Category: Opinion

On MSNBC on Monday, Assistant Secretary for Health Rachel Levine stated that transgender youths must be empowered to receive “gender affirmation treatment.”

Levine, who identifies as transgender, claimed that sex change procedures should be made available to transgender youngsters since their perceived gender identities are challenged by mental health conditions, bullying, and political assassinations.

“So we really want to base our treatment and to affirm and to support and empower these youth not to limit their participation in activities in sports and even limit their ability to get gender affirmation treatment in their state,” Levine said.

The question of whether children who believe they are transgender should undergo sex change treatments is not up for debate in the medical profession, according to Levine, who previously supported Biden’s executive order from June 15 broadening access to sex change treatments for kids.

Levine refers to sex changes as “gender affirmation therapy,” which include social transitioning to the other sex, puberty retardants, transgender hormones, and surgical procedures.

“Trans youth are vulnerable. They suffer significant harassment and bullying, sometimes in schools or their community,” Levine said. “They have more mental health issues, but there’s nothing inherent with being transgender or gender diverse, which would predispose youth to depression or anxiety. It’s the harassment and bullying.”

“Now they are suffering politically motivated attacks through state actions against these vulnerable transgender youth. This is not based upon data. These actions are politically motivated,” Levine added.

Three people were killed and two others injured in a shooting at an Indianapolis-area mall on Sunday evening, police said.

There were multiple calls to 911 at around 6 p.m. about an active shooter at the Greenwood Park Mall. Johnathan Douglas Sapirman walked into the mall’s food court and opened fire, according to Greenwood Police Chief Jim Ison.

Olivia Harding said she was at the Old Navy store with her mother when they heard four gunshots and initially thought the nearby carousel was breaking down. But then six more shots rang out.

“I told my mom instantly to get down,” Harding said.

Lawfully armed, Elisjsha Dicken 22- — shot and killed the gunman, according to Ison.

“The real hero of the day is the citizen that was lawfully carrying a firearm in that food court and was able to stop that shooter almost as soon as he began,” Ison told reporters during a press conference on Sunday night.

Greenwood Mayor Mark Myers confirmed that the suspect was “shot by an armed individual,” whom he called a “good Samaritan.”

“This person saved lives tonight,” Myers said in a statement late Sunday. “On behalf of the City of Greenwood, I am grateful for his quick action and heroism in this situation.”

The victims include four females and one male. Among the injured is a 12-year-old girl whose parents brought her to the hospital with minor injuries after the shooting. The second injured victim was hospitalized in stable condition, according to the police chief.

Sapirman used a long-gun rifle and had several magazines of ammunition, no motive has been determined, Ison said.

While the deadly shooting remains under investigation, Ison said there is currently no ongoing threat and SWAT teams have cleared the mall.

Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb said Indiana State Police are assisting local authorities in the incident.

“Lives were lost today, and I’m thinking about all the victims of this horrible incident, now and in the days and weeks to come,” Holcomb said in a statement late Sunday.

Without the bravery of the attending firefighter and numerous bystanders, an automobile accident that left a firefighter with a shattered leg may have been much worse.

First responders discovered a black BMW SUV on top of a white Volvo automobile that was crushed when they got to the site of the collision in midtown Manhattan on Sunday afternoon. Ryan Warnock, a firefighter, was attempting to free a passenger from the SUV when it abruptly surged forward and turned over onto him.

“As members from Rescue 1 tried to brace and stabilize the car on top and remove the occupants inside, the driver of one of the vehicles hit the gas and caused a car to fall and pin firefighter Ryan Warnock below,” said Acting Fire Commissioner Laura Kavanagh.

Bystanders and additional firefighters reportedly sprang into action almost once, lifting the BMW SUV high enough for Warnock to be rescued from underneath it, according to video and eyewitness testimony.

“Basically, all we could do is everyone that was standing around, we went, we pushed the BMW up the best that we could, and thank God the firefighter came out in one piece,” said an eyewitness. “And even with a broken leg, he was able to pull the driver out of the car.”

“Every day, members of our great Department put their lives on the line to protect the residents of our great city. We are grateful for the quick response of our members, whose fast reactions helped remove firefighter Warnock quickly and ensured he got the medical attention he needed,” said Kavanagh.

“All of a sudden, we just felt this impact, and we saw a car drive up on the side of our vehicle,” driver Matthew Wahn said.

“We’re fine, we were able to get out,” he said, calling it nothing short of a “miracle.”

Wahn, who lives in the Bayside neighborhood of Queens, said it was all part of the New York experience.

Amber Heard just lost what was likely her best argument for a new trial … because the judge shot down her claim that one of the jurors committed fraud.

Heard’s legal team had filed docs claiming one of the jurors had taken the summons from his father, with the same name, and got himself fraudulently empaneled.

The judge ultimately ruled that there was no fraud because the summons did not include a birth date. Regardless, the judge said there was no fraud, suggesting either the father or son could have shown up for jury service.

Furthermore, the judge said Heard’s team could have filed the motion much earlier, but chose to do it now because she lost the case.

Heard’s team also argued the $10 million compensatory damage award that Johnny Depp received was excessive. The judge did not agree. There was testimony that Depp lost much more than that after his movie roles were pulled in the wake of Amber’s defamatory Op-Ed in the Washington Post.

Bottom line…Heard was shut down. She can still appeal but her chances of winning are slim to none.

Vice President Kamala Harris and extended family members have become the targets of a stalker, according to authorities.

The mother of Harris’ stepdaughter, Kirsten Emhoff, has been granted a temporary restraining order against Ralph Manning Scott after he stalked her and her 23-year-old daughter, Ella. The judge granted the order to protect both women from Scott after he approached the front door of their home last year and handed Ella an envelope and asked that she give it to Vice President Kamala Harris.

Emhoff said that she’d never seen Scott before the day that he showed up at her door, and didn’t know how he’d gotten her address. She was so frightened by the incident that she sold her home and moved.

Emhoff saw Scott outside of her new residence only days after she moved.

Scott sent numerous letters, packages and cards to Emhoff saying that he had connections to JFK and Tom Hanks, and said that he was feeling lonely.

A judge ordered Scott, 68, to cease all contact and to remain a football field away from Emhoff and her daughter.

Three years ago, the Fulton County Medical Examiner’s office sent the remains of Jeffrey Merriweather to St. Louis for testing, but they never reached their destination.

The medical examiner sent Merriweather’s remains via FedEx though they prohibit sending human remains.

What’s even more puzzling is the mystery of how Merriweather’s body came to be nothing more than skeletal remains less than two weeks after he was seen alive. His remains had been sent to St Louis in hopes of an answer.

Merriweather, 32, was reported missing in June 2019. His body was discovered ten days later under an air mattress behind a house in southwest Atlanta. Court documents suggest that he’d been shot to death in a drug deal gone wrong.

What perplexed the medical examiner was that Merriweather’s body only weighed 34 lbs when it was discovered in a state of decomposition that normally takes more than a month to several years to occur, according to Explore Forensics.

Merriweather had long dreadlocks and several tattoos, but his mother didn’t recognize anything in the autopsy photos as his.

The Merriweather family is still waiting for answers concerning their son’s death. Fulton County is the state’s largest medical examiner’s office, and their actions may have violated federal law.

Only the U.S. Postal Service is legally qualified to carry human remains, and even then it’s only done so under strict guidelines.

NASCAR driver, Bobby East was fatally stabbed Wednesday evening at a California gas station.

A homeless man stabbed East, 37, in the chest at a 76 gas station in Westminster at around 5:51 p.m. First responders attended the NASCAR driver who suffered a severe chest wound, but he died soon after at a local trauma center.

Law enforcement officials are searching for the suspect, Trent William Millsap, according to a press release. The 27-year-old suspect fled the scene and is considered to be “armed and dangerous.”

“Bobby East, one of the most prolific drivers of his era and a three-time USAC National Champion driver in USAC Silver Crown and Midgets, passed away on the night of July 13, 2022, in southern California,” the United States Auto Club said in a statement.

“East was phenomenal in USAC National Sprint Cars as well, most notably on pavement tracks,” the statement continued. “He tallied 15 wins in the series, with the first coming in 2003 at Ohio’s Mansfield Motorsports Speedway. He also prevailed at the Milwaukee Mile in 2005 in what remains as the last USAC Sprint Car race held on a one-mile track.”

Son of USAC Hall-of-Fame car builder Bob East, he began racing at the age of nine. The three-time USAC National Champion won 56 USAC-sanctioned contests in his career.

On Thursday, the Louisiana Supreme Court declined to reverse a lower court decision that prevented the state from enforcing its ban on abortion.

Last Monday, a judge temporarily halted the implementation of Louisiana’s “trigger legislation,” which forbids almost all abortions. Following a lawsuit from abortion providers in the state who claimed it was unduly ambiguous, the judge temporarily halted enforcement.

The state Supreme Court’s decision on Thursday permits that stay to last at least until Friday, when abortion doctors will present their case in court.

After Roe v. Wade was reversed by the Supreme Court in late June, Louisiana became the first state to have its abortion restrictions challenged. But it is not the only one; Texas and Kentucky have also experienced problems.

The Kentucky Supreme Court made a comparable finding in that state, placing a temporary stay on the enforcement of an abortion ban, which was followed by Louisiana’s decision on Thursday.

Ten states, including Texas, Louisiana, and Kentucky, have enacted trigger laws that forbid abortion.

Texas’ trigger law won’t go into effect until thirty days after the Supreme Court issues its ruling overturning Roe. In the Dobbs v. Jackson case, the court released its opinion in late June, but it is not anticipated to release the actual judgment until late July.

Through a pre-Roe legislation already on the books in Texas, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton moved to outlaw abortion in the meantime. Following a lawsuit filed by the ACLU, which claimed the statute had been abolished and was no longer valid, a judge last week temporarily halted the law’s enforcement.

According to investigators, a Texas repairman who had been hired to service at a residence on Tuesday discovered human remains inside a backyard barbecue and immediately alerted the police.

Later, when police with a search warrant came on the location, they discovered a body inside a sizable BBQ grill. Local media said that Houston Police said there was a whole skeleton inside, but because the remains were quite old, they were unable to determine if it was a male or female.

Police launched an inquiry and are awaiting the findings of a body’s medical examination. Homicide detectives are currently working on the case even though no charges have been brought in relation to the incident.

It’s unclear if the house is occupied right now.

Not far away, a man shot two teenagers who tried to rob him and his family late on a Sunday a few days prior to the discovery.

Just after midnight on Sunday night, the father and his wife were driving their two kids home when the two teenage suspects approached their SUV. According to the Harris County Sheriff’s Office, the suspects made an attempt to open the rear door of the car, which was occupied by the two kids.

“The adult male feared for the safety of his family and fired shots and struck both suspects,” said Sheriff Ed Gonzalez. “The wife was driving and drove away after the shooting to get away from the suspects.”

“A car pulled up after the shooting driven by an [unknown] male believed to be with the suspects. Both wounded suspects were taken to hospitals by private vehicles. Both suspects are teens, 16 yrs old. Both are said to be stable & in fair condition,” he added.

Two men recently caught fire while at Gweneth Paltrow’s Goop store. According to Austin McGuire, chief of police in Sag Harbor, New York, two men attending an event at the Goop store on June 25 were burning a “flammable substance” in a stone candleholder when a flash occurred and lit the men on fire.

The men were treated by EMS, with one transported to Stony Brook Southampton hospital with burns. The second man was transported by medical helicopter to Stony Brook University Hospital for additional treatment.

The incident remains under investigation by Sag Harbor Village Fire Marshal Bruce Schiavoni.

In 2021, Texan – Colby Watson, sued the actress, alleging a Goop candle “exploded” on his nightstand.

Watson claimed that he burned the Goop candle for three hours before it was “engulfed in high flames” and damaged his bedside table. He sued Paltrow for $5 million in damages.

However, Paltrow’s “This Smells Like My Vagina” candle urges consumers not to burn it for over two hours.

In May 2021, a spokesperson for Goop said that Watson’s lawsuit had no merit.

“We’re confident this claim is frivolous and an attempt to secure an outsized payout from a press-heavy product. We stand behind the brands we carry and the safety of the products we sell. Here, Heretic, the brand that supplies the candle, has substantiated the product’s performance and safety through industry-standard testing,” the spokesperson said at the time.

Prior to Watson’s lawsuit, a woman named Jody Thompson made similar claims about a candle.

“The candle exploded and emitted huge flames with bits flying everywhere,” Thompson claimed in January 2021. “I’ve never seen anything like it. The whole thing was ablaze, and it was too hot to touch. There was an inferno in the room.”