Featured Essays LOCUS magazine Locus Is a Lifeline for Writers in the Margins “Locus” plays an essential role in the SFF community‚ connecting writers and fans from all over the world. By Eugenia Triantafyllou | Published on March 5‚ 2024 icon-comment 0 Share New Share Twitter Facebook Pinterest RSS Feed It was 2010 when I first started writing fiction in my native language‚ Greek. There weren’t a whole lot of opportunities for artists in Greece‚ although many talented people exceled in various artistic mediums‚ so I decided to try writing in English. This came with an array of challenges to overcome‚ such as improving my reading and writing skills in English. Those were obstacles I had anticipated. But others‚ such as the lack of peers who wrote in English (with a few exceptions) or a sense of belonging to the US writing community‚ I had not. That’s where Locus comes in. There are many writers like me out there. Not just writers who live far away from North American conventions‚ but even those who live in small US towns‚ those who can’t afford to travel to a convention‚ those that face accessibility issues‚ those who have many obligations and can’t carve more time to become actively involved in the science fiction and fantasy community. For all of us out there‚ Locus provides an insider’s eye into the happenings of the community: It covers a wide array of books and magazines as well as many industry events‚ both in-person and online. I remember looking at the Locus website and reading reviews of stories that would blow my mind. I too have dreamt of having my stories reviewed there. Locus helped me find the magazines that published stories similar to what I would later end up writing—stories that shaped my taste in anglophone fiction. It helped me better understand the markets‚ and was my guide as I was navigating the chaotic adjustment period from being a complete outsider to slowly getting my bearings in the anglophone writing community. Some of my favorite columns were‚ and still are‚ the reports from various conventions and events. When‚ as an aspiring writer‚ I glanced through the photos from gatherings‚ I saw people who I admired and thought of as being almost inaccessible hanging out with new writers and fans like it was the most natural thing in the world. This gave me hope. Even if I couldn’t be there‚ at least I knew these authors were welcoming to fresh faces and very approachable. Most of all‚ it showed me that they were regular people like me and you. It helped me to feel a closeness to the community. It also set an example for how to behave among people who were more advanced in their career and authors who were just starting out. I became less afraid to approach the former and aware of the importance of being welcoming to the latter (even as an introvert). Things seem to be working out for me. A lot of my dreams have come true. I’ve had my stories reviewed by Locus and even made it on the Locus Recommended Reading List. I love seeing stories by other marginalized authors featured and recommended by different reviewers. It makes us feel seen. It matters so much to us. When in 2019 I attended Clarion West‚ I got to be a part of those reports I was reading about. I was also at the Locus Awards: There was so much concentrated joy. I saw enthusiastic faces‚ met many writers new to me‚ and picked up lots of books. It was a true and unapologetic SFF celebration. Locus made that possible. I don’t take these things for granted. The pandemic has taught me as much. I don’t believe I will be at many upcoming physical conventions (and maybe not too many online ones). Life gets in the way. But I do know that I will not feel like an outsider because I will be able to see new and familiar faces in Locus reports and know that there is a world out there and I am part of it. And I will still be able to discover new and diverse stories by writers I don’t know because of the conscious effort of the Locus reviewers. And by the way‚ the Locus Awards voting is open to everyone who wants to add a story they loved but didn’t get to see in the initial list. Everyone can nominate and everyone can vote for the stories. That’s how open and inclusive Locus has made its awards and its philosophy in general. When Locus asks for the community’s help it is important for us to show up and support their efforts. Locus needs to exist for all the writers and fans out there who wouldn’t otherwise have access to the information‚ the reviews‚ and the institutions‚ but still want to stay connected. It needs to exist for all the writers that do have access and want to create a community larger than a city or a country. A community that will encompass as much of the world as possible. I ask you to support Locus’s crowdfunding campaign for the generations of writers and readers who will find a lifeline keeping them connected to the SFF history‚ as well as its current beating heart.[end-mark] The post <;i>;Locus<;/i>; Is a Lifeline for Writers in the Margins appeared first on Reactor.

Death Shepherds are one of the most difficult enemies you face in Baldur’s Gate 3 Act 1. There are a few ways to beat or avoid them‚ but I’ll leave it up to you to choose how you want to engage. Best combat strategies to beat Death Shepherds in Baldur’s Gate 3 After combing Reddit‚ the best strategy I found for defeating Death Shepherds is to pick up the bodies of dead Ghouls. Watch out for being encumbered‚ but by picking up the Ghouls‚ the Death Shepherds can’t resurrect them over and over again which makes them a lot easier to defeat. It won’t matter if you have the Enemy of Justice status effect or not since the Death Shepherds attack on sight. I didn’t know about the body pickup strategy when I beat the Death Shepherds. Instead‚ I used AoE spells like Fireball to deal high damage to the groups of Ghouls. Get your high single-target damage dealers‚ like the best Shadowheart build‚ up close to the Death Shepherds. Use Radiant damage to de...

Be ready to fight your way through deadly demonic enemies and get the highest score possible. Here is how to enter The Gauntlet dungeon in Diablo 4. Diablo 4: How to enter The Gauntlet dungeon Now that the Mid-Season update is here – along with several class balance changes -‚ players will finally be able to compete to be immortalized in the pantheon of The Gauntlet. For all of you who haven’t heard about this new game mode‚ The Gauntlet is a weekly dungeon that will pit players against Level 100+ enemies to determine who performs the best via an in-game score system. How can you partake in the Gauntlet Dungeon in Diablo 4? Well‚ first of all‚ you need to reach World Tier 4 for it to appear. Moreover‚ you will probably need to level up to Level 100 for your character to be able to survive the hordes of enemies. Once you do‚ travel to Gea Kul‚ a town in Kehjistan right at the southwestern most of Sanctuary. Image: PC Invasion You will have to travel to the longes...

There are a lot of great Illithid Powers to choose from in Baldur’s Gate 3. However‚ one of them‚ Survival Instinct‚ can only be acquired through a quest — and it’s one you won’t want to miss. What is Survival Instinct in Baldur’s Gate 3? Screenshot: PC Invasion Survival Instinct is a condition that lasts for three turns. If the player with Survival Instinct applied would hit zero hit points‚ they instead restore three to 12 health. It can‚ unfortunately‚ only be cast on ally party members instead of any ally in a fight. Since this action is so powerful‚ it requires a Short Rest to get back. Survival Instinct is an incredible Illithid Power that keeps your party in the fight. Since it only lasts for three turns‚ remember to use it only when you think one of your allies could become Unconscious during that time. Baldur’s Gate 3 Survival Instinct: How to get it Screenshot: PC Invasion Survival Instinct isn’t acquired via the Illi...

Red XIII might not be the ideal romantic partner for many‚ but a select subset of Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth players (you know who you are) want nothing more than to take Nanaki on the Skywheel date at the Gold Saucer. Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth has greatly expanded the Gold Saucer date from the original game‚ even going so far as to include characters that were not romanceable in the 1997 classic. Red XIII wasn’t an eligible bachelor for the Gold Saucer date in the original FF7‚ but you can absolutely date him in Rebirth if you play your cards right. Since the game gives you more opportunities to romance other characters‚ however‚ you’ll need to make use of every possible chance you get to deepen your bond with him. Red XIII Dialogue Answers Red XIII Relationship Side Quests Missable Red XIII Relationship Moments How to Romance Red XIII in Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth To romance Red XIII in Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth‚ you need to raise his relationship level higher t...

Cait Sith is tough to get the hang of‚ but once you understand how to utilize his Folio tree‚ he can become a top-party member. This guide will cover the best Folio upgrades for Cait Sith in Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth. Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth: Best Folio upgrades for Cait Sith Before we get into the best Folio upgrades for Cait Sith in FF7 Rebirth‚ it’s important to know that players must unlock early Folios to reach some mentioned in this guide. You can tell which ones you need to unlock first by following the line on the Folio tree. Without further ado‚ here are the Folio upgrades that make Cait Sith extremely powerful. Lucky Jockey Screenshot: PC Invasion Since Cait Sith is a luck-based character‚ so you will want to increase the Luck stat as much as possible. You can do this through accessories and equipment‚ but the best way is through the Lucky Jockey stat boost Folio upgrade. Unlocking Lucky Jockey will increase Cait Sith’s Luck stat by 100 when riding th...

For the second year in a row‚ the Biden administration plans to reduce payments to Medicare’s private health plans. This comes as Medicare Advantage—the system of private‚ competing health plans—enrolls more than 33 million people‚ well over half of the entire Medicare population. Private health plans now dominate Medicare coverage.   The Left is relentlessly hostile to private health coverage‚ and that includes Medicare Advantage. For example‚ Dr. Donald Berwick‚ then-President Barack Obama’s CMS administrator‚ sees Medicare Advantage’s growing popularity as a threat to the viability of traditional Medicare‚ and recently remarked‚  “I would like to see Medicare Advantage slowed or stopped right now‚ or at least forced to have better carriers.” That’s rich. While running Medicare‚ Berwick praised Britain’s “single-payer” National Health Service‚ a government national insurance program‚ as a “global treasure.” Last year‚ that “global treasure”  left 7.2 million British citizens on waiting lists‚ or almost 11% of the entire British population.   Payment Cut: Earlier this year‚ the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS)‚ the agency that runs the Medicare program‚ issued an “advance notice” of Medicare Advantage’s payment rates for 2025. The changes include a series of technical adjustments to several key components of the system’s mind-numbingly complex payment system‚ such as how the government’s annual “benchmark” payments to plans are to be set‚ how the agency will adjustment payments for beneficiaries’ health risks‚ and how the agency will allocate bonuses to plans based on their performance on health care quality measures. CMS says that the proposed changes will increase overall Medicare Advantage payment by 3.7% in 2025 over 2024‚ amounting to $16 billion in revenues. The Biden administration is also saying that the proposed changes will ensure the payments are accurate‚ protect beneficiaries‚ and maintain a stable market. But take a closer look. The Berkeley Research Group recently conducted a detailed analysis of the data in a report commissioned by the Better Medicare Alliance‚ a coalition of more than 200 allied organizations. The authors concluded that the CMS changes in 2025‚ taking all of the technical adjustments into account‚  would result in a 1%  Medicare Advantage  payment cut “per month per beneficiary.” Team Biden is‚ among other things‚ ignoring the persistent impact of inflation. For the first nine months of 2023‚ according to the Berkeley Research Group analysis‚ Medicare Advantage  medical costs “per member per month” grew by 7.3%. For  2025‚ medical inflation is projected to be between 4% and 6%. In any case‚ it’s a sure bet that medical inflation will swamp CMS’ vaunted Medicare Advantage payment “increase.”   Patients Pay: When rising medical costs collide headlong into falling Medicare payments‚ the patients get squeezed by higher premiums or out-of-pocket costs or less access to the extra benefits  and services they want. The authors of the Berkeley Research Group report have quantified the effects of that squeeze on patients and conclude that “… the value of supplemental benefit reductions to premiums and cost sharing could fall by $33 or more per beneficiary per month on average.” The damage to Medicare patients‚ of course‚ is never uniform. Looking at the data‚ the authors of the Berkeley Research Group report estimate that for Medicare patients in Kansas‚ Nebraska‚ Nevada‚ and Texas‚ the potential damage would be greatest: “The value of supplemental benefits or reductions to premiums and cost sharing for these four states could fall by $60 or more per beneficiary per month‚ on average‚ which beneficiaries would experience as an increase in their health care costs.” An Old Game: The Left’s game plan‚ as Berwick says‚ is to stop the growth of Medicare Advantage. The Left would like to drive seniors back into traditional Medicare. During the 2008 presidential election‚ Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama promised to cut $150 billion out of Medicare Advantage over several years and transfer the funding to expand the outdated and disjointed traditional Medicare “fee-for-service” program.   In 2009‚ then-Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid‚ D-Nev.‚ proposed to cut  $110 billion from Medicare Advantage  over 10 years and to reduce Medicare’s private plan enrollment by 33%. With enactment of Obamacare in 2010‚ the Congressional Budget Office estimated that the law would cut Medicare Advantage  by $136 billion‚ and the CMS  Office of the Actuary projected that Medicare Advantage enrollment would be cut in half  by 2017. In 2011‚ Team Obama got cold feet and used funds from Medicare’s “quality-based bonus program” to blunt the cuts before the 2012 election‚ and the program continued to grow. Note‚ too‚ that more than half of House Democrats and 15 Democratic senators  are co-sponsors of legislation (“Medicare for All”) that would abolish virtually all private health plans‚ including Medicare Advantage plans.   Fixing Medicare Advantage Payments: While Medicare Advantage has been providing affordable‚ high-quality care to an ever-larger number of senior citizens‚ the Medicare Advantage payment and risk adjustment systems are nevertheless broken. They are not going to be fixed by periodic‚ piecemeal bureaucratic adjustments. Two key policy changes are necessary. First‚ instead of relying upon traditional Medicare’s declining and outdated system of administrative pricing and price controls as the basis for annual Medicare Advantage payments‚ Congress should base the government’s contribution to health plans on a straight competitive market-based bidding system among the plans to provide the standard Medicare benefits. The popular and successful Federal Employee Health Benefits Program‚ for example‚ has been using this method for federal workers and retirees for more than six decades. Such an approach would ensure that the government contribution to plans reflects the real market price of coverage‚ and drive more intense price competition among plans and providers. Also‚ such competitive bidding should be undertaken on a regional basis‚ rather than today’s narrow countywide basis. Second‚ instead of trying to “risk-adjust” health plan payments on prospective plan estimates of enrollees’ future health-related costs‚ as is the case today‚ Congress should establish a retrospective (look-back) system to reimburse plans annually for the actual costs of enrolling high-cost Medicare patients. As outlined by Heritage Foundation analyst Edmund Haislmaier in Chapter 9 of “Modernizing Medicare: Harnessing the Power of Consumer Choice and Market Competition” (Johns Hopkins University Press‚ 2023)‚ such risk-adjusted reimbursement to the plans would come from a common pool. (The Daily Signal is the news outlet of The Heritage Foundation.) All Medicare Advantage  plans would participate and share the costs of expensive patients. The pools could be organized on a state or regional basis‚ funded from all participating Medicare Advantage  plans‚ and supervised by state insurance regulators. Such a retrospective system would not only guarantee protection for vulnerable patients and stabilize the market‚ but it would also eliminate the guesswork of estimating patients’ future risk and prevent any insurance company from “gaming” the system at the expense of the taxpayers. Medicare Advantage is a major health policy success. That’s because more and more seniors are deciding that it offers them real value for their money. But the program will only have a bright future if Congress undertakes discrete‚ well-crafted legislative solutions to fix those features that are clearly broken. Have an opinion about this article? To sound off‚ please email letters@DailySignal.com and we’ll consider publishing your edited remarks in our regular “We Hear You” feature. Remember to include the url or headline of the article plus your name and town and/or state.   The post The Left’s Relentless War Against Medicare’s Private Health Plans appeared first on The Daily Signal.

Attorney General Merrick Garland‚ in an address Sunday at a church in Selma‚ Alabama‚ characterized state election laws designed to verify mail-in ballots‚ restrict drop boxes‚ and require voter ID as “discriminatory‚ burdensome‚ and unnecessary.” Experts say the attorney general’s comments don’t line up with the views of a supermajority of Americans‚ and that the Biden administration intentionally is undermining election reform efforts ahead of the November elections. During his appearance with Vice President Kamala Harris at Selma’s Tabernacle Baptist Church marking the 59th anniversary of the Bloody Sunday attacks on civil rights marchers‚ Garland declared that his Justice Department is ramping up its “fight” against states and local jurisdictions to challenge laws designed to strengthen the integrity of elections. Garland said some states have placed “discriminatory‚ burdensome‚ and unnecessary restrictions on access to the ballot‚ including those related to mail-in voting‚ the use of drop boxes‚ and voter ID requirements.” Garland went on to assert that voter ID laws make it “more difficult” for “millions of eligible voters to vote and to elect the representatives of their choice.” He said the Justice Department is “fighting back” by doubling the number of attorneys in the Voting Section of the Civil Rights Division and filing a series of legal challenges in states and jurisdictions that have enacted election reforms. However‚ recent surveys on the topic indicate that the American public’s views are largely not in line with the attorney general’s. Polls have consistently shown that a strong majority of Americans support requiring some form of photo ID in order to vote‚ with some polls showing 80% in favor‚ including 60% of Democrats. Currently‚ 36 states have some form of voter ID laws. Evidence also shows that Garland’s claims—that election reforms make it harder‚ particularly for minorities‚ to vote—are not true in practice. Following the “Jim Crow 2.0” uproar surrounding Georgia’s election integrity laws enacted in 2021‚ the state’s voters set an all-time record for midterm election turnout in 2022‚ with 0% of black Georgians reporting a “poor” voting experience. In addition‚ while Garland contended that state reforms to the mail-in ballot system are “unnecessary‚” a December 2023 survey found that 1 in 5 mail-in voters in the 2020 election admitted to committing fraudulent activity in violation of federal law‚ including filling out a ballot for a friend or family member and submitting a ballot for a state they no longer live in. Alongside efforts to scuttle election integrity efforts via Garland’s Justice Department‚ the Biden administration is also carrying out a simultaneous campaign to use taxpayer funds via the Department of Agriculture to work with a left-wing group known as Demos to conduct get-out-the-vote campaigns‚ which experts say is in violation of federal law. “Sadly‚ Attorney General Garland’s efforts to undermine election integrity policies are just business as usual for this administration‚” Jason Snead‚ executive director of the Honest Elections Project‚ told The Washington Stand. “From the recent announcement that the Biden administration will be using tax dollars to pay college students—a key liberal demographic—to do get-out-the-vote work‚ to persistent attacks on effective and commonsense election laws‚ this administration is using every lever of government to push a left-wing voting agenda.” “There is not a shred of evidence to suggest the laws targeted by the Biden Justice Department do anything other than improve elections and bolster public confidence in voting‚” Snead added. “That’s why voter ID enjoys huge‚ bipartisan support from the American public.” Originally published by The Washington Stand Have an opinion about this article? To sound off‚ please email letters@DailySignal.com‚ and we’ll consider publishing your edited remarks in our regular “We Hear You” feature. Remember to include the URL or headline of the article plus your name and town and/or state. The post Garland Calls Election Reforms ‘Discriminatory‚ Burdensome‚ and Unnecessary’ appeared first on The Daily Signal.

Doctors at the World Professional Association of Transgender Health repeatedly struggled with various side effects of what they call “gender-affirming care‚” including cancer in teens‚ reduced sexual function‚ and the lack of informed consent for procedures with lifelong impacts‚ newly unearthed documents reveal. WPATH‚ a controversial organization that transgender advocates and health agencies use to justify “transgender” medical interventions‚ frames itself as the leading expert organization on medical care for people who identify as transgender. It has faced criticism for advocating experimental practices that ignore serious concerns about informed consent and long-term side effects. Journalist Michael Shellenberger released a report‚ “The WPATH Files‚” through his nonprofit‚ Environmental Progress‚ Monday night. In the files‚ doctors and other medical professionals at WPATH struggle with serious medical issues that underscore the idea that the “transgender” hormones and surgeries euphemistically referred to as “gender-affirming care” represent a Wild West of experimental medicine. Shellenberger told The Daily Signal that the files reveal “their whole paradigm falling apart over the last three years.” “I’m relieved the files are out in the world for everyone to read‚” he added. “Nobody can claim to understand the gender issue without reading the WPATH Files.” When asked what most shocked him in the files‚ Shellenberger responded‚ “That the WPATH members and leaders spoke so frankly about not getting informed consent from their patients.” Informed Consent Environmental Progress published video footage of an internal WPATH panel called “Identity Evolution Workshop” held on May 6‚ 2022. Panel members admitted that it is impossible to obtain proper informed consent from young patients. Dr. Daniel Metzger‚ a Canadian endocrinologist‚ noted that doctors find themselves “often explaining these sorts of things to people who haven’t even had biology in high school yet.” He noted that patients seem to want to pick and choose the physical effects of hormone therapy‚ like obtaining a deeper voice but getting no facial hair‚ or taking estrogen without developing breasts. Metzger added‚ “It’s always a good theory that you talk about fertility preservation with a 14-year-old‚ but I know I’m talking to a blank wall. They’d be like‚ ‘Ew‚ kids‚ babies—gross.’” “I often see people who have already engaged in some sort of medical intervention‚” one panelist said. She admitted‚ “It’s out of their developmental range sometimes to understand the extent to which some of these medical interventions are impacting them.” Critics often note that children can barely understand the idea of sacrificing their ability to have children later in life‚ and this discussion suggests WPATH members know this. “Most of the kids are nowhere in any kind of brain space to really talk about it seriously.”One WPATH member says‚ “It's out of their developmental range sometimes to understand the extent to which some of these medical interventions are impacting them.”“We try to talk about… pic.twitter.com/cn1Q0YvhXF— Michael Shellenberger (@shellenberger) March 5‚ 2024 On WPATH discussion boards‚ many of the doctors and therapists referenced patients with dissociative identity disorder‚ a disease in which a person has multiple personalities. One doctor wrote about “struggling internally” between giving a patient with “observed dissociations” the so-called cross-sex hormones the patient wants or following an “informed consent model” and holding off‚ as psychiatrists recommend. California psychiatrist Dan Karasic responded‚ “The mere presence of psychiatric illness should not block a person’s ability to start hormones if they have persistent gender dysphoria‚ capacity to consent‚ and the benefits of starting hormones outweigh the risks.” One WPATH member warned that “it was imperative” to obtain consent from each of a dissociative person’s alternate personalities (referred to as “alters”) in order to provide cross-sex hormones. “Ethically‚ if you do not get consent from all alters‚ you have not really received consent and you may be open to being sued later‚ if they decide [hormone therapy] or surgery was not in their best interest‚” a medical professional wrote. Surgeries on Minors Plastic surgeons wrote about performing surgeries on minors. Plastic surgeon Dr. Christine N. McGinn admitted to having “performed about 20 vaginoplasties in patients under 18 over the past 17 years‚” and said she was “battling my hospital for the ability to continue to do so.” (“Vaginoplasty” refers to the process of altering male genitalia to appear like female genitalia.) One surgeon recommended vaginoplasty no earlier than 16 years old‚ writing‚ “I feel the ideal time in the U.S. is surgery the summer before their last year of high school.” Some medical professionals asked about whether so-called puberty blockers would stunt a young person’s growth. An endocrinologist (hormone doctor) recommended increasing cross-sex hormones slowly in order to allow a female patient to “hopefully reach maximum height potential.” California gynecologist Marci Bowers admitted that “puberty blockade is in its infancy.” Unpleasant Side Effects Doctors and therapists mentioned how women who undergo “gender-affirming care” to identify as men have pain during sex and suffer uterine atrophy. WPATH members also discussed that men who take estrogen to identify as women experience pain during erections. When men experience such pain‚ testosterone cream can give them some relief‚ but the doctors warn that this relief may bring “unwanted androgenic effects‚” i.e.‚ making males who wish to appear female actually appear more male. Doctors mentioned using false medical codes for prescriptions to shield patients from any scrutiny‚ assuming that pharmacies or insurance companies might refuse to dispense or cover the drugs if they knew the true reason for them. Rather than using the code for gender identity disorder‚ F64.9‚ doctors would put a “hypogonadism diagnosis‚” falsely claiming that the patient had a disease where the body does not produce enough of a specific hormone. A gynecologist wrote about a male patient who underwent a vaginoplasty but who still secreted a fluid that “smells like semen.” Other doctors explained that males who undergo this process will always secrete fluid in this way‚ even though it no longer contains sperm. “I don’t think there is [a] remedy‚” one wrote. Dismissing Detransition While WPATH members knew about detransitioners‚ people who formerly underwent experimental interventions to make their bodies resemble those of the opposite sex but who later decided to reverse these processes and embrace their biological sex‚ they repeatedly insisted that detransition does not mean the original transgender identity—or the gruesome medical interventions to confirm it—represented a mistake. “I think it’s important to emphasize the way it is okay for gender and interest in medical options to change over time for each individual‚” one WPATH member wrote in November 2021. The member insisted that detransitioners “didn’t feel like they made a mistake.” Bowers‚ the California gynecologist‚ noted‚ “acknowlegment that de-transition exists to even a minor extent is considered off limits for many in our community.” She insisted that “all surgeries and all medical treatments have regret rates that are typically much higher than what we see for gender transition.” Others called “the idea of detransitioning” problematic because “it frames being cisgender as the default‚ and reinforces transness as a pathology.” Cancer Risk Doctors also admitted that cross-sex hormones can cause liver cancer in teenage patients. In December 2021‚ a doctor sought advice about “the development of hepatic adenomas in a young person treated with testosterone and/or oral contraceptives.” Hepatic adenomas‚ uncommon liver lesions‚ appear in otherwise normal-appearing livers. The doctor mentioned a 16-year-old female patient who had been taking testosterone for a year and who developed “two liver masses‚” which “the oncologist and surgeon both have indicated that the likely offending agents are the hormones.” Another WPATH member mentioned a female friend who developed “hepatocarcinomas”—liver cancer—after “about 8-10 years” of testosterone use. “It was so advanced that [the female who identified as male] opted for palliative care and died a couple months later.” Environmental Progress noted that female patients have developed liver cancer from cross-sex hormones. In 2020‚ the medical journal The Lancet published a study of a 17-year-old girl with a large hepatocellular carcinoma‚ the most common type of primary liver cancer‚ after she had been on testosterone for 14 months. Researchers also documented a 47-year-old woman who identified as a man and who had contracted a rare cancer of the bile duct that normally only appears in advanced age. Many states have moved to ban “gender-affirming care” for minors‚ largely due to concerns that minors cannot consent to experimental treatments that may leave them stunted‚ scarred‚ and infertile. Florida has moved to exclude such “treatments” from Medicaid funding. The World Professional Association for Transgender Health did not respond to The Daily Signal’s request for comment by publication time. Have an opinion about this article? To sound off‚ please email letters@DailySignal.com‚ and we’ll consider publishing your edited remarks in our regular “We Hear You” feature. Remember to include the URL or headline of the article plus your name and town and/or state. The post Liver Cancer in Teens‚ Reduced Sexual Function‚ Lack of Consent: Internal Docs Reveal Experimental Nature of ‘Gender-Affirming Care’ appeared first on The Daily Signal.

If you're tired of censorship and dystopian threats against civil liberties‚ subscribe to Reclaim The Net. The course of action taken by the social media giant X in response to objections raised against its “misgendering” policy has prompted reassurances from its owner‚ Elon Musk. The pushback against the policy‚ led vociferously by podcaster Tim Pool‚ saw Pool vent his ire via a Friday post‚ instigating disruption to his ad obligations and verified accounts‚ lest the policy was revived. Pool went beyond mere words; he terminated a substantial ad campaign. Musk responded by attributing this unexpected policy revision to a Brazilian court verdict‚ which is currently under appeal and assured that its repercussions should be contained within the Brazilian confines alone‚ unaffected by the rest of the globe. The policy has now been updated to reflect that this policy will only be active in countries that require it. The policy now states: “Where required by local laws‚ we will reduce the visibility of posts that purposefully use different pronouns to address someone other than what that person uses for themselves‚ or that use a previous name that someone no longer goes by as part of their transition. Given the complexity of determining whether such a violation has occurred‚ we must always hear from the target to determine if a violation has occurred.” The post X Backtracks on “Misgendering” Policy‚ Makes it Country-Specific appeared first on Reclaim The Net.