THE US SUPREME COURT WILL HEAR ARGUMENTS ON GENDER-AFFIRMING CARE FOR MINORS WHICH IS BANNED IN TENNESSEE AND 25 OTHER STATES. TENNESSEE LAW BANS PUBERTY BLOCKERS AND SEX-CHANGE SURGERIES FOR CHILDREN WHO IDENTIFY AS TRANSGENDER.

TENNESSEE PASSED THE BAN AFTER THE DAILY WIRE’S INVESTIGATIVE REPORTING SHOWED VANDERBUILT UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CENTER IN NASHVILLE WAS PROVIDING HORMONE THERAPY DRUGS TO KIDS AS YOUNG AS THIRTEEN AND PERFORMING DOUBLE MASTECTOMIES ON TEENAGE GIRLS.

SHAYNE TAYLOR AT VANDERBILT’S CLINIC FOR TRANSGENDER HEALTH ADMITTED ON CAMERA THE HORMONE THERAPIES AND SURGERIES FOR TRANS PEOPLE ARE A MONEY-MAKING OPERATION.

“SOME OF OUR VUMC FINANCIAL FOLKS IN AUGUST OF, I’M SORRY, OCTOBER OF 2016 STARTED A COUPLE OF YEARS AGO, PUT DOWN SOME COSTS OF HOW MUCH MONEY WE THINK EACH PATIENT WOULD BRING IN,” DR. TAYLOR SAID IN THE VIDEO STREAMED TO FACEBOOK. “AND THIS IS ONLY INCLUDING TOP SURGERY, THIS ISN’T INCLUDING ANY BOTTOM SURGERY, AND IT’S A LOT OF MONEY. THESE SURGERIES MAKE A LOT OF MONEY. SO, FEMALE TO MALE CHEST RECONSTRUCTION COULD BRING IN $40,000. A PATIENT JUST ON ROUTINE HORMONE TREATMENT WHO YOU MAY ONLY SEE A FEW TIMES A YEAR CAN BRING IN SEVERAL THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS THROUGH A LOT OF VISITS AND LABS THAT ACTUALLY MAKES MONEY FOR THE HOSPITAL.”

THE PLAINTIFFS IN THE CASE — THREE TRANS TEENS – ALONG WITH THEIR PARENTS AND THE OUTGOING BIDEN ADMINISTRATION ARGUE THE BAN VIOLATES THE EQUAL PROTECTION CLAUSE OF THE 14TH AMENDMENT UNDER THE CONSTITUTION.

CRITICS OF THE BAN SAY THE GOVERNMENT SHOULDN’T DECIDE IF A CHILD RECEIVES MEDICATION… OR OTHER TREATMENTS TO HELP A CHILD WHO IDENTIFIES AS THE OPPOSITE SEX THEY WERE ASSIGNED AT BIRTH.

ON THE OTHER SIDE, PROPONENTS OF THE BAN SAY PUBERTY BLOCKERS AND SEX CHANGE SURGERIES ARE CASTRATION AND MUTILATION OF A CHILD  — AND ARGUE IT’S THE GOVERNMENT’S RESPONSIBILITY TO PROTECT CHILDREN FROM SUCH ABUSES.

TENNESSEE’S ATTORNEY GENERAL, THOMAS SKRMETTI WILL ARGUE THAT GENDER-TRANSITION PROCEDURES ARE LIFE ALTERING, RISKY AND UNPROVEN, EMPHASIZING IT’S THE STATE’S DUTY TO PROTECT CHILDREN.

IN A COURT FILING, SKRMETTI STATES SEVERAL EUROPEAN COUNTRIES THAT PIONEERED GENDER TRANSITIONING IN MINORS HAVE SINCE REVERSED COURSE… INCLUDING SWEDEN, FINLAND, NORWAY AND THE UNITED KINGDOM.

THE JUSTICES ARE SET TO HEAR ARGUMENTS WEDNESDAY.

A DECISION IN THE CASE IS NOT EXPECTED TO COME DOWN UNTIL THE SPRING OF 2025.

[LAUREN TAYLOR]

POLICE CLASHED WITH PROTESTERS IN THE GEORGIAN CAPITAL AFTER THE COUNTRY’S RULING PARTY ANNOUNCED IT IS HALTING TALKS ON JOINING THE EUROPEAN UNION UNTIL 2028.

NEARLY 50 PROTESTERS WERE REPORTEDLY ARRESTED AND THREE POLICE OFFICERS INJURED.

POLICE IN RIOT GEAR FIRED A WATER CANNON AND LAUNCHED TEARGAS AS PROTESTERS TRIED TO FORCE THEIR WAY INTO PARLIAMENT. 

AS THOUSANDS OF PRO-E-U ACTIVISTS BLOCKED THE STREETS… THE COUNTRY’S OUTGOING PRO-E-U PRESIDENT ACCUSED THE GOVERNMENT OF “DECLARING WAR” ON ITS OWN PEOPLE AND QUESTIONED WHETHER THE POLICE WERE LOYAL TO GEORGIA OR RUSSIA.

THE GOVERNMENT’S DECISION CAME AFTER THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT REJECTED THE RESULTS OF GEORGIA’S PARLIAMENTARY ELECTION LAST MONTH… AND PASSED A RESOLUTION CALLING FOR NEW ELECTIONS UNDER INTERNATIONAL SUPERVISION.

MANY GEORGIANS CALLED THE RESULTS OF THE ELECTIONS FRAUDULENT AND A GLOBAL RESEARCH AND DATA FIRM DECLARED THE RESULTS “STATISTICALLY IMPOSSIBLE.”

OFFICIAL RESULTS GAVE GEORGIA’S RULING PARTY NEARLY 54 PERCENT OF THE VOTE AND THE OPPOSITION PARTY REFUSED TO TAKE THEIR SEATS DUE TO CONCERNS OVER ELECTION INTEGRITY.

GEORGIA’S RELATIONSHIP WITH THE E-U HAS BECOME TENSE AS BRUSSELS ACCUSES THE GOVERNMENT OF TAKING PRO-RUSSIAN STANCES, WHICH GEORGIA’S RULING PART DENIES.

RULING PARTY OFFICIALS ACCUSED THE E-U OF USING ACCESSION TALKS TO SPUR A “REVOLUTION IN THE COUNTRY”

CITING THIS AS THE REASON GEORGIA HAS DECIDED TO END TALKS ABOUT E-U MEMBERSHIP UNTIL 2028.

POLLS SHOW AROUND 80 PERCENT OF GEORGIANS WANT THE COUNTRY TO JOIN THE E-U.

CRITICS ACCUSE GEORGIA’S RULING PARTY OF STEERING THE COUNTRY BACK TOWARDS MOSCOW WITH RECENTLY PASSED LAWS.

INCLUDING ONE REQUIRING ANY NON-COMMERCIAL PERSON OR ORGANIZATION RECEIVING MORE THAN 20 PERCENT FUNDING FROM A “FOREIGN POWER” REGISTER AS A FOREIGN AGENT OR FACE SIGNIFICANT FINES.

RUSSIAN PRESIDENT VLADIMIR PUTIN PRAISED THE EFFORT.

THE E-U GAVE GEORGIA CANDIDATE STATUS IN 2023 BUT NOTED A NUMBER OF “RUSSIAN-INSPIRED” LAWS PASSED INCLUDING THE FOREIGN AGENTS’ LEGISLATION WERE OBSTACLES TO MEMBERSHIP.

GEORGIA GAINED INDEPENDENCE FROM RUSSIA IN 1991 AND HAS NO FORMAL DIPLOMATIC RELATIONSHIP WITH RUSSIA SINCE A WAR WITH MOSCOW IN 2008.

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FOR STRAIGHT ARROW NEWS– I’M LAUREN TAYLOR.

Simone Del Rosario: The forthcoming Department of Government Efficiency has a new target. 

Elon Musk is calling to “delete CFPB,” the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which has long been in conservatives’ crosshairs.

The post came after tech billionaire Marc Andreessen blasted the agency on Joe Rogan’s podcast. 

Marc Andreessen: We have this thing called the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau CFPB, which was the, it’s sort of Elizabeth Warren’s personal agency that she gets to control, and it’s an independent agency that just gets to run and do whatever it wants, right? And if you read the Constitution like there is no such thing as an independent agency. And yet, there it is. 

Joe Rogan: What does her agency do? 

Marc Andreessen: Whatever she wants. 

Joe Rogan: What does it do, though? 

Marc Andreessen: Basically, terrorize, terrorize financial institutions, prevent FinTech, prevent new competition, new startups that want to compete with the big banks. 

Joe Rogan: Really?

Simone Del Rosario: Vivek Ramaswamy doubled down, saying, “CFPB started under Elizabeth Warren less than 20 years ago, and consumers are no better off for its existence. Quite the contrary, actually.”

Ok so how did CFPB get its start, and what’s happened since? Let’s go.

The CFPB was born out of the 2008 financial crisis. It’s the brainchild of then-future Sen. Elizabeth Warren. In 2010, Congress and then-President Barack Obama signed the Dodd-Frank Act, which created the bureau. It consolidated consumer financial protection authority from seven different agencies under one roof.

The bureau has had some blockbuster wins. 

In 2022, it ordered Wells Fargo to pay $3.7 billion over charging illegal fees and interest on auto and mortgage loans, wrongfully repossessing customers’ cars, and more.

This year, it banned Navient from federal student loan servicing and ordered the company to pay $100 million to borrowers who were wrongly steered into forbearance or had payments miscounted.

In total, CFPB enforcement over the years has led to nearly $20 billion in consumer relief and $5 billion in fines. 

CFPB has an annual budget of less than $1 billion per year. When it comes to trimming $2 trillion off the books, it’s not the biggest whale for DOGE. But it has been a big thorn.

See, the CFPB is an independent federal agency that gets its funding from the Federal Reserve Board. Critics have long argued that it’s too powerful, unaccountable, and burdensome.  

We’ve seen many legal challenges to CFPB, including this year, when the Supreme Court rejected a conservative-led challenge to the bureau’s funding. Voting 7-2, the court overruled a Fifth Circuit decision that CFPB’s funding structure was unconstitutional because it bypassed Congress, violating the separation of powers. The case stemmed from a lawsuit by the payday lending industry.

Had the Supreme Court ruled the other way, it could have evaporated the CFPB and thrown into question every rule ever made by the agency.

The Supreme Court loss has not stopped conservatives from continuing to challenge the bureau. Project 2025 calls for CFPB to be abolished, saying, “…the agency has been assailed by critics as a shakedown mechanism to provide unaccountable funding to leftist nonprofits politically aligned with those who spearheaded its creation.”

Abolition aside, with Republicans set to control Congress and the White House next year, the GOP is looking at ways to dramatically change CFPB’s powers. 

Meanwhile, with the changing of the guard coming soon, the CFPB under the Biden administration is reportedly racing to finalize rules in these final weeks. That includes a ban on including medical debt on credit reports. 

[Karah Rucker]

A JUDGE HAS DISMISSED A DEFAMATION LAWSUIT FILED AGAINST FOX NEWS BY RAY EPPS –

AN ARIZONA MAN WHO WAS AT THE CENTER OF CONTROVERSY OVER THE JANUARY 6TH CAPITOL RIOT.

EPPS HAD CLAIMED FOX NEWS FALSELY ACCUSED HIM OF BEING A FEDERAL INFORMANT WHO HELPED ORCHESTRATE THE RIOT.

FOX HOSTS, INCLUDING FORMER PRIMETIME ANCHOR TUCKER CARLSON, RAISED QUESTIONS ABOUT EPPS’ ROLE IN THE EVENTS – PLAYING VIDEO CLIPS OF EPPS AT THE CAPITOL ON HIS SHOW – 

CARLSON POINTED TO THE FACT THAT HE HADN’T BEEN CHARGED AS PROOF HE MIGHT BE WORKING WITH THE GOVERNMENT.

We need to go into the captiol

“No charges have been filed against epps despite no question he did it because its on tape, that’s very strange, it just is.” 

EPPS, WHO WAS LATER CHARGED WITH MISDEMEANOR DISORDERLY CONDUCT, SUED FOX NEWS FOR DEFAMATION.

BUT A JUDGE NOW DISMISSING THE CASE – RULING THAT THE NETWORK’S STATEMENTS WERE PROTECTED UNDER THE FIRST AMENDMENT.

FOX NEWS DEFENDED ITS COVERAGE, ARGUING ITS HOSTS WERE MERELY OFFERING OPINIONS, NOT MAKING FACTUAL ASSERTIONS ABOUT EPPS’ INVOLVEMENT. 

THE NETWORK CELEBRATED THE RULING, POINTING TO TWO OTHER RECENT DEFAMATION LAWSUITS AGAINST THEM THAT WERE ALSO DISMISSED.

ONE FILED BY TONY BOBULINSKI – A FORMER ASSOCIATE OF HUNTER BIDEN, AND ANOTHER BY “DISINFORMATION EXPERT NIN JANKOWICZ”.

A STATEMENT FROM FOX NEWS SAYING –

“FOLLOWING THE DISMISSALS OF THE JANKOWICZ, BOBULINSKI, AND NOW EPPS CASES, FOX NEWS IS PLEASED WITH THESE BACK-TO-BACK DECISIONS FROM FEDERAL COURTS PRESERVING THE PRESS FREEDOMS OF THE FIRST AMENDMENT.

FOX NEWS STILL HAS A MAJOR SEPARATE CASE COMING UP –

A MULTI-BILLION DOLLAR DEFAMATION SUIT FROM THE VOTING TECHNOLOGY COMPANY “SMARTMATIC” –

WHICH IS SET TO GO  TO TRIAL NEXT YEAR.

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