10]

Genspect has also campaigned against the right of those under 25 to transition.[9]

Genspect promoted misinformation about Boston Children's Hospital, claiming they perform vaginoplasties on minors. However, no such surgeries were performed. Genspect did not apologize, instead claiming that adolescence lasts until 25 years old, so therefore the hospital was performing surgeries on "adolescents".[19]

In February 2023, Genspect, the Catholic Secondary School Parents Association, the Association of Patrons and Trustees of Catholic Schools, and the Irish Education Alliance opposed a new Social Personal and Health Education curriculum which is being finalized by the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment. The curricula would be taught over three years for 12-15 year olds and address gender identity, gender expression, and sexual orientation. Genspect said the course promoted a "narrow-minded gender affirmative approach and assumes that everyone '' students, parents and school staff '' believes in the gender identity belief system". The Transgender Equality Network of Ireland, BeLonG2 Youth Services, the youth group For"ige, and the Children's Rights Alliance welcomed the changes but stated that the course should be updated to include discussion of appropriate pronouns and the term "biological sex" replaced with "sex assigned at birth".[22]

Bans on gender-affirming care [ edit ] In July 2021, Genspect intervened in a court case in Arizona in defense of the state's ban on Medicaid coverage for transgender healthcare.[10]

Genspect was reported as campaigning against California's Senate Bill 107 in August 2022, which would make the state a refuge for transgender children and families fleeing persecution in other states.[5]

On 21 August, a policy by the Florida board of medicine ended Medicaid coverage for transgender healthcare at any age, despite gender-affirming care being recommended by the American Medical Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Psychiatric Association, and other major medical organizations.[23] Dr. Patrick Hunter on the board retweeted Genspect's letter to the American Academy of Pediatrics.[24] The board was described by the Florida Phoenix as "stacked with anti-trans doctors, some of whom are affiliated with anti-trans fringe movements such as Genspect and the Society for Evidence-Based Gender Medicine."[25]

Genspect, Cry For Recognition, Kirjo, Ypomini, Transteens Sorge Berechtigt, Genitori (De)generi, GenderIdentity Challenge Norway and GenderIdentity Challenge Sweden signed a petition created by the AMANDA Association which called for the European Union to ban all medical transition for minors as a response to what they called "rapid-onset gender dysphoria".[26]

Conversion therapy [ edit ] Genspect testified against New Zealand's Conversion Practices Prohibition Legislation Act 2022, arguing it should not include banning conversion therapy practices on the basis of gender identity.[10] Founder Stella O'Malley advocates for "exploratory therapy" in support of gender dysphoria and has written and testified about how some conversion therapy bills also risk limiting access to exploratory therapy.[27][28][29]

On 9 August 2021, O'Malley co-authored an opinion letter titled "Bill to ban conversion therapy poses problems for therapists" alongside psychologist Jacky Grainer and GP Madeleine N­ Dhailigh for The Irish Times in reference to the Prohibition of Conversion Therapies Bill 2018. In the letter, she criticized the inclusion of "suppression of gender identity" in the bill's definition of conversion therapy.[28] The Union of Students in Ireland subsequently announced that it was boycotting The Irish Times until it apologised for the article.[30] The Trans Writers Union, with 1,400 signatories, and Trinity News also announced a boycott of the paper due to what they characterized as advocating conversion therapy and a pattern of transphobic behavior.[31][13]

Science-Based Medicine stated "exploratory therapy" is "palatable language" for conversion therapy, noting a legal strategy proposed by Richard Green in 2017 which advocated circumventing bans on "gender-conversion psychotherapies" by labeling them "gender identity exploration or development".[19] The WPATH Standards of Care 8 encourage healthy exploration of gender and notes attempts to force gender-diverse youth to "explore their gender" when not requested by the patient "can be experienced as pathologizing, intrusive and/or cisnormative".[19]

Rapid-onset gender dysphoria [ edit ] In November 2021, Genspect organised the first online meeting on the theory of rapid-onset gender dysphoria (ROGD), featuring Lisa Littman, who originated the theory and is a clinical advisor to Genspect,[32] David Bell, and Stella O'Malley.[33] ROGD has never been recognized as a valid medical diagnosis by any major professional institution, has been referenced in legislation to limit the rights of transgender adolescents, and is opposed by the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH), the American Psychiatric Association, and the American Psychological Association, among other medical organizations, due to a lack of reputable scientific evidence and major surveying issues for the concept.[13][14][15][33][34][12][35]

Detransition [ edit ] In July 2021, responding to an editorial in The Lancet Child & Adolescent Health[36] which quoted a statistic that 1% of people who transition experience regret,[37] Genspect described the statistic as "outdated" given the large rise in children seeking to transition.[38][39]

On 12 March 2022, Genspect held a Detrans Awareness Day.[40][17]

Recognition of gender identity [ edit ] In January 2022, Genspect opposed plans in Scotland to allow changes to legal gender after three months of living in a new gender.[40] Stella O'Malley, founder and executive director of Genspect, said the proposed law was a "terrible error" and predicted that it may cause an increase in people regretting transition.[40]

Drag Queen Story Hour [ edit ] In August 2022, Genspect and the Family Education Trust signed a letter criticizing Drag Queen Story Hours and calling for them to be stopped, saying it was "age-inappropriate" for "men dressed as grotesque versions of women" to read stories to primary school children.[41]

Opposition to medical guidelines on gender-affirming care [ edit ] In March 2022, Julia Mason, a board member of SEGM who also works with Genspect, proposed Resolution 27 along with four other members of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), stating the AAP should reconsider hormone therapy as a first line of treatment and called for an evidence review to update AAP's 2018 policy statement on gender affirmative care. The resolution wasn't passed. Genspect and the physicians who proposed the resolution claimed that they were being sidelined and that the AAP changed its processes to block discussion of the resolution. In response, the AAP said they mischaracterized the current standards of care, which call for intake and collaboration between clinicians and mental health professionals. They also said that the process worked normally and that Resolution 27 did not pass because it received no co-sponsorship and the majority of AAP members did not agree with the resolution. The AAP stated the guidelines were already under review as part of a routine procedure and that "there is strong consensus among the most prominent medical organizations worldwide that evidence-based, gender-affirming care for transgender children and adolescents is medically necessary and appropriate."[42][43]

In July, Genspect asked the AAP for a "non-partisan and systematic review of evidence" for its 2018 guidance of gender-affirming care for children questioning their gender,[16] adding that "Many of our children have received this care and are anything but thriving."[16] The APP said it is updating its statement "Providing affirmative clinical care",[16] adding that "Robust evidence demonstrates that access to gender-affirming care decreases risk of suicidal ideations, improves mental health, and improves the overall health and well-being of transgender and gender-diverse youth."[16]

In September, the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH) published the eighth edition of its standards for care (SOC8).[44] Genspect opposed the guidelines, claiming they encouraged clinicians to alienate parents because the SOC 8 stated "We recommend when gender-affirming medical or surgical treatments are indicated for adolescents, health care professionals working with transgender and gender diverse adolescents involve parent(s)/guardian(s) in the assessment and treatment process, unless their involvement is determined to be harmful to the adolescent or not feasible."[19] In response to a chapter on eunuchs who "may seek castration to better align their bodies with their gender identity", O'Malley warned of "a new sacred ideology emerging that you cannot criticise" and, drawing a comparison with the Catholic Church, said "this will inevitably attract some bad-faith actors".[44]

Booklets [ edit ] Genspect has published 9 booklets addressed to parents, schools, universities, psychotherapists, and pediatricians, which promote an approach inconsistent with the recognized standards, paradigms, and models of the scientific communities referenced. They selectively and strategically rely on publications in magazines without peer review and essays written by experts in science communication not generally involved in scientific research. These publications recommend parents not use their children's chosen names and pronouns, the use of gendered language based on sex instead of gender, and the maintenance of bathrooms separated based on sex instead of gender, among other recommendations.[18]

Affiliations [ edit ] Genspect is closely affiliated with the Society for Evidence-Based Gender Medicine (SEGM): Julia Mason, Marcus Evans, Roberto D'Angelo, Sasha Ayad, Stella O'Malley, Lisa Marchiano, and Avi Ring are advisors for SEGM and are on Genspect's team or advisors.[19] Trans Safety Network described SEGM as "an anti-trans psychiatric and sociological think tank" and fringe group and reported that most of SEGM's funding came in donations greater than $10,000.[45][46]

In response to attempts by legislators in Alabama and Texas to ban gender affirming care for minors a report was written by a law professor and six physicians and psychologists who work with trans children and teenagers. These researchers noted that SEGM, which was cited by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, is "biased" and "not a recognized scientific association".[47][48][49] The report also stated "The core members of SEGM frequently serve together on the boards of other organizations that oppose gender-affirming treatment and, like SEGM, feature biased and unscientific content. These include Genspect, Gender Identity Challenge (GENID), Gender Health Query, Rethink Identity Medicine Ethics, Sex Matters, Gender Exploratory Therapy Team, Gender Dysphoria Working Group, and the Institute for Comprehensive Gender Dysphoria Research."[49] Lisa Littman, who created the rapid-onset gender dysphoria hypothesis, is an advisor to Genspect and president of the Institute for Comprehensive Gender Dysphoria Research, which includes other members of Genspect including Stella O'Malley.[18]

Genspect has worked with right-wing anti-LGBT groups such as the Alliance Defending Freedom,[50] which is classified by the SPLC as a hate group,[51] and "stands in full solidarity" with Our Duty, a proponent of anti-trans conversion therapy which has called for an "immediate moratorium" on anyone under 25 transitioning as well as public funding for transition at any age, and recommended "swift desistance from transgender ideation" as the "stated goal of any treatment regime" for transgender youth.[10]

Genspect members and advisors were criticized for appearing in a documentary produced by David Icke, who is known for anti-semitism and conspiracy theories. Stella O'Malley, Marcus Evans, Stephanie Davies-Arai of Transgender Trend, and detransitioner Ritchie Herron appeared in the documentary.[52][53]

Guides published by Genspect have been promoted by the Italian group Genitori De Gender.[18]

Tranzycja.pl, the largest publicly available database of knowledge about transgenderism and the process of transition in Poland, published an article in ASZdziennik which stated: "among conversion therapists, Genspect is the biggest hit of the season - a network established a few years ago that brings together dozens of conversion therapists and their supporters from around the world, with close ties to the far right and (of course) fundamentalist Catholics." They also stated that Marcus Evans and Lisa Marchiano are conversion therapists and members of Genspect.[54][55]

Reception [ edit ] LGBTQ Nation says that though "the group claims that it is welcoming to transgender people", "it is broadly opposed to gender-affirming care for youth."[2] Jenn Burleton, executive director of the TransActive Gender Center Project, told the Nation that Genspect is "an anti-trans, 'gender critical' organization ideologically affiliated with TERFism, ROGD [Rapid Onset Gender Dysphoria], and Alliance Defending Freedom".[2] Them describes the organisation as "an advocacy group that is known for its anti-trans stances" and stated they have "gone on the record as referring to 18-25 year olds as 'adolescents,' and claiming that this bracket should also be denied gender-affirmative care, and subjected to conversion therapy, despite being legal adults in the wake of this event. This suggests once again that their goal is to expand bans from simply minors to everyone under 25."[5] Gay Community News describes Genspect as "an organisation that supports parents who don't affirm their transgender children, espousing the pseudoscientific 'condition' known as Rapid Onset Gender Dysphoria (ROGD), condemned by WPATH, the American Psychiatric Association and American Psychological Association."[56]

The Florida Phoenix described Genspect as "an anti-trans fringe group...which claims many more people detransition than is factual".[57] Valigia Blu described Genspect as "emblematic" of a form of "anti-trans activism [which] uses scientific language as a source of self-legitimation and as a tool for protesting institutions, organizations and more generally the scientific community and authorities (and above all their internal evaluation and validation methods)."[18] Jamie Bowman, an educator and advocate for families of transgender youth, stated Genspect uses "propaganda and scare tactics to convince parents to not support their children."[2]

In response to the Oklahoma Millstone Act, which bans gender-affirming care for those under 26 and makes providing or having provided it a felony, Alejandra Caraballo stated "we have been warning everyone that the inevitable goal of the anti trans movement was to ban all gender affirming care and effectively criminalize trans people from existing. Groups like Genspect have been laying the groundwork for this."[58]

The Hill stated "efforts to restrict transgender adults' access to health care lean heavily on claims from so-called ''gender-critical'' organizations that young people should not be recognized as adults before they turn 25, when the human brain is believed to reach full maturity", linking to Genspect as an example.[59]

The Sunday Times and The Times described it as an organisation that advocates for the parents of gender-questioning children.[60][40][61] The Daily Telegraph describes Genspect as a group supporting parents troubled by the gender-related medical treatment received by their children.[20][62] The Economist describes the organisation as "an international group of clinicians and parents".[16]

Boycott over inclusion in the Irish Times [ edit ] Founder Stella O'Malley co-authored a letter which criticized the inclusion of "suppression of gender identity" in the Irish Prohibition of Conversion Therapies Bill 2018. The Union of Students in Ireland subsequently announced that it was boycotting The Irish Times until it apologised for the article.[30] The Trans Writers Union, with 1,400 signatories, and Trinity News also announced a boycott of the paper due to what they characterised as advocating conversion therapy and a pattern of transphobic behavior.[31][13]

[ edit ] In response to attempts by legislators in Alabama and Texas to ban gender affirming care for minors a report was written by a law professor and six physicians and psychologists who work with trans children and teenagers. These researchers described Genspect as part of a small group of "anti-trans activists." appearing in multiple organizations who "oppose gender-affirming treatment and, like [the Society for Evidence-Based Gender Medicine], feature biased and unscientific content."[49]

Medscape Medical News describes Genspect as "a parent-based organization that seeks to put the brakes on medical transitions for children and adolescents," noting they oppose "the gender-affirming care model supported by the World Professional Association for Transgender Health, the American Medical Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics, and other medical groups."[33] MedPage Today stated that "while clinicians agree that more healthcare options and further studies are needed to better support transgender youth, there is a concern that groups like Genspect, which aim to challenge the current approach to youth transgender care, are fueling a political debate that will erode access to transgender medicine." AAP President Moira Szilagyi "condemned efforts from state legislatures and other groups to restrict gender-affirming care, stating that they have a 'chilling effect' on access to care for this population".[42] Science-Based Medicine described Genspect as "an anti-trans gender critical (GC) organization" closely affiliated with SEGM, and stated they "both regularly peddle anti-trans pseudoscience".[19]

In July 2022, LGBT groups, scientific and medical professionals, and public figures signed an open letter to the Polish Society for Psychodynamic Psychotherapy criticizing their invitation of Marcus and Susan Evans to speak at a conference; Marcus is an advisor to Genspect and they are both advisors to SEGM. The letter stated "according to an analysis by journalists from the organization Health Liberation Now, Genspect is closely related to a significant number of other entities opposing ''gender ideology'' and promoting conversion therapy for LGBT people"[63] and that the Evans' support conversion therapy. The Polish Sexological Society then published a statement condemning their invitation as well.[64][65][66]

In December, Trans Safety Network found that the NHS training materials had promoted materials from conversion therapy promoters, including Genspect, which called it "gender exploratory therapy".[67][68]

Inclusion in NHS conference [ edit ] In March 2022, O'Malley would have appeared at an NHS conference on gender dysphoria at Great Ormond Street Hospital, alongside paediatrician Hilary Cass, journalist Helen Joyce, CEO of Mermaids Susie Green, and Genspect advisors Stephanie Davies-Arai, the founder of Transgender Trend, and Lisa Littman. The event was cancelled following complaints by NHS whistleblowers, researchers, and transgender rights activists, who accused a majority of the speakers as having a "record of extreme prejudice towards trans people".[10][69] In response to criticism of the event, Genspect said it "would have centred on moderate and well-informed voices at a pivotal moment in the UK, as the interim Cass Report seeks to establish a more coherent treatment model for young people who are questioning their gender."[69]

OpenDemocracy wrote an article in response to the cancelled NHS event which describes Genspect as "an international alliance of so-called 'gender-critical' parents, counsellors, educators and activists" that work with proponents of anti-trans conversion therapy, which is the pseudo-scientific practice of attempting to change sexual orientation or gender identity.[70][24] An NHS worker who spoke to Open Democracy stated some speakers "had no experience looking after trans kids" and "were very publicly connected to anti-trans advocacy or promoted discredited theories".[70] Guides produced by Genspect say there is "no evidence showing that social or medical transition reduces the risk of suicide among young people with gender dysphoria".[10] OpenDemocracy pointed out the claim was false with published evidence to the contrary.[71][72][73]

Coverage in The New York Times [ edit ] On 15 June 2022, The New York Times interviewed parents from Genspect who defined the rise in transgender-identified children as a "gender cult" and mass craze, "suggesting that exposure to transgender kids, education about trans people, and trans ideas on the internet could spread transness to others". Some parents from Genspect stated transgender people should not be able to transition until the age of 25.[7] The article also referenced a Substack newsletter by an anonymous Genspect parent titled "It's Strategy People!" about how the organisation gets its perspective into the media by purposefully not referring to transgender children as "mentally ill" or "deluded".[74]

The Texas Observer criticized the article, stating "Since its publication, transgender-rights advocates, medical experts, and other journalists have condemned the article for inaccurately portraying such care as controversial, misrepresenting scientific research, and quoting anti-trans activists without proper context." They stated Emily Bazelon noted on Twitter that Genspect engages in "anti-trans activism" but did not present them as such in the article. They noted the article was used as proof of lack of medical consensus on transgender care by the state of Texas in a court case to criminalize gender-affirming care for minors.[7] Ky Schevers and Lee Leveille of Health Liberation Now! criticized Bazelon's coverage. Bazelon had interviewed and been in communication with both of them but did not include them in the article. Schevers told the Observer that "It was disappointing and infuriating to see her disregard our warnings and now to learn that her article is being used as evidence to stop trans youth from accessing healthcare."[7][75]

PinkNews criticized it as well, accusing the article of "uncritically platformed ... Genspect" and of spreading "vile rhetoric". Ky Schevers was quoted stating: "The NYT just platformed a group made up of transphobic parents & conversion therapists who've written about how they have the same end goals as hardline trans eliminationists but moderate their views to try to break into the mainstream."[1] Trans author Dr. Sunny Moraine accused the article of "sanitizing wildly transphobic talking points", while instructor Alejandra Caraballo of Harvard Law School described it as having "only just further opened the door for eliminationist policies".[1]

In February 2023, Media Matters for America criticized the New York Times' coverage of transgender issues, stating it "featured profile after profile that platformed anti-trans extremists, fearmongered about the price of transgender acceptance, and framed rising trans identification as a social contagion." It criticized Genspect's appearance in the June 2022 article, as well as a January 2023 article, "When Students Change Gender Identity, and Parents Don't Know", which mentioned "a network of internet support groups for 'skeptical' parents of transgender children, some with thousands of registered members" without noting the groups are run by Genspect.[76]

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Retrieved 19 June 2022 . ^ "Alliance Defending Freedom". Southern Poverty Law Center. Archived from the original on 29 August 2017 . Retrieved 29 June 2021 . Founded by some 30 leaders of the Christian Right, the Alliance Defending Freedom is a legal advocacy and training group that has supported the recriminalization of sexual acts between consenting LGBTQ adults in the U.S. and criminalization abroad; has defended state-sanctioned sterilization of trans people abroad; has contended that LGBTQ people are more likely to engage in pedophilia; and claims that a "homosexual agenda" will destroy Christianity and society. ADF also works to develop "religious liberty" legislation and case law that will allow the denial of goods and services to LGBTQ people on the basis of religion. Since the election of President Trump, ADF has become one of the most influential groups informing the administration's attack on LGBTQ rights. ^ Beacon, The (8 October 2022). "Stella O'Malley appears in documentary produced by company linked to antisemite David Icke". The Beacon . Retrieved 14 January 2023 . ^ Moore, Mallory (3 October 2022). "Anti-Trans Therapy figures appear in David Icke film". Trans Safety Network . Retrieved 14 January 2023 . ^ "TOP 10 transphobic nonsense from recent years [ASZ feat. Tranzycja.pl]". ASZdziennik (in Polish). 18 December 2022 . Retrieved 19 December 2022 . ^ "Trans Safety Network". transsafety.network . Retrieved 19 December 2022 . ^ Ferreyra-Carroll, Lilith (21 October 2021). "A state of collapse: Trans healthcare in Ireland is a national emergency". Gay Community News (Dublin). Archived from the original on 4 July 2022 . Retrieved 28 June 2022 . ^ Baitinger, Brooke (23 August 2022). "Drop in Medicaid coverage of gender-affirming medical care leaves transgender Floridians struggling". Archived from the original on 24 August 2022 . Retrieved 31 August 2022 . Hunter freely and regularly shares "detransition" disinformation on his Twitter account from anti-trans fringe groups such as Genspect, which claims many more people detransition than is factual. ^ Gage, Brandon (6 January 2023). "Oklahoma Republicans seek to criminalize gender-affirming care for people under 26". Salon . Retrieved 9 January 2023 . ^ Migdon, Brooke (13 January 2023). "Transgender youth health care bans have a new target: adults". The Hill . Retrieved 13 January 2023 . ^ Kelleher, Lynne (14 August 2022). "HSE is still referring children to 'unsafe' UK gender clinic". The Sunday Times. Archived from the original on 14 August 2022 . Retrieved 21 August 2022 . ^ Griffiths, Sian (7 August 2022). "The storytellers facing violent threats: what's going on with drag queens in libraries?". The Sunday Times. Archived from the original on 21 August 2022 . Retrieved 21 August 2022 . ^ Dixon, Hayley; Somerville, Ewan (29 July 2022). "Children referred for puberty blockers after just one consultation at Tavistock clinic". The Daily Telegraph. Archived from the original on 29 July 2022 . Retrieved 29 July 2022 . ^ Leveille, Lee (1 June 2022). "A New Era: Key Actors Behind Anti-Trans Conversion Therapy". Health Liberation Now! . Retrieved 14 January 2023 . ^ Moore, Mallory. "Polish Sexological Society condemns conference visit by Marcus and Susan Evans". Trans Safety Network . Retrieved 14 January 2023 . ^ Fajit, Dag; Kuta, Nina. "An open letter to the authorities of the Polish Society for Psychodynamic Psychotherapy" (in Polish) . Retrieved 14 January 2023 . ^ "STATEMENT OF THE MANAGEMENT BOARD OF THE POLISH SEX SOCIETY ON THE PRESENTATION OF DR MARCUS EVANS AND DR SUSAN EVANS AT A CONFERENCE IN POLAND". Polish Sexological Society . Retrieved 14 January 2023 . ^ Pritilata, Maysa (23 December 2022). "How 2022 will be remembered for trans people in the UK". Open Democracy . Retrieved 9 January 2023 . ^ Moore, Mallory (20 December 2022). "NHS Trust uses "Gender Exploratory" training materials promoting conversion therapy lobbyists". Trans Safety Network. ^ a b Correspondent, Eleanor Hayward, Health. "Gender event off after trans activists attack 'extreme' views". The Times. ISSN 0140-0460. Archived from the original on 29 March 2022 . Retrieved 15 July 2022 . ^ a b Ferreira, Lou (25 March 2022). "NHS pulls trans health conference after speakers' anti-trans links exposed". openDemocracy. Archived from the original on 7 June 2022 . Retrieved 15 June 2022 . ^ Parsons, Vic (17 December 2021). "Hormone therapy saves trans kids' lives, according to science". PinkNews. Archived from the original on 19 August 2022 . Retrieved 17 September 2022 . ^ Tordoff, Diana M.; Wanta, Jonathon W.; Collin, Arin; Stepney, Cesalie; Inwards-Breland, David J.; Ahrens, Kym (25 February 2022). "Mental Health Outcomes in Transgender and Nonbinary Youths Receiving Gender-Affirming Care". JAMA Network Open. 5 (2): e220978. doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2022.0978. ISSN 2574-3805. PMC 8881768 . PMID 35212746. Archived from the original on 25 September 2022 . Retrieved 17 September 2022 . ^ Parsons, Vic (5 March 2022). "Puberty blockers drastically cut suicide risk in trans kids, yet another study finds". PinkNews. Archived from the original on 1 September 2022 . Retrieved 17 September 2022 . ^ Bazelon, Emily (15 June 2022). "The Battle Over Gender Therapy". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on 19 June 2022 . Retrieved 19 June 2022 . ^ Schevers, Ky; Leveille, Lee (23 June 2022). "Health Liberation Now!'s Response to NYT Article "The Battle Over Gender Therapy" ". Health Liberation Now. Archived from the original on 15 September 2022 . Retrieved 22 September 2022 . ^ Drennen, Ari (8 February 2023). "The New York Times helped fuel an anti-trans panic in 2022. Will 2023 be any better?". Media Matters for America . Retrieved 10 February 2023 . External links [ edit ] Official website

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Tue, 09 May 2023 15:11

US professional association

The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) is the largest professional association of pediatricians in the US.[1] It is headquartered in DuPage County, Illinois, and maintains an office in Washington, D.C.[2] The AAP has published hundreds of policy statements, ranging from advocacy issues to practice recommendations. Notable positions advocated by the AAP include abortion access for teenagers, a minimum purchasing age of 21 years for tobacco products, background checks, an assault weapons ban, more federal research on gun violence, and favorable statements on circumcision and forms of gender-affirming care.[3]

Background [ edit ] The Academy was founded in 1930 by 35 pediatricians to address pediatric healthcare standards.[4] As of 2022[update], it has 67,000 members in primary care and sub-specialist areas.[5] Qualified pediatricians can become fellows (FAAP).[6]

The Academy runs continuing medical education (CME) programs for pediatricians and sub-specialists. The Academy is divided into 14 departments and 26 divisions.[7]

Publications [ edit ] It has the largest pediatric publishing program in the world, with more than 300 titles for consumers and over 500 titles for physicians and other healthcare professionals. These publications include electronic products, professional references, medical textbooks, practice management publications, patient education materials, and parenting books.[8]The AAP News is the academy's official news magazine,[9] and Pediatrics is its flagship journal.[10]

The AAP issues a weekly report[11] on COVID-19 cases in the United States. States began reporting COVID-19 cases on September 17, 2020. The AAP tracked 587,948 child COVID-19 cases, 5,016 child hospitalizations, and 109 child deaths.[12]

The Julius B. Richmond Center [ edit ] In 2006, the Academy received a grant from the Flight Attendant Medical Research Institute (FAMRI) to plan and establish a Center of Excellence dedicated to the elimination of children's exposure to tobacco and secondhand smoke. The Richmond Center was established to help institutionalize pediatric tobacco control activities at AAP and was named in honor of Julius B. Richmond, MD, Chair of the FAMRI Medical Advisory Board and former Surgeon General of the United States Public Health Service. The Center provides the education, training, and tools needed to protect children from tobacco and secondhand smoke.[citation needed ]

Policy positions [ edit ] The Academy has published hundreds of policy statements, ranging from advocacy issues to practice recommendations. The academy's policy website contains all current Academy policies and clinical reports.[13] The AAP policy regarding its statements is to give each statement a five-year life, after which the statement expires unless it is reaffirmed.

Abortion [ edit ] The AAP is supportive of abortion rights and criticized the overturning of Roe v. Wade.[14]

In June 2022, they stated that adolescents "should have the right to receive legal and confidential medical and surgical abortion care and counseling" and that "[Dobbs v. Jackson] means that in many places in the United States, this evidence-based care will be difficult or impossible to access, threatening the health and safety of our patients and jeopardizing the patient-physician relationship".[14]

Age limit [ edit ] The AAP has changed positions on its age limit throughout the years. In 1988, the American Academy of Pediatrics published a statement on the age limit of pediatrics that identified the upper age limit of pediatrics as age 21. The policy had a note that exceptions could always be made when the doctor and family jointly agree to an older age.[15]

Recent studies have shown that the age of 21 years is just an arbitrary line for adolescence, because brain development does not fully reach adult levels of functioning until the early 30s. In a 2017 policy update, AAP changed its policy to discourage age limits of pediatric providers and instead have families reach an agreement with their pediatric provider as to when to transition care.[16]

Asthma [ edit ] In 2009, the national office and four of its State chapters provided training support to 49 pediatric practices to improve adherence to well-established asthma care guidelines. The percentage of patients at participating practices with well-controlled asthma (as defined by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute) rose from 58 to 72 percent.[17]

Car safety seats [ edit ] In 2018, the AAP began recommending that children be placed in rear-facing car seats until the child reached the maximum height or weight for the car seat, regardless of the child's age.

The AAP periodically issues guidance for child passenger safety, including policy recommendations for transitioning between rear-facing car seats, front-facing car seats, belt-positioning booster seats, and vehicle safety belts.[18] These recommendations are typically published in the peer-reviewed scientific journal Pediatrics,[19][20] and tend to attract attention and controversy in popular press and social media.[21][22]

Previously, the AAP recommended that children remain rear-facing until they are two years of age.[19] In response to updated crash test, simulation, and field data, the AAP revised their guidance to exclude the age guideline entirely.[23] Current AAP Child Passenger Safety recommendations (as of August 30, 2018[update]) state that children should remain in a rear-facing car seat for as long as possible, until they meet the maximum height or weight dictated by the car seat manufacturer.[20] The full recommendations state that:

Infants, toddlers and children should remain rear-facing as long as possible. Currently available car seats provide weight and height limits that allow children to be rear-facing beyond their second birthday.Once children are transitioned to forward-facing, they should use a car safety seat equipped with a 5-point harness for as long as the manufacturer recommends (i.e., until they reach the manufacturer's weight or height limit). Currently available convertible car seats and combination car seats support the use of a 5-point harness until a child is 65 pounds (29 kg) or more.Once children are transitioned to a belt-positioning booster car seat, they should continue to use the booster until the vehicle's lap and shoulder belt fit properly, which typically occurs when a child is over 4 feet 8 inches (142 cm) tall, and approximately 8''12 years of age.Once children are transitioned to the vehicle's lap and shoulder seat belt, they should always use the vehicle's seat belt to maximize protection in the event of an accident.Children under 13 years of age should be seated in the rear passenger seat (not the front seat) to maximize protection in the event of an accident.COVID schooling in person [ edit ] On June 29, 2020, AAP stated that it "strongly advocates that all policy considerations for the coming school year should start with a goal of having students physically present in school" as remote learning during the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States made it more difficult for education professionals to notice learning deficits, physical and sexual abuse, depression and suicidal ideation. The AAP argued that masks are probably not practical for children younger than middle school unless they can wear a mask without increased face touching. Teachers' unions opposed the AAP statement, however, saying "Our educators are overwhelmingly not comfortable returning to schools ... They fear for their lives, the lives of their students and the lives of their families."[24] Two weeks later, the AAP walked back its support, under political pressure from teachers and other groups.[25] The then-president Donald Trump cited AAP's original statement repeatedly, pressuring school leaders to reopen schools.[25]

Digital advertising to children [ edit ] In its 2020 statement in Pediatrics, the AAP called for banning all digital advertising that was targeted to children under the age of 7 and urged limits to advertising aimed at people under 17.[26]

Elective infant circumcision [ edit ] In 1999, the academy said that the health benefits of elective, voluntary male circumcision in a healthcare facility outweighed the risks, and supported having the procedure covered by insurance.[27][28][29]

In a 2012 position statement, the academy stated that a systematic evaluation of the medical literature shows that the "preventive health benefits of elective circumcision of male newborns outweigh the risks of the procedure" and that the health benefits "are sufficient to justify access to this procedure for families choosing it and to warrant third-party payment for circumcision of male newborns," but "are not great enough to recommend routine circumcision for all male newborns". The academy takes the position that parents should make the final decision about circumcision after appropriate information is gathered about the risks and benefits of the procedure.[30]

After the release of the position statement, a debate appeared in the journal Pediatrics and the Journal of Medical Ethics.[31][32][33] In 2013, a group of 38 Northern European pediatricians, doctors, surgeons, ethicists and lawyers co-authored a comment stating that they found the AAP's technical report and policy statement suffered from cultural bias, and reached recommendations and conclusions different from those of physicians in other parts of the world;[31] in particular, the group advocated instead a policy of no harm towards infants and respect for their rights of bodily integrity and age of consent.[31] The AAP received further criticism from activist groups that oppose circumcision.[34][35] The AAP responded to these criticisms in the Journal of Medical Ethics, calling for respectful and evidence-based debate.[36]

The AAP policy regarding its statements is to give each statement a five-year life, after which the statement expires unless it is reaffirmed.[30] The 2012 Circumcision Policy Statement has not been reaffirmed, so it expired in 2017. As of 2021, the AAP has no official circumcision policy.[citation needed ]

Electronic Nicotine Delivery Systems [ edit ] Electronic nicotine delivery systems (electronic cigarettes, e-hookahs, vape pens, others) are highly addictive and often candy-flavored products that are rapidly rising in popularity among middle and high school students, and appear to be serving as a gateway to other forms of tobacco, and threaten to addict a new generation to nicotine.[37]

When they are sold, concentrated nicotine solutions such as those used in electronic nicotine delivery systems should be required to be in child-resistant containers and be limited to a quantity of nicotine that would not be lethal to a young child if ingested. The US Food and Drug Administration needs to tightly regulate these products to protect youth.[citation needed ]

Female genital cutting [ edit ] In April 2010, the academy revised its policy statement on female genital cutting, with one part of the new policy proving controversial. Although condemning female genital cutting overall, this statement suggested that current federal law banning the practice had the unintended consequence of driving families to perform the procedures in other countries, where these girls faced increased health risks. As a possible compromise, this policy statement suggested that physicians have the option to perform a ceremonial "nick" on girls as a last resort to prevent them from being sent overseas for full circumcision. This particular position proved controversial to advocates for a full ban on female genital cutting under any circumstances[38] and concern from other medical groups[39] that even a "nick" would be condoning this widely rejected procedure. One month later, the academy retracted this policy statement.[40][41]

Genetic testing in children [ edit ] The American Academy of Pediatrics AGCM posted guidelines in dealing with the ethical issues in pediatric genetic testing.[42]

Gun violence prevention [ edit ] The American Academy of Pediatrics says that although firearms-related deaths in the US have dropped since the 1990s, guns were used in more than 80 percent of teen homicides in 2009 and were the most common suicide method among US teens.[43] The AAP believes pediatricians should discuss guns and gun safety with parents before babies are born and at children's annual exams.[44] It also advocates for, among other things, more background checks, an assault weapons ban, and more federal research on gun violence.[45][46]

Marijuana [ edit ] The AAP warns of possible marijuana damage to children and adolescents.[47] In states that have already legalized marijuana, the Academy recommends that pediatricians and regulators treat it as they would tobacco. The Academy supports "decriminalization" of marijuana (reductions in the penalties for its use and possession) in combination with an increased commitment to substance-abuse treatment. The Academy also recommends changing marijuana from a DEA Schedule I to a DEA Schedule II to facilitate research into pharmaceutical uses.[48]

School start times for adolescents [ edit ] Recognizing that insufficient sleep in adolescents is an important public health issue that significantly affects the health and safety, as well as academic success, the American Academy of Pediatrics strongly supports efforts of school districts to optimize sleep in students and urges high schools and middle schools to aim for start times no earlier than 8:30 a.m., to allow students the opportunity to achieve optimal levels of sleep (8.5''9.5 hours) and to improve physical and mental health, safety, academic performance, and quality of life. Although the AAP acknowledges that numerous factors may impair the amount and/or quality of sleep in adolescents'--among them, biological changes in sleep associated with puberty, lifestyle choices, and academic demands'--it considers school start times before 8:30 a.m. ("earlier school start times") to be a key modifiable contributor to insufficient sleep, together with circadian rhythm disruption. It also recognizes that a substantial body of research has demonstrated that delaying the start of the school day is an effective countermeasure to chronic sleep loss and has a wide range of potential benefits to the physical and mental health, safety, and academic achievement of students'--including reduced obesity risk, rates of depression, and drowsy driving crashes as well as improved academic performance and quality of life.[49] Later start times also result in less frequent tardiness.[50]

Abusive head trauma [ edit ] There is limited medical controversy surrounded the AAP regarding abusive head trauma (AHT), also called shaken baby syndrome in infants.[51] The current skepticism is not whether violent shaking or shaking with slamming is dangerous to infants and children, but of how the scientific information is used in the legal processes. The AAP updated its policy paper in 2020. In the updated policy paper, the APP states "The AAP continues to affirm the dangers and harms of shaking infants, continues to embrace the 'shaken baby syndrome' diagnosis as a valid subset of the AHT diagnosis, and encourages pediatric practitioners to educate community stakeholders when necessary."[52]

Statins for high cholesterol in children [ edit ] In 2008, the AAP and the American Heart Association recommended statins for children as young as eight years with high lipid concentrations and for children as young as two years with major cardiovascular risk factors, if weight management, dietary changes, and additional physical exercise were not sufficient to reduce the risk of heart disease.[53] The organizations were criticized by bloggers and the editorial board of The New York Times, who expressed "fear that it will open the way for drug companies to bombard anxious parents with ads promoting these and other products and increase the number of parents insisting on prescriptions for their children. The ease of popping pills should not distract parents, health professionals, or policy makers from the more arduous tasks of cutting back on junk foods, promoting healthy diets, and putting physical education back into the schools."[53]

Tobacco [ edit ] AAP recommends that tobacco control programs should change the image of tobacco by telling the truth about the substance. This includes prohibiting tobacco advertising and promotion that is accessible to children, as well as point of sale advertising, product placements in movies and other entertainment media, and promotion in print or internet-based media accessible to youth. Advertising and promotion has been shown to be a cause of tobacco use initiation in adolescents.[54]

AAP supports a minimum purchasing age of 21 years for tobacco products. Increasing age of purchase has been shown to decrease youth smoking rates. Younger age of starting tobacco use leads to lower rates of ever stopping tobacco use.[55]

In addition to comprehensive smoking bans in workplaces and public areas, smoking in multi-unit housing should be prohibited.[citation needed ]

Transgender healthcare [ edit ] According to Block (2023), the AAP and other American "medical professional groups" have becoming increasingly "aligned" in supporting "gender affirming care" for "gender dysphoria, which may include gonadotrophin releasing hormone analogues (GnRHa) to suppress puberty; oestrogen or testosterone to promote secondary sex characteristics; and surgical removal or augmentation of breasts, genitals, or other physical features. [While a]t the same time, however, several European countries have issued guidance to limit medical intervention in minors, prioritising psychological care."[3]

In 2018, the AAP issued a policy statement putting forward a model of "gender affirmative care".[56][57] Gender affirmative care is based in the idea that "transgender identities and diverse gender expressions do not constitute a mental disorder", that "variations in gender identity and expression are normal aspects of human diversity, and binary definitions of gender do not always reflect emerging gender identities", that "gender identity evolves as an interplay of biology, development, socialization, and culture" and that "if a mental health issue exists, it most often stems from stigma and negative experiences rather than being intrinsic to the child".[58] The AAP also describe in this policy "conversion" or "reparative" therapy as "unsuccessful", "deleterious" and "outside the mainstream of traditional medical practice". Finally, the AAP recommends that youth identifying as transgender have access to comprehensive and development-appropriate healthcare provided in safe and inclusive clinics but also that family based therapy be available. The AAP also recommend that the medical field and federal government prioritize research that is dedicated to improving the quality of evidence-based care for transgender youth.[58]

In early 2022, five AAP members proposed Resolution 27, which called for a review on the evidence for transgender youth healthcare and called for an update to the AAP's 2018 policy statement on gender affirmative care. The resolution was proposed again in August 2022 but failed to pass. The physicians who proposed Resolution 27 claimed that they were being sidelined and that the AAP changed its processes to block discussion of the resolution. In response, the AAP said that its process worked as it should have and that Resolution 27 did not pass because the majority of AAP members did not agree with the resolution. One of the authors of Resolution 27 works with Genspect, a gender critical organisation.[59]

In July 2022, Genspect asked the AAP for a "non-partisan and systematic review of evidence" to support gender affirmative care,[60] adding that "Many of our children have received this care and are anything but thriving."[60] The AAP said it is updating its statement "Providing affirmative clinical care",[60] adding that "Robust evidence demonstrates that access to gender-affirming care decreases risk of suicidal ideations, improves mental health, and improves the overall health and well-being of transgender and gender-diverse youth."[60]

Programs [ edit ] Brush, Book, Bed [ edit ] Brush, Book, Bed (BBB) is an American Academy of Pediatrics program aimed at improving children's health by creating a nighttime routine of brushing the child's teeth, reading together, and setting a bedtime. It was developed to help pediatricians communicate a simple message to families.[61][62][63][64]

See also [ edit ] Medicine portal American College of PediatriciansAmerican Pediatric SocietyAcademic Pediatric AssociationSociety for Pediatric ResearchSheppard''Towner ActReferences [ edit ] ^ Redden, Molly (July 18, 2016). "Doctors urged to advise patients about risks of abstinence-centric sex education". the Guardian . Retrieved December 13, 2022 . ^ "Contacting the American Academy of Pediatrics". American Academy of Pediatrics. May 25, 2004 . Retrieved March 30, 2013 . ^ a b Block, Jennifer (February 23, 2023). "Gender dysphoria in young people is rising'--and so is professional disagreement". BMJ. 380: 382. doi:10.1136/bmj.p382. ISSN 1756-1833. PMID 36822640. S2CID 257103170. ^ "Pediatric History Center". American Academy of Pediatrics . Retrieved March 30, 2013 . ^ "AAP Facts: Membership". American Academy of Pediatrics . Retrieved May 10, 2016 . ^ "FAAP Certification". American Academy of Pediatrics . Retrieved April 12, 2016 . ^ "Departments & Divisions". American Academy of Pediatrics. Archived from the original on April 1, 2013 . Retrieved March 30, 2013 . ^ "AAP Facts: Publications". American Academy of Pediatrics . Retrieved March 30, 2013 . ^ "AAP News". American Academy of Pediatrics. Archived from the original on July 27, 2013 . Retrieved March 30, 2013 . ^ "AAP Journals: Pediatrics '' The Flagship Journal of the AAP". American Academy of Pediatrics. Archived from the original on May 1, 2013 . Retrieved March 30, 2013 . ^ "Children and COVID-19: State-Level Data Report". aap.org. American Academy of Pediatrics . Retrieved September 22, 2020 . ^ American Academy of Pediatrics and the Children's Hospital Association (September 17, 2020). Children and COVID-19: State Data Report (PDF) (Report). American Academy of Pediatrics. pp. 9''11 . Retrieved September 22, 2020 . ^ "Advocacy & Policy". American Academy of Pediatrics . Retrieved March 30, 2013 . ^ a b Ali, Shirin (June 28, 2022). "Pediatricians warn Roe v. Wade reversal has 'grave consequences' for teens". The Hill . Retrieved March 17, 2023 . ^ Health, Council on Child and Adolescent (May 1, 1988). "Age Limits of Pediatrics". Pediatrics. 81 (5): 736. doi:10.1542/peds.81.5.736. ISSN 0031-4005. PMID 3357740. S2CID 245164191. ^ Hardin, Amy Peykoff; Hackell, Jesse M.; Medicine, Committee on Practice and Ambulatory (September 1, 2017). "Age Limit of Pediatrics". Pediatrics. 140 (3): e20172151. doi:10.1542/peds.2017-2151 . ISSN 0031-4005. PMID 28827380. ^ "National Academy and Affiliated State Chapters Support Pediatricians in Improving Asthma Care, Leading to Better Guideline Adherence and Disease Control, Fewer Acute Episodes". Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. June 5, 2013 . Retrieved June 6, 2013 . ^ "AAP Updates Recommendations on Car Seats for Children". American Academy of Pediatrics. August 30, 2018 . Retrieved August 31, 2018 . ^ a b Durbin, D. R.; Durbin, DR (March 21, 2011). "Child Passenger Safety". Pediatrics. 127 (4): 788''793. doi:10.1542/peds.2011-0213 . PMID 21422088. ^ a b Durbin, Dennis R.; Hoffman, Benjamin D. (November 2018). "Child Passenger Safety". Pediatrics. 142 (5): e20182461. doi:10.1542/peds.2018-2461 . PMID 30166367. S2CID 52131066. ^ "Pediatricians drop age limit for rear-facing car seats". CNN. August 30, 2018 . Retrieved August 30, 2018 . ^ "New car seat guidelines for rear-facing seats are designed to save lives". All the Moms '' A USA Today Publication. August 31, 2018 . Retrieved August 31, 2018 . ^ "AAP Updates Recommendation on Car Seats for Children". American Academy of Pediatrics. August 30, 2018 . Retrieved August 30, 2018 . ^ Kamenetz, Anya (June 29, 2020). "U.S. Pediatricians Call for In-Person School This Fall". NPR. ^ a b Kamenetz, Anya (July 10, 2020). "Nation's Pediatricians Walk Back Support for In-Person School". NPR. ^ Prior, Ryan (June 23, 2020). "Physicians group calls for legislation to regulate digital advertising and its effect on kids". CNN. ^ Rabin, Roni (August 27, 2012). "Benefits of Circumcision Are Said to Outweigh Risks". The New York Times . Retrieved March 30, 2013 . ^ Brown, Eryn (August 26, 2012). "Pediatricians' Group Shifts in Favor of Circumcision". Los Angeles Times . Retrieved March 30, 2013 . ^ Tanner, Lindsey (August 27, 2012). "Circumcision Benefits Outweigh Risks and Insurers Should Pay; Pediatricians Revise Stance". Associated Press (via National Post) . Retrieved March 30, 2013 . ^ a b American Academy of Pediatrics Task Force on Circumcision (August 27, 2012). "Circumcision Policy Statement". Pediatrics. 130 (3): 585''586. doi:10.1542/peds.2012-1989 . PMID 22926180. ^ a b c Aigrain, Yves; Barauskas, Vidmantas; Bjarnason, Ragnar; Boddy, Su-Anna; Czauderna, Piotr; de Gier, Robert P.E.; de Jong, Tom P.V.M.; Fasching, G¼nter; Fetter, Willem; Gahr, Manfred; Graugaard, Christian; Greisen, Gorm; Gunnarsdottir, Anna; Hartmann, Wolfram; Havranek, Petr; Hitchcock, Rowena; Huddart, Simon; Janson, Staffan; Jaszczak, Poul; Kupferschmid, Christoph; Lahdes-Vasama, Tuija; Lindahl, Harry; MacDonald, Noni; Markestad, Trond; M¤rtson, Matis; Nordhov, Solveig Marianne; P¤lve, Heikki; Petersons, Aigars; Quinn, Feargal; Qvist, Niels; Rosmundsson, Thrainn; Saxen, Harri; S¶der, Olle; Stehr, Maximilian; von Loewenich, Volker C.H.; Wallander, Johan; Wijnen, Rene (April 2013). Frisch, Morten (ed.). "Cultural Bias in the AAP's 2012 Technical Report and Policy Statement on Male Circumcision". Pediatrics. American Academy of Pediatrics. 131 (4): 796''800. doi:10.1542/peds.2012-2896 . PMID 23509170. ^ Svoboda, J Steven; Van Howe, Robert S (July 2013). "Out of step: fatal flaws in the latest AAP policy report on neonatal circumcision". Journal of Medical Ethics. 39 (7): 434''441. doi:10.1136/medethics-2013-101346. PMID 23508208. S2CID 39693618. ^ Stehr, M (September 16, 2013). "Pr¤ventive Zirkumzision - Europ¤ische rzte zweifeln AAP-Report an" [Preventive circumcision - European doctors doubt AAP report]. Aktuelle Urologie (in German). 44 (5): 337''338. doi:10.1055/s-0033-1356849. PMID 24043524. S2CID 203791357. ^ Emmons, Sasha (August 27, 2012). "AAP: Health benefits of circumcision outweigh the risks". CNN . Retrieved September 22, 2014 . ^ Rochman, Bonnie (August 27, 2012). "Circumcision: Pediatricians Say Benefits Trump Risks". Time . Retrieved September 22, 2014 . ^ The AAP Task Force on Circumcision 2012 (July 2013). "The AAP Task Force on Neonatal Circumcision: a call for respectful dialogue". Journal of Medical Ethics. 39 (7): 442''443. doi:10.1136/medethics-2013-101456. PMID 23508207. ^ Jenssen BP, Walley SC, American Academy of Pediatrics Section on Tobacco Control (2019). "E-cigarettes and similar devices". Pediatrics. 143 (2): e20183652. doi:10.1542/peds.2018-3652. PMC 6644065 . PMID 30835247. {{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) ^ Belluck, Pam (May 6, 2010). "Group Backs Ritual 'Nick' as Female Circumcision Option". The New York Times . Retrieved March 30, 2013 . ^ "Joint RCOG/RCPCH statement on the AAP policy statement on FGM". Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists. May 12, 2010 . Retrieved March 30, 2013 . ^ "American Academy of Pediatrics withdraws policy statement on female genital cutting". American Academy of Pediatrics. May 27, 2010. Archived from the original on October 13, 2013 . Retrieved March 30, 2013 . ^ Belluck, Pam (May 26, 2010). "Doctors Reverse Stand on Circumcision". The New York Times . Retrieved March 30, 2013 . ^ "AAP Issues New Guidance on Genetic Testing of Children". American Academy of Pediatrics. February 21, 2013 . Retrieved October 21, 2017 . ^ Pittman, Genevra (October 18, 2012). "Pediatricians call for strict gun laws to protect kids". Reuters . Retrieved October 21, 2013 . ^ Rho, Helena (February 1, 2013). "The Pediatricians vs. the NRA: How the gun lobby is trying to gag doctors from talking about kids and guns". Slate . Retrieved October 21, 2013 . ^ Viebeck, Elise (April 29, 2013). "Pediatricians to push for gun control on Capitol Hill". The Hill . Retrieved October 21, 2013 . ^ "American Academy of Pediatrics Gun Violence Policy Recommendations" (PDF) . January 2013 . Retrieved October 21, 2013 . ^ Committee on Substance Abuse; Committee on Adolescence (January 26, 2015). "The Impact of Marijuana Policies on Youth: Clinical, Research, and Legal Update". Pediatrics. 135 (3): 584''587. doi:10.1542/peds.2014-4146 . PMID 25624383. S2CID 42875063. ^ "American Academy of Pediatrics Reaffirms Opposition to Legalizing Marijuana for Recreational or Medical Use". American Academy of Pediatrics. January 26, 2015. Archived from the original on April 26, 2018 . Retrieved April 24, 2018 . ^ Adolescent Sleep Working Group; Committee on Adolescence (2014). "School Start Times for Adolescents". Pediatrics. 134 (3): 642''9. doi:10.1542/peds.2014-1697 . PMC 8194457 . PMID 25156998. ^ Hale, Lauren; Troxel, Wendy; Buysse, Daniel J. (2020). "Sleep Health: An Opportunity for Public Health to Address Health Equity". Annual Review of Public Health. 41: 81''99. doi:10.1146/annurev-publhealth-040119-094412 . PMC 7944938 . PMID 31900098. ^ Narang, Sandeep (October 1, 2016). "Acceptance of Shaken Baby Syndrome and Abusive Head Trauma as Medical Diagnoses". Journal of Pediatrics. 177: 273''278. doi:10.1016/j.jpeds.2016.06.036 . PMID 27458075. ^ Narang, Sandeep (April 1, 2020). "Abusive Head Trauma in Infants and Children". Pediatrics. 145 (4): e20200203. doi:10.1542/peds.2020-0203 . PMID 32205464. ^ a b Tanne, Janice Hopkins (July 19, 2008). "US paediatricians and cardiologists are criticised for recommending statins for children". BMJ. 337 (7662): 134''135. doi:10.1136/bmj.a813. PMC 2483893 . PMID 18632713. ^ Farber HJ, Walley SC, Groner JA, Nelson KE (2015). "Clinical practice policy to protect children from tobacco, nicotine, and tobacco smoke". Pediatrics. 136 (5): 1008''1017. doi:10.1542/peds.2015-3108 . PMID 26504137. S2CID 23285419. {{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) ^ Farber HJ, Groner J, Walley S, Nelson K (2015). "Protecting children from tobacco, nicotine, and tobacco smoke". Pediatrics. 136 (5): e1439-1467. doi:10.1542/peds.2015-3110 . PMID 26504135. S2CID 31575284. {{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) ^ "Pediatricians group recommends 'affirmative care' for transgender youth". NBC News. ^ Klass, Perri (October 15, 2018). "Helping Pediatricians Care for Transgender Children". The New York Times. ^ a b Rafferty, Jason; Health, Committee on Psychosocial Aspects of Child and Family; Adolescence, Committee On; Section on Lesbian, Gay (October 1, 2018). "Ensuring Comprehensive Care and Support for Transgender and Gender-Diverse Children and Adolescents". Pediatrics. 142 (4): e20182162. doi:10.1542/peds.2018-2162 . ISSN 0031-4005. PMID 30224363. ^ "AAP Stands By Policy on Gender-Affirming Care for Trans Youth". MedPage Today. August 23, 2022 . Retrieved August 29, 2022 . ^ a b c d "Questioning America's approach to transgender health care". The Economist. July 28, 2022 . Retrieved August 6, 2022 . ^ Blanco, Michelle; Burton, Tracy; Takagishi, Jennifer; Law, Kimberly (May 1, 2018). "Implementation of "Brush, Book, Bed" Program in USF Resident Continuity Clinics". Pediatrics. 142 (1_MeetingAbstract): 429. doi:10.1542/peds.142.1MA5.429. ^ "Brushing and reading before bed". Penn Today. ^ "Brush, Book, Bed - The Best Bedtime Routine". Reach Out and Read. January 26, 2017. ^ Kitsaras, George; Allan, Julia; Pretty, Iain A. (February 6, 2020). "Bedtime Routines Intervention for Children (BRIC) using an automated text messaging system for behaviour change: study protocol for an early phase study". Pilot and Feasibility Studies. 6: 14. doi:10.1186/s40814-020-0562-y. PMC 7003486 . PMID 32047647. External links [ edit ] Official website

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NCFR Research Summary

More than 100 pieces of legislation targeting the transgender community in more than 30 states in the U.S. have been introduced so far in 20211. The majority of these bills would negatively impact transgender children, adolescents, and their families in that they limit the rights, opportunities, and care of transgender youth, who are already at increased risk for negative mental health outcomes.

Family Science research has revealed the critical benefits of familial and community support and affirmation for transgender children and adolescents. Family acceptance in general is associated with better well-being among transgender youth, while family support for gender identity, in particular, has been linked to fewer depressive symptoms and reduced suicidal ideation.2, 3 Recent studies of socially transitioned transgender youth growing up in affirming households have revealed normative or only slightly elevated rates of internalizing symptoms related to anxiety and depression. 4, 5, 6, 7 The ability to use one's chosen name in various contexts, including at home with their families and in school with their peers, has been associated with lower depression, suicidal ideation, and suicidal behavior among transgender youth.8. Further, inclusive school policies, such as allowing transgender youth to participate on sports teams and to use bathrooms and locker rooms that align with their gender identities, signal community support and are related to higher levels of feelings of school belongingness among transgender students.9 Although research to understand the complex issues related to transgender youth's well-being and family relationships is still emerging, gender-affirming care has been well-documented to show life-saving benefits to transgender youth through improved psychological health, reduced gender dysphoria,10 and decreased suicidality and suicide attempts.11, 12, 13 Affirming parents can play a critical role in facilitating quality care for young people, supporting medical decision making, and negotiating medical environments.14 However, if families or communities are not supportive, youth can suffer from rejection or ambiguous losses.15, 16

Quality gender-affirming care for youth may include, but is not limited to, individual and family counseling, social support navigating school and community transitions, puberty blocking hormones to prevent the development of distressing secondary sex characteristics, gender-affirming hormones to stimulate puberty of the affirmed gender, and, potentially, surgical interventions for older adolescents/young adults.17, 18 Promising therapeutic and programmatic approaches have made inroads at supporting transgender youth and their family members to navigate medical decisions, dynamics within the family and relationships with extended family and communities.19 A significant body of evidence finds improvement in psychological health for youth after initiating puberty blocking, and continued improvement after gender affirming hormones commence.10, 11, 20 Although physical interventions are not completely without risk,21 the developing body of research suggests that the delay of puberty for transgender youth and subsequent use of gender affirming hormones has relatively small side effects when compared to the significant reduction in suicidality,12, 13 which is among the leading causes of death among youth ages 11 to 19, and is especially elevated for transgender youth. Given the rapidly developing knowledge base regarding gender-affirming services, transgender youth and their families should be guided by competent clinical and medical professionals rather than restricted by uniform legislation in these matters.

Research further suggests that, even if the proposed legislative efforts do not ultimately become law, the introduction of such legislation may be harmful, in that the resulting public discourse communicates stigma against transgender youth, which could lead to increases in their experiences of bullying and harassment.22

Research published by NCFR members and other leading scholars with expertise on the health and well-being of LGBTQ youth demonstrates the importance of family and community support, coupled with competent medical and psychological care, in the affirmation of transgender children and adolescents.

Findings for this research statement were gathered from the references below. See NCFR's updated Transgender Individuals and Families resource collection for more information.

References 1 Freedom For All Americans. (2021, April 23). Tracking LBGT-related legislation nationwide. https://freedomforallamericans.org/legislative-tracker/

2 McGuire, J. K., & Fish, J. N. (2018, November). Family gender environment links to psychological well-being. Paper presented at National Council on Family Relations, San Diego.

3 Brown, C., Porta, C. M., Eisenberg, M. E., McMorris, B. J., & Sieving, R. E. (2020). Family relationships and the health and well-being of transgender and gender-diverse youth: A critical review. LGBT Health, 7, 407-419. https://doi.org/10.1089/lgbt.2019.0200

4 Durwood, L., McLaughlin, K. A., & Olson K.R. (2016). Mental health and self-worth in socially transitioned transgender youth. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 56(2), 116''123. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaac.2016.10.016

5 Gibson, D. J., Glazier, J. J., & Olson, K. R. (2021). Evaluation of anxiety and depression in a community sample of transgender youth. Journal of the American Medical Association, 4 (4), Article e214739. doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2021.4739

6 Kuvalanka, K. A., Weiner, J. L., Munroe, C., Goldberg, A. E., & Gardner, M. (2017). Trans and gender-nonconforming children and their caregivers: Gender presentations, peer relations, and well-being at baseline. Journal of Family Psychology, 31(7), 889-899. https://doi.org/10.1037/fam0000338

7 Olson, K. R., Durwood, L., DeMeules, M., McLaughlin, K. A. (2016). Mental health of transgender children who are supported in their identities. Pediatrics, 137 (3), Article e20153223. https://doi.org/10.1542/peds.2015-3223

8 Russell, S. T., Pollitt, A. M., Li, G., & Grossman, A. H. (2018). Chosen name use is linked to reduced depressive symptoms, suicidal ideation, and suicidal behavior among transgender youth. Journal of Adolescent Health, 63(4), p. 503-505. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jadohealth.2018.02.003

9 Kosciw, J. G., Clark, C. M., Truong, N. L., & Zongrone, A. D. (2020). The 2019 National School Climate Survey: The experiences of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer youth in our nation's schools. New York: GLSEN. www.glsen.org/sites/default/files/2021-04/NSCS19-FullReport-032421-Web_0.pdf

10 de Vries, A. L. C., McGuire, J. K., Steensma, T. D., Wagenaar, E. C. F., Doreleijers, T. A. H., & Cohen-Kettenis, P. T. (2014). Young adult psychological outcome after puberty suppression and gender reassignment. Pediatrics, 134 (4), 696-704. https://doi.org/10.1542/peds.2013-2958

11 van der Miesen, A. I. R., Steensma, T. D., de Vries, A. L. C., Bos, H., & Popma, A. (2020). Psychological functioning in transgender adolescents before and after gender-affirmative care compared with cisgender general population peers. Journal of Adolescent Health, 66(6), 699-704. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jadohealth.2019.12.018

12 Turban, J. L., King, D., Carswell, J. M., & Keuroghlian, A. S. (2020). Pubertal suppression for transgender youth and risk of suicidal ideation. Pediatrics, 145(2), Article e20191725. https://doi.org/10.1542/peds.2019-1725

13 Chew, D., Anderson, J., Williams, K., May, T., & Pang, K. (2018). Hormonal treatment in young people with gender dysphoria: A systematic review. Pediatrics, 141(4), Article e20173742. https://doi.org/10.1542/peds.2017-3742

14 Daley, T., Grossoehme, D., McGuire, J. K., Corathers, S, Conard, L., & Lipstien, E. (2019). "I couldn't see a downside": Decision-making about gender-affirming hormone therapy. Journal of Adolescent Health, 65(2), 274-279. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jadohealth.2019.02.018

15 Catalpa, J. M., & McGuire, J. K. (2018). Family boundary ambiguity among transgenderyouth. Family Relations: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Applied Family Studies, 67, 88-103. https://doi.org/10.1111/fare.12304

16 Okrey Anderson, S., & McGuire, J. K. (2021). "I feel like God doesn't like me": Faith and ambiguous loss among transgender youth. Family Relations: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Applied Family Science. Advanced online publication. https://doi.org/10.1111/fare.12536

17 Olson-Kennedy, J., Chan, Y.-M., Garofalo, R., Spack, N., Chen, D., Clark, L., Ehrensaft, D., Hidalgo, M., Tishelman, A., & Rosenthal, S. (2019). Impact of early medical treatment for transgender youth: Protocol for the Longitudinal, Observational Trans Youth Care Study. Journal of Medical Internet Research-Research Protocols, 8(7), Article e14434. https://doi.org/10.2196/14434

18 Schagen, S. E. E., Cohen-Kettenis, P. T., Delemarre-van de Waal, H. A., & Hannema, S. E. (2016). Efficacy and safety of gonadotropin-releasing hormone agonist treatment to suppress puberty in gender dysphoric adolescents. The Journal of Sexual Medicine, 13(7), 1125-1132. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsxm.2016.05.004

19 Diamond, G. M., Boruchovitz-Zamir, R., Gat, I. & Nir-Gottlieb, O. (2019). Relationship-focused therapy for sexual and gender minority individuals and their parents. In. J. E. Pachankis, John & S. Safren (Eds.), Handbook of evidence-based mental health practice with sexual and gender minorities (pp. 430-456). Oxford University Press.

20 Kuper, L. E., Stewart, S., Preston, S., Lau, M., & Lopez, X. (2020). Body dissatisfaction and mental health outcomes of youth on gender-affirming hormone therapy. Pediatrics, 145(4), Article e20193006. https://doi.org/10.1542/peds.2019-3006

21 Jensen, R. K., Jensen, J. K., Simons, L. K., Chen, D., Rosoklija, I., & Finlayson, C. A. (2019). Effect of concurrent gonadotropin-releasing hormone agonist treatment on dose and side effects of gender-affirming hormone therapy in adolescent transgender patients. Transgender Health, 4(1), 300-303. https://doi.org/10.1089/trgh.2018.0061

22 Hatzenbuehler, M. L., Shen, Y., Vandewater, E. A., & Russell, S. T. (2019). Proposition 8 and homophobic bullying in California. Pediatrics, 143(6), Article e20182116. https://doi.org/10.1542/peds.2018-2116

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For transgender people, starting gender-affirming hormone treatment in adolescence is linked to better mental health than waiting until adulthood, according to new research led by the Stanford University School of Medicine.

The study, which appeared online Jan. 12 in PLOS ONE, drew on data from the largest-ever survey of U.S. transgender adults, a group of more than 27,000 people who responded in 2015. The new study found that transgender people who began hormone treatment in adolescence had fewer thoughts of suicide, were less likely to experience major mental health disorders and had fewer problems with substance abuse than those who started hormones in adulthood. The study also documented better mental health among those who received hormones at any age than those who desired but never received the treatment.

Gender-affirming hormone treatment with estrogen or testosterone can help bring a transgender person's physical characteristics in line with their gender identity. In adolescence, hormone therapy can enable a transgender teenager to go through puberty in a way that matches their gender identity.

''This study is particularly relevant now because many state legislatures are introducing bills that would outlaw this kind of care for transgender youth,'' said Jack Turban, MD, a postdoctoral scholar in pediatric and adolescent psychiatry at Stanford Medicine. ''We are adding to the evidence base that shows why gender-affirming care is beneficial from a mental health perspective.''

Turban is the study's lead author. The senior author is Alex Keuroghlian, MD, associate professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School and director of the National LGBTQIA+ Health Education Center at the Fenway Institute.

Largest survey of transgender adultsThe researchers analyzed data from the 2015 U.S. Transgender Survey, which comprises survey responses from 27,715 transgender people nationwide. Participants, who were at least 18 when they were surveyed, completed extensive questionnaires about their lives.

Because some transgender people do not want hormone treatment, the study focused on 21,598 participants who had reported that they wanted to receive hormones. Results were analyzed based on when participants began hormone therapy: 119 began at age 14 or 15 (early adolescence), 362 began at age 16 or 17 (late adolescence), 12,257 began after their 18th birthday (adulthood), and 8,860 participants, who served as the control group, wanted but never received hormone therapy.

The participants answered several questions about their mental health, including their history of suicidal thoughts and suicide attempts, and their history of binge drinking and illicit drug use. They completed a questionnaire to assess whether they had experienced severe psychological distress, meaning they met criteria for a diagnosable mental illness, within the prior month.

The analysis was controlled for several factors that could influence participants' mental health independently of whether they received hormone treatment: age at the time of the survey; gender identity; sex assigned at birth; sexual orientation; race or ethnicity; level of family support for gender identity; relationship status; level of education; employment status; household income; use of pubertal suppression treatment; any attempts to force them to be cisgender; and experience of any verbal, physical or sexual harassment based on their gender identity in grades K-12.

Compared with members of the control group, participants who underwent hormone treatment had lower odds of experiencing severe psychological distress during the previous month and lower odds of suicidal ideation in the previous year. Odds of severe psychological distress were reduced by 222%, 153% and 81% for those who began hormones in early adolescence, late adolescence and adulthood, respectively. Odds of previous-year suicidal ideation were 135% lower in people who began hormones in early adolescence, 62% lower in those who began in late adolescence and 21% lower in those who began as adults, compared with the control group.

In addition, participants who began hormones in early or late adolescence had lower odds of past-month binge drinking and lifetime illicit drug use than those who began hormones in adulthood.

But the researchers found that those who started hormone treatment in adulthood were more likely to engage in binge drinking and use of illicit substances than those who never accessed the treatment. ''Some individuals may become more confident and socially engaged when they begin taking hormones,'' Turban said, adding that, in some cases, this increased confidence and social engagement may be linked to substance use. ''This finding speaks to the importance of creating culturally tailored substance-use counseling programs for transgender individuals.''

To get a sense of whether participants' mental health before treatment influenced their ability to gain access to treatment, the researchers also assessed whether participants in each group had ever been suicidal but had not had suicidal feelings in the previous year.

''This was a measure of mental health improving over time,'' Turban said. ''People were more likely to meet those criteria if they accessed and took hormones than if they hadn't.'' The finding implies that access to hormones improved mental health rather than the other way around, he said.

Building evidence for gender-affirming medical careTurban and his colleagues hope legislators across the country will use the new findings to inform their policy decisions. Although several bills to ban gender-affirming medical care for transgender youth have been introduced in state legislatures in recent years, nearly all have failed to become law, he said, adding that all major medical organizations support provision of gender-affirming medical care, including hormone therapy for patients who desire it and who meet criteria set out by the Endocrine Society and the World Professional Association for Transgender Health.

''There's no one correct way to be transgender,'' Turban said. Some transgender people do not want to take hormones and feel comfortable with their bodies the way they are. Young people seeking care at gender clinics are routinely offered counseling as part of their treatment to help them figure out what types of care best fit their circumstances.

For those who desire gender-affirming hormones, being denied access to the treatment can cause significant distress, Turban said.

''For some transgender youth, their negative reactions to living in bodies that develop during puberty in ways that don't match who they know themselves to be can be very damaging,'' he said. For instance, individuals who feel uncomfortable developing breasts may react by binding their chests so tightly they develop skin infections or rib fractures.

''These results won't be surprising to providers, but unfortunately a lot of legislators have never met any transgender youth,'' Turban said. ''It's important for legislators to see the numbers that back up the experiences of transgender youth, their families and the people who work in this field.''

Researchers from The Fenway Institute, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, and the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health contributed to the study.

The research was funded by the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry (supported by industry sponsors Arbor and Pfizer), the Harvey L. and Maud C. Sorensen Foundation, the National Institute of Mental Health (grant MH094612), and the Health Resources and Services Administration (grant U30CS22742).

Learn more about our LGBTQ+ Health Care services for adults and for children.

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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

American gynecologist and surgeon (1958'')

Marci Lee Bowers (born January 18, 1958) is an American gynecologist and surgeon who specializes in gender confirmation surgeries. Bowers is viewed as an innovator in gender confirmation/affirmation surgery, and is the first transgender woman to perform such surgeries.[1][2][3][4]

Bowers operates at Mills-Peninsula Medical Center in Burlingame, California, and San Mateo Surgery Center in San Mateo, California. From 2003 to 2010, she practiced in the town of Trinidad, Colorado, where she apprenticed under Stanley Biber, a pioneer in sex reassignment surgery, before going solo in July 2003.[1][5][6][7]

Bowers is also an international expert on functional clitoral restoration after female genital mutilation and cutting. She was chosen in 2007-2009 to mentor under Pierre Fold¨s, pioneer of clitoral restoration surgery.

She has spoken about her practice and other transgender topics in several documentaries, interviews, news reports, and articles. Media appearances have included The Oprah Winfrey Show (2007), The Tyra Banks Show (5 episodes), The Today Show, Matt Walsh's What is a Woman?, and CBS Sunday Morning feature. She is also the featured surgeon in the six-part 2006-2007 television series Sex Change Hospital. In May 2020, The Times featured Bowers on their Science Power List.[8]

Early life [ edit ] Bowers was born in Oak Park, Illinois, and grew up in Oconomowoc, Wisconsin, as one of four siblings. At the age of 19, she hitchhiked to San Diego intending to begin her gender transition, but was unable to afford surgeries. She was briefly a member of the Unification Church, which she later described as a "cult".[9] Bowers subsequently returned to Wisconsin and enrolled in college. She went on to attend the University of Minnesota Medical School where she was the class and student body president.[10] After an ob/gyn residency at the University of Washington, she continued in Seattle as an obstetrician and gynecologist at The Polyclinic and Swedish Medical Center.[5][11][12]

Career [ edit ] Before moving to Trinidad, Bowers practiced obstetrics and gynecology at the PolyClinic/Swedish Medical Center in Seattle. In her 20 years practicing obstetrics, she delivered more than 2000 babies.[10][11] She has served as Obstetrics and Gynecology Department Chairperson at Swedish (Providence) Medical Center, and was named the only physician member of the Washington State midwifery board. She is a member-elect of the European Academy of Sciences.[10]

When Stanley Biber retired in 2003 at the age of 80, Bowers took over his practice, and since then, has done more than 2000 genital reassignment surgeries, performing as many as 12 gender affirming surgeries weekly. While performing surgery in Trinidad, Bowers estimated revenue at US$1.6 million per year to the hospital.[11]

In 2010, she relocated to the San Francisco Bay Area and continues to practice in Burlingame, California.[13][14] She has also helped initiate transgender surgical education programs at Sheba Medical Center in Tel Aviv (2014), Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York (2016), Denver Health in Colorado (2018), and University of Toronto (2019). The transgender surgical fellowship at Mount Sinai is acknowledged as the first of its kind in the United States.[citation needed ]

In 2018 and 2019, Bowers performed the first live surgical vaginoplasty surgeries in surgical educational programs sponsored by the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH) Mount Sinai Hospital in New York.[citation needed ]

Bowers is an elected board member of WPATH and has served on the board of directors for both GLAAD and the Transgender Law Center.

Bowers is the first U.S. surgeon to perform clitoral restoration surgery for survivors of female genital mutilation, whom she does not charge for surgery.[15] She was trained for this specific operation under Pierre Fold¨s and has now performed more than 500 clitoral restorations at her clinic in San Mateo.[16]

She has led medical missions to Burkina Faso (2014), Nairobi, Kenya (2017 and 2019). Working with local plastic surgeon, Abdullahi Adan, and others, this specific surgical venue is a first for Africa after the failed opening of the Pleasure Hospital[17] in Bobo-Dioulasso.

Media appearances [ edit ] Bowers' first known television appearance was a role in "Ch-ch-ch-changes" (2004), a season 5 episode of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation that focused on transgender issues. She also served as a production consultant for the episode.[18]

She appeared briefly in the 2005 documentary-series TransGeneration, produced by World of Wonder; soon after, World of Wonder turned their attention to Bowers herself and her practice, in their 2007 documentary series Sex Change Hospital'--a six-episode series that follows 12 patients before, during, and after surgery.[18][19] Sex Change Hospital premiered on More4,[19] and was rebroadcast on E4 in the UK and WE tv in the US. She and her practice were also the focus of Trinidad (2009), an independent documentary directed by PJ Raval and Jay Hodges.[20] The filmmakers examine the success of Dr. Bowers' practice, and the transgender people who travel to the town of Trinidad, Colorado for sex reassignment surgery. The film premiered in the US on the Showtime channel.[21]

Bowers appears as herself in the television documentary Gender Revolution: A Journey with Katie Couric (2017), and in the reality series I Am Jazz from 2016 to 2018 (seasons 3 through 6)[citation needed ]. She has been a guest on US talk shows including The Oprah Winfrey Show[22] and The Tyra Banks Show.

She has been interviewed for several publications.[23] She is the author of at least five book chapters in surgical textbooks.

In 2020, Bowers made an appearance in the HBO documentary Transhood, where she performed 19-year-old Leena's gender confirmation surgery.[24]

In 2022, Bowers appeared in The Daily Wire documentary What Is a Woman?.[25]

In an interview with journalist and author Abigail Shrier, Bowers expressed some concern over early suppression of puberty. Talking to Emily Bazelon of The New York Times Magazine in June 2022, Bowers distanced herself from others interviewed by Shrier, stating: "The most important thing is access to care, and that is a much bigger problem than the issue of how the medical community and transition is failing people."[26]

Opposition [ edit ] In 2005, Terry Keith, a pastor for the All Nations Fellowship church in Trinidad, told The Pueblo Chieftain "Our reputation as sex-change capital of the world has brought shame and reproach on the community."[11] That same year, two pastors circulated a petition for the closure of the clinic. They cited a Johns Hopkins University study that they claimed was proof that gender confirmation surgeries were an ineffective treatment for gender dysphoria.[27] The petition was rejected.[11] Bowers said that the church misrepresented the study data: "If you look at the actual study itself, the satisfaction rates and happiness rates after [surgeries] were overwhelmingly positive, their interpretation of the study was that the respondents'--the patients themselves'--couldn't possibly be accurate about what they were feeling, because they were crazy in the first place. There's been nothing like it since'--and it's very important to point out that it's from 1972."[27]

After Pierre Fold¨s's study in Lancet (February 2012), his results were met with skepticism from British gynecologists who wrote a rebuttal to his findings, questioning his methods and outcomes. Bowers is conducting ongoing studies using standard measures of female sexual function to definitively affirm Fold¨s's conclusions, but as Bowers has stated, "There is no happier text that I receive at three in the morning than someone stating they have had their first orgasm in their life."[citation needed ]

Personal life [ edit ] Bowers and her wife have three children.[9]

See also [ edit ] LGBT people in scienceReferences [ edit ] ^ a b Jacob Anderson-Minshall (2006). "Trans Surgeon Keeps Small Town on Map". San Francisco Bay Times. Archived from the original on February 6, 2012 . Retrieved July 6, 2017 . ^ Colorado State University (2005). "Trinidad Gender Reassignment Surgeon to speak at Colorado State University-Pueblo". Colorado State University . Retrieved October 12, 2007 . [dead link ] ^ Marc Gunther (November 30, 2006). "How Corporate America fell in love with gays and lesbians. It's a movement". CNN Money . Retrieved October 10, 2007 . ^ Margalit Fox (January 21, 2006). "Obituaries: Stanley H. Biber, 82, Surgeon Among First to Do Sex Changes". The New York Times . Retrieved October 10, 2007 . ^ a b L.A. Johnson (October 4, 2006). "Transgender woman followed long road to feel at home with herself". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette . Retrieved October 10, 2007 . ^ The Seattle Times (April 11, 2006). "Few private policies cover sex changes". The Seattle Times. Archived from the original on August 8, 2007 . Retrieved October 10, 2007 . ^ Faye Flam (May 3, 2006). "Transsexual describes female-to-male transformation". The Seattle Times. Archived from the original on November 2, 2007 . Retrieved October 10, 2007 . ^ Franklin-Wallis, Oliver (23 May 2020). "From pandemics to cancer: the science power list". The Times. ISSN 0140-0460 . Retrieved 2020-05-26 . ^ a b Faught, Andrew (July 2019). "For Transgender Patients, a Surgeon Who Understands". OnWisconsin . Retrieved October 6, 2021 . ^ a b c California Dreamin Organization (April 15, 2007). "Dr. Marci Bowers". California Dreamin Organization . Retrieved 2007-10-12 . ^ a b c d e Laura-Claire Corson (2007). "Country's most popular gender-reassignment surgeon has been through it". The Associated Press / The Times . Retrieved October 18, 2007 . ^ Associated Press/CBS (January 18, 2006). "Sex Change Doctor Dead At 82". CBS News. ^ "Marci Bowers - Information Regarding the Move to San Mateo". Archived from the original on 2012-07-04. ^ "Dr. Bowers SRS/GRS Guide: Overview". Archived from the original on 2012-07-01 . Retrieved 2012-06-25 . ^ Eve Conant (2009). "The Kindest Cut: In Colorado, a surgeon helps restore feeling'--and so much more'--to victims of female genital mutilation". Newsweek . Retrieved October 27, 2009 . ^ Giselle Portenier (2014). "Defying Destiny". Ottawa Citizen. Archived from the original on March 11, 2014 . Retrieved March 12, 2014 . ^ "The unopened 'Pleasure Hospital' of Bobo". BBC News. 17 March 2014. ^ a b Douglas Brown (July 1, 2007). "Trinidad's transgender rock star". The Denver Post . Retrieved October 10, 2007 . ^ a b Channel4 (2007). "Sex Change Hospital". Channel4 . Retrieved October 12, 2007 . ^ "LAFF '08 INTERVIEW Trinidad Co-directors Jay Hodges and PJ Raval". IndieWire. 26 June 2008 . Retrieved 15 March 2013 . ^ Jones, Kimberly (1 June 2009). " 'Trinidad' Premieres on TV: PJ Raval and Jay Hodges' documentary will air on Showtime this June". The Austin Chronicle . Retrieved 15 March 2013 . ^ "Gender Identity". Oprah.com. Harpo Productions. September 28, 2007. Archived from the original on 2008-01-03 . Retrieved 2017-02-25 . ^ Alan Prendergast (2004). "The Doctor is Out". Denver Westword News. Archived from the original on 2007-10-14 . Retrieved November 8, 2007 . ^ " 'Transhood' Trailer: HBO Debuts Documentary About Children in Transition". 2 November 2020. ^ Kearns, Madeleine (2022-06-10). "A Significant Concession". National Review . Retrieved 2022-06-17 . ^ Bazelon, Emily (15 June 2022). "The Battle Over Gender Therapy". The New York Times Magazine. Archived from the original on 1 July 2022. ^ a b Anderson-Minshall, Jacob (2006). "Trans Surgeon Keeps Small Town Top Destination". EXP Magazine. Archived from the original on 2017-07-28 . Retrieved 2007-11-08 . External links [ edit ]

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Organization

World Professional Association for Transgender HealthAbbreviationWPATHFormationSeptember 1979 ; 43 years ago ( 1979-09 ) TypeNGO94-2675140[1]Legal status501(c)(3)[1]PurposeTo promote evidence-based care, education, research, advocacy, public policy, and respect in transgender health.[2]HeadquartersEast Dundee, Illinois, U.S.ProductsStandards of Care for the Health of Transsexual, Transgender, and Gender Nonconforming PeopleWalter Pierre Bouman, MD, PhD[3]Marci Bowers, MD[3]Asa Radix, MD, PhD, MPH[3]Loren Schechter, MD[3]Board Members-at-Large - (2018 - 2022); Tamara Adrian, JD; Jaimie Veale, PhD; (2020 '' 2022); Javier Belinky, MD; Michael Marshall, MBBS, MRCPSYCH, CCT, PGDIP (LAW); (2020 '' 2024); Christina Richards, PSYD; Stephen Rosenthal, MD; Sanjay Sharma, MBBS, MMS;Christina Richards, PSYD(EPATH REPRESENTATIVE); Erica Anderson, PhD (USPATH REPRESENTATIVE); Greg Mak, MD, FRCP, MBBS (ASIAPATH REPRESENTATIVE);Jared Boot, MA(EX-OFFICIO MEMBER - WPATH STUDENT INITIATIVE REPRESENTATIVE)

[3]Revenue (2016)

$1,245,915[2]Expenses (2016) $1,144,284[2]Employees (2016)

0[2]Website www.wpath.org Formerly called

Harry Benjamin International Gender Dysphoria AssociationThe World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH), formerly the Harry Benjamin International Gender Dysphoria Association (HBIGDA), is a professional organization devoted to the understanding and treatment of gender identity and gender dysphoria, and creating standardized treatment for transgender and gender variant people. WPATH was founded in September 1979 by endocrinologist and sexologist Harry Benjamin, with the goal of creating an international community of professionals specializing in treating gender variance.[4][5]

Organization [ edit ] Membership [ edit ] Professionals include anyone working in disciplines such as medicine, psychology, law, social work, counseling, psychotherapy, family studies, sociology, anthropology, speech and voice therapy and sexology. Non-professionals may also join, paying the same membership fee, but without voting privileges.[6] The organization is funded by its membership and by donations and grants from non-commercial sources.[7]

Regional organizations [ edit ] WPATH is affiliated with several regional organizations, including the European Professional Association for Transgender Health, the United States Professional Association for Transgender Health and ASIAPATH.[8]

Standards of Care [ edit ] WPATH publishes the Standards of Care for the Health of Transgender and Gender Diverse People, educates professionals and consumers, sponsors scientific conferences, and provides ethical guidelines for professionals.[9] The first version of the Standards of Care were published in 1979.[10] Version 7 was published in 2011.[11] WPATH released Version 8 in 2022.[12]

History [ edit ] The organization was originally named after Harry Benjamin, one of the earliest physicians to work with transgender people.[13]

Presidents [ edit ] Paul A. Walker, Ph.D., 1979''1981Donald R. Laub, M.D., 1981''1983Milton T. Edgerton, M.D., 1983''1985Ira B. Pauly, M.D., 1985''1987Aaron T. Bilowitz, M.D., 1987''1989Jan Walinder, M.D., 1989''1991Leah Schaefer, Ed.D., 1991''1995Friedmann Pfaefflin, M.D. 1995''1997Richard Green, J.D., 1997''1999Alice Webb, DHS, 1999Eli Coleman, Ph.D., 1999''2003Walter Meyer III, M.D., 2003''2005Stan Monstrey, M.D., 2005''2007Stephen Whittle, OBE, 2007''2009Walter O.Bockting, Ph.D., L.P., 2009''2011Lin Fraser, Ed.D., 2011''2013Jamison Green, Ph.D., 2013''2015Gail Knudson, M.D., FRCPC, 2016''2018Vin Tangpricha, M.D., Ph.D., 2018''2020Walter Pierre Bouman, M.D., Ph.D., 2020''2022Marci Bowers, M.D., 2022''2024References [ edit ] ^ a b "World Professional Association For Transgender Health Archived 2018-10-04 at the Wayback Machine". Tax Exempt Organization Search. Internal Revenue Service. Retrieved October 4, 2018. ^ a b c d "Form 990: Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax Archived 2022-06-18 at the Wayback Machine". World Professional Association for Transgender Health. Guidestar. December 31, 2016. ^ a b c d e ["https://www.wpath.org/about/EC-BOD Archived 2018-10-04 at the Wayback Machine]". World Professional Association for Transgender Health. Retrieved March 3, 2021. ^ "World Professional Association for Transgender Health". Encyclop...dia Britannica . Retrieved 2022-10-13 . ^ "International Symposia - WPATH World Professional Association for Transgender Health". www.wpath.org . Retrieved 2022-10-13 . ^ "WPATH Official website, Membership Information". Archived from the original on 2018-06-12 . Retrieved 2018-06-09 . ^ "WPATH Official website, Mission & Vision". Archived from the original on 2020-11-03 . Retrieved 2018-06-09 . ^ "Regional Organizations". World Professional Association for Transgender Health. Archived from the original on 2022-09-04 . Retrieved 2022-09-04 . {{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link) ^ Wong, Gillian (June 17, 2009). China preps 1st guidelines for sex change surgery. Archived 2022-06-18 at the Wayback Machine The Guardian ^ Figures, K. (2007). Harry Benjamin International Gender Dysphoria Association Is Founded. In Faderman, Lillian & Retter, Yolanda (Eds.). Great Events from History: Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender Events, 1848-2006 Salem Press, ISBN 978-1-58765-263-9 ^ "Standards of Care, Version 7". Archived (PDF) from the original on August 14, 2015 . Retrieved February 19, 2020 . ^ Coleman, E.; Radix, A. E.; Bouman, W. P.; Brown, G. R.; de Vries, A. L. C.; Deutsch, M. B.; Ettner, R.; Fraser, L.; Goodman, M.; Green, J.; Hancock, A. B.; Johnson, T. W.; Karasic, D. H.; Knudson, G. A.; Leibowitz, S. F. (2022-08-19). "Standards of Care for the Health of Transgender and Gender Diverse People, Version 8". International Journal of Transgender Health. 23 (sup1): S1''S259. doi:10.1080/26895269.2022.2100644. ISSN 2689-5269. PMC 9553112 . PMID 36238954. S2CID 252127302. ^ Allee, Kegan M. "Harry Benjamin International Gender Dysphoria Association". In Encyclopedia of gender and society, Volume 1, p. 402. SAGE, ISBN 978-1-4129-0916-7

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German/American endocrinologist and sexologist

Harry Benjamin (January 12, 1885 '' August 24, 1986) was a German-American endocrinologist and sexologist, widely known for his clinical work with transgender people.

Early life and career [ edit ] Benjamin was born in Berlin, and raised in a German Lutheran home. After premedical education in Berlin and Rostock, he joined a regiment of the Prussian Guard.[1] He received his doctorate in medicine in 1912 in T¼bingen for a dissertation on tuberculosis. Sexual medicine interested him, but was not part of his medical studies. In a 1985 interview he recalled:

I do remember going, as a young person, to a lecture by Auguste Forel, whose book The Sexual Question was a sensation at the time and which impressed me greatly. I also met Magnus Hirschfeld very early on through a girl friend, who knew the police official Kopp, who was in charge investigating of sexual offenses. He, in turn, was a friend of Hirschfeld's, and so I met both men. That was around 1907. They repeatedly took me along on their rounds through the homosexual bars in Berlin. I especially remember the 'Eldorado' with its drag shows, where also many of the customers appeared in the clothing of the other sex. The word "transvestite" had not yet been invented. Hirschfeld coined it only in 1910 in his well-known study.[2]

Benjamin visited the United States in 1913, to work with a quack doctor who claimed to have found a cure for tuberculosis.[3] The liner in which Benjamin was returning to Germany was caught mid-Atlantic both by the outbreak of the First World War in 1914, and the Royal Navy. Given the choice of a British internment camp, as an "enemy alien", or returning to New York, he used his last dollars to travel back to America, where he made his home for the rest of his life.[citation needed ] However, he maintained and built many international professional connections and visited Europe frequently when wars allowed.

After several failed attempts to start a medical career in New York, in 1915 Benjamin rented a consulting room, in which he also slept, and started his own general medical practice.[citation needed ] Later he practiced in San Francisco in the summer of every year (at 450 Sutter Street, with many of his patients coming from the nearby Tenderloin neighborhood[4][5]) and otherwise at 44 East 67th Street in New York.

Work with transgender people [ edit ] Prior to arriving in the United States, Benjamin studied at the Institut f¼r Sexualwissenschaft; from about this time onward he began to encounter and treat patients who he would later describe as transsexuals.[6][7] In the 1930s he studied in Austria with Eugen Steinach.[6] In 1948, in San Francisco,[citation needed ] Benjamin was asked by Alfred Kinsey, a fellow sexologist, to see a young patient who was anatomically male but insisted on being female.[8] Kinsey had encountered the child as a result of his interviews for Sexual Behavior in the Human Male, which was published that year.[citation needed ] This case rapidly caused Benjamin's interest in what he would come to call transsexualism,[8] realizing that there was a different condition to that of transvestism, under which adults who had such needs had been classified to that time.[citation needed ]

Despite the psychiatrists with whom Benjamin involved in the case not agreeing on a path of treatment, Benjamin eventually decided to treat the child with estrogen (Premarin, introduced in 1941), which had a "calming effect", and helped arrange for the mother and child to go to Germany, where surgery[specify ] to assist the child could be performed but, from there, they ceased to maintain contact, to Benjamin's regret.[citation needed ] However, Benjamin continued to refine his understanding and went on to treat several hundred patients with similar needs in a similar manner, often without accepting any payment.

Many of his patients were referred by David Cauldwell, Robert Stoller, and doctors in Denmark. These doctors received hundreds of requests from individuals who had read about their work connected with changing sex, as it was then largely described.

However, due to the personal political opinions of the American doctors and a Danish law prohibiting sex reassignment surgery on noncitizens, these doctors referred the letter-writers to the one doctor of the era who would aid transsexual individuals, Harry Benjamin.[9] Benjamin conducted treatment with the assistance of carefully selected colleagues of various disciplines (such as psychiatrists C. L. Ihlenfeld and John Alden, electrologist Martha Foss, and surgeons Jose Jesus Barbosa,[10] Roberto C. Granato, and Georges Burou).

Benjamin's patients regarded him as a man of immense caring, respect and kindness, and many kept in touch with him until his death. He was a prolific and assiduous correspondent, in both English and German, and many letters are archived at the Magnus Hirschfeld Archive for Sexology, Humboldt University, Berlin.[11]

The legal, social and medical background to this in the United States, as in many other countries, was often a stark contrast, since wearing items of clothing associated with the opposite sex in public was often illegal, castration of a male was often illegal, anything seen as homosexuality was often persecuted or illegal, and many doctors considered all such people (including children) at best denied any affirmation of their gender identity, or involuntarily subjected to treatments such as drugged detention, electroconvulsive therapy,[12] or lobotomy.

Though he had already published papers and lectured to professional audiences extensively, Benjamin's 1966 book, The Transsexual Phenomenon, was immensely important as the first large work describing and explaining the affirmative treatment path he pioneered.[13] Publicity surrounding his patient Christine Jorgensen brought the issue into the mainstream in 1952 and led to a great many people presenting for assistance, internationally. In the preface of Christine Jorgensen's autobiography, Dr. Benjamin also gives Jorgensen credit for the advancement of his studies. He wrote, "Indeed Christine, without you, probably none of this would have happened; the grant, my publications, lectures, etc."[14]

Similar cases in other countries (such as that of Roberta Cowell, whose surgery by Harold Gillies in England was in 1951 but was not publicised until 1954; Coccinelle[15] who received much publicity in France in 1958, and April Ashley, whose exposure in 1961 by the British tabloid press was reported worldwide) fuelled this. But most of Benjamin's patients lived (and many still live) quiet lives.[citation needed ]

Reed Erickson (1917''1992), a successful industrialist, sought treatment from Benjamin in 1963.[6] Erickson was the founder and funder of the Erickson Educational Foundation, which published educational booklets, funded medical conferences, counselling services, and the establishment of gender clinics. The EEF funded the Harry Benjamin Foundation.[16][6]

Other work and interests [ edit ] Apart from endocrinology and sexology, he worked on life extension and would now also be described as a gerontologist. Benjamin himself lived to be 101.

Benjamin was married to Gretchen, to whom he dedicated his 1966 major work, for 60 years.[17] They were married December 23rd, 1925.[17] Gretchen revealed to Charles L. Ihlenfeld "about six months after they were married Harry brought his mother from Germany to live with them" and that "from then on their bedroom door remained closed".[17]

In 1979 the Harry Benjamin International Gender Dysphoria Association was formed, using Benjamin's name by permission. The group consists of therapists and psychologists who devised a set of Standards of Care (SOC) for the treatment of gender dysphoria, largely based on Benjamin's cases, and studies.[18] It later changed its name to The World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH).

Bibliography [ edit ] The Sex Problem and the Armed Forces (1944) ASIN: B0056ASJFWBenjamin, H (1946). "A contribution to the endocrine aspect of the impotence problem; a report of thirty-nine cases". Urol Cutaneous Rev. 50: 139''43. PMID 21020395. Benjamin, H (July 1946). "Endocrinology in the aged". Interne. 12: 465''9. PMID 20991360. Benjamin, H (July 1947). "Biologic versus chronologic age". J Gerontol. 2 (3): 217''27. doi:10.1093/geronj/2.3.217. PMID 20264999. Benjamin, H (July 1949). "Endocrine gerontotherapy; the use of sex hormone combinations in female patients". J Gerontol. 4 (3): 222''33. doi:10.1093/geronj/4.3.222. PMID 18147194. Benjamin, H (July 1949). "Two years of sexology". Am J Psychother. 3 (3): 419''27. doi:10.1176/appi.psychotherapy.1949.3.3.419. PMID 18147407. Benjamin, H (August 1949). "Outline of a method to estimate the biological age with special reference to the role of the sexual functions". Int J Sexol. 3 (1): 34''7. PMID 18133520. Benjamin, H (1950). "Endocrine gerontotherapy. The use of steroid hormone combinations in male patients". J Insur Med. 6 (1): 12''7. PMID 14803776. Benjamin, H (April 1954). "Transsexualism and transvestism as psychosomatic and somatopsychic syndromes". Am J Psychother. 8 (2): 219''30. doi:10.1176/appi.psychotherapy.1954.8.2.219. PMID 13148376. Benjamin, H (1964). "Nature and management of transsexualism, with a report on thirty-one operated cases". West J Surg Obstet Gynecol. 72: 105''11. PMID 14128591. Benjamin, H (July 1964). "Clinical aspects of transsexualism in the male and female". Am J Psychother. 18 (3): 458''69. doi:10.1176/appi.psychotherapy.1964.18.3.458. PMID 14173773. Benjamin, H (November 1964). "Transsexualism, ITS Nature and Therapy". Nervenarzt. 35: 499''500. PMID 14320022. Introduction to Prostitution and Morality: a Definitive Report on the Prostitute in Contemporary Society and an Analysis of the Causes and Effects of the Suppression (Robert E.L. Masters, 1964) ASIN: B000WG6JF2Introduction to Forbidden Sexual Behavior and Morality: An Objective Re-Examination of Perverse Sex Practices in Different Cultures (Robert E.L. Masters, 1964) ISBN 978-1258024369Benjamin, H (July 1966). "[Sexual problems at the consultation hour of the general practitioner]". Landarzt. 42 (20): 885''90. PMID 5926775. The Transsexual Phenomenon; a Scientific Report on Transsexualism and Sex Conversion in the Human Male and Female, (1966) ASIN: B0007HXA76Introduction to Christine Jorgensen; Personal Autobiography (Christine Jorgenssen, 1967) ISBN 978-0839716402Benjamin, H (February 1967). "The transsexual phenomenon". Trans N Y Acad Sci. 29 (4 Series II): 428''30. doi:10.1111/j.2164-0947.1967.tb02273.x. PMID 5233741. Benjamin, H (January 1971). "Should surgery be performed on transsexuals?". Am J Psychother. 25 (1): 74''82. doi:10.1176/appi.psychotherapy.1971.25.1.74. PMID 5539832. Benjamin, H; Ihlenfeld, CL (March 1973). "Transsexualism". Am J Nurs. 73 (3): 457''61. doi:10.2307/3422704. JSTOR 3422704. PMID 4486125. See also [ edit ] Benjamin scaleList of transgender-related topicsEugen SteinachSecond ServeNotes [ edit ] ^ Person, Ethel Spector, The Sexual Century. New Haven: Yale University Press. 1999. ^ Hu-Berlnin.de Archived 2004-12-27 at the Wayback Machine. ^ Stein, Marc. Encyclopedia of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender history in America. New York, NY: Charles Scribner's Sons/Thomson/Gale, 2004. page 133 ISBN 0-684-31427-4, 978-0-684-31427-3 ^ Kane, Peter Lawrence (2015-07-22). "The Tenderloin Museum Has Ceiling Lights in the Shape of the Tenderloin". SF Weekly . Retrieved 2021-07-05 . {{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) ^ Conway, Lynn. "Lynn Conway's Career Retrospective, Part II". ai.eecs.umich.edu . Retrieved 2021-07-05 . {{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) ^ a b c d Goldberg, Abbie E. (2016-05-10). The SAGE Encyclopedia of LGBTQ Studies. SAGE Publications. pp. 509''510. ISBN 978-1-4833-7129-0. ^ Green, Jamison (2020-01-31). "History, Societal Attitudes, and Contexts". In Schechter, Loren S. (ed.). Gender Confirmation Surgery: Principles and Techniques for an Emerging Field. Springer Nature. pp. 1''22. ISBN 978-3-030-29093-1. ^ a b The Sisterhood: Dr. Harry Benjamin"Dr. Harry Benjamin". Archived from the original on 2005-04-07 . Retrieved 2021-07-05 . {{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link) . ^ Meyerowitz, Joan (2002). How Sex Changed: A History of Transsexuality in the United States. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University. p. 143. ISBN 0674009258. ^ University of Michigan. ^ "Archive for Sexology". hu-berlin.de. Archived from the original on 2007-12-04. ^ "Google Books". google.com. ^ Michie, Jonathan. Reader's guide to the social sciences. London: Fitzroy Dearborn, 2001 ISBN 978-1-57958-091-9 ^ Jorgensen, Christine, and Susan Stryker. "Preface." Christine Jorgensen: A Personal Autobiography. 1st ed. Cleis, 2000. ^ Coccinelle Show. ^ Devor, Aaron H. (September 18, 2013). "Reed Erickson and The Erickson Educational Foundation". web.uvic.ca. University of Victoria . Retrieved 5 June 2017 . ^ a b c Person, Ethel (2008). "Harry Benjamin: Creative Maverick". Journal of Gay & Lesbian Mental Health. 12 (3): 259-275. doi:10.1080/19359700802111619. S2CID 142619491. ^ Brien, Jodi. Encyclopedia of gender and society. London: SAGE, 2009 ISBN 978-1-4129-0916-7 References [ edit ] Meyer, Walter; Walter O. Bockting; Peggy Cohen-Kettenis; et al. (February 2001). "The Harry Benjamin International Gender Dysphoria Association's Standards Of Care For Gender Identity Disorders, Sixth Version" (PDF) . 6th. Harry Benjamin International Gender Dysphoria Association. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2007-06-10 . Retrieved 2009-04-22 . Coleman, Eli; Richard Adler; Walter Bockting (September 2011). "The World Professional Association for Transgender Health's Standards of Care for the Health of Transsexual, Transgender, and Gender Nonconforming Peoples, Seventh Version" (PDF) . 7th. Marsha Botzer, George Brown, Peggy Cohen-Kettenis, Griet DeCuypere, Aaron Devor, Randall Ehrbar, Randi Ettner, Evan Eyler, Jamie Feldman, Lin Fraser, Rob Garofalo, Jamison Green, Dan Karasic, Gail Knudson, Arlene Istar Lev, Gal Mayer, Walter Meyer, Heino Meyer-Bahlburg, Stan Monstrey, Blaine Paxton Hall, Friedmann Pfaefflin, Katherine Rachlin, Bean Robinson, Loren Schechter, Vin Tangpricha, Mick van Trotsenburg, Anne Vitale, Sam Winter, Stephen Whittle, Kevan Wylie, Ken Zucker. World Professional Association for Transgender Health. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2012-05-23 . Retrieved 2012-07-09 . External links [ edit ] The Transsexual Phenomenon; a Scientific Report on Transsexualism and Sex Conversion in the Human Male and Female online at the Magnus Hirschfeld Archive for Sexology, Humboldt University, Berlin which houses many items associated with Harry Benjamin.A video tribute to Harry Benjamin by SexSmartFilms.com, an organization dedicated to the promotion of sexual literacy.

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The World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH), formerly known as the (Harry Benjamin International Gender Dysphoria Association (HBIGDA), is a 501(c)(3) non-profit, interdisciplinary professional and educational organization devoted to transgender health. Our professional, supporting, and student members engage in clinical and academic research to develop evidence-based medicine and strive to promote a high quality of care for transsexual, transgender, and gender-nonconforming individuals internationally. We are funded primarily through the support of our membership, and through donations and grants sponsored by non-commercial sources.

Mission: To promote evidence based care, education, research, public policy, and respect in transgender health.

Vision: We envision a world wherein people of all gender identities and gender expressions have access to evidence-based healthcare, social services, justice and equality.

Goals and TasksAs an international interdisciplinary, professional organization, the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH) will work to further the understanding and treatment of gender dysphoria by professionals in medicine, psychology, law, social work, counseling, psychotherapy, family studies, sociology, anthropology, sexology, speech and voice therapy, and other related fields.WPATH provides opportunities for professionals from various sub-specialties to communicate with each other in the context of research and treatment of gender dysphoria including sponsoring biennial scientific symposia.WPATH publishes the Standards of Care and Ethical Guidelines, which articulate a professional consensus about the psychiatric, psychological, medical, and surgical management of gender dysphoria and help professionals understand the parameters within which they may offer assistance to those with these conditions.

Establishing Standards of Care

WPATH has established internationally accepted Standards of Care (SOC) for the treatment of individuals with gender dysphoria. These internationally accepted guidelines are designed to promote the health and welfare of transgender, transsexual and gender variant persons in all cultural settings. The Standards of Care are updated and revised as new scientific information becomes available.

Click here for the WPATH Code of Conduct(Approved April 18, 2021)To file a complaint regarding a WPATH member, please fill out this WPATH Code of Conduct Complaint Form, and we will review it.

Click here for the WPATH Language Policy(Regarding usage in IJTH and editorial policies, and abstract submissions)

CLICK HERE FOR STANDARDS OF CARE 8

WPATH Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion StatementThe World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH) upholds our world vision that people of all gender identities and gender expressions have access to evidence-based healthcare, social services, justice, equality, and respect.

WPATH values the importance of open discussion and working collaboratively as an international interdisciplinary association which strengthens our ability to promote care that is evidence-based and crosses all gender, geographic, racial, social, ideological, and economic boundaries.

WPATH affirms its commitment to diversity and inclusion as principles that enrich individuals, and society as a whole. We strive to learn from diverse perspectives, and through inclusivity, we pay homage to the fundamental principles of dignity, equality, equity, justice, and fairness.

WPATH encourages our members to champion these principles as well, and to promote diversity, equality, equity, and inclusion in their work, workplaces, and everyday lives.

Click here for a copy of the Bylaws

Click here for a copy of the Privacy Policy

We reserve the right to modify, alter, or otherwise update this Privacy Policy at any time and for any reason; however, in no event will future changes to the Privacy Policy jeopardize or negate the assurances now stated in the Policy.

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Many states have enacted or contemplated limits or outright bans on transgender medical treatment, with conservative U.S. lawmakers saying they are worried about young people later regretting irreversible body-altering treatment.

But just how common is regret? And how many youth change their appearances with hormones or surgery only to later change their minds and detransition?

Here's a look at some of the issues involved.

WHAT IS TRANSGENDER MEDICAL TREATMENT?Guidelines call for thorough psychological assessments to confirm gender dysphoria '-- distress over gender identity that doesn't match a person's assigned sex '-- before starting any treatment.

That treatment typically begins with puberty-blocking medication to temporarily pause sexual development. The idea is to give youngsters time to mature enough mentally and emotionally to make informed decisions about whether to pursue permanent treatment. Puberty blockers may be used for years and can increase risks for bone density loss, but that reverses when the drugs are stopped.

Sex hormones '-- estrogen or testosterone '-- are offered next. Dutch research suggests that most gender-questioning youth on puberty blockers eventually choose to use these medications, which can produce permanent physical changes. So does transgender surgery, including breast removal or augmentation, which sometimes is offered during the mid-teen years but more typically not until age 18 or later.

Reports from doctors and individual U.S. clinics indicate that the number of youth seeking any kind of transgender medical care has increased in recent years.

HOW OFTEN DO TRANSGENDER PEOPLE REGRET TRANSITIONING?In updated treatment guidelines issued last year, the World Professional Association for Transgender Health said evidence of later regret is scant, but that patients should be told about the possibility during psychological counseling.

Dutch research from several years ago found no evidence of regret in transgender adults who had comprehensive psychological evaluations in childhood before undergoing puberty blockers and hormone treatment.

Some studies suggest that rates of regret have declined over the years as patient selection and treatment methods have improved. In a review of 27 studies involving almost 8,000 teens and adults who had transgender surgeries, mostly in Europe, the U.S and Canada, 1% on average expressed regret. For some, regret was temporary, but a small number went on to have detransitioning or reversal surgeries, the 2021 review said.

Research suggests that comprehensive psychological counseling before starting treatment, along with family support, can reduce chances for regret and detransitioning.

WHAT IS DETRANSITIONING?Detransitioning means stopping or reversing gender transition, which can include medical treatment or changes in appearance, or both.

Detransitioning does not always include regret. The updated transgender treatment guidelines note that some teens who detransition ''do not regret initiating treatment'' because they felt it helped them better understand their gender-related care needs.

Research and reports from individual doctors and clinics suggest that detransitioning is rare. The few studies that exist have too many limitations or weaknesses to draw firm conclusions, said Dr. Michael Irwig, director of transgender medicine at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston.

He said it's difficult to quantify because patients who detransition often see new doctors, not the physicians who prescribed the hormones or performed the surgeries. Some patients may simply stop taking hormones.

''My own personal experience is that it is quite uncommon,'' Irwig said. ''I've taken care of over 350 gender-diverse patients and probably fewer than five have told me that they decided to detransition or changed their minds.''

Recent increases in the number of people seeking transgender medical treatment could lead to more people detransitioning, Irwig noted in a commentary last year in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism. That's partly because of a shortage of mental health specialists, meaning gender-questioning people may not receive adequate counseling, he said.

Dr. Oscar Manrique, a plastic surgeon at the University of Rochester Medical Center, has operated on hundreds of transgender people, most of them adults. He said he's never had a patient return seeking to detransition.

Some may not be satisfied with their new appearance, but that doesn't mean they regret the transition, he said. Most, he said, ''are very happy with the outcomes surgically and socially.''

___

Follow AP Medical Writer Lindsey Tanner at @LindseyTanner.

___

The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute's Science and Educational Media Group. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

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Tue, 09 May 2023 14:49

T HIS WEEK Yevgeny Prigozhin stepped out of the shadows. The close ally of Russia's president, Vladimir Putin, admitted for the first time that he is the founder of Wagner, a group of mercenaries that do Russia's dirty work. ''I cleaned the old weapons myself, sorted out the bulletproof vests myself,'' said Mr Prigozhin, referring to the early days of the Wagner Group. He called his private soldiers ''heroes''. His admission came after a video, circulated on September 13th, appeared to show him recruiting convicts to boost Russia's manpower in Ukraine. He promised them freedom in exchange for six months of combat (if they survive that long). Who is Mr Prigozhin, and why does his growing prominence matter?

Little is known about Mr Prigozhin's childhood. He spent most of his 20s in prison, serving nine years for robbery, fraud and involving teenagers in crime. After his release, he set up a hot-dog stand in St Petersburg in the 1990s. He soon expanded into chic eateries'--his New Island floating restaurant was a favourite of Mr Putin, a former deputy mayor of the city. His good relations with Russia's elite brought in lucrative catering contracts for schools, hospitals and the army. But it was his operations outside the kitchen that cemented his nickname, ''Putin's Chef''. These included the Internet Research Agency, which a grand jury in America termed a ''troll farm'' used to meddle in the 2016 presidential elections. In 2014 he founded Wagner, the first and largest state-linked business of private military contractors operating in Ukraine, where they bolstered the ranks of Russia's unmarked soldiers who annexed Crimea and stayed to support pro-Russian separatists in the eastern Donbas region.

The shady network of mercenaries'--reportedly named after Hitler's favourite composer and co-founded by Dmitry Utkin, a former Russian soldier with multiple Nazi tattoos'--has operated almost wherever Russia has an interest, including in Syria, Libya, the Central African Republic (CAR) and Mali. Journalists have reported allegations of torture, rape and extrajudicial killings in its wake. Deploying mercenaries instead of its own troops has allowed Russia plausible deniability. Since the outbreak of war in Ukraine the group is believed to have played a key role in the capture of several eastern cities. It made up for initial shortages of soldiers and allowed Russia to play down casualties. Mark Galeotti, of Mayak Intelligence, a consultancy that focuses on Russia, estimates that at its peak it provided 10,000 men. As Russia brings in new conscripts of dubious quality and morale, Wagner troops may be used to provide resolve and experience.

For many years Mr Prigozhin has vehemently denied any involvement. He has even sued journalists for suggesting he had links to the group. But he is believed to have profited handsomely from the bloody operations by seizing control of oil fields in Syria and diamond mines in CAR. Now he's putting his name to it. One reason may be that Russia's tattered relationship with the West means that there is no longer a point in maintaining the open secret. He may also be reminding the Kremlin of his value. But, says Mr Galeotti, Mr Prigozhin is unlikely to step much further into the limelight. ''He can break the rules when the Kremlin needs him to,'' he says. He argues that Mr Prigozhin is strongest when operating on the fringes of politics; greater scrutiny could make the thuggish operator a liability to the Kremlin.

As Mr Putin faces painful reversals in Ukraine, the members of his syndicate are asserting themselves. Leonid Volkov, chief of staff to Alexei Navalny, a jailed opposition leader, calls Mr Prigozhin ''the most dangerous criminal in Putin's entourage''. The oligarch's growing prominence illustrates the debasement of the state in Russian politics. Private armies erode its monopoly on firepower. The battlefield blunders also sharpen the debate between advocates of greater mobilisation and those in favour of retaining some semblance of democratic politics and a market economy. Mr Prigozhin's rising voice bolsters the hawks. '–

More from The Economist explains:Why the capture of a Russian T-90M tank mattersHow Russia is conscripting men to fight in UkraineDo Russia's military setbacks increase the risk of nuclear conflict?

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Tue, 09 May 2023 14:45

Over the past seven years, reports have trickled out of war zones and fragile countries around the world about shadowy groups of mercenaries operating under the rubric of the Russian private military contractor Wagner.

Over the past seven years, reports have trickled out of war zones and fragile countries around the world about shadowy groups of mercenaries operating under the rubric of the Russian private military contractor Wagner.

A report by a United Nations panel of experts released late last month accused Russian instructors to the Central African Republic armed forces of indiscriminate killings, looting, and enforced disappearances conducted alongside the Central African military. While the report to the U.N. Security Council does not identify those instructors as Wagner affiliates, news reports and the U.N.'s working group on mercenaries have.

Operatives from the sprawling Wagner network have spanned from Ukraine , where they fought alongside Russian and separatist forces, to Mozambique , where they were hired to fight insurgents. But the group defies the conventional definition of a private military contractor, instead melding mercenary activity and natural resource extraction while advancing the Kremlin's foreign-policy objectives. Nominally private, the group is thought to be closely enmeshed with the Russian security apparatus, although the Russian government has denied the connection. The network's murky nature presents an enormous challenge for victims, governments, and international institutions seeking to hold the group to account for alleged atrocities.

What is the Wagner Group? The first thing to understand about the Wagner Group is that there most likely is no Wagner Group. As far as researchers can tell, there is no single registered business called Wagner. Rather, the name has come to describe a network of businesses and groups of mercenaries that have been linked by overlaps in ownership and logistics networks. Entities making up the network have been described in sanctions designations by the U.S. Treasury as being involved in a wide range of activities, including working to suppress pro-democracy protests, spreading disinformation, mining for gold and diamonds, and engaging in paramilitary activity.

The group, such as it is, first appeared in Ukraine in 2014, where it assisted the Russian military in the annexation of Crimea. ''Ukraine was basically the beginning, the departure point for the Wagner Group,'' said Sergey Sukhankin, a senior research fellow with the Jamestown Foundation. Since then, a spiderweb of paramilitaries and businesses has branched out to Syria'--where they have fought in support of embattled President Bashar al-Assad while securing a foothold in the country's energy sector'--as well as to Libya, Sudan, Madagascar, Mozambique, and the Central African Republic. While Wagner has become a helpful shorthand to describe this opaque and expansive network, experts caution that it may disrupt our ability to think about how they operate.

''It's extremely problematic that we continue to refer to them as the Wagner Group, because it makes them sound like these ghostly operators that cannot be traced, and that's just not the case,'' said Candace Rondeaux, a senior fellow with the Center on the Future of War, a joint project between Arizona State University and the New America think tank.

''It makes it very difficult for lawmakers and policymakers who want to curtail, contain, deal with, or mitigate the risks. If they can't conceptualize the problem properly then they can't solve the problem properly either,'' Rondeaux said.

What information we do have about the network has been painstakingly pieced together by investigative journalists, by researchers, in U.N. and government reports, and through corporate documents obtained by the Dossier Center, a London-based investigative outfit funded by the exiled Russian oligarch Mikhail Khodorkovsky.

Russian reporters who have done some of the most detailed reporting on the group do so at great personal risk. In 2018, a team of Russian journalists sent to the Central African Republic to report on Wagner activities in the country were killed in what is thought to have been a carefully planned ambush. Reporter Maxim Borodin, who reported on the deaths of Wagner fighters in Syria in 2018, died that same year after falling from the balcony of his apartment. Others have been threatened and harassed .

Who is Yevgeny Prigozhin? The hub that connects the worldwide network is Yevgeny Prigozhin, a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin who is thought to financially back the Wagner Group and has been sanctioned multiple times by the United States for financing the Internet Research Agency'--better known as the troll factory'--which interfered in U.S. elections in 2016 and 2018. A number of companies connected to Prigozhin have also been sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury for their operations in Africa.

''Prigozhin's role in Sudan highlights the interplay between Russia's paramilitary operations, support for preserving authoritarian regimes, and exploitation of natural resources,'' the U.S. Treasury said in a press release last year announcing the sanctions.

Prigozhin has repeatedly denied any connection to the Wagner Group or the Russian defense ministry.

Unlike other Russian oligarchs who made their money in energy and finance, Prigozhin's empire began as a sausage wholesale business in 1990s St. Petersburg, where Putin was then a lowly advisor to the city's mayor. In the late 1990s, Prigozhin expanded to open a restaurant that was frequented by Putin early in his presidential tenure, often with visiting foreign dignitaries in tow, including U.S. President George W. Bush. He then expanded into the catering business, winning lucrative contracts to supply the Kremlin, schools, and the Russian military, garnering him the moniker ''Putin's chef.''

What is Wagner's connection to the Russian government? With no military background of his own, Prigozhin is an unlikely candidate to be running an international network of paramilitaries or political influence operations. But his background in contracting with the Russian Ministry of Defense and his apparently close relationship with Putin have led experts to believe that he has been utilized as a middleman to obscure activities by the Russian state. The U.S. government has described the Wagner Group as a proxy force for the Russian Ministry of Defense, while the group's operatives train at a camp in Molkino in southern Russia, which is shared by Russian special forces.

''I think he is the middleman, I think he is the contractor,'' said Kimberly Joy Marten, an expert at Columbia University. ''I'm sure he gets a huge payment off the top by being the contractor, and then he has these companies which seem to be benefiting in cases where there are minerals or oil involved.''

Subcontracting high-risk and experimental operations in fragile states gives the Kremlin a screen of plausible deniability and avoids public scrutiny of any combat losses. The Kremlin has sought to downplay the loss of hundreds of Wagner fighters in Syria, leaving grieving families bewildered.

Private military companies are illegal in Russia, which gives the Kremlin the ability to crack down on the group should it choose to do so. It also creates an accountability vacuum for victims of atrocities allegedly carried out by the network's operatives.

''It's a huge challenge,'' said Sorcha MacLeod, a member of the U.N. working group on mercenaries, an independent panel of experts that has studied the group's activities in the Central African Republic. ''Russia's response to us is that the entity does not have any legal existence, that [private military contractors] are not permitted under Russian law, and that mercenarism is illegal under Russian law.''

''In terms of CAR, accountability is such a problem because the people on the ground don't know who they're dealing with or where to make their complaint without fear,'' she said. The government of the Central African Republic recently informed the panel that it was to open a commission of inquiry into reports of alleged abuses. ''We do welcome the commission of inquiry, but it has to be effective,'' she said.

There may be some accountability'--eventually. In May, the relatives of a Syrian man, Muhammad ''Hamdi Bouta'' Taha al-Abdullah, who was brutally tortured and beheaded by Russian mercenaries in Syria, filed a lawsuit in Moscow against the six men implicated in his death, marking the first time anyone has sought to hold Wagner fighters accountable in court. Although the case could take years, advocates hope it could make its way to the European Court of Human Rights and shed new light on the group's operations.

Where does the name Wagner come from? Parsing facts from the mythology that has developed around the Wagner Group gets particularly messy on this issue. ''We don't really know where this name comes from,'' Sukhankin said. ''In many ways this is a convenient cliche.''

The name Wagner is reported to have been the nom de guerre of one of the group's early commanders in the fighting in eastern Ukraine, Dmitry Utkin, a former lieutenant colonel in the Russian military intelligence service, the GRU. Utkin is alleged to have been enamored with Nazi Germany, including Adolf Hitler's favorite composer, Richard Wagner. In 2016, Utkin was pictured at a ceremony in the Kremlin intended to honor the courage of military personnel and civilians, but he hasn't been seen in public since.

The mythology around Wagner appears to be something Prigozhin is keen to indulge. He is reported to have funded three feature-length action movies about the group's operatives in Libya and the Central African Republic. The film Tourist, which had its premiere in the latter country's capital, Bangui, earlier this year, offers a heroic portrayal of a group of Russian military advisors dispatched to the country to fight back violent rebel groups.

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Tue, 09 May 2023 03:19

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Mon, 08 May 2023 15:11

ALLEN, Tex. '-- The gunman who opened fire on an outlet mall in a Dallas suburb on Saturday, killing at least eight people, had an apparent fascination with white-supremacist or neo-Nazi beliefs that are now being examined by investigators as a possible motive for the attack, people familiar with the investigation said Sunday.

Mauricio Garcia, a 33-year-old Dallas resident, had multiple weapons on him and five additional guns in his car nearby, said people familiar with the investigation who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the ongoing probe.

Authorities have not released a motive, but a patch on the shooter's chest said ''RWDS,'' an initialism that stands for Right Wing Death Squad, according to people familiar with the investigation. The phrase is popular among right-wing extremists, neo-Nazis and white supremacists, they said, and while there is still a great deal of evidence to analyze, and authorities have not reached any conclusions yet, investigators are approaching the shooting as a possible hate crime.

Witnesses said the gunman's tactical vest was also packed with ammunition magazines, indicating just how much carnage he hoped to inflict at one of the most common places for Americans to gather on the weekends '-- a shopping mall. Panicked video from the scene showed adults running as fast as they could to get away from the crack of rifle fire, their shopping bags flapping around them as they sprinted across the parking lot. One young boy in a red T-shirt ran away while screaming ''run,'' a look of terror on his face.

The mall shooting marks the second time in less than 10 days that Texas has had a mass killing in which a gunman trained a powerful rifle on people. The staccato bursts of gun violence in America are increasing, according to some groups that track shootings, while public pleas by officials including President Biden to stem the bloodshed appear to have little effect.

The shooter also injured at least seven people before a police officer who happened to be at the mall on an unrelated call fatally shot him at about 3:30 p.m., Allen Police Chief Brian Harvey said Saturday. Authorities believe that the gunman acted alone and that there were no further threats, Harvey said during a news briefing.

Ahmad Khan describes how he protected his children from the gunfire, one day after a gunman killed eight people in a mass killing in Allen, Texas. (Video: Rich Matthews/The Washington Post)

At least one of the victims was a child, according to officials and witness accounts. A person wearing a security guard uniform was among the dead, according to several witnesses, but it was unclear whether the person was on duty at the time. A witness described finding a young boy alive under the corpse of his mother, who died protecting him.

The assailant was staying in a Dallas-area hotel at the time of the shooting, according to the people familiar with the investigation. Because the gunman is dead, a major focus of investigators is whether anyone knew what he planned to do or helped him in planning it. The gunman's parents have been cooperating with authorities, these people said. Agents with the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives are assisting with the investigation, according to officials.

Six victims were found dead at the scene, and nine people who had been injured were taken to hospitals by the local fire department, Allen Fire Chief Jon Boyd said Saturday. Two of them died at the hospital, police said.

The victims being treated at Medical City Healthcare trauma facilities ranged in age from 5 to 61, said Kathleen Beathard, a spokeswoman for the hospital system. At least three people remained in critical condition, according to an update Sunday. One patient was transferred to Medical City Children's Hospital and was in fair condition, Medical City Healthcare said.

Sherry Tutt was shopping at Victoria's Secret on Saturday when she heard booming sounds. People started rushing into the store, she said, and someone yelled, '''They're shooting!'''

Tutt and her fiance hurried into a storage area with a few dozen other customers, hiding among boxes. She said panic spread when the group had trouble getting through to 911. One woman was crying.

After about an hour, police escorted the group out of the store, telling them that if they had kids, they should cover their eyes. As she passed Fatburger, Tutt glimpsed two bodies '-- a sight she described as ''something I will never unsee.'' Told it was now safe to leave, scores of shoppers walked with their arms raised past police officers.

A woman who hid in a store at an Allen, Tex., mall during the shooting that killed eight recorded a video of crowd being escorted out by the police on May 6. (Video: Sherry Tutt/Facebook, Photo: Getty Images/Sherry Tutt/Facebook)

All the stores were closed Sunday at the Allen outlet mall, and police blocked entrances to the center of the sprawling complex. The parking lot in the center of the mall was packed with cars, which shoppers and employees had not been allowed to retrieve by mid-Sunday. Later in the day, the FBI said authorities would be assisting shoppers in reclaiming their vehicles until 9:30 p.m. Sunday night.

Biden ordered flags flown at half-staff through Thursday in recognition of the shooting victims. In a statement, he expressed condolences for the victims and called on Republican members of Congress to support a bill banning assault weapons and high-capacity magazines, among other changes to gun laws.

''We need more action, faster to save lives,'' he said. ''Too many families have empty chairs at their dinner tables.''

Aerial footage of the scene, about 25 miles northeast of Dallas, showed what appeared to be bodies underneath white sheets on the ground outside an H&M outlet, where much of the violence was concentrated.

Steven Spainhouer pulled up to the mall minutes after his son, an H&M employee, called and said a shooter was inside the store. Spainhouer, 63, who said he was an Army and law enforcement veteran, arrived to find people running on the freeway and the streets. Police and paramedics were not yet on the scene.

Spainhouer described trying to help people who were shot outside H&M. He started with a girl who was in a ''praying position'' in the bushes outside the store. ''I felt for a pulse,'' recalled Spainhouer, who now works in risk management. ''There was none. I pulled her head back. There was no face.''

Helen Bennett said she and her daughter were in the HanesBrands store when the manager saw someone in the parking lot exiting a car with a weapon. Everyone inside locked themselves in a storeroom, where they hoped fervently that bullets would not fly through the walls. A mother rocked her baby to keep the child from crying.

''As soon as we got in the backroom, we heard the shots '-- BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM!'' Bennett said.

Shooting in Texas mall is the second-deadliest so far this year

Colin Palakiko, a 36-year-old cook, said he had gone to the mall to do some shopping for an upcoming vacation to Hawaii. He was in a Tory Burch shoe store with his mother when a girl ran in and said there was a shooter outside.

After taking shelter in the store for 45 minutes, the police led them outside in a single-file line. He heard a woman screaming frantically '-- she was saying another vehicle that was shot up was her boyfriend's.

''That was the most horrifying sound I ever heard,'' Palakiko said. There was a person Palakiko thought was a mall security guard on the ground in a white security uniform: He had been shot in the front of his body and was lying face down.

Deirdra Gordon, who was visiting from Arkansas, said she wept as police led her and others out of Banana Republic after the shooting. She and her husband, Bobby Gordon, said they saw several bodies, including a person in a security uniform and someone they thought was the shooter.

Nearby, a police officer helped a man with a leg wound exit a restaurant. The Gordons also saw bullet holes in store windows and the windshield of a gray sedan.

''It was just a beautiful Saturday,'' Deirdra Gordon said. ''It was just nice, and then all of a sudden, no one wanted to believe that that's what was happening.''

Sonia Ali, whose son was working at the mall during the shooting and was not physically harmed, told The Washington Post that many of her son's fellow high school students also work there. The school has emailed students, offering to help those experiencing trauma from the incident, she said.

On the suburban street where the gunman's parents live, several of their neighbors described him as a quiet person who didn't seem to court trouble. ''He just seemed to be aloof, kind of disconnected. But he wasn't threatening,'' said Kevin Todd, who lives down the street.

One neighbor said that she didn't know him well but that he would often honk his horn and wave when he drove past. The Garcia family had lived on the street for many years and were well-liked, neighbors said, adding that the gunman moved out of his parents' home earlier this year.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and Attorney General Ken Paxton, all Republicans, were in Allen on Sunday afternoon for a memorial service at Cottonwood Creek Church. Earlier in the day, Abbott told ''Fox News Sunday'' that his priority in response to mass killings is to address mental health crises, rather than to tighten gun regulations. (Research shows that stricter gun laws could lessen the severity of mass killings and may decrease overall gun violence.)

''We've got to find a way in this country where we can once again reunite Americans as Americans and come together in one big family and, in that regard, find ways to reduce violence in our country,'' Abbott said in the interview.

Last year, Texas had the most mass killings by gun of any state, with six. This year it has already had three.

Less than two weeks ago and 240 miles south, a man allegedly killed five of his neighbors after they asked him to stop shooting his AR-15-style rifle near their home in Cleveland, Tex. The politics of gun violence and gun control are still being debated in the state, which is about to mark the first anniversary of a mass shooting at an elementary school in Uvalde, Tex., that left 19 children and two teachers dead.

In 2021, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recorded 4,613 firearms-related deaths in Texas. The state's annual death toll from guns has increased steadily since 2014, when it recorded 2,848 such deaths.

On Monday, Texas state Sen. Roland Gutierrez and fellow Democrats plan to meet in Austin with relatives of victims of last year's Uvalde school shooting to call for immediate action to address gun violence in Texas.

Democrats have proposed what Gutierrez calls ''common-sense gun safety measures,'' including a 30-day waiting period and increasing the age at which people can buy AR-15-style guns from 18 to 21, universal background checks, extreme risk protective orders, requiring safe gun storage, and banning the type of expanding bullets used in Uvalde.

Gutierrez said it wasn't clear whether Republican state lawmakers would be moved to take action after the latest shooting. ''I don't know. We'll find out tomorrow what the pulse is. My feeling is these people just want to pray their way out of this,'' he said.

Texas has moved in recent years to loosen restrictions on firearms under Abbott's leadership. In 2021, the state began allowing permitless carry, allowing residents to carry handguns in public without a license. The state ''does not specifically put restrictions on who can carry a long gun such as a rifle or shotgun,'' according to a Texas government website.

Rep. Keith Self, a Republican congressman whose district includes Allen, told The Post that debating politics wasn't appropriate in the aftermath of the shooting.

Instead of limiting gun rights, Self said, local governments need to be free to better defend public spaces from armed criminals. He called proposals to restrict gun rights, such as raising the age at which people can purchase AR-15-style weapons, ''a knee-jerk reaction that does not stop criminals.''

Still, gun-control advocates called for a substantive response. Shannon Watts, founder of the advocacy group Moms Demand Action, lamented how such killings have become commonplace in the United States. She noted that she'd gone to school in the county where the latest incident took place.

''If you haven't been impacted yet by gun violence, God bless you. But sadly, it's coming '-- to your state, community, school,'' Watts said.

Mushtaq Abdullah, 38, said he walked past multiple bodies while exiting the mall Saturday. He was still anxious the next day. His car remained at the mall, and he had heard authorities were checking vehicles left there with bomb-sniffing dogs.

On Sunday morning when he took his family to brunch, he brought a gun for the first time.

Barrett, Iati, Shammas, Moyer and Javaid reported from Washington, and Pietsch and Masih reported from Seoul. Molly Hennessy-Fiske in Houston; John D. Harden in Oakland; Perry Stein, Alex Horton and Andrea Salcedo in Washington contributed to this report.

The Allen, Tex. mall shootingA gunman opened fire at Allen Premium Outlets, a shopping mall in a Dallas suburb, on Saturday. At least eight people were killed and seven injured. The gunman was fatally shot by a police officer.

The victims: Six of the eight victims were found dead at the scene; two others died at hospitals. Some of the victims were children. The people being treated at trauma facilities range in age from 5 to 61 years old.

The shooter: Mauricio Garcia was shot and killed by authorities at the mall. He was in his early 30s and may have had neo-Nazi beliefs, although a motive has not been released.

Response: Rep. Keith Self (R), the congressman who represents the area, rebuked criticism of officials offering ''thoughts and prayers,'' for which he's received criticism. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott called the shooting an ''unspeakable tragedy.'' The shooting is the second-deadliest in the U.S. so far this year.

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Mon, 08 May 2023 14:25

The conservative host's patience regarding his contract with the network is said to be dwindling quickly

Conservative commentator Tucker Carlson is ready to go on the attack against Rupert Murdoch's Fox News if the network does not release him from his contract, Axios reported on Sunday, citing sources close to the pundit.

Fox fired its number-one host last month just hours before he was scheduled to go on air, but has not released Carlson from his $20 million per year deal, which forbids him to work elsewhere in the industry until January 2025.

While Carlson has made no public statement on his departure or his future plans, aside from a two-minute Twitter video promising his viewers that he would see them ''soon,'' he has retained entertainment lawyer Bryan Freedman to negotiate an exit to the contract. Sources claiming to be close to the newsman say he is losing patience with the network.

''His team is preparing for war. He wants his freedom,'' a ''close Carlson friend'' told Axios, noting that Carlson had previously said he wanted to ''get this done quiet and clean'' but his team was now ''going from peacetime to Defcon 1.''

The conservative icon ''knows where a lot of bodies are buried, and is ready to start drawing a map,'' another insider source agreed.

Carlson's allies in the media are supposedly prepared to go on the offensive against Fox, and outlets including video platform Rumble and cable network Newsmax have reportedly offered to pay him even more than his previous employer. Even billionaire Twitter CEO Elon Musk is reportedly interested, though the two have not discussed the details of any arrangement. ddd

''The idea that anyone is going to silence Tucker and prevent him from speaking to his audience is beyond preposterous,'' Freedman told Axios.

The network lost almost half of its audience in Carlson's 8pm time slot in the week following his firing, and ratings for the network's other shows have also declined precipitously '' especially in the 25-54 age demographic desirable to advertisers. Carlson's show drew over 3 million viewers per night, far more than the next most popular show.

The exact reason for Carlson's ouster has not been made public. Media critics including the New York Times point to leaked text messages from the anchor, specifically one in which Carlson admitted enjoying watching footage of an antifa protester being beaten by a group despite this not being ''how white men fight,'' then acknowledging the protester's humanity. Other leaked texts revealed Carlson did not believe the claim that Dominion Voting Systems was flipping votes for Democrat Joe Biden. Fox settled Dominion's defamation lawsuit for $787 million just days before firing the anchor.

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Mon, 08 May 2023 13:58

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Mon, 08 May 2023 13:32

ALLEN, Tex. '-- The gunman who opened fire on an outlet mall in a Dallas suburb on Saturday, killing at least eight people, had an apparent fascination with white-supremacist or neo-Nazi beliefs that are now being examined by investigators as a possible motive for the attack, people familiar with the investigation said Sunday.

Mauricio Garcia, a 33-year-old Dallas resident, had multiple weapons on him and five additional guns in his car nearby, said people familiar with the investigation who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the ongoing probe.

Authorities have not released a motive, but a patch on the shooter's chest said ''RWDS,'' an initialism that stands for Right Wing Death Squad, according to people familiar with the investigation. The phrase is popular among right-wing extremists, neo-Nazis and white supremacists, they said, and while there is still a great deal of evidence to analyze, and authorities have not reached any conclusions yet, investigators are approaching the shooting as a possible hate crime.

Witnesses said the gunman's tactical vest was also packed with ammunition magazines, indicating just how much carnage he hoped to inflict at one of the most common places for Americans to gather on the weekends '-- a shopping mall. Panicked video from the scene showed adults running as fast as they could to get away from the crack of rifle fire, their shopping bags flapping around them as they sprinted across the parking lot. One young boy in a red T-shirt ran away while screaming ''run,'' a look of terror on his face.

The mall shooting marks the second time in less than 10 days that Texas has had a mass killing in which a gunman trained a powerful rifle on people. The staccato bursts of gun violence in America are increasing, according to some groups that track shootings, while public pleas by officials including President Biden to stem the bloodshed appear to have little effect.

The shooter also injured at least seven people before a police officer who happened to be at the mall on an unrelated call fatally shot him at about 3:30 p.m., Allen Police Chief Brian Harvey said Saturday. Authorities believe that the gunman acted alone and that there were no further threats, Harvey said during a news briefing.

Ahmad Khan describes how he protected his children from the gunfire, one day after a gunman killed 8 people in a mass killing in Allen, Texas. (Video: Rich Matthews/The Washington Post)

At least one of the victims was a child, according to officials and witness accounts. A person wearing a security guard uniform was among the dead, according to several witnesses, but it was unclear whether the person was on duty at the time. A witness described finding a young boy alive under the corpse of his mother, who died protecting him.

The assailant was staying in a Dallas-area hotel at the time of the shooting, according to the people familiar with the investigation. Because the gunman is dead, a major focus of investigators is whether anyone knew what he planned to do or helped him in planning it. The gunman's parents have been cooperating with authorities, these people said. Agents with the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives are assisting with the investigation, according to officials.

Six victims were found dead at the scene, and nine people who had been injured were taken to hospitals by the local fire department, Allen Fire Chief Jon Boyd said Saturday. Two of them died at the hospital, police said.

The victims being treated at Medical City Healthcare trauma facilities ranged in age from 5 to 61, said Kathleen Beathard, a spokeswoman for the hospital system. At least three people remained in critical condition, according to an update Sunday. One patient was transferred to Medical City Children's Hospital and was in fair condition, Medical City Healthcare said.

Sherry Tutt was shopping at Victoria's Secret on Saturday when she heard booming sounds. People started rushing into the store, she said, and someone yelled, '''They're shooting!'''

Tutt and her fiance hurried into a storage area with a few dozen other customers, hiding among boxes. She said panic spread when the group had trouble getting through to 911. One woman was crying.

After about an hour, police escorted the group out of the store, telling them that if they had kids, they should cover their eyes. As she passed Fatburger, Tutt glimpsed two bodies '-- a sight she described as ''something I will never unsee.'' Told it was now safe to leave, scores of shoppers walked with their arms raised past police officers.

A woman who hid in a store at an Allen, Tex., mall during the shooting that killed eight recorded a video of crowd being escorted out by the police on May 6. (Video: Sherry Tutt/Facebook, Photo: Getty Images/Sherry Tutt/Facebook)

All the stores were closed Sunday at the Allen outlet mall, and police blocked entrances to the center of the sprawling complex. The parking lot in the center of the mall was packed with cars, which shoppers and employees had not been allowed to retrieve by mid-Sunday. Later in the day, the FBI said authorities would be assisting shoppers in reclaiming their vehicles until 9:30 p.m. Sunday night.

Biden ordered flags flown at half-staff through Thursday in recognition of the shooting victims. In a statement, he expressed condolences for the victims and called on Republican members of Congress to support a bill banning assault weapons and high-capacity magazines, among other changes to gun laws.

''We need more action, faster to save lives,'' he said. ''Too many families have empty chairs at their dinner tables.''

Aerial footage of the scene, about 25 miles northeast of Dallas, showed what appeared to be bodies underneath white sheets on the ground outside an H&M outlet, where much of the violence was concentrated.

Steven Spainhouer pulled up to the mall minutes after his son, an H&M employee, called and said a shooter was inside the store. Spainhouer, 63, who said he was an Army and law enforcement veteran, arrived to find people running on the freeway and the streets. Police and paramedics were not yet on the scene.

Spainhouer described trying to help people who were shot outside H&M. He started with a girl who was in a ''praying position'' in the bushes outside the store. ''I felt for a pulse,'' recalled Spainhouer, who now works in risk management. ''There was none. I pulled her head back. There was no face.''

Helen Bennett said she and her daughter were in the HanesBrands store when the manager saw someone in the parking lot exiting a car with a weapon. Everyone inside locked themselves in a storeroom, where they hoped fervently that bullets would not fly through the walls. A mother rocked her baby to keep the child from crying.

''As soon as we got in the backroom, we heard the shots '-- BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM!'' Bennett said.

Shooting in Texas mall is the second-deadliest so far this year

Colin Palakiko, a 36-year-old cook, said he had gone to the mall to do some shopping for an upcoming vacation to Hawaii. He was in a Tory Burch shoe store with his mother when a girl ran in and said there was a shooter outside.

After taking shelter in the store for 45 minutes, the police led them outside in a single-file line. He heard a woman screaming frantically '-- she was saying another vehicle that was shot up was her boyfriend's.

''That was the most horrifying sound I ever heard,'' Palakiko said. There was a person Palakiko thought was a mall security guard on the ground in a white security uniform: He had been shot in the front of his body and was lying face down.

Deirdra Gordon, who was visiting from Arkansas, said she wept as police led her and others out of Banana Republic after the shooting. She and her husband, Bobby Gordon, said they saw several bodies, including a person in a security uniform and someone they thought was the shooter.

Nearby, a police officer helped a man with a leg wound exit a restaurant. The Gordons also saw bullet holes in store windows and the windshield of a gray sedan.

''It was just a beautiful Saturday,'' Deirdra Gordon said. ''It was just nice, and then all of a sudden, no one wanted to believe that that's what was happening.''

Sonia Ali, whose son was working at the mall during the shooting and was not physically harmed, told The Washington Post that many of her son's fellow high school students also work there. The school has emailed students, offering to help those experiencing trauma from the incident, she said.

On the suburban street where the gunman's parents live, several of their neighbors described him as a quiet person who didn't seem to court trouble. ''He just seemed to be aloof, kind of disconnected. But he wasn't threatening,'' said Kevin Todd, who lives down the street.

One neighbor said that she didn't know him well but that he would often honk his horn and wave when he drove past. The Garcia family had lived on the street for many years and were well-liked, neighbors said, adding that the gunman moved out of his parents' home earlier this year.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and Attorney General Ken Paxton, all Republicans, were in Allen on Sunday afternoon for a memorial service at Cottonwood Creek Church. Earlier in the day, Abbott told ''Fox News Sunday'' that his priority in response to mass killings is to address mental health crises, rather than to tighten gun regulations. (Research shows that stricter gun laws could lessen the severity of mass killings and may decrease overall gun violence.)

''We've got to find a way in this country where we can once again reunite Americans as Americans and come together in one big family and, in that regard, find ways to reduce violence in our country,'' Abbott said in the interview.

Last year, Texas had the most mass killings by gun of any state, with six. This year it has already had three.

Less than two weeks ago and 240 miles south, a man allegedly killed five of his neighbors after they asked him to stop shooting his AR-15-style rifle near their home in Cleveland, Tex. The politics of gun violence and gun control are still being debated in the state, which is about to mark the first anniversary of a mass shooting at an elementary school in Uvalde, Tex., that left 19 children and two teachers dead.

In 2021, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recorded 4,613 firearms-related deaths in Texas. The state's annual death toll from guns has increased steadily since 2014, when it recorded 2,848 such deaths.

On Monday, Texas state Sen. Roland Gutierrez and fellow Democrats plan to meet in Austin with relatives of victims of last year's Uvalde school shooting to call for immediate action to address gun violence in Texas.

Democrats have proposed what Gutierrez calls ''common-sense gun safety measures,'' including a 30-day waiting period and increasing the age at which people can buy AR-15-style guns from 18 to 21, universal background checks, extreme risk protective orders, requiring safe gun storage, and banning the type of expanding bullets used in Uvalde.

Gutierrez said it wasn't clear whether Republican state lawmakers would be moved to take action after the latest shooting. ''I don't know. We'll find out tomorrow what the pulse is. My feeling is these people just want to pray their way out of this,'' he said.

Texas has moved in recent years to loosen restrictions on firearms under Abbott's leadership. In 2021, the state began allowing permitless carry, allowing residents to carry handguns in public without a license. The state ''does not specifically put restrictions on who can carry a long gun such as a rifle or shotgun,'' according to a Texas government website.

Weakened gun laws put Texas Gov. Greg Abbott on the defensive

Rep. Keith Self, a Republican congressman whose district includes Allen, told The Post that debating politics wasn't appropriate in the aftermath of the shooting.

Instead of limiting gun rights, Self said, local governments need to be free to better defend public spaces from armed criminals. He called proposals to restrict gun rights, such as raising the age at which people can purchase AR-15-style weapons, ''a knee-jerk reaction that does not stop criminals.''

Texas congressman criticized for prayers comment after mall shooting

Still, gun-control advocates called for a substantive response. Shannon Watts, founder of the advocacy group Moms Demand Action, lamented how such killings have become commonplace in the United States. She noted that she'd gone to school in the county where the latest incident took place.

''If you haven't been impacted yet by gun violence, God bless you. But sadly, it's coming '-- to your state, community, school,'' Watts said.

Mushtaq Abdullah, 38, said he walked past multiple bodies while exiting the mall Saturday. He was still anxious the next day. His car remained at the mall, and he had heard authorities were checking vehicles left there with bomb-sniffing dogs.

On Sunday morning when he took his family to brunch, he brought a gun for the first time.

Barrett, Iati, Shammas, Moyer and Javaid reported from Washington, and Pietsch and Masih reported from Seoul. Molly Hennessy-Fiske in Houston; John D. Harden in Oakland; Perry Stein, Alex Horton and Andrea Salcedo in Washington contributed to this report.

The Allen, Tex. mall shootingA gunman opened fire at Allen Premium Outlets, a shopping mall in a Dallas suburb, on Saturday. At least eight people were killed and seven injured. The gunman was fatally shot by a police officer.

The victims: Six of the eight victims were found dead at the scene; two others died at hospitals. Some of the victims were children. The people being treated at trauma facilities range in age from 5 to 61 years old.

The shooter: Mauricio Garcia was shot and killed by authorities at the mall. He was in his early 30s and may have had neo-Nazi beliefs, although a motive has not been released.

Response: Rep. Keith Self (R), the congressman who represents the area, rebuked criticism of officials offering ''thoughts and prayers,'' for which he's received criticism. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott called the shooting an ''unspeakable tragedy.'' The shooting is the second-deadliest in the U.S. so far this year.

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Mon, 08 May 2023 13:31

The Texas mall mass shooter has been named as 33-year-old Mauricio Garcia, who investigators believe may have been a white supremacist or neo-Nazi who followed extremists ideologies.

Garcia, 33, killed eight people - including children - before he was shot dead at Allen Premium Outlets on May 6.

The killer fired more than 100 times during his rampage, and he had more ammunition and weapons in his car - which he was seen coming out of before the bloodbath.

Garcia, dressed in tactical gear and armed with an AR-15 and a handgun, opened fire outside a H&M store on a busy Saturday afternoon in Allen, Texas.

He was eventually killed by a police officer - who was on the scene for an unrelated call but rushed over when he heard the gunshots outside the H&M.

Garcia was a security guard, but it is unclear if he worked at Allen Premium Outlets.

The gunman, Mauricio Garcia, was dressed in SWAT gear with a semi-automatic rile at his side. He is seen laying dead outside another Allen store, a dozen feet from the H&M shop

His gray car is seen parked outside his family home in Dallas before the shooting

Dashcam footage showed the moment a gunman opened fire and killed multiple civilians - as cops are reportedly on the hunt for a second gunman believed to have aided in the assault

A bouquet of flowers is left in front of the Allen Premium Outlet Mall entrance in remembrance of those killed during the mass shooting that happened the day before in Allen, Texas

It's also believed that Garcia was living at a motel at the time of the massacre. Police also searched that residence and found additional ammunition, WSJ reports.

According to the Washington Post, a patch the gunman was wearing on his chest alluded to his extremist ideologies - although no formal motive has been released.

The patch read 'RWDS' which is an acronym for 'Right Wing Death Squads.'

This comes after new audio revealed how the heroic officer made a frantic phone call begging for his colleagues to join him on the scene, radioing: 'I need everybody I got.'

The officer bravely ran towards the active shooter - who was armed with 60 rounds and had shot more than a dozen people by this point - and killed him.

About two minutes after first calling for backup, the cop said: 'I got him down.' Minutes later, another voice is heard on the radio saying: 'We got victims. I need an ambulance.'

The FBI and police raided dead Garcia's Dallas home just one hour after the massacre and requested a translator to speak with his family.

Neighbors say they often saw Garcia wearing a security guard-type uniform, but he was 'very quiet' and had 'very unusual behavior.'

His gray Dodge Charger, which was seen at the scene, was often parked outside the home.

Mauricio Garcia, the shooter, died at the scene. He was shot dead by a cop - but he had already let off bullets and killed eight people himself

Officers with the Allen Police Department man the mobile command post the day after the gunman shot multiple people

Mall employees embrace as they greet each other the day after a shooting at Allen Premium Outlets on May 7, 2023 in Allen, Texas

Nasir Willis and Hannah McAbee from Denton come out to the mall to reflect as Nasir has a cousin who was here during the shooting

Dashcam video showed gunman Mauricio Garcia getting out of a car and shooting at people on the sidewalk on Saturday afternoon. More than three dozen shots could be heard as the vehicle that was recording the video drove off.

Garcia was using an AR-15-style gun during the mass shooting, and was dressed in full tactical SWAT gear.

Allen Fire Chief Jonathan Boyd confirmed that seven people died at the scene, including the gunman, and then a further two victims died in hospital.

Three of the wounded were in critical condition in the evening, and four were stable, Boyd said in an update on Saturday night.

A Dallas-area medical group said it was treating victims as young as five-years-old.

Investigators confirmed they believe shooter Garcia was working alone, but they have not yet released any motive for the killings.

Fontayne Payton, 35, was at H&M when he heard the sound of gunshots through his headphones. He said: 'It was so loud, it sounded like it was right outside.

'I pray it wasn't kids, but it looked like kids,' he said.

The bodies were covered in white towels, slumped over bags on the ground. 'It broke me when I walked out to see that.'

The front entrance of a home connected to suspected mall gunman, Mauricio Garcia

Police and FBI searching the house on Saturday night

Glass is seen shattered across the sidewalk in front of one of the fashion stores in Allen, where the mass shooting took place just after 3pm on Saturday, May 6

Payton then saw the body of the dead shooter - which was the only one not covered, he recalled.

Another witness, Kimberly Blakey, said she and her daughter, 14, were among the crowd of people rushing to flee the parking lot after the gunfire started.

She said the raining bullets were 'non-stop.' Her car got shot at during the ordeal as she tried to escape.

Blakey told CNN: 'I told my daughter to get down. I could hear her start praying.'

Another witness, Sheliza Ramlall, who was in the Nike store when the violence broke out, said: 'I had the most horrifying experience earlier. I was standing in line at the Nike store when all of a sudden people started to scream and run.

'The people in the doorway saw the man with the gun outside and raised the alarm. All of us in line dropped to the floor and started to crawl looking for a hiding place while falling over each other.

'I crawled behind the counter. At that moment, I realized that we were right in plain sight and and figured that I needed to get away from the front.

MacKenzie Bates embraces her mother Rochelle where flowers were left at the scene of the shooting

Residents return in an effort to retrieve their vehicles at the scene

'As I looked to the back of the store, I heard someone saying 'get to the back, get to the back' and everyone started running at that point. An employee opened the back door and let us out. We are standing by the roadside shaken, crying, and hugging each other.

'Not knowing where the gunman was or what was happening on the other side was terrifying but I wanted to get out of there so I left the crowd and started to flag the cars down to give me a lift.

'An elderly woman stopped and I hopped in a panic. She started to tell me about the gunshots she heard and drove me to my car. I raced out of there with an elevated heartbeat.

'I am grateful for our brave first responders who stopped the shooter and helped the people to safety.'

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Mon, 08 May 2023 12:59

California's reparations task force has approved recommendations which could give black residents $1.2million each as compensation for slavery and discrimination.

The nine-member committee voted Saturday to approve proposals on how the state can compensate and apologize for generations of harm caused by discriminatory policies.

A black resident in California who has lived in the state their whole life until the age of 71 could receive more than $1.2million in compensation, if the recommendations are forged into law.

But residents who attended the official meeting in Oakland hit out at the estimated costs of reparations, which some believe it is 'nowhere near enough,' demanding $200million direct cash payments to individuals instead.

California became the first state to form a reparations task force in September 2020 following national protests over the death of George Floyd who was killed by a white Minneapolis Police officer.

California's reparations task force has approved recommendations which could give black residents $1.2million each as compensation for slavery and discrimination

Residents, including Reverend Tony Pierce, believe it is 'nowhere near enough' and demanded $200million as some called it a 'further injustice' and others called for direct cash payments

Its final report is to be sent to lawmakers before July 1 where it will forecast compensation estimates calculated by several economists the group is working with.

The amount these reparations would cost the state were not outlined in the report but previous calculations from economists predicted it could cost around $800billion- more than twice California's approximate $300 billion annual budget.

The report suggests that the amounts, based on what has been lost to specific types of racial discrimination, should be paid back to black residents.

This includes $2,352 lost per person per year for the over-policing and mass incarceration of black communities and $3,366 per person per year of residence between 1933 and 1977 for 'discriminatory lending and zoning'.

And $13,619 per person per year of residence in California for 'injustices and discrimination in health' and $77,000 per person for black-owned business losses and devaluations is included in the figure.

This means a lifelong black California resident aged at least 71 could receive more than $1.2million in compensation.

But the 100 residents and activists who gathered at the meeting were not impressed with the calculations in the report.

Reverend Tony Pierce aired his frustration and pointed to the country's 'broken promise' to offer 40 acres and a mule to newly freed slaves.

He said: 'You know that the numbers should be equivocal to what an acre was back then. We were given 40, OK? We were given 40 acres.

'You know what that number is. You keep trying to talk about now, yet you research back to slavery and you say nothing about slavery, nothing.

'So, the equivocal number from the 1860s for 40 acres to today is $200 million for each and every African-American.'

He then hit out at the panel for not being ambitious enough with the reparations plan.

'You're not supposed to be afraid,' he added. 'You're just supposed to tell the truth. You're not supposed to be the gatekeepers. You're supposed to say what the people want and hear from the people.'

Reverend Tony Pierce aired his frustration and pointed to the country's 'broken promise' to offer 40 acres and a mule to newly freed slaves

He hit out at the panel for not being ambitious enough with the reparations plan

Assembly member Reggie Jones-Sawyer (left), who sits on the panel, said the recommendation of an apology letter from the state of California is one of the most important. State Sen. Steven Bradford is pictured on the right

While one woman said: '$1.2million is nowhere near enough. It should be starting at least $5million like San Francisco.

'We want direct cash payments just like how the stimulus [checks] were sent out. It's our inheritance, and we can handle it.'

And another resident added: 'This million dollars we're hearing on the news is just inadequate and a further injustice if that's what this task force is going to recommend for Black Americans for 400-plus years and continuing of slavery and injustice that we have been forced to endure.

'To even throw a million dollars at us is just an injustice.'

And Elaine Brown, former Black Panther Party chairwoman, urged people to express their frustrations through demonstrations.

The report insisted the figures are just estimates and that lawmakers would have to conduct additional research to work out the specifics.

Panel members recommended direct payments for those eligible in the report.

'The initial down payment is the beginning of a process of addressing historical injustices not the end of it,' it read.

The reparations task force has also asked for those eligible to receive cash 'down payments' as soon as any recommendations are forged into law while they wait for the amount of compensation they are entitled to is calculated.

The task force, made up of elected officials, academics and lawyers, decided on the eligibility criteria last year.

It determined that any descendant of enslaved African Americans or of a 'free Black person living in the United States prior to the end of the 19th century' should be entitled to reparations.

If legislation is passed for the payments, the committee suggested that a state agency be created to process claims and make payments with elderly black residents being the priority.

Around 1.8 million people in California identify as black or African American.

Cheryl Grills, a member of the task force, said the actual amount that the state pays out is the 'least important' aspect of the program

Kamilah Moore, a reparatory justice scholar and an attorney, chaired the task force and previously stated she plans to be as 'radical as possible' when it comes to deciding who will receive reparations and how much

The final report is to be sent to lawmakers before July 1 where it will forecast compensation estimates calculated by several economists the group is working with

While voting on its final report, the panel also recommended that state legislators formally apologize to its black residents.

A preliminary report published last year highlighted how enslaved black people were sent to California during the Gold Rush era.

And in the 1950s and 60s racially restrictive covenants and redlining segregated them in many of California's largest cities.

A point of confusion in the discourse on reparations has been whether the amount the task force recommends will be a literal suggestion to the Legislature or rather a broader estimation of losses incurred by black people due to decades of inequality.

'We want to make sure that this is presented out in a way that does not reinforce the preoccupation with a dollar figure, which is the least important piece of this,' Cheryl Grills, a member of the state task force, previously told CalMatters.

'It's important, but it's the least important in terms of being able to get to a point in our country's history and in California's history where we recognize that the harm cuts across multiple areas and domains and that the repair needs to align with that.

'It's really unfortunate. I'm actually sad to see that our news media is not able to nuance better. It's almost like, "What's going to be sensational" as opposed to what's important,' she said.

But during a task force meeting in March, state Sen. Steven Bradford said it would be an 'uphill fight' to get the Legislature to pass any recommendations.

Kamilah Moore, a reparatory justice scholar and an attorney, chaired the task force and previously stated she plans to be as 'radical as possible' when it comes to deciding who will receive reparations and how much.

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Mon, 08 May 2023 12:58

California's recent decision not to pay back some $20 billion borrowed from the federal government to cover unemployment benefits during the pandemic will fall on the shoulders of employers, according to experts.

California Governor Gavin Newsom (D)"The state should have taken care of the loans with the COVID money it received from the government in 2021," said Marc Joffe, policy analyst at the Cato Institute'--a public policy think tank headquartered in Washington, D.C., in a statement to the Epoch Times.

In the state's proposed 2023-2024 budget, $750 million was allocated to start paying down the loans, until Governor Gavin Newsom nixed the provision in early January, leaving businesses in the state responsible for the loans, as mandated by federal regulations - so that the federal unemployment tax rate of .6 percent will increase by .3% per year starting in 2023 until the loan is extinguished.

"California is just not really an employer-friendly state," said Joffe. "This one thing will not be a difference between a business remaining open or closing, but it's just another burden on top of the many burdens the state puts on employers."

In total, 22 states borrowed money for unemployment insurance from the federal government. All but four, California, Colorado, Connecticut, and New York, have paid back their debts - with California owing the most by far at $18.6 billion as of May 2, followed by New York at $8 billion, Connecticut at $187 million and Colorado at $77 million, according to data from the US Treasury.

More via the Epoch Times,

Initially, the state borrowed from its reserves to pay the benefits, but after exhausting its coffers borrowed to cover expenses, analysts said.

Exacerbating the situation were unprecedented levels of fraud occurring across the state, due to limited oversight and antiquated computer systems, according to Lee Ohanian, professor of economics at the University of California''Los Angeles.

Analytics firm LexisNexis estimated the total cost of the fraud at $32.6 billion.

Investigations have since uncovered that illegitimate unemployment benefits payments were paid to convicted felons, with one address receiving 60 separate fraudulent payments.

Fraud is a persistent issue historically with the program, and a $2 million federal grant in 2013 sought to address the issue with new computer software systems.

The upgrade successfully stopped instances of fraud, but further improvements stopped with the end of the grant in 2016, reportedly due to the agency's reluctance to take on the annual expense for the third-party service.

''They were penny wise and pound foolish,'' Ohanian told The Epoch Times.

At a cost of $2 million annual investment, the program would have cost $14 million to operate since it was terminated.

''Sadly, this is just a trifecta of bad decisions,'' Ohanian said. ''The [Employment Development Department] made a bad decision to not renew its lease for the fraud detection software, the state government took out a loan and chose to welch on the debt'--which is outrageous'--and now businesses are repaying more in taxes for the incredibly unwise decisions and mistakes of the state government.''

Reports that the state is seeking forgiveness from the federal government were met with resistance by policy experts, including Ohanian.

''We've made a lot of bad decisions and we expect the rest of the country to pay for it,'' he said. ''It also raises questions about the future: If the state is going to default on the $20 billion federal loans, how safe are municipal bonds from California?''

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Mon, 08 May 2023 12:53

At least seven people were arrested in Manhattan Saturday after shutting down subway service and clashing with NYPD officers while protesting the chokehold death of homeless man Jordan Neely, law enforcement sources told The Post.

Dozens of demonstrators jumped onto the subway tracks at Lexington Avenue and East 63rd Street around 6:15 p.m., forcing an oncoming Q train to slam on the brakes at the mouth of the tunnel, video shows.

''No justice, no peace!'' the protesters chanted as police can be heard struggling to call for order in the background.

The risky move caused the power to temporarily shut off in the Lenox Hill station.

After several minutes, the police were able to get the protesters off the tracks, allowing the train to roll into the station, but demonstrators were determined to continue blocking transit service.

The group was calling for justice in the case of Neely's Monday homicide.

He was held in a fatal chokehold by 24-year-old marine Daniel Penny after yelling at subway riders and throwing trash.

Protestors jumped onto the subway tracks at Lexington Avenue and East 63rd Street while calling for justice in Jordan Neely's death. FREEDOMNEWS TVPenny '-- who has since acquired a legal team who claims he ''never intended to harm'' the homeless man '-- has not been charged with the crime, despite the medical examiner's ruling that Neely was choked to death.

Another video filmed by journalist Rebecca Brannan shows several protestors barricading the car's open doorway so that commuters were forced to stay inside.

A frustrated straphanger begged officers to help remove the demonstrators so he could get off the train while the protestors verbally berated the man.

At least seven people were taken into custody. FREEDOMNEWS TV Protesters blocking the subway tracks in NYC. Sam Hartson / Freedom News TV ''No justice, no peace!'' the protesters chanted. Sam Hartson / Freedom News TVThey shouted ''find another train'' and ''you not getting off this train sir'' at him, while offering him advice for other routes he could take.

Chaos erupted once police began evacuating the station.

Several protestors became aggressive and began pushing against officers, which ignited a small mosh of people rushing toward the brawls.

What we know about NYC subway choking victim Jordan NeelyWho is Neely?Jordan Neely, 30, a homeless man, was strangled aboard a northbound F train just before 2:30 p.m. on May 1, according to police.

He reportedly started acting erratically on the train and harassing other passengers before being restrained and ultimately choked by a straphanger, identified as a 24-year-old Marine from Queens.

The Marine, who was seen on video applying the chokehold, was taken into custody and later released but the DA is mulling charges, which could include involuntary manslaughter, according to experts.

Why is there fallout over Neely's death?The city medical examiner ruled Neely's death a homicide, noting he died due to ''compression of neck (chokehold).'' This will be weighed during the investigation into whether charges will be brought for Neely's death.

Neely's aunt told The Post that he became a ''complete mess'' following the brutal murder of his mother in 2007. She noted he was schizophrenic while suffering from PTSD and depression.

''The whole system just failed him. He fell through the cracks of the system,'' Carolyn Neely said.

Law enforcement sources said Neely had ''numerous'' arrests on his record, including for drugs, disorderly conduct, and fare beating.

At the time of his death, Neely had a warrant out for his arrest for a November 2021 case in which he was accused of assaulting a 67-year-old woman in the East Village, the sources said.

Mayor Eric Adams has said it's important for the DA to complete the investigation into Neely's death and not rush to conclusions.

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The NYPD tackled several protestors to the ground to execute arrests.

The violent clashes resumed on the street level when protestors blocked the roadway intersection.

Protestors and the NYPD fought when officers began evacuating the station. FREEDOMNEWS TV The violent clashes resumed on the street level when protestors blocked the roadway intersection. Sam Hartson / Freedom News TVOne protestor told arresting officers ''I can't breathe,'' a nod to the violent murder of Eric Garner at the hands of arresting NYPD officers in 2014.

The man was taken away in cuffs.

Sources told The Post at least seven people were taken into custody, though the number could continue to grow.

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Mon, 08 May 2023 12:44

The gunman who killed eight people and injured seven others before being shot dead by police at a Texas outlet mall has been identified as Mauricio Garcia, 33, the Texas Department of Public Safety announced Sunday.

A Dallas home linked to Garcia's parents was searched by police Saturday night following the massacre outside the Allen Premium Outlets, and officials also probed a motel where the suspected shooter had booked an extended stay, law enforcement sources told local outlet WFAA-TV.

Garcia did not have a serious criminal history and was working as a security guard, though its unclear where, CBS News reported.

Officials are also investigating any possible ties between the suspect and radical beliefs after he was found wearing a patch on his chest that suggested white supremacist or neo-Nazi leanings, according to the Washington Post.

The FBI branch in Dallas, which is helping lead the case with the Texas Department of Public Safety, confirmed officials were searching two locations related to the suspect, but did not provide any additional information.

According to the Texas Online Private Security database, Garcia was approved to work as a commissioned security guard in the state from April 2016 to April 2020, and had three previous employers before his license expired.

Records show he received firearms proficiency training in 2015, as well as further firearms training 2018. DPS, which maintains the database, automatically disqualifies applicants who have committed certain violent crimes.

Garcia's neighbors told WFAA that he drove a gray Charger that always parked in front of his parents' home, but that they had not seen him nor the car in the past few weeks.

Mourners set up memorial sites outside the Allen Premium Outlets for the shooting victims. REUTERS The gunman was shot by an officer who was patrolling the area.A gray sedan was captured at the scene of Saturday's bloodbath, where a man stepped out of the car dressed in black tactical gear and armed with an AR-15-style rifle before opening fire on shoppers in Allen, located about 25 minutes north of Dallas.

Along with the rifle '-- which witnesses said was used to shoot dozens of rounds '-- police found more weapons, including a handgun, and ammunition on the suspect and his car, NBC News reported.

The gunman was shot dead outside the H&M store by an officer who was patrolling the area and frantically called in for backup as he rushed towards the gunfire.

Police conducted a coordinated search of Garcia's family home and motel room. AP Officials kept spectators out of the area as an officer confronted and shot dead the gunman. APNeighbors noted that they never saw Garcia armed with a weapon at his parent's home, nor did they recall any incidents involving him.

Investigators believe that the gunman acted alone, Allen Police Chief Brian Harvey has told reporters.

Dallas Police could not immediately respond to The Post's request for comment on any possible 911 calls previously made to the house, as the city is still reeling from a ransomware attack that hit its system last Wednesday.

Six of those killed outside the mall were found dead at the scene. Nine other victims were hospitalized, two of whom later died from their wounds, Allen Fire Chief Jonathan Boyd said.

Shoppers ran out as officers closed off the outlet mall where eight people were killed. APOfficials said the wounded ranged in age from 5 to 61, with three patients reported in fair condition and three others still listed under critical condition.

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Mon, 08 May 2023 12:42

Neera Tanden has extensive experience in Democratic policy circles, having previously run the sprawling progressive think tank Center for American Progress. | Andrew Harnik/AP Photo

President Joe Biden announced on Friday that Neera Tanden will serve as the next head of his domestic policy council.

Tanden, a longtime prominent Democratic operative, will replace Susan Rice, who plans to leave the administration later this month. Tanden has spent the last year-and-a-half as senior adviser and staff secretary in the White House, after her initial nomination to run the Office of Management and Budget faltered in the face of Senate opposition.

''While growing up, Neera relied on some of the critical programs that she will oversee as Domestic Policy Advisor,'' Biden said in a statement announcing the move. ''I know those insights will serve my Administration and the American people well.''

In addition, the White House announced that Stef Feldman, a longtime Biden aide dating back to the Obama administration, will replace Tanden in the role of staff secretary.

The decision to elevate Tanden comes as Biden prepares a reelection campaign that will rely, in part, on the effective implementation of a slate of domestic policy accomplishments spanning infrastructure, climate and health care. The Domestic Policy Council under Rice had also played a central role in devising the administration's strategy for replacing Title 42, the strict Trump-era border policy that's set to lift next week.

Tanden has extensive experience in Democratic policy circles, having previously run the sprawling progressive think tank Center for American Progress. She also did a stint as a senior health official in the Obama administration, where she played a role in crafting the Affordable Care Act.

Still, her selection is likely to be met with trepidation from Republicans and even some Democrats who found themselves the targets at times of her once-combative Twitter account.

It was her tweeting that led to staunch opposition from Republicans and Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) to her initial nomination to run OMB. The Domestic Policy Council role does not require Senate confirmation.

Tanden did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

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Mon, 08 May 2023 11:36

NewsGuard, the news reliability data service that uses trained analysts to assess the credibility of news and information publishers, today announced the launch of a data product for podcast streaming platforms and advertisers that will enable safe, responsible advertising on news and information podcasts'--a category many advertisers avoid due to brand-safety concerns.

The same ratings will also assist platforms with news content moderation.Starting today, brands, ad agencies, adtech companies, and podcast streaming platforms can license credibility ratings for the most listened-to news and information podcasts. These ratings are produced and regularly updated by NewsGuard's team of analysts, who apply basic, apolitical journalistic criteria and a transparent process to rate the credibility of each podcast.

NewsGuard has been the leader in the trust industry countering misinformation since its launch in 2018. Podcast ratings now join the company's earlier ratings for news and information websites as well as for TV news networks and programs, enabling brands now confidently to advertise responsibly across the web, broadcast and podcasts, including to support quality journalism while ensuring their brand safety.

The podcast ratings include a trust score from 0-10, overall risk level, metadata fields, and a detailed written explanation of the podcast's content and record of credibility and transparency. The ratings are used by brands and agencies to direct their ad spend toward highly trustworthy, brand-safe news podcasts while being protected from brand-safety and brand-suitability risks inherent in advertising on news and politics content.

Podcast streaming platforms can also use these ratings to moderate content on their platforms and promote highly trustworthy news and information podcasts in user searches and curated sections.

NewsGuard's global team of misinformation experts will have rated the top 200 news podcasts on the largest streaming platforms by January 2024. These podcasts comprise the bulk of overall news and information podcast listenership and present valuable audiences for brands to reach.

''The global podcasting market is projected to have an annual compound growth rate of 27.6% from 2023 to 2030,'' said Sruthi Palaniappan, NewsGuard's VP of Operations and New Products. ''New and existing partners can now benefit from greater NewsGuard coverage across their omni-channel campaigns, using our transparently sourced ratings for news podcasts to enable advertising on trusted news and reach engaged audiences they might otherwise miss. These ratings will be especially valuable for brands that until now have been reluctant to support news and information podcasts with their advertising because there has not been an independent journalist-led transparent assessment of these podcasts to ensure advertisers' brand safety.''

NewsGuard has already partnered with three of the largest podcast streaming platforms, which will inform their business partners of the availability of NewsGuard ratings.

Using the NewsGuard ratings, agencies and brands can decide to:

Target only trustworthy podcasts by filtering based on overall score or risk level'--for example, only buying ads on podcasts that score a 7 and above or receive a ''lowestrisk'' rating.Avoid advertising on podcasts that regularly convey false information.Avoid advertising on heavily biased or politically slanted news shows.Podcast streaming platforms will also use NewsGuard's Podcast Reliability Ratings to curate recommended sections with highly trustworthy podcasts and make other content moderation decisions.

NewsGuard determines which news and information podcasts to rate based on factors including reported engagement, estimated ad revenue, and the volume of news and information content in the podcast's episodes. The podcasts rated by NewsGuard include those that cover topics including politics, current affairs, health, business, and finance.

Rating Criteria and ProcessThe journalists at NewsGuard assess news and information podcasts based on five journalistic criteria:

Does not regularly convey false, unchallenged information: 4 pointsConveys news on important topics responsibly: 3 pointsIs not dominated by one-sided opinion: 1 pointDiscloses, or does not have, a political agenda: 1 pointDifferentiates advertising and commercial partnerships from editorial content: 1 pointBased on NewsGuard's judgment with regard to whether the podcast generally adheres to each of the criteria, a podcast receives a score from 0-10, a corresponding risk level, and is accompanied by a detailed Nutrition Label that explains the score.

To illustrate the process, NewsGuard is making a rating and associated Nutrition Label available publicly for the following five podcasts:

Wall Street Journal's The Journal which received a Green 10 out of 10 score;Crooked Media's Pod Save America which received a Green 9 out of 10 score;SiriusXM's The Megyn Kelly Show which received a Green 8 out of 10 score;MSNBC's The ReidOut which received a Red 5 out of 10 score;Louder with Crowder which received a Red 5 out of 10 score.These sample Nutrition Labels can be found here.

To learn more about NewsGuard's Podcast Reliability Ratings and how they can help your team, please contact partnerships@newsguardtech.com for a free demo.

About NewsGuardLaunched in March 2018 by media entrepreneur and award-winning journalist Steven Brill and former Wall Street Journal publisher Gordon Crovitz, NewsGuard provides credibility ratings and detailed ''Nutrition Labels'' for thousands of news and information websites. NewsGuard rates all the news and information websites that account for 95% of online engagement across the U.S., U.K., Canada, Germany, France, Austria, Italy, and now in Australia and New Zealand. NewsGuard products include NewsGuard, NewsGuard for Advertisers, which helps marketers concerned about their brand safety, the Misinformation Fingerprints catalog of top false narratives online, and NewsGuard for AI, used to train generative AI such as chat bots.

In 2022, NewsGuard began rating television news and information programs and networks using criteria similar to those used to score websites but adapted for the video medium. NewsGuard's TV ratings are the first to go beyond its initial ratings of websites. Ratings for CTV and OTT news programming and news and information podcasts will also be available for licensing in 2023.

NewsGuard's ratings are conducted by trained journalists using apolitical criteria of journalistic practice.

NewsGuard's ratings and Nutrition Labels are licensed by browsers, news aggregators, education companies, and social media and search platforms to make NewsGuard's information about news websites available to their users. Consumers can also access NewsGuard's website ratings by purchasing a subscription to NewsGuard, which costs AU$6.95, NZ$6.95, US$4.95/month, '‚¬4.95/month or £4.95/month, and includes access to NewsGuard's browser extension for Chrome, Safari, and Firefox and its mobile app for iOS and Android. The extension is available for free on Microsoft's Edge browser through a license agreement with Microsoft. Hundreds of public libraries globally receive free access to use NewsGuard's browser extension on their public-access computers to give their patrons more context for the news they encounter online. For more information, including to download the browser extension and review the ratings process, visit newsguardtech.com.

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Thu, 11 May 2023 03:49

The Post Millennial : Trump on whether he wants Ukraine or Russia to win the war: "I want everybody to stop dying." https://t.co/QutWJnn7hR

Thu May 11 00:58:52 +0000 2023

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DEMO VIDEOS Get to know everything Vimeo can do for your business. Watch now

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Staying Sane : @stillgray Her mother was right. She does seem to have fallen from a coconut tree. 🤣🤣🤣

Thu May 11 01:35:46 +0000 2023

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Wed, 10 May 2023 14:56

Kari Lake : CAUGHT: @KariLake called @PiersMorgan out for being owned by Big Pharma & he went and proved her RIGHT. The Fake'... https://t.co/dANNgYhjHG

Tue May 09 19:28:12 +0000 2023

Chappy : @KariLake @piersmorgan Great work, Kari! Morgan is a shill for Big Pharma. BP has deep pockets as we see day in and'... https://t.co/kMzKRrPhnj

Wed May 10 14:54:05 +0000 2023

DougLife Entertainment : @KariLake @piersmorgan Get 'em!!!

Wed May 10 14:52:36 +0000 2023

JoPo : @KariLake @piersmorgan Hopping she will be involved with Tucker new venture'...on some level

Wed May 10 14:51:59 +0000 2023

The Original Dudette : @KariLake @piersmorgan You are good. Thank you for saying the truth of loud

Wed May 10 14:51:26 +0000 2023

Real You : @KariLake @piersmorgan The UK commentators can't be trusted as the majority are paid by UK commissioners and Schwab

Wed May 10 14:50:27 +0000 2023

LeonNiala : @KariLake @piersmorgan Piers... who made you edit the Big Pharma... your handlers or Big Pharma?

Wed May 10 14:50:09 +0000 2023

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Wed, 10 May 2023 12:38

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Wed, 10 May 2023 02:38

Tucker Carlson : We're back. https://t.co/sG5t9gr60O

Tue May 09 20:42:50 +0000 2023

GOP is a HATE CULT : @TuckerCarlson https://t.co/jp2te0U0ar

Wed May 10 02:38:47 +0000 2023

JuanCarlos : @TuckerCarlson 30 years of lying & now we are supposed to believe that you will be telling the truth.🏠The real tru'... https://t.co/zCXqkdh9Xx

Wed May 10 02:38:46 +0000 2023

PursueGod : @TuckerCarlson I choose not to give the #MainStreamMedia permission to speak into my life... way too many lies over'... https://t.co/swqBK2au0d

Wed May 10 02:38:45 +0000 2023

edwardjgarcia3rd : @TuckerCarlson I would ask a searching Protestant to watch ''Peter Kreeft's Seven Reasons Why Everyone Should Be Cat'... https://t.co/wcPwBofJFZ

Wed May 10 02:38:42 +0000 2023

Star_Spangled : @TuckerCarlson Yeeeeesssssss!!!! Missed you, Mr. Carlson! https://t.co/esP0VO2iKa

Wed May 10 02:38:42 +0000 2023

Carol Carstensen : @TuckerCarlson So thankful you're back. You're in my prayers!

Wed May 10 02:38:40 +0000 2023

Myriam Giovannini : @TuckerCarlson So happy that you are back! With you 100%!No doubt you will do great and help the Nation understand lots of issues.

Wed May 10 02:38:36 +0000 2023

Amali Mohotti : @TuckerCarlson ðŸ'›ðŸ'›ðŸ'›ðŸ'›

Wed May 10 02:38:33 +0000 2023

Ryan of Goldmember : @TuckerCarlson WB!

Wed May 10 02:38:33 +0000 2023

ohnineforteen00 : @TuckerCarlson @Project_Veritas You're gonna thrive here Tucker.

Wed May 10 02:38:33 +0000 2023

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Trending StoriesTragedy in South Texas rattles migrants all along '... 'Don't pee or poop here': Signs placed near migrant '... El Paso DEA makes 235 arrests in Operation Last Mile 'May 11 is just another day' Migrants without appointments urged to avoid border Washington D.C.Bill would crack down on migrant child labor violations Title 42's end is raising alarms at the border AP source: Biden would veto House GOP immigration '... Mayorkas: 'We will deliver consequences' Title 42 jitters rattle Democratic unity U.S., Mexico agree on tighter immigration policies View All Washington, D.C.Don't MissVIDEO: Mass entry attempted at El Paso border crossing Cruz: Smuggler wristbands like 'iron legs' on migrants Governor to Mexico: 'Stop the flow of migrants, now!' Thousands of migrants cross into Brownsville, Texas Video: 2nd Tijuana apartment building collapses About Border ReportThe mission of BorderReport.com is to provide real-time delivery of the untold local stories about people living, working and migrating along the U.S. border with Mexico. The information is gathered by experienced and trusted Nexstar Media Group journalists hired specifically to cover the border.

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Tue, 09 May 2023 15:35

Tykoo.eth : ''We all know how much bill gates loves children, he's been with Epstein'...'' at berkshire hathaway annual meeting. https://t.co/q6KgjSKrLX

Sat May 06 23:18:52 +0000 2023

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Tue, 09 May 2023 14:52

Demonstrators gather at the Texas State Capitol on March 8. Brandon Bell/Getty Images

Karen was scared. It was March of 2022, and Texas Governor Greg Abbott had recently ordered the state's child welfare agency to investigate parents for abuse if they helped transgender kids access gender-affirming medical care, including medicines that pause the physical changes caused by puberty.

Karen and her husband '-- both lifelong Texans '-- have a transgender daughter who was approaching puberty.

One afternoon, while they were driving home from acting class, Karen explained the situation to her daughter, who was sitting in the back seat.

''She got really quiet,'' Karen told Marketplace in an interview at the time. ''And then she asked, 'Am I going to die?'''

Karen pulled over and opened the back door. ''And I just said, 'No. Oh, my gosh, no. You're not going to die. Why would you ask me that?''' Karen recalled. ''And she said, I mean, without a beat, 'Because everybody hates me.' And that was when I just knew, I can't do this.''

So last June, the family packed up their house in Austin, put it on the market and drove 2,000 miles to Portland, Oregon. They happened to arrive during the city's Pride festival.

''We drove through this sea of rainbows,'' Karen said in a recent interview. ''It was unbelievable. I mean, what a welcome.''

A year ago, Marketplace interviewed several families facing a painful decision: Stay in Texas and risk persecution, or move to a more welcoming state. Now, with more states adopting bans on gender-affirming medical care for trans youth, we followed up with two of those families to see how they're doing today.

''It feels great here,'' Karen's daughter, O, said via Zoom from her new house in Portland. To protect the privacy of the individuals who spoke to us, we agreed to use only first names or initials.

''It was hard to leave my friends because I like them so much, but I knew that it would be a much better place here in Oregon and much safer for me,'' she said.

O is 11 now and in the fifth grade. She has long brown hair and a sweet smile. She seems to be settling right into her new home.

''I like the scenery a lot,'' she said. ''It's very green, and all the trees are like massive, and it's really cool.''

O plays ultimate frisbee, loves to draw and is really into the Japanese manga series ''Demon Slayer.'' She even learned to play the theme music on the cello, which she was happy to demonstrate on the video call that afternoon.

For Karen though, the move has been harder. She and her husband were lucky they could both keep their jobs and work remotely, but they had to spend more than $30,000 on movers, storage and hotels. When they arrived in Portland, they struggled to find a doctor who would accept their insurance.

Moving also hasn't solved the larger issue. The onslaught of legislation targeting trans kids' rights '-- to play sports, to use the bathroom, to choose their pronouns at school '-- shows no sign of slowing down. Eighteen states have now enacted laws or policies banning gender-affirming care for minors, including recently Oklahoma, Montana and Missouri, though courts have blocked some efforts. Many more states are considering similar bans.

''I do feel safer, you know, with that 'r' in parentheses, but I don't feel safe,'' Karen said. ''And I worry about what I've seen in Texas, and I worry that people don't think it can happen here.''

She also feels a lot of guilt for leaving behind those who are still fighting for trans rights in Texas, she said.

I worry about what I've seen in Texas, and I worry that people don't think it can happen here.

Karen, mother of a transgender daughter, O, who moved with her family to Oregon to evade Texas' legislation targeting trans youthOne of them is Ed, in San Antonio.

''We're still here,'' he said when Marketplace followed up recently. ''We haven't moved.''

Ed also has deep roots in Texas. He and his wife both own businesses, which employ a lot of people. They share custody of Ed's transgender daughter, Charli, with Ed's ex-wife, so moving would be challenging. Plus, Charli loves her school. She's 11 and has started taking puberty blockers.

When we talked, the governor's child abuse order was tied up in the courts, but the Texas Senate had just passed a bill banning such care for all minors in the state. The House was weighing a companion bill.

''It does feel a little bit scary,'' said Charli, who's in sixth grade. She likes science and swimming and plays piano.

''Like a lot of the parents, I mean, we're all pretty scared, because if they make her care against the law, I mean, what choice do we have but to move?'' Ed said. ''I don't really want to move. It would be really difficult.''

Proponents of these bans say they're trying to protect children from interventions they might later regret. Recent studies have found that those regrets are rare, and numerous studies have shown that transgender and nonbinary youth who receive gender-affirming care and family support have lower rates of depression, substance abuse and suicide risk. Major medical groups, including the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Medical Association and the Endocrine Society all support the developmentally appropriate use of puberty blockers and hormone therapy for trans youth. Surgical procedures are uncommon in young people under age 18.

A person holds a sign during a demonstration in front of the Texas State Capitol on March 20. (Brandon Bell/Getty Images)When Charli first told her parents she was a girl at age four, Ed said he didn't know anything about what it meant to be transgender.

''So we hired professionals, we got curious, and we waited,'' he said. ''Her life became more joyful, the more support she got, and so there's no going back at this point.''

He worries about trans youth who don't have supportive families. In a 2023 national survey on LGBTQ youth mental health from the Trevor Project, just 35% of transgender and nonbinary youth found their homes to be gender-affirming.

''The thought of living somewhere that was more safe, it would be really difficult, but we could do it,'' Ed said. ''But if all of us left, who would stay and fight for the kids who don't have that support?''

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Peter Flaherty, chairman of the National Legal and Policy Center (NLPC), had his microphone cut, arrested, and escorted out of the Berkshire Hathaway annual meeting on Saturday in Omaha, Nebraska.

Flaherty was removed at the shareholders' meeting and was charged with ''criminal trespass'' after making statements against Berkshire Hathaway CEO Warren Buffett for his support for Bill Gates' organization and his association with convicted felon Jeffrey Epstein.

The National Legal and Policy Center (NLPC) is the primary proponent of a Berkshire Hathaway shareholder proposal that seeks to separate the responsibilities of the Chairman and CEO, according to NLPC's press release.

Flaherty argued that Berkshire ''would be less identified with Mr. Buffett's personal political activities'' if it had an independent chair, citing Warren Buffett's support for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation as an example.

Each resolution sponsor was allotted three minutes to make their argument. Michael Frerichs, the Treasurer of Illinois, was one of three speakers who spoke before Flaherty without being cut off.

The following is the prepared statement that NLPC Chairman Peter Flaherty wants to make at the Berkshire annual meeting.

I am Peter Flaherty, Chairman of the National Legal and Policy Center.

If we had an independent chair, the Company would be less identified with Mr. Buffett's political activities.

He's donated more than $100 billion to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. As Bill Gates explained when the couple was still together, ''although the foundation bears our names, basically half our resources have come from Warren Buffett.''

If ''woke'' culture is a disease, then philanthropy is the virus.

The Gates Foundation bankrolls the teaching of Critical Race Theory around the country, including that math is inherently racist.

The Gates Foundation offers a Gender Identity Toolbox, which asserts that gender is the result of ''socially and culturally constructed ideas.''

This is a lie. Gender is not a cultural construct. It is a genetic and biological fact.

We know how much Bill Gates cares about children. He met and traveled with Jeffrey Epstein MANY times AFTER Epstein was convicted of sex crimes.

The Gates Foundation had a huge influence over the COVID response fiasco. Bill Gates defended China's COVID policies and still discounts the possibility that the virus originated from a lab, even though U.S. intelligence agencies disagree.

The Gates Foundation may be the largest single donor to the ''dark money'' machine known as Arabella Associates which funds causes like defunding the police that are making American cities unlivable.

Money goes, too, to groups conducting threatening and vulgar protests at their homes of Supreme Court Justices.

Mr. Buffett has quietly funneled more than $4 billion to groups supporting abortion on demand through the Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation.

Trending: Megyn Kelly Unveils Devastating New Nickname for Fox News Amid Network's Downfall Due to Ousting Tucker Carlson

That's $4 billion, with a B. Advocacy disguised as philanthropy.

Bill Gates has lamented political polarization and even worried aloud about a civil war. But it is billionaires who are funding the most shrill and extreme activists who are tearing our country apart.

Ironically, Mr. Buffett has pointed out that corporate executives can make a lot of people mad when they insert themselves into controversy.

Anheuser-Busch is finding that out. It cannot renounce its Dylan Mulvaney transgender promotion because it is handcuffed by its longtime support for activists who would turn on them in a minute.

Anheuser-Busch gets a perfect grade on the Human Rights Campaign scorecard, as do Berkshire portfolio companies like Coca-Cola, Bank of America, and Apple.

Bank of America and Apple help bankroll this group, which wants biological men to compete in women's sports.

Worse, it is currently pressuring state legislatures to allow sex change operations on children, and to keep their parents out of the decision.

Let's revisit Coca-Cola, which I discussed at last year's meeting. CEO James Quincey, a British citizen, tried to kill Georgia's voter integrity law in 2021 by making inaccurate and inflammatory statements about it.

That's the law that President Biden called ''Jim Crow 2.0,'' and which prompted Major League Baseball to move the All-Star game out of Atlanta.

Mr. Buffett jumped on the bandwagon, too, by signing a statement by corporate leaders suggesting that Republicans seek to restrict ballot access based on race.

Two years later, we can now evaluate that accusation.

Last year, an election was held in Georgia. Turnout was record breaking. According to an independent poll, 99% of voters said they had ''no problem'' casting ballots. 92% said the new law either had no impact on their ability to vote or made it easier.

James Quincey was wrong, and Mr. Buffett, so were you.

During the first minute of his speech, he was approached and interrupted at the microphone.

Cathy Woollums, a Berkshire official who was a designated liaison with proponents for the meeting told Flaherty that he should stay ''on topic.''

Flaherty stated into the microphone, ''You are not going to censor what I say, ma'am. I'm very sorry. And I appeal to the Chair (occupied by Buffett) that I be allowed to continue sir.

Buffett responded, ''You may continue but under the three-minute limitation. Flaherty stated, ''Of course,'' and resumed speaking until when his mike went dead.

WATCH:''We all know how much bill gates loves children, he's been with Epstein'...'' at berkshire hathaway annual meeting. pic.twitter.com/q6KgjSKrLX

'-- Tykoo.eth (@0xTykoo) May 6, 2023

''Immediately, two representatives of Clark International Security approached and stood in front of Flaherty,'' according to NLPC's press release. ''He was told to leave or he would be arrested. Flaherty replied that he would leave when he finished his statement. At this point, Flaherty was not fully aware that his mic had been cut, was still under the three-minute limitation, and had already received a favorable ruling from the chair.''

Flaherty was charged with criminal trespass by Omaha police.

''One of the Clark representatives summoned a uniformed Omaha policeman who was nearby and requested that he arrest Flaherty. He grabbed Flaherty by the arm, advised him that he was under arrest, and led him from the arena. Flaherty was transported by Omaha police to the Douglas County Corrections Center where he was searched, handcuffed, and charged with criminal trespass.''

WATCH:

Here is video of that speaker/shareholder, Peter Flaherty of National Legal and Policy Center, getting quickly escorted away to be arrested. Is this a free country or not?! #berkshire #gates #NLPC pic.twitter.com/zY7suyo3LO

'-- Sue (@Sue67374532) May 7, 2023

More from NLPC's press release:

NLPC filed a similar proposal for an independent chair last year at Berkshire when Flaherty spoke in support of the resolution without incident. The proposal received support from diverse shareholders including the California Public Employees' Retirement System (CalPERS).

NLPC sponsors the Corporate Integrity Project and has engaged in shareholder activism since 2004. In 2023, NLPC is the proponent of proposals at 26 companies on a variety of topics.

NLPC-filed proposals for an independent chair were also considered, or will be considered, this year at Bank of America, Coca-Cola, Goldman Sachs, Home Depot, Mondelez, PepsiCo, Salesforce, and Visa.

Since 2004, Flaherty has spoken at the annual meetings of dozens of companies including Alphabet, Amazon, Bank of America, Boeing, Citigroup, Coca-Cola, Colgate-Palmolive, Goldman Sachs, Merck, Facebook (now Meta), PepsiCo, Procter & Gamble and Walmart. In connection to NLPC proposals, he has met with many corporate executives over the years, including then-PepsiCo CEO Indra Nooyi and then-GE CEO Jeff Immelt.

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Mon, 08 May 2023 15:00

This nuclear reactor could be a game changer for the climate crisis

Bill Gates' TerraPower chose Kemmerer, Wyoming, a coal-mining city, for the site of its experimental nuclear reactor.

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Mon, 08 May 2023 12:43

T reasury Secretary Janet Yellen repeatedly declined to rule out the possibility of declaring the debt ceiling unconstitutional if Congress fails to resolve its standoff, but said doing so would be a "not-good" option.

Amid the brinkmanship, some have suggested that President Joe Biden could invoke the 14th Amendment to scrap the debt limit and avert a default. Yellen warned that such action would trigger a constitutional crisis and also stressed that Congress must act quickly to forestall an economic calamity.

REPUBLICANS WORRY THESE THREE CHANGES TO DEBT CEILING BILL WILL SINK FUTURE PLANS

"There is no way to protect our financial system in our economy other than Congress doing its job and raising the debt ceiling and enabling us to pay our bills. And we should not get to the point where we need to consider whether the president can go on issuing debt. This would be a constitutional crisis," Yellen said on ABC's This Week.

The 14th Amendment stipulates that the ''validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law, including debts incurred for payment of pensions and bounties for services in suppressing insurrection or rebellion, shall not be questioned.'' However, the Constitution also grants Congress the power of the purse.

Yellen avoided a direct answer about whether such action was off the table.

"If Congress fails to meet its responsibility, there are simply no good options. And the ones that you've listed are among the not-good options," Yellen added.

Biden downplayed the potential use of the 14th Amendment during a recent MSNBC interview.

"I've not gotten there yet," he said.

Yellen also re-upped her well-worn warnings that if Congress fails to up the debt limit, "economic chaos would ensue" that would unleash havoc on both the domestic and global economy. She insisted that there are no more tricks in the department's reserve to buy additional time.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER

Biden is set to meet with congressional leaders, including House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), on May 9. McCarthy and Biden last met back in February. The United States rammed up against its $31.4 trillion debt limit back in January, but the Treasury Department has deployed "extraordinary measures" to keep funds flowing in the time since.

Yellen recently estimated that those steps will run dry by June 1, giving Congress less than a month to resolve its differences. So far, neither side has shown signs of blinking, with Biden demanding a clean bill with no strings attached and McCarthy adamant that spending cuts be part of any deal.

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Mon, 08 May 2023 12:38

There was not a bit of sugarcoating, Sunday, from ABC News anchor George Stephanopoulos on a brand new poll from ABC and the Washington Post.

''This poll is just brutal for President Biden!'' Stephanopoulos said.

Indeed, the silver linings were just about impossible to find for the White House. The poll put Biden's approval rating at 36 percent '-- down 6 points from February and an all-time low in that particular survey. The survey also showed Biden getting trounced in a hypothetical 2024 matchup with former President Donald Trump, 45-38.

Stephanopoulos had trouble processing the support for Trump. The poll found roughly 20 percent of those who believe Trump should face criminal charges in New York over the Stormy Daniels hush money payouts would still support him in the 2024 election.

''I've got to admit I have a hard time wrapping my head around that,'' Stephanopoulos said. ''You've got one in five people who say they believe President Trump should face criminal charges, but they would still vote for him.''

''It is remarkable,'' saidA BC News political director Rick Klein. And I do think once there's a match up with an actual person, maybe that changes, but that just tells you about how much Trump is kind of baked into the political equation.''

Following a commercial break, Stephanopoulos introduced a panel for further analysis. Former DNC chair Donna Brazile admitted she had difficulty sleeping following the poll's release.

''It kept me up,'' Brazile said. She added, of the White House, ''They are still unable to get a real good, strong message to the American people, not just on the accomplishments, but where they want to take the country.''

Watch above, via ABC.

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