Free Republic

The Trump administration is weighing cutting off funds to hospitals that it says provide gender-related treatments for children and teenagers, a move that would sharply escalate officials’ scrutiny of such programs. The potential for increased federal scrutiny on gender-related healthcare comes after a 30-day deadline passed Saturday for nine children’s hospitals to respond to letters from Mehmet Oz, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services administrator and celebrity physician known as Dr. Oz. The former heart surgeon and television host demanded data related to sex-reassignment surgeries, hormone therapy and puberty blockers. “President Trump has been clear: America will protect kids...

MIAMI – A Miami man was sentenced to life in federal prison after pleading guilty to traveling to Colombia for the purpose of having sex with minors.According to court documents, law enforcement officers stopped Stefan Andres Correa, 42, on the jet bridge at Miami International Airport as he attempted to board a flight to Bogota, Colombia. During an outbound border search, officers discovered nine cellular phones in Correa’s possession. A search of the cellular phones uncovered over 100 videos of Correa having sex with over 50 minors. The minors were between 11 and 17 years of age. A search of...

A covert ring of journalists and fact-checkers—tasked with discrediting and burying the Pizzagate story—has been exposed. But they weren’t just protecting the pedophile elite. They were part of it. This wasn’t just media manipulation. It was complicity. And as the arrests begin, the world is finally seeing the truth: the very people who called it a “conspiracy theory” were committing the crimes all along. Pizzagate was never a theory. It was a cover-up. And now, their cover is blown justice is coming down like a hammer. Before we dive in, a quick word about our partner VP.net—the next generation of...

For years, radical gender ideology appeared unstoppable. The media framed transgender identity as the next frontier of liberation. Pride Month drew enthusiastic endorsements from nearly every university, corporation, and school district. Dissenters were often marginalized, and the prevailing narrative allowed little room for debate. No longer. Since the start of the second Trump administration, the movement has begun to retreat. The Supreme Court recently upheld a Tennessee law banning medical transition procedures for minors. Many corporations have withdrawn support for this year’s Pride events. An ideology that once seemed culturally dominant has lost significant ground in public opinion. In retrospect,...

SummaryGroup will also review individual vaccines and "cumulative effect" of the recommended vaccines Vaccine panel meeting changes raise concerns among experts, former members Experts raise concerns over thimerosal presentation by anti-vaccine group member HHS spokesperson says additions, schedules in line with established procedures CHICAGO, June 25 (Reuters) - U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s newly reconstituted vaccine advisory panel said during its first meeting on Wednesday that it would study the schedule of childhood and adolescent immunizations and review the use of older vaccines. The meeting is unfolding under intense scrutiny after Kennedy, who has a long history of...

The move could shift long-standing practices of how and when children are immunized in the United States.ATLANTA — The newly formed vaccine advisory committee handpicked by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced that it would examine the cumulative effect of the childhood vaccine schedule and reevaluate hepatitis B immunization recommendations — moves that could shift long-standing practices of how and when children are immunized in the United States. Kennedy, who previously founded an anti-vaccine group, has long called for an investigation into the number of shots children receive. Medical experts say Kennedy has falsely linked an...

UPMC has confirmed it will end gender-affirming care for patients 18 and younger in response to the Trump administration’s policies aimed at transgender youth. A spokesperson for UPMC, the region’s largest hospital network, said federal guidance has made it clear clinicians who provide care such as puberty blockers and hormone therapy run the risk of criminal prosecution. UPMC will continue to provide behavioral health support and other care “within the bounds of the law,” the spokesperson added. The spokesperson declined to say when care will end, but impacted families have been told June 30 is the cutoff.

The Supreme Court’s 6-3 decision in U.S. v. Skrmetti, upholding Tennessee’s ban on medical gender interventions for children, reflects a split in the Justices’ views of medicine: Is it about restoring patients’ health or satisfying their wants? The court held last week that the Tennessee law permissibly distinguished between different medical uses of puberty blockers and hormones for children. Writing for the majority, Chief Justice John Roberts explained that medical treatments are defined not only by the drug used but by the purpose for which it is prescribed. Administering testosterone to a boy with delayed puberty is categorically different from...

This article contains graphic descriptions that may not be suitable for all readers. Parental discretion is advised.RALEIGH, N.C. – Like public libraries across the country, branches in North Carolina’s capital city turn rainbow-hued each June in celebration of Pride Month. Festive book displays featuring “queer-themed” titles written for all ages – from toddlers to teens and adults – are set out for the public as innocently as if the subject in question were cooking, gardening, or personal finance. The colorful Pride books set out by Wake County civil servants are not just a benign celebration of gay dignity, hugging couples,...

U.N. Quietly Lowers Population Forecasts ANALYSIS By Bill King - RCP ContributorJune 24, 2025 U.N. Quietly Lowers Population ForecastsAP For decades, we’ve been told that the world’s biggest problem is too many people. From Malthus in the 18th century to “The Population Bomb” in the 1960s, the warnings were dire: More people would mean more famine, more poverty, more environmental destruction. But something unexpected has happened. The demographic math has changed. And the United Nations, the world’s most cited authority on population forecasts, has taken notice. Until recently, their models predicted that the global population would continue to grow throughout...

The American Medical Association's new president Dr. Bobby Mukkamala said the ruling was "harmful government interference." The American Medical Association (AMA), the largest medical association in the United States, is coming out against the Supreme Courts ruling in United States v. Skrmetti, arguing that irreversible and damaging transgender procedures for minors are necessary treatments. “The American Medical Association is disappointed in today’s decision that opens the door to further intrusion into patient care and harmful government interference into the practice of medicine,” AMA President Dr. Bobby Mukkamala said in a statement after the ruling came down. The court ruled on...

Efforts by a street gang to recruit Fairfax County youths have led to the arrests of seven Chantilly area teenagers, ages 13 and 16... ...this time, the Latino gang Sur 13, with roots tracing to a notorious Mexican prison gang in Southern California, tried to pick up more members at Franklin Middle School, just off Centreville Road in western Fairfax County, court records state. A student at Franklin reported to the school resource officer that a student approached him during lunch period and asked him to join his gang, according to an affidavit for a search of the alleged gang...

The Supreme Court upheld Tennessee’s law banning child sex change procedures on Wednesday. In a 6-3 ruling, the court held that Tennessee’s law does not violate the Equal Protection clause. “This case carries with it the weight of fierce scientific and policy debates about the safety, efficacy, and propriety of medical treatments in an evolving field,” Chief Justice John Roberts wrote in the majority opinion. “The voices in these debates raise sincere concerns; the implications for all are profound. The Equal Protection Clause does not resolve these disagreements.” “Having concluded it does not, we leave questions regarding its policy to...

The Supreme Court on Wednesday upheld a Tennessee law prohibiting transgender drugs and surgeries for children, a major win for conservative activists and parent groups. The court ruled 6-3 in United States v. Skrmetti that Tennessee’s law does not violate the 14th Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause. Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti defended the law before the High Court in December, saying it was a matter of “protecting kids from the consequences of decisions that they cannot fully understand.”

In a total capitulation to the Trump Administration, Children’s Hospital Los Angeles announced last week that it is shutting down its notorious clinic that foisted sex change procedures on minors. The announcement marks an abrupt shift for the Children’s Hospital, which had earlier seemed inclined to fight the Trump Administration in court over its threat to cut off funding to any hospital that provides so-called gender affirming care for youths.

A new survey by the UN Population Fund shows that the most common reasons people name for not having more children are financial in nature.As Statista's Katharina Buchholz reports, among 14 countries surveyed, respondents named financial limitations or job instability as the most common reasons to have fewer children than they desired in all. Commonly, financial reasons, also including housing and childcare costs, made up the top 2 or even top 3 of the issues most often cited for lower fertility, for example in India, Indonesia, South Korea, South Africa, Brazil, Morocco, Hungary and Germany.You will find more infographics at...

DALLAS, Texas – The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Texas joined the North Texas Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force and the FBI Dallas’s North Texas Child Exploitation Task Force to announce the conclusion of Operation Soteria Shield, a month-long collaborative enforcement effort conducted in April 2025 aimed at rescuing children from online sexual exploitation and bringing perpetrators to justice. This operation was run in conjunction with the National Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force and was jointly managed by the FBI Dallas Division, Dallas Police Department, Plano Police Department, Wylie Police Department, and Garland Police Department

So how did we go from talking tomatoes with Bible verses and lessons on “doing unto others as you would have them do unto you” to full on queer theory, pronouns, and a gender identity crisis? Phil Vischer, who is best known for creating the Christian-themed-but-filled-with-bad-doctrine children’s cartoon series, Veggie Tales, has made a new name for himself among the rising Evangelical Beast of Revelation known as the Woke Church. Vischer, who wonders if Latino people who vote Republican are actually just white people in disguise and who argues that churches should embrace transgender people, has been a staunch advocate...

For the first time in the US, more babies are now born to moms 40–44 than 15–19. This marks 2 historical shifts for the US, plummeting teen pregnancy and gradually rising fertility for older women.

As a Blue state teacher, I'm beginning to see a scary revelation Policy & Politics The fact of the matter is that liberals have fewer kids compared to conservatives. Enrollment is down and the birth rate cratered during the Great Recession. Lots of school districts, especially urban ones, are laying off teachers due to budget and declining enrollment. For those teachers who are still early in their careers and are used to being supported by a Union and receiving better pay and benefits, they may have to move in order to continue in this profession. They may have to move...