'Build your army': Trump’s Pentagon pick wants Christian nationalist 'boot camps' for kids

Fox News' Pete Hegseth speaking at the 2019 Teen Student Action Summit, hosted by Turning Point USA at the Marriott Marquis in Washington, D.C., Gage Skidmore

Carl Gibson

November 26, 2024

Fox News personality Pete Hegseth, who President-elect Donald Trump has nominated to be the potential next defense secretary, recently called for radically transforming the public education system in order to accommodate a Christian nationalist vision.

That's according to Salon writer Amanda Marcotte, who highlighted Hegseth's remarks in a November episode of the "CrossPolitic" podcast. In that podcast — which is hosted by two men with close ties to far-right chattlel slavery apologist pastor Douglas Wilson — Hegseth called for an "educational insurgency" of "classical Christian schools."

In the interview promoting his book "Battle for the American Mind," Hegseth agreed with host Toby Sumpter, who said: "I think we need to be thinking in terms of these classical Christian schools are boot camps for winning back America."

"That's what the crop of these classical Christian schools are gonna do in a generation," Hegseth said. "Policy answers like school choice, while they're great, that's phase two stuff later on once the foothold has been taken, once the recruits have graduated boot camp."

"We call it a tactical retreat," Hegseth added, using overtly militaristic language. "We draw out in the last part of the book what an educational insurgency would look like, because I was a counterinsurgency instructor in Afghanistan and kind of the phases that Mao [Zedong] wrote about. We're in middle phase one right now, which is effectively a tactical retreat where you regroup, consolidate, and reorganize. And as you do so, you build your army underground with the opportunity later on of taking offensive operations in an overt way."

Marcotte pointed out that the conversion of public schools to far-right Christian indoctrination spaces is already underway in some red states. She observed that Oklahoma education superintendent Ryan Walters is mandating that all schools show students a video in which he attacks the "radical left" and "woke teachers' unions" and delivers a lengthy prayer for the protection of Trump. She also noted that Walters has already proposed spending millions in taxpayer dollars on putting Trump's branded Bibles in public school classrooms.

"So far, this flagrant violation of the Constitution hasn't worked. The state attorney general stepped in and declared that Walters cannot mandate the viewing of his propaganda. Some school districts refused, though it's quite possible others gave in out of an unwillingness to fight with Walters to defend their students," Marcotte wrote. "More importantly, this is just an escalation of an all-out effort by Walters to turn Oklahoma's public schools into exactly the 'boot camps' building up the 'army' of Christian nationalists that Hegseth and his cronies imagine."

Click here to read Marcotte's article in full.

Trump’s pick to lead Federal Housing Agency has openly fought efforts to help poor

ProPublica
December 23, 2024

Republican presidential nominee and former U.S. President Donald Trump dances as he leaves the stage at a campaign rally at the Rocky Mount Event Center in Rocky Mount, North Carolina, U.S., October 30, 2024. REUTERS/Jay Paul

ProPublica is a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative newsroom. 

As Donald Trump’s nominee to run the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Scott Turner may soon oversee the nation’s efforts to build affordable apartments, protect poor tenants and aid the homeless. As a lawmaker in the Texas House of Representatives, Turner voted against those very initiatives.

Turner supported a bill ensuring landlords could refuse apartments to applicants because they received federal housing assistance. He opposed a bill to expand affordable rental housing. He voted against funding public-private partnerships to support the homeless and against twobills that called merely to study homelessness among young people and veterans.

Behind those votes lay a deep-seated skepticism about the value of government efforts to alleviate poverty, a skepticism that Turner has voiced again and again. He has called welfare “dangerous, harmful” and “one of the most destructive things for the family.” When one interviewer said receiving government assistance was keeping recipients in “bondage” of “a worse form to find oneself in than slavery,” Turner agreed.

Such views would seemingly place Turner at odds with the core work of HUD, a sprawling federal agency that serves as a backstop against homelessness for millions of the nation’s poor, elderly and disabled. With an annual discretionary budget of $72 billion, the department provides rental assistance to 2 million families, oversees the country’s 800,000 public housing units, fights housing discrimination and segregation and provides support to the nation’s 650,000 homeless. If Turner’s record indicates how he will direct the agency’s agenda, it is those clinging to the bottom of the housing market who have the most to lose, researchers and advocates said.

“It just doesn’t seem to me like this is someone who is at all aligned with what the values of that agency should be,” said Cea Weaver, director of the advocacy group Housing Justice for All. “It’s a deregulatory agenda, and it’s an anti-poor people agenda.”

Shamus Roller, executive director of the National Housing Law Project, said Turner’s views, if translated into policy, could increase homelessness. “If, at a fundamental level, you believe that people getting assistance with their rent when they’re very poor and struggling, if you think that’s actually dependence and a bad thing, you’re going to try to undermine those programs,” he said.

One former colleague offered a more optimistic view of Turner’s stewardship of HUD. “My sense of him is he will try to help people,” said Richard Peña Raymond, a Democratic Texas House member who served on a committee with Turner. “I do think he’ll do a good job.”

Turner did not respond to detailed questions. A spokesperson for the nominee said: “Of course ProPublica would try and paint a negative picture of Mr. Turner before he is even given the opportunity to testify. We would expect nothing less from a publication that solely serves as a liberal mouthpiece.”

The Trump transition team and HUD did not respond to requests for comment. Trump’s announcement of Turner’s nomination praised him for “helping lead an Unprecedented Effort that Transformed our Country’s most distressed communities” as head of a White House council that promoted opportunity zones, a plan to spur investment in low-income neighborhoods by offering generous tax breaks, during Trump’s first administration. “Under Scott’s leadership,” the announcement went on, “Opportunity Zones received over $50 Billion Dollars in Private Investment!”

Turner is hardly the only Trump cabinet nominee to display skepticism or outright hostility toward the work of agencies they may lead. But, while other nominees have faced intense scrutiny in recent weeks, Turner has attracted little public attention and said even less about his intentions, beyond vowing to “bring much-needed change” to HUD, as he wrote on Facebook last month. ProPublica pieced together his views on housing through a review of legislative records and of Turner’s public speeches, podcast appearances and sermons at the Plano, Texas, megachurch where he is a pastor.

A possible HUD agenda for Turner can be found in Project 2025, the Heritage Foundation’s recommendations for a conservative presidential administration. The report calls for cutting funding for affordable housing, repealing regulations that fight housing discrimination, increasing work requirements and adding time limits for rental assistance and eliminating anti-homelessness policies, among other changes. The Project 2025 chapter on HUD lists Ben Carson, the department secretary during the first Trump administration and a mentor to Turner, as its author. Carson, as secretary, was involved in efforts to end an anti-segregation rule, add work requirements for housing assistance and make it harder to prove housing discrimination.

Turner’s views appear to be deeply rooted in his upbringing outside Dallas, where he was, as he later put it, “a young kid from a broken home, from a poor family.” His parents’ relationship was “filled with violence, domestic violence, abuse, a lot of anger [and] alcohol.” Years later, as a legislator, Turner said that his sister had been “on state assistance and wasn’t feeding [Turner’s] nephew while she was on drugs.” (ProPublica was unable to locate Turner’s sister for comment.)

Football proved an escape. Turner received a scholarship to play for the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, and then he went on to a nearly decadelong career in the National Football League. He began transitioning into politics while still in the league, interning for California Rep. Duncan Hunter, a Republican who years later would be convicted of stealing from his campaign account. After an unsuccessful run for a California congressional seat in 2006, Turner moved back to Texas and was elected in 2012 to the state House of Representatives, where he served for four years.

There, Turner solidified his position as a deeply conservative member opposed to many government interventions into the housing market, legislative records show. He voted against supporting foreclosure prevention programs. He opposed legislation to help public housing authorities replace or rehabilitate their property (although he voted for a minor expansion of that bill two years later). He also sought to require drug testing for poor families applying for government assistance, the Houston Chronicle reported at the time. Turner did support some modest housing assistance measures, such as bills helping housing developments for seniors and in rural areas seek low-income housing tax credits.

During his time in office, Turner was the lead author of 17 substantive bills. None were related to housing, and none of them became law.

“He’s a very nice guy,” but “he didn’t really make much of a legislative impression,” said a former high-ranking Republican Texas lawmaker, who requested anonymity to speak candidly about a former colleague. “He didn’t leave a deep footprint.”

That did not stop Turner, however, from mounting an audacious bid for the House speakership, a move reportedlybackedby Tim Dunn, a West Texas pastor and oil billionaire who has used his fortune to push the state Legislature far to the right. Turner’s speaker campaign failed, but it helped solidify his position within Texas’ deep-red Christian political milieu, where he has remained ever since.

Turner is an associate pastor at Prestonwood Baptist Church, a political force in Texas that has counted numerous statewide elected officials as congregants. Jack Graham, the church’s senior pastor, prayed over Trump at an event in October and praised his electoral victory from the pulpit in November. Turner’s skepticism about government assistance has found its way into his sermons there, where he has derided the “perverse incentives created by the government and the welfare system, which in turn creates an epidemic of fatherlessness in our country.”

Turner or his political staffers also used campaign money to attend three conferences held by WallBuilders, an organization that seeks “to reveal the historical truths” about the “Christian foundation of our nation,” campaign finance records show. In 2016, Turner gave a $10,000 gift to WallBuilders from his campaign account.

Turner’s allies on the Christian far right also include Ziklag, a secretive network of ultrawealthy Christian families and religious influencers that support Trump. As ProPublica reported, Ziklag has raised millions of dollars as part of a larger mission to help Christian leaders “take dominion” over key areas of American society, from education and business to media and government. This year, Ziklag spent millions of dollars to mobilize Republican-leaning voters in swing states despite being a tax-exempt charity that isn’t allowed to intervene in politics. (A lawyer for Ziklag previously told ProPublica that the organization does not endorse candidates for political office.)

In June 2019, Turner and his wife, Robin, attended a private Ziklag conference at the Broadmoor luxury resort in Colorado Springs, Colorado, according to photos of the event posted by an attendee. At the time, Turner was working in the first Trump administration as executive director of the White House Opportunity and Revitalization Council, where he served as a public salesman for the opportunity zones initiative. Turner has praised the program as a way to improve neighborhoods with high poverty and unemployment rates. Previous reporting by ProPublica found that the program was exploited by wealthy, politically connected investors, which drew scrutiny from members of Congress.

Internal documents obtained by ProPublica and Documented show that Ziklag members sought to take advantage of the program; in May 2019, Ziklag said in one of its newsletters that members of the group had met with three administration officials about opportunity zones. “The administration informed the group they are in a state of listening and learning about the program,” the document reads. “Ziklaggers are exploring additional avenues to make an impact on the program moving forward.”

After leaving the Trump administration, Turner started a nonprofit that promotes “Christ-centered reading enhancement programs” for children and helps people get driver’s licenses. He also became “chief visionary officer” at the multifamily housing developer JPI.

Now, if confirmed, Turner will be in charge of an agency with some 10,000 employees at a critical time. “We’re dealing with a pretty terrible housing crisis all across the country,” said Roller, of the National Housing Law Project. HUD will be “essential to any effort” to solve it.


Jesse Coburn covers cities, housing and transportation for ProPublica. He’s interested in how the second Trump administration will reshape federal policy in those areas, particularly at the Department of Housing and Urban Development and the Department of Transportation. If you work for one of those agencies or are affected by their work, he’d like to hear from you. You can email him at jesse.coburn@propublica.org, or reach him via phone, Signal or WhatsApp at 917-239-6642. His mailing address is: Jesse Coburn, ProPublica, 155 6th Avenue, 13th Floor, New York, NY 10013.

FAMILY VALUES

'Prostitution, statutory rape, illicit drug use': Damning Matt Gaetz ethics report leaks

Brad Reed
December 23, 2024 

RAW STORY

FILE PHOTO: Republican U.S. Representative Matt Gaetz speaks at a campaign rally for Republican presidential nominee and former U.S. President Donald Trump in Henderson, Nevada U.S. October 31, 2024. REUTERS/Mike Blake/File Photo

A copy of the House Ethics Committee's report into former Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) obtained by CBS News alleges that the Florida Republican engaged in a number of illegal activities.

The 37-page report, which is due to be released on Monday, writes that "there is substantial evidence that Representative Gaetz violated House Rules and other standards of conduct prohibiting prostitution, statutory rape, illicit drug use, impermissible gifts, special favors or privileges, and obstruction of Congress."

The report relies on a combination of witness testimony, text message exchanges, and Venmo receipts to make the case that Gaetz repeatedly violated the law while serving as a Florida congressman.

Among the damning findings in the report are that Gaetz paid multiple women for sex in the past, including a girl who at the time was only 17 years old.

The report refers to the then-17-year-old girl whom Gaetz allegedly paid for sex as "Victim A," and it details her own direct testimony to the House Ethics Committee.

"Victim A recalled receiving $400 in cash from Representative Gaetz that evening, which she understood to be payment for sex," the committee writes. "Victim A said that she did not inform Representative Gaetz that she was under 18 at the time, nor did he ask her age."

Gaetz last week denied that he ever had sexual contact with a minor, although he did acknowledge that "in my single days, I often sent funds to women I dated -- even some I never dated but who asked."

Gaetz also said that "it’s embarrassing, though not criminal, that I probably partied, womanized, drank and smoked more than I should have earlier in life" and insisted that "I live a different life now."

Gaetz had originally been President-elect Donald Trump's choice to serve as United States attorney general, though he quickly withdrew his candidacy after it became clear that he would not have the votes to be confirmed.

'Eerie parallel' seen in Elon Musk's grip over GOP: historian

Brad Reed
December 23, 2024 
RAW STORY

Elon Musk participates in a SpaceX Demonstration Mission 2 Launch Briefing in 2020. (NASA/Bill Ingalls)

X owner Elon Musk flexed his political muscles last week when he used his platform to kill a bipartisan deal to keep the federal government open.

According to Vanderbilt University historian Nicole Hemmer, this kind of outside influence is hardly novel for Republicans, who for decades received their marching orders from the late right-wing radio host Rush Limbaugh.

Writing at MSNBC, Hemmer argued that there are "eerie historical parallels" between Limbaugh's influence over the party and what Musk is pulling off right now.

"For three decades, right-wing radio host Rush Limbaugh bent the party to his will by dangling the threat of his millions of loyal listeners — and reliable voters — over their heads," she wrote. "As Musk tests the power of X to discipline Republican lawmakers, he is also testing whether he can replicate Limbaugh’s singular influence over the GOP — and whether he can use his power to both amplify Donald Trump’s political will and assert his own as well."

However, Hemmer also noted that there were clear limits to Limbaugh's powers and that Musk may soon find he has some of the same limitations.

"Limbaugh had the power to destroy but not create, something Musk is beginning to learn about his own posting politics," she wrote. "Hours into Musk’s online tirade, Trump and Vice President-elect JD Vance joined in, pressuring Republicans to oppose the deal. They did, scuttling the bipartisan agreement and substituting a Musk-Trump alternative that went up for a vote the next day. That bill, too, failed. A government shutdown was only avoided with hours to spare — and without a debt ceiling hike, Trump’s chief demand."

Hemmer also cautions Republican lawmakers that they "may want to think twice before handing their power over to an antidemocratic and unpredictable billionaire," although she doubts that many of them will see that way "given their track record on that front."

Musk's Threat to Primary Democrats Sparks Fresh Call for Ban on Super PACs

"If there's ever been a time to discuss serious campaign finance reform, it is now," one advocate said. "We are sliding into a new era of American oligarchy, and unless we take decisive action, the integrity of our democracy is at risk."


Elon Musk attends The 2022 Met Gala Celebrating "In America: An Anthology of Fashion" at The Metropolitan Museum of Art on May 2, 2022 in New York City.
(Photo: Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for The Met Museum/Vogue)

Olivia Rosane
Dec 21, 2024
COMMON DREAMS

Trump-backer and richest person alive Elon Musk's role in almost forcing a government shutdown this week has revived calls for campaign finance reform, both nationally and within the Democratic Party.

As part of his campaign against a bipartisan continuing resolution (CR) that would have funded the government through March 14, Musk said that Republicans who voted for the bill should lose their seats during the 2026 midterms and that he would fund moderate primary challengers to Democrats in safe districts.

"The threat of limitless super-PAC spending from the world's wealthiest man could have proven enough to shut down the federal government days before Christmas," Joseph Geevarghese, the executive director of Our Revolution, told Common Dreams. "If there's ever been a time to discuss serious campaign finance reform, it is now. We are sliding into a new era of American oligarchy, and unless we take decisive action, the integrity of our democracy is at risk."

"How about the House add campaign finance reform to the CR so Republicans and Democrats alike can stop being so scared about what a billionaire man-child thinks before they vote on anything around here?"

Before the shutdown showdown, Musk was already incredibly influential in politics as a financial backer: He spent at least $277 million on the campaigns of President-elect Donald Trump and other Republicans in 2024, including over $19 million on House races alone. Musk also spoke at Trump campaign rallies and was tapped by the president-elect to co-lead a new Department of Government Efficiency with fellow billionaire VivekRamaswamy.

However, his efforts to sink a spending bill revealed by House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) on Tuesday raised fresh concerns about his influence on elected politicians. His initial barrage of complaints against the CR—posted on his social media site X on Wednesday—precipitated a statement against the bill by Trump and Vice President-elect JD Vance. Johnson never brought the bill up for a vote.

As part of his initial Wednesday tweet storm, Musk wrote, "Any member of the House or Senate who votes for this outrageous spending bill deserves to be voted out in 2 years!"

In response to Musk's threats, Rep. Richard Neal (D-Mass.), the ranking member of the Ways and Means Committee, gave an impassioned speech on the House floor on Thursday.

"Can you image what the next two years are going to be like if every time that Congress works its will and then there's a tweet? Or from an individual who has no official portfolio, who threatens members on the Republican side with a primary and they succumb?" Neal said.

Musk, in response to a video of Neal's speech, tweeted, "Oh… forgot to mention that I'm also going to be funding moderate candidates in heavily Democrat districts, so that the country can get rid of those who don't represent them, like this jackass."

The statement sparked outrage and resistance from congressional Democrats.

"Everyone knows I'm always ready," Neal toldBusiness Insider, while the Democrats on the Ways and Means Committee tweeted out sarcastic memes.



Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortezcalled for change on social media on Friday, writing, "How about the House add campaign finance reform to the CR so Republicans and Democrats alike can stop being so scared about what a billionaire man-child thinks before they vote on anything around here?"

Ultimately, after another Republican-led spending bill failed to clear the House on Thursday, Johnson introduced a paired-down CR that included key measures backed by Democrats such as relief for disaster victims and aid for farmers. That bill passed the House on Friday and the Senate early Saturday, narrowly averting a government shutdown that would have deprived hundreds of thousands of federal employees of paychecks over the holidays.

But Musk's intervention established a precedent "that should upset every American who believes in our democratic form of government," Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) said.

"Musk is getting carried away with himself, using his limitless fortune and his ownership of X to try to turn American politics to the authoritarian right," former U.S. Labor Secretary Robert Reich wrote on his Substack on Friday.

"Wealth inequality is rapidly undermining our democracy," Reich continued. "Musk is the poster boy for a wealth tax."

Musk's primary challenge to Neal bolstered calls for the Democratic National Committee (DNC) to ban super-PAC spending in its primaries.

"Elon Musk, worth $455 billion, spent $277 million to buy the Republican Party," Sanders staff director Warren Gunnels wrote on social media on Friday. "He has also pledged to replace Democrats in primaries with those who represent his special interests. If the DNC doesn't ban super PACs in primaries, what will this picture look like in 2 years?"

Reich also argued that "the DNC must bar dark money and limit campaign contributions in all Democratic primary campaigns. The incoming chair of the DNC, selected on February 1, should make this a key part of their strategy for the 2026 midterms and beyond."

AMERIKA

I visited an anti-abortion pregnancy center. Here’s why experts call for more regulations.

Alexandria Jacobson, Investigative Reporter
December 23, 2024 

RAW STORY

A sonographer technician holds an ultrasound transducer to diagnose the condition of a pregnant woman with a view of the woman's uterus on the computer screen. (Shutterstock)


CHICAGO — The Aid for Women pregnancy clinic in Chicago’s Edgewater neighborhood might be one of the nicest offices I’ve visited for medical advice.

The clinic is located in the storefront of a newly constructed modern apartment building. Its windows are adorned with images of beautiful, diverse women, advertising free pregnancy tests and ultrasounds. With tasteful neutral tones throughout, the lobby has a cascading wall fountain with the nonprofit’s logo and a woman’s silhouette image, creating a peaceful atmosphere.

Yet, the clinic is not a medical office even though medical procedures and tests are offered there. Aid for Women is one of as many as 4,000 crisis pregnancy centers, or CPCs, operating throughout the country that present as healthcare clinics but are typically nonprofits with an agenda to stop women from getting abortions.


Aid for Women pregnancy center in Chicago's Edgewater neighborhood in December 2024 (Photo by Alexandria Jacobson/Raw Story)

A new study from the University of California San Diego published on Dec. 2 analyzed the websites of 1,825 crisis pregnancy clinics, including Aid for Women, and created a database, choicewatch.org, to provide unbiased data about the services provided by these groups.

“We just want to start a policy debate around these issues,” John W. Ayers, leader of the study, told Raw Story. “With the new administration, there's a chance CPCs could be federally funded, and if those federally funded dollars are going to CPCs, under what conditions can they be given to maximize society benefits and reduce the harms?”


ALSO READ: Why ABC settled a case they knew they would win — and why the Lincoln Project didn't


Ultimately, the paper’s authors are calling for greater scrutiny of these clinics, particularly around the services offered, provider qualifications and conformity with regulations and medical best practices. Generally, such pregnancy centers are exempt from the licensing, regulations and credentialing requirements of healthcare facilities.

“When it comes to crisis pregnancy centers, there's a lot of unknown unknowns,” said Ayers, who is an adjunct associate professor of medicine and epidemiologist at the University of California San Diego. “Our study is independent of your position on abortion, and so, we just want to give data and solve this problem of there being no data.”


Doctors like Kristyn Brandi, an OB-GYN in New Jersey, often find crisis pregnancy centers to be “angering” and “annoying," requiring reeducation of patients after visiting a clinic, she said.

The clinics can also be dangerous to women’s health if unsafe and unproven procedures like “abortion pill reversals” are offered (Aid for Women advertises such a procedure on its website). Ayers and Brandi both pointed out that abortion pill reversals are not recommended by medical professionals and put patients at risk for hemorrhaging and sepsis as they involve pumping the body with progesterone after a first abortion pill is taken, even though the process of ending the pregnancy is likely already underway and no longer likely to be viable.



A screen shot from the Aid for Women website about abortion pill reversals


“At crisis pregnancy centers, they are not healthcare centers, and so they aren’t under the same regulations and rules that doctors and other healthcare providers have to abide by, which is really concerning as a healthcare provider knowing that I have many patients that go there first and then come to me for healthcare,” Brandi told Raw Story. “Hearing the stories about what these patients encounter when they go to these centers is really disturbing.”

Susan Barrett, executive director of Aid for Women, did not respond to Raw Story’s requests for comment.
‘Very weird and off’


When I first visited an Aid for Women clinic, I was just shy of five weeks pregnant. Several at-home early detection pregnancy tests came up positive, but I figured it didn’t hurt to have professionals confirm for me as I waited for my regular OB-GYN appointment at 10 weeks pregnant.

But rather than having a doctor or nurse confirm the pregnancy for me, I conducted the test myself at Aid for Women.

Instead of leaving a urine sample behind a mini door in the bathroom for technicians to grab as I was used to at doctor’s offices, I brought my sample back to a meeting room with an advocate and was told that I would be administering my own pregnancy test since there wasn’t a nurse on site at the time to do so.


I used a dropper to apply a sample to my test and had to write down that, yes, I understood my test was positive.

Brandi said typically patients at a medical practice are “not running their own samples” due to regulations requiring that collection and testing is accurate and a “real result” is being reported.

“It's weird for going to a healthcare center and having to do the stuff you would just do at home,” she said when told about my experience.


At the appointment, I spoke with an advocate about my “pregnancy intention,” a question also asked on an intake form where clients indicate whether they’re planning on parenting, abortion, adoption or are undecided.

The advocate made it clear that the center does not offer abortions but did not explicitly express disapproval for those seeking abortions.

However, the 20-plus-page informational booklet provided to me featured several pages on the risks and drawbacks of abortions, alongside photos of depressed-looking women.



Scan of pages in Aid for Women brochure about abortion

Raw Story shared the pamphlet with Brandi, an abortion provider, who said she was “struck” by the language in the brochure and found it to be “very focused on misleading information” and “very graphic depictions” of procedures like a dilation and evacuation surgical abortion, also known as a D&E.

“It was very much leading with all the risks, which I will not say that there are no risks to abortion care, but the risks are incredibly low and much lower than things like live births and C-sections,” Brandi said. “I make sure that when I counsel patients, I do absolutely tell them the risks, but I make sure to balance that information with all the benefits if they seek abortion, what are the health benefits to them versus continuing the pregnancy … there wouldn't be a field of OB-GYN, if pregnancy was always safe.”

Brandi also took issue with other components of the Aid for Women brochure, calling some parts “just very weird and off.”


For instance, the brochure’s timeline of the pregnancy does not reflect the “medically accurate” dating method, she said, and milestones noted such as the beginning development of a baby’s brain, spinal cord and heart at four weeks is misleading, she said.

“Usually at that time we have maybe three or four cells that are cardiac cells that eventually will turn into a heart in some time,” Brandi said. “It's not inaccurate, but it's misleading to say that those things are developed yet when they're definitely not developed in a significant way.”



Scan of pages in Aid for Women brochure about fetal development

Brandi noted that as an abortion provider, she looks at fetal tissue after a procedure, which typically isn’t seen until about 10 weeks pregnant, and it’s not visible to the naked eye at that point. The brochure said “a little face, fingers and toes” appear as early as six weeks and included images.

A first ultrasound experience

After my first visit, I decided to return to the clinic for another free service offered: an ultrasound. I didn’t have to pay hundreds of dollars or use insurance, so I decided to get an early sneak peek before my regular 10-week appointment.

I brought my husband with me to the clinic when I was just shy of eight weeks pregnant, and we heard our baby’s heartbeat for the first time, which was an exciting, emotional moment. I can imagine hearing a heartbeat that early for an unplanned or unwanted pregnancy might evoke upsetting emotions instead.

A sonographer conducted the ultrasound to check for basic criteria of a viable pregnancy such as noting if a heartbeat was present and that the pregnancy was located in the uterus. She produced two ultrasound images that didn’t look like much yet — I’d say the image resembled a small shrimp-shaped blob.

At barely eight weeks, I had a long way to go until the baby had any chance at surviving outside of the uterus. The American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology reports that premature births at 23 weeks have a 23 percent to 27 percent survival rate, which grows to 67 percent to 76 percent by 25 weeks of gestation and continues to go up from there.

I showed my ultrasound to one of my regular OB-GYN doctors, who accurately predicted the sonographer wanted to show me the heartbeat. Brandi reviewed the ultrasound and corresponding report, calling it “similar” to a typical report.

My report was signed off for review by an OB-GYN, Robert Lawler — something Brandi said is rare to find at crisis pregnancy centers.

Lawler was featured in a 2013 article by the Chicago Catholic, the newspaper of the Archdiocese of Chicago, about a new OB-GYN practice he opened in the southwestern Chicago suburb of Downers Grove, Ill., to conform to the teachings of the church.

“I had visions of meeting the Lord at Judgment Day and him saying to me, 'OK, Robert, what part of 'intrinsically evil' did you not understand about contraception?'" Lawler said in the article.

The practice seems to have since closed as it has both an inactive phone number and web domain. A handful of negative Yelp reviews for the practice complain about lack of transparency about Lawler’s religious influence on his practice.

“He lets his personal religious beliefs undermine the health and well-being of the victims he lures into his office,” wrote one reviewer in March 2018.

Lawler appeared on an episode of the “Family Talk” show by Evangelical Christian author and psychologist James Dobson, where he discussed his opposition to a 2017 Illinois abortion bill that “forces pro-life doctors and nurses to violate their consciences and advocate for the murder of babies in the womb,” according to the video description.

As of January 2024, Lawler is now the medical director for labor and delivery at OSF Little Company of Mary Medical Center, a healthcare system in Illinois founded by the Sisters of the Third Order of St. Francis.

Lawler could not be reached at his OSF office in the southwestern Chicago suburb of Oak Lawn, Ill. He did not respond to Raw Story’s request for comment through Aid for Women.
‘Lying to women in vulnerable positions? Let's cut that out.’

For comparison I also visited a Planned Parenthood clinic a mile away from Aid for Women to confirm my pregnancy there as well.

The Planned Parenthood clinic was certainly not as stylish and welcoming as the Aid for Women office. It was located in a small strip mall next to a Dollar General. The waiting room was dark, and front office staff were seated behind plexiglass.

But the experience reflected that of a typical doctor’s office visit, where I entered a room with an exam chair (I was brought to a room that resembled a personal office with a desk, chair, side tables and sink at Aid for Women).

I answered some medical questions at Planned Parenthood and got my test result through a MyChart portal. I was given some informational materials that included statistics and risks of different procedures, and I was told that if I proceeded with the pregnancy to start taking a prenatal vitamin.



Scan from "Abortion Options" brochure from Planned Parenthood



I chose not to go through the ultrasound experience at Planned Parenthood because I didn’t want to prematurely use my insurance benefits before visiting my regular doctor.

Planned Parenthood clinics are regulated as healthcare facilities and must abide by regulations like the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) to protect patient privacy.

When I went to Aid for Women, I asked about HIPAA and was told my information would be protected. I was given a "care and competence" commitment agreement that promised to hold client information in "strict and absolute confidence;" however, there was no mention of HIPAA on the form, and the Aid for Women privacy policy does not mention HIPAA.

"One thing that really worries me, especially in this Dobbs moment, is privacy," Brandi said, referencing Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, the 2022 landmark Supreme Court decision that overturned the right to abortion protected by Roe v. Wade. "I think many people when they go to a healthcare center, they expect that the healthcare providers are not going to like share their information and talk about them to other people because we abide by rules like HIPAA that protect patients’ privacy. Because these centers aren't health care centers — they look like health care centers — but they have no reason to protect your privacy."

Spokespeople for Planned Parenthood did not respond to Raw Story’s request for comment.



A Planned Parenthood clinic in Chicago's Edgewater neighborhood 

(Photo by Alexandria Jacobson/Raw Story)

The intake form I filled out during my visits at Aid for Women had me initial that I understood all questions on the form were optional, but when I didn’t fill in some information, such as my address, I got pushback from staff to include those details.

“I think when people are pretending to be doctors and have no legal liability if something bad happens, that's really concerning and scary to think about, that patients are trusting these centers when they don't necessarily get the health care that they deserve in these moments,” Brandi told Raw Story.

I returned to the Aid for Women Clinic months later at 37 weeks pregnant to learn about what support services the center offered. When I requested my medical records, I was required to give my address and was given a two-page report from my ultrasound, nothing else from the first visit or any other paperwork.

At this visit, like all my previous visits, the advocate asked me about my housing situation and made sure I had support and wasn’t experiencing any abuse. The nonprofit runs maternity homes and offers referrals for healthcare and community support resources.

I signed up to watch videos from the clinic’s "Earn While Your Learn" program to prepare for my impending labor and delivery experience. Clients who complete various tasks such as watching lessons and doing homework, participating in the nonprofit's newsletters and reviewing the center online can earn points to enter a monthly raffle to win essential baby supplies like a stroller or a crib set. The videos were produced by a group called True to Life Productions, who did not immediately respond to Raw Story’s request for comment.

Aid for Women’s nonprofit tax filing is transparent that it’s a pro-life organization, describing itself as an operator of “pregnancy help centers, pregnancy medical clinics and residential programs to assist women in difficult and unexpected pregnancy situations so that they might choose life.” The nonprofit reported more than $2.5 million in contributions in 2023 and paid Barrett a salary of $101,519.

According to the data provided on choicewatch.org, Aid for Women is affiliated with Heartbeat International, an international pro-life group that supports the largest network of crisis pregnancy centers.



A screen shot about Aid for Women from choicewatch.org

While I visited Aid for Women knowing what type of facility it was, clients in crisis might not be aware of its pro-life mission and could be susceptible to misinformation.

“I think what our study does is it shows some of these crisis centers are bad actors, and CPCs can get behind getting rid of them," Ayers said. "Pro-life, pro-choice, lying to women in vulnerable positions? Let's cut that out."

UNITED NATIONS

The struggle of trans and gender-diverse persons

Independent Expert on sexual orientation and gender identity


Navigation Blocks

Overview
Mandate
Current mandate holder
Annual thematic reports
Country visits
Activities
Comments on Legislation and Policy

Issues in focusLGBTI and Gender-Diverse Persons in Forced Displacement
The struggle of trans and gender-diverse persons
COVID-19
Effective inclusion of LGBT persons
Stories from SOGI rights defenders
SOGI, colonialism and reparations

About special procedures
About special procedures
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Definitions

Gender identity refers to each person's deeply felt internal and individual experience of gender, which may or may not correspond with the sex assigned at birth including the personal sense of the body (which may involve, if freely chosen, modification of bodily appearance or function by medical, surgical or other means) and other expressions of gender, including dress, speech and mannerisms.1 The term "gender-diverse" is used to refer to persons whose gender identity, including their gender expression, is at odds with what is perceived as being the gender norm in a particular context at a particular point in time, including those who do not place themselves in the male/female binary; the more specific term "trans" is used to describe persons who identify with a different sex than the one assigned to them at birth.
A spiral of exclusion and marginalisation

Gender-diverse and trans people around the world are subjected to levels of violence and discrimination that offend the human conscience:they are caught in a spiral of exclusion and marginalisation: often bullied at school, rejected by their family, pushed out onto the streets, and denied access to employment;
when they are persons of colour, belong to ethnic minorities or are migrants, living with HIV, or sex workers, they are particularly at risk of violence, including of killing, beatings, mutilation, rape and other forms of abuse and maltreatment; and
in order to practice their right to recognition before the law, gender-diverse and trans persons are often victim to violence in health-care settings such as forced psychiatric evaluations, unwanted surgeries, sterilization or other coercive medical procedures, often justified by discriminatory medical classifications.

Trans persons are particularly vulnerable to human rights violations when their name and sex details in official documents do not match their gender identity or expression. Today, however, the vast majority of trans and gender-diverse persons in the world do not have access to gender recognition by the State. That scenario creates a legal vacuum and a climate that tacitly fosters stigma and prejudice against them.

At the root of the acts of violence and discrimination lies the intent to punish based on preconceived notions of what the victim's gender identity should be, with a binary understanding of what constitutes a male and a female, or the masculine and the feminine. These acts are invariably the manifestation of deeply entrenched stigma and prejudice, irrational hatred and a form of gender-based violence, driven by an intention to punish those seen as defying gender norms.

A beacon of hope: depathologization of trans identities

For years, mental health diagnoses have been misused to pathologize identities and other diversities. In 2017, the UN Special Rapporteur on the right to health stated that reducing trans identities to diseases aggravated stigma and discrimination.

In 2019, the World Health Assembly adopted the eleventh revision of the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-11), which removed trans-related categories from the chapter on mental and behavioural disorders. The revision depathologizes trans identities and is considered an important step forward to ensure trans persons can live free from violence and discrimination.

It is important to note that for a long time, pathologization has had a deep impact on public policy, legislation and jurisprudence, thus permeating in all realms of State action around the world and the collective conscience. Eradicating the conception of some forms of gender as a pathology from everyday life will be a longer process that will require further measures to that end.

States are advised to:review their medical classifications based on ICD-11;
adopt strong proactive measures, including education and sensitisation campaigns to eliminate the social stigma associated with gender diversity;
give access to good-quality health-care services and health-related information to trans persons and consider establishing the provision of gender-affirming care as a State obligation not dependent on a diagnosis; and
take strong measures to end so-called "conversion therapy", involuntary treatment, forced or otherwise involuntary psychiatric evaluations, forced or coerced surgery, sterilization and other coercive medical procedures imposed on trans and gender-diverse persons.

Read the statement by UN experts welcoming the revision and consult the updated International Classification of Diseases issued by the World Health Organization.
Legal gender recognition, still a distant dream for many

Self-determined gender is a cornerstone of a person's identity. The resulting obligation of States is to provide access to gender recognition in a manner consistent with the rights to freedom from discrimination, equal protection of the law, privacy, identity and freedom of expression.

The lack of access to gender recognition negates the identity of a person to such an extent that it provokes a fundamental rupture of State obligations. Denying someone the legal recognition of their gender negatively impacts all aspects of their life: their right to health, to housing, to access social security, to freedom of movement and residence; and it also fuels discrimination, violence and exclusion in social settings, including educational and work environments. When States recognize the gender identity of trans persons, they often impose abusive requirements, such as medical certification, surgery, treatment, sterilization or divorce.

The Independent Expert on sexual orientation and gender identity has called on States to ensure legal gender recognition is available to all persons everywhere. The Independent Expert urged States to enact legislation and adopt public policy in line with the recommendations issued in 2015 by the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, which indicates that the process of legal recognition of gender identity should:be based on self-determination by the applicant;
be a simple administrative process;
be accessible and, to the extent possible, cost-free;
not require applicants to fulfil abusive medical or legal requirements;
recognise non-binary identities (gender identities that are neither "man" nor "woman"); and
ensure that minors also have access to recognition of their gender identity.
Social inclusion

States have the power, the duty, to put an end to the ordeal faced by trans and gender-diverse persons and foster their inclusion. In addition to the recommendations mentioned above, States should:run sensitization campaigns to eliminate the social stigma associated with gender diversity;
adopt education policies addressing harmful social and cultural bias, misconceptions and prejudice;
address negative and/or stereotypical portrayals of trans and gender non-conforming persons in the media;
adopt measures to protect trans and gender-diverse children from all forms of discrimination and violence, including bullying;
review laws and policies that exacerbate police abuse and harassment, extortion and acts of violence against people based on gender identity (e.g. laws based on public decency, morals, health and security, including those on begging and loitering, and laws criminalizing conduct seen as "indecent" or "provocative");
adopt anti-discrimination legislation that includes gender identity among prohibited grounds;
enact hate crimes legislation that establishes transphobia as an aggravating factor for the purpose of sentencing; and legislation in relation to hate speech on the grounds of gender identity;
collect data to assess the type, prevalence, trends and patterns of violence and discrimination against trans and gender diverse persons and – on that basis - inform policies and legislative actions and address gaps in investigations, prosecution and the remedies provided; and
take affirmative action to redress structural discrimination and to remedy socioeconomic inequalities.
Thematic reports

Legal recognition of gender identity and depatologization (2018)

The Independent Expert's October 2018 report to the UN General Assembly examines the process of abandoning the classification of certain forms of gender as "pathologies". It clarifies the duty States have to respect, and promote respect of gender recognition as a component of identity. It also highlights some effective measures to ensure respect of gender identity and provides guidance to States on how to address violence and discrimination based on gender identity.

Socio-cultural and economic inclusion (2019)

The Independent Expert's October 2019 report to the UN General Assembly takes a look at social, cultural and economic inclusion of LGBT persons. Addressing their social and economic rights is key to addressing violence and discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity. The report discusses the dynamics of inclusion and presents conclusions and recommendations for moving forward.
Statements

Promote tolerance and diversity, speak out against hate and bigotry (2019)

Ÿ Leave no LGBT person behind (2018)

Statement on the occasion of International Transgender Day of Visibility (2018)

Ÿ Embrace diversity and protect trans and gender diverse children and adolescents (2017)
Press releases

UN experts hail move to 'depathologise' trans identities (2019)

States must act to stop bullying of LGBT students (2019)

"Vicious cycle of hatred" against LGBT people being fuelled daily (2019)

Levels of violence against trans people "offend the human conscience" (2018)
Some communications specific to gender identity – allegations and States' repliesPakistan, Attacks on transgender rights defenders, 12 January 2021
Hungary, Proposed bill that would restrict children's identity to their sex assigned at birth and impose an upbringing that "reflects the values based on Hungary's constitutional identity and Christian culture", 15 December 2020 - Reply
Romania, Proposed bills that would prohibit any discussion on "gender theory or opinion" in educational establishments, 11 September 2020 – Replies 1 &2
Republic of Korea, Dismissal of the first openly trans soldier following surgery to affirm her gender identity, 29 July 2020 - Reply
Cambodia, Arrest and detention of an online clothes seller and a transgender woman, 1 May 2020 - Reply
Hungary, Proposed bill that would make it impossible for trans and gender diverse people to legally change their sex/gender, 14 April 2020
Egypt, Arrest and detention of a woman human rights defender and a trans man, 17 December 2019
Honduras, Killing and attempted murder of trans women human rights defenders, 7 October 2019 – Replies 1, 2, 3
Armenia, Death threats against a transgender rights defender following a speech at the National Assembly of Armenia, 18 April 2019 - Reply
Egypt, Arrest and detention of a transgender woman and LGBTIQ human rights defender, 20 March 2019
Honduras, Attempted murder, harassment, assaults and death threats, rape and intimidation and persecution against trans women's defender and LGBTI human rights defenders, 12 October 2018
United States of America, Death threats, acts of violence and intimidation, harassment, and discrimination against a human rights defender and transgender activist, 7 August 2018
Honduras, Killing of a trans woman and a gay man, 9 March 2018 - Reply
Indonesia, Arrests, detention and ill-treatment of twelve waria, or transgender women, in Aceh province, 12 February 2018 - Reply
Chile, Bill on the right to gender identity that includes discriminatory provisions perpetuating the stigmatisation and pathologization of trans people, 23 August 2017 - Reply
Honduras, Killing of a trans woman and LGBTI defender, 10 July 2017
El Salvador, Killing of three trans women, acts of intimidation and threats, including acts of extortion against a woman human rights defender, 26 May 2017 – Reply

Search all communications and States' replies in the database.

Read about the communication procedure on OHCHR webpage.

[1] The Yogyakarta Principles on the application of international human rights law in relation to sexual orientation and gender identity (2006).

How Many Adults and Youth Identify as Transgender in the United States?

June 2022

Using data from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, the Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System, and advanced statistical modeling, this study estimates the population of adults and youth who identify as transgender nationally and in each of the 50 states, plus the District of Columbia. It also provides estimates regarding gender, age, and race/ethnicity.

AUTHORSJody L. Herman
Senior Scholar of Public Policy
Andrew R. Flores
Distinguished Visiting Scholar
Kathryn K. O’Neill
Policy Analyst
CONTACT US ABOUT THIS STUDY

Highlights

Nearly one in five people who identify as transgender are ages 13-17.

The percentage and number of adults who identify as transgender in the U.S. has remained steady over time.

Our estimate of the number of youth who identify as transgender has doubled from our previous estimate.

Data Points

1.6M
people ages 13+ identify as transgender in the U.S.


Visit the full Transgender People in the US data interactive


Executive Summary

Recent data from the CDC’s Behavior Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) and Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS) provide an opportunity to update prior population estimates of the number of adults and youth who identify as transgender in the U.S.

 In 2016 and 2017, the Williams Institute used data from the 2014-15 BRFSS to estimate the number of adults (ages 18 and older) and youth (ages 13 to 17) who identify as transgender. 

Since then, a total of 43 states have used the BRFSS optional gender identity module for at least one year, providing more years of data from more states since these initial estimates.

 Additionally, in 2017, the YRBS, a national survey of high school students, began asking respondents if they are transgender. 

Since 2017, fifteen states have included this question in their YRBS statewide questionnaire. In this study, we use data from the 2017 and 2019 YRBS and the 2017- 2020 BRFSS to find that: 

Over 1.6 million adults (ages 18 and older) and youth (ages 13 to 17) identify as transgender in the United States, or 0.6% of those ages 13 and older.

Among U.S. adults, 0.5% (about 1.3 million adults) identify as transgender. Among youth ages 13 to 17 in the U.S., 1.4% (about 300,000 youth) identify as transgender.

Of the 1.3 million adults who identify as transgender, 38.5% (515,200) are transgender women, 35.9% (480,000) are transgender men, and 25.6% (341,800) reported they are gender nonconforming.

Research shows transgender individuals are younger on average than the U.S. population. We find that youth ages 13 to 17 are significantly more likely to identify as transgender (1.4%) than adults ages 65 or older (0.3%).

The racial/ethnic distribution of youth and adults who identify as transgender appears generally similar to the U.S. population, though our estimates mirror prior research that found transgender youth and adults are more likely to report being Latinx and less likely to report being White compared to the U.S. population.

Our estimates of the percent of residents in U.S. regions who identify as transgender range from 1.8% in the Northeast to 1.2% in the Midwest for youth ages 13 to 17, and range from 0.6% in the Northeast to 0.4% in the Midwest for adults.

At the state level, our estimates range from 3.0% of youth ages 13 to 17 identifying as transgender in New York to 0.6% in Wyoming. Our estimates for the percentage of adults who identify as transgender range from 0.9% in North Carolina to 0.2% in Missouri.

DOWNLOAD THE STUDY

Trans activists in Canada ‘appalled’ by new bus ads





Trans activists have condemned a new ad appearing on buses in one Canadian city that carries a message suggesting medical transitions is harmful to minors.

The ad has appeared on a number of buses in London, Ontario, with an illustration of children and the text reading: “Put the brakes on medical transitions for minors.”

It also points to a website which calls on concerned citizens to “take action” to “stop medical transition for minors”.

The ad was purchased by the Association for Reformed Political Action (ARPA) – which is described as a grassroots Christian advocacy organisation – to appear on three buses in the London Transit Commission’s (LTC) fleet.

John Sikkema, ARPA’s director of law and policy, told CBC News that the ad intends to challenge the idea that “transitioning” wouldn’t cause harm.

Elliot Duvall, a transgender man who lives in London, told CBC News that the ad should not have been allowed: “It’s absolutely appalling to be honest with you. It’s also hard because every person, whether they’re a minor or not, should have health-care rights.”

Despite pushback from Duvall and complaints from others, the chair of the LTC, Stephanie Marentette, said the ads cannot be taken down because they adhere the LTC’s advertisement policy but that they do “not reflect the views and values” of the transit authority.

Related video: Why this trans advocate says new LTC bus ads spread misinformation (cbc.ca)

Marentette told CBC News: “Unless something is egregious or amounting to hate speech. that would trigger an exception. Unfortunately we don’t have the ability to arbitrate what types of ads go on the side of our buses.”

Gender-affirming care is endorsed by both the Canadian Psychological Association and the Canadian Pediatric Society.

This involves allowing kids to socially transition, but nothing medical is done before the onset of puberty.

Surgical options are not considered until kids reach the age of 18 in Canada, or in some rare cases when they are 16 or 17 but “only if they’ve already had ‘a significant duration of care'” according to CBC News.

Trump vows to ‘stop transgender lunacy’ as a top priority

THE ONLY LUNACY IS THOSE WHO HAVE FREAKED ABOUT THE TRANS MINORITY

By AFP
December 22, 2024

DID THEY DELIBERATELY MAKE HIS BACKGROUND 

TRANS FUSCIA 

US President-elect Donald Trump's speech at Turning Point USA's annual AmericaFest convention amounted to something of a victory lap - Copyright AFP

 Andrej ISAKOVIC,
Josh EDELSON,

 with Brian KNOWLTON in Washington

President-elect Donald Trump on Sunday pledged to “stop the transgender lunacy” on day one of his presidency, as Republicans — set to control both chambers of Congress and the White House — continue their push against LGBTQ rights.

“I will sign executive orders to end child sexual mutilation, get transgender out of the military and out of our elementary schools and middle schools and high schools,” the president-elect said at an event for young conservatives in Phoenix, Arizona.

He also vowed to “keep men out of women’s sports,” adding that “it will be the official policy of the United States government that there are only two genders, male and female.”

Speaking to the AmericaFest conference in a border state he easily carried in the November election, Trump further promised immediate measures against “migrant crime,” vowed to designate drug cartels as foreign terrorist organizations, and doubled down on his talk of restoring US control of the Panama Canal.

Transgender issues have roiled US politics in recent years, as Democratic- and Republican-controlled states have moved in opposite directions on policy such as medical treatment and what books on the topic are allowed in public or school libraries.

Last week, when the US Congress approved its annual defense budget, it included a provision to block funding of some gender-affirming care for the transgender children of service members.

In his speech Sunday, which amounted to something of a victory lap, Trump made expansive promises for his second term — and drew a dark picture of the four years preceding it, under President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, the latter of whom he defeated in the 2024 election.

“On January 20, the United States will turn the page forever on four long, horrible years of failure, incompetence, national decline, and we will inaugurate a new era of peace, prosperity and national greatness,” Trump said, referring to his swearing-in.

– ‘Golden age’ –

“I will end the war in Ukraine. I will stop the chaos in the Middle East, and I will prevent, I promise, World War III.”

He added: “The golden age of America is upon us.”

The president-elect has yet to explain publicly how he plans to bring a quick end to the war in Ukraine, or to bring peace to the Middle East.

But in the sort of bellicose language he sometimes used even against US allies in the past, Trump said Sunday that Panamanian authorities “haven’t treated us fairly” in their operation of the Panama Canal.

He had said earlier that fees for use of the canal — construction of which was begun by France and completed by the United States — are “ridiculous.”

And he added Sunday that if the principles behind the 1970s treaty that gave Panama full control of the canal are not followed, “then we will demand” that it be returned to the United States “in full, quickly and without question.”

Thousands of ships transit the key Central American waterway every year, making it critical to US and international commerce.

The president-elect, who regularly blames migrants from Latin America for America’s drug problems, renewed his vow to immediately begin “the largest deportation operation in American history” upon taking office, and later went further, saying he would “immediately designate the (drug) cartels as foreign terrorist organizations.”

“This criminal network operating on American soil will be dismantled, deported and destroyed,” Trump said.

During his first term in 2019, after the killing in Mexico of nine American citizens from a Mormon community, Trump vowed to apply the terrorist designation to Mexican cartels.

But he relented following a plea from then-Mexican president Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador.

Ken Paxton sues NCAA over transgender athletes’ participation in women’s sports

WHAT ABOUT TRANS IN MENS SPORTS?!

Berenice Garcia, Texas Tribune
December 23, 2024

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton. REUTERS/Elizabeth Frantz/File Photo

"Ken Paxton sues NCAA over transgender athletes’ participation in women’s sports" was first published by The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan media organization that informs Texans — and engages with them — about public policy, politics, government and statewide issues.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said Sunday he sued the National Collegiate Athletic Association, accusing the organization of misleading college sports fans by allowing transgender women to participate in events marketed as women's competitions.


Paxton said the NCAA violated the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act by deceiving fans who want to support sporting events that only include athletes whose female sex was assigned at birth.

Paxton also accused the NCAA of misleading consumers by not identifying which athletes are transgender, and of “jeopardizing the safety and wellbeing of women” by allowing transgender athletes to participate in its sporting events.

“Radical ‘gender theory’ has no place in college sports,” Paxton said in a news release Sunday.


Paxton wants the court to limit the participation of trans athletes in NCAA competitions taking place in Texas or involving Texas teams, or to stop the organization from labeling events as women's sports if they include transgender women.

In a statement, the NCAA did not address the lawsuit’s allegations but said they would continue to support women's sports.

"The Association and its members will continue to promote Title IX, make unprecedented investments in women’s sports and ensure fair competition in all NCAA championships," said NCAA communications director Michelle Brutlag Hosick in a statement.


Paxton’s lawsuit comes just after NCAA President Charlie Baker was grilled by lawmakers during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing earlier this week over the inclusion of transgender athletes in women's sports. Baker later said he is only aware of “less than 10” transgender athletes among the more than 500,000 athletes in NCAA schools.

Many Republicans have eagerly taken up the fight against transgender women’s participation in sports as one of their top priorities in recent years, with many candidates highlighting their opposition in political ads that aired in the leadup to the November elections.

The attention on the issue prompted some Democratic candidates to declare they did not support trans athletes in women's sports. Following President-elect Donald Trump's victory, calls for the Democratic Party to distance itself from socially progressive issues like transgender rights has grown stronger.


As President Joe Biden prepares to leave office, his administration withdrew a proposed rule that would have prevented schools from outright banning transgender athletes under Title IX of the Civil Rights Act, though it would have allowed for some limits. U.S. Department of Education officials said the decision came after receiving tens of thousands of comments “with a broad spectrum of opinions” about the proposed policy change and amid several legal challenges.

Last year, Texas approved a law that bars transgender athletes from participating on college teams that match their gender identity.

Reporting in the Rio Grande Valley is supported in part by the Methodist Healthcare Ministries of South Texas, Inc.


This article originally appeared in The Texas Tribune at https://www.texastribune.org/2024/12/22/texas-ken-paxton-ncaa-transgender-college-athletes-women-sports/.

The Texas Tribune is a member-supported, nonpartisan newsroom informing and engaging Texans on state politics and policy. Learn more at texastribune.org

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