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US News:
Transgender psychologist who helped hundreds of teens transition is ‘concerned’: ‘I think it’s gone too far’
After helping hundreds of teenagers transition, a transgender clinical psychologist is concerned that the recent explosion of youths identifying as trans or non-binary may be the result of peer pressure and a lack of rigid mental health evaluations.
Now, says Dr. Erica Anderson, a former clinical psychologist at the University of California San Francisco’s Child and Adolescent Gender Clinic, social influences coupled with lax evaluations are leading to more teens taking hormones and undergoing surgeries before they are truly certain that they want to transition.
Anderson, now 71, transitioned when she was 45. She says it is unrealistic to think peer pressure doesn’t play a part in a teen’s decision-making process, and it’s time to take a step back and evaluate what is really going on.
With the advent of COVID-19, school closures, and lockdowns in 2020, Anderson began noticing more shocked parents and more children announcing new identities. At the gender clinic, Anderson saw 373 new patients last year — more than double the number she saw in 2019.
According to Anderson, the teens are sharing similar stories of more time to surf sites such as TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube and to play more video games, all of which allow for “virtual identities” that they then explore in real life.
“Online, a stream of transgender influencers and activists told teens that if they felt uncomfortable with their bodies, or didn’t fit in, maybe they were trans,” the Times reports. “Some coached kids on how to bind their breasts, how to change their name and pronouns at school, how to push their parents for testosterone.”
It’s the perfect social media storm in which to brew peer pressure.
“To flatly say there couldn’t be any social influence in formation of gender identity flies in the face of reality,” Anderson said. “Teenagers influence each other.”
Pics/Video: WWII-era US Navy ship is sinking in New York
The park said its crew worked through the night to “minimize damage and remove water from the ship.” Marine engineers and members of BIDCO Marine Group, the Buffalo Fire Department, Buffalo Police Department, Homeland Security, and Coast Guard assisted in the response.
For over a year, the park has been working to raise money to “Save the Sullivans and repair the hull,” reaching its goal of $1 million in November 2021.
“The breach that occurred yesterday appears to be a new issue and we are working diligently to understand the cause and address it as quickly as possible,” the post continued.
“We will provide additional updates as we learn more from the initial assessments. We appreciate everyone’s support and the offers to help. This is truly the City of Good Neighbors and this historic ship continues to guide us to stick together.”
Father who moved family out of Seattle says others should follow: ‘It’s completely out of control’
Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell on Thursday claimed his city is on track to be one of the safest cities in America. Goodrich, however, argued the crime is out of control.
“It’s not a normal place to be,” Goodrich told host Gillian Turner. “It’s completely out of hand.”
Goodrich said “it’s not normal” to be accosted by homeless people while walking with your children or have to scan the playground for used needles.
Goodrich acknowledged Mayor Harrell’s efforts to improve things but noted a primary cause of the problems is a lack of support for the police.
“Our police has been so underfunded,” he said. “Things are completely out of control in Seattle still even though the new mayor is trying to do better, and I wish him all the best.”
Seattle just got more dangerous to live
Seattle is now a much more dangerous place to live and you have the Council to blame for it. We don’t have enough cops to handle investigations and it’s got real world consequences. Jason Rantz stopped by Tucker Carlson Tonight to discuss.
Rantz: Thousands of your tax dollars went to phony Black Lives Matter ‘art’
King County awarded thousands of tax-funded grant dollars to the co-founder of Black Lives Matter. The only tangible item the community received in return was a neon red sign that we’re supposed to pretend is original art.
Patrisse Cullors held a one-week residency at the Vashon Center for the Arts that ended with a one-on-one on-stage speaking engagement.
The April 8 event occurred days after the bombshell report that BLM spent contributions on a $5.8 million mansion.
Rather than take responsibility for misspending funds, Cullors claimed any criticism of her leadership was racist. The lazy strategy of labeling a critic a racist is nothing new and has mostly lost its effect.
Rantz: District awards middle schoolers $2,000 for student drag show
Middle school students at Whatcom Middle School will perform in drag in the coming weeks. And the district is paying them to do it.
Bellingham Public Schools held a contest called Think BIG.
A group of judges awarded up to $2,500 in funds to club leaders pitching innovative ideas on using the funds.
GSA club members said they would use their funds, in part, for a “Drop Dead Gorgeous Drag Show.” Students, not adults, would participate.
“In their application for the contest, the WMS [Whatcom Middle School] GSA stated that, if they won any of the Foundation’s grant funds, they would use them to plan a student drag / talent show and additional outreach activities to support students, such as anti-bullying posters or campaigns,” a Bellingham Public Schools spokesperson confirms to the Jason Rantz Show on KTTH.
Rantz: Seattle media ignore or lie about Quran, meth connection to murder case
Police say Tyrone Bernard Wells, who has three misdemeanor convictions and was wanted on three separate bench warrants, confessed to killing Randee Leeann Rios after she spent the night at his apartment in Shoreline on March 27. The two had been dating.
Wells also told police, according to court documents, “that he had been reading the Quran prior to Rios’ arrival and that verses in the Quran seemed to indicate to him that it would be necessary for him to kill Rios.”
It says that he struggled “with the thought of whether or not he would actually go through with murdering her.”
But after the two had intercourse and watched movies, Rios fell asleep. That’s when police say Wells decided to murder her.
Chilling police video shows home intruder holding gun to woman’s head after alleged sexual assault
San Diego Police
Horrifying police bodycam video captured the moment a nearly naked man held a woman hostage at gunpoint after allegedly breaking into her San Diego home, masturbating inside a bathroom and sexually assaulting her.
Demetrius Trussell, a 40-year-old parolee, allegedly broke into four other homes before bursting into the 53-year-old woman’s residence on Viacha Drive, where she barricaded herself with her father on Saturday, the Times of San Diego reported.
One of the cops who responded to the address made “verbal contact” with the woman’s father before a loud bang and screams are heard when the man broke into a room where she was hiding.
Full VIDEO: Eastern Division – April 09, 2022
Man stabbed to death while FaceTiming brother in ‘random and unprovoked’ attack, police say
Los Angeles detectives are seeking information Friday following the unprovoked stabbing of a man who was killed while talking to his brother on a FaceTime call.
Surveillance video showed the armed suspect approach 34-year-old Sergio Santay while he was walking on Bonnie Brae Street on April 8. The suspect is seen stabbing Santay without provocation, before running away.
According to the Los Angeles Police Department, the suspect is also accused of trying to stab two other people right after the fatal stabbing.
Elizabeth man accused of running woman down in apparent road rage incident caught on camera
The encounter was all caught on video on a neighbor’s security camera. In the video, 56-year-old Vincent Jean appears to run a woman over multiple times.
Isaac, who did not wish to share his last name, provided the video to News 12 with permission from the Union County Prosecutor’s Office.
“He turned the car around and drove over her again. The lunatic – a maniac. He drove over her again, and the people were screaming,” Isaac says.
Completed DHS Investigation Clears Maligned Horse-Mounted Border Patrol Agents, Says Source
President Biden issued comments during a September 2021 media event condemning the actions saying, “It was horrible what you saw, to see people treated like they did, horses run them over, people being strapped, it’s outrageous.” The President further emphasized his quick-to-judge assessment saying, “I promise you, those people will pay”.
In November, the agency’s Office of the Inspector General failed to find sufficient evidence of criminal wrongdoing and referred the investigation to the Customs and Border Protection’s Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR). OPR was then charged to determine if any administrative policy infractions occurred during the incident.
The source, not authorized to speak to the media, told Breitbart Texas the delays in the investigation may have more to do with avoiding the political fallout of such a quick rush to judgment than the time it took multiple investigative agencies to analyze the evidence and reach a conclusion.
Third bus of illegal immigrants arrives in Washington, DC, from Texas
A third busload of illegal immigrants arrived in Washington, DC, from Texas on Friday morning after the head of US Customs and Border Protection knocked the move by Republican Gov. Greg Abbott to send the new arrivals to the nation’s capital.
Abbott’s office did not immediately confirm the number of migrants on the third bus, but Fox News reported that approximately 30 were on board.
The transports have been arriving in DC at a rate of one per day since Wednesday. The first bus carried 24 illegal immigrants, while the second bus — which arrived Thursday — carried just 14.
Texas border agents encounter boy, 4, among suspected illegal immigrants smuggling marijuana into US
Diana, a migrant woman from Guatemala, is backlighted by Border Patrol vehicles as she holds her 7-month-old son Jarrell after crossing the Rio Grande in Roma, Texas, April 7, 2022. (Reuters/Adrees Latif)
After midnight Tuesday, Rio Grande Valley Sector Border Patrol (RGV) agents and Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) troopers spotted a group of more than a dozen people crossing the U.S.-Mexico border near Roma, Texas.
The agents approached the vehicle and all occupants fled into the brush, CBP said. Officers found two bundles of marijuana weighing around 116 pounds, valued at more than $93,000.
Thirteen illegal immigrants were apprehended. The driver was not located, CBP said.
Among the group apprehended was a four-year-old boy with his mother from Guatemala. The other immigrants were from Mexico, Central America, and the Dominican Republic.
Rumble commits to free speech in the face of media censorship demands
Rumble wrote that journalists were “demanding to know why we aren’t dutifully copying YouTube’s censorship.
”In response to the censorship demands, Rumble said: “There is a reason the public has radically turned against both the corporate media and Big Tech: because you have arrogantly claimed for yourselves the power to decide for the public what information they can and cannot be trusted to hear and what views they can and cannot express.
By stark contrast, the reason Rumble is growing so rapidly is because we trust adults to make decisions for themselves about what ideas they can express, and we trust them to make up their own minds after hearing all sides.”
Journalist Glenn Greenwald, who is popular on Rumble, noted it was “surreal and dangerous” that “the leaders of the campaign for greater censorship are journalists.”
Twitter adopts ‘poison pill’ to prevent Elon Musk takeover
Under the plan, which is also referred to as a “poison pill”, shareholders’ rights will become exercisable if an entity, person or group acquires beneficial ownership of 15% or more of Twitter’s outstanding common stock in a transaction not approved by the board. In the event that the rights become exercisable, shareholders will be entitled to purchase additional shares of common stock at a discounted rate.
The plan, which will expire on April 14, 2023, does not prevent Twitter’s board from engaging with parties or accepting an acquisition proposal if they believe it is in the best interest of the company and its shareholders.
Not ‘Being Held Hostage:’ Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal Tries to Calm Freakout over Elon Musk’s Takeover Bid
NPR reports that Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal sat down with company employees for an all-staff meeting on Thursday in an effort to calm those worried about Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s $43 billion offer to purchase the company.
During the meeting, Agrawal said that Twitter’s board was considering the offer and will act in the interest of company shareholders.
One employee reportedly suggested that Musk’s sudden acquisition bid felt similar to a hostage situation, a comment which Agrawal dismissed. “I don’t believe we are being held hostage,” Agrawal responded.
Following the meeting, many employees were reportedly upset, saying that they felt as if they were left in the dark about what was going on. Many stated that they felt that a version of Twitter owned by Musk was a “nightmare scenario” due to Musk’s history as a volatile CEO.
‘Mornings with Maria’ panel rips ‘dramatic’ media over potential Musk takeover of Twitter
FOX Business’ Maria Bartiromo, Dagen McDowell and WSJ assistant editorial page editor James Freeman discuss the varied reactions to Elon Musk potentially buying Twitter from celebrities and the media.
Los Angeles political donor gets 30 years in prison for fetish deaths
Prosecutors, who sought a life term, said Buck had such disregard for life that even after the two deaths in his apartment, he did not stop paying men to come to his home and injecting them with walloping doses of methamphetamine. One man overdosed twice in the course of a week.
“This defendant preyed upon vulnerable victims — men who were drug-dependent and often without homes — to feed an obsession that led to death and misery,” United States Attorney Tracy L. Wilkison said. “Mr. Buck continues to pose a clear danger to society.”
Buck managed to avoid arrest for more than two years after Moore’s death and family and community members led by political strategist Jasmyne Cannick complained that he escaped prosecution because of wealth, political ties and race. He donated more than $500,000 since 2000 to mainly Democratic causes.
Politics:
Hunter Biden’s Laptops Scandal Exposes How Communist Influence Operations Work
This ongoing scandal lifted the curtain of foreign governments’ covert influence campaigns in the United States. No government has conducted such influence campaigns more effectively than Communist China.
To understand China’s influence campaigns on foreign soil, one has to get familiar with a secretive Chinese government agency, the United Front Work Department (UFWD), or United Front. The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) established UFWD in the 1930s, aiming to recruit famous intellectuals, writers, teachers, students, publishers, and business leaders who were not necessarily Communists.
UFWD workers are assigned to many government branches inside and outside China, including almost all Chinese embassies, which now include staff formally working with United Front.
The UFWD is tasked with helping the CCP aggressively and yet covertly dictate its messages and narratives about China. UFWD’s goal is to gather information and either win over or co-opt support for the CCP. It is to attack and neutralize potential dissent and opposition inside and outside China.
VIDEO: Famous gangster’s nephew reportedly played ‘key role’ in China deals
Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., discusses a House letter sent to the DOJ requesting an investigation into Hunter Biden’s dealings.
Maxine Waters pays daughter another $24,000 in campaign cash, adding to $1.2M in previous payments
Karen Waters, who has been organizing slate-mailing operations to bolster her mother’s re-election for nearly two decades, and her company, Progressive Connections, have received more than $1.2 million since 2003 for campaign services, including “slate mailer management” fees and “campaign managing services.”
A “Citizens for Waters” campaign committee filing from earlier this week shows that the younger Waters received $24,000 from the committee between January and March 2022.
Slate-mailing is an uncommon practice in federal elections, where a consulting firm is hired to create a pamphlet of sorts that contains a list of candidates or policy measures, and advises voters how to cast their ballots.
Rep. Waters was reportedly the only federal politician to use a slate-mailer operation during the 2020 general election.
World News:
Worshippers mark Good Friday in Jerusalem’s Old City
Carrying wooden crosses and singing hymns, Catholic Christians held a procession in the Old City of Jerusalem on Good Friday (April 15), retracing what is traditionally held to be the route that Jesus took to his crucifixion.
Pope Francis: ‘We Are Racists, We Are Racists’
“Refugees are subdivided,” the pontiff declared during a lengthy Good Friday interview on Italian television. “There’s first class, second class, skin color, [whether] they come from a developed country [or] one that is not developed.”
“We are racists, we are racists. And this is bad,” the pope stated.
As he has done on other occasions, Francis compared the current problem of migrants and refugees to the flight into Egypt of Joseph, Mary, and Jesus when King Herod was seeking to kill him.
China Deploys Most Powerful Fighter Jet to South China Sea
The PLAAF has specifically ordered its J-20s to conduct “combat patrols” in the East and South China Seas designed to “safeguard China’s airspace security and maritime interests” in the bodies of water, Ren Yukun told reporters at a press conference on April 12.
These threats have translated to belligerent military drills by the PLAAF, which regularly orders air sorties to penetrate Taiwan’s Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ) as a form of intimidation.
“They are flying it [J-20s] pretty well. We recently had – I wouldn’t call it an engagement – where we got relatively close to the J-20s along with our F-35s in the East China Sea,” Wilsbach said during the virtual forum.
He noted that the U.S. pilots involved in the face-off were “relatively impressed” with the PLAAF’s “command and control” of the J-20s.
Someone infiltrated US base in Syria, planted bomb that hurt 4 US troops
Combined Joint Task Force – Operation Inherent Resolve (OIR) revealed an attack on its Green Village base it previously attributed to outside indirect fire weapons had actually been carried out by one or more unidentified individuals who had placed explosives inside the base.
“Upon further investigation, OIR officials assess the explosions in Green Village were not the result of indirect fire but rather the deliberate placement of explosive charges by an unidentified individual(s) at an ammunition holding area and shower facility,” the OIR statement added.
Reports initially said two U.S. service members were injured in the April 7 attack. Later that day, OIR confirmed four U.S. service members were being evaluated for minor injuries as well as possible traumatic brain injuries (TBIs).
Russian Cruiser Sinks, Ukraine Claims Victory in Potentially Greatest Naval Battle in Decades
Russian state media has confirmed the guided-missile cruiser and erstwhile flagship of the Black Sea Fleet, the Moskva (Moscow) sunk on Thursday.
The total loss of the ship comes after what Ukrainian state media claimed was a strike on the ship by two of their domestically produced “Neptune” (Нептун) missiles on Wednesday. The Ukrainians said they’d caused major damage to the warship.
That the Moskva had been damaged was later confirmed by the Russian state, but their defence ministry said only that the guided-missile cruiser had suffered ammunition detonations onboard due to a fire.
China demands US stop dealing with Taiwan; launches war drills as 6 US lawmakers visit
On Thursday, Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-Wen shared a photo welcoming Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Menendez (D-NJ), Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), Richard Burr (R-NC), Rob Portman (R-OH), Ben Sasse (R-KS) and Rep. Ronny Jackson (R-TX).
The visit by the U.S. congressional delegation had gone unannounced until they arrived in Taiwan. The U.S. congressional visit drew immediate backlash from China, which considers Taiwan a part of its territory.
The Chinese Embassy in the U.S. released a statement on Thursday saying the Congress members’ Taiwan visit “gravely violates the one-China principle and the stipulations of the three Sino-US Joint Communiques.”
Ukraine Welcomes Visit of Polish President, Tells German Leader They Are ‘Not Wanted’
Presidents from the European nation-states of Poland, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia all converged on the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv in a show of support for Ukraine’s Zelensky government on Wednesday, which is currently attempting to fight off a Russian invasion.
However, while the Eastern European nation welcomes the heads of state from four different NATO countries, it has reportedly expressed a desire for Germany’s President, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, to stay away, prompting outcry in Germany.
While one official within the country has since denied that Steinmeier was ever snubbed, according to a report by POLITICO, German authorities are under the clear impression that he — and by extension Germany — was very much refused the treatment other European nations are currently receiving, much to the chagrin of those in power.
Clashes erupt at Jerusalem holy site, 152 Palestinians hurt: report
JERUSALEM — Palestinians clashed with Israeli police at the Al-Aqsa mosque compound in Jerusalem before dawn on Friday as thousands gathered for prayers during the holy month of Ramadan. Medics said that at least 152 Palestinians were wounded.
The holy site, which is sacred to Jews and Muslims, has often been the epicenter of Israeli-Palestinian unrest, and tensions were already heightened amid a recent wave of violence. Clashes at the site last year helped spark an 11-day war with Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip.
The clashes come at a particularly sensitive time. Ramadan this year coincides with Passover, a major weeklong Jewish holiday beginning Friday at sundown, and Christian holy week, which culminates on Easter Sunday. The holidays are expected to bring tens of thousands of faithful into Jerusalem’s Old City, home to major sites sacred to all three religions.
Commentary/Opinion:
White Hatred is Domestic Terrorism | Rudy Giuliani | Guest: Howard Safir | April 15th 2022 | Ep 230
How “Pro-Choice Christianity” Directly Opposes Christianity
Abortion directly opposes Christianity. Here’s Why.