Tag: US Features

Gov. Gavin Newsom Enacts Bill Decriminalizing Most Jaywalking in California

California’s Democrat Governor Gavin Newsom has signed into law a bill decriminalizing jaywalking, in most cases. Newsom signed Assembly Bill 2147 on Friday. Authored by Assemblymember Phil Ting (D-Calif.), the bill is also called “The Freedom to Walk Act” and legalizes safe street crossings. “This bill would prohibit a peace officer, as defined, from stopping…


Health Care Worker Illegally Fired for Christian Beliefs About Gender Identity, Lawyers Say

After longtime physician assistant Valerie Kloosterman disclosed her religious beliefs about gender identity, a diversity program leader called her “evil,” her lawyers say. Shortly thereafter, Kloosterman’s employer fired her, despite her unblemished 17-year record of conscientious patient care at a clinic. Kloosterman’s attorneys are asking the University of Michigan Health-West (UMH-West) to reinstate her, grant a religious…


Doctor Groups Push DOJ To Probe ‘Disinformation’ On Meds, Surgeries for Trans-Identifying Youths

Three influential American medical groups are urging the U.S. Department of Justice to “investigate and prosecute all organizations, individuals, and entities” that share information deemed to be false about transgender-related medical treatments for minors. The Oct. 3 letter, sent to U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland, represents the latest salvo in a fierce national debate. In…


Animal Lovers Brave Brunt of Hurricane Ian for Pets’ Sake

PUNTA GORDA, Fla.–The day Hurricane Ian roared ashore—Sept. 28—will be an anniversary no one in Southwest Florida wants to celebrate. The Category 4 storm left communities on the Gulf Coast, and the people who live there, devastated. Neighborhoods and downtown Punta Gorda, considered Ground Zero for the killer storm, are unrecognizable, mused resident Lisa Motteler,…


Medicare Part B Will Cost Less Next Year

In a historic move, Medicare costs have declined for the first time in years. Seniors on Medicare will enjoy a reduction in the cost of Medicare Part B by a few dollars. The reason for the savings is that a drug called Aduhelm, which treats Alzheimer’s, was less expensive than was projected for 2022. Medicare…


Hundreds of Florida Dairy Cows Perish in Ian’s Savage Wake

MYAKKA CITY, Fla.—They hustled the herd from their stalls and into the open fields where the cows would be safer from the storm, a practice honed during a half-century of dairy farming in Florida and in Maine for a century before. The massive steel-frame, metal-roof barns that housed Dakin Dairy Farm’s nearly 5,000 Holsteins could…


Convictions in FBI Sting of Politician Should Be Thrown Out, Legal Scholar Says

An Ohio politician who was ensnared in an FBI “sting” wants his two corruption-related convictions thrown out—a challenge that ought to prevail, says a legal scholar who has followed the case closely. Lawyers for Alexander “P.G.” Sittenfeld, a former Cincinnati city councilman who was convicted of bribery and attempted extortion this summer, filed motions for…


Cincinnati Ex-Councilman’s Convictions Should Be Thrown Out, Legal Scholar Says

A former Ohio politician is seeking to have his two federal corruption-related convictions thrown out—a challenge that ought to prevail, according to a legal scholar who has followed the case closely. Lawyers for Alexander “P.G.” Sittenfeld, a former Cincinnati city council member who was convicted in July of bribery and attempted extortion, filed motions for…


‘Parasitic’ Ideas and Why Rational People Fall for Them

“It takes professors to come up with some of the dumbest ideas,” says Gad Saad, a Lebanese-Canadian professor of marketing at Concordia University and author of “The Parasitic Mind: How Infectious Ideas Are Killing Common Sense.” “The fact that you are educated doesn’t mean you have properly administered the mind vaccine against all these idea…


Irreparable Damage Caused by One-Sided Advocacy of Gender Transition: Psychiatrist

When a child is confused about their gender, health professionals and teachers usually affirm the child’s new identity without addressing the underlying cause and encourage them to go through gender transition, which often has irreparable consequences, according to psychiatrist and author Dr. Miriam Grossman. If someone feels that their gender differs from their biological sex and…