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Utah becomes 19th state to ban LGBTQ conversion therapy on children under 18

January 24, 2020

Written By Danielle Wallace | Fox News

URL of the original posting site: https://www.foxnews.com/us/utah-bans-lgbtq-conversion-therapy-19th-state

Utah became the 19th and most conservative state to ban LGBTQ conversion therapy on children under 18 after a new rule went into effect Wednesday that now punishes medical experts for practicing the widely discredited method of attempting to change someone’s sexual orientation or gender identity.

“Every reputable science-based organization in the country recognizes that conversion therapy is a dangerous fraud. It exacerbates depression, anxiety and suicide ideation,” Troy Williams, executive director of Equality Utah, told Fox 13 Salt Lake City. “We are grateful to Governor Herbert and the Board of Psychologists for acting swiftly on behalf of LGBTQ youth.”

Despite pushback from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which argued on Capitol Hill that the proposed ban violated religious freedom or parental rights, Gov. Gary Herbert, a Republican, ordered state regulators to move forward with an administrative rule against the practice.

Nathan Dalley, left, shakes hands with Republican Utah Rep. Craig Hall following a news conference about the discredited practice of conversion therapy for LGBTQ children, now banned in Utah Jan. 22 at the Utah State Capitol. Dalley underwent so-called conversion therapy. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)

Nathan Dalley, left, shakes hands with Republican Utah Rep. Craig Hall following a news conference about the discredited practice of conversion therapy for LGBTQ children, now banned in Utah Jan. 22 at the Utah State Capitol. Dalley underwent so-called conversion therapy. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)

The rule bypasses the state Legislature. Herbert also apologized to LGBTQ activists after the language of an initial bill, sponsored by state GOP Rep. Craig Hall, to ban conversion therapy in Utah was derailed.

“I have learned much through this process. The stories of youth who have endured these so-called therapies are heart-rending, and I’m grateful that we have found a way forward that will ban conversion therapy forever in our state,” the governor said in a November press conference.

Sept. 12, 2018: Utah Gov. Gary Herbert speaks during a news conference at the Utah State Capitol, in Salt Lake City. The discredited practice of conversion therapy for LGBTQ children is now banned in Utah, making it the 19th state and one of the most conservative to prohibit it. Herbert took the unusual step of calling on regulators after a proposed law was derailed by changes made by conservative lawmakers. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer, File)

Sept. 12, 2018: Utah Gov. Gary Herbert speaks during a news conference at the Utah State Capitol, in Salt Lake City. The discredited practice of conversion therapy for LGBTQ children is now banned in Utah, making it the 19th state and one of the most conservative to prohibit it. Herbert took the unusual step of calling on regulators after a proposed law was derailed by changes made by conservative lawmakers. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer, File)

Conversion therapy is a practice used to try to change sexual orientation or gender identity. Many people who have been through it said it deepened feelings of depression and increased thoughts of suicide. The new rule bans licensed Utah therapists from subjecting LGBTQ minors to the practice. The American Psychological Association has said it is not based on science and is harmful to mental health. The Utah Psychological Association also spoke in favor of the ban. Doctors or therapists who continue the practice could face sanctions or lose their licenses. It contains an exemption for clergy or religious counselors, The Salt Lake Tribune reported.

“Ultimately, this bill means to me that youth will be accepted and protected within our communities,” Nathan Dalley, a University of Utah student and survivor of conversion therapy, said at a Wednesday news conference, according to the Tribune.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Jim Jordan blasts Democrats’ case in Trump Senate impeachment trial: ‘Assumptions, presumptions and hearsay’


Written By Charles Creitz | Fox News

URL of the original posting site: https://www.foxnews.com/media/jim-jordan-democrats-impeachment-case-is

Jordan: What Democrats did in the House was unfair to the president

Trump defense team member and Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan reacts to House managers’ arguments during trial. House Freedom Caucus member Jim Jordan, R-Ohio., offered his assessment of President Trump’s Senate impeachment trial during a Thursday appearance on Fox News’ “The Ingraham Angle.”

Jordan said Lead Impeachment Manager Adam Schiff, D-Calif., is not proving Trump guilty of any crime, or any act that rises to the level of an impeachable offense, or one that would warrant his expulsion from office. He added that the case laid out by Schiff and his team amounts to little more than “assumptions, presumptions and hearsay.”

“They don’t have the facts,” he said. “They make things up. Frankly, it should not surprise us. Adam Schiff is the guy who told us for two years, ‘I have more than circumstantial evidence that President Trump worked with Russia to influence the election’. That was not true.”

He said Schiff has not been entirely forthright or accurate with details of the case. He said Schiff declared that a relevant 2016 FISA court process was adequate — but Inspector General Michael Horowitz ruled otherwise.

Video

Adam Schiff reads the transcript

“Mr. Horowitz told us they lied to the FISA courts 17 times,“ Jordan said.

“Adam Schiff [also] said we would hear from the whistleblower.” To date, that has not happened.

“The facts are solidly on the president’s side,” he continued. “The Constitutional principles is on the president’s side and the unfair process is another great argument the White House can make because what they did in the House [impeachment inquiry] was very unfair to the president.”

Earlier Thursday, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., accused Trump of placing his own personal interests above national security and American democracy and charged that Trump was the only president in history to violate his oath of office so flagrantly.

“No president has ever used his office to compel a foreign nation to help him cheat in our elections. Prior presidents would be shocked to the core by such conduct and rightly so,” Nadler said in kicking off Day 3 of the trial.

“This conduct is not ‘America First,’”Nadler said, referring to one of Trump’s campaign themes. “It is Donald Trump first.”

Fox News’ Marisa Schultz contributed to this report.

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Hunter Biden must appear in court after missing deadline in child support case


Written By Elizabeth Rosner and Tamar Lapin | January 21, 2020 | 10:09pm

URL of the original posting site: https://pagesix.com/2020/01/21/hunter-biden-must-appear-in-court-after-missing-deadline-in-child-support-case/

The son of former Vice President Joe Biden missed the Jan. 16 deadline to provide discovery, including financial disclosures, in the case brought by a former stripper with whom he has a 17-month-old, according to court documents filed Tuesday.

Lawyers for 28-year-old Lunden Alexis Roberts — who, as The Post exclusively revealed in November, was a stripper at a Washington, DC, club Biden once frequented — said he failed to submit a slew of discovery materials, including his phone number, address and the address of his 32-year-old wife Melissa Cohen Biden, with whom he is expecting his fifth child.

He also allegedly didn’t hand in a copy of his 2017 and 2018 tax returns, a list of the companies he owns, a list of all his sources of income and other financial documents.

Biden, 49, must come to Independence County Circuit Court on Jan. 29 and “show cause, if any exists, as to why he should not be held in contempt for any of the alleged violations of this court’s orders,” Judge Holly Meyer ordered. Biden has missed two previous court dates.

Earlier this month, the judge officially deemed Biden “the biological and legal father,” of Roberts’ baby and ordered for him to be officially recorded as the dad on the kid’s birth certificate. Biden initially denied paternity in the case until a DNA test proved he was the baby’s dad, according to court papers. The parents are now sparring over child support.

“The defendant continues to act as though he has no respect for this court and its orders … or the needs of his child for support,” Ronberts’ attorneys wrote.

The judge has granted a request for a protective order by Biden’s attorney that would keep their client’s financial situation under wraps. Biden’s lawyer, Brett Langdon, didn’t immediately respond to an email, but previously told The Post that he does not comment on pending cases.

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Rudy Giuliani threatens to go public with Biden corruption allegations


Written By Mark Moore | Friday, January 24, 2020

URL of the original  posting site: https://nypost.com/2020/01/23/rudy-giuliani-threatens-to-go-public-with-biden-corruption-allegations/

Rudy Giuliani, the personal attorney for President Trump, threatened Thursday to go public with information that would expose corruption by 2020 Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden.

“Everything I tried to tell the press last March is now coming out, and more. I will now start to reveal the evidence directly to you, the People,” the former New York mayor tweeted. “The Biden Family Enterprise made millions by selling public office. Then when Joe was Obama’s Point Man, they ALL made millions.”

Giuliani’s claim that he could reveal evidence detrimental to the former vice president follows his offer to testify in Trump’s impeachment trial taking place in the Senate.

Viktor Shokin
Viktor Shokin / LightRocket via Getty Images

“I would love to see a trial. I’d love to be a witness – because I’m a potential witness in the trial – and explain to everyone the corruption that I found in Ukraine, that far out-surpasses any that I’ve ever seen before, involving Joe Biden and a lot of other Democrats,” he said Sunday morning on “The Cats Roundtable” with radio host John Catsimatidis on AM 970.

Giuliani, who is at the center of the impeachment trial for his work on behalf of Trump in Ukraine, has alleged that Biden pressured Ukrainian officials to fire a top prosecutor by withholding millions in guaranteed loans.

He claims that Biden took the action against Viktor Shokin because he was going to investigate Burisma Holdings, a Ukrainian company that employed Biden’s son Hunter on its board.

Joe Biden, during a campaign stop in Iowa on Wednesday, defended Hunter, saying “no one has suggested my son did anything wrong.”

“There’s nobody that’s indicated there’s a single solitary thing that he did that was inappropriate, wrong … or anything other than the appearance. It looked bad that he was there,” Biden said, according to the Washington Post. “He acknowledges that he in fact made a mistake going on the board.”

Rep. Adam Schiff, who is playing a lead role among House Democrats presenting the case against Trump, said Trump has been trying to pin corruption on the Bidens, noting that the president called for Ukraine and China to launch investigations into them. Schiff used as one example Trump’s comments from Oct. 3.

“They should investigate the Bidens. Because how does a company that’s newly formed and all these companies, if you look — and by the way, likewise, China should start an investigation into the Bidens. Because what happened in China is just about as bad as what happened with Ukraine,” Trump told reporters on the White House’s South Lawn.

The impeachment trial centers on a July 25 phone call in which Trump asked Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to launch an investigation into the Bidens that would personally benefit Trump politically.

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Doomsday clock moves even closer to midnight: Here’s what it means


Written By Hannah Frishberg | January 23, 2020 | 1:11pm

The end is nigh.

The Doomsday Clock has never been closer to striking midnight. The metaphorical measure of how close humanity is to extinction has been maintained by nonprofit group Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists since 1947. This year, the group says they’re moving the clock closer to midnight than ever before — just 100 seconds away, down from two minutes.

“The iconic Doomsday Clock symbolizing the gravest perils facing humankind is now closer to midnight than at any point since its creation in 1947,” reads a press release from the group, whose board of sponsors includes 13 Nobel Laureates. “Humanity continues to face two simultaneous existential dangers — nuclear war and climate change — that are compounded by a threat multiplier, cyber-enabled information warfare, that undercuts society’s ability to respond.”

Bulletin also names the dire erosion of international security and political infrastructure as motives for their decision to give the human race just 100 seconds on the clock.

While the Doomsday Clock didn’t move in 2019 and remained at two minutes, it’s been slowly moving closer to midnight in prior years. It was set forward by 30 seconds in 2018, landing at two minutes before midnight. The clock was adjusted in 2017 to 2 ½ minutes to midnight from its setting of three minutes to midnight the year before.

“We are now expressing how close the world is to catastrophe in seconds — not hours, or even minutes,” says Bulletin President and CEO Rachel Bronson.

In a separate statement, the group begs world leaders not to “retreat from arms control” and create a nuclear reality.

“The world is sleepwalking its way through a newly unstable nuclear landscape,” they write.

The safest the world has ever been, according to the clock, was 1991. With the end of the Cold War, Bulletin leaders set the clock to 17 minutes to midnight.

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My Own Two Cents


Here’s a thought for you. Listening to these “Democrat Congressional Impeachment Managers”, do you get the distinct impression that they are NOT talking to the Senate Lawmakers (jurors), but in fact they are talking to the CAMERAS?????????

Just think about it;

  • They have 72 hours of captive television audience.
  • They have 72 hours of FREE television airtime.
  • They have repeated themselves endlessly.
  • Schiff made the statement, “We must remove this president now because we can’t trust the ballot box results to be fair.” (I admit that statement may not be word for word correct. Please confirm the statement). Chairman Schiff has made similar statements, as well as other democrats, that they cannot trust America’s voters to get President Trump out of office.
  • Could the draining of the SWAMP getting the Leftist panicking that four more years of Trump could seriously damage, and set back, their determination to drag America into outright socialism?

Think about it, please.

Jerry

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Today’s Politically INCORRECT Cartoon by A.F. Branco


A.F. Branco Cartoon – Into the Abstract

A.F. Branco | on

Schiff is trying to convolute and complicate non-impeachable offenses in order to interfere with the 2020 election.

Schiff Senate ImpeachmentPolitical cartoon by A.F. Branco ©2020.
More A.F. Branco Cartoons at The Daily Torch.

Donations/Tips accepted and appreciated –  $1.00 – $5.00 – $10 – $100 –  it all helps to fund this website and keep the cartoons coming. – THANK YOU!

A.F. Branco has taken his two greatest passions, (art and politics) and translated them into the cartoons that have been popular all over the country, in various news outlets including “Fox News”, MSNBC, CBS, ABC and “The Washington Post.” He has been recognized by such personalities as Dinesh D’Souza, James Woods, Sarah Palin, Larry Elder, Lars Larson, the great El Rushbo, and has had his toons tweeted by President Trump.

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