In a ruling that will no doubt seem insane to many observers, a federal court has refused to define the term "woman" in a transgender-related lawsuit.
According to Breitbart, that decision came down late last week from Wyoming U.S. District Court Judge Alan Johnson.
In his opinion, Johnson dismissed a lawsuit filed by six sorority sisters who belong to the University of Wyoming's Kappa Kappa Gamma.
The six women objected to the presence of Dallin "Artemis" Langford, a 6'2, 260-pound biological male who had joined their sorority.
A 6'2 trans-identified male will remain at a sorority in Wyoming after a court dismissed a suit brought by 6 of its female members.
The women said Artemis Langford had been "watching" them undress in the sorority house, sometimes while erect.https://t.co/k4yJsIbQCD
— REDUXX (@ReduxxMag) August 28, 2023
In addition to being a student at the University of Wyoming, Lanford also serves as a legislative intern for state Democrats.
We have the BEST Legislative Intern! We were able to keep Democrats across the state informed and engaged this session in large part due to Artemis's hard work. Thank you, @ArtemisLangford!!! pic.twitter.com/oPtUZhOOGF
— Wyoming Democrats (@WyoDems) March 6, 2023
As the website Reduxx noted, Langford had been accused of engaging in harassing behavior, including watching them undress while erect.
"One sorority member walked down the hall to take a shower, wearing only a towel. She felt an unsettling presence, turned, and saw [Langford] watching her silently," their lawsuit asserted.
"[Langford] has, while watching members enter the sorority house, had an erection visible through his leggings. Other times, he has had a pillow in his lap," the suit complained.
The lawsuit was originally filed by seven sorority members, however one woman removed herself from it after learning that the names of plaintiffs would not be kept confidential.
While the plaintiffs argued that Langford did not qualify as a woman for purposes of membership, Johnson stressed that the term is not defined in their sorority's bylaws.
"The delegate of a private, voluntary organization interpreted 'woman,' otherwise undefined in the nonprofit’s bylaws, expansively; this Judge may not invade Kappa Kappa Gamma's freedom of expressive association and inject the circumscribed definition Plaintiffs urge," he added.
"The University of Wyoming chapter voted to admit — and, more broadly, a sorority of hundreds of thousands approved — Langford. With its inquiry beginning and ending there, the Court will not define 'woman' today,'" Johnson wrote.
What's more, the judge pointed to the "Guide for Supporting our LGBTQIA+ Members" which Kappa Kappa Gamma publishes. It states that organization is "comprised of women and individuals who identify as women."
Dr. Anthony Fauci and Kentucky Republican Sen. Rand Paul have long had a tense history. The tension ratcheted up again this week when Paul announced that he had referred Fauci for criminal prosecution.
Paul explained during an interview with Breitbart on Thursday that the move came in response to new evidence Fauci lied under oath when testifying before Congress.
Specifically, the Kentucky Republican pointed to an email in which Fauci summarized a phone he had early on in 2020 "when they’re just beginning to look into the [COVID-19] pandemic."
"And in that email, he basically says, 'Yes, we’re suspicious that this could be a manipulated virus because it came from a lab in Wuhan, where they do gain of function research,’ and he describes the research," Paul said.
"Well, this directly contradicts everything he said in the committee hearing to me, denying absolutely that they funded any gain of function, and it’s absolutely a lie," the lawmaker continued.
Paul went on to reference an "exchange of emails between Anthony Fauci and half a dozen prominent international virologists, and these emails go back and forth."
"These virologists from around the world are saying, they’re looking at the genetic sequence of COVID-19, and they find that there are some striking, strikingly unusual characteristics of it that make it look like it’s been manipulated in the lab," Paul noted.
"And this band of close virologists that are his close buddies–and these are all people who have been proponents previously of gain of function research, creating viruses that don’t occur in nature to experimentation — they all tell him it looks manipulative," he stressed.
Paul pointed out that Fauci then summarized the virologists' concerns about manipulation and added that he shared them, something which "directly contradicts everything he said in committee hearing to me."
Paul is not alone in going after Fauci this week, as former Trump administration Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Director Robert Redfield did so as well.
Redfield said during an interview on Monday with Fox News that the contents of Fauci's email are "very disheartening and very disappointing."
"And I've said before that I'm very disappointed in the leadership that both [then-National Institute of Health (NIH) Director Francis] Collins and Fauci provided in not fostering a rigorous, aggressive, transparent scientific debate about what is really very reasonable scientific evidence that did point at this virus," Redfield complained.
"Now you have, in his own words, that one -- he recognizes the abnormality of the furin-cleavage site being problematic – and he recognizes that, in fact, contrary to some of his statements, that there was actual gain of function research going on in that laboratory," the former official continued.
"I think we have to really recognize that there was a real attempt by the leadership of NIH and some of the major scientists across the world to cover up the fact that this virus was, in fact, a consequence of science," he concluded.
Erin Friday, a mother from California, wants parents to be aware of upcoming legislation in California and Minnesota that will safeguard children who choose to transition.
A woman who lives in Oklahoma has filed a lawsuit against the local school district in the area after her daughter, who is 15 years old, was reportedly "severely beaten" by a transgender student who is 17 years old in the girl's toilet, as Fox News reported.
The event comes as the nation is struggling to make sense of how to categorize those struggling with gender dysphoria, many of whom have chosen medical transition, both surgical and via medication.
The incident allegedly took place on October 26, 2022, at Edmond Memorial High School, as stated in the lawsuit that was filed on May 25.
The mom is suing the school for damages in the amount of $75,000, claiming that her child had "severe physical and mental injuries, severe physical and mental pain and suffering, and severe emotional distress" while attending the institution in question.
The lawsuit also says that the transgender student had "made previous threats of violence" against the victim at school, and that police checked his belongings for weapons after the threats against the victim were reported "by another student." The case is filed against the school district.
A review of the complaint shows a clear reference to a statute that Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt put into effect on May 25.
The law mandates that kids attending public schools in Oklahoma "use restrooms that match the sex listed on their birth certificates."
According to the report that was submitted after the alleged assault and that was acquired by Fox News Digital, the transgender student who is referred to as student "A" entered the restroom and had a conversation with a female student.
A brawl broke out between the two individuals not long after they began fighting with one another.
The student who was assaulted, identified on the complaint as "V," told the police that she was in the ladies' restroom chatting with her friends when another student, identified only as "A," approached her with a question.
After explaining to "A" why she didn't want to speak with her and told "A" that she didn't want to communicate with her, "A" grew upset and asked her if she "wanted to fight" before punching her in the face. The accused attacker continued to strike, kick, and pull at the student identified as "V's" hair.
"V" told police Because of the force with which "A" punched her, she was unable to defend herself. According to the report of one buddy, they attempted to assist, but they were also struck twice in the face. One of the witnesses stated that they were concerned for their friend since the offender was "a man."
According to the observations made by the police, one of the victims suffered injuries to her "eye, face and head with a possible concussion."
Fox News continues to learn expensive, hard lessons after firing its legendary top primetime performer, Tucker Carlson, and taking a massive settlement loss in the Dominion lawsuit.
A bombshell Rolling Stone report over the weekend revealed that the former cable news powerhouse is still experiencing fallout from the firing and the recent Dominion lawsuit settlement. The network's latest cost-cutting measure included terminating its investigative team.
"The rank and file journalists are getting let go. Meanwhile, upper management are sitting pretty while they are the execs responsible for the Dominion debacle," one anonymous Fox employee told Rolling Stone, while confirming the investigative unit has been let go. "We are the sacrificial lambs."
Another anonymous Fox staffer told the outlet that "[layoffs] have happened." That person indicated they believe layoffs will continue to happen.
Rolling Stone cited a Fox employee as stating, "The outrage is that Suzanne Scott and Maria Bartiromo keep their jobs," adding, “Meanwhile the journalists get let go. We are in shock."
Scott and Bartirimo were named in the lawsuit and played a significant role in why Dominion initiated the lawsuit in the first place.
Fox News laid off its entire investigative unit of reporters one month after the cable news company settled with Dominion Voting Systems for $787.5 million, a report said. https://t.co/YrAkoIZcYE
— Breitbart News (@BreitbartNews) May 20, 2023
Notably, the outlet cited a former Fox News "talent" who spilled the beans on what they believe is taking place behind the scenes at the network currently.
"I think producers, management, et cetera [are being laid-off]," the unnamed person said. "They are trying to get money off the books before June 30. They have to save money because of the [Dominion] lawsuit."
Incredibly, the New York Daily News reported that the layoffs, according to its source, is not related to the Dominion lawsuit settlement, which set the network back some $787 million.
The outlet reported:
The latest moves regarding the unit have “nothing to do with Dominion,” a source with knowledge of the situation said, adding that the unit was realigned, not dissolved.
"There were three employees in the seven-person unit impacted, while four employees were offered different positions within the company," a source reportedly the New York Daily News, countering Rolling Stone's sources.
While it's unclear who's lying and who's telling the truth, many social media users noted that Fox News would likely attempt to downplay any behind-the-curtains crises while the network figures out how to pay its legal bills and make up for a drastic viewership drop in the wake of Carlson's firing.
Only time will tell, but it appears as if Fox News could look shockingly different in the near future. And not in a good way.
The pressure is mounting on Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas to either resign or face impeachment, a fact which was clearly evident during a Tuesday hearing of the Senate Homeland Security Committee, as the Daily Mail reports.
During the proceedings, Mayorkas was subjected to intense scrutiny of his performance in the Cabinet-level role, with several members urging his resignation and one pledging to initiate a no-confidence vote in the near future.
Sen. Roger Marshall (R-KY) was particularly searing in his assessment of the manner in which Mayorkas has been carrying out his responsibilities, declaring him “derelict in his duties” and stating his intention of drafting a no-confidence resolution that he would then put forward for a vote.
Making reference to prior discussion among Republican legislators about the secretary's possible impeachment, Marshall stated, “I stand at the ready to receive articles of impeachment from the House and conduct an impeachment trial in this body.”
“But in the meantime,” Marshall added, “I think the Senate must show our colleagues in the House that we've had enough of the failures from the Department of Homeland Security and believe that the secretary is not fit to faithfully carry out the duties of his office.”
Mayorkas, at one point, asked if he could respond to accusations made by the senator and other Republicans on the panel, Marshall shot back, “I want you to answer my questions, not give me lectures.”
Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) wasted no time in adding his take on Mayorkas' job performance, highlighting the jarring numbers of border crossings that have taken place during his tenure, placing the number in the vicinity of 4 to 5 million migrants, as the Mail added.
That prompted Mayorkas to claim that he remained “very, very focused on the security of our border,” though Johnson was far from swayed.
“No, you're not. No you're not,” Johnson replied. “I don't want to listen to that,” he continued, before asking the secretary about the volume of sex trafficking of young girls at the southern border.
After Mayorkas asserted that the issue raised by Johnson was indeed among his top priorities, the senator interjected that he was “failing miserably,” adding, “You're not giving me any stats whatsoever in terms of the number of people that are human trafficked, how many young girls are sex trafficked. You don't have a clue. You won't even answer how many dead bodies, which is very well documented, at the border.”
The public scrutiny of Mayorkas continued apace on Wednesday, during a House Homeland Security hearing in which Rep. August Pfluger (R-TX) used the story of two victims killed in a car accident caused by a human trafficker fleeing apprehension at the border to underscore his failures.
Pfluger asked Mayorkas to offer an apology to the relatives of Maria Tambunga and Emilia Tambunga, a grandmother and granddaughter duo who died under the aforementioned circumstances, as Fox News noted separately.
“They're sitting right behind you. They came here today because they want answers. They came here today because of the failures of you and your leadership. They came here because they want closer,” Pfluger told Mayorkas.
With articles of impeachment having already been filed – though not yet acted upon – but Reps. Pat Fallon (R-TX) and Andy Biggs (R-AZ) and DHS already having contracted with a high-powered law firm for possible future impeachment defense, it could be that Mayorkas already sees the writing on the wall, and his departure – in whatever form – is an outcome he may not be able to avoid much longer.
A Chinese virologist who fled the CCP in April 2020 said Monday that not only did COVID-19 come from a Chinese lab in Wuhan, but China released the virus on the world intentionally.
Dr. Li Meng Yan said that the admission that the virus leaked from a Chinese lab is only the first step to recognizing the truth about how the pandemic happened.
"Maybe for people who don't have this kind of biosafety lab 3 or 4 experience on coronavirus, maybe it's easy for them to accept the accident lab leak. However, I'm a scientist, working in [a] research lab using coronavirus. And I can tell you, based on the print protocol and also the other surveillance system, it would be impossible for the lab leak [to] accidentally happen in such [a] lab and cause the Wuhan outbreak and also the pandemic," Yan said.
Yan was one of the first to report instances of human-to-human transmission of the COVID-19 virus in China in January 2020 to authorities there, but was quickly silenced because at the time China was claiming that the virus did not spread from human to human.
She suggested as far back as September 2020 that China released the virus intentionally, and told Fox News' Tucker Carlson that she still believes the release was intentional.
"So definitely now we just reached the first step. It was from China's lab, and we need to pursue the truth of origin, and we need to keep going on," Yan said.
Yan doesn't think the government intentionally caused the Wuhan outbreak, which saw residents being boarded into their houses and crematories working around the clock, according to surveillance in the area.
I don't think the outbreak in Wuhan was intentional. I would say it was because [the] CCP government and the military scientists underestimated the transmissibility," she added. "That's why finally it got out of control and the cost [was] a local outbreak. However, we should know that [the] CCP government intentionally let it go all over the world to kill millions of people all over the world later."
Yan's comments dovetail with suspicions by some on the right like Carlson that China released COVID-19 as a biological weapon against Western economies to try to destroy them and elevate its own economy.
While the U.S. economy did weaken temporarily, China seemed to also underestimate both the strength of the economy before COVID-19 and the global nature of economics.
Most of the impacts of COVID-19 on the economy have been global, and have impacted China just as much as the West.
If China gets away with having brought about a pandemic without having any consequences for it, COVID-19 could be just a test run for future attacks of a similar nature, or worse.
COVID-19 has killed almost 7 million people around the world, according to estimates. China needs to be held accountable for these deaths and to make restitution of some kind.
If that doesn't happen, we can expect a lot more of the same.
An Arizona appeals court on Thursday concluded that MAGA adherent Kari Lake did not have the proof to reverse the election results of her unsuccessful 2022 gubernatorial run.
Lake claims, without providing evidence, that her 17,000-vote loss to Gov. Katie Hobbs (D) was the consequence of massive election fraud, and that her contest was rigged from the start, according to a report by The Washington Examiner.
"Lake’s arguments highlight Election Day difficulties, but her request for relief fails because the evidence presented to the superior court ultimately supports the court’s conclusion that voters were able to cast their ballots, that votes were counted correctly, and that no other basis justifies setting aside the election results," the appellate ruling reads.
Lake Has Pushed Back
Lake filed the appeal after Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Peter Thompson dismissed her petition attempting to overturn the decision.
Thompson, who was nominated to the bench by former Republican Gov. Jan Brewer, decided that the court had found no "clear or compelling" evidence of Lake's alleged deliberate wrongdoing.
Thompson also stated in his December judgment that none of the witnesses Lake presented testified that they had any personal knowledge of impropriety or wrongdoing, concluding that "the court cannot accept speculation or conjecture in place of clear and convincing evidence."
Lake has cited voting machine malfunctions and printing issues as proof that the deck was stacked against her. She has already stated her intention to take her case to the Arizona Supreme Court.
"I told you we would take this case all the way to the Arizona Supreme Court, and that's exactly what we are going to do," she tweeted after the ruling was handed down. "Buckle up, America!"
Even before she lost her gubernatorial run in November, Lake stated that she would only accept the results of her election if she won. Lake is one of the country's most outspoken election skeptics, and he has former President Donald Trump's blessing to keep fighting.
Outside Take on Lake
Last month, Trump called into a rally Lake was holding in Scottsdale, saying she would be "victorious" in her efforts.
Lake has spent months on social media hyping "bombshell" electoral disclosures, but her assertions have yet to materialize. However, Lake got into trouble in January after tweeting images of 16 voter signatures.
Secretary of State Adrian Fontes, Arizona's top election official, urged Attorney General Kris Mayes to investigate Lake's activities, stating that displaying the signatures violates state and election rules and is a felony. Records containing a voter's signature in Arizona are prohibited from being accessed or duplicated by anybody other than the voter.
Tim LaSota, Lake's lawyer, termed the investigation "another attempt to weaponize the legal system with bogus claims against a Republican."
"Adrian Fontes selectively quotes the statute in an attempt to distort the law and smear Kari Lake in the process," he said in a written statement. "Kris Mayes should immediately say that she will have no part in this shameful, disgusting effort."
Many on the American left have accused conservatives of using concerns about election integrity as a pretext for making it harder to cast a ballot.
The situation is different in Poland, however, where the liberal Civic Platform party is fighting a plan to make voting easier for the elderly and rural residents.
According to Reuters, Poland's the conservative governing party known as Law and Justice have put forward a bill which would expand polling stations to villages with as few as 200 people.
What's more, the legislation also contains provisions for buses to help those with disabilities as well as voters 60 years of age and up reach polling stations.
Donald Tusk is the leader of Civic Platform, and he insists the move is a naked attempt by Law and Justice to boost turnout among its base, much of which is rural and elderly.
"If (Law and Justice) are ready ... to manipulate the electoral law in order to increase their electoral chances, it is easy to imagine that they will also be capable of other types of manipulation," Tusk was quoted as saying. He added that Law and Justice's plan "violates the basic principles of democracy."
Tusk contends such a change would be illegal, pointing to a Constitutional Tribunal decision which found that alterations to the country's voting can not take place during an election year. Poles are scheduled to vote in a national election this coming fall.
Another critic is Anna Materska-Sosnowska, who serves as a political scientist at Warsaw University. She told Reuters, "Our research shows that it will not increase turnout, the effect will be minimal ... if it were an honest idea, they would mostly increase the number of voting stations in places with high population density, in cities."
Meanwhile, columnist and former Italian member of parliament Luca Volontè used an op-ed piece for International Family News to link Civic Platform's opposition with anti-democrat communist policies that "choked Poles for 50 years."
Volontè argued that "not only do the opposition parties fear the citizen voters of the future, hence they favor the liberalization of abortion, but they have also said they oppose promoting voter participation for rural citizens, the elderly and the disabled."
"In short, all those who do not vote for their socialist and libertarian coalition should not vote at all. Simple as that," he wrote.
Poland's debate over poll access echoes a 2020 fight in California that saw the state's then Attorney General Xavier Becerra issue a cease and desist order against Republicans who put ballot drop boxes in churches.
It instructed the GOP to stop "the coordination, use and/or false or misleading promotion of unauthorized and non-official vote by mail drop boxes."
However, the Los Angeles Times reported that a state judge subsequently refused to order the California Republican Party to disclose information about its ballot drop box program to state officials.
In order to discuss the breaking news that the Chinese spy balloon had been shot down, General Jack Keane joined "Fox News Live."
Over the Atlantic Ocean, the Chinese spy balloon was shot down by the American military, according to Fox News.
According to Fox News sources, U.S. military fighter jets shot down the balloon on Saturday afternoon while it was off the coast of South Carolina.
One A9X missile was fired, according to a senior U.S. military official, and an F-22 was used to bring the balloon down at a height of 58,000 feet.
During a briefing on Thursday afternoon, a senior defense official stated that the United States government is "confident" the surveillance balloon is coming from the People's Republic of China.
On Saturday, when a reporter inquired about the balloon, Biden responded, "We're going to take care of it."
A senior U.S. official told Fox News that the government is considering a plan to shoot the balloon down while it is over the Atlantic Ocean, where it won't harm people on the ground.
The official continued that the balloon might be recovered by the American government.
The defense official revealed during the briefing on Thursday that the balloon had previously been spotted over Montana, where it was decided not to shoot it down due to the risks.
Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin, III said in a statement after the balloon was shot down that "President Biden gave his authorization to take down the surveillance balloon as soon as the mission could be accomplished without undue risk to American lives under the balloon’s path."
"After careful analysis, U.S. military commanders had determined downing the balloon while over land posed an undue risk to people across a wide area due to the size and altitude of the balloon and its surveillance payload.
"In accordance with the President’s direction, the Department of Defense developed options to take down the balloon safely over our territorial waters, while closely monitoring its path and intelligence collection activities," Austin said.
The official went on saying, "This action was taken in coordination, and with the full support, of the Canadian government. And we thank Canada for its contribution to tracking and analysis of the balloon through NORAD as it transited North America.
"Today’s deliberate and lawful action demonstrates that President Biden and his national security team will always put the safety and security of the American people first while responding effectively to the PRC’s unacceptable violation of our sovereignty," he added.