House Republican Support for Same-Sex Marriage Bill Shrinks

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Ten House Republicans who voted “yes” on the Respect for Marriage Act when it initially passed the lower chamber over the summer did not support the amended version Thursday.

Seven GOP lawmakers who first supported the bill changed their votes from “yes” to “no,” while two did not vote and one voted present on the Senate-amended version of the legislation that the House first passed in July. The total amount of GOP support decreased from 47 votes in July to 39 votes Thursday, as two Republicans changed from “no” to “yes” votes.

The seven yea-to-nay members were Reps. Brian Mast (R-FL), Dan Meuser (R-PA), Cliff Bentz (R-OR), Mario Diaz-Balart (R-FL), Maria Elvira Salazar (R-FL), Scott Perry (R-PA), and Jefferson Van Drew (R-NJ). Rep. Burgess Owens (R-UT) voted “present” instead of “yes” as he did in July, while Reps. Adam Kinzinger (R-IL) and Lee Zeldin (R-NY) voted “yes” initially but did not vote on Thursday. Two Republican lawmakers, Reps. Mike Gallagher (R-WI) and Jaime Herrera Beutler (R-WA), were the two nay-to-yea votes.

Kinzinger reportedly intended to vote “yes” on the bill, but the member he designated to cast his vote by proxy did not do so. (Read more from “House Republican Support for Same-Sex Marriage Bill Shrinks” HERE)

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‘Perfect Storm’: Studies on Transgender Medical Procedures for Kids Compromised by ‘Placebo Effect,’ Researcher Argues

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Studies that purport to find health benefits for children who undergo transgender medical interventions are compromised by the placebo effect, according to a recent peer-reviewed analysis.

The “gender affirmation” model of care for gender dysphoria favored by the American medical establishment encourages doctors to affirm and encourage a child’s transgender identity and offer irreversible medical procedures to transition them to the opposite sex, pointing to studies suggesting the treatments may be linked to better mental health outcomes. Those studies, however, fail to account for the effect of doctors’ enthusiasm and other environmental factors in gender medicine settings, which may actually be behind any observed mental health improvements, Australian psychiatrist Alison Clayton argued in a Nov. 14 publication in the Archives of Sexual Behavior.

“The current treatment approach for [gender dysphoric] youth presents a perfect storm environment for the placebo effect,” she wrote.

(Read more from “‘Perfect Storm’: Studies on Transgender Medical Procedures for Kids Compromised by ‘Placebo Effect,’ Researcher Argues” HERE)

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GOP Senator Threatens the Defense Dept. After Its Policy Will Allow Military Members To Receive Abortions

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Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala) is vowing to hold Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin accountable for planning to fund thousands of abortions, in which taxpayers in part pay for.

The GOP Senator is threatening to place Sente holds on the Defense Department’s civilian and senior military nominations until the DOD terminates its abortion policy which would allow thousands of abortions to be performed for service members and their families.

“It is my conviction that this proposed policy change is illegal, circumvents Congress, and exceeds your authority,” Tuberville wrote, adding “should you implement these proposed changes to the department’s abortion policies, I will place a hold on all future DoD civilian and general/flag officer nominations.”

The woke policy aims at ensuring service members are able to still get abortions even when they are stationed in a state that restricts the procedure, to which Tuberville calls “irresponsible.”

The DOD plans to implement their policy by the end of the year. Tuberville has already placed nine of President Joe Biden’s nominations on hold and vows to it to stay that way until the DOD’s stance on abortion is reversed.

(Read more from “GOP Senator Threatens the Defense Dept. After Its Policy Will Allow Military Members To Receive Abortions” HERE)

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Court Sides With Catholic Doctors on Biden’s Transgender Surgery Policy

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A federal appeals court sides with with the Religious Sisters of Mercy and other groups against the Biden Administration’s transgender surgery policy which demanded religious doctors to perform sex change procedures in violation of their beliefs.

The eighth circuit permanently blocked the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) from mandating Catholic doctors to go along with the Democrat’s radical, progressive agenda.

“We agree with these courts and therefore conclude that the district court correctly held that ‘intrusion upon the Catholic Plaintiffs’ exercise of religion is sufficient to show irreparable harm,’” the eight circuit wrote following their decision.

The vice president and senior counsel at Becket Law who represented the plaintiffs, Luke Goodrich, condemned the federal government for even attempting to forced doctors to perform surgeries they are not comfortable with. (Read more from “Court Sides With Catholic Doctors on Biden’s Transgender Surgery Policy” HERE)

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Woke Military Tells GOP Congress That Eliminating Vaccine Mandate “Hurts Readiness”; House Passes $858 Billion Defense Bill That Reverses Military Vaccine Mandate

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By Military Times. Pentagon leaders on Wednesday voiced continued support for their decision to mandate the COVID-19 vaccine for service members in the face of a proposed law that would force the Defense Department to repeal the policy.

During a briefing with reporters, Pentagon spokesperson Sabrina Singh said vaccination is still a military readiness issue, and said a repeal could be harmful to the health of the armed forces.

“What is important to the readiness of the force is getting the vaccine,” she said.

“So, yes, it would impact the readiness of the force. You’re more prone to getting COVID-19 … and we certainly know that the vaccine will save your life.”

One day after congressional leaders approved a repeal of the military’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate in their final draft of the annual defense authorization bill, officials across the executive branch bashed Republicans for jeopardizing the health and welfare of service members by forcing the move. (Read more from “Woke Military Tells GOP Congress That Eliminating Vaccine Mandate “Hurts Readiness”” HERE)

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House Passes $858 Billion Defense Bill That Reverses Military Vaccine Mandate

By Military Times. The U.S. House of Representatives passed legislation Thursday authorizing $858 billion in national defense funding, including reversing the U.S. military’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate.

Lawmakers approved a final version to repeal the mandate through the passage of the 2023 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), the annual defense bill.

The 4,000-page legislation advanced with a solid bipartisan majority, 350-80, which requires the Pentagon to rescind the Covid vaccine mandate for active duty service members within 30 days of its enactment.

The bill also includes several policy provisions, including a 4.6% pay raise for military service members, strengthening defense strategies using air force, land warfare, cybersecurity, and increasing U.S. support for Ukraine and NATO, as reported by CNN.

While the bill would remove the vaccine mandate for U.S. troops, it would not reinstate service members who were discharged or had their benefits slashed for refusing to be immunized against COVID. (Read more from “House Passes $858 Billion Defense Bill That Reverses Military Vaccine Mandate” HERE)

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Former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey Urges Elon Musk to Release ‘Everything Without Filter’

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Jack Dorsey, the former CEO of Twitter, has urged current CEO Elon Musk to release all “Twitter files” related to the Hunter Biden laptop story. Dorsey never released such information when he ran the company, choosing instead to run an astoundingly opaque company.

Fox Business reports that Jack Dorsey, the former CEO of Twitter, has requested that current Twitter’s new owner Elon Musk make all of the company’s “Twitter files” public after the departure of James Baker, the former deputy general counsel, for his alleged involvement in the suppression of the Hunter Biden laptop story. Dorsey believes that the information should be released “without filter.”

Elon Musk has hinted that he may release additional “Twitter files” which reportedly show how the social media platform has censored conservative speech. In response, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey has called on Musk to make all internal documents available “without filter” and to explain the actions that the company plans to take under its new management.

“If the goal is transparency to build trust, why not just release everything without filter and let people judge for themselves? Including all discussions around current and future actions?” Dorsey asked. “Make everything public now.”

(Read more from “Former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey Urges Elon Musk to Release ‘Everything Without Filter’” HERE)

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Donald Trump Calls Joe Biden’s Prisoner Swap for Brittney Griner a ‘Stupid and Unpatriotic Embarrassment’

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Former President Donald Trump slammed President Joe Biden’s Brittney Griner prisoner swap as “stupid” and “unpatriotic embarrassment.”

Issuing the statement on Truth Social, Trump said the swap was a bad deal because Biden traded an ex-WNBA basketball star for notorious Russian arms dealers Viktor Bout, “one of the biggest arms dealers anywhere in the world.”

Trump said the trade was especially grievous because Griner has been “openly” hateful towards her own nation.

“What kind of a deal is it to swap Brittney Griner, a basketball player who openly hates our Country, for the man known as ‘The Merchant of Death,’ who is one of the biggest arms dealers anywhere in the World, and responsible for tens of thousands of deaths and horrific injuries,” he said.

Trump also questioned why Biden worked to release Griner without American prisoner Paul Whelan, who was arrested in Russia in 2018 and sentenced to 16 years in prison for alleged “espionage.” The former Marine denies the charges. Russia has presented little evidence for its claims outside of what was used to imprison him in court. (Read more from “Donald Trump Calls Joe Biden’s Prisoner Swap for Brittney Griner a ‘Stupid and Unpatriotic Embarrassment’” HERE)

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State Bans Discrimination Based on ‘Hairstyles,’ ‘Gender Identity or Expression’

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Pennsylvania’s Independent Regulatory Review Commission approved along party lines changes to the state’s nondiscrimination policy to include updated definitions of sex, race and religious creed on Thursday, ABC27 News reported.

The regulation more specifically defines the three categories as protected classes under the Pennsylvania Human Relations Act (PHRA) and the Pennsylvania Fair Educational Opportunities Act (PFEOA), according to the IRRC website. The definitions can be applied to complaints regarding discrimination in employment, housing, education and public accomodations.

The definition of “sex” was officially updated to include “pregnancy, childbirth, breastfeeding, sex assigned at birth, gender identity or expression, affectional or sexual orientation, and differences in sex development,” the text reads. The definition of race was expanded to include “ancestry, national origin, ethnic characteristics, interracial marriages and association, traits such as hairstyles that are historically associated with race, and national origin or ancestry,” while religious creed now applies to all religious beliefs and practices.

Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf praised Thursday’s vote and declared that “hate has no place in Pennsylvania.”

“This includes protecting the rights of individuals facing discrimination by a school, landlord, or employer based on who they love or their gender identity,” Wolf said in a press release. “Today’s approval by the commonwealth’s Independent Regulatory Review Commission is another important step to ensure all Pennsylvanians can live with dignity and freedom.”

(Read more from “State Bans Discrimination Based on ‘Hairstyles,’ ‘Gender Identity or Expression’” HERE)

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FBI Used Secret Powers to Strip More Americans of Their Gun Rights, Documents Reveal

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The FBI has secretly stripped eight more people of their rights to own, use, or purchase firearms , according to internal FBI documents obtained by the Washington Examiner.

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) and over a dozen GOP members of Congress in October demanded that the FBI and Justice Department hand over proof that the FBI is no longer waiving people’s gun rights with internal forms, which the Daily Caller uncovered in September had been signed by 15 people. Now, the Washington Examiner has obtained eight heavily redacted signed forms — indicating a more widespread bureau effort than previously known to target the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding citizens.

“Americans can’t simply sign their constitutional rights away, even to the FBI,” Rep. Michael Cloud (R-TX), who signed the October letter, told the Washington Examiner. “As Republicans enter a House majority, we must use our investigative power to put a check on federal agencies who have proven to be eager and willing to crack down on Americans’ right to keep and bear arms.”

Through the forms, the FBI asked signatories to identify as a “danger” to themselves or others or lacking the “mental capacity adequately to contract or manage” their lives. The forms were presented by the FBI to people at their homes and in other undisclosed locations beginning in at least 2016 and until December 2019, when the FBI claims it was discontinued. (Read more from “FBI Used Secret Powers to Strip More Americans of Their Gun Rights, Documents Reveal” HERE)

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Latest ‘Twitter Files’ Reveal Secret Suppression of Right-Wing Commentators

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Independent journalist Bari Weiss revealed on Thursday how Twitter used blacklists to limit the visibility of tweets coming from conservative users in the latest disclosure of the social media giant’s internal operations.

Right-wing talk show host Dan Bongino, Stanford University’s anti-COVID lockdown advocate Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, and conservative activist Charlie Kirk were among the users targeted for suppression by Twitter, according to Weiss.

Weiss’s tweets followed Friday’s bombshell revelations by fellow independent journalist Matt Taibbi, whose Twitter posts were promoted by new company owner Elon Musk as “what really happened with the Hunter Biden suppression story by Twitter.”

Taibbi said his reporting uncovered the “extraordinary steps” Twitter took in response to The Post’s blockbuster scoop about Hunter Biden’s infamous laptop in October 2020, including “removing links and posting warnings that it may be ‘unsafe.’”

“They even blocked its transmission via direct message, a tool hitherto reserved for extreme cases, e.g. child pornography,” he wrote. (Read more from “Latest ‘Twitter Files’ Reveal Secret Suppression of Right-Wing Commentators” HERE)

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