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Mom Demands Investigation Into School That Hid Her Daughter’s Gender Transition, Provided Chest Binders

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A mom is demanding an investigation into a Maine school district that allegedly hid her daughter’s gender transition and provided the 13-year-old girl with multiple chest binders, according to a letter by the Goldwater Institute.

Amber Lavigne allegedly found that Samuel Roy, a social worker at Great Salt Bay Community School, gave her 13-year-old daughter two chest binders to aid in a gender transition and advised her to not tell her mother, according to a Monday letter by the Goldwater Institute. The Goldwater Institute on behalf of Amber Lavigne is asking the school district to investigate the incident and institute a policy that mandates parental involvement in all decisions that affect a student’s mental or physical well-being.

“[My daughter] was going to school all day and getting kind of love bombed by all these people being called by the supposed preferred pronouns and this name that was not given to her at birth,” Lavigne told the Daily Caller News Foundation. “Then she’s coming home and being called a female name and using she/her pronouns, and it was really driving a wedge between us and I had no idea. I feel like my parental rights were violated and I don’t understand how somebody who works in social services thinks that driving this kind of wedge between a student and their parents is at all helpful for their mental health.”

School officials allegedly called Lavigne’s daughter by a male name and pronouns without notifying or receiving consent from her parents, the letter alleged. The Great Salt Bay Community School principal and superintendent dismissed Lavigne’s concerns that the school was helping her daughter secretly transition after she found the chest binders in her daughter’s room, she told the DCNF. (Read more from “Mom Demands Investigation Into School That Hid Her Daughter’s Gender Transition, Provided Chest Binders” HERE)

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Apple Watch Saves Life of Woman With Heart Tumor: ‘It Truly Saved My Life’

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A woman from Maine is now recovering from surgery to remove what would have been a deadly heart tumor, and she has Apple Watch to thank for her new lease on life.

Kim Durkee, 67, said that for three nights in a row back in May, her Apple Watch alerted her that she may be in atrial fibrillation, otherwise known as an abnormal heart arrythmia. At first, she dismissed the alerts and presumed that the watch may have been malfunctioning.

“The third night, the numbers went a little too high for comfort,” Durkee said. “Then I said, ‘You know what? Go to the emergency room. If they tell you it’s nothing to worry about, then toss the watch.”

Though she had no other symptoms, she visited local doctors in Maine, who confirmed that she was, indeed, in atrial fibrillation. And the cause of the A-fib nearly floored her: a myxoma, a rare tumor that forms in primitive connective tissue, usually in the heart. In Durkee’s case, the myxoma had obstructed blood flow in her heart, causing the arrythmia. If gone undetected, it would’ve likely resulted in a stroke. (Read more from “Apple Watch Saves Life of Woman With Heart Tumor: ‘It Truly Saved My Life’” HERE)

Photo credit: Flickr

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Doctor Suspended, Ordered to Undergo Psych Evaluation for Spreading COVID-19 ‘Misinformation’

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A doctor in Maine with decades of experience treating patients has had her license suspended and will be forced to undergo a psychological evaluation after allegedly deceptively treating patients with hydroxychloroquine and ivermectin and sharing controversial opinions about COVID-19 online.

Last week, Maine’s Board of Licensure in Medicine voted unanimously to move forward with an investigation into Dr. Meryl Nass of Ellsworth after at least two complaints were lodged against her for spreading misinformation about COVID-19, Maine Public reported.

Nass, a doctor specializing in internal medicine who first obtained a license to practice medicine in Maine in 1997, was issued an immediate 30-day suspension on Jan. 12, according to the state medical board’s suspension order.

In the order, the board accused Nass of “engaging in the practice of fraud, deceit or misrepresentation in connection with services rendered within the scope of the license issued” as well as engaging in “unprofessional conduct” and conduct that “evidences a lack of ability or fitness to discharge” her duties.

The complaints against Nass include evidence that she used her personal blog to engage in “the public dissemination of ‘misinformation’ regarding the SARS CoV2 pandemic.” (Read more from “Doctor Suspended, Ordered to Undergo Psych Evaluation for Spreading COVID-19 ‘Misinformation'” HERE)

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Report: Toddler Shoots Both Parents in Maine Home

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A 2-year-old boy in Maine shot his parents Wednesday morning with a gun he picked up from a nightstand, a report said.

The toddler’s 25-year-old father was hit in the head, and the mother, 22, was struck in the leg in the shooting at their home in West Bath, WMTW reported, citing Sagadahoc County Sheriff Joel Merry.

The baby was injured by the recoil of the gun, authorities said. All three family members were hospitalized with non-life-threatening injuries, according to Merry. (Read more from “Toddler Shoots Both Parents in Maine Home” HERE)

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Man Dies After Triggering His Own Homemade Booby Traps

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A Maine man died after setting off his own homemade booby trap on the night of Thanksgiving, according to local authorities.

The Van Buren Police Department announced that 65-year-old Ronald Cyr had died after triggering his homemade security device which fired a handgun, striking the man. Cyr was able to call 911 after being shot by the device, but officers were unable to save him by the time they arrived.

When authorities got to Cyr’s home, they found several similar homemade booby traps, forcing them to contact the Maine State Police Bomb Squad.

(Read more from “Man Dies After Triggering His Own Homemade Booby Traps” HERE)

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PHOTOS: Lobsterman Hauls in Unusual Catch off Maine Coast

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A Maine lobsterman got a shock when he caught a live deer in open water Monday morning.

Ren Dorr said he was setting traps when he saw the young deer, which had given up swimming and was being carried farther offshore.

“I’m sure he [had been] going from island to island or shore to an island and he couldn’t see or got caught in the current,” the 31-year-old Harrington lobsterman told the Bangor Daily News. “He was just kind of going with the flow. He wasn’t trying to fight it or swim with it. He was just kind of floating along.”

Dorr added that although he has seen deer swimming before he knows that if he hadn’t been a Good Samaritan and rescued the animal, it would have been “a goner.”

“I couldn’t have that on my conscience, obviously,” Dorr told the news outlet. “That’s not the guy that I am, so I figured I’d bring him in.” (Read more from “Lobsterman Hauls in Unusual Catch off Maine Coast” HERE)

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The Second Amendment Sanctuary Movement Comes to a New State

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Local officials in Paris, Maine, voted to declare their town a “Second Amendment sanctuary,” joining a pro-gun movement that is sweeping liberty-loving jurisdictions across the United States.

Paris’ board of selectmen approved a sanctuary resolution Tuesday night, according to the Lewiston Sun Journal.

“A lot of us believe it’s a right that we have and a right we’d like to keep,” Board Chairman Rusty Brackett said of the pro-gun-rights decision, which he added was mostly symbolic at this point, a local CBS affiliate reports.

“I don’t even want to say, ‘If push comes to shove,’ but ideally, if push comes to shove, do we have the right to say, ‘No, not in Paris?’” Brackett also said. “We’re a constitutional town.”

Local governments and law enforcement officials throughout the country have responded to state-level gun control laws by declaring Second Amendment “sanctuaries” that pledge to protect citizens’ gun rights by not enforcing measures that they say run afoul of the Constitution.

The movement has seen a lot of traction in western states including New Mexico, Nevada, and Washington, but the Paris selectmen’s decision brings it to America’s easternmost state.

Maine legislators have been considering gun laws that would include a so-called “red flag” confiscation bill, which would allow judges to take someone’s guns away if that person were deemed to be a threat to themselves or others. A similar bill was passed by Maine lawmakers last year, but was vetoed by Republican Governor Paul LePage.

While gun control groups see the confiscation effort as a means of preventing potential tragedies, gun advocates warn that such measures are ripe for abuse. Gun Owners of Maine President Todd Tollhurst warned that last year’s bill would have allowed spurned romantic partners to have someone’s guns confiscated by court order.

“So basically anyone can attack your gun rights,” Tolhurst said in a Bangor Daily News report. “All they have to do is tell a little lie that cannot be discovered.”

Paris, Maine, isn’t the only New England locality that has considered the sanctuary option for its citizens’ gun rights; a Rhode Island state senator is encouraging municipalities in his home state to declare themselves Second Amendment sanctuaries as well. (For more from the author of “The Second Amendment Sanctuary Movement Comes to a New State” please click HERE)

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New Law Prohibits Any State Gun Registry

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A law prohibiting any type of state firearms registry is now in effect in Maine. The law will not only protect the privacy of Maine gun owners, it will also hinder the federal government’s ability to develop a firearms database and create a climate less favorable to federal gun control.

Rep. Patrick Corey (R-Windham) sponsored House Bill 9 (LD9) along with a bipartisan coalition. The new law declares:

Notwithstanding any other provision of law to the contrary, a government agency of this State or a political subdivision of this State may not keep or cause to be kept a comprehensive registry of privately owned firearms and the owners of those firearms within its jurisdiction.

The House approved the joint Committee on Criminal Justice and Public Safety’s “ought to pass” report by a 122-24 margin. The Senate unanimously passed it 35-0. Both chambers then voted for LD9 to be enacted by a voice vote. Gov. Paul LePage signed the bill on June 12 and it went into immediate effect.

The federal government depends on state cooperation for all kinds of information-gathering. For instance, most of the data in a DEA license plate tracking database reported on by the Wall Street Journal comes from state and local law enforcement. Local police operate tracking systems, paid for by federal grant money. The DEA then taps into the local database.

In the same way, the ATF, or another federal agency, could easily create a federal gun registry using information gathered by state and local governments. By prohibiting any such databases in the state, Maine ensures this can’t happen. Simply put, no data means no federal database.

Ensuring the privacy of firearms owners also subtly undermines federal efforts to regulate guns. As we’ve seen with marijuana and industrial hemp, a federal regulation becomes ineffective when states ignore it and pass laws encouraging the prohibited activity anyway. The federal government lacks the enforcement power necessary to maintain its ban, and people will willingly take on the small risk of federal sanctions if they know the state will not interfere. This increases when the state actively encourages “the market.”

Less restrictive state gun laws will likely have a similar impact on federal gun laws. It will make it that much more difficult for the feds to enforce any future federal gun control, and increase the likelihood that states with few limits will simply refuse to cooperate with future federal enforcement efforts.

State actions like prohibiting gun registries lower barriers for those wanting to the option of defending themselves with firearms and encourages a “gun-friendly” environment that will make federal efforts to limit firearms that much more difficult. (For more from the author of “New Law Prohibits Any State Gun Registry” please click HERE)

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Gay Marriage Approved by Voters, First Time in US History

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Americans for the first time approved gay marriage at the ballot box on Tuesday, pointing to changing attitudes on the divisive issue.

In Maine and Maryland, voters approved ballot initiatives to begin allowing same-sex unions. Those wins mark a first for a cause that had previously been rejected by voters in more than 30 states, including as recently as 2009 in Maine.

And in Minnesota, where gay marriage is already not allowed, voters declined to back an initiative that would enshrine in the state’s constitution a definition of marriage permitting only a union between a man and woman.

In Washington state, where voters also weighed an initiative to legalize gay marriage, the vote count was expected to stretch on for days. With half of the vote counted as of 3 a.m. Eastern time, nearly 52% supported the idea.

In Maine, campaigners for same-sex marriage said the win marked a turning point for their cause. “We made history here tonight and showed that voters can change their minds,” said Matt McTighe, the campaign director of Mainers United for Marriage. “That will serve as something of a signal to other states who have lost marriage fights before at ballot boxes. You can change those minds.”

Read more from this story HERE.

Maine’s Governor calls the IRS the “new Gestapo”

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Gov. Paul LePage used his weekly radio address to blast President Obama’s health care law and described the Internal Revenue Service as the “new Gestapo.”

The IRS description was a reference to a provision in the Affordable Care Act that requires Americans not insured by their employers or Medicaid to buy health insurance or pay an annual penalty when filing their tax returns. The provision, known more broadly as the individual mandate, was the subject of a multi-state lawsuit, but was recently upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court.

LePage said the court decision has “made America less free.”

“We the people have been told there is no choice,” he said. “You must buy health insurance or pay the new Gestapo — the IRS.”

Maine Democratic Party Chairman Ben Grant, responding to LePage’s remarks, said, “We’ve come to expect a bunch of nonsense from Gov. LePage, but this is a step too far. There appears now to be no limit to the extreme language he will use to misinform, degrade and insult people. Somebody needs to explain to him that he’s the governor of a state, and not a talk radio host. I demand a full apology on behalf of all those who suffered at the hands of the real Gestapo.”

Read more from this story HERE.

Photo credit: MaineDOE