A British high court on Monday upheld Britain’s ban on puberty blockers, hormonal drugs frequently given to pubescent children who express discomfort with their biological gender. The judge noted puberty blockers were found to have “very substantial risks and very narrow benefits” by the Cass review, the landmark report commissioned by England’s National Health Service (NHS). Transgender medical interventions on children are based on “remarkably weak evidence,” and young people have been caught up in a “stormy social discourse,” Justice Beverley Lang said in her ruling. Last summer, the NHS issued an emergency ban on puberty blockers after the Cass review recommended halting the powerful drugs due to their effects on brain development and bone health. “Outside of a research setting, puberty-suppressing hormones should not be routinely commissioned for children and adolescents,” the NHS said at the time. A group called TransActual, along with an unnamed youth, sued over the government’s decision, calling it a “cruel new element of the war on trans youth.” With Monday’s decision, however, the ban will remain in place. “Children’s healthcare must be evidence-led,” said Health Secretary Wes Streeting, welcoming the ruling. “We must therefore act cautiously and with care when it comes to this vulnerable group of young people.” However, Streeting added that he is setting up a clinical trial to establish the evidence on puberty blockers. “I want trans people in our country to feel safe, accepted, and able to live with freedom and dignity,” he said. Both puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones come with serious health risks. Puberty blockers can affect bone growth and density and cause sexual dysfunction, voice damage, and infertility, among other issues. Cross-sex hormones, which can be estrogen or testosterone can cause infertility, deadly blood clots, heart attacks, increased cancer risks of the breasts and ovaries, liver dysfunction, worsening psychological illness, and other serious conditions. The Cass review also warned that children who are referred to gender services come with high rates of abuse and neglect, including sexual abuse and parental substance abuse. England and several other European countries, such as Finland and Sweden, have pumped the brakes on transgender medical interventions for children. In April, the Tavistock clinic, England’s only youth gender identity clinic, officially closed its doors after being dogged by controversy for years. The clinic, the biggest in the world, referred thousands of children for puberty blockers. In its last years, Tavistock began to see an increasing flood of young girls with gender-related distress asking for drugs despite having other mental issues like depression, anxiety, eating disorders, and histories of abuse. At least 25 U.S. states have passed restrictions on transgender surgeries and hormone treatments for minors.

The House unveiled on Monday the members of the bipartisan task force to investigate the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, earlier this month. Seven Republicans and six Democrats will serve on the panel, which the House approved in a 416-0 vote last week. Many of the lawmakers chosen to be members have military, law enforcement, or prosecutorial experience. Rep. Mike Kelly (R-PA), the lawmaker who represents the district where the rally shooting happened and introduced the resolution to create the task force, has been selected as chairman. Rep. Jason Crow (D-CO) will serve as ranking member. The other GOP members will include Homeland Security Chairman Mark Green (R-TN) and Reps. David Joyce (R-OH), Laurel Lee (R-FL), Michael Waltz (R-FL), Clay Higgins (R-LA), and Pat Fallon (TX). And the Democrats will be rounded out by Reps. Madeleine Dean (D-PA), Chrissy Houlahan (D-PA), Glenn Ivey (D-MD), and Jared Moskowitz (D-FL). “We have the utmost confidence in this bipartisan group of steady, highly qualified, and capable Members of Congress to move quickly to find the facts, ensure accountability, and help make certain such failures never happen again,” Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) and Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) said in a joint statement. Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-MS), who served as chairman of the now-defunct January 6 Committee, was not selected to participate. The conservative House Freedom Caucus specifically demanded Thompson not become a member after he introduced a bill that could strip Trump of Secret Service protection under certain conditions. Thompson reportedly said he had no interest in being on the task force. According to Johnson’s office, the task force will take over all pending House inquiries into the rally shooting and has subpoena authority. The panel’s goals are to “understand what went wrong on the day of the attempted assassination,” “ensure accountability,” and to “prevent such an agency failure from ever happening again.” The task force will “make recommendations for reform to the relevant government agencies and recommend any necessary legislation to implement the reforms,” Johnson’s office added. House lawmakers have already begun to look into the attempted assassination of Trump, which resulted in the former president getting wounded by a bullet in his right ear. One rallygoer was killed, and two others were injured. A Secret Service sniper shot and killed the gunman, identified as a 20-year-old man named Thomas Matthew Crooks. One day after she testified before the House last week, Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle resigned as she faced backlash over the security failure underlying the attack. FBI Director Christoper Wray also testified about his agency’s investigation into the shooting.

Unmanaged regret can make us feel like we are truly wading through a swamp with no end in sight.

'remarkably weak evidence'

'We know we're in trouble'

'Drowning in debt payments tomorrow'

'Disrespects Christianity and openly celebrates Satan'

'With Kennedy in the race, it's harder for Trump'

'We want to get his perspective on what he observed'

A viral post shared on Facebook claims former U.S. Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle was arrested by the U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Division (CID). Verdict: False The claim is false and originally stems from a July 23 article published on the satire site “Real Raw News.” A spokesperson for the U.S. Army CID denied the […]