by | Apr 30, 2024 | Aggregate
A federal appeals court on Monday ruled West Virginia and North Carolina must pay for transgender healthcare.
The Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled 8-6 “in the case involving coverage of gender-affirming care by North Carolina’s state employee health plan and the coverage of gender-affirming surgery by West Virginia Medicaid.”
The case is likely headed to the US Supreme Court.
West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey vowed to take the fight to the Supreme Court.
“Decisions like this one, from a court dominated by Obama and Biden-appointees, cannot stand: we’ll take this to the Supreme Court and win,” Patrick Morrisey said.
AG @MorriseyWV vows to take fight over state Medicaid’s choice not to pay for sex-transition surgeries to SCOTUS
“Decisions like this one, from a court dominated by Obama- & Biden-appointees, cannot stand: we’ll take this to the Supreme Court and win.”https://t.co/V3WzjqlUTx
— Patrick Morrisey Press (@MorriseyPress) April 29, 2024
AP reported:
West Virginia and North Carolina’s refusal to cover certain health care for transgender people with government-sponsored insurance is discriminatory, a federal appeals court ruled Monday in a case likely headed to the U.S. Supreme Court.
The Richmond-based 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled 8-6 in the case involving coverage of gender-affirming care by North Carolina’s state employee health plan and the coverage of gender-affirming surgery by West Virginia Medicaid.
“The coverage exclusions facially discriminate on the basis of sex and gender identity, and are not substantially related to an important government interest,” Judge Roger Gregory, first appointed by former President Bill Clinton and re-appointed by former President George W. Bush, wrote in the majority opinion.
The ruling follows a decision earlier this month by 4th Circuit judges that West Virginia’s transgender sports ban violates the rights of a teen athlete under Title IX, the federal civil rights law that prohibits sex-based discrimination in schools.
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by | Apr 30, 2024 | Aggregate
A Wyoming Girl Scout has been fined $400 for selling cookies in her grandparent’s driveway.
Emma McCarroll, 13, nearly missed her sales goal due to a stickler municipal code officer in Pinedale.
The Cowboy State Daily reports:
The spat between the city and the Girl Scout and her mom began when the code enforcement officer asked the mom, Erica Fairbanks McCarroll, if she had the landowner’s permission to sell from the city’s Pine Avenue spot and park a vehicle in a driveway there.
Puzzled, Fairbanks McCarroll didn’t answer the officer’s question because the spot where she parked was in the driveway of her parents.
Nonetheless, the officer snapped photographs of their sales activity between March 13 and 15 to prove that Emma McCarroll had set up the stand, and mom had parked illegally in the driveway, which straddled the public sidewalk on Pine Avenue.
“I personally don’t think she ever understood that I was related to the Fairbanks, my parents who own the driveway,” Fairbanks McCarroll told the paper.
Pinedale Mayor Matt Murdock told the paper that the mother was told to move and had refused to do so.
“Sometimes I just think that government can be unreasonable,” Emma McCarroll said. “It wasn’t reasonable to be fined $400 for selling cookies in front on my grandparent’s property.”
Girl Scout fined $400 for selling cookies on grandparents’ driveway https://t.co/V2KI0ixaFo via @MailOnline
— T (@Rifleman4WVU) April 25, 2024
Featured image via The Daily Mail
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by | Apr 30, 2024 | Aggregate
Customs and Border Protection arrested a Mexican national at the Peace Bridge border crossing in New York after finding child pornography in his belongings.
CBP agents encountered Marco Barajas Barron, 52, at the Port of Buffalo crossing on April 26.
In a press release about the arrest, CBP explained that Barron “was operating a commercial vehicle and was refused entry to Canada after a wrong turn. Upon arriving at the CBP primary inspection area, the driver was escorted to secondary for further inspection.”
“During the secondary inspection, CBP officers verified the identity of the driver and discovered additional information indicating suspected illegal activity,” the press release continued. “Further investigation revealed that Barajas Barron possessed child pornographic material.”
Over the weekend, CBP officers at the Buffalo, N.Y. (Peace Bridge) Port of Entry arrested a 52-year-old male Mexican citizen for possession of child pornographic material. He was arrested and turned over to @BuffaloNYPolice. Learn Morehttps://t.co/uGlVAzX8J4 pic.twitter.com/Z0a3GBP3yD
— CBP Buffalo (@CBPBuffalo) April 29, 2024
It is unclear what medium the material was on or how agents discovered it.
“Our CBP officers are among the best at identifying nefarious actors as part of their border security mission,” said Buffalo Port Director Gaetano Cordone. “We continue to successfully collaborate with our local law enforcement partners to keep our communities safe.”
The driver and suspected child pornographic material were turned over to the Buffalo Police Department after being processed by CBP.
The post CBP Arrests Mexican Man at the Peace Bridge Border Crossing After Finding Child Pornography in His Belongings appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.
by | Apr 30, 2024 | Aggregate
It seems that the never-ending British soap opera regarding the flights of migrants to Rwanda is about to end, and the deportations are set to begin.
UK’s Home Office reportedly launched a major operation to detain asylum seekers across the UK today (29) – a date that’s weeks earlier than expected – in preparation for their deportation to migrant camps in Rwanda.
Asylum seekers who turn up at immigration service offices or bail appointments will be held, and migrants will also be picked up nationwide in a surprise two-week operation.
The Guardian reported:
“Detainees will be immediately transferred to detention centers, which have already been prepared for the operation, and held until they are put on planes to Rwanda. Some will be put on the first flight due to take off this summer.
The Home Office said ratification of the prime minister’s Safety of Rwanda Act meant ‘the government is entering the final phase of operationalizing this landmark policy to tackle illegal migration and stop the boats’.
It added: ‘At some stage inevitably this will include detaining people in preparation for the first flight, which is set to take off to Rwanda in 10 to 12 weeks. It would be inappropriate to comment further on operational activity.”
PM Rishi Sunak has endlessly repeated that he was focused on ‘stopping the boats’, determined to get the Rwanda plan going.
“Speaking on Monday before the Lords and Commons sat through the night to pass the safety of Rwanda (asylum and immigration) bill, Sunak said: ‘To detain people while we prepare to remove them, we’ve increased detention spaces to 2,200.
‘To quickly process claims, we’ve got 200 trained, dedicated caseworkers ready and waiting. To deal with any legal cases quickly and decisively, the judiciary have made available 25 courtrooms and identified 150 judges who could provide over 5,000 sitting days’.”
The first deportation flight to Rwanda will take off in June, after MPs and peers last week finally passed the Safety of Rwanda Bill. It was known after ministers let documents lying around in Downing Street for the press to see which contained the date.
Meanwhile, Irish deputy PM has said people are crossing from Northern Ireland because they fear being sent to east Africa.
BBC reported:
“The UK will not take back asylum seekers who have crossed into Ireland as the Rwanda deportation scheme gets going, Rishi Sunak has said.”
The prime minister said the UK was ‘not interested’ in accepting people back from Ireland.
“‘We’re not going to accept returns from the EU via Ireland when the EU doesn’t accept returns back to France where illegal migrants are coming from’, he told ITV. ‘Of course we’re not going to do that’.”
The standoff developed after the Irish government announced that it plans emergency legislation ‘to allow it to return asylum seekers to the UK’.
“Mr Sunak has argued any increased flow of people into Ireland shows his Rwanda policy is working.
The UK government is paying £500m to fund more border patrols to prevent small boat crossings to the UK, and a new detention centre in France, following a new deal between the two countries in 2022.”
Read more:
MASS MIGRATION UK: Embattled PM Sunak Wants To PAY Failed Asylum Seekers To Move to Rwanda Voluntarily
The post After Rwanda Plan Becomes Law, UK Launches Major Operation To Detain Asylum Seekers That Will Be Deported to Migrant Centers in Central Africa appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.
by | Apr 30, 2024 | Aggregate
A massive 78 percent majority of Americans believe social media companies have too much political power.
The Pew Research Center survey released on Monday revealed that the issue concerns both sides of the aisle, with 84 percent of Republicans and 74 percent of Democrats concerned about these companies’ influence.
The pollsters found that “Republicans and independents who lean toward the Republican Party (84%) are more likely than Democrats and Democratic leaners (74%) to think these companies have too much political power.”
The report adds, “While Republicans’ opinions have changed little since 2020, this view has grown more common among Democrats over the past four years: 74% of Democrats believe social media companies have too much power and influence in politics, up from 63% in 2020.”
Just 16 percent of Americans believe social media companies have the right amount of influence, and four percent said they have too little.
Additionally, “Americans are far more likely to say social media has a negative rather than positive impact on the country. Roughly two-thirds (64%) think social media has a mostly negative effect on the way things are going in the country today.”
Only 10 percent of respondents said that social media has a mostly positive impact on society.
“Majorities in both political parties see social media’s impact on the country negatively, though Republicans remain more wary than Democrats (71% vs. 59%). That said, a growing number of Democrats believe these platforms have a mostly bad impact on the country, rising to 59% in our current survey, up from 53% in 2020.”
Most surveyed said they believe social media platforms censor people based on political bias.
“Roughly eight-in-ten U.S. adults (83%) say it’s very or somewhat likely that these platforms intentionally censor political viewpoints they find objectionable, up from 77% in 2022. Just 17% in the current survey think this is not likely the case.”
The poll found that over ninety percent of Republicans believe social media platforms censor people based on politics.
Majorities in both parties believe political censorship is likely occurring on social media, but more Republicans hold this view. Fully 93% of Republicans say it’s likely that social media sites intentionally censor political viewpoints that they find objectionable, including 66% who say that this is very likely happening.
By comparison, 74% of Democrats think this is likely occurring, with 25% saying there’s a strong possibility this is occurring.
The pollsters surveyed 10,133 U.S. adults from February 7-11, 2024.
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