Whose Carabiner? - Maggie Faris stand-up comedy

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is getting heat for defending America from suspected narco-terrorists and allegedly committing war crimes while doing so. I don't advocate breaking our laws or committing war crimes, but I voted for an administration that would utilize our military and law enforcement to take drug cartels, terrorism and illegal immigration seriously – and would defend our nation's borders with the resources afforded to them. So did millions of other Americans.

A fishy reek is emanating from the latest scandal about President Donald Trump's military campaign against drug runners in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific Ocean. U.S. forces have so far attacked more than a dozen fast boats on known drug routes, destroying them and their cargo and killing some 80 members of their crews. One might assume the fishy thing is the lack of full video of the first attack on Sept 2 that triggered the latest controversy. One might jump to this conclusion because the Pentagon has proudly distributed other videos of successful operations in which boats are seen on grainy video in the crosshairs of missile guidance systems and are suddenly incinerated in a flash of sophisticated ordnance.

The US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), in a final report on care for transgender youth, claims certain medical and surgical treatments do more harm than good, contradicting the recommendations of leading medical societies. The report, published November 19 on the HHS website, calls puberty-blocking hormones and genital surgeries "unproven." HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., in a statement, said such treatments, commonly referred to as gender-affirming care, constitute "malpractice" by the physicians who provide them. "The American Medical Association (AMA) and the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) peddled the lie that chemical and surgical sex-rejecting procedures could be good for children," Kennedy stated. "They betrayed their oath to first do no harm, and their so-called 'gender-affirming care' has inflicted lasting physical and psychological damage on vulnerable young people. That is not medicine — it's malpractice."

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) released a final version of its report on pediatric gender-affirming care on Wednesday, claiming it found "medical dangers posed to children," which is receiving pushback from medical groups. The report alleged that gender-affirming care -- including puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones and gender-affirming surgeries -- caused significant, long-term damage. It comes after HHS published in May an early version of what it referred to as a "comprehensive review" of transgender care for children and teens, in which it called for a broader use of psychotherapy for young people with gender dysphoria rather than gender-affirming medical interventions.

The Department of Health and Human Services on Wednesday re-released its controversial report on gender dysphoria in children, and this time it named the previously anonymous authors and published a handful of peer review comments after the initial study had been faulted for a lack of transparency. The new version reveals that many of the authors and reviewers have been outspoken critics of gender-affirming care, are affiliated with anti-LGBTQ+ groups, and have little-to-no experience providing clinical care for young trans people. Some have been paid to speak, consult, or testify as expert witnesses against treating children with gender-affirming care such as puberty blockers, hormones, or surgery. However, HHS also solicited reviews from major medical groups, including the American Psychiatric Association.

A report published on the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) website on Wednesday pushes the dubious claim that gender-affirming care for transgender youth does more harm than good — a statement that flouts years of studies concluding otherwise. The report, titled "Treatment for Pediatric Gender Dysphoria: Review of Evidence and Best Practices," derides gender-affirming care by reclassifying it as "pediatric sex-rejecting procedures." HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. commended the report, dismissing the idea that such treatment could "be good for children." "So-called 'gender-affirming care' has inflicted lasting physical and psychological damage on vulnerable young people," Kennedy said, baselessly claiming that it's "malpractice."

On Wednesday Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., released a study that is critical of gender-affirming care for minors. It updates a widely criticized study that was released in May. The American Medical Association and numerous other major medical organizations support psychological and medical treatments that help transgender children live as the gender they identify as. Between 2.5 and 8.4 percent of children identify as transgender or gender-diverse. This means they identify with a different gender than, or have a gender expression that does not conform to, the norms of their sex assigned at birth. Gender-affirming treatment can include puberty-blocking hormones and sex hormones such as testosterone and estrogen. The effects of puberty blockers are reversible; sex hormones cause more lasting effects.

Last month, the U.S. Senate narrowly rejected a bipartisan resolution recently that would have prevented the Trump administration from launching military strikes in Venezuela without congressional approval. The 49–51 vote effectively green-lit the White House's use of force, emboldening the administration to deploy an expanding fleet of warships off the Venezuelan coast, declare Cartel de los Soles as a foreign terrorist organization, and expand military activities from bases in Puerto Rico in a marked escalation.