A North Carolina high school student was suspended after using the term &;quot;illegal alien&;quot; while in a class discussion.

Hollywood icon Jon Voight warned Wednesday that the U.S. and Israel are in grave danger and urged Americans to come together and lift each nation out of darkness by voting for former President Donald Trump in November.

Former President Donald Trump hosted Polish President Andrzej Duda at Trump Tower on Wednesday evening‚ U.S. News &; World Report reported.

But this discovery could be useful.

Doing nothing has come at a devastating cost.

Over at Compact magazine on Tuesday‚ Nina Power wrote “The Trans Reckoning Is Here‚” and‚ as evidence‚ she cited a report by a British pediatrician named Hilary Cass written for the National Health Service that upturned the faux-scientific basis on which that country has embarked on normalizing “gender-affirming care.” As Power writes: [The report] made waves by calling into question the medical justification for hormonal and surgical treatments of gender-dysphoric youth demanded by activist groups and embraced by the medical establishment. The report states that the use of puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones should be discontinued‚ not least because their long-term effects are unknown. Instead of taking narrow claims of dysphoria at face value‚ Cass adopts a holistic approach‚ arguing that such statements must be considered “within the context of poor mental health and emotional distress among the broader adolescent population.” There is and will be major institutional and legal fallout to all this‚ as well as a feeling of relief (mixed with anger) on the part of all of us punished for dissenting from gender ideology. It feels like Britain is waking up from a collective bad dream. But how did any of these terrible and false ideas get taken seriously‚ let alone get played out‚ in many cases irreversibly‚ on the bodies of children&;#63; There are deep psychoanalytic questions here. First and foremost‚ how did the natural process of puberty—entering sexual maturity—become pathologized&;#63; How and why did medical professionals‚ not to mention unqualified people running pressure groups and charities‚ come to imagine that staving off adulthood through the use of dangerous drugs was the right response to childhood distress&;#63; This is certainly good news‚ as it points toward a diminution in the number of children and young adults in whom the British government will invest taxpayer money in sexually mutilating. Except it’s not clear that Power’s headline is ripe just yet. READ MORE from Scott McKay: Dead Thugs and Tired Narratives The reckoning for the nightmare that is transgenderism — together with its 40 percent post-op suicide rate and the increasing levels of madness and social contagion that it has sparked among its votaries and their supporters — is not upon us. It may come soon‚ to be sure‚ and the public revulsion to the quack medicine and perversion of civil rights cant in support of mental derangement has begun to spill over the banks that cancel culture and institutional capture have constructed. But the reckoning hasn’t yet come. American Spectator publisher Melissa Mackenzie and I had a good discussion on this topic in one of this week’s episodes of The Spectacle podcast‚ and it was bound up in a conversation over left-wing comedian Bill Maher’s open admission that abortion is “murder” (and he’s “just OK with that”). The elites in our society‚ who are mostly on the left‚ are so arrogant and tyrannical that they’ve begun admitting what we’ve known about them for a while — in blithering obliviousness that to admit these things is to admit what monsters they truly are. Bill Maher openly admits the Left’s real position on abortion: “They think it’s murder. And it kind of is. And I’m just okay with that. I am. There’s 8 billion people in the world. I’m sorry‚ we won’t miss you. That’s my position on that.” pic.twitter.com/ZCV5SwUZu1 — Citizen Free Press (@CitizenFreePres) April 13‚ 2024 Maher is doing so as a matter of political views and public policy. But then there are the celebrity parents — an astonishing number of them — who happily “trans” their children. The latest of these monsters is the actress Naomi Watts‚ a declining Australian starlet who has dressed her teenage son up as a girl and paraded him around at fashion events. As reports the Daily Mail: Naomi Watts and her youngest child Kai were two peas in a pod on Monday as they stepped out in stylish dresses at the Dior pre-fall fashion show in Brooklyn. The mother-child duo looked radiant in ankle-length gowns‚ which featured flowing skirts‚ and designer accessories as they caught up with friends. Opting for a plunging neckline‚ the Australian actress‚ 55‚ looked very chic in an all-white frock with ruffled sleeves as she accessorised with a long gold necklace. She elevated her angelic look with a black designer handbag‚ a chunky black ring‚ and towering heels which boasted a gold sheen. Meanwhile‚ Naomi’s teen Kai‚ 15‚ who was born Samuel‚ did Dior proud‚ stepping out in the brand’s red and white floral pleated skirt worth $4‚900. Watts had two children with actor Liev Schreiber before the couple broke up. Samuel is the younger of the two. They’re “co-parents.” Meanwhile‚ Watts has now taken up with actor Billy Crudup. It’s fair to say that Samuel has had an insufficient presence of a father in his life. That seems to be true of many of these Hollywood trans kids. It’s definitely true of the monstrous Charlize Theron‚ who has two adopted kids‚ one of whom she’s attempting to turn into a girl: Charlize Theron wanted the world to use the right pronouns for her daughter. Back in April‚ the Bombshell star opened up about her kids in an interview with The Daily Mail. In her chat with the outlet‚ Theron explained that Jackson‚ 7‚ had told her four years earlier‚ “I am not a boy&;#33;” “Yes‚ I thought she was a boy‚ too‚” the actress shared with the outlet. “Until she looked at me when she was three years old and said: ‘I am not a boy&;#33;'” “So there you go&;#33;” Theron continued. “I have two beautiful daughters who‚ just like any parent‚ I want to protect and I want to see thrive.” It’s surprising that no one in the black community has taken issue with Theron‚ a rich white South African (and‚ therefore‚ already a member of a suspect “racist” class) woman‚ adopting a young black boy and attempting to “trans” him. A deeper insult to black manhood in America is harder to imagine‚ and yet … crickets. Theron gained much fame for her portrayal of the deranged killed Aileen Wuornos in Monster. It turns out that the actress has become the near moral equal to the subject. Nina Power is onto something when she notes the damage being done to children who are castrated by “puberty-blocker” drugs‚ which are advertised as having only temporary effect but‚ in reality‚ destroy the reproductive systems of those who take them. The further outrage of “top” surgery — cutting out the breast tissue of young girls under the delusion they’re actually men — or‚ worse‚ “bottom” surgery‚ in which genital mutilation destroys the possibility of reproduction or even of sexual gratification for the victim‚ leaves these kids with a bleak‚ largely meaningless life. We got a taste of what that might result in last year in Nashville‚ when a young biological woman who hadn’t even gone through the full process of “gender affirmation” nonetheless went on a shooting rampage through a Christian school she had once attended. The Nashville shooter wrote a psychotic‚ rage-filled manifesto before the massacre that even today the authorities are loath to release for what it might portend. But it isn’t hard to imagine. In 10 or 15 years‚ these children being “transed” by wayward‚ narcissistic‚ Munchausen-by-proxy parents‚ the vast majority of whom fit the classic definition of AWFLs (affluent white female leftists)‚ will be saddled with the full implications of what’s been done to them. Consider the case of Kellie — now Scott — Newgent‚ who was featured in Daily Wire host Matt Walsh’s What Is a Woman documentary: This is what the Cass Report in Great Britain has begun to reveal. What’s going to happen when Newgent’s story is written large&;#63; What will happen when the public begins to realize that the one of the top distributors of “puberty-blockers” to kids is the taxpayer-funded Planned Parenthood&;#63; What happens when there are tens or hundreds of thousands of mutilated‚ marginalized adults who are cash registers for the medical profession and can never return to what God made them to be&;#63; Those on the right had better be the ones providing them a lifeline. Start with legislation aimed at the quack doctors and other so-called medical professionals who are pushing children down this road to perdition. Align with the trial bar and impose statutory liability for those involved in “gender-affirming” medical care. Hey‚ maybe the victims of this Mengelean medical experimentation are happy and satisfied with what it’s done to them. Great&;#33; For those who aren’t‚ there ought to be compensation available. Trial attorneys have properties in this regard; let’s make use of them. Whatever public policy and/or legislation might be useful in facilitating large lawsuits against the Planned Parenthoods and other practitioners of child castration must get that done — most easily at the state level. Let’s also do something about the Charlize Therons and Naomi Wattses of the world — these Munchausen-by-proxy lunatics who seize upon bumps in children’s development and/or difficult phases they might encounter during puberty in order to turn them into designer freaks. Perhaps family law can be enhanced — a parent might be able to act under color of law to deny custodial rights to an ex (or not even an ex) who insists on “gender affirmation.” That awful case in Texas a few years ago when that insane woman forced her son into transgenderism as her ex-husband attempted to stop her must never be repeated. This might be controversial to say‚ but if‚ for example‚ a wife finds out that her husband is sexually molesting her child and proceeds to shoot him dead‚ there’s a pretty broad consensus that she shouldn’t be punished for it. She’s a hero for doing that‚ many would say. And — not at all to minimize the monstrosity that is pedophilia — its victims don’t necessarily receive a death sentence. They may — and usually do — have a long road to mental and emotional recovery‚ but it’s possible to recover. How do you recover from being sterilized and mutilated&;#63; And how is “transing” a kid not an abuse worse than sexually molesting him or her&;#63; We’ll let that hang for a while. In states where Republicans dominate the legislature and the governor’s mansion‚ the bills on transgender surgeries‚ locker rooms‚ girls’ sports‚ and even pronouns generally speaking are all passing or have passed. That’s good‚ and it’s a process that ought to continue to completion. But we should go further. Ruinous liability should be imposed on those who profit from this outrage. There should be implications in family law for those adults who abuse their responsibility and lead children down this satanic and ruinous path. And resources should be invested in educating the public about just how much damage this disastrous fad is causing. Because‚ in a decade‚ when the full scope is known‚ the true cost will reveal itself. Preparations ought to be made now. The post The Trans Reckoning Is Not Yet Here — But It’s Coming Soon appeared first on The American Spectator | USA News and Politics.

SACRAMENTO — Around this time last year‚ California Gov. Gavin Newsom toured the Southland —that is‚ Southern states such as Mississippi and Alabama‚ as opposed to communities in Southern California — as part of his Campaign for Democracy. It was a weird trip for a liberal California governor‚ as he lectured people thousands of miles from home about threats to democratic governance even as his own state attacked various freedoms‚ such as the right to earn a living as a contractor. READ MORE from Steven Greenhut: Patently Stupid Rules Keep Drug Prices High “The problem with our country right now is authoritarian leaders who are so hell-bent on gaining power and keeping it by whatever means necessary‚” Newsom said at one of his not-a-campaign stops. I share some of his concerns about the increasingly authoritarian nature of the MAGA movement‚ but making that case took moxie for a governor who‚ you know‚ grabbed every unchecked power that he could during the state’s COVID-19 trauma. All of that’s in the past‚ I suppose. This year‚ Newsom hasn’t ventured too far from home‚ where he is unusually fixated on stopping the People from having a say in the governor’s and Legislature’s tax and spending policies. The state’s usually milquetoast business community is so tired of California’s worsening business climate that it has qualified for the November ballot something called the Taxpayer Protection and Government Accountability Act. The measure is the ultimate form of democracy. Ever since progressive Gov. Hiram Johnson in 1911 instituted three main reforms — the recall‚ initiative‚ and referendum — California has been on the cutting edge of direct democracy. That system has yielded some troubling results‚ such as the creation of the property-rights-eroding California Coastal Commission. It also created the wonderful property-tax-limiting Proposition 13 in 1978 that helped propel Ronald Reagan into the White House. The proposed Taxpayer Protection Act is‚ by most accounts‚ the latest iteration of the Tax Revolt. It poses the most significant threat to the state’s Democratic establishment in decades by subjecting local tax hikes to a two-thirds local vote and requiring state voters to OK‚ by simple majority‚ any tax increases passed by our tax-happy Legislature. Democracy is great‚ I suppose‚ until pesky voters do stuff you don’t like. Despite their left-leaning voting habits for elected officials‚ California voters generally take more conservative stances with initiatives‚ so I understand why Newsom is afraid. As the Orange County Register opined: For a sense of the fear and trepidation it’s causing‚ consider that Newsom and the Legislature have filed a lawsuit with the state Supreme Court attempting keep the measure off the ballot. They claim it imposes such a broad change that it amounts to a constitutional revision rather than an amendment. That argument is hogwash. The Register noted that Newsom doesn’t fear the latest pointless recall effort — but he is sweating this one. It also noted that lawmakers passed two constitutional amendments for November that are designed to undermine the tax limitations included in the Taxpayer Protection Act. Assembly Constitutional Amendments 1 and 13 are cynical‚ but Newsom and Co. apparently don’t trust that the voters will see matters their way. Hence the all-hands-on-deck effort to scuttle the democratic process by trying to use the courts to put the kibosh on the Business Roundtable measure. Facing a huge budget deficit ($73 billion‚ by some accounts)‚ Newsom and the Legislature are caught flat-footed‚ as they’re running out of cash to fund their usual approach of taxing‚ spending‚ spending‚ and taxing. It doesn’t seem to bother them that the state’s much-publicized problems have only gotten worse with each new expenditure and that other problems — the rapid exodus of property insurers — remain largely unaddressed. The only restraint that has ever yielded decent policy in California is tightening purse strings‚ but the thought of making tough choices always causes discomfort in Sacramento. Whatever one’s view of the current state of governance here‚ of tax restraints‚ or of this particular measure‚ it’s hard to make a pro-democracy case for asking judges to keep a properly qualified initiative off of the ballot because the state’s leadership doesn’t like its content. Given how bad the business climate has become‚ businesses are facing an existential crisis and probably won’t back down in the face of Newsom’s ads that attempt to embarrass members of the Business Roundtable. Overall‚ this is a wild approach from a leader who ceaselessly campaigns for‚ er‚ democracy. In fact‚ Newsom sounds a lot like a leader who is‚ in his own words‚ “hell-bent on gaining power and keeping it by whatever means necessary.” Steven Greenhut is Western region director for the R Street Institute. Write to him at sgreenhut@rstreet.org. The post So Much for Newsom’s Support for Democracy appeared first on The American Spectator | USA News and Politics.